Elina

I turned around. A girl stood behind me. A woman. Her long wavy brown hair reaching her lower back. In a tavern maid uniform. Which meant she wore a red headscarf, a white top, some kind of leather corset and a dark green skirt that went down to her ankles.

Her name was Rosaly.

She put a drink on my table. I never ordered anything. But she knew what I liked to drink. For better or worse.

She sat down across me. Rested her chin on her hands. Gave a look with smiling eyes.

She said, "Did you miss me?"

I picked up the mug and drank. It was good.

I said, "No, I was just passing by."

"In that case I will charge you ten times the usual price for that drink."

I chocked.

She grinned and her shoulders shook with giggles.

"So, why are you here?" she asked.

I shrugged. "Like I said, just passing by. Another job, another day. Just this job leads me through Larose."

"Which means your final destination is Merkelborough."

"How do you know that?"

"Most men passing by are on their way to Merkelborough."

"Hmmm."

I said nothing. Focused on my drink. It was always hard to talk to her. Because of the way we went separate ways. Although I suppose since she hasn't poisoned my drink, it meant that she had forgiven me.

Maybe. Possibly.

Her eyes examined me. Then her expression changed. She got up and stood behind me.

"What?" I asked.

Her hands on my shoulder. Not in a tender way.

Her fingers picked up something. Pulled it off my back.

I turned my head. She had a frown on her brows.

She said, "You always liked the kind with long hair."

She held a strand of silver hair between her fingers. Elina's hair.

How did that get on me? I couldn't pinpoint a single time. Because there were too many different occasions. When she was on top of me. When she dragged me onto the street. When she took me flying.

Rosaly said, "I suppose that's why you took a fancy in me back then."

I said nothing.

"And I was enough of a fool to go with you."

I said nothing.

Rosaly said, "And now you've taken up another young thing with the kind of hair you like?"

I said nothing.

Rosaly said, "You men are so simple."

I was sweating under my leather armor. My heart was pounding. An angry woman strikes more fear in a man's heart than any tax collector could.

Especially if he cared about said woman.

Rosaly said, "Is that why you've come to see me? To compare me to her?"

"No..."

She held the hair against the candle light. It glittered. It sparkled. Silver and shiny. Something in her eyes changed. Some kind of recognition.

Rosaly looked at me.

"No."

"Then what's this hair doing on you?"

So I told her. The whole truth. How I signed a new contract, how I met Elina, how I captured her, how we met other people on the road, how we ended up in Larose. Because if I didn't, she would've pocked holes in my story and made my life hell by asking questions in the way only a woman could.

She said, "Huh...so a priest from the Church of Deliverance hired you to capture a witch alive and bring her back."

"Yes. That's right. That's all there is to it."

She stepped on my foot. Hard.

"You still haven't answered my question. What's her hair doing on you? Hmm? Did you get intimate with her?"

"Err...not like that."

She raised a dubious eyebrow.

She said, "I suppose if you did, she would've killed you."

"Yes. I agree. That's right."

"So why did you come to see me?"

I wasn't stupid enough to tell her the whole truth. The fact that Elina reminded me of her. A man who stays alive is a man who knows how to avoid a woman's wrath.

I said, "I need you to keep an ear out for information."

"What kind of information?"

"Anyone who has signed a contract like mine. Anyone who has to captured a live witch."

"Alright."

I finished my drink. Got up and went to the door. Opened it. The sky had turned dark, the air had turned sweet.

"Salem."

I stopped.

"Did you miss me?"