The Witch and the Lich; An End

Credits; Krell, Rea,

Krell's mind went blank.  When he woke he could not move, nor could he speak.  He couldn't feel any body parts; in as much as he was aware of it he was little more than a rush of magic and flesh.  It wasn't painful, like being destroyed.  It was more like the reforming that had followed it; like being knit back together.  And best of all, he felt the warmth of whatever gentle spell mended him, and the cool of the chamber in which he found himself.  He could smell the iron of blood, burnt hair, and spell-scorched ozone.  And had he lips he would have smiled.  Had he a voice he would have laughed.  Had he feet he would have danced.  There could be no denying it; Arcania's plan ahd worked, he was alive!

"He's awake, and just in time too."  It sounded like Rea, only much harsher.  It was a Rea bent on murder.  As opposed, Krell pondered, to her usual, standing desire to just kill people.  It was the sort of distinction that seperated proper villains from regular criminals.  And right now, Rea had managed to cross the line from assasain to murderous civilian.  She wasn't just going to kill this person because it was a job, this time she was going to kill because she wanted to see them dead. 
"Just in time for what?"
"Your execution."
"My..You can't...Do you know who I am?"
"Yes that's what I said.  I can, and you are hardly the first.  And yes, Empress Holine III Laerdsfeld of the Daniellandish Empire, I do in fact know who you are; I've had the pleasure of meeting several members of your family over they ears.  As it so happens, I didn't even kill all of them."
"You can't kill me, I'm the Empress!" 
The veil of darkness began to lift and Krell could make out two figures through the blur.  The dim light caused Holine's bare skeleton to gleam enough that he could make her out.  The shorter figure had to be Rea then.  Her hair had changed color for some reason; maybe she'd gotten bored waiting and dyed it red instead.  A natural red, which if stories were correct was quite rare amongst immortals of her age.  Strong magic had that effect on anyone, using a particular variety too much would leave distinguishing marks.  The shadow made one lean and bony, the light a natural radiance, fire caused red hair and a sort of literal fire within the eyes, and frost made its practitioners, like Arcania, pale of skin and hair.  Every field had a mark, and that Rea bore none seemed to him quite a feat.  And unlike so many of her claims, there could be no doubting the truth of this one. 
"Yes, oh mighty Lichling, I could kill you without a breathe or a thought.  And believe me, I would."
Krell tried to look around, but he still couldn't move.  He could see that they were in the treasure chamber Rea and him had found the phylactery in.  He couldn't see the captain, but then their would have been no more than bones to start with. 
"Except, I know this guy.  He's not the nicest guy in the world; he says stupid stuff sometimes, and he doesn't always respect my independance, but he always tries to take care of me, and he never means it badly." 
He heard her flip the blades from her gauntlet.  Holine gasped audibly as it began to dawn upon her what was happening. 
"You know him.  Your parents would have said the same thing I'm sure, though I think they felt a little differently about it than I do.  But you, you never respected his way of thinking.  I'll admit it; it can be quite difficult to work around, always sparing lives and prefering to talk his way through things that really just need a blade through the chin.  There are certainly times when I would like nothing more than to put a foot up his rear, but even if he can be a pain he's still right.  No one knows how easy it is to kill better than me, but having him around reminded me of a lesson passed down through my family." 
He heard a bone snap.  It wasn't easy to break Kraj, it was hardly a brittle metal, yet Rea had unmistakeably just broken off one of Holine's arms and was now prodding her with the hand. 
"My father taught it to me.  'The job of the assassain isn't to kill for profit, that's the job of the Ukown.  You are the assassain; you kill the people who take the empire down the wrong paths, the corrupt nobles, the crooked businessmen, the rebel warlords, and if need be the emperor himself.  And when you kill them, you make sure the right people are standing by in the wings to get things back on track.'.  I;m not supposed to just run around killing people.  I'm supposed to be killing the right people.  I spent so much time training myself how to kill that I forgot why I was killing.  But Krell reminded me why I kill."
Rea threw the arm aside and pulled out the phylactery.  The diamond shone in the artificial light that filled the room, Holine began backing away. 
"Because the people need me too."
Holine's skull fratcured as the diamond impacted against it, thrown with all of Rea's might.  The phylactery exploded as it made contact.  Holine was dead.  It was over.  And he couldn't even thank her for it.  Rea nudged at the bones with her foot and then sat down on a nearby rock. 
"Y'know we owe Arcania one now.  I hope she doesn't want anything too hard."  She paused and then sighed.  "And you can take all the time you want now, welcome to eternity."