A Wild World- A Witcher FanFic

Chapter 24

Magic is a tricky thing. Sometimes it can be molded and worked by the user to create spontaneous things impossible to nature. Other times it can be harnessed for great and powerful works: both good and evil. Often it is unpredictable - wild.

This time magic worked in its mysterious and wild ways: for a spell cast on a wing and a prayer, filled with pangs of desire can indeed be just as wild as the magic itself. Unfortunately as powerful as magic is, when wielded by someone inexperienced it can be a little off course...

A blazing red swirled around as Cass' body was sent spiraling through the evening sky. Flecks of green dotted the landscape. Trees maybe. Cass couldn't really tell. In fact it really didn't matter much. What was concerning was the speed at which the ground was approaching!

Shit -

The words never made it to the world as they were torn from her lips. Her still tensing muscles cried out against the sudden impact. The jolt sent a spasm of pain through her right leg. Luckily a scraggy patch of sage grass had sacrificed itself for the rest of her, cushioning the fall.

Why the hell couldn't magic just make things easier for once.

Staggering to her feet, Cass dusted off her travelling clothes. Although sore at least she didn't have any broken bones, just bruises. Bruises that, she reminded herself, would make themselves very noticeable in the morning.

Giving her sore back a delicate pat, wincing as her hand grazed a particularly large bump, Cass surveyed the tangled landscape. It seemed she was on a small sandbar in a sludgy swamp. She had just given the tiny inlet a once over before it hit her full on. Rotten fish, decaying plants, and stagnant waters were only the first part. The rank odor seeped into her very core, curling her toes in her boots.

Violently gagging, she bent double. Curling up only made things worse as she was even closer to the greenish sludge that was the swamp. Taking a shallow gulp of air, she tugged the neck of her shirt above her nose. Now was not the time to let her guard down. If Eskel was in this place then something must be wrong. Something wrong typically meant monsters.

Steeling herself against the swamps infernal state, she drew the silver sword at her hip. Magic only got her close, now she needed to do the rest.

"Eskel where the hell are you." Her voice carried across the gently rustling tufts of grass, mixing with the incessant chatter of the swamp. The rippling waters only sparkled back in the setting sun.

Damn it. Of course, as if it was going to be easy.

Darting between the tufts and bracken that covered the small sandbar, the squelching mud highlighting her quickened steps, she skirted the outer rim of the marsh. All she needed was a sign. Some sort of direction to go.

Pressing a free hand to the cool metal of her necklace, Cass weighed her options. The forest behind her was too dense for it to be where Eskel was. The local villages must have sent him here for a quest. And if he wasn't at the edges then he must be further towards the middle. She would have to take a leap of faith on this one.

Marching through the underbrush she headed deeper into the swamp. The sun's rays slowly turning a deep crimson across the waterways.

"Eskel! Where are you?" Again, the call was left unanswered on the cool breeze.

Suddenly, a solid tugging impeded her movement. Something had her leg!

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Sliding to the side, he expertly took down three drowned dead. This was how it was. His sword an extension of his arm, and the means of death. This was how he needed things to be.