Warmth spread across the man’s face as the sun gently caressed his skin. A faint wind ruffled his short black hair, and grass tickled at the back of his neck. His eyes were closed, a serene expression on his face which his lips graced with the faintest trace of a smile.

“Euric!” A woman’s voice called, and he opened his dark brown eyes.

The smile grew on his face as he saw the woman standing over him, her face upside down in his vision as she stood just above his head. The long, billowing dress she wore was a plain off-white, covered in a brown apron that was fraying at the edges.

“Is it time already?”

She pursed her lips in thought, then kneeled on the ground gently, sitting on her heels. She gently threaded her hands through his hair before lifting his head and resting it on her lap, and he sighed contentedly.

“The fields wont tend to themselves… but perhaps another few moments?” She whispered.

“That sounds lovely.”

Then she bent over and pressed a kiss to his lips. Euric lay still, closing his eyes again and letting her run her hands through his hair, his body growing heavier as the urge to sleep came over him. The warmth of the sun on his face and of the body next to him soothed the aches in his muscles, made him forget the strains of his labour. He could have stayed in that moment forever, if he had the choice.

Unfortunately, it seemed Fate had other plans.

The sound of approaching footsteps barely registered in his mind. It was only as he felt the woman shifting under his head that he started to wake from his stupor.

“What a surprise,” the woman said cheerfully. “We weren’t expecting you back so soon.”

Euric struggled to open his eyes, that weight settled over him slowly turning sinister as he found himself unable to move. He shifted uncomfortably, the vague notion that something was wrong settling into his stomach.

A dark shadow fell over Euric as the footsteps came to a stop. The newcomer responded, his low, gravely voice unintelligible. But the woman nodded as if she understood perfectly.

“We were just about to return to work, but I can prepare a luncheon for us, if you would like?”

Euric managed to crack his eyes open, and the blurry form of his wife came into view. The slender, delicate curve of her jaw, the long strands of wheat-blonde hair that hung loosely to her waist, the welcoming smile she wore. She glowed in the sunlight, fair, smooth skin catching its rays in a captivating way that seemed to draw his lips closer without thought.

But now, that was far from his mind. In its place was a worry, a deep, gut wrenching sickness that only grew by the second as he realised he could not move a muscle. His hand came up on its own, guided not by himself, as it cupped her cheek.

His lips moved, and he said something that he couldn’t remember.

The woman placed her own hand over his, meeting his eye with a loving gaze that he savoured like a starving man.

“You should get yourself cleaned up, love. I’ll prepare something to eat, so don’t be too long, hm?”

He strained for her as she lifted his head and removed herself from him, standing up and brushing her knees off. She sent him one last smile before turning to address the newcomer a final time.

“It’s good to see you again, Griff.”

Euric awoke with a start, shooting upright from his bedroll with a snarl on his lips. One hand clenched the blankets at his side as the other came up to clutch his neck, clawed hand scraping painfully against his skin.

His heart was beating out of his chest, thumping loudly in his ears as he bit down on the inside of his cheek hard enough to draw blood. Without warning he stood to his feet, the cold air inside his tent brushing against the bare skin of his torso.

Before he had time to even collect himself the entryway to his tent was pulled open, and a young woman stepped inside, long dagger at the ready.

“Euric, what-”

She went silent as she saw him, her eyes narrowing as she stared at the lower half of his face and his neck.

Something inside him ticked, and his lip twitched up in a snarl. She didn’t have time to react.

His hand closed around her neck, and he threw her to the ground without care. She kicked and struggled, and she was by no means a weak woman, but his hand closed down with an unnatural strength as he pressed her to the ground.

Euric kneeled beside her, lowering his face to stare at her even as her fingers strained towards the dagger she had dropped.

“Tell no one of what you saw.”

Too choked to speak, she tried to spit in his face. With his thumb he turned her head to the side, forcing it to miss, and when he turned her head back to face him, his other hand pressed a knife to her cheek.

A thin line of red broke the surface of her skin. To the woman’s credit, she didn’t bat an eye.

“Do I make myself clear?”

Hatred burned in her eyes, and it struck a nerve. Euric opened his lips and from them poured a cacophony of voices, all saying a word that was utterly incomprehensible to a human mind.

A crimson circle of magic appeared over the blade he was holding, and in an instant, the steel began to glow red hot. It sizzled against the woman’s cheek, cooking and burning flesh. Her lip quivered, but the look of hatred didn’t once leave her eyes.

He pulled the glowing knife away from her cheek, examining the wound it had left. It would scar permanently, even if healed by magic.

Good.

He relinquished his hold on her neck, and she took a gasping breath. Euric stood up slowly, leaving her sputtering on the floor of his tent. Then he turned towards his riding clothes where he had left them the night before, and started walking towards them.

A soft ping sounded in the back of his mind and he turned around casually, catching the woman’s wrist just as the tip of her dagger was about to plunge into his chest.

