Chapter 17

Fan-Min and Huang both left the Slaughtered Calf Inn with confused faces. The sounds of wailing and screaming could be heard all about town. The siblings looked at each other perplexed. "What's going on?" Fan-Huang asked.

"Whatever it is, I wish it would end." Fan-Min complained. "Their screaming is intolerable."

"Something terrible must have happened."

Fan-Min looked at him unimpressed. "You're quite the detective."

"Shut up."

"Tell all the annoying villagers screaming that." She shrugged off his command. "They're annoying."

"They probably need our help." Fan-Huang argued. "Let's find out what's happened."

"Fine." Min agreed. "But you're doing the talking. I detest hysterical people."

Together they made their way into the heart of New Tristram's residential area where families were gathered together in what appeared to be mourning. Fan-Huang gently approached a crying woman and her grieving husband. "Excuse me." He interrupted their heartbreak quietly.

"Yes?" The man asked in a broken voice.

"My name is Fan-Huang. This is my sister Min" He introduced himself. She gave a bored smile from a distance. "Can I bother you to know what's going on? Why is everyone crying?"

"You haven't heard?" He asked. Fan-Huang shook his head slowly. "All the children." He broke into heavier tears. "They're…" He struggled to get any words out. "They're gone."

At those words, the woman next to him broke into heavy sobs. "My babies!" She screamed.

"What happened?" Fan-Huang asked in a sympathetic voice.

"I woke up and went to check on my sons." The woman explained. "I pulled the covers down and they weren't there." Her eyes were wide with fear and despair as she recalled the not-so-distant past. "Instead, there were bloody animal carcasses." She cried loudly. "What happened to my babies?"

"You're an arcane user, right?" The husband asked. "Can't you tell us? What happened to our children?"

"This happened to every parent in New Tristram?" Huang asked looking at all the wailing families.

"As far as I know, yes."

"I am an arcane user, but I'm afraid I can't tell you what happened." He looked to the ground, ashamed of his lack of knowledge when it came to matters of the arcane and magical realm. "I've never seen anything like this before."

The woman shook her head in disappointment. "Useless." She said heartlessly. "All your training and you still can't protect our children or help explain what happened. What good are all you arcane users?"

"I'm sorry." Fan-Huang said quietly.

"No you're not." Fan-Min stomped up to the woman aggressively. She smacked the lady across the face.

"Hey!" Her husband shouted as he stepped in front of his shocked wife and raised a fist to Min.

"Lower your fist unless you want to die." Fan-Min said through a voice of steel. "You have some nerve dropping your disappointments and uselessness on my brother." Her voice was hard and unsympathetic. "It is not his fault that you are so incompetent as parents and guardians that you can't protect your own children." The families all started to look at Fan-Min with shock and disgust. "He came over here to try to help you miserable peasants and this is how you treat him." She practically spat the words. "Why on earth should he care about you?"

"Can you help us?" The woman asked, clearly flushed by the female wizard's abrupt outburst.

"I can." Fan-Min said boldly. "I know what happened to your children."

The crowd of parents practically went crazy at those words, gathering around her for answers. The crowd cried out all sorts of things.

"Are they alive?"

"Where are they?"

"What happened?"

Fan-Min looked at her dejected brother. It was his desire to help them, but again, he didn't have the know-how. All the heart, none of the knowledge. She felt like she was the opposite. "I will answer your questions if you apologize for your rudeness to my brother."

The crowd immediately began apologizing and begging for forgiveness from Fan-Huang. He blushed in response. He didn't exactly know why Fan-Min was being so stern with the group, but it's not like he could do anything to sway her. She did what she wanted. "It's really no problem." He answered them all. With that Fan-Min smiled and turned her attention to the peasants.

"Your children are alive." She started with, allowing a wave of relief to wash over the group of heartbroken parents. "However, they are not safe." Fear gripped them all again. "The animal carcasses are the result of a spell. A sacrifice was needed in order to allow each of your children to sneak away unnoticed by anyone."

"Who took them?" The woman in front asked.

"I don't know." Fan-Min answered. "But it shouldn't be too hard to discover the answer to that." She smirked proudly. "My brother and I will simply follow the trail of arcane energy used by whatever spellcaster stole your kids away."

"Why do they want our kids?"

