The Witch Hunters, Book 1: The Prophet of Ash

They reached the inn...eventually. After checking around to see if anyone was waiting for him yet, Kurt and Theo sat down to have some lunch and a couple of beers, which Theo wanted to pay for.

“You’re too kind,” Kurt protested, before making sure the serving girl charged this all to his account. “I’m getting this. And as many beers as you like. I insist.”

This brought out a large smile in the minotaur, and a laugh.

“Sorry,” he said, after noticing the confused look on his friend’s face. “It’s been a while since anybody treated me.”

“So, are any of those fellows you were with last night other hunters?” Kurt asked after they’d clinked massive glasses and downed a few mouthfuls of the dark lager the innkeeper brewed in the basement.

“No, they’re just people that like following me around,” Theo said with a shrug. He looked down at his drink. The smile seemed to falter, and the silence that followed became awkward. Kurt waved to the innkeeper, who came over to take another order for food. The portly farmer also asked him to have a fellow keep an eye on the road outside. Someone from the farm was bound to be here to collect him soon.

“Why don’t you come with me?” Kurt asked Theo then. “I could give you the tour myself, if you like.”

“I don’t know, Kurt.”

“Have you got something better to do?”

Theo grinned. “Nothing I can’t just do later. Fine, I’ll bum a ride off of the cart or whatever your people send to get you, and if you’re really nice, I’ll not eat everything in sight when I get there.”

“It’s a deal,” Kurt laughed. He ordered another round of beer, and they set to waiting.

*

Hours passed. Midday became early afternoon, and early afternoon became late afternoon. Kurt was not too worried, at first. The boys must have been busy. Bader would be counting the money they had earned the day before, and Martin would probably have spent the morning at his studies, before seeing to those of the other farmhands’ children. Perhaps his son had gone out to play with the other boys his age, and had just lost track of time? That used to happen often, though Kurt struggled just then to recall the last definite instance of it.

The thought did not stick and had no foundation whatsoever. Not anymore. Martin had grown up too fast for this to be the case. The very notion that Martin could forget anything was an anathema. Was his son angry at him, then? That notion lingered, and would not have surprised Kurt at all. He knew Martin loved him. He could not believe his boy respected him anymore, though. Even then, however, could Martin really be this petty?

“How far out is the farm?” Theo asked him then, having grown uncharacteristically silent and pensive.

“About fifteen miles.”

“Near the woods, then. You ever have any trouble with bandits? Ever been bothered by anyone out there?”

“A few times, but never more than a couple of idiots that thought they could steal from us. My hands and I always sorted them out, then let them go. There was never any need to bother the authorities. Anyways, this was years ago.”

“Still,” Theo said, rising then. “I think I’ll hire us a couple of horses. No point waiting if no one is coming for you.”

“Why were you asking? Surely, you don’t think …?”

“I don’t know,” the minotaur said, the humour gone from his face. “But I’m not waiting here to find out.”

*

“Are you all right back there, Kurt?”

“Yes,” the human replied breathlessly. “It’s been a while since I had to ride a horse.”

“Sorry,” Theo said, not really listening. There was a fork in the road ahead. “I’d have gotten a cart, but this is quicker.” The shire horse he had hired out whinnied, as if in agreement, its massive legs carrying the minotaur along far faster than the smaller breed his friend was riding with some obvious difficulty. They’d spent the last hour travelling in silence. Theo was distracted, running over possible explanations for why no one from Kurt’s farm had come looking for the owner. Perhaps it was an overactive imagination on his part, but the minotaur could not think of any with benign reasons. If he had known the way, he would have ridden as hard as he could to get there, but he didn’t, and couldn’t trust his memory to hold any information Kurt gave him.

Theo found the woods out here unsettling, the trees too thickly canopied even at the height of winter's cold. It was said many of them were from the lands of the elves, transplanted here centuries ago. Why they would have done this was beyond the minotaur’s ability to reason. All he knew was that this feeling, this sense of wrongness, was held by many in the Capital. It was not without basis, either. There never seemed to be signs pointing anywhere, and vast clearings seemed to sneak up, suddenly appearing where before there seemed to only be trees and bramble.

Heavy clopping and a breathless groan drew Theo out of his uncomfortable speculation. He looked over to the pallid, softly built man trying his best to stay atop his mount.

“Are you sure you’re fine, Kurt?”

“Yes.”

“Which road do we take?”

A hand unsteadily pointed right. Theo turned and began riding again immediately. He heard Kurt curse, but follow.

“Do you – shit! Do you think my boy’s alright?”

“Are there any other turns ahead?” Theo asked quickly.

“No.”

“Then I’ll see you there!”

Before Kurt could protest, the minotaur had kicked the flanks of the huge beast beneath him. The horse neighed, and its hooves pounded against the dirt road, tearing up great clumps of sod and sand. The towering trunks and the eerily still branches began to race past. Theo was certain he could hear his new friend screaming something behind at a distance, but this couldn’t wait any longer. People might be in danger.

Memories of the roads to the south and the west had been plaguing Theo since he had started riding out here. He had seen what could happen to farms, even whole plantations, when envious eyes from beyond the edge of civilisation watched them long enough. Bandits had been a problem around here some years ago. It was said they had been pushed further south by Eisengrim, with the help of the Capital’s militia, but that didn’t mean they would never come back again. Theo leaned down against his horse, urging it to move faster. He tried to ready himself for the scene, unable to think of any possibilities but the worst that could be awaiting him. At any moment now, there would be the smell of burning wood, and people. He was certain of it. Above, the carrion birds would be circling. He was certain to hear their dreadful, familiar calls any second now.

