Born From A Divine Gamble

He wanted to go out of the house because today was the first hunt of many of his friends. Like last year, he wanted to wait for them and see how things would turn out with Manley and Willow. Anyway, even if he worked his hardest the whole day, he would never be able to finish today.

He explained that he intended to have someone find him stones and gold in Bêtéclair and wanted to use it in his gift. This meant that even if he made progress now, he would still have to wait in the end. He also told her that he wanted to be a single person for the ceremony and so the other one would be coming home with his two slaves for the marriage. This meant that he couldn"t give her the confirmation until the other him was almost there.

Because of all this, Marcy let him out and he watched the guys walk out into the woods. He felt really nervous because the scene in front of him was eerily similar to last year. The Champom were there to cheer on Gilbert and the same was true for Manley"s father.

The two boys borrowed weapons from Bor and left in different directions. They were the most nervous of all since they were the ones going in the woods but it didn"t stop everyone else from worrying.

He wished them good luck and waved with the rest.

The sensation was peculiar, Emp was confident that they could handle almost anything that came their way since he had showed them a lot of tricks but he was still worried. He knew he had no real reasons to but still felt that way.

Emp was pretty tired because he had not slept last night so he sat against the palisade surrounding the village in order to take a rest. Maybe if he slept for a bit he would feel better. Aside from him, the only boys of their group left were the three knife boys, Wilbert, Cuthberth and Jurgen. All the others were girls, none of them were as restless as Willow last year tough.

Like last year, everyone left after the boys stepped into the woods except for those that had nothing better to do.

Calla left with her mother since she was too embarra.s.sed to see him right now and the traditions didn"t really allow it anyway. Her father stayed however, he looked for Emp, found him by the s.h.i.+rt and came to talk to him.

Ogden Champom looked down towards him with a severe look.

"Can I sit down with you for a bit?"

"Yeah, of course."

He sat himself down at his side with a groan. Ogden was pretty well built for someone living from picking up apples but he did have trouble getting low to the ground. He was like an older version of Gilbert, the only few differences were his slightly darker hair, his thinner eyebrows and his slightly taller stature.

Emp wondered what he wanted to say. He understood it was probably about Calla but since Ogden never interfered in her affairs before, he couldn"t guess what her father was about to tell him.

"You"re wearing the s.h.i.+rt she made for you." He stated the fact.

"Yes, I love it, I can feel she put a lot of effort into it."

"She did, she worked on it for weeks." He nodded.

They stared at the woods in silence for a while. Emp could feel he had something important to say but he took his time to just feel the refres.h.i.+ng wind for a moment.

"You really love my daughter right? You"re taking this seriously?"

Emp was a bit upset to be doubted on that and answered earnestly.

"Of course I do! I stayed up all night thinking of what I would make for the confirmation."

"I didn"t mean to upset you. It"s just that my Calla is very, delicate, weak even. I worry for her. My wife was very keen on making it work between you two but I kept my doubts, I don"t really trust travelers, strangers. You haven"t been here for a long time, you didn"t even speak the tongue and I"m still not even sure you"re really there or if it"s just some sort of magic trick. Now I"m told I"m supposed to entrust my daughter to you."

His words did make some sense. From his view point, he was just the new guy that could disappear at any time.

"You don"t know about Fiona and me either do you? Our story doesn"t help me trust you at all. You see, Fiona is the only girl I ever loved, I was madly taken by her, but she didn"t see me. She only had eyes for that guy, Swerven was his name, I won"t ever forget it. I hated him because my Fiona loved him instead of me. Back then, we both completed our first hunt on the same day and right there as we came back, Fiona gave him an offering."

How did he end up married with her if she gave her offering to another guy, Emp didn"t understand yet what had happened or how it was related to the present situation but he had a feeling he would soon know.

"Of course, he accepted it, the young me wanted nothing more than to put an arrow in his back like the bug I had just slain. I didn"t, even though I was so bitter about it. It"s what happened next that angered me most though, if I had known, I would truly have shot a dozen arrows into his chest I"m sure of it. The a.s.shole took her first, got a taste of my sweet Fiona and then left for Red-water, alone, and he kept the offering too. He left a confused Fiona behind saying he wanted to see the city. Of course, he didn"t come back, he only sent a letter Fiona needed Bor"s father to read her, said he wasn"t coming back and didn"t feel the same for her. He took her heart and bailed. It"s only after that that I became close with her."

