The witch's hut was, thankfully dry and cool. It was a stark contrast to the nasty humidity of the swamp outside, but Mau wasn't relaxing. The hut was also absolutely creepy; a ratty little ramshackle shack that roamed the woods and mire on chicken legs.

Suvdaa and Andy were astonished.

Mau called it 'some Baba Yaga knockoff bullshit' under her breath as the hag's moth flew off her shoulder and perched on a nearby unused coat rack.

"Please dears, make yourselves comfortable, Hag Spetti's home is your home while you're here~."

Mau sighed and decided to hunker down and catch a breather as they crossed the threshold of the door and found themselves instantly dry, clean, and fresh. It was only a temporary little reprieve from the nastiness of the swamp and Mau knew that they would just get dirty and smelly all over again within minutes of leaving. But it, at least for the moment, gave the trio a collective sigh of relief, at least before the hag started to address them again.

"So you're looking for the legendary hero's sword?" She murmured as she pored over the trinkets and baubles on her desk and shelves. "Yes, yes, I thought so... One like you would need that, eh?" She chuckled nastily.

"Can you help us find it or not?" Mau pressed tiredly as she slumped against the doorjamb. "The sooner we get out of this swamp and I can catch a nap, the better."

"Lazybones cat, we are not resting now." Suvdaa hissed.

"I mean. She's letting us chill here and hasn't attacked yet." Mau pointed out. "There's clearly something she wants from us, too." She said, eyeing the hag that had her back to the group. The hag paused immediately and seemed to bristle as though she had been caught and called out.

"Well... While you're here... In my swamp..." The old witch began to speak, glancing over her shoulder and flashing the trio a wicked grin.

"There is something you could help me with, yes." She confirmed. "And if you help me with it, I'll tell you whatever you'd like, free of charge even, for your aid~."

Andy perked up, tail wagging. "Oh so you'll help us then? Mau said that sword was super special and that she needed it to kill the demmmmphpmmmhnh!" He started to explain brightly before Mau and Suvdaa placed their hands over his mouth in unison.

Though the hag pouted visibly for a moment she set her staff against the wall and slumped into a ratty old plush chair by the fog-frosted window that looked out into the swamp.

"Will you at least hear an old woman out~?" She said, smiling brightly. It was not a nice smile in the least.

"Is this wise?" Suvdaa asked hushed into Mau's ear. "Even in the north we know not to make deals lightly with witches, they twist words and work terrible magics that twist your desires to suit their whims."

"I know." Mau replied matter of factly, "But something about her seems... Desperate." Mau said while side-eyeing the smiling hag. "She leaped right into offering a deal. And while that's pretty normal for hags, this just... Doesn't feel right, to me. Call it a feeling in my gut. Let's hear her out."

"Are you done whispering, my dears?" The hag asked sweetly. "Being hush-hush... Really though I suppose it suits the two of you more than precious little Andy, doesn't it?" She said, reaching over to scratch behind one of the dogboy's ears, making his tail wag.

"In fairness," Mau replied, "dealing with hags is pretty dangerous business. You might tell us what we want to hear, but there's always the question of what do you get out of it? And what out of us do you get out of it, in particular." She said, prompting a solemn nod from Suvdaa.

"Weeeeeell..." The old witch said, voice creaking as she rubbed her wrinkly chin. "You see there is something I'm after. And you're right... I am quite desperate about it." She did admit. "So if you could find what I seek, then I'll consider that your end of our little bargain; nothing more, nothing less."

Mau and Suvdaa exchanged a glance, while Andy looked like he was having the time of his life getting scratched behind the ears by a creature that could just as easily turn him into a toad.

"Andy..." Suvdaa said, tone exasperated, "Do you not have any sense of self preservation?"

Mau waved a hand before he could answer and stood herself up from where she was resting by the door.

"I'll bite." The catgirl said, pursing her lips into a frown. "What is it that you could possibly be so desperate to get your hands on that you need us to find for you?"

The old witch sighed. "Right to the chase." She huffed. "You've no sense for suspense nor dramatics do you?" She said with a scowl.

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

"Well fine then." The witch said, irritably. "We can jump right to it."

With a snap of her fingers, the hearth lit up, a warm crackling fire kicked to life from nothing and burned brightly. The witch seemed to reach into the fire itself and pulled out a small dancing flame that fluttered on her palm. The flame shifted in her hand until it took on the form of a handsome man in armor and a cloak.

"One of the Demon Lord's four generals has decided to pay my swamp a visit, you see." The hag started to explain. "They wanted my help to find that sword before you could, but when I wouldn't they took something from me." She said, scowling.

This made Mau arch a brow.

"You wouldn't help them?" She asked, a little suspicious.

"Oh don't give me that tone." Spetti snapped. "I have ethics and morals too, you know." She huffed indignantly.

"It's because I wouldn't help them that they took something from me, something very important and special." The hag continued to explain, bobbing her head. Her moth bobbed on its perch as though to emphasize its master's words.

