Author's note: YES, SUCEES, I finally managed to found my usb, here you have it, the next chapter of this fic, just in time too 'cause I had said that I will have it uploaded this week, anyway I think I should stay with the pencil and paper for saving my advances.
Disclaimer: you know the drill… I own nothing.
Chapter 4: Meeting the Scourge.
His name was Geralt of Rivia; he was a witcher, a professional monster slayer for hire.
The witcher had spent the night, listening to the stories of both the horde and alliance members that were accompanying him; they had told him a brief story about their respective species origins.
Torbin told him, how the dwarfs came to be; believing to have been created by the titans, carved from the rock itself, he also told him about the most important conflicts in dwarf history; their schism and the war of three hammers, all the way until their joining as one of the first races in forming the alliance, and their participation in the 3 great wars.
Zungo, told him about his own race too and their long rivalry with the elves since the trolls wars, how the trolls joined the horde in the second war, separating themselves from them after losing the war, only for his clan to rejoin again in the new reformed horde leadered by Thrall, after he saved the darkspear clan from being massacred at the hands of murlocks.
Both relate him some brief explanations of each faction, their standing in each of the 3 great wars and the subsequent events leading up to this point were both horde and alliance are willing to make a one front assault into the wrathgate; The witcher heard their stories in silence, pondering in all that were telling him, and formulating his own opinions in each subject.
Suddenly, the witcher senses detected something… unnatural, he made hand signs to is companions to stay quiet, he raised himself from the ground and started to survey his surroundings; He could hear the quiet whispers of the wind in his ears, and felt the wind cold but gentle caresses in his face.
He could smell the dead and dread around him, but there was something different in it, it was dead alright but a different kind of death, it was not just mere passing of the living, it was also something darker; the decay of the flesh, the taint of the body and the corruption of the soul.
He could feel something hungry and corrupted was coming; the witcher's eyes pierced the darkness, acknowledging everything where he put his gaze on, nothing could escape from him as he examine his surroundings.
He turned his attention towards the wrathgate, seeing its helmet-shaped entrance; his gaze went down towards its base and kept going further down; then a few yards down the main wrathgate entrance, he saw them; some horrendous beings that he thought were his welcoming party.
He took notice of their characteristics: at the front were 2 colossal beings of great musculature with pelt and fur covering the upper part of their bodies; their legs were covered too in fur just like their chests and shoulders, the beings wore some kind of tattered armor in their lower body and forearms, they had long beards tied in somewhat crude ponytails, they had stitch scars all over the exposed parts of their bodies, as if someone had mended several different body parts to create them, half of their faces had their skin missing exposing their bare skull; both beings carried big bones as clubs.
Behind them were following 5 slim humanoid beings, they were dressed in tattered clothes, like the ones used by dungeons inmates, that were ripped in several parts, theirs arms and legs were covered in old and soiled bandages, their heads were covered by a cowl reminiscent to the ones used in criminals that were executed in the gallows, in fact a long rope noose was tied around their necks, the rest of the rope hanged loosely from it; a big eye in the middle of their faces was visible through a hole in their cowls; all of them had long sharp claws in both hands and feet.
Finally providing the bulk of the group forces, were 2 dozens of apparently humanoid beings or more likely corpses, most of them were standing in a hunched-over posture, they had rotten and decayed skin that had fallen in several parts of their bodies exposing their bones, their limbs and facial structures were deformed giving them a dreary visage, they had long claws and teeth as well, some of them still had hair in their heads which was long and unkempt like an animal mane.
The witcher addressed back to his companions; gave them the descriptions of the creatures that he had seen and ask them what they were; they listened to his statements and proceed to dutiful answer him.
"Are you sure that they are there? I can't see anything, it's too early and darkness still covers the land too much for me to discern anything" said Torbin a little skeptical .
"My senses are more acute than the norm, believe when I tell you, that I can see them, heard them and smell them; they are positively coming this way" retorted the witcher.
"Well… if ya' zetzo Mon!... Den' I shall trust ya'" answered Zungo.
