I've had a very hectic week but here you go x
It sits motionless but movement behind brings her attention to and injured Reaver creeping up to the egg, she's too far, she never should have left her post, Dovah could die and it's her fault...
A scream tore through her lips but Nessa barely registered it, wind rushed through the cave, stealing away the air and bringing a blanket of sand with it, swirling and pulling at skin, sticking to everything.
Once the sand had settled she was filled with horror, what had she done, bodies were strewn everywhere, the injured Reaver lay sprawled broken against the wall of the cave, dead.
The Mage and the Witcher lay face down just outside the cave, Borch had toppled to lean against the wall and Dovah... Nessa scrambled up hurrying over to the egg, running her hands over the bumpy texture of the shell she sighed in relief, she could feel the life of it buzzing at her fingers, her protection spell must have held.
Borch's pained groan reaches her ears, "I'm so sorry Borch, I lost control and almost destroyed the egg" she cries out, tears in her eyes - though she refuses to cry, she made a vow not to, crying shows weakness, weakness gets you hurt or worse killed.
"Child it okay, this is why we have our lessons, now run along they'll be waking soon" Borch told her. Nessa leaped up the hole in the roof of the cave, planning to sit and wait.
She heard the rest of them waking, Téa and Véa checking on each other, noise of everyone slowly getting up. Movement catches her eye as she sees a funnily dressed man that looks entirely too disheveled walking past some frozen Dwarves, in any other situation Nessa would have laughed at the absurdity, in fact she has to stifle her laughter when the man almost topples over in fright.
Téa and Véa come into view, he thought them dead "What the fuck are you doing here?" he questions gesturing wildly, his question remains unanswered as the Dwarves come rushing round the corner and the sisters immediately raise their swords.
The tallest Dwarf throws his sword down in a fit of anger, complaining about missing the 'fun', Borch then steps into view in his human form, offering the Dwarves the teeth of the dead dragon.
Once the Dwarves leave he takes the Mage and the Witcher aside to speak to them, just outside the reach of Nessa's hearing capabilities, she silently curses herself for allowing Borch to test how far she could hear.
She narrows her eyes trying to decipher their words but she can't, the Mage stands suddenly and Nessa shrinks back making sure she's hidden from sight, the Mage starts to shout but it doesn't make any sense to Nessa - something about disregard for freedom and not needing help.
The Witcher then stands spitting unintelligible words, Borch speaks in a quiet tone and the Mage storms off, Nessa relaxes slightly, the Mage may not worry Borch but she is still weary.
Turn by turn they all leave, Geralt in his anger completely forgets the woman he saw fleeing the cave, the woman he could have sworn he recognised.
They were back at the cave, Nessa stroking her hands over the eggs shell as Borch clears his throat, she turns to see his eyebrow raised "I don't know what that was, I've never done it before" she explains quickly, "Not that Nessa" he says in that tone that Nessa knows she's not in trouble, she sighs "I tried but you were outnumbered, I had to save Dovah" she utters while gesturing to the egg.
"Dovah, you named her?" the revelation stuns her, he never mentioned the gender of the baby dragon before, "Yes, its fitting for now" she says simply.
The tension is thick, she knows he wants to speak of her powers but she wants to avoid it completely - not ready to discuss it yet, "I'm going down to the village, mother needs some sheepskin" it's a dreadful excuse but she needs to leave quickly, she can't handle a confrontation right now, no matter how father like and understanding Borch is.
On the walk down the mountain she bumps into the funnily dressed man, he seems upset and Nessa decides to strike up a conversation - he doesn't know anything about her and that could help right now.
"Hello, are you a Bard?" she inquires, it's obvious he is by seeing his lute but a senseless conversation is better than a serious one. "Uh, yeah" he answers halfheartedly, "What are you doing this far up the mountain?" he asks, "I don't live far from here, I'm going down to the market" technically on dragon back she lives not even an hour from here.
They walk in relative silence, occasionally piping up about something irrelevant, that is until they reach the tavern, he then silently asks her to join him. They are sat drinking the sour ale as the bustle around them fills up for the lack of concentration.
A man then shouts a demand from the bar "Bard, sing us a song", Jaskier - Nessa now knew his name - sighs and gets up grabbing his lute.
Strumming a tune while tapping his foot he starts to sing, his voice is quite beautiful Nessa thinks.
When a humble bard
Graced a ride along
With Geralt of Rivia
Along came this song
From when the White Wolf fought
A silver-tongued devil
His army of elves
At his hooves did they revel
They came after me
With masterful deceit
Broke down my lute
And they kicked in my teeth
While the devil's horns
Minced our tender meat
And so cried the Witcher
"He can't be bleat"
Toss a coin to your Witcher
O' Valley of Plenty
O' Valley of Plenty, oh
Toss a coin to Your Witcher
O' Valley of Plenty...
So the song was about the Witcher from the mountain she deduced, listening to the Bards voice she's ensnared by his tale. When he sings of elves she subconsciously smooths her hair over her ears.
Nessa has never met another Witcher but the pained yet praising way the bard sings of him makes her think they were friends not so long ago.
I'm honestly ecstatic today, I got into my dream University which kinda re inspired me to get up off my arse and post. Love Liya xx