Dawn of Vengeance

Chapter 10 - Encounter

We're off to see the witch. Those were Rex's last words before he took off and disappeared into the crowd of people. It only took Jake a second or two to realize that the dark elf was suggesting that they go and talk to Eve's mentor Rayne Grimmwel. Although he wasn't too excited about the idea of going to see her for advice about "Gargoyles," what other options did Jake have besides his own mentors. Asking for help with research isn't forbidden during an Unrisen's trial, but it does leave quite the stain on one's track record. After all, how is someone suppose to trust a Saint who needed their mentor's help during their trial?

Apparently I do, Jake thought solemnly as he walked down the sidewalk with Eve to his right. He wasn't nervous about meeting Rayne, they'd met several time before but never face to face. It was customary for witches to hide their identity from public view so as not to attract unwanted attention from other Beings. Witches did help Saints out with most of their tasks after all. In fact the witches were said to be the start of all three of the human factions way back in the day. They bewitched all of their weapons to help them kill Beings without so much of a hassle. Jake remembered hearing reading somewhere that witches were in fact the very first Beings to walk the planet, and that from their power came the creation of life on Earth.

But that was all stories and lore of course. The real story of how witches came to be is shrouded in mystery and only known by a very select few of the species themselves. In reality they were probably more secretive than even the dark elves of the east, but they make up for that bit of mystery by helping the factions in anyway that they can so its suppose to be a fair trade. Whether or not Jake agreed with that wasn't important, nor should it be. He was the equivilant of a footsoldier, nothing more, and nothing less.

Still there were a few things that he'd like to ask Rayne about should the time come, like whether or not witches were actually human or something else. Jake looked over at Eve who was rummaging through her bag and still managing to avoid colliding with the oncoming people. How girls could manage to do that was far beyond Jake, he'd tried it once and had nearly knocked over a stack of bicycles. Apparently there were things that just weren't meant for boys to be able to do even if they had some very extensive training.

"Hey Eve?" Eve looked up at the sound of her name and once she realized it was Jake who had spoken she put her bag back on her hip where it belonged before giving him her full attention. "What's Rayne like? I've met her a few times but only when she came to the church, and during those times you can never be too sure about what will happen."

Eve furrowed her brow at the question before she pursed her lips outward, obviously trying to think of the right words to say. Not that she could be blamed though, witches were rather secretive and they much like the Saints, had their own little set of rules that told them what they can and can't do. Only with there's Jake was sure that there were some higher consequences than his could ever be.

"Well she's kind of like a very stern mother," Eve finally began after giving her words much thought. "Just do what she says and don't give her any of you little smart mouth remarks and you'll be fine."

"Psh. Me smart mouthed?" Jake said mocking offence to the accusation. "Come on Eve you know me better than that."

"I'm serious Jake," Eve said ignoring his attempt at humor with her flat tone. "If you piss her off she'll screw with your head so bad not even I'd be able to fix you."

"Yeah well should it come to that- I'll just charm my way out." Jake said shooting Eve a big grin which only served to make her laugh.

"Good luck with that." Was all that Eve would say after that.

Wow, he thought to himself as the two of them kept on walking down the streets. Guess Rayne really is a bit of a sour puss if Eve won't even joke about her. Jake couldn't help but wonder just what kind of person you'd have to be in order to get Eve to quit clowning around. On the flip side though, Jake wouldn't clown around about either of his mentors either. Sure he'd lip off to Father Matthew every now and again but he could only hit when he got mad. With Rayne there was potential to have your mind completely and utterly screwed with.