Evening.
In the swamp
A long caravan was heading right into the swamp to the south of Lake Vizima. Most of them were soldiers wearing chainmail forged of silver links with longswords sheathed by their belt and bearing bucklers and crossbows.
There were also several carts with them, each of them carrying wooden barrels that were emanating a weird smell.
Three figures wearing light leather led in front of the caravan, Adda in the center along with a witcher to her left and another to her right.
The woman suddenly pulled on her reins and stopped the energetic white horse that she was riding. She looked at the darkening sky and said, “As per our original plan, we will stay for one night in the village in front. We will then take a boat to Black Tern Island by boat tomorrow.”
Roy nodded as he lay on Wilt’s back. Through the thin mist covering the swamp, he could clearly see the outline of houses not that far away.
When he heard the sounds of the convoy arriving, the village chief Boev quickly came over and greeted them with words of compliment. “And we welcome you once again to Connor Village, Princess Adda. And to you all too, sir knights. I will arrange your lodgings immediately.”
The frail old man looked at the long line with respect.
“Unlike the previous two times, we’re no longer taking this lightly.” Princess Adda waved the whip in her hand proudly as she announced on the horse, “I brought dozens of the Order’s elites. And this time, I’m going to eliminate all the beasts on the island and solve your problems once and for all!”
The village chief bowed even deeper as he said with reverence, “Thank you for your kindness, Your Highness! It’s all thanks to your concern for Connor Village that we have yet to be swallowed whole by those beasts from the lake.”
“Since you are the citizens of Vizima, I’ll naturally have to make sure you are all right!”
***
When they were exchanging words, the convoy had already entered the village.
The village wasn’t of moderate size, with around 200 families living here. At this time, most of the villagers had already returned to their own homes to enjoy their dinner.
White smoke came out from the chimney of the houses with thatch roofs. As the smoke rolled, some curious men and their children looked at the knights with surprise and joy as they stood by the door.
Their joy came from the depths of their heart, as if they had seen their savior.
The young witcher scanned the faces of the villagers.
It seems like the villagers have seen better days… He noticed that most of the villagers, both children and adults, had black, puffy eyes. As if they’ve been losing sleep lately.
Next, Adda issued her orders and organized everything that was to be done the next day. The knights set up their tents around the village and left behind one-tenth of their numbers to take care of the horses, gear, and sentry duty.
“Listen well!” Adda cracked her whip in the air with her right hand. “If any one of you disobeys my orders and harasses the villagers, you will suffer the consequences!’
The knights put their right hand on their chest and bowed respectfully.
Only afterward did the woman enter the most “lavish” building together with Boev. The two witchers behind her were somewhat surprised. The princess wasn’t as arrogant and bullheaded as the rumors had said.
“Welcome to my simple abode, Your Highness. Please forgive me for the lack of amenities. You had spent one whole day riding from Vizima, and you must be quite hungry. If you don’t mind, my wife is making dinner…”
“No need…” Adda sat in the rattan chair and made herself comfortable with her arms on the armrests. Her two long legs folded on one another as her beautiful face showed some sign of fatigue. “I’ve already eaten some rations. If there’s nothing important, you may leave.”
“And these two?” The village chief glanced at the tall and muscular Letho.
“These two are professional monster killers. Letho and Roy, witchers from the Viper School.” Adda gave the two of them a glance. “They recently reached Vizima, so they still aren’t familiar with their surroundings. Boev, would you be so kind as to be their guide?”
Seeing that Adda had shown how tired she was, the village chief led the two witchers out of the room.
“Sirs, how much do you know about the degenerated vodyanoi?”
The two witchers exchanged a glance.
While Roy knew most of the monsters from the Witcher world, he only knew the basics about the degenerated vodyanoi.
After giving it some thought, Letho said, “The vodyanoi are amphibians and live near locations where there are bodies of water, and they survive on algae and fish. They also have the same weaknesses that most amphibians have. They are particularly fearful of flames and bright light. Since the vodyanoi from Lake Vizima have the prefix ‘degenerated,’ that means they must be somewhat different from normal vodyanoi?”
The expression on Boev’s wrinkly face darkened.
“It’s just as you say. The degenerated vodyanoi are even more brutal. Ever since they appeared, they had attacked the fishing boats that were on the lake… Everyone was worried they would be attacked and become scared of going deeper into the lake to fish. Our catch has since at least halved, and everyone’s living quite frugally…”
Boev stopped. There was horror in his eyes.
“Sometimes, there would be a degenerate vodyanoy venturing onto land and hunting for small animals by the beach, and using the flesh and blood of the animals for…” There was horror from his cloudy eyes. “A sacrifice. Many years ago, a fisherman by the name of Noel accidentally landed on Black Tern Island and saw a structure that looked like a cooktop, although it’s more accurately described as an altar. The degenerated vodyanoi would offer sacrifices in the form of flesh and blood of living creatures to a terrifying monster…”
“Can we talk to the fisherman?”
Boev sighed and said, “Noel went missing afterward.”
“Missing?”
Roy became disappointed. If he could learn some of the altar’s descriptions, he could probably guess just what the degenerated vodyanoi were sacrificing to.
“Do you know what they were offering sacrifices to?”
“I’m not sure,” Boev answered. “Their gods?”
But the vodyanoi had no gods of their own.
Roy then turned around and asked, “From what you know, how many degenerated vodyanoi are there in the lake?”
The village chief shook his head and said, “I’m not sure about the number, but there are definitely more than 200 of them.”
Roy gave it a thought. A fully equipped knight or soldier should be able to deal with two degenerated vodyanoi at the same time, and Adda brought forty of them.
“Which means that the knights are going to be stretched to their limits…”
Even with the two witchers.
Now they had to put their hope on Roy’s plan, hoping that it would work.
