The Witcher: Through the Worlds
Chapter 77: A Question of Truth
Narrator: After their adventures in the village of Claywitch, Dominik and Ciri came to the shocking revelation, that Dominik, by the Law of Surprise, had been linked by destiny to a young thirteen-year-old girl, named Fiona. In turn, this linked Ciri to the young girl as well, and after rescuing her from peril, the two left Claywitch with the promise to return to bring her with them in three months' time. After this, the two set out to return to Novigrad. However, one night the two were ambushed, attacked by Baelen, the mysterious commander of the Wild Hunt with a connection to their past. An intense magical and physical duel ensued, and Dominik managed to defeat Baelen, having her at his mercy, he and Ciri demanded she remove her helmet and reveal her identity to them. It was the unthinkable, Dominik and Ciri's worlds were both shaken, when Baelen turned out to be none other, then Bella, Bella of Cintra, Dominik's younger sister who he long thought dead. Bella had been brainwashed by Eredin, manipulated and deceived, the young woman blamed Dominik and Ciri for her death, swearing to kill them both. After failing to convince his sister to return with him, Dominik, with his world now turned upside-down, shattered, returns to Novigrad with Ciri, to see if a certain elven sage had held this horrible truth from him.
"Dom! Dominik stop, wait up, slow down!" Ciri yelled, dodging around the crowds of people in the streets after him.
She didn't know what was going on in Novigrad that early in the morning for the city streets to be so crowded. No smoke was coming from Hierarch Square, there was no holiday she knew of, but for some reason everyone had decided to be out that morning. She also knew Dandelion had been keeping the inn closed to everyone except close friends, so that none of their plans could somehow be compromised, so all the people weren't certainly going to the inn. No, they all just decided to pick that day of all days to crowd the streets that early morning.
Dominik had slid off Clop, without even hitching the stallion and had speed walked into the gates of the city. Ciri had to hitch both Clop and Kelpie before sprinting to catch up with him, since she had almost lost him in the crowd as they approached closer to the Chameleon. She could see his sword and second empty sheath on his back, reflecting light from the sun, and it was the only thing she saw of him that allowed her to see where he was. She could see him moving people aside, practically walking straight through them as they got closer and closer to the Chameleon. His fists were clenched at his side, and if Ciri looked close enough, she could see faint wisps of magic forming in them. Her eyes widened, and she picked up her pace, knowing that if magic unleashed, it would draw the Witch Hunter's. With her hood up, she barreled through people as well, finally getting to his side as they got to the yard of the Chameleon.
"Dominik! Listen to me, I know you're upset, but you're not thinking straight!" She said, looking up at him, and as soon as she finished his eyes darted down to her.
"I just almost killed my fucking sister because she was brainwashed into joining the Wild Hunt…. I'm going to see if your nanny elf fucking knew… I'm thinking straighter then I ever have…" He said, his drooping eyes staring darkly down at her.
She quickly shook her head. "Dominik, we'll figure out, but please, just stop and talk to me, please, please talk to me, don't hold it in, you'll do something you regret!"
"I won't regret anything," He said without a second thought, turning from her as he picked up his pace towards the door.
Ciri shakily sighed the image of his sullen eyes burning into her mind. That short conversation was the most she had gotten out of him since the night before. She had barely had time to process what happened with Bella herself, Bella's words still stirred in her mind, the fact she was alive and Ciri had almost killed her was at the forefront. However, as she saw him then. His eyes, black bags were under them, his face was still dirty with soot, small scabbed over cuts, his armor was singed still. She needed to be there for him, she couldn't process what she had learned, or worry about herself then.
The previous night she had only slept in small spurts, but she was almost sure that he hadn't slept at all. She laid in their bed roll, she had huddled up into him, but in the moments she had woken up, she could feel him simply looking up at the roof of the cave. He hadn't said anything either. After Bella had left, she tried to talk to him, get him to talk to her, because she knew what he was currently holding in, how much pain he was holding in. She saw it in his eyes, his dark, sunken eyes. By the time she awoke in the morning, the sun had quite literally just arisen, and he was already dressed in his armor, both horses saddled, all their supplies ready to leave. He had barely said a word as they mounted, Ciri had tried, tried to get him to talk to her, let it all out, let out all the pain she knew he was holding.
But he had said he was fine before they had set off. The sun had been out and bright yes, but between the cold wind that still blew, and seeing the anger boil in his eyes, goosebumps ran up her arms, slowly tingling her arms like pins and needles were being pressed into them.
Move your ass Ciri, he needs you. She shakily sighed, rushing to catch up with him, just as she saw him push the door to the Chameleon open.
Ciri rushed up behind him, not seeing anyone outside, and when her boots hit the wooden floors of the inn, she right away scanned the ground floor. She bit her lip, her eyes looking towards the steps, the tables, the bar, everywhere, in particular trying to find Avallac'h. She didn't know if the sage had known about Bella or not, but she knew that in his current state, even if the elf claimed he didn't know, Dominik wouldn't believe him. He was looking for someone to blame, take his anger, his frustration out on somebody. If Avallac'h truly did know about Bella being with the Hunt, Ciri knew the sage deserved whatever punishment Dominik would wrought on him, however, Dominik wasn't thinking straight, as much as Ciri would be furious at the elf as well, she knew they still needed him, despite it all.
She breathed heavily from running so fast to catch up with him, and when they finally got inside the inn she came next to him again. His arms were shaking, his fists still curled, his tired eyes wide open and darting to all corners of the ground floor of the inn. Ciri quickly grabbed his arm, whirling him around to her as he shook. She met his eyes and she could see his widened, with every second that passed his arms trembled more, and Ciri's blood pressure rose, as she kept her eyes locked with his and shook his head.
"Dominik… Dominik please, please just come with me, let's go to our room, just talk to me. Don't keep it in, I know how much you're hurting right now and-."
"I told you I was fine Ciri!" He snapped pulling his hands away from her, turning from her and looking up towards the steps. "Where the fuck is he, I swear I'm going to-."
"NO!" She said firmly, stepping in front of him again, not going to take no for an answer, she stood in front of him again. "Dominik I'm not letting you go anywhere, until you calm down and fucking talk to me-."
"Stop fucking defending him Ciri! I know for some stupid reason you trust him, but I don't care right now!"
"Don't use that tone with me you stupid fucking boy! You're not in the right frame of mind right now, you're not thinking clearly!"
"My sister is working with the Wild Hunt Ciri, I think I have a right to be a little fucking pissed off right now! Especially if your nanny elf knew! I thought you'd fucking care about Bella too!"
Ciri felt like a knife was plunged into her heart and stumbled over her words for a moment.
He doesn't mean that he's not thinking straight, you know it, she said to herself. She looked and could see him trembling, tears were starting to well in his eyes. However, he quickly blinked them away, trembling as he looked at her. Ciri knew she had to be firm, she never liked raising her voice at him, but she knew that now she needed to.
"Don't you fucking dare say that to me Dominik," She yelled back at him, her arms still crossed as she took another step closer to him, meeting his eyes and narrowing her own. "You know damn well I love Bella like she's my own! You have a right to be angry, to be upset, but you need to take a moment and think about the bigger picture!"
She saw his eyes grow angry again, but she quickly stepped forward to him. She held both her hands onto his arms, meeting his eyes, and his words caught up in her throat. Ciri looked deep into his tired eyes, and slowly shook her head.
"Please… please Dominik, I know you better than anyone," She said slowly, his arms trembling as she reached up and held a hand to his scarred right cheek. "Let's go somewhere, just me and you, I swear, talk to me… talk to me please… you know that I-."
"There the both of you are! Finally, we were all beginning to worry," A voice cut her off. Under normal circumstances, she would have been delighted to hear Yennefer's voice, but in that moment she cursed her mother's timing.
As soon as Yen's voice hit his ears, Dominik completely abandoned listening to what she was saying, the hard, angered looked turning towards the steps.
Ciri did as well, and sure enough, a smiling Yennefer and smirking Geralt both came down the steps. She wondered for a moment if they had heard her and Dominik arguing. It didn't seem like it, and they must not have taken notice of the look on their faces, because both smiled, even Geralt, who seemed absolutely elated to be able to tell whatever news he had to them. She remembered that he and Yen both had been gathering more allies and finished preparations while they went to Claywitch. Both were dressed in their normal outfits, Geralt's armor and swords were both polished, and Yen, quickly stepped out from behind him.
"Did the two of you enjoy your trip together? How did things go in Claywitch?" Yen said, hugging Ciri first, her mother's arms wrapping tightly around her neck.
She jumped, but hugged the sorceress back, pulling back and shakily nodding, as she went to hug Dominik as well.
Ciri looked over, and met Geralt's eyes, and when she met her father's eyes, she could tell he knew. Geralt narrowed his eyes and titled his head, she knew he could probably hear her rapid heartbeat, see the anxiety dripping from her face, as even with the fire in the hearth on the ground floor, her skin was still cold. Geralt looked like he was about to ask them what was wrong, but before he could Yennefer started fussing over Dominik next to her.
Yen pulled back from the hug, her hands on his shoulders, her mouth agape as she saw the state of Dominik's face and armor. "Gods above, Dominik what happened to you? You look horrible, like you just got done-."
"I'm fine, where's Avallac'h?" He said sharply, cutting their mother off, the dark look returning to his eyes.
Yen took a step back, looking right over to Ciri, as the room went completely silent. She had no idea where everyone else could be, but in that moment she was glad they were all gone. Frantically she looked back to Geralt, thankful that at least she had him and Yennefer for support now. She thought for a moment that maybe between the three of them they could calm him, but as she shakily looked back to see the look in his eyes, her hope was slowly falling.
To her surprise, even Yen took a step back, looking to Ciri and Geralt, completely miffed at Dominik's words. She knew that had to be the absolutely last thing Yen had expected to hear him ask. Ciri had been excited after Claywitch to finally get back to them both, tell them about Fiona and how they had even managed to fight a dragon together and survive. But now however, they were all silent, Yen looked taken aback still, meeting Ciri's eyes, trying to get some kind of explanation, and that was when Ciri felt the cat medallion around her belt tremble.
Her eyes darted to Dominik's fists, and she could see the small wisps of magic that had been growing in his hands in the street, were even larger now. She looked back up to Yen, who looked like she was about to say something, but Dominik sharply cut them all off seeing that they hadn't answered him yet.
"Well!? Where. Is. He!?" He said, his eyes moving between the three of them, magic slowly whooshing around his fists.
Ciri went to say something herself, knowing that if he got any angrier, the magic could grow out of control as it did the night before. She met Yen's eyes with a panicked look, and their mother looked like she was going to try and say something else as well, but Geralt put a hand on both their shoulders and stepped between them. Her father looked over and met Dominik's eyes, crossing his arms, a small smirk coming to his face as he looked to be trying to defuse the situation.
"Ha, he's the last person I thought you'd wanna see," Geralt said with a hint of amusement. Dominik looked like he was going to say something, but Geralt cut him off by speaking up first again. "Forget about him for a minute, got some good news for you…. Adda's plan worked, Radovid's dead. Phillipa took him out, met up with Dijkstra, Roche, Taler, Elise and Adda afterwards, she should be crowned in a few days. Elise was asking about you, asked how you were feeling and if she could see-."
"I don't CARE, about fucking Radovid right now," Dominik said, cutting Geralt off, magic starting to whirl around him faster, as he looked between the three of them again. "Now again, WHERE. IS. AVALLAC'H!?"
Ciri looked around the inn again, she knew the sage hadn't left the inn, not wanting to be around humans for that long. However, she prayed for the universe to do her just one favor, and for Avallac'h to not be there, for the sage to be meditating, or busy with anything else.
However, the universe very rarely did her favors, and then was no difference.
"I'm right here you blundering imbecile," The sage's dry voice rang through her ears, as she heard the steps creak behind her. "I hope your little journey was worth the wasted time and effort you put into it, we could be already-."
"Be quiet!"Dominik hissed, pushing through her Geralt and Yennefer all, towards the sage who had just come down the stairs.
Ciri locked eyes with Avallac'h for a moment and could see that the sage seemed to be in just as foul a mood. Her skin began to crawl, her heart racing out of her chest, as she looked between Geralt and Yen who were all giving her questioning looks before they all turned back to Dominik and the sage as they heard Avallach's irritated voice ring in the air again.
"Don't speak to me in such a manner you disrespectful little brat," The elf hissed, as Dominik got closer to him, shaking his head in disgust. "Because of you we have already wasted enough time. Lucky for all of us, we were able to complete our preparations anyway. Now we can finally continue with our plans, despite you insisting on your silly little escapades-."
"I SAID be quiet, shut your fucking mouth and just listen to me you arrogant prick." Dominik said, now only inches from the sage's face.
"Dominik darling, what's wrong, what-." Yennefer tried to say, only for Dominik to whirl around, glaring at all three of them, and if Ciri looked close enough, she could see him trying to hold back the magic from unleashing.
The previous night all played back in Ciri's mind as she looked to the sage behind Dominik, who casted her an annoyed questioning look. She had no idea if the elf would have known or not, but Dominik was right, it certainly made sense that he would. Avallac'h had known about Dominik being Alexander's descendant, surely he would have known about another walking the continent, especially if they had been working with Eredin. When Ciri had asked about Baelen, after seeing her in her dreams, Avallac'h had only told her she was an extremely powerful warrior Caranthir and Eredin had trained themselves. That had terrified Ciri in the moment, with her dreams of Bella killing Dominik coming most nights.
However, now she knew the truth. She could understand now why the sage would have wanted to keep Bella's identity as Baelen a secret from her. Avallac'h had hated Alexander, and it was bad enough for him already that she was in love with Dominik, one of Alexander's descendants. If he had told her about Bella, she right away would have made plans to rescue her, even if it had just been herself doing the rescuing. She knew the sage wouldn't have wanted another of Alexander's descendants to 'distract her' as he had told her Dominik did multiple times. Yes, it made perfect sense to Ciri, why Avallac'h would hide the truth about Bella being Baelen from her.
