Satin Rose and the Witch Hunters

16. The Best of the Best

The daughter of a local nobody, it wasn't a question of whether they'd take me or not the recruitment officer would take me. I had made up my mind and now, four months since I had joined the Witch Hunt, I already felt as if this was my true calling. The sun was pouring softly through the clouds that morning when Head Commander Sting sent orders to follow up on notes that had been scattered throughout the city. It spoke of an initiation into dark magic that, if left uncheck would, corrupt the youth and bring about a new age of barbarism. Our platoon leader had scoffed at the orders and sent only us, Squad E, to be stationed at where the initiation was supposed to take place.

If it were up to me, I would have ordered ALL able-bodied officers to march here, cleared the entire area of civilians, and then turn every stone upside-down to find these evil doers. Instead we had just set up a small perimeter around the fountain and were to take no action unless something of interest showed up. For the most part, since we had come at dawn, our squad had done nothing, but laze around.

I was itching for action and bid my time, promising myself that something momentous was going to happen. The Emerald Festival in full blasts, notes scattered around the city written in red ink, the general sense of unease that set the town? It was as if the world was begging to be unmade and it truly did so in small incremental stages.

First were the children. They came slowly, but as the day went on their presence built up until it couldn't be ignored. Initiates, bright young minds who were tempted by the dark. Not accompanied by anyone other than friends, they usually walked around the entire square as if looking for something carefully avoiding as hunters. When they couldn't find what they were looking for they would either leave or loiter around the shops nearby whispering to themselves and throwing disdainful glances toward us. I was about to March up to a group of them when groans of protests rose around me from my fellow hunters telling me I was seeing signs that weren't there, but I knew better.

I started to profile them and found that around half of them we're accompanied by some sort of creature and all were younger than 13. Eventually when They had built up a large enough force that even the others were starting to notice some of the older rants got bold enough to approach us. That was when head commander sting appeared. This backed them off for a while and when I reported my findings to him he nodded and gave me a pat on the back ordering us 2 Quietly deter the children as they approached as to not disturb this festival around us. I wanted to suggest that we should be more proactive But I sense that he wasn't in a mood to take suggestions. X9

So there we were A group of highly trained professionals not doing our job and instead taking turns Turning dwarves away from what was clearly a source of interest . Eventually after the commander had bought snacks for everyone He excused himself, frowning and muttering ohh way. I knew the commander wasn't stupid he must have known that something was growing right beneath our feet and I intended to take the initiative that he somehow LACKED. It didn't take long to Umm find the clues. Yet it didn't take long for my fellow officers to dismiss my findings yet again.

Of course the fountain seemed to have more cracks than normal, that's how stone works over time. They said besides I hadn't even seen the statue before perhaps this was simply shoddy work. And for the faint glow that was coming out of the cracks it simply wasn't true everything seemed to glow when under the sun I was seeing things again.

Naysayers all of them weren't they part of the same group that I was? Didn't we take the same pledge took orders from the same lieutenants? Went through the same training? 9

I continued to poke and prod silently. I would need to talk with our Lieutenant later on The antics of my group members who seemed to be lacking everything a hunter needed.

Suddenly one of the cracks started to expand when I poked it with a stick. The stone gave way To what appeared to be a pitch black hollow interior. I waved my hand in front of it and just for a moment it looked as if there was a torchlight coming through.

"I found something!" I shouted dropping the stick and sticking a my hand inside the hole.

"Are you crazy! You'll take the whole thing down!" Came a response. Cammie I think her name is. This was immediately followed by a hand that grabbed my shoulder trying to pull me away.

Shrugging her off, the outer shell of the fountain seemed to crumble easily as I dug my hand deeper. It was like there was chasm and I could only touch the roof, bumpy rocks spilling through my hand as they broke of easily. Then my finger touched something.

My hand curled around something sleek, feathery, and warm. I could feel it squirm in my hand, wings trying to push, but my grip was solid. I pulled it out, stone flaking away and coating my hand in a fine dust.

"A bird? A bird!" My voice grew even louder with excitement. It was a raven, looking weak and ragged in my hand.

"There's another!" Came another shout.

My feet snapped up and I turned to find where it was. THERE! On top of the fountain, another raven, trying to perch on top of the fountain's statue, but couldn't catch some footing. It clawed and flapped its wings wildly.

"Prime evidence!" I said jumping into the fountain.

The water splashed and more shouts of protest and disapproval came from all sides. I was undeterred, this was my time! Wading through in the ankle deep water, I stretched and attempted to sneak up on the bird when it threw itself off and flapped its wings right in my face.

Flinching, the bird was out of reach again flapping almost at random as it used its last jump to land atop the crowd that had begun to form. A scream went up and a panic arose, the bird jumping and flapping from head to head.

"Its getting away!" Cammie shouted.

"No its not!" I stated leaping out of the fountain and shoving the bird I was holding into her arms.

Mind was a little faster than I was as I was already imagining how I would present the bird to our platoon leader. A job well done that should be in order for a promotion. The crowd was in the way though and slowed me down from that dream as the bird got farther and farther away.

At the top of my lungs I warned the panicking crowd, "CLEAR THE ROAD! There's a DEMON on the loose!"

Cries of fear sprung out again and the tide of the stampede rose but moved away from my path. The Raven was now at the shops that sat around the square, a portly man was attempting to swat him away from his rugs and the bird was barely able to dodge. Now was the chance. I dove toward it, intending to catch it in a hug. The birds eyes turned towards me though. Flashing in the light, it jumped again with its magic, wings flapping, black feathers scattering every which way. My body landed heavily on the rugs displayed breaking my fall. Yet the booth was already at its limit with the rugs and collapsed into a heap of broken boards and saw dust. A small alley had been obscured by the booth, but it gone the bird continued its escape.

I got up again immediately and started running. Sounds and sight of my surroundings diminished as I honed in on my target. I lost sight of its body, but a trail of down floated toward the alleys exit. My feet pounded the pavement, reaching the other end in less than a second. I stopped, breathing hard and sweat starting to creep into my eyes. This was the main street and a parade was taking place with music, dancers, a palanquin, and a thousand other distractions from my goal. The raven must have already been hiding in the deluge of color and sound. There was no other way, I steeled myself to break through the parades onlookers, running head first at full speed when a hand clamped firmly on my arm and my feet flew under me.

"Officer Craho!" A shouted from behind me came as someone me handled my already big frame like a toy. He shook, turned, and put on my feet to face his angry red face. Through gritted teeth he said one word, "Talk."

"Magic birds sir!" I responded, striking a salute and standing up straight. If there was one person who would have believed my suspicions it must have been the leader of all Witch Hunters, Head Commander Sting.