"The bigo'ans, are called Flesh Giants, big'o nasty fellas , dey' are hard to hurt, hard to kill and can diliver quai't da' punch, be careful wid' dose'"
"Yes what the troll says is true; now the slim ones with the cowls are called Geists, they are quite fast and agiles, often serve as manual labor for the lich king efforts, although they may not look so tough, they can surprise you with their acrobatics and speed if you are not careful, although a well placed hit should be enough to send them back to the fellhole from where they came from"
"anyway the little ugly ones are ghouls, these are you common scourge foot soldiers, they tend to swarm over our infantry lines with blind rage and hunger, often alone or with back-up from other bigger things; they are quite vicious, not to mention cannibals, but they cannot resist a lot of damage, their decayed bodies cannot handle the strain".
"Yup, dats 'ight, individually ghoulz are noding' more dan' a boder, but when cuming in packs, lil' baztards becum a real pain in da' arze"
"…mmm…" muttered the witcher, he found the ghouls of this world being quite different from the ones of his own world, who where restless spirits that could easily steal the life essence of the living, the most efficient way to deal with them was to find their graves, and decapitate and incinerate their bodies, but the ones of this world had total control over their own bodies; well… hearing how brute strength could be enough to destroy them, he didn't had to worry much.
"I want the two of you to return to your base strongholds immediately; I will deal with them alone" ordered the witcher.
"Wut? Ya' plan to face dem' all by ya'self wid' no backup?.... Are ya' crazy Mon or wut?"
"Got to agree with the troll there, you should not underestimate the scourge, they are like a hungry swarm of lobsters that fall upon our lines, relentless and tireless, feeling neither pain nor fear, and with each of our soldiers that dies in battle their numbers grow"
"I'm not underestimating them, in fact quite the contrary, I need to test their skills and see what they are capable of, so I can find a proper and efficient way to kill them, and its best if I do it alone, other people with me might get hurt" seriously explained the witcher.
The witcher unsheathed his silver sword and then pulled a vial from one of his purses; one filled with a blue sky liquid; Necrophage oil; a liquid that was quite efficient in putting undead things to rest, the witcher smeared the liquid on all his blade surface, totally coating it with the oil.
Both Torbin and Zungo had their respective doubts, but after have been witnesses of the witcher's skills against the Bruxas, they decided to have some faith on him.
"A'ight Mon! I ztill got my doubts 'bout dis, but after watching ya' killing dose dreary looking women, I zhall bilive ya' will be 'kay"
"Yes, that was an impressive display of swordsmanship, well with that speed and reflexes of yours; I suppose you have a chance against the scourge minions; the little ones are quite fast despite the state of their bodies, so be careful"
Torbin cleared his throat a little before continuing.
"Well, I suppose we should be going, I shall inform the king and miss Proudmoore of this recent turn of events, maybe they could provide you some support"
"Yay, dat' zounds smart, I shud inform da' warchief too, also I shud wake da' oders leaders as well, while a'dit".
Torbin and Zungo bid their respective farewells to the witcher, before heading towards each of their encampments that were at the base of each of the cliffs that were surrounding the road towards the wrathgate.
The witcher sighed, he pulled a small briefcase from his main purse and open it, grabbing one of the vials stored inside, he drank the vial's contents in one sip, then the witcher started to shake a little, his veins hardened and blackened, his skin became somewhat transparent making his skull to be clearly visible through it; after he had settled a little, he packed his items back were they belonged and after that he assumed a meditative stance, waiting for the scourge minions to get to him.
By the time the scourge forces were getting near the witcher, it was very early in the morning; the light rays of the dawn sun were barely visible, due to the massive amount of clouds that were blocking its way.
The flesh giants were the firsts to get close to the witcher's bonfire, making grunting noises, with heavy footsteps they reached were the witcher was sitting, but he paid them no attention, keeping himself in a meditative trance.
One of the flesh giants groaned and raised his bone club with the intention of smashing the witcher, his heavy arm descended in one vertical swing towards him.
Geralt, suddenly opened his eyes and evade the flesh giant attack in the last moment, by performing a backflip jump from his sitting position.
The club and fist of the giant crashed, heavily on the ground spreading snow and dirt everywhere; the witcher wasted no time and ran towards the giant, climbing on top of his arm, still lowered in the ground and used it as some form of ramp to get close to the giant's face; the witcher lunged toward the giant, with his sword aimed at him and rammed it in the joint between the giant's neck and shoulders.
