Chapter 7: The cursed Caldera

Back in the village at nightfall the group sneaked out of the village gates and into the forest up towards the cursed Caldera.

They entered a forest thick and with all manner of leafless trees, all black as night and dark with trusty and curvy leaves, the group stopped at a particularly big tree and stopped to rest, "so how are we supposed to find this miracle healer?" Rayla asked.

Above them however they spotted a shadowy outline of some beast, Rayla went to draw her swords but Rigran spotted her, his specially adapted eyes recognising who it was.

It was Eliss riding on Ava's back, "what are you doing here?" Rigran demanded, "I'm here to help you find her" Eliss said then steered her wolf around, "this way" she said.

The others followed her as the sky grew darker and darker, "so you're an elf. Cool, how did you all meet?" Elise asked, "well…" Callum said not to be sure what to say, "it's complicated" Rigran said, saving all their skins.

"Anyway, how exactly did you find her? This miracle healer?" "Oh she found us while we were hiding in a big twisty tree" Eliss said, "do any of them look familiar?" Rigran asked sarcastically, gesturing around at all of the black twisted tree.

"It was at the top of the mountain" Eliss added, "Then we need to get to that tree, even if it takes all night," Callum nodded. "Sounds too good to be true in my opinion" Rigran said, "but you don't have any better ideas do you?" Rayla grumbled, "no do you?" Rigran responded, "nope so let's just go and find her" Rayla grumbled back.

Eliss smiled again, leading Ava to the front of the group, "I can get us up. The healer will find us there and she'll save the egg!"

"And your hand too," Ezran added.

"Don't worry about my hand, the egg's all that matters now," Rayla reassured rubbing her wrist.

The climb up the mountain was hard, involving leaping over gaps in the narrow path and climbing up steep slopes. Coming onto the ridge, Ellis led Ava forwards, admiring the sunset, "It's beautiful. It's like the sky's been painted with honey."

"Wow," Ezran breathed, taking in the view.

Eliss laughed, turning to them with a wide smile on her face, "Too bad that it also means the nightmare's about to begin." Eliss said "What do you mean?" Callum asked

"Oh you know," she shrugged, "enormous monsters, indescribable terrors, stuff like that." "Stuff like that," Callum chuckled dryly, "yeah.", "I kill monsters so we should be fine" Rigran said, "yeah plus we have a wolf, Baits glowing, Rayla's swords and my magic" Callum added optimistically.

Then there was what sounded like barking, they all looked to see Bait jumping up and down making a dog barking noise excitedly, "hey bait what is it?" Ezran asked worriedly, Bait then grabbed a bit of branches and moved away brambles to reveal a very mutilated human corpse.

It's stomach slashed open, it's guys hanging at and it's unfocused eyes staring at them with a bloodied face, the group looked on in horror as Rigran bent down to look at it pulling off one glove to do something no one would ever like.

"Uh what's he doing?" Eliss asked unsure, "studying it" Callum said, Rigran then snakes his hand into the corpse, "oh no" Rayla said disgusted as she dibbles over and committed on the pathway, Elise hugged Ava a little closer for comfort as Callum covered both Wise and Ezran eyes.

Rigran himself grimaced as he forced his hand through the flesh, until he reached the spot where the heart should have been, "it's heart is missing" he told the others as he wriggled his hand further around the corpse, "so is both his livers, a picky eater, but what creature only eats those?".

"You're the expert," Callum said. Rigran looked through all his studies of creatures in the human kingdoms and Xadia but nothing came up. "Let's keep moving and be one guard," he said.

The group made their way up the Caldera and eventually as the sun set further and further down they found a good space to watch the sunset on a cliff.

"It's beautiful. It's like the sky's been painted with honey." Eliss said poetically "Wow," Ezran breathed, taking in the view. Ellis laughed, turning to them with a wide smile on her face, "Too bad that it also means the nightmare's about to begin."

"What do you mean?" Rayla asked, nervously, "Oh you know," she shrugged, "enormous monsters, indescribable terrors, stuff like that.", "Stuff like that," Callum chuckled dryly, "well at least we have Rigran, too bad we don't have Dravaan either".

Rigran glared at Callum but agreed with him, "How do you plan for indescribable terrors?" Ezran questioned. "I feel like you need to be able to describe them first."

