"What's he still doing here?" Hansel asked with faint annoyance, but Gretel knew her brother more than well enough to detect it.
He coiled the extra netting after he finally finished setting up the last trap in between two vendor carts. Thankfully, the street vendors had kindly agreed to the set up after a few convincing words about the witch, unlike some others who were wary of their plan.
"Who?" Gretel asked, taking a bite out of her apple. Despite noticing his annoyance, she genuinely didn't know whom he was talking about.
Hansel didn't voice a reply but glanced up at Gandore's office window up on the town hall's second floor and then went back to paying attention to his working hands. She observed him from her seat on a barrel, many townspeople rustling about in the background to prepare for the coming evening.
Her brother's brow was slightly scrunched more than usual but his glance up at the office answered her question.
"King Alban?" she said, realizing whom he was talking about, "He mentioned that since he's already here, he might as well do his annual town check up for Linderwood."
"Oh."
Gretel continued to gaze at her brother with curiosity as to why he'd been acting so irritable ever since they'd returned from their trek the day before. It wasn't like him to let any irritation linger for so long.
"Why?" she asked. She threw the apple core into a waste bin next to the barrel, careful to make the shot lest the town sweeps would be on her case for littering.
"Nothing," Hansel said with forced nonchalance and a shrug. He shouldered the extra netting and looked at her.
"That was the last one, right?"
Gretel slipped the town map out from under her belt and opened it up over her lap. She uncapped her fountain pen, crossing out the section where they'd spent the last half hour setting up the net.
She'd sat there in complete silence since Hansel insisted he prepare this trap alone with the excuse that she didn't have to strain her injured arm. She was half thankful for that; the whole day of setting traps herself and constant movement made her healing burn seethe, but she didn't like sitting idly by watching the townsfolk mill about.
"Yeah, that's the last one," she said as she looked over the map for uncrossed points on the parchment. Hansel nodded in acknowledgement and Gretel folded the map again to tuck it away back under her belt.
"Alright," Hansel replied with a satisfied grunt and turned to walk off, "Let's go find Ben and Edward and get some dinner. I'm starving."
"Hansel," Gretel said bluntly, not budging from her seat. He stopped in his tracks at the call of his name and looked over his shoulder at his sister.
"What?"
"Is something wrong?" she asked, her eyebrows creased with a hint of worry, "You're acting a little odd."
"I can say the same thing about you," her brother said, turning to face her again. Gretel could swear that his tone was laced with the same irritation that was there when he referred to Alban a few moments ago. She didn't like it.
"What are you talking about?" she asked, reflecting the same tone back at him.
Before Hansel could answer his timer suddenly went off, its clicking interrupting whatever response he had at the tip of his tongue. He walked over to Gretel, set the rolled net on another barrel next to her, and took out his syringe from its pack. Her vexed eyes bore into him with every movement.
"To be honest, Sis," Hansel said as he tapped the side of the syringe to prepare the insulin, "and I think I can speak for myself and on behalf of the kid and Edward, but you've been acting seriously anal lately."
He propped up his leg on a crate and stabbed the needle into his thigh, pressing down to release the solution. He looked up at Gretel who was now glaring at him.
"I didn't believe you when you said there was nothing wrong the other night," Hansel said as retracted the needle and put his syringe away.
"I know you too well… enough to know that you're hiding something from me."
"I don't know what the hell you're talking about, Hansel," Gretel said, her jaw visibly tightening in rising annoyance. She hated being wrongly accused of things she didn't believe true.
Hansel stared back at her, his frown calm against her glare and he could feel a small tension starting to build up between them. His sister really was not- and had not been- acting normal, even as she had sat there waiting for him to finish setting up the trap. Gretel never acted impulsively or carried an attitude with no reason, so there was definitely something off with her behavior. She just wasn't giving him a good answer and he needed one.
"Don't lie," he simply said, cocking his head up.
"I'm not," she said, slipping off her seat on the barrel and stepping forward towards him with a pure irritation in her voice.
As she stepped, Hansel felt a small force suddenly push him back a few inches, his feet catching him before he could topple over. He looked down at his feet and back up at Gretel with an expression of confusion and bewilderment the second the pressure of the force was gone. It felt as if someone had put their hands on his chest and lightly pushed him, but Gretel was still glaring at him like she hadn't noticed that he'd moved and he could swear her hands didn't leave her hips.
What in the fucking world was that?
