Chapter 61

Chapter 61: 61 "Alright. That’s enough." Misha heard the voice but it didn’t register until the moment the chains restraining him suddenly blasted apart with the sound of ringing bells. He gasped as the life flooded back into him again and he quickly looked around. Naturally his first thought that it was Bran who had come to his rescue, but he was mistaken. "Fancy meeting you here, Mr. Long," said Zhan, one hand in his pocket, the other hanging by his side, his bracelet of bells clinking softly. Misha shoved himself to his feet and stumbled backward, away from the three of them, until his back hit something. A hand came down lightly on his shoulder. "Careful," said a voice. Misha whirled around and nearly tripped. "You’re the handsome librarian!" he gasped. He quickly looked around for somewhere else to run to. "He’s not a librarian," said Zhan with a scowl. "So you agree I’m handsome then?" Morgan immediately followed up. Zhan rolled his eyes and went back to ignoring him. "What is the meaning of this, Zhan?" demanded Artemis. He pulled a short dagger from his pocket and brandished it at the boy. When it became clear that he wasn’t going to reply, Artemis instead turned the blade toward the man. "Morgan?" Morgan sighed and didn’t stop Misha as he stumbled past him then sprawled to the ground as he tripped over a stone. In his defense, they were on the side of a sloped mountain. "A coincidence," said Morgan with a shrug. "Nothing more." "Nothing more ?" said Artemis. He was seething. Victory and redemption was right before him yet these two were standing in his way. What was worse, he knew that, even with Colin’s help, he was no match for one, let alone both of them. "Did Ling send you?" Misha froze at the mention of that name. This time Zhan replied. "Nah, we’re here because we want to be. It’s a free world, isn’t it?" "It’s private property," said Artemis. Zhan laughed. "That’s pretty fine, coming from you. So did Whale Toes ask you to summon up this fog and to attack their base, mm?" Artemis forced a grin and stepped forward a step. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Colin had already positioned himself in the perfect spot. Artemis had a chance. It was slim one, but it was better than nothing. He threw his dagger to the ground, so that it embedded itself deeply into the earth, the clasped his hands together in a complex seal. "Devourer of gods and man!" he shouted. "I release your bonds!" Colin bent forward and Misha watched in horror as his mouth opened wider than any human mouth, slicing his body down each side. From his throat gurgled up a mass of writhing worm-like things that quickly consumed the rest of his body like bees descending on an enemy. All the while, his total body size warped and grew larger until he was a mass of wriggling worms twice the height of a man and four times as wide. Misha looked to the handsome librarian Morgan then at the bell boy Zhan. The way they both focused on the transforming Colin with serious expressions did not fill him with confidence. He should probably start trying to sneak away from here... He carefully turned and started off while being mindful of avoiding any more tripping hazards. Unfortunately, he wasn’t the only one who knew this was a good time to get away. While all eyes had been fixed on the monster that had formerly been known as ’Colin’, Artemis Long had been making his way around the back and towards the unaware Misha and now he was ready to pounce... -- "Help..." Bran raced towards Misha’s voice, ducking under branches and jumping over rocks as they appeared out of the fog. And as he did, he did something he hadn’t done in years: he prayed. He didn’t have a particular god or deity in mind but all he could think about was wishing for Misha to be okay. A tree blew out of the white and he barely dodged it before moving on. "Bran..." Bran slowed and carefully listened to the whispered voice on the wind, confirming he was hurtling in the right direction. He was. Someone had flung up a Coil and it would have been near impossible for Bran to navigate the space on such short notice. He just hoped that Misha would still have the strength to shout for him by the time he got to him. A woody crash echoed through the trees and Bran drew his sword as he ran. He felt the Coil shatter around him and he swung it horizontally, blowing the mist in front of him away to reveal a small clearing ahead. "Misha!" To one side stood a boy, the one who’d stolen his sword, standing with his hands outstretched and clenched like claws. Before him lay a large puddle of dark goo. It was still steaming. Behind him, crouched the librarian from the Walled City with a young man laying in his lap. Bran felt his blood boil. "Get away from Misha!" he shouted, pointing his sword at the librarian. "Huh? Oh." The man raised both hands in a sign of surrender. "I was just helping but, sure, if you’re going to go attacking random people it might as well be me..." He rose and Misha’s body fell to the floor. "Ow..." Misha, now conscious again, rubbed his head and started to sit up. "What...? Bran!" Bran rushed forward and crouched by his partner. "Are you alright? Are you hurt?" He took Misha’s face in his hands then turned his head left and right to check for any damage. "Zhan," called the librarian. "I think we should..." He made a swirling motion with his hand. The boy, Zhan, glanced at the touching reunion happening and gave a sigh. He unclenched his hands and dusted them off before casually shoving them in his trouser pockets. "Good call." Bran, with one arm half-supporting Misha, half-grabbing him close, raised his sword and pointed it at the pair of stranger. "You think you can just leave like that?" His fingers dug into Misha’s arm. Zhan gave another sigh. "We saved your little boyfriend you know. Show a little gratitude..." "What...?" "It’s true," murmured Misha. Bran looked down at him. There was a cold gleam in Misha’s eyes. "My father is alive and he was here." He nodded toward the black goo on the ground. "That is, was, Colin. These two," he looked to Zhan and Morgan, "really did save me." Bran looked back and forth between Misha’s eyes, trying to assess the truth. Finally he turned back to Zhan and Morgan. "Why?" "Would you believe me if I said it was a coincidence?" asked Morgan. Bran’s glare told him ’no’. Morgan sighed. "I swear, the quality of today’s youth..." "We’re here on our own business," said Zhan. He strode forward and Bran tensed, holding his sword up higher. "Is that... the real blade?" There was a greedy look in his eyes. "Real blade?" asked Bran. He tightened his grip on both the sword and Misha. "No, it’s not," said Morgan as he stopped next to Zhan and put a hand on his shoulder. "I think it best if we..." "Don’t you dare-!" But Morgan did dare and the pair teleported away without any resistance. When they were gone, Bran dropped the sword to the ground like it was just a useless piece of metal and turned his full attention to Misha. "I’m fine. Really," said Misha with a chuckle as Bran patted him up and down. "Really? But you seem..." "A little worse for wear," finished Misha. "Colin bound me in the chains for a bit then my father tried to use the crystal on me again, so I still feel kind of tired." "I’ll take you to see Gou Ngaam." "Later." Misha patted Bran on the hand. "Let her finish with all the other healing she has to do and have a rest." Bran took a breath to calm himself. "Right... You said your father was here. Where is he?" "He ran off after the librarian slashed him." "When?" "Maybe a minute before you arrived?" Bran nodded then picked up the sword and thrust it into the ground by where they both sat. He muttered a few words and thin veins of light curled away from the metal along the ground like silver snakes then disappeared among the grass. Misha was about to ask what this was about when the light from the veins suddenly bloomed upward to form a four legged creature with a cat’s body, wings, and a raven’s head. It gave a silent caw then sat down like a dog before Bran. If Misha didn’t know better, he’d say the creature was rather happy to see Bran. "Clover, I need you to tell Aunt Yeung about the intruders and also find the one who escaped earlier after attacking Misha. Oh, and tell the sentries to be wary of a boy with bells on his wrist and the man with him. They’re both masters." The bird-cat chattered with its beak in response. "I’ll give you treats later. Go now." The creature puffed its feathers then stood and suddenly duplicated into three copies of itself. Misha barely had time to register this before they all darted off in different directions.