"Um…horrifying! Blood-curdling. Creepy, but in a super extreme way that feels like it's lighting you soul on fire," Ellis offered with a smile

The remaining members of the group tossed concerned glances at each other. "Uh…I think that helps?", "Wait!" Callum said, an idea coming into his head "Wait, wait wait!"

"We're waiting?" Rayla deadpanned "I've got it!" the elder prince jumped. "Flash! Woof! Whoosh! Slish-slash!"

"…Awesome!" Eliss said before turning to Rayla and whispering, "Um, is he ok?" The elf chuckled, "I think he's finally cracked under the pressure."

"No that's the plan," Callum answered in protest, "Ezran, you have the first job! You hold Bait in the ait so he can flash and blind whatever monster we face. Flash!"

"Wait…but then I'm not really doing anything. I'm just kind of holding up Bait." Ezran pointed out

"You're supported, every team needs a great support," Callum answered. "Ellis, Ava, you're next. You'll run around in circles and bark to confuse the monster.", "I dunno, do you think you can run around and bark a lot Ava?" The wolf barked in reply. "She's ready!"

"Then me, I'll use my windbreath spell, Whoosh!" Ellis gasped, "You're going to cast a spell?!", "It's just a simple rune thing I picked up," Callum brushed off with a wave of his hand. "No big deal."

"Yeah, he's gonna blow on the monster, ruffle it's fur real good," Rayla teased. "It's that or the half of the lightning spell I know," he retorted. "Or, we can have Rigran do one of his Witcher signs. Shove the monster back or burn it?"

"Or you just leave it to me as a professional in training to do all the work" Rigran suggested but Callum ignored him and turned to Rayla "that'll leave you and Rayla, the finishers," Callum continued. You two will take out the blinded, distracted, windblown monster with your blades! Slish-Slash!"

My hand's in pretty bad shape," she pointed out flexing her bad wrist, "I'll only be able to use one blade."

"Ok, then you're slash and Rigran is slish-slash with his silver sword!" Callum said, "No, this is my slish hand," Rayla said and smirked as Callum balked.

"Really?" Callum asked, trying to recover, "No, not really ya dummy," she smirked before facepalming as she remembered something. "Wait, you may be a dummy, but you're no fool!" She added.

"Am I supposed to feel flattered by this?" Callum asked unsure.

"You said Claudia called you a fool when you interrupted her lightning spell," she recalled getting a nod from the boy, "but, I'll bet she was actually trying to say fulminis, the draconic word for lightning!"

Green eyes went wide as the elder brother picked up on what she was saying. "So if fulminis is the trigger word—"

"Then you know the spell for lightning!" Ezran interrupted, "well that's one good thing to come out of all this" Rigran thought, Callum grinned, pulling out the primal stone. "Revised plan! Flash! Woof! Zap! Slish-Slash!".

"Well we're dead" Rigran said as they all made their way up the mountain.


Katalis castle

Viren and Hainn walked down the stairs to the dungeon where Runaan, Gren and Dravaan were, Dravaan glared as Viren walked in and Hainn waited outside.

"Lunch time already?" The elder Witcher asked sarcastically, "how thoughtful of you", Viren placed the food down in front of Runaan, "you don't eat you'll die" Viren said, "I am already dead" Runann said back, "not yet" Hainns voice came from outside, Dravaan eyes the new stranger, "who's your new friend?" Dravaan asked suspiciously.

"His names…" Viren began but forgot the full name, "criorbrihainn of the Wraiths of Mörhogg" , said Hainn, "the wild hunt!?" Dravaan exclaimed, "here?"Yes, here I have business not yet completed," Hainn said, stepping forward.

"Wild hunt?" Viren asked, "Dearg Ruadhri, Red Horsemen, Phantom Riders" Dravaan said, "from the world of Tir Na Lia, they wish to conquer and take slaves back to their world"

"Well let's just say me and my brothers have different views, especially when it comes to elves" Hainn spat with hatred as he grabbed Runaan neck, "what are you doing?!" Viren asked, outraged, "you elves" Hainn said hatefully through his helmet, "you and the dragons think you are so high and mighty but then you find yourself in a place like this and the only way to keep your dignity is to say you're already dead?".

Hainn calmed down some and let go of the one armed elf, "well let me tell you you're not dead but pretty soon you and yours will wish you were".

"But for the moment we just want you to look at an object band tell me what it is" Viren interrupted, "after that you can have a painless death", "I am already dead" Runann repeated, "then I'll find something you'll fear more than death" Viren said with a smile as he saw a challenge ahead.

