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Eldin narrowed his eyes as he watched the dragon rip a chunk of meat from the horse it had killed. It had led him on a very long chase to the very border of the kingdom that had hired Eldin, but finally, it had stopped to make a nest. His one and only chance to kill it was right now, but he had to be careful. He pulled an elixir from his pocket and drank it, his entire body paling, his eyes turning completely black and dark veins spreading from his eyes to spiderweb through the skin of his entire face and neck. He grit his teeth as his entire body burned, but drew his sword slowly and as quietly as he could before starting up a slope to his right. The slope snaked along the mountain before ending at a cliff over the dragon. He crept forward to the very edge of it and prepared himself to leap forward onto the great black dragon's back, only to stop as a low, rumbling growl echoed from below. The dragon's head rose from below the cliff, glaring at him. Then, just as it opened its mouth, Eldin launched himself forward and into the air. A stream of acid past below him, hissing angrily as it dissolved the rocks along the top of the cliff, and Eldin slashed as he passed over the dragon's head. It roared, a severed horn and thick blood scattering into the air before he crashed into its wing, knocking it to the ground and cushioning his fall. As he stood, he slashed the wing, the dragon roaring in agony and rearing up. It beat its wings, but with one wing wounded, its attempt to fly instead knocked it off balance. As it crashed down on its back, Eldin lunged, stabbing at it as hard as he could, his sword only barely making it through its scales. However, before he could retrieve the sword, the dragon's tail swept around, crashing into his side just shy of the bristling spikes along its end.
Eldin sailed through the air, crashing down hard and rolling for a moment before scrambling behind a cliff just ahead of a jet of acid. Once it had passed, he leapt over what remained of the acid, landing just in time to duck under the dragon's tail again. He jabbed his hand at it, a blast of invisible force crashing into the side of its head, knocking it sideways and redirecting a third spray of acid off to the side before he charged. The tail swept around at him and he leapt over it. It arced up into the air and he dove to the side before the tail crashed to the ground, cracking the stone. Then, it swept to the side, crashing into him again. He shoved himself under the air just in time to hold his arm up as though holding up a shield. A moment later, a stream of acid parted around a spherical barrier surrounding Eldin. Once the stream had ended, he leapt over the pool of acid around him and lunged under the dragon's claws, grabbing his sword. He wrenched it out of the dragon's side and spun, slashing one of its legs on the slightly less thickly-scaled inside, then dove out of the way as the dragon fell. He spun, moving to impale it through the eye instantly, that being the fastest way to kill a black dragon, only for the tail to sweep past. It missed him by inches, but this time, the spikes bristling from the end scored several gashes across his chest and stomach, hurling him to the side. He crashed down hard, bouncing and rolling to a stop, then groaned, pushing himself up unsteadily just in time to once again block a jet of acid. However, as he let the barrier fade, he looked around, seeing the remains of his sword quickly being dissolved in the pool to his right.
"Fuck," Eldin swore.
He looked up just as the dragon lunged and jabbed his hand forward, a blast of force knocking it to the side. The dragon roared, swiping at him with his claws, and Eldin dove aside, only for them to rake across his back. He shouted in agony, bouncing and rolling across the ground, then groaned, struggling back to his feet as the dragon raised its head, growling lowly in victory. Then, just as its head began to rock back to lunge, someone leapt off of the same cliff Eldin had planned to ambush the dragon from. The figure, dressed in black clothes and a black cloak, caught the dragon's horn and drove a spear deep into the dragon's eye, impaling its brain. It roared in pain, rearing back and allowing the figure to slide down the back of its neck and off the torso to the ground before the head crashed to the ground. Eldin groaned in relief before his wounds flared with pain as his elixir wore off. He staggered to the side before collapsing. The figure walked toward him as Eldin's vision began to blur, but by the time he'd reached Eldin, Eldin was barely clinging to consciousness.
"Sleep," the figure instructed in the gruff voice born of advanced aged.
Despite Eldin's best efforts, his body complied with the order instantly.
Eldin groaned as he stirred, instantly recognizing the hard stone bed of a cave floor beneath him, and the feeling of bandages wrapped around his wounds. He pushed himself up into a sitting position, but as he did, a hand caught his shoulder.
"Lay back down, Witcher," the man who had saved him said. "You're not fully healed yet."
"I'll be fine," Eldin said hoarsely, looking back at the man.
The man looked to be in his late fifties, maybe his sixties, with wizened, leathery skin and a mess of scars, but Eldin could tell from one look of the man's elongated, pointed ears that he was far older than only sixty.
"Why did you save me?" Eldin asked.
"Because I have need of a Witcher's skills," the old elf said. "I don't have much money, but the way I see it, if it's to pay off a life debt, you'll take any job, won't you?"
"Yeah," Eldin grumbled. "I'm not fond of owing anyone, so I'll do the job, if it's reasonable, and if not, I'll kill you."
The elf chuckled. "It's reasonable. I want you to save my daughter. She's being held in the dungeon of the same kingdom that hired you."
"Falsely accused?" Eldin asked.
"Well, she...may have killed a guard or two," the elf said. "Or five."
"So she's a murderer," Eldin said flatly.
