Gigi hopped off the ladder onto the makeshift dock. Drake followed, clearly still a bit shaken from the exchange with Qarl. She was bursting at the seams with questions for her soldier. However, she wondered if the busy docks leading to Black Cat Hollow would be the best place for such private questions.

The goblin extended her hand to Drake. He seemed rocky on the ladder. Gigi eyed the massive drop that they were above wearily. She didn’t care how strong he was. He wouldn’t be walking away easily from a fall into the unseen treacheries below. It was then that his foot missed the bottom rung. She saw his fingers lose purchase, and his whole form began to slip. He started to fall into the abyss.

Gigi’s hand shot out and grabbed him by his rune-covered forearm. She pulled him hard, harder than she had intended. Drake came crashing forward into her as she saved him again. His total weight pressed into hers. She tried to stop his momentum but found the unexpected shift too much to balance. They collapsed backward painfully. He landed hard on Gigi, knocking the wind out of her.

“By the gods, what happened?” she groaned.

“I’m sorry,” he coughed. Their eyes met as Drake stabilized himself. He pushed up, placing his hands on the hard stone around Gigi’s shoulders. “ I just…I don’t know, I…” She gazed deeply into his blue eyes as he was on her. “Guess I lost it for a second.”

“Are you okay?” concern lacing her words. Drake gave a slight nod. For a moment, they just stayed as they were. She could feel him breathing hard against her. She knew she needed to tell him to get off of her, but a part of her didn’t want to. It was kind of nice, even if it was on the docks to a seedy underbelly market.

“You know they sell rooms at the inn, right?” asked an insectoid stranger.

“I was saving his life!” Gigi cursed at him as the bug-man walked by. She looked back to Drake. “You should probably get off of me, though.” Drake complied and pushed himself back to his feet before extending his hand to Gigi. She took it, and he hauled her back to her feet with a grunt. They began to walk toward the massive mouth of the cave that twisted deeper still and ended at their final destination.

They walked in silence for a few minutes. The crowd around them congealed at the entrance and dimly lit tunnels beyond. Gigi sporadically looked back at Drake. He appeared to be lost in his world. The soldier’s eyes were focused on the ground before him and little else. That conversation with Qarl had triggered something in him. It was making her nervous. Finally, she could take it no longer.

“You feeling okay?”

“I’m okay,” he mumbled back. Gigi narrowed her eyes and kept walking until they hit a fork in the path. She knew the tunnel to the left was a dead end, as did most travelers who came down here. It was the perfect spot for some privacy.

She took his hand to lead him and found it was trembling. A slight frown played on her lips. This poor man. She gently tugged him onto the path, and he followed as the rest of the crowd continued right.

“Here, take a seat,” she said, slinging her duffel bag over her shoulder.

“Won’t we be late for the duel?” He asked groggily.

“Probably,” she said casually. “You’re more important though.” She pointed to the spot on the ground next to her. Drake complied and knelt on the cold floor. He hugged his knees and leaned against the rocky wall.

Gigi fished a water skin from her bag and handed it to Drake. He stared at it.

“Drink it, it’s just water.” He nodded and gently took it from her. He took several deep gulps and exhaled sharply like he had just finished a race.

“Want to talk about it?” Gigi offered, joining him on the ground. She crisscrossed her legs and leaned against the wall with him.

“Not really,” he sighed. “But I suppose I owe you some answers.”

She shook her head. “You don’t owe anyone that pain. If it hurts too badly, we don’t need to dig.”

He gave her a small smile.

“Thank you…Gigi.”

There was that flutter again when he said her name. She could have been imagining it, but it felt like it was growing stronger with each day they spent together. She wondered if he felt the same way.

“Drake, when you’re ready, I would like to know more about your past, whatever you’re willing to share anyway.”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

His gaze seemed to snap from the abyss back to her. A focused look came over him. “You deserve to know, even if it hurts…but I’m not really good at telling stories. Maybe you can just ask me what you want to know?”

She was surprised. Gigi thought for sure he would take the out she was offering. He wanted her to know the truth about him, even if was ugly. If she was being honest, Gigi was scared of what she might find lurking in his past. She also knew that he didn’t deserve to bear the weight of this on his own. It was becoming clear to her how alone in the world Drake really was.