But, as she had said before, to Dominik and Geralt. Despite everything Avallac'h had done to her, tried to make her do, since the sage found her, he's done what he can for her. He was hiding something from her yes, his true plans for her. But Ciri was also using him to make sure Eredin was defeated as well, so that her, Dominik, and now Fiona could live their lives free of having to worry about that looming threat. She hadn't asked the sage what his plan was, because in the end, if she was using him, it wouldn't matter, to get that life she'd do anything, to get that life for her and Dominik she'd be willing to do anything. On all other matters, the sage had told her the truth, there had even been times Ciri believes he had her best interests at heart. It was a foolish thing to believe she knew, but no matter what, she always had been taught, no matter how much of an ass a person was, they always had a right to defend themselves.
Dominik knew this as well when he was thinking normally, rashly. He was one of the best at that Ciri knew, thinking about the bigger picture, thinking ahead. However, the few times she had seen him break, where when Avallac'h had been involved. She knew he had wanted to kill the sage ever since he figured out the elf had fought Alexander, and how he treated Lara Dorren and now Ciri. Ciri had managed to talk him down then, while agreeing with what Dominik said, she also knew they needed Avallac'h, at least for a little while longer, to help them find and kill Eredin in the end. Dominik knew this as well, but again, that was when he was thinking rationally, when his mind wasn't clouded, when it was calm.
But in that moment he was far from calm, and Avallac'h certainly did nothing to help the situation.
The sage scoffed, looking back at Dominik. "Bah, your words do not scare me boy. You've put our mission in jeopardy to appeal to your own sense of vanity-."
"Did you fucking know…" Dominik cut the sage off.
Upon hearing the words, she froze, unable to take her eyes off the two, as she looked down towards Dominik's curling fists. If he weren't wearing gloves she was sure that his nails would have dug deep into his palms drawing blood. Geralt and Yen stood next to her, she heard them both shift and look at her. Ciri looked to meet their eyes, to tell them everything that was happening, so that hopefully between the three of them they could stop what she knew was going to happen.
Ciri was too slow however, because Avallac'h quickly scoffed at Dominik's words.
The sage rolled his eyes, rubbing his temples. "You are starting to annoy me more than you normally do boy, did I know what?"
Dominik's hands curled further, the magic becoming visible now. "I think you know exactly what I mean…. I'll give you one chance to admit it…. Did. You. Fucking. Know!?"
"Dominik…" Ciri tried to say, going to take a step forward, but before she could get to Dominik's side, everything happened in a flash.
Avallac'h condescendingly scoffed and rolled his eyes again. "I am gifted at a great many things you repugnant child, but reading minds is not one of them. I have no idea what-."
A loud *CRACK* smashed into Ciri's ears before she could do anything. Dominik had thrown his fist out faster, more powerful than any man, or witcher could ever hope to muster. Ciri saw magic whirl around his hands, it finally shooting up to his eyes, as Dominik's fist connected with the side of Avallach's face before the sage had any time to react. Somehow the elf stayed conscious, but blood right away pooled from his nose, gushing and being lapped up by the wooden floors of the inn.
"DOMINIK STOP!" Ciri yelled, knowing full well he'd kill the sage.
"DOM, what the hell are you doing!?" Geralt yelled from next to her, running forward, to try and restrain Dominik again, but he moved too fast, the magic whirled around his limbs too fast.
"DID YOU FUCKING KNOW!? TELL ME!" Dominik yelled, reaching down for Avallac'h again.
"HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND BOY!?" The sage yelled from the ground, his nose black, a torrent of blood falling from it.
"ANSWER ME!" Dominik screamed at the top of his lungs.
Ciri was just about to reach him, with Geralt next to her, and Yennefer yelling as well. She looked down and saw Avallac'h on the ground. She was going to try and hold Dominik back, knowing that if she grabbed him he'd stop, he always would, she knew he'd never harm her, no matter how angry he was. But she stopped in place, when she looked down and saw magic building up in Avallach's hand as Dominik rushed down towards him again.
"NO STOP, STOP BOTH OF YOU!" Ciri said, just as she was about to lung and grab Dominik's arm.
But for once in their life, she and Geralt were too slow, and so was Avallac'h.
Dominik reached down, lifting the sage up by the neck of his robes. Blood stains had traveled down them, and upon feeling Dominik's grip on his clothes, being jerked back up to his feet, Avallach's attempted spell disappeared from his hand. The sage's nose was black and blue, blood still fell from it, and with a *BANG* Dominik slammed the sage up against the wall, his forearm pinning over the elf's neck.
The elf struggled for a moment under Dominik's grip, looking and meeting his eyes, the sage's own contorting into anger.
"You will pay for this boy… mark my words YOU WILL-." Avallac'h had started, but quickly was cut off, when Ciri saw what Dominik had done.
He pulled his silver dagger from his belt, and it was pointed right into the sage's stomach. Ciri remembered where that particular spot was, it was where several major veins and arteries converged, Gaeten, the Cat School witcher had told Dominik, that any man, no matter who they were, would die within minutes after being stabbed there.
And as soon as his dagger was pointed just outside that spot on Avallach's stomach, the sage stopped moving. He glared at Dominik, as he still had the sage's throat pinned against the wall, not letting him move an inch. Avallac'h was completely at Dominik's mercy, and with how he was now, Ciri truly didn't know if there would be any. She stopped a step away from him, afraid to stretch out her arm, for fear he'd thrust his dagger forward into the sage's stomach, and all of their plans for dealing with Eredin would be gone. That was what she feared for, not the sage's life, but the position it would put them in.
Ciri also knew that Dominik would never forgive himself if he killed the sage then. As much as she knew he wanted too, he would regret it in the end if he killed the elf now.
"Dominik… Dominik darling, please… you need to calm down, think about what you're doing…" Yen said slowly, coming up next to her and Geralt.
Geralt nodded from next to her as well, while Dominik didn't take his eyes off the sage. "She's right Dom. Whatever you're doing this for, I'm sure he deserves it… but like she said, take a minute and think about what you're-."
"I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I'M FUCKING DOING!" Dominik said, his eyes not leaving the sage, as he pressed hard against his throat. "NOW FUCKING ANSWER ME! TELL ME, DID YOU FUCKING KNOW!?"
Ciri heard the tone shift in his voice, he was finally breaking down. Anger spilled from him yes, but she could hear his voice slightly crack. From the corners of his eyes, she could see the magic had gone, and his eyes quivered. Tears threatened to fall, his arms shook as he still held Avallac'h against the wall in a death grip. Ciri was afraid his dagger would slip into the sage's stomach, but she didn't dare move, knowing even the slightest slip forward, and Dominik would kill Avallac'h then and there.
She had never heard him speak in such a tone, a mixture of anger, sadness, pure fury. She looked over and saw Avallac'h reached his hands up to try and pry Dominik's hands off him, but from the blood still falling from his nose, the blood loss, the ringing headache she was sure she had, he failed, and Dominik pressed harder against his neck, his eyes still quivering as the sage met his eyes, a fury erupting from them as well that Ciri had never seen.
"ANSWER ME! FUCKING TELL ME NOW, DID YOU FUCKING KNOW!?" Dominik demanded, moving his dagger and punching into the sage's stomach, before pointing the dagger into the elf's torso again.
Avallac'h to his credit still fiercely met Dominik's eyes. "DID I KNOW WHAT YOU BLABBERING CHILD!?"
"DID YOU KNOW THAT MY FUCKING SISTER WAS A GENERAL OF THE WILD HUNT!?"
And upon hearing Dominik's words, Ciri shakily inhaled, shooting her gaze over to Geralt and Yen, who both stopped in their tracks as well, completely seeming to forget what was happening, digesting what they had just heard. Ciri still hadn't processed it fully herself, but hearing it said aloud again, it sent new shame washing down Ciri's throat. Bella, Bella who had been so innocent, full of life, joy, happiness. Bella had been alone, afraid, taken and manipulated, and neither her nor Dominik had been there for her, been able to do anything about it.
She looked and saw Yen take another shaky step towards her, as Geralt slowly turned and looked at Dominik. They both knew what Dominik and she both believed had happened to Bella, and while they had obviously never met her, it still seemed to affect them as well.
"Dom… I thought your sister was dead…" Geralt said slowly.
Dominik's hands continued to shake but held Avallac'h against the wall. "So did I… but she's alive… she's alive, and Eredin somehow got his hands on her… brainwashed her…. AND I WANT TO KNOW IF YOU FUCKING KNEW! TELL ME, TELL ME OR I SWEAR I'LL BLEED YOU FUCKING DRY RIGHT HERE!"
He had turned back to Avallac'h, who upon seeing his reaction, Ciri's stomach churned. It wasn't a telling look, for the elf had gone stone-faced, seeming to completely understand his life relied on how he answered the question. Ciri found herself staring at them both as well. She wanted to know, she needed to know the answer. She still held a fragile trust for the sage and needed to know how hard it would be for her to hold Dominik back. Next to her, Geralt and Yen both stood, seeming ready to leap into restrain Dominik if they had too, but the two of them as well, also seemed to want to know the answer.
Outside she had heard the bustling of people cease. The morning sun continued to rise, streaming in through the windows, it casted a glow over the crimson blood Avallac'h had spilled onto the floor. The entire bottom floor of the inn was silent, as all of them watched Dominik's trembling hands continued to press up against the sage's throat and torso with his dagger.
Ciri waited for the sage to respond. She also readied herself to lash out in a moment's notice, Geralt next to her waiting to do the same. Dominik wasn't going to like the sages answer, no matter what it was.
And she was proven right, as everything that happened next, happened again in a flash.
"No… I did not know…" Avallac'h said, Dominik's arms shaking more, as the sage slowly went on, not sounding sorry, but speaking calmly. "I am… sorry, it seems you've been put in a… unfortunate predicament and-."
Dominik's eyes flashed bright blue. "I DON'T FUCKING BELIEVE YOU!"
"DOM STOP!" Geralt said next to her, as Ciri had to leap back out of the way.
With another loud *BANG* Dominik slammed Avallac'h to his back, on the floor where the sage's blood had pooled. Ciri looked and saw Avallach's fist balled with magic again, ready to fire a spell towards Dominik, but before the sage could, or before Geralt could reach him, Fate slung from Dominik's back. The silver blade whipped with more speed then Ciri had ever seen, the tip dug right into Avallach's throat, and the spell the sage was about to cast again died in his hands.
"DOMINIK!" Ciri yelled, but he didn't hear her, as Ciri saw magic whirling around his limbs, in his eyes, as the tip of his silver dug deep into the elf's neck.
She was about to start pleading with him, she saw Yen next to Geralt, the both of them unmoving as they knew as well as Ciri, if they said the wrong thing the magic that was violently whirling around Dominik now would erupt. She had seen the difference in him now, the difference between him controlling, and not having control of the magic around him. In Claywitch, he had control, the magic was brighter, and gently hummed around his body. But the previous night when he fought Bella, and in that moment then, the magic shot around him, swirling and churning as his hand gripped tightly around the silver sword's hilt.
Ciri saw Geralt about to lunge and grab him, Yen about to try and talk to him as well, the three of them had to do something. None of them particularly liked Avallac'h, but they knew the sage couldn't die. She tried to think of what to say, but her mind was in shambles, visions of Bella, Fiona, Dominik the previous night it all smashed into her mind at once. Her own eyes started shaking again, stinging as she blinked rapidly to keep the tears from falling. She was going to say something, finally try and calm the situation, but to her shock Avallac'h was the one to speak out from below Dominik's blade, on his elbows looking up at him, his nose bleeding the sage shook his head.
"You cannot kill me you idiot child! If you do, then you stand no chance of summoning Eredin, or the Hunt," Avallac'h said, his voice bitter and strained as blood continued gushing from his nose, his eyes not leaving Dominik's murderous gaze. "You won't find them yourself, and if you want any chance of saving your sister, you need me!"
"WE'LL FUCKING FIND A WAY; DON'T YOU DARE EVEN MENTION MY FUCKING SISTER!" Dominik said, his eyes flashing bright blue again, Fate digging deeper into the elf's throat.
Avallach shook his head again. "YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND YOU IDIOTIC CHILD! You don't know the proper spells, magic, you couldn't hope to summon them without me-."
"I SAID WE'LL FIND A FUCKING WAY!"
"YOU WON'T!" Avallac'h yelled, the blood coming from his black, now crooked nose spilling out onto his robes. "You don't understand the complexity of the magic! You'll also foolishly throw yourself into trying to save your sister, jeopardizing us all! She's GONE, Eredin stripped away the person she once was, Caranthir must have managed to create fake memories for her-."
"YOU TRAINED CARANTHIR! YOU WERE A MEMBER OF THE HUNT," Dominik cut the sage off, shaking his head. "YOU KNEW I WAS ALEXANDER'S DESCEDNANT, THERE'S NO WAY YOU DIDN'T KNOW BAELEN WAS HER!"
"I DID NOT!" Avallac'h snapped back, more assuredly this time. "And kill me if you must boy, but if you do, know that you can be expecting a visit from Eredin within minutes! Without me casting the spells to keep us hidden, keep Zireael hidden, they'd descend upon this city in minutes, slaughter you, your friends and everyone else in the city!"
Ciri's heart caught up in her chest. One thing she did have to be thankful to Avallac'h for, was the fact that he had hidden her away from Eredin's clutches. His spells, and protection she knew spent very little of his energy to cast, but it was the reason that they had been able to hide out in Novigrad and hadn't been tracked by the Hunt yet. She looked up to see Dominik's eyes lightened slightly, the magic died down, but his sword stayed at Avallach's throat. Ciri thought for a moment that what the sage said had actually gotten through to him.
He wasn't thinking straight, and for the first time in their lives, Dominik was shutting her out. He hadn't spoken to her, he hadn't slept, she could see his eyes shaking, stinging. She looked to Geralt and Yen as well, to see them both frozen in their spots, waiting to see what Dominik did. She couldn't find words herself, as her own heart thumped so loud she heard it in her ears, seeing him in so much pain, it was something she never wanted again. She wanted to grab him, hold him, tell him everything would be okay.
But Ciri didn't know if everything would be okay, and Dominik seemed to know it.
"You fucking knew… you knew you fucking FUCK!" He yelled, his arms shaking, the tip of his silver sword racking slowly against the sage's neck. "I know you don't like me… but I could have helped her… helped her at Kaer Morhen, found SOME WAY TO HELP HER! BUT NO, YOU DIDN'T TELL ME, AND I'M GOING TO KILL YOU LIKE I SHOULD HAVE WHEN WE FIRST MET!"
