Eros

Blood Bath - 29

They returned to the city and had a large, free meal at Lo's. The place depressed Alora. Yesterday the three of them had shared the meal in laughter. Today they were a man down, and ate in complete silence. Then, they went shopping.

Whatever the Deadmen's Market lacked in fresh crops, it compensated for with stores of armor, weaponry, and less conventional means to inflict harm.

Alora went through four stores before she found leathers that suited her feminine figure. They were of a boyish size, fitting a tad too tight about her breast and rear. Although it wasn't ideal, and had a stupid reddish hue, the leather was boiled and wrought well. Alora was mostly thankful to replace the filthy undershirt and thin trousers she wore.

She needed a weapon more effective than a knife, too. Eyeing the blades, a short simitar, caught her gaze. It resembled her tribe's traditional curved blade. Alora picked it into a series of practice cuts, adjusting her hand to its weight.

Still irritated about how Kaido naturally assumed she would need to rely on him for protection, she sunk into childish fantasies. She saw herself in the arena, downing one man after the other with graceful slashes whilst he was standing dumbfounded, eating his own words with bitter regret.

Thinking I am some damsel in distress... I will show him alright.

Ugh, why do I even care about his stupid opinion?

Kaido refused any armor the shopkeeper had offered him. He was in no need for a weapon either, still having the sword he borrowed from that pissing soldier.

What he did need was a new cloak. And rummaging through the goods, he found one. Dark gray and coarse, it suited his broad shoulders well, draping down to his boots. He gave the shopkeeper a golden coin for everything.

Alora faced the Dark Tower when they left the store. A pillar of obsidian, parting the blue skies.

Her eyes squinted when she noticed a form falling off the balcony at the tower's top. Her gaze escorted it downwards, trying to distinguish the outlines of the blurry shape.

Its limbs flailed so frantically that she thought it might soar up in flight. Then she heard the screams. The man fell behind a building that blocked her line of sight, and the screaming stopped.

She looked to Kaido and he tilted his chin in a gesture towards the tower's top. Another male figure stood at the balcony, leaning against the railing.

His blonde hair shone bright beneath the sunlight, and his black jacket whipped in the wind.

-

People already began swarming the arena and the gambling stands outside the arena. They had to shove their way through.

"Only the two of you?" The man behind the contender's stand looked at them doubtfully.

"Aye'." Kaido confirmed, dropping four gold pieces on the counter.

"Pff'," The man bared stained teeth in an ugly grin as he wrote down their names. "Good luck, you'll need it."

They were pointed to the direction of the fighters' hall. Kaido stopped her with a touch on her shoulder. She peered at him questioningly as he undid the clasps binding his new cloak to his collar.

"Wear it." He handed it to her.

"Why?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Your gender and the..." He glanced down her body. "Attributes... that come along with it are better off concealed. I would prefer we avoid a fight, and unnecessary attention, before the event begins."