The woman at the desk gives Prokop a smile of encouragement, and the young scholar nods hesitantly. "I, well, I was on the road, you see..." He blanches. "It was horrible! Yellow eyes, staring at me in the dark!" Prokop begins to shiver, and the woman walks from her desk to comfort him. "I'm sorry," she says, "Several people were killed when my brother was attacked. It had an effect on him, as you can see."
For a brief moment, nothing happens. Then, after some waiting, the enchantress feels the world around her begin to fade away, her vision growing saturated and dark. She sees flashes of the past, of a luxurious bedroom. She sees a woman, clad in a white robe, with a flaming rose embroidered on the front. "Is the job done?" A voice sounds, the young man's. "You bet. Hope he doesn't mind the little reduction to his stock." The voice is from the same person, but it's different from when it was speaking to Danielle. The young sorcerer sounds vapid and cruel. "So, about my payment." The vision jumps ahead in time. Danielle sees the woman in the robe, now aflame. She screams for help, but it isn't long before the flames end her ability to do so. The last thing Danielle sees before the vision ends is an image of the young man as he climbs out a window, panic on his face, with smoke behind him. With a jolt, Danielle snaps back to the present.
Abigail narrows her eyes, listening with care to every word. "Well, you don't seem like a witch hunter. Yes, on occasion, I have done so. Why? What else was in your vision?"
Easily, the witcher is able to slice upwards and send the creature's arm flying. As she does, however, the creature manages a spin of its own, its claws coming round to smack against her shoulder. Her armour holds up, and her shoulder isn't cut, but she goes sprawling down to the ground. The creature, bleeding profusely, loses its footing, and falls down on top of her, knocking the wind from her lungs and pinning her to the marshy ground. Weakly, it moves its maw closer to her, trying to drain her blood, but it dies before it can make contact.
Prokop breathes heavily as he tries to calm down, his sister hugging him and patting his back."It's alright...there, there." After a while, Prokop looks up. "I, uh, maybe. It was dark...too dark to see well, but it had fur. I don't know if it was a werewolf, I've never seen one in real life, but it had no horns that I saw, and it had fangs, rather than goat's teeth. The fangs..." He sighs. "They glimmered in the moonlight..." The blonde smiles reassuringly at him, and he continues. "It didn't look like a goat to me."
Danielle freezes in place. At first, her mouth opens to speak. Then pauses. Left looking at the young man confused, she seems hard to make sure of what she saw. There was evidence both for and against what she saw. "The boy...the woman in the same room. Discussion of a payment. It sounds like someone didn't want to pay the cost they hired the sorcerer for....there's a fire. The boy climbs out a window. But panicked. Surprised." She tried to gather more clues than what she had, but she was left exchanging glances with the captain. "The evidence is overwhelming....but the look on his face. It makes it almost look like it wasn't his doing. There's too many gaps to be sure, which is which. What I gathered, is they did meet. And the woman hired him to do something and didn't want to make good on her end of the deal....at least that's my understanding that I could piece together. It's not much. Objectively, it...makes him a strong suspect at least. But I'm not convinced this is enough to be sure."
Verena coughs and sneers.
The book is as heavy as it looks, and the weight is added to as Madeline leads her brother around town, buying various bits and baubles for him to carry. Finally, she turns to him. "Well, I think that's all for today. Let's head back." By the time he reenters the castle, Varrin almost collapses, nearly falling onto the same bed where his sister was eaten out last night. In Madeline's room, the young woman takes a seat next to him. "Just put that stuff anywhere."
"Of course. It should be ready in a few minutes, ma'am." Caster heads out to set up the tent, leaving Mirellia alone in the carriage with her fantasies. After what seems like an age, she feels the door open, sees Ashton grinning up at her, no trace of the previous fear on his face. "Naughty girl. Last night wasn't enough for you, I see? You're having another wet dream." Ashton steps up into the carriage. Possessively, as though he owned her, he reaches out to squeeze her breasts, pinching her nipples hard with his thumbs and forefingers, sending jolts of pleasure across her body. Leaning in close, he breathes into her ear. "I bet you wish this was real, don't you? That your son would really take you like a whore."
"W-What? No! She's lying!" The young mage backs away. The knight looks up at Danielle and nods. "It isn't conclusive, but it's more than enough to bring him back to the Temple Isle for questioning."
The creature flies off of her, landing in a bog puddle as the witcher stands. Lifting her mail and gambeson, she sees a mark on her shoulder, and knows instinctively that it'll turn into a nasty bruise, but there's no cuts or anything requiring medical attention.
"There is, but you don't have to do it if you don't want to." Madeline takes a sealed envelope from her desk. "I'd appreciate it if you took this across town, to the elven quarter. There's an elf called Aelle, a friend of mine, who I wanted to send a message to."
Verena raises an eyebrow and throws The Creatures Head across The wooden floor, before his Feet.
