Flames from reignited braziers kept the room warm, and a pair of shadows stood stiffly on the walls as Roy and Todd stared at each other.
"Was that a dream? Were the revived bodies and that monster fake?"
"Touch your wound. Does it hurt?"
"Ow! Wait, so it was real? Why did everything disappear, then?"
Todd gasped. He then realized something more terrifying, and the man shuffled over to Elsa's body. He put his hand against her head, but her temperature was still deathly low. There was no breathing or heartbeat. She was still dead, but that only surprised Todd more.
***
Roy pulled down some of the cloths and examined the other bodies. Dwarves, half-elves, and humans. They were the same corpses as before, but the dwarf left an impression on Roy. He decapitated that dwarf in the battle earlier, but now the head was reattached to its neck like magic.
The young witcher scowled. This is a headache. Never ran into something like this before.
He almost got himself hurt in that battle. Just when he finally destroyed his enemy, it was returned to its original state. The battle felt like a joke and a performance put on by a court jester. So who's the king watching the show?
He turned his attention to Elsa's body again, but his eyes narrowed warily. She was unsullied, pure, and beautiful, unlike the rotten squalor that was surrounding her. The living must die, the dead shall return to life. That matches the runes I deciphered. The coroner and his assistant died after she was sent here. So Elsa is the one behind the paranormal activities. But what is she anyway? She's just a corpse, and yet she can cast a spell of this magnitude? Is this some sort of forbidden necromancy?
"What's happened to Elsa, Roy? Is she still alive?"
"Not sure. This is my first time running into something like this." Roy paused for a moment. "But she's probably in suspended animation. She’s not breathing, has no heartbeat or even body temperature, and her flesh cannot rot. Her soul is trapped in that body!"
"So you mean she can still be saved?" The news delighted Todd.
"Sorry, but this is beyond me." Roy fell into another pause, and he said coldly, "The only one who can undo this is the one who set this up." His face tensed up, and his eyes were filled with cold fury. "We need to find that bastard Matteo Sigula if we want to save her."
And I have a score to settle with that whoreson. When I find him, I'll call Kiyan and make sure he gets his revenge. "Crisis averted for the night. I don't think anything else will happen. We should leave for Corinne's." Maybe the oneiromancer can give me more clues.
***
They went to a white three-storey house in the slums, and the magical lamp shone on three different faces. The burly man with a bandage on his leg looked pale and sickly, while the handsome witcher was quiet and brooding, and the beautiful, voluptuous woman in a robe was yawning at every moment. Her brows were furrowed into a frown, and she looked angry.
"Do you have any idea what time it is? Three in the morning! By Melitele's name, staying up at night is every woman's enemy! I'm almost thirty years old now! Can't this wait until tomorrow?" Corinne's chest was heaving with fury. "I know you gentlemen paid me, but that doesn't mean I'm your slave! I can't take your requests at any hour of the day. And barging into a lady's house at three in the morning is inappropriate, especially for gentlemen like you."
"I'm very sorry, Corinne. We didn't mean to interrupt your sleep, but this is an emergency. Someone’s life is on the line." Roy tapped his finger on the table and stared into her eyes. Corinne backed off a little the moment she met his intense gaze.
"Same thing as we discussed earlier. You've gone into Todd's dream a few more times, haven't you? Did you see the culprit's face?"
Corinne suddenly crossed her arms and pursed her lips. She was hesitant to tell them the answer.
"You found something, didn't you?"
"Before I tell you the answer, you need to promise you'll keep this a secret and never tell anyone about this. Do not drag me into this mess." She tensed up and said stiffly, "Or I'll just give you back the money and refuse your request."
Roy and Todd exchanged a solemn look, and they answered, "Of course. On the honor of the Viper School…"
"On the name of my family, I…"
"I did see his face." Corinne nodded and circled the table as she described his appearance, "Short, purple hair, lush silk robes, handsome face, and fair skin. His goatee was perfectly maintained, and a zircon pendant hung around his neck."
Wait a minute, Roy thought. That sounds really familiar.
He went back to the day they met the gang lords in the modified warehouse. A kind-looking man with a gold ring. That's Bedlam. Cleaver the outgoing dwarf with a Mohican hairstyle, and…
Roy heaved a long sigh and stood up. He had a hint of surprise in his eyes, but then realization set in, and he muttered, "No wonder there's peat under Elsa's nails. The bathhouse is his turf, and hot water needs a lot of peat to be heated. I should have known. He's called the Collector because he collects his test subjects. That blasted hobby of his is just a pretense for his monstrous experiments."
"Y-You know the guy, Roy?" Todd was breathing heavily and nervously.
"Yes. According to Corinne's description, that man is one of the gang lords of Novigrad—Orloff Byrd the Collector." Roy looked at both of them. "You just returned to Novigrad. I don't blame you for not knowing him, but that man has another name. He is Matteo Sigula, the one who took your daughter. I've been looking for him."
Todd stopped breathing for a moment. He clenched his fists and gnashed his teeth in fury.
Corinne looked a little pale. That was precisely why she was wary. The Collector was in charge of one of the biggest gangs in Novigrad. Even the Eternal Fire was wary of his forces. He could make her disappear with just a single order.
"Roy, Todd, do not forget your promise." Corrine nervously said, "No matter what you're going to do to him, never drag me into it."
Roy nodded. "This is a feud between men. Of course we won't drag you into it. But we're still friends after this, aren't we? Can I make another request after that?"
"Huh?" Corinne bit her lips. "If you keep your promise and never tell anyone I told you this, I won't refuse you, of course." And if you make it back alive.
***
"Thank you for your help, Roy." Todd took a deep breath and stood up as straight as he could. There was a resolute look in his eyes. It was as if he were making his final speech. "Now it's in my hands. I'll find that bastard and make him return Elsa to me."
"What are you going to do?" Roy shook his head and asked curiously, "What can a regular mercenary do to topple one of the biggest rulers of Novigrad? Not to mention said ruler is a sorcerer."
"I have some savings left, and I'll exchange them for dimeritium. That should be enough to deal with him."
"And what about his henchmen? Are you sure you can get close to him?"
Todd turned red with embarrassment. He hemmed and hawed for a moment before answering. "The Collector is too powerful. I can't ask you to help me out."
Roy was a bit happy that Todd was at least considerate. At least I didn't help him for nothing.
The witchers had signed a treaty with the gang lords and couldn't go to war with them. After the massacre at the manor, if Orloff were to die or go missing, the church, Bedlam, and Cleaver would turn their suspicion to the witchers, and the peace treaty would probably fail. And after everything we went through to set that up too.
But now that the witcher knew who the Collector really was, he would make sure to claim that life.
"We're not just helping you here. We have a score to settle with that whoreson too," Roy said. "But brute forcing our way through is not the best plan of attack. We need to come up with a better way. Come with me, Todd. We'll meet up with my companions and come up with a way to settle this."
***
***
