Chapter 27 - The Songbird
"Hameln, did you say?" Schwarz questioned as the two men walked along the road, their shadows growing long in the late afternoon sun.
Nodding affirmatively, Wilhelm continued, "Yes, Hameln. The townspeople have hired us to return their missing children."
"Their missing children, how many are missing?" the nobleman pressed. "Surely you can't mean to say all of them? Hameln is such a large town, there must be at least a hundred children living there," he continued, aghast.
"One hundred and eleven," Wilhelm confirmed with a heavy sigh.
"Goodness. I haven't spent much time in Hameln so I don't know the town well, but our family's theurgist hails from there," Schwarz mused, "We took him in when he was still quite young, I wonder-"
A sudden explosion of frantic bird vocalizations stopped both men in their tracks as a tawny mass of feathers exploded from the trees towards them. The small bird flew erratically past the travellers, leaving bits of down floating behind it before swooping around and heading back towards Will.
"What in hell's name!" Wilhelm shouted, taking a step back from the squawking projectile as it shot past his face. Observing the animal's distress, Will noticed a glint of metal as the songbird soared upward before diving back towards him. Feeling a small thud as the bird crashed into his chest, Wilhelm gently caught the bird in his hands amid a series of indignant chirps, cradling it gingerly as its tiny clawed feet kicked the air frantically.
"Is it caught up in something?" Schwarz asked cautiously, keeping distance between himself and the squawking projectile.
"I think it might be," Wilhelm responded, hesitantly using one hand to pull at the fine silver chain wrapped around the bird's right wing and legs. "Woah there, little one," he murmured to the songbird. Wilhelm gritted his teeth in irritation as the bird responded by stiffening in an unconvincing attempt to play dead. As Will gently unwound the chain, he noticed an odd weight at its end. Finally freed from its burden, the little songbird gave a victorious squeak and launched itself into the air in a flurry of plumage. "You're welcome," the older Grimm retorted dryly.
Brushing the loose feathers away, Will lifted the fine chain to examine it, noticing a familiar ring hanging from its end. 'What devilry is this?' Wilhelm though to himself, admiring the newly found ring which was a mirror image of the one Jacob had placed on his hand.
"That's a fine chain," Schwarz observed, leaning in to examine the jewelry.
"Chain? Are you seriously more impressed by the chain than what's attached to it?" Wilhelm asked in annoyance.
Schwarz cocked his head to the side, looking from the silver chain to Will, "What's attached to it?" he repeated in confusion, "Oh… I understand your joke. Yes Wilhelm, you're quite the treasure as well," the nobleman responded good-humouredly with a roll of his eyes.
Ignoring Schwarz entirely, and thoroughly perplexed as to why the other man was not acknowledging the ring, Will glanced from the ring on the chain to its partner on his hand. Suspicious of the seemingly astronomical coincidence, Wilhelm wondered whether the pair of items worked together somehow, and on a whim removed the now familiar ring from his finger. Looking back to examine the new ring, Will nearly dropped the chain in surprise, as he realized that the new ring was no longer visible. Placing the familiar ring back on his finger, the older Grimm noticed that the new ring was once again visible on the chain. Thoroughly spooked, Wilhelm shoved the bewitched jewelry into the bottom of his jacket pocket.
'Jacob would love this nonsensical garbage,' Will thought to himself in irritation, 'I bet he would know exactly what this stupid pair of rings is good for.' Pondering this for a moment, Wilhelm made a mental note to check whether Jacob had left any of his books in Kastanie's saddlebags.
"Let's keep moving, we're going to run out of sunlight soon," Will suggested to the preoccupied nobleman who was staring up at the late-afternoon sky, and received a distracted nod in return.
Author's Note: Thank you for reading. This is the updated version of Chapter 27, uploaded on 03/2023.