Because I Love You✔️

Chapter 128: Wrath of a Big Brother

"It's not a good idea! Seriously!"

Vrael paused, looking at him curiously through the curtain of fine, sandy blonde hair hanging down across his pale face.

"Why? Is something wrong?"

Xaphile opened his mouth to tell him that they were in danger, but just as he began to explain himself, he remembered the promise he'd made to Vordt about keeping his mouth shut.

The words died on his tongue and he swallowed hard.

"It's just not a good idea," he said slowly. "We're in a strange city that's got bad people in it."

Vrael's lids drifted halfway closed, giving him a very bored appearance.

"There's bad people everywhere," he pointed out. "Come on!"

"But---"

But before he could protest, he was tugged even harder and he barely had a chance to blink before the door to the inn was thrown open and he was dragged outside. It was pouring buckets, but Vrael merely threw up a hand and a strange airy feeling coated Xaphile's entire body.

He gawked when he saw the rain, which had been hitting his arms and soaking him, suddenly start bouncing like rubber balls off his clothes and body in every direction. It was the most bizarre thing he'd seen since the first time he'd seen his own magical discharge.

"What the hell?" he scoffed, eyes bugging out of his skull. "Vrael! What did you do?"

"It's a wind enchantment!" the boy happily boasted, puffing his chest out gleefully. "It'll keep us perfectly dry! Now, come! We have shopping to do, and I want to explore this place! It's so big!"

Xaphile glanced back at the inn, but followed him with a feeling of foreboding when he trotted off. Maybe it was the air. Maybe it was the way his nerves were strung tight like bowstrings. Maybe it was the fact that he'd just been told by someone that he was going to die soon.

It could have been any of those things, but he could feel deep down that something wasn't right.

Even when they went from shop to shop, he felt uneasy, the same way he'd felt back in Nimika when Ella had wanted to move out into the clearing, not even knowing that there were archers waiting to strike her. All of his senses were telling him to turn back right away.

Still, things were enjoyable, despite this... he and Vrael went from shop to shop, some of them indoors, some of them in stalls: the merchants didn't seem to care if the weather was bad, and similarly, a lot of other people were out in the rain as well.

When the supplies became too much for one person to carry, Xaphile helped stuff them into the magic bag, marveling at just how deep it went.

It was near late evening and the sky was growing dark when they finally finished, but Vordt still hadn't shown up and there was no particular sign that he was even watching over them.

"All right," Xaphile said, feeling very jittery, "we have a ton of fresh food, an entirely new set of dishes for Amelia to serve meals on, and a new clasp for Ella's cloak. We have enough, so let's head back."

"Already?" Vrael asked, looking at the thundering sky. "It's not even dark yet."

Xaphile felt his anxiety spike and he hefted the magic bag.

"Vrael, please," he quietly begged. "We need to go back! Now!"

"It'll be all right," Vrael soothed, throwing him a pained glance. "This is my first time ever being out in the open, and I want to enjoy it! Can't you understand that?"