Shadow's revenge : A Monarch's Hunt

In the woods, Dorian takes some time to breathe. Those last few weeks were quite eventful, so much that he didn't take time to play with Gibbs, which makes him feel a little guilty. This shadow, his very first, is his friend more than anything else and supported him through thick and thin. Even with his lacking fighting prowess, he never even thought about releasing him for good, understanding that the dog would never agree to it.

Now, while his other shadows comb the forest, he finally can summon and pet it as much as the little one wants. A faint smile on the lips, after minutes of calm, Dorian grabs Gibbs' toy, his favourite ball from before its death, and moves it in front of the dog's eyes. With a playful bark, the shadow jumps off its master's lap and stares intently at his toy, his tail wildly wagging.

They play like this for hours, until the witch man finally feels the need to sleep. His dog still out keeping watch, Dorian lies down under a tree for the night. Despite the black witches' threat, he is completely at ease. The woods, whichever they are, are his domain and his shadows protect him, after all.

In the middle of the night, he wakes up abruptly. He sensed one of his shadows vanish , one that he left to his allies. Something happened in town, something that his searching team didn't sense. From the movements that he senses, the black witches launched an attack in town and everything is in chaos. A silent order later, one of his birds follows the attackers from a safe distance, while he calls back every other that isn't linked to someone.

Dorian begins to walk, following his bird at his own pace, while keeping track of his lent shadows. The dispelled one already reformed inside its bearer's, enabling the man to know his allies' positions. When the morning comes, two of the three are close together while the other seems to walk in the woods, in the black witches' direction. Satisfied, Dorian summons his horse and hasten his pace in order to give them enough time to join in.

As he nears the opponent's gathering place, Dorian halts. His moving ally suddenly stopped and its associated shadow dissipated by an attack. Seconds after that, this person veered completely off course, slowly as if dragged. Before long, Dorians continue his progression to the enemies.

*They kept them alive, for now. The other will have to save them.*

With a silent order, he instructs his shadows in the pair's vicinity to guide them to the captured one, then goes to the place where all his thralls await him, hidden in trees and bushes' shadows. Once regrouped with them, he takes a deep breath and begins to think about an attack plan.

Gretel groans and wakes up. All she remembers is a hard shock at the back of her head as she was running in the woods, trying to keep the same direction as the fleeing witch. Blinking, she looks around while feeling her hands and feet restrained. Before panic can win her, she sees that only men are around her.

— She's awake.

After one of the men's remarks, she sees the sheriff approach. He doesn't hide a disdainful smirk as he walks calmly to his prisoner.

— So, witch. Mind telling us why you burnt our town ? I never trusted you and your thrall, presenting yourselves as witch hunters. Now that the monster in your shadow is destroyed, without your weapons, you'll tell us all about yourself and your goals ?

She blinks multiple times, trying to find an explanation for Dorian's magic which could appease the men, as those are apparently simply misinformed about her and the real threat. She can't and, in front of her silence, the man snarls.

— That's what I thought. Men, keep watch around us, we can't have her thrall falling upon us without warning.

Hansel runs, he follows the wolf that Dorian previously gave him with Mina just behind. They were ready to… Nothing, before the animal darted from his shadow, gesturing to be followed with all haste. Despite being unable to talk to it, both of them understood that Dorian wouldn't order his shadows without a reason. As the beast slows, he hears the sheriff's words and tenses. Now, they have to convince those hard headed men that, no, they aren't witches nor thralls even while Gretel and Mina really are.

Mina frowns. Something feels off with this man. Seeing Hansel staying still, lost in thoughts, she put a hand on his shoulder and put a finger over her lips. After receiving a nod, she silently walks around the group and waits. How could those men know where Gretel was ? How could they ambush her so easily ? Worse, why would they interrogate her in the woods, isolated, instead of safely inside the town ?

Dorian smiles softly. Now that his three allies are grouped again, he can fully focus on his task. With a nod, he sends his first wave of shadows to attack the group of witches. This attack, having only hares and little game, is nothing more than a probing round in order to see how strong is the opposition. Less than a second later, he is glad of his choice, as all forces sent are extinguished in a single, powerful, flame.

— Girls, we have company! It's not one of those pesky whitey, must be a hunter. Shouldn't deary Berringer distract them ?

— Shut up ! When Muriel comes back, she'll have you burnt.

Dorian feels a cold shiver on his back. They are confident enough to talk openly like that, about someone in the city causing distraction, this is bad for him, and worse for the three others. Deciding that he can't take on all problems, he has to trust in his allies' prowesses and focus on his task. Another wave, the very same as before, attacks from the same direction. He has to induce a sense of overconfidence in his enemies.

Gretel greets her teeth. The sheriff really did choose his moment well. She really can't stay here, bound and powerless, while her brother and friends are launching an attack against the black witches. She can't resist either, this would comfort the man in his assumptions. Why did she have to learn that she possesses supernatural powers so late, only to be captured less than a day afterwards.

Hansel looks intently at his sister, reigning in his fury and haste to raid this camp in order to save her. While all three of them are here, helpless in front of mundane people despite their powers and fighting prowesses, Dorian has to stall for time against the witches. Sure, as long as they don't have a white witch's heart they can't succeed, but who says that they don't already have one, even if from one less powerful than Mina or his sister ?

Mina stays completely still. Her gaze flows from one man to another. Most of them seem anxious, and the last two, while nervous too, hide it well enough. No, what continues to make her frown is the sheriff himself. He is calm, way too calm for the situation. Following a hunch, without moving nor making any noise, she begins to cast a barrier, ready to launch it over Gretel at the first sign of danger.

— Finally, you're here.

Before talking, Berringer looks up and smiles.

— Good, you've got the young. And those men ?

