Pathfinder

4- Wards

But that moment of vulnerability was gone as soon as it had appeared. He straightened his stance and his tone shifted back to a more insisting one. "You may hope you still have a chance of catching up to those men in black on your own, but you know realistically you don't."

Kirsha's frown deepened.  Regardless of circumstance, he wasn't wrong. Even if they'd been here just moments prior, her catching up with the witch hunters was unlikely, if not at worst entirely futile. 

"-But, I can track them down. And of course..." He sighed. "I can make myself out to look like one of your dimwitted mounts and bring you to them, well before those trailing behind get to you."

"If?"

"If you free me from this miserable little stream. One of your kind has cursed me. Placed wards all around the shore, but if you find and destroy them all, I am certain I will be free to leave and I will be in your debt."

"So essentially I have to trust in a hungry kelpies sense of honesty and debt. The moral compass you've already proven to be quite backwards." 

With a careful smile, he shrugged. "Sadly."

Now it was Kirsha's turn to sigh. Not for a moment had she up until this point imagined she'd be considering his proposition seriously. It was a gamble with her life at stake...But if she won the prise was her sisters, and at this point she wasn't sure she had much of another alternative. Because simply abandoning Damitri was out of the question. 

"Fine. I will do what you ask of me beast... But only on the condition, you give me an oath on your life." Of course, in reality, the oath would mean nothing. She had no spell to bind it. Some witches did though and if the kelpie knew, or at least suspected that much... At the very least attempting the bluff was worth it.

There was a small nerve-wreaking pause. For a moment he looked like he was once again sizing her up. Then, slowly, he nodded and opened his mouth to speak. She barely kept herself from sighing out in relief right there and then. "I swear by my life, if you free me witch, then so long your sister is alive and until  you reunite I'm at your disposal." The word's didn't come out easy of course. She could tell from the bitter tone that delaying his freedom, even for a short while, was no small price for him to pay. But the young woman now had the kelpie exactly where she needed him and so to keep up appearances she murmured something under her breath. Nothing more than a small good luck charm of course, but she kept her tone grave as if he really had just signed his life away to her and he didn't look pleased about it.  

Another small pause, before she allowed herself to show a tiny hint of satisfaction. Then it was time for action. "Where do I find the wards?"

"I can point out most that are left. They surround the river...but there are a few further in which you'll have to find by yourself. I can describe them as well however."

Kirsha couldn't help but raise a brow at that last part. "You know how they look?"

"Yes." He didn't sound like he wanted to extrapolate though, so she let it go.

"Fine."

"Good."

"So do we?.."

He sighed, scratching the back of his neck.  "Yes. There's actually one a little further behind you. If you just-"

She looked back indeed to see a suspicious little pile of rocks, stabled upon one another. It wasn't hard to recognize it as a ward now that she knew they were there. "Is that it?"

"Oh-...Yes. Just try taking it apart and its magic should be dispelled."

She nodded, pretending despite her surprise at how easy it was that that much was only second nature. Then went up to the pile and leaned down, for a moment resting her palm on the surface of one of the rocks in the middle. It felt smooth, and the structure surprisingly stable, perhaps due to the combined weight of the rocks on top of each other. She didn't feel anything else as she began disassembling it though. That is except the kelpies unnerving eyes, ever resting on her.

Despite Kirsha hoping they'd be finished quickly the witch had ben thorough in her job of sealing away her captive. They continued like this up until the sky had begun to turn red and the air began to chill. The wards came in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Some similar to the first one, others laid in other shapes, larger and smaller. Then there were those buried in the soil. Hanging in the trees. Sticks, bones and feathers tied together. Many rather clumsily she noted.

The more wards she took down though the more she felt uneasy about what was happening. Was she really doing the right thing? If someone had gone to such a length to keep the kelpie trapped they must have had a good reason to. Not to mention, looming over her was also the possibility the beast had long since seen past her bluff and was merely biding his time until the moment she set him loose. The tension kept thickening the air. Until it finally came to it. She found what should have been the last ward. Hesitated, but reminded herself who she was doing this for. And then, much slower than with any of the other wards, she dismantled it, stone by stone, until, at the very last one...nothing?

When she looked back at him she could tell he felt it too. A growing panic spread over his face. "I don't understand!..There must be something I forgot"..I-I.." He began stumbling over his words. Frantically looking around. But when he did, despite himself try to step onto dry land,  he quickly buckled over in audible agony and stumbled back into the shalow. His veins suddenly growing darker and more prominent. Painting a black net across his skin. Gradually seeping out of it. Moving around as if it had a life of its own...  She froze. Ripped between the very human wishes to somehow help and yet at the same time stay away. His breathing felt jagged. Body shivering with the movements of the thing crawling under his skin. Long seconds ticked by before it began receding . Very slowly, until he eventually he took a deep breath and steadied his voice enough to speak. "I'm sorry. Let me calm myself...I need to think."

And that he did. For a long while. As if counting over all the wards in his head. Trying to remember something; anything that had been left unaccounted for. Until the furrow in his brow deepened and he hesitantly opened his mouth to speak. "There...might be one more. I don't know where she put it. But you were using a spell earlier, weren't you?"

Kirsha nodded slowly.

He looked up at her. "To find that dagger?"

"Yes but-"

"But what?!"

The young woman paused. "...It lead me to it because I was searching for my sister."

The kelpie let out a frustrated hiss. "But you need to find the ward to find your-"

"It doesn't work like that! Trust me I wish it did, but it's a fickle thing. I have to have touched, felt...or at least seen what I'm looking for. Provided that even if I don't know what it is the spell will guide me to it, but just having a vague idea of something isn't enough-"

"Why?!"

"I need a memory!" 

"Can't you-"

"No I can't!" For a moment they were looking at each other like wild dogs, ready to rip one another apart.

Then, eventually, he slowly sank down, once again oddly silent. Until he looked up once more. This time not hopeful though, only desperate.  "There's a small cottage a little up east from where we first met. If it's not here that's the only place I can think off." 

She gave him a small nod and began walking.

He didn't follow.