Eros

The Blackrose Legacy - 57

Kaido went home a pouch of coins lighter, but with Bonnie's cursed necklace in his hand. He raised it, and the flower-molded pedant shone gold and silver in the sunlight. It was more beautiful than anything he thought he could afford. He couldn't wait to see Siera's face when he'd give it to her.

A scent flared in his nose, so eminent it made his head spin. Blood. Gallons of it. It came from his home.

He dashed down the street, the pavement turned to sand and gravel beneath his feet, and Rake's house came to sight. Bodies were strewn before the entrance, their golden mail bright in red puddles. He counted four of them, and two more with sharp jackets that must've been purple before they soaked in the blood.

The King's Four Swords. The realization came to him with terrible dread. He nearly tripped on a dismembered head and stopped to look at the body it was detached from. He saw four rubies on the former Sword's scabbard, and a chill licked up his nape. The First.

Kaido crouched to pick up a sword from the sand, and sprinted up the stairs, skipping over the soldiers that lied lifeless upon them. He burst into the house, and the smell hit him again, quadrupled. The living room was a bloodbath.

Many of the swords that once decorated the walls were impaled in the bodies of soldiers, or slung bloodstained on the floor beside severed limbs. There were over a dozen dead, perhaps two dozen. Kaido followed the trail of death to the kitchen stepping around bodies as blood wet his boots.

"Hey kid." Rake called, voice weak and husky.

Kaido jumped around, and found him sitting slumped against the kitchen counter, a cigarette to his lips. He rushed to him, dropped his sword and knelt. Rake was covered in so much blood that only from up close he spotted the crisscross of cuts across his torso.

"Shit. What happened?" He asked, eyes darting between Rake's wounds.

"Velwind engaged his daughter to the prince," Rake paused for air, and then filled his lungs with smoke, his eyelids fluttering. "And the First Sword wanted to duel."

"Yeah, I nearly tripped on his fucking head." Kaido said, and a wicked grin cracked Rake's blood spattered face.

"You should've seen me there, kid. I never fought like this in my life. They screamed that I am Mavet himself."

"Best swordsman in the fucking world, eh?" Kaido smiled, and winced when he noticed Rake was grasping a gaping slash in his stomach. "We gotta' take you to a healer."

"Sure thing, kid. Just let me finish the cigarette." Rake murmured as he drew on it.

"Come on, old man. You lost too much blood to fuck around." Kaido tried to pull him up. Rake clasped his neck, and yanked him into his embrace.

"I'm proud of you, kid. You know that right?" He whispered in his ear. In a split of a second, Kaido's composure shattered. Tears choked the voice in his throat.

"It's just a couple of cuts... you can pull through... what's a few cuts to the best swordsman in the world?"

Rake didn't reply. He just clenched his arms around Kaido, hugging him tight.

"They took Siera, didn't they?" Kaido finally dared to ask.

"I killed as many as I could, but a couple of them got away with her." Rake said. "You will get her back. I know you will."

Kaido sniffed and nodded, clinching his eyes shut and pressing his forehead against Rake.

"Damn, kid." Rake breathed the last of his cigarette, and his head dropped back against the counter's wall. "You should've seen me...."