“Phew! Every time I talk with your father I feel like I am about to be executed… Those eyes can kill!”

What I thought would make the girl chuckle seems to have set off the held back feelings Sera was experiencing. As we walked through the streets of Alymor – the capital of Cosir – she buries her head in her arms and silently cries while we walk through the excited mass of people leaving the colosseum.

Pull the weeping woman closer to me in a half hug, but the attempt at calming her down subtly is shown to the world when she wraps her arms around me while burying her face in my chest like she always does when she needs to let a few tears out. Between the sound of her crying, I can hear people whispering amongst themselves. My name is mentioned frequently, and we are given a wide birth as people move around us like a water does with a rock.

I can only wrap my hands around the weeping girl – holding her tight. She needs to feel secure I think. Everything in her world was turned upside down in the span of a single afternoon. Her father is correct that no one will expect us to leave today. No one knows about our connection with each other.

That doesn’t make the process of leaving easy, however. She literally has nothing now. Everything and everyone she knows is at home.

I presume her father will tell her friends something about her visiting some relatives or something. He will figure that out.

What should have been a good day for her, became a nightmare. A nightmare where she has to leave her house with someone she only meets during her darker times. She has only seen me kill. She has only heard me say “everything will be fine in the end”. Her life is in my hands, and I think that terrifies her. She can take care of herself, but she can’t keep the potential assassins at bay.

To add to that, she is the daughter of a senator – one of the richest men in the country. A woman that has gotten everything she asks for. She had strong companions on her side at all times. She had all the fancy equipment she could ever need. She had everything. And now she has nothing. Nothing except a man who’s hands that only knows how to kill.

Why did the senator send me? I know I asked to be her guard, but that is all I am good at. I am good at killing her pursuers. Not taking care of her. She isn’t like me. I am used to be alone. I have always been alone. She has friends and family. Why did the senator ask me to take care of her? I am starting to regret this…

That being said, we have to start moving. If the senator is being attacked, someone needs to know where the senator is. That means there are someone watching the senator and his movement. Eventually they will realize the girl is not coming back.

“Sera”, I whisper in the ears of the beautiful and fragile girl using me as a towel.

“We need to start moving”.

She gently nods her head, and gathers herself back to the previous dignity she held herself with before she let herself go.

“I know, Akif”.

We walk through the stone paved roads of Alymor. The happy and carefree attitude projected around us stands in great contrast to what the two of us are feeling. A few minutes ago I was a slave. A slave that fought for my life. A slave that killed a man, and won my freedom as result.

A few minutes ago I had somewhere to return to. I had a bed. I had food. I had a safe place to call my home.

Now I am responsible for keeping the daughter of a senator safe. A woman I only have held in my arms in a safe place.

What do I do no? How do I keep the woman safe? I can’t let this one die. Where do we go? What do we do? Where do we live?

A mountain if questions flows through my mind as we continue on our way to the Dunedime beast merchant.

After she gathered herself she grabbed my hand, and never let go. I can feel her shivering still as we walk through the happy streets of Alymor.

If they would know what is going to happen soon. Soon the happy streets will be filled with the tension of war.

The occasional quip of grief can be heard from her. She isn’t crying anymore, at least not on the outside.

The stables where the Dunedime beasts are being sold smells pretty interesting. A mix between mint and sweat, piss and shit can be smelled as we make our entrance. The stone building is rather plain-looking, and a big stall filled with the low growls and heavy breaths of the big beasts we will be riding on can be heard. A fat happy man yells a quick “hello” as he walks in our direction with a winning smile on his face.

Is that how all the merchants look?

“Hello there! Me and my lady are looking to purchase one of your Dunedime beasts, please. We just need one, with a saddle that can fit the both of us. I have seen people ride on them. They should be able to carry the both of us, I believe?”

The merchant chuckles underneath his heavy breath.

“You could have a whole colosseum on one of those, and they wouldn’t even notice it. They are strong, fast and have immense stamina. Perfect mounts”

Sera looks questioningly at me since she was introduced as “my lady”, but I just glance down at her while giving her my signature smile. The smile has become synonymous with the words “everything will be fine”, so she doesn’t think anymore off it.

She didn’t seem to mind being called my woman, so I make a mental note to use the alias of us being a couple to help reduce the chance of being detected by any potential watchers. People rarely remember a young pair of lovers traveling together, as they are everywhere. Even on the streets we can see them walking hand in hand. We will just be one of the many. Adding to that -only the people that have actually seen her knows she is the daughter of the senator, and I hope they are few in numbers.

