Lambert.

"Lambert?" - Coen said with bewilderment. - "Of all people I expected to see in prison, it is you."

"So? Came to say ya precious goodbyes? Don't bother, I can do without it, buddy." - the one in question just laughed all of it off.

"Well, I must say although you look at home here, but I want to know, how did you even ended up in prison? What happened?" - Coen was more than sure, that the man is innocent. He might admit that Lambert is a dick, but a harmless one. Well, as far as a witcher can be.

"Idiocy of humanity happened perhaps? Or, maybe, idiocy of humanity? Oh wait, it should be idiocy of humanity!" - said Lambert with anger, then he clicked his tongue in irritation. - "And sparnox, yeah."

"What? How did you even found one? They are even rarer than dragons!" - Coen was stumped with words to describe Lambert luck, whether it is bad or not.

"I better converse with a brick than you, Coen. Less noise, same efficiency." - grumbled Lambert. - "Do you think I was running around searching for the thing? I came here thinking it was a doppler or a potion at best, but stumbled into this huge pile of shit!"

"You didn't change one bit, same ol' Lambert, same noisome dick." - smirked Coen and added with a victorious laugh. - "no, wait, that is my first time seeing you in a proper place where you truly belong."

"Are you helping me to get out or not?" - came irritated voice from behind the bars.

"What is Sparnox?" - sounded another voice from the side and Lambert nearly jumped, when saw a young boy appearing near him in a dusty flash of turquoise light.

"And what are you?" - Lambert freaked out with a funny antics. - "Scared the shit out of this witcher."

"Don't fret, uncle, you are good." - Alan gave him thumbs up and smirked.

"Hey! Why is he uncle and I am old man?" - Coen was irked by such injustice.

"You mean old fossil." - retorted Alan. - "Obviously because he is young and you are old."

"He is older than me!" - complained Coen.

"You just feeding me bullshit. I bet you are twice as old, just look at your face." - said Alan unconvinced.

"Haha, I like the boy, we can make it out alright!" - laughed Lambert with glee, while Coen opted to get down to Alan's question in order to avoid further boasting of the shameless witcher from School of the Wolf.

"Sparnox is a type of wraith, thought to be extinct. It is a cloud of black fog, that can enter humans and control them, giving tremendous power and versatility. Killing and finding it is a very complicated matter and I think that Lambert was able to destroy a host, but not the wraith itself, right?"

"I placed Irden traps and used Moon Dust, but then these stupid idiots from Brugge just barged in uninvited to my private party and let the demon escape." - grumbled Lambert. - "They were even cheering like a group of trolls finally finding boots to wear."

"Trolls wear boots?" - asked baffled Coen. - "Since when?"

"Since now, because they were ugly and loud and wore boots! If they are not trolls than who?" - sneered Lambert with his signature sarcastic glare through narrowed eyes.

"Well, Coen, aren't you a Captain?" - asked Alan a question, while eying Coen from top to bottom meaningfully. It is no coincidence that he mistook him with a troll after all!

The latter gave him a glare, like he knew what youth was thinking. The glare told him not to talk irresponsibly. One just can't open his mouth in front of Lambert and get away with it unscathed. That's just not how the world around works.

"And before you asked anything, it was a rhetoric remark, so please don't." - added Alan hastily, then he turned to Lambert and said with a serious note. - "Are you escaping or do we need to clear your name?"

"Second option." - nodded witcher. - "I don't care about my reputation, but Wolf School can't be badmouthed, even if I want to kick most members of it in the gut and head it is my prerogative to do that, not someone else! Only if I clear my name, can I continue the hunt and dispose of the sparnox. As for whether it has an owner... damn, I wish I knew. This shit really got complicated. I almost miss drowners and nekkers now."

"Then you sit here, I'll look into it more." - said Coen and gestured Alan to transform again.

"And yeah, we know, if anyone asks you in prison." - threw Alan his five orens.

