Chapter 52: Chaper Forty-Nine – The Exiled Witch Arrives

White. Everything was white. I floated in the air, clutching Eskame as tightly as I could. My disk of hardened wind had already shattered. Yet for some reason, we weren’t falling.

Maybe there was just nowhere to fall. It felt as if all of existence had ceased. Leaving us here, floating in a vast nothingness.

Slowly the white began to fade, and I wasn’t floating anymore. I was laying upon the ground gazing up at a woman. Dressed in a frilly green and black gothic lolita dress. Her purple hair fluttering in the breeze.

Otrea.

The witch’s gaze was on the dragon. Not far from us it was laying in a massive crater. Blood seeped from beneath its scales. Its wings were a tattered mess of skin and sinew. Yet it wasn’t dead. It glared at us, forcing itself to stand.

“You.” A voice echoed. “Who are you?”

“Otrea Emerald Ladnier. The Great Exiled Witch of Ciriczar,” Otrea’s lips curled in a self-satisfied grin. “Surely you’ve heard of me.”

“What business does a witch have here?”

“I sent a few of my pets here to fetch something. Surely you didn’t fail to notice the phoenix’s tear around this one’s neck? The moment you threatened her life I knew she was in danger.”

Otrea narrowed her eyes. Her voice taking on a frigid tone, “I’m going to have to kill you for that.”

“Kill me? What foolishness is this? Even a god could not slay me.”

“Oh really?” Otrea cracked her knuckles and took a few steps towards the dragon. “I hope you’re ready to live out an eternity licking the floors of my mansion clean. As my personal undead.”

“Foolish witch.” The dragon’s body shimmered. Soon it was no longer the massive lizard of legend, but an amazonian woman. Her hair was the same dark sanguine color her scales had been. Two pitch-black horns rose from her forehead. So dark in color that they seemed to eat the light around them.

The Dragon-Lady wore a dress of scales and carried a massive sword in her right hand. The blade of which burned with a bright blue flame.

Holding her flaming sword before her body the Dragon charged Otrea. Yet the witch didn’t even let her get close. Instead, Otrea teleported behind the dragon. Placing both of her hands on the dragon’s shoulders, Otrea let loose a violent pulse of electricity.

At that range, there was nothing the dragon could do. Grinding her teeth she collapsed to her knees panting as Otrea kicked her sword away.

“You’re weaker in this form,” Otrea commented, wrapping the dragon up in spiderweb. “Were you too injured to sustain your draconic visage? Or did you really underestimate me that much?”

Couching up blood the Dragon glared up at Otrea. She didn’t say anything. She simply seethed and stared. Honestly, she looked rather pitiful. If I didn’t know she was the massive dragon that’d just tried to kill us, I’d have felt sorry for her.

“I’m tired of you,” Otrea pushed her foot into the Dragon’s back forcing her face-first into the dirt. “Be a good girl and stay still while I carve out your heart. Dragon Heart’s blood is a very rare ingredient. I’d hate to spill any.”

Holding her hand up Otrea forged a blade of living lighting. “Look away Bernice. You don’t want to see this.”

“Are you really going to kill her?”

“Do you have a reason why I shouldn’t? [Seraph’s Wrath] is not an easy spell to cast. It is exhausting and takes a significant amount of my power. The fact that she survived such a thing should be proof enough of how dangerous she is. This is not someone I am strong enough to tame.”

“I... don’t.”

“Then shield the little one’s eyes, and close your own.”

I did as Otrea requested. Then the dragon screamed. “Stop! I have treasure worth far more than my heart. I’ll give it to you. All of it. Yours in exchange for my life.”

“Oh? Finally willing to bargain for your life?” Otrea chuckled. “Here I thought you were too prideful to do such a thing.”

“I...” the dragon hesitated. “I recognize you Otrea Emerald Ladnier as my better. Please release me in exchange for my treasure.”

“No.”

“Please,” the dragon whined. “I’m begging you, what more could you want?”

“Hmm... Do elder dragons have a binding oath? Something akin to their mortal counterparts the Scaleborn?”

