Of Monsters and Men

Callum shrugged his shoulders. "I don't have to. Nobody is even paying me for this, it's just a nice little way of getting some aggression out. And damn if there isn't a lot of it. Just because you want to live doesn't mean it'll happen, sometimes life just kicks you in the balls until you can't move anymore" he explained, making very small movements as he spoke. He didn't want to get stabbed through the neck anymore than Zack probably did.​

 

Olivia's pov:



Aaron went on about how he was on his way home. "Where do you live?" What town do normal Witchers grow up in? She never would know her home was destroyed by monsters and fire. It turned out that Aaron had a sister. This brought a question to her mind. "Why did you try to save me? Witchers do not do anything unless it is for money. What makes you different? You say your sister owes money yet you tried to save me for free." She had come across many Witchers none of then like Aaron. Then he asked why he had gone to Kaer Morhem. "I went to go to Kaer Morhem to see the Witcher training hall. The whole town as somewhat boring. It seems like there was not anything to do. So I left Kaer Morhem and headed off towards Oxenfurt to see what was there and ended up finding you." Aaron had family it must be nice. She had things like that, but they where long gone now. "Tell me about your sister. Is She a Witcher too?" She was so unsure about how Witcher families worked, because she did not have one.

Will's pov:



He watched Yana she was teaching a child for some reason. What had happened to the Council of mages. Why were that not keeping these mages in check? Yana should be on a leash. What was gong on? He watched the fire ball hit Yana and let out a sigh. He looked at Teriana, then to Yana. What caveman was teaching these mages these days? He knew one thing it was not his master. So that brought up the question what happened to them. Any mage that was properly trained would know not to use fire fighting another mage. That said they should not be fighting each other. Then Yana threw a fire ball at him that was not that smart. He was going to get rid of the thing but, Teriana nocked him to the floor and shielded him. He was able to see the girl had magic to the one Yana was training. Earth magic. Why did this girl not fight Yana? Then it hit him, it was fear. He stood up this was sad the sate of the mages. He looked to Annabelle. "You do not need to fear Yana anymore I can take you to a place that will help you." Then he turned to Yana. "What is it you want Yana?" Then the last thing to go for was Teriana. "What happened to the mages code? Mages are not to attack others. Only to defend ones self. There are other ways then fighting." He did not know how the Council of mages was going to do these mages.

 

​

Veera rose from the bed, only to grasp Tatiana's head to hold her still. It wasn't a tight hold, because if she did that the force of Tatiana's body might snap her neck. She barely had enough time to force open the girl's jaws and shove her hand in. The girl's teeth bit down on her, breaking the skin, and she winced, but endured the pain. Better then the girl's tongue.
After a few minutes, the seizure ended, and she withdrew, trying to make Tatiana comfortable as she shivered and whimpered. "It's okay to be frightened." She murmured, even though she was positive the girl could no longer hear her. The hallucinations seemed very well, and very horrifying. "I think you'll come out of this stronger then you believe yourself to be."

Sitting back down, she kept watch over the girl, listening to her cries for her mother and brother, only able to imagine the horrors her tortured mind was putting her through. Finally, the girl's eyes opened; still glazed with fever, but clear. "Welcome back." Veera murmured, using a strip of cloth to try and dab the sweat from the girl's forehead. She wasn't exactly the mothering type, but she could try. She grabbed the water sack around her waist and lifted the strap over her head, helping the girl to drink the water.

"Do you remember your name? Your age? And where you are?" Veera desperately hoped the girl's mind wasn't broken. If that was the case, there wouldn't be much done for her if her brother couldn't be found.

​

Ana spread her hands in a slight exasperation. "You can't reason with her, first of all." She pointed at Yana. "She lost her humanity a long time ago. Second, there is no mage's code. We don't fight each other out of desire, we do it out of necessity. To protect ourselves. Just the same as any other fights, normally." She added with a glare at Yana. "If she would let me pass, then I would go. I have other responsibilities that await my attention, and if the child won't come with, then she won't come with. She has power, and is old enough to know her mind. I wish I could save everyone, but I can't."

At this point, she just wanted to wash her hands of the whole ordeal. He was waiting on her, and she needed to return before nightfall. She had no desire to add her own injuries to the list of things that needed her attention today.

​

"There are other ways to get your aggression out. Ever thought of finding yourself a woman? I know a few names if you need assistance." Bryce narrowed his eyes as the water dripped from his hair. He really didn't want to keep standing here, but until the witcher took the oath to not kill them, he couldn't move. He hesitated to kill Callum, but if it was necessary to protect his people, so be it.

