Epilogue: A costly lesson

This was a bad idea, Sigrid thought to herself, not for the first time, as she crept slowly down the dusty old tunnel, taking care to stay inside the dimmed-down light of Karl’s lantern. They shouldn’t be here, just the three of them, without having told anyone what they were doing. An unsanctioned mission like this could land them in all sorts of trouble, if their suspicions turned out to be unfounded. And maybe especially if they turned out to be correct. But Julian was sure this was the fast track to glory, and promotion. And he could be ever so persuasive. Mostly he just assumed that people did as he said, and that often worked. Probably a perk of having noble blood. Still, Sigrid swore silently and gripped her pistol tight as she continued down the hallway.

“This is finally it!” Julian had exclaimed, slamming his beer-tankard down on the table the trio were gathered around.

“A chance to prove ourselves as true witch hunters at last. Maybe to redeem the honor of the guild!” he cried, warming to his own rhetoric.

“Calm down, Julian”, Karl had interjected. “You know as well as us that the guild has been what stood between this city and utter ruin, many a time.”

Julian had scoffed at this.

“In the past…maybe. But these last years, I don’t think so. How many chaos cults have we brought down, eh? Where are the public witch burnings?”

“There was that execution last autumn…”, Sigrid had tried.

Julian was having none of it.

“One measly sorcerer caught. And even then there were rumours it was all just a misunderstanding. I’m telling you, the general is letting the whole guild rot, while chaos thrives!”

“Now there, that’s unfair”, Karl had protested.

“Johanna Schwarz is the saviour of Norden, if you recall.”

“So-called, yes. But I have it on good authority that it was my uncle and his men who did most of the heavy lifting back then. But did they get any credit? Pah!”

“Well, I think she’s been a great teacher”, Sigrid had said.

“I’ve learned a lot since starting at the guild three years back.”

“I understand that, Sigrid. Don’t think I don’t know that both of you haven’t had the benefit of private tutors growing up. But that just makes me angry, to see your potential squandered. I mean, what has she had you doing these past months, Karl?”

“I admit it has been slow. I’ve kept watch over a sort of inn, noting who comes and goes, when and with whom. I’ve filed my report, but I have no idea why. Mostly some merchants, a few nobles and their various retinues.”

“And you, Sigrid, any witch-hunting for you?”

She had groaned.

“She’s had me trawling through some old documents from the castle, making a chart of all the different official protocols of the old dowager Baroness’s social calendar, and comparing it to some moon cycles and star charts from the old Orrery. I can’t make heads or tails of it.”

“See what I mean? And the dowager Baroness of all people, she’s been dead many years now, and she was the mother of our Elector Count? She’s lost it altogether.”

Julian had tutted, with a sour expression on his face.

“And me, she’s had me scouring the public records down at the city hall for activities in the stonemason’s guild and architect’s guild, dating thirty and forty years back. Absolute nonsense! I’ve been coughing my lungs up over dusty old scrolls!”

After his rant, Julian had leaned over the table with a conspiratorial glint in his eyes.

“But at least I found something we can use. One of the ledgers of the architects describes a hidden passage built under the grounds of the Hochhausen estate. And the text has many oblique references to the “Changer” and “Hallowed halls”, and some sort of “nexus”.”

Karl and Sigrid had stared at him, expectantly. With a flourish worthy of an arch-priest finishing his sermon, Julian had slammed a scroll case down on the table.

“I think I have uncovered the secret location of a hidden chaos temple! And, I have a map!”

So that was why they were now creeping down this tunnel, Karl, the burliest of them, and the most ready with a sword, in front, followed by Sigrid and Julian. They’d found the entrance where Julian’s old map had said it would be, some distance outside the grounds of the Hochhausen estate. The entrance was well hidden, but the three of them had been able to open it. Inside, they’d found a long hallway, seeming to lead directly towards the mansion grounds.

It twisted and turned some times, but seemed to stay mostly on track. Suddenly Karl motioned them to stop.

“What’s up?”, Sigrid whispered.

“Shhh”, Karl said, and pointed up the passageway.

Staying very still, her heart seeming to thunder in her ears, Sigrid could hear some sort of…chanting from further down the tunnel.

