Coller had traveled for several weeks not knowing where he was heading. Then he remembered a friend he had in the town of Jova. Kristoff was a former blacksmith turned bar keep. He had helped him once to repair his pistols after some man-wolves had given him quite a fight. Kristoff told him that he was always welcome to come by and stay awhile. Coller felt it was about time he took him up on that offer. When Coller rode into town he saw a large crowd gathered in the center of town. The crowd was surrounding a large pole where three people were tied. Coller suspected that the three must be witches. Instead of heading towards the crowd, he got off his horse and went straight to his friend's tavern. Inside he found the tavern empty. He walked up to the wooden bar and knocked on it yelling, "Kristoff! Are you here you sorry excuse for a blacksmith!" Then from behind the bar he heard a moan. Immediately he jumped over and found a man laying face down. Turning over the body, he saw behind the blood and bruises, the face of his old friend Kristoff.
"Kristoff…"
"Coller," he said, struggling to keep his voice from cracking.
"Shh. Try not to speak."
"No…you must stop…the burning…girl…is a Fernandez. Stop them Coller, stop…"
"Shh. Quiet now."
Coller then put Kristoff lying against the bar. "I'll stop them for you. You just sit tight and I'll bring someone for you. Here, have a drink. On the house I'm sure." Coller then left the tavern with both pistols in his hand. When he reached the crowd, he saw a priest speaking in Latin and one of the women tied to pole yelling in some other tongue. Coller budged his way closer to listen to what the girl was saying. When he was close enough to hear, he recognized the language she was speaking in. Although he couldn't speak Spanish, he knew it when he heard it, and this girl was not speaking Spanish to the crowd, but to a group that was very close to her and as far as Coller could tell, crying. Finally he pointed his guns up into the air and fired a shot from both pistols. The crowd immediately turned toward the newcomer. The priest stopped his Bible ranting and asked him, "who are you that dares interrupt the Lord's good work!"
"Who are you sir, to interrupt Coller the hunter's revenge!" The crowd instantly responded to the name of Coller the hunter. What followed was a series of grunts and murmurs between the townspeople. Finally Coller spoke again. "Aye, I am Coller the hunter, and I say that I ought t'be the one to kill that there witch!"
"We know of you Coller the hunter. But this witch has bewitched a mother if this town and put the devil into her daughter," said the priest. The crowd then began to yell out various obscenities and described what the witch apparently did. "The girl was dead and she brought her back with the devil's soul," they yelled. Coller once again raised his gun and the crowd went silent.
"Aye. I feel most fully for the souls that this here witch has disgraced with the devil's work. But I have to ask, what of my mother?!" The crowd stayed silent. "That's right, my mother, the I loved dearly and she killed!" Again the crowd yelled its obscenities. "I tell you good people of Jova, this witch has done me wrong ten times worse than she has you. She killed me mother and father! She killed me girl and my dog! You tell me who should kill her!"
The priest then raised his hand to control the crowd's bellows. "It is true then. You should have the pleasure of killing this witch. Come sir and be the one who lights these damned souls afire!"
"No," Coller said simply. The ensuing screams took quite a few minutes to calm down, but eventually the priest took control again.
"What do you mean, no?"
"I mean, not here, not like this. I will decide when and where they are to die."
"We accept your claim that you should kill the witch but we do demand immediate justice."
"Your justice will be delayed only until tomorrow night. For tomorrow night is the anniversary of when she killed my loved ones. What do you say to that? Can you hold till then so that the souls of my loved ones can sleep soundly?"
The priest considered for a moment and then consented to Coller's request. Coller saw that the women were left tied to the pole but four guards were placed to watch over them. Many of the townspeople offered Coller their condolences and prayers. Coller then made his way back to the tavern, there he found a group of men talking to Kristoff who had seated himself at a table.
"Don't be bitter Kristoff, we were just trying to save your soul," said one.
"Yes, trying to beat the devil out of you so to speak," said another.
" 'Beat the devil out of me?' I'll beat the life out of you if you try laying a hand on me! Now get out of here! Out!" Kristoff yelled.
Coller walked toward the table. "I see you're in your normal good spirits."
"What's this talk about having the devil in me?"
"Well, I managed to postpone the burning till tomorrow..."
