Bound To; The Wish of the Witch

XIV

The dark windows of Ghaz's home quivered with every persisting gust of wind as Scinthia sat quietly, thinking to herself about how they were going to get inside the castle. She looked across the table at Tori who was staring off with a puzzled look on his face, which she assumed meant he was also thinking of how to handle their new obstacle. Tori's piercing green eyes rose and met hers for a split second before she shifted her glance away. A short moment passed before Tori spoke up.

"You wouldn't happen to be hiding any charged objects under that armor of yours, would you?" He asked, sounding sarcastic.

"Obviously not. Besides, I believe that between the two of us, you're more partial to hiding things than I am. I'm to leave the sneaky stuff to you rangers after all." She responded with a smirk.

"Unfortunately, dealing charged objects was never a hobby of mine." He said before turning to Ghaz. "Ghaz do you have any charged objects laying around that we could borrow?"

"I tried to keep a few of them for study, but that stiff Hailer wouldn't have it and made me turn them all in before I left." He confessed, giving them an apologetic expression before speaking again. "If you two are that eager to get into the castle you could always hunt one of the queen's pets."

Scinthia and Tori gave each other a look before turning back to the old man.

"Oh? And why is that Ghaz? Tori asked.

"My, my Tori. What would've happened to you two if you hadn't run into me before you got here?" He asked laughing to himself.

Scinthia glanced over at Tori to see him making a somewhat annoyed expression. She held back an urge to giggle at the sight of him getting frustrated.

"Anyway, each species has a unique part of its anatomy that possesses a strong magic charge that would work the same way as any other charged object." Ghaz explained.

"You know this would work?" Tori asked, sounding more serious.

"Of course, in fact, that's how I got passed the barrier my first time. Though we never actually entered the keep itself, we were able to confirm our theory on how other's could enter the vicinity." He said, chuckling to himself again.

"That's right, I had almost forgotten that you used to be a witch hunter Ghaz." Tori said.

Scinthia was a little shocked to hear that this small old man had been inside the castle grounds. Ghaz laughed.

"Yes well that was a long time ago. Before I gave up hunting and started researching instead." Ghaz said, sounding nostalgic. "Anyway, getting back to your predicament. If I recall correctly, Locke said he was sent here to deal with an unruly magic beast in the area. Perhaps it would prove profitable for you two to hunt it with him. Knowing Locke, I'm sure he wouldn't turn down an opportunity to do less work." Ghaz laughed.

"You're probably right. That sounds like it may actually be our only option at this point." Tori said sounding troubled.

"You don't sound too happy about this new solution. What's on your mind?" Scinthia asked.

"Despite it being our only option, I can't say I'm not concerned about how troublesome this beast could turn out to be." He explained after sitting silent for a moment.

"What makes you say that?" She asked.

"Well apparently this thing is enough of a problem that a ranger was sent to deal with it instead of a normal hunting party. It's possible this might turn out to be more trouble than we anticipate." He said, sounding more unsettled than before.

She was surprised at how insecure he sounded all of a sudden. Ordinarily he'd have more confidence when it came to hunting something. She couldn't help but feel slightly uneasy.