Katarina had spent a week and a half in the rain before coming to Higgenfal, constantly plodding ever onwards through the forest as the rain fell. She'd actually caught Mystia in the rain: Mystia had been using her magical singing to dry the wood for her fire, and Katarina had caught her by surprise, riding out of the storm and dispatching her with a simple boot to the face.

Back then the rain had waxed and waned between heavy and light, and being in the forest helped; the trees canopy had formed an effective screen and filter to blunt the downpour.

The storms this evening made a mockery of the rains from a few days ago. The rain hammered down relentlessly, drumming against the roof until it roared. Lighting walked and thunder talked.

After every peal of thunder, after every bright stroke of lightning that flashed through the shutters, the villagers would speak in hushed voices, talking about the fires they'd have to put out, or the buildings they'd have to repair.

Katarina and Sasaki sat in a corner of the common room, eating and talking quietly. They passed a cup of applejack back and forth as they ate. Every time the lightning struck close, they'd stop talking and listen to the thunder; as soon as the thunder cleared the cup would be passed from one to the other, and the conversation would pick itself back up.

Sasaki was trying to explain a Yamato joke to Katarina when suddenly Katarina sat up straight a split second before a bolt of lightning exploded seemingly just outside the inn. The thunder reverberated, shaking the shutters. Pictures fell from the wall, and a few villagers who had been near the front of the inn fell over, clapping their hands over their ears, their cries drowned out by the atonal boom.

Sasaki, who was pressed against Katarina's side, fell over with an unladylike squawk as Katarina bolted upright. She barely heard Katarina's exclamation over the cannonade of thunder.

"That was magical."

She took a determined stride towards the door but stumbled with a curse, going to one knee. She'd been drinking the potent brandy with Sasaki for a couple hours and was struggling against the effects. As Katarina rose to her feet, there was a second strike, just as close. She adjusted her gun belt and marched towards the front door of the inn.

Sasaki rose to her feet herself, eyes wide and mouth agape with shock as the taller woman moved towards the door as if planning to step out into the storm. As Katarina planted her hat firmly on her head, Sasaki realised the taller woman planned to do exactly that.

A couple villagers intercepted her, yelling over the thunder and pushing her back. "What're ya think yer doin? You kinna go out there!" the villagers argued, pushing her back, but Katarina casually shoved them aside as a third lightning strike hit. Katarina tossed one to the side with a strength that belied her size.

"I am a Witch Hunter in service to the Goddess of the Dawn!" She yelled angrily. "That lightning is a Witch's spell! Let me out there!"

Sasaki shook her head to clear it, and took a second to debate with herself the prudence of following. She picked up her sword from beside the bench she'd shared with Katarina and followed after.

Suddenly, something slammed into the inn's door with an audible thud, followed by a shrieking cry and ferocious pounding.

"Please, please open up! Katarina!" a woman's voice cried from the door. Katarina opened the door, and a figure slammed into her from the boardwalk, knocking her off her feet and bowling her over.

"Katarina!" The figure shrieked, over and over, staggering into the inn, apparently ignorant of the fact that they'd just knocked her over. Katarina picked herself up and shook her head, trying to clear her head. She scooped up her hat and turned back to the person.

Sasaki had grabbed the figure, which was liberally daubed and covered in mud. As Katarina closed the door, the figure yelled again, "Katarina, please! I have to speak to her!"

Katarina tossed her hat to the side and nodded. "I'm right here." She announced, but the figure didn't seem to hear her.

"Please, I have to talk to the Witch Hunter!" the figure yelled, and the accent clicked. Katarina grabbed the figure and turned Camille around.

Blood trickled from the woman's ears, and one of her eyes was puffed shut, a magnificent bruise purpling the side of her face. She had a lost, dazed expression, and her eyes darted around frequently.

She suddenly grabbed Katarina's lapels and pulled herself up to Katarina's face.

"They... they killed my brother!" She screamed in Katarina's face, spittle flying.

Katarina pulled the other woman into an embrace, and Camille clung to her like a drowning woman, sobbing hysterically.

Katarina looked up, and caught Sasaki's eye.

"Sasaki, the applejack." and Sasaki nodded, emptying the last of the cask into the cup they'd been sharing. Katarina pressed the cup on Camille, who seized the cup and drank convulsively.

"Tell me what happened." Katarina demanded. "What's going on?"

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The villagers had started moving around them, listening in. Querulous questions were muttered amongst themselves.

"She probably can't hear you, Kat." Sasaki replied clinically. "Her ears have burst."

Camille looked up at Katarina. "They came... they, oh Goddess, they, they, my brother!" She cried, and dissolved into hysteric sobs.

Katarina glanced over at the innkeeper, who had circled the bar to join the throng.

"I hope you've got some more of that fine applejack." Katarina said to him. "As well as any medicine that we can use as a sleeping draught. She's been through a lot and she needs to calm down." She gestured to the door. "I'm going over to the Church, storm or no storm."

The innkeeper hesitated, and then nodded. "I kin do that much. What was she saying about the pastor?" he asked, and Katarina shook her head. "I'm going to find out, but first we need to dose her."

"Kat, you're pretty drunk." Sasaki observed. "and the Church isn't going anywhere." Katarina shook her head. "I don't care. I have a responsibility."

Sasaki sighed with an ostentatious shrug. "Fine, I'll come along with you." She announced. there was a babble of agreement from the villagers as well as a few cries of volunteers.

Katarina raised her voice. "You all need to stay here, safe, and out of the storm." She commanded as the Innkeeper returned with a packet of powder.

