Chapter 18:wrath of Nature

Katalis castle

Viren stood in the mirror chamber and watched as on the other side of the mirror, the stranger entered his room and looked at Viren. Viren took the knife and placed the blade over the exposed flesh of his free hand, "I'm ready" he told the elf even though it could not hear him.

The elf smiled and took his own knife and made a small cut along the palm allowing the blood to drop into the bowl, And a small fire burst out of the top of the bowl. Viren clutched the blade with his free hand and did the same, Causing a second small explosion within the bowl.

The liquid in the bowl had now formed a red swirling vortex of sorts that glowed with magic, the strange elf opened his mouth and from underneath the tongue a strange caterpillar-like creature crawled out and onto the Stranger's raised hand.

The stranger placed the finger just above the red vortex within the bowl and the caterpillar crawled into it, And reappeared In Virens bowl. Viren cautiously allowed the caterpillar to crawl onto his hand examining it as it crawled up his arm and up his shoulder and onto his hear.

"Speak"

Viren whirled around to where he thought the source of the voice was, there was nobody there, "I…" Viren stammered, then he realised it was the caterpillar talking to him, speaking into his heart as a form of commander for the stranger.

"Speak" repeated the caterpillar, Viren turned to the stranger "w-who are you?" Viren asked, the Stranger did not answer but with a sigh of satisfaction and a question of his own. "How may I serve you?"


Dragon crash sight

The Leshen roared at the soldiers gathered with their weapons ready, "what is that!?" Rayla gasped, "a Leshen. Forest spirit" Rigran said hurriedly, taking out a potion of Blizzard himself as well as drawing his silver sword.

"Get Callum out of here, Kaja you go as well" Rigran ordered, "no you need me here?" Kaja said stubbornly, "if we die here your fire is the only thing protecting the dragon prince. now go" Rigran ordered, Kaja wanted to argue but then the Leshen attacked.

It slammed one of its clawed hands into the ground and a wave of vines launched forward towards them, Rigran managed to push both Rayla, Callum and Kaja out of the way before dodging out of the way himself. The Blizzard potion enhanced his reaction time but it was still a close call.

"Go" he ordered them, without much argument but with reluctant strides The group left Rigran to fight the Leshen. And this Leshen was more than above the average power of a normal Leshen. It was going to be a tough fight.

The Leshen gave a low growl to the Banthers beside it and they lunged forward and attacked the first lot of soldiers closest to them. Banthers were fast as cats and as strong as any bear. They were deadly enough on their own minding their own buisness when some stupid fool just happened to stumble onto them.

But they were even more dangerous under the control of the Leshen, they tore through the soldiers, Claudia watching nearby was absolutely horrified by this, were their things in human lands like this. She had heard the stories, but witnessed them herself…

She shook herself out of her thoughts and glared at the Leshen, it was busy with Rigran and Snake who were darting in and out of the creature's legs, confusing it as it swung its massive tree trunk arms about.

Rigran drew out a vial of flammable liquid and smashed it against his Silver sword "Igni" he commanded as his hand hovered over the sword and set it alight. He slashed at the creature's lower legs which made it groan in pain as it lashed out downwards with its claws. Snake used his scythes to climb onto the Leshens' back.

The Leshen bucked and Slashed wildly with its claws but eventually it figured out how to get the serpent Witcher off, it all of a sudden jumped backwards, Snake realised what was happening and his enhanced reflexes slowing him to let go before rolling out of the way as the creature landed.

If it weren't for the blizzard potion Snake would have been crushed but the resulting shockwave was enough to knock the middle aged Witcher back, "damn it" cursed Snake.

The Leshen roared at him, Spittle getting in his face, "Igni" he said as the fire was irrepressibly burst from his finger and into the Leshens face, "Igni" said Rigran who did the same thing. Both attacks met in Leshens face making it roar in pain.

