Chapter Nine
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Soldiers abound, a true warrior is rare.
“It’s a good thing I’ve lived a few thousand years,” Ere said as he, Sorin and Rui hunkered down in their mid-sized tent.
Luxury outdoor living, this was not.
“Otherwise, I might be tempted to raise hell with the event organizers about our lack of premium amenities.”
He flicked a rat-sized beetle crawling across the top of his boot to the other side of the tent.
Sorin could deal with the raccoon-sized rats. And if they encountered any bear-sized racoons, he might just take off to the hills screaming like the girl in a cheesy horror movie.
“We need to save our coins for weapons and other equipment to raise our chances of winning each event,” Rui said reasonably.
Always logical and unflappable, that one.
But Ere detected interesting emotional reactions from the treasure dragon toward the hulking, scary, dark warrior she would be competing against. He wondered whether this… attraction between them would be to their mission’s advantage or the opposite.
“We barely have enough to fill our stomachs tonight,” Ere groused. Then heaved a put-upon sigh.
“Looks like I need to procure us some more blunt. Plenty of games and wagers to be had, especially amongst the fat lords, after tonight’s opening festivities. Leave it to me.”
“Us,” Sorin growled.
Ere rubbed shoulders with him like a particularly frisky, affection-seeking cat.
“Of course, handsome,” he purred, turning to kiss his Mate’s jaw.
“You’re my big, bad protector. My taser and pepper spray all rolled into one. I’d never leave home without you.”
Rui watched them with avid eyes, Ere noticed. Whereas, she would have simply looked away or ignored his and Sorin’s more intimate interactions before.
“Missing your own big, bad warrior, truffle dragon?”
Instead of answering with annoyance as she normally would have done, she sat on a stool and began to polish her sword with concentration.
Her silence spoke volumes.
“Are you still as confident of winning as you were the day before?” Ere asked.
“Of course,” she said.
“You won’t feel bad about beating the big brute black and blue?”
“He can take care of himself. Besides, if all goes as planned, and if he is as skilled as we believe him to be, then I will not meet him in combat until the end.”
“Assuming we get there,” Ere pressed, “you feel up to battling him until one of you is dead or unconscious?”
Rui paused tellingly in her strokes with the oiled cloth.
“I will do what needs to be done,” she finally answered. And there was enough conviction in her words, that Ere decided not to push further.
“You focus on getting me what I need for each event,” she added, staring at him pointedly. “Leave the fighting to me.”
“Let’s recount the requirements, shall we?” Ere began, while Sorin got up to see to their horse.