"So, Master Dandelion, what's your favourite food?" Dune was sitting on his horse as we trudged through the open forest, the gentle breeze flowing past our shoulders. We all had our individual horses – mine was brown. I gathered a connection with it; I always thought horses were incredible animals, however it was a bit jolty, I'll give it that! It would always spontaneously jump over logs instead of strolling around them like a normal animal! Maybe that was just my awful attempt at steering the thing… anyway, I had finished gazing at the trees and the vines (and the leaves fluttering in the still air slowly to the ground) when he asked me that question. I adjusted my bottom on my saddle and thought about it for a while. I must've built up so much anticipation that everyone else grew silent, and only the curious noises of the forest broke it.
"Well," I began, "I could never say no to a bit of cow meat and veg! Oh, and with a bit of fish on the side." Before I knew it, the 'crew' were cringing and making strange agony-like noises at the thought of it. "What? It isn't that bad!"
"It really is!" Dune scoffed, "sounds horrible!"
"Just try it. It's nice, I swear!" I had already shaken my head a thousand times by now in denial that my favourite meal was detested by the whole group. Laughing it off, I glared back into the distance. The sunlight pouring through the remnants that hung off the tree branches, and the trees emitting a glorious scent made me breathe in and out slowly several times in tranquillity without me even realising it. I smiled to myself (making sure nobody else saw); it truly was a tremendous view.
"Okay, Dandelion," one of Dune's allies requested, "Tell me what sort of stories and plays you write. I'm curious."
The conversation went on for quite some time. Giggles and pleasant sighs broke it up in between, whilst the background noises of bugs and insects padded our excited voices. However, everything suddenly stopped when we thought we heard footsteps. We shrugged it off at first, but we then heard twigs breaking. We stopped and looked around whilst silence engulfed us all like the calm before a storm.
"Do you hear that?" one of us said. Looking around, we saw nothing out of the ordinary, until thousands of explosions broke the silence. Not literal explosions, but about a dozen legs bombarded us from all around, circling us and attacking on sight. Bandits. They ran at us with spears and swords. Dune and his mates drew their swords whilst I, amidst the blaze, found a clear path to retreat away from the event. I panted heavily as I ducked behind a tree stump and watched a few metres away to where the battle was commencing. I swore to myself – some would call me a coward, and I would agree, but I saw my window of opportunity and I took it; I wasn't a swordsman anyway. I watched in horror as the men I was casually talking to before died with swords through their throats. Not long after, everyone had fallen except Dune who had dropped his faithful sword and had his hands behind his head. He darted his eyes around the area – presumably looking for me – but he did not see me (I did retreat quite a distance after all). Whilst Dune was being carried into a barred cart with two horses supported at the front, I had stood atop the trunk and used a swinging rope which hung from the branch above me to support my stance.
One of the bandits locked Dune up before dangling the keys back to his belt. They were all fumbling around; the cart wasn't moving yet. Most of them had retreated into the woods and only four or five of them remained, guarding it. I had to get on that cart.
I had an idea. I gathered the rope from the tree which I was clinging on to, and used it to silently hook on to another which perfectly positioned itself between me and the cart. Inhaling and exhaling slowly in an attempt to dissipate my anxiousness, I lifted my feet from the ground and swung. The air gave me no support and, as a result of my extremely heavy and unfit body, thought I was just going to flop to the floor and give my location away; but no, I managed to just reach the corner of the object and land flat onto it to stealth my way from the views of the bandits. Luckily, the cart platform was relatively large and managed to cover my entire body from the glares of others. I was almost certain they could hear my panicked, thumping heartbeat from the roof of the wooden, dry cart. We were moving. With Dune below me and bandits glued around the vehicle, I had no choice but to keep my position and wait for an opportunity. The horse hooves clattered like thunder… I embraced silence as much as possible.
