Blood and Smoke

(For me they have. I have a cr*ppy site layout right now. Did something happen to it for you?)

'Less Faeries.' He replied. 'The nasty ones lead you astray and freeze you forever in time, whilst leeching your lifeforce.' He said. 'Also, the marshes don't exist at night. Which means no Kelpies.' He shuddered at the thought. 'Of course there are still vampires and werewolves to look out for, but... those can be reasoned with.'
Zephyr looked down at a bunch of unassuming vines, then pointed at them, muttering a spell. They burst into flame and emitted loud screeching screams, before whipping around in a panic, and then finally turning to ash.
'Tooth-trap.' He said, pointing at a strange pointed plant the size of a horse- which looked like a Venus fly trap. Supersized. The mouth slowly closed, clearly injured by Zephyr's attack. The witch continued on his way, gazing around. 'Oh- if you hear singing, don't follow it- it's the elves. You'll never leave alive.'

(It never changed for me x3 So, I'm going to reply later when things are back to normal for me.)

Nicholai raised a brow as they came across the large monster plant. He found himself surprisingly accepting of what Zephyr was telling him, mostly because he'd been trained not to go running off at the mention of demon horses and mean fae. "I don't think anyone would be so ignorant," he spoke in response to the info "As to fall for such tricks. Anyone with a decent mind anyway." In real life, 90% of people don't go toward the weird singing or loud noises. Looking around some more, he was almost hoping for something to happen, but not anything insanely difficult. "And do you have any idea what might've decided to attack this friend of yours?" he asked a little later. Sure, the other Witcher apparently lived in a forest full of fairfolk, Kelpies and plants from Little Shop of Horrors, but if she's able to do so for so long without getting nabbed, then maybe something else got to her? Only way to know was to find out he supposed.

Nicholai snorted at the mermaids as he followed after Zephyr. "There's always something to prey upon another," he said simply at the witch's answer "I'm intrigued to find out what Ash's trouble might look like, if we even find her in trouble at all." A missing person didn't mean anything was wrong. Just that that person hadn't been seen in a while.

Nicholai took out his sword as they approached the cottage, nose twitching as he picked up on the magical residue lingering. When they got inside, he watched as Zephyr moved about the cottage, examining the scene it had left behind for them. So it was a witch that got to her? Not that he was too surprised. Curiously looking among the destroyed home and bloodstains, he raised a brow before following Zephyr outside. Nicholai blinked when they reached the spot where the vision apparently ended, and he questioned "So, did the witch take her? Or did she crawl off to die somewhere?" He didn't see any trails flattened grass, or smell any rot, so she was probably taken?

Nicholai simply nodded and moved to start walking east. "Why would a witch come to take either of them? Aside from grudge purposes I suppose." Any witch, if they were able would probably try to kill Witchers because they'd killed who knew how many of their kind.

Nicholai pinched the bridge of his nose as Zephyr explained what the other Witchers exactly were, but said nothing. Once the approached the next dwelling, he didn't get to do much before a few shots were fired off at Zephyr, who argued with who he guessed was Night. They talked, with the attacked apparently being something quite unnatural. Great. Keeping himself by the door, he listened carefully to Night speak, not speaking a word himself. The two couldn't be entirely innocent if something so dangerous wanted them, be it through action or their blood that put them in the spotlight.
He glanced over at Alder, who'd finally popped up after leaving them to scout around earlier in their journey. Nicholai grumbled something and stiffly signed something to him before patting his shoulder. Looking back at Night and Zephyr, he grunted "So would there a possibility Ash is even alive still? Or would we be looking for a corpse if we proceeded?" To be honest, he wasn't in the mood to go looking for her anymore either way, no longer in a good mood at all. His companion sensed this, and spoke softly to him, voice barely above a whisper like last time. "... their... problem..." Nicholai's jaw tightened, but he didn't respond. It actually wasn't his problem at all, unless the creature came for him, people he had an ounce of care for, or if he absolutely needed to kill it. Which he didn't.

Nicholai watched Zephyr heal Night, blue eyes watching the repairs being made to mend the wounded individual. He blinked slowly when it was said that the creature smelled like Zephyr, at least a little bit. Nose twitching, he could admit the same thing, picking up on lingering, but now faint scent of dying nature. Hopefully they'd get going soon enough and see about getting Ash back. Just letting the two go about the healing process, he sighed before going to sit outside with Alder to wait until they were. There was simply very little for him to do until they got going again, and that annoyed him.

Nicholai snorted at Night before getting up, Alder following beside him as they caught up with the others. Listening to them worry about Ash, he remained quiet. Had he been closer to any of the three, then he would've been more inclined to show concern to. Plus, anything he said wouldn't have been any more reassuring than what Night said, which didn't sound the most convincing in the first place.

