“Ah,” the other quirked his lips, “The prized fight with such women is fun then?”
Cillean thumped him lightly on the shoulder. “Maybe I liked it,” he grinned. At the brunette`s gasp of shock he continued mournfully, “And she had just decided to play nice and chat with me a bit.” Perking up he added, “She might feel bad enough to give me a kiss for my emotional state after all those injuries,” he added.
“I do not think so,” the other responded. “Women do not hit people when they are happy,” he continued seriously. “I am afeared, my friend, that you may be what they call delusional.”
“She was just so happy, she didn`t know what hit her,” Cillean replied with a pout.
“That is not likely to be so,” the man replied confidently. “Neither do I understand why your injuries are so comforting to you,” he said, eying the starry eyed man as he cheerfully draped his jacket over the unconscious girl.
“Shut up Daerick,” the other bit off.
“Ah,” the other smirked knowingly. “I see now. The king enjoys a challenge it seems.”
“Shut up, Daerick,” Cillean responded with vehemence. Mind your own beeswax.” He paused. “Besides, I`m not a king anymore,” he continued sulkily. “That was a few centuries ago, under those useless elves. With all this damn centralization by those dragons, I`m just some lousy headman. I wouldn’t have any power at all if I didn’t still have my people’s respect and voluntary decision to follow any order I give at all.”
His friend clapped him on the back. “We follow you, sire, as we have for thousands of years. That will not change if the most powerful ruler is the faeries, or the dragons, or even something ridiculous like the humans. We will follow you because you have done well by us, and we wish to do well by you.” He grinned. “Besides, I know you enjoy working for that prince.” Cillean argued the point but they both knew it was true.
Daerick looked over at his unusually pensive friend. “Following you may become more stressful if you fall into a mating frenzy though. You know, I never thought you’d find any appeal to a daemon of all people,” he added knowledgeably. He had to duck to avoid a boulder thrown towards his head.
“Never. Never a true daemon,” Cillean returned. The words were icy and bit off with a killer’s glare.
His friend put his hands up in appeal. “Fine, fine. No offense was meant.” He quickly sobered. “I was not implying you resembled your bearer in any manner whatsoever, sire. You are one of the most respected of our race.”
Cillean quickly cheered up and clapped his friend on the back. “Well, sometimes you are a dummy, or at least say stupid things,” he grinned, “But friends are allowed to be a little loosey goosey with the rules I suppose. Besides, best friends are supposed to be there to make me look smarter in comparison and you do a good filling that role,” he teased. Stone faced Daerin tripped him, only for Cillean to return the favor. They were both laughing with each other, and Cillean hefted the unconscious Jackie unto his back in a fireman`s hold. They continued chatting on their leisurely walk through the Twilight Wood moving faster than a human eye could track.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Wizard on the Run
He remembered his orders well, though it had been many months since he’d received them. “We need you to do it,” the elder had told him. “We have already sent a much higher ranked individual than you to see to this particular person, this Alyss. But that mission failed and now our target is moving. We must avoid Aeron’s suspicion. This time we only have a mission of surveillance. We need someone to follow this target, and follow the deeds of the prince as well for good measure.
“What all of this means, boy, is that we need someone to go to the mundane’s human world.” He paused. “We are sending you on this mission of surveillance.”
Now he gawked at his latest orders. “But Gruzelvelt, sir!” The old man stopped talking to glare at Darien. The teen blushed in return. “Sir elder, that is. I know I am not ranked highly enough to call you by any of your names.” He paused now. “But sir, I must protest these orders. You sent me to watch Alyss, to keep her safe. I wasn’t sent as an assassin. She hasn’t done anything wrong and isn’t even aware of our world, let alone acted against our interests in any way.”
Gruzelvelt snorted at him. “This is why you are a failure, you know. You aren’t good at understanding these things. We aren’t killing the girl because she’s actively a threat right now, we are killing her because there’s a good risk of her becoming one in the future.”
Darien looked at him. “You had me live as her brother. I spent two years sharing dinners, washing dishes, going exploring on Saturdays, helping each other with homework. We are family now, more like family than even her parents. “
The elder laughed at that.
“Of course her so called parents weren’t like family. They’re golems. Their job is to be there and serve a function. There’s nothing in their makeup that lets them be overcame by namby pamby emotional ties.” He glared at Darien. “I wish I could say the same of you. It’s very disappointing that you became attached to your job like this. It’s even wore that you are letting that emotion make you fail as our agent. Your latest orders are to kill the girl, and the prince too.”
Darien stared at the man. “What could I do after killing royalty? I’d be a wanted man in two worlds.”
The elder pursed his lips. “You will do your assignment with joy for having been given work that will advance the cause of our people. You will kill them both, allow the younger prince to capture you
