Chapter 625 - The Third Harvest Moon Ⅴ (1/2)

Wiping her mouth clean with her sleeve, the Soothsayer takes a seat across on a rickety stool as Marcellus gingerly takes a seat as well on a dirt-covered stool. Ignoring the grime, he sits down and waits for the soothsayer to begin to speak. Pointing at him with her talon-like nails, she says, ”The abomination only hunts for two reasons. The first is for vengeance, and the second is to acquire further power.”

The Soothsayer bends over and begins to write on the dusty ground with her finger tracing runes on the dirt floor. ”I am old, wizard far older than I look,” she muttered. ”Many years ago, I was born in a distant land under the warmth of the hot sun. My mother was extraordinarily beautiful, and thus, she was enslaved, but she was a hag. My father was a human wizard, who was seduced by my mother's appearance and never sought nor saw her true nature. My mother was very clever and hid her true nature even upon my birth.”

”I was carefully taught by my mother to hide that which we were,” the Soothsayer murmured in distant memory. ”As I grew older, I began to appear more and more with the appearance of that of a hag than a human, but I was human enough that none dared to say a word otherwise. Still, as I grew so did my power until one day in my youth, I encountered it.”

”It had yet to perfect its art at that time, but it was close, and it had already begun to become that which it is now,” the Soothsayer whispered. ”It saw my gift and powers and it desired to possess the natural born gift of sight which I possessed. And so, it revealed my true nature before all, and I was cruelly taken away from my mother and tortured by the humans.”

The Soothsayer ceased to write as she lifted the robes from one of her arms to reveal the cruel and twisted torture that she had survived. And upon her lower arm there is a faded, but large burnt brand upon the flesh of her arm that marked her as a slave. Just as quickly, she lowers the sleeve of her arm and continues, ”It thought me weak and nearly dead when it snuck into my holding cage in the depth of the night. It sought to possess me, but it could not, the magical linage within would not permit such an atrocity. Weakened by the backlash of its failed attempt, I took the opportunity as it lay stunned on the floor and fled into the night. I have remained hidden ever since that day.”

”Magical lineage, what do you mean by this Soothsayer?” Marcellus carefully asked. ”Do you refer to your father's wizard blood or to the blood of her your hag mother?”

”It cannot possess those who bare the blood of the Spirits,” the Soothsayer cackled. ”The Spirits blessed their descendants with protection against such evil and the abomination, in turn, cannot possess those that carry such bloodlines be it man or beast.”

Marcellus's eyes widen in understanding, before saying, ”But such unions are far and rare, there are not many humans that carry such bloodlines.”

”That is not true, wizard,” the Soothsayer murmured. ”My mother hid her true nature from my father, and who is to say that other beings did not do the same in ages past and continue even to this day? You would do well to remember, wizard, that which we see is not always the whole truth but merely a portion of that which we believe is to be true.”

”Now wizard, I have answered all that I can freely give,” the Soothsayer rasped as she extended her gnarled, grimy clawed hand to him. Gesturing her yellow nailed at him, she adds, ”There is a price for all things, and wisdom must be bought and bargained for. If you seek more than that which has been spoken, then a price must be paid. What are ye willing to pay for such knowledge, wizard?”

Marcellus reached into his cloak and pulled out something carefully wrapped in a cloth. He hands the bundle to the aged soothsayer, who eagerly unwraps the cloth to reveal a rare herb ingredient inside. The soothsayer happily cackles to herself, before putting the bundle to the side.

”The price is enough to cover all that which I know, wizard,” the Soothsayer said. ”What is that which ye seek to know the first wizard?”

”Can it be slain?” Marcellus pointedly asked.