Witch Hunter Ch. 01

There are those amongst the elves whose job it is to maintain the image of the elves in the world of men. Elves are seen by humans as beautiful, incorruptible creatures that live above, separated by right of their birth. Elves are the first people, whose long lives and great natural beauty is a sign that there is good even in the pits of the world. An elf resorting to thievery and trickster's magic doesn't fit that mold well. This is where the Witch Hunters come in.

Among the massive Elven city of Sinome, the Librum is an impossibly large repository of knowledge, the likes of which can be found nowhere else in the world. Small, lithe female elves run between the shelves, acquiring books and scrolls for patrons. Their only spare time is the moments when no one has need of them. These are the Librarians.

"A bazaar. That's what it is." Leheros' contact had insisted on it. This was the largest gathering to purchase things within a hundred miles, and it happened once every ten to fifteen weeks.

The contact had been unsure if Leheros would be able to find his target, but he needn't have been. This "bazaar" was barely a market at all. Leheros had trained picking single targets out of the massive bazaar that ran all year in Sinome. This place offered no challenge.

The hedge wizard that was marked by the Aelvenaan Grand Council bustled quietly about the market square. He used a slight of hand trick here and a simple cantrip there to acquire things from people. It disgusted Leheros to see a mage resorting to wasting his talents on thievery. Flexing the muscles in his right arm, Leheros felt the runes tattooed into his flesh light up, disguising his presence from his quarry. He gently rubbed the handle of his blade, feeling the tiny hole that he filled with poisons.

The little man seemed to get nervous, glancing around and hurrying off. Leheros followed silently from a small distance. He narrowed the gap between them until the man turned down a side street. Leheros watched from the corner of his eye as the man hurried through the few people. Enough to be witnesses, but few enough that a follower would look suspicious. Leheros was far too good a hunter for that. He waited for the next corner, and rounded it . He walked with a group of people all in cloaks, still quietly catching up to his target.

Next the hedge wizard began stopping every few feet, trying to figure out which of those nearby was actually following him. Leheros had to turn away for the moment, only ten feet from his target. He followed the group of men around the corner, glamoured himself into garb similar to a passing group of women, and turned to get closer to his oh so wary target.

Wary until heavy breasts and milky thighs came by, that is. When the ladies came near, the little man became a regular Lothario. He took a handful of an ass as he passed. And it was his undoing. As he grabbed the woman, grinning the whole time, Leheros pulled his blade and used it to nick the man's palm, all the while pretending to take an interest in him and acting like he was happy to accept being felt up.

Leheros calmly walked the man over to a bench, pretending he was drunk and that was the reason for his inappropriate behavior. On the bench, he sat next to the man and dispelled his glamour.

"You knew this would come, yes?"

The man next to him leaned against the wall, unable to answer. The mage-bane poison in his blood had closed his jaw tighter than tetanus.

"You knew. You all know. The Council does not ask much of you mages. It is not so much to ask that you make an honest living, is it? So now, we shall return to Sinome. Or, if you would rather, I could end your life now. You know what awaits you in Sinome, yes?"

The terror in the man's eyes intensified as the thought crossed his mind. He shed a silent tear and blinked hard.

"I need to make sure. Blink twice for yes, and thrice for no."

The man's eyes fluttered twice, and then remained closed for a few moments. He opened his eyes to see Leheros kneeling before him.

"May you find peace in the next world." Leheros bid the man a last hope, then took a strip, paper thin, from his pouch. As the strip slid through the man's lips, it began to dissolve. A deep, floral taste. An irresistible urge to sleep, and the hedge wizard breathed his last.

Leheros stood from the bench and laid the man down on his stomach. A quick glamour disguised Leheros face just enough, and he crossed the street to a shop owner.

"My friend has had too much to drink and needs to rest. Do you mind him sleeping it off on that bench?"