"Is it murder for a woman to kill the men who try to rape her?" the elf asked.
Eldin remained silent for a long while before sighing and pushing himself to his feet. "I'll help her. But first I need to find a new sword."
"No, you don't," the elf said. "You'll be taking mine."
He gestured to a thin scabbard resting against the cave's wall, and Eldin picked it up, drawing the beautifully-crafted sword. The hilt of the sword was a piece of an antler, long enough for both hands, and was carved with intricate vines in the half closest to the blade. The guard was a hexagon with the sides parallel to the flats of the blades extended, and was pale, matching the hilt's color. The blade was thin and slender, single-edged, and was straight for almost all of it before curving backward to the back edge, which was entirely straight. The sword was lighter than Eldin's last, and while clearly designed for two hands, it was more than light enough for him to wield with one hand.
"It's beautiful," Eldin said.
"I'm also going to make you an...insurance policy," the elf said. "I'm going to forge you armor from the dragon's skin and bone."
"How?" Eldin asked.
"With magic," the elf said. "I only know a small amount, but I know enough to accomplish such a simple task as this."
Eldin nodded. "How long?"
"You'll be healed tomorrow, and I'll have your armor done in about three days," the elf said. "And then, you will be my demon."
"Excuse me?" Eldin asked.
"They mean to execute my daughter," the elf said. "You will be my demon, and slaughter everyone who means to harm her."
"No," Eldin said. "I'm not going to make myself a murderer for you. I'm going to get her out without murdering her."
The elf narrowed his eyes before nodding. "If you can, feel free. But if she dies, so will you."
Eldin nodded and walked out of the cave to relieve himself before returning and lying back down to sleep.
"You did well," the king said. "I wasn't expecting to see you again. How much did we promise you, again?"
"Keep your coin," Eldin said. "It's come to my attention you may have something I'm more interested in. I heard tell you have a rather violent elf woman in your dungeon."
The king's face split into a grin and he chuckled. "And here I had heard Witchers were unreasonable monsters who only cared for coin. Come. She's this way."
He and a man that Eldin assumed was the king's best knight led Eldin down a spiraling staircase to the dungeons. They were dark, wet, cold, and covered, every inch, in blood stains. However, the part that caught Eldin's attention most effectively was the noise. Laughing, jeering, grunts, cries of despair and pain, and the tell-tale wet slapping of the elf woman suffering the same torment which had led her to the dungeon in the first place. The king led Eldin to the cell where the elf was being held, and the soldiers in the cell, nearly a dozen of them, parted for their lord, granting Eldin a clear view of the person he'd come to save. Except, she wasn't a woman. She was young, by Elf standards, as well as physically. By looks, were she human, she looked to be early twenties, if not the last of her teen years. As far as her actual age was concerned, she was undoubtedly much older than all of the men surrounding her, except perhaps for Eldin, but physically she had a youthful beauty that was many times more captivating than Eldin had been prepared for, and which called into question why an elf looking to be entering his twilight years had a daughter who looked to have been born late in his midlife.
"A fine specimen, wouldn't you agree?" the king asked, grinning wickedly at the elf. "Even for an elf."
"Fine indeed," Eldin said. "I heard she killed some of your soldiers?"
"Five," the king nodded, his grin turning into a look of the purest loathing. "Some of my best fighters, my personal guard, and she cut them all down like they were nothing. Of course, she was no match for Bertrand, here." The king gestured to his shadow.
"She defeated them in a fight?" Eldin asked. "I had assumed she'd killed them in their sleep."
"Were it only so simple," the king growled. "An elf girl, barely more than a child, humiliated five of my best knights. She humiliated me."
Eldin nodded. "I expect you'll be glad to be rid of her, then."
The king snorted. "Praise all that is good."
"I'd appreciate it if one of your men could find her a cloak, at least, but if not I'll just take her as is," Eldin said.
"Excuse me?" the king asked, turning. "You'll take her?"
"As I said, I'm more interested in this elf than in the coin you promised me," Eldin said. "You agreed that she be my payment for slaying the dragon. Is there a problem?"
"This little bitch's head is going to stand atop my castle's wall on a spike!" the king spat. "He body is going to feed the pigs! Now I'll let you have your fun with her as payment for killing that flying lizard, but she will not leave this dungeon except for her execution in two days!"
Eldin restrained himself from growling. "What would it take for you to release her to me, understanding that my intention for her is as bait for a rather nasty monster I have a standing task to hunt? She'll still die, just not here?"
The king glared at him before considering. After a moment, he turned to Bertrand, whispering for a moment before Bertrand nodded and turned, heading back up the stairs as several of the other knights stepped out of the cell wearing pants and holding swords, though only casually.
"One more job, then, Witcher," the king said. "While you were tracking the dragon we received a report of a werewolf terrorizing a village east of here. It's half a day's ride. If you bring me the werewolf's head before the execution, I'll allow you to take the elf girl."
Eldin narrowed his eyes slightly before nodding. "If you cross me and refuse my pay, I'll be taking it out of your hide."
The king glared at him, but Eldin walked up the stairs, passing Bertrand at the top, then out of the castle. He mounted his horse and rode out of the city before turning east, settling in for a long ride.
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