Karl dowsed the lantern and drew his sword. Slowly, they inched forward, stepping gingerly to avoid alerting whatever waited further on.

After a few steps, they could see a faint glow. It turned out to be coming from a couple of holes in what seemed a solid wall ending the tunnel. The holes were shaped like eyes, at a height of about five feet.

Karl tried looking through them, swallowed hard, and stepped back. Julian and Sigrid each peeked through one hole.

She saw a vaulted chamber, lit by flaming torches in sconces. Carvings covered the walls, of strange creatures, with curious-looking runes everywhere. Two hallways exited the room, one leading to some stairs going down, the other into darkness. Set against the wall opposite from them was a square slab of stone, maybe three feet wide and high, with some golden objects lying on top. Standing in front of the slab was a hooded figure, tall and thin, with its back turned.

Sigrid was just about to whisper to the others that they should go back and get reinforcements, when Julian with a triumphant “HA!” pressed down on a stone set in the wall, causing the wall to turn outwards into the room, like a door. Julian rushed through, drawing his witch hunter’s badge out from a pocket. Cursing silently, Sigrid followed after him, with Karl hot on her heels.

In his most commanding voice, Julian held the badge up high and shouted at the hooded figure.

“In the name of the witch hunters, I command you to turn and give yourself up, foul chaos-worshipper!”

As Sigrid and Karl spread out to each side of Julian, she heard a grating sound. Glancing back, she saw the doorway they’d just come through slide shut, the wall once more solid. She swallowed.

The hooded figure seemed to be swaying, still with its back turned.

In a slightly more strained voice, Julian shouted at it again.

“I said, in Sigmar’s name, turn and face justice, heretic!”

The figure started shaking. A voice quite unlike anything Sigrid had heard echoed through the chamber. She realised it was…laughing.

“...hEh, hhEEEh, hEEEEEh….Sss…SsssiigmmaaaAAR”

With that it turned, faster than she had seen anything move, and…exploded.

Bits of cloak and hood flew everywhere, and in place of the figure was something Sigrid’s mind tried, but failed to grasp. There were scales, feathers, tentacles. And teeth. So many teeth.

To her right, Julian’s face had gone completely white, his hands falling to his side. In horror, she saw Karl raise his sword and charge forward. One of the…thing’s appendages whipped around, snakelike and impossibly fast, and took hold of Karl’s arm. Another grabbed his left leg. Karl started screaming, then Sigrid heard a horrible rending sound, and she felt something warm and wet splash her face.

She ran. Terror filled her whole being. She could hear her boots slapping the stone tiles, feel the walls of the dimly lit corridor rush by. She was dimly aware that Julian was running right behind her, she thought she could hear him blubbering. Somehow it reminded her of a child.

On either side, doorways rushed past, and a small part of her was thinking that they had to get their bearings, find some way out of here. But that part had no power. Only her legs did, stomping like mad. And then she stopped.

In front of her was a wall. All around her were walls. They had run straight into a closed chamber, the only exit the hallway the came in through. Julian threw himself at the wall, as if to scratch his way out. Behind her, Sigrid could hear awful squelching noises, like footsteps from something wet. She realised she still had her pistol in her hand. Somehow, a sort of cold stillness came over her, and she started to turn. If she was to die here, she would go down fighting, at least.

She could see a shadowy shape coming slowly down the corridor towards them. She raised her gun, pulling her sword out in the other hand. Then suddenly, the wall to her left shifted, opening into a doorway. Stepping through was the witch hunter general, Johanna Schwarz, fully girded for battle, twin ornate pistols in hand.

“Get out of the way!”, she shouted, and shoved Sigrid so hard she fell over in a corner. The creature picked up its pace and came charging into the room. Johanna’s two pistols roared, and blackish goo spattered the wall behind the creature. Yet it seemed ready to keep coming.

Then, charging out from the doorway behind Johanna came a huge, bulky man in full plate armor. With a bellow, he ran straight for the creature, a large sword cleaving through one of its tentacles. It flopped to the floor, twitching. His momentum carried him past the creature, which tried to turn to face him. Turning the sword, he brought it down in a flowing arc, connecting on the monstrosity’s mass of eyes and teeth, splitting it nearly in half. Raising a boot, he shoved the body off his sword. With a wet plop, the pieces of it fell to the floor.

