VII Showing Themself

I was still awake thinking about the chalice Elgar gave me when I heard a noise in the middle of the night. It seemed to be not far from where I was right now. I grabbed my rifle and ran to the back garden. I heard the screams of a young girl, which became clearer and clearer. I guessed it was coming from behind Glaze's wall.

I called  Emma who was probably fast asleep. After knocking on her door a few times, she came out with a dagger in her hand.

"What's going on?" she asked, smoothing her hair.

"There seems to be something out there. I heard a young girl screaming for help."

"Why don't we go look for her?" suggested Emma.

"Okay, let's take the stairs."

We took the wooden ladder and jumped over the wall. Fortunately, there was no barbed wire or broken glass at the top so we could jump easily.

Outside the wall was very quiet. There were only a few torches to light the way. My gaze scanned all corners of the community-owned plantation until I saw a black figure moving at the end of a turn. Emma and I walked over to it with a tight grip on our weapons. When we got closer, it was a horse and carriage.

"Let's check the carriage." I said to Emma. She nodded and we hurried to check the carriage.

A man, who could have been the coachman, was lying unconscious on the grass. Emma checked the man, and he didn't have any serious injuries. I sneaked up and opened the carriage door carefully. It turned out that the carriage was empty.

Emma shook the man's body to wake him up. Instantly the man opened his eyes and looked panicked.

"Who are you?" the man asked with a frightened face and trembling voice.

"We are Hunters. Witch hunters from Glaze. What happened?" Emma said.

"Help! Help!" he clenched his hands together. "An old woman seems to be a witch, I...She floated towards us and attacked me. The witch took my master's daughter!" she replied stammeringly.

"Did you not see wrong?" I asked.

"No, I didn't. I'm sure she's a witch. She took Miss and floated among the trees. I was hit by her magic while trying to save Miss."

"Alright! If you run into people like us, report them."

Emma and I rushed to find the girl. Although we didn't know exactly where she had gone, our instincts led us to walk south. Then there was a scream among the trees.

A black figure flashed. I prepared to pull the trigger and searched in all directions. The scream was heard again. A witch was trying hard to levitate with the young girl. Apparently the girl kept struggling, causing the witch to stumble.

I then shot her in the back, careful not to hit the girl. It seems my bullet managed to penetrate her body and send her crashing to the ground.

The young girl who was with her tried to run away as Emma was about to help her. But the witch grabbed the girl again and tried to run away.

We chased after her. But the witch threw me into a tree with her magic and made my rifle fall quite far away from me.

From the distance came the sound of bullets raining down on her. Kingsleigh came with two other men. Apparently the witch managed to escape with the girl. She flew away with a deafening screeching sound.

"Kingsleigh!" I gasped for breath. "My bullet only made a minor wound."

"This can't go on Jenna, we need to save the child immediately." Kingsleigh replied.

"Of course. But not tonight! It's too dangerous Kingsleigh." I tried to stop him.

"Alright. We must inform General Goldwine and Commander Egerton of this. The boy must be released immediately before there are any further victims."

father and Chaz were waiting in front of the mansion when we returned. They were quite surprised to hear our news.

"There has never been a witch who dared to enter our territory. Let alone behind Glaze's walls!"

"We tried our best. But we failed. She moves so fast!" Kingsleigh added, "This is a bad sign."

"We'll do a search soon. Now you go back, get some rest!" said Father.

We went back to our private homes. I couldn't really fall back asleep. I just sat on the floor and leaned my head against the bed, looking up at the sky through the window. My hand nudged an object under the bed. It was the silver chalice Elgar had given me.

I was really like a fool when I first accepted this chalice from her, without the slightest thought that this thing was very dangerous. The witch who attacked me in the forest, it's possible that she knew about the silver chalice I was carrying so she tried to attack me. But, I don't know...I'm getting scared thinking about it.

    

***

After the kidnapping incident last night, we immediately moved quickly to conduct a search. My troops were assigned to search Willeth, a former witch village that was left in ruins. The village was destroyed without a trace, and the surviving witches had fled to who knows where.

Marlon and I searched the eastern part of Willeth, while Emma and Kingsleigh were in the western part, and Alden checked the central area. The snow in this place was no thicker and the air no colder than in Windstone. But walking through a place like this seemed riskier than walking through empty territory. After wandering around for a while, we found no sign of anything. The witches seemed to have never returned to this place.

We spotted a battered-looking, cobweb-filled building on the terrace with its roof covered in thick snow. I think it was a house.

"Marlon, do you know that building?"

"I don't know. It looks like a house that's no longer inhabited."

"Do we need to check it out?" I hesitated.

"I think we should. Let's go!"

We walked carefully to the small, mysterious house. I was ready with all my weapons, rifle, crossbow, and a small dagger tucked into my shoe. Marlon approached the door that was chained with a padlock. He struck the rusty chain with his sword until it broke.

"Are you ready Jenna?"

"Always."

We quickly entered the house and examined every side of the room. As I was observing a large statue, several large rats suddenly appeared and shocked me to death. I'm sure, even when it was inhabited, this house was very uncomfortable and filled with strange objects. There were so many things that were typical of witches. Some were even similar to the ones in the secret storage room. There were broomsticks, strange statues, hats, robes, and everything about witches.