Fan-Min had a pretty good idea why the forces of evil could want the children, but she didn't want to hear the screaming of parents if she told the truth. So she lied. "I'm not sure. I'll find that out when I find the culprit."

"Please help our children!" Someone in the crowd cried out.

"What do you say, Fan-Huang?" Fan-Min asked. "Do you still want to help them? This doesn't sound like a simple thing."

"I do." He answered. "It might help bring your name before Li-Ming."

"Maybe." Fan-Min said, though, in reality, she doubted that. But if her brother really wanted to help these people, then she'd do it. The reality was, if she didn't go with him he'd just get himself killed. Chances were it was Avator that stole the kids and Fan-Huang didn't stand a chance against him. He was too weak.

The Cursed Woods. Fan-Min rolled her eyes. Peasants were so simple minded. She was an arcane user and could sense that there was indeed a curse on these woods, but it was hardly a curse substantial enough to merit a name like The Cursed Woods. Whoever had cursed these woods was either very weak, or not really that invested. Many blamed the witch Adria, but from what Fan-Min had heard about Adria, a curse this puny was probably not a result of her work.

"Feel that?" Fan-Huang asked.

"I do. And I'm glad you do too." Fan-Min smiled. "It means that there is a bit of talent within you."

"What is it?"

"That's the arcane power surrounding these woods. It's the curse."

"So they really are cursed?"

"Meagerly so. But yes."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that you're more likely to find yourself lost in these woods than normal woods." Fan-Min explained. "But other than that, you'll be fine."

"We're not going to get lost, are we?"

Fan-Min rolled her eyes again. Something she had become so accustomed to doing she didn't even realize when she did it. "No. I'll get us in and out. No problem."

"Good." Fan-Huang said through a smile of relief. He knew when his sister gave her word, she was good for it. Despite her abrasive and rude attitude and her total narcissism, she was a woman of her word. He also knew that without her, he'd never make it through these woods. Hell, he'd never had even made it through the desert.

The Cursed Woods that rested immediately to the northeast of New Tristram was an eerie place. Even with his arcane power, Fan-Huang found himself unsettled wandering these woods. Each tree seemed dying and hateful, like if it had the opportunity it would steal him away from the world of the living. The trees were dark, thick, and tall, blocking out most of the light the clouded sun could provide. From their branches hung various families of vines and moss, and on occasion, a skeleton or corpse. Evil lurked in these woods. Of that, there was no debate.

What made Fan-Huang worry the most was just how indistinguishable everything in the woods was. There were no landmarks. Everything looked the same. Just twisted, evil trees as far as the eye could see. In every direction, the rustling of animals, beasts, and the giggling of demons could be heard. He made sure he stayed very close behind his little sister who marched forward without a sign of concern. He knew she heard the various monsters around them, but they didn't seem to worry her in the least. He figured it must be nice being a legendarily powerful wizard that had no need to fear anything. Unfortunately, that was not him. Nor was he without fear.

"This way." Fan-Min directed.

"How do you know?"

"The children were lured away by a spell." Fan-Min explained. "Not a spell that you or I would ever be taught." She looked back at her intrigued brother. "Though all 'magic' is based on the use of arcane energy, there are some types of magic that are considered dark."

"Like?"

"Like the kind of magic that would lure innocent children out of their homes and into the clutches of demons." Fan-Min explained. "Or in other terms, Witchcraft."

"Witchcraft?" Fan-Huang asked. "Isn't that just a commoner's term for explaining magic they don't understand?"

"In some cases." Fan-Min explained. "But among arcane users, the term Witchcraft refers to arcane energy being used in conjunction with demonic energy, or powers taken from Hell itself."

"That's possible?"

"Absolutely." Fan-Min said firmly. "Just as arcane users make use of arcane energy and then combine it with the natural energies of fire, water, electricity, air, earth, and so on, so too can one pull from the energies of evil, that which come from Hell and the fabled Chaos Sanctuary to work some real evil magic."

"Sounds scary."

"Actually, it is."

"And this is that kind of evil magic?" Fan-Huang asked. "Witchcraft?"

"Yes."

"So we're following a witch?"

"Not necessarily." Fan-Min continued her teaching. "You don't have to be a textbook 'witch' to make use of witchcraft. All sorts of creatures can use witchcraft, not just humans. Consider Fallen Shamans, or Succubbi, or the Councilmen Isendra wrote about. They all made use of witchcraft."

