"Someone's here to see you!" Merytuya called from the front.

  "Be there in a moment!" Nela called back, irritated. She was trying to finish wrapping new bandages around this man's arm. It wasn't easy, because he kept flinching with every loop she made. Some people just did not know how to hold still.

  It wasn't even that major an injury, one that barely would've needed a spell had Nela been there to heal it earlier. The man claimed he'd been clawed by one of the creatures, but the scratches - now mostly healed on their own - looked a little too thin and neat to be that. No, these were likely the nails of another person. Exactly what let up to it, Nela didn't know, and wasn't about to ask.

  "There we go," she said, finishing with a final twist to hold the cloth in place. "You shouldn't need it changed again, and can take it off tomorrow."

  "My thanks," the man said. Nela realized that she'd already forgotten his name, even though she was sure he'd told her before. Oh well, it didn't matter. She had too many people under her care to keep track of to remember every single one of them.

  Nela headed out of the room. Jylania, who had been given the task of cutting cloth into the bandages, followed silently. Because most of the wounds were days old and had started to mend, there weren't a lot of tasks Nela could assign to the girl. Once people started coming in with fresh injuries and illnesses, Jylania could really start learning the ways of a healer.

  Emerging into the front room, Nela saw Merytuya in a conversation, blocking her view of just who it was. Once again, a disadvantage of being short. "What's going on?" she asked, crossing her arms.

  Merytuya stepped aside.

  The world around Nela froze.

  Standing there was an all-too familiar figure, that of a thin older woman. Wrinkles lined her face and cunning glinted in her eyes, but the one detail that stood out above all else, the one Nela definitely could not forget, was the woman's missing arm.

  "Good to see you again," the Witch of Wrath said with a widening smile.

  Shit, what could she even do? Jylania was right here, and would get caught up in any fight. Not that Nela could offer much of a fight. Her being able to land the decisive spell in Kelshir was only due to the others acting as a distraction. There were no distractions, no surprises she could fall back on.

  Shit. Shit. Shit.

  Merytuya saw it, and moved back in between the Witch of Wrath and Nela. "I didn't let you in so you could scare the life out of our healer. Who are you? Explain yourself, or leave."

  "Tetra xiphos." The set of four glowing swords materialized in the air around the Witch of Wrath. Though floating with seeming laziness in the air, all of them were pointed straight at Merytuya. "The list of people who have stood in defiance of me and survived is very short. She is on that list. You will never be."

  Merytuya tumbled backwards at the sight, landing right on her arse. It would be almost comical, if it weren't for how dire the situation was. Although...

  "You came to talk, didn't you?" Nela spoke up, gathering what courage she could. If the Witch of Wrath had wanted a fight, there wouldn't be any threats. Just unleashed magic and spilled blood. "So drop that spell and let's talk."

  The Witch of Wrath, starting to step forward towards Merytuya, paused. Then she laughed. "Clever girl." The swords broke into fragments of light, which melted away a moment later.

  Nela took a deep breath, then another. "Get out of here," she told Merytuya, knowing that was the only way they would be safe. "And take Jylania with you."

  "But-" Jylania started to protest.

  "Go." Nela glanced over at the girl, wordlessly pleading for her to obey.

  Face pale, Jylania nodded. Nela had warned Jylania of the dangers of traveling with them, although she had not seen this one coming. The Witch of Wrath being able to get away from the sphinxes wasn't that big a surprise, but how had she tracked them down so easily?

  Taking Jylania's hand, Merytuya walked out, but not before giving one last look of concern towards Nela. As much as Nela wished she could offer some assurance, one wrong word could make this all fall apart. If only Ronny were here...

  He was not, and she would just have to push through. "So why are you here?"

  "Ask your cat friend. He sent me here." The Witch of Wrath dropped herself in a nearby chair.

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  Halfway to taking a seat herself, Nela came to a halt. She hadn't thought much about it at the time, but Ugotlas had said the spell he'd used would send the Witch to his fellow sphinxes. Shit, they really should've seen this coming.

  Still, this was all things they should've known. Time to try a different question. "Why come to find me then?"

  "Let's see," the Witch of Wrath said, "Would I rather speak to a fool who carelessly reveals their spells and training, or someone who has the wisdom to wait for the best opportunity before striking with their most potent spell?"

  Wait, did she really think that Nela, of all people, was the best thaumaturge among them? Edeline had the spells of the Stormsage, while Hamond had his training under the Spellking. Nela was just a healer. A very good one, yes, but there was no comparison in terms of spells for combat or general knowledge of magic.

  "Let me guess, you're thinking how much more powerful your friends' spells are." The Witch of Wrath leaned back. "All that power doesn't mean a thing if you don't have the cunning to back it up. You can ask the Spellking how that worked out." The woman waved her empty sleeve, the cloth folding around and revealing the small stump that was underneath it.