After going through the whole house, we didn't get any sign. Besides, the state of this house made me feel uncomfortable in it.

"It's better if we just leave. There's nothing here. It's just a long-abandoned building anyway." I said to Marlon.

"You're right. We could go, but I don't think we can just leave this house. "

"What do you mean?"

"Well, this house was abandoned a long time ago. But it still holds a lot of mystical items. So it's not impossible that the witches will come back to get their stuff for magic rituals."

"Good idea Marlon! We can burn those mystical objects."

Marlon and I immediately took out the mystical items from the house and burned them until there was nothing left. Black smoke soared into the sky and produced a pungent odor. Kingsleigh, Alden and Emma saw us and thought something bad had happened to us.

"Why did you burn it? I thought something had happened." Emma looked worried.

"It's fine, it's just to prevent those magic items from being used again." Marlon replied.

"Alright. Did you find anything suspicious?" Kingsleigh asked.

"Nothing." I replied.

"Us too." added Alden

"Now we still have to finish the southern and northern sections. Because the north is bigger, I need two friends." said Kingsleigh.

"Then Marlon and I will go south. How about Marlon?"

"Sure, we'll go south."

After finishing the eastern part, Marlon and I headed for the northern part of Willeth. This area was the outermost part of Willeth and bordered the forest. Because the trees here were more lush, the snowpack was less thick than in the more open north. But the cold was bone-chilling nonetheless. We could only walk slowly through the heel deep snow.

As in the eastern region, there were many debris buildings and objects scattered around. But not a single building was still standing, everything had been flattened to the ground. Apparently the battle three years ago had completely destroyed Willeth.

Again, we found no trace or sign of the witches. My guess is that the poor little boy has been taken somewhere far away. Perhaps in the mountains or their new secret place. What was clear was that this place held nothing but rubble.

The northern part wasn't too big, but the boundary between the village and the forest wasn't too clear. There was no parapet or anything like that. To shorten the time, Marlon and I decided to split up.

"Marlon, I think we should split up to make it faster."

"Alright. Don't get out of this territory."

"But how do I know the boundaries of this village?" I looked around.

"I don't know. The boundaries aren't clear, but we can count from the tree behind you to the fifteenth tree after that as a benchmark."

"Alright. I won't go too far."

We went in opposite directions and I started following the large fir tree right behind me as much as the fifteenth tree after it. The atmosphere in this place was so quiet, there was no sound of birds or insects from the top of the tree, only the sound of the wind. It was almost the same atmosphere as in Windstone.

I continued walking until the last tree according to our agreement, but I think Willeth's territory is still wider than this. I looked around, mostly just trees and some scattered but much reduced building debris. I actually still wanted to keep going until the thirtieth tree, but I quickly abandoned my plan.

After I felt far enough away, I turned around to head back to where I came from, walking slowly due to the thick snow. There was no one here but me. The friction between the trees mixed with the wind caused quite a loud noise. But it makes the atmosphere in this place even more silent. Gradually the sound of the wind became louder, and I even seemed to hear a voice faintly. I couldn't hear it clearly, but I thought it sounded like someone talking.

The sound was coming from the north and without thinking, I turned around and looked for the source of the sound. I kept walking, but strangely the voice sounded like it was getting farther away and moving north. Regardless, I continued to follow it until I passed the fifteenth and even thirtieth tree. I didn't just walk straight, but made turns to follow wherever the voice went.

Suddenly the sound disappeared and the forest was quiet again. There was no strange whistling of the wind or any sound. I was alone and confused in the middle of the snow-covered wilderness.

Great! Now I was directionless and had forgotten the way back. Then I thought of following my footprints back to my last position. But strangely, I couldn't find a single trail! Even though my boots are enough to make deep tracks that can last for days. I really didn't understand. It's so strange, and I'm thinking there's a witch spying on me right now to get me lost.

"Come out you witch! Don't just hide and rely on your magic! I'm not afraid of you!" I shouted for the witch to come out. But still nothing happened.

Now I was confused, alone, directionless, and without any clues. "Jennifer is lost again" I grumbled to myself.

I finally decided to keep walking somewhere. I hoped to take the right direction, which was north. After walking for quite some distance, I seemed to remember something. The terrain I was traveling through at the moment was almost the same as when I was running because I was being chased by hundreds of crows. I didn't have time to memorize the route back then, but I still had a little memory of this place.

I walked a few steps forward and soon saw a sharp descent. Unmistakably, this was the descent that had knocked me unconscious. I felt the excitement rise in me again. Of course I would reach the village of Cornwall if I went down and kept walking.

After many ups and downs, the lake finally appeared in front of me. Apparently the lake was still frozen over and remained the same as when I passed it with Elgar. I hurried along at a half run, afraid to look at the dark blue bottom of the lake. If this layer of ice broke, I could die by the cold.

I finally made it through the lake without breaking the surface in the slightest. Not far from the lake was a settlement, unmistakably, "welcome to Cornwall". I quickly made my way to Elgar's house, which was filled with roses all around. Smoke was billowing from the chimney, but the house looked quiet.