Zephyr dropped back after a while to let Night lead, reaching up to hold onto Nicholai's sleeve as they walked. His face looked pale, and his eyes tired. He must have used a lot of energy healing up the older witcher. 'I should have brought my hellhound.' He mumbled. 'I think I'd feel a little safer.'
'You're a witch, Zephyr. You're meant to be the scariest thing out here.' Night chuckled.
Zephyr blushed. 'Don't know if you've noticed, Night, but I can't even scare a mouse.'
'I've noticed, kid. It's why I haven't even bothered to check you out.'

((Just my best fren being an as* again, he'll sort himself out don't worry I've spoken to him. He's caught up in the excitement of living with cool new friends and sh*t and not being home cos he's gone to uni. He's doing freshers week etc, all new to him. He'll get over it soon))

Zephyr nervously nodded, half closing his eyes as he kept hold of the sleeve and just followed Nicholai and his movements. A sharp chill filled the area as they walked, followed by a nasty stench of rotting leaves; and then the unmistakable smell of death and blood. Zephyr shuddered as they began to step into snow, the trees growing sparse around them and leaf-less, all dead.
'What the hell?' Night muttered. 'This wasn't here last week... what happened?'
'It's contained.' Zephyr said, tapping into his nature magic. 'It's controlled. As though it's a moving environment.'
Although the area smelled, it was doubtless beautiful- the light shimmering through the trees as the sun began to rise, lighting droplets hanging from the branches. The snow was whiter than white and gently reflected the suns rays as it climbed above the trees. Zephyr slowly relaxed as the day approached, and almost automatically headed towards the lighter areas of the woods.
'Shouldn't be too bad now.' Night sighed, relaxing only a little. 'The nasties will be going to sleep.'

'Just walking until we find a trail.' Night confirmed, nodding at the other witcher. He frowned, turnin his head, and froze as he saw a cloaked figure walking slowly towards them, almost gliding over the snow. Their cloak was a soft brown, and they wore some kind of deer skull over their head to hide their face, the hood pulled up as well, antlers leaning out either side. They carried a staff in their left hand, and they were adorned with bones.
Zephyr took a shaking step back, sensing something very, very wrong- but he couldn't figure out what.
'Are you lost?' The voice asked- indiscernible of gender, it sounded detached.
Night tensed, then warily looked at Nicholai, wondering what to do.

'You're on my land.' It softly said, gliding sideways, not quite seeming to walk, it's head tilting. The coldest chill seemed to manifest in his area, everything freezing over as its cloak brushed them.
Zephyr took a step back, glancing around. He focused on what was hidden, seeing grimy ropes clinging to thick tree branches, strange rock formations, and then a single large pointed stone in the middle of the clearing, the base strangely stained with an off-brown colour against the grey. He felt a panicked shudder run up his spine, now spotting gharishly white bones sticking only slightly out of the thick covering of snow.
'We need to go,' he said, his voice coming out barely louder than a wheeze- his chest tight with terror. 'Need to- we have to go.' He took a few trembling steps back, and the entity seemed to tilt its head. 'It is still dark back there, the Lycans grow restless. I mean you no harm, little one.'
Night tilted his head up and breathed deeply in, then released a sharp hiss, his eyes blazing a bright blood red. 'It's him!!!' He snarled, unsheathing his sword. 'Where is ash?' He demanded.
The figure fell very still, before its cloak shimmered and turned white, everything on it either an unnaturally bright white or strange shimmery silver, while bright blue eyes shone through the eyeholes in the skull. 'Oh, dear.' They said, voice becoming more clear as their glamour fell away, growing in height and voice deepening to that of a man- possibly in his fourties, a sword at his side. Limbs became visible- shoes, his arms, hands- the fingertips blackened with what could have been frostbite, the nails elongated into unnatural claws, skin deathly pale. 'your friend is fine, bleeding out somewhere over there. My apologies, I knew this little witch had a good streak in him and had to lure him out somehow.' The hood fell back and he pulled off the skull, running a hand through very messy white-blond curls, before twitching up bloodied, cracked, blue lips, gazing over at them. His skin peeled in places on his face, his nose as blackened with frostbite as his fingers.
Zephyr released a choked gasp of panic, legs shaking as he backed away and tripped on some bone, landing hard on his backside. 'Dead- killed you- fell-'
'Oh, I fell, little one. That doesn't mean I died.' The elder witch replied, examining his fingernails before eyeing the three of them. 'Just gave me the chance to recuperate and practice what you stole from me. Turns out I didn't need the demon alive.'
He grinned, revealing rows of sharp teeth.
Zephyr whimpered, scrambling to his feet and turning to run.
The elder witch stared, then released a long sigh. 'Zephyr, do stop doing that. It makes me work harder, and it really is a bother.'
A blizzard blew through the area making it extremely difficult to see even a foot in front of you; the witch disappeared in the flurry.