"This young man hasn't done any wrong. He's been trying to make his way through life without attracting attention, as have most of my people. If they do cause trouble, they are punished accordingly. I would ask that you either give us your oath that you will not harm us, or let us leave in peace. I wish no harm to you, but I will not have someone slaughtered for simply existing."

​

Zack stood in the river, pretty much a useless tool at this point. He was hoping he wouldn't have to run anymore, the edges of his vision turning fuzzy. All he wanted to do was lie down and sleep off the foolish drinks he had consumed. This had all happened because he had decided to get drunk, like a useless toss pot.

 

"Oh right you're sick" the witch said as Annabelle got all sick and stuff. Stepping back a little as the girl used her magic, Yana spun around and looked at Teliana and William. "She has actual clothes, and she'll get more after we've got her medicine. I'm teaching her, making her powerful, and then she won't ever have to be scared of anything again, but if she breaks the rules I have to punish her. It's simple, even your heads should be able to wrap around it" Yana explained. She wanted to toss another fireball at William, but knew Ana would be able to stop it. They almost cancelled each other out really, it was almost annoying. Almost as annoying as Frosty bringing up the mage council. She hadn't even responded to that, why would she? She hated the mage council.



Callum nearly laughed at the man's suggestion to get a woman. "Dating isn't for me" he said, attempting to keep his voice somewhat calm. What'd he care if the guy killed him? He'd be almost doing him a favour. The fact Zack was just trying to live his life didn't appeal to him, either. "A sober doppler might not get up to anything, but a drunk one is sure to cause problems. If you want my oath, you'll have to buy it from me" Callum stated, clearly a master at bargaining.​

 

Will's pov:



He watched the group of mages carefully. Teriana said that there was not any reasoning with Yana. "That may be so, but you do not go out and attack someone just based on what you want them to do." Then Teriana went on about how there was no Mage's code. "That is were you are wrong. The mage's code was created long ago, by a group of mages." Then Teriana said 'We don't fight each other out of desire, we do it out of necessity.' "You say that, but you attacked Yana first. One rule of the mage's code is do not attack others unless attacked. You may not be able to save all, but together you can help more. That was what the Council of mages was about, working together with other mages. It was not about all of this." Then he turned to Yana. 'I'm teaching her, making her powerful, and then she won't ever have to be scared of anything again, but if she breaks the rules I have to punish her. It's simple, even your heads should be able to wrap around it' "That is not how you teach a mage. I was taught under one of the most powerful mages around and they did not do anything like you are. Just because someone makes a mistake that does not give you the right to burn her. So what is it you want in exchange for the girls freedom?" Everyone had a price, but what was Yana's? "Yana I think you can agree that this girl needs help." This help was something that Yana could not provide. He could not see it. Yana would continue to run this girl into the ground anyone could see that. Then he turned to the girl. "What is it you want?" he asked Annabelle

Olivia's pov:



Aaron went on about how he lived in Novigrad. "I have been many places no Witcher stays in one spot for long. You are the only Witcher like that, to help others without payment. Never lose that Aaaron." What was taking so long to get to Kaer Morhem? He did not think that he had gone that far from that but apparently he did. Then Aaron went on about his sister. "If you want to see your sister, why re you wasting your time with me? From what I hear family comes first, not some girl that you just met." This Aaron guy was a mystery. If he was anything to go by then his sister had a big heart.

 

​

Well...two out of three wasn't bad. Veera watched the girl struggle and narrowed her yellow eyes. The girl seemed to be regaining her functions, but Veera was hesitant to untie her. If another seizure hit, it would take all of her strength to keep Tatiana still, and she didn't want to add to the girl's injuries by breaking any bones. On top of that, she didn't recognize Veera. "Your short term memory is being affected. My name is Veera, I am a witcher. You were injured, and took one of the witcher's potions in order to keep yourself from dying. I tied you up to keep you from hurting yourself. I'm afraid that for the time being, I must refrain from untying you, for your own safety."

This was going to be one long day.

​

"I don't have time for this." William was clearly delusional, and she already had enough on her plate. A semi frozen man with brain damage was just one more thing she didn't need. She cast the signs to begin opening the portal, keeping her awareness open in case Yana decided to be a little shit and attack her. Come to think of it, could Yana help but attack her? For once, just let me out of here with my clothing intact. She prayed to the gods.