Julian had stopped mewling, watching with wide-open eyes.

Turning towards them, Johanna grabbed Julian’s shoulder.

“Are you hurt?”

His mouth moved, but wasn’t properly working yet.

“It…we…the blood…”

Johanna got a grimly impatient look on her face.

“Are…you…hurt?” she asked again.

Sigrid, picking herself up from the floor, noticed that both her and Julian were drenched in blood.

“No, ma’am…it’s…it’s Karl…” Her voice caught.

Johanna’s deep brown eyes softened a bit at that.

“I’m so sorry”, she said, patting her softly on the shoulder.

The large armored man had wiped off his sword with a cloth.

“Ma’am, we should move”, he said, his voice all businesslike.

Johanna finished reloading her guns.

“Yes, Viktor, I know.”

“Only, that was a Tzentchian warhound. And they usually don’t travel alone.”

“Yes, yes, I know. Don’t worry, Eleanor will get to drink her fill tonight. But first we have to get these two out of here.”

The large man shrugged.

“Don’t see why. They got themselves into this mess. Maybe they should see about getting out of it. Maybe learn something.”

Johanna fixed him with a steely gaze.

“You know damn well why.”

Waving Sigrid to follow, she stepped into the doorway she’d come out of, walking briskly down an arched hallway. Viktor brought up the rear, pushing Julian in front of him, and closing the doorway behind them.

Johanna seemed to know her way. The corridors here looked like they had seen more use than the ones they’d come in through. After a few minutes, she stopped by a small door.

“Wait here.”

After she slipped through, closing the door behind her, they stood there in awkward silence. From a small pack, Viktor pulled out a piece of cloth and a small hipflask. Pulling out the stopper, he soaked the cloth in what smelled like bad grain alcohol.

“Wipe your faces, you look awful”, he said, handing the cloth to Sigrid.

Both she and Julian did their best to get the blood off their faces. As they were finishing up, the door opened, and Johanna stepped through. Entering after her was the prettiest woman Sigrid had ever seen. She had long, flowing blond hair so light it was almost white, and was dressed in finery fit for a ball at the palace. Fixing Sigrid and Julian with a cold, assessing gaze with her ice-blue eyes, she arched her eyebrows.

“So these are the geniuses I have to smuggle out?”, she said, looking at Johanna.

“Yes. This is Sigrid and Julian, junior witch hunters.”

Sigrid noted the emphasis on “junior” and felt a slight pang of worry.

“Sigrid and Julian, this is Sunniva. Follow her. Do exactly what she tells you.”

Julian huffed.

“Now wait just a mo…”

He didn’t get further, before Johanna fixed him with a gaze which shut him up, and made Sigrid instinctively take a step back.

“Even you should be able to do this, Julian. Follow her. Do EXACTLY what she tells you. I will speak with the two of you later. In my office.”

With that, she turned, and her and the big man called Viktor strode off back down the way they had come.

Sunniva handed each of them a luxurious hooded cloak. From the look of it, it was worth more than Sigrid made in a year’s work, and had fine embroidery and ermine trimmings.

“Put these on, pull them close”, Sunniva said.

As the two of them complied, she looked them over.

“It’ll have to do. Now follow me closely. Do not speak to anyone, try not to look at anyone, and if you can, try to seem like you’re ever so slightly drunk. Most importantly, don’t draw attention to yourselves. Understand?”

Sigrid and Julian nodded. Sunniva pulled open the door she’d come through, and went in, the two of them following close behind.

A short flight of stairs up and a corridor led to a huge ballroom, filled with people wearing a dizzying array of some of the finest dresses, gowns and suits Sigrid had ever seen. A mass of fine candles in large candelabra lit up the room, and well-dressed servants meandered through the throng of people carrying trays of delicacies and glasses of wine. She had to force herself not to gawp at the sight, and tried to look as casual as she could as she followed Sunniva through the room. Julian, beside her, seemed less affected, if still a bit surprised at where they were.

