Chapter 60: Totem

Once they killed the wolves, the duo went on with their mission, though Kaerwen kept quiet all the way because of his shock. But when they drew closer to their destination, he finally couldn't keep his curiosity away. "Letho, are all witchers this strong?" Letho didn't answer, but that only made Kaerwen respect him more.

They made it through another hill and arrived at the place Adrian died. It was the same scene Letho had seen at the mountain's base. The branches came together to form a spike, and he could smell the stench of beast excrements under the snow. Letho squinted.

Kaerwen explained. "There are eight victims, and they were disemboweled by these spikes. I don't understand why it did this. Does the way its victims die have a special meaning to it?" Kaerwen asked.

But Letho didn't answer the question. "According to your testimony, Svanthor suffered four deaths, while Mount Carbon had the same number of deaths during the last three months, making it a total of eight."

"No. It has been four months. The first death was a Mahakaman dwarf."

"So one victim every fortnight or so?"

Kaerwen pinched his beard. "Now that you say it, I think that's the case."

Letho heaved a sigh. "Alright, I have a guess. You'd find a new body after every full moon?"

Kaerwen gasped. "Hey, that's right!"

Letho turned solemn. "Then that proves my guess. This is an ancient ritual, a sacrificial one that comes from the other dimension. The killer uses flesh as bait to activate the forest's power. Among the victims, the ones who died on the night of the full moon would create a magical circuit with the previous victim, and the killer would use that to create a permanent totem to strengthen itself."

"What does that mean?"

"This is the fourth totem."

Kaerwen was surprised, but only for a moment. "So you're saying that the killer's been powered up four times. This is going to be a problem."

Letho's face fell. "That's why we have to destroy the totems one by one. They're its limbs. Once we start pulling them out, we'll see how long it'll last."

Kaerwen thought of another problem. "But the forest stretches for hundreds of miles. Finding four totems here is going to be impossible."

"Not exactly. Since it's making circuits, the totem must be in between two corpses, so you'll have to take me to the nearest crime scene."

Kaerwen nodded in respect. "As expected of a professional. You managed to dig up something we failed to for the past few months."

They left the spot and moved toward the next one. While they were on the way there, Kaerwen said, "The forest in the Mahakams is filled with beasts. The killer could have used animals as sacrifices, so why did it target humans and ancient races?"

Letho was always patient when it came to knowledge about monsters. "Humans might fight among themselves, kill their brethren, lie, cheat, steal, and do every evil deed in the books, but they are of a higher class than the beasts. Well, normal beasts, that is. In other words, the magical energy in human flesh is higher than in normal beasts, so of course all the monsters would love it."

Kaerwen continued his questioning. "So now that it has four totems, isn't it at its strongest? If we march right up its totem, it's like we're saying we want to kick its arse. What if it shows up? Won't that be dangerous? Why don't I go and bring some warriors back?" Then he thought his cowardice was embarrassing, so he explained, "It's safer to have a bigger group. Since we have a lead right now, we don't have to risk our lives any further."

"Don't worry." Letho stopped. "If it shows up and I can't win, we can always run. I'm sure we can outrun it. Besides, if it does show up, it can't stay in the Mahakams any longer, because I'd know where to hunt it, and how to kill it. Also, it's an experienced, ancient, and cunning monster. It won't come out that easily."

"I-I see. Tell me if something comes up so I can prepare myself."

***

They kept walking for another hour, and then it was noon. The snow on the ground was decorated with a few long lines of footsteps, and cold winds howled through the forest, making the dwarf shiver.

When his necklace started humming, Letho held it down. Kaerwen stood at the ready with his hammer, and he crouched down, ready to fight. But there was nothing around him when he looked around. "Where is it? Where's the totem?" All he could see was snow and forest. There was nothing like a totem there.

Letho went up to a gigantic pine tree and saw a peculiar mark on the big trunk. "Antlers and spider webs? What is this?" Kaerwen huddled closer and mumbled, and Letho went up to another pine tree and smacked it. And then he went for a third, then a fourth. Kaerwen saw the same mark on all four pine trees, and then he realized it formed a twenty-feet square around them.

A chill ran up his spine, and he tensed. "Are we in some freaky magic circle?"

"Got it." Letho turned his back to Kaerwen and looked up, and then he pointed at the sky. Kaerwen looked at where he was pointing, and his jaw dropped.

"What in the holy Mahakams is that?"

Fifty feet above them, the four pine trees' leaves were squashed together, snow piling above them, blocking out the sunlight. In the center of the trees, a wooden, fusiform stake hung. It looked like a beehive from afar, but it was ancient and decrepit.

Holes dotted the stake's surface, as if chewed out by termites. It looked as if a single touch would turn it to ash, and on top of the stake, a single, gnarly antler protruded from a hole. Tiny bones hung from it, forming ancient trinkets.

"That's… That's…"

"That's the totem." While Kaerwen was still in shock, Letho was already standing underneath the totem, raising his hand to estimate the distance between them. Then he blew into his hands and dug away at the ground with his sword. The snow and soil flew everywhere, and then a gigantic antler symbol was revealed on the floor. It glowed an eerie red, looking like a scar on the ground, and it radiated heat.

Letho brushed his hand across the mark and commented, "This rune here is the core of the totem." Then he made the sign of Igni and shot a stream of fire that expanded conically, burning the mysterious mark.

On the other hand, Kaerwen was stuttering, holding his hammer as he looked around in confusion. As Letho went on with the burning, Kaerwen noticed something shocking. Four transparent tentacles appeared from the rune in the center, wriggling and squirming around. Eventually, they slithered into the pine trees that had the weird symbols on them, and then drops of black fluid started flowing from the tree. Eventually, black blood started gushing out of the trees.

The burning went on for thirty seconds. When Letho finally stopped casting Igni, a loud pop was heard, and the totem that was hanging in the air fell down. Kaerwen went to take a look and noticed that the totem had turned from brown to black, not unlike used charcoal. And it was already starting to turn into ash.

"Done." Letho heaved an exhausted sigh and sliced the totem. Smoke and ash burst into the air, and a few moments later, the totem disappeared as if it had never been there before.