"That should help her sleep." the innkeeper murmured, and passed her a glass of applejack. Katarina dumped the powder into the drink, forced Camille's muddy head back, and handed her the drink. Camille drank without a change in expression.

"I'll put her up in my room." Katarina said after a moment. "I'll pay you double when I come back."

The innkeeper nodded at this.

Katarina carried her up to her room and laid her down on the bed. Camille struggled against her, crying. Katarina fended off her reaching hands gently but with a firm insistence.

"Stay here, Camille. I'm going to the church to find out what happened. Stay here, get some rest." Katarina murmured to her kindly, and picked up her heavy leather coat and swirled it about her shoulders.

Sasaki moved towards the front door of the inn as Katarina came down the stairs, but Katarina called her back. "You can't go out there, you're drunk." She accused, and Sasaki laughed. "So are you." she repeated. "It doesn't matter. I'm coming along."

Katarina took a breath and muttered a prayer to her Goddess, and felt her antimagic field extend around her.

"Stay close. The lightning won't hurt us directly if we're struck." Katarina instructed as they stepped outside the inn and closed the door behind them.

"Directly?" Sasaki asked, frowning. "What's that supposed to mean?" She asked.

"The lightning is magical, but the thunder isn't. You might want to cover your ears unless you want to end up bleeding from them like Camille." Katarina advised.

"Shit." Sasaki replied, and Katarina nodded. "You could use that to plug your ears, I guess. Mud also works and smells better." Katarina advised soberly, and Sasaki did a double take. Was Katarina serious?

The rain still pounded down indiscriminately, steadily. the two women couldn't even see the other side of the street through the curtain of rain, and the ground just beyond the raised boardwalk was an unrelieved swamp.

"We leave the boardwalk and we're going to get drenched." Sasaki complained, and Katarina touched her hat ostentatiously.

Sasaki sighed. "The church is that way, right?" She gestured, and Katarina nodded. "The street will be no good for fighting; too muddy. The church will be better."

Sasaki shook her head. "The benches; they'll obstruct footwork."

"Plenty of cover, though." Katarina replied.

"Maybe for you." Sasaki replied dourly. "Shall we run?" She asked, changing the subject. Katarina nodded, and the two bolted out into the rain.

===

From the front, the church looked unmolested but for the fact that the front door was open. Katarina didn't hesitate, she dashed in, gun leveled and sword raised. As she stepped into the vestibule, she muttered to Sasaki, "Cover right." Katarina moved left as she moved into the main chapel area, sensing rather than seeing Sasaki flanking to the right.

The pulpit, the holy symbol of the Golden Lady, and the entire rear wall of the church had been destroyed. Rain poured in and puddled on the floor. the timbers had a charred look, and the rank smell of ozone filled the air.

"Lightning?" Sasaki asked, and Katarina nodded. "Likely."

Sasaki pointed on the floor, and Katarina knelt.

"Tracks." She acknowledged. The muddy prints were humanlike and seemingly barefoot, but had clawlike gouges.

Katarina chuckled a little. "Taller than me." she observed.

Sasaki raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

"Let's find the Pastor." Katarina affirmed, and Sasaki grimaced. "or what's left of him."

Katarina stepped through the shattered remains of a door, gun high and sword out and at the ready. Sasaki was much quieter, and moved with a grace that was eerie.

She'd never actually learned his name, Katarina realized. All she knew of him was that he was an idiot.

Sasaki glanced about the room. "There was a scuffle, here." She offered, and then pointed. "He was shoved or thrown." she added clinically. "From the claw marks on his face, I think it was a beastman of some kind." She added. She approached the body that was slumped between wall and floor. "The arrow came after." She tugged on the arrow experimentally.

"Whoever it was had phenomenal strength." she added. "It goes through him and into the wall." The arrow itself was almost as long as Sasaki's arm, from shoulder to fingertips, and about as thick as Katarina's thumb. Katarina let out a breath and Sasaki rose to her feet. "It was a painful death. He likely drowned in his blood." She added.

"Don't tell that to Camille." Katarina advised in a low voice.

Sasaki gestured at the floor. "Whoever it was left this room, and went back out into the church."

The prints were obvious, and Katarina nodded her agreement. They turned to leave, and Katarina instead turned back. "Wait."

Sasaki said nothing, but Katarina offered an explanation. "As much of an idiot as he was, he was still a servant of the Golden Lady."

She gripped the arrow and pulled it free, and then picked up the pastor's body and laid him on the tiny bed. She knelt at the foot of the bed and said a brief prayer, commending his spirit to the Golden Lady.

Sasaki moved from the priests' bedroom, following the tracks. Camille had escaped by jumping out of her bedroom window, it seemed. Sasaki continued following the tracks until they led to a hatch in the floorboards, where Katarina joined her.

"Camille jumped out her window." Sasaki reported, and Katarina nodded.

"Whoever it was, they entered and left the basement." Katarina remarked, and Sasaki nodded back.

Katarina opened the access and descended the stairs into the basement. there was a pallet of straw and a couple of blankets, a couple of boarwood bowls and spoons, and a washtub, but Mystia was nowhere to be found.

"Looking for that mage of yours?" Sasaki asked, and Katarina nodded.

"You think she escaped?" Sasaki asked skeptically, and Katarina shook her head. "No way to. Whoever came here took her and left." She sighed.

"They didn't bother hiding their tracks. We can follow them." Sasaki offered, and Katarina nodded, holstering her gun and sheathing her sword.

"Let's be quick, before the rain has a chance to wash them away." Katarina suggested, and they left at a trot.