Wandering in The Dark.
The portal opened just beneath the Hanged Man's Tree.
The bodies hanging from its huge branches were swaying with the wind, some had probably been put there that same day, others had been rotting there for years, of some of them only remained bones, but from each and one of them, a vulture had feed.
Brittany looked around her, finding Lord Tubbington at the path beneath the tree; he seemed restless.
"What is it, boy?"
Brittany would've investigate why her medallion was buzzing on a normal day, more than once it meant a new job and extra crowns, and for a Witcher, money was always welcome, but she needed to be at Midcopse more than anything. The money that the Emperor gave her would have to suffice for a few days until she found a contract or until Santana and her would reunite.
"Let's get out of here, Tubbs, I know that ghouls scare you, and judging by these corpses, they're not far away".
Midcopse was a few hours away by horse. They arrived past midday, with the weather at a reasonable temperature. Velen could have very abrasive summers, and even though her armor was as light as possible, Brittany knew that she had to work fast before the heat turned unbearable.
I should've asked for a spell for this to Santana.
With that thought in mind, she remembered that she had to contact her before Santana started to worry.
She got out of the main road, searching for some privacy beneath the shadows of the trees. She adopted a position similar from when she was meditating.
"Uh… San?" Brittany wasn't sure of how the spell really worked, but if Santana had said that they could communicate whenever they wanted then calling for her might be a good start.
"Britt, thank goodness, I was starting to get worried."
"I'm fine, I got here earlier than I thought, even with the roads so destroyed."
"I figured, there were battles everywhere a fortnight ago, I'm pretty sure that you will find soldiers from both sides in your search."
"Well, I assure you that I'm not really looking forward to that."
Brittany could hear the telltale noises of Midcopse's inhabitants; children laughing, merchants, a hammer hitting an anvil, the breeze touching the leaves of the trees, the grass and the flowers in the soil, there was nothing indicating the presence of any kind of witch, which meant that she would have to ask around, and that doesn't end up well most of the time.
"What about you? Is Novigrad still in one piece?"
"And I'm afraid that it will continue that way for a long time. There's no sings of the war anywhere, but they sure did a good job diverting the attention from that," Brittany could hear Santana sigh, between awed and frightened by the situation. "When you come here you'll understand, for now I can't talk much about it. But I'm fine, I'm safe and you wouldn't guess with whom I ran into at The Chameleon."
The Chameleon was kind of a tavern with live performances every now and then. It was located near the main entrance of Novigrad, and it belonged to none other than Mike Chang.
"Probably not Mike, that wouldn't be a surprise… some ex-lover that I have to worry about, perhaps?"
"Ha, ha, you know there's only ever been you," Santana's voice changed, making her sound vulnerable, and Brittany couldn't do anything but feel the same old warmth across her chest. "No, but, I want it to be a surprise, maybe that way you'll come here faster."
"Well, you know I love surprises," Brittany had to bite her tongue so the and I love you that she wanted to say didn't scape from her mouth. She wanted to say those three words, but she wanted to say them facing Santana, not between the thick walls of a castle full of sadness and hatred, and not without looking her in the eyes. "I guess I shall hurry, then. I'd like to find that witch before it gets dark. Take care of yourself, yes? Don't get yourself in trouble."
"Me? Getting into trouble? Never."
They shared one last laugh before parting, leaving Brittany worried about the situation Santana mentioned and hoping to reach Novigrad before it became a larger problem.
She got out of the shadow of the three, willing to continue with her search of… something. She wasn't sure about what exactly she had to find.
Perhaps asking directly won't be a bad idea.
She walked between the houses, trying to listen to something that could indicate the right path to follow, a lead, a commentary from people involved in paranormal activity, problems solved in unconventional ways, anything. If the witch was there, the common folk had to talk about her for sure.
A couple of minutes passed until something caught her attention.
"Niells had a nasty back pain since he tried to catch the pigs that got loose a few days ago, so I forced him to go see her, he was taking advantage of that to do nothing in the house."
"Men are such assholes sometimes."
Brittany could see the two women talking. She decided that they were her best option for now.
"Good morning, ladies, I'm sorry to interrupt but I heard you talking about someone who helped your husband and I was wondering if you could point me to the right direction to find her."
"You're not from around here, eh?" answered one of them with hesitation in her eyes.
"No, I'm just passing by, but I'd like to know more about the healing abilities of this person."