I opened my eyes to see the dragon gazing dumbfounded up at Otrea. “What?” The dragon ground her teeth. “You wish to extract an oath, from me?“

“Yes. You are untamable through brute strength alone,” Otrea smiled and gazed over at the forest. Just beyond where the dragon’s devastation ended. There I could see Harriette and Eurycelia hesitantly watching our exchange. “But I have had a sudden epiphany. I don’t need to tame you through strength. So tell me, do dragons have an oath?”

“As if I would swear such a thing to a mortal like you.“

Otrea smiled and reconjured her lightning blade. “Well then. That was your chance. I’ll be taking your heart now.”

“Wait! Do you not desire treasure?”

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“If I did, I’m certain I could find it after your death. Just knowing it exists is enough. Though I have more gold, jewels, and trinkets than I could ever desire. So I don’t believe it to be worth my time. Your heart’s blood is treasure enough for me.”

The dragon shivered. “Devil.”

“Witch. But close enough I guess.”

“Fine,” Angry tears pooled in the dragon’s eyes. “you can have my oath. I’ll swear it to you now.”

“But I don’t want you to swear it to me.” Otrea laughed, before pointing in my direction. “Swear it to her.”

“The fox?”

“While adorable no. The rabbit.”

The dragon’s eyes glowed for a moment. “You secured my oath and you surrender it to a weakling? How foolish.”

Otrea shrugged. “If I’m not collecting your heart, I have no use for you. Swear your oath to my pet, or surrender your heart. I will bargain with you no further.”

“Very well. Release me from this web and I will swear my oath to that child.”

“No. Instruct her on what you need done to swear the oath to her. You will not be released until it is complete.”

The dragon sighed. “Her blood. I need a drop of fresh blood from her upon my tongue to swear the oath.”

“Very well. Bernice, come here please.”

“Can you go hug Euri for me?” I asked Eskame, giving the little fox’s head a few pets.

“Yeah,” Eskame nodded before turning around to hug me tightly. “The scary lady isn’t going to hurt you is she?”

“She’s not going to hurt me at all. I promise. Now go give Euri that hug for me please.”

“Okay.” Eskame let go of me hesitantly before running to where Eurycelia was standing. I watched her go and only when her arms were wrapped around Eurycelia’s waist did I stand and begin to make my way towards Otrea.

“You’re very kind to her,” Otrea smiled.

“She’s my little sister, why wouldn’t I be?”

“Little sister huh?” Otrea laughed, “You’ve got a big heart Bernice. I guess I should expect no less from one of Ellione’s descendants.”

“So you remember that part? Even though you were already locked away when Mommy Laura mentioned it?”

“I skimmed through the memories directly after Eurycelia’s spell. So that I would have a better grasp of what happened. I can assure you, I feel extremely foolish. I can see it now, you look so much like her. How I was blind to that, I don’t know.”

“Now then,” Otrea held out her hand. “Give me your hand Bernice. I cannot make up for our hostile introduction, but I can give you a new pet. Hopefully, this is adequate payment.”

“Pet?!” The dragon growled only to be silenced by several small bolts of lightning from Otrea’s fingers.

“Here I thought I would be the one paying you,” I replied holding out my hand. “We found coffee... umm I really hope it’s not all buried under the dirt now.”

“I’m certain Harriette preserved a few branches. That should be all we need.” Otrea rubbed the pad of my index finger with her thumb. My finger quickly growing numb to her touch.

Only when I could no longer feel her did Otrea cut my finger open with a fingernail. Holding her bloodied nail before the dragon’s mouth. “Lick it. And say your oath.”

The Dragon obeyed. Licking my blood from Otrea’s finger she closed her eyes and began to speak. “To the one who has earned my everlasting devotion, I swear myself body and soul. For as long as there is fire in my lungs I shall serve your will. For weal or woe. I am but an instrument of your desires.”

“Use [Analyze] on her now Bernice. Just like with Eurycelia, verify that she is properly bound to you.”

“What?!” The dragon twisted to glare up at Otrea. “No mortal—“

Otrea zapped the dragon once again. “She is your oath keeper now. You may refer to her as Lady Bernice, Master Bernice, or you may bite your tongue and say nothing. Understood?”

“Yes.”

“Good, now Bernice please do as I asked.”

Analyze.

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