It wasn"t really a good story, Emp felt kinda bad hearing it.

"Fiona says to everyone that wants to hear it that she seduced me with her food but that"s not the case at all, I was hers from the beginning. I was just frustrated. We"ve been together for so many years now and she still feels like a fool for that and that makes me mad. The worst part is that she knows it makes me mad and she feels guilty about it, it"s not her I"m mad at though, it"s him. I know I"m the one for her, I"ve always thought so, I"m the one but I won"t ever be her only. Because of Swerven, I was never able to stop asking myself if she truly loved me or just used me as a spare."

Emp wasn"t sure what Ogden wanted him to answer so he kept his mouth shut. He recognized in his story what Love warned him to not do. What Swerven had done was very cruel, he stole a heart, pretended to treasure it and then threw it on the roadside while no one was looking. That heart always remained muddied after that, not dirtied per say but wounded and murky from the place it was thrown away.

"Then Karp did the same, fell for that ridiculous la.s.s who makes rounds between here and Red-water. A traveler that one too, she won"t settle down it"s obvious. I keep telling him but he won"t listen. You would not believe how happy I was when the twins chose a guy that truly belonged here. But now, my Calla too, for someone that came out of nowhere. She"s not like her mother of her siblings, I don"t think she could survive being left behind. That"s why I need to know, I need to see for myself. Are you just fond of her or do you truly love my Calla? Will you disappear one day and never come back, will you hurt my daughter?"

This was his real purpose for sitting down next to him, that was his only true question. The two fixed their eyes into each other and Emp answered him honestly.

"I do love Calla, enough that I do not want to live without her being close to me. She is not the only girl in my heart and I may not always live in Dark-glint but I would never betray her, hurt her on purpose or leave without her. If I do go elsewhere, I will bring her with me because I could not bear knowing her far from me. All that and the old vows too, I truly intend on saying them properly soon. I swear on my full name and all the ancestors, may I rot on the spot if I lie."

He nodded at Emp"s words.

"That"s enough for me. If you do hurt her though, I"ll make sure you wake up nailed to your bed with a few hundred arrows planted into you."

Ogden didn"t look like he was kidding at all. He had kept this same serious face all the way through their conversation.

From what Emp now knew of the Steelwood laws, even if he had been kidding, Emp could have him arrested for threatening a n.o.ble of death, the punishment was especially harsh when the target of the threat was someone of his rank.

Of course, he wouldn"t say anything to anyone about this, the last thing he wanted was to get the father of his soon to be wife decapitated for something like that. Anyway, not only was he not planning on hurting Calla in any way, he wasn"t scarred of Ogden at all. As he had observed earlier, he was well built but he was not a fighter, Emp believed he could beat him easily even unharmed.

"It won"t happen." He answered calmly.

"It better not. And don"t make her wait too long for that confirmation, she"s been restless since yesterday. She keeps pacing everywhere and hugs everyone that pa.s.ses close to her path."

Picturing Cala doing that made him smile.

"I"ll do my best, I"m waiting for a delivery form Bêtéclair though, I want to give her the very best gift."

Ogden grunted in acknowledgement and rose from his seat to leave. Emp stayed behind and watched for the return of the other two patiently.

Luckily, the events of the previous year didn"t occur again. Just a few hours after they both left, Manley came back. Not only was he unharmed but he carried a large vampire bird behind him.

Vampire birds were a rare specie of creature that lived everywhere between the hills and the sandwastes. It was a bird pf prey the size of a big dog, its feathers were dark and slick, with an emerald sheen on females. They had a long and sharp beak like a curved dagger and used it just like one too. Vampire birds got their nickname on the fact that they rested upside down all day long on the branches of the trees. When an animal or a man pa.s.sed bellow them, they"d stretch their necks like a snake or a turtle and pierce the back of the neck of whatever pa.s.sed by them, targeting their spine for a quick kill.

That sort of bird had an ugly voice and were no more than weak opportunists, they where just dangerous to be surprised by. Manley must Have seen it from afar and taken it down with a single arrow, a pretty lucky find for a first hunt.

"Manley"s back! He did it!"

Everyone went up to him to congratulate him and ask about his hunt. Not too long after, Bor came to officially declare him a man and take back the weapon he had borrowed. His speech was concise but important as it marked a turning point in the life of Manley. His father along with everyone he knew came to hear the speech and drink for his future.