"I'm not," she repeated boldly, and then picked up the netting from atop the barrel, "Now, let's get going and don't ask me that same question again."
Hansel stared at his sister's back as she began to walk off, taken aback by what had happened seconds before. He had no idea what to think of it and was starting to believe that he had just imagined it. But all he knew was that he definitely did take a step backwards when Gretel confronted him.
Hansel shook his head to rid of the odd feeling and just established it as his simply his imagination. There was no evident answer for it.
He sighed and moved to catch up with his sister, disappearing into the crowd of townspeople after her.
"I know it's only been a day, but I'm already bored," Ben sighed, letting his head gently fall backwards on the wall. He sat criss-crossed beside Edward on the floor of their room, taking a break from making their planned patrol rounds after they had an early dinner.
Ben made his rounds alone with Edward on his own patrol, much to the fascination of the townsfolk who stared at the troll with curiosity. The sheltered people of Linderwood apparently never saw anything other than other humans and farm animals, so the sight of a troll frightened them but completely mesmerized them at the same time.
The town- and kingdom in general- was odd, Ben thought. From Gandore they learned that the kingdom's been absent of witches for the past hundred years and Ben could not come up with an explanation as to how or why that was. The witch plague, as far as he knew and learned in the past year, affected every single place with a human population no matter how large or small. There were always women who indulged in the dark arts and to have none in a whole kingdom for almost ten decades was a baffling thought.
"I have a feeling you're gonna regret saying that," Hansel said with a small smirk as he cleaned the barrel of his gun with an old cloth.
"Yeah, probably," Ben said, rolling his eyes though he agreed; luck was always toying with him. He then paused and glanced between his two companions with uncertainty.
"Hey, guys, don't you think it's pretty weird that these towns haven't had a witch here in the last hundred years until now? Even through all those Blood Moons… I don't know. I just think it's odd."
"Yeah," Hansel said evenly, gazing at the wall, "I thought about that. I know every place has witch attacks every now and then but I've never come across a place where there was absolutely no sign of witches."
Edward nodded and gave a grunt of agreement. He'd had suspicions about the town and kingdom from the start when the mayor mentioned the hundred-year vacancy of black magic. Having worked for witches his whole life, he knew too well that they were not so secretive enough to leave a town alone for a long period of time- much less an entire kingdom.
"There's no other super special Sabbath day for them is there?" Ben wondered out loud.
"Not that I know of," Hansel replied, turning over his gun to clean the other side, "Edward?"
The troll shook his head. He knew of none other than the Blood Moon.
"Do you think those two witches that attacked us a few days ago have something to do with this fishiness?" Ben asked.
Usually he'd tell Ben to shut up from asking too many questions, but this time Hansel only looked at the boy on the floor, remembering the two witches that he'd forgotten about since they burned their remains and continued the journey to Cardarom. At the sudden remembrance, he couldn't think of an explanation to answer Ben's question; it didn't seem like there was any connection between the two stray witches and the 'fishiness' of the kingdom- or this mountain witch mission for that matter. However, he did admit that the attack was still completely odd.
"I dunno," Hansel finally answered after pondering it a bit, "Why don't you ask Gretel? You know she's a lot better with answering questions."
"Ask me what?" Gretel appeared at the open doorway. She folded her arms and looked at the three, waiting for their question with curiosity.
"Gretel, don't you find it weird that this place hasn't had a witch in almost a hundred years till now?" Ben asked right to the point. His curiosity and paranoia was starting to increase every second that he didn't have an answer.
"If you ask me, this place seems a little too perfect," Hansel said as he set down his gun on the table and looked at her.
Gretel blinked and their words sunk into her slowly as the thought panned through her calculating mind. She honestly did find it odd as it dawned on her and was surprised that she hadn't caught on to the strangeness from the beginning.
"And those two witches that attacked a few days ago," Ben added, "Is there some sort of connection between them and this witch gig? That attack was just weird and random."
She trained her eyes on Ben for a moment, her mind juggling the two pieces of speculation trying to find some sort of answer. To be frank, she did think about the significance of those two witches but hadn't managed to come up with a plausible explanation. They were in the middle of the thick forest with no civilization within a seven-mile radius and their attackers didn't look like they were native to the setting. She had just decided to think of them as traveling witches that just coincidentally crossed paths with them.
But why would nomad witches attack if they were just passing through, especially when the ones they were attacking were the famous witch hunters? Surely the would have taken a detour instead. However, they hadn't. That was deviant.