The giant roared in pain, moving violently trying to shake the witcher off him, but the witcher twirled his sword and violently pulled it out from the giant, worsening the wound and spreading blood and gore everywhere, the witcher performed another backflip using the giant's chest as leverage to get away from him and landed gracefully in the ground.
The giant tried to retaliate but the witcher was too fast, before he could strike at him; the witcher had run towards the giant and slide between his legs, making 2 slashes in them wich caused the giant to trip.
The witcher jumped frontward at the end of his slide and brought down his sword on a distracted Geist, who was sliced trough and trough by it; he quickly rolled to a side to avoid the club of the second giant.
……………………..
Jaina was moving fast between the buildings and tents in fordragon hold, with Aegwynn close behind her, she could see the great amount of soldiers gathering at the stronghold's outer walls and gates, Varian being among them, trying to take a glimpse toward the road, the soldiers were heaped very close at each other or on top of each others.
Jaina had been suddenly awoken to receive the news that the witcher was going to be attacked by a scourge patrol, before hearing the roars and battle noises outside, that prompted her to hastily dress herself and ran outside.
She could see the other leaders quickly running outside their tents or being already among the rising crowd, she stopped outside the gates entrance and forced her way through the crowd, only to find herself with the sight of the witcher evading the attacks of a flesh giant and several ghouls.
The witcher stepped aside to avoid one of the swings of the second giant, but then he had to quickly duck and protect himself with his sword to block the attack of a ghoul; with one quick swirling motion, the witcher separate the ghouls legs from the rest of his body and while the ghoul was suspended in midair before falling, the witcher performed a backflip kick that hit the ghoul square in the face and sent his head flying away.
The witcher started to charge a sign in his left hand, while at the same time evading the attacks of the second giant and the rest of ghouls and geists.
A geist tried to stab the witcher in the back with his claws, but the witcher stop him cold, turning around and using his right elbow to hit the geist in the chest; in a quick sucession he raised his forearm to hit the geist in the middle of his head with the back of his fist, this made the geist to tilt his head backwards; the witcher turned himself around once more, to allow his sword to decapitate the gist, whose limp body fell unceremoniously into the ground.
Two ghouls suddenly lunged towards the witcher, he immediately slide toward them on top of his knees, and with two quick slashes, he decapitate both of them in midair while at the same time making a 360 degrees turn.
Geralt had to roll again to avoid being smashed by another attack of the second giant, he released his charged sign; Axii, the giant's upper body was surrounded by a green glowing mist, that came from the witcher's hand, psyonic waves surrounded the giant's head and leave him clearly dazed.
The giant suddenly stood straight and turned around to face his allies; he made a terrible groan, raised both of his arms and slammed them in the middle of their midst, crushing 3 ghouls in the process and leaving the rest confused as to why his allied was attacking them.
The giant launched several swings with his club, killing more ghouls, he then turn his attentions towards the other giant, who had already stand back-up and recovered from the witcher attacks, The run towards his twin and crashed with his shoulders into him, sending him back to the ground.
The ghouls had overcome their confusion and jumped on top the giants back, viciously cutting and biting both his upper back and neck; the giant jerked violently trying to shake them off, sending several to fly in multiple directions.
The minions of the scourge were so distracted by the giant treason, that they had forget about the witcher, he made sure to show them the price of their mistake by killing several of them from behind.
One Geist throw a punch toward the witcher, but he easily dodged it by ducking; he took the opportunity to grab the geist by its wrist, and rammed his sword in his stomach, finally tossing him away; The geist landed roughly and tried to stand himself back up, but was stomped by one of the massive foots, of the giant under the witcher's control.
The other giant had stood up again and tossed himself in a rage attack against his traitor kin, tossing punches that connected in the other giant's face and body, the traitor giant retaliate with a swing from his club, that hit the other giant square in its chest and send him once more back into the ground.
The ghouls had managed to nastily wound the traitor giant in the back, during their first attack, taking chance of his now brief weariness; they climbed once more into his back.; chomping and ripping his flesh once more, the giant a little tired from the encounter with his twin, was unable to shake them off; finally a ghoul ripped out a significant deal of the giant's spine with his mouth; the giant fell face first into the ground, with the ghoul on top of his back.