Ciri couldn't find her voice, but Geralt did from behind him. "DOM STOP! You're not thinking straight, leave him be for now and-."
"STAY OUT OF THIS GERALT, ALL OF YOU STAY OUT OF THIS!" Dominik said, turning and glaring at all three of them, Ciri included.
She saw it in his eyes, he was broken, his eyes were quivering now, tears slowly fell down his cheek. The magic had gone from him, but his arms still shook as his sword was at Avallach's throat. He met her eyes in particular and could see him ready to sob. Ciri was there herself, feeling her shatter at how he looked, how tired, how completely and utterly drained he was. That was what happened when you were in love she knew, seeing that person in pain would almost always make you feel that way yourself. Ciri certainly felt those effects then, her arms hung at her side, goosebumps trailed up her arms, as she couldn't take her eyes off him, off his tearing green eyes, the eyes that looked just like his sisters, just like hers.
Ciri went to try and take a step forward, but that was when he turned back down and face the bleeding sage again. She cursed under her breath, as she realized that Avallac'h wasn't going to make the situation any better.
Avallac'h scoffed and shook his head up at Dominik's murderous gaze. "I told you the truth boy…. I did not know… you don't frighten me you ignorant fool… you won't strike down an unarmed man, you've inherited a stubborn sense of honor."
And again, Dominik's eyes flashed blue, the anger returning to them, and that was when Ciri finally was able to move again.
Dominik screamed, raising up his sword with magic whirling in his eyes. "DO YOU WANT TO TEST THAT THEORY!?"
"DOMINIK STOP IT!" Ciri said, rushing next to him, and finally she was able to grip her hands around his sword arm, just before he could swing his sword down and let fly a killing stroke.
As soon as Ciri grabbed his arm, he stopped, she felt him tense, and quickly she stepped next to him into his view. Her own heart shattered when she saw the tears building up in the corners of his eyes. She moved herself in front of him, he took a small step back away from Avallac'h on the ground, who didn't dare to move then. Geralt and Yen came to stand next to them both, as Ciri kept her hand held up on his elbow, his sword still raised in the air like he was going for a strike.
She felt his arm shaking, and it took everything she had to not let tears fall from her own eyes when she met his. He looked hurt, broken beyond belief as he looked down at her. And when his arm finally fell to his side, the point of his sword hitting the blood-soaked wooden floors, Ciri's heart truly did shatter. The betrayal that came up in his eyes, as a small tear slowly came down his scar, it was something Ciri had never seen, and something she never wanted to see again.
He met her eyes, and finally scoffed, shakily sighing as more tears gently streamed down his face.
"You're doing it again… you're really… really defending him again," He said, meeting her eyes, the look of betrayal growing. "Ciri… he fucking knew… he fucking knew…"
She looked back to Avallac'h for a moment, as the sage had stood. Blood continued pouring from the sages now clearly broken nose, but Ciri didn't find any sympathy in her heart. He could heal himself easily enough with a spell, and after how he had acted for so many weeks, he more than likely had something like this coming.
Her heart thumped up in her chest, but she looked back to Dominik, and somehow managed to find her voice. Carefully she spoke, knowing that even with Geralt and Yen there behind him now, with what happened, she'd need to speak right from the heart.
"Dominik… Dominik please… you know you can't kill him…" She said, taking a step closer to him, gently holding her hands out on his arms. "I know you're angry, upset, and you have a right to be, I am too but… you're not thinking about the bigger picture."
He scoffed and sobbed, taking a step back from her, his sword dragging on the ground while it was in his hand. "Ciri… Bella…. Fucking BELLA IS WITH THE WILD HUNT! AND HE FUCKING KNEW! I KNOW HE DID!"
"And if he did he deserves everything that's coming to him," Ciri said, casting a dark look at a fuming Avallac'h behind her, before desperately turning back to Dominik again. "But Dominik… you need to think about-."
"I DON'T CARE CIRI, I DON'T FUCKING CARE!" He cut her off, pointing his sword up over his shoulder towards him. "Why you trust him… I'll never fucking understand… but he fucking knew… I know he fucking knew…"
Ciri shook her head slowly, getting closer to him. "Dominik… you're not in your right mind right now…. If you kill him, you'll regret it… we need him… he's an ass I know… but the only way to beat Eredin… to possibly save Bella… is with his help…. Dominik-."
"Look me in the fucking eyes right now," He cut her off again, snapping his gaze away from the sage and down to her. "Look me in the eyes right now… and tell me that you fucking believe him, go on Ciri… fucking do it…"
"Dominik… Dominik I-."
"Do it…" He said, looking and meeting her eyes.
Ciri's blood turned to ice. She couldn't meet his eyes; she darted her gaze between him and Avallac'h. She met the sage's eyes, trying to make him give her an answer, but the elf was more pre-occupied with glaring over at Dominik and holding his bloody nose. All the sage had said, was that he didn't know, and it hadn't been very convincing. However, Ciri thought about everything else she had been through with the elf the last few months. He had been honest with her most times yes, but there was also the fact he needed her, needed Ciri, so she didn't think he would dare lie, especially about something this important. He had almost just been killed, and surely he had to understand what Ciri felt for Bella as well. A part of her truly didn't think Avallac'h would dare lie to them in that situation.
But what if he was? What if just like when Ciri had first met him, Avallac'h was lying to her. The sage had told her, that if she had a child with Auberon, he would allow her to leave, go back to her world, but that had been a lie. She had been forced to sit through brutal months of visiting the old king, being degraded, forced to feel like she was less than trash on the side of the road. For months she was a prisoner, and it all had started with Avallach lying to her. What if he was doing the same thing now? Knowing that if he did tell the truth, even Ciri wouldn't be able to stop Dominik from killing him there. She felt herself pulled, not truly knowing one way or the other.
Avallac'h met her eyes, his black and blue, bleeding nose gushed, as he glared at her. She whirled back around to Dominik's who's eyes were watering, the tears only slowly falling now, but she could see more of them, combined with a seething anger ready to unleash. She wanted to help him, never had she heard him speak like that to her in her entire life. She knew that it wasn't him, he didn't mean it, he was experiencing more pain then either of them had felt in their entire life. Ciri saw him grip tighter on his sword, the point coming off the floor.
He saw her unable to answer, and finally broke.
"I… I really can't believe it… I can't believe you're defending him… after this," He said, his voice breaking as tears fell, and he scoffed, shaking his head at her. "After everything he's done… you won't even tell us what it is he made you do before…. He's made our life hell Ciri… and… and for fuck's sake you're letting him fucking stick around!"
She felt a tear go down her own scarred cheek. Carefully she stepped forward, looking up and meeting his eyes as she gently held onto his trembling arms. Doing everything she could to keep herself together, she looked up and met his eyes, her own watering as well.
"Dominik… please… please, gods I… I know you're hurting; I am too… gods you know I loved Bella like she was my own… I'm angry too…" She said slowly, shaking her head Ciri shakily sighed, and gripped his arms. "We will save her; we will I promise but… but if we want any chance of that… any chance of beating Eredin… of getting our life, that life we want… we need him, and deep down… you know it too…"
The words stewed between them both. She saw his grip on his sword tighten and heard Avallac'h shift behind her. Her eyes darted up to see Geralt and Yen both watching on with bated breath. Geralt's hands twitching as he waited to see if he needed to intervene.
She looked up at him again and saw Dominik's eyes still quivering. He shut them tightly, forcing the tears to stay back. Ciri saw how much he was shaking and wrapped her arms up around him. She kissed his scarred right cheek, a long, lingering, fierce kiss, squeezing him as hard as she could. She didn't feel his arms around her, only the shaking of them, as she pressed her lips near his ear.
"I promise… I promise as soon as this is over, it'll just be us, I swear it…" She said, speaking softly as she felt her voice begin to crack. "Me… you… and Fiona…"
Upon hearing Fiona's name, she knew she had struck a chord. He sucked in a sharp breath and stepped back from her. His grip on his sword tightened, and Ciri saw him shut his eyes again, tears streaming down his cheeks even with his eyelids shut. He trembled in place, and Ciri stepped back when she saw his blade whirl.
Dominik slung the silver onto his back again, and when he opened his eyes, they were angry again, angry but broken. His gaze darted to Avallac'h who still stood behind Ciri, the bleeding from his nose finally stopping. And when Dominik spoke, Ciri's skin tingled, every word he spoke was laced with anger, venom, each word darker then the next.
"After this is over… you leave," He said, his shaking hand turning to a fist at his side, as he looked directly into the sage's eyes. "And if you ever show your face again after that… I will fucking kill you; do you understand?"
Avallac'h sneered, "I don't think I've agreed on something with you more…"
"You're lucky… because I fucking know that you're lying, lying about everything…" Dominik said, before he turned to Ciri, and his look fell, as he slowly shook his head. "And… and I thought you'd care about what happened to Bella… more than the life of someone who's been using you…"
"Dom, stop now," Geralt said, speaking up again, stepping next to him. "You don't mean that don't-."
"I thought you all would have fucking cared… cared about that… more than fucking him…" He said again, his voice broken now, as tears fell from his eyes, but anger spewed from his lips.
Ciri felt like a knife had been plunged into her heart again.
He doesn't mean that you know he doesn't, she thought, blinking rapidly to stop the tears from falling again.
"D…Dominik… Dominik I-." She started, but he shook his head, cutting her off and turning away from them.
"I don't know when I'll be back, but I will be," He said, turning, and walking back towards the door of the inn.
Ciri wanted to go after him, but her knees buckled too fiercely. She stood, and watched him turn from her, shakily sighing to try and control her breathing, as a cold draft shot in through the door. Avallac'h behind her she heard stomping up the steps, but the sage was the last person Ciri wanted to focus on then. Dominik looked at her one more time, and Ciri found herself doing what she always did when she found herself nervous, she fiddled with the ring around her neck. He shakily sighed, shaking his head at her one more time, before going to leave the inn again.
Yennefer stepped in front of him, trying to hold her arm out for him. "Dominik… darling please, don't leave, sit and talk with us, tell us what-."
"I'm sorry Yen… not now," He said, shaking their mother's hand off his shoulder, before continuing out the door.
The *BANG* that followed by him closing the door made one of Dandelion's paintings fall off the wall. As a cold draft still somehow sent chills up Ciri's spine.
"Gods… gods…" She said under her breath, shakily sighing as her knees nearly clacked together.
She had known Dominik better than anyone, better than anyone easily, despite them having been apart for so long. Bella had been the one thing, that no matter how much reassurance, no matter how many years passed, he had never forgiven himself for. And now to figure out she wasn't only alive, but suffered even more at the hands of Eredin, she was finally feeling the effects as well. Bella had felt like Ciri's sister, just as much as she had been Dominik's. She heard Bella's laugh, full of joy, life, and whimsy as the two of them attempted and failed to put their own makeup on together or look through Ciri's dresses. She heard Bella eagerly telling her and Dominik all the names of the blooms in the royal garden before she would teasingly be making kissing noises at the two of them. Bella had seemed to want her and Dominik to be together even more then Dominik and Ciri wanted to be together themselves. Before the Nilfgaardeans came, Gregory had told her she was thinking of bringing Bella to royal feasts just like he did Dominik. The idea had elated all three of them, as Ciri remembered how much Bella wanted to learn how to dance. She remembered the tricks they used to play on Dominik, how during a time where she had so few people she considered friends, between Dominik and Bella she had finally seemed to find true happiness.
But now, Bella was trying to kill them both. She had been killed, somehow survived, and was a prisoner of Eredin for even longer then Ciri herself had been. Bella had been alone, just like she had, tortured, manipulated, turned into something that Ciri knew she wasn't. She had slaughtered people, burned villages, almost succeeded in killing Dominik and Ciri both. All of this because they hadn't found her. Bella's words rung in her head, how she had lost everything twice because of them, because of her. The Hunt had thought Bella had been Ciri initially with how much power she displayed, and Ciri horribly realized it was true.
Bella had lost everything in Cintra, because Emhyr had burned the city down to get her. And she had lost her new life in Skellige because the Hunt was trying to get her.
She shook in her boots, her hand gripping Dominik's ring around her neck. The ring that had belonged to him and Bella's father, Gregory, her hero, another person who had died for her. She missed him every day, had missed Bella every day, Sofia, Dominik and Bella's mother every day. And even if she hadn't mentioned them, not a day went by when Ciri didn't wish that they were there. Bella had told her that she was responsible for it, they had died for her. Dominik had always reassured her there was nothing she could have done, and they protected Ciri because they loved her, and that was what you did for the ones you loved.
And Ciri loved Bella, loved Dominik, and she wouldn't let them down again. Bella, or Baelen, as Ciri thought she was in the moment, had asked her, what she ever did for Dominik, for all he had sacrificed. It had always gotten inside Ciri's mind, tormented her, that singular question tormented her ever since she had heard it. What had she done for him? She could have argued more for him to somehow come to Thanedd with her, she could have gone to do something more to find him, Geralt and Yen instead of running with the Rats, sleeping with Mistle during the time. She could have gone to him after what happened in Rivia, or when she had come back to save Geralt from the Hunt's grasps. She loved him, with everything she had, but was it enough? Was it enough to be a justifiable answer to Bella's question?
Her hand tightened around the ring, and she shakily sighed, wiping away the tears, looking down at the wolf tattoo drawn on her inner wrists, her eyes narrowing.
No matter if it is enough or not… I won't let them down… not again, she said to herself. She would save them both, make sure that they both lived.
"Ciri… gods darling what… what happened?" Yen said, coming up behind her with Geralt, shaking her head when Ciri turned to her. "Even in Skellige when… we thought we'd lost the trail on you… I've never seen him that angry."
"She's right, as much as I wouldn't have minded him cutting Avallach's throat, he almost lost it," Geralt said, shaking his head, and meeting Ciri's eyes with an incredulous shake of the head. "Ciri… what the fuck happened at Claywitch?"
Ciri looked where Dominik had walked out, before slowly shaking her head. She shakily sighed, looking and meeting her parents' gaze.
"Well… there's good news, and there's bad news… which do you want to hear first?" Ciri asked, crossing her arms and sighing again.
Geralt shrugged, "Could use some good news after what I just saw."