“Okay, we can do that,” she agreed. Gigi shrugged. “I guess let’s start with an easy one, so, you’re the ‘Shadow Drake?’”

Drake nodded. “Yep, esteemed Sword of the Kingdom.”

“That’s why they treated you so badly?”

He shook his head. “No, that started after…my duel with Gaius, after my rebellion…”

“Is what Qarl said true? You refused the order?” Gigi asked hopefully.

“I did, but it didn’t make any difference. In the end, I failed them all. I was their champion and couldn’t save them,” he said bitterly.

Her heart broke hearing his words. This is what he had been talking about in her room. He still blames himself. She frowned and thought of all the reasons that this wasn’t his fault. That it was the king and Gaius’s cruelty that hurt those people. She knew, though, how hollow that must sound. It wouldn’t change that night, and the loss would remain.

She put her hand on top of his. “Yeah, you lost that fight, but Drake, you fought. You stood for what you knew was right. You said no. You did that, and because of you, Qarl lost his leg instead of his family. Like I said before, those people were lucky to have you.”

Gigi could feel a mounting intensity burn within her as she spoke. “You don’t know how rare what you did was Drake.” She thought of the many men she had met, how they would boast when times were easy and then disappear when things got the slightest bit hard. Gigi felt sure that whatever Drake’s faults, she could never count coward among them.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before blowing it out. “Thank you…I only did what I could. I knew, though…I was never going to beat Gaius.”

Gigi’s ears twitched in anger. She was really starting to hate this Gaius prick. To hear Drake speak so defeatedly enraged her.

“Why in the seven hells not?” She demanded. A look of surprise came over him. “You’re THE Shadow Drake! Apparently, a very famous and powerful warrior.”

He gave her a small smile. “It’s hard to explain, but…I knew I couldn’t bring myself to kill him, even after what he’s become…we had just been through so much.”

Gigi scowled. “Just who is this guy anyway?”

Drake sunk into himself. “We have a complicated relationship…”

Gigi tilted her head in confusion. “Drake, that’s what people say when they used to sleep together.”

The soldier burst out laughing. He shook his head. “No, we weren’t lovers, but we…came up together, I guess you could say. We had each other's backs. We were like…”

“Brothers,” she finished with sadness in her voice.

Drakes shrugged. “Something like that. He changed…so much I couldn’t recognize him anymore. Still, I hoped maybe he could change back, that I could hold onto him. Maybe he was still in there, but…then that order came down…it was too much.”

“Did you try to talk him out of it?”

“I did…but in the end, I was the one that struck first…”

Gigi’s eyes went wide. She hadn’t been expecting that. Her stomach flipped. “Why? That seems unlike you.”

Drake squeezed her thumb as her hand lay on top of his. He looked grim as if he were attending a funeral. A long frown creased his lips.

“It was what he said… I just couldn’t believe it…it made me so angry…”

Gigi leaned in closer, absorbed in his words. “What did he say?”

“That he didn’t understand why I was so upset. That the people in that city should be honored to…be a whetting stone for a Swords like us. That I was giving their worthless lives meaning by ending them… they would become a stepping stone to glory…and our freedom.” Drake looked away and tossed a stone at the wall with his free hand.

Gigi didn’t say anything. She didn’t know what to say, what she could say. She wanted to say she understood what he was feeling, but she knew that wasn’t true. The goblin wanted to take the soldier’s pain away, but she just didn’t know how.

“What happened next?” She asked finally.

“I called him a butcher and lashed out with all my strength. I wanted just to make him yield in a single blow.” Drake shook his head and laughed bitterly. “Foolish, but I thought maybe he could still see reason…end this was madness… I was wrong…the rest...” He waved his hand in the air, dismissing it. “In the end…you know the story.” He looked at Gigi with tired, sad eyes.

She had no idea what to say. Instead, she moved in closer to him and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. She was about to give a reassuring squeeze but remembered to check her strength and just held the embrace.

“I’m sorry you went through that,” she whispered. “You’re safe now.”

Drake smiled and returned the hug, pulling her closer. Once more, she could feel his chest rise and fall against hers. It still felt nice; It hadn’t been a fluke. They embraced until Drake’s breathing slowed back down.

“I think I’m ready if you want to go to the duel now,” he said at last.

“Are you sure?” She didn’t really want the moment to end.

“Yeah, let’s go. I want you to tell me all about your duels now.”