Approving groans were heard from the rest of his kin, but the ghoul was not going to have time for approvals, the witcher cut him in half, when landing behind him from a jump; he looked in the direction of the rest of the undead forces and made a half-smile.
Only 2 geists and 5 ghouls remained, they cautiously surrounded the witcher, knowing now how dangerous he was; one of the ghouls jumped toward him and the witcher intercept him in midair and brought him down with his sword; that was the cue for the rest of the undead to attack him.
The witcher immediately slide towards the nearest enemy and swing his sword, making wide attacks at root soil level; this caught the undead by surprise, because they were expecting more conventional attacks, this brought the demise of another 2 ghouls, one decided to jump away to avoid being hit; but the witcher had already anticipated that move, he brought the tip of his sword upwards in a stockade, and pierced the ghoul's skull, from the middle of his jaw to the back of his head.
One of the geist decided to attack him from the flank, the witcher made an 180 degrees swing attack that cut one of the geist's arm off, and then rammed his sword in the middle of his chest, while having his back turned toward the geist; the geist was perplexed and the witcher twirled the hilt of his sword to ensure the geist's death, it went limb and his body rested on the witcher back; the witcher pulled his sword out and the geist body fell to the ground.
The 2 last ghouls attacked the witcher, the last geist decided not to and ran way instead, the witcher extended his left arm and grab one of the ghouls by its neck, against the other he used his sword to parry his attack, then used the hilt of his sword to hit him in the face, following with a knee kick in the stomach that lift the ghoul from the ground, and finally brought the ghoul down with his sword, all this while tightening his grip on the other ghoul's neck, uttering shattering his bones that became dust in the witcher's hand, making the rest of the ghoul's body to fall to the ground.
The witcher's ears straight up and his eyes widen for a second; he quickly rolled to a side to avoid being pummeled by one of the massive fists of the remaining flesh giant.
The giant groaned and yelled; he had terrible wounds inflicted by both the witcher and the other giant that he had taken control of.
The giant kept tossing punches pummeling everything in his wake, except the witcher who was dodging his attack by performing rolls and backflips.
Finally the witcher decided that he had enough, and tossed a punch of his own, at the same time that the giant was tossing one; both fists connected with a thunderous impact and the bones of the giant's hand utterly shattered by the force of the impact, splattering bones and blood.
The giant made a loud cry, covering his broken hand with his other one, the witcher followed suit with an uppercut that hit the giant square in the jaw, and send him flat on his back into the ground.
The giant made an unintelligible series of noises, clearly stunned by the witcher's punch; Geralt jumped on top of him and proceed to toss punch after punch in the giant's face, each hit soaking the witcher's fists with more and more blood while the sound of bones shattering was heard; he finally stopped when the giant's head was nothing more than a bloody stained pulp in the ground.
The witcher move along and proceed to make his usual breathing exercises and mantras to relax himself, he returned to the remains of his bonfire and cleansed himself and his equipment from the grim of battle, he sheathed his sword, took a long sigh and sat himself back to the ground to start his meditations.
…………………..
All the factions members and soldiers, that had assembled on their respective encampments borders were bewildered, they had never seem someone killing a flesh giant using their bare hands, to say that they were utterly impressed was an understatement.
Jaina didn't know what to think, she was relieved to see Geralt unharmed, but she was awed and astonished of his skills, she wanted to know more about him, about the magics that he wielded and the abilities he used, she wanted to know practically everything about his trade, curiosity filling her every thoughts; Geralt was clearly a very impressive individual, clearly being something more that he appears at first glance, and very intriguing and alluring for some reason.
Jaina felt embarrassed and shook her head, to clear her thoughts; she was puzzled as to why she started to think that way about him, she was no mere damsel that fell in love at the first passing adventurer; she was a powerful mage, ruler of an important city, and ambassador and mediator between the 2 most powerful factions in this world, the destiny of many where linked to her decisions; she should…. She could not allow herself to feel that way for a newcomer; but then again this was not your usual newcomer.
In the end she decided not to think more about it, and rather focus on the matter at hand, she had to provide counsel to the leaders to make sure they don't act rashly or freaked out by the witcher display of abilities, she didn't want for the situation to get out of hand; they had to make a fair and thorough decision about what to do with the witcher.
But that's another story; for another time.