Chapter 3: Shadows Embrace Paladins

“Somara, will you go out today?”

“Yeah! I have to bring some compounded healroots to that farmer’s family in the outskirt of the village.”

“You really need to remember the name of the people around, you know?”

“Bleh! Remembering names of random people isn’t my strong suit.”

“Still, how many years you’ve been a Witch now? Do a better job!”

“Yeah! Yeah!”

Ilva and I were having a lively conversation in the morning while I ate breakfast. After granny’s death she took charge of my teachings and now she is always on my case.

“Remember to double check everything you need!”

I rolled my eyes. She constantly said that.

“Do you wanna come together?”

“I do!” Erna phased through the ceiling excited.

“Good morning, Erna!”

“Morning, Little One! Can we go to the smith’s shop? I want to see if they have any cool weapons!”

You all made me stop using grandma before your names because you ‘felt old’, but you still call me ‘Little One’. Not fair, GRANDMA Erna! And you are shorter than me by the way!

“Sure, but you will be disappointed, you know, the only cool weapon will be a hunter’s knife like always.”

“I’ll accompany you too and pierce in your head the name of every person you come across.” Ilva chimed in.

Ugh!

I left the house with two chatty Witches following me. The dirt path stretching in front of me. It’s been four years since I became the village’s Witch and the thing I hated the most was to walk around everywhere.

Seriously, can’t I have a carriage for me? Maybe I should buy a mule or something… but animals hate it here because of my grandmas. Sigh! Walking it is.

My backpack with the herbs swayed while I walked, in my hip my trusted gardening knife I always carried in case I saw an interesting wild plant.

The sun was hot today, luckily, ever since my heartbreak day, I let my hair on the shorter side, so I didn’t need to deal with sweat in my face and neck.

Arriving at the center of Purpleforest, I was walking to the smithy, but my eyes found a person I didn’t want to see and I hid in the corner of a building in a panic. Kaira was there in the market, buying vegetables, probably to cook lunch to her husband later.

Argh! My heart! Why do you still linger in your old infatuation? Can’t we just move on? And why does she become prettier every year? The gods must be having a laugh at my own expense! Ugh!

Kaira never left my heart. After I became a Witch and clogged up my mind with work, we distanced ourselves. Still, she never left my mind.

“What are you doing?”

“Clearly hiding! From who is the question.”

“Ah! Look there, Erna, she always hides from that woman.”

“Why? Weren’t they friends when they were younger?”

“She always dodges the question when I ask her that. I think they had a big fight and Somara just don’t know how to apologize.”

“This does sound like her.”

Can you please stop talking about me like I’m not here?

My two companions kept embarrassing me, but my eyes were focused on the beautiful woman leaving the marketplace while holding a basket full of vegetables and greens. When she was no longer in view I breathed in relief and, ignoring the two ghosts talking, I walked to the smithy’s direction.

However, my attention was drawn to a crowd in the entrance of the shop. I could see people in a semicircle around the entrance of the building, maintaining certain distance, and closer to the store I saw horses. One was in armor!

Armored horses in Purpleforest? That’s cool! But, this could only mean trouble!

I approached the crowd and drew attention of a tall man that had a curious look in his face.

“What is happening here?”

“Huh? Oh, Witch! Paladins arrived in the village. I think they had some problems because they went to Wilf there to repair something for them.”

“Ah! I see! Thank you!”

Troubled Paladins. Maybe there is nothing to worry about then? Every time they visit the village is a hassle for me, I need to hide the forbidden books, hide the presence of my grandmas better and explain how my Witch work is going. I’ll tell Erna and Ilva to erase their presence for a bit. I exhaled in exasperation.

Please, let your stay here be short, dear Paladins!

“Soso, what is happening here?”

Oh no! This voice…

I turned around to see Kaira standing behind me.

She must have been drawn here because of this crowd.

My eyes looked at her perfect face for a second and then darted to the side in a rush.

“Kai…ra, hi! Apparently, Paladins are here, people want to see them and their armored horses, I guess. Haha”, an awkward laugh came out of me and I tried to smile at her.

“Armored horses? Weren’t you crazy about them as a kid?”

I don’t really want to reminisce about the past right now, my dear Kaira, let me change the subject so we can part ways right away.

Except, the black-haired woman wanted to spend more time together, because she grabbed my arm and dragged me to the front of the group while saying with a smile.

“Let’s see them up close!”

“W-wait…”

She was not listening to me and in a matter of seconds we were right in the front, staring a horse well in its face. I could only see the steed’s eyes and the lower part of its mouth. It was a beautiful creature. A beautiful creature that began to become startled by the presence of two ghosts going in its direction.

Shit! I need to get Erna and Ilva away from here!

I tried to step back, but there was a multitude of people behind me, furthermore, Kaira still didn’t let go of my arm. Needless to say, I was trapped.

What should I do?

The horse was restless, kicking out into the air while huffing and puffing. The other two non-armored horses became antsy and were neighing. The crowd turned from curiously happy to uneasily nervous from the commotion, voices whispering trying to understand what was happening.

Because of the sound, a man of average height came out of the shop in front of us, he was clad in armor, a breastplate I believe it was called. On his hip, a mace was dangling while he ran out of the smithy. The man looked in our direction, angry. He was probably thinking we did something to the horses.

Besides the fact that I brought some spirits, I did nothing to them, mister Paladin.

The man tried to calm the animals to no success. I took advantage of the fact that everyone was distracted to try and leave. I placed my hand on Kaira’s arm that was holding me.

Don’t get distracted by her arm, Somara!

“Kaira, thank you for bringing me to see the horse, but… I’ve gotta go!”

“Huh? Ah! Silly me, I didn’t realize I was still holding you. Sorry, Soso.”

