Carmine (Completed)

Chapter 10

Valor rolled up the sleeves of the wet-stained shirt they gave him. It was loose and it recoiled back some distance along his wrist. This was much to his frustrated groans that emphasized his annoyance. 

"Leave it be, Valor," I said.

He stared at me with a face of scratches and cuts. His dirty blond hair was heavily unkempt with tufts of it knotted at the sides. I wished I could have ordered the heads of these Eathen Soldiers, but I restrained the urge to cause trouble.

There were a lot of them standing around us. Their eyes never left our minute actions.

"The dagger," Valor said as he held out his hand. I shifted my hand and handed it to him.

"Ah."

Valor turned his head to the priest and he definitely was one based on that pristine attire. His piercing eyes glared at the dagger in Valor's hand. 

Valor cut into the wrist of his fabric.

"What is that?" the man asked in a deep voice for such a slim straight-faced man. Yodan moved to the side behind him.

Valor froze his cutting. "A weapon, used to kill things."

The man narrowed his eyes and his face twisted into a horrible scowl. "This weak blood is what you seek as help?!" the priest exclaimed, pointing at Valor, but looking at Yodan. Yodan stared at the dagger, but his eyes shifted to smile at me.

"I never said he would help. I have not even asked him." Yodan turned and produced a parchment from his side. He said to this assumed priest, "Bishop Kello, can we discuss what is going on in the Kerimon district and then decide what to do first?"

Oh, he was higher than any priest.

Bishop Kello snorted and muttered incoherently as he moved wide of Valor. I was not sure if Valor was used to this, but he did not react at all.

Valor avoided staring directly at him. Then they came in, six of them. 

Judgments.

These were the warriors trained to fight demons and witches.

Heavily suited up, from head to toe, they were saddled in armor. Their tall bows and spears thudded against their armor. How did they wear all of that?

Even now they walked slowly, the clanks of their boots echoing. My teeth crackled into each other with each step.

"Alright, we have a curse spreading in the district, yes?" Yodan said.

One of the soldiers stepped forward. "Yes, plants die at its touch. The whole district is covered in a dark fog. Anyone who goes in. We hear screams. We never s-see them again." He looked firm in the face, but the terror in his voice echoed.

Witchcraft, it was a hated and despised thing. Even saying witchcraft from our lips was enough to give you bad luck. 

Valor and I were against the wall, The Bishop stared at me. Valor looked up at the roof of the room with his arms crossed.

"How many men are down there?" Yodan asked.

"Just a few, helping with the evacuations," one soldier replied.

"Any person found the witch?" Yodan asked.

"No."

"Are we trying to find the witch?"

The soldiers shifted around nervously.

Yodan was surprisingly calm and leveled. I, like everyone else, was scared.