But there was nothing.

A gate appeared before him. Theo slowed the horse to a stop. It was simple and wooden, standing guard over the dirt track without fence or wall to flank it. A sign above in fading paint proclaimed this to be the property of the Bauer family. Theo gently prodded his horse to move around the obstruction, but the beast, strangely, would not comply. Theo slapped its rear, kicked and coaxed it gently a few more times, but the stallion would not move another step forward. As they lingered, and as Theo tried talking sweetly to it, the animal seemed to grow visibly agitated, and nervous. It began trying to turn around, at one point even suddenly kicking the air, as if trying to throw its rider. Theo leapt off quickly, patted the creature’s head, before leading it over to the gate and tying it there by the reins.

That’s a sign, a voice seemed to speak inside his head then.

Theo remained still as the thought occurred. He calmed his breathing, his head turning slowly as he looked around. The horse was whinnying. He needed to block it out, though he could not understand his own behaviour then until he finally noticed it, and his blood became like ice.

There were no birds. No noises at all, save that of his frightened horse, and the light stirring of the trees. How long had he been riding along without noticing that?

“It can‘t be,” he heard himself say. He looked at the track that led away into a clearing with just the idea of structures beyond. He did not want to go up there anymore. He had read the secret texts, and he knew what to look for. Just then, at that moment, he would have given anything to be somewhere else.

Seconds crawled by, mounting into minutes. Theo did not move. The horse would not calm down. The minotaur tried to remember everything he had been taught. But it had been years ago, the lessons dimmed or forgotten in the passage of time and far more interesting events that defined a great deal of his life, and even when they had been fresh, they had never been fully believed. Time had changed him, though he still carried the star.

He thumbed it gently then as he considered his options. If it had happened up there, then he had a duty to investigate. There might still be witnesses, or at the very least clues, assuming it had moved on. Many didn’t, lingering instead where they had caused such terrible things to happen. Theo never forgot that part. Graphic examples had been given in the texts. Eisengrim and Dietrich had explained all their encounters to the child Theo had been back then. He could go back, he realised. Eisengrim was supposed to be in town, as was Dietrich, who had taken Theo on as his apprentice. They would know what to do. But…how could he tell them he had run away, rather than investigate? Theo cursed himself, spun about, and punched the nearest tree in a flash of rage and frustration. The bark cracked. The tree shuddered, mortally wounded. Theo stomped up and down for a few seconds, before turning to yell at the frightened horse to shut its mouth, when he realised then the whinnying was from a little further down the road. Kurt was coming.

Evacuate all civilians.

Theo headed towards the noise, almost running down the road. When he saw the human, he waved and called for the man to stop. Kurt looked pale, exhausted, and terrified. Theo grabbed the reins of his horse once he was close enough and bade the beast stop.

“You need to go back,” the minotaur said.

“What? Why? What happened?”

“I don’t know, but I need you to go back to Gozer. Go to the Palace. Ask for Eisengrim, or if he’s not there, a woman named Klara. She is definitely there. Tell them Theo sent you, and tell them where your farm is. I need them to come here. I’m probably just over reacting, but I still want you to go and fetch them. Okay?”

Kurt said nothing. He was looking beyond Theo, to where he probably saw the gate of his farm.

“Who are these people, Theo? Why do you need them?”

“They’re hunters,” Theo said quietly.

Kurt screamed then. When Theo wouldn’t let go of the horse, the human tumbled off of it and tried to run past him. The minotaur grabbed him. Kurt lashed out with his elbow, busted Theo’s lower lip. The minotaur coughed and cursed, grabbing Kurt’s arms and holding them in a half nelson.

“Let me go you bastard! Martin!”

“Listen to me, Kurt! If what I think has happened up there, then I need you to leave! I can’t protect you and deal with what might have happened up there at the same time!”

The human screamed again. He tried squirming out of Theo’s grip. The minotaur heaved him upwards, taking the soft man cleanly off of his feet, which dangled and kicked uselessly in the air.

“My boy’s up there! Let me go, Theo. Please. Please! He’s my boy. He’s all I have left…”

“I can’t,” Theo sighed, feeling disgusted at himself. “Please Kurt, you can’t stay here. I need to go and find out what happened. Your son’s probably fine. I’m just overreacting, but its protocol, you see. You’re basically my deputy right now. I need you to help me do my job, alright? Will you calm down, please? You have to calm down and listen to me. You are not going up there! If I have to beat you senseless and tie you to a tree, I’ll do it! You can’t fight me, so stop it!”

This tirade seemed to get to Kurt, or perhaps he was just too unfit to carry on fighting him. The man went almost limp in Theo’s arms. The minotaur didn’t dare release him yet, though. He had to make sure Kurt left, and did as he was bid.

“Kurt, please. Please. I need you to go back. I need you to find my friends. I can’t let you go until you promise you’ll go back. Please Kurt, don’t make me hurt you.”

“Alright,” the man sighed. He looked like a ghost just then. Theo felt ill. He put his friend down and looked away.

“Go back, Kurt. Find Eisengrim and Klara.”

“Is my son dead?”

“I don’t know. If he’s up there and he’s alive then I’ll protect him. I swear.”

Kurt left, crushed, pathetic, and silent. He mounted his horse and rode back the way they'd come. Theo watched him go and remained still, listening to the pounding of hooves until, finally, they faded away into nothing. His first duty seen to, the witch hunter turned, passed the gate and the frightened horse to approach the silent, dead farm.