She released me albeit slowly, it was odd, it felt like she wanted to hold me longer… well, we do have a history together and we need to talk to each other about why we distanced ourselves after her wedding…

But today is not the day to do that, today is the day to get the heck out of here.

As I was about to thank her and bolt, two other people came out of the building. One was a tall woman, wearing a similar breastplate the other man was wearing. The other was a man in a full suit, his armor was interesting, it had a bunch of tiny spaces like holes in it, but beneath the holes there was a sturdy metal armor.

“Oh! This man in wearing a full chain mail set, he must be the captain of this two.” Erna was slightly above me, floating and admiring the man’s armor. As far as I know she also was a Paladin at one point when she was alive. “His longsword is well-maintained too. Tough guy, this one.”

Her words didn’t inspire confidence in me.

The apparently captain shouted about the horses being loud and scanned the people around. When he stared at the crowd his eyes changed color to a faint blue and his eyes fell on me. The man raised his arm and pointed to me.

Crap!

“You! Come here!” Everyone stared at me after the burly man shouted in my direction. I don’t think I can get away. My Witches grandmas need my help to conceal them properly, but I can’t do it right now.

I approached the man while feeling anxious, but I can’t let them know my real feelings, so I tried my best to appear confident.

“Woman, I think it’s your fault they are like this, I can see traces of necromancy coming out of you. What did you do?”

The Paladin was shouting accusing me of necromancy, a crime on the realm. The reason the Paladins exist in the first place is to protect the land against Necromants. He is also not wrong that I exhale necromancy, I live with ghosts after all.

How do I get out of this?

“Necromancy? I did nothing, good sir, I was just minding my own business like everyone els-.”

“Don’t play dumb!” He cut me mid speech, “My eyes can see necromancy coming from you!” The man smiled, a wicked smile that made me shiver and he proclaimed to his companions, “This our lucky day, lads, we let that snake escape, but we can bring another Necromant to justice right now!”

The three of them were looking at me like I was a prey. Smiling like the Gods gave them a present.

They always warned me to not cross paths with Paladins, to always be careful. Didn’t I learn about Anna’s apprentice that died to Paladins in this same village? Someone, help, I don’t wanna die…

As if hearing my plea, a person stepped in front of me. A beautiful person with long and wavy black hair. Kaira, whole body shaking, pleaded with my enemies.

“Wait, good sir! Wait a moment! Somara here is not a Necromant, she is just our village’s Witch. She takes care of dead bodies before the purifying burning, maybe that’s the reason for your confusion.”

“Confusion?” The captain looked angrier, “You saying my eyes are defective, wench?”

“Are you doubting us that trained our entire lives to detect the work of the dead?” The tall Paladin woman shouted.

“Wha- No! No! Never! I was just sayi-“

“You talk too much, woman!”

The now mad captain quickly unsheathed his weapon and in one motion slashed Kaira in the chest. He was fast. Blood sprayed on the dirt floor. Time seemed to flow slowly while the woman I loved fell to the ground. My mind went numb for a couple of seconds before snapping out to reality with the mocking of the Paladin with the mace.

“Holy balls, captain! You used too much force, no?”

“She was protecting a Necromancer, this much force is fine. Look, she is not even dead yet, we take her body too and it’ll be fine.”

I looked at Kaira’s body and could see her chest slowly raising.

I got enraged!

She is breathing still. I can save her still. I need to bring her to the house fast! There is only one thing to do!

“Hey, shitface! Your eyes are indeed defective!”

“What did yo- Huh?“

I trained for emergencies for many years and I’ll use every Soulmancy I learned if it means saving Kaira! I used my shadow that was touching his to bind him. My shadow quickly mixed with his, becoming stronger, and holding his body tightly.

This probably won’t last long against someone like him, but I need only a few seconds!

I lurched forward while unsheathing the gardening knife I had and plunged the knife in the man’s eye. When I removed it, blood sprayed and gushed out of the hole in his face where his eye was.

Everyone was stunned. Nobody expected to be that easy for a skinny woman like me to hit a burly fully armored man. Only his face was exposed and he didn’t even try to protect it, I could sense people thinking that.

The moment of silence didn’t last long for the other two Paladins. Seeing their commander frozen like a statue, blood drizzling out from his eye, they readied their weapons, a mace and a sword, and stayed alert, reading me.

“A Necromancer! The Necromancer is using her powers! Flee everyone!” The tall woman shouted to the crowd, snapping them out of their confusion.

Turmoil erupted behind me. I heard people screaming and the sound of many running away. This is good for me, I can use my powers more freely like this. In the corner of my eye, I could see only one person stayed, it was Angus. His face full of shock.

“When I finish here, help me bring Kaira to my house! I’ll save her!” I shouted to him with all my might and took two steps in the direction of my foes.

“We can’t help you physically, but we’ll cover for your blind spots, Little One.” Erna told from above me, Ilva and her were taking care of me.

The mace man circled around behind me.

“This is old tactic. She’ll faint going forward if you don’t break eye contact. When I say ‘now’ you pierce behind you.” Erna was shouting orders. This actually helped to ease me a bit, having a reliable person that knew about fighting was comforting. I pricked up my ears and focused on the one in front of me.

As on cue, the tall woman dashed forward, sword ready to swing at me. I continuously stared at her, raising my arms a little, pretending to be doing some necromantic thing. She continued her sprint and swung her sword in my direction. It barely connected in my chest.

“NOW!”

I released a wall of shadow spikes behind me. Since I could mold my shadow as I pleased and made it physical, transforming it in many spikes was not that difficult. Needless to say, I heard a body behind me hit my spike wall and then hit the floor.

Just silence? I think he died then. Only one to go.