The group reaches the island fortress of Sulcarkeep, but most of the Sulcarmen are away in the season of trading, and an attack including troops coming from the air overwhelms the few defenders. While a handful of survivors flee in small boats, Osberic remains behind to blow up Sulcarkeep, taking many of the enemy with him. The violence of the explosion causes the tiny vessels to founder; Tregarth and Jaelithe both reach land, but separately. Jaelithe is captured by Fulk of Verlaine, a coastal lord, but then helped to escape by Loyse, his daughter. Together, the two women make their way to Kars, capital of Estcarp's restive southern neighbor Karsten. Tregarth, guided by a mental link with the witch, is reunited with her there. Soon afterwards, Karsten erupts in a frenzy of killing aimed at those of the Old Race, the principal ethnic group of Estcarp. Tregarth, Jaelithe, Koris and Loyse flee the carnage. Tregarth organizes a guerrilla force using his prior military experience, but is caught and shipped to Gorm to be turned into a mindless slave, like those encountered on the way to Sulcarkeep. Fortunately, he is able to escape. The witches of Estcarp launch an attack on Gorm's capital city. When Tregarth fights and kills the enemy leader, during the intense struggle, he inadvertently achieves a mental rapport with his opponent and learns that the people of Kolder are like him in some respects; they are a small number of soldiers, refugees from another universe, though one with a higher level of technology than Earth. Estcarp is victorious, but the threat from Kolder remains. "Witch World" was nominated for the 1964 Hugo Award.