Vikings Book 1: The Dragon tamer [Rewriting]

Chapter VIII - The Witch of Carnage

We've headed far east of the vast lands of Raxus. We've past several small villages and goblin camps, the frozen mountain of Meril can no longer be seen in the horizon behind us. It took us two days to travel this far east, our waypoint is at the abandoned city of Rokhar. According to the folk of the villages we've went through, the city of Rokhar was once rich with gold. It was a vast city built for merchants, miners, and blacksmiths. But that city was soon overrun by chaos, when a curse was put on the lands were the city stood. According to the legend, before the city of Rokhar was built, this was a sacred land for the witches of carnage. They were given that nickname because of their specialty for studying the arts of necromancy, they aided in the fight against the dragons but sadly turned mad during the process. After the scourge the witches were hunt down, all but one survived, and she was their head mistress. Lyriel, the mighty witch of the east gave birth to a child, and with that event these lands were forever cursed. The power of the curse dispersed throughout the land and it's still growing strong. The only way to rid this land of the curse. Is to kill the cursed child. Sadly, the cursed child. Is on the list of the dragon trainers.

Tylia Xirion. The Cursed Child.

The only information we have on her is that, she has gone into hiding in the ruins of Rokhar city after being hunted by bounty hunters.

She must be scared. We need to find her now!

According to Eulycar, we have an hour and a half until we reach the abandoned city.

"So Eulycar, how did you know Karthus?" I asked.

"He was a close friend of my tribe." She replied, "Good man."

Come to think of it, where is her tribe? For all we know she lives alone in a mountain. So does Karthus, Wait what if each member of her tribe lived on a mountain separately?  Well there can't be that much mountains out there so...

"My tribe." She said, "They all got killed by the witches of carnage."

"What?!" Emily shouted, "What happened?"

"They were the first ones to hunt these witches after they went mad." I said, "Is that what happened?"

Eulycar nodded. "Yes, as defenders of the land." she continued, "Our duty is to protect it from anything."

This can't be good... No doubt she has hatred for the witches of carnage, but we need this cursed child on our side. What am I gonna do when she loses control and kills Tylia? As Karthus said, we need everyone in order for us to succeed. This is worrisome indeed.

"Wait." Emily said, "What about her dragon?"

Well having come this far we never really gave much thought about it, is her dragon mad as well like her? If so we are up for a challenge.

"I'm sure it can't be that bad." I said, "I think we can handle her without injuring them badly."

I said as I glanced at Eulycar, her expression is completely blank as of now. I hope she retains that when we see her.

"And if not." I continued,  "Euly here can put her to sleep right?"

She gave my statement absolutely no care. I don't know what to think now, maybe I should just let it be and not overthink stuff. But if I don't handle things with caution we might fail.

"Stop." Euly ordered. We halted at a gloomy forest where trees looked distorted, and we couldn't see the bottom of the forest floor for it is covered by some heavy fog. Weird eerie noises came from different directions.

"It's--" Emily stuttered, "It's the witch!"

She pointed at a floating figure. A ghoulish form was drifting towards us, it's body was made up of many different faces, faces of despair, agony, regret.

"YOU!!" It spoke in a hallow voice, "THIS IS AS FAR AS YOU GO."

It attacked without hesitation, the dragons reacted quickly and dodged the wraith's attack.

"Is that the witch of carnage?" I said, "It doesn't look like it."

"That's the witch." Said Euly, "KILL IT!"

She charged it with bloodlust on her eyes. She went past the witch, surprised by it's ability.

"FOOL." The witch said, "AAAGGGHHHHH!!!!!"

It let out a hellish scream, enough to disrupt the target and leave it dazed for a minute. Eulycar has passed out on the back of Aoga, the dragon retreated by our side.

"So how do we defeat something we can't touch?" I asked.

"We materialize it?" Emily suggested, "But I've no clue on how to do that."

Damn. This witch must be protecting the cursed child, she must be close.

*Cough* Eulycar was stirring, she must wake up soon.

"Emily, distract that thing!" I ordered.

"On it." She went dashing and screaming at the witch. "OVER HERE HAGFACE!"

The witch dashed after her with amazing speed, letting out scream after scream.

Come on Eulycar wake up! Wake up!

"Uggghhh." Eulycar murmured "Did not expect that... that bitch."

"How do we defeat this thing?" I asked hesitantly, "You have an idea?"

"Reflect the scream." She said.

Reflect. Just how exactly?!? AH!!

I rummaged through my pack and looked for some shields. A metallic shield crafted from Riverstead.

"EMILY!!" I shouted, "CATCH!"

I threw the shield in a patriotic manner. Luckily she caught it with ease.

"DEFLECT THE SCREAM WITH IT!" I informed her.

She nodded and faced the witch bravely.

"Give me your hardest hit, grandma." Emily taunted.

The witch, without analyzing the situation, let out her utmost powerful wail. The blast of the scream bounced off the shield.

Weird, the shield glowed golden as soon as it deflected the attack.

"The blessing of the royal family." Euly said, "She did not come unprepared."

The blessing of the royal family? I remember now, if the heir is worthy of the throne their guardians bless them with protection.

The blast sent the witch wailing to the ground as she sunk beneath it.

Wow... Emily is truly amazing.

"NOOOOO!!" A murderous impish yell came from the far north.

It's her.

[A/N]

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