“Good! We will take one. How much for it including the saddle?”

“Weeeell… Let’s say 20 gold?” The merchant tells me with a pleasant smile. I nod approvingly at the man, but something about his demeanour makes me think I have made a mistake and paid too much for the beast.

Fuck… It is a lot easier to read humans if your life is on the line. I can tell where a sword is going to hit, and from which angle, but I can’t read simple body language. The years as a lonely gladiator has made me ill equipped to handle this responsibility.

I look down at Sera while thinking that she will be the one doing the shopping from now. To my surprise she chuckles at my rather disgruntled face, and undoes the moneybag I have been carrying.

With a quick “This will belong to me now”, she hands the merchant the money we owe him.

I can’t even handle money… fucking hell…

The merchant yells at one of the stable boys to ready a “Dual saddle with all the bags and straps”, and the beast itself.

The Dunedime beast is willingly being led by the 12-13-year-old boy towards us.

The lizard looking being is basically a grown up version of the tiny lizards frequently visiting us in our slave barracks. Brown, scaly hide with long, powerful legs and a low centre of gravity. Basically a big ass lizard. The tail is very thick.

A formidable weapon

Looks like they would be pretty hard to kill though. The scales look thick, and those legs and tail can easily kill a man – even in armour.

I help Sera on top of the lizard, and she takes the reigns of the beast. It isn’t terribly tall – only 1 meter and 30-50 cm tall, but it is still a bit of a struggle to get on the first time. I decide to jump on top of the lizard, something I presume the lizard will take with great displeasure.

To my surprise, the lizard doesn’t seem to give a damn about it, and I plonk my ass comfortably in the soft, fur saddle we bought. The saddle seems to be made for long hauls. The soft furry leather is bolstered with some kind of soft material, making it surprisingly pleasant to ride on. I wrap my hands around Sera, and we head off.

We have to take it slow as the streets are filled with people, but after a good hour of riding we exit the city. The guards at the city gates doesn’t seem to recognize Sera, but they seem quite fascinated by the dress she is wearing. It nicely hugs her curves. Nicely hugged curves create attention. Attention is something we don’t want right now.

We need to buy her some new clothes when we reach our first village.

We ride through the gates and start following the road to a nearby village. The new life I am to have seems to be filled with time on the road, so I start practicing manipulating my telekinesis again – something that has become a habit when I have nothing to do. I send energy to different parts of my body repeatedly as we ride through the forest road that is now surrounding us.

My concentration is broken by Sera’s quiet words.

“Why did pappy send us away?”

“I don’t know, Sera. Something must have happened. I know your father and I know that he would never let his only surviving family member leave his protection. He must have gotten some information regarding a threat on you. A threat he thinks he can’t handle”.

“I know, but why did he send me away with only you?”. She replies offhandedly.

An arrow of guilt and despair runs through me as I attempt to answer her question. She has a very valid reason to ask that question, but somehow the lack of trust she is displaying makes me feel… sad.

“I have asked myself that question many times, Sera. You know yourself that I am only good at one thing. That is how to kill. Although that skill is needed in your situation, other skills are required as well. I don’t have those skills. Your father made a mistake when he asked me to make you safe. I can keep you physically safe, but you will be the one taking care of me for the foreseeable future. I have realized that the skills I have learned during my time as a gladiator is not something I need in the real world. I only know how to kill”, I say with a voice on the brink of despair.

She seems to have picked up on my worried tone of voice, and quickly apologizes.

“Akif. I didn’t mean it that way. I am sorry for what I said. You are a very good companion to travel with. I am sure we will be fine. You are the one that keeps telling me everything will be fine in the end”

Her voice sounds a bit panicky, but that doesn’t mean what she said before is incorrect. She must be worried about what I am feeling?

“Don’t worry. I am extremely clear on how ill equipped I am with my social skills. Or any skills. I think I have a good head on my shoulders, and I can read potential threats. It is a skill I have honed for years after all. As I said before – that is not a skill that is needed in the real world. The world you are living in”.

I take a breath of air before continuing;

“Not to speak ill about your father, but he only taught me how to kill. My whole life thus far has revolved around killing, or improving my ability to kill. I can’t imagine what you must be feeling right now. A killer is holding around you while you are leading us to a place I have never even heard of. I only know the road between the slave barracks and the colosseum”

Riding with Sera has given me ample time to think about our circumstances. The telekinesis only works as a time killer for a while until the realization of the unfamiliar situation hits me.

