Whoever aids the heretic shall

  receive the heretic’s due justice.

  -From the Book of Laws, Chapter II, subsection I

  Chapter 5

  Present Day

  The first thing Karis felt when she woke up was the throbbing pain enveloping her neck, which burned and stung as if a circle of fire was floating around it. Upon opening her eye, she felt a pulsating headache as the sunlight streaming from the broken roof above hit her gaze. Touching the ground below, she found herself on a bed of straw, which she gripped tight, feeling its moistness. It was then that the smell hit her, the thick and earthy scent of some animal’s droppings.

  She rose and looked around, availing herself of the mounds of straw and dirt that surrounded her, with not an animal in sight, nor could she hear any unless she counted the faint voices and footsteps coming from outside.

  There was only her and him.

  The dark clad hunter sat in the far corner of whatever room they were in, now stripped of his hat and leather garb. which sat folded up next to him, his body covered in a stained white shirt and light brown underpants. But he still had his dark gray gauntlet on, which in the brightness of day looked more like the metallic hand of some demon than proper armor thanks to the sharp claws that sat on the end of each finger.

  “Where…where am I?” Karis muttered. She eyed the man’s gigantic blade, propped hilt side up against the wall to his side. She looked next to any nearby exits, but found only a wooden door that stood but a few steps away from the hunter. Not that he intended to kill her, Karis was sure. Why else was she still alive? Though that was exactly the question that ran through her mind, the only answer to which she could come to was the possible bounty that a live witch could bring.

  “Somewhere safe,” he said before pulling a glass bottle from beneath the stool he sat on and drank from it. Wine by the looks of it, which he emptied within seconds before tossing the bottle aside as he ran a hand through his short black hair and sighed. “Better stay awhile. I can not say for how long, however. The city is ablaze with fear over last night, and guardsmen and demon hunters stalk the streets in even greater numbers. You should at least be smart enough to realize the danger you are in? A witch and a Yor. Are you unaware that your very existence is a death sentence here?”

  “You don’t need to tell me,” Karis said as she rose and brushed the straw from her clothes. Her blue robe was spotted with stains, some brown, most of them dark red, all of them making her feel defiled.

  “And yet you rushed to the maw of death. And spoiled my hunt.” There was an air of sophistication in his deep voice, his pronunciation lacking the gruffness and unclarity of most Qarthans she had encountered. “But I must give thanks for the brief distraction you caused. Otherwise, we would both have perished. So I will forgive the fact that you almost got me killed.” He stood up while grunting, then stretched his limbs and back before he put on his leather pants, coat, and boots. “But there is the question of my second favor to you. The fact that I pulled you from the edge of strangulation and assured your safety. I want but one thing in recompense. Tell me, why are you here? And don’t attempt to lie. My patience can only be stretched so far.”

  “I’m…I’m looking for someone. A demon hunter by the name of Laurian Cain.” As she finished talking, Karis could not help but feel foolish, which was magnified by the confusion in the man’s expression.

  “I see,” he said as he put on his wide-brimmed hat. “Well. You’ve found me.”

  Words became elusive as she looked the man over, his response seeming unreal, as if she had misheard or imagined it. “You’re…him?”

  “I bear the name and know of no others who do. And certainly none who hunt demon-kind. Now, why are you looking for me?”

  “I…” she felt dizzy all of a sudden, her feet becoming unbalanced and her heart beating fast enough for her to feel its pulsation. “I’m looking for a way to stop the demons. Not just kill them, but get rid of them for good and…well, it’s a long story, but a witch who can spy into the future told me that you could guide me to the answer, and told me your name, so I’ve been searching for you all over and–”

  He raised his hand, palm facing her, and Karis ceased her onslaught of words.

  “You almost got yourself killed for that?”

  Karis nodded. “Do you know? How to stop the demons somehow? Or at least know someone who does?”

  Laurian took two steps to his blade and held it aloft, its tip facing her. “Only way to stop a demon I know of is to cut it up until it stops moving. But then more appear. Don’t know why, and no one does.”

  Karis became slack-jawed. And feeling an urge to collapse, she sat back down into the straw pile and rubbed her face with both hands.

  “Seems as though the witch who informed you of me was in the wrong,” Laurian said as he let his blade rest on the ground. He then wrapped it in a thick cloth, which he tied up with leather straps, hiding all but the sword’s length. “Or maybe she just lied to you.” He let the wrapped up blade hang from a rope around his shoulder and waist. “Well, hope you are satisfied with what you found.”

