Wren
Ch. 27
After an hour of searching the island, they found Ralph. They were in a small clearing not too far from the shore of the island. The target hadn’t noticed them yet, and they were speaking in hushed tones trying to make a plan.
“So how do you want to handle this?” Asked Rich.
“I’m not sure. Isn’t this more your area of expertise? You’ve killed, what, three of them so far?”
“Only the first one. The second was killed by someone else, and this is my second attempt on the third. I guess I’ll just throw my—” Rich cut himself off when his hand grasped empty air, “Shit! I didn’t bring my knife. I don’t suppose you’ve got a weapon on you?”
“No, but I do have magic.”
“It won’t work, shape changers are immune to magic, you know that.”
“Yeah, but once magic fire spreads, it’s just fire.”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m not letting you sacrifice more time off your life for me.”
“I’m not going to let you take on all this alone. It’s only a year.”
“No! You shouldn’t even be here! Wren targeted me and only me. I shouldn’t have gotten you involved.”
“‘Gotten me involved?!’ I’m the one who brought you here! I’m not taking no for an answer.”
Brandon extended his arm and shot a ball of fire the size of a watermelon rocketing towards Ralph. It impacted only a few feet from them. The weather had been dry, and the fallen leaves were the perfect kindling. The fire spread. So quickly, that they barely had time to form an inarticulate scream before being fully engulfed by the flames. They never got the chance to see it coming. With a snap, Brandon extinguished the flames.
Rich was almost disappointed. This thing that had caused him so much grief was just gone. He’d expected a fight, or at least for Ralph to recognize him before they died.
“You shouldn’t have done that, there was no way that was only a year off your life. Especially with the showboating of a fireball instead of just a clean ignition.”
“You can’t just magic a fireball into existence without a bit of flair. And I’m not going to let you get killed.”
“Ok, but now I really owe you.”
“Yeah.”
“You’re not gonna argue?”
“I just gave up a year of my life for you, of course you owe me. This isn’t like last time where it was just my job at stake. Of course, don’t worry about paying me back until—” Brandon paused when he noticed a hand on his shoulder. Rich had one on his as well.
“Good job boys. You know, that one was actually my parent. I’m almost a little sad to see it go.”
Shit! Wren actually doesn’t have their hand on the sword for once! If I’d remembered my knife, I could end this right now. “If that’s your parent why did you want it dead?” Rich asked, “And why are you killing shape changers if you are one?”
“I’m a bit beyond the rest of my kind. As for my motive, I don’t want to give all of my secrets up at once.” Wren flashed Rich a grin. Rich would have punched it off of their face if he thought he’d survive the attempt. “I think you’ve earned another day off, since this one was such a big job, even if you did fuck it up the first time. I’ll get in contact when it’s time for your next one.”
With that Wren removed their hand, rested it on the hilt of Rich’s sword, and vanished.
“I think I should go back home,” Rich said.
“Yeah. Let’s.”
Brandon took Rich home, and once he got Rich settled, headed home himself. He was pleasantly surprised at Rich’s attitude. Despite the circumstances, he seemed to be doing better than he had since before this whole thing had started.