— They died, facing the witch.

The Sheriff's men, frozen in fear, look alternatively between their leader and the horrendous looking women flying on her broom. He, he just told her that they died fighting the witch ? One of them, younger than the others, runs only to be burnt alive by a spell from the monster.

Hansel freezes on the spot. Gretel feels her heart sink in her chest. This man, this Sheriff, always seemed rude and mistrustful to them both, but he still looked like he had the villager's best interest at heart. Now he just… He just sold his own men to a witch ? The young woman closes her eyes in despair. Her only hope is that, without her, the others would still be able to impede the ritual.

As one, the men take their weapons and target the flying witch, unleashing a volley of bolts from their crossbows, an endeavor that, while brave, proves completely unfruitful. Their shoulders collectively slumps and their eyes close as they see a fiery aura condense over the monster. They won't make it alive.

The burning sensation never comes, however, and they hear instead a gasp from the air. Something is wrong with the witch's spell. A brave soul, the second in command, opens his eyes only to see a translucent barrier in front of them, resisting the powerful flames. Looking at this phenomenon, his guts tell him all he needs to know. The barrier won't last long enough.

— Run !

Dorian pants, his continuous reformation of the game's wave begins to take its toll on him. On the other hand, his fighters are ready, only awaiting his order to launch a coordinated strike on the witches. Taking a deep breath, he sends the last reenactment of his wave. Once again, his shadows are burnt in one fell swoop. The hunter smirks. Each time, with each wave, the witches launch higher powered flames, fueled by anger at this unknown enemy. They didn't counterattack because each assault came from a different direction, causing them to stay on their toes.

Now, he sends his critters from all around at the same time. With an outraged shout, his enemies create a fire wall encircling them, multiple meters high. As the last of his game dissipates yet once again, he charges personally, hidden by the witches' own magic. Following his lead, his heavy hitters charge too. The human-like wolf, which Dorian named Fen, the bear, the horse and a full pack of wolves run while the bandits stay in the trees' shadows with their bows and crossbows ready.

The witches, their eyes burning with hatred, are momentarily taken aback by the scene as the fire dies out. There always was some moment of respite between two waves and, despite their irritation, they counted on it to breathe a little and canalyse even more power for the next. This lull doesn't last more than a second, but Dorian's fastest shadows are already on them when they shake it off.

Hansel, seeing Muriel attempt to burn the Sheriff's men blocked by Mina, runs from his hiding spot and tackles Berringer. The man, while surprised, is able to stand his ground. The barrier protecting his men was all the hints he needed to know Mina's presence and prepare for an attack against himself.

— Let him to me.

As Hansel and Berringer send a downpour of hits on each other, neither taking his weapon as they know that the other won't let them, the second-in-command talks. Despite his own order, and while his men run away, he stays. No one is allowed to cut the weed from their town, no one but him. Before talking, he already took the time to free Gretel, who joined Mina in the standoff against Muriel.

With a nod, Hansel jumps back while breathing heavily. The two townsmen face each other, weapons drawn since Berringer took advantage of the respite to unsheathe his sword. Before long, a metallic noise sound with uneven rhythm, witness of their dedication to end this quickly.

The brother takes his repeating crossbow then joins his sister, placing himself behind the white witches.

— You're nothing to me. A twerp, a witch without spells and you, weakly Mina. You'll never be a match to my prowess.

— She's right. Gretel, put your hand on my shoulder, I'll use your magic.

Hansel fires bolt after bolt to Muriel, wasting her time for his allies to do their magic. The monster, clearly angered by this ant's defiance, launches a black bolt to him. The magic makes each projectile decay upon contact, before veering off course as a small barrier appears in front of it, weak as it is, its angle is enough to divert the attack and send it on a centenarian tree which rot in seconds.

Mina grins wildly. With Gretel's magic flowing through her, she feels invincible. She understands, now, why her kin never created any Coven. White and black witches are, by nature, quite extremists and such a power boost would let her impose her beliefs on anyone. Such a thing is frightening as much as thrilling her.

Her wild grin turns sadistic. White magic isn't geared for attack, its spells either enabling purification, protection or benediction. Mina's specialty, in those aspects, lies in protection. While still able to purify, heal or bless, her real pride lies in her barriers. Now, with such power under her command, she can do anything with them.

While drowning in this realization, she continues to create weak, paper thin barriers to deflect every attack that Muriel throws at them. Then Mina finally lifts an arm, her open palm right to Muriel, and creates a globe around her foe.

— First lesson about barriers, listen well Gretel. Its expenditure augments exponentially with its size and complexity.

Hearing her voice, both Hansel and the townsmen halt everything they do and look at her with wide eyes.

*Is… Is she really giving a lesson right now ?*

Her sadistic grin stays placated on the white witch's face.

— The strength counts in this, too. So, you feel the difference between this barrier and my previous one, right ?

Even as Gretel nods, Mina doesn't seem to notice. She shrinks her construct a little while her student begins to pant.

Dorian breathes heavily. Despite his initial advantage, where three witches ended up dying under the wolves and Fen's jaws, they turned the situation back once again. Before even closing in on one of them, the man has to shift his focus and evade an unrelenting spell barrage. Multiple times, he even had to call upon one of his stocked shadows from under him in order to take a hit in his place. Even worse, during the fight, each time that he is about to be hit, Dorian feels himself distracted by the tugging sensation, and from all his shadow out in the field no less.

On the other hand, Fen is one of the few, if not the only one, who still hasn't dissipated once. Always running, any spell on it misses by a narrow margin. Even more, this particular shadow often finds itself hiding the bandit's arrows and bolts until the last moments. As the time passes, however, more and more witches focus back on Dorian, letting no more than a token wall of darkness protecting them from the monstrous beast.