A/N: Well back it again! I know I know it took a bit but well life really got in the way the last few weeks so I barely had any time to write but I am back! Plans have been made for this story and I will have a lovely amount of content coming up ;)

Btw didn't have a disclaimer so here it is: I don't own anything Witcher related just my OC's, settings and all that good stuff and even that can be copy pasted so ehhh.

But enough shenanigens, please let me know if you have any feedback/idea's or just want to chat! I thank my first few followers and first like on this story I love you! So here is it:

Chapter 2

Glenn of Hearn Caduch is slowly making his way back towards the elven village he got his latest contract from. Gweynlok? Gweylock? How was it called again? He was not sure, not like it really matters.

A fresh leshen head hangs from his horse, the sticky green substance that could pass for blood hasn't dried yet. It was quite a fight especially during nighttime, the leshen was old and very very angry with him - forcing the witcher, who noticed the leshen managed to set its mark, out of the woods.

After that little revelation Glenn searched along the Dypkar river for someone we could have been marked.

He found the old human female in a hidden hut just a bit inland. He was surprised the elves hadn't gotten her first but that had probaly more to do with the leshen. With a strangely heavy heart he cut down the defenceless woman, it was that or being murdered by an elf so he thought it would be the lesser evil.

After that he ventured back into the woods to kill the even more enraged leshen. He managed it in the end but not after receiving a few bruised ribs, an open gash on his neck and two broken fingers.

Especially his fingers are an annoyance forcing the witcher to curse once in a while as he leeds his horse through the forest. Glenn's left hand is his steering hand and well holding the reins in a hand with broken fingers is not the most pleasant experience.

But of course the bear witcher is too stubborn to use his right hand. He keeps himself off the roads, being a bear he is more of a loner than most. His horse is the only company he needs. Well Glenn needs to admit that dark-haired elven woman from the village. Sylvyaess was her name? Has come across his thoughts more than once during this contract. It is his eleventh season on The Path and like all men the witcher has stared after a few woman but never one as striking as this elf. He felt some sort of strange connection as he brushed past her, something he has never felt before but feels familiar all the same.

A small smirk covers his face. Well atleast it is far better than his last five seasons in wich he went to Skellige, and he needs to admit, plump and simple woman never were his taste.

However this woman has peaked the rough witcher's interest. She has a bite with a fire in her dark shiny eyes wich is unrivalled until now and is quite pleasing to the eyes with those slender hips and rounded curves hugged by the fabric of her red dress and of course that powerful demanding posture. That moment he brushed past her she shivered against him... He would almost stay a night in that town.

There is work to do however, the season has just started and monsters have come out of hiding again. The witcher wants to make use of every second available to him. To start with obtaining the reward on the leshen from the mayor who has offered an above average price for a leshen head. A nice change after the depressing rate last year on forest-dwelling monsters.

While contemplating Glenn has almost reached the town, the sun is aleady past its zenith and he doesn't want to loose more daylight before travelling south.

Suddenly a burning smell enters his nostrils, the smell of charred meat. That isn't right. Goes through his head. Glenn has smelled something similair in the past back on Ard Skellig, bringing back bad memories from his childhood but he shrugs it off.

Sending his horse into a gallop the witcher rides closer to the town and abruptly reign her in again.

"What the..." Glenn mutters staring up at the trees, they are twisted in strange ways and have gone from the vibrant green yesterday to a charcoal black, most of the leaves have fallen off. They are dead and deformed, just like all the plants around him.

As he rides into the town it is like a wasteland, burned buildings and corpses all around him. Both human and elven... Ofcourse he has seen racial hatred before but never at this scale, furthermore it still doesn't explain all the life that seems like it has been drained from the area.

After dismounting Glenn crouches down next to his horse taking a handfull of the dirt under his feet. It is like dust between his fingers as it gets blown out by the wind. Looking around he notices a vague pattern. The bodies of the elves lay almost in a half circle in the middle of the town where they had their last stand but there are also faint lines in the dirt conversing to a spot behind the half moon of corpses.

The witcher steps over the bodies strewn around, spotting a body curled up in the middle of the circle. He steps closer spotting her dark hair. Well, almost dark small strands of silver have sprung up between her dark tresses. It's the mayor's daughter... A sigh leaves his lips, such a waste for a woman like that to die.

Then he notices something about the body just as he is about to leave. Her side weakly rises. Glenn removes his glove and puts his hand on her neck, he feels a small trum of her heartbeat beneath his caloused fingers, the muscles under her green tunic convulse under his touch like rejecting him.

Surprise covers Glenn's features.

