Chapter 4
They passed the better part of the day like this, alternating between acidic banter and sullen silence. Eventually, darkness began to fall once again.
Ky finally broke what had been one of the longer bouts of silence. "Shouldn't we stop somewhere for the night?"
Sol nodded absently. "We will, in a moment. In fact I think we're really close. Just up ahead here there should be- ah!" Sol gestured toward the wall of the canyon. It was difficult to see in the dark, but Ky could discern a small opening, just about large enough for a human to enter. Sol grinned and walked into it. Ky followed him a bit more hesitantly.
The entrance seemed to open up into some sort of large space, but the darkness outside was already to the point where Ky couldn't make out anything of the interior. Suddenly however, a dim red light filled the space. Ky looked at Sol, who had his hand on his sword hilt. The sword was slowly heating, giving off the dull illumination. By this light, Ky could see a circle of stones in the center of the cavern, like the one they had used last night. There was already firewood in it.
Knowing what was expected of him, Ky touched the hilt of his own sword, drawing on it for energy. A small spark of lightning illuminated the cavern with a bright blue-white light for a second, before hitting the firewood and setting it ablaze.
Sol took his hand from the sword's hilt, and by the brighter flickering light of the campfire, Ky took in his surroundings.
The cavern looked comfortable enough. It was about as large as his office back at headquarters. The floor was covered in dry sand, the pale yellowish contrasting with the dark dull gray of the walls. Along one side of the cave was a large stack of chopped firewood and several waist-high jars, towards which Sol now strode.
Taking the lid off of the first one along the line, Sol bent over it and took something out, breaking it in half. "Catch," he said, and tossed one half to Ky.
Ky was caught off guard, but managed to intercept the lump as it flew towards him. Looking a bit closer, he saw that it was in fact a large chunk of cheese. He stared stupidly at it for a moment. "Are you sure you should be taking this stuff? Won't the owner get angry?"
Sol paused from where he was rummaging in the second jar and gave Ky a skeptical look. "What are you, stupid? Who do you think put all of this here? I told you I come here often. Now, most of the bread in here is moldy already, but I should still have some that's good..."
Eventually the two of the settled next to each other by the campfire with a decent meal of bread, cheese, smoked meat, and even some vegetables that Sol had managed to can. They ate in silence, then afterward sat and stared at the fire.
"Hey, I've been meaning to ask you something," said Ky eventually.
"Hm?" Sol didn't sound exactly interested, per se, but at least he appeared to be listening.
"What's with your name?" asked Ky. "I mean, Badguy isn't really your last name, is it?"
"Why wouldn't it be?" asked Sol. Ky gave him a Look. "Alright, alright," he admitted. "It's not really. You happy now?"
"But why?" Ky persisted. "I mean, why 'Badguy' of all things?"
Sol shrugged. "Why not? It's what I am, right?"
Ky leaned back comfortably against the cave wall. "I guess. But aren't the bad guys always supposed to consider themselves noble and doing the right thing? You know, the good guys?"
Sol leaned over close to Ky to the point where the Knight could feel his warm breath against his ear. "Oh no," he whispered, "I'm a bad, bad man."
Ky jumped slightly and elbowed Sol away from him. "Haha, very funny."
Sol grinned and removed a small flask from the inside of one of his boots. He took a swig of it, and then offered it to Ky. "Drink?"
Ky wrinkled his nose. "No thank you. I don't generally drink hard liquor."
Sol snorted and took another swig. "Oh really. Since when did you get to be such a pansy? God, no wonder you're still a virgin." He leered at Ky. "That is easily curable, you know. The virgin part, I mean. You might still be a pansy afterwards. Of course, before you can have sex, you'll have to take that stick out of your ass."
"Why do you keep assuming that I want to have sex with a guy anyway? Has it ever occurred to you that I might be straight?"
"No," said Sol, grinning. "Because I know you liked it when I kissed you."
"Oh shut up. I did not," said Ky, glad that the flickering firelight made it difficult to see him blush.
They sat another moment in long silence, before Ky once again interrupted it with a question.
"Why did you do it? I mean, you know, leave the Knights?"
Sol shrugged, still swigging at his flask. "You mean steal the sword, don't you? I don't know. Bad leadership?"
Ky sighed, looking heavenward. 'Father,' he thought silently, 'why are you testing me with this man? Do I really deserve this?' His mind drifted back to the kiss that Sol had given him on their first night in this canyon, and suddenly he wasn't so sure anymore.
"Besides," Sol continued, oblivious to Ky's inner turmoil, "I'm much better without the Knights anyway. Me and my Fireseal here can take care of anything on our own." He grinned and patted the hilt of his sword.
Ky rolled his eyes. "Oh, you're just so proud of that sword, aren't you?"
Sol quite suddenly pinned him with a very definitely lecherous stare. "Oh yes," he said, leering, "I'm very proud of my sword. Do you want to practice with it? I'm sure you'd be very good at handling it."
Ky blushed, too embarrassed to say anything. When he didn't answer, Sol took it as a negative.
"No then? Well, can I at least play with yours?" He reached across Ky's lap, hand moving towards the hilt at his left side.
With a snarl, Ky caught his wrist. "No one touches my sword but me." He paused, and there was a comical beat of silence before Sol burst out laughing.
"You walked right into that one!" he howled, slapping his knee. Ky glared at him, but it only seemed to make Sol crack up more. Finally, Ky lost his temper.
"That's it. Get out. Out of here. Now."
"What?" Sol looked startled. "But you can't kick me out of here! This is my-"
His protest was interrupted by a judicious application of lightning on Ky's part. Sol yelped and jumped slightly, moving away from him.
"Hey, you didn't have to..." he trailed off, apparently noticing Ky's set expression and the hand still on his sword's hilt. "Eheh, I'll just go sleep outside, shall I?"
Ky watched, feeling pleased with himself, as Sol trudged out. "Gee," he heard Sol mutter under his breath, "someone's touchy tonight."
Ky lied down in the sand, his back to the wall, and smiled in satisfaction as he heard rain begin to fall outside.
Oh God, that was hideous. Take me back.
or
Oh God, that was hideous. Let me complain to the author.