A few moons had passed, as promised, EvilClown had sent the bard letters requesting her assistance in quests he could have easily conquered by himself. The hunts to strengthen themselves had gone well and without incident. Today was another day, and he had told the bard to meet him at Nobis village so they could journey through the ruins together.

 

The afternoon was bright and the sun shone through the cracks in the broken walls which were the ancient ruins of Nobis, there was rumour of a great creant here, but they had both already faced the fearsome Medusa many deochs ago. Today would be their third hunt to date. In between getting together to hunt, the two had been passing their time by sending birds carrying carefully worded notes to one another. Hers often contained something silly she’d wrote and his replies usually mocked her mercilessly. She could almost imagine his laughter which belied the harsh words he wrote to her, as she knew he did not mean what he wrote.

 

Todays journey was to be different than the rest they’d embarked upon so far. They were picking their way over rubble and piles of bones on the dusty floor of the ruins. A monster managed to hurt him for the first time since they'd met. Her heart felt as if it was being gripped by a fist as she worried for him. The bards shout was so loud, it echoed within the ruins!

“Evil! I’m so sorry! I couldn’t heal you quick enough, are you badly hurt?”

He slowly faced her laughing, “Are you daft girl? Have you seen the size of me? I’m so strong I can pick you up with one arm, that beast barely grazed me.”

Blushing furiously she muttered something about moving on to the next monsters which were advancing upon them and began her chants to inflict the curse Darker Seal upon the enemies.

 

Embarrassment had caused the woman to walk ahead, then become so intent on chanting the words which would bring forth the curse and ignoring him, that a skeleton had gotten close to her while she was vulnerable. Unable to keep his eyes off her he'd already seen it. EvilClown raced over before she could react. With his sword out, his Cathonic shield cast aside, he picked her up, throwing her over his shoulder and spared her the skeletons deadly swipe. For his troubles he gained a deep ragged cut down his forearm, which he never felt due to the adrenaline coursing through his body. The most Claudine could do at this point was let out a muffled cry as she was gathered up in his powerful grasp. Without missing a beat in his deadly sword dance, he swung his blade to fell the beast with one shattering blow to its’ chest. Dust exploded in the air as the bones of the corpse flew in the direction of his sword thrust.

 

The Eclipse, EvilClown’s long blade which was as black as conyx rocks, dropped to the floor with a heavy thud. He slowly lifted her off his shoulder and held her in his arms. Scrambling to clutch at his neck, her legs flailing wildly, she feared she may fall. Claudine’s eyes were scrunched shut in fear. Closing his eyes to savour the moment and the scent of her perfume so close to him, he sharply exhaled. He'd been holding his breath without realising it. It felt like an eternity had passed whilst the gladiator held the delicate bard in his powerful embrace. Finally opening his eyes, he searched every detail of her face and truly looked at her. He could see every freckle that was scattered across her nose, and a curious scar on her lower lip, all the time her heartbeat thundering against his chest, it was at that moment that he felt something stir deep inside him.

 

She was trembling against his body. Rose bud lips were slightly parted and those deep blue eyes were wide open now, if she hadn't looked so shocked, he would have risked kissing her. The tension between them was unbearable so EvilClown thought to break it by letting out a hearty laugh.

“Didn’t I tell you that you were safe with me?” he asked her

Once she registered his words, her shocked expression wore off and was replaced by a scowl, “Evil! Why are you laughing at me? I could’ve died! Don’t ever do that to me again!”

Intently studying her face, his mouth widened in amusement, “I can’t promise that.”

Gently lowering her to the ground, his hand lingered a moment on the small of her back before stooping to retrieve his fallen Eclipse, he then moved to approach an oncoming losgann. Turning away from her gaze to greet the beast, a small smile played on his lips, he wordlessly carried on stepping over the scattered bones. Her heart was aflame, Claudine trailed after him remembering the feel of his body against hers and their hunt continued.