"Shhh." he murmurs. "It will be allright." The witcher tries to turn the elven woman around slowly. As his hand turns her face towards him her dark eyes suddenly open wide. Glenn can see an immense raw pain in those dark orbs but before he can react tears fill them and she releases an ear piercing cry, attacking the witcher clawing at his chain armor like a cornered animal, trying to push the witcher away with hand and feet.

Glenn can barely contain her. He manages to pin her legs with his weight. A sudden headbutt breaks his nose with a crack as he suddenly feels blood spurting out of it. "Easy damned woman!" He shouts wich only makes her fight harder against him. The witcher manages to grab her wrists and trap them between them with one arm. She still hasn't stopped screaming so he puts his left exposed hand over her mouth. Suddenly she bites into one of his broken fingers making him cry out in pain quickly pulling back his hand and supressing the urge to backhand her as that will probaly make her even harder to handle.

Glenn breaths heavily but she has it far worse, finally running out of breath she stops screaming and the witcher finally manages to pin her tightly against the ground she stops struggling as her fight suddenly evaporates.

Weak sobs enter Glenn's ears, a broken sound. As a witcher they always said he was stripped of emotions but he felt this raw pain.

"Shhh shhh you're allright, you're safe." He whispers while looking into those dark orbs of her trying to comfort the trembling elven woman below him.

She quietes down still staring straight at him. Glenn slowly tilts his head to the left. Her eyes stare straight ahead not following his movement.

He makes a clacking sound with his tongue. The young elf jerks her head towards the sound and her eyes narrow as she focusses on Glenn. Slowly he moves his head to the right, the elf follows his movement with her eyes. "Good girl." he mutters. "I am going to help you up okey?" She nods barely percebtable.

Slowly to not startle her Glenn removes his weight from her legs and grabs her wrists. Those dark - tearstained eyes of her follow every move he makes. Her breath hitches a little in panic as he grasps her wrists firmly. The witcher gently pulls her up until she is standing on her own shaky legs, she reaches to just under his own jaw and looks up at Glenn, her disheveled thick hair framing her pale face. Then she suddenly stumbles with a yelp against his chest.

In reflex the witcher grabs her firmly. The quick movement startles the young elf who suddenly starts screaming again and writting in his arms like a madwoman.

"O really woman." Glenn curses a few times, his heart sinking a little at having to restrain the griefing elf. But there is no other choice in getting her back in control. He whistles, his stallion immidiately responds to its rider's call.

The horse's proximity and movement attracts the screaming woman who snaps her head towards it and stops. The witcher feels her trembling hand slowly breaking free from his death's embrace and watches in surprise as she softly pets the horses snout, making the horse whinny softly.

Glenn watches in amazement as the woman starts mumbling soft elder speach to the horse. Completely transfixed by the horses calm demeanor. "What does he have what I don't..." But besides that Glenn is glad something could get this woman quiet.

"I am going to get you onto the horse okay?" Glenn locks eyes with her and for a moment she almost looks lucid as she nods weakly in reply.

Softly the witcher hoists her up onto the horse taking care not to startle her with frantic movements. He isn't sure why he is actually helping her but it feels like the good thing to do for the poor girl. For a second he turns around and rips a piece of fabric from a nearby corpse to stiffle his still bleeding nose before returning to his horse and his unlikely passenger picking up the bow and the quiver full of arrows she dropped in her frantic trashing, securing them to his saddlebags. With a grunt he mounts his horse behind her protectively swinging an arm around her slender waste to secure her as she is still too far gone to hold on on her own.

With a clack of his tongue the horse continues its path towards the road leading south, the next stop will be the elven palace called Lyriass in the duchy of Ysbryd before Glenn will try his luck in Gwynnastyr itself.

--

They have travelled along the deserted road well into the dawn. The witcher has found fallen belongings of the refugees who have lost them in their flight south, with a bit of luck he can reunite the sleeping elf against his chest with her kin.

She has kept quiet for most of the journey, mostly sleeping. During her sleep however Glenn has more than once been hit by a sudden jerk of her shoulders and soft sobbing or sometimes even shouting in her dreams. Right now she is panting heavily. He murmers in her pointed ear slowly massaging her waist, ready to catch her in case she suddenly moves. A pain shoots through his jaw as she suddenly sits up straight wide awake and rams her head upwards.

The witcher curses softly massaging his jaw. Sylvyaess turns around. Her eyes narrow as her shoulders visible tense, her lips part. Glenn seeing the danger quickly speaks. "Heyhey easy woman look at me, not human, same witcher as before."

She looks ready to start screaming again as she grabs the arm around her waist, nails biting into the leather. Her dark eyes focus on his own catlike eyes.

Slowly she releases her grip, whispering something in rapid elder speach about home and... Where they are? Glenn is not sure. "I am taking you to safety it is allright, we will find the other elfs soon enough.

"...Where... Where is my... Sister?" She chokes out softly diverting her eyes back down fiddeling with her hunting dress.

