you have been given. You have barely begun to examine what you are capable of. I will teach you. Richard, if he is willing and able, will guide you, as he has studied some of the Wards you will be studying. You will discover your own limitations and, in so doing, discover how to control the burgeoning power inside. In time, Bran. In time.”
“What am I to do until then?”
“Right now, nothing,” Merle said with a small smile. “In the coming weeks, months, and years, you will grow into the man I have seen.”
As the sun set behind the Olympic Mountains, the chill of fall gripped the pier. Richard remembered what it had been like to accept Arondight and begin training to be a knight. Bran had a great deal to learn, but from what Richard had seen, the boy was quite capable and would not have a problem with the Wards.
Integrating his own new role into his life might be a different story altogether.
“Your father would be proud of you,” Merle added finally.
“I feel closer to him now than ever before.”
“It was meant,” Merle said. “Charles Ardall was an amazing man. There are many stories I would like to share with you. He loved you and your mother very much, would never stray too far for too long from Seattle. Some Heliwr roam the world, having no want or need, but Charles was rooted here. He protected you and the two worlds that his life would be centered around—without error or bias.”
“How did he die?”
“That is a tale for another time,” Merle said.
“Already playing games,” Richard mocked. “Typical.”
“It is an incomplete tale,” Merle conceded. “The act itself was beyond my sight for reasons I cannot fully explain—only speculate at. There are other forces at work in this world beyond my own, Bran. I do not see all, as I’ve said. I sense another soul, such as my own, who took part in the murder of your father.”
“What do you mean?” Richard asked. “A saved demon soul.”
“No, another wizard.”
Richard was surprised. He had not heard that before. Bran seemed to accept the news, but Richard could already tell the boy was gearing up for a barrage of questions he would ask Merle later.
“Knowing won’t bring my father back,” Bran sighed.
As Bran took a deep breath, the cogs in his mind clearly spinning, Merle pulled a few dollars from his jacket and offered them to Bran.
Bran took the money. “What’s this for?”
“You are starving,” the old man said. “Get something to eat. I would speak to Richard alone.”
“All powerful and poor,” Bran said, showing off the dollar bills. “Is that it?”
“Goodness has never been a profitable business.”
Bran pocketed the money.
“Rick!”
Richard and his two companions turned.
Al and Walker walked toward them, their bedrolls hiked upon their shoulders, each carrying change cans that jingled all too lightly. They were as disheveled and dirty as usual, but each bore a grin that dispelled some of the hardship they experienced living without a home.
“Where ye been, Rick?” Al asked. “We were worryin’ about ye.”
“I’ve been…around,” Richard said. “How are you healing?”
“Tis nothin’, nothin’. Takes more than some hoodlums to kill ol’ Al,” he answered. “We headin’ up the hill to the shelter for some grub. Care to join?”
Having removed memories from both Al and Walker and being reminded of John Lewis Hugo and his last moments, Richard shook his head sadly. “No, I’m not hungry right now, Al. But thank you for the offer,” Richard said, looking to Walker. “You okay after the other night? Fighting those drug dealers must have been scary, especially when they knifed Al.”
“Yeah, ‘twas,” the addict answered. “I was so freaked I can’t even remember what dey looked like.”
“Scary, for sure,” Richard said.
“I know dis sounds nuts but I feel…”
“Yes?”
“I…I feel like I owe yeh my life in some crazy bat shit way.”
“No, Walker,” Richard replied, returning the sad gaze of the addict. “It was all you and Al. You saved yourselves.”
“See ya tonight den, Rick,” Al said.
Richard nodded.
Al gave Bran and Merle an aloof look. He then led Walker with a shambling gait away down the boardwalk, across the street beneath the viaduct, and into Pioneer Square. The inseparable two vanished behind the brick buildings and masses of people, their cups and bedrolls carried with hope, two friends keeping the dangers of the streets at bay.
Richard would see them again soon, no doubt.
“Come into the store when you are finished eating,” Merle said to Bran. “There are things I