With the ending of the party of presenting Alistar, many nobles left talking among themselves, some of them made a new friend, some of them were lucky and met a girl, and some of them were nervous that he might have ruined his relationship with another noble, but even until they leave the door of the castle, the expressions of their faces were stuck in the wide smile extending from ear to ear, all of it out of fear of angering the king by making him think that they did not enjoy.
Everyone left and only the workers remained, wearing wide black clothes, some of them men and some of them women, some old and some young, under the leadership of the butler, they started cleaning the royal hall, while Alistar was sitting on one of the chairs, leg on leg and his head in the palm of his hand, he seemed indifferent but he was remembering what happened between him and between the princess.
"Why did I hesitate…?", he bit on his teeth, then raised his head to see princess Ivara speaking with her parents, with a smile on her face not worried about what happened earlier, or maybe she pretended that she was calm, who knows.
Alistar clicked his tongue annoyed from seeing the witch smile, seeing her happy face angered her especially since he knew he was able to kill her earlier.
Alistar's focus was dispersed when a maid approached him wearing a black dress with white layers on top of it, her hands intertwined together at the level of her waist, standing on high black heels, and she bowed to Alistar.
"Sir Crowley, I will take you to your room now, so follow me please," said the maid softly and calmly void of any emotions as if she were a doll, her eyes not blinking, and her body not trembling.
Alistar stood from his place and nodded with his head, then the maid started walking in front of him while he followed her as she led him to the room.
After a few minutes, Alistar arrived at his room, and he closed the door behind him as soon as he entered.
It was a spacious bedroom dominated by silence, its walls covered with paper decorated with soft colors, and its ceiling topped by a simple wooden frame. In the middle of the room a large bed with four posts, from above it hung a transparent ivory-colored fabric. The covers were arranged carefully, and the pillows were topped with a touch of delicate embroidery. On both sides of the bed, two small tables, on each of them a brass candelabrum and a neglected pocket watch. A wooden wardrobe stood quietly beside the wall, and next to it a long mirror at a tilted angle, reflecting a faint light sneaking through the thick curtains.
Alistar let out a whistle of amazement and admiration, and a light smile was drawn on his face not from joy but from annoyance.
"Damn these rich people," thought Alistar to himself, he wanted to say this in the face of the damned king but he still wants to avoid execution as much as possible.
Alistar sat on the soft velvet bed and half his body sank into it, and he lay on his back and took a deep breath looking at the fabric ceiling of the bed.
"…Tomorrow the raid on the witch's lair will take place…the better for that damned princess to hide here and not interfere and help her friend…," thought Alistar to himself, then, a moment of sadness and regret appeared in his eyes.
"I will have to take another life with these hands…," said Alistar to himself and raised his hand upwards toward the ceiling, despite being clean, he was able to see glimpses of his past, his hand stained with the blood of witches.
"…I would have wanted if it were possible for humans and witches to live together and value life…but who am I to place weight on something like life?"
Alistar lowered his hand and closed his eyes reflecting in calm until he fell asleep, but his nature as a professional hunter had made the rest of his senses awake, so the simplest sounds he was hearing, even the movement of an insect on the wall, made his ears twitch.
"And I am the one who thought I would sleep like the others finally?"
———
From the next day, with early morning, before dawn and the rising of the sun from above the horizon line, in the front courtyard of the castle, the ground was earthy, it was a training ground with some straw dummies equipped with armor, some of them professional and some of them still training arrows stuck in them.
Alistar was walking around that area wiping his eyes from traces of sleep, his eyes tired and dark, he was waking at night because of the sound of the night crickets which exhausted him.
"I could not sleep in the end…"
Alistar reached the training area, and he was surprised when he saw dozens if not hundreds of soldiers wearing their silver armor, holding their weapons, silver swords shining despite the darkness before dawn, riding their horses as if waiting for someone, and in front of everyone, the one leading them, was a man wearing like Noah, a gray jacket and a white shirt with a high collar, dark and elegant pants, and leather shoes, in the pocket of the jacket, small glasses were visible, and a metal chain hanging from a brass button, that man was the same friend of Noah, Sirius Soren.
The man was giving orders to the soldiers who stood behind him in respect listening to him even if he shouted, this when Alistar approached and the man turned to him with a sharp look.
"H-hello…," the sharp look of the man scared Alistar so much that it made him nervous.
"You…oh, you are the famous witch hunter, Mr. Alistar Crowley who came yesterday, it is a great honor to meet you, I am one of your biggest fans!" said the man in an enthusiastic tone and held Alistar's hand shaking with strength and excitement.
"W-what a plot twist!"