Emp was among them all. He still really disliked alcohol but since it was for Manley"s future, he drank his whole mug anyway. The worst was that he knew he would have to do it a second time later for Gilbert.

Manley was very proud but still immensely nervous, maybe he felt the most intimidating part was yet to come. The others roasted his bird for the celebration but he barely touched any of it. Emp wanted to raise his spirit but he had no idea how to do it so he could only take a bite of the bird. Thought the meat was really soft and original, he couldn"t help but wonder what Calla might be able to do with it.

Baby Shana started crying because of the merry crowd and so Willow decided to leave to calm her down. Seeing this, Manley freed himself from the others and ran up to her.

"Wait Willow!"

The others quieted as they watched over the scene with curiosity. Knowing what sort of thing he was about to ask, Emp felt nervous for him. Willow kept balancing Shana softly in an attempt to calm her.
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"I"m really happy that you made it back safe but Shana"s upset so I really need to leave."

"Just listen to what I have to say. It won"t be long I promise."

"What is it?"

Willow had no idea of what was coming.

"I want, I mean, I would really like for you to chose me. I"ll have a safe work and I can help with Shana."

At first, Willow had a hard time processing what he meant but when the answer dawned on her, her eyes widened in surprise.

"But... for real?"

"I know I"m not Chase but please, think about it."

A tear escaped her eye and fell on her baby. In a daze, she leaned forward and planted a kiss on his cheek for all to see.

"I"ll think it over." She said before turning around and leaving.

Apparently, her daze had been transferred to Manley because it was his turn to be lost in surprise. His father came over and clasped his shoulder in support, giving him another mug. The party instantly resumed immediately after his father said he did good.

According to Sylvia and Galina, Manley had done really good and Willow was sure to think seriously about his words. Emp hoped they were right and that things would work out for Manley.

Way later in the day, after everyone started to seriously worry about him, Gilbert came back too. He was empty handed but didn"t look disappointed at all.

"Thank the ancestors, Gilbert"s back!"

"Why don"t you have anything? Did you fail?" Izzy asked.

"Of course not!" Gilbert retorted with a wronged look. "Take a look at that hunting card and see that I did kill one of those freakish beetle."

He showed his card to everyone and it was indeed the truth, there was a beetle in his kill section.

"Why didn"t you bring it back though?" Jurgen asked.

"Isn"t that obvious hat"s because it..."

His words trailed off because an angry looking Eda took a frustrated stance in front of him.

"Uhhh... Eda?"

"What even took you so long? You scared us!"

"I didn"t do it on purpose! I ran around the woods the whole time but I couldn"t find anything at all. I wouldn"t be surprised if Manley spent the whole night looking."

"I"m right here though."

"What!? How?" He had not seen Manley yet it seemed.

"He came back right away! You"re the slow one here!" Eda complained.

"I made it, I"m fine, I wasn"t even in any danger. Why are you so angry?"

Emp too was rather perplexed by her sudden burst of anger.

"I"m angry because you"re always so slow! You don"t even know what you"re gonna do from now on yet either do you? You better do something about your life or you"re not getting a wife anytime soon."

Emp thought it was funny that of all people, she was the one to complain about that. She was the oldest girl in the group and yet, never worked on anything because she didn"t feel like it.

"You"re one to talk!" Gilbert snapped back. "You"re more than old enough to be married too, you better get a move on or you"re not getting any husband at all!"

"Well maybe I"d be married already if someone I knew had a brain and went for his hunt already instead of wasting his time hara.s.sing Marcy for a job he"s not getting!"

Eda was waiting for Gilbert? Emp must have missed something because he never noticed. Apparently, he wasn"t the only one to have overlooked this.

"Are you trying to insult me? What do I have to do with you getting a man or not? It"s all your problem not mine."

"Gilbert Champom! You"re so infuriating sometimes!"

On that shout, Eda turned around and left. All the other girls ran after her and only the six boys were left.

"Gilbert, you"re an idiot." Manley told him flatly.

"What! She"s the one insulting me for no reason!"

"No, I think she was saying that she was waiting for you to sort yourself out before she gave you an offering." Emp told him.

"See, even Emp gets it."

The true meaning behind those words were: if even Emp gets it and you don"t, you are worse than blind.

"What? But... Eda? Really? I... I didn"t... s.h.i.+t, I messed up."

"What are you going to do about it?"

"I don"t know yet."

