Disclaimer:

This is a work of fan fiction using characters from the books by Andrzej Sapkowski and the game series by CD Projekt Red. I do not claim ownership to any of these characters and have written this fan fiction for entertainment, not financial gain.

Mischief - Jeremy Wyatt

Left to our own devices,

what mischief can we find?

Some trouble to get into,

a worm inside my mind.

Climb up a tree,

or better a cliff!

Boo, not enough danger,

only a whiff.

"Eskel, wake up." Whispered Geralt as he roughly shook his brother's shoulders, careful not to wake the other boys in the dormitory.

"Uuuurgh, is it time for breakfast?" He said dreamily, eyes still closed.

"More of a midnight snack. Come on get up." Replied the boy with copper hair, throwing a pile of clothes on Eskel as he sat up, snickering as they hit him in the face.

"Geralt, what are you playing at?" He asked wearily, wiping the sleep from his eyes as he pulled on his white shirt. The other boy smiled at him mischievously.

"We're going to show the others a thing or two."

They snuck down the stairs and through the empty halls and corridors of Kaer Morhen, carefully avoiding the crumbling steps and the Witcher's rooms, clearly, they had prior experience, and in a few minutes, they arrived out in the courtyard which was bathed in bright moonlight.

"What's the plan?" Asked Eskel, throwing a nervous glance over his shoulder to check that no one was following them.

"We're going to train," said Geralt, fastening his wooden training sword across his back, "on the Pendulum."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" He asked, brushing brown hair from his face as he watched his friend striding confidently over to the steps. "We haven't used it yet."

"Exactly! Imagine how stunned Old Vesemir and the other boys will look when we get to try it for the first time, and we're already great at it." Said Geralt from the platform as he clambered onto one of the crates stacked up against the pendulum, too small to reach it otherwise.

"I Don't know…" Geralt sighed.

"Come on Eskel, imagine how it will wipe the smirks of those Witcher's faces. But if you're too chicken…" He said tauntingly, as he flapped his arms around as though trying to take flight.

"Am not!" He contorted angrily, puffing out his chest as he took out his sword and ran up the stairs.

"Thought not. Now, I'll go first and you can keep watch."

Slowly Geralt managed to heave himself up onto the pendulum, standing unsteadily on two of the posts with a sudden sense of vertigo, quickly shaking it off. Cautiously he took a step forward, testing his balance arms out by his side like a tightrope walker. Then, he took another, and another, until he was running up and down the pendulum, deftly hopping from one post to the other, Eskel silently cheering him below.

"This is easy!" He shouted boastfully as he ran past the swinging pendulum, avoiding the metal which stuck out from its surface like razors.

"My turn." Called the other boy eagerly.

"Wait, let me try with me sword first!" Said Geralt, unsheathing his practice blade.

He swung his sword around with adept ease, parrying and thrusting on the posts, but he was getting cocky. With his brimming sense of self-assurance, he tried a more dangerous move, the whirl.

First, he performed the snake, with his right arm slightly back he bought it up, swinging the sword in front of his chest, over his left shoulder and up over his head, after a few practices he moved from the snake into a pirouette. He slashed the blade through the air around him, moving forwards from one post to the next, turning his body in a spin. After he practiced the snake and pirouette several times, he chained them together.

He did one pirouette after the other, sword cutting through the air, but he made a mistake. When he neared the end of the Pendulum he stopped abruptly, but he had been swinging too fast. As his sword slashed downwards he lost balance, his reaction too slow to correct himself. He slipped.

"Geralt!" Shouted Eskel, as the copper-haired boy desperately flailed his arms before disappearing over the side of the Pendulum, into darkness. He leapt up the stairs two at a time, clambering up onto the crates and peering over the side.

Geralt was dangling from one of the beams jutting out from the podium, eyes wide with fright as he hopelessly tried to pull himself up. He heard Eskel calling to him, but his heart was pounding so loudly in his ears, he didn't hear him. The cold night air stung his face as it gently rocked him back and forth, like the Pendulum still swinging above him, creaking eerily.

"Grab on!" A piece of rope fell on Geralt's head as his friend threw it over the side, tethering the other end to a post.

He caught the rope with his right hand, wrapping it around his wrist, taking a deep breath as he let go of the beam and grabbed the line in both hands. The rough threads of the rope scratched his hands as he slowly climbed back up, feet crunching against the stone wall. As his hand reached out to grab one of the Pendulum's posts, he heard something snap.

He let out a cry as he began to fall, but he didn't get very far. Eskel reached between the posts, gripping his wrist firmly, panting as he hauled him up. Geralt wrapped his arms around the post as though embracing an old friend. After several seconds Eskel managed to pull him through two of the posts, and they fell to the solid ground in a heap.

"Thanks." Sighed Geralt, nodding towards his brother, who gave him the thumbs up, rolling onto his back.

"What were you thinking?" Grunted Vesemir and to two quickly sprang to their feet as he scowled at them, hands on his hips. An unpleasant and all too familiar site to the pair. They groaned.

"We were just-" Said Geralt, but his answer was cut off.

"That was a rhetorical question young man because it's plain to see what you two are doing. Being reckless." They glanced at each other out of the corner of their eye, preparing themselves for the worse. "You could have gotten yourselves badly hurt or even killed. If you want to be a Witcher you can't go taking foolish risks like this, you can't even see well in the dark."

"We were only trying to impr-"

"I don't want to hear it Geralt." Said Vesemir sternly, making the boy bow his head. "Go back to your room, we'll talk about this tomorrow morning, after breakfast," the two boys smiled at each other sighing in relief, "which you won't be having until after you find the practice sword you dropped over the side." The sigh turned into a groan, some things were just too good to be true.

Notes:

Hey guys, hope you enjoyed this little story. The idea was inspired by wahhbajackdraws (Tumblr) and I hope to be able to add more one-shots to this if people like them 😊