"Your kind never fails to remind me of how the Aen Elle used to act" Hainn spat, "you don't act like the other wolf hunt, so much rage to Elves, what do you hate about them?" Dravaan asked.

Hainn simple walked out of the room, "so what did happen where you abused as a child?" Gren asked casually, little did he know his guess was right. "So can I get some Acadian food?" Gren then asked but he got no answer and he sighed and hung his head in disappointment.


The group in the curse Caldera were not getting much on the way of monsters, "Well it's dark," Callum remarked, "but I think the scariest thing I've seen so far is an angry cricket. And he's more like, mildly annoyed."

"Are you sure this is the Cursed Caldera?" Ezran asked. "Or did we accidently wander up Humdrum Hill?"

"Maybe we took a wrong turn and wound up Sleepy Slope," Rayla added with a chuckle, "boring Boulder is where I think we have landed" Rigran said.

"I'll have to check my map but I'm fairly certain I recognize the unmistakable topography of Mt. Monotonous!" Callum chimed in, receiving nothing in reply save for the annoyed cricket.

"Anyways," Ellis began, "it is a little odd that nothing bad has happened yet. I SEE A HUGE SCARY MONSTER!" They all jumped, turning to face as Ellis laughed, "But don't worry, it's dead.", "Then why did you say it like that?!" Callum grumbled.

"SAY IT LIKE WHAT?!" Ellis said in the same tone and Callum sighed.

Like the human corpse it had its guts slashed open and they found that it's liver and heart had been removed, "whatever killed it gave it a hell of a fight" said Rigran as it looked at all the cuts and gashes like that of the corpse at the doctors place.

"So Rigran? What does it mean when there are more than one corpse with the same injuries" Rayla said, "there's another one over their" Ezran said pointing to the corpse of what appeared to be a giant leech, it had the same gashes and cuts but unlike before it hadn't been cut open since Leech's don't have livers.

"It usually means there's an alpha predator in the woods" Rigran said as he thought of all the monsters in Xadia but none of them were picky eaters so he thought of monsters that Dravaan had told him about but didn't live in Xadia or the human kingdoms of this continent.

"Damn it, what is it?" Rigran cursed to himself, "uh guys" Eliss said looking behind them, they all turned and met the sight of their lives, a human sized black monstrosity.

Legs and arms as skinny as spider limbs, a hulking hunch-backed torso and a ugly head with a gaping mouth lipless and showing its sharp teeth and long hair.

It threw back its head and screamed a loud and high scream that was part woman and part monster.

"Oh fuck" Rigran cursed as he recognised it even though it shouldn't be here but Dravaans stories had told him about such a creature, "what is that thing?" Rayla asked, horrified and disgusted, "it's a Striga" Rigran said.

The striga lept in one great bound toward them Rigran shot his hand forward and used Aard to knock it back, it rolled on the ground and skidded on all fours, "guys the plan" Callum said.

"Ok! Where's Bait?" Ezran called, turning to his pet who was stalking the mildly annoying angry cricket and ate it. "BAIT! You're supposed to—AH!" Bait flashed a great flash of light "Too soon!" Callum called as they all covered their eyes, partially blinded by the blinding light from the glow-toad. "I can't see!" Rayla said, "None of us can!" Eliss said and even Ava was pawing at her eyes.

Luckily the Striga was also disoriented as it lashed around wildly, clawing at its claws and swiping at the air ferally and enraged by these little snacks. It recovered however and made a lunge for Ava but luckily Ava recovered quickly as well and jumped out of the way before the Striga could stick it's claws into her.

Ezran tried to pick up bait but tripped and dropped him, "fuck. this all we need is the plan to mess up and being chased by a Striga" Rigran thought.

"Ok! I shouldn't do the lightning if I can't see!" Callum said as he tripped over bait, "no lightning" Rayla agreed, "definitely not" Rigran agreed as his eyesight returned, he drew his tomahawk and launched it at the monstrosity and it hit it in its back.

It howled in pain and it reached behind itself and took out the tomahawk and glared hatefully at Rigran, it threw the tomahawk back toward Rigran with surprising accuracy, in fact Rigran only just sidestepped before it hit his face.

