Alone in the woods, Dorian sends all his shadows at maximum speed. The villagers told him why they sent a group looking for him. People disappeared, more precisely girls and women disappeared. The last disappearance did happen the day before his four escorts went to search for him, nearly a week ago. In this batch, the father's own wife was abducted. While this is already a reason to act quickly and decisively, another matter weighs upon him.
This case, contrarily to the last one, stench rogue witch to anyone in the know. It also attracted attention. Unwanted attention in his mind. It attracted them. Yes, the elder told him that the two thugs came before, he missed them by nothing. A day, two maximum. They will do the job, he knows it, but he needs to fight a rogue witch too. He needs to find them and learn if they are endorsed too.
Without waiting for his shadows to find anything, he rides the horse and gallops. It adds nothing, only another pair of eyes, but these are the kind of nothings that can make the difference between success and failure. His eyes focused on what's around him, he tries to keep track of his other groups at the same time, using his inherent knowledge of their location as long as they are in his range.
He takes less than two hours for a group to stop, prompting him to take a harsh turn and homing in on them. This time, he lets his other shadows continue to comb the forest, as the group begins to move once again, at walking pace in the settlement's direction. A dozen or so meters away from the group, he recalls the horse and runs to them. As he expected, his shadows were following, encircling and protecting a whole pack of women while hidden in the forest.
He walks out of cover, his face marked red from all the twigs he galloped into, from the village's direction. Immediately, some of the women make a shield with their bodies between him and the frailests of the group. With a defeated smile, Dorian sighs. There is something in their eyes, even he can see it. They saw something that will keep them awake at night for days, if not years for the more sensitive.
— I'm Dorian, your families sent me. Is there a Dorothea in the group ?
While they keep gazing suspiciously at this stranger, one of the frontliners nods.
— I am. What do you want ?
— Tomas said that he is really sorry for the carpet. And I want to personally thank you, too. If not for what you told your son, a group that was sent to fetch me would have missed me.
She blinks, then relaxes a little.
— You're the Stalker, then.
— Yes. Do you mind if I escort your group back ? I believe that the witch isn't a problem anymore ?
— You… Know ?
He sighs once again.
— The two that helped you, they seem to do witch's extermination jobs for free, and it's the second time that I am hired for a task after them… For it to be completed or nearly so when I arrive.
She sends him a judgemental gaze.
— So, you want to escort us back and say that you did the job ?
— For someone who talked about me to her son, you're quick to judge ma'am. No. At worst, if I'm really at end's meet, I would ask for the price of escorting you back, nothing more. And I still have some sort of savings, so I won't.
He smiles sadly, as if pained by her distrust. Of course, he doesn't care, her husband's reactions already prepared him to this.
— Yeah, sorry. We never know how overrated rumors are until we meet the people in person, you know ?
A heartfelt apology, that's not something he expected so quickly. Dorian's smile becomes a little more honest.
— No worries. Should we go then ?
With a nod from Dorothea, everyone continues to walk to their home, where the men are ecstatic. As he said, Dorian once again refused any form of payment. After a quiet night, he goes back to the wood, to the execution site. On his horse, it didn't take him long, proving that this witch was using magic to keep her defenses.
Arriving at the spot, Dorian sighs. It is really the thugs doing. The scene here is exactly the same, the habitat burnt to the ground, and a witch's corpse hung over a water point, burnt too. This time, the hunter takes his time to watch all traces of fighting. At first, he easily sees the explosions' aftermaths, then the different sword cuts, either in the ground or over the tree trunks. His colleagues seem to use mundane means. For the magic, he is unable to tell precisely what they are from but, looking at their disposition, it is obvious that all magic came from the same source.
A subtle grin appears on his face. Witches can be fought, and executed, by people without magical capabilities apparently. After this, he begins to follow all tracks going out from the battle. With some of his bandits' help, he finally finds inconspicuous ones, made by less than five people walking in line in order to muddle their numbers.
— Found you.
Immediately, he follows their tracks, an endeavour more time consuming than what he would like. He takes him more than a day to end his tracking, right in front of the village. Surprised, Dorian walks in. They came back here, but why ? This does not fall in line with what he expects from them. On the other hand, they can't always take jobs without payments. It seems quite logical, then, that they came back to replenish their supplies, even if they shouldn't be in need of what this settlement has to offer.
— Mister Stalker ?
— Hello, missus Dorothea. Can you tell me if my colleagues came back ?