"By the way, I am Ephraim Nethercot, pleased to meet you!" said Ephraim and immediately Alistar recognized the name.
"You…you are the fiancé of Lady Arabella?" said Alistar shocked and nervous, maybe his first reason of nervousness is that he did not expect that The High Inquisitor Of The Crown's Sacred Order is one of his biggest fans.
"Indeed I am, did Arabella talk about me? I hope she mentioned me well, I do not want to be embarrassed in front of my idol," said Ephraim rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.
"Do not worry…s-she is proud of you," said Alistar nervously about what he should say, but his biggest concern was, would this man be angry if he knew he had flirted with his fiancée.
"…He does not need to know this," thought Alistar to himself while smiling nervously, but he stopped smiling after a few seconds because of a strange shock he felt.
"I feel as if I am in a parallel dimension…Sirius engaged to a woman, especially since she is Calli who knows nothing about her…why do I feel as if I thought about this before?" thought Alistar to himself before he cleared his throat coughing.
"In any case, Mr. Nethercot, I see that you have prepared a lot for the raid…isn't the number of soldiers too many to get rid of one witch?" asked Alistar nervously looking at the huge number behind Ephraim.
"Do not underestimate this witch Mr. Crowley, although she is one witch, she caused a lot of chaos, according to our knowledge, she has magic that allows her to control the weather, especially fire, one day she targeted the royal family trying to kill them, the sky rained for days and the winds made strange sounds as if ghosts were screaming, and the humidity of the air increased greatly, and despite all this, the weather was extremely hot, despite the sun being hidden behind the clouds, forests were burned."
Alistar's eyes widened a little as soon as he heard this, shocked and astonished by the power of this witch, or maybe, he was excited, not excitement for battle, but just excitement born of curiosity.
"A witch with this power could crush this kingdom in a few days, what could make such an evil creature feel mercy and choose isolation in the forest? Maybe it is of the neutral type?" thought Alistar to himself in curiosity, he looked towards Ephraim expecting him to give his opinion but his shining eyes due to the happiness of meeting his idol distracted Alistar.
"Let us just do our work," Ephraim nodded his head in agreement shaking his head quickly in enthusiasm and anticipation.
Ephraim turned to the soldiers in the back while standing beside Alistar in excitement trying to show off and appear good, then, a serious expression fell on his face, and he spread the wing of his cloak and pulled from it a silver sword with a cross handle and raised it toward the sky.
"O men of spine and iron, hearken now—tonight, we step not into a forest, but into a mouth of curses long whispered by the dead, Thus stands the witch, cloaked in night's deceit, with hands steeped in the blood of our kin. Shall we falter? Alas, no, Let the trees tremble, for we bring fire. Let her spells crack, for we bring steel. Let her gods watch—we shall not kneel, If death awaits us, then let us meet it not as cowards, but as storms made flesh!"
The soldiers raised their swords upwards and let out a loud war cry. Then, a black horse ran that came out from the nearby stable, it was black with shining brown eyes, and it ran toward Ephraim, immediately Ephraim grabbed the saddle and mounted his horse.
"Now—forward. And should you fall, fall as men worthy of legend"
The horses turned towards the gate of the castle and immediately started rushing outward, while Ephraim extended his hand to Alistar inviting him to ride, and he grabbed his hand indeed and rode behind him, Ephraim pressed his leg on the side of the horse giving it the signal, and it rushed quickly forward passing through the rest of the horses, a few seconds passed until he was at the front of the raid.
"I have not ridden a horse before…by the way, since when has using magic become acceptable?" asked Alistar in curiosity, still thinking about the moment when Ephraim pulled his sword from nothing.
"As long as magic is used for protection and serving the king and the royal family, or for other noble reasons, it has become acceptable, but it is acceptable only with those of high rank like me and like you," explained Ephraim while smiling in excitement and the speed of the horse increased.
"I see…what nonsense, only those assured of their loyalty to the royal family are the ones who get power…what if the princess was among them? Isn't it possible that a member of the royal family is skilled in magic?…no, that is impossible…she confessed like a fool…also, I smelled blood on her."
After a few minutes, everyone reached in front of a dark black forest, a dense silent forest, flooded with the shadows of tall trees whose branches intertwine in the sky, until they block the light and choke the day. The ground is always dry, covered with a thick layer of rotten leaves and roots tangled like sleeping snakes. The air is heavy, its smell a mix of mud, humidity, and rot, as if time has stopped here for centuries.
The fog never leaves the place, sliding between the trunks like a wandering spirit, and the sound of the wind sneaking between the leaves, no bird is seen, and no trace of life except silence.
"Ahhh…who wants to enter first?"