"Oh this is all we need a Striga with accuracy" he cursed "anyone a new plan?" Ezran suggested. Callum recovered as well, and a plan formed in his head, "Ok! New plan: SCATTER!" Callum screamed.

"To distract the monster?!" Ezran asked as he picked up bait

"NO JUST TO GET AWAY AND LIVE!" Callum answered the sprinting pass with the creature on his heels. Ellis rode over on Ava, Rigran ran around the Striga drawing his bow and arrow, Callum hopped on the wolf and they scrambled up the cliffside.

The Striga gave a shrill shriek of outrage and turned to the easier prey.

Running with Ezran, Rayla stopped at the base of a tree. "You can climb right?" Rayla asked, Ezran nodded and Rayla gave him a boost up before drawing her own sword as the Striga charged at her then an arrow lodged into its side throwing it off and making it bump headfirst into the tree.

Rayla had jumped just in time with her bad hand close to her chest as she climbed one handed away from the Striga. The Striga turned in absolute fury to Rigran and lunged at him, Rigran rolled under the claw just in time and shot a burst of fire at it with Igni.

The Striga howled in pain and Rigran punched it in the jaw disorientating it further, Rigran then drew a devils puffball bomb and dropped it on the ground.

Poisonous gas sprayed in the immediate vicinity and Rigran quickly climbed the nearest Tree to him as the Striga took on sniff and realised what the Witcher was doing, there was no other option for it but to run and run it did, back into the trees and disappeared.

"IS EVERYONE OKAY?" Rigran shouted to everyone, "YES" Rayla, Ellis, Callum shouted back, and Ava gave a short bark "SO WHAT DO WE DO NOW? I THINK THAT THING'S GOING TO COME BACK!" Rayla's voice echoed over the grove.

"ITS BOUND TO STRIGAS DON'T GIVE UP EASY" Rigran agreed

"WE DON'T EVEN HAVE THAT MUCH ON OUR HEARTS AND LIVERS" Ezran said, "I KNOW! WE'D BE A VERY UNSATISFYING SNACK!" Rayla shouted down to the forest only to be met with the Striga's spine chilling shrill shriek.

"I'M SORRY MY PLAN WAS A MESS," Callum apologized.

"NAH! YOUR PLAN WAS FINE! OUR EXECUTION WAS A BIT OFF. IT CAME OUT MORE AS: ARGH! OOPS! HELP! RUN!" Rayla replied.

Callum sighed in defeat, as Eliss slumped on her wolfs back.


Back at the Castle of katalis Viren had brought down a mirror with the help of Hainn and down into the dungeons and were presenting it to Runann, "this is how it's going to work" Hainn said, "we are going to show you something, "you tell us what it is and we don't do something wretched to you".

The elf turned away, Viren sighed, "I'll take it from

here Hainn" he said bending down to the elf, Hainn then spotted a haze outside, "do what you must" he said and left.

Viren sighed, "sorry about him" Viren said, "but I did bring you something that i hope you will find, motivating" he brought out a bag of coins and rattles the coins a little, the elf scoffed, "You're more foolish than I thought," Runaan ground out. "Don't you know only humans can be bribed?"

"Don't you know there are more elves in the world than Xadia, you should see the markets of nilfgaard elves and human bribing each other galore" Dravaan chuckled dryly.

"At any rate this isn't a bribe" Viren said as he tipped the contents onto the floor, "take a closer look", both Runaan and Dravaan did, "oh hell" he said slowly, his eyes widening.

Runaan went pale when he saw what they actually were. "You're a monster!". "Oh yes but he's the monster that'll make sure my vision comes true" Hainn thought from outside.


"It seems to be hanging in there," Rayla said, kneeling beside Ezran as he cradled the egg, trying to keep it warm, "barely."

"I'm so sorry I messed up the plan," Ezran apologized, hugging the egg a little tighter.

"You should cut yourself a break, everyone messes up sometimes," she reassured. "Or in my case, all the time." "What're you talking about?" The younger prince asked.

"Trust me, if the plan hadn't gotten messed up when Bait flashed, I'm sure it would've flopped when it was my turn," she grumbled, "then Rigran would've had to 'save the day', again."

"Are you kidding? From what I can tell you're awesome at everything." Ezran said encouragingly.

"Well it's true I am pretty awesome at everything," she smiled before glaring at the ground, "right up until the moment it really matters. That's when I just, poof—screw things up."

