Witch of Fear [Mild horror, Isekai High Fantasy]

Through darkened streets wandered a thin figure clad in necromancer robes. To the north they meandered, taking the twisting paths and crooked ways of the city’s northern slums. Here, the buildings grew crooked like broken teeth as they huddled beneath the oppressive gaze of the dark walls and towers. 

Shadowy figures loomed in cracked doorways, shielded by the anonymity of shadows. They watched on warily as the robed figure marched on by like a wrath. 

Wisely, they took their troubles back indoors rather than bother the lone figure. 

The figure continued on across the uneven, grimy cobblestones as they made their way towards a tower in the distance. Before too long had passed, the dark figure reached their destination and peered out into the streets from the shade of a dim alleyway, soft light illuminating their features. 

Autumn squinted up at the sinister fortress across the way from beneath the brim of her rat-chewed hat, keeping a sharp eye on the guards patrolling its base. 

The massive, broad tower straddled the red river at the end of the dark metal walls, mirrored by a twin on the opposite bank. Connecting the two was a heavy chain, currently raised to deny passage to any ships, small or large, that wished to leave the embroiled city. Glancing up the circular tower, Autumn spied a great number of narrow windows — arrow slits — lining the walls, lit from within by glowing flame. Every so often, the lights would flicker as guards passed by the thin openings. 

On the outside, dozens of armed and armored guardsmen patrolled on high alert. Watchful eyes scoured the city from the safety of their walls. 

There were only two entrances that Autumn could see. One on the ground floor, the other along the wall. Currently, the massive double doors that opened up into the tower were mostly closed and guarded by four drow in heavy armor wielding massive tower shields. And while the door on the wall was less guarded than the ones on the ground floor, it still had an armored drow blocking the way in, one who easily outweighed Autumn many times over.

Before she’d gotten her powers, Autumn wouldn’t have thought that someone could infiltrate such a well-defended place. Especially not her. Hell, before she could travel through the black waters, she would’ve been hard pressed to do so even with magic at her fingertips.

Now, it seemed trivially easy to her.

With barely a whisper, Autumn slipped into the shadows at her feet, vanishing from the world into the strange dark only she knew. Once more she felt the frigid waters envelop her, threatening to rob the breath from her lungs. Yet it felt soothing on her pulsing mind, still overtaxed by the words of power.

Shaking off the feeling, Autumn swam beneath the street, heading towards the tower. And as she passed beneath the thick walls, she glanced up, getting her first look at its interior.

An entry hall sat beyond the thick double doors leading into the tower, housing another set of equally thick doors. A series of murder-holes lined the ceiling, poised to deliver a rain of bolts down on any would-be invaders.

Effortlessly, Autumn passed beneath the second set of doors and into the second chamber.

The next room Autumn peeked up into was much more brightly lit than the last. Ironically, this made it harder for her to see. Yet, judging by the number of shifting shadows cast by the people in the room, she counted at least half-a-dozen guards within it.

With her lungs burning for air, Autumn moved swiftly over to a shadowed corner of the room out of immediate sight to breach the surface for air. After taking a few shallow, quiet gulps of air, she examined the room.

Just as she’d guessed, several armed guards occupied it. However, despite being in a state of readiness, they weren’t as armed or armored as the ones outside. 

Curious, Autumn looked over the room.

On the far wall she noticed an open door, beyond which she saw the gleam of weaponry, while to the back of the room she spied a doorway leading to a spiraling stairwell. Likely, that was the way up. Only one bored guardsman blocked the way, his back to the stairwell. 

Taking a large gulp of air, Autumn dipped back under the shadows and made her way over to the open armory. 

Peeking up through the surface of the black water after she’d passed under the wall, Autumn saw a myriad of polished weapons gleaming along the walls and spare sets of armor hanging from wooden frames. In the center of the room, keeping a watchful eye over the bastion’s inventory, was a lone drow, older-looking than most she’d seen. 

A quartermaster, Autumn wagered. 

Swimming closer to him, Autumn got a good look at him. Gruff and rugged, the drow male looked like he’d weathered a great deal of time and conflict. Spying the ring of keys on his hip, Autumn got an idea. 

A conflicted expression crested her face a second before she hardened her heart. 