"Yes… I have to agree with Geralt. What happened in Claywitch? I was sure bandits wouldn't give either of you much trouble," Yen said.
"Yeah, and what happened to his other sword? Only saw one of his back," Geralt asked quickly again.
"And what about the Law of Surprise? What did it end up being?" Yen asked again, seeming to grow more frantic. "And Ciri what about you? You barely seem like you've slept, and Dominik didn't looked-."
"We're fine, I promise we're alright… physically at least," Ciri cut them both off, sighing, and looking between them both. "The good news is… well… you're both grandparents."
The thought of Fiona gave her a small amount of solace. A small smile even came to her face, remembering the girls eager smile, bright eyes, bouncing on her toes, ready to learn. Ciri missed the girl dreadfully already, but after what happened the night before, and just then, she realized they had truly made the right decision in leaving her at Claywitch, at least for then. She wondered if Dominik would have reacted the same way if Fiona had been there. Her thoughts about Fiona were interrupted however, when she saw Geralt and Yen's both completely freeze on the spot.
She narrowed her eyes, and noticed that Geralt's yellow eyes were wide, his mouth fell agape as he looked over at Yen. Never in Ciri's life had she seen Yennefer react to anything in such a way. The sorceress stumbled, floundering as she seemed like she was trying to form words but simply couldn't. She wondered what could have been so surprising, the Law of Surprise being a child was how she came to be with Geralt, but the both of them stared at one another, complete disbelief amok in their eyes. Yen had a look crossed between excitement, dread, confusion, and after sharing a look with Geralt, Yen turned back to her.
"Gr…grandparents… me… me and Geralt?" The sorceress asked, and Ciri looked at her bewildered again.
"Yes…" Ciri said wonderingly, looking between them both, as Geralt's mouth still hadn't closed. "What is it? I mean, it'll be a few months before Dominik and I-."
"I told you! I fucking told you Yen, but no, no you didn't want to listen to me!" Geralt cut her off, turning to Yennefer, who sighed and rubbed her temples. "I told you! I've seen how they'd been looking at each other, I knew it. I told you, you should've taught them the spell!"
"Geralt please…" Yen said with an annoyed eye roll, but Geralt quickly shook his head.
"You just don't want to admit that I was right," Geralt said, crossing his arms and scoffing as he shook his head. "The two of them have been undressing each other with their eyes for weeks, I knew something like this was coming!"
Ciri scoffed, looking between them both. "What are you both talking about?"
Yennefer sighed, casting an annoyed look at Geralt, before she looked to Ciri. When she met Ciri's eyes, Yen's own violet one's lightened, as the sorceress nervously bit the inside of her cheek.
"Ciri my dear… I… I just wish you would have come and told Geralt or me, or Triss even, before well…" Yennefer said, trailing off as Ciri shook her head.
"Told you before… what?" Ciri said, still unbeknownst to what they were reacting this way for.
Yennefer sighed again, looking deep into Ciri's eyes. "Before you and Dominik were… intimate… for the first time."
"What? Yen what do you think-." She said, but the sorceress sighed shaking her head, and cutting her off.
"I could have taught you a spell to prevent…" The sorceress started, looking to Geralt and then back to Ciri again. "To prevent any… unplanned… circumstances, and-."
"What no! Yen, I'm not pregnant, gods we still haven't even done it yet for the first time if you're both really so keen on knowing!" Ciri said incredulously, her face getting beat red with her heart fluttering nearly out of her chest.
The both of them sight out in relief, Yennefer holding a hand over her heart. Ciri rolled her eyes, realizing that she probably could have been clearer from the beginning, and that she more than likely gave Yennefer and Geralt both a small heart attack.
Geralt shook out a sigh of relief as well, before his yellow eyes narrowed up towards her. "Wait if you're not and, we're grandparents as you say… that means…"
"The Law of Surprise…" Yennefer said, finally coming to the realization, turning back to Ciri, her violet eyes wide, a small bit of excitement growing in them. "Ciri… you mean to say that-."
"A girl," Ciri said, a small smile coming to her face as well, thinking about Fiona again, even laughing lightly and shaking her head. "Thirteen… gods she looks and acts just like the both of us… it was the girl he saw in his dreams."
Geralt scoffed, sharing a look with Yen and turning back to Ciri.
"It looks like I'm gonna have to deal with another one of you running around soon," He said, scoffing, a small smile coming to his face like Yennefer had, before it slowly curled back down, and he looked to meet Ciri's eyes. "As… exciting as that is… something else happened. Ciri… it was really his sister?"
"It was…" Ciri said, shakily sighing, shaking her head and looking at them both. "She's been Baelen this whole time… it explains everything…. They… they brainwashed her, put fake memories in her head… gods… gods poor Bella…"
Yennefer quickly came to her side, holding her hand on Ciri's shoulder. "Don't worry darling, we'll obviously do whatever we can to help her… come, tell us more about what happened, we have some time before everyone should be back from their business."
Ciri reached up around her neck, gripping tight to the ring again.
The both of them… you'll save them both, she thought.
She looked up and met both their eyes, nodding, her hands not leaving the ring. "Yeah… there's… a lot to tell, but… but what about Dom? Shouldn't one of us-."
"Give him some time to cool off," Geralt said reassuringly, shaking his head and meeting her eyes. "He can handle himself for a bit. And well… sometimes to process grief, you gotta be by yourself."
Ciri looked out the window of the inn again, seeing the people streaming by on the cold sunny day. She sighed, squeezing the ring once more. Geralt was right, he'd be alright, for now at least. She'd go and find him; she'd smack him upside the head until he talked to her if she had too. She'd be there for him, like he always was for her, because he truly did need her then more than he ever had.
But first, she needed to let out all of her own grief, along with eating and possibly drinking more than a few mugs of wine.
"Yeah… come on, a few really important things happened… one that will even help us soon," Ciri said, nodding to Geralt and Yen both.
And she swore as they all moved to sit, she swore she could feel the ring vibrate.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
"A grandmother… gods… gods I remember when all I wanted was children," Yennefer said, her mother seeming near tears, as she lightly laughed and shook her head, looking and meeting Ciri's eyes again. "And… you said the girl is a source like you?"
"Well, not just like me thank the gods," Ciri said, the mug of wine gripped in her hands, as she looked across to Geralt and Yen both. "But she is a source yes… a powerful one at that too. Dominik had to use the spell he used on me at Kaer Morhen to calm her… I don't know how she's so powerful."
"It's that dragon blood you mentioned," Geralt said, looking over and meeting her eyes. "Dragons can have children with humans if they shapeshift yes… but dragons are extremely powerful magical creatures, their human offspring are normally powerful."
Ciri scoffed, downing more of the wine before she spoke. "She is that's for certain… she was so powerful she knocked the dragon out of the sky. Poor thing was terrified."
Yennefer nodded across the table from her, her own mug of wine between her hands. It had been about an hour since she gotten back. The wine slid down her throat, a pleasant burn hit her stomach, as she heard the soft sounds of a lute playing. Dandelion and Priscilla had gone out on some business in town, and were back now, Priscilla playing the lute while Dandelion chatted with the patrons that had entered near the bar. It wasn't overly crowded, but Ciri didn't care either way, all she could think about was Dominik.
She knew that Faram, Freya and George had all gone to the harbor, to spend some time on Faram's ship. The three of them according to Geralt and Yen had been waiting for the two of them, wanting to plan a night out for the five of them. She had no idea how much of a mood for it Dominik would be in when he got back, but as much as she loved all three, she herself wasn't particularly in the mood for anything besides food and sleep. However, she hoped that perhaps wherever Dominik was, if luck would have it he'd run into the three of them, and maybe they could have better luck talking to him then she did. Dominik wouldn't leave Novigrad, she liked to think that even in his anger, he would know to stay in the city.
Ciri had done that at times, when she was angry, simply going and walking, it was therapeutic for her. However, despite her fatigue, her mental strain, she still found her foot tapping, looking towards the door and back to her parents both as they sat across from her. She sighed and down the rest of the wine in her mug, her stomach still in knots.
She had gone and told them both everything that happened in Claywitch, with Drogar, Fiona and Anton. of course they had listened with anticipation, Yen growing particularly excitable as Ciri described Fiona as, 'looking and acting like a perfect mixture of Ciri and Dominik'. Geralt meanwhile had been amazed at the history repeating itself before his eyes. He mentioned right away how Vesemir was correct, how she and Dominik truly would bring the first ever third generation witcher to Kaer Morhen. She had blushed furiously at that, before she then had to tell them what happened after they left, everything with Bella.
They had both also told her everything that had happened while she and Dominik were gone. Geralt had helped Triss discover that Philippa was hiding in her owl form, and had been bought by the spy Dijkstra, and now the sorceress was going to help them against the Hunt. He and Yen had also broken into a jail, and rescue Margarita as well. Along with that, Keira and Lambert both had finally made it to the city, along with the sage Ida Emean, both of whom came at Dominik's request. On top of all of that, Geralt had given her more details of their assassination or Radovid. Queen Adda had apparently truly been behind the plot, with her and Elise De Le Serre asking after Dominik to make sure he was okay. Ciri wouldn't mourn Radovid's death, but she couldn't help wondering now, what she could possibly want help from Dominik for.
However, the thoughts quickly left her, as she knew she had more pressing matters.
Goosebumps traveled up her arms again, shivering as she could almost hear the echo of Bella's helmet hitting the snow again, and hearing her voice calling her name.
"Why didn't you bring her back with you both?" Yennefer asked. "With all the sorceresses here, surely we would have been able to help her."
"Yeah, besides… you both know you're gonna have to go back for her," Geralt said, looking deep into her eyes. "I made the mistake of trying to ignore it…"
Ciri quickly shook her head. "No, we're going back for her we just… need some time. Three months, that's what we said, that is if we survive of course…. Dominik and I decided to let her stay and be a normal girl for a bit longer. We didn't think bringing her into the middle of a war with the Hunt was a smart idea, and well… Dominik didn't want her anywhere near Avallac'h."
They both seemed to quickly understand, as Geralt nodded.
"Smart now that I think about it, she'll be safe there," He said, shaking his head and sighing. "Looks like it was a smart idea… considering what happened. You're right… his sister being with the Hunt… it explains a lot."
"It does," Yen said, finishing off her wine before she met Ciri's eyes. "Kindred blood will always find kindred blood. A spell to track Dominik using her blood would have been easy enough… and… you said she had, fake memories?"
Ciri shuddered, practically hearing Bella's anguished cries in her ears. Dominik wouldn't think it, but she and everyone else who heard the story would know, that there truly wasn't anything he could have done. She couldn't imagine a fate so cruel, being tricked into thinking that your family had left you for dead.
However, she could relate to the feeling of being so alone, just like Bella was for so long. And when she thought about it more, the more she wasn't that surprised, wasn't surprised that someone like Eredin would do that to someone so helpless. It was just the kind of cruelty she had come to expect.
"Yes… Eredin or Caranthir they… brainwashed her, gave her fake memories of what happened at Cintra the night of the massacre," Ciri explained, shakily sighed as she shook her head and met their eyes. "She… thinks that Dominik and their mother… left her in the streets so… so that they could come and save me."
"And that's far from what happened…" Yen said.
Ciri nodded, her skin tingling again as she shook her head. "It isn't… but… still, she's right in a way. If… if I hadn't been there…"
"Stop, you can't think like that, it'll drive you mad," Geralt cut her off, meeting her eyes and shaking his head. "You know he doesn't blame you; you couldn't have done anything."
"Whether that's true or not… gods we… we have to help her somehow," Ciri said, turning over to look at Yennefer now. "Yen… there has to be some way to get rid of those fake memories she has, to reverse what they did to her!"
She was going to help them. Whether or not Bella was right, whether it had been because of her, whether she truly had done enough to repay everything Dominik sacrificed, one thing was for certain, and that was she wouldn't give up on Bella, just like Dominik wouldn't. She'd put her grief aside for now, Dominik was even worse off than she was with the news, so for him, for his sake she had to find a way.
Yen sighed, her eyes looking at her apologetically and nodding. "There's nothing we can do unless we were to have her here. However, a fake memory spell, no matter how powerful will always wear off… for example, look at Geralt's amnesia."
"Thanks for reminding me…" Geralt said with an eye roll.
Yen rolled her eyes right back and shook her head. "No Geralt, I don't mean it as a jest. You see Ciri, just like Geralt slowly got his memory back over time, the same thing should happen with Bella. Geralt's memories were too strong to stay suppressed for so long. Real memories will come through eventually."
"But… but Bella's been with them for at least two years," Ciri said, shaking her head and meeting her mother's eyes. "How have they not worn off yet?"
"Well, it's more than likely Caranthir has been continuously suppressing them," The sorceress explained, her violet eyes looking deeply into Ciri's. "But… seeing Dominik again for the first time in that cave… it must have started to clear out the memories, you said she mentioned she was already having dreams?"
"She said she was yes. She told us that she sent Dominik a dream of her living in Skellige…. Dominik didn't think there was any way she could be alive, never thought it could be her." Ciri explained, and Geralt right away nodded.
"Yeah, I remember him telling me about that dream. Wanted to know for weeks who it was, he said he had the feeling he knew her," He explained, and Yennefer quickly nodded in agreement.
"Exactly, these dreams and seeing Dominik, they've more than likely finally started to break down those fake memories," Yen explained again. "Caranthir and Eredin are busy searching for us, or they simply believe their powers over her are too strong, that Bella isn't strong enough to break the spell."
Ciri's heart sunk to the bottom of her stomach as she met Yen's eyes. "So… so there's no way for us to help her… We just have to wait for the spell to wear off? We don't have time to wait!"
Yen slowly nodded, looking at her apologetically. "I'm sorry darling. The only thing we can do is… hope Bella's strong enough to fight off the influence. And unfortunately well… the spell with the fake memories isn't the only thing we need to hope she's strong enough to get over…. It isn't the spell that's affecting her… but the psychological toll that's gripped her as well."
She titled her head, looking at them both wonderingly. "I… understand how horrible it is to be Eredin's prisoner… but… what are you talking about? If the spell is gone, and her real memories come back, that would solve everything right?"
That was what she had thought would be the simple solution. If Bella really learned what happened back in Cintra, then she would realize that she was being used, was in danger, and would finally let Dominik and she help her.