  As he was about to exit, Karis rushed up and shouted: “Wait.” She came near to running towards the man to grab him by the arm, but as he turned around and glared at her, showing the same wrath as when they first locked eyes, she stopped and looked down. “There must be something I'm missing. I think that maybe I'm supposed to follow you around. That doing so will lead me to what I seek.” She lowered her voice to sound polite, but feared her tone was more pleading than apologetic.

  Laurian bent down to face her, then placed his gauntleted hand on her shoulder. It felt warm to the touch, as if a small flame was trapped within the dark gray metal. “Child. Let me make something clear: If you wish to evade death once more, leave this city and crawl back to wherever you came.” He tightened his grip, his voice almost a whisper, but filled with malice. “And please, do not presume charity on my part. Because my patience has already run out.”

  “But I need–”

  “What you need is a leash and someone to hold it. As well as to leave me be.” With a single arm, he lifted his wrapped up blade and bore it against her neck, allowing Karis to feel its sharp edge poking through the cloth packaging. “I do not know who told you my name, or what nonsense was conveyed about me. But whoever it was was either misinformed or wished you dead. You have seen what I am capable of and should know that I am a dangerous man. A dangerous man with slim patience and a willingness to kill whoever gets in my way, no matter how insignificant they may be. A dangerous man who could at this very moment slice you up before you had time to feel pain. Now, before my worse side unveils its fiery head and decides to split you in half, I’d suggest you keep your mouth shut and leave before either I or someone else ends your journey.”

  He let go of her shoulder and strapped blade to back, then turned around to open the door. As he was about to exit, Karis raised her voice to a near yell and said: “Won’t they be after you as well? If so, then we share a common threat. So maybe we should leave together.”

  Laurian did not even turn to look as he said: “That would necessitate witnesses of last night's slaughter. I eliminated that possibility, leaving none who could spread news of my face and deeds. Though you are not as safe, as the city is rife with talk of witchcraft. And if I am not mistaken, regardless of whether it be true or not, your people are often presumed to be guilty of any heresy. A presumption that would be confirmed by a simple search of your possessions.”

  “How about a deal then?” Karis blurted out without knowing what kind of proposition she could make. “Ehm…Let’s say I help you kill the Ripper. Will you let me travel with you then?”

  Laurian shrugged. “Oh, please. If you wish to try, sure. But don’t count on me saving you again. And if I see you following me, I’ll alert the city guards and collect whatever bounty I get for your capture.”

  He slammed the door after exiting, leaving Karis alone with nothing but thoughts of her failure. After years of researching and months of travelling the Empire in search of a single clue, she had let the first possibility of finding one slip out of her grasp. And all she had to do to regain it was to help kill a dangerous and murderous demon that, for all Karis knew, could be hiding anywhere within the city. And even that bore no certainty. The looks of her coven brethren were already clear in her mind, all of them seeing her as the dumb and desperate girl they knew she was, all of them judging and scolding her whilst feigning concern. The Lunaran would be the worst, they’re perpetual blank expression acting as a thin veil to hide the arrogance of someone proven right.

  After rising, stretching and cleaning herself up as best she could, Karis went out the same door as Laurian and entered a living room populated with nothing but spiders and a few rats that scurried away at her appearance. It was obvious that whoever owned the place had been absent, as all the furniture was caked in dust thick enough to color everything gray. The second floor was no better, the three small beds there left with sheets, pillows, and comforters still on, all neatly made and undisturbed for who knew how long.

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  She peeked through the one small window on that floor, and saw much to confirm Laurian’s words: a patrol of five guards walking to and fro, eyes covering every nook and cranny of the nearby street, with groups of demon hunters standing around, all armed and alert for any sign of danger. And she saw as well a small parchment that had been nailed to a signpost, most of its lettering too small and far away for Karis to make out, save for the word WITCH, written large and prominent, over which was a drawing of a young girl with brown hair and skin, along with a cloth wrapping covering her right eye.

  She bent down as one guard was about to look up at the window. Turning her gaze upwards, she saw a small wooden latch in the roof and decided to crawl through it instead of waiting to see if she had been noticed.

  Climbing through the latch brought her outside, the chill and clear air bringing a welcome relief from the stuffy scent of the abandoned house. After crawling to the roof’s tip, she could see a clear enough view of the city to get an idea of where she was, as well as spy a small sign of a nearby tavern. The houses were packed close enough for her to walk most of the way there, only requiring a few short leaps from rooftop to rooftop until she stood atop Ulgram’s tavern, in the back of which she could see the big bear of a man hauling wooden crates inside his establishment.