  It was such a strange and uneasy feeling, getting praised by someone who had tried to kill them not all that long ago. "Flattery's nice," Nela said, "So what do you really want?"

  "For now, some introductions. We can be civilized about this, can we not?" The Witch of Wrath straightened up. "Many know me as the Witch of Wrath, but you can call me...Floire."

  Nela didn't believe one bit that was the woman's actual name, but she wasn't going to question it. "I'm Nela."

  "Now with that settled...where do I begin?" Floire licked her lips. "I suppose with the sphinxes, who were very eager to ask me questions. Questions that I didn't have a single answer to, but about a subject that seemed a little more...interesting, shall I say, than the matter of the new Lady Kelshir."

  At least that meant Anthyla was safe for now. Ronny would be happy, even if Hamond would definitely not be. Nela could hear the unspoken words in what Floire said. The Witch of Wrath knew about the Elemental Hex.

  "It's clear your friend was playing with spells that she, or anyone, should not have. After I fought my way free of my sphinx captors, my original plan was waiting for you to show up and greeting you with an ambush. Of course, I had to throw that out when someone decided the people of Lasfont would look better with fur and feathers and such."

  "So they really were people once." It didn't make much difference, since they would have to defend themselves in a fight. But if they could be spared, and they could figure out if there was a way to reverse the spell's effects...sparing the creatures if possible might be a good idea.

  "Whatever they were before, they're dangerous now," the Witch of Wrath said, "If you want to be a fool and try to find one that still doesn't have the mind of a beast, you might as well go jump off a roof somewhere."

  "I like my legs not being broken," Nela shot back, before reminding herself just who she was talking to. "So, what's your plan now?"

  "A truce." Floire glanced sideways, towards the entrance. "We both should agree that whoever was behind this spell needs to be brought down. You know more about this Sluice thing better than I do. And I know more about battling rogue thaumaturges than you lot."

  Nela couldn't argue against that, but yet...she remembered all too well what little regard the Witch of Wrath had for the elves living near Kelshir. Any deal they made wouldn't protect them from the woman treating them as expendable. And that was assuming the Witch of Wrath honored such a deal to start with.

  "If it makes you feel better, I was holding to a similar agreement when I slew the Spellking. You probably already realized it, but I have no love for any king or noble."

  Again, Nela believed it, but the words didn't do much to reassure her. "I'll have to speak to the others about it," she said. It gave them some time to decide. It gave Nela some time to decide.

  "I didn't get named the Witch of Wrath because I was patient." The scowl on Floire's face made it clear she'd hoped for an answer here and now. "You have two days."

  Nela nodded. Two days should be enough time to reach a decision. Or get their arses out of Lasfont.

  "With that, my talents are needed elsewhere. I was going to...what was it I was doing?" Standing up, the Witch of Wrath grinned at Nela, a humorless smile that once again had Nela worried. "Oh, yes. I was escorting a pair of guards to go bring some herbs here. I wonder who those might be for."

  Now that was fighting dirty. Nela could almost admire it, if it wasn't aimed directly at her. Aether, there wasn't enough coin in this town to pay someone to put up with all this shit. Wait...there was an idea. Maybe she should introduce the Witch of Wrath to Jisry.

  "I'll see you soon," Floire said from the doorway, glancing over her shoulder. "Remember. Two days."

  With that, the Witch of Wrath left.

  Nela took a deep breath. Reaching up to adjust her hair, making sure the horsetail was still in place, she found it soaked with sweat. Not all of it was from the heat, obviously. Next time she really needed to leave this kinds of encounters to Ronny. He had a way with convincing people. Nela did not.

  What did she even do now? She still had a couple more people to check up on in the back, but there was also something telling her she needed to go tell the others about this right now. The last thing they needed was Edeline or Hamond encountering the Witch and deciding that a fight was unavoidable. Even if they won such a fight, that would just get them all kicked out of this place.

  "Are you alright?" Jylania asked, peeking in.

  Nela jumped a little in surprise. "Thought I told you to go," she said crossly.

  "I hid around the corner," Jylania explained.

  So she'd come back when she saw the Witch of Wrath leaving. At least it saved Nela the trouble of tracking Jylania down later. And they could pick up right where they had left off with the other patients.

  Except for one thing. "Did you see where Merytuya went?"

  "She ran further down the street," Jylania said with a slight shrug. No telling where the woman might have gone. For all Nela knew, this would be the final push to get Merytuya to finally quit. No point in blaming Merytuya. Dealing with the likes of Jisry was one matter, but facing a threat was a different level of shit that no one ought to put up with.

  Nela had to admit she was getting far too used to it.

  Dwelling on it wouldn't help the other patients here though. The two of them would just have to make do without Merytuya's aid for now. "Let's get back to work," Nela told Jylania, taking another deep breath, then heading back to the rear of the former tavern yet again.

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