"She doesn't like to be bothered by foreigners, but if you have some extra crowns she could help you," the woman whom Brittany presumed was the wife of this Niells person answered. "You just have to get out of the village following the river and you'll see a giant boulder, then you'll have to turn right and follow the trail until you see a wrecked carriage, after that you'll turn left until you find a house, that's where she lives."
"I thank you, have an excellent day."
Brittany was always confused by directions, but she knew that she had to make do.
Boulder to the right, carriage to the left, it's not that complicated, right?
She walked for less than fifteen minutes and even if she wanted to ignore the hut that most likely was the one that she was looking for, the people gathered outside would have make it impossible.
"Please, miss, our cows are dying, we only need a simple remedy," a young woman was saying.
"We promise to never bother you again if you help us."
Brittany moved a little to the right to be able to see the woman, for the people didn't let her see anything. What she saw was a woman relatively young, as most of the sorceresses that she knew, with blonde hair and green eyes, a dress reveling a lot of cleavage in blue and red hues and various necklaces in different forms around her neck.
"Fine, fine, I'll give you something," she seemed to pull out of the bags in her hips a mixture of herbs. "Put this in the cows' water every night and when there's a full moon, give them a double portion, that should be enough to cure them."
"Oh, thank you, miss, thank you!"
She smiled at them and when she moved her head she realized that Brittany was watching her. She didn't seem worried, she seemed interested even. The sorceress turned around and got back into her house, closing the door behind her.
Here we go.
Upon entering the house, her Witcher senses warned her that something was not right.
The witch was nowhere to be seen, and, unless she was invisible, she was no longer in the house. It could be that she had teleported somewhere else or that there was a portal that could be activated somewhere.
"Let's see what she has here."
Books, herbs, trinkets, decorations, artifacts to make potions, typical sorceress things, Brittany thought, although there a thing that was almost calling her: a skull with various runes.
Her medallion started to vibrate. The moment she moved the skull, a portal opened.
I got you.
Entering a portal was always a weird experience. They make her stomach feel funny and she felt disoriented for a moment, but they were nothing compared to the Witcher potions that she used when she had a contract to fulfill. Potions made her feel exhausted at the end, and getting them out of her system was, to put it one way, awkward.
The portal leaded to some type of cave with plenty of vegetation and, strangely, tiny animals like rabbits and squirrels, but what really caught Brittany's attention was the structure in front of her: what seemed like a bathtub of ridiculous proportions above a hillock formed in the cave.
"Don't stay there, come here so I can share my lunch with someone, it's sad to eat alone." that was not the voice of the sorceress, it was the voice of a man.
Brittany was confused, which caused for her to climb the stairs a lot faster.
"Sam?"
"Hey, Britt, long time no see, would you like to join me?"
Sam Evans was a part of King Foltest of Temeria's court. His assassination was one of the reasons why the Third War against Nilfgaard and the Northern Realms began. When his king died, Sam ended up in Velen to hide, apparently.
"Here, take a seat," he said with a tired smile.
"I didn't know that you spend your days as a woman now."
Sam sighed. "I don't always do it, when I don't they think I'm the assistant, you know that they trust less in mages than in sorceresses. Besides, it's better to not draw attention, Radovid's been hunting sorceresses, alchemists, and everything that has to do with magic."
Brittany felt sick.
Radovid's been hunting sorceresses. That meant that Santana was in more danger than she first thought. She wanted to get out of that cave and cross Velen all the way north to reach Novigrad, but she knew that she couldn't go anywhere without some type of information about Ciri's whereabouts. She had to trust Santana; if she'd said that she was safe, Brittany had to believe her.
"You seem like you saw a ghost, was it something I said?"
Brittany let herself fall on the chair, putting her hands on her eyes to try to get rid of the few tears that were there. She knew that Santana could take her of herself, and judging by their conversation, Brittany knew that she was in company of someone who could help her if needed, but that didn't mean that she wasn't feeling useless. Apart they were capable of many things, but together they were capable of everything.
Brittany trusted Sam, she knew that he wouldn't do anything to cause Santana or Ciri any pain, but she didn't want to put him in danger by letting him know about her mission. She would have to let him decide if he wanted to get involved or not.
"Ciri's back".
Sam's worried expression disappeared and a surprised one took its place. He rearranged the chair in which he was seated so he could look at Brittany in the eyes. He knew perfectly that she wouldn't joke with something like that, but he definitely wanted to be sure.