"You know that"s exactly what she was angry about, right?"

"Give me break, I just need a minute alright."

Gilbert felt like a real idiot after that and puzzled over what to do for the rest of the day. He kept that serious frown the whole time the others praised him for his success and the fact that he was now truly a man.

Emp wondered what he would do in the end but even though he was very curious, he had more important things to do.

Knowing that the two of them were safe, he could now place all his attention into making that bracelet.

The first thing he did when he got back home wasn"t to start working though, it was to go get some sleep instead.

The next morning, he was finally ready to begin testing the purple gla.s.s and its usefulness. His first idea was to make the bulk of the gift with it so he needed to understand the material and know how to work with it before he could even start his first attempt.

The first hurdle he came across was to find a way to remove a piece of the purple gla.s.s from the huge chunk he got from the corpse. That thing was ridiculously hard and to remove just a small piece of it proved to be difficult.

He first attempted to break it using a chisel and a hammer but it didn"t even make a dent in it. He then took an ordinary iron sword form his back and smashed it against the purple stuff with all his strength. It didn"t work either and the sword broke instead, the sound it made was so loud Marcy came to check on him.

Instead of attempting to break it with his overburdening hammer or asking Marcy for a mining pick, he resorted to magic instead. He remembered that this thing acted like stone in front of magic and thus, he knew exactly what to do with it.

In his spar against Penny, he had witnessed a spell to make the solid ground liquid. If it worked on this, he could melt it without using the furnace and pour it into a mold. The best part was that it would not even become hot so it should be easy to work with. The inconvenient part was that it would be in a liquid state until he ended the spell, if he lost his focus, it could harden wrongly and even if not, it would be hard to have it keep the shape he needed.

He rummaged through his bag to find what he needed for the spell, trying to remember exactly what were the sacrifices, the words and the gestures for it. Once he felt everything was in his reach, he prepared a bowl he placed under the purple gla.s.s and attempted to cast the spell.

He failed three times in a row. There was some commotion outside he found bothersome and didn"t help him focus on his task at all. Hopefully whatever was going on would end soon, at least the workshop isolated most of it from him.

On his fourth attempt, the spell finally took and a chunk of the large stone turned into a disgusting purple goo that flowed into the bowl under it. Emp was thrilled by the sight. This meant that it would work, all he needed to do now was to create some sort of mold to shape the liquid into a cuff or at least, to have the general shape of it.

He felt the easiest way would be to make two tube-shaped piece of wood or iron. Wood seemed like the easiest but he had no idea how one could make a piece of wood curve so he chose to go with iron instead. That was easy, he just needed to heat it and hammer it around the anvil.

Using his own wrist and his memory of how smaller Calla"s were compared to his own, he drew circles on a piece of paper to give himself an idea of how large the mold should be and started working on the iron. Since he had just broken a sword, he decided to use it as material for the mold, he didn"t care about it enough to repair it anyway.

Once everything was glowing hot, he started making the first ring that would make the inside of the mold, stretching the metal and slowly curving it on itself to force it into the shape he needed. The hardest part was to make sure that it kept the same shape all around. If there was a b.u.mp in there or the thing wasn"t exactly shaped right, the molten crystal would take on the bad characteristics and get too thin in places or uncomfortably uneven.

As he was making it, he kept thinking that the final shape of the mold wouldn"t match at all the shape of the cuff he wanted to do. He didn"t know yet how he would work the crystal but he felt that adding length to it would be the hardest. Just to make sure he wouldn"t lack any s.p.a.ce for it, he made the mold extra long, covering the length of his entire forearm. This way, he hoped that what he had in mind would end up easier to do.

When he finally finished the interior wall of the mold, a bit more than half a day after he began, he took no rest and started to work on the larger tube for the outer surface. Repeating all the steps would be just as long because he needed to make it just a bit larger than the one before.

On top of that, there wasn"t enough metal remaining in the sword to do the other one so he had to take a new iron bar and merge it with what he had left. This wasn"t a thing you should do to make a proper item but since it was just for a temporary mold, he didn"t really care.

While he was heating the piece of combined iron, the door slammed open and made him jump.

"Emp it"s bad! You have to come with me to the village center! Quick!"

It was Manley at the door, he was panting from having run all the way here as fast as he could.

Usually, Emp would welcome him warmly but today, not only did he seem distressed, Emp was busy.

"Manley, I"m making a confirmation right now. I"ll help you another time okay? I"m busy."