Slowly, Autumn swam closer like a circling shark as the quartermaster wandered the armory, taking inventory of the undistributed arms and armor. Into his shadow, she slunk. 

Waiting. 

Watching. 

Unseen, her hands reached out of the dark when the quartermaster stilled for a fateful moment. Higher they crept till around a pair of leather-clad ankles they locked. Before the quartermaster could realize what was happening, Autumn pulled him down into her lightless world.

With nary a splash, he vanished. 

Blind in the dark waters, air robbed from his lungs by the icy chill, the drow quartermaster thrashed with such force and desperation that Autumn was forced to let go. She drifted back, watching warily with a gleaming blade. 

Disorientated by the lack of light, the quartermaster couldn’t tell up from down, and ended up lost in the dark as he fought for the surface. 

While Autumn could’ve waited for him to drown, she wasn’t confident that he couldn’t find the surface and warn the others, even if it was only by luck. Slowly, knife in hand, she drifted closer and waited for an opportunity to strike. 

As the quartermaster slowed, Autumn rushed forwards and stabbed him in the chest. 

Once, twice, three times she stabbed till the waters turned an ugly red. 

A wild swing drove Autumn back, but it was too late. As her lungs burned, she watched the old drow still. Swimming down towards him, she cut his ring of keys free before he drifted down into the dark, disappearing into the black below. 

Sorry old man, but it was you or me.

Swimming back up to the surface, Autumn let out a stream of bubbles as she exhaled a sigh. 

What is wrong with me? Couldn’t I have knocked him out or something? Or just ignored the armory? Why did I feel the need to kill him? How many people have I killed so far? Three? Four? Do goblins count?

“I doubt it.” 

The sudden sound of the Banshee’s ghostly voice resounding in her mind elicited a startled scream from Autumn, sending ice into her lungs. Choking, she breached the surface and gasped for air. Silently retching, she glowered at nothing.

‘Don’t startle me like that!’ Autumn hissed as she listened to the murmur of conversation beyond the open door. Luckily, it seemed no one heard the splash of the quartermaster’s demise.

“Oh, didst thee forget mine self? How rude thou art be!”

‘I didn’t forget you!’ Autumn protested as she cautiously made her way over to the door, wincing at each of her sodden steps. ‘I was underwater if you didn’t notice. Hardly a place I’m expecting a voice to pop up out of nowhere!’ 

At least, she hoped not. Who knows what else lived in the black water?

“Quite the charming local thee hath decided to bathe in,” the Banshee said in a tone drier than a desert. “Hardly the place one ought to frequent, do thou hath swum in far more forbidden waters.” 

‘You mean the Styx?’

Listening at the door, Autumn breathed a sigh of relief as she heard no sounds of alarm. Slowly, she eased the door such, wincing at every creak. Thankfully for her, before his untimely death, the quartermaster of the armory kept the hinges well oiled and the door swung closed fairly soundlessly. With only a slight jingling of keys and the thunk of an engaging lock, Autumn was now locked away in the armory. 

“‘You mean the Styx,’ she says,” the Banshee mocked. “Spoken as if that vaunted place is not a firmament of reality, but a simple river one can just ‘skinny-dip’ in.”

‘Hey! It’s not like I wanted to.’

“Yet, you did. I wonder what the consequences were.”

Autumn paused. ‘What do you mean? What consequences? You mean like Achilles? I’m pretty sure I’ve been hurt a bunch by now.’

The Banshee hummed. “It’s not my place to say, but it’s not a river to take lightly. Be thankful thou didst not fall in the river Lethe for thou shalt have forgotten all thou are.”

A shudder ran along Autumn’s spine at the thought. 

‘Right, I’ll cancel my travel plans.’

The Banshee huffed a laugh. “Best do, the underworld is no place for the likes of thee.”

‘Right,’ Autumn drawled. 

Carefully, she tucked the iron keys away into her belt pouch, lest they jingle too loud and give her away. Looking over the rest of the armory, Autumn took in the racks of weaponry and armor. Dark swords and daggers polished to a sheen lay stacked in wall mounted racks while the repeating crossbows Autumn had seen before lay folded and organized atop a series of wooden benches ready for inspection besides crates upon crates of dark bolts to match them. 

