Sa’moon peeked through the swirling clouds on the southern horizon, while the gusts of wind blew unaffectedly, curling around the pine trees, swaying them, shaking them. A hazy atmosphere loomed in the surroundings as three figures crouched, hiding behind the pine trees.

So far, they came across a couple of men on guard duty, proving William was not just playing them for fools. Now that they had to find out the layer of the dark practitioners, only the difficult duties were left.

“I did my part,” the warlock said, like a civil person. The scar on his arm hadn’t healed, and from the looks of things, it would take some time. Months probably.

William had not tried to scream or make his way out after Noyar freed his blindfold and chains on the legs. Well, even if he did scream, Shailyn already put an isolation spell on their surroundings, he could do nothing wrong after all he did.

“Stay here,” Noyar whispered, even though the isolation spell was in place. “I’ll go probe them first.”

Shailyn nodded. “Be careful.” This was not the first time Noyar was doing this kind of dangerous spying, and she knew how to be careful, but Shailyn couldn’t help it.

With only a side carry and light armour on, the lady knight crept away. She went down, activating her Dominion of Seer now and then, scanning for any residue energy flow, or even the sign of any practitioner. She actually found plenty, though those were mashed together, inappropriate to make anything off.

Since they came across two warders on guard duty on the way, the layer should be nearby, no doubt about it. The cold was jarring, even though she lived in Victoria all her life.

After moving for a couple of minutes more, Noyar came across more of the signs, and finding the layer after that was pretty easy. It was actually an old, almost broken down cottage, surrounded with tents with a few guarding outside in this weather — she could only make out that from a couple of hundreds of metres away.

If it wasn’t for help from her dominion and the binoculars, even making that out would be utterly impossible in this hazy weather.

Still, that was not enough. They already got their number, now need to figure out any unforeseen elements, the ways to rescue the hostages, and figure out anything about the ritual that William was not ready to speak about.

Noyar waited, ignoring the cold and all other distractions like how a hunter waits for its prey, except she was only doing the scouting part. There was no way for her to approach the camp as half a dozen of them were on guarding duty. So waiting was all she could do. Unless . . .

Noyar released a breath and crept away from the spot, as much careful she had been. She didn’t return to Shailyn though, but moved in the opposite direction to the back of the cottage, going the long way.

The weather did come in some help to her. In this hazy weather, tasks like scouting make it a lot easier, however, it would be even easier when the blizzard would hit again. No, Noyar couldn’t wait for the blizzard to hit again, even though it seemed not that far away. All she needed was some heavy wind with the snowfall.

She thought about returning, and telling Shailyn about her plan, but thought against it. This round trip again would waste time, and who knew it might also give clues to her enemies. So, she waited.

Noyar admitted to herself she would wait for half an hour, not even a second more. If an opportunity didn’t present itself to her, then she had to open the opportunity herself. With this weather, Noyar wasn’t so unlucky.

A heavy, angry wind was already blowing. All she required was some snowfall, which did shower after a quarter of an hour. She waited a couple of minutes more for it to get heavier, and then moved, covering her head with the helm.

She narrowed her eyes and united with the knight’s breathing technique, imagining the free waves of water. All distractions left her entirely, and Noyar was prepared. She crept forward to the cottage, towards a certain man in particular, who seemed to be struggling in the wind and snow.

No joke, even a trained Knight like her would struggle after a day's work like this—however, it made the job easier for her. So, she ain’t complaining.

She stopped twenty metres away from him, crouching down behind a tree. Keeping her eyes on the practitioner, she made a snowball. Her eyes darted at others, all busy in their job, and with the haze, it was almost impossible to pierce through a dozen metres way, unless they have a dominion like her—which was of course a pipe dream for these rogue warders—dominions were regulated as the national treasure. If any knights went rogue and owned a dominion, he would be hunted down first, no matter where he hides.

Wasting no more moment, Noyar infused some amount of energy into the snow, not strong enough to make any threat, but enough to ask for the warder’s attention.

She shot it right in the back of the head of the warder and withdrew from the spot, creeping away. The warder yelped, groaning. He brought out his sword that very moment, and looked around to find anything. Noyar succeeded in withdrawing at that time.

“Does anyone notice anything out of place?” he called, yelling.

“Nah,” One answered.

“My side is fine, too.”

“Something wrong, Doug?” the first one asked again, “or the cold getting to you?”

“I’m not sure,” Doug said, tiptoeing towards where the snowball came from.

“It's bad weather to do guard duty,” another one on the north side yelled. “At this rate, I might freeze to death before even gaining my prize.”

“It is what it is,” the first voice said again, “you know, master.”

“Almighty above,” the voice in the north said again, “those hostages had it easier than us. Wouldn’t you say?! they even found a heatstone among them, lucky little bastards!”

Doug ignored all their bickering, as it was nothing new. He moved, the hilt gripped tightly with both of his palms, elbows bent. Just as he approached the pine tree, something hit against the back of his head, far more violently than before, however, before he could yelp for help, someone tackled him from behind.

Doug fell to the snow, trying to scream when a palm shoved against his mouth while another arm strangled him. Whoever it was, he's strong. When he came to manoeuvre his sword, though it didn't get the elevation, he managed to draw it towards the unknown assailant.

However, before he could make it in time, a cold dagger shoved against his neck, just close enough to draw a slight cut and blood.

"Make a move and I'll pin it through in your throat," a voice whispered, and it was a woman's voice. He could even feel the warm breath in his ears, though the words couldn't be any bit colder.

"Doug, what's happening?" his associate called.

"Say 'I'm alright, just tripped on the snow'," the woman said again, "try anything different, or even a panicked tone, you'll find this dagger in your throat.'

"I'm alright," Doug said, still a bit panicked, though that would suffice for now. He swallowed painstakingly and continued, "Just ripped on the snow."

. . .

The Blizzard was here, and Shailyn almost felt pity for William, not able to warm himself up with revolving spirit energy. Well, she was just doing fine with using spirit energy now and then. Still, the cold was getting irresistible.

Noyar left more than half an hour ago, and there’s still no sign of her. Shailyn had put wards in the surrounding, if anyone entered she would find out. If it was someone other than Noyar she would know, if it was Noyar she would know, however, no output from the wards made her equally worried as the cold.

If she really got into trouble and was captured, she should have made a ruckus to let her know, but there was nothing either. Shailyn and Noyar battled against the warlock and his group, they were not really that strong to put down Noyar silently.

Still, it's the dark sorcerer she was talking about, anything that could happen.

Shailyn didn’t have to wait long, as soon she found a figure coming towards them with a body on her shoulder. A rogue warder, now unconscious.

Noyar nodded to her and dropped the figure before her. Shailyn waited for her partner to open her mouth, and when Noyar did, it was exactly what she expected.

“Help me, change into his clothes, and if you can, try some face and voice-altering spell on me.”