"You might not need to make that confirmation anymore if you don"t come now!"

That was an ominous thing to hear, Emp dropped everything he was doing and started worrying about Calla.

"What"s happening, is she in danger?"

"Sort-of, I"ll tell you on the way but we have to go now."

Emp removed his smiting gloves, dropped them on the floor and followed Manley outside. From out there, the noise that had bothered him from inside was a lot louder. It was a bunch of people arguing close to the center of the village, just by the bridge.

"So what"s happening?" He asked with a pressing tone.

If anything was happening to Calla he wanted to know immediately. He was forced to either rush there blindly or wait for Manley to give him some details before he did, loosing some possibly precious time.

He quickly shot a look at the ring while Manley started talking. Fear, sadness and confusion were the words used to describe her current state by the ring. She didn"t seem to be hurt or in mortal danger though so he chose to stick around for the explanation.

"The short of it is that this b.a.s.t.a.r.d Sophus is using the old promise just to cause you harm and Marcy"s so angry that she"s about to kill him."

"What old promise? I don"t get it."

"When Bor convinced him to stay in the village, Sophus was allowed to take any unwed girl as wife but he never made a choice because he chose to court Marcy who was out of the deal. Now he decided to claim Calla," Emp felt all his limbs go stiff, and his scalp went numb. "probably just because he knows you took her offering."

Manley was probably right, Sophus had no reason to be interested in Calla. Emp felt shocked at how far that mage was willing to go for his nonsense. He felt so angry that the contents of his stomach almost went back up his throat.

He did his best to control his rage and quickened his steps. Maybe he could still have him listen to reason. Manley didn"t say anything else after that. He just showed his own worry and tension as he followed closely behind Emp.

Of course, Sophus had chosen the very middle of the village for his theatrical display of pettiness. As Emp got closer, he started hearing what everyone was saying. He first caught the voice of Bor.

"Sophus, that"s unreasonable. Calla is almost married already, why do you insist on her?"

"Almost means it is not the case yet and so it is my right to pick her. You do not have to concern yourself with my reasons Bor."

"Ya"re clearly doing this cause she"s my son"s lover! Unhand her now!"

"What for? I like her att.i.tude, she at least has that over you. Though I might be inclined to change my mind if a certain other woman was willing to give me a chance."

"Sophus! Ya sludge rat! Ya"re just keeping her hostage!"

"See, that"s what I was saying about att.i.tude, you"re just as rude as ever. I"m generous enough to give you a reasonable choice and you insult me. I"ll say it clearly again, be mine or let me have her, those are your only two choice."

"There"s a third option ya know? The one where I lop yar head off with that great sword."

Emp still had to turn the corner of the next house to see so he didn"t know which sword she was talking about. Marcy had a lot of them after all.

"I think not, that"d just be plain murder. There"s clearly a choice that"s more reasonable than the other here."

"Ya think?"

"Marcy please calm down!"

Emp heard a bunch of clanking noises and then a sudden rumble and a burst of light flashed past the corner he was about to reach.

He heard Marcy cry out and the villagers gasp in surprise. He turned the corner fast and saw that Marcy was now held upside down a few feet above the ground. Her ankles were held by some sort of long flaming rope tied at the end of a pillar also made of fire sticking out of the ground. Her sword was resting on the ground under her and she seemed unconscious.

"Oh Marcellia, you"re usually smarter than that. You were so angry that you didn"t even think about this. I spend half a week setting that up just for you, why do you think I"m standing right there like an idiot?"

Sophus was standing not too far from the pillar of flame, he wore all his mage clothing and was obviously ready for a fight. He seemed full of himself, he was convinced of his own victory already.

He held calla at his side by the wrist, she was livid and frozen in place. She was the sort to freeze if the shoemaker living next door looked her way so Sophus holding her by the arm was way past the limit of what she could handle. She was profusely crying but otherwise unable to help herself.

The rest of her family stood next to Bor and kept complaining about Sophus"s actions. They must have been the ones who went to get the ruler of the village first.

"What did you do to Marcy?" Bor asked.

"Nothing obviously, I want her to be my wife not kill her. I just neutralized her for a bit. Rather, didn"t you see, she tried to kill me. She should be punished by the law."

"Sophus, what/"

"Emp"s here." Manley interrupted.

"Oh, Emp, right on time!"