Autumn gulped audibly. 

“Why doth thee linger so?”

‘What do you mean? Here? In this armory?’

The Banshee hummed noncommittally. “Yes and no. More I mean over thine foes. They art dead, no use in mourning those whom meant little to thee.”

Autumn shrugged as she moved to start looting. ‘I don’t know. Shouldn’t I feel bad about killing people?’

“Hath thee been speaking to knights or — eugh — a paladin?” The Banshee spoke disdainfully.

‘Maybe,’ Autumn muttered as she stuffed daggers into her belt. ‘What’s it to you?’

“They art but weeds — thee hath to pull them up by the roots or before thee knows aught, thee’ll be up to thy eyeballs in self-righteous jackanapes.”

Autumn snorted. ‘She isn’t that bad.’

“They are,” the Banshee stressed. “Those holier-than-thou types get you with their soft voices and muscular bodies and before you know it, you’ll be praying to some golden bint. Mark my words.”

‘Ok?’ 

“...Hesitation is a blade that cuts only its wielder.”

Autumn paused in her looting. ‘Are you…throwing random quotes at me to distract me?’

“Maybe. Is it working?” 

A small smile tugged at Autumn’s lips. ‘Maybe.’

“Even if I was — which I wasn’t — it doth not make it untrue. Thou art on a quest to slay a hag most foul. Hesitation will see thee felled — the foul hag shalt not let such a boon pass her by. Remember such, if thee forget all else.”

‘I will. Not forget, that is…I’ll not hesitate when the time comes.’

“Good. Now, get moving and don’t forget those vials.”

‘What vials?’ Autumn asked as she looked around the room.

“On the bench to your left. In yond small wooden crate.”

True to the Banshee’s words, Autumn found a small wooden box to her left, well hidden by a few other empty boxes. Opening it revealed a straw packed interior in which nestled a set of ten vials full of a clear liquid.

‘What are they? And how did you know they were there?’

“Poison most like, and doth I needth to hold thine hand in everything?” The Banshee huffed.

‘No,’ Autumn drawled suspiciously in her mind, ‘but these were really well hidden. I don’t think I’d have found myself. Just what are you hiding?’

Silence greeted Autumn as she felt the Banshee retreat into the cold amulet. 

“Typical,” Autumn muttered out loud as she tucked the poisons away. 

Knowing that she was on a deadline, Autumn cast one last longing look at the partially looted armory before she slipped back into the freezing waters of her shadow. Under the tower’s floor she swam, making her way towards the stairwell at the back. Above her flickered the shadows of the guards, cast by a myriad of glowing lanterns that decorated the main chamber. 

As she neared the bottom of the stairwell, Autumn suddenly realized a key restriction to her newfound method of travel. In hindsight, it was kinda obvious.

She couldn’t travel up.

The surface of the black water only showed the shadows relative to where she’d entered, growing fuzzier the further she went out. She felt like she could go down and exit from a lower point, but Autumn didn’t like the look of the deep black that seemed to reach up towards her.

As such, if Autumn wanted to go up, she needed to exit and traverse the mortal world. 

“Shock! Horror!”

‘Jezzus!’ Autumn jolted in the water. ‘Didn’t I ask you not to do that!’

“Thou didst~”

Grumbling under her breath, Autumn positioned herself as far back as she could in the stairwell and pulled herself quietly out of the black waters. Icy robes clung uncomfortably tight to her skin as her damp hair fell across her face, attempting to suffocate her. With a flick of her wand and a muttered incantation, Autumn sent the frigid water back into her shadow with a near-silent splash.

Frozen, she watched the back of the guard as he shifted. 

In her chest, her heart thundered so loudly she was sure he could hear it. Thankfully, after a moment, the guard settled back into his bored posture.  

Autumn breathed a silent sigh of relief. If the guards didn’t kill her, her heart might just do it for them. 

As soundlessly as she could, Autumn backed up the spiraling stairs. She climbed them as fast as she could whilst not making too much noise, only the slight shifting of cloth denoted her passing. While she made good time climbing the stairway, just as she was passing the penultimate bend, the sound of footsteps rushing down made her freeze. 

Before she could vanish in shadow, a drow rounded the narrow stairwell, crashing into Autumn, sending her reeling.