Sunniva seemed completely at ease, exchanging short compliments and comments with many of the people they passed. Some were wearing elaborate masques, but Sigrid was sure she saw at least a couple of barons, a guild master, and a captain of the guard as they wove through the crowd.

Whenever someone started to show interest in her or Julian, Sunniva deftly deflected it by whispering some sort of salacious gossip or a comment about some obscure political event Sigrid wasn’t abreast of, before nodding, smiling and moving along.

After what seemed to Sigrid a long journey, but was probably just a few minutes, they descended a massively wide staircase, down into what looked like a foyer. Two stiffly dressed, but still heavily armed and armored guards flanked an impressive set of double doors.

Sunniva headed straight for the doors, but as they approached, one of the guards stepped forward.

“Madam, the Countess gave clear instructions that noone was to leave before the main event was finished…”

Sunniva laid a silk-gloved hand on the burly guard’s arm and treated him to a smile which could melt a glacier.

“Now now, I am SURE you are only doing your duty, my good guardsman, but you have to see that these are special circumstances.”

Sigrid noticed that Sunniva’s voice was speeding up as she was talking.

“These two are children of some of the most important people in the city, possibly, although I am sworn to secrecy naturally, the children of people on the very Elector Count’s own very important and oh-so-undeniable council, where only people who are of much loftier status than both my own humble self but maybe especially than the status of yourself and your strapping guardsman colleague, preside, honorable though you both undoubtably are, so honorable that I am absolutely POSITIVE it would not suit your honor to impede the very normal and not conceivably problematic exit of a lady such as myself and the two wards I have regrettably the responsibility to ensure the safe return home to their mansions where their parents expect them to be presented forthwith, without delay or trouble, and who would undoubtedly be less than sympathetically inclined towards any men of arms who impeded such a return, honorable though their intentions may have been, so as you realise, the only rational thing for you and your erstwhile colleague to do, even so far as being the only thinkable option in this situation, would be to stand aside, let us pass and be sure that this will only qualify for the utmost praise from your superiors.”

Sunniva batted her eyelids and smiled.

The guard seemed utterly bewildered, a dazed look in his eyes.

“Well, maybe, I don’t know…”

“Excellent then”, Sunniva proclaimed, treating the guards to another radiant smile while heading for the doors.

“I will be sure to give you my most enthusiastic appraisal when relaying this to your superiors.”

Julian and Sigrid hurried after her, passing the guards who were still unsure of what was actually going on.

When they came outside, Sunniva turned to the right and headed for what looked like the stables. Several extremely expensive carriages were stationed outside.

“We have to hurry, that trick won’t hold for long”, she hissed.

Behind some of the more ostentatious carriages was a smaller, open carriage. Two horses were yoked and ready. Beside the carriage stood a tall figure shrouded in a heavy, cloaked hood.

“Are we leaving already?”, said the figure. In the light of the nearby lanterns Sigrid could make up a bright red beard.

Sunniva wasted no time climbing up, beckoning Sigrid and Julian to follow suit, the hooded man bringing up the rear.

Sunniva grabbed the reins, making the horses start forward. Soon they were picking up speed, heading straight for the closed gate to the mansion grounds.

Sigrid thought she could hear an alarm being raised back from the entrance to the mansion. Sunniva turned towards the red-bearded man.

“Eldur, the gate!”

With that, the hooded man sloughed off the cloak, revealing a bright red robe inlaid with gold seams in arcane patterns. Sigrid thought she could feel heat radiating off him, as he started to murmur in a strange voice.

As they got ever closer to the gate, his voice reached a fever pitch. Sunniva laid a hand on his wildly gesturing arm.

“JUST the gate, brother mine…”

The man looked at her with a half-crazed smile, and with a flourish waved his palms toward the mansion gate. Which exploded in a storm of flames, flinging red-hot metal and pieces of mortar sky-high. A searing wind buffeted them as the carriage careened through the gap where the gate once stood. Momentarily blinded by the blast of bright flame, Sigrid blinked. They were through, thundering down the road leading from the mansion. Relief flooded through her. Maybe they were getting out despite it all? Then she heard galloping hooves behind her.

