Chapter Text
Amity held onto the staff while watching the guard. She didn’t want to give him even the slightest opportunity to try anything. She approached the guard and pointed the staff at the guard. “Who are you and why are you looking for portal pieces?” Amity asked. The guard stayed silent for a second and looked away from Amity. “I should be the one asking questions. For instance, what is the Collector doing harassing Emperor’s Coven members?” The guard shot back. Amity lowered the staff a little, “The Collector? Sorry, you got the wrong person.” The guard raised an eyebrow underneath his mask and pointed at Amity’s cloak. “You sure? The Collector always shows up in well..that.” Amity nodded her head and raised the staff again “Yes I am sure. How about instead of you guessing who I am, you tell me who you are before I remove that mask of yours.” The guard shook his head 'Nah, how about you go first?’ Amity furrowed her brows, “Why would I tell you who I am? It would be pretty counterintuitive considering I’m wearing a cloak to conceal my identity.” The guard shrugged, “I don’t know, and why does it matter who I am? I’m some regular coven guard.”
Amity sighed and walked closer to the guard, controlling the abomination goop restraining him to prop him up. “Look, I don’t exactly have time for this. You could either tell me who you are, and what exactly do you need portal pieces for, or you can sit here in the woods for a while.” As if on cue, a loud thunderous bang filled the air, as the clouds grew dark. Amity and the guard both looked up and Amity looked back at the guard. “It really is your choice.” The guard sighed “Fine, my names-” Amity raised a finger to the guard's face, she had heard a sound come from the shrubs near them, as if someone was in them. The guard looked around getting the hint and whispered to Amity, “We should probably get going.” Amity turned her attention back on the guard, “We? I should just leave you here honestly.” The guard, with a slightly smug tone, shot back, “You could, but then you wouldn’t know what the Emperor’s Coven wants with portal pieces.”
Amity smirked, “I could make some conclusions. Finding out certainly isn’t worth some of the Emperor’s Coven cronies ambushing me.” Amity’s ear twitched a little because she heard another shrub moving and a light footstep. The guard, who thinks someone is coming to assist him, distracts Amity again.
“You’re one of those wild witches aren’t you?” The guard asked. Amity ignored him, and he repeated the question. “I said, you’re-” Amity shushed him before hearing another footstep. Amity grabbed onto the guard's restraints before pulling him out of the clearing and into the forest. The guard ran with Amity, although he was forced. He turned back to see two figures who both definitely didn’t seem like they’d help him even in the slightest. “Who are they?” he asked. Amity ignored him, mostly because she herself didn’t know the answer. Before they could do anything, Amity made a turn and soon enough ran into a dead-end, aka, the side of a large mound. Both Amity and the guard knew there wasn’t any way for them to get out of this without fighting. So, the guard began to formulate a plan.
“Hunter.” Amity turned to him and he continued, “My name's Hunter.” Amity’s eyes widened a little remembering the very short story Luz was telling her about how her week was going. “Why does that matter right now?” Amity asked facing forward, squinting for the men. “Well, so you can have a name to call for in case you need help. We are taking them down.” Amity shook her head and faced Hunter again. “Titan forbid I ever trust you in taking down these guys.” Hunter laughed a little, “Contrary to what you may think of me, wild witch, we both have a common enemy as well as a common objective. You have no more abomination goop and I can help take them down. We can fight after we take down these smugglers.” Amity raised an eyebrow. “Smugglers? Are you certain?” Hunter nodded his head. “Sometimes at that market, they’ll sell to people and then hire smugglers to rob them. It’s a very common practice, I am surprised you have no clue about it considering you seem to know about the portal technology.”
The footsteps drew closer after Hunter finished. “So what’s it going to be? Fist fighting witches while I watch or team up?” Amity shook her head “I am not entirely defenseless. I may know just abomination magic but I’ve been practicing.” Hunter chuckled and raised both eyebrows underneath his mask, “Oh so you are a wild witch. Interesting.” Amity scoffed, setting Hunter’s staff right next to him, “Oh shut it.” before drawing a spell circle and summoning a pink-purplish flame. Hunter shook his head. “This should be good.” The two smugglers appeared from the forest, both slightly taller than Amity and Hunter. They were both wearing black cloaks with all-black masks. However, one of them had a little tool belt holding multiple potions.
The potions smuggler threw a couple of potions near Amity, summoning multiple tentacles that’d grow from the ground and try to grab Amity. Amity shot her fireballs at these tentacles while the other smuggler drew a spell circle summoning a large spike from the ground before pushing it towards Amity. Amity rolled away from the large spike and noticed a construction coven symbol. She could try to shoot fireballs at the two smugglers, but her goal wasn’t to hurt anyone. She sighed and drew a spell circle, removing the abomination goo restraints from Hunter. “Let’s see what you got, Hunter.” Hunter nodded and grabbed his Staff before charging at the construction smuggler.