Surprise covers the witcher's features as this is the first thing she has said anything to him since he found her in the abandoned village. "A pretty one like you? Haven't found one of those along the corpses."

"Corpses..." She mutters at his choice of words, realisation hits her as her eyes widen, suddenly she starts crying again. Tears staining her dress in various places. The witcher sighs, letting the woman cry against his chest, the mournful sound echoing through the forest around them.

An hour later she is asleep against his chest her hands buried beneath his coat. The sun has completely set, the light of the moon shining through the trees as he reaches a small clearing. He dismounts, carying the sleeping woman carefully in his arms, placing her in a comfortable position onto a bed of moss, his cloak tightly woven around her. "Just stay right here." He whispers before leaving the clearing to get some firewood. Half an hour later a small fire burns merilly in a crude firepit. With a sigh Glenn sets himself down onto a log stretching his stiff muscles. The day hasn't exactly gone as planned but well, it rarely does in a witcher's life, one day your the hero of a town and the next day they try to feed you to their dogs... Absentmindly he chews on a piece of dried meat. After a bit he lays next to the fire falling into a dreamless sleep.

--

Sylvyaess is woken up by the creaking of a branch, she is covered in something warm and heavy but her back is stiff from the solid ground under her. She worms her arms free from the fabric and stretches out. Her dry throat feels like treebark. Opening her eyes she looks around the clearing, the green grass is illuminated by the morning sun. A charred pile lays in the middle. Her attention is drawn to a loud snoring coming from a pile of furs at the other side of the campfire.

Her eyes narrow as she looks at the witcher. It is fussy in her head at what happend yesterday but she is quite sure the witcher took her away from her village. My village she feels tears welling up at the thought, seeing the bodies of her parents standing up. Tears start forming in her eyes but suddenly her eyes are drawn to a sound of a creaking branch somewhere behind the witcher. Her eyes widen as she spots three figures in ragged clothing coming towards the witcher. Hastily she tries to scream but her throat only hurts painfully in protest.

She looks around finding a rock, with a shaking hand she trows it at the snoring witcher and hits him straight on the head.

In a single motion the witcher jumps to his feet, his hand finding the wicked dagger on his belt as he looks around like a predator spotting the three humans stop in their tracks at the edge of the clearing.

"What do you want." He speaks up, annoyance lining his deep voice. "I hope you have a good reason to wake me up."

The youngest of the group steps forward, his drawn sword gleaming in the eerly sunlight. "We have come ro make a retrieval." He points to Sylvyaess.

Her heart pounds in her chest.

"Not sure she is your problem, move along boy." The witcher responds not amused, still clutching the hilt of his dagger.

"O she is, an elven head is worth quite a bit these days. Everyone has to make a living. I am sure you know the feeling. And besides if you don't move we will have a problem. Mutant.

The witcher straights up towering over the humans. "Please." He snorts

Suddenly the human jumps forward trying to impale the witcher.

But the witcher moves like a blurr, before his opponent can react he has kicked out at his knee breaking it with a sickening crack, forcing the young male down with a knife at his throat.

"Last warning." The witcher speaks up, his menaching voice making the hairs on Sylvyaess's arms stand up.

She wants to shout as the man to the right of the witcher tries to cleave him in two but the witcher quickly brings up his dagger blocking the strike. With cold efficiency he ducks unders the man's weapon and stabs him through the abdomen making him shriek out in pain. Letting go of his dagger her grabs the man's head in both hands and cuts of the pained sound, breaking his neck in a smooth motion.

The third male jumps forward after his friend's demise lunging at the unarmed witcher with a downward strike. He catches the wrists of the man and suddenly forces the weapon down cutting a long gash through the man's chest, prying the blade from his grasp. Without a second look he spins around and beheads the human. His head rolling on the ground.

"Stubborn..." He mutters loud enough for Sylvyaess to hear. Dropping the sword he walks over to the first attacker who is on his knees, one of them curved into a strange direction. Lashing out with the sword he has still clutched in his hand a gratong sound enters Sylvyaess's ears as the witcher catches the blade in his armored gauntlet and pries the weapon free, trowing it into the forest.

"Why are you protecting the elven bitch?!" He shouts through his pain, glaring up at the witcher.

The bear witcher crouches down coming to eye level with the human male. "For starters your kind kinda robbed me of my pay." He looks back at the elf." secondly she is pretty, unlike you."

Sylvyaess almost smiles at the compliment giving a small nod of appreciation but her lips are quickly pulled back into a scowl. As she hears the witcher wish the human luck before he starts looting his friends.

The male stares hatingly at Sylvyaess.