Looking back, she saw two riders, hot on their heels, maybe a hundred yards back and closing. She could see drawn swords and glints of armor.

The red-bearded man turned and started his chanting again. But Sunniva once more laid a hand on his arm.

“Don’t worry. Torgil has got this.”

Just as she said that, Sigrid heard a whistling sound, and one of the riders fell backwards off his horse. The second kept coming, but then a dark shaft flew through the air, striking him right where the helmet met his breastplate. For a second, he seemed to continue on, then he sort of slumped sideways, and started to slide off the horse, which slowed.

Sunniva pulled on the reins, and the carriage slowed.

Looking forward, Sigrid saw a huge oak tree with branches hanging over the road. A cloaked figure holding a large bow jumped down from a heavy branch, landing catlike in the road a few yards ahead of the carriage.

The red-robed man called Eldur debarked from the carriage, the bowman joining him.

Sunniva grabbed the reins again.

“Johanna and Viktor are already in the complex”, she shouted to her two compatriots.

“If you go in through the hidden side tunnel, you should be able to link up at the entrance to the nexus.”

The bowman nodded, and him and Eldur started off into the forest. With a sinking feeling, Sigrid realized that they were heading straight for the secret entrance she and her friends had been so proud to have found. She glanced at Julian, who just shook his head, unbelieving.

Then Sunniva jerked on the reins, and they were off down the road again, heading straight for Salzenmund.

As they neared the city entrance, Sunniva stopped the carriage, and told them to get down and put their hoods up again. Then she led them through the gates. Sigrid and Julian started to walk towards the quarter where the witch hunter guild was situated, but Sunniva just tutted and pulled them into a bewildering maze of alleyways, going deep into the seedier side of the city.

After a while, they stopped outside what looked like a fairly rundown inn, the kind Sigrid had learned to avoid, especially after she joined the hunters. Sunniva knocked on a side door, and exchanged a few hushed sentences with the man who opened.

As she beckoned them inside, Sigrid and Julian felt the heavy stares of the ruffians sat around in what was sort of an entry-room or guard chamber. But these guards would never have been let within a dozen paces of any reputable people’s valuables.

Sunniva, though, seemed unfazed as she led them deeper into the building, down a couple of stairs, into a room where several men sat, slouched and laid on benches and stools. Some of them seemed in pretty poor shape, with bandages and bruises on clear display.

Beside a heavy wooden door stood a tall, grizzled man, leaning on a heavy wooden cudgel.

“Where’s the big man?” asked Sunniva.

The man just hooked a thumb towards the door. Sigrid thought she could hear a crowd shouting, muffled by the thick wood of the door.

“Will he be long?”

“Nah, he’s just finishing up. You know he likes to have his fun in these things.”

Sunniva sighed and rolled her eyes.

“Ever the showman, eh?”

“Well, you have to give the punters what they pay for. It is a business, after all.”

The large man grinned, revealing several missing teeth.

Just then, the cheering behind the door became a thundering roar. Sigrid thought she could hear clapping. After a couple of moments, the door slid open, and a heavily muscled man with shoulder-length dark hair, sweat dripping off his bare chest, stepped through.

Sigrid had fought her share of hard men in her time, but something about this one made her think her chances would be slim, even though she still had her sword, and he had nothing but a couple of knuckledusters.

“Sunniva?”, the man said.

“What are you doing here? I thought we weren’t supposed to meet up for another five hours, and not here?”

“Yeah, well, change of plans. The rest are raiding the place now. Johanna asked me to get these two to you. They need a safe place to hide out a couple of days, till the work’s done.”

Sigrid started to speak, but Sunniva silenced her with a look.

“Really? So what have they done to need hiding away?”, the man asked.

“They had the great idea to try to sneak in and take on the Hochhausen cabal, all by themselves.”

The darkhaired man pulled a grim smirk, looking down at Sigrid and Julian, who were trying to fade into the woodwork.

“Really eager to join Morr’s court, are you?”

Sigrid didn’t know what to say, but then he didn’t seem to expect a reply.

“Fine, I’ll stash them. What about that other thing?”