The corner of Sophus"s mouth rose as he spoke while Calla got even more worried. She didn"t like violence, not only was she afraid of it and its results, she also really didn"t want anyone to get hurt. In this case, she worried more about Emp and Marcy than about herself.

"Let me guess, you"re about to tell me that I"m going against my own objective again aren"t you? You"ll say I"m just making things worse for myself and that miss Champom here has nothing to do with this. Am I right?"

That was a good part of what he wanted to say, yes.

"Now that you"ve angered her so much that she wants to kill you, there"s no way she will ever think of you as a friend again. How do you expect to get her love?"

"That"s the best part, I don"t need it! That"s what I was talking about with Bor while you were wasting my time on the way here."

Emp didn"t understand at all what he was going on about but Sophus took great pleasure in explaining everything to him.

"You see, now that she tried to kill me, she must be punished by the law. Of course, Bor needs her to run the village smoothly so he can"t have her executed and banishment won"t do either even if she could get off so lightly. The answer is simple, I will have her turned into my personal slave! That way she can keep working for the village and I won"t fear getting myself murdered in my sleep."

Many villager choked on their words hearing that.

Emp was simply speechless. Could he really do that?

"Don"t leave your mouth open like that, you"ll eat a fly. So Bor, am I or am I not right? You don"t need to answer, I know I am." He said brightly. "So that"s Marcellia in the bag, finally, and I"ll keep the Champom la.s.s as a bonus."

"What?!" Calla"s father cried out.

Enraged, he shouted his protest as Sophus.

"If you already got what you wanted, why won"t you let my daughter go?"

"Simple, I hate Emp. Everyone knows this, obviously I"m keeping her."

Emp ground his teeth in frustration, his whole being was trembling in anger. He had felt angry a few times in his life before but never to this degree. If someone could simply explode from anger he would certainly have already done so.

The air he breathed out through his teeth was burning hot from his boiling insides.

"Emp! Don"t do anything stupid, let me think of something." Bor warned him with a hand raised in front of him to block his path.

"Yeah, let"s make a deal instead. You leave this village and never come back and I may let the Champom girl go with you. If you really want to stay instead though, I could make you a slave too but then I"d keep the girl and I can"t guaranty you won"t be ordered to go off in the woods and not come back. She"s not really my type but I"m sure she could give me a few sons more than Marcellia even if she cries the whole time."

He had this triumphant smile the whole time he talked, and that look in his eyes, he was keeping back his laughter. He was mocking Emp, nothing more.

Emp felt lighting run through his back and he bolted forward, knocking Bor"s arm aside. With a single s.p.a.ce-step he was in front of Sophus and his raised fist was about to meet his face but things didn"t turn out as he expected them.

The mage was more than ready to receive him and his palm stopped Emp"s charge, not with strength but magic instead. He had hidden a tiny translucent flame in his hand the whole time and when it touched Emp, It spread instantly to the rest of his body.

Emp felt an intense burning sensation where the palm touched him, he hesitated a split second on whether he should push onward with his attack or back off and that moment was more than enough for Sophus to step aside from his fist.

Emp missed the target and tumbled forward as he felt the fire spread all over him.

He released a short wail of pain and rolled in the dirt in an attempt to extinguish the flame.

"You"re not extinguis.h.i.+ng that, vagrant. It"s eating at your soul."

Sophus let go of Calla and stepped up to his side while the rest of the village looked at the scene in dumb stupefaction. Most had their mouths agape, wondering if today"s events were really happening or if it was some sort of mad dream.

The mage spoke to him as Emp battled the thought of ripping off his own skin to stop the burning.

"You know, I do love Marcellia a whole lot but I never intended to take in a child that isn"t mine, even less so a worthless vagabond. You had to be removed from the start. No one will help you because the soldiers obey Bor and Bor needs me to protect that village. He would have intervened I"m sure but I"m killing in self defense here, there"s nothing he can do. Even if he moved now, he would not be able to remove that flame and he knows he can"t beat me without her help. You had me wait for a while though you know? I had to hold up that spell for hours, I wasn"t kidding when I said you were loosing my time. Really, my only regret is that I should have used a flame that would have burned your flesh too, that s.h.i.+rt would have disappeared as well."

With his head half mad with pain and half mad with rage, Emp fought the jolts running through his muscles and rose to a half kneel. He wanted to curse Sophus ten thousand times but he knew no curses. Instead, he could only look with helpless hatred as he vanished, recalled.