“What happened? Where’s the mayor?” were his words after he responded to the guards. The quick exchange of glances between the two guards did not escape his notice.

“The mayor left the town with the people. He said that he had already informed the general.”

Eldric set his jaw and carefully spoke as if the words were being pulled out of him. “And where did they go?”

The guards tensed, feeling the dangerous aura around their general despite his calm face. “They said that they are going to kill the witch once and for all.”

For a moment, the world tilted in front of him. ‘Kill the witch.’ Witch. Tamara. Lia.

“What!? And they said the general approved of that?” Tim shouted beside him, tension seeped through his pores causing the guards to look even more nervous.

Just then, he heard hurried footsteps. Every step echoed in the pavement across the town. It broke through the silence and brought Eldric back from his reverie. He turned to the sound, his hand gripping the hilt of his sword. He was more than ready to chop down whoever – whatever was going to emerge in the darkness.

A young man, probably still in his teens, appeared from the shadows. His face was gaunt, his breathing ragged. But relief flooded his face when he saw Eldric. He continued running towards the mayor’s house despite the obvious hostility of the place.

“You! I told you to run away with your friend earlier!” the guard shouted.

But the young man did not pay him attention. His eyes focused on Eldric alone. Eldric searched his memory for the young man’s face but he could not remember meeting him before.

“You’re the general right? You need to help my friend!” the young man said.

“Hey what do you think you are doing?” The guards stood in front of Eldric, blocking the young man’s path.

“Now’s not the right time kid. Go home,” Tim said.

“No, my friend said you need to know about the gin and its cure. She was here earlier.”

Everyone was taken aback by this statement. Even Eldric did not seem to know where to start from this newfound information.

“Who is your friend?” Eldric asked.

“Sir, actually,” the guard handed him a dagger, a familiar dagger which was in his possession not too long ago. “That young man was with his friend earlier, smaller man and he was looking for you. We turned them away. But he persisted and said that you’ll know when we show you this dagger. When they saw the gathering of the people, they ran away before we could get a name. But hey, what do you mean she? Don’t you mean he?” The last two questions were addressed to the young man.

“Quick! You need to save her! Save them! Please! The people are going to kill them if you don’t. If you want your cure you need to help them!” the young man pleaded, eyes wild with fear.

But Eldric had no interest whether it was a he or a she because he knew who could that be. His eyes traveled past behind the young man and to the column of smoke rising in the middle of the forest. The hair on his skin stood up as he watched it.

‘It has begun.’