Winter Witch

Chapter V

The barrage eventually ceased, leaving an eerie silence. Markel slowly opened his eyes. He sat still for a while longer. The eerie silence deepened. He felt no presence other than the stag beside him.

The stag had morphed back into their animal form. They laid beside him curled into a tight ball. They shivered as if they were freezing from the cold.

Markel ran his hand over the smooth fur. It occured to him that the stag before him was the same one he had met in the woods the day before. He knew, because he felt the same energy radiating from it as the one he'd met before.

He left the stag where it was and revealed himself to the enemy. The eerie silence lingered. He stood there for a long while, waiting for the enemy to reveal themselves.

When no one answered, he called out, "I thought you were going to reveal yourself! I thought you said the game had ended, so why are you still hiding?" A shadow darted through the tree tops. Markel smiled and continued his challenge. "Seems to me you're no more than a coward who likes to hide behind barrages of arrows and run away!"

The shadow stopped it's movents. It stood still and silent for a long while before speaking out in return. "Coward? You call me a coward, because I do not face you in direct combat?"

Markel shrugged. "You like to hide behind others! You used a young girl just to get to me!"

The shadow grew angry. "I am NOT a coward! I don't hide behind others, and I can stand my own ground if I do choose to! I am a strategist!"

"You mean to tell me that young girl was part of your strategy?" Markel felt enraged but kept his cool.

"That girl was in the way! I needed to take her out! She was hindering my plans!"

Markel felt the energy of their anger. "You are nearly killing an innocent girl for your own game! Not only her but the poor stag as well! What is so important that you must harm others in the process to get it?"

The shadow fell silent. The eerie silence grew and lingered. Markel felt he was getting nowhere and was about to leave. Then they spoke. "Your sword."

Markel looked at his sword still in its sheath. "What about my sword? My sword isn't anything special!"

The shadow seemed dumbfounded for a moment. It moved and disappeared, reappearing behind him. Markel was taken by surprise. He turned and took a step back, his hand at the ready to draw his sword.

"There's really nothing special about it?" The creature before him asked curiously. "Can I touch it?"

Markel was taken back by the odd approach of the creature. "No, you cannot. Now tell me who you are before I slice your head off!"

The creature was aghast. "Fine! Fine! Fine! I'll tell you!" She spoke in a panic, not wanting to have her head sliced off. "My name is Lucindra. I'm a dark elf from the neighboring forest. I was told to kill off a man who wielded a magic sword! I swear to you that's everything! Please don't chop my head off?" Markel had drawn his sword and had held it against the elf's throat.

"Who sent you? Why do they want me dead?"

"I don't know who my client is! I'm just a Mercenary! I'm only hired for assassinations! I hate combat!"

Markel sighed. "You're lucky I don't just kill you here and now. I'm a Bounty Hunter, though. Not a Mercenary. I'm going to let you go. You have two choices: either follow me while I continue my journey, or you can leave. Should you choose to leave, if you even try to harm me or someone else again, I will see to it that every Bounty Hunter and Mercenary is after your head!" It wasn't a threat either. "First of all, you're coming with me! You have to lift that curse you placed on that poor girl!"

The elf looked confused and baffled. "A curse? There wasn't any curse. It was the poison from one of my arrows. The poison is so strong it can rot a person's body in two days without leaving a trace behind."

Markel sheathed his sword. He grabbed the elf's shirt collar and shook them angrily. "You had better have the antitode! I swear, I'll kill you myself if you don't and that girl dies!"

Lucindra tried prying Markel's hands off, but they weren't strong enough. "Okay," they gasped. "I'm sorry. I have it with me."

Markel released his grip. "Good! Let's go! You're healing the stag as well!"

Lucindra didn't dare to argue as they hated confrontation. They allowed Markel to drag them to where the stag lay. She found the wound and applied the antitode right away. It took a while, but the stag soon opened its eyes. It was exhausted.

"Rest here a while longer," he spoke gently to it. "I'll be back after a while. I have some business to attend to." He glared at the dark elf who shivered in response, their head bowed in silence.

Markel had tied Lucindra up tightly, so she couldn't escape the ropes. Lucindra, hating confrontation, didn't dare make a move.

Markel hoisted her onto his shoulder. The dark elf began to squirm in response.

"Hey, you! Put me down at once! This is no way to treat a lady!"

Markel dropped Lucindra onto the ground and scoffed. "Fine! You want to walk, then walk! I don't want to hear anymore complaints! Besides, you aren't a lady at all. If you were, you wouldn't have hurt that poor girl!"

The dark elf pouted. She had never been so humiliated in her life! She was too a lady! In fact, she wasn't actually a Mercenary at all.

Lucindra stood with ease. She hated the man before her. She wished he would just die already. She needed to see if his sword was truly that one she was supposed to be looking for. She squirmed a bit, trying to loosen the ropes, but it was no good. The ropes wouldn't budge. Since no magic was used on them, only pure physical strength, her anti magic wouldn't do her any good either.

"Don't get any funny ideas!" Markel warned her. "You have a lot of explaining to do when we're done!"

Lucindra swallowed hard. Never in her life had she been so careless as to think she could take anyone down with her archery skills. She finally met her match with this man. She lowered her head in surrender and continued moving forward, following him all the way to the town.