Dead Bodies Everywhere

The Champion

    The sun rises and paints the room in a warm orange. A day of bright light warms the sheets on the bed, that has been occupied these past days by the cat school witcher Margarethe. On this beautiful morning the room gets visited by her love Eskel, like every morning he brings her some tea and bread for a breakfast, if she wants to eat, however, the tray falls out of his shocked hands. The room is quiet, peaceful and empty. Small flocks of dust swirl through the air enlightened by the sunray, falling softly down onto the empty, neatly made bed. He hurries to it and touches the soft sheets only to confirm, that they have been empty for a long time. The clatter of the tray falling to the stony floor stirred the attention of the others and soon the door is filled with worries faces. Slowly Eskel turns around and whispers.
    "She's gone." The pain and fear is plastered all over his face. It seems as if every drop of blood vanished from his face in an instand. Just in that moment Marlow pays his usual visit flying right before the window. By the sight of the empty bed he screeches and dashes off right away to search for his friend. It takes Eskel some time before he is able to recover from this shock. The others took action already, scrambling some things together and gathering in the hall. Slowly he comes down the stairs to meet them, the shock still in his face.
    "We need to... "
    "Find her? Yes of course. Where did she went?" Ciri is already ready to launch the search, when a buzz and a blinding light disturbs the haze of the room. Geralt comes back, looking a bit worn out.
    "Geralt! Margy vanished!" Eskel almost runs towards him. Those two were like brothers from the very beginning. They shared much, not only the build, but also a close bond. Eskel eyes are wet from forming tears. His fear to lose her is pressing in his chest. He almost trembles from fears.
    "We find her. I know now what happened to her and how we can safe her, hopefully. "
    "Don't tell me it's not over yet." Sam stepped up to Geralt.
    "Sadly not. There is a source somewhere for her possession and it is not the thing that formed." Geralt runs a hand through his hair and fixes it with a tired look in his face.
    "Mind telling us what happened?" With crossed arms Yennefer looks at him.
    "I have seen what the shadow said 'Dead bodies everywhere'. It was a hard fight, but thanks to the potions Regis got I was able to save his world. Everything else is up to him now."

    The stony floor is cold again their body as they are lying there, crouched down to inspect the surroundings of the castle. The big court before them is cramped with all different kinds of in dead people. Right there before their eyes, is the "king" walking in on them. He is surrounded by his champions, four of them, and some soldiers. Right in the middle of the empty stony space he stops and turns towards their direction as he starts talking in a low voice, that seems to be right in their head. I need he was not talking directly to them, but more like talking in their heads. A voice that gives you the chills, cold as ice, but alluring at the same time with good manners.
    "Excuse my late appearing. I wasn't prepared for visitors. Welcome to my world gentleman. Come down and out of your hiding, no one can hide from me anyway. It is rude to sneak up behind."
    His hand gestures to the free space before him as an invitation for them to come down. He had discovered them anyway and after a quick confirmation by looking at each other, both man stand up and make their way down into the court. No one is bothering them. The slaves continue their work, the soldiers and champions keep their eyes locked on them. Every emotion, every light is vanished from them. The air is tense and there rests an awful smell around them, making it hard for them to breathe without gaging. For some unknown reason there is an pressing heat. Pearls of sweat trail down Geralt's face, tingling in his beard. His armory becomes like an oven and he didn't even moved much yet. This might become a bother during the fight.
    "Ah the vampire and his companion. Didn't I killed you already, witcher? That is what the likes of you call yourself right? Look whom I got here! I will welcome you in my ranks just like them." Behind the Necromancer two very well known faces step forward with eyes blank and without life.
    "Lambert, Eskel... " He hushes their names and grinds his teeth.
    "What bad manners I present to you. Let me introduce myself. I am Krokr, lord of this castle and ruler of this world, bow to me or suffer in pain." His arms are spread wide and in an evil grin he shows a row of black teeth. "So what do you choose?"
    Despite his voice echoing in their heads and the working sounds there was no other noise, no breathing hard, no groaning or moaning. The creatures, you can't call them humans anymore, don't give off any sound. The whole area is filled with silence, because most of the slaves work elsewhere by now. Krokr knows already what the answer will be of the two before his very eyes and he is not afraid at all for his life. In seconds the few slaves, that remained withing his reach collapse all of the sudden and in his hand forms a terrible axe seemingly made of human flesh and bones. Krokr's champions, which include Eskel and Lambert, ready themselves for the fight ahead and take position before their master.
    "Never thought I would fight them."
    "You better don't kill them Geralt. We can save them." Regis steps a bit behind the broad shoulders of Geralt hissing a few words to him.
    "Attack him and don't try to block. I take care of the others. " With that he turns into his feral form ready to strike. The silver sword swirls through the air as Geralt unsheats it to see if this one works on him. The look on his face is grim as his friends walk towards him without any expression. Only the hissing of Regis and the grunting of Geralt paired with the silver clang of the sword echo through the court. The laughter is only ringing in their heads.
    The heat is pressing the more they move. The witcher never thought he would fight against his friends, his family. He hesitates much to not harm them, but it makes it even more difficult to get to the source of it all. Krokr smiles and watches pleased the fight between the friends. The only thing, that bothers him is the vampire disturbing the fight, so he directs some attacks towards him. A pain in the ass, that is what Regis is to him. A sore, that needs to be eliminated. He was not aware of the plan these two had and he was not aware, that it already worked. With one strike Lambert was numbed and stumbled aside to reveal a chance for Geralt. Swift was his dodging and the axe hits the ground throwing flesh and blood to all sides, spreading the stench even more. He swallow the urge to puke and hits Krokr with his sword square over his chest, but he did not do much damage. A curse leaves his lips as he evades more hits, rolling as far away as he could to switch his swords, but he had only enough time to throw the silver sword to the side, dodge again running into the arms of Lambert. Fortunately he had enough time to cast Aard and throw him back. Now he can take out his steel sword and does not hesitate one second to make his way to the necromancer. Dodging, rolling, from one side to another, slicing one soldier down, then another, evading lambert and finally being able to land another strike.