Before she can answer, as she sends him a pointed look, a little girl comes running.
— Yes mister ! The good brother and sister came yesterday! They were so cool and only asked mom and dad for food. They are angels sent by God ! They killed the evil witch and only asked for food !
With a smile, Dorian pats the child's head.
— Why do you seek them ?
He looks back at Dorothea, she obviously didn't shred away her doubts but won't act on them in front of the girl. After all, even if he didn't fight the witch and arrived late, Dorian still helped them and didn't ask for payment either. In her mind, however, despite his clean reputation, he stays a mercenary and could want to remove those unwanted colleagues who cut off his earnings.
— I have a question to ask them, about our work, and I would like to learn from them. I may be good at tracking, but they're way better than me at fighting witch's threats.
— You want to be an angel too mister ? But it is not possible for humans like us ?
— I know that I will never be able to be an angel, sweetheart. I only want to help them as much as I can.
His answer, of course, is too smooth. Dorothea continues to gaze sceptically at him.
— When they left, they went there.
Luckily for him, the child is way less wary than the woman. He now has some direction to follow at least. With some easy words, still not bought by Dorothea despite her being the one which told her own son about his reputation, he takes his leave and chases once again the two mercenaries' tail.
Following the road, trying his best to find any hint about them without the possibility to call upon his bandits, Dorian stumbles a week later in yet another village. This one is more death than alive, despite all people still inhabiting it. In less than an hour, he learns that his targets are still in the town, under contract with the mayor himself to hunt witches.
Deciding to stay out of it, for now, Dorian chooses to simply go to them directly. With his birds, he finds the two in an abandoned house outside of the town's limits. They aren't alone, there is one other person with them. Dorian's hand hovers near the doorknob, when he hears voices.
— Yes, I am.
— But, you don't have any stigma ?
— Only black witches bear those. White witches, like me, your mother and even yourself, don't go as much against the natural law, as such we don't have to bear it.
A lull passes, Dorian stays still while thinking. It seems that one of those thugs is indeed a witch, but didn't know it until now. The terminology, however, stuns him. What could be white and black witches ? Aren't there only coven witches and rogue ones ? Reigning in an amused sigh, he realizes yet one more time that Mavina only teached him what he needed most at the time.
Another voice rings, now, a second girl's one. Probably the sister, since it sounds as young as the male one asking about the stigmas. The last one, who already talked twice, should be the one giving them their introduction to the magical world.
— I… Am ?
— Yes. and…
The witch let a pregnant pause, sending a shiver down Dorian's spine.
— The one outside can tell you more about this new world.
As rustling is heard inside, Dorian finally pulls the door and enters, seeing two young adults, no more than three years his elders, ready to fight and a graceful woman smiling softly at him.
— Hello, Stalker. Would you mind introducing yourself ?
— Stalker ? Dorian the Stalker ?
Both young seem to lose their fighting intent, as the man talks with incredulity.
— True. It seems that I won't need to introduce myself too much, but since it was asked…
Dorian looks around before taking tentative steps inside and closing the door.
— Dorian the Stalker, mercenary and recognised witch hunter.
Both young blink, then look at themselves before the man takes a step forward, placing himself between Dorian and his sister which readies her crossbow.
— It means that I was given this role by a witch's coven. I'm expected to hunt rogue witches that I fumble upon. I, however, only recently learnt about those black and white witches.
While saying his last sentence, Dorian casts a pointed look at the official witch.
— Mina, white witch. My kind don't partake in coven activities usually. Those two are Hansel and Gretel, children of one of our strongest sisters.
Respectively, the boy and girl nod. Seeing the lack of hostility both by Dorian and Mina, they finally let their guard down.
— The both of you are quite hard to track, you know ? I wanted to talk to you since you intervened in one of my commissions, two villages ago. I had to ask, you see, if you were recognised or not. Now I have my answer.
After this, Mina explains to everyone what is happening here. The black witches, forming a coven too, were preparing a ritual to erase their weakness to fire by sacrificing twelve children, one by month, and using a white witch's heart.
Learning about those stakes, way higher than any of them expected, the three bear grimm expressions. They quickly decide to band themselves in order to foil the black witches' plan. Dorian, unwilling to go back to the town, gives a beast to each of the three, hidden in their shadows, for better protection and coordination. Afterwards, he goes into the forest, searching with his shadows for the witches' hideout while the others go back to the settlement.