Chapter 11

The party went westwards towards their target area, presumably a small lake with a clearing next to it. Gwenith walked a little to the side when Regan joined her. "I know how we seem to you." he started but Gwenith immediately shut him down "Regan don't worry about that, I know your story. I know how the mages of Hegranfjall oppressed the people. Something had to be done about it no questions asked." silence briefly filled the cold air between them 'But to call it corruption and hunt everyone with a magical talent is literally insane Regan and I think you know that' she didn't voice those thoughts because she wasn't completely sure about Regan.

As if he had read her thoughts he started again but quiet enough so that his companions wouldn't hear him "I said I know how we seem to you and we are exactly that. We only started a revolution but Maqir turned it in this religious thing. Don't get me wrong, we wouldn't have succeeded without him and his insanity. Many would listen to the witch hunt and only few understood the political reasons behind our revolution." Gwenith was surprised and her picture of Regan changed immediately. 'A wise man, perhaps the last one in his order.' she nodded and walked on. "And what will you do about it? Isn't it too late?" she asked quietly "I don't think so. I know many who share my feelings but they're not only burning mages...the corruption conveniently spreads to normal people too. Maqir's influence grows and there is little we can do about that but I haven't lost hope yet."

"Why not ask the west for help, bring an end to this lunacy?" she proposed the only logical option. "No, they're busy with their own little war or at least soon will be, trust me my sources are clear on that. But we also have to solve this ourselves." a small lake could soon be seen in the distance. The sun was reflected on the frozen surface. 'Too proud. You will only die and drag the others with you.' Gwenith thought but she had little interest in the political struggles of the Crusaders as long as she and her loved one's were ignored. Gareth was out of the question because of his warrior class and established guard post. Dora was in the east anyways and wasn't a magic user either. She never cared much about fighting but her bow wasn't too bad.

"I get it Regan but you won't be able to convince me of joining." she guessed at his intentions and was right. "Damn shame, the way you handled that sword was very impressive and we could've used a clear mind such as yours."

' You're not the good guys Regan, you've lost that status as soon as you started to kill innocents...and I do believe that was even before the whole corruption thing started...' she thought to herself as Regan handed her the sword they had used to test her. "You'll need something to fight too, I don't think you could use those metal bars on your back...I'd doubt it even if your level was high enough." Gwenith took the sword "Thank you, I'll be sure to put it to good use."

They reached the frozen lake. "Seth scout everything around the lake, don't get cocky!" the thief immediately became a little less visible, it was as if the air around him changed. You just didn't want to look his way. "I never get cocky Regan." He vanished into the forest around the lake and the others prepared themselves for a possible battle. "So what do you guys ACTUALLY know about the so called witch?" the stories told only of shadows and death, nothing specific was ever mentioned. "All we could find out is that it doesn't fight itself. The witch is a conjurer of some kind or it uses illusions." Regan supplied the information. 'He's not even acknowledging her or him to be a person, just something that has to be cut down...I can see this going very well. At least it's going to be an interesting day...'

A couple hours passed and while the party grew restless Gwenith sat down on the ground and started to eat a piece of bread she had in her backpack. She didn't pack a lot of food because there was plenty around to hunt. Well maybe she just wanted to kill beasts but the food was another bonus. She did pack a bit mostly because of situations like this, somebody eating raw meat would hardly invoke positive feedback.

"Regan he should be back by now...he said he'd never be gone for longer than two hours." Phil, the guard that greeted Gwenith by the camp voiced his worry. Regan didn't seem composed either as he thought about what to do. "Any suggestions Wade?" he looked towards the healer who was watching over the lake. "Not sure boss. It's supposed to be only one person...that we could handle with a pretty high certainty but if there's a group..."

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"They never mentioned more than one actual person." said Noah who seemed more restless than the rest. "We're strong enough boss, let's get the witch!" the mood changed 'Oh wow, this is literally a witch hunt now, we should get some torches.' Gwenith was amused with the whole situation and hoped they would engage. She'd leave the party after this anyway so a little action couldn't hurt.

"What if we go check together in formation? If Seth really has been captured or killed we can retreat safely with our numbers." she tried to break the stalemate. Regan didn't seem affected but the three warriors nodded in agreement. "What about a vote?" suggested Wade "Wouldn't be the first time we had to use one but Noah, Phil and Patrick are for a possible rescue mission so we don't even have to count votes."

"Well that's settled then, let's move out." suggested Phil as he removed the mace from his belt and a shield from his back. "It's decided then." Regan concluded and prepared his heavy shield and sword. Noah and Patrick followed their examples while Wade only took out a talisman from his pocket. Combined with his staff he'd be ready to heal his allies. 'You dirty little shit.' Gwenith recognized the talisman as one some mage used in Valaan. She knew it because she overheard him boasting about it in the training ground of the guard. He was a wind magician in the Valaan guard. 'I never liked the man but he was still a friend of Gareth...oh man, so now it's personal...at least with Wade.'

The party silently made their way around the lake but couldn't spot either beasts or Seth. After a twenty minute walk they reached a clearing next to the lake. It would've been a beautiful sight as the sky was crystal clear and everything was covered in a layer of snow reflecting the sun. The problem were the half buried skeletons littered around the clearing. There were several wolves, hounds, tigers and even something bigger...perhaps some kind of troll. It was difficult to determine the skeletons covered in snow and trolls weren't very common. Gwenith had only fought three of them before and they were fierce enemies at the time. 'I think the first one was when I was around level 100...I even had to use my new Frenzy skill to take it down...that was a great day.' while the berserker was lost in thought the others checked the area.

"This one's still fresh." Phil motioned for the others to come as he found a still bloody skeleton. "Seems like a tiger." Tigers are Monster class beasts in the 70-90 level range. Wade moved closer to inspect the wounds. "The cuts are extremely fine, looks like claws or something." his medical knowledge wasn't the best so no further deduction was possible. 'Great healer we have here.' Gwenith didn't move to close because of the blood. 'Don't want to accidentally take a bite.'

"Any prints?" asked Regan "No, the snow's been to recent but let's check around the area. Seth had to have come by here. We can follow his if we find them." they split up and searched the area. Gwenith didn't really try. The lake made a too beautiful picture to ignore. She even tried to walk on it but the ice didn't seem thick enough to carry her swords and herself. She helped the others out in the last ten minutes of the search when Wade called out to the others. "Found em, has to be him. They're super light. Approach from behind me to not disturb the trail."

They did as he asked and the party immediately followed the very faintly visible footsteps. It wouldn't have been possible if the weather wasn't this good. The party continued into the forest on the other side of the clearing and Gwenith started to smile after only fifteen minutes of walking. 'Blood, fresh. Might be human.' the others noticed the signs ten minutes later as some splatters of blood could be seen on the fresh snow. They increased their speed fearing for their friend.

They found Seth another half a mile further in the forest on the ground covered in blood and claw marks. "He's not breathing. We're too late." Phil kicked the tree next to him. "Fucking idiot, the damned fool got caught by some bloody witch." Noah said 'Stop cursing, I thought you were the ones being pure and all.' though Gwenith as she scanned her surroundings. Only Wade and Regan were doing the same. "Concentrate guys, whatever killed Seth is still out there. Take positions and be quiet." everybody moved after Regan made them regain their composure when a low growl could be heard from less than twenty feet away.