“For someone so prideful, you’re certainly cowardly, aren’t you?” Euric whispered, leaning in towards her threateningly. She struggled to pull herself free, but his grip was a vice around her wrist.

She opened her mouth to respond, and the back of his hand caught her jaw with the force of a hammer blow. She dropped to the ground, this time managing to keep hold of her dagger. Euric stepped on her hand before she could collect herself, feeling the satisfying crunch of bones as he pressed his weight down.

A hiss of pain escaped her lips, and Euric sighed.

“This is your fault, you know,” he said. “I made it explicitly clear not to enter my tent, ever. Under any circumstances. Did I not?”

“Go drown in a pigsty, cur.”

He pressed more weight onto her hand, and a gasp of pain forced its way from her lips. Euric knelt down next to her again. This time though, a pleasant smile crossed his lips.

“Do not make this mistake again. Am I clear, Annora?”

She looked up at him, a murderous, feral rage in her eyes. But also, a new emotion. Something subtle, that lay deep underneath. Something that had always been there, for as long as he had known her, but now was bubbling up to the surface as he held her gaze with the same pleasant smile he wore in front of the nobility.

Fear. Underneath all her rage, pride and hatred, she was afraid.

“Like fucking crystal,” she spat out, and Euric chuckled.

“Covering your fears with aggression won’t make them go away, little one.”

She snarled again, and Euric rose to his feet, removing his weight from her broken hand roughly. She pulled herself to her feet, putting her dagger back into its sheath as she backed away cautiously.

Euric pulled on his tunic and then his gambeson, before fixing his cloak around his shoulders. Annora remained in his tent, watching cautiously as, finally, he grabbed a long scarf which he wrapped around his neck and the lower half of his face.

A small smirk crossed Euric’s face from under his scarf as he noticed the way she was ready to bolt out of the tent at a moment’s notice.

“Get the others ready. We leave when I say we do.”

Annora left, and Euric pinched his nose with a sigh.

“What a troublesome lot you’ve left me with. Is it truly so hard to find dogs that don’t need to be beaten to obey?”

“You seem to enjoy your work more than enough.”

Euric smiled as the faint, whispering voice in his ear responded, her voice light and ethereal.

“He’s close now. You know what must be done.”

As he finished gathering his belongings, Euric again began casting a spell. The air around him began to fill, first with a single, intricate circle of golden magic, and then two, three… eventually, five circles of glowing golden runes surrounded him.

A soft bell chimed from all around him as his spell finished, and he froze in place, a frown crossing his weathered lips.

“There’s two.”

“...”

“There’s two. Why are there two?”

A snarl had wormed its way onto his face, and subconsciously his fist had closed tight around the handle of his sword.

“He’s trying to fool you. He’s leading you astray.”

Euric’s jaw clenched tight, his teeth grinding loudly.

“But he doesn’t know about the girl, yet.”

He froze, then all at once, relaxed. A smile crossed his lips once again, and in the blink of an eye, all traces of rage were gone.

“Ah! Then the true path is clear, isn’t it?”

“...”

Euric waved his hand and the black tent around him turned to smoke, then disappeared without a trace. He was left standing in the middle of a small clearing in the woods, not far from a weathered old road.

Six figures in grey and white armour stood just behind him, already mounted on their steeds. Euric sought out Annora with a placid smile, and she recoiled at his gaze.

“There’s a second source of vivum,” he said quietly into the stillness of the early morning air. “Annora, seek it out. The rest of you, with me.”

Each of them bowed in response, and Euric mounted his own horse as the first light of dawn began to crack the sky.

Just as he was about to leave, five of his hunters on either side of him, he turned to Annora one last time.

“One more thing?”

The muffled ping of a bell came from her, as the golden runes in the air around her faded away. She turned back to face him, a carefully controlled glare in her eyes.

“If you find him, return to me immediately. Do not try anything alone… not against that man.”

Annora sneered, hefting her spear with a defiant shrug.

“I’ll do as I damn well-”

Euric smiled at her, and she went quiet.

“...As you wish.”

With a sharp tug on her reins Annora spun in the direction of the second signal, her white cape fluttered behind her from the sudden turn. She marched off ahead of the group, and the very moment she reached the road, spurred her horse into a gallop.

Euric watched until she was out of sight. When she was fully gone, even the sounds of her horse’s hooves fading into the distance, he addressed the others without turning around.

“Alistair, follow her. Do not let her see you, and do not interfere unless she’s being truly foolish.”

“As you wish, Knight Commander.”

Two dark blue circles of magic appeared around Alistair as he spurred his own horse to pursue. Though as the witch hunter’s spell completed, the sounds of his horse’s hooves faded away into total silence, even as he galloped ahead.

Euric waited a moment longer, fingers drumming against the hardened leather of his saddle. Not one of the remaining witch hunters dared move, all waiting patiently on his command.

Old faces crossed his mind, ones he hadn’t seen in years, and his expression darkened. Tonight was the night their game of cat and mouse came to an end. Of that, he was certain.

“Soon, Griffith. Soon.”