A Headstrong Youth
Part 6
“Perhaps now you’ll answer me as to who exactly you are, now that we are on a more equal footing?”
The other jeered. “Equal footing? Don’t flatter yourself, boy.”
“Well at least it caught your attention.”
A ghost of a smile twisted the other’s lips for an instant. “Unwise.”
“How so?”
“Unwise,” he repeated, “to anger Mirrhe, keeper of this land.”
“A keeper tends to his lands.” Joren claimed, his features and voice hard. “This forest is so warped and changed…”
The other harrumphed. “Mirrhe would call it… An improvement.”
“More like desolation.”
Now, a smile truly cracked the other’s lips, and a slight tingle ran up the young man’s spine. “Mirrhe would kill you if he heard that.”
“But you are not he,” the boy replied, one eyebrow rising in challenge.
“I do enjoy keeping him happy.”
“Here I was thinking it might be easier for you to, perhaps, vacate a land held by such a despondent keeper.”
The other’s smirk twisted sourly. “Mirrhe is everything but despondent.”
“And yet he lets this land go to ruin. Wasteful, then.”
“Mirrhe is to be feared and respected by the likes of you, boy.” Spittle flew through his teeth.
“Mirrhe is not fit to be a master. You should leave.”
“I will never leave!” he snapped.
“So you accept the devastation this so-called Mirrhe has wrought within his evil reach.” Impassive, palms sweaty and teeth clenched, Joren stood his ground.
“Ha! There is no evil. Only power and those worthy of it.”
“And you believe that you are worthy, perhaps?”
A growl escaped the other’s throat. “You know nothing of power.”
“And you do?”