"I don't know," Gretel said, theories forming in her head but none logical enough to share, "But anyway, King Alban's leaving for his castle tonight. He wanted us to go to the north gate to say goodbye before they close."
"Aw, already?" Ben groaned in disappointment as he got up from his seat on the floor, "I was hoping to ask him if he could help me out with my shooting."
"Yeah, well, apparently he's got more towns to visit in a short time," Gretel said, turning towards the door and nodding her head for them to follow her, "Come on, he's leaving soon."
Edward got up from the floor and followed Ben out the door, amusingly compacting his body to squeeze through the opening that was far too small for him. Gretel was about to follow after them but noticed that Hansel hadn't moved from behind the table. The rumpled brow had come back on his face as he just looked down at his gun.
"Hans, come on," she commanded. She was still irritated with him and she didn't want any more piques.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming."
"I'm terribly sorry that I have to leave so soon," Alban said apologetically as he bowed to the four and Gandore in front of him, "but there is more business I have to attend to."
Behind him was a beautifully armored carriage with three horses as gorgeously adorned, neighing and fidgeting around from impatience. The carriage driver and knights mounted on their own horses waited idly by in the background for departure. It was almost time for the border gates to close and the four had barely arrived in time to see the king off before he boarded his carriage, especially when they had to weave through the crowd of townspeople wanting to say goodbye as well.
"No worries," Gretel said with a smile, "We understand you have your duties."
"Yeah, have a safe trip King Alban!" Ben said, "Hopefully the next time we see you you'll teach me some of those cool gun tricks."
"Of course, Benjamin, you can count on that. Well, I must be off to make it to Winchester before the late evening. It was very, very, very grand meeting you four," Alban said with a smile and small wave while walking towards the door of his carriage.
"I wish you luck on your witch hunt! Farewell!"
The townspeople said their cheery goodbyes, some of the women even blowing kisses towards their beloved king as he blew small kisses back in return. He really was a hit with the female persuasion and made Hansel mentally roll his eyes. The sight looked ridiculous and he was thankful that Gretel merely waved a farewell. But he wished he could say the same thing about Ben. The boy admired the man just as much as the women.
What happened in the next few seconds was completely unforeseen.
The second Alban's hand touched the door's handle, the other side of the carriage suddenly exploded into a fiery mess of broken wood and metal. The force threw the closest bodies backwards and shook the ground like an earthquake, sending the carriage about to topple over the fallen king.
"King Alban!" his knights yelled, getting up from where they fell and clambering to save their superior from being crushed.
They made it just in time before the blown carriage could land atop him, all five men in armor barely catching the body of wood and metal with strong hands. The king, with senses distorted, tried to regain his composure while his knights desperately attempted to push the carriage back on its four wheels before the weight became too much for them. Then another explosion blew a row of trees a few yards away, shaking the ground even more and inducing even more chaos.
"Go!" Hansel yelled at the frightened civilians behind him who had fallen from the shake of the explosions.
He quickly helped a frightened woman up from the ground and shoved her into a man's arms. The others around them scrambled up to their feet, children and women screaming with the men just as shaken. More explosions sounded around them as if it were raining grenades, dirt and pieces of debris dangerously flying in all directions.
"Get out of here! Grab your children and run! Move!" Hansel continued to yell, helping fallen people left and right and urging them to get away from the bursts.
He had no idea what was happening but all he knew was to get the people out to safety first and foremost. He caught sight of Ben carrying a small girl to her mother and Edward shielding a small family of four from an explosion to the right of them.
Gretel was helping the old mayor who had fallen backwards and hit his head, Gandore's escort resorting to carrying the unconscious old man in his arms to get away before another explosion came. As soon as she saw most of the townspeople were gone from range, she whipped her neck in every direction to find the source of the attacks, her alert eyes frantically scanning their surroundings.
A line of thin, flashing light zapped towards her from high above and she hardly dodged the attack, the dirt ground exploding dangerously close to her feet. Even though Gretel knew she was immune to black magic- she still wasn't invulnerable to the explosions that followed suit right after. She flew to the side and easily rolled to a stop on her knees with her eyes still trying to trace where the blast had come from. She looked up and caught sight of something flying up in the sky in the midst of the smoke and dust, hearing faint laughter coming from the dark fog.
