Worms

In the morning they headed to Helen's place. Her house looked just like Elder Gran's tree house. It was taller then all the other tree houses and had a kind of magical feeling to it.

They knocked on the door. After a minute it opened and they saw a young looking elf women standing there. She had long black hair, light blue eyes and a very smooth face.

"What can I help you with?"

"Good morning! We I'm Joseph and this is my companion Catherine. We came to speak with Helen."

"That would be me."

She stopped for a moment and looked back.

"Please come in."

The room they got into was a small circular place with a table and some chairs on the middle of it and doors on all the sides of the room.

"Take a seat."

They all sit down and one of the doors opened. A tea kettle with 3 cups flew in throw the door and landed on the table. It poured out tea into the cups.

"So what brings you here?"

Joseph and Catherine looked at eachother, then they told her about what they found.

"One more worm? That is gonna be a problem. But why would I belive that is actually true and you don't just mess with me?"

Catherine pulled out the book they found.

"This has all the stuff written down. We found it in a cave. I can show you the place, if you want."

She grabbed the book and scanned through it fast. When she finished she sighed.

"So there is a worm in the last mountain as well. God damn it!"

Joseph looked questioningly at her. She explained what happened.

"There were more mountains around here, not just that one. But around a thousand years ago giant worms appeared. We lost quiet a few people hunting them down, until we got a plan that worked."

She sipped tea from her cup.

"We collected enough mana to blow up the mountains. One by one. This last one only stayed, because there was no worm in it. Or at least we did not find any trace of it. It seems like we missed one."

She looked into the book again.

"But the thing I'm curious about is that, what is this god the book speaks about. Do you know anything?"

Catherine shrugged.

"Never heard of it before."

Joseph shaked his head.

"Same."

Helen sighed again.

"Now what will we do about this thing?"

Joseph drank some tea. It was a really nice green tea. It had some herbal aroma to it.

"This is a really good tea. Did you make it yourself?"

"Thank you! Yes I made it from herbs I personally grew."

"Nice."

Catherine stretched her arms and went back to the main thing.

"Can't you kill one worm?"

"If we could that would be nice, but the hunters have retired almost a thousand years ago and have been living peacefully. There are only the guards in town and a few more people that can fight it."

Joseph was confused.

"Can't you get help from other towns?"

She shake her head.

"They don't really care about the mountain. The road coming this way is just a little side road. There is no reason to clean it out. Also this town is not that rich to hire people who could fight this thing."

"I see."

Catherine's eye lit up.

"Do you have any magical items you can spare for the reason of killing this worm? Or a place with dense mana?"

Helen looked at her questioningly.

"There are some items we can use. Also there is a sacred lake nearby, but why do you ask?"

The women smiled.

"If you let me and this boy absorb mana from the the lake we can take care of the worm."

Helen looked suspiciously at her.

"Why would I trust you with it?"

"We brought the info didn't we?"

"Yes, but I still don't trust you."

Joseph didn't understand what was going on, but stayed silent.

"Alright. If you want, I can share you why you should trust me. I'm the great witch Catherine! I can deal with a little worm like that no problem!"

"Oh so you are the witch of the swamp who disappeared a few hundred years ago? What happened to you that you are this weak?"

"Ugh!"

She looked like she wanted to cry.

"I was caught offguard and a hag stole all my power and cursed me with a bunch of annoying curses. I need manna to cleanse myself out. After that's done, I can kill that worm easily."

Helen stood up and walked to her. She touched her head for a few seconds.

"Yes. I can sense a few powerfull curses. You really seem like you got the short end of the stick."

"Right?"

Helen and Catherine lit up in a faint blue glow.

"It seems like you really are the witch of the swamp. Your memories tell me that. But I still can't trust you."

Joseph took off his backpack.

"What if I give you a precious artifact until we kill the worm? I will want it back, so we wouldn't trick you."

"Depends on what you sho..."

He pulled out the core of the rift.

"Oh my. You got something interesting in your hand. It is a really powerfull core."

She grabbed it and examined it.

"Though it lost most of it power, it can still be used to store mana and to empower someone. If you give this to me so I can use it, then you can go to the lake."

Joseph and Catherine looked at eachother.

"Then if we kill the worm will you give it back?"

Helen seemed to think it through.

"Yes. That will work. But until that I'll use it if it's okey for you."

"That is fine, but please don't use it up."

She laughed.

"I just need it as a conductor for a spell."

Catherine reached out for her hand.

"I see. Then we got a deal."

"Thank you. I'll send one of my servants to lead you to the lake. Now if you would be kind, I would like to try this thing out."

"Alright. We'll see you soon."

They left the house.

"Do you trust her Catherine?"

"Definetly not. But if she helps us regain my power, that rift core won't matter much for us."

"If you say so. Also what did she use to know who you are?"

"It's a spell that allowes you to read other's memories if they allow it."

"I see."

They went back to the inn.