Anger wells up inside her at seeing the hunan, quickly standing up from her make-shift bed the spots her bow strapped to the horse's saddlebag. Stalking towards the horse she unfastens the bow and draws and arrow.

"ELVEN WHORE." The human shouts before Sylvyaess shoots an arrow between his eyes. Her own widen in glee as the anger inside her makes a summersault with a grin she fires another arrow into the corpse, and another, and another. Before she is ripped out of her frenzy by the slow clap of the witcher.

"I am sure he is dead." The witcher snorts drily. "Since you can obviously use your bow, be a dear and hunt some breakfast.

Sylvyaess glares at him but the witcher glares back hard and doesn't budge.

Sighing loudly she gives up and retrieves her quiver before moving into the woods.

The hunting gives Sylvyaess some much needed peace and quiet to clear her head, nature taking its course around her. Following her senses she shot three rabbits shortly after each other bringing her kills back to the clearing where a small fire burns, the witcher has removed the corpses from the clearing, leaving them for the forest creatures.

He is polishing his silver broadsword in the sun as Sylvyaess sets herself down at the other side of the fire. Her hand moving to her belt for a knife to skin the rabbits. She finds out her belt is empty with a sigh she locks her eyes with the witcher's green ones. He grins and grabs something next to him, the knife he killed the second man with. Twirling it in his hand he presents the hilt to Sylvyaess above the fire.

She grabs the blade and looks it over in the sunlight. Atleast he cleaned it. She thinks starting on her first rabbit ignoring the witcher in front of her. In a few minutes time she is roasting them above the fire.

"Your awfully gratefull for someone who's life got saved you know that." The witcher finally speaks up after a bit.

Sylvyaess looks up unamused and points to her throat, making a soft grating sound.

Realisation hits the withcher and he throws his waterskin at her over the fire.

Thanking him with a nod she empties half the waterskin in one single gulp, small streams of water escaping her lips and trickling along her skin. With a soft sigh she sets the waterskin down and looks up at the witcher who is looking transfixed at her.

"What." Sylvyaess asks nonplussed squinting her eyes at him breaking him out of his gaze.

"Nothing nothing... You just... drink very loudly."

Sylvyaess snorts before turning grave again. "Why did you save me from them? They could have had me. I wouldn't have cared...

Now it's his time to snort before continuing is his deep voice. "If you had said so before I would have left you in the village, but besides the point you said you had a sister right, during the jouney here?"

Sylvyaess nods slowly. Recalling something fuzzy from yesterday.

"Go to her, not everything is lost. People die and life goes on whatever happens." He shrugs, grabbing his steel sword to polish it as well.

"Easy for a witcher to say..." Sylvyaess responds bitterly.

"Even I had a family once!" The witcher snarls, jumping up with his sword in hand.

"Boohoo, parents who traded you like a bargaining chip to some reckless sorcerers." Sylvyaess responds coldly riling the witcher's anger even more.

"Carefull girl." He bites back.

Sylvyaess closes her eyes. Lifting her chin she exposes her pale throat to him. "Come on, make it quick. I don't have all day."

With a heavy sigh the witcher sets himself down again. "They died in a raid... A bear witcher found me and took him with me. My parents never stood a chance..."

Opening her eyes Sylvyaess sees the man stare blankly into the forest. She clears her throat softly. "I am sorry... I could have known there was more to it..."

The witcher locks his green eyes with her. "The past is the past. But thank you for understanding." He gives a wry smile.

In returns she hands him a spit with two rabbits. "You should eat more than me, your twice my bulk."

With a grin he takes the spit and breaks one of the rabbits in two handing it back to Sylvyaess. "Your last meal was a while back you should eat."

She accepts the food, a small tear forms in her eye at the mention of her last meal... With her parents and sister...

"Come on eat, time for contemplating will come later." He gives her a nod.

Quitely Sylvyaess eats her fill, keeping her eyes downwarddownward. After a bit she speaks up softly. "Call me Sylvyaess, or Sylvi for short..."

The witcher looks up. "Sylvi ey?"

The sound of his voice saying her nickname sends a shiver down her spine. "Yes... My sisters used to call me that..."

"Well in that case call me Glenn, probaly the only thing I have left of my parents."

"...Hello... Glenn... nice to meet you, while I don't like the circumstances..." Sylvyaess responds.

Glenn snorts. "Likewise."

Finishing their meal they set off again on the road, Sylvyaess dosing off against Glenn's chest. After an hour of riding they come along the remains of a decent sized camp. Another two hours later Glenn nudges Sylvyaess awake and points to the horizon.

Squinting her eyes Sylvyaess spots a large ragtag group of elves with a few horses and carts making their way south to a better place.

Her people.

--

Well that was fun to write. Let me know if you enjoyed it or if you have any idea's! I love your guys feedback ;)

Illiteracy out.