Blue Alert - 7

"Carl"

-x-

FINALLY. I was getting out of this awful prison. Free, free, free at last. Gathering my provisions into a box, I took everything I owned with me. It took little effort or hassle to get it all together and leave that place. Ainsley didn’t even put up a fight. Really, those guards put a dunce as a watchdog. Ah, but who was I to complain?

As soon as I was set, I left, and rode in a carriage to take me to my new base. A deep sense of glee took over my when I arrived and entered. I secured the lock to dissuade any intruders and took a look around. Yes, this was exactly what I wanted.

I put down my belongings to go to the window and open it. A perfect escape route. I moved on to the other rooms, examining them. The design was simple, but I suppose for peasant living it was perfect. There weren’t a lot of places to hide my weapons and slaying gear, but in time I would fix that. I would utilize this place wisely. For now, though, in its barren state, I decided to simply stow away my belongings in one of the tiny storage rooms.

After taking my time familiarizing myself with every nook and cranny and possible storage spots, I made plans of properly furnishing this new base and further preparing myself for my next hunt. I knew that I would need to barter for these furnishings, and that would take time. Coin was key and without it, I would be reduced to using whatever came in handy. As much as that was convenient, I would be risking myself to injury in turn. And failure. I couldn’t allow that to happen.

So I had to keep my patience. I had a chance to gather as much coin as I wanted, I only needed to wait for the opportunity. Until then, there were other things I could do. Namely, finding the locations of the witch’s minions. I had been having little to no luck in hunting them down on my own, and I knew that if I wanted to slay them, I would have to change tactics. This meant changing strategies, being more advantageous, taking more risks...

I had wanted to avoid returning to that hellhole, but perhaps I couldn’t after all. Mother Mary, save my soul. Was there no way to track them down? Biting at the end of my quill, I pondered other possible routes to choose from. Minutes on end I sat there, back against the wall, thinking, but nothing came to me. My thoughts kept revolving back to that one idea.

“Curses... That damn witch creeps into my life once again.” I tossed down my quill and sighed heavily.

I would end this. I would end this one way or another. And soon. Getting up, I searched through my belongings for my night wear. I was still in need of a cover for my face, but for now, the regular attire would be more than enough.

I shed of my current clothes and slipped on my night wear, dyed like the dark of midnight. I could do little about my footwear, but at least it wasn’t white. I would fix that soon enough. Once I was dressed, I strapped my blade to my pants, hidden under my tunic, just in case I ran into someone or something unpleasing along the way. I was often careful, so I had doubts I would meet trouble, but just in case... I wanted to make sure I would be ready.

I waited until the sun disappeared over the horizon before making my move. I doused the lights and took to the window. Though there was nothing keeping me from using the main entrance as way of leave, I didn’t want to risk some nightwalker catching sight of me. So, as I had done before, I climbed down, though this time I utilized the tree. I made sure no one was around to see make my leave as I hurdled a low fence and made my way down the road under the cover of the night.

Tracing my way back to the witch’s lair was a challenge at first. I had little doubt the lair itself would move, but because I had changed locations, it wasn’t easy reorienting myself. It took longer than I expected to finally walk upon familiar ground. I almost wished it took longer, because the closer I came to the lair, the more my gut twisted. I felt sick. Nauseous. Disgusted. So many feelings circled up inside me, and with them came the awful memories...

I sought sanctuary within Mother Mary as I came to stand at the edge of the witch’s property. A yellow barrier held me back, though it wasn’t the least bit powerful enough to keep me away fully. I crossed it on quiet feet and circled around to make sure there weren’t any other wards I had to take care of first. When I sensed no danger, I carefully entered.

The witch’s presence was gone from this place, that much was certain, yet that didn’t make me feel any safer. This place, even more than the one I was kept in up until today, felt like a prison. A suffocating prison. Nothing good came from this place. Absolutely nothing. Yet here I was, in search of information that might prove to be good after all. If I could just swallow down these feelings first...

With a shake of my head, I quietly shuffled through the lair, my hand upon the hilt of my blade just in case. I glanced around as I went, looking for anything useful. I knew the witch wouldn’t be careless enough to leave her valuables or evidence of her craft in the open for all to see, but there was still the possibility that perhaps even something seemingly insignificant could prove to be useful.

When I entered the maze that led to various chambers of the lair, I paused. Which way to go? Or should I just examine each one anyway? Taking each chamber one by one would be tedious, but necessary. I turned to my left and hesitated just before the first chamber. I made sure there were no sounds or signs of life beyond before entering.

It looked like a private chamber. The witch’s own? Or someone else’s? Did the witch have someone else with her? No, that wasn’t possible. But she might’ve used this room to keep her hostage. I frowned slightly at the items scattered about. Perhaps I was wrong. This wasn’t a private chamber from a hostage. It was a prison cell. A prison within a prison. Ultimate hell.

These things probably belonged to the one she held gripped in her claw. There was no other explanation. “Poor soul...” It looked like whoever was imprisoned here had been for a long time. At least now they were free. They would be haunted by the witch no more.

Staring at all the belongings, I felt something strike at my heart. It wasn’t a physical blow, I knew, but it hurt like one. I pressed my hand to my chest for a long moment before slowly exhaling. I needed to move on. I turned to go and search the next chamber, continuing down the maze. I met a few dead ends, turning into rooms that held little to no personal belonging of the witch.

It wasn’t until I reached the end of the maze that I finally crossed upon her private chamber. I should’ve been surprised at how normal it was, but I wasn’t. Somehow, I was expecting this. This disguise of normalcy that was so obviously fake. Instead of surprising me, it irritated me. I had the deep urge to tear it all down, trash it, rip it apart, and show the true nature of this place, the ugliness that lay underneath the facade. It took all my will to hold back. I couldn’t let anyone know I was around. I couldn’t leave behind any strong evidence of my coming back here, just in case someone of her sympathy came by and somehow be able to connect me to her.

So, I carefully sifted through her belongings for anything that might lead me to her minions, preferably something that revealed their own lairs. I came across her garments and other personal affects. I did not see evidence of her witching tools, but I knew they were there somewhere. If they weren’t, then perhaps her minions had them instead.

After a long, exhausting search in the dark, I finally came across script upon sheets of scroll with names and other information on it. This was information the whereabouts of her minions. Actually, I wasn’t sure if they really were her minions, but no doubt she would have one in there that was. I would have to go to each location and see which one proved fruitful. Perhaps I would run into someone who shared the same joy I had for her death. Perhaps. Though that was highly unlikely. I was the only one who rejoiced in her passing. I was the only one not caught in her spell.

I stuffed the booklet with the information on it in my tunic, tucking it in the waistband of my leggings. I had urge to leave right then and there, but I lingered a little while longer to continue searching. I didn’t come up with any other lucky findings, so I left it at that.

I made my way back home, to my new base, still careful of being tracked. I ran into no trouble on the way, even as I entered through the window as before. I cleaned my footwear of any dirt to erase the evidence, and put away the witch’s book in one of the storage areas so that it did not get mixed up with my own. I didn’t know if there would be any poison on it, so I had to be safe.

Exhausted, I returned to my other garbs, put away my blade, and lay upon the floor. It was like this I slept, replenishing my strength. Tomorrow, I would secure myself a map of the area, or make one myself, make use of that book, and see who I could track down first.