Eros

The Blackrose Legacy - 53

Rake sauntered down the street, and they trudged behind him, their bare feet tapping the sand strewn flagstones. Stars glistened in the clear night skies overhead, and the street became sand and gravel as the rows of houses beside them thinned.

"Here we are kids," Rake stopped, and spread his arms with a smile. At the very skirt of Veramora's last street, stood a lone house. Its yellowish bricks were broader and smoother than the other houses', and standing three stories tall, it was perhaps five times as large. Erected on wooden beams, was canopy draped with green vines, shading over the vast cobblestoned yard below. "Home sweet home."

Kaido gawked at the house. It was a shack compared to the manors of the Kingsmen by the palace, but it was nothing a commoner could ever afford. He looked up at Rake. The man hummed a happy tune as he breezed up the stairs to the entrance, his black hair trailing behind him. The more Kaido learnt of this man, the more the fog of mystery around him thickened.

He pulled a key out of his pocket, and shoved it in the lock, and fumbled. There was a click, and the door pushed open. They followed Rake inside. A parlor spread before them, broad and well lit with oil lamps of stained glass. There was furniture, plenty of it, but it was hard to pay it focus when there was another thing to demand Kaido's attention. Swords.

No space was wasted on standard decorations, wherever the wall was empty, there were swords. Blades varied from daggers you could slip in your sleeve, to greatswords as big as a man; from hardwood in red, black, and brown colors, to dark iron, to glinting steel; from classic double-edges, to exotic curves and jags, to twists and splits that made no sense. Some of the hilts were as simple as it gets, others spiked or gnarled, and others ridiculously ornamented, with flashy rocks, symbols, and letters he had never seen before.

"You like my collection, kid?"

Kaido jumped as Rake clapped a hand onto his shoulder, grinning. Weapons had always fascinated him, even more so when he realized their power. Once his eyes caught on a blade dangling from a belt, he couldn't detach them. Before this temple of swords, he was at loss of words.

"Don't look so dumb," Rake laughed, and clapped his shoulder again. "These are only the swords I can no longer use."

Kaido then noticed the cracks in the hardwood, the crust of rust on the iron, and the chips in the steel.

"Rakie?" Called a feminine voice from above, and Kaido looked to the stairs. A woman descended, her blonde hair messy, and cropped boyishly short, but her endowments left no room for doubt.

She wore a button shirt a lot like Rake's, but only bothered to hook one button. Her breasts jiggled with each stair she skipped, nearly slipping out of the cloth, and as her smooth thighs shifted, the blonde curls between them peeked. The blood rushed to Kaido's cheeks.

"Morning' love." Rake called, she looked at him, and first noticed his company.

"Rake!" She flushed, tightened her legs against one another, and pulled the shirt tight over her breast. "Why didn't you say you're with company!"

-

"If you're gonna wear my clothes and sleep in my beds, we better get you two clean." Rake said as he led them outside, a bundle of clothes under his arm. Fields of tall, golden wheat spread at either side of them as they walked away from his house.

Kaido wondered where they were going. The sound of flowing water answered before he asked.

The Sky River parted the land before them. Its current was powerful, but silent. No foam broke gushed amongst the dark blue of the water, and the starlight sheened on their rippling surface. It spread to awe inspiring width. Only when Kaido squinted his eyes, he saw the golden stripe of fields and silhouettes of cities over the ledge across.