He woke up with Siera's naked body atop of his, her soft breath caressing over his neck. He stayed there for a while, embracing her as he brushed his fingertips up and down the length of her spine. The scent of her hair filled his nostrils when he kissed her head. He smiled, then rolled her aside and slipped from underneath her.
The skies were a dark, sunless blue through the window shutters. He dressed and left the bedroom silently. He jogged upstairs to the third floor, and glanced down the corridor. Rake's door was shut, which meant he was asleep. While Rake had no problem waking Kaido at whatever hour he felt like training, he got awfully pissed if Kaido did the same.
He went out to the sword-yard, picked a pair of thick and heavy iron swords, one long and one short, and started swinging. A thousand forehand cuts, a thousand backhand, a thousand crosscuts, and a thousand thrusts. He used the shorter iron with each hand, and the longer one with both. His muscles pulsed and screamed for mercy, but his lips twisted in a satisfied smile. He now trained with the heaviest set, the irons Rake trained with.
By the time he was done, Kaido was soaked in hot sweat, and the sun dawned bright in the cloudless skies. He decided to skip his daily run and swim. There was something of greater importance to do today. He jogged up to the river, washed in its icy waters, then returned to pick up a fresh change of clothes, and his pouch of savings.
It was packed with one gold, and thirty one silvers. Rake's training consumed most of his time, but when there was pressure at the 'One-Legged Goat', he didn't mind jumping behind the bar.
He bounced the pouch on his palm as he walked downtown. The jingle of coins might call for unwanted attention, especially at this part of Veramora. But after witnessing the results of his training in the incident with Velwind, Kaido couldn't help feeling untouchable.
There were two market streets in Veramora. The King's Market, where the wealthy and Kingmen shopped, was a broad and clean, connected to the harbor and braced by the clear the skies. The stands were decorated and colorful, the shops displayed their luxurious goods through walls of glass, and guards in golden armor stood at every corner.
'Copper Fleas', the market street Kaido sauntered into, was the exact opposite. It was a narrow, shadowy alley, filled with people, stench of sweat, and the screams of merchants from their half-assed, wooden stands. Nevertheless, Kaido saw a charm in its liveliness.
He shouldered his way through the crowd, careful on the woman and on the children that ran giggling between his feet. He made his way all across the market, where the crowd thinned, and the merchant's voices weren't as booming. If Kaido didn't know to look for the shop, he would've never found it.
The only sign of it on the outside was a wooden door streaked with cracks. 'BONNIE'S NECKLACES' was painted across it in peeling ink. Hesitantly, Kaido reached to the door, and rapped on it.
"Its open." Called a voice from inside. Kaido suddenly got an odd feeling that he should not enter this shop. Something felt off about it. He could go around the market and search for another...
Scared of an old door now? He mocked himself, pushed it open, and stepped inside. The cool, pleasant air in the shop was a refreshing surprise after the humid heat outside. Jewels glimmered all around him, arrayed across hardwood shelves and hanging on the brick walls.
An adolescent boy sat behind the desk across the room, reading. He had a slender build, and soft, handsome features. His hair white as a fresh fall of snow.
He looked up from his book, and the light of the oil-lamp reflected from his yellow eyes.
"You're Bonnie?" Kaido asked the strange looking boy.
"I am Bonnie." The boy smiled at him. A bit too wide of a smile.
"Yeah... I am looking for a necklace." Kaido looked around the display.
"A special necklace, or just something to give to the farmer's girl your father set you up with?"
"A special one. As special as I could afford." Kaido's eyes scanned the necklaces. There was every combination you could think of, chains of every metal and pendant with gems of every color. But Kaido couldn't afford anything with a gemstone, and ones without one looked too simple and bleak.
"How much do you have, then?"
"Thirty one silvers."
"Special costs more than change." Bonnie answered absently, and flipped a page in his book.
"Have you forgotten that you're trading in the Copper Fleas?" Kaido looked to the boy with a frown. A necklace he was toying with caught Kaido's eye. Its delicate, silver chain was coiled between the boy's fingers, and its pendant swayed, silver molded into the shape of a blossoming flower, outlines with ever so thin lines of gold. He could already see it on Siera's chest.
