The Demon Lord and his Hero

Rowan was at the point of releasing his power when the rope holding up Artemus suddenly snapped. The crowd collectively reacted to it with cheering because they were under the impression that a second hanging would take place. Nobody knew about the sharks inside the water, not even Syryn and Rowan.

"Did you do that?!" Syryn urgently whispered to the blond anti mage who was deciding on what to do. The rope hadn't snapped by any stroke of luck. Artemus had told him not to interfere and thus it was clear that the rope used to hang him with had been sabotaged by the dark-haired anti mage.

"It wasn't me," Rowan whispered back. "Artemus rescued himself."

"Shit," Syryn cursed when he saw blood and bubbles surfacing to the top of the water. "Rowan, what's going on?"

The blond anti mage began moving forward with Syryn right behind him. It was a difficult task pushing the throng of people that spilt out right to the edge of the beach where the water met the sand.

"Everyone, do you see that? Those are my pet sharks feeding on the unlucky man. He should have asked his god to let him die by the rope." Bella's loud voice drew the eyes of the crowd who promptly looked back to the water the moment she revealed what was happening.

"Oh no," Syryn mumbled under his breath as Rowan pulled him forward with an iron grip on his wrist.

The anti mage was furious with himself and also with Bella. His faith in Artemus had killed the man. There were only two possibilities right then. Either Artemus had made preparations for the sharks and had survived, or he was dead, being digested in the stomachs of Bella's pets. Depending on which was the case, the anti mage would have to wait for Artemus or kill Bella and her men.

"Rowan, what are we going to do?" They were ankle-deep in the water now. The water was no longer red because a human could only bleed so much. Rowan thought it suspicious that there wasn't a single bit of Artemus floating to the top of the water. The shark couldn't have swallowed the man whole, he thought.

"My pets have eaten their fill. Look at that, nothing wasted," Bella told the crowd. "Bag," she held her hand out to one of the slaves carrying her seat. A bag was passed into her hand which she then placed on her lap.

"Bella!"

"Bella!"

The crowd chanted.

"Queen Bella!"

The woman reached into her bag and it got the crowd even more riled up. She then threw silver and gold coins at the crowd which led to a rowdy scrabble for the money.

Syryn was aghast at how Bella couldn't see the risk that she was putting her people at. Burly men pushed each other like children fighting for candy. A minor stampede ensued and a few screams were heard. Still, the crowd steered clear of Bella's entourage. Experience had taught them it was better to be killed in the stampede than to end up taken by Bella's men for coming too close to her.

"We're going back to the inn," Rowan told the mage.

"We're just leaving like this?"

"Ryn, we don't want to attract attention while Bella is around. I'm hoping that Artemus is still alive. If he isn't, we'll deal with Bella and her cohorts. But for now, we need to hurry back."

Rowan was certain that the dark-haired mage had faked his death today. There were too many questions bothering him at the moment. Where was Robin? How and why did Artemus get caught? Why had Bella searched for Artemus if the anti mage had been keeping a low profile and searching for Syryn?

Thanks to the commotion that Bella's money had caused, the duo managed to slip away mostly unnoticed. Even so, the sharp-eyed woman tracked their path through the crowd until they disappeared behind a shack and from her view.

____

Back at the inn, Syryn ordered a late lunch for the two of them. They'd missed breakfast and were both ravenous. Lunch came and it was everything but appetising. The duo forced the food down their throats and washed down the bad taste with mediocre wine.

"I hope you're right about Artemus," Syryn said to the blond. "Knowing that he came to Coop because of me weighs heavily on my conscience, Rowan. Tell me we didn't just watch a man die when we could have done something about it."

"If you could remember, you'd know that Artemus is as intelligent as he is resourceful. The message was clear, Ryn. He wanted us out of his business."

"So now we're just going to wait for him to find us then?"

"That's the plan."

_______

The afternoon turned to evening and evening gave way to night.

Syryn had occupied himself by taking things out of his satchel and questioning Rowan about the items in it. The blond was able to tell Syryn about most of the things he had hoarded in the bag.

"And this ring?" Syryn asked holding up a ring with a violet gem in it.

"It's supposed to be a ring that brings you luck."

I used that ring to amplify the blessing in a fertility idol since you seemed to want a baby with Rowan.

"A baby with Rowan?!"

"A what?" Rowan turned to Syryn in surprise.

Rowan was turned into a woman but you didn't take the chance to make a baby with him. You should have impregnated him. That was your only chance of having a baby with your homosexual partner.

Syryn stared at the concerned anti mage.

"Rowan, did we not have sex when you became a woman?"

"No. And how do you know about what happened back then?"

"The sage told me... Why didn't we have sex?" The sage had basically confirmed their relationship. Syryn knew now for sure that Rowan hadn't lied about their past.

"Well," the blond replied. "You couldn't get it up when you saw my curves." And Rowan was thankful for that every single day because if Syryn had tried to warm a little bun in his temporary oven, Rowan would have ditched Sigil till he found a way to reverse the curse.