Dark Lord of Kismera: Knights of Kismera (30 page)

Drace usually worked out at the hotel gym after working with the horses, but he skipped it. He had been cleared by his physical therapist to go back to work provided he work on his own, but did not want to take the time away from Ki. Once the horses were returned to their stalls he said, “Now I’m taking you shopping young lady. First stop is undergarments. They have a store in the casino mall.”

“Why ever do I need undergarments?” she asked.

“Because I don’t want to have to punch every man who’s lookin’ at you and your gorgeous breasts bouncing around” he answered.

“Oh,” she said, casting her eyes downward. “So sorry.”

“Don’t be. There’s another reason. When you’re thinking about sex, your nipples are a dead give-a-way; all those guys are going to see that too.”

“And you do not want to fight?” Ki reasoned.

“Right.”

There was a lingerie store in the casino mall and Drace turned Ki over to a capable sales lady with a list of what Ki needed and gave the woman license to add to it.

While he waited, he went into a store next door and bought a few toiletries for her. He came back and found a chair to wait in, ignoring the stares of a couple of young women.

When Ki came out with her items bagged, he got up and gave the saleslady his credit card. As they walked to the next store, Ki was smiling secretively.

“What’s that look for?”

“That woman was most helpful, my love. She did say something about my European,” she fumbled the last word slightly, “look and had some interesting suggestions.”

“Oh?” Drace said. He was curious about what those suggestions might have been as he steered her into another store, but to his dismay, Ki remained close-mouthed about them.

At the clothing store he bought her two pair of jeans, three pair of shorts, three t-shirts, and three tank tops, and two sun dresses all in various colors to mix and match. He also got her some short socks and a cute pair of tennis shoes that she didn’t want to take off after trying them on, wearing them out of the store, her boots in a store bag. Drace didn’t bother finding her a nightgown. He did talk her into a bathing suit. She still didn’t think women should wear so little clothing in public, but once she saw some of the suits the women were wearing by the pool as they went out to his truck to stash her new clothes, she didn’t think hers was so bad.

DRACE EXPLAINED TO KI how his casino show worked. He found her an out-of-the-way spot with a great view of the arena. He had changed into tight black riding breeches and high black boots with silver spurs. He had on a white long sleeve Spanish style shirt and a Spanish style wide brimmed hat. His hair was long enough he was able to tie it tightly back in a clubbed queue.

Drace walked past Ki to get Magnifico and stole a quick kiss. Ki crossed her arms over her breasts to hide her body’s reaction to the sight of his muscular buttocks and thighs in the tight breeches. She turned to watch the beginning of the show.

Drace had warned her the announcer and audience would be loud, but she still jumped when the speakers came to life.

The first act was a trick horse that sat down, counted, reared and several other tricks that made the audience laugh.

The next act was a woman in a sparkling dress directing four Arabian horses in a liberty exhibit. Ki thought it wonderful that the horses moved at her direction with no more than a voice command and a point of the whip. Ki did think the feathers the horses wore atop their heads were a bit foolish, but she kept that opinion to herself.

Drace’s ride was next. The announcer gave a brief explanation of the Andalusian horse and the style of riding, and then Drace rode the stallion into the spot light.

Ki watched Drace put the stallion through a ride similar to the one he’d done for her on Pride that seemed so long ago. At the end, Drace had Magnifico do a Spanish Walk, the stallion’s forelegs extending up high as he walked, proud neck arched.

Drace halted him, and then performed a collected rear. When Drace had the horse bow, head low along its foreleg, forelock touching the arena floor, the crowd went wild. Drace went one more lap around the arena at a slow canter then rode out the exit, getting quickly out of the way of the next performer.

He handed Magnifico’s reins to a waiting groom, patting the stallion’s neck in passing. Ki hurried after him to the dressing room. Drace started stripping as soon as he cleared the door. Ki put the Spanish costume carefully in his locker while he got his spurs off. Still wearing the black breeches and boots, Drace slipped on a lightly padded shirt.

The young man who played his squire helped him with the chain mail shirt and breastplate. Ki touched the chain mail with a frown of displeasure. “This is inferior work,” she said, studying the armor.

Drace caught her hand briefly. “This is just for show, Ki. No one is actually trying to kill me.”

With an embarrassed flush, she glanced at the young man behind Drace. She nodded slightly in understanding and stepped back, out of the way.