"I said to stop Coller!"
"Lissen to me Kristoff. What makes you think any of us is going to be here tomorrow? Eh? Eh?" Coller and Kristoff then erupted with loud laughter to fill the room.
"Ah Coller, I knew you would come through!"
"Aye. Now tell me, who are these ladies that have caught your fancy?"
"I told you. They are Fernandez."
"Fernandez, aye. Now what does that mean?"
"Coller you unknowledgeable brut. The Fernandez family is a leAnadary Spanish family known for their magic powers."
"Magic?"
"Magic. When I was a blacksmith I had the privilege of helping quite a few customers quietly. Fixing wagons and such. One of those was the Fernandez."
"How did you know?"
"I swear Coller, on my mother's grave. I saw one of them make this, orb of light. I saw one of them light a pile of firewood with one of those. They didn't know I saw but I did. Now the one of the women up there works for me serving here at the tavern. Her little girl got sick and was at death's door. Now a few days ago, I happen to see that same wagon I repaired all them years ago. I rode out and found them. They didn't remember me of course, but they believed my story. I told them about the girl and asked if they had any magic that could cure her. Their leader, that other woman, agreed that she would come with me. Now I don't know how, I suppose someone must have seen, but when she went to go back to her wagon train, the whole damned village was waiting for her. The village didn't know about the wagon train and I didn't know they had caught her till today. Then when I spoke in her defense, those youngsters came at me. Then you showed up and well, you took it from there."
"Well, that's good to know. Now lets wait until dark to break the lasses out shall we?"
When it was finally dark, Coller and Kristoff quietly made their way to the center of town. The four guards were still there but only two were awake. The town was basically one road with houses and shops on either side. In the center of town, right in the middle of the single road was where the three women were tied to a pole and surrounded by firewood. Of the two guards that were awake, one faced the direction that Coller and Kristoff were coming from and the other face the opposite direction. "Do you have a plan?" Asked Kristoff before they reached hearing range of the guard. "Yes," he replied.
"Well?"
"I'll let you know." Then Coller put up his best smile and addressed the guard who could now hear them. As they came closer the guard pulled the hammer back on his rifle.
"Who goes there?"
"I do. Coller the hunter, come to inspect his prey."
"Oh. Well if its you."
"Of course laddie! Now tell me, there are only two of you?"
"Well the others dozed off."
"I see I see. Well why don't you call your other friend and let me have a word with you. You see something just occurred to me about how we can more safely hold these witches."
The guard then called the other. The four now stood facing each other. "Now lissen real close now. Kristoff, do you see now what we can do with these fine Anatleman standing where they are?"
"I believe I do Coller," Kristoff said just before he and Coller punched the two guards simultaneously. They caught them before they crashed onto the ground and made any sort of noise. Then they dragged them up to the pole. Two of the women were awake and had been watching Coller and Kristoff, the little girl was sound asleep.
"Kristoff, you go wake those guards up and knock them out again for good measure, I'll untie these ladies."
"Right."
Coller then looked into the eyes of the woman he was untying. "So, you are the magical Fernandez?"
"And you are the man whom I owe my freedom to. Even after I killed your mother, father, and…dog?"
"Don't forget the woman I loved."
She smiled, "of course not."
"Now that you're free, untie your friends and let me tie up these boys in your place."
After the Fernandez woman untied the other two, Coller and Kristoff tied the guards to the post. Coller led them back to the tavern where they could pick up some horses and the Fernandez woman could lead them to the wagon train. Quietly they rode their horses through town and beyond. On the way to the wagons, the mother did her best to keep her daughter asleep. Kristoff rode a little slower in order to keep an eye out behind them. Coller rode up next to the Fernandez woman.
"You know lass, I've done all this and I still don't know your name." The woman smiled. Coller looked at her smiled and deduced that she was one who didn't smile nearly enough. She had long black hair tied into a braid and she had brown eyes. The clothes she wore were of a style that Coller did not recognize. They could not hide that she was a little thin but nevertheless had quite a bit of hidden strength. Her face and voice were pleasant but nothing extraordinary. In fact, physically or otherwise, there was nothing extraordinary about this woman except Coller found himself looking at her waiting impatiently for a response.
"Ana," she said simply.
