Flash Fiction: No Choice (Hanging Out With All The Wrong People)

Billy Talent dropped a new album on Friday and I've been really enjoying the track 'Hanging Out With All The Wrong People'. It feels very Billy Talent which, in my opinion, is a good thing. I thought it'd be fun to write a flash fiction, the first thing that came to mind while listening to the song on repeat (listen here!).

No Choice

Year 6499 AC
Heartfair, Kingdom of Aiova
The Dancing Snake Tavern

Immeral leaned forward in his chair and studied the man sitting across from him. They'd met in the back room of a mortal tavern he'd found himself often frequenting ever since he'd defected.

"You want me to do what?" He couldn't help but let his voice betray his shock at what the man was proposing.

The man, who refused to introduce himself properly, sighed and glared from underneath his oversized hood. From the way his red eyes glowed, Immeral could guess the hood helped hide the blood-red horns sprouting from the man's head, much like his own.

"I want you to run a carriage off the road tomorrow. It'll be passing outside Heartfair around noon."

"And why would I do that?"

A grin from under the other man's hood. "I take it, for the pure pleasure of destruction, isn't your thing?"

Immeral grit his teeth. "No."

The man hummed. "Interesting, that does quite contradict what I'd heard about you. But, no matter, I'm prepared to offer you a very generous compensation."

"You think money will sway me?"

The man laughed, low and dangerous, "I don't believe I mentioned money. No, compensation, in this case, would be my silence. For someone supposedly in hiding, you do a piss-poor job of keeping your business private, and so do your friends."

Immeral's blood ran cold at the blase tone with which the man across from him so casually blackmailed. "I have nothing to hide," he hedged, hoping it was a bluff.

A rough chuckle came from under the hood. "Let's see. Your," he paused, nose twisting in disgust, "involvement with that fairy. Ryfon's special and sudden interest in the arts. Or, maybe best of all, Malik's whole little family he's been hiding from Xenia. You pick which one I reveal first."

Immeral slammed his hands against the table, a resounding boom that had it almost collapsing on its flimsy legs. "Just who do you think you are?"

"Someone who knows what he wants, and I want you to run that carriage off the road and kill the people inside."

"I won't do it. I don't-"

The man cut him off, "Unfortunately for you; I'm afraid I have one more card." He sighed in mock pity and conjured a small, dark blue messenger butterfly. "Kill the fairy." His voice was cold, unfeeling, dead.

Immeral stood in a panic, her face flashing before his eyes. "Wait! I'll do it. Don't send that order."

The man smiled wide from under his hood and let the butterfly disappear in a flash of blue magic. "Tomorrow. Noon.”

~~

Cover image made with Heroforge.