"How much for that one?"
Bonnie's eyes flicked up from his book. "You don't want that one."
Kaido scowled in annoyance. "Why not?"
"Because it's cursed."
"Cursed how?" Kaido asked, doubtful.
Bonnie looked between the necklace and Kaido as he dangled it from side to side. "You will play the game of a god before you put it around your loved one's neck. And they will wear it for the rest of their life."
Kaido's nose wrinkled at that steaming pile of bullshit, but he still wanted a cut at the price, so he played along.
"Which god?"
"That or the other." Bonnie shrugged. "I really don't remember."
"Sounds as much as a blessing as a curse to me." Kaido said.
"Perhaps," An unnerving smile slit into the boy's cheeks and glinted in his yellow eyes. "If you're optimistic enough."
-
Siera's mouth gaped in a silent yawn as she trudged down the stairs. Rake sat shirtless at the table, all hard muscles and silvery scars. He leaned back in his chair, arms folded behind his head, legs propped up beside an empty plate, and lips sucking a cigarette.
"You're wearing my shirt."
She glanced down at the washed-out button shirt that slid down to her thighs, and shrugged. "I just took the shirt Kaido wore."
"Then you're both wearing my shirt." He stated.
Siera patted him on the shoulder. "You really have it tough."
He breathed out a smoky chuckle, and she slumped in the chair beside him.
"He's still asleep?"
Siera shook her head. "Nope. I woke up alone and thought he was training with you."
"Ah, maybe he's with his other girlfriend." Rake suggested, and she poked him in the ribs. With her fist. He grunted out a mouthful of smoke, lips spreading in a grin.
Thumps against the door echoed into the house. Somebody was pounding it, rather than knocking. Siera arched an eyebrow. "Fei?"
Rake's brow furrowed. "She has a key."
The pounds got even louder, and Rake swung his feet from the table to the floor. Siera got up and followed behind him.
"Open the fucking door or we'll bust-"
Rake turned the key and swung the door open. "Good morning to you too."
A man stood tall and firm at the doorstep, his sandy hair draping down to his angular cheekbones, and his dark eyes glaring daggers. A rich purple jacket fit his athletic physique as if it was tailored onto him, its sleeves threaded with elaborate patterns of gold. Four rubies were embedded along the scabbard of his sword.
"Is this Mister Blackrose?" The man asked with a sneer on his face and contempt in his voice.
Another, stockier man stepped beside him, his head bald and his jaw cushioned with a great black beard. His jacket was similar to the taller man's, only his was puffed by the mass of his body. The scabbard of his sword bore rubies as well, three of them.
"Yes, Sarind." The man's bearded face uneased in a frown when he looked to Rake. "It's him."
"Glerd." Rake met the man's gaze, and breathed out smoke. "Long time no seen."
"Aye, Blackrose." Glerd said, his frown deepening. "It's a pity that we meet in such circumstances."
"And what are the said circumstances?"
"The circumstances," Burst out the tall man, Sarnid. "That the two children you host in your house attacked and grievously injured Lord Velwind."
Rake laughed out loud in his face. "Since when does anyone give a shit about Velwind's brat?"
"Since Velwind's daughter's engagement to the prince." Sarnid hissed.
"That explains the troops," Rake snorted, and Siera edged another step forward and peeked over his shoulder. Her eyes widened. There were over two dozen soldiers beneath the stairs to the house. They stood lined up behind their captain like statues, equipped with fine steel and the King's golden color. "But to send both the First and the Second Swords after two kids, isn't that a bit humiliating?"
Siera then realized what purple jackets and rubies meant, and fear prickled inside her. These men were the two deadliest swordsmen in Veramor, the personal Swords of the king. She knew things had been too good for too long. It was only a matter of time until Mavet came to visit her again. Please, just let Kaido be alright.
"Oh, but I haven't come for them." A smile finally graced Sarnid's sour face, and it was anything but kind. "I have come for you."
