I followed the trail round to the left. A woman dressed in all black with ruby red hair had taken position. Upon our eye's meeting, she screamed out one word.
'Firebolt.'
Run forward. Run forward. Turn left. Block.
The ball of molten fire hurdled towards me; I drew up my shield to block. You could hear the crackle and pop as my shield ignited. The red woman seemed surprised as her attack failed to make a mortal wound. I threw my sword at her head; she swiftly blocked it yelling, 'Phoenix Sheild.'
A large sphere of fire appeared before her, causing my blade to melt on collision. The sorcerer then fell to the ground. Protruding from the back of her right shoulder was an arrow.
'That's another reason not to use magic.' Dhan shouted. He was perched on a branch of one of the conifers. 'Makes you too confident; you don't watch your own back.' He leapt down to the ground.
'The ones back there are dead; she's alive though; it was just a trank arrow,' he jested down to her.
'Let's take her back to town; there might be a bounty we can collect.'
Chapter Two:
Carphe was built on the banks of the River Vytenis. It wasn't the most significant town I'd ever visited; whilst I was born in Algirdas, I was from a city that bordered another country, Dobroniega. Compared to that, Carphe seemed a bit small; however, it was a hub for adventurers as the mountain and forest area was a trove for rare gems and wild beasts.
As we came out of the forest, we could see the river glisten from the setting sun's light.
With Carphe being so full of adventurers, it was common to see fireworks and blasts of magic rising above the rows of tiny terraced houses protected by thick stone walls.
The town was laid out with the governs mansion, the guild, the barracks set in the centre. After that, you had the commerce area, housing and Inns.
Whilst we approached the gatehouse, Dhan pulled me aside 'you take the redhead to the guards and see if we can get a bounty and maybe some info about her.'
He started walking off towards the guild. 'I'm gonna get our reward and flog the loot we got.'
The sorcerer who had been slumped over my shoulder was now starting to wake up. I put her down on the floor and started to stretch.
'Hmph,' She was gaged as we couldn't risk her casting any spells.
'There's not much use in that you're in Carphe now.' I reached down to pick her up again. 'Any chance you had in escaping went when you tried to kill me on the mountain.'
I set off down the street, heading for the jailhouse on the east side of the town. You see, there were plenty of ways to make money as adventurers. The guild offered work for private contracts, escorting merchants and their cargo. The governor or the locals will pay to have wild beast killed if they run amuck.
You could go to a barracks and be hired as a mercenary or the jailhouse to bounty hunt. If you followed the cobbled street long enough, there would be a job thrown your way.
Even though bounty hunting is allowed, I kept getting accusatory looks as I went, but I guess that's to be expected; not many would assume me to be the wronged party.
'I know you struggle with women, but you surely haven't fallen that far have ya?' The man was leaning next to the door of the jailhouse.
'Jasper, if there are two things in this world, I won't take your advice on its women and bringing in bounties'
'Aye, it's dead or alive, and also, as you bring proof, you don't need the whole corpse.' he laughed. he walked past me a few steps, bent down, peered into the sorcerer's eyes, he got up and drew level with me placing his hand on my shoulder. 'Have you finally seen the light then, or should I say the good coin? What has this one done? Black magic? Blood sacrifice? Heresy?
'I'm still under the guild. We were coming back from an escort mission after helping the miners get to their lodge. This one and some others tried to jump us,' I answered.
'Your skills are wasted, but I'll wait until you've had a cup of ale before I bend your ear again.' He went off with a slight nod and a slap on my back.
The jailer didn't have information on the attackers, and there were no bounties with the witches description, but he took my story on my word chucked me three coppers for my effort. He promised me that he would send a messenger to the guild on my way out if anything turned up.
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