"A fine name. Mine is…"
"Coller the hunter. Yes I heard this morning. Thank you for that. And this."
"Your very welcome," Coller said doffing his hat to her.
"How far is your wagon train?"
"Not far now."
"Will you take in the mother and her daughter?"
"Of course. We've taken in a few others."
"Is it true what they say about your family."
She smiled again. "Magic exists in this world. Some accept it, some don't. My family has a talent to do more than accept it. We use it to help others. Even now."
"I know of magic. I use to hunt a kind of magical people called man-wolves."
A cloud passed over Ana's face suddenly. "Man-wolves are not the best example of what magic can do. They are a heartless people. But they know better than to attack us. In fact I believe they once told us that we smell differently."
"Well don't worry. There are no more man-wolves. At least not like before. They locked away their powers. They want to be like us now."
"Really?"
"Aye."
"So now you have no more game to hunt?"
"Well. In the case of the man-wolves, that's a good thing."
"I see. Where will you go?"
"Well I was going to join up with Kristoff here, but that is no longer an option now is it?"
"You can join us."
Coller looked at Ana. "Would that be an invitation?"
She smiled as she said, "we're here." Before them were six wagons encircled. In the center was a large bonfire and surrounding the fire were a few tents. All around there were people eating talking. When the first person noticed they all turned around excitedly and ran to greet them. People helped them down from their horses and started to shake Coller's hand and…hug him. This was certainly not something Coller was use to. Somewhere, someone said, "music, this occasion deserves music!" Behind him Kristoff immediately started to mingle and dance. Coller saw Ana tell one of her people help the mother settle in somewhere. With all the noise the little girl was now awake and for the first time Coller had seen, laughing. One of Ana's people took Coller's horse and tied it with a few others. Coller joined Kristoff in the dancing and the celebrating which went on for most of the night. Finally it was almost daybreak. Coller got up from where he had fallen asleep somewhere on the campgrounds and surveyed the area. He saw Kristoff lying somewhere with a huddled with a bottle in his hand and saw the new tent set up for the mother and her daughter. Everyone else was in his or her apparently normal sleeping wagon. Coller looked into the forest and saw a lone figure walking into it. Coller got up and followed it.
"Ana?"
The figure turned around and Coller saw that it was certainly Ana. "Coller? Why are you up so early?"
"Old habits die hard. I'm actually use to sleeping," he said walking beside her now. "I remember staying up all night sitting in a cave looking out to the same spot of forest waiting for a pack of man-wolves to come crashing in."
"Did they come?"
"Aye."
"What did you do?"
"I got a scar going down my chest and opened a few new holes in the heads of about three man-wolves."
Ana stopped walking and Coller followed suit. "You're a natural leader aren't you?"
"I wouldn't say that."
"Yes, you are. Brave, courageous…"
"Bravery and courage aren't all that a leader is made up of you know."
"Every morning I leave the camp and think, all alone. I try to think of what I'm supposed to tell my family. I try to keep up this farce that I know what I'm doing."
"I'm no judge, I've only known you since yesterday, but I think you know how to handle yourself."
"I think I can handle myself, but when the lives of others are to be considered. You know I am the hereditary leader of the family. I have been for only a few months since my father died. I'm also the first female head of the family for over a hundred years. The last female leader was the greatest."
"What was her name?"
"Syfa Belmundes. She was the greatest and most powerful of us all. It is said she helped to defeat Dracula himself. That's a lot to live up to."
"Dracula? Never met him. Know of him and after what I heard I wouldn't mind a crack at him myself."
Ana smiled. "You are very brave if that is true," she said. They stood together for a few moments, silently. Ana finally broke the silence, "it was."
"What was?"
"An invitation, to stay with us."
"Aye, I will then."
'For you Ana,' Coller said to himself in the deepest corner of his heart. Although Coller could not explain it, he felt drawn to this woman. In the past he never had to time to make relations with any woman. Always too busy hunting. Now it seemed, with this peaceful wandering band of magicians he would have that chance, and with Ana. Coller had not yet seen their magic, but he believed that they possessed it, for this woman whom he had met only a day ago now possessed his heart. Day broke, the sun shone over their camp, and a new beginning for Coller, no longer the hunter, began.