The smug looking bastard in the fire flashed a sharp-toothed grin as he twirled once and performed an elegant bow.

"This is that general. His name is Enma, and he isn't at all what he seems at first glance. Though what he really is; even I couldn't tell with my witch's sight." She grumbled.

Mau nodded, Suvdaa frowned. Andy leaned towards the witch as though asking for more ear scritches.

She was a little too busy to scratch his ears anymore though as she snuffed out the flame in her hand.

"So what did he take that's so precious to you?" Mau pressed.

"My family." The hag snapped. "He took my only family member and has them held hostage at his camp. I could storm it all I wanted by myself and kill his men and his orcs and his goblins, but he'd just kill them in front of me to torment me." She sighed.

"So." Mau said. "Let me get this straight... You wouldn't help the Demon Lord's general... He kidnapped your family member... And if we get them back, you'll tell us where the sword is?"

It sounded so simple. There had to be a catch of some kind. And yet even if there was, a hag's word was ironclad. The witch would be bound to owe the party a favor if they pulled off a daring rescue. There was just the question of finding out where the general's base of operations was located, scouting it out to see what kind of forces he was commanding, and then going from there. Possibilities ran through Mau's head, though she immediately tossed out the idea of brute forcing a battle.

Storming the place would likely end with the hostage being killed. If Mau and her party weren't killed themselves or captured in the process.

Stealth was probably their best bet, out of any option they had. Mau knew she could rely on Suvdaa in that case, but she cast a look towards the acolyte in their party and made a face.

"Alright." She finally decided. Considering that killing the Demon Lord's general was already on Mau's list of thing's to do, ridding the swamp of some of the bastard's forces would just be a bonus, and if they could rescue the hag's family, then she would tell them where the sword was... Logically speaking, Mau was the one coming out on top from this deal, even if the hag was pointedly leaving details out.

She had dealt with hags in prior lives before and never once would she have dared make a deal with one until now.

Mau stuck her hand out.

"We'll do it. I'll kill Enma, rid the swamp of his forces, and rescue whoever it is you want rescued. But once I do that you tell me where the sword is, no ands, no ifs, no buts, no hemming and no hawing." She said firmly.

For a moment; for just a beat, the hag seemed taken aback at such a quick acceptance of a deal. But with a leering grin she took Mau's hand in hers, clasping it gently in her wrinkly, clawed, fingers.

"Then we have a bargain..." She said jovially, as Mau could feel the tingle of magic run up her arm as the witch casted a compulsion spell.

"Bring back my loved one. Take as much time as you need. But if they die, I want you to know that you will die, as that will be breaking your word to me~. If you leave my swamp, you'll die, as that will be breaking your word to me~. And if, for any reason you go back on our deal, you'll die, as that will be breaking your word to me~." She said, invoking the law of Three upon the magics she wove into the rules she gave Mau.

Mau shook the tingle from her arm when the hag released her hand.

A moment of tense silence hung in the air as. Mau and the hag stared one another down. Suvdaa frowned and Andy was no longer wagging as he now realized the severity of the situation.

Mau had just struck a deal with a swamp hag.

"So." Mau eventually spoke. "Where are they keeping this loved one of yours?"

❧

"Was that a good idea?" Andy asked as the trio stepped out of the chicken-legged hut and into the humid stink of the swamp once again.

"It's the best option we have." Mau said matter of factly as she covered her mouth to stifle a yawn. "Honestly, all things considered, it's a win-win for us." She pointed out.

"A win-win?" Andy frowned, "But Mau you're gonna die if you leave the swamp.

"It's fine, it's fine." Mau replied, waving a hand nonchalant. "See, Andy, the thing is... Killing the Demon Lord's general was already on my bucket list, and if we rescue someone along the way, that's just a bonus." She explained, earning a blink from the dogboy.

"Wait you're serious about killing an underling of the Demon Lord?" He balked.

"She is serious." Suvdaa interjected in a tone that said she would brook no backtalk on the matter. Ever since Mau had told her the whole truth, the raider had been staunchly supportive of the catgirl in her endeavor to rid the world of the Demon Lord's blight, and the fact that she had finally stopped calling Mau a dumb cat was a pretty nice bonus.

"So, look. I know that seemed hasty." Mau started to speak. "But killing the general, thinning out his forces in the swamp, and saving some hag's family isn't taking us that much off course, and it's easily the least she could have asked us to do." She said. "Honestly, something was off about her. I've run into hags before. They're usually more... Grandiose in their demands. She was clearly desperate and willing to compromise hard to give us what we wanted while getting what she wanted out of the deal."

"That is what a desperate hag looks like?" Suvdaa scowled. "I could feel my skin crawling every time she smiled."

"That sure is what a desperate hag looks like." Mau said nodding, sure of herself as she folded her hands behind her back and stepped into the mire.

Suvdaa and andy followed suit, and the three started to make their way in the direction of Enma's camp, none of them any the wiser that the hag's moth fluttered out of the open window of the hut and followed after them.