"Up above!" she yelled over the screaming and shower of more explosions. She pointed right above one of the border's high watchtowers yards away.
Hansel, Ben, and Edward looked up at where she pointed and saw three figures on brooms flying around the tower's peak. Witches. They flew in circles above the area on which the fours stood, cackling in amusement while whipping their wands left and right.
One of them had a familiar laugh that they'd heard just a few days before.
"You again," Hansel cursed, recognizing the mountain witch he'd let escape.
"Edward!" he called over to the troll who was getting up from the ground. Edward exhaled through his nose like a bull and looked at him apprehensively. Hansel jerked his head upwards towards them.
"Take 'em down, bud."
The corners of the troll's mouth slightly curved into a mischievous smile before he charged towards a blacksmith's cart full of balls of metal ore. He easily grabbed on to one of the heavy metals and with a strong arm, flung it at the bald witch in the air. It hit her square in the torso and was abruptly thrown back, colliding with the horned witch hovering right behind her. They flew of their brooms and fell down towards the ground, crashing into the dirt.
"Good one!" Hansel said and ran to horned witch who was just a few feet away.
Gretel grabbed a loose chain that was sitting idly by on a barrel, remembering the clever use and wrapping it around her fists to use as brass knuckles. She sprinted towards the bald witch who had fallen the closest, intending to reach her before she recovered from her fall. On the last step of her run, Gretel grabbed the long tail of the chain, pulled her metal-wrapped fist back, and released the momentum of her arm.
The bald witch dodged Gretel's attack with a quick lean to the left, but didn't see the blade of the shovel Ben swung at the back of her head. She was thrown forward and Gretel kicked her in the nose like a ball, sending the witch flying backwards and hitting her back up against a tree.
Gretel pulled the chain's tail, tightening the rope of metal, and ran towards the dizzied witch. Gretel thrusted the chain on her throat and pushed down with so much force that the witch gagged for air, her wild blue eyes widening. But she was physically a lot stronger than she'd perceived; it took all of Gretel's focus to keep the chain on her respiratory tract.
"Ben! Grab her wand!" Gretel yelled, trying to keep her hold on her.
Before Ben could act, the witch grabbed on to Gretel's upper arms and twisted her tight grip. Gretel alarmingly felt the excruciating pain of her burn being chafed against again and cried out, the witch taking full advantage of the moment and kicking Gretel in the chest. Gretel flew back and was thrown further away when the witch grabbed on to her leather jacket and aggressively catapulted her from the ground.
Hansel, seeing her body coming towards him, ran forward and caught his sister, dodging the horned witch's thick needles along the way. The two both landed on the dirt and stopped in a skid a few feet away in a heap.
"Hyah!" Ben cried as he swung the shovel's head at the bald witch again but was too slow for her quickness.
He continued to wildly swing at her, walking forward, but she dodged left and right, walking backwards and moving with such agility Ben could hardly land a hit. The witch's mouth curved into a larger grin after every miss, totally amused at the futility of his attempts.
Ben's heart pumped hard. He knew he had to disable the witch soon before she conjured any magic upon him, knowing too well that he wasn't immune to black spells as Hansel and Gretel were. If he didn't act fast, he would be done for in the next few moments since this witch was more formidable than any he'd faced one-on-one before.
The witch suddenly whipped out her wand and caught the shovel's head in between the small, thick branches of her stick and immobilized Ben's movement.
"Grah!" she snarled, her rotting teeth baring, and offensively pushed Ben backwards.
Before he could regain his balance, she swung at him with her own wand, blades of dark magic rapidly flying from her metal tip towards him. He clumsily dodged to the left and right while stepping backwards, humorously mirroring what the bald witch had done when he had the offense on her. The tables had been turned.
At what felt like his millionth frantic step, Ben's ineptitude of swift movement got the best of him and the boy tripped backwards over his own feet, crashing his tailbone hard on the ground and letting go of his shovel. He instinctively shut his eyes and groaned at the pain, but then immediately remembered that he was still in the line of fire. He looked up at the witch in time to see her conjure another spell that was aimed right at the lower part of his body and almost a split second too late, he spread his legs out to avoid the potential incineration of his jewels.
The spell burned right into the ground and singed the dirt, Ben looking up with fearful eyes when he realized that that could have been his genitals. The witch cackled, still totally entertained and moved to throw another spell but was punched to the side by Edward who had come to Ben's rescue.