"Sarnid," Glerd rumbled. "We are here to arrest the children not Blackrose, let's do that without a death toll."
"Sorry Glerd." Rake spoke up, cutting in their argument. "If you wanted your Kingman brat's pretty face intact, you should have taught him not to try and molest girls in the street. My kids aren't gonna' be punished for teaching him that lesson in your place."
"We got to take the kids, Rake," Glerd said, and Siera could hear the reluctance in his voice. "Velwind's order of arrest was authorized by the King."
Rake's eyes hardened. He puffed the last of his cigarette, and dropped it. "Sorry about your death toll, then."
Glerd winced at those words.
"What the fuck are you arguing with this dead man for?" Sarnid pushed Glerd aside and stepped in front of Rake. He towered imposingly before him, but Rake couldn't look less concerned.
"Because you left your position as the First Sword undefeated, there are still those who whisper I do not deserve the title of Veramor's best." Sarnid licked his lips and bared his teeth in a snarl. "I will have them silenced once and for all."
"Trust me when I say this is unwise, Sarnid." Glerd grabbed the First Sword's shoulder. "You should-"
"You should keep your fucking mouth shut, before I regret my decision to spare you, Second." Sarnid slapped Glerd's hand away, spitting the words at him like they were venom.
"If it's a duel the First Sword wants," Rake spoke over the two. "I will happily oblige."
Glerd's face darkened, and Sarnid smirked. "Go on then, fetch your sword and armor."
"No need for that. The Second's sword will do."
They both looked to Glerd, and with rigid reluctance he drew his sword and handed it to Rake. Sarnid didn't trust Rake behind him, and let him lead down the steps to the house.
"Soldiers, make room!" Ordered the captain, and the soldiers stepped backwards, opening space for the duelers before the stairs.
Rake and Sarnid took place several steps from one another, the soldiers lined one side, and Glerd standing cross armed at the other. Sarnid unsheathed his sword, and the sunlight glared across the honed edge of the blade. It was thinner, but longer than the blade Rake burrowed. Sarnid poised it before him, inclined a foot forward, and arched his unoccupied arm above his head, fingers stretched outwards.
"Ah, the Liandorian Sword-Technique." Rake remarked on the First Sword's as he swung his sword in the air, and spun it around his palm.
"You talked enough." Sarnid sneered, and lunged forward, his feet nimble as a cat's. Rake's teeth flashed in a savage grin. He grabbed his sword with both hands, and threw his body into a slash.
Steel banged deafeningly, molten fragments sparked in the air, and the First's sword bounced away, nearly tearing from his grip. Rake whirled with the momentum of his swing, his black hair whipping, and his blade slicing a gleaming circle around him. He brought it down on Sarnid's neck.
The hack took the First Sword's head off his shoulders, and spun it into the air, spiraling blood. The soldiers stared at it fly with slacked jaws. Rake was on the move before it hit the ground. He dashed straight for Glerd.
The Second Sword stumbled back, reaching for the scabbard of his sword, only to find it empty.
"Looking for this, Glerd?" Rake slammed into him, and rammed the sword in his gut. The Second Sword fell at Rake's shoulder, the blade sticking out of his back, eyes wide with surprise, and mouth dripping with blood.
"Blackrose..." He groaned weakly
"Sorry old friend, I couldn't risk fighting you along with all these soldiers." Rake said, and pulled the blade out of his body, letting him slump to the ground. He looked up to Siera at the doorstep. "Get out of here."
Siera looked to the soldiers waiting in the street, and cursed. Easier said than done.
"He murdered the First and Second Swords! Kill him!" The captain screamed, desperate to urge his awe-stricken troops. They unsheathed their swords, but clearly, none of them was anxious to approach the swordsman who had just slain Veramor's best.
"Kill him!" The captain drew his own sword and bellowed, spit spraying from his lips. "Kill him or by the King's name, I will execute you myself!"
Rake turned to the charging soldiers, his sword and hands painted crimson.
His lips peeled off his teeth, and he grinned like a wolf upon a herd of sheep.