However, Yen and Geralt both shared a knowing look. Yen sighed, looking and meeting Ciri's eyes again.
"I'm afraid the psychological turmoil Bella's been through is possibly even more dangerous than the fake memories," The sorceress said, taking a deep breath in between and shaking her head.
Yen sighed again, meeting Ciri's eyes before she went on. "You see, when people go through a traumatic experience and are left alone well… as you know darling, most of the time they search for something, anything to help them recover, and it doesn't matter what. For example, imagine a young man or woman is living in a peaceful village. And one day, that village is looted and raided by bandits. Their family is killed, their friends, neighbors, everything they know is destroyed and ripped from them but… somehow they survive, and they're kidnapped by the bandits themselves.
After this, the bandits at first keep them captive, or it doesn't even have to be bandits. Imagine a person comes and offers them a type of salvation. That person, or the bandits, they could take advantage of their victims weakened state, do horrible things to them, beat them, rape them… and in their state of mind… the victim accepts this. They'll see it as… what they deserve, that they need, they'll think they have no other way to survive, so… they accept being treated like this, and often will come to see their captors, or tormentors as well… their saviors. The surviving victim of that village massacre, could come to join the bandits that raided their village after a time, see them as their salvation. A victim could be raped, beaten, forced to do horrible things by a person… but with the trauma they've experienced, feeling there's no other way… they come to accept it as I said… some even form a relationship with their tormentor, thinking that it's their only way… what they deserve.
And… well… that kind of damage to someone's mind, to their subconscious, it can be harder to break then any spell. Bella more than likely… sees Eredin as her salvation. The only way that she can get back what she's lost, have a place in this world again. He more than likely is telling her how they only attacked her village in Skellige, because they thought it was you. From what Geralt tells me, you already know he's planning on killing her. He's trying to control her, like a captor or a victim does… damage like this I hard to fix… and it can't be done with magic. Bella sees Eredin as her only way out… the only way she can stay safe…."
Ciri's fingers trembled around her mug, slowly shaking her head. "Just like… me with Mistle…. Gods…. Gods Bella… Yen… Yen, Geralt, there has to be something we can do!"
"Mistle?" Geralt quickly asked, looking over at her.
"One of the Rats…" Ciri said, her skin beginning to tingle again, as she met both of their eyes, Geralt knew who the Rats were, but Yen didn't. Shakily Ciri sighed. "When… when I first joined with them, she… she saved me from… from being raped by another boy but… but then she…"
Yennefer's eyes widened. "Ciri… darling I… I had no idea… gods… all because I couldn't save you…"
"Have… you told Dom?" Geralt asked her slowly, the guilt in his voice evident.
Ciri quickly nodded. The thoughts of Mistle came flooding back to her for a moment. What Yennefer had described… it was exactly what she had felt with the Rats as a whole. Who she became, Falka, a member of the Rats, it wasn't the person she really was. After what Mistle had done to her, it was as Yennefer described, Ciri felt she had no way else. She had to enjoy what Mistle did, she had to say she loved her, had to sleep with her, it was the only way she could have survived. She had convinced herself that she enjoyed it, that it was the person who she was now, all to survive, to find something, anyone after what happened to her, losing everything on Thanedd. And just like Yennefer had also said, it took her a while afterwards to realize that what she had with Mistle wasn't love. It was built off rape, trauma, and Ciri feeling like she had nowhere else to turn.
And now that same thing was happening to Bella, and she would do what she could for her. She had made peace with what happened, accepted she couldn't change it, and now she had Dominik, the only one to ever truly love her like she had always wanted to be loved.
She wouldn't dwell on the past when she had so much to do in the future.
Ciri meet her parent's eyes and nodded. "I told him yes… we've talked about it and… he was more supportive then I ever could have asked for…. That's not what's important anymore… there has to be something we can do for Bella… anything at all."
A small beam of pride came to Geralt's face, before Yennefer smiled as well. The sorceress met her eyes and nodded.
"Well… it's actually quite similar to you darling," She said, shaking her head and meeting Ciri's eyes. "You were strong enough to pull through… seeing us again, Dominik, it certainly helped…. The only way we can help Bella… is being there for her how we can. And hoping she is strong enough to break through what they've done to her."
Ciri sighed and shook her head. "That may be hard… considering that she wants to kill me in particular very much. I don't know how I could get close enough to her…"
"Don't think you'll be able to either, especially since she's still with the Hunt now. We'll do what we can to help her Ciri, but you still need to remember, as of now, if she gets her hands on you, she'll kill you, and give you to Eredin, and if he gets you…" Geralt said carefully, shaking his head as he met her eyes.
Her heart thumped loudly as she nodded. "Then a lot more people will die… then what am I supposed to do!? I can't just sit here and do nothing while I know she's out there!"
"There is something you can do darling," Yen said quickly, shaking her head and meeting her eyes as well. "You can be there for Dominik…"
"Of course I will be, I always have, and I won't-." She started, but Geralt quickly shook his head.
"We know you are Ciri, not denying that," Her father said, sighing and carefully meeting her eyes. "You've always been there for him… but with this? Something like this is going to affect him deeper then you could imagine."
"I'm aware of that… it's his sister," Ciri said.
Yennefer nodded in agreement. "Yes… but like you did just now, stopping him from killing Avallac'h, it was a good start. He's my son, I'd die for him and you if I had too, and I know Geralt would too… but this is something even we won't be able to help him with… and he's the only way you'll have a chance of getting Bella back."
"She's right Ciri. Baelen or well… Bella, she spared him, multiple times," Geralt said, leaning on his elbow on the table. "It's clear if there's any chance of helping her… it's going to have to be from Dominik, she's his only real family left…"
Ciri bit her lip, slowly shaking her head. "I know that but… but Geralt Yen I… I'm afraid… afraid that well… he could get himself killed… If… If Bella were to attack him again… I don't know if he would be able to fight back."
"It takes a great deal of strength to stand up to your enemies… an even greater deal of strength, to stand up to your family and friends," Geralt said, shaking his head and meeting Ciri's eyes again. "We have to trust him; trust he'll be able too."
"He's right darling," Yen said, her violet eyes glowing in the sunlight that streamed into the inn. "That's the reason we have to be there for him now… you in particular. Ready him for that… he'll have to face his sister again… and we have to be there for him before it."
Ciri shuddered at the thought. She could see the guilt-ridden look that was on Dominik's face after he had realized he had fought his sister, had almost killed her. Ciri of course felt the same way, but she knew it had been even worse for him. She knew Yennefer was right. Dominik would have to fight Bella again, have to confront her and try to appeal to her. However, would he be able to do it without hurting her? What if Bella didn't listen, and she tried to kill him, but he didn't fight back? So many things ran through her head, and it almost exploded as she sighed, rubbing both her temples, hearing the lute music gently play through the ground floor of the inn.
She looked down at the empty mug in front of her. Her stomach growled, her eyes were droopy, the mental strain on her brain growing by the second. All she could see was Bella, Bella and Dominik fighting in her dreams, in the ring of fire the previous night. And all she could see when she blinked, was her killing him, Dominik pleading with her, trying to appeal to her, but Bella coming in and cutting him down anyway. Dominik had done everything he could the night before, spoken to her from his heart, never in Ciri's life had she seen or heard him so broken. Dominik was one of the strongest people he knew, but with what had happened, Ciri knew Yennefer was right.
Dominik was strong enough, Bella she knew was strong enough. But even the strongest of people needed the love and support of those around them to fight through some hardships. This was one now, if she wanted to help them both, for Gregory, for Sofia, for herself, and most important for Dominik and Bella both, she needed to be there. She needed to find Dominik, and she needed to be strong for his sake. She couldn't feel sorry for herself or feel sorry for herself. Her future, her life with him that she wanted, it all relied on whether or not she could truly be there for him. They couldn't defeat Eredin until they dealt with Bella, and she knew that Dominik would always look after her first, try to keep her safe above all else. But now with Bella, there was someone else that not just Dominik, but Ciri as well needed to protect.
Bella was her family, she was Dominik's sister, and Dominik from the minute he met her… was always her family, which made Bella her sister as well. It was only another reason that Eredin would die, whether it was her hand, Geralt's, Dominik's, all of them combined, he would die, for everything that he had done.
But first, Ciri knew she needed to find Dominik. He was out in Novigrad, and with the fatigue, the weariness that rushed through her, she simply wanted to see him. She couldn't remember a time she had felt as drained physically and mentally as well. Ciri could feel the bags under her eyes, a headache formed at the base of her skull, and pinged around her brain. If she closed her eyes she saw Bella, saw Dominik in tears, heard him screaming at Avallac'h. Her stomach still rumbled, but she couldn't even find the energy in herself to ask Dandelion for food.
All of it would be better, if she could simply find him, just like it always was when she had felt like that.
"I will be… I swear it… gods, I left him alone all these years… I'll never do that again," Ciri said, shaking her head.
Geralt quickly shook his head. "It wasn't your fault Ciri, and he knows that. His sister… I didn't even know about her until I just recently found him again…"
"He's right… and this was the first I heard about her," Yen said, looking over to Ciri and meeting her eyes. "Were they… close? Were the two of you close?"
"He never liked to talk about her… he thinks he failed her… we were all so close. Gods Bella she… she was like the little sister I always wanted…" Ciri said, shakily sighed and looking at them both again. "No matter what you all say… Bella's right. Gregory and Sofia… Dominik's parents they… they wanted to save all three of us, had plans for it… died for it…"
Geralt quickly shook his head, "Ciri, you can't blame-."
"Whether or not I could have done anything… they still gave their life for me, the both of them…" Ciri said, her tired eyes looking at them both. "I won't let that be in vein… Dominik I love more than anything, and Bella… I'm going to do what I can for her… I'll make sure they both make it… I need to… I need to go find Dominik and…"
Her words escaped her when she yawned, her eyes nearly rolling into the back of her head as she did. Her stomach audibly rumbled, as she shakily sighed, feeling the headache pound at the base of her skull. A tingling ran up her arms, as she went to speak, but yawned again, as Yennefer shook her head, gently reaching out and gripping her hand.
"Dominik will be alright for a bit longer darling, you need rest as well," The sorceress said, gently smiling at her and nodded. "You look like you barely slept a wink last night, go up to your room and take a nap for a bit, you've earned it."
Ciri scoffed and shook her head, "But… but Yen, Geralt, Dominik what… what if he-."
"I'm sure he's cooled off a bit by now. Besides, Freya, Faram and George are all in the city. If he went anywhere, he probably went towards the harbor were they are, he'll be alright," Geralt assured her, nodding towards the steps. "Yen's right, go take a nap, relax for a bit, you look like you're about to pass out at any minute."
"But what if he-." She started, but Yen cut her off by sighing and smiling.
"Always looking out for one another… just like when you were children," The sorceress said, standing and coming around the table, wrapping her arm around Ciri's shoulder. "We promise we'll come wake you as soon as he gets here. We'll have someone bring some food up for you… you need rest Ciri. He'll be alright, trust us darling."
Geralt got up as well, smiling and nodding at her. As always, seeing the both of them smile it calmed her churning stomach and her thumping heart. She turned and looked out the window of the inn again, seeing the sun reflect in off the few patrons and workers who mulled around. It was almost midday at that point, and she knew the inn would be getting busier soon, which would make it almost impossible to sleep until later in the night.
The previous night she had tossed and turned, and she knew Dominik hadn't slept himself. She didn't like the idea of him walking out in the city alone, not with the state of mind he was in. However, she looked back to Yen and Geralt, their reassuring glances staying trained on her and she sighed. Shaking she slowly nodded at them both, another yawn coming to her as she looked at them.
"Alright… but promise if anything happens, or he comes back-." Ciri started, and Geralt cut her off.
"We will… don't worry, he'll be okay. Get some sleep, you need it," Geralt said, placing a relaxing hand on her shoulder.
Ciri felt her father's hand squeeze, and she yawned again, sighing and nodding.
"Alright… thank you both… I… I am pretty knackered," Ciri said.
Yen lightly laughed and nodded. "You're welcome darling, go, get some rest. Also… I believe it's probably wisest if you… speak to Avallac'h as well."
"Yeah… make sure he doesn't do anything well…." Geralt started, but Ciri cut him off by quickly nodding.
"You're right… I probably should," Ciri said, sighing and yawning again before turning back towards the steps.
She would need to make sure Avallac'h wasn't planning any retaliation. Even though she knew he more than likely would be, Ciri had to make sure the sage would still help them. She had to believe his hatred for Eredin was deep enough for him to at least overlook this for now, especially since they were so close. Ciri also knew that she needed to see if the elf truly hadn't known about Bella. She trusted she would tell her the truth on this at least, he had no reason to lie, but Ciri wanted to look him in the eye, and ask him herself.
But more importantly she needed to rest. Because soon, she would need a clear mind, and rested bones.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
Sleep hadn't come nearly as easy as she expected. Dominik had told her that Yen had enchanted the swallow pendant around his neck to ward off bad dreams. He had told Ciri that he both loved and hated it. Loved it, because obviously it gave him pleasant dreams of her and him together back at a young age, those easier, quieter days in Ellander. However, he also hated it, because he knew that if he hadn't had the swallow enchanted, he would have had dreams of where she was, which would have given him the opportunity to find her sooner. She knew that the enchantment had worn off, and his nightmares returned some night, just like they did for Ciri.
However, she found herself wishing that the ring around her own neck had a similar enchantment then.
Ciri had barely slept a wink. She had taken off her corset, let her hair down and taken her sword and boots off as well. She lay in bed in only her trousers, socks and her top, looking aimlessly up at the ceiling, her eyes full of sleep. Shakily she sighed, feeling her skin begin to tremble again as she thought of Dominik out in Novigrad by himself. She knew that he could handle himself of course, but Ciri hated the idea of leaving him alone while he felt like this. She wanted to be there for him more than anything, but she knew that Geralt was right, sometimes people needed to be by themselves to process grief. Dominik would come back she knew, and then she'd be there for him.