"And you think she passed through here? I hope that's not the case because…" Sam stopped abruptly.
"Because of the witch hunters? I wouldn't worry about them, in fact, they should be worried about Ciri, a couple of them wouldn't have a chance against her, not even If she had a hand tied up to her back".
"No, no, I know that… listen, I didn't know that you were looking for her, but I did know that she was back," he answered with a voice that Brittany wasn't used to.
Would it be possible that, after all, Sam was the one that Ciri confronted? If that was the case and he had hurt her, Brittany was ready to do something about it.
"Before you go further with whatever scenario you're imagining, let me say that I didn't saw her. An elf came some months ago asking me for help, an Aen Elle sage, judging by his clothes. He had a mask covering his face and he was aware that I knew Ciri," Brittany tried to interrupt after hearing that. "No, I don't know how. He was pretty sure that she would come looking for me. He told me that he was traveling with her, protecting her, but they were attacked and got separated when they were escaping."
"Sam, you do realize that he could be the one chasing her?"
"I know it sounds strange, but he looked genuinely worried, I think that he was kind of obsessed about finding her, I wonder if they had like a romance or something…"
"Sam! Focus!"
"Sure, sure, sorry, but he did seem worried about her safety."
"What did he say, exactly?" Brittany asked. She was losing her patience and Sam was as distracted as ever.
"He said that he was sure she was going to come searching for me because I was the only mage in Velen, and that, when that happened, I had to take her to some hidden ruins near the forgotten shores of south Velen," Brittany supposed that Sam was trying to imitate the elf's voice. It was comforting to know that some things would never change.
She sighed again. "Sam, I need you to take me to these ruins. I understand if you don't want to get involved in this with Radovid so close."
"What? Are you crazy? Of course, I'll help you!" relief flooded through her, and Sam noticed. "Britt, I know we weren't the best of friends, but Ciri knew how to make everyone in the Lodge love her."
Brittany offered him a small smile and relocated her hand in his arm, feeling how the mood had shifted after the mention of the Lodge and the implication behind it to him: the loss of his sister.
Sam returned her smile and got up of the chair, nearing the stairs and indicating for Brittany to follow him. When she was near him, he opened a portal that, Brittany supposed, was going to led them to the ruins.
"Do you think Ciri's come yet?"
"I'm sure she hasn't, the elf would've closed the entrance."
Brittany's first impression upon entering the cave was how huge it was, then, after a quick look, she realized that it was not a cave, they were ancient elven ruins that ran beneath Velen.
They went down the stairs and everything started to turn black, so Brittany lighted up one of the torches with a move from her fingers.
"Gavella glan!" exclaimed Sam and immediately a white light surrounded him, illuminating his path.
They walked cautiously to the second flight of stairs, where they saw four figures that Brittany recognized.
She took Sam's arm and whispered, "It's the Hunt."
"The Wild Hunt?" there was an incredulous tone in Sam's voice. Brittany didn't blame him, she thought for the longest time that the Hunt was just some story that adults told their children to frighten them and make them behave.
"Yes, they must be looking for that elf, too," one of the figures threw their arms in the air and a small blizzard wrapped around them until they disappeared. "They have a Navigator with them, they can teleport anywhere, do you think you can do that with a portal?"
"Unless there's a blockade, I can. But just to the other side, they clearly know more about this place than I do."
Brittany was starting to hate portals.
Upon reaching the other side, they could really see how old that place was. Most of the walls were rubble and the stairs were destroyed, not to mention the darkness that they would be in if it weren't for Sam and his spell.
They walked through the aisles carefully, fearing that the roof was going to fall on them and avoiding the rubble in the ground. Their search between the corridors was not successful, until a circular base with inscriptions of the elder speech caught their attention.
A white circular light emerged from the base until taking a human form, more specifically, an elven form.
"Ceádmil, lara luned. Aecáemm gláeddyv."
"A morphic projection," sighed Sam, surprised after the message.
"A what projection?"
"Something akin to a postbox for mages, safer than a letter which anyone can intercept," he explained.
"Well, whatever it was, he's talking to Ciri. Daughter of the Seagull, Lara Dorren's heir."
"That much was clear, but, what did he mean with 'follow your sword'?"
"Zireael, that was the name of Ciri's sword. Swallow."
"So, if we find a swallow around here and follow the leads, we should find something?"
Brittany shrugged, hoping that that something they were looking for was worth it, because she really wanted to get out of Velen as soon as possible. She had to be with Santana, she couldn't take any risks, and she didn't want her to be in Novigrad alone.