“I am sorry, Sera. I shouldn’t have asked your father what I asked. I don’t know anything except for what I have been doing this far in my life. I don’t know anything”.

I mumble no good underneath my breath as I let the conversation die out. I don’t know what I said, but I have left Sera unable to reply to my statement.

She is shivering slightly in front of me – something she only does when she tries to hold back her tears.

“Sera? What is wrong?”

“Nothing, Akif. I just feel guilty for what I said earlier. I am sorry for being so mean. Please don’t hate me?”

Huh? Hate her?

“Why would I hate you? You are the only thing I have in my life. Why would I hate that?”

She is still shivering, so I decide to speak my honest feelings to her.

“Sera… Did you know that you were the only person I had spoken to in years when we first started speaking with each other? Remember the first time we met?”

“Yeah, Akif… I remember. I came to the barracks to look at my potential partner train with you guys. I remember you kicking the shit out of him after he asked you for a duel”.

“Did you know that the conversation we had that time was the first time I had spoken with anyone in years? The other gladiators didn’t want anything to do with me. It was as if I was plagued with some kind of disease. You have been my only pillar of light in this world, did you know that? I need you just as much as you need me. I know I am not like the other men in your life. I don’t know anything about this world. I am like a lost puppy. A puppy that is clinging on for dear life”.

The conversation grows quiet as I try to formulate my next sentence.

“I know what I am saying may sound scary. It probably is scary for you to know that the man that is supposed to protect you is even further out of his depts. I don’t know what your father thought when he asked me to keep you safe. I don’t even know how to make a fire, for fuck sake! What I do know, is that I will keep my promise. I will keep you safe. No human will get to you as long as I am alive, Sera. Do you understand?”.

She gently nods, and rests her back deeper in my embrace. It is not that she has been keeping her back straight before, but I can feel the full weight of her body resting against me now.

“I am sorry, Akif. I didn’t know you felt that way”.

“Don’t worry, Sera. Everything will be fine in the end, little bird. Everything will be fine”.

I feel like at this point I’m convincing myself of that fact instead of trying to make her feel better.

We ride and talk about ourselves. We haven’t really spoken that much about that. We never actually spoke about ourselves when I think about it. On my end it was probably because I didn’t have anything to say. I was a slave. My life involved the arena. That was it.

She? I don’t know. She was a senator’s daughter. She has experienced things I haven’t. Maybe she was afraid of telling me about it? She knows that our lives are very different, yet that difference seems to make her more open to me?

Maybe she feels like I am not judging her?

We ride into a village. Twilight is setting in, and the visibility is starting to get limited. We can see the silhouettes of people living their lives inside the wooden houses littering the main street. Shops in all shapes and sizes can be seen. I can see signs with written words, but some of them I don’t know what is. I have to voice the words out to understand what is written, and even then it is slow.

As we ride through the main street, Sera notices the sign where apparently “Inn” is written. She taught me how to read. But every word in my vocabulary comes from the single tome of elements and their description. I can perfectly describe how the fire element works, but I can read the word “Inn”. That word was never written in the tome.

She seems to realize that I am struggling with reading what is written on the signs, and starts to point at the signs while telling me what is written. It is a lot easier for me to understand it now.

I don’t think she realized that I never actually learned how to read until she saw me struggling and attempting to voice out the written words.

It must be a weird feeling for her to meet someone that never have gone to school. Everything I learned was from the other slaves. Even that influx of information stopped when they started distancing themselves from me. I wonder what she thinks about all of this.

We enter the inn, and a middle aged woman meets us with a big smile on her face. She is a bit round, but not unpleasant to my eyes. Her black hair and green eyes are quite eye catching. Like a curtain her hair flows down her back pleasantly. Her round welcoming face makes me feel welcome to here.

“Hello! Would you two like a room?”

Sera looks up at me with smiling eyes before replying;

“Yes! One room with a double bed please. One night. Is there any food here? We haven’t eaten for a while. Maybe you have some mead? Or spirits?”.

I don’t remember eating at all today. Wait… Double bed? One room?

“Of course! The room is 30 copper per night. Each meal is 4 copper each. You can pay when you leave. The tavern-room is located through that door”.

She smirks at me before saying;

“You should keep your woman under watchful eyes, young man. There are a few drunk adventurers around here, and they haven’t seen a lady like her in quite some time”

What is she speaking off?