On Our Way

In the afternoon sunlight on a bare and empty shore a group of people are waving towards a steam ship. Octavio was packing out of a small boat, not far from him Machiavelli sat on a stone and was writing feverishly on a piece of paper. Then He went to Octavio.

"I am done with the documents. Now we can safely pass through any regions. No matter who controls it. All of them prove that we are special guests who were ambushed by bandits."

"My lord but... Do you really trust the word of that witch? How can you be so sure about it? If our plan didn't work. All of us would be dead. I'm glad I was wrong, the fact that you hired ex-pirates as sailors saved our lives. I'm glad you ignored my concerns..."

"Your concerns were valid. We're just broke... I had to sell my sisters clothes so we can get on that ship... We are fortunate that they accepted our payment. They were just as desperate as we were. Nobody wanted to hire them due to their history with the Blacksail Fleet."

"I hope we won't run into similar situations with bandits on the way."

"That possibility is highly unlikely. These guards that tried to rob us were well equipped patrols. No lord would just send these patrols on their own. They are here to keep the bandits away, and the gold royals in. However this means that this Duke Lionheart is desperate. He must focus all his attention on protecting his own territory and accumulating as much wealth as possible. If we compare this to the 'testimony' of the witch we can reach the conclusion that she was right. The only question is. What about the other factions..."

Octavio then raised his arm and said quietly. "May I interrupt...? Why the witches my lord? Why are we going to meet them? Even if you are right. I'm certain that they are dangerous and want nothing to do with us."

"You are right, but they are the only faction that has no reason to be involved in the fight for power. Witches only want one thing. Peace. With their cooperation I can establish a base where I can gather information about the exact situation. Then I will participate in the fight for power." He then turned to Octavio who was nervous and grinned. "Any questions?"

"Yes..." His voice became depressed. "There is one thing my lord; part of the plan involved the destruction of my alchemy equipment... In order to create that thick black smoke. I'm glad that we are alive but, it was such a horrible thing to see... I would like to receive compensation as soon as you can afford it."

"I am in your dept. You made a great sacrifice and I will not forget it. Rest assured. However it will take time. Now we don't even have a gold royal. Finances will be our most pressing concern for a while..."

"I see... Well I believe I should give you some good news then. Morrigan and I made breakthroughs about her magic yesterday and a surprising discovery in the morning .All this thanks to two small accident. It's strange that all the great discoveries always happen because something goes wrong." Morrigan hearing her name came close to them and joined the conversation.

"Well the very nature of alchemy is chaotic. Accidents yield the biggest results but only when you create them by chance." Then the two alchemists began to laugh, but Machiavelli just stood stoically. The two of them realised this and gradually became quiet.

"About the discovery. Well it's easier if I show it to you." She picked a stone out of her robe. "This is just an ordinary stone we picked up long ago. However yesterday evening we made a mistake and this stone cut my hand." She showed her left hand where a big cut wound could be found. "The stone was covered in my blood. This is when we made the discovery. "She then grabbed the stone with both of her hands and the stone began to glow." You see this was just an ordinary stone but now. It's an item that is capable of containing magic power... We are unsure if this is just the effect of my blood or something special with the stone. We can't determine exactly which one. We tried this to aply this method to a different stone but the result was a failure. But there is one another thing with this stone." She then put it down and the stone stopped glowing imminently.

"It can hold magic power only for a second. The church pills that I practiced with managed to hold their effect much longer. Unfortunately that's all there is to the stone."

"Excellent work. "He nodded "What can you tell me about your other discovery?"

The two alchemists became silent. Then Morrigan spoke in a quiet, secretive tone. "When we were in the harbour I managed to rob the dead guard before all the pirates, and I found this in his pocket." She then took a gold royal out of her pocket, and showed it to Machiavelli.

"Wait... You managed to steal that before all of them even had the chance. "He then grabbed his head in disbelief. "You managed to outdo the most fearsome pirates in their own field of expertise.

I have so many questions..."

"Two years is a long time. You can pick up a lot of skills if you watch and act carefully... However that is not what we wish to tell you. Here!" The gold royal in her hand then started to glow. "I believe you can piece together what this means..."

Machiavelli was shocked but then fell into deep thought. He grabbed his chin and started to walk in circles around them, then stopped. "It all makes perfect sense! Everything that the fanatic told us about the witches is also true!"

"My lord... can you." Octavio gestured for an explanation.

"It makes perfect sense because there is a witch in Everwinter who can make gold! This way there is no need for them to worry about finances. They make as much as they need and keep the curious people away. They can easily live a luxurious life. No wonder witches from the north aren't asking for help from Roland Wimbledon! He has nothing to offer because both safety and comfort is guaranteed by their wealth. It was not an exaggeration when she said: search for the biggest mansion... However this will make things difficult for us. We have nothing of value."

"They will help a fellow witch. You can ask for their help through me." Morrigan pointed at herself

"I certainly need their help but I need more than that. What I need is some sort of loose cooperation between me and them, and I don't think it is a good idea if you ask them directly. Who knows what their abilities are... They might detect lies or read your memory, anything is possible, and then all hopes for cooperation is destroyed, but I guess this is the only way... No matter what, our destination remains the same."

"We passed a village not long ago. We should go there first." Machiavelli then grabbed one of the packages from the boat and gestured for everyone to come around.

"It is time for us to move, we have to make our journey as fast as possible. We have already spent more than 3 weeks. We can't spare more time..."

He then looked Spring in Margherita's arms. She looked pale and exhausted her eyes were closed, her once cheerful spirit completely faded. She was shivering whenever the wind blew. Then Margherita looked back at Machiavelli with a pleading pair of eyes. Machiavelli didn't look away, and turned his down his voice drastically.

"We will do that after we finished the preparations for the long journey, but first we should leave for the closest village..."

Then everyone grabbed a package from the boat and before Margherita could put up hers Machiavelli grabbed it out of her hands and put it on his back. "How is she holding up?" He said in a gentle tone.

Margherita first looked at her sister then said as quietly as she could. "Well for someone who just left her home and everything she knew. She is doing remarkably well. She didn't complain about anything so far. Except for the horrible weather. "She smiled then her face turned cold." But about her... I know what you will are you going to say about this and I really wish I am wrong but I have a feeling that all this. "She looked at Spring's pale face." Is thanks to the witch...

"Margherita..."

"I know. You don't have to tell me that, but this is what I feel and I really want to believe that this has nothing to do with her. She said that she doesn't know what her power really does. What If it's poisonous to others... Spring never let her go and now look at Spring... There must be a connection. I just want to know for sure. Trust me. I want that is best for all of us, and I know that you do the same however not even you can answer all the questions or see everything...

"I see your concerns but there are many other possibilities." He paused for a long time.

"One of which can be that she is going to become one..."

Margherita was shocked but kept her voice down. "Are you insane? There is no way. How can you even consider that? One witch in our family is too much already but if our sister is going to..."

"Did you ever notice that from the four of us she was the only one who had no problem with others badmouthing her appearance? From her age groups many girls even envied her..."

"Where do you know that? Wait, you were spying on kids?"

"They give more information than you think; their behaviour in the presence of another kid from a noble family shows the true intentions towards that family. This was I was able to chart the relations between the noble families... But what I am saying can be wrong. I can't know all the answers. My assumptions can be wrong..."

Margherita stood for a while then after looking at spring she said. "We won't know the answer today. We should just go and warm her up. It was a long journey and it's going to get colder the further north we go..."

"I will buy her warm clothes..."