Book 4 | Agent 34 and the Last Gem

Chapter 22 | On The Shore

Deathbringer landed on the shore, putting down his hostage before his own feet. The woman he had taken didn't seem to struggle or seem to care at all that he had separated her from her group.

Deathbringer ignored her and began to set up a makeshift camp, gathering wood for a fire and surrounding his wood in a circle of stones to keep the fire under control. He ignited it all with the flick of his fingers.

"Why did you choose to take me and not Calvin?" The hostage eventually asked.

Deathbringer stared at the tied up woman. "He will come for you,"

"No," she replied.

"Why wouldn't he?" The spy replied.

"Why do you think I'm tied up?" That gave Deathbringer an answer. The hostage he had taken wasn't his. This woman had been Calvin's hostage.

"Why did he tie you up?"

"I'm those kid's mother," she replied. "and I want to kill Calvin. He stole my kids from me," Sarah said that with a sense of insanity.

"You're after Calvin too?" Deathbringer anxiously said.

"Yeah," she replied. "I've been following him since the day he stole my children from me," Sarah stopped and cleared her throat before continuing. "I've followed him all the way from Urania. On foot."

"On foot?" He asked, surprised.

"On foot." Sarah confirmed.

"What's your name?" Deathbringer finally came to ask.

"Sarah," The mother replied. "And you're Deathbringer, I suppose?"

"Indeed. How powerful are you?"

Sarah didn't really know how to answer this. "I have no powers, if that is what you're asking. I'm mortal with no Black Magic or spellweaving. I have nothing,"

"And how did you assume you were going to defeat Calvin, someone who is obviously stronger than the average human, with yourself being a mortal?"

"I—I don't know. I am willing to do anything for my kids,"

Thunder struck from the cloud above Renya. Black rain began to pour down on their heads, putting out the fire. The rain didn't affect either of them due to them already being evil.

"Calvin isn't human, I don't suppose," Deathbringer theorized. "How else would he be able to defeat me, an evil sorcerer practicing the art for dozens of years, and be able to do it multiple times. In fact, I know he isn't human. He is gray,"

"How did he turn gray?" Sarah questioned.

Deathbringer's smirk turned into a face of horror as he recounted the events in the hospital at the Zena. "I did it," He stated. "I began to suck the life out of him and used Black Magic to do it. I was interrupted before the process was nearly complete and it left Calvin with little life left. However, now that I think about it, it's the Black Magic that turned him gray. With all of the Black Magic I had been using on it, it turned his skin a different color and left some Black Magic embedded inside of it,"

"Does that mean—"

"Yes," Deathbringer confirmed her suspicions. "If Calvin wanted to, he could be a master of Black Magic and kill both of us with a snap of his fingers,"

"What did you do," Sarah sighed. "We will never be able to end him now,"

"No," Deathbringer began. "Join me. I can give you the same power I accidentally gave Calvin and we can finally kill the bastard,"

The cloaked man untied the girl lying in the wet dirt with a small knife he pulled out from the depths of his red cloak. He extended his hand towards her and she took it, shaking it as he pulled her up to her feet.

A thump sounded behind the pair. Both looked to see a giant skeleton towering over them, fists raised.

"Lord Braunick has requested ye'," The skeleton said to Deathbringer.

The cloaked man glanced at Sarah, confusion filling him. "Why?" He replied.

"I'm just the bounty hunter man," The skeleton said, grabbing Deathbringer by the collar of his cloak.

Sarah grabbed onto his leg, trying to pull him down but the skeleton ascended into the air, pulling Sarah up with them.

"I have a bounty?" Deathbringer asked, shock filling him.

The giant skeleton tucked Deathbringer under his arm, grabbing Sarah and pulling him under the other. "I suppose ye' could be usefuh' for Braunick, too," He said to Sarah. "He could use you for somethin',"

The skeleton flew through the giant cloud quickly, turning any of them evil if they weren't already.

They both saw it at once.

There was a giant floating island hovering above the middle of the cloud. A giant stone castle sat upon the chunk of land that flew above the black cloud, a white outline faintly around all of it.

"That's Braunick's castle," The skeleton told them. "Being a bounty hunter is easy! I heard the last guy was recycled and used to expand his skeleton army because he couldn't complete the simplest task,"

Deathbringer gulped and wondered what Braunick would do to him.