“Oh, I’ll be back and join you for that in a couple of hours. We’ll see if the others are back by then, but you should have your men ready anyway.”

“You’ll be back? Where are you going?”

“To the top.”

The big man snickered. Sunniva scowled.

“Yeah, that’ll be no end of fun, eh?”, he said.

Sunniva smiled darkly.

“I know. But you know how it is. His nobness does like us to at least pretend to keep him informed. Especially when we’re going to turn his council and city upside down. Again.”

With that, she turned and left the way they’d come in. The large man wiped himself down with a cloth, and waved for Sigrid and Julian to follow him down a corridor.

Sigrid felt her throat catch.

“Uh…I’m sorry, but I’m not sure where we are, and who you are, but…”

The man kept walking, turning halfway to glower darkly at them.

“You can call me Johann, and I’m what’s between you and a very quick trip to Morr’s garden.”

He waved them into a small chamber. A couple of benches, a small table and a meager fireplace was the whole of the contents.

“Enjoy the facilities”, said Johann.

At that, Julian got up and waved a finger in his face.

“Now listen up, you, you…ruffian! I don’t think you know who I am. I won’t be locked up in this stinky excuse of a room without so much as a…”

He didn’t get further before Johann slammed a fist into his midriff. Julian doubled over, retching and gasping for air.

“Listen, you little shit. I know EXACTLY who you are. You’re the heir to the von Krieglitz estate, and both your daddy and uncle are star-studded hobnobs with a degree in brownnosing the toffs. But those men you just passed in the halls back there, they do NOT know what kind of juicy little morsel I’ve stuck in this room. And I think maybe, just maybe, if you would like it to stay that way, you’ll remember your manners, and thank the lucky stars I owe a favor or two to both Sunniva and your boss.”

He stepped back, opening the door.

“I’ll send someone with some soup and if I’m in the mood, a bottle of something,” he said, and went out. Sigrid heard a click, as the door was locked behind him.

It was hard to keep track of time in the room, but after what seemed like two days, the large ugly man with the missing teeth came and let them out of the room. Sigrid noticed that his arm was heavily bandaged, and that his hair seemed singed. Without much in the way of words, he led them outside and deposited them in the street, slamming the door shut behind them.

Sigrid and Julian looked at each other. Then, having little other to do, they set out towards the witch hunters’ guild. To home, and safety. Maybe.

Halfway there, they passed a block of houses that had burned down. Some people were sorting through the rubble, and some city guards loitered around.

Sigrid pinched Julian’s elbow.

“Wasn’t that where the inn Karl had been watching stood?”

Julian just nodded grimly and kept walking.

As they came to the heavily fortified entrance to the guild complex, one of the guards recognized them.

“Oy! You two! Johanna said to come straight to her office, no dallying.”

Julian and Sigrid exchanged glances, and went inside.

The office was at the top of the stairs in the main building. Sigrid drew in a breath and knocked on the door.

“Enter!”, they heard Johannas voice from inside.

They found her leaning against her heavy, dark wooden desk. She looked slightly drawn, and Sigrid could see a bandage swathing her right arm.

“Ah, my two intrepid apprentices. I thought I should give you a chance to…explain yourselves.”

Sigrid drew a breath and started to speak, but Julian cut her off.

“Explain ourselves? What do we have to explain, other than doing the job you and other hunters are supposed to do? Thanks to our own work, we uncovered the secret lair of a dangerous chaos cult, right in the heart of Norland! And what thanks did we get? We were insulted, beaten and held hostage by the absolute worst kind of ruffians! I have half a mind to write a detailed report of all of this to my uncle, the Baron. He has the ear of the Elector Count, and I think maybe he would like to hear how utterly mismanaged things have been, and how close my own self came to dying as a result!”

Johannas shoulders slumped slightly, and she looked down, a drawn expression on her face.

“Yes. I suppose you could do that.”

Julian leered.

“Maybe, instead, we could discuss some changes to how we’re treated in this guild…” he started, but Johanna cut him off with a wave of her hand.