Finding the swallow symbol was easy, the frustrating thing was finding another circular base with another message, telling Ciri to follow Kelpie. Sam thought he was talking about the sea monster, but Brittany remembered that Kelpie was also the name of the first mare Santana and she gave Ciri. It seemed that the elf had a close relationship with Ciri judging by all the details about her that he knew. She didn't know If she had to worry or be glad that Ciri found someone to trust in that way.
Their search led them to a huge chamber, and they realized that they had finally reached the Riders from the Hunt. But it seemed that they were waiting for Brittany and Sam, as what appeared to be a Mage saw them and, before exiting the room with the others, casted a spell with his scepter.
"Shaent tah'vir!"
A cold breeze wrapped around them and three black voids appeared, allowing the cold to enter the room.
"What is that?" Sam screamed.
"It's the White Frost, that Mage summoned it, we have to protect ourselves!"
"I can do it!" Sam moved his arms and then exclaimed,"Da'arian annoi!"
A shield of energy protected them from the cold, but Brittany knew that they had to close the voids if they wanted to get to pass through the room. Sam knew this too, so he started to walk to the nearest void and casted another spell to close it.
"Bhain'ne calar!"
Before Sam could begin to close it, various hounds got out of the void. Brittany grabbed her silver sword to kill it and defend Sam while he worked on his spell. She focused on the task at hand, hoping to get out of there and see the sunlight once again.
When all the voids were gone, Brittany noticed that Sam had collapsed. He was exhausted. "Sam, if you need to go, go. I don't want you to put yourself in any more danger, you're not looking that well."
Sam laughed. "Don't worry about me, I feel like we're almost there. Just, help me get up."
Once he was on his feet again, they continued their journey through the ruins until yet another morphic projection made its appearance, the only difference was that this one seemed like it had been seen before. Perhaps they were too late, and the Hunt already had the information about Ciri that they wanted. Nevertheless, they approached it until the elf appeared again.
"Zireael, this place is no longer safe, do not tarry here long. Trust no one. Try to reach the place where last we were together."
"That's not very telling." Brittany was disappointed, they risked a lot by going to the ruins, only to return to were she was in the beginning: without any clue of where Ciri was. The bright side was that the Hunt had nothing to go on with their search either.
Sam came up behind her and tapped her shoulder. "It's a good thing that we were here, though. They could've destroyed this place and we wouldn't have been able to find this," he said while handing her a piece of paper.
It was a page of a diary, most likely from the elven sage.
"So Ciri did come to Velen, she just never reached these ruins," Brittany said after reading it. "She was with the Baron as Santana said, and after she left Crow's Perch she went to Novigrad, but I doubt that's the last place where they were together."
"At least this little trip was worth it, I was starting to really lose hope."
"Speaking of, I have a proposition for you." Brittany had been thinking about him and the danger that he was in with King Radovid's witch hunters so close. The least she could do for him after all his help was offering the only protection that she was able to.
"Aren't you back with Santana?" he asked, confused.
Brittany only laughed, knowing how Sam was. "Yes, we are, it has nothing to do with what you´re thinking," Sam nodded, clearly relieved. "I just want you to think about it, you don't have to say yes right away, but after what you told me about the witch hunters and the help that you provided here, I want to offer you a safe place. Go to Kaer Morhen, Shelby will be glad for the company and I'm sure Mercedes and Sugar will be, too."
Not a second passed before Sam was nodding again and hugging her. "I don't have much here, Britt, and it can get pretty lonely sometimes. Thanks for the offer, I think I'm going to accept it."
They separated, and Brittany was glad that Sam accepted her offer. "Just tell whoever is there that I send you. And thank you, Sam, really."
He created one last portal and got them out of the ruins and into Sam's place at Midcopse, saying goodbye to Brittany when she started to make her way to Lord Tubbington to get out of Velen.
After all, they were a step closer to find Ciri and she finally was going to be with Santana again. She just hoped to reach her before it was too late.
All mistakes are mine, I hope to see you again next time! I didn't like the ending that much, maybe I'll change it later, tho. Also, I posted a little one shot which takes place in this same universe. I plan to make more to explain some moments and to explain Brittany and Santana's story, tell me what you think!
Dany. (01/17/2018, 01:34)
P.S. I changed the name of the story, soon I'll change the summary too, just so you know. Thank you, bye! 3