"So we could be following a demon?"

"That's what I suspect." Fan-Min explained. "I think we're on the trail of Avator."

"The demon from our dreams."

"Right." She said as she stopped in her place. "Wait."

"What?" Fan-Huang asked, clearly nervous.

"We're surrounded." She said as she took a combative stance. Fan-Huang wasted no time in pulling out the enchanted spellbook that he had. Within seconds they were ambushed. All sorts of skeletons jumped out from behind the trees surrounding the siblings and came at them with a plethora of weapons. Fan-Min allowed an eager smile to spread across her lips. "This should be fun."

Fan-Huang looked at her like she was insane. "Let's just worry about surviving rather than having fun."

"If you die to meager skeletons, then you don't deserve to be alive." She taunted her brother as she allowed arcane orbs to leave her hands, obliterating any skeletons they came in contact with. Bones and decaying weapons flew through the air as their numbers were obliterated.

Fan-Huang jumped back as a rusted axe flew down murderously in front of him. He landed flat on his rear as the axe dug deep into the dirt between his legs. He looked up at the assaulter. The skeleton looked evil. He wasn't sure how a faceless collection of bones could look like it was evil, but something about the lifeless grin across its fleshless mouth made it so. He jumped to his feet as quickly as he could as to not give the perpetrator time to free his axe from the ground and unleashed a volley of arcane bolts at it. The purple arcane-made bolts flew the short distance from him to the skeleton and shattered its bones on impact. The armor and bones fell to the ground as lifelessly as they should have been to begin with.

He chanced a glance over at his sister. She was taking out the skeletons, one after another, like it was nothing. In fact, it actually looked like she was enjoying herself. Despite how wrong that seemed, Fan-Huang was relieved to see that in the time it had taken him to destroy one of the many skeletal ambushers, she had taken out countless. In her wake was just a scattering of bones and rusted gear.

Focusing his attention back on the task at hand, he turned to another skeleton charging at him. It thrust its aged dagger at him, but he reacted quickly. He lifted his enchanted spellbook up like a shield and allowed the dagger to get stuck in its thick binding and used the opportunity to launch another volley of arcane bolts at his new enemy. The skeleton fell to the ground just as the last did.

Fan-Huang grabbed the dagger and tried to pull it out of his precious book while doing as little damage to the binding as possible when he felt the pain of something slice through the flesh of his left shoulder. He turned to see what had happened, but saw the body of his younger sister tackling a skeleton to the ground. Lucky for him too. If the skeleton had been left undeterred, the wound would certainly have been worse. However, that didn't mean that it didn't hurt a great deal!

"Watch your back, would ya'!" Fan-Min shouted as she released a torrent of arcane energy into the empty face of the skeleton, blasting any 'life' it had out of it. As she stood up, Fan-Huang launched more arcane bolts at a few skeletons remaining and ended the fight. All-in-all it was an easy battle, but his shoulder did hurt.

"You really are useless." Fan-Min rolled her eyes as she always did as she walked over to her older brother. "Something as weak as a human skeleton and you're hurt."

"Sorry about that." He apologized. "Thanks for saving me."

"You're lucky we're related or you'd be so dead."

"You've made that pretty clear before." Fan-Huang complained.

"And it seems I'll have to keep making it clear." She looked at his shoulder. "You'll be fine as long as it doesn't get infected. It's just a flesh wound."

"I know."

"Then it shouldn't slow us down at all, should it?" Fan-Min said. It wasn't really a question so much as a demand.

"No, it won't slow us down."

They made their way through the woods at the same pace they'd had before the attack. One thing that Fan-Huang noticed was that he no longer heard the growls of beasts or laughter of demons. Either they had witnessed their fight with the skeletons and thought it unwise to attack them, or there was something else keeping the monsters at bay.

"You hear that?" He asked his sister.

"There's nothing to hear." Fan-Min replied.

"Exactly." They walked in silence. He was expecting her to say more, but she didn't. "Are we near the kidnapper?"

"We're getting pretty close." She explained. "I'm not so sure we're after Avator anymore."

"Why's that?"

"Why would Avator be hiding in the Cursed Woods?" She asked. "He seems like too much a big-shot for that."

"True."

"Something else must be taking the kids."

"But why?"