  She positioned herself to block the sun, her shadow creating a line between the tavernkeep and the door inside. When he looked up at her, he seemed almost disappointed, like a father seeing his wayward daughter return after some disreputable deed. Though that did not stop him from waving her inside as he entered his tavern. Karis followed, hood over head and eye darting around for signs of anyone besides Ulgram. But she found the place empty save for her and its proprietor, who placed the wooden crate he held on the floor and sat on it.

  “You know, had I foreseen the mess you’ve made I would have knocked you out last night and shipped you far away,” he said.

  “It’s…complicated. I walked into something out of my control and made it even more so. And now…I need somewhere to stay and hide. I can pay you–” she rushed to a purse she had tied to the backside of her belt, the coins inside making a clanking noise as she opened it. But upon seeing Ulgram hold his hand out, palm facing her, index finger upturned, she stopped.

  “No need,” he said. “Just make sure no one sees you here for the rest of the day.”

  Without thinking about it, Karis rushed to the man and hugged him, her hands only enveloping half of his thick frame. He smelled of beer and sweat, but there was a comfort in that scent, made all the better by the head pat that he gave her.

  She backed away. “I’m sorry. You’re just…the first person with any decency in a while.”

  “Well, I’m sad to hear that. I know it can be rough for your lot. But don’t let it color all us Qarthan’s as bad. These are just trying times. Times of fear. And fear makes monsters of people like nothing else.”

  “I don’t. I know that in their hearts, all people have goodness in them. That is what Mother Moon teaches at least.”

  “Your goddess, yes? It would be sacrilegious for me to say so, but it may be better for everyone in the Empire to believe in her instead of old pain and punishment Qarthus.” He rose from his makeshift seat and gestured to a stall at the farthest end of the tavern. “Take a seat. No one should be able to spy you from outside there. I’ll go make you some refreshments. You look close to starving.”

  As if reminded to do so, her stomach growled, and Karis nodded as she walked to the offered seat, Ulgram leaving to another room in his tavern.

  Upon sitting down, Karis buried her face within both arms on the table and gave a deep sigh, feeling a need to sleep despite having woken up not even an hour ago, her head throbbing like there was something inside fighting to escape.

  She heard footsteps coming towards her, the sound being too low for Ulgram. She was quick to rise, expecting either a guard or hunter advancing towards her. She saw instead a woman adorned in a simple tunic with an apron over it, a cup in her hand. She looked to be of similar age to Ulgram, with a few gray streaks in her brown hair and wrinkles that looked like crow’s feet spreading from her eyes as she smiled.

  “You want some water?” she said as she extended the cup to Karis. “Erhm…what was your name again?”

  “Karis,” she said while receiving the cup, the water it held feeling like a cold breeze after a scorching hot day in her parched mouth as she emptied it in three large gulps.

  “Mine’s Anika. I’m Ulgram’s wife.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry then for intruding on you. I know it can be dangerous to–” Karis looked her over. Anika’s face, although plain, held something familiar about it, as if they had met before, the memory of which proved elusive. “To harbor someone like me.”

  “Say nothing of it. Ulgram and I are just happy to lend a helping hand to one such as yourself. I know big old Qarthus says otherwise, but I can’t just let a little girl get maimed, Yor or not.”

  Karis feigned a smile as she nodded along, using the time to study her face even more. A brief silence passed between them, during which Karis remembered, and her heart felt on the verge of stopping, for although it had been dark and she had glimpsed her for only a moment, she was sure that Anika was a spitting image of the woman she had seen turn into The Ripper.

  Anika stopped smiling and grew pale, her mouth opening into a small slit. “Oh, I remember now,” the woman said, voice low and close to weeping. “You saw me yesterday. Right before I turned. Yes, it was you. It was so dark, and you were behind that terrible man, but I saw you right before it took over. I…I–”

  “Gotten to know one another,” Ulgram said as he kicked a door open and burst inside, both hands occupied, a plate of bread and cheese in one and a pitcher in the other. He looked jovial, but his smile withered away as he got closer and saw the two of them standing in silence, fear in Karis’ eyes and sadness in Anika’s. “Is something the matter?”

  “She…saw me,” Anika said, right before bending down on her knees to cry. “I’m so sorry…I really am.”

  “Anika,” Ulgram said as he rushed both plate and pitcher on the table and knelt beside his wife. “What are you talking about?” He smiled at Karis, the gesture so forced that he looked almost pained to perform it. “My wife has a…a fractured memory. Sometimes forgets who or where she is and what to do.”

