07: Ambivalence

Some of the villagers had seen me start the fire, and as I watched they turned and fled back towards Khuul with their news. I was in no hurry to beat them to it as it seemed best to let the rumours spread, reverberating and amplifying from each mouth to the next. I had wanted a reputation after all. Time would tell whether the decision had been wise.

Sitting cross legged in the grass I sank into thought. She had indeed practiced necromancy, hence a witch, though it seemed likely that this had been the smallest part of her story. But also the final part, as the blaze in front of me now attested. The heat was scorching my face, the smoke causing me to cough and my eyes to run, but I stayed in place. I wanted to feel something. Satisfaction would be nice. Pleasure? Perhaps that would be a little disturbing under the circumstances. Sadness? A bit suboptimal, but better than nothing. But I did feel nothing. It had pretty much been this way since the ritual. Before that I had been trained to keep my emotions well under control, but they had been there to control. I tried to think of a time since then when emotion had gripped me, without any real success. Perhaps I had felt the echo of anger when Sepia had damned the undead, but was that anger my own?

Time to return to the immediately practical, a decision on how to proceed. I needed to locate my target before I could kill them, so that seemed like the logical step. At the same time, if I returned to Khuul and started asking after Sujata Hlallu immediately, having just killed someone, it would be almost the same as announcing that I was after her life. Better to ask elsewhere perhaps. It would also be better if I could establish my reputation as a Witch Hunter in a more balanced way, but I didn't think this would be too easy in Khuul after the events of this evening. Finally, and perhaps not the best reason, Khuul was just a pathetic community. If I wanted both good quality information and good quality lodgings, I would have to move on.

Gnisis is the largest settlement immediately due south of Khuul so I decided to make it my next destination. I had had the foresight to bring my belongings with me from the lodge, so starting my journey immediately made sense. Sleep in the day, travel at night... well, it suited me just fine.

I used the fire light to inspect the bottles I had gathered from the witches hut. They were almost all healing potions, many of apparently high quality. Something to barter, or that I could use to establish a brighter side to my reputation. Some aspect of granting aid to those in need, to contrast with the Hunter who had raised a cloud of ash over Khuul this evening. The house would burn throughout the night, but I didn't stay to see the dawn.