She also knew she needed to speak to Avallac'h. The sage hadn't made any commotion, but Ciri knew he had to be fuming, possibly scheming something up in his room then. She knew, or at least believed that the sage was just as eager to be rid of all them, as everyone was of him. In her mind, the two of them were even. He had forced her to try and have a child with Auberon, he had made up for it by saving her and teaching her to control her powers. She hadn't owed him anything, but she knew that for her own greater good, and the greater good of everyone, she needed to cooperate with him, so making sure he would still stick around after Dominik almost beat him to death was something she needed to do. She wasn't worried about him too much, she knew a few simple spells and his wounds would be healed but being beaten by Dominik then surely put an even greater damper on his pride, so Ciri would need to make sure their agreement was still in place. If she had to stroke his ego temporarily then so be it, she could stomach it for the time being.
Her skin tingled again as she swung her legs to the side of the bed. Her socks hit the ground and she shakily sighed, her hair falling down around her shoulders. The ring dangled in front of her, and she grabbed it, looking at it as it trembled in her hands. She remembered when she was younger, seeing Gregory wear it around his neck practically every day, and then of course Dominik doing the same once he received it. Gregory had told her the story of it, as had Dominik, and Ciri could remember how she had to contain herself with how excited she got when Dominik had given it to her. Just like the swallow, it was a symbol of the promise they made to each other, the love they shared for one another. In Lofeton she remembered the panic that had set in when she thought she lost it, the one thing that had helped her get through all the years she spent alone.
"I'll help them both… I promise…" She said under her breath, her hand gripping around the bronze, leaning both her hands to her knees as she shakily sighed again.
She would never forget that last moment she had seen Gregory. The fires, the screaming, the blood. She had begged him to come with her, to not leave her, Gregory was always the closest thing to a father she had before Geralt. And just like one of his own children, he had defended her until his last breath.
Ciri hadn't seen Sofia as much as she would have liked but her grandmother and of course Gregory had spoken extremely highly of her. When Sofia came to balls with Gregory during her younger years, or when she and Dominik managed to sneak all the way to his house in town, every time she had seen Sofia, Ciri remembered being jealous of how beautiful she was. Sofia had told her that she was friends with Ciri's mother as well, with Sofia having saved Pavetta's life before, which resulted in her being promoted to the special forces division.
The story went that Ciri's mother, was travelling to a different kingdom on a royal visit. She had a detachment of guardsman with her, leading them had been Sir Ryland, Dominik's grandfather, and among the guards had been an at the time eighteen-year-old Sofia. Dominik's mother had been an orphan most of her life but worked her way to join the guards at eighteen. On this mission, the transport carrying Ciri's mother had been ambushed by forest bandits. The entire detachment had been killed, except for Sir Ryland, and Sofia, who had saved Pavetta from multiple bandits and gotten them to safety. The bandits continued looking for them, wanting Ciri's mother in particular.
However, through her cleverness, resourcefulness, and knowledge of the woodlands, Sofia was able to defeat the bandits with Sir Ryland, before the two safely got Pavetta back to Cintra. As a reward for this, Queen Calanthe gifted Sofia with anything she wanted, and that was when Sofia asked to be made a member of Cintra special forces, under the personal command of Sir Ryland and the Queen herself. And then for another three years, until she was twenty-one, Sofia became one of her grandmothers most trusted agents, along with being knighted by Sir Ryland himself, it was something that Gregory had always boasted to Ciri about, and it made Ciri see how much he truly loved Dominik's mother.
The two of them had been some of the greatest people Ciri had ever met, and always would be. The two actually rarely spoke during Sofia's time serving in special forces. Dominik knew the story by heart, and he and Gregory often told it to her.
Sofia and Gregory very rarely spoke, despite Gregory being Sir Ryland's son, and Sofia growing to see him as a father as well. It wasn't until Sir Ryland died, and Gregory took command of the armies, that they truly began to know one another. Gregory had always told her at first, the two couldn't stand each other. Sofia had grown to be in command of the Cintran special forces, but she still always had to report to Gregory. It was when one rebellious lord decided to begin raiding the countryside in rebellion, mobilizing his men, that Sofia and Gregory came together. Sofia and Gregory alone had gone on a special forces mission, to infiltrate the castle and village of this rebellious lord. The mission had eventually been successful, the two of them sharing and bonding together over their time with one another. After the mission had been successful, was when in Gregory's words he, 'fell head over heels like a sodded young boy'.
A year later, that was when Dominik was on the way. Ciri had always loved it when Gregory had told the story. Sofia every time she saw her, would always compliment Ciri, tell her how beautiful she was. However, what she had loved most about Sofia, was how every time she saw Ciri, she'd tell her that no matter what she'd forge her own path, compliment how strong her spirit was, and how no matter what, she, Gregory, and of course Dominik and Bella would always be there.
They truly had been two of the greatest people Ciri had ever known, and they both deserved to be alive that day.
However, Ciri couldn't bring them back from the dead, she could only make sure that their sacrifice wasn't in vein. They lived on, in Dominik and in Bella now, and Ciri would repay their sacrifice by making sure she saved them both.
She shook her head in frustration however, knowing that Yennefer was right. There truly wasn't much she could do herself. If she tried to speak to Bella, she was almost sure she would be killed. Bella had made it clear, she blamed Ciri and Dominik both, but mostly Ciri for what happened. Ciri would have died for either of them, but she knew how much it would devastate those around her, with the added fact Bella worked with the Hunt now and would give her to Eredin at the first opportunity now. When Ciri had tried to talk to her the night before, she hadn't listened, not even in the slightest.
Bella had listened to Dominik; however, she had seen it in her eyes. Bella wanted to take his hand, Ciri knew it, however, it was as Yennefer said as well. So much damage had been done, not just with magic, but psychologically as well. No, Ciri wouldn't be able to do anything for Bella directly, she'd have to do it through indirect means.
Dominik on the other hand, she could do more for. Just like he always did for her, she would be there. After Kaer Morhen, even with him being the one injured, he had been there to comfort her. She remembered the very first thing he had said when he woke up, with a hole in his leg and gash through his cheek, was asking If Ciri herself was okay. He had been more supportive and loving then she ever could have hoped after he told her about Mistle, what had happened with the Rats. And just like when they were younger, no matter what was happening with him, she was always his first priority. The previous night was the first time she had ever seen him to the point, where he wouldn't even speak to her about what was wrong. It had terrified her, terrified her because she had no idea how else to help him if he wouldn't talk to her.
She was also afraid, that even more so then Eredin and the Hunt, this could be Dominik's greatest danger. Ciri knew that he would have to fight Bella again. It was unavoidable, especially with how she had seen Bella looking at them in her anger. Ciri would never even suggest giving up on her, killing her, she would never want Dominik to do that. But that was one of her biggest fears, what if to keep her safe… Dominik had to kill his sister? Ciri wouldn't want to put him through that, she didn't even want him to have to fight Bella for her… but she knew that it was inevitable. Dominik would have to fight her, because it would be the only way he could get a chance to talk to his sister.
But even then… she was horrified, that he would be trying to talk to her, and he'd let his guard down because it was Bella, and he'd end up getting himself killed. Bella had spared him yes, but all it took is one surge of rage, and Dominik could be cut down. Would he have the strength to fight back? Fight back and possibly injure his own sister. It was as Geralt said, it already took a great deal of strength to stand up to your enemies, but even more strength to stand up to your family and friends. Dominik was the strongest person she knew, but having to fight his own sister? It was something he obviously never thought he'd have to do, and it was already effecting him to the point where he almost killed someone. Whether Avallac'h deserved it or not, Dominik knew deep down he couldn't do it, but still almost had.
It was as Yennefer said however, it was all they could do to be there for him. And that was what Ciri would do. She had to believe he'd come back to see her, even in his confrontation with the sage, she had seen him close to breaking down, letting it all out, and Ciri needed to be there for that. She would be there for that, just like she knew he would be for her.
"I'll make sure they both make it… I promise," She said once more to the ring, before her grumbling stomach interrupted her and she sighed. "But first, gods I need to eat something, maybe-."
A knock at the door cut her off, and Ciri shot her head up to the sound. "Who is it?"
"It's us," The voice of Freya said through the door, and Ciri's ears perked up as her friend went on. "We brought you food and… we heard from Geralt and Yen what happened…"
"Aye… tough bit of luck lassie… you decent?" The voice of Faram asked, and Ciri breathed out a sigh of relief.
"I am yeah… come in the doors unlocked," She said, breathing out as she heard the doorknob click.
Sure enough it was the three of them. Freya walked in first, the blonde wearing her armor, with her curly blonde hair cascading down her back with her sword. In her hands she carried a tray, with a pitcher of what Ciri hoped was wine, and upon smelling the dumpling she had as well Ciri's mouth salivated. Freya smiled at her as she walked in, followed quickly by both Faram and George. Faram ducked his head under the door, with George following behind. The two witchers seemed taller to her then as she sat on the bed, but the both of them as always smiled at her.
George met her eyes and nodded. "It's good to see you again Ciri, we were beginning to worry the previous night."
"Aye, it's true, was almost ready to send out a search party Yennefer was," Faram said with a smirk, leaning his massive frame back against the table in the room.
Ciri scoffed and shook her head. "It's good to see you all again… sorry that I didn't come find you when Dominik and I got back… you said Geralt and Yen told you what happened?"
George nodded and leaned on the dresser opposite Faram, as Freya came next to her on the bed. The blonde grimly nodded, trying for a reassuring smile. She say down next to Ciri, placing the platter between them. Freya picked up the pitcher of what was indeed wine and poured some into all four cups she had brought up. Ciri accepted it gratefully, also taking one of the steaming dumplings from the platter to pop into her mouth as Freya gave wine to everyone. The food hit her stomach, and right away Ciri felt the smallest bit better. She looked around and saw all three of them looking at her, trying for reassuring smiles.
As happy as Ciri was to see them all, her friends, true, real friends, she was also slightly upset, because it meant Dominik truly was alone out in the city now. She shuddered from the thought, dropping their gaze to pop another dumpling into her mouth, they were delicious as they always were when Freya made them, and it gave Ciri a little solace.
"Amazing as always, thank you…" She said, looking up at Freya, smiling lightly at the blonde, before looking at all three of them. "I… don't suppose you all saw Dominik while you were at the harbor, did you?"
George shook his head. "I'm afraid we did not my dear…. Is… what Geralt and Yennefer told us true? His sister…"
"It is…" Ciri said, her blood running cold as she shakily sighed and shook her head. "This whole time… gods… gods it was Bella the whole time."
Freya reached a reassuring hand over hers, and Ciri squeezed it, appreciating he gesture. Her stomach still rumbling, with her free hand Ciri grabbed another dumpling and sipped more of the wine. It fell to her gut, and calmed her churning stomach, before she looked up and saw Faram slowly shake his head.
The Bear School witcher sighed. "Gods and I fought her…. Dominik… poor guy… Geralt and Yennefer tell us he almost killed Mr. Happy Elf."
Ciri resisted the urge to laughed an nodded. "He did yes…. Dominik thinks that Avallac'h knew Bella was Baelen and didn't tell us."
"And… did he?" George asked.
"I don't know… he claims he didn't, but he also could have just been saying that because Dominik was choking him at the time," Ciri responded, her heart thumping loudly in her chest as she shook her head. "Dominik broke his nose, would have killed him if I hadn't intervened."
Faram snorted. "Bah, not gonna say I feel sorry for that cunt, he was do for a fucking beating but… it's a good thing you stopped him lassie."
"He's right," Freya said lightly from the bed next to her, her hand squeezing Ciri's again. "As irritating as he may be… we do need Avallac'h… have you spoken to him? Do you believe him?"
Ciri shook her head. "No… not yet, and as for if I believe him well… I don't know. Avallac'h is smart, he weighs risk versus reward in every decision he makes. And… I don't think he'd be stupid enough to hide something like this, if he did know, he would have known for certain we'd eventually find out and it would happen, on the other hand…"
"We know for a fact he still isn't telling us everything…" George said slowly, gently stroking his sharp jaw, his golden ponytail down to his shoulder as he shook his head. "I trust your judgement Ciri, I truly do but… if he truly did know and didn't tell us… I don't think I could blame Dominik if he killed him."
"Aye… neither could I," Faram said, scratching his long beard. "If the fucker hid something like that from me, I'd rip his fucking arms off."
"I know, and you're both right… but it's like we all said… we need him, at least for a little longer," Ciri said, feeling her heart spin as she sighed, running a hand through her loose curls of ashen hair that stretched down to her shoulders. "Don't want to worry about him right now to be honest… I'm more worried about Dominik… after I stopped him he… he wasn't very happy with me. He… he's never not talked to me, when things like this happened…"
Freya quickly adjusted herself and met Ciri's gaze. "You know he wasn't really angry at you Ciri. He could never be… and well… something like this… learning his sister alive itself would have been a bombshell… but learning she's working for the Hunt… it has to be worse than we could imagine."
"Freya is correct… a damn shame…" George said, his yellow witcher eyes meeting Ciri's. "Besides that… there's also the fact his sister… she's trying to kill you both, that has to weigh heavy on him."
Faram lightly scoffed, smiling gently as he met Ciri's eyes. "Goldilocks is right, don't gotta worry about him being mad at you lassie. Never met a man more sodded with their woman in me life, but… it must be horrible… poor bastard."
Ciri shivered, looking at all three of them and shaking her head. "I know he isn't really angry with me… I… just wish there were something more I could do, for them both. I… I'm scared that this could kill him… he's going to have to fight her again… and well…"
"You're scared that he won't be able to… and she'll kill him.." Freya finished.
"Yes… and I don't know what to do. I don't want to fight Bella myself either," Ciri said, the panic growing up inside her as she shook her head. "It would only make every lie the Hunt's told her seem real…"
George shook his head. "I've no doubt Dominik is strong enough to fight her. He's almost beaten her before, and perhaps his words can convince her otherwise."
Ciri scoffed. "He tried last night…. He tried everything and… and she almost took his hand but… but she didn't, and it crushed him. I just… feel so helpless! He's done so much for me, and now when he needs me most… there's nothing I can do."
"You can be there for him lassie," Faram said quickly, a rare softer tone in the massive witchers voice as he met her eyes. "It's frustrating I know, not being able to physically do somethin… but sometimes lass, all we can do, it simply be there."
Ciri digested the words, as George smirked and laughed from across the massive bear witcher.
"Aha… and when did you get so wise my friend?" George asked Faram.