"What do you mean?" Ezran asked, concern in his voice

"I don't know, I hesitate, think too much and get confused about the right thing to do. and the next thing I know, I failed. Like when Rigran and I were getting the knife. We were doing so well till I messed up and revealed myself. If Trezac didn't step in with his weird magic trick we probably would've been chased down by an angry mob."

"Wait…are you jealous?" Erzan probed. "Of Rigran?" she scoffed lying down, "no. It's not like he always saves the freakin' day.", "You save the day too." Ezran said reassuringly,

"Yeah right," she grumbled. "He doesn't mess up. He wouldn't have hesitated where I did. You see, on the morning I came to your castle, my team and I were discovered by a human guard. It was my job to chase him down and stop him…But when I caught him…he looked up at me and was so afraid. And the I just…let him go."

"You felt for him," Ezran stated. "He was a human! My enemy!" Rayla stated "Yeah," Ezran said, rolling onto his stomach much to Bait's chagrin, "but then you saw he was scared. And you knew he was a person, just like you."

"That shouldn't have mattered! I had a job to do!" she growled sitting up. "Do you realize that I'm an assassin who hasn't killed anyone?!"

"Uh, I think that's a good thing," Erzan replied, "and besides in your position, I bet Trezac would've done what you had too. You don't need to compare yourself to him." He sat up with a smile, "And thanks for failing your mission by the way, I like being alive."

"I'm glad you're alive Ezran, knowing you is definitely worth losing a hand for." Rayla said, "That's the weirdest, nicest thing anyone's ever said to me." Erzan said

"Eh who knows, maybe this is my unlucky hand and when it falls off, my luck will change," she tried optimistically.

"That's horrible." Ezran said, "Funny though." Rayla said, still optimistic "Funny and horrible," Ezran agreed.

Across the valley on the ledge, Callum sat with Ellis petting Agir and Ava as they tried to come up with a plan to get out of there. Peering over the edge, he sighed as he saw nothing but dark shadows and the groan of the Striga as it tried searching for them. "Nope, still there."

"I can't believe you're a mage," Ellis rambled. "I've never met an actual mage before. You're not at all like I expected."

"What were you expecting?" Callum asked, "You know, taller, long robes, wrinklier, super smart," she answered, eliciting a chuckle. "And maybe like a weird amulet or something?"

"Well I am in the market for a weird amulet if you know anybody." Callum told her, "And you're so confident!" Eliss said.

"It's funny to hear someone say that," Callum sighed. "I don't think of myself as confident.", "Really, you should be, having all that incredible power." Eliss said optimistically.

Callum chuckled half-heartedly, "You see, when I think confident I think of people like Rayla, or Rigran, or…or my dad. And the truth is, I don't have that power," he pulled out the Primal Stone, "this does. All the magic, all the power, all the confidence…it's just because of this thing: a Primal Stone."

"That Primal Stone needs you to do all that amazing stuff. Without you it's just a neat, glowy ball." Eliss said assuringly.

"I guess so," Callum shrugged looking over the stone watching the storm rage inside it. "But without this, I'm nothing. Just a guy who can draw and make wry comments from time to time—and they're not even that wry."

"I'm not convinced," Ellis argued. "I have a feeling you'd be pretty amazing, even without your magic ball."

"Well you seem pretty great too," Callum retained, earning a bark from Ava. "And Ava's also great!" From his right, Agir gave a yip and he sighed, ruffling the fire-fox's fur, "Yes, so are you Agir, you're just a fuzzy wuv-munkin!"

"GUYS, LET'S HOPE DOWN" Rigran called to the other, they all looked down at the foggy ground below. They didn't hear anything; nor did he sense it lurking either. Jumping down from the tree, Rigran landed cat-like on the ground as the others joined him.

"Haven't seen it or heard it for a while," Rayla said, "Seems like it moved on.", "no it's not gone" Rigran said as he took out a Witcher potion and drank it all, it was known as Blizzard and it would enhance his reflexes greatly as well as his reaction time.

His eyes went pitch black as veins appeared around them, "she's just waiting for us to come down", "She?!" Rayla exclaimed, "all striga's are female, and the only way to make one is through a curse, so which young lady had the bad luck to be cursed? Rigran replied.

It was a good question, "uh guys" Eliss said as they all looked up to find the Striga squaring on a branch and looking down at them and it once again released its hair raising, spine chilling, soul freezing, heart stopping, shrill screech.