"Very funny, boy." - gave Lambert his signature sarcastic grin without a single gleam of laughter in his cat eyes.

Alan chuckled and transformed again, before they left for some fresh air of freedom and gunpowder of approaching war.

Weather outside wasn't really that warm and cozy, it started to rain and temperature boarded on negative degree. Coupled with wind, damp ambiance and gray unwelcoming environment with people glaring at every corner, one will have a sunny impression of Dillingen only after a killer dose of fisstech.

"So, what are we looking for?" - Alan slipped out of the bag in a dark corner, Coen walked trough and both stepped out to the street again, attracting not the best gazes in the world.

"We need a testimony of someone trusted." - said the witcher with stony face and went ahead. Sometimes Alan wondered about his ability to shift between different emotions and conditions. The thing is speed. He was so fast to change from a joking guy to the death machine with no emotions, that the former condition seemed unnatural.

It really easily creates a wrong impression that he is unfeeling emotionless piece of rock.

"Will it even work?" - Alan had his own share of skepticism about the judicial system in this world, especially when Brugge was preparing for war with a behemoth known as Nilfgaard. Well, war is too loud of a word to say. They are a vassal state of Cintra that was hit hard and fell.

"If you don't trust officials you damn right to do so. But not when witcher is involved. They will not sentence him to death even if the letter of law says so." - said Coen with all seriousness, and it can be said he was very sure about it. - "You see, we are hated, yes, but on top of that we are powerful, united, few, necessary and never forgive mistakes. One thing is insults, but another when it comes to such persecution. In case of Lambert, if he is unjustifiably sentenced to death and killed, they can expect the entire school of the wolf to come here. And I'll be damned if they don't let blood flow if the witcher was innocent as stated in his contract."

"So, one witcher is not a threat, but their community is." - Alan thought about it and agreed. Witchers can slaughter normal soldiers like cattle, with zero effort. And the thing is – if the right is on their side by the law of the land, they can demand to do so.

"That being said, testimony can be found if Lambert killed one with sparnox inside."

"Yeah, but how can anyone aside from witcher testify to this? Would they even know?"

"That's where it got complicated." - Coen and Alan entered their lodging, a tiny house near the wall. Dillingen was a military outpost on the border on the bank of Yaruga, guarding the bridge, so it had no inn, as no one thought of travelers stopping here for the night. Thus, instead of renting the room, they got it from a quartermaster of the fortress. - "See, kid, normally it will be obvious, but sparnox is really the worst case for the witcher to be caught on. They are nearly untraceable."

'That being said, Lambert must be in Kaer Morhen later, so he got out himself somehow. One way – he was proved innocent, another this fortress was attacked and fell while he escaped. It better be first or we got ourselves in a fair share of trouble.'

"We can only find a master of autopsy with at least a glimpse of magical talent. What he needs is to pry open the head of the victim. Any mage will feel black magic in play there. Aside from that, I don't really want to think of another possibility."

"Can we even find one?" - Alan plopped on the chair, while scanning the kitchen for food with a sharp gaze.

"Well, every fortress of this side should have a couple of clerics, but whether they are willing to help is a question." - Coen stretched a bit and have a tired look. He can use some sleep instead of usually meditating, but the last thing can replace the other, albeit the converse is not true. - "It is late, anyway. Eat and sleep, tomorrow we will figure out what to do. Plus, I saw a couple of drowners outside. Might as well earn some coin."

"Wait, what is another possibility?" - Alan asked before the witcher left for his own room.

"Usually sparnox is hunted not only by witchers, but mages too. That is why it supposedly went extinct about a century ago. But unlike us, who killed them, mages were after it for another reason – enslavement and usage as a weapon. So..."

"Another possibility that it is not free." - Alan realized and immediately after frowned deeply.

"Kind of." - Coen gave an affirmative nod with a bit of apathy, perhaps because of tiredness, and left to meditate and prepare for the night.