Elven Legacy

Chapter 67

Kitera

Miko and his buddies took the whole day to spread the word; the crazy woman who'd jumped in the pit and gutted Big Boy Barnel would fight again for your entertainment, be sure to place your bets.

The pawn shop owner had wanted more time, but these were Kitera's terms.

"We do this tonight," she'd told him that morning. "I want to leave this fucking place tomorrow. I got people who need me down south."

He'd handed her saddle bag back. As a special request, he wanted her to fight in her Felleran blue-and-black castle guard uniform.

Which was fine by her.

Dharkan's bag, the swords, and the horses – that would wait until after she'd won the fight.

"If you win the fight," Miko had added.

"When I win," Kitera had countered icily. Which he seemed to enjoy.

Ugh, whatever.

Kitera had spent the day stretching, counting the seconds, pacing nervously across Beth's miserable dwelling, going through the hand-to-hand fighting experience she had. She also spent some time with Dharkan.

Though still weak, he was recovering. He'd been able to eat some soup earlier – he'd even walked around his room for a little while before practically falling in Kitera's arms, and she'd forced him back to bed. Of course, he wanted to come with her to the fight, he was basically freaking out about it.

Kitera forbade it, and told Beth to lock the door and not let him out.

Now, in her uniform as promised, she was ready to partake in this unofficial, underground fighting pit.

As ready as she could be, anyway.

It was literally underground, a vast basement with a rope ring in the center. The space within the rope held a mat of some textile fiber. Still felt pretty solid to Kitera when she tested it with her boot, but much more forgiving than bare stone.

She watched from her little wooden stool in the corner as the basement filled up with people.

The place soon started to smell with the stink of too many bodies crammed together in a windowless space. Excited chatter rose in waves around her, spiking her nerves. The only decent hand-to-hand experience she had was from training with Dharkan when they were younger. 

Her recruits at the castle usually came with some background lessons from the barracks. Kitera's main task was to perfect their technique with the sword – she let Master Gareth handle the archery part.

During the battle on the castle's wall last year, she'd always had her sword with her. It had never come to fists. Though to be fair, the occasional kick was certainly useful.

She sighed, her stomach full of jitters, her knee bobbing up and down. When Miko started to massage her shoulders and tell her to relax, from just behind the rope, she shrugged him off.

"Stop that," she snapped.

The bald man raised his hands in surrender. "All right, no need to be so testy."

"Where's the other guy?" Kitera asked, casting a glance over the mostly male crowd.

Someone was walking along the perimeter of the room and lighting candles at close intervals, in broad copper brackets. The opposite stool in the fighting ring remained empty.

"He's late," she remarked, annoyed. She stretched her hands and wrists, splaying her fingers inside her fingerless gloves.

"Shade will be here soon," Miko told her, soothingly. Kitera got this urge to bash his face.