  “Ulgram,” Anika said in a hushed voice. “She saw me turn. She saw it.”

  Ulgram’s breathing became deep and rapid, his search for an excuse made clear as daylight by his wide-open, downturned eyes and how he bit his trembling lips. Anika just buried her face in both palms and wet them with snot and tears, her low cries muffled by her hands.

  Karis looked both over and remembered the sharp clawed terror she had seen the night before. Remembered its guttural growls, wide mouth, and elongated limbs. But looking at the tavern keeper's wife, she saw no sign of the demon. Not even a hint of a resemblance, and felt none of the terror she knew she should.

  She grabbed both of Anika’s hands and gently pushed them aside, the woman looking her in the eye, to which Karis responded with a smile. “Please sit, and let me show you something,” she said, gesturing to the seats opposite her.

  The couple obliged, both looking at the young Yor with surprise as she pulled a small pebble from beneath her robe, their eyes widening as Karis said “Areth,” and a small stream of water leaked from the stone, which Karis let flow into her cup, filling it to the brim. “I can do much more, but this is the safest spell I can cast inside here. Don’t want to burn down your house. But there are others like me. Some are much more knowledgeable and powerful. And perhaps there are some that might help you.”

  “You’re…a witch?” Ulgram blurted out as he tapped the stone-produced water with his finger, pulling it away at the moment of contact as if he had been burned by it.

  “Yes. And I believe I was meant to find you. I have travelled these lands in search of a way to get rid of demon-kind once and for all. There was someone who I was hoping could help me, but that seems to have been a false lead. But then I found you, a melding of human and demon, both inhabiting the same body, but only one controlling it at a time. I’m not sure how, but this might bring me a bit closer to my goal. That is as long as you are both amenable.”

  “What do you mean?” Anika said, the flow of tears abating.

  “This is no guarantee, but if I can study you and the demon, I might elucidate its origin, as well as that of all its kin. You would have to travel to my coven, but you would be taken care of there. We could even provide you with a way to suppress the demon, or keep you locked up tight enough for it not to get loose.”

  There was a moment of silence between them, Karis thinking of ways she could get the two to Hollowhills, while the couple whispered to one another.

  “We could…consider it,” Anika said. “But only if there is a safe way to your…coven, was it?”

  Karis nodded. “The way is not as long as it may seem. It would be too complicated to explain, but I know a path that takes less than a day.”

  “We’ll see if we’re able to travel then,” Ulgram said as he rose from the table. “But until then, I’ll prepare your room for the night.” He left through the tavern’s back door, his wife following shortly after. It was then that Karis was yet again reminded of her hunger by a pained growl in her stomach, after which she gorged herself on the bread and cheese, the former being stale and hard on the outside, and the latter tasting sour, but both feeling delectable nonetheless, perhaps made so by her hunger and five days of eating nothing but roadside berries and hardtack rations. Washing the food down with water made the experience all the better, Karis, for the first time since leaving her coven, feeling a semblance of a home’s comfort.

  With a full stomach, Karis then rose from her seat and took a few steps towards the back door which Ulgram and Anika had walked through, but stopped at the sight of a guardsman’s uniform at the corner of her eye. She was quick to bend down and hide beneath the nearest table, the only sign of the guard’s presence she could sense being the rattling sound of his chainmail. She breathed a sigh of relief as she heard the guard walking further away, but felt as if her heart had been squeezed still when the tavern’s entrance was opened, and the drumbeat of footsteps was heard. She only saw their shadows, but could guess by the sound of shaking chainmail, unsheathing of swords, and loading of crossbows that they were guardsmen.

  Karis froze still, a cold sweat running down her face, and her stomach felt as if it was twisting into a spiral. And just when she felt on the verge of dying from fright, she saw Ulgram re-enter from the back door. She had half a mind to jump out and perform a feigned attack on the barkeep, allaying any suspicion that he and Anika had harbored a witch. Better she alone die than all three, especially since she had brought about this danger.

  But the viability of that idea diminished as Ulgram eyed her, walked to where she hid, and ripped Karis from her hiding spot, whispering: “Sorry, but I can’t risk my wife’s safety,” before shouting to the guards: “Here she is, just as promised,” as he threw her into their armored embrace.

  She did not look at the guards, nor the manacles they fastened tight to both arms and legs. Nor did she look for a path of escape or think of a spell to somehow get her out. Karis looked solely at the tavern keeper with the beginnings of tears in her eyes, the big bear of a man averting his gaze as she was dragged away.