Luckily, the journey to wherever was short and the cramps in my legs only lingered for a few minutes. We had reached a large fortress – big, ominous, well-fortified and crawling with soldiers; or "bandits". By now, the cart wheels had stopped and the men surveying it had been drawn to the open gates of the area. Now was my chance. Using the grip on my knees, I shuffled backwards and onto the floor. The back of the cart was where the entrance to Dune's cage was and, luckily, the only side of it which was unguarded. I cautiously stared at Dune through the murky, muck glazed bars and was about to speak until he revealed a silent gesture – a "shh" and a finger pointing to my left. With a nervous look, I cranked my neck in that direction. A man, just like the others, with his back turned. Cursing silently, I stood there like a stump, drops of sweat appearing like rain drops as adrenaline throbbed within me. I peeked around the cart seeing that there was no-one in view before doing something I wish I never had to do…
My arms were already around the guy's throat just before his weapon had thumped softly to the ground. He struggled, as I expected, thoroughly and I had to use every ounce of power to bring him into unconsciousness. I'm pretty sure I hated this more than he did. Hearing his desperate squirms under my arm, I wanted to let go. He stopped eventually; his struggles fading harmlessly as I let out a huge sigh of relief.
"Pst." He called, wasting no time. I rushed to Dune immediately as I realised time was of the essence. "You've got to get me out of here. Use this." He seemed oddly calm – he must be used to this. I didn't have much time to think though before he gave me a metallic stripe which I presume was supposed to be a lock pick.
I had already shoved it in the lock and he was already throwing out instructions on how to use the thing. The lock danced around my fingers in an attempt to escape my grasp. Shit. I heard shouts coming from the fortress and, peeking around, I could see they were retreating back to this cart. I swore again.
"Don't look at them. Stay calm." Dune was whispering. I couldn't do it. I really couldn't do it. Sweat poured down me, the lock fumbled around my hands more times as their footsteps grew louder…
They saw the body first; his feet dangling out and into their vision. There were four of them. Four men and one hopeless bard. I heard their suspicious screams: "There's a man down." Etcetera… One of them gave me no time and immediately dashed around the corner and spotted me. I jumped in panic as the others gathered around me, their faces as shocked as mine. They were about to swipe me with their drawn swords before the device in my hand clicked loudly and hammered into the mud below. Everyone sensed an awkward pause before I was knocked to my feet as Dune swept out of his imprisonment and killed them all in an instant; ret skittering like drops of water as all of the soldiers spat blood at us; the bodies dampening to still corpses on the muddy ground.
"Holy shit. Thanks." I muttered whilst my backside was still sunken in the mud.
"Don't mention it." Dune replied, offering his bloodied hand to my aid. Swiftly accepting, I stood up, brushed the dirt off my worn and shitty clothing and looked around for signs of more bandits. "We're not out of the woods yet, Mister Dandelion!" He ushered me to crouch down behind the cart as more bandits glanced our way. Luckily, Dune had already moved the corpses to behind the object so nobody could see the incident if they tried.
"Okay," I panted, "what now?"
"Well we'd get spotted if we made a run for the woods; trust me, they're crawling with 'em." He sighed the biggest sigh I think I'd ever heard – relieving his frustration into his large exhale. He then followed it with a combination of curse words. "We need to infiltrate the camp." What? I dropped my jaw without realising it and almost passed out at the remark! Afterwards, I swiftly turned away in hope that he didn't notice. Peeking back with caution, I sighed relief as he was too busy playing with the tip of his mangled, slightly sweaty beard and planning our next moves with his cold, determined eyes to notice my shocked expression. "I noticed that." Dune said carefully without taking his gaze off the fortress. Shit.
"How the hell are we going to get away from this place if we go into it?" I questioned his absurd ideas before adjusting my stance.
"Just trust me."
I followed his lead as we crept through the foliage of the woods, heading closer and closer to the bare and unguarded wall in front of us. Every now and then I'd notice Dune frantically look left and right for the careful, strategical search for our enemies. Frequently, I noticed us ducking into a prone position to avoid their glares over the forest floor. As we reached the bland, grey fortress wall (to the left of the main gates), Dune noticed a convenient break at the bottom – a tiny hole which looked just small enough to fit through. I gawped at the back of his head.
"We're not seriously considering that?" I whispered but raised my voice a little to try and sound angry. "I don't want to get my clothes dirty!" Dune looked around and spat me a thin smile.
"They're already filthy; come on." We swiftly passed through the gap (I had to breathe in a bit; too many pies I reckon) and we were through.
After lots of really frightening sneaking through the heavily guarded fortress, we found ourselves in a creaky, large warehouse. Shelves littered everywhere with small, cramped pathways and dusty, black vision and atmosphere. I had to force myself not to cough and splatter the moment we entered! Dune ended up convincing me that these places were good because there are lots of places to hide. Not quite believing how we'd made it this far, I prayed for our luck to stay before immediately quitting as Dune gave me a strange confused look beside me.