Faram smirked and rolled his eyes. "I may not be as old as you mate, but I've been around the block a few times meself….. Dominik will be alright lassie; strongest fucker I've ever met in my life he is. And he's got you now, that makes him even stronger."
"He's right Ciri," Freya said on the bed next to her, squeezing Ciri's hand again, before reaching and pouring her more wine. "Sometimes, all we can do for someone, is be there for them."
Ciri picked up the new cup of wine from Freya thankfully, and downed half of it in one go. She shuddered and grabbed another dumpling as well, the last one on the plate, and Freya smile at her as Ciri popped it into her mouth. Her hunger was satisfied, but it didn't mean her nerves were. She sighed again, looking at the three of them, slowly she shook her head, gripping the sides of the bed.
"I'll always be there for him; I know I have to be but… I just don't know," She said, her voice shaking, as she gripped around the ring. "For fuck's sake… Bella's alive. He never even told Geralt and Yen about her, I was the only one to know! I want to be there for him, help him somehow, but… but I've never seen him like this, and I can't blame him… I don't know if I can do this myself and-."
"You don't have to do it yourself my dear," George cut her off, his charming, relaxing Toussaint accent calming Ciri's nerves as he spoke. "We would never dare let you two face this alone. That's why we are here, you're our friends, and that is what we do."
Faram quickly nodded. "Aye, he's right lass. Dom's one of the most stubborn fuckers I've ever met in my life, a bit of a hardass, but gods he's my best-friend. And you as well lass, felt like I knew ya, before I even knew ya! We're in this together."
"A hansa… that's what Dominik called us," Freya said next to her, looking and smiling at her as she scooted closer to Ciri on the bed. "The point is Ciri, you don't have to do it alone. You're the most important part yes but… we'll be there for him, and for you."
"Aen Hanse," George said with a smile, looking at all three of them. "I didn't recognize it at first when Dominik said it, it's Nilfgaardean in origin."
Faram smirked. "You speak bloody Nilfgaardean?"
"When you're as old as I am, you pick up a few different languages," George said with an amused smile, before looking at all of them. "In that tongue, it means an armed gang, but one linked by the bonds of friendship."
"A company…" Ciri said, a small smile coming to her face.
George nodded and met her eyes. "Precisely."
"Geralt had one of those… when he came to save me," Ciri said, looking between the three of them, the smile growing on her face. "Thank you all… for everything."
"We'll always be here, now, and whenever you need us in the future," Freya said, smiling, and Ciri laughed when the blonde hugged her.
Ciri wrapped her arms around Freya as well, and when she pulled back, her heart fluttered again, looking at the three of them. They had started out as Dominik's friends, and Ciri had been slightly concerned they only cared and spoke to her because of their relation to him at first.
However, that notion was quickly dashed. Ciri turned and looked into Freya's bright blue eyes. She never thought she'd consider the one other person who had been Dominik's lover one of her best friends, but there she was doing it then. Around her as well, she knew Faram was Dominik's best-friend, and George wasn't very far behind. There were night during the week and a half at Kaer Morhen her and Faram had gone cup for cup of ale together, along with George they had lapped up their stories, and treated her as their equal from the offset, like they had known her their whole lives, which she realized must have been true from how much Dominik spoke of her.
Geralt had told her about the company he brought to save her. Ciri remembered the deaths of most of them in excruciating detail. Dominik had told her the story of Cahir, the knight in the winged helmet who had apparently fallen in love with her and come to save her, Declan's cousin. Ciri would never forgive the man, he killed Sofia, and shot Bella down in the street, before tormenting and chasing the two of them for weeks, and then of course, tried to kidnap her on Thanedd. The man had been several years older than she was, which made her slightly uncomfortable thinking of the dreams he had. However, in the end, Ciri did owe him her life, and she owed his cousin Declan her life as well. She remembered the blonde woman, Angouleme, who had died in her arms, the vampire Regis, the dryad Milva. None of them had known her, but still they all came to save her, died to save her.
And Ciri would live every day thankful for that.
Now however, she had her own, was a part of her own company. History was repeating itself, just as Dominik told her Alexander said. History repeated itself yes, but not exactly. It was up to them to change what had happened the second time around. Geralt had gotten her as a child surprise, now Dominik had one as well. The two of them wouldn't let Fiona go through nearly any of the things that they had. It would be different.
Geralt had gathered a company to defeat Vilgefortz and save her. Now her and Dominik had one, to defeat Eredin, and save Bella now.
All the members of Geralt's company had died, but just like with Fiona, history wouldn't repeat itself.
The memory of Fiona brought a small smile to her face, as she looked up and met all three of her friend's eyes.
"Thank you…" She said, the smile coming back to her face as she looked between them, the smile contorting into a smirk. "So… did Geralt and Yen tell you what else happened when we were gone? Aunts and Uncles, all three of you."
They all smiled, but Faram of course was the first to laughed.
"Haha they did! A child surprise, gods how exciting," The Bear School witcher said, smirking as he met Ciri's eyes. "Couldn't think of two people better!"
Ciri scoffed but smiled. "We're barely adults ourselves! And most of our life was spent fighting, surviving…. But either way… she's absolutely adorable. I can't wait for you all to meet her."
"Aha it is an exciting prospect," George said in agreement, smiling and stepping off of the dresser. "What is she like? We didn't hear much."
Her heart started to flutter again, remembering training the girl for that small bit of time in the snow. She was so eager, lapping up everything Ciri had said. She also remembered right before the fight with the bandits, her stubbornly arguing with Dominik to come with them to fight. Not to mention how incredibly similar the girl looked. Ever since they had left Claywitch, while she relished the chance to travel with Dominik alone, the thought of when they'd finally go and get Fiona was more and more exciting by the minute.
And the girl wouldn't only have her and Dominik, but the people around them, everyone in the inn then.
Ciri laughed, the smile not leaving her. "Imagine if you took me, and Dominik, and smushed us together into one child… that's Fiona… down to the way she looks."
"You know… I always wanted to be an Aunt," Freya said, a sheepish smile coming to her face from next to her, Ciri met her eyes and the blonde laughed. "But I was always a single child…. Ciri, I'm so happy for the both of you! How'd Dominik take it?
"Aye… probably knocked him silly it did," Faram said with amusement.
"Oh at first it did! Couldn't even form words at first," Ciri said, as she could practically see Dominik training Fiona for those first few minutes. "But… he's a big softie, warmed up to her right away he did… he'll be great with her."
"You both will, mature beyond your years you both are my dear," George reassured her, smiling at her, the griffin witcher nodded again. "And I mean that. I have walked this earth many years, and never have I met two people like you both… made for each other."
Ciri sheepishly laughed. She heard a distant *BOOM* and all four of them looked out the window. She saw that the sun had retreated behind the clouds. The city didn't have a golden light anymore, it was dark, grey, and the rain soon started pouring down, hitting against her window as the thunder continued.
Seeing the rain start, it but a bit of a damper on the good mood she had just garnered. She hadn't heard anything downstairs, and she was sure if Dominik had come back, she would be the first person he came to see, and Geralt and Yen both promised to come get her as soon as he returned. He hadn't however, he was still out in the city, dealing with his grief alone, now getting rained on. She knew he hated how much it rained in the area, and it only made her stomach churn more, remembering how amazing it had felt when they left Claywitch. They had spent nights together, stayed up late to watch stars and drink wine with one another.
It had felt like for a few nights, that truly there was nothing wrong in the world, and it was just the two of them. For a few nights there had been no Wild Hunt, no prophecies or quests, just the two of them, eagerly talking about where they'd bring Fiona, where they'd go themselves, the places they'd see, the things they'd experience.
But then they had figured out the truth, the cold fist of reality slamming back into them.
She sighed and turned back to all of them. "Thank you George… it was fantastic, we were planning where we'd take her… for a while it felt like nothing was wrong, happier than I've been in a long time… but then we found out about Bella… I hope he's alright out there."
The thunder boomed again as soon as she finished, and she shuddered. Quickly she grabbed handfuls of her ashen locks and went about tying them back up in her bun. Her heart started racing again. She knew she couldn't go and look for him, if the rain didn't bring him back to the inn, then it would be a bit before he did.
He would come to her when he was ready, she knew it. And just like everyone had said, she would do what was best for him. She couldn't do anything physically to help Bella, or him then she knew, but she would be there for him. He was at a breaking point, even the strongest of men had to let it out, could be made to cry, feel broken. It was something Gregory had told her, and that was the case now with his son.
In the meantime however, she knew what she needed to do. The whole reason Dominik was so angry, had to do with Avallac'h. It was as she had told her friends; she truly didn't know if the sage was telling the truth or not. She wanted to believe he wouldn't be stupid enough to lie about something this serious, but Dominik did have him at his mercy, so she knew the sage could have lied to save himself. Either way Ciri needed to know.
Because if the sage had lied and did know about Bella… she didn't know if she would be able to hold herself back, let alone Dominik.
Freya smiled and nodded next to her on the bed. "I'm sure he'll be alright; he'll be back soon I'm sure."
"Aye, Goldilocks is right," Faram said, smirking as he stepped up off the table. "Besides, he's always bitching about how much he hates the rain, I'm sure he'll be back!"
"Can't say I blame him…" George muttered, rolling his eyes as he looked at the rain pattering against the window.
Faram scoffed. "We can't all grow up in a sunny paradise like you mate!"
Ciri and Freya both laughed as George rolled his eyes again. Ciri finished tying up her bun, just as Freya stood, and offered her a hand up off the bed.
"Either way I know he'll be alright," She said reassuringly, as Ciri grabbed her hand and stood as well. Freya smiled as she did and met her eyes. "Are you feeling any better? Do you want to come downstairs; we were going to drink and play some cards; I got more dumplings!"
Ciri met all of their eyes and shook her head. "Maybe in a bit… for now, I need to go speak with Avallac'h…"
Faram rolled his eyes and snorted. "Don't know why we bother with the stuffy fuck. You want one of us to go with ya lassie? Make sure fucker doesn't start anything?"
"He's right Ciri, he's already hostile enough," George said with a shake of his head. "I'd hate to see how he acts after Dominik had beat him."
Ciri shook her head and sighed. "That's alright, he'll only really talk to me anyway. If any of you come, I won't be able to get anything out of him… I'll see you all downstairs in a bit."
Freya nodded, grabbing and squeezing Ciri's hand again. "Just be careful Ciri. As much as he irritates us, we do need him, and well… everyone has a breaking point."
Ciri shuddered but nodded to the blonde. "I will be I promise… I'm worried about controlling myself. Don't know why I trust him… but if he lied about something like this… next time I may just let Dominik kill him."
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
The rain coming had been the perfect epitome of all of Dominik's misfortunes for that day. First, he learns that he almost killed his younger sister, that she had been brainwashed by the Wild Hunt, and was now actively working against and trying to kill both he and Ciri. Avallac'h knew. He had never been surer of anything in his entire life, the elf knew, and he had kept that information from him. And now, as soon as he went to try and kill the elf like he deserved, not just for keeping that secret, but for everything he had done, Ciri stopped him, reminding him that if he wanted any chance of finding the Hunt, finding Bella, saving the continent and more importantly Ciri, he needed to let the elf live.
Ciri had been right, and it frustrated him to no end. He wanted nothing more than to have plunged his sword into the sage's neck, and he would have if she hadn't been there. She had saved him from making a huge mistake, one that could have cost them all. And what had he done? He had accused her of not caring about Bella, screamed at her, Geralt and Yen, and then stormed off like a child.
And now, on top of it all, the fucking rain poured down on him, and he was sure that someone was following him.
Around him most people had begun retreating to their homes from the rain, which he didn't mind, less eyes on him would give him a better chance to take his follower on. The grey clouds had removed the sunshine that had been casted over the city that morning. His bones were chilled to the core, as his boots sloshed in puddles over the stone streets. He had just passed near Hierarch square, getting closer to Gildorf. Despite the people clamoring to get indoors, there were still many of them, and he could hear the person behind him picking up their pace. He had noticed them first after the went to the harbor, browsing the fish market before they started following him, wearing a black cloak, the outlines of two blades at their hip.
The harbor had been the first place he went, partly because he hoped the calming breeze of the ocean would help calm him, and partly because he knew if Faram, George and Freya weren't at the Chameleon, they'd more than likely be at the Adrestia Faram's ship. According to Barnabas, he had just missed all three of Faram, Freya and George, which only served as another thing to dampen his mood.
Although he didn't think even seeing them would have done anything for him then.
"Come on… come on fucker…" He muttered to himself, spotting a familiar alley up to his left.
It had been the same exact alley he and Declan had fought off Nilfgaardean assassins who had been contracted by Emhyr to kill Dominik himself. The place he told Declan he could go to Kaer Morhen after Declan had saved his life.
Declan, another person that he had let down, that list was extremely long.
A gust of wind howled loudly in his ears; the rain came down at a steady pace. His medallion and the swallow blew in the wind around his neck, his hair was drenched, the bags under his eyes grew heavy, his bones ached. Everything was screaming at him to stop, to head back to the Chameleon and sleep it off.
But he couldn't sleep this off, he simply wouldn't, even if the swallow had been enchanted still.
As he got closer to the alley, he looked down at his trembling hands. His black gloves shook, the rain soaking them through. He shakily sighed, closing his eyes and balling them into fists as he walked. All he could hear was Bella, her words echoed in his head, the image of her face, her grown face.
His little sister was grown, a woman now, a beautiful young woman, who looked so much like their mother that it made Dominik's eyes water then and there. If Bella's hair had been blonde, she would have been a carbon copy of their mother. He felt it, when their powers had clashed, he almost felt the magic in him…upset in a way, upset for some reason, and now he understood why. His power had reacted violently because it was up against itself in a fight. Blood against blood, brother against sister, that the thing he couldn't get over the most.
He had almost killed her, every time they fought, Dominik had almost killed his sister. But that wasn't even the worst of his thought. Bella was with Eredin, the Hunt, they had done something to her, something to make her believe Ciri was the true enemy, the enemy that had been the reason everything was ripped from her. Bella had spared him multiple times, but from what Ciri told him of the fight they had, and what Bella said herself. She wasn't going to show that type of mercy to Ciri, not in the slightest, and according to his sister as well, there wouldn't be any for him either.