“Or maybe I could change the report I am about to deliver personally to his lordship Elector Count von Gosser, at the dinner he is hosting later this evening. I could include the details of how a couple of junior hunters withheld pertinent information from me, failed to properly assess the situation, and went on an unsanctioned mission which threatened to disrupt the operation I have been planning for three months now. I could describe how this reckless action forced me to take unnecessary risks with both myself and other highly skilled and important personnel. How this nearly led to several ringleaders in a dangerous chaos cabal escaping our clutches. How it resulted in the death of a very promising young hunter, the razing of an entire city block, and the near death of the heir to the von Krieglitz estate, only scuppered by my personal intervention.”

Johanna paused a moment, eyeing Julian with a cold glint in her eyes.

“Do you want me to go on?”

Julian blanched.

“Umm…no, I think that will…suffice.”

“Very well.”

Her voice lost a smidge of the steel that had crept into it.

“Now, I think we all can agree that there is no need to trouble his lordship with all these tawdry details?”

Julian nodded, sweat pouring down his forehead.

Johanna sighed, seeming suddenly very very tired. She sat down behind her desk.

“Now, can I at least hear if you feel like these events have…taught you anything?”

Sigrid and Julian exchanged glances. Sigrid wanted to speak, but her mouth was dry as the desert.

After some moments, Julian looked up.

“I…I have learned that one needs more power and skill, to properly face the forces of chaos”, he said.

Johanna looked at him, her expression unreadable.

“For…for the forces of chaos are more powerful than I had imagined, and we need to be secure in Sigmar’s strength to be able to challenge them!”

Julian seemed a bit surer of himself now.

Johanna raised an eyebrow, and seemed on the verge of saying something, but then just sighed. With a weary nod, she nodded to the door.

“Very well. You can go. Get changed and get some rest. I suppose your training will continue, tomorrow.”

Sigrid and Julian slunk out of the office and down the stairs. Julian seemed almost his old self.

“Right! Now this calls for some steak. And wine. Lots of wine! I think at the Gilded Hammer. Will you join me? I can lend you the funds.”

Sigrid looked at him, but could only see the shadow of Karl’s broad, kind face.

“No, you go ahead. I think…I think I need some rest.”

“Of course, dear Sigrid! How foolish of me. You need to rest, this must have been awful for you! Tomorrow, then!” he said, and marched down the stairs and out the door.

For several minutes, Sigrid stood there, feeling a queasy knot in her stomach. Her cheeks felt wet. Swallowing, she turned and climbed the stairs. Without thinking, she pushed the office door open and stepped inside.

Johanna was standing with her back turned, her shirt off. She was busy wrapping bandages around her torso. As Sigrid saw the dozens of scars, many obviously years old, crisscrossing the witch hunter general’s back, and the deep red bloodstains on the bandages, a small gasp escaped her.

Johanna turned and looked at her.

“Oh shush girl. Don’t just stand there, help me tie these.”

As Sigrid took hold of the bandages, tying a knot across the back, Johanna fixed her with a penetrating gaze.

For a moment, Sigrid’s muscles tensed. Behind those deep brown eyes she felt a wave of blood, fire and death. And sorrow.

“Now what are you doing here, girl?”

“I don’t…I don’t think Julian was…fully right about what we could learn, ma’am.”

“No?”

“I think…I think maybe the most important thing we could have done was make sure we knew what the situation was, before we got involved.”

“Yes?”

“We…we should have talked more with the rest of the guild. We should have made better plans and trusted the others more. Maybe then…”

“Yes, what?”

“Maybe then Karl would still be here, and not…” her voice failed.

Johanna’s eyes softened at that. She put a hand on Sigrid’s, squeezing it, for just a moment.

Then she pushed herself up and grabbed her shirt.

Sigrid stood, unsure what to do. Johanna busied herself grabbing the ceremonial garb of the witch hunter general, used only for fancy occasions.

“You can go now, Sigrid”, she said.

Sigrid turned, and opened the door. Johanna called out after her.

“And Sigrid?”

“Yes”, she said, turning in the doorway.

“I think maybe there could be a witch hunter in you, yet.”

The faintest of smiles crossed her face. Then the door closed, and Sigrids feet strode down the stairs, into the compound.