The last time she and Yana had met, not only had her house been burned, but their battle had left her favorite dress in tatters. She would really rather not walk across the countryside in a nearly naked state. Far too many men had gone home missing important limbs. And that was not fun to explain the city guards.

​

Bryce blinked as Seth came into the picture. Well, shit. This was going to get even more interesting. "He's a witcher. Took a disliking to Zack over here. I'm trying to save his life." Bryce narrowed his eyes as Seth tossed the gold to Callum, or what appeared to be gold. Seth never worked an honest day in his life, so no doubt that the gold came from his latest victims. Bryce would only hope Seth hadn't gone above his usual thievery and prank pulling. Bryce dared not risk saying anything in the presence of a witcher, and a clearly depressed one at that, but he dearly hoped Seth hadn't caused problems.

"So, do we have a deal?" He asked Callum, letting his shield lower a small amount. Meanwhile Zack still remained standing in the river like a useless tool. At this point his creator is debating giving him hypothermia.

 

​

With a blast of light and a resonating rumble throughout the house, Evander appeared spectacularly and unannounced within the home of some poor sod. He was tall, he was reasonably handsome, at least when he was in a good mood, and he was ready to smack some succulent booty. As such, he let his presence be known, as if it wasn't already, to the rotund middle-aged lady staring at him from the corner of the room.
"Greetings, fair mistress,” he grinned, “It is I, Evander, and I am here to partake of your establishments services! Eh, I take them slim, mind you,” he added delicately.
“You what?” the woman asked him incredulously, fingering the frying pan in her hands.
Evander began to feel a little disconcerted at this point, and looking around realized that he was in a kitchen, not at all the sort of place he had hoped to end up in. “Ehm... I was hoping this was Henry Holden's Honorable Whoring House... have I taken a wrong turn?”
The woman turned red in the face and put her hands on her hips. “Do I look like a prostitute to you, young man?” she demanded.
“Well, not my personal taste perhaps, but they come in all shapes and sizes you know, demand and all that, certain people wou-”
He ducked to avoid the flying missile that the pan became after the woman threw it. “GET OUT!” she demanded, grabbing a pot and a knife that were nearby. “I'LL SKIN YOU ALIVE YOU PERVERT!!!”
Rather than face an angry woman with a knife, Evander preferred to make good his escape. Luckily, there was a window directly to his right, and he dove headfirst through it. Unluckily, it was a second story window overlooking a busy street somewhere in Novigrad.
As he slowly flipped over through the air, Evander could easily have put his centuries of magical knowledge to good use, or conjured up some sort of moving rock thing to catch him, but he didn't really want to attract any more attention than a random mad falling out of a second story building would attract. However, he couldn't help but ask himself, why in the goddamn hell was there a kitchen on the second story of a building?

With a thud and what to him sounded exactly like the cracking of exactly all of the bones in his body, Evander landed on his back in the middle of the street with dozens of people all around looking down at him in confusion, up at the window from where he had flown and the angry woman yelling incomprehensibly from it, and back down to him. None of them offered to help him up though. They were much too confused for that.
After several moments of groaning and ineffectual attempts to get to his feet, Evander finally managed to rise and make good his escape among the crowd before any of them could figure out that the angry red-faced woman was trying to tell them that he was a dirty teleporting pervert that had tried to seduce her.
All things considered, Evander probably shouldn't have attempted the teleportation while blind drunk. But at least he had arrived at Novigrad, and that meant that Henry Holden and his whores were within reach.

 

"Well duh she needs help, that's why I'm teaching her! I don't have a price, she's mine, so quit trying to buy her or whatever you're doing. You're boring me, just get out of my way so I can get her the medicine and then i'll go and torch a village somewhere else or something" Yana said, getting sick of the conversation going on between them. She just wanted to heal Annabelle and then go kill a few people, razing their villages and all...was that really so much to ask for?


Callum was intrigued by this other man. He just walked up and gave this other guy money, as though they were friends or something. That was impossible, Dopplers didn't have friends did they? They just went from body to body doing whatever they pleased, not caring who they hurt. It must have been some kind of ruse. Nonetheless, Callum didn't have much of a choice. "We have a deal. But if that guy" he said, jerking his thumb in the direction of Seth, "calls me an emo looking ****** again, I'm going to cut his dick off and force feed it to him before killing him. Nothing personal, just business" he said in a matter-of-fact tone of voice.​

 

Will's pov:



