Rebecca looked at the assembled witches with pity for those who hadn't done the deed, and disgust for those who had. Oh, she could understand why an old, dying witch would rip the life force from a person to save her own life, even if she wouldn't condone it- truth be told, she'd briefly considered the act during her own illness, though the memory of such still shamed her. But just to give yourself a few extra years of youth and beauty? No, no. And now the hunters would be coming in force. These witches had brought the wrath of Hell down upon them all, and it would take all their skill and power to survive the coming storm.


Phagora sighed as Alexina went through her spiel. Yes, she'd been part of the ritual. Her blood desecrated the floor of the church and the holy relics. Yes, she'd eaten the priest's soul. But were they not witches? Did the circumstances of their birth not put them above the common rabble? Mortals needed to know their place. And that place was scraping and groveling at her feet. Besides, with a swift offering of blood and Hellfire, her father would be at her side- a foe even the mighty Alexina Broadchurch couldn't lightly dismiss. The Witch of the Wilds wouldn't dare kill her- would she?

Saen, meanwhile, was kicking herself- metaphorically, at least, since she didn't have feet. She was a witch, and mind magic was her stock in trade. She should have seen the plots forming in the thoughts of the renegades- the tension, the anticipation, the fear. Instead, Goldencrest would be a name spoken only in horror forevermore. "I could bite them, Alexina. It wouldn't be as ssslow a demise as they dessserve, but perhapsss they would know a measure of the pain their victims sssuffered before they passssed."


Kalisel walked into The Witch's Paradise, noting the startling inappropriateness of the tavern's name. She knew now what witches called [i]paradise[/i], and she'd vomited upon the sight. She'd seen murder before, as well as the torments suffered upon sinners in Hell, but this beat all sickening violence that had come before. "Bartender, your strongest drink, and a lot of it." He raised an eyebrow, but when she told him, "I was at Goldencrest," he nodded in understanding, then slid a copious quantity of whiskey over to her.