"Thanks, Edward!" Ben breathed in relief before moving to retrieve his shovel.
"You okay?" Hansel groaned as he tried to sit up from the weight of his sister on his abdomen.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Gretel said, wincing at the returning throb of her arm.
Her eyes suddenly flashed and she quickly pushed herself off of her brother, dodging a swarm of needles rushing towards them. The horned briskly walked towards them, spiky pieces of black material coming out of the holes on her skin. She swung her arms and the needle-like pieces flew out from her openings like bullets. Hansel scrambled up to his feet and evaded them, lunging backwards and skidding into a stop on his heels.
He cursed under his breath, vexed that he didn't have any of his weapons on him. This would have been easier to deal with and he -they- should have known better to let their guard down even for the briefest time. If they weren't fast thinkers they'd already be dead.
The spray of needles continued to shower, the horned witch diverting her attention from Gretel and concentrating her attacks on Hansel, viciously on the offensive. With nimble feet, he avoided the sharp needles but with much difficulty; it was as if he was trying to dodge a bullet mid-range and that was already almost impossible.
While he was moving, Hansel noted the witch's lack of use of her wand that he saw was tucked under her worn belt strapped around her waist. It was odd. Witches, from a distance, usually resorted to their wands as their means of offense- only until they could get closer to their opponent. It was as if this horned witch knew only physical attacks would work against him.
"You're dead!" he suddenly heard a screeching voice yell from above.
He jerked his head up to the source of the sound and saw the mountain witch flying down towards him. With his attention averted, he had no window to notice that the horned witch had thrown more needles his way. The strong, slender sticks pierced through the edges of his leather attire and roughly pinned him to the tree right behind him. Up close, the needles looked dense and heavy and didn't budge at his attempts to rip himself out of their grips.
He was immobilized.
The mountain witch slid off her broom just as she reached the ground and ran towards him with a knife in her hands. Hansel tried to budge from under the needles but they were stuck into the wood securely, his leather vest also rugged against the rods. Adrenaline pumped through his system like wildfire, for if he didn't move in the next few seconds, the knife would surely pierce through him.
It seemed that it was too late.
The witch and her blade were now just a few feet away and it seemed like a world of pain was inevitably coming. Hansel shut his eyes and prepared himself for the burning sensation to come.
"Hansel!" he heard Gretel screech.
Gunshots cracked through the air and the mountain witch's body fell to the side, her left arm bloodied and her eyes wide from surprise. Hansel turned his head to where the bullets had come from and saw a burgundy haired woman briskly walking towards them, firing her rifle with great precision at the mountain witch. Her face was hardened in focus and her red hair flowed with every step.
The witch screeched as a shot went through her shoulder and the next thing she knew, she was punched hard square in the jaw out of nowhere. Hansel watched as a brown-haired man clad in a tight leather vest continued to punch the witch out of her wits, giving her no time to react. Everything was happening so fast that Hansel could not grasp what was going on and failed to notice where the man and woman had come from.
"Callahan, I'll leave that one to you!" the woman called over to the man.
He didn't answer but briefly nodded in acknowledgement to her command. The woman went over to Hansel and quickly beat off the needles out one by one with the butt of her gun. After they were all gone, she didn't waste time even looking at his face and turned to go back to the battlefield.
"Hey!" Hansel called after her, completely confused at their sudden appearance.
"Argh! Get off!" he suddenly heard Ben cry out.
Hansel turned and saw that the bald witch was right on top of Ben with a hand around his throat and his shovel in the other, raised above her head. There was no one around him to come to the rescue, the two newcomers dealing with the mountain witch, Edward busy with the horned witch, and Gretel having been knocked to the ground a few feet away. Hansel was about to sprint towards them before another sound caught his attention.
"¡Vayamos, puta!" a Spanish voice called out and was followed by a swift crack of a whip.
The bald witch jerked off of Ben and landed on the ground beside him with a long red mark on the side of her arm. The shovel slide away on the ground and her wand had flown from her pocket and landed a few feet away. The witch fumbled from the floor to reach for it but her wand was flicked away by another crack of a whip.
She looked up and saw a tall figure of a man with a small moustache and goatee, wearing a hat with a small visor, and clad in black leather. He stood only a few feet away, his dark predator eyes dancing in the setting sun's light.
"Too slow," he said, grinning.
