Truthfully, being a witch hunter didn't change much of what Dorian does. He always comes to a settlement, village or city, takes care of the requests while collecting shadows when he can, then gets out. In weeks, rumors of the Stalker's return ran through the land and the man himself easily found work to do.
One thing changed, however, as it is said that now the man takes more dangerous tasks, in addition to his usual. All can understand that his months of disappearance were only him honing himself instead of tying the knot. Some people, however, keep saying that he is abnormal. Those voices were always here, ever since he began his work. They pointed out that he was doing too well before. Now, with his change in modus operandi, those voices were becoming more vocal.
The boy, one day, decides to make a halt in a village, a little settlement without anything noteworthy to his eyes. In it, he easily distinguishes between those who don't want him here and those eager to have him solve their problems. Some, as usual, simply don't even look at him, not thinking of his presence as something to care about in their busy life.
Surprisingly the hostile group is way less in here that he is used to, which leads him to believe that there should be work to be done. Within minutes, as he walks in the settlement's center direction, he is proven right as a malnourished villager comes to him. Dorian hides his surprise, as he rarely sees one so thin outside of the big cities' urchins.
— Please… I need, we need help… Our cattle disappear each day. I… I think it's wild beasts, they killed the dogs…
Dorian nods while hiding a sigh. Once again, they ask for help without even saying what they'll provide in return. Do they think that, because he hunts in the wilds, he won't need money ?
— I'll look into it. But… Not for free.
Even with his exasperation, about their lack of clarity in their demands, the man still finds it hard to talk about remuneration right off the bat. Of course, the villager doesn't see his turmoil and only frowns. Not a frown of disdain, mind you, one of reflection. It seems that he really didn't even think that one would ask for a salary for one's work.
— But… But the two others didn't ask for a thing ? They're even hunting witches.
Now, the witch hunter doesn't hide his sigh. When the problem doesn't come from arrogant villagers, it comes from other colleagues. This time it's even some pair of thugs who called themselves witches hunters.
— Yes, they did. But I'm not them. Each of us chooses on what he takes, or not, a salary. Personally, I'll never charge for missing childs. The both of them seem to follow a different set of rules.
Dorian feels conflicted now. If he charges the villagers before doing the job, he won't be better than those monsters that everyone sees mercenaries as. On the other hand, if the pair rides on his coattails only for taking credits afterwards, he will have worked for nothing.
— I… I'll look into it. If they already did a part of the work, I won't charge you for what they did even if I have to do it too. Do you agree with it ?
— Sorry for… Saying this now mister Stalker, but… How will I know if you're telling the truth ?
Of course, he can't shake away the other's distrust with only a few words. The fact that the other dares to talk about his doubts is a silver lining however. It proves that his own reputation lets them, those willing to approach him, able to talk freely.
— I'm sorry, this is the first time since I started that this case happens so… I can only ask of you to believe in my reputation. I'll begin now.
Dorian heads back to the woods with heavy steps. He really shouldn't have come to this settlement, now his workload increased more than he hoped and, worse, he isn't even assured to earn anything at the end of the day. First, he has to find those wild beasts, or whatever they really are, then he'll try to confront this pair to see if they are really witches hunters or only humans that took this mantle without agreement from any coven. Of course, he has to do it without raising suspicions in case of them being the latter.
As he walks in the woods, his shadows searching for him, he temporarily chases those thoughts off his mind and tries, once again, to test this tugging he feels. If he wants to be stronger, he knows that mastering whatever ability is hidden behind this is the way to go. Each of the man's tries until now ended in failures however, and this time doesn't seem to go any better. Besides him, Gibbs is completely unfazed by his master's turmoil, running from flower to flower as if in a simple stroll.
This time the hunt is long, longer even than when he tried to track Gloria's whereabouts. Something feels off, as no cattle nor animal pulling a cattle corpse would leave so few traces. Sensing his unease grows at the passing time, his shadows begin to close the ranks, letting less distance between each group or individual. Gibbs even choses to go back to Dorian's shadow, letting him focus on the matter at hand.
It takes a full day for something to finally happen. One of the groups stops progressing and their bird begins to fly back to Dorian. Once again, his longing to be with it soars throughout the roof without result. Something's missing in his understanding of this tugging, but now's not the time to think about it. He summons his horse directly under him and gallops to the place. All others shadows home in on it at his behest.
Two hours later, he arrives near his army and dismount, unsheathing his sword. Whatever awaits them is, at the very least, supernatural in nature. He progresses carefully behind his shadows, the latter in fighting formation, only to have everyone freeze as soon as he can see what is in the clearing. Well, what 'was' in the clearing should be a better term. All there is in front of him is but a burnt cottage, traces of intense fighting and, just over a well, the charred remains of, someone.
No genius is needed to understand that here was a witches house, he even feels the remaining power in the place, which found itself taken care of by the pair.
*At least, they know what they do.*
Looking around, Dorian finds the corpses of the missing cattle, but no traces of his predecessors. He immediately sends his shadows all over the place and the woods to find them while he'll sleep in the ruin for the night. At dawn, without success from his thralls, he mounts the horses' shadow once again and falls back to the settlement.
Here, he finds the same malnourished villager which awaits him.
— You're back ? Did you…
— I found the cattle, but it was already dead. The witch hunters did a good job, they burned a witch in her cottage, near which were the cattle's remnants.
Seeing the villager make a holy move, in order to ward off the spirits and other witches, Dorian suppresses his growing anger. They didn't know if this witch was helping or not ! An angry sigh still escapes him, attracting the villager's attention.
— Yes ?
— No, it's nothing, I… It's just that all the work was done by the others so… I'll have to sleep outside tonight. After this, I'll continue my journey.
Under the stunned gaze of the villager, Dorian goes back to the woods. He won't walk away for some days, hoping to see the pair come while letting his shadows keep watch over the settlement. They, however, apparently choose to continue their own things as, a week later, Dorian decides to go without even finding a hint of who they are or where they went.