He smiled, and with it came a deep chuckle that sounded somewhere between a purr and a growl. I stared at him to find out which it was. Anger or humor. I couldn’t tell.
“I promised your mate that I wouldn’t let harm come to you. If I let you go and you ran into Jiren, he would kill you before you could blink. Your best interest is to stay put.”
“Did Marren tell you to tie me up, too?” I asked, not believing for one moment he would say something like that.
“Actually, he said to use whatever means were necessary.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “I don’t believe you.”
“No matter.” He partially stood, then turned and crouched, facing the small opening into the trees. The sound of battle started to fill the air. Tobias stood and lightly shifted from foot to foot, readying for battle. It worried me, what he was doing.
“What would Marren say if he discovered you used me as bait?”
He shifted slowly and twisted enough to glance at me from the corner of his eye. “What makes you think I’m using you as bait?”
“I’m tied up here, and you appear to be waiting for someone to come and meet you, so you can take care of him yourself. Tell me why?”
“You mistake my actions,” he said.
“Do I?” I asked, even surer of myself. His form shook slightly. I couldn’t tell if it was laughter or if it was sadness. He spun around and quickly cut my ropes. I stood up, worried about the sudden change. “Tobias?”
He turned slowly and tried to hide a sniffle as he wept.
“I’m the last of my kind. He killed my family, my mate, my child!” The last word choked him. “I lost my entire race because of him. Him and his desire for ultimate power.”
“I was told that you can’t defeat him,” I said.
“You can’t, but I can damage him enough to force him into hiding for quite some time—giving you and Marren ample time to find a way to kill him.”
“What about me?” I still couldn’t understand why I would be the lure.
“There is a sword in between those bushes behind you.”
I knelt down and picked it up. It was heavy and didn’t have much of an edge to it, but it would work to fend off anyone for a short time.
“Use it to further wound him if I should fail.”
“I don’t understand.” And yet there was a weight in the conversation that pressed on my shoulders and with it carried the knowledge that I didn’t want to face. He was going to make Jiren kill him. “Tobias, you can’t.”
“I can, and I will,” he spoke, softer this time. His shaking had stopped. He was preparing himself.
“What can I do to help?”
“Hide until I’m dead. If he’s not wounded enough, and you’ll be able to tell, you must fight him until he is. You fight extremely well for a newly turned werewolf. You have the skills—”
“Of an elf. Danst taught me.”
He nodded as if he understood. “Go, now. Before he finds you.”
I ducked down behind a tree next to the bushes. The wind had blown in between them, bringing with it an acrid smell of rotting flesh and bile. I covered my mouth to prevent myself from vomiting.
The anticipation of a fight tingled under my skin, forcing my heart to pump in a quicker, yet even pace. I took a few deep breaths through my mouth and braced myself for Tobias’ death. My heart bled for him though I couldn’t blame him. If my whole family, and by family I mean Marren, Enid, and Danst, had died, I would want to join them, also. What good was my life without them?
Jiren appeared in a red cloak, the hood pulled over his head. He turned toward Tobias and slowly removed his hood. I had to force back the scream that lodged in my throat. My heart pounded painfully hard. Jiren’s true image stood in my vision. Made completely of ethereal, his body was translucent and glowed with a purple hue. Small bolts of lightning buzzed over the surface of his head.
Pure energy? How in the great Netherworld are we to defeat pure energy?
“Tobias,” Jiren said, “eager to die?”
“My death is only the beginning for some. For others, it marks their end.”
“Speaking in riddles, old friend?” Jiren asked with a sadistic smile on his face.
“I’m surprised you can even say the word without choking on it,” Tobias said.
“Well, I can understand why it would surprise you,” Jiren said in retort.
“Enough of this talk, let’s be done with this.”
“First, give me the girl.”
“She’s not here. She took off this morning, searching for you.” He let his words slow toward the end to indicate a suspicion. “Did she not find you? Another game of yours?”
“She didn’t find me, I assure you. I would be too happy to be rid of her and that filth she’s carrying. Abomination. Ancients shouldn’t be mixing blood with humans,” Jiren hissed.
“You were human once, remember?”
“Bah! I was Wizard, better than human. Higher.” Jiren lifted his chin in the air.
“And yet you’ll never cease to stoop to new lows,” Tobias noted.
He shrugged nonchalantly. “She’s strikingly familiar to someone you and I once knew, isn’t she?”