Vin looked around Madam Trebella’s study, taking in the Witch’s choice of decoration. Perhaps he was being a bit prejudiced, but he'd been expecting a lot more fire and brimstone.

  Instead, the head infernal’s study reminded him of his old principal’s office. There was a large desk covered with organized clutter, a handful of paintings and maps dotting the walls, and a few small knickknacks displayed proudly around the room that he could only guess the purpose of. In fact, it was while he was peering at one of these strange objects, something that looked like a gemstone carved to look like some sort of turtle, that Madam Trebella finally arrived.

  “Apologies for the wait. I know I sent Malzar to fetch you, but I had to deal with an unexpected altercation between two of my apprentices,” the Witch said, situating herself behind her desk and gesturing for him to take a seat. “We didn’t use to have this many issues, but ever since the relocation, things have been… different, to say the least.”

  Vin was about to crack a joke and try to get on the infernal’s good side before delving into why she thought they owed her anything after he'd completed his end of the deal, but his emotional support ghost seemed to have other plans.

  “Are those horns poking into your brain, or are you just pretending to be stupid for fun?” Alka asked, drifting out of him and standing beside him, her arms crossed. “What’s this about thinking we owe you anything?”

  Vin could only pinch the bridge of his nose and sigh as Madam Trebella blinked, clearly not used to being insulted to her face, and inside her own study no less. The entire reason why Vin came up here on his own was because Shia and Scule could barely even stand, let alone walk. None of them were in any condition to leave the village, but he was beginning to fear that was exactly what was coming.

  “One more comment like that, and I’ll bind you to a stone and toss you in the latrines,” Madam Trebella said, not even giving Alka the courtesy of looking at her. “I’m not in the best mood right now, so don’t test me, girl.”

  “What was the fight about between your apprentices?” Vin hurriedly asked, cutting Alka off before she could dig herself a deeper hole. “Would it be safe to assume Xaril was involved?”

  “Of course Xaril was involved. You met the boy, you know what he’s like.” Madam Trebella looked like she wanted nothing more than to rub her temples and crack open a bottle of wine, but she clearly cared about appearances, as instead she merely straightened in her chair and frowned. “Credit where credit’s due, the boy is an absolute prodigy when it comes to rituals, and that’s not a phrase I throw around lightly. The only problem is he cares about nothing else besides rituals. Not people, not his surroundings, not even himself. The only reason he even eats is because I threatened to take his books away if I ever found him passed out on the floor from hunger again.”

  As the infernal let out a world-weary sigh, Vin couldn’t help but wonder why she was unloading on him like this. But a quick glance up at the portrait of a smiling older infernal hanging behind her desk gave him a pretty solid idea.

  “Seems like a lot to handle on your own… Other than you, I’ve only seen apprentices since we got here. Where are the other Witches and Warlocks that lead the place?”

  “Dead and gone,” Madam Trebella said bluntly, scowling for some reason. “Master Gunon and our top Gatherers were left behind during the relocation, and Master Morvas was an impatient fool that got himself killed. Along with a handful of our most promising apprentices. I’m the only one left, so I get to handle everything whether I want to or not.”

  “Guess that explains the supply issues,” Alka said, a frown still plastered on her face. She clearly didn’t like the infernal, so Vin was just happy she’d managed to stop herself from spitting out any more insults.

  “Precisely. Which leads us back to why I called you here in the first place.” Madam Trebella paused, pulling out a sheet of paper and reading from it. “Four twigs of winter wood, half a vial of night dew, three pinches of stun powder, and a handful of tundra rock. Do any of these materials ring any bells?”

  “They sound like some of the things you used during the ritual of stillness,” Vin said, thinking back to the seemingly random assortments of materials the Witch had tossed around the sick bay.

  “That’s because they are some of the materials I used in that ritual,” she nodded. “The other bits I used aren’t worth mentioning, but these four aren’t exactly easy to come by.”

  “I thought we had an agreement,” Vin frowned, beginning to feel like he’d made a deal with the devil after all. “I get you the materials you needed to perform the ritual and cure us, and the excess that wasn’t used in the purification ritual would cover the cost of the ritual itself.”

  “Correct… However, that doesn’t cover the cost of performing the ritual of stillness to initially save your lives,” the infernal said matter of factly, tapping the paper with a well-maintained claw. “We have yet to discuss what your payment will be for that.”

  Realizing Alka was about to get herself into trouble again, Vin stopped her with a raised hand, staring at the ghost until she huffed and closed her mouth. Taking a half step in front of her, Vin nodded.

  “I’m all for making a fair exchange, but my party isn’t exactly in any sort of condition to go out and get any more materials for you right now, and we need to leave as soon as we’re able. We’re on something of a time sensitive mission.”

  Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Well you’ll have to make time,” Madam Trebella snapped, clearly displeased with his answer. “Because it’s not materials I’m after anyways. I need you to take care of a small problem for me. One that will almost certainly become a rather big problem if something isn’t done about it.”

  Vin hesitated, his eyes flickering to the already irritated Alka. The more time they spent here, the greater chance they completely lost the trail of the divine warrior they were chasing. Alka was the one who should be making the decision, but he also knew at the moment she’d probably tell the infernal to pound sand even if the Witch offered to grant the ghost her eternal rest right here and now.