"Sorry." I admitted. He ignored me and patted me silent like you would pat an unexpected fire out with your boot. Someone was coming from behind the shelf we were sheltered behind.
"Come on! They are here somewhere!" he said, definitely walking this way. Shit, they must've found the bodies. We both thought it wasn't too bad – one person – until we jinxed ourselves as another guard made their way beside the first – out of nowhere! Dune snatched a sharp weapon from his boot whilst I scrambled to find a metal bar to ready myself with.
It all ended very fast. One corpse down with a mouth full of blood and another with a massive bruise on his forehead lie side by side. I hardly had time to react before Dune slit the other guy's throat.
"You didn't have to kill him." I whispered again, "we'd be long gone before he woke up." He went on to argue that 'one less bandit makes the world better'. I couldn't fight against his logic, but I'm not sure I completely agreed with him.
We made our way through the building – up ladders and shelves and onto the bare, roof where all eyes suddenly became drawn to us before tens of swords unsheathed from their holders. I then realised what Dune was doing.
"Gimme that rope!" He said. I didn't even touch it before he retrieved it himself from my belt. The bandits were running now from the floor and into the warehouse. We didn't have much time. By now, we had reached the back of the fortress which, behind the wall, would be forest so thick we could lose them easily, even with them chasing us. I hoped anyway as I wasn't the fastest runner. He used the rope and flung it towards the nearest wall edge, hooking it to a sturdy material that stuck out of it. "Come on!" he said just before he jumped off the warehouse roof and climbed up the wall and over. I alone now stood on the wooden surface which felt like it was going to collapse any second. My anxiousness travelled down my nerves in my bottom half and I couldn't feel my legs. Wielded soldiers now started appearing from hatches in the roof and I would be swarmed extremely quickly! I stood there helplessly like a helpless man without a sword would...
As I flung through the air, I grasped at the rope and fell a good way down before I truly fixed my grip on it. My fingers flared from the burn and I let out a wail of pain, but I had little choice but continue. I clenched my teeth through the pain and pulled my body up and over the wall; my body throbbing a hundred agonies in an attempt to stop my progress. I couldn't stop now. I stopped to see that Dune had already recovered and gathered a horse for us to escape with. I jumped down the deep and terrifying ledge and onto the soft, grass riddled ground and, with a sharp twinge, fell awkwardly to the ground. Next to me (whilst I was fiddling with my twisted ankle), Dune grabbed me and hulked my useless body to the saddle. Hurting more and more, we were away, and the shouts of our attackers faded peacefully.
He dropped me off outside the Novigrad gates, just inside the Farcorners, and led the horse we had just claimed to one side. It gazed peacefully at the rippling water just off the bridge. I retreated to a limp as I crawled across the cobblestone pathway. He supported me just before I felt myself falling…
"Woah, Master Dandelion. Too much?" he asked, "rather not risk your life and rather stick to playing in taverns?" he smiled in an almost mocking tone as he supported my posture. I knew he was joking of course. I sighed amidst the mild crowd of people that mingled around us; jostling around the city with errands to run.
"Thank you so much, Dune. I mean it. I don't have anything to offer you in return…" I trailed off.
"Please, it's my pleasure to get you to safety. I see a flickering flame within you, I really do." He stared out into the distance and sighed again, the Sun dancing off his forehead, "but that flame will grow big and triumphant. You really are something special – you are unique." He stared back at me again and smiled, true this time – not a jest or a tease, a true, meaningful smile. "But I'm afraid I must leave you now. I have people to see, things to do…" His face melted into sadness, his eyelids dangling low. I wondered if my expressions conveyed the same.
"Can't I come with you? I kinda liked the adrenaline." I didn't. I don't think I did. He was right, I enjoyed my times within the safety of the warm walls of taverns, but I had grown a strong bond with my ally and wanted one more trip around places I had never visited. Maybe, one day, I could write about the times I explored around tropical, eventful and dangerous places with Dune: my faithful ally and protector… However, maybe I was being stupid.
"No. I'm sorry. My only mission was to get you to where you belong." He pointed his open palm to the city walls of Novigrad. He swivelled my shoulders round to look at him again. "Goodbye, Dandelion." Then he left and I watched his disappearing silhouette fade into the distance.