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They did slightly better on the armor front. I found a good leather tunic studded with steel diamonds in strategic places. It was black, it fit me, and best of all, it relied on laced cords to adjust the fit. I’d have to have help putting it on and taking it off. I’d never been in a full-out battle before, but I’d survived some vicious large scale brawls and fought my way through a couple of riots. From experience, I knew I would lose myself in a fight and strip out of my armor to improve freedom of movement without ever noticing I’d done it. I needed armor that was hard to take off. Anything with Velcro was right out of the question.
I was ready to give up on the armory, and then there it was, a single-edged blade, about twenty inches in length with a profile wider than, but strikingly similar to, Slayer. Perfectly balanced, with a distal taper, the sword was crafted from a single piece of spring steel with plain wooden panels for the grip. It was simple, unadorned, functional, not a medieval replica, but a modern age, no-nonsense weapon. It was perfect.
I swung it a couple of times, getting used to the weight.
“Two swords,” Bran said from the doorway.
His spasm had torn his clothes, and he had cut and rigged the remnants of his shirt and pants into a makeshift kilt, showcasing the world’s greatest chest. Too bad the kilt gave me a flashback to Greg’s killer. He had worn a kilt, too.
“Can you handle two swords?”
I pulled Slayer from the sheath, lunged at him, drawing a classic figure eight around his body with Slayer, and blocked his arm with the flat of the shorter blade when he tried to counter.
“Fancy. You missed,” he said.
“You want something?”
“I thought since we both might die tomorrow, you’d be up for a friendly roll-in-the-hay.”
“I might die. You’ll be healed.”
He shook his head. “I’m not immortal, dove. Do enough damage fast and I’ll kick the bucket like the rest of you.”
I disengaged and moved past him to the door.
His kilt fell.
“It took me forever to fix this!” He grabbed it off the floor and it fell apart in his hand. I had cut it in three places.
I walked out into the hallway and almost ran into Curran accompanied by a group of shapeshifters. Bran followed me in all his naked glory. “Hey, does this mean no sex?”
Curran’s face went blank. I dodged him and kept walking.
Bran chased me, weaving through the shapeshifters. “Get out of my way, don’t you see I’m trying to talk