"I still think Avator's the one behind it all, but I don't think we're following his spell's trail."

"Fan-Min?"

"Yeah?"

"Why is everything so quiet?" He asked. "I have the awful feeling of something watching us."

"That's because we're being watched."

Fan-Huang felt his heart sink into his gut. "We are?"

"Yes."

"By something dangerous?"

"Yes."

"A demon?"

"No. I don't believe so." She answered. "But I can't be sure. I don't sense any arcane energy from anything around and most demons have arcane energy."

"Then how do you know we're being watched if you can't sense anything?"

"Because I'm not dumb." She explained. "There are thousands and thousands of little demons in these woods. I can sense those when they're near. None are near. That means something is scaring them away."

"For something to scare so many demons away means it must be powerful."

"Exactly."

"I hope we'll be alright."

"I will be." She said cockily. "Nothing is going to outmatch me." She looked back at her brother with a sorry smile. "Not so sure about you. I can't be expected to do everything."

"Thanks, sis."

"Wait." She said as she halted again. Fan-Huang already had his spellbook ready. He was as nervous as he could ever remember being. "Did you hear that?" She asked.

"No."

"In front of us. Bushes rustled."

"Want me to go check it out?" He asked, not wanting to, but he felt he needed to protect his little sister. It was his duty after all.

"No." Fan-Min said. "Stand your ground. It will reveal itself to us in time."

Fan-Huang stood beside his little sister. Both remained as still as the twisted trees around them, their eyes focused before them, where the bushes had rustled. Suddenly, they both felt very pointed edges digging into their backs. "Don't move." Came the dark voice of a woman.

"Dammit." Fan-Min growled.

"Who are you?" The woman asked.

"None of your concern." Fan-Min scoffed haughtily.

"Wrong answer." Came the voice and the very recognizable noise of crossbows being prepared for fire.

"My name's Fan-Huang." Fan-Huang blurted out. His sister sighed and shook her head. "This is my younger sister Fan-Min. Please don't kill us."

"You're the two Renegade Wizards that came in with the caravan from Caldeum, aren't you?"

"Yes." He answered.

"Why are you out here?"

"We're looking for the villagers' lost children."

"What concern are they to you?"

"They asked for our help, so we're helping them."

"Forgive me for not believing you, but the stories I've heard about Renegade Wizards aren't so friendly."

"Well, that's the truth." Fan-Huang insisted quietly.

"Really?"

Suddenly, Fan-Min spun around in an instant and used her arcane abilities to shove the hooded woman to the ground without even touching her. "He said it's the truth, so either believe him or kill him." She shouted. The woman hit the ground hard, but was on her feet in an instant, her crossbows aimed at them again. "Shoot all you want. You can't kill me." Fan-Min taunted her.

"I don't want to kill you." The woman said. "Not if what your brother said is true."

"It is." Fan-Min said in a voice that made it pretty clear she wasn't too thrilled about saving the village's children. "He's a softie."

"I'm trying to find the children too."

"And you haven't yet?" Fan-Min nearly laughed. "Aren't you Demon Hunters supposed to be expert trackers and hunters?"

"Well, I'm not formally trained to be a Demon Hunter."

"So you're just an imposter?"

"Whatever." The woman spat as she lowered her hood. "My name is Marina Vale. I've been living in New Tristram for some time now. Long enough to call it home."

"And so you want to save the children?"

"Right. The idea of children suffering at the hands of demons is appalling to me."

"Me too." Fan-Huang agreed timidly.

"So shall we save them together?" Marina asked. Her green eyes penetrated Fan-Huang's blues with a fierce resolve. She stood, waiting for an answer as her black hair cascaded down her nearly porcelain white skin. She stood a several inches taller than the siblings, probably close to 6 feet tall. Her garb consisted of dark leather armor covered by layers of black cloth that flowed hauntingly in the winds. In each hand were small crossbows which were a trademark weapon for the Demon Hunter clans.

Fan-Min looked at Fan-Huang indicating that he was free to make the choice. He knew that despite her protests and bitter attitude, she'd follow through with whatever he chose. If she wasn't going to, she wouldn't have allowed him the choice. So whether or not Marina Vale was to be trusted was of little consequence, because Fan-Min could handle her. He stepped forward, causing Marina to take a defensive stance. He extended his hand. "Let's work together. The kids need us."