The Last Witch Hunter Page #2

passport, and a new identity.

Just gettin' used to the old one.

Well, it's out of date.

There are global databases now, CCTV's,

smart phones and geotracking.

The world is changing.

Only on the surface.

Right. But it's important

to keep a low profile.

Mmm-hmm.

Uh...

I guess we should be thankful it's not red.

May I ask where we're going?

I've seen people get old, retire, and die.

Rarely on the same day.

He was found at his desk.

What are we looking for?

How do you know when there's

magic in the vicinity?

A witch's magic comes from four elements,

fire, water, earth and air.

Applying the correct alchemical triggers

will reveal its presence.

No magic here.

Just wanted to be sure.

If the window hasn't been opened,

how did that get in here?

One means nothing.

Two, a coincidence.

Three, trouble.

Get down!

What?

He was killed by witches.

Never in the history of The Axe and Cross

has a Dolan ever been murdered.

You wanna quit?

No.

I want a raise.

This is a declaration of war.

Who could have done this?

A concealment spell was placed

to make everything look normal.

They were searching for something,

didn't want us to know.

Elemental magic is neutral.

At its root it's neither good nor evil.

But this is different.

This is dark magic.

Beyond evil.

They tied him to the chair.

"Death."

Is that part of the spell?

You were here last night

before he died, right?

Yes.

Let me see your hands.

Now.

I was five years old

when witches set our house on fire.

My parents died.

But you walked through the flames,

wrapped me in a blanket,

and jumped out the second story window.

Your body broke the fall.

I told you we'd met before.

If you don't remember, I

can refer you to the entry...

No. I remember.

You hunted down the witches

and brought them to justice.

I've waited my entire life for

the opportunity to help you.

Well, now's your chance.

You can help me hunt the

witches that did this.

Shouldn't I have a gun or

an iron mallet or something?

Take a deep breath. Center yourself.

Right. Of course.

Because resisting enchantment

requires a clear mind.

Now, Max is a 14th level warlock,

there's nothing you can

do. May as well relax.

Free sample, Father?

Oh. Thank you.

I'd think twice about that.

I don't know that I can do $10,000.

You know the level of enchantment

they are getting from that.

Business is good, right?

Yeah.

Oh, crap.

Shop's closed, Max.

Kaulder. It has been too long.

It is not illegal to

sell mind-altering bugs.

When they're used on humans, it is.

They're mixing them in the cupcakes.

I hadn't noticed.

Notice this?

Griffin's Henbane. Very rare and forbidden.

This is used in necromancy. Dark magic.

You know I do not deal in

these kinds of bad things.

Max, you're too smart to go down that road.

One can only imagine how

many times I've been lied to.

More than anyone in history, actually.

Come on, Kaulder.

You must understand, anyone

who would use this herb

is not afraid of you. And that scares me!

More than I scare you?

Max.

The man who came to see

me has an odor on his skin.

A whiff of garlic that was not garlic.

Arsenic. Anything else?

And moldering crabapples.

Thank you, Max.

Be careful.

Not in the habit.

Not you. Him.

So, all that made sense to you?

It didn't to you?

No.

Arsenic was used for embalming

back in the Civil War.

Whoever killed Dolan

is likely living in what

was once a funeral parlor.

We just have to find one

with a crabapple tree.

What's that for?

A cab.

You're not qualified for what happens next.

Oh.

Right. I'll get a receipt.

Whoa.

Didn't your mother ever teach you

not to eat candy from trees?

Go home, kid.

Go away.

It's okay.

- Get away from me.

- Shh.

It's okay.

Get away from me now.

- I'm not gonna hurt you.

- Go away!

It's okay.

Ah...

Oh, sh*t.

You killed Dolan. Why?

Who the bloody hell's Dolan? Huh?

I never met the man in my life!

Do you like my new pen? Huh?

When I imagined my first prosecution

in front of the Council,

I never thought it would be

for a crime against one of our own.

Ellic Lemasniel.

Hello, Father. Whoo!

You look like a good man,

tasty little thing, you. I never went...

Please don't think less of me.

I'll confess it later.

The Witch Council receives you,

37th Dolan of The Axe and Cross.

The peace endures.

The peace endures.

I present the accused,

Ellic Lemasniel, for judgment,

for the murder of Dolan the 36th.

I present the evidence found

in the accused's dwelling.

Found? Oh, come on.

What? You look like a

terrible band from the '80s.

Look at your hair!

He will be judged.

Blah, blah, blah.

You know my great-grandfather's

grandfather served The Queen, huh?

The Queen.

You're a bureaucracy o' cowards

and I don't recognize the authority

here in this council.

Nor do I abide by your law.

The laws serve to

control and contain magic.

It is only by the

operations of this council

that another war does not begin.

I won't lie! I'm proud of what I done!

I murdered your priest!

I drip-dried him like he was a stuck pig!

Our priest, and my friend.

Kaulder.

Oh, sh*t. This guy again.

So we're to judge him

without interrogation?

Has anyone asked him

who he was workin' with?

There's no Three of Pentacles card.

That means he worked alone.

The cards are wrong.

He cast a shape-shifting spell.

I haven't seen that crafted in 800 years.

Not since the time of the Witch Queen.

Ha! The Witch Queen is long dead.

That her magic could return is impossible.

- Is it impossible?

- It is.

- You have the authority...

- Enough!

To turn this city inside out.

For the crimes of illegal crafting...

Find who he's working with.

And human sacrifice...

- And I'm proud o' what I done.

- ...we sentence...

Ellic Lemasniel...

I'm proud o' what I done.

- ...to incarceration...

- I took a stand!

In the bedrock beneath this chamber.

You are sad reflections of...

Arise, Sentinel,

and carry the condemned to prison.

You'll never see daylight again.

No, no! You may hold me now,

but you'll never have us all!

What is that?

Hey, kid.

What are you doing?

Hello, Father.

Still with us, old friend.

He's alive?

Barely.

He's been cursed.

How?

Musca Mali.

Plague fly.

13th-century black magic.

They were created in the

tree of the Queen, correct?

That's right.

Why didn't they just murder him?

They wanted to interrogate him.

When a Plague fly burrows inside of you,

it breaks your will.

Whatever the killers wanted to know,

he would have told them.

But the question remains,

what did they want to know?

He isn't getting up.

Not unless we could break the curse.

And the only way to do that

is to kill the witch who cast it.

The one Ellic works for.

Dolan's got two days, tops.

Hang in there, for me.

"Death."

It's a message from Dolan, not the killer.

"Remember your death."

What does it mean?

There's only one way

to remember my death...

Magic.

Hey, Chloe.

I have one more drink here.

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