There was not anything else he could do. He was beginning to think that this was turning into a big waste of time. What had happened to the great mages. If these mages were anything to go by then the mages were far more lost then he first thought. He would have to find out what had happened to the great mages, his master. They would never let the mages go into this sort of thing. So then what happened to them? There was so many questions, but no way to find the answers, not right now anyways. These mages were a said excuse for a mage. Apparently they let any anyone run around and use magic however they wanted to. There was not any rules, no leader and no one to say that was wrong. It was clear that something had happened since he was sent of to this cave too check it out. With Teriana opening a portal there was not much to do. She would leave and there was not anything he could do to stop it. "Enjoy yourself." he said to Teriana. Maybe one day she would find the Council of mages. Then Yana said she was helping the child. What type of medicine did this women think she find in the cave? Most if not all of the mushrooms here were poisonous. There was on type of mushroom that was said to grow here that could cure just about anything. That said it was almost impossible to tell the difference between this mushroom and a poisonous one. These magical mushroom were all but picked from this cave and very few were left. Pick the right one you are cured, but pick the wrong one and you got really sick or died. Hopefully Yana would pick the wrong one and eat it and drop dead. That was probably hoping for to much though. With Yana telling him to go it looked like that what he should do. Before he went he looked at the girl. She was so young so unknown to the world and so unfortunate to have Yana as a teacher. He hoped that perhaps that this girl would find a better teacher soon and with that he walked out of the cave. He wished he had the legal power to bring Yana in, he did not s there was nothing he could do unless she attacked him. When he was out of the cave he opened a portal and steeped though....

 

Evander was lost. He had been sure of where he was before, especially when he had spotted over the roofs of the nearby buildings the twin spires of one particularly fancy public building, but apparently his route of right left right right up the stairs and left did not lead in the direction he had supposed. Which was very very annoying. Right now he wanted an ale and at the very least three belly-dancers performing in front of him, but it seemed that fate had decreed that he could not have those things right now. Cruel, cruel fate.
"Dammit, I'm starting to sober up as well," he groaned to himself, rubbing his now aching head. And the screams of the woman weren't helping either. What the hell was she even screaming about? What reason could there possibly be for-
He cut this train of thought short, and listened more closely. From what Evander could tell, those were screams of pain, and while it wasn't really his business, and he really wasn't in a condition to be doing anything other than drinking himself into a coma... he grudgingly made his way towards the noise and, after a few minutes triangulating the exact position of the area where the sound was coming from, ascertained that its origins were from within a particular house.
He thought so anyway, the screaming had by now ceased. Which meant that the person was now not getting hurt, or had been healed, or perhaps was simply dead. Either way, there wasn't much point in knocking on the door, Evander decided, so he took the next best, most natural and cool headed approach, and simply kicked the door down.

Well, attempted too. The door, while perhaps not the sturdiest, thwarted Evander's half-sober kick, causing him too stumble over and hit his head on the door frame.
"Bollocks," he explained, rubbing his head vigorously. "Alright door, you wanna take me on?" he asked the inanimate object threateningly. "Well then lets go, bitch." With his weight and strength, drunk Evander slammed his fist into the center of the door, pouring all his rage into the strike as well. It was a blow that would have slain titans and made the gods flinch.
Evander instantly crumpled into a fetal position, his whole body wrapped around his fist in a futile attempt to ease the pain. After a few moments of cursing and tears, Evander slowly raised himself up, still clutching at his throbbing hand.
Fuck it. Evander would much rather have not used magic, it was a great way to get noticed and have a thousand bloody peasants suddenly turn to him and plead for him to find something random like fifteen bear hides for gods know what. It was like these people thought it was a game or something.
However, looking up and down the street, there didn't seem to be anyone around right now, conveniently enough. Using the hand that wasn't suffering from door-inflicted injuries, Evander brought his arm slowly up, palm facing upward. The earth in front of him rose and stretching into a four foot high column in front of him. Evander then waved his hand quickly over to the right towards the door. The earth-column slammed against the door, knocking it off its hinges and several feet across the floor.
After quickly returning the earth column to the ground and smoothing it so that there were no traces of what he had done, Evander stepped through the now empty doorframe, the splinters crunching under his feet. It suddenly occured to him that perhaps this house was empty. After all, he had kicked and then punched the door, and received no response. On the other hand, if the woman had been screaming that much and now was not, she could very well be unconscious. Only one way to find out, really.
"All right, bitches, Evander is in the house! The hell is going on in here?"