Drace pulled the black surcoat over the armor, the hem came to his knees. Ki looked him over and coldness came over her. A Knight of Kismera was standing before her, and a flash of the last time she had seen him came into her mind.

Drace’s squire poked him, directing his attention to Ki who was white as a sheet. He pulled her to him, and she placed her cheek against the hardness of the armor. “It’s okay, hon. That’s all over.” he whispered. He felt her shudder then relax. He stepped back to look at her face. “You okay?”

“Yes. I am fine. Somehow you just caught me unawares.”

“Sure?” He looked at her with concern.

“I am sure, my L….” Drace cut her off with a little shake of his head. “Truly, Drace.”

“Good girl.” He rubbed her forearms briefly then kissed the top of her head. “I’ll see you back here when I’m done. Go get your seat, hon.”

She parted company in the barn and took up her observation spot. Joe rode past her first, giving her a quick salute, which she acknowledged with a grin. Drace came next, giving her a sexy smile, and then lowered his visor.

The announcer boomed out a quick history of the medieval tournament. He then introduced the combatants. First was Joe, who he announced as the Green Knight, arch foe, then Drace as the Black Knight, champion and defender.

The squires ran out, holding the banners of their respective knight. Joe and Drace thundered out into the arena, the costumes on the horses swinging as the big horses cantered around, by the rail.

Stagehands had quickly set up a list rail; each knight went to his designated end.

Ki watched as Drace adjusted his shield and reins in his left hand and took a long lance from his squire in his right. She sat breathless as the first pass they made was a miss for both of them. Spinning their horse at the end, the men made another pass. Drace tipped Joe’s shield only hard enough to make a clanging noise, but the audience all gasped.

Before the final pass, Pride reared, high enough for Drace to have to settle him. Putting his heels into Pride’s side, they thundered forward. The two knights met in the middle, Drace’s lance hit the exact spot on Joe’s shield to splinter. Joe made his tumble to the side and hit the dirt.

Next came the sword fight and the Green Knight’s surrender. Ki watched as Drace picked the recipient of the token. Today he chose a family with a young girl of about fourteen. He handed her the ribbons and bells and kissed her hand, causing her to flash him a shy smile and blush wildly.

When Drace made it back to the props room, Joe was already there. “Damn, man! When Pride went up I thought we were going to get a repeat of him flipping over. I almost swallowed my damn gum!”

“When did Pride flip over?” Ki asked Joe as Drace sat to get his armor off.

“Oh, three, four months ago. Damn near killed Drace. Scared us all to death, I’ll tell you. Knocked him right out and he wasn’t himself for sometime. He’s back to trying to dent my head now.” Joe punched Drace in the shoulder as he went past. “Don’t scare me like that, man.”

When Ki looked at Drace he quickly ducked his head, but she didn’t miss the look of hurt in his eyes.

Once he had showered and changed back into his street clothes, he took Ki to a steak house on the way home. She talked excitedly about the show and her day. He looked at her with love and amusement on his face, but he was starting to get a nagging feeling in the pit of his gut that he couldn’t name.

He barely had gotten her and all her bags inside his apartment before they were pulling at each others’ clothes. The lights didn’t make it on and they only got as far as the sofa.

Ki laughed a little while later when she lay draped over him, her braid wrapped in his fist, his long legs hanging over the end of the sofa.

“What are you laughin’ at?” he murmured, feeling boneless. He let go of her hair and rubbed his hands up and down her back and bottom in slow lazy motions.

“I can still see,” she whispered and nuzzled him in the hollow of his throat.

He chuckled at her humor. “I’ll try harder next time.”

With her lying on top of him, he felt her mood change, her body tensing under his hands as he stroked her back. “What is it?”

“Tell me what happened, when Nimbus sent you back,” she whispered, her words soft against his chest.

Drace stiffened briefly then gave a huge sigh. “Party pooper,” he finally said. “Hop up, hon. I’ll get us something to drink, and then we’ll talk.”

She eased off him, and he rose and went into the kitchen, turning on the little light over the stove. “What do you want to drink?” he asked.

“Water will be fine.”

He brought her a glass of water and a beer for himself, popping the top off the bottle before coming back to the sofa. He made himself comfortable in the corner, putting his feet up on the coffee table, crossing them at the ankle. Ki drank most of her water then set the glass down on the table and curled up beside him.

