Chapter 21

Free Time

So I have a full hourglass all to myself which while nice, feels a little strange. I’m so used to everything in my life being part of a regimented schedule that I don’t really know what to do with myself. Free time without being utterly exhausted during it is certainly a novel concept, but how to spend it?

I briefly consider going to watch the other boys train, before discarding the idea. The risk of getting pulled into a training session is too high. In the end, I spend most of the time hovering around the main hall, alternating between sitting and doing push-ups. I was more right than I realized when I was getting mad at Xael. I am so starved of exposure to fun things that I genuinely can’t think of something better. Maybe I should take up juggling.

I abandon the pushups, and in fact, flee the manse entirely when a pair of the domestic slave women taking food upstairs share a giggle over me exercising on the ground. The moment they are no longer looking at me I head for the main entrance, face burning, and stomach full of knots.

After which I go from hovering around in the main hall of the manse to dozing in the sun near the south gate. Sitting on the sand, back against the warm stone wall of the compound. I suppose it is kind of nice, but I’m bored in no time at all. So bored that I fell fully asleep.

I come awake to Xael doing one of the dumbest things a person in the BloodRock compound can. Shaking my asleep form by the shoulder. I’m on my feet in a blink, shoving whoever it is away. I’m in the midst of launching a bite at the person’s face when I recognize both who it is, and that I am not in any danger. I try to pull up short, but it’s Xael’s own reflexes that save him. The boy dances back on the balls of his feet, eyes full of surprise.

“Are you insane?!” I snap at him. “ I could have fucking killed you.”

The rich boy smirks back at me. “ Someone has a high opinion of themselves. I am Divine blade of the GodsRing you know.”

I rub my eyes as I reply. “ I don’t know what that is.” Though in truth I could probably guess.

“ It means I won the biggest tournament in my homeland, one with both adults and kids competing.” That gets my attention. Adults are a pain in the ass to fight, they tend to have a ton of tricks each, not to mention they are just big. I’ve fought a few youths bigger than me, but it's certainly not a common state of affairs. For this scrawny kid to overcome just the reach and power of adult warriors is pretty impressive. I suppose I can picture it. The way he moves when we train together is something special to behold.

“Let's just say I’m suitably impressed and move on,” I say with a yawn. His look of faux agony as he clutches his chest at my dismissal is so exaggerated I can’t help but laugh.

Shaking my head I ask “ So where are we going?” Despite my amusement, I am still cautious of this boy. I don’t trust things or people I don’t understand, and I absolutely do not understand Xael.

“I conferred with my sister and she suggested I leave that up to you. I’m a tourist after all.” I’m not quite sure how he managed to say that while both seeming light-hearted and full of venom. ‘Wait. Did he say I get to pick where we go? That can’t be right.’

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Wha-what?” I manage to stammer out.

“I was talking to Ilexa about what you said, and she suggested you might find it novel to decide your own destination for once.” He says in such a casual manner that I’m certain he doesn’t understand the weight of his own words.

I almost blurt out ‘the beach’ but manage to stop myself. It was already past noon when I met with the houselord, and getting to the coast through the city will take hours. I could never get there and back in time to get dinner, let alone enjoy the experience.

If I choose something closer I could take my time watching the performers on the Grand Processional. That would be fun. I usually march alongside a wagon when I see those guys and never get a real chance to watch the shows.

Where to go? I've lived in this city my whole life, but I don’t go places. Where do free people my age go to hang out? I have no idea.

But there is one place on this side of the city I would like to visit if I can figure out exactly where it is.

“Well?” Xael asks, making a little prompting motion. It's at that point I realize that I have just been standing here open-mouthed staring at him.

“Oh umm.” I start to snicker a little, drawing a look from the foreign boy that suggests he thinks I’ve lost my mind.

With an effort of will and clenching of my neck and jaw, I manage to push the laughter back down for long enough to explain where I want to go. His eyes go wide, and honestly the apparent ‘divine blade’ seems even more excited about the idea than I am.

He bids me to lead the way and we walk out of the compound unchallenged. I leave the place for fights and events sometimes, this is something different and feels very alien like BloodRock is going to burst out of the manse screaming that I've misunderstood and to get back to training. Of course, nothing happens, but the compound is well out of sight before I can shake the feeling. Making our way through the twisting streets is a lot easier with just the two of us. In theory, this is a dangerous area to traverse in such small numbers. I’m not worried, Xael is armed and I’m always dangerous.

We see a few of the people who live around the BloodRock compound doing whatever it is they do, but none of them try anything. I’m almost disappointed.

The Grand Processional on the other hand is never a disappointment. With just the two of us we can’t bully our way through the crowds like a group from BloodRock normally would. Xael seems prepared for it, more prepared than I am anyway. He weaves through the people with the same grace he does everything. I try to emulate him, but it doesn’t really work. More than once I exchange insults with someone I've bumped into.

It’s still fun. There is always a festival aire to the enormous street, and we stop to watch a firebreather live up to his name. The man is just a regular human which makes the feat far more impressive. A Blessed could do the same easily, but there would be no trick to it.

While I’m gawking at a lady who can bend herself in all sorts of crazy ways Xael purchases some kind of oily meat on a stick for each of us. It is the best thing I have ever eaten, and after a moment of hesitation, I crunch up the wood in my mouth and eat that too, savoring even the grease that had soaked into the stick. It is evidently the funniest thing Xael has ever seen and he is still exclaiming over the action when I lead us off the Processional and into the manufacturing district near one of the smaller markets.

The locals have some name for this place like ‘Robe Town’ or something stupid like that, but I don’t remember it. To me and I imagine most of the city it's just the place where they handle making clothes. Or at least it used to be in the last few years all manner of cafes and restaurants have sprung up between the various seamstresses and weaving houses.

I’m not really sure where to go from here, but it isn’t hard to figure out. There is a huge group of kids with parents, or adults alone conspicuously carrying uneven pairs of short swords clambering around outside one of the double-story seamstress shops. If I wasn’t already sure this was the place I was looking for the occasional chants of “ Resh! Resh! Resh!” Or “ You can’t stop the Rush!” From the crowd are dead giveaways.