 

Olivia's pov:



Aaron did not see spending time with her as wasting time. Well Maybe that was a good thing Maybe not Who knew. What was with this Witcher? The putting others before himself was a nice thing for a Witcher. Something Aaron only did as far as she knew. The other Witchers were all about money, Aaron was in a way, but it was not on the top of his list and he just helped to help. Novigrad was a four day trip so Aaron was just putting things off. "Novigrad is a four day trip it seems counter productive to come back here. I do enjoy the company though. I never ready had anyone around that long." Aaron was odd he just let her ask questions without really asking any in return. Well she did not have to explane her family or when she came from yet. Then Aaron said something about his sister. "So is your sister younger or older?" (garrett not remembering if it been said or not) As a Witcher she knew how hard it was to come by money. "A job that is paying is not easy to find, lucky that Witchers are know for there skills. That said you just can not go around doing things for other without payment." That was when they arrived at a building. The Witcher building was rather interesting. The court yard had a fountain in the center and several people stood by. A few people stood by there eyes just staring at her. A few gave odd looks in there direction. She wondered what they thought. There was so many of them she did not know how she missed this place before. Maybe in was because they had to take so many turns to get here and was not in a place one would think, but whatever the case they were here now. That was when Aaron asked her if she would like him to show her around or to look around herself. Well Aaron knew more about this town then she did so it would be better if he showed her. "I would love for to show me around Aaron." She then looked over to the group of people once more. "What do you think they are thinking about?"

 

Kara's pov:

She herd someone screeming. Maybe someone was dieing. She quickly looked to the window of the house to see a guy and the girl she saw earlyer. Then she spoted someone else a 3rd person who appeared to be in pain. She quickly left as it appeared that the guy would be able to help. Either way she had two more bodys to turn into. Perhaps she would return later and see if the girl was ok. She ended up somewere else in town. Not sure what to do keep an ear and eye out for other intresting things to happen.

 

​

Veera had been about to explain to Tatiana that they would find a way to fulfill the witcher's oath when the door was knocked upon, with more force then would have been necessary. Something told Veera that Tatiana wasn't expecting any visitors, and so the witcher quickly untied the girl, wrapping her up in the blanket before gently brushing Tatiana's hair from her face. "Stay here, and if I don't come back in five minutes, hide under the bed."

It wouldn't necessarily throw off anything of the monster variety, but it might fool a human attacker. Drawing her swords, Veera proceeded down the hallway just as the door was broken down. "Alright bitches, Evander is in the house!"
"Not for long." Veera muttered as she stepped into the hallway and swung the steel sword first in an upper cut. It may have been a bit aggressive, but the cut wouldn't be so hard that it would do more then slightly maim the intruder. It wouldn't help her to maim a peasant while she was praying the one in the next room wouldn't die in the time she was away.

​

Teriana stepped through the portal, quickly closing it behind her before Yana had the time to send anything, or even worse, herself, through. She hoped that William would find what he was looking for, but for now, she had other things to worry about. She sighed as she rested the basket on her right hip, frowning. In her rush, she had teleported herself ten miles away from her desired location. Well...nothing for it, she was going to have to walk. Tossing her hair over her shoulder, she started along the dusty road, walking towards a small village in the distance.

​

Zack tried not to lean too much on Seth, but the buzz from the alcohol was wearing off, and he was getting tired. "My dagger." He mumbled, hastily stowing the painted iron item in its sheath at his side. "You shouldn't have done that." He responded in regards to Seth's words about the witcher. He had had enough of them for two life times.

​

Bryce sighed, strapping his shield back onto his back, but leaving his sword out. "I'm not taking my chances. I think you can handle it." Bryce told Seth, a small disapproving frown on his face. "You know how I feel about you messing with the witchers. What did you do now? And where exactly is she? I don't want her to find our sanctuary. You can't put everyone's lives at risk, Seth, there's more at stake here then your ability to have fun."

It must have been pretty bad if Seth felt the need to pay off Callum in order to get into his and Zack's good graces. Still, Bryce hoped it was manageable. There was only so much gold available to bribe witchers with, and he didn't have enough for every single one that ran around the northern regions, let alone the entire continent.