He threw his whip again, but this time making the leather curl around her neck and pulled her towards him just in time before it lost its grip. The man pulled the handle and end of the whip, tightening the wrap and strangling the witch at the pressure with such force that she grossly gagged. Before she knew what was coming next, the man twisted his hold on his whip and vigorously snapped her neck. The witch's body fell to the ground in a heap, dead.
The man then looked at Ben who had been watching the quick kill from the ground with surprised eyes.
"Wha-" Ben started to stammer. The newcomer had saved him and taken out the witch in seconds.
"Ay, chico," the man said, smiling at him and coiling up his whip, "No need to say it. You're very welcome."
Meanwhile, Edward was close to defeating the horned witch, whose needles were unable to penetrate the troll's rough skin and armor. Her physical offense was futile and she couldn't rely on her wand for it was snapped in half from one of Edward's tackles.
She was already done for.
"Rargh!" he growled, blocking the spray of needles with his large arm as he ran towards the frantic witch.
Edward grabbed her full torso, crushing her bones with a hard squeeze and then raised his free fist above his head with a battle growl. He brought his clenched hand like an unstoppable juggernaut and crushed her head right under it, blood and pieces of her brains and skull splattering in all directions. He let go of her body and let it fall to the floor, flicking his hands to rid of the black blood all over them.
"Edward!" Gretel breathed, jogging towards him while clutching her injured arm, "Are you alright?"
The troll grunted and nodded in response just as Hansel made his way over.
"Is everyone okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, more or less," Ben said sarcastically, "If you count almost getting your balls fried as okay."
"What about me, eh? Aren't you worried 'bout me? I'm okay, too," the man with the moustache and goatee said with a laugh just as the other two newcomers walked up to them.
"Ah, good to finally have some fun, eh?" the man said to the approaching two.
The other man in the vest threw the battered mountain witch down on the ground, stomped his boot down on her back and pulled up her arm as a restraint. The woman walked past the two men and looked at the other four in front of her with piercing eyes.
"Who are you?" Gretel asked cautiously.
"The name's Selma," the burgundy haired woman said. She propped her rifle on her shoulder and nodded her head to either side to indicate her two companions behind her.
"Pretty Boy's Callahan and the Spanish one's Lucio. Witch hunters. And who are you?"
"Witch hunters?" Gretel asked confoundedly. She thought she heard the woman wrong.
"Miss Selma," the king said with a sigh of relief, one of his knights helping him limp towards them. They had taken cover after the carriage was successfully pushed back on its wheels, the knights knowing well that their duty was to protect their king, and came out to the open once they saw that the danger was gone.
"I'm glad you and the others are here… however, I wasn't expecting you to arrive till three days from now."
"Yes, well, we thought we'd arrive early to get business started," the woman, Selma, said nodding at him in greeting, "Looks like we got here just in time, too."
"Business?" Hansel inquired, looking up at them with suspicion.
He didn't recognize any of the three newcomers and it was extremely rare, with chances of zero to none, that they would come across other witch hunters. He and his sister, with the protection of their mother's magic, were the only ones he knew that were immune to black magic. He knew anyone without that trait would never survive being a hunter of that specialty. As their company, Ben and Edward were the only exceptions.
And yet, here were three that had taken the three witches down with ease and claimed to be witch hunters.
"What business do you have here?" Gretel asked authoritatively.
She didn't like the woman's attitude right off the bat. She glanced at her brother a few feet away and saw that he shared the same wary, confused expression as she did.
"What do you think?" Selma slightly glared at her and tapped her rifle onto her other hand, her tone giving away her annoyance to Gretel's front.
"Now, I'm not going to ask again so answer me, who are you?"
"Hey, hey," the Spanish man, Lucio, scolded as he approached Selma and put a hand on her shoulder, "Selm, calm down. We're not out to make enemies. Lo Siento, amigos, my friend here is a little on the short side of tolerance."
"Ah, forgive me, Hansel and Gretel," King Alban interjected apologetically, "I've failed to mention that I've also hired Miss Selma and her party to watch over my other towns if they were to be attacked."
"Wait, Hansel and Gretel?! The famous original witch hunters?" Lucio exclaimed with his arms enthusiastically wide open, "My eyes do not deceive me, eh? Mucho Gusto, Hansel y Gretel! Eduardo y Benjamin, too! Perdóneme our rudeness."
He approached Hansel first and pulled him into a hug, much to his surprise. Lucio then pulled away and set his hands on Hansel's shoulders, a smile radiating the warm demeanor of the Spanish.