Drace took a long swallow from the bottle then put one arm around her. “I don’t remember much of when I first came back. I think Nimbus got me back to almost the exact moment when I was sent to Kismera. I was told Pride flipped over and landed on top of me. When he got up my foot was caught in the stirrup and my knee was jerked pretty hard. I was knocked out for quite awhile. Pride wouldn’t let anyone get to me for a couple of minutes, but he knows Joe pretty well. Joe was able to calm him down and catch him.

Ki looked up at Drace and although he stopped to take another drink he was staring blindly at the far wall. “I had several broken ribs, a punctured lung, and some internal bleeding. One of the ribs had splintered and they removed the loose pieces. That’s where this scar came from,” he said and put her fingers on that one. “The one behind it was where they cut me open and inserted a tube to re-inflate my lung.” She felt the smaller scar a little further back on his side.

“I had a bad concussion so I don’t remember any of that. When I woke up after surgery I thought I was still with you and I was fighting. The nurses tied me down. When I finally could think clearly, I wanted to die.”

Ki felt something wet hit the back of her hand and she looked up in time to see another tear escape his eyes. He hastily wiped it away.

Ki hated to hurt him further, but she needed to tell him something she had been putting off. “Drace, my love, I felt the same way for so long. It took two moons before all the enemies were routed from our lands. The survivors had fled in many directions. Each time I fought I hoped to die in battle. It would have been easier than living day after day without you. Finally, Nimbus agreed to let me come to your world, so I could see for myself that you lived and were happy.”

“I don’t know that I’d say happy, but I was making it day to day. That’s all I could think to do.”

She choked on tears. “Oh Drace….”

He set his beer down on the floor by the arm of the sofa and pulled her into his embrace. “Shh, baby, don’t cry,” he said into her hair. “Please, don’t cry. We have each other now.”

She cried harder. “I cannot stay, she whispered into his chest. “I would give anything to stay with you, but I cannot.”

Drace held her tighter. “Somehow, I knew that. If you could have stayed you probably would have at least brought your own weapons, maybe Valor…or…. You have to take care of Oralia and your people. They need you, too.”

“Cearan could handle that,” she whimpered. “It is something else.”

Drace went still. “I thought Cearan was dead. I saw him fall.”

“He was wounded badly, but he is very strong and is quite recovered.”

Drace was elated that Cearan was okay, but Ki was still crying against him. “What is it, Ki? What’s wrong?”

“Nimbus warned me that if I came to your world the lion-kin part of me could not go. I could not live forever in your world without it. I cannot shift if I wanted.”

“So what does that mean?”

She didn’t answer as she was crying harder. His voice rose a degree, panic making it crack. “What does that mean?”

“I will die if I stay too long. But I wish it. I would rather die than go back and be alone.”

“I’ll go with you,” Drace told her, his face mirroring his panic.

“You cannot. I asked for that chance. Nimbus said his spell will work once each way. After that he cannot control it. You could wind up in the darkness of between, never returning.”

Drace felt fear and pain run through him. “How long, Ki? How long do you have?”

She shook her head. “I do not know. It could be two seven days or two summers. Nimbus did not know himself. He only knew that eventually I will grow weaker and weaker as time passes until I no longer exist. I do not know what to do.”

Drace pulled her close again, speechless for a minute. “I guess we still go day by day like we’ve been doing and enjoy each minute to the fullest. And then I let you go and we live with our memories,” he finally said.

Ki breathed a quivering sigh as her tears finally stopped. She couldn’t speak further of it; she was emotionally exhausted. She changed the subject. “How do we explain my presence here?” Ki asked him, yawning sleepily. She told him what little she had told Joe.

Drace gave a chuckle. “You, my Lady, cannot hide the fact that you have royal class. How about I met you a few years ago when I was competing in Europe? We’ve kept in contact over the years and when you decided to take some holiday time you contacted me.”

“Do we tell anyone we are bonded?”

“I don’t think so. Couples in this world sometimes live together and never marry. Sometime they just have a sexual relationship with or without affection. I guess we just wing it.”

“What is ‘wing it’?”

“’Wing it’ is just handling the questions as they come up,” he explained.

Ki started to fall asleep. Drace worked himself out from under her and then in one strong move, lifted her and carried her to bed. She made a protest when he didn’t join her.

“I’m going to clean up in the other room. I need to find my pants. God only knows where my boots are.” He leaned down to kiss her. “Just remember one thing. You’re
my
woman and I love you.”

Ki snuggled deeper into her pillow. “That was two.”

Drace smiled down at her, “Yeah, it was, wasn’t it? Go to sleep, hon.”