Silver Shackles

Chapter 5

"Strawberry ice cream suits you. It's just as sweet as you are... if you know what I mean."

It wasn't a lie, if I had to describe Baal as a dessert it'd be a strawberry parfait. Sweet, all the while looking like the most perfect edible in the universe.

My eyes wouldn't leave my cute companion as he licked his strawberry ice cream. Even with zero hidden intentions, he looked ravishingly sexy and cute while he ate his dessert.

"I swear Luke, seriously." Baal replied chuckling, nudging my shoulder at the same time.

We walked amongst the crowded streets of Cordelica, keeping our horse Ion by its leash as it trailed behind us. In need of supplies for our journey, we were making our way to the market square. Both of us had vouched to buy ice cream despite the cold. Baal craved for something sweet and the ice cream stand was empty enough.

My scoop was also strawberry flavored, fact that made Baal joke about how perhaps I was addicted to pink things. The only pink thing I liked for the color itself was his hair, but I refrained from stating that out loud. Snow had stopped falling this morning and it had been enough to dye Cordelica white. I was happy to have gotten Baal new clothes, he was legit surprised when everything fit him perfectly too. He walked around with a wine colored, long-sleeved, warm turtle neck shirt and a dark leather jacket. I had managed to get him some winter pants that matched his style too. The pair was tight but warm and good at keeping everything dry too. I gave him some gloves for when it got colder up on the mountains, he kept them inside one of his new jacket's pockets. The Goddesses knew how sexy he looked in those clothes and how damn well he looked with his hair unbraided. Well most of it, he had braided a lock of hair by the side of his face. He was charming and adorable at the same time.

This morning I had woken up feeling rather happy. Baal was holding me tight in his arms and I couldn't help but be very excited over how close we were. Worry plagued his face when I stirred awake, but the second I teased him about how he was glued to me, he relaxed and seemed relieved.

"Mmm, here's the market! You stay here with Ion and I'll be right back?" He said. A small amount of ice cream remained over his lips, a very tempting fact.

"Take your time, I'm going to check something out by myself." With my reply, I lowered my face to lick his lips on a mischievous impulse. "Hehehe, sweet."

"Yeah, enjoy the freebies idiot," he yanked on my vest and pecked my lips in return. "See you in a few."

I let him leave with what was left of his ice cream while I finished the rest of my own. Once he was out of sight I made my way to the smith's alley alongside Ion. Unlike the food market, the smith's alley was far less crowded. There were a few seasoned warriors and their apprentices looking for weapons and armor around the ash scented alley. After a few minutes walking in it, I arrived at a familiar shop. Two hundred years ago, this shop was the only smith place in the much smaller capital of the Irisian Spine. The shop was now bigger and had many competitors around. Inside the brick building with smokey dark windows, a warm, olden time atmosphere welcomed me in. A young man with dark brown rabbit ears banged on a piece of hot metal using a hammer, the noise excruciatingly painful to my ears. When he noticed me, he quickly stopped and walked towards me wearing a curious face.

"Welcome! Em, I'm sorry, I don't remember you from before. Are you here to ask the Master for armor or weapons?" He asked cheerfully, speaking a little louder than normal. His job had probably made him deaf to some degree.

"Why, I am here for precisely that. Is the Master home?"

"By the Goddess's mercy, if it isn't Luke of the Ancients!" A voice spoke from back of the shop, right where a bunch of finished blades and armors where hung about for decorating. "I thought I'd die before seeing you again, my dear old friend!"