"Why should I care what your friend does on a public bench. He can lay there until he dies for all I care." Leheros laughed lightly at the man's attempted joke, and because he knew that the man now laying on the bench would do just that, and then walked off toward the business district like he had somewhere to be. Moments later, he would teleport and not be seen in this little town again.

*

A ladder slowly works it's way around the Librum, it's wheeled base scooting along as someone too high into the books pulls along handholds, searching for a specific tome. The ladder stops after a moment, and a repeated click indicates someone climbing down.

The Librum's patron, an extremely heavy set balding human in expensive robes, paid his way in with a tale of intrigue, but is searching for a spell tome and can not even attempt the ladder system. His gut sees to that. He stares absently off into the distance out a window, his soft features twitch every so often as he tries to wait patiently for the young woman to return with his book.

After quite some time, a pair of long, thin legs come into view from high above. The small woman's frame would barely register with humans, at only about four and a half feet tall, but mostly rail thin. Only the barest hint of hips and slightest bulge of her crisp, white outfit provide any indication of her being female at first. The fat man mused to himself for a moment, recalling a time that he had accidentally called a male elven duelist miss. They all seemed to share feminine features until you spent more time with them. Of course, by that time humans started to all look very masculine.

In the elf girls arm, she carries a massive leather-bound volume with runes carved and glowing blue in the cover. "Alright Magister. Now as you know, we don't let our books leave the Libum, but you are welcome to use an alcove anywhere nearby, and each alcove has an inkwell and parchment if you need to copy a specific passage. Anything else I could get you?"

Abella stares in disgust as the fat Magister shoulders past her, not even thanking her for her help. He even manages to muss her top as he goes, leaving her two tone outfits white section with a greasy stain where he touched it. She tries her best to hide it, moving her gilded arm cuff up onto her sleeve, and goes about her day.

The Librum is massive, the single largest collection of information in the known world. The Aelvenaan began collecting the information here before humans crawled from their caves. Abella smiled as she thought about the incredible amount of works in this cavernous hall.

But for all it's size, it was still built with one her size in mind. A collection this massive takes an incredible amount of space, and girls with similar lithe, small frames were stationed all over the building, the only ones quick, nimble, and small enough to weave between the books and find the ancient repositories of knowledge.

Even her hair, originally a platinum blonde, had slowly changed to a brown that seemed to blend her into the surrounding books. And, as if to complete her appearance as a bookish librarian, her eyesight started going a year ago. She could get a healer to fix the issue, but after a few days wearing corrective lenses while she waited for an appointment, she decided she liked the way they framed her face and kept them. Even now they sat, her most expensive possession, perched on the bridge of her nose. The squares of enhanced glass and mythril did seem to complement her face well, though like all elves her features were practically flawless, but among the elves she is just normal.

Abella darts into the maze of books, to her little alcove. The space is just enough for one of her group, only about six feet each direction. A bed with a dressing chest built into it dominates the space, and Abella's few possessions sit on a table near the bed. A fairly new book also sits on the table, and Abella sits on her bed and picks up the book, a bawdy piece called 'The Hunter's Touch'. She lays back as she opens the book, and smiles a wry little smile. She lets her fingers of her off hand slowly grip her breasts, and trace the outline of her areola. She feels her nipple harden, and continues, one finger on each side, She squeezes her nipple between her fingers and lets out a gasp as it sends a shock to her deepest core.

Abella feels her nether lips moisten, and slowly runs her fingers further down her body. She lets herself enjoy the feeling of her fingers as they slide, first under her breast, cupping the small orb for a moment before continuing down to her smooth stomach and across her slightly bulging hip bone. As her fingers brush the top of her pubic hair a voice rings out through the Librum.

"Abella! You are needed. Report to the Head librarian!"

Abella grunts and shifts her position. She debates for a moment pretending not to hear, but the voice comes again.

"Abella!"

Sighing, Abella stands and takes a new top from the dressing chest. She changes into the new top and heads for the desk, her book laying open, face down on her bed.

She'd be back.