However to both Witchers surprise the Leshen then slammed its claws down, seeming to ignore the attack entirely and a wave of vines shot out towards Rigran ensnaring him. He had been taken by surprise and the potion doesn't work against surprise he was now trapped.

Snake drew out his silver sword being the only weapon he had and readied for a fight, he lunged at the Leshen and slashed at its blackened skull, unfortunately the Leshen all of a sudden transformed, it's entire body splitting into hundreds of small black crows which flew past him in a swarm where the Leshen reformed behind him and lashed out with its taloned claws.

Snake tried to block it but the Leshens claws knocked the sword away and caused the front of his Armour to become torn leaving 4 deep slash marks that bleed badly.

Snake tried to stand up, using the tree next to him for support but then vines snapped up and ensnared him. The Blizzard potion was not going to be much help if he could not move.

Soren kicked a Banther in the face causing it to retreat, Claudia meanwhile was looking through her spell book, "come on, come on" she said, looking through the pages for something. Anything to get rid of whatever possession was controlling these Banthers.

Then she saw that Snake was in trouble, "Soren we have to help Snake and Rigran" she called as she pulled out an ingredient, uttered a chant and a fireball formed in her hand.

She threw the fireball and it hit the creatures back, the Leshen turned to her, its skull slightly charred from the effects of the combined Igni and glared at her. While it was distracted Soren rushed over and grabbed Snakes sword and used it to cut through the vines that bound him.

"Thanks" Snake said to Soren, "welcome" Soren replied before the two lunged and sunk both swords into the Leshens left leg. The forest spirit stumbled onto one knee before glaring death at them.

Snake wrenched his sword out of the beast's leg, Soren could not as the sword was stuck in deep, Snake grabbed Soren and threw him out of the way before jumping back himself as Claudia used dark magic to fire a bolt of lightning at the creature while it was distracted hitting it in the chest.

The metal in the sword and the dual scythes conducted the electrical power in the Bolt, if those weren't in the Leshen the spell probably would not have worked with the wood insulating the plant like flesh inside but the metal made the spell work.

The monster howled in pain and anguish as it became somewhat more violent than before and redoubled its efforts.

Rigran had managed to work himself free and seeing the Leshen was stronger than any in Dravaans stories he drew out a potion of Petri's Philter to increase his sign powers. But when he was about to uncork the bottle he froze. He already had the Blizzard potion and drinking more than one potion was very dangerous indeed.

But this Leshen was stronger than any his master had encountered, it was bigger, stronger and more violent than Dravaan had described. The men were getting slaughtered and Snake was also struggling despite being a Witcher, Claudia's spells were failing and Soren had no sword.

So Rigran did what no Witcher had done for centuries, he downed the Petri Philter in one gulp, the veins on his face became even blacker than before, and consumed more of his face and even began to pulse more than before.

He didn't stop there, he then took out a potion of Tawny Owl which would increase all of his endurance and regeneration capabilities making him heal faster and to endure the damage done, the veins grew even longer beginning to go down his neck and pushed even more around his eyes.

The final potion he took was a potion called, Swallow, this would increase his physical strength and increase his regeneration capabilities even more.

The black veins bulge to the point of nearly bursting and travelled down his neck and down beyond the point of where his skin disappeared into his armour. He hated his teeth and snarled like an animal.

The Leshen loomed over the soldiers as the Banthers circled what remained of the survivors, Soren, Snake and Claudia included. A soldier handed Soren his spare sword for the fight.

But Rigran jumped, no normal jump for a man the Swallow gave him extra strength in his jump and he plunged the flaming sword into the beast's back, the burning sword made the beast howl in such pain that it couldn't think straight and just thrashed around wildly.

Rigran managed to Jump off without losing his grip on the sword, he cut at the Leshens legs only for the creature to turn into a flock of crows again and reappear up above in the sky and allowed itself to drop and nearly crush Rigran.

But Rigran rolled out of the way in time, Snake hastily poured some flammable liquid onto his sword and used Igni to set it alight. Now the Leshen had two burning swords to deal with.