“According to your description, since there are degenerated vodyanoi, then there must be normal vodyanoi around as well?”
Boev nodded as he began to reminisce. “About ten years ago, none of the vodyanoi here worshiped that evil altar. They are still quite docile and they live in peace with the residents living by the lake. They had never troubled the fishermen. There was an old woman from Connor Village who passed away two years ago who had been saved by a vodyanoy after she fell into the lake by accident.
“At the time, there was peace and harmony between man and animal… but now, the degenerated vodyanoi dominate this area. The normal vodyanoi’s living space is becoming smaller and smaller. The situation they face right now is not unlike the Black Fish from the lake. They are going extinct.”
“The two castes of vodyanoi stand opposed. Is there any way we can interact with the normal vodyanoi?” Roy believed they could become useful allies they couldn’t ignore.
Boev’s eyes brightened. “Even Princess Adda didn’t think of that. I have heard that even now, one can see the normal vodyanoi make an appearance to the east of the lake.”
“They don’t have the bloodlust and wicked aura surrounding a degenerated vodyanoy, and there are no black spots on their skin. They will also not attack humans without being provoked. They can be differentiated quite easily.”
“But even if you can find those that have not become degenerated, normal people can’t communicate with them.”
“Boy, you are no druid. This won’t work,” Letho commented.
“Hehe.” Roy smiled without saying another word. “Princess Adda has brought a large number of soldiers, aiming to attack the degenerated vodyanoi’s nest and destroy the altar on Black Tern Island. As the chief of Connor Village, do you think that this is something that works? The princess isn’t here, so speak freely!”
Boev was somewhat doubtful as he said, “Forgive me for being straightforward. While the knights are all quite skilled, Black Tern Island is still the degenerated vodyanoi’s home… If you were to head to Black Tern Island in such a large group, you would no doubt alert them to your presence. They will ambush your boats before you reach the island without question, and this would cause some losses. Then, when the remaining survivors reach the island, they would suffer a pincer attack from the front and back. It’s not going to be easy.”
Roy looked at the old man with surprise. He didn’t expect that the chief of a small village would have that kind of insight.
He scanned the person one more time, confirming that he was just someone normal.
“I also have the same worry, but Princess Adda has already decided and will not listen to our advice. All we can do is make the necessary preparations and put this in the hands of Fate!”
“Haa…” The village chief sighed. “I pray that Princess Adda’s endeavor will be a smooth one and that you will remove those evil creatures once and for all, so that the village may go back to fish soon.”
“We’ll do our best.”
Roy then looked at the black bags under his eyes and couldn’t help but ask, “Why do I feel like the villagers from the village are quite exhausted?”
Boev gulped. But when he looked at the two men staring at him curiously, he couldn’t help but give his white beard under his chin a stroke. “That is another matter completely. For the past year or so, all the villagers in Connor Village have had the same dream, and everyone’s sleep was pretty much disturbed. Everyone would use herbs or look to the physicians for help, but none of them could figure out what was happening. Some of them even investigated the food and water that we consume, but there was no problem at all. Masters, do you think that something evil has descended upon our village?”
“I’m not sure. I’ll only know more after I investigate.” The witcher shook his head as his dark, golden eyes showed doubt.
Could it be that there were other monsters in the swamp other than the degenerated vodyanoi?
“Then I will be in your debt,” Boev continued. “Connor Village wasn’t the worst affected. There was another village…”
“Was something wrong?” Roy asked.
Boev’s cloudy eyes looked northwest through the window. “There was a village by the lake that was known for mining for clay and making their own bricks for a living. Sint Village… A portion of the villagers had been killed by the crazed degenerated vodyanoi, and the remaining survivors didn’t want to leave. Their mental wellbeing had extremely deteriorated. The frequency of nightmares they had was far beyond that of Connor Village. I went over to take a look about two weeks ago, and I noticed that out of the three hundred families, a fraction of them weren’t able to concentrate at all, while another fraction of them was unconscious. They would either act strangely or mutter some language that no one understood under their breaths like some kind of weird chant. Less than one-third of the villagers there were normal.”
The two witchers suddenly fell silent.
“What kind of dreams? Can you describe them to me?”
Boev frowned for a very long time as he tried to remember. “My apologies… I only remember that there was a blurry shadow in my dream. I couldn’t really tell what it was… It kept on whispering something hard to distinguish in my ears. I’m sure that it’s not Common Speech, but it doesn’t sound like it’s a language branched from the old tongue… I don’t understand a word it said. And that was why I kept on losing sleep. The other villagers were also experiencing something similar.”
“Other than the nightmares and mumbling, was there anything else?”
“I haven’t seen any other.” Boev asked worriedly as he stroked his beard, “Does this mean things will become even worse?”
“No need to worry for now. It’s just a guess… We’ll speak of this again once we’re back from Black Tern Island.”
“Of course. Then, on behalf of the entire Connor Village, I would like to wish you all a glorious victory!”
After Boev left worryingly, the two witchers began to exchange their thoughts with one another.
“The ability to intrude upon the dreams of the villagers and make strange whispers in their dreams?” Roy’s expression became grim. “Is this the ability of a hym or godling?”
“No demon or d’ao possesses that kind of power. They cannot affect hundreds of people at the same time,” Letho said. “But this is not a coincidence… Food and drinks? But they had already investigated that.”
“Could it be that altar… the thing that the degenerated vodyanoi were worshiping?”
“It’s possible…” Letho nodded. “The altar might be worshiping a powerful mutant. For example, a unique vodyanoy. Just like the ancient leshen, it might possess some powers that are beyond ordinary, such as the ability to manipulate dreams. Regardless, we are going to have a very difficult battle tomorrow. Now, check your alchemical bombs, potions, and everything else in your bag. We must make full preparations…”