 

Ava's pov:



She walked the outskirts of Novigrad. She soon found that it was much more trouble then it was worth to destroy Novigrad. There was guilds and people everywhere. Any chance to burn this town down was a death sentence. At one point she could here the sound of screams and someone knocking on a door in the distance. She had thought about checking it out, but there were far to many people and guards to get away. There was also the chance to run into a Witcher and she did not need that. A Dropper killing a Witcher was not unheard of but unlikely. This was something she was not going to take a chance with. While she could fight she really did not want to fight a Witcher. While she wanted to ruin this man's reputation, it was better to be alive then dead. It that fool ever escaped from his icy prison everyone would hate him or so she hoped. That was her goal to ruin everyone life or as many people as she could. She has been doing it for years turning to someone ruin their reputation until the was nothing left of the person then move onto the next person. If the person was alive they did not stay that way for long. A smile on her face as she walked on the outskirts of Novigrad. She did not do it for money she did it because she liked the entertainment that came from putting someone else's reputation down. This time Novigrad was lucky not many towns or place got the mercy of Ava Cross. They should be thanking her, but not in this form. She decided that it would be far more beneficial to destroy the farms and small villages first then move onto the bigger towns and cities. She walked out of the town heading off in a random direction. While in Novigrad she was able to find a map of the area around the town. She picked a small village not to far from Novigrad. Next time you will burn Novigrd, She thought to her self. It was better this way anyways the likely hood of running into a Witcher in a random village was far les likely then in a town.

 

Olivia's pov:



As she walked with Aaron when he went on about his sister. That she was older then him, by four years. She did not think that he looked to be that much younger then she was. "So how old are you?" She asked him more curious then anything. Then Aaron said something that she was not expecting. 'If not that then there is always the fact that there is a guy without a shirt walking around with a pretty girl.' She stared to blush. At first she did not know how to respond. Was Aaron hitting on her? He did just call her pretty and he was indeed shirtless. She thought they might be jealous, but of her? Why? She just thought of herself as average and nothing special. In fact she did not really have anything going for her. Sure she was a Witcher, but that was about it. Keep it cool Olivia. Thinking to herself it is not everyday some guy, a good looking guy, but a guy comes and said you are pretty. She just continued to walk as she thought. Keep it smooth. "You re not bad looking either." Wow Olivia mentally face palming. That was anything, but smooth. Why did she have to open her big mouth? That was pretty stupid. Whelp now she had to say something to recover from that. "Not that you where bad looking before." Oh my god. Why did I have to go and say that? Stupid, Stupid, stupid. She became rather nervous. She wondered if Aaron could tell. If there was anything to go by she could tell and now she would never forgive herself for saying something so stupid. "Um yea, lets go." She continued to walking feeling like a complete idiot. "So what is in the library that is so interesting?" Then she continued to follow Aaron. What could be in a library? There was books and that was about it. She hoped that Aaron was not going to show her some book that would be a let down, well not as big of a one that she just did on herself, but one all the same. Maybe there was a secret basement or perhaps she should just wait until they got there and just let it be a surprise.

 

Kruez had arrived at Novigrad with no troubles, now he needed to find a place to set up shop. He had gotten a bit into the city before something had caught his eye. Some random guy had broke into someone house. Well this had nothing to do with him, but Kruez couldn't help but to be curious as to how things would true out for him. So Kruez walked up to the broken down door to see what was going on and saw the man who had broken down the zoo being attacked by some chick with a sword. This certainly was interesting just as he'd thought it'd be.

 

No sooner had he stepped through the door than a crazy girl with a sword was all up in his face. His body jerked backwards in an instinctive reaction away from the arcing blade, but the sword still sliced through his clothes leaving a shallow cut on his chest. After taking two or three rapid steps backwards, Evander assumed a combat stance, his right hand going to the hilt of his own sword, and his left stretched out palm down, drawing on his power to lift the earth from beneath the house through the floorboards to attack the woman from beneath.
A flash of yellow stopped him though. Now that he'd taken a proper look at his opponent, Evander could see that this was a Witcher. He cut the channel of power to the ground beneath and dropped his hand from his hilt, stretching his palms outward to signify that he meant no harm.
"Let's chill for a moment, shall we?" he proposed. "I wasn't coming here for a fight. I heard some screams, and thought I'd better come check them out," he explained.
Evander knew that, for the most part, Witcher's weren't the sort to attack random townspeople for the hell of it. Meaning that whoever that woman who had screamed was, this Witcher had either helped alleviate the pain by now, or had killed the ones causing it. In that case they were on the same side, even if she didn't know it.
However, there was always the possibility that this woman was not a friend. Perhaps she was the one who had attacked the person he was trying to help.
He blinked hard as a wave of pain pierced through his head. The sooner he calmed this chick down and established what the hell was going on, the sooner he could go get a beer. Preferably this would all be solved without more bloodshed, but if it came to it, well, he'd killed Witcher's before.
He felt a trickle of blood pass down his torso. "So, you want to put that sword down now?"