She ran through the forest, her feet crunching on the leaves which had freshly fallen after the snow in the forest. Every crunch beneath her legs only gave more proof of her existence here that had people following her right now.

She turned around, her eyes livid and her skin that had turned to the scaly nature which she belonged to. Bathsheba breathed heavily, catching some breath to see the men and women who weren't too far from where she was. Gunshots was fired and she suddenly took herself to hide, not able to run anymore.

With her back against the trunk of the tree, she placed both her hands on her mouth and nose, not letting anyone know she was here.

"Where did she go?!" asked one of the men who had been following her. His hand carried the bow with his back that carried a number of arrows with its tips made out of silver to stop and kill the black witch.

"She mustn't be too far. Search her!" came a woman's voice. The woman had black straight hair which she had braided from behind. Her eyebrows sharply looking along with her black eyes, "She was right here."

"Yes!" came a series of voices that echoed through the forest.

Bathsheba had been fine an hour ago. After running away from Isle Valley with the hunter hot on her tail where she had to kill him and leave the land, she had made her way across the border of Mythweald which was the land of South, hoping the witch hunters wouldn't catch her.

Taking a temporary job in a quiet village, she served drinks and food to the people who came which she had been managing just fine until tonight. Bathsheba was a looker compared to the other humans which rolled in decent shillings of coins in her pocket but today particularly had been a bad day.

She had been serving drinks to one of the men in the local inn like a bar, not knowing that he was a witch hunter along with the rest of his company. It wasn't that she hadn't dealt with witch hunters before but knowing the location of Mythweald, there were very few witches and because of it, they had fewer witch hunters.

But who would have thought that he had dipped himself in the potion which made the white and the black witches skin to react and make them feel heady like someone had drugged them.

She had been caught. Her skin had turned to the scaly features that even though she bolted from the bar, the hunters had caught a whiff of her appearance who now were ardently chasing her.

Bathsheba heard the main witch hunter who was the woman instruct her subordinates to search her as the people spread themselves. At this rate, she doubted if she would be able to live long. The more the people searched the more her time turned out to be limited.

Very carefully she moved around the tree when one of the men came too close to her. This wasn't the time to fight as she knew she was outnumbered. She would die before even thinking about attacking someone and her only survival was to hide and defend herself.

"Where is that f.u.c.k.i.n.g cunt?" asked the woman, her gun ready to shoot the black witch, "I thought we had no black witch in the vicinity. Didn't the exorcism take place?" she glared down at one of them.

"We made sure to run the check plenty of times. She must be a new witch here," answered the man.

"I want her dead or wait. Bring her alive. The mistress might want another addition to her party," Bathsheba heard the woman speak, making her wonder who this mistress was.

"But the mistress said to kill every possible black witch and a white witch. She fears that they might be working with the council," spoke the man.

The woman laughed, "Yes, it is possible but we can also get the information back from the council. All we need to do is torture the witch and bring what is needed."

One of her men came closer to her, asking, "Is it alright to go against the council? I thought we were working for them," the woman turned to look at him. Her eyes gauging the man.

"Do you want to go back to them?" seeing the fluctuating attitude of the man that she caught in his eyes, she raised her gun and pulled the trigger before anyone could even react, "Do we have anyone else who is in doubt on whose favor we fight? Don't forget it is the councilmen who have been behaving like fools. They let people die and do not investigate the matter," she tched loudly.

"They said it was a heart explosion," pipped another.

"That is what they say, but are we sure? They killed Master Creed. It is only right we help those who need our help, not people who are not worth our trust," said the woman, her black eyes looking at the blackness of the night where there was no moon in the sky and the sky was covered because of the trees that didn't let anyone see the sky. Master Creed, thought the woman, remembering the man who had picked her up from the streets and had looked after her. Had given her a meaningful job to serve him and the people by turning her to a witch hunter.

But after hearing about his death a few weeks ago, she couldn't believe that a man as capable as him had been killed and there was no further information which was given to her when she tried to enquire about it.

"Do you think they don't go further into the investigation? The council always goes deeper than it but for some reason, they didn't do it this time. Just like that," her voice went up loud, "Just like that they declared him dead and closed the matter. I know it was someone from the council but I don't know who. The council cannot be trusted my friends and if there's someone you can trust right now, it is Sabbi."

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