Elina

But I have something he doesn't.

Something that sets me apart.

I can hear him coming. One step at a time. Riding on a horse. Sitting on a worn out saddle. A sword slung around his back. A hood to protect him from the wind.

He's probably thinking about the money he'll get for delivering my head. I hope he was promised a large sum, otherwise it would be insulting. Maybe I'll ask him. I really ought to know how much my head is worth.

Or I could live my life in peace. Fly away. He'd never find me. Because I only appear when I want to be found. But where's the fun in that? I'll wait for him. See what he does. What scheme he comes up with. Maybe he can entertain me. And just when he thinks he has won, I'll kill him.

Let's play a game.

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SALEM: I was hired to find a girl. Name: Elina. Seemed like a standard job at first. Someone from the Church of Deliverance came to me. Said there was a witch they wanted. Not the first time I worked with the Church. Not the first time I killed a witch.

Standard sum for a witch hunt was fifty gold. Enough money for half a year's rent and food. Unless the King decides to increase taxes again.

But I was offered eighty-five gold coins. Which was odd.

The priest from the Church said they paid me extra because they wanted me to bring her in alive. In one piece. Not just the head. Like I usually do. Breathing and in full health.

Weird.

A dead witch was better than a live one.

But not every day you can earn this kind of money.

The witch was last seen in a village by the name of Altheim. Ten days from where I live, the provincial capital of Merkelborough.

I told my sister, Yulia, that I'd be going away on another job. She was sick and not getting better. I told her that with the extra money from this job, I could hire a proper doctor to take care of her full-time. Buy the best medicine from the monastery. She'd be finally cured. She coughed and smiled and told me to be careful.

She said, "Don't lose your head over delivering a head."

She always had a great sense of humor.

I also had a great sense of humor. But she never laughed at my jokes.

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I rode a horse that somehow shit more than it ate and after ten days I arrived in Altheim. Little stone huts, wooden roofs, a well here, a donkey there. The people looked a little thin, a little rough, but friendly enough.

Finding a witch was easy. Just follow the dead bodies. But these villagers didn't look dead. They said the last death was from a year ago. When someone was run over by a horse.

I asked who the local doctor was. They said they didn't have one. I asked what they did when they fell sick. They said a girl from the forest sells them medicine. Works like a charm. Never fails. Like magic.

I asked who this girl was. The villagers said they didn't know. She just comes to the village every couple of days. She's been coming for as long as anyone could remember.

So I waited.

Based on this, there's one thing I know for sure about Elina: she is predictable. And predictable made you easy to find, easy to kill.

After two days of waiting, I found Elina.