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She stopped when she was presented with that same fork in her path, one path would lead her to the entrance of this lair and the other shrouded in darkness. Amalia thought the second path may be dark because he didn’t want her to travel down it.

She refused to allow him to keep secrets, so she pulled a torch from the wall and walked into the darkness. Along the way, she found two rooms on each side with large, rollable boulders next to the entrance ways. Inside were only furs and a chamber pot. They appeared to be prison cells, and she figured these were the places he warned her he would lock her inside of if he discovered she used magic in his home. She imagined he would roll the boulder against the exit so she couldn’t escape.

Passing them, she continued to move forward.

At the very end of the tunnel was another, larger alcove. She couldn’t see the walls or the high ceiling when she walked inside because of the darkness, but in the middle, there was a firepit on a stand.

She wanted to see the room, so it didn’t take much for her to decide to light the firepit. It was slow to light but the flames grew over time.

The first thing to be illuminated was a long, red hanging tapestry directly in front of her on the other side of the pit.

It was the tale of a singular Dragon, one who hunted Witches. It showed him fighting and destroying them one by one. By the end, it showed him roaring with his wings raised and flames coming from his mouth. He was standing above a pile of dead bodies, like he had killed dozens.

Her face paled at the ending of the story. She turned away from it to look around now that more light filled the room.

Amalia’s heart leapt to her throat with a gasp.

Skulls.

The walls were lined with human-shaped skulls as if someone had carefully glued them to the walls. They were neat, each spread apart at the same distance. But there were so many, dozens, in fact, all staring towards the pit of fire.

She felt like they were staring through to her very soul with the hollow bone of their eye sockets, and she fell back, suddenly losing the use of her legs in fright.What is this?

Bumping into something large and very much alive, she turned her body to find the Dragon standing above her. He was looking over the walls instead of at her.

“Was wondering where you went off to,” he said before turning his head to her. “Noticed light coming from this tunnel.”

“What is this place?” she asked with a tremble in her voice. “Why do you have human skulls?”

“Not human, but Witch skulls. They are my trophies.” His voice was filled with pride while his chest bowed with it.

Then he stepped over her body to walk further inside and around the pit to look over them all. It looked as though there were almost a hundred skulls.

She didn’t think she could be more terrified until he told her that they were the skulls of her kind, and her face paled further as sweat collected over her skin. She stayed frozen on the floor.

“I am the WitchSlayer, and these are the proof of my strength, of my power.”

Her eyes fell to the tapestry in the centre and realised the story was about him.

He has killed so many.He didn’t seem to notice that she was on the ground about to hyperventilate as a dark grin formed across his monstrous face.

“I cleanse their bodies once I have killed them.” He motioned to the firepit in the centre of the room, and that’s when she noticed the femur of a leg bone sticking out. It must have jutted up when the wood was placed down. “That is if I have not killed them yet. Screaming often comes from this room, and when the flesh has melted, I take the head and mount it on the wall.”

Her skin crawled as heavy drops of sweat dotted her brow. Her hands suddenly felt wet and slippery.

It was only now, while the warmth of the fire seemed to make his scales turn brighter, that she could see the scars that covered his body. She hadn’t noticed them before, but now she couldn’t see past them.

Since he was no longer a dark purple, she could see the scars swiping across his back, across his fingers, near his throat. There was even one that looked as though it had been a blast right near his side.

The deepest gash was across his snout right below his eyes. It started just below one eye, ran across to the other side and then marred his entire cheek. There were many others that looked like puncture wounds.

“No other Dragon has achieved such a collection. Most do not live many battles of fighting against your ilk.” He looked at his paw while he slowly clenched his clawed fingers. “I am even feared by my own kind because I am not afraid to cause harm to others.”

Before he could continue, she bolted from the room, from him. She ran down the tunnel to escape, to run and hide.

He will kill me. He will turn on me.She felt it all the way down to her bones. One day, this creature would no longer have mercy and would try to take her life.

Amalia didn’t look back to see if he followed.