Snake lunged forward trying to slash at the Leshens other leg but it sidestepped and backhand Rigran knocking the sword out of his hand, the Leshen then slammed it's hand on the ground sending a wave of roots towards snake as he flew and as he landed he was ensnared in them and trapped without escape. Rigran tanked up with more than one Witcher potion faired alot better as he ducked and dodged and slashed and burned the Leshen.

But this leshen was bigger, tougher and smarter than the ones his master, Dravaan, had described and it was clearly able to compare with Rigran, a normal Leshen was enough of a challenge for a normal witcher, so with the help of the potions along with the fact that Rigran had very little experience in the matter of Leshen's. Normally being tanked up with all those potions would have been certain death for a normal Leshen.

But as i already stated this Leshen was stronger than others.

Soren picked up the still flaming silver sword that Snake had dropped, the soldiers were now dealing with a pack of wolves summoned by the Leshen at some point at were now attacking the soldiers.

Soren was about to do the crazy act of rushing the leshen in hopes of help, when he heard a groan from the dragon behind him, Claudia was busy firing spells at the wolves more began to appeared. Soren looked at the dragon then back at the Leshen and an idea formed into his mind.

Rushing over to the dragon Soren bent down at it's head, the dragon glared at him, Soren only glared back before saying, "look i know you don't like me with the whole shooting you down and cutting off your horn thing. But if we are all going to make it out of this, i will need your help." the Dragon just glared though not as fiercely as before.

Soren didn't understand dragon so he just had to trust lady luck and the stories that dragons had a sense of honour to get them out of this. He lifted the sword over his head and cut the first lot of roots holding the dragon in place. The flaming sword setting them alight and the fire spread aiding in getting the dragon free as Soren cut more and more and more of the vines.

The dragon began pushing itself up straining the vines as it did so until finally the Vines were too weak and gave way, the dragon burst from the flaming vines, reared it's head up, spreading it's wings and roared at the Leshen. The Leshen looked at the creature in surprise, forgetting about Rigran and took a cautious step back as this was a creature of fire and that was one thing all Leshens feared.

The dragon lunged forward and Tackled the Leshen to the ground, the dragon readied to breath fire onto the forest spirit when it grabbed it's head and held it to the side, diverting the pace of fire and pushing the dragon off it, from there the Leshen slashed with it's long claws, making gashes into the lizards face and neck.


Not to far away

The rest of the group heard the roar of the dragon and turned to see the dragon lunge at the Leshen and tackle it to the ground, the group were high enough to watch the fight, Zym let out a whimper of worry as did Bait who barely whimpered about anything. Kaja was looking the most distressed, more so for Rigrans safety, Callum however was in no shape to be worried about anyone.

Dark circles had appeared around his eyes, his skin had turned deathly pale and he had to be helped by Rayla to walk, "we should get back down there and help" Kaja said, "no Callum is not well, we can't go back now with him like this" Ezran interjected, he was as worried for Rigran.

"Well it's his own fault for messing with dark magic" Rayla said scoldingly looking at Callum, she did not having sympathy at the moment for Callum after his very stupid act, "mmm-yeah we should keep moving" Callum said tiredly and drowsily before falling forward and Rayla only caught him in time. Kaja tried using her own magic on him, but it didn't seem to be doing any good on his ailment.

The roar of the dragon seemed almost ominous now as the battle went on down bellow, "gah" Kaja said in frustration, "all my magic and i'm utterly useless, damn it", "i know how you feel" Rayla said sympathetically. She herself was feeling useless, they all were.

"Lets get Callum back to the cave, i'm sure Rigran will be fine" Ezran said taking charge of the situation as a king should, "i'm okay" Callum said trying to sound reassuring even though he didn't seem so, "i just need to rest my eyes while we walk" and so he closed his eyes and didn't open them for a long time.


