Devil's tale

Devil's tale chapter 18

Avarice had his arms crossed as he overlooked the bright, noisy town at the foot of the hill. Emily had long since run off and he now stood there alone, his hair and new coat billowing in the wind. Someone appeared behind him, sneaking out of the foliage.

"Evening, Jazz." Avarice said.

"Things go okay?" The goblin asked.

"I don't know, but we can worry about that later. You find any signs Mormir's in the city?"

"None so far, but I can't be sure. Look, the king has a small army with him, alongside the military force that's already manning the castle. We should just head on already."

"I don't disagree. We've done all we can here. But I do want to say a proper goodbye to Robert at least."

"He'll try to stop you."

"He'll fail." Avarice looked down at his hand. "It's the last time I'll ever see him. I know you're going to argue it's stupid, and that we should just get out of here, but-"

"Avarice, is Robert like a parent to you?" Jazz asked suddenly.

Surprised, Avarice nodded. "I suppose in a way, yeah."

"Then we'll go, but you'd best make it quick, and if he calls for reinforcements, well..." Jazz smacked his lightning-mace against the side of a tree, sending blue sparks flying.

"Agreeable enough. Let's go."

The pair made their way down the hill, and Avarice silently handed the romance-novel he'd bought to Jazz.

"The hells is this?!" The goblin asked.

"A gift." Avarice replied with a sly smirk.

"Real funny, kid." Jazz murmured, though he did accept the book and put it in his bag. He walked in silence for a bit before asking in a frustrated voice.

"So how was the date actually?"

"It wasn't a date!" Avarice insisted.

"You didn't want it to be?" Jazz asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's not that I didn't want it to be, but... I'm probably never gonna see her again, at least if all goes according to plan, plus she's of the cloth. Falling in love is out of the question for her." He clenched his fists. "And I know it's none of my business, but her order needs to seriously rethink its-"

"Yeah but that's got nothing to do with whether it was a date or not." Jazz said.

"It wasn't. Like I said, even someone as nice as Emily. No, especially someone as nice as Emily would never fall for me, even if she wasn't a cleric." Avarice said.

"If you're never gonna see her again, then why be careful? Just go find her, kiss her and say goodbye."

"I'm not doing that! I'm not going to make her betray her entire life's code just because she's the first girl who asked to hear me sing! I'm not going to betray that trust."

"You're a hopeless case, you know that?"

"Okay Jazz, if you're basing this advice on that romance-story I wrote, I need to clarify, rom-com's aren't real life!"

"No, but this isn't a normal relationship either."

"And when was the last time you were in love?"

"Ah ha! So you do admit it!"

Avarice shook his head. "I'm leaving my life and past here behind. Adding to that old life is only going to hurt cutting it off even more. I've burnt my bridges, I can't build new ones."