"Ahh, I'm such a huge fan, Hansel," he said, squeezing his shoulders, "I admire your work very, very much. Simplemente increíble!"
"Err… thanks," Hansel replied awkwardly not knowing how to reply. He stiffly took Lucio's hands off his shoulders.
"Wait," Ben said loudly, catching everyone's attention. He gestured towards the three newcomers with a hesitantly pointed finger.
"You're... witch hunters? No offense, but I've never heard of you."
"If I may, Miss Selma, Sir Callahan and Sir Lucio," King Alban said before Selma's impulsive tongue could lash out.
The woman looked like she was about to say something, but at the request of the king himself she quickly shut her mouth.
"As I said moments ago, I've sent for these three to aid this cause," King Alban said to the other four as he took unwrapped his arm from his knight's neck.
With a limp, he approached the middle of the two groups, as if a moderator of a quarrel, and glanced at either side with hands gesturing to both of them.
"I am dead set on restoring order into my kingdom," he said solemnly, "And I believe that it will be achieved through efficiency- which calls for more able bodies. I came across Miss Selma and her companions out on a diplomatic journey and they showed very useful skills when they saved me from a witch attack along the way. That's why I've summoned them to come as well. I understand that you four are completely capable, but…"
His soft eyes, full of persuasion, then locked with Gretel's.
"...You can never be too careful."
The same feeling she'd gotten from the first time she'd met the king suddenly returned, making her annoyance at Selma turn into fluster that she tried to immediately hide. Hansel glanced at his sister, hardly noticing her inner change of emotion, and then looked back at the other three across from them.
"How long have you been hunting witches?" he asked, his voice still wary.
It was still hard to believe that they'd actually come across other witch hunters; especially ones that could hold their own as well as they could, if not better.
"Three years," Selma answered, cocking her head up almost haughtily,
"Don't let that short time-span fool you. You may be the 'original' witch hunters, as Lucio said, but I know we can match you."
She gestured to the mountain witch who was held down by Callahan.
"Exhibit A."
"¡Ay Senorita!" Lucio cut in with an exasperated sigh, scolding her again, "What did I just say, eh? Por favor, show some respect will you?"
Before she could answer, the witch under Callahan's boot squirmed with pained groans. All heads turned, each offensively bringing their weapons back up at the sudden sound. Callahan pushed his foot down harder and pulled the witch's arm up, putting more restraint if she were to miraculously break from his hold.
The setting sun casted haunting shadows all around them and menacingly embraced the witch's face.
"Fools," the witch heaved a low laugh, a waterfall of black blood dripping down the side of her mouth, "You've no idea what you're up against."
"We just took your and your friends' asses down," Selma said, cocking her gun downwards at her bloodied head, "What more is there to be up against before I shoot you in the face?"
"We'll keep coming," the witch breathed in a gurgle of blood, her eyes flashing even wilder, "We'll keep coming until your king is dead… until his skin is slowly torn off, until his chest is ripped open, until his brains are squeezing through the cracks in his skull… we'll keep coming."
"What?" Alban said, aghast, voicing everyone's thoughts.
Callahan grunted and stomped his foot down on the back of her head and violently pulled up her arm, a loud crack sounding through the open area making the surrounding audience wince. The mountain witch cried out in pain, her screaming muffled by the dirt up against her face.
"We'll keep coming," the witch continued to chant in between painful heaves, lifting her chin with difficulty to meet everyone's staring eyes, "We'll keep coming until the Day if the king isn't dead. Then you will all be dead. We'll keep coming until the Day if the king isn't dead. Then you will all be dead."
"Will you just shut the fuck up?" Selma said disgustingly and impatiently pulled her trigger.
The bullet ripped through the side of the witch's throat and made blood spurt over Callahan's boots. The witch screamed but the sound merely came out as a mix of a disturbing screech and pained gurgling. She coughed up blood and the mess spurted out onto the dirt, Ben clenching his own throat at the disgusting sight.
"Callahan, finish her," Selma commanded, annoyed.
Without hesitation, Callahan grabbed the grody cloth on the witch's back and powerfully hurled her body out into the open space behind him. In a split second, he reached for the artillery on his back and swiftly flicked a switch, the dark cylinder of metal disassembling its form and switching its gears to move its multiple parts. Metal clicks sounded and the cylinder had smoothly and completely transformed into a handheld Gatling gun.