Back at the clearing

Rigran took the opportunity of the Leshen being distracted to slash at it's legs making the forest spirit flinch and stagger and making it struggle to keep it's balance as it tried to dodge the flames of the dragon or slash at it's neck with it's claws. The dragon took the opportunity to swung it's tail at the Leshens side, connecting with a devastating force and sound of splintering wood.

Despite being winded the Leshen recovered it's footing and grabbed hold of the Leshens Tail and swung it around swinging it off it's fight, Rigran luckily dodged out of the way of being hit by the dragons remaining horn. The Leshen then let go and the dragon sailed through the air over the heads of some really rather astonished soldiers and landed heavily into a cluster of trees on the edge of the clearing.

Rigran put the flaming sword into the ground before drawing out his bow and arrow and shot an arrow at the Leshen, which sailed through the air and hit it's mark in the Leshens right eye, the Leshen howled as inky black blood oozed out of the deer skull like black tears. Now the Leshen was really, really mad, in a rage state the Leshen bounded towards Rigran who hastily holstered his bow and drew his sword out of the ground in time for the Leshen claws to slash at him.

Luckily Rigran had his sword to block the attack so he only got knocked back but was winded as his back hit a tree trunk and he fell to the ground momentarily unconscious. The dragon struggled to get out as it itself had been momentarily unconscious, the Leshen advanced on the stunned dragon, getting ready to stomp on its head to finally kill it.

There was nothing anyone could do as most of the soldiers were two busy trying not to get mauled by wolves and now two more Banthers and a huge black bear had joined the fight. Claudia was too busy casting spell after spell.

However, Soren, still holding Snakes flaming sword and was using it to ward off some of the banther, charged at the leg of the Leshen and plunged the sword hilt deep right through the skin, the Lesehn staggered, looking down infuriated and ignoring the pain in it's leg, it was so angry, it grabbed soren off the ground whirled around and Slammed him against a nearby rock with a stomach churning *crack!*.

"Soren!" Claudia cried out as Soren slid helplessly off the rock and lay on the ground, unable to move and do nothing but move his eyes up on the Leshen who was raising it's leg up again to squash him flat. When the dragon tackled the Leshen, flew for a little bit while still pushing the Leshen back before breathing fire onto it.

The Leshen thrashed about widely in pain before it it slammed one hand on the ground and vines shot up from the ground and wrapped around the dragons open Maw and trapped it shut stopping the stream of fire. The Leshen stood up grabbing a bolder and lifting it over head while the dragons mouth was bound.

And Rigran who had woken up as Soren had stabbed the Leshens leg, jumped out of the tree behind the Leshen and stabbed his sword hilt deep through the back of the Leshens head, through the brain and out into the back of the Leshens mouth. The Leshens remaining eye widened in shock before blood poured into it and mixed with the white to become the crimson red of blood.

It's pupil guttering as it went into shock, as Rigran jumped off the Leshen's head the bolder it was holding dropped and fell onto the Leshen and as it hit the ground the Leshens head was crushed, the bolder bounced on the ground slightly before rolling to the side and stopping. The Leshen as dead at last.

The animals eyes returned to normal and they look thoroughly confused as they scampered away into the woods, the vines binding Snake vanished back into the ground and he was finally able to move. Claudia noticed Rigran staggering away "you coming with us" she said. But Rigran didn't seem to hear him, confused and worried she repeated, "Rigran stopped where you are" in her most stern voice.

Again Rigran did not acknowledge her, he was panting like a dog with rabies, and staggering around the forest as he walked away from them, Claudia was just about to prepare a spell when, "Claudia" came the desperate cry of Soren, "h-help" Claudia saw that her brother was not moving, "Rigrans as good as dead by now anyway" Snake added kneeling down and prompting Soren up against a rock.

Claudia took on last look at Rigran as he disappeared and rushed over to Soren skidding as she feel to her knees, "Soren, a-are you okay? She asked very worried, "let's get you back to town", "c-claudia" Soren stuttered, "i-i-i can't move. I can't move" Claudia and Snake shared shocked glances at each other.