Out in the boonies amidst cow shit and shrubs walked a tall, dark woman with eyes like smoldering coals and a grimace on her face.

Nora was contemplating whether to turn around from meeting with the town’s contact out in the sticks and forgoing the town's payment with each passing moment underneath the blinding sun.

Her cool dark skin felt slick underneath her issued caramel colored wizards coat, her fingers wiping away beads of sweat from her cropped hair that risked stinging her eyes with salty droplets.

Even with a wide brimmed hat providing her sight refuge from the dazzling light, her attire was ill-suited for the humid heat of the Floridian countryside. Mosquitoes buzzed around her, trying to take a nibble of blood from any piece of exposed skin available.

She took measured steps on the side of the beaten dirt road, walking next to the fences that corralled what remained of the cows and horses in the area.

What she wouldn’t have given to ride in a caravan with working AC…

“Miss!” A raggedy man called out to her from a distance. From a distance, his eyes were bloodshot and his clothes in disrepair, palms calloused and dirty with the stench of wet earth clinging to his skin and sweat with each step forward.

Send them flying!

She took a deep breath and whispered her incantation, manifesting a globule of condensed spinning air in her hand.

“Not a step closer.” She ordered, suppressing the urge to flick her wrist and send a maelstrom their way.

The man fell forward as abruptly stopped, his hands above his head as he shouted, “I’m your contact, miss wizard! Honest! Honest!”

Still maintaining concentration on her spinning gusts of wind, she whispered a second incantation and directed her focus onto the man.

“Are you a danger to me? Who was the one to make a request for a 3rd level Incant? What is the problem described in the contract sent our way? Why was this information not written within the contract when it was sent out by your town?” The wizard listed a series of questions that the man was compelled to answer.

The spell took effect, causing the man to stop quaking and calmly answer her questions as directed.

“I am no danger to you, Nora Antierre. Father Vincente of the Burning Wheel congregation asked for your services, ma’am. Our town is currently taken over by a wizard of great power. He feared that messages to the outside world were being messed with by the wizard to detect threats so he sent a blank letter to catch your ears.” He answered each question in a robotic tone to the best of his abilities.

Hm. The father was desperate enough to call upon a heretical spawn to save his town and that gave her pause. A twisted sense of satisfaction for sure but things in this town must have been dire enough for the man to abandon his moral scruples and a sizable chunk of change to request someone of her skillset.

But the unknown was the other wizard.

“How large is the town?” She asked the man, dismissing the palmed hurricane from existence.

Nooooo….

The man brushed himself off and stood up from the floor, “I’d say that we’re nothing more than a few hundred, ma’am. I don’t suppose this means you’re takin’ the job?” He tried to remain calm but the crack in his voice…

“I'll reach the town if I keep following this road here?”

“Yes ma’am but I was sent out here by the Father to lead you ‘round the entrance. He’s afraid one of our flock ratted you out and wants to make sure you’re not harmed by whatever this other wizard has in store for ya.” He gestured for her to follow along, extending a hand to help her climb up and over the wooden slat fence.

Ill omens. A bunch of ill omens for sure and not a moment's reprieve from the blistering heat. If they were taking a roundabout way that meant-

“We’re walking through the woods over there?” She asked the man, pointing to a densely packed patch of woodlands in the distance amidst the ranch land.

“Yes ma’am. We’re having you stay in Ernesto’s while you work to get rid of that monster in town. Hopefully it won’t take you too long but we didn’t think it’d be safe keeping you so close to everyone else.” The confidence in the man's eyes momentarily faltered as his gaze turned down to the floor.

A devilish smirk crossed her face.

“Well seeing as how you and your lot are rolling the red carpet for me, I think I’ll take you up on that hospitality. Hoping you’ve got something cooking in that house because I’m famished.” Nora dismissed the man's extended hand and climbed onto the fence with her own physical ability, effortlessly sliding from one side of the fence to the other.

“I d-d-don’t know if they’ll have any food for ya prepped but here’s hoping.” He was fumbling his way over the fence as he spoke, taking a brisk pace towards the woodlands.

She took small pleasures from the walk and how unsettled he was by the return trip, the severity of his mission suddenly dawning on him with all the crushing weight of his world.

Men like him were hard to come by, cowardly pissants with enough bravado to see a task through despite shaking in fear.

It was a bit of a shame that his fear was inadvertently directed at her, his mouth clammed up from answering any of her other idle questions. She might have been too bundled up in her own nerves pulling a command spell immediately on a stranger but with so little to go on from the letter, she wasn’t taking her chances.

The two crossed the threshold from ranchland to woodland after an hour and a halves worth of walking, her guide erring on the far end of the treeline away from the road.