  Madam Trebella must have sensed his uncertainty, because the infernal let out an uncharacteristic sigh, sinking down in her chair slightly. Drumming her claws on her desk for a moment, she finally leaned forward, her golden-black eyes staring deep into his own.

  “Look. I’m not normally one to be so straightforward, but the fact of the matter is that my people come before my own desires. This problem I need your help with. If you don’t help us, there’s a good chance everyone in our village is going to die.”

  She paused, allowing her words to hang in the air, nodding at the effect it had on them. “I might find the two of you annoying, but I’m pretty good at reading people. These eyes see more than just faint traces of magic after all. The main one being that your entire group practically screams ‘goody-two-shoes’. Well, maybe not the tiny one, but the rest of you do. Even the rat, strangely enough.”

  “Anyway, I really didn’t want to play this card, but here it is.” Taking a deep breath, the infernal lowered her head until her horns were pointed directly at them. But despite the threatening gesture, her words made it quite clear it was anything but.

  “We need your help.”

  As much as he wanted to tell her to lift her head and agree to her request, Vin glanced once more at Alka. The ghost hesitated, clearly enjoying the display of subservience maybe a little more than was necessary. After a few long seconds, she grunted, throwing up her arms in a huff.

  “Fine, we’ll help you! Just because I don’t like you doesn’t mean I’m about to let a village filled with innocent people be slaughtered.”

  Vin thought he saw the smallest glint of a smile as Madam Trebella raised her head, but there was no trace of it as she nodded to them, her face a mask of seriousness.

  “I appreciate that. Naturally, in exchange for helping us, I will forget about the materials I used in the ritual of stillness as well.”

  “So what even is it you need us to do?” Vin asked, growing more and more wary the longer this conversation dragged on. He couldn’t say he liked dealing with Madam Trebella very much. The infernal was crafty and cunning, in a way that reminded him far too much of Patty. Only the Witch was good enough that she didn’t need to rely on literal magic to control people, which made her even scarier.

  “You recall the divine warrior I spoke of earlier? The one that I said attacked our village and tried to kill all of us?” Seeing their nods, she took a deep breath, preparing herself for the big ask. “…I need you to find him. And make sure he can’t come back and try again a second time.”

  It was Vin and Alka’s turn to blink, the two of them sharing a bewildered look for a moment before Alka burst out laughing. Seeing the confusion on Madam Trebella’s face, Vin tried to stifle his own chuckling long enough to explain.

  “That’s our time sensitive mission I just mentioned,” he explained, doing his best not to laugh alongside Alka. “We’re hunting down the divine warrior in the hopes he can give Alka her eternal rest.”

  “...Of course it was,” the infernal said blankly, looking between the two of them. “I suppose that explains why you seemed so interested in the divine warrior when you first showed up. I thought you were just hopeful that the man would be able to heal you with his divinity.”

  “Nope, kind of the opposite in fact!”

  Madam Trebella could only shake her head as Vin finally gave up trying to hold it in and began laughing with his friend. She even gave them a few seconds to enjoy their merriment before her next words doused it like a bucket of cold water.

  “You do realize I want you to kill the divine warrior, yes?”

  That got them to stop laughing quickly enough. Vin cleared his throat, giving the infernal a more serious look.

  “We’re not assassins for hire… We’re not just going to go kill somebody for you.”

  “Not even to prevent hundreds of lives from being snuffed out?” She demanded, slamming her fists into her desk as she stood up and leaned over it. “That man already tried his hand at eradicating us once, and I had to burn through most of my stockpiled materials to defeat him. If he comes back again, I won’t be able to stop him a second time. He’ll kill every last one of us.”

  Vin paused, taken aback by the sudden display of emotion from the infernal. Despite being wary of her cunning, he couldn’t help but feel as though she was speaking honestly with them for the very first time.

  “Scule did already see the aftermath of his work once Vin,” Alka said, frowning as she no doubt thought back to how shaken Scule had seemed when he’d returned from the swamp fragment. “I don’t like taking lives any more than you do, but if some maniac wielding divine powers is roaming around killing people, I’m all for putting him down before he can hurt anyone else.”

  “I know,” Vin sighed, clenching his fist at the thought of seeking someone out with the intention of killing them. It was one thing if they stumbled upon him actively doing something horrific and worth ending his life for, but plotting the man’s death from possibly fragments away just felt wrong.

  “I don’t like it, but I agree,” he finally said, firming his resolve. “Obviously we have him take care of you first seeing as there’s no telling if or when we’ll ever find another person capable of putting you to rest, but after that, if he won’t agree to stop killing people, we’ll… take care of him ourselves.”

  “Look at you, all grown up and willing to kill people!” Alka said, trying and failing to ruffle his hair as her hand went straight through his head. “It feels like it was only yesterday you were a fresh Explorer terrified of ghosts!”

  “Thanks, Alka,” Vin said, rolling his eyes and doing his best to ignore the ghost's continued attempts at needling him. “I feel like I need to reiterate that this is just because the man is a mass murderer.” Turning to Madam Trebella, Vin nodded. “We’re willing to help you, but we could use some help ourselves. Do you have anything that will help us find the divine warrior? As we are, we’re kinda just running around and hoping we get lucky.”

  “Why am I not surprised,” Madam Trebella drawled, shaking her head. “But lucky for you…”

  “I have just the thing.”

  can they kill him?