Page 96 of Lifebound

I moved even before I’d realized what the hell I was doing. The voices were coming from somewhere to the right. I found them between two narrow buildings, standing near the other end. The lights of the street secured in those glass balls fell on both of them—one was tall, so slim his limbs could be made out of tree branches, and the other wastiny,just a little guy who probably didn’t even reach up to my knees. But he wasn’t a kid—he was a gnome. We’d seen those in the Neutral Lands before, but they had their own territory in Verenthia, so Rune had said they didn’t come to Cloakwood often.

This guy had, though. I had no idea how, but he’d come here and now he was leaning against a wooden piece that could have been a bench extending from the side of the building. They were far to the other side, very close to the main street, so I couldn’t see details very well. All I could see was that the tall guy had his fists raised in the air, and he was cursing the gnome in all kinds of twisted ways.

I should have cut off your head the very first day—was one of the nicer ones.

You are an imbecile, a shame to your race, to all of Verenthia.

One job I ask of you—one job, and you fail so miserably. Why has Emer punished me with you—why?!

“It’s none of my business,” I told the bird flying beside me as I stretched my neck more and more to see better.

“…skin you alive and feed you to the chicken,”the tall man said, but it wasn’t him that I cared about—he could scream all he wanted. It was the gnome that was giving strength to the anger inside me more and more.

The way he held up his hands and tried to become one with that piece of wood behind him—and he was shaking. I could see all the way from here that he was shaking as he apologized over and over again.

In him, I saw myself, saw the many times I’d been beaten up in school by older students—because those in my class I could handle just fine. Until I started hanging out with Betty, I was slapped and thrown against walls and locked up in bathroom stalls quite regularly, among other things, and to this day hearing loud voices and witnessing any kind of physical violence made me lose control. I could hardly handle myself when watching movies.

And just like I told the bird, I knew it wasn’t any of my business. I knew where I was and what those things were—well, I knew that small one was a gnome but had no idea about the screamer—but I couldn’t help it. Cursing under my breath, I made my way in the darkness that the bird illuminated as it flew together with me, until I was about halfway to the other side.

“Hey!” I called.

The tall guy had been in the process of shaking his finger at the gnome, telling him that he wasn’t going to give him food for seven days and seven nights to pay for his mistake, and that he should feel lucky he was beinggenerousabout it.

That’s the word he used—generous.

They both turned to look at me.

“Why don’t you leave the poor guy alone? You don’t have to be so damn rude, mister.”

When I was close enough to see both men’s faces, I realized that they were looking at the bird more than they were looking at me.

And the tall man straightened up.

Fucking hell, he was possibly as tall as Rune, though his shoulders could have been half the size. His hands were so thin and his feet, too—who even made those leather shoes for him to wear? His clothes, as well. Grey and stained and a mess—just like his greasy-looking dark hair. His round nose glistened with what could have been sweat (or maybe not) and his wide eyes were almost entirely red with rage.

“Who are you?Show yourself at once, I say!” Now he was shaking his finger at me.

The gnome screamed a little, then started to run toward the light and the street, turning the corner and disappearing from our sight in seconds.Good.This guy could take it out on me.

“Iamshowing myself to you, asshole. That’s no way to speak to anyone. Give it a rest. He was scared shitless,” I said, and I was trying to be nice here. I really was.

But the guy leaned in closer, eyes squinted as he tried to see my face. I was wearing the hood, sure, but light fell on my face both from the street and the bird flying beside me, so he would see it. I was sure he would, and it occurred to me that I maybe should have tried to hide it better. After all, I was a mortal, a stranger in this realm, and if anybody knew who I was…

“Remove those shadows at once—let me see who you are!”

Shadows,he said. Remove those shadows.

Shadows that I had no idea I even had on me, nor did I feel them. Shadows that Rune had undoubtedly left with me, and it was quite possible that he’d somehow done it through the bird that was flying so close to me now.

A smile stretched my lips.Smooth, Mr. Moody.

“No. I can’t do that,” I said to the man and cleared my throat. “Let’s just…let’s justbe nice, okay? Stop screaming at gnomes like that. You don’t have be rude. Really.”

The way he looked at me. His left eye twitched and his fists were shaking. He said, “Walk away and don’t come near me again, you vile little thing.”

I gasped—this time for real.

“I can do whatever I want withmyproperty!” And he pressed his index finger to his own chest.

---