Callahan briefly shifted his stance and then pulled the trigger, the multiple barrels rapidly spinning. The dying witch was bombarded by many bullets, the small pieces of metal tearing through her rotten skin and making her wildly spasm at the impacts. Her body started to fall to the ground once Callahan ceased his fire, but before it could reach the ground, he pulled a shotgun from his belt like lightning and fired a final bullet straight through her forehead. The witch's head blew apart in half before anyone could blink.
"Whoa," Ben breathed in amazement.
Everything had happened in less than ten seconds, with Callahan's movements so smooth that it was violently graceful. Hansel and Gretel were just as surprised but weren't completely explicit about it on their expressions; it was still hard to grasp that they'd come across other hunters and ones that were just as skilled.
"Ay, there you go again, niños," Lucio sighed, apparently used to the display but had a disapproving tone about it, "You know we could have interrogated her more."
The tension that had built up between the two groups suddenly vanished and everything was back to business.
"No," Gretel said, a realization suddenly clicking in her mind.
She initially thought that those two witches were there on a mission to kill the king, but after weighing the odds and taking into account the fact that they didn't use black magic in combat, there was no solid opportunity for them to pull off the assassination successfully. What bothered her most though was their lack of using magic; they either knew spells didn't work on either her or her brother, or they weren't using them on purpose. Both ideas grinded on her all the same.
But pushing other racing thoughts aside, Gretel knew that the witch would have been no good to them no matter how much they tortured her for answers if she were kept alive.
"That witch was just a messenger."
"All three were," Hansel added, having come to the same epiphany as Gretel.
He turned to King Alban, the dislike for him still there but he knew that they needed to put the royalty under safeguard after hearing the haunting omen.
"King Alban, we need to get you out of here and off to somewhere safe," Hansel said, "There's someone after you and with just a warning we don't know their true motives or when they'll strike again."
"How do we know that what she was saying is true?" Selma shot at him skeptically.
"How do we know it's not?" Hansel shot back.
"We can't leave things to chance," Gretel said, solid on taking charge before anyone else could- especially the newcomers who she was still suspicious about. She did not like being looked down in contempt, but since the king had hired them and they showed adeptness in combat, she figured they'd be of help.
"Your Highness, where's the safest place in your kingdom? We either have to keep you hidden or put you in a box of metal if the warning is true."
"The castle," one of Alban's knights standing behind him answered, "It's a fortress all its own. Six-foot cement walls all around, twenty foot borders within the center town as the perimeter, and every opening reinforced with metal bars."
"Yes, the castle," the king agreed, a small hint of fear visible in his dark eyes, "My palace is the safest place in Cardarom; my father had made sure of it."
"Alright," Gretel nodded, and looked at the others who didn't show any objection, "Then that's our next stop. We move once we can- all of us. If King Alban hired you three, then we have no choice but to work together efficiently."
Selma loudly snorted at Gretel's initiative.
"Who died and made you Queen?"
Sorry for the long wait, I've just been buried with school and I've had writing blocks on-and-off lately haha. My updates from here on out will come later than they have since my academic life is just getting piled up on… but we'll see.
Anyway, excuses aside, I hope you liked this chapter! Especially the three new characters, yay! Selma, Callahan, and Lucio. :) Again, if I were to cast people for these characters and if you like having visuals, I would have Sasha Barrese as Selma, Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Callahan, and Oscar Jaenada as Lucio. If you have any questions about any of these characters (that aren't related to the plot) I'd be glad to answer them. :D I don't know if it's overwhelming to have new characters coming, but I assure you that these three will be the last ones. Well, the last new main characters, at least.
As for people who are wondering why Gretel is "moody", the question will be answered in the next few chapters even though I've already given you a hint somewhere in this chapter haha. :P Just gotta catch it!
Feedback, as always, is more than welcome! Comments, questions, suggestions, constructive criticism or any kind of feedback would be awesome possum so please take the time to drop one. :) You have no idea how much I appreciate every single review! :D The more feedback I get, the more drive I have to continue.
Thanks for reading! Until next chapter~
[EDIT]: OH, by the way, I've apparently made an error in the title… LOL. It's supposed to be Simul in Aeternum… I have no idea how or why I missed the "in" part of the phrase. If you haven't looked it up, it means "together forever" in Latin haha.
Since this story's been up for a month, I'm just gonna leave it as simply Simul Aeternum.