The area was bustling with wildlife, bugs crawling on the earth while small possums and raccoons scampered at the edges of their route.

And a respite from the heat!

She pressed her open palm on the coat sleeve and felt the faint sizzle of heat dissipate with each passing moment underneath the woodlands shade.

“Stop!” A woman with broken English shouted in the distance, the pump and click of a shotgun slug being loaded.

“Deja con eso Tia Mari. La bruja esta con nosotros.” The guide raised both hands up towards the woman as he slowly pressed forward.

The woman shifted her aim down to the man, her faded floral dress billowing in the gust of wind that sifted through the trees.

Nora simply shook her head. Towns this small had all manner of superstitious folk, jumping at shadows and calling them devils.

“Hey, mister. Just say the word and I can kindly ask her to-”

He bolted upright, “No! No, just…” he took a moment to breathe, catching his panic, “Just let me handle her. She’s just scared is all.”

Nora shrugged, “Suit yourself. It’s your funeral.” She leaned on the tree and watched in idle curiosity on how he planned to diffuse the situation.

“Look, Mari, she’s not doing anything the Father won't ask of her to do. Vincente was the one that asked for her and everyone agreed we needed outside help.” He spoke to her while gesturing for the woman to lower the weapon from his position but the old hag was fixed to her convictions, eyes blinded by fear.

“Hernando, you’ve seen what those witches can do. Fighting fire with fire like this isn’t what our wheel bearing pilgrims would have wanted. Our Father has lost his way, lost sight of the faith but they don’t have to worry. I’ll protect us.” This Mari was bathing in her fears.

Nora took a deep breath and relented.

“Sorry kid but it’s bad practice to let clients die so soon after taking me onto their payroll.” Nora stated. The old woman pivoted her attention back to Nora and pressed her trigger.

The shotgun roared to life in that moment, the acrid stench of gunpowder wafting through the breeze as the shotgun slug barrelled her way. It was a split second before the two saw the bullet glimmer and fizzle in the shimmering field in front of Nora.

“Get in as many shots as you’d like you old bag but a shot that loud is gonna alert any sympathizers of your location. And they won’t be as passive as I’m being right now. Para con tu mierda.” Nora bored her eyes into the old woman as she enunciated each syllable.

Her Spanish was rusty. Her mother would be rolling in her grave.

Nora gestured for Hernando, her guide, to lead the way to this house in the deep woods.

The man yanked the gun from the woman's brittle hands and in the next moment locked her arm with his own to lead them back to the safehouse.

“She’s just scared. That’s all. The whole town is.” Hernando whispered, unable to turn around and face Nora.

She just chuckled, “You all have a right to be.”

Nora did her best to hide the growing fatigue in her body as the group walked the rest of the way to an isolated cabin in the woods; nothing but the forest life and the chirping of birds to keep them company.

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Ernesto’s home was a humble pile of sticks. The porch was well acquainted with disrepair, loose planks of wood and cinder blocks used to maintain the structure. The front yard was littered with rusted junk and, surprisingly, primitive wards made of bird bones and feathers.

It’d keep the odd devil out of the garden but any creature with enough drive to get in was bound to break through that flimsy threshold.

If this Ernesto was swimming in stars, she might throw in her inscription services as a nominal extra.

Nora turned her attention to the screened door and saw the silhouette of a man unlatching hooks on the sides to welcome in this new guest.

The man that emerged was a few shades darker than pale, a slightly crisped slab of a man with a shaved head of hair. No facial hair to speak of but the shadow around his ruddy face suggested something thick yet lurked within him given enough time. He wore a simple green flannel shirt, some jeans marked with grass stains and brown boots with more green stains on them.

Before she could ask who the man was, he turned his attention to the old lady, “Mari? What are you doing here?” He looked to Hernando with a puzzled expression before looking at the shotgun in his hand and widening his eyes.

“She came into the woods to stop the witch from coming into town.” Hernando walked up and handed the man the shotgun before sighing and walking inside the dilapidated shack.

The old woman refused to look the mystery man in the eyes, crossing her arms as she ignored him and followed after Hernando.

“Dioses mio dame el poder…” the man mumbled underneath his breath before turning his attention to Nora, “And you must be the witch we sent for.” He extended his hand for a handshake.

“Don’t you know you might combust if you look at a witch the wrong way?” Nora mused, slowly approaching his hand to see if he’d recoil.

“A request from the AWW means I should have nothing to fear.” He smiled, grabbing her hand with a firm, warm grip.

“And to whom do I owe the pleasure?”

“I was the one that managed to convince the rest of the flock to pay the fee for you to solve our problem. My name is Vincente Paredes but you can refer to me as Father if it won't burn your tongue.”