As soon as he heard that, Henry rushed outside to write and send a letter to Aryon Smite, with no mention about the gorugolm that they caught, as he could not trust the Grand Paladin and his compassion towards the creatures of the dark side.

  Meanwhile, as he left the room, Nuula waited for a couple of seconds to hear him run downstairs, like when he searched for Lynda, and so he did, after which she tried to stand up, but her legs would not support her; they were still too weak and trembling to hold her weight. All that she could feel was numbness and pain, as she barely moved them.

  After placing one leg on the floor, she felt the sensation of thousands of needless piercings of her foot.

  "Damn...“ she thought, as she could still feel the presence of her blades calling for her, but she could not find them. After pulling her leg back in the bed and laying on her back, listening to the silent whispers that sounded among the ringing of silence, often interrupted by the loud laughs from the tavern below, she could still hear the blades calling:

  "They must be in that wardrobe,“ she thought, as she contemplated her next move, but after a sound of the steps walking upstairs, the doors creeaked open and Henry returned.

  "I brought you a warm stew. It's on a menu today in the tavern!“ After barely hiding the annoyance, she took the stew and the spoon that he handed her.

  "Thank you,“ she said before she took out the spoon and started drinking the stew from the bowl. Even if she still considered the humans to be her enemies, she could not recall being treated with such care in the centuries that she spent in the cold and dark underworld. Yet the brief warmness in her heart turned back into the hate, as she thought:

  "Abundance... The kid clearly did not hunt for the meat; they raise cattle and plant useful crops; they live the lives of comfort, never having to fight for anything after they took the world for themselves and banished us to the cold depths of the underworld!, yet their lifestyle has quickly turned them weak!“

  Meanwhile, Nogryl was riding through the deep forest, following a dirt road that led towards the settlement that Lynda spoke about. His eyes were tired, and he slowly drifted into sleep, yet the reddish root from his pocket quickly awoke him and gave him back the energy required for the journey with every bite.

  The forest grew thicker with each hour of ride that he passed, and the forest road turned into a maze, with hundreds of side roads leading into nowhere or going into loops, but through the maze, he found his way exactly how Lynda told him, and after a couple of hours, he reached the settlement. A knight in the shiny armor on a white horse, with a new silk cape and ornate sword scabbard, next to a stone well among a couple of old houses in the forest. The locals peeked through their windows, quickly closing the curtains, and after a couple of minutes, the men left the houses and barns with axes, pitchforks, and wooden clubs—around ten of them.

  "What are you looking for, blue-blood?“ One of the men asked, and Nogryl quickly grabbed the necklace that Lynda gave him:

  " am looking for the white witch!“ The faces of the men grew grim and angry as they grasped their weapons tight.

  "Another inquistor! We'll not let you take away our old healer!“ One of the men yelled as they prepared to knock him off the horse, but one very old man from the nearby wooden shack yelled,

  "Stop!" and so they did.

  "Show me the necklace.“ The man said, and Nogryl slowly rode towards him and hung the necklace in front of his face.

  "It can't be!... Lynda! My daughter! Is she fine?!“ He yelled.

  "Don't worry, old man, she grew up to be a decent girl! She is working as a waitress in a tavern; she is well-dressed and well-mannered, and she lacks nothing.“

  "How did you get the necklace?“ the old man questioned with an impatient voice.

  "She handed it to me; she sent me to find the lady of the woods and told me the direction where I should be heading.“

  "Come inside“ The old man said, "Tell us more about our daughter.“ As the group of men slowly disassembled.

  Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  Realizing that he will need a more precise direction from the locals who know the healer, he decided to spend some time talking to the family.

  By this time Nogryl felt no compassion towards the old man and his wife, who have no connection to their daughter, and his mind was focused only on his goals, as if pulled by the invisible strings of the unknown puppet master.

  He removed his hood and his helmet and entered the wooden shack, and he could feel the smell of drying herbs and the milk, and he could see a wooden table in the middle of the room next to the window. As he walked towards it, he bumped his head against the wooden wall above the door. Being a tall man, the doors were shorter than he was.

  Nogrly just laughed and sat at the wooden table as the old woman, probably an old man's wife, and Lynda's mother carried an old copper kettle to the table. All three of them sat, and the old couple looked at Nogryl, and after a couple of moments of silence, the old man said,

  "So why did she send you?“

  "Well, let's just say that our common friend is in danger, and we need help from the White Witch."

  "Is it urgent?“ The woman asked, "Are we taking your time?“

  "Well, I have some time on my disposal, but I will not linger here for too long." The knight answered.

  "Relax, drink the tea with us." The old man added as he sipped a drink from his cup. And so the knight did. As he drank the warm drink, he could feel a strange feeling of a sudden spin each time he took a sip. And more he drank, lighter his head felt. He looked the old man in the face as it slowly changed and shifted as the man sipped his drink, and the candle on the table seemed to wobble and dance; its flame radiated in strange colors and pulsated in front of his eyes, and as the fireplace crackled, he looked inside, and in the darkness between the tongues of flame he could see the woods waving and dancing. The world shifted and spun, and he found himself standing on a green hill in the middle of nothing, under the stormy skies, and he could feel the smell of the rain in the air. The place seemed to be surreal, as he walked forward through the moist green grass, and in front of him appeared a form of an old woman that he had seen before. Standing on a top of a hill, she spread her arms wide and slowly moved them backwards, and following her example, Nogryl did so. He could feel his skin tingle as if countless feathers grew out of it, and his arms suddenly elongated and morphed into two arched spikes pointing backwards. They slowly grew feathers and morphed into the wings. His legs grew long talons and shifted into the eagle's legs, and he could feel his face slowly morph into a beak. He closed his eyes, and suddenly he found himself in the room where he was. Everything seemed ordinary, except the fact that he was an eagle spirit.

  His wings started flapping, and as the old woman opened a window, he flew out and disappeared in the distance. He could see the small village disappear in the distance as he was flying further and further away above the green forest, and his form was slightly transparent.

  "What is this godforsaken place?" He thought, coming from the more civilized world, he never saw the use of magic being treated so casually. It gave him the feeling of unease because he knew that the magic is devilish art, or at least that's what the church taught him from an early age.

  A couple of minutes of flight later, he descended down into the forest and in front of an old wooden cottage on top of a small hill. It was surrounded by the birch trees, and it looked very old and unkept. Nogryl slowly walked towards the wooden door and opened it before entering the wooden cottage. It's roof was collapsed and the interior was overtaken by nature. It's fireplace was cold and the table empty and deserted, and in the middle of the single room, there was a birch tree growing as the sunrays passed through the hole in the collapsed roof.

  The knight looked around and saw no signs of an old lady living there, but just before he was about to turn back, he heard a faint voice speak:

  "Come in.“