Lady Nothing reigned her horse in and looked at the hut set back in the trees.

    "What''s up?" Bon asked, pulling up next to her, the rest of the men drawing up behind.

    Reckless frowned. "I''m not sure, but I get a definite feeling that our boy''s been here. Let''s pay a visit."

    Bon glanced over at his lieutenant and jerked his head as he dismounted, hurrying to catch up with Reckless as she walked briskly to the door. A guardsman followed him, hand on his sword.

    Not hesitating, Lady Nothing banged on the door. "Is anybody home?" she shouted, loudly.

    "Depends oos askin''," came a shrill voice from inside.

    "Open up, we have some questions to ask y..." The door swung open suddenly, cutting off Lady Nothing''s sentence mid-flow.

    "What yer want?" said the female figure standing on the threshold.

    Bon, upon seeing her, had to stop himself taking a step backwards. He''d grown up in the country, and knew a witch when he saw one. Before he could stop her though, Lady Nothing spoke again.

    "What are you then?" she enquired.

    Bon winced. Admittedly, the witch didn''t look like much of a threat, being of slim build and not even as tall as Reckless. Plus she was clad in furs that could only be described as... fresh, and held a large wooden spoon as her only visible weaponry. Still, not everything dangerous looked it.

    "My Lady means," he interjected, "Good day to you. We were just passing and would like to enquire if you had seen a young wizard around here lately. He was accompanied by another lad, about the same age, and a youngster. We will reward you generously for any information."

    "Don''ts needs noo rewad," the witch said, and slammed the door shut.

    "Oh dear," Bon muttered, too slow to stop Reckless banging on the door again, a lot more angrily this time.

    The portal swung quickly open again, and the witch put the end of the spoon under Lady Nothing''s nose. "Betta booggers off right quick!" she said.

    "Answer me or..." Reckless was cut off again, as the door was once more slammed shut. This was followed by a loud cackling from inside, which only confirmed Bon''s fears.

    "Why you..." Lady Nothing started to raise her hand.

    Bon risked his life by grabbing her arm. "My Lady!" he said, urgently. "No, please. No one cackles like that unless they''re a witch, and you need to be careful dealing with witches."

    "Bah, mages don''t bother me," Lady Nothing said. "I''ve handled worse."

    "Maybe my Lady," Bon said, "but witches work in a different way. They come at you sideways. Please, trust me. I grew up in the country, my aunt was a witch, and she was dangerous as hell, and she was a white witch! A good one. I doubt this one is."

    "She''s on her home ground," Bon went on, going for the win. "Witches are strongest on their own turf, and she''s bound to have wards and traps. And we don''t want to lose all our men," he added. He saw the guard behind them nod vigorously in agreement. "Let me talk to her."

    "Very well, but I''m standing right here." Lady Reckless crossed her arms and pouted.

    "Of course, just, please, just let me do the talking." Waiting for her to nod, Bon knocked once again on the door, this time in what he hoped was a gentile and respectful manner.

    A few moments later, it opened again, this time more sedately. The witch on the other side looked at him, and it was all Bon could do to hold his ground as her green eyes seem to pierce his very soul. Finally she nodded. "What?" she said.

    "Miss Witch..." he started.

    "Hag."

    "What?"

    "Ahma Hag."

    After a moment to decipher this, Bon nodded. "Miss Hag," he started again. "We are looking for a young wizard and his travel mates and my... companion here," he gestured at Lady Reckless, who was glaring hard enough to curse a person for life, "believe you may have encountered them. We would be most grateful if you could supply us with any information as to his whereabouts."

    "Yoos knows Winnie dussunt yoo?" the Hag said.

    Bon opened his eyes. Winnie was the name of his witch aunt. He nodded.

    "Aye," The Hag looked down a moment, and then she did something which would probably have killed most people. She stepped up to Lady Nothing and looked her deep in the eyes.

    There was a moment of silence. The air between the two seemed to crackle, before, to Bon''s amazement, Lady Nothing looked away.

    The Hag nodded again. "Aye," she said, this time to Lady Nothing. "Ah knows yer brutha."

    "My... what?" It was Lady Reckless''s turn to look shocked. "My brother? My brother? Brother? Brother??"

    "Aye. Urt." The Hag grinned, a grin that was half evil, half mischief and half spite. "Reckon'' yoos be an aunt soons." She cackled again.

    "Bon," Lady Nothing turned to him. "What''s she saying?"

    "I believe the person you''ve been trying to, ah, catch, this boy..."

    "Urt," the witch interjected.

    "Urt," Bon carried on. "Is your brother."

    "But... but... I don''t have a brother," she replied.

    "Doos," said the witch. She stepped forward again, and from her furs pulled out some kind of small metallic ring, with which she proceeded to look through, examined Lady Nothing up and down, making small noises. After a moment she put the ring back. "Ah," she said. "Intr''stin''. Elf too. Ahh! That''s why e''s missin'' somethin''. Neva seen the likes, wud explain tho."

    "What is she saying Bon?" repeated Lady Nothing, half frantic now.

    "Yoos betta comes in. Jus'' yoos two," the Hag said, indicating the guard should remain where he was. "Ah''s somethin''s ter tells yoo." She paused. "Bring summa that gold too," she added.

    Bon nodded at Lady Nothing. "I think we should hear what she has to say," he said.