What if he had to choose? What if because of him trying to get through to Bella, Ciri was killed? What if Bella killed Ciri herself, and Dominik could have prevented it, but didn't because he didn't want to fight his sister? It was the first time in his life, when a decision that involved Ciri wasn't certain for him, and the whole thing had his head ready to explode. Of course he would protect Ciri until his dying breath, he loved her more than anything, but what if to do that, he had to fight or even kill Bella now. He couldn't do that; he didn't know if he was strong enough to even fight his sister again let alone have to kill her.
And what if Bella had been right, what if his sister really was gone, erased by Eredin? What if Bella, his sister, really was Baelen now.
No, that isn't true, and you know it… you saw it in her eyes. No, his sister was still there, Bella was still there. When he had held his hand out to her, when his hand had touched her shoulder, when he told the story of her being sick when they were young, her eyes had changed. For a few moments, she was Bella again, his sister was there, and for a moment he had gotten through to her.
But then she had turned his hand away, he had failed her again. Bella had slaughtered Lofeton, and if she really had been with the Hunt he was sure she had taken part in more destruction. She had tried to murder Ciri, him, and had called Kilgarrah to Kaer Morhen, resulting in his friend's deaths. She had spoken so clearly, so surely of the fake memories she had, he didn't know if he would ever be able to get through to her again, and if he couldn't, what would he do then? Would he be strong enough to fight her, do what had to be done to protect Ciri and the continent, or would he somehow get through to her, and she'd listen to him? And even if she did listen to him, what would happen when he brought her around Ciri? Would she revert back to her old frame of mind and try to kill her?
A clap of thunder boomed, just as he pushed past a younger couple, and turned down into the alley, that same alley he had been attacked with Declan. His sword clunked, the rain pattering off Fate's pommel. He heard the very faint sloshing of boots behind him, whoever it was that was following him certainly knew how to keep quiet. However, they more than likely hadn't accounted for the fact his ears were so highly trained. The thunder boomed again, but he still heard his follower's footsteps in the mud behind him as he entered the alleyway.
It was exactly as he remembered it being when Declan had followed him there that night which felt so long ago. It was a large open space full of stacked barrels, timber and storage, a small garden dotting the center, with four alleyways leading back out to the streets. Right when he got to the center, still hearing the sloshing of his follower's boots, leaned back up against the ball wall of one of the buildings enclosing the garden, and reaching to his waist for Arno's crossbow. He didn't have any steel with him, but a crossbow bolt to the eye he learned was more effective than even a sword.
"Picked the wrong fucking day…" He said under his breath, loading a bolt into the small crossbow, the rain coming down and forming a puddle in front of him.
He lowered the weapon back to his side, and heard the boots get closer and closer. The thunder boomed, but his hands still shook as he gripped tighter around the crossbows handle. Everything kept slamming into his head, Fiona, Drogar, Bella, Avallac'h, it all jumbled around in his head and every single second he wanted to scream more and more. His eyes stung, his medallion and the swallow flew to the side of his neck, and all he wanted was another chance.
One more chance, one more singular chance to talk to his sister. But did he even truly know her like he thought he did? It was as she said… he couldn't even recognize her in the dream he had of her. Not only that, but he had let her die in Cintra, he should have held onto her, took the arrow for her. And the previous, night if he had just had a few more minutes he could have convinced her. He had no idea what he was going to do, where he'd even start, how he'd do it, what he'd say or do. He knew he would see her again, he'd see Bella again, because he wouldn't listen to her and not show up to the final battle. He'd be right in the thick of it, and he now realized what another one of his dreams meant.
He could remember all the way back in Novigrad their first time, the morning before they left to search for Ciri in Skellige, he had a dream. A dream of two wolves, one male, one female, fighting to the death in an arena of snow near a frozen ship. The male wolf hadn't wanted to fight, mournfully pleading the entire time as the female tore into it. Finally, the female had the male at his mercy, but after one thing was said… the male had snapped. It finally fought back, it had the female at its mercy, and for a minute looked like it was about to spare her. However, the dream had ended with the male wolf clamping its jaws through the female's throat, killing her in an instant.
And over the dream, he had heard the prophecy, and it was clear then. He and Bella were those two wolves. He'd fight her again, and it was then he'd have to make his choice.
It was a choice, where he knew what he would pick already… but hadn't wanted too to think about.
"DAMMIT!" He said, coming off the wall as thunder boomed, the frustration boiling over inside of him.
"Damn kid didn't think the witchers would teach you how to blow your cover like that when someone's been following you for almost the last hour," The voice said behind him.
Dominik whirled around, the crossbow tight in his hand, raising it and pointing the bolt at the hooded figure. Whoever it was, was only a bit shorter then him, wearing indeed a long black cloak, and Dominik saw two swords at their hips. The thunder boomed, Dominik's eyes pricked as he angrily gripped the crossbow, taking a step closer towards the person, the tip of the bolt getting dangerously closer to their head.
He was about to shout something, something to get his anger out, but the person quickly laughed holding their hands.
"Woah easy there kid… I gave you the damn thing, I'd hate to have it be the death of me," The familiar voice said, as they slowly pulled down their hood.
Dominik's eyes widened and he quickly lowered the crossbow. "Elise?"
"Aye, good to see you again kid," The redhead said, smirking as her face was fully visible now, she gave him a small smirk and pointed towards the crossbow in his hands. "Looks like it's been serving you well… gonna have to get you some more bolts before I leave."
Dominik let out a relieved breath, scoffing as he met her eyes and nodded. "It has yes… I'm… sorry I almost put one in your eye."
The personal guard for the now sole Queen of Redania shrugged, crossing her arms. "Aye, no big deal, did the same thing to you basically when we first met…. It's good to see you up on your feet. Last time I saw ya you could barely walk, got a wicked looking scar now you do."
"Yeah… it's good to see you too," Dominik said, genuinely happy to see the woman who had fought by his side at Kaer Morhen, he nodded and gestured up to her. "And seems like you got a decent one yourself."
Under Elise's right eye, the same cheek his was on, were three long scars running from the top of her forehead, down to her cheek. He remembered the exact moment a hound of the Wild Hunt had leapt and attacked her. Arno had saved her… before Dominik couldn't save Arno, and that was another person on the list. Elise had lost a fiancé because of him, the man she loved, all because of his planning.
The rain continued, lightening as Elise smirked back over at him, not seeming to be thinking of the battle of Kaer Morhen at the moment. Her long, puffy red hair was tied tightly up in a ponytail that went down past her shoulder, and she wore the same armor she had at Kaer Morhen. It was a black, boiled leather tunic and greaves, thick black boots and trousers, and black hunting gloves, which he knew was for her undercover missions when she was a part of Redanian special forces and the Temarian Blue Stripes. Her large brown eyes shone with amusement at him, as she gently ran her fingers down the scars, smirking wildly at him.
"Aye… healed pretty well they did, but mine came from a fucking hound," She said, resting her hand on one of the two sabers at her belt as she met his eyes. "Nothing compared to getting one from the King of the fucking Wild Hunt himself!"
Despite everything that happened, he couldn't help but laugh, making Elise do the same. He looked and noticed the two sabers at her belt now. One of them had a gold basket hilt, it looked lighter and easier to swing, while the other looked more like a traditional saber, heavier, longer than the other one. She remembered seeing her take Arno's saber from his pyre at Kaer Morhen, along with his crossbow that she had given to Dominik. Elise's own crossbow also was naturally at her belt. He also noticed now at her belt, was no longer wearing the gold badge on her belt with the Redanian coat of arms, now, it was imbedded with the Temarian Lillie's, her symbol as a member of a special forces unit, the same one his mother used to have with the golden lions of Cintra.
Seeing this made him remember what Geralt had told him earlier. Despite his anger, he could still recall his father mentioning it. He looked up and met Elise's brown eyes and nodded.
"I hear congratulations are in order," He said, a small smirk coming to his withered face. "I hear you're now protecting the new sole ruler of Redania… so it actually worked?"
Elise nodded, the smile staying on her face. "It did, the cuck died cowering like a child, deserved every last bit…. Geralt was the one to lead him into the trap, fought with us afterwards."
"You were there? Geralt said you weren't," Dominik asked, the rain finally coming to a stop, but the grey clouds still covering the sky.
She shook her head. "I wasn't… but Roche told me about it, every glorious little detail. Geralt led him into the trap, we cut him off from his men, Eilhart took him out, Roche's men did the rest… and now Adda's in charge."
"It seems she is… and let me guess, she sent you to find me," Dominik said, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes. "How long were you following me for?"
Elise rolled her eyes back at him. "We both wanted to make sure you were well too you little fuck… but yes, Adda did want me to come find you. Geralt mentioned you were on your own mission, that's why you weren't with him during the assassination… is that the reason you look like you've barely fucking slept in a week?"
One of the things Dominik liked most about Elise was her honesty and candidness. She said what was on her mind, and got directly to the point, which was a welcome change from what he had been experiencing lately.
"Yeah you could say it is… so, how long were you following me?" He asked, the cold wind sending goosebumps up his soaked body.
Elise nodded and leaned on one of her sabers. "Went to the inn I know the bard owns earlier this morning. Got outside, heard some shouting, saw you walk out in a huff, decided to follow you."
"Why didn't you stop me earlier?"
"Looked downright murderous you did… didn't think you'd exactly be in the mood to talk about what Adda wanted me to ask you."
Dominik sighed and rubbed his temples. "Look, I'm as happy as anyone Radovid's dead, and maybe sometime in the future I'll come talk to her, but right now? I'm not in the fucking mood."
Elise scoffed and crossed her own arms. "I can tell, heard you screaming from half-way down the street. Couldn't make out what you were yelling about, but it didn't sound good… why aren't you with your woman?"
"Needed to be alone," Dominik sighed, wiping the water from his face as he crossed his arms again and met Elise's eyes. "And I'm guessing Adda knows everything about Ciri now… doesn't she?"
The redhead nodded, her arms crossing. "She does yeah… don't gotta worry about anything. Adda won't do nothing to her, won't tell anyone about her."
"Geralt told me she colluded with Salamandra to try and gain power in Vizima for herself when her father was still alive," Dominik said, narrowing his eyes. "Knowing Ciri's alive, the Emperor's daughter, rightful Queen of Cintra…someone like that I guess would be foaming at the mouth for information like that, easy way to gain more power."
"She isn't like that anymore!: Elise hissed, shaking her head and narrowing her eyes right back at him. "She wants a better continent, for everyone. Humans, non-humans, mages, everyone, she'll be better than the fucks we have now, much better!"
Dominik sighed and shook his head, biting the inside of his lip. He didn't want to argue with Elise, he owed the woman too much. And it was more than likely his annoyance and anger that had taken over. He simply didn't want to think about the politics of the continent at that moment, and far too many people had horrible intentions for Ciri in their own game for him not to be careful.
He met Elise's eyes and slowly shook his head. "Sorry… I'm just… not in the greatest of moods today, and too many people have tried to use Ciri for me not to be careful."
Elise sighed as well, her eyes lightening. "Aye… I understand. Adda's working hard to shirk that reputation…. I'm guessing my task of convincing you to come talk to her isn't going to be successful?"
"It isn't," Dominik said dryly, meeting the woman's eyes. "I'm sorry… but like I said, just not in the mood to think about politics right now…"
"I can tell… like I said, heard you clear down the street when I was getting near the inn," Elise said, her red hair drenched in her ponytail down her back. "What's going on? You and your girl have a row?"
Dominik shook his head, realizing that if there was anyone that could tell it to him straight, exactly what he should do with his sister, no bullshit, no sugar coating it, it was Elise.
He met her eyes and sighed. "No… I found out my sister who I thought's been dead for eleven years… is a general of the Wild Hunt."
Elise snorted a laugh. "Ha come on now kid, you can't be…. Aw shite… you're being serious aren't you? Fuck kid…"
Elise must have seen the deathly serious look on his face because the realization dawned on her. Dominik quickly nodded as the cold wind in the grey afternoon sent goosebumps up his arms again.
Dominik went on to tell Elise everything that had happened with Bella. He didn't know what it was that made him spill it all out, perhaps it could have just been his anger and annoyance, perhaps it was because he just felt he could trust Elise. However, it was for the same reason he stated earlier, her candidness, and ability to get straight to the point was refreshing.
He loved Yen, Geralt, and Ciri more than anything, but he knew that sometimes they sugarcoated things for him, just like he did for them in an attempt to not disappoint him.
Dominik didn't want that then, which is why he told Elise everything.
By the time he had finished Elise scoffed in disbelief and shook her head. "Fucking hell kid… I'm sorry, a pretty fucking shite situation you've got on your hands…"
"You can say that again…. I can't just leave my sister, I… I gotta get her back, somehow," Dominik said, feeling his head pound as he shook his head. "I don't want to fight her again… but if I don't then-."
"Then there's the possibility that if you can't get through to her, she won't only kill you, but Ciri as well," Elise finished for him, shaking her head and sighing. "If you're not careful… you'll both end up dead… like I said, I'm sorry kid…. You and Ciri can't seem to catch a fucking break at all can you?"
Dominik snorted a laugh, before he sighed and nodded. "You know, your candidness is one of the things I like most about you… but you're right. For the first time in my life… I don't know what to do to keep Ciri safe… if I try to get through to Bella again and… and I can't, then we both end up dead… but-."
"But if you go and kill her… you're killing your sister… and you already think you failed her once…" Elise cut him off again.
"I did fail her," Dominik hissed back right away.
Elise crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "You were eleven."
"I still could have done something."
"The fuck would you have done? Rip the arrow out of her, watch her bleed to death? Fight the Nilfgaardeans that were coming with your bare hands?"
"Well… no but I could have-."
"No, no kid you couldn't have fucking done anything. The city was being sacked; you were a fucking child; you need to man the fuck up and accept that. You got survivors guilt."
"Survivors guilt?"
"Yeah, survivors' guilt, see it all the time when you're in the army," Elise said, taking another step closer to him and jabbing a finger out towards him. "You survived the massacre, your sister didn't, and you feel guilty about it."
"Of fucking course I feel guilty about it!" He said, feeling his annoyance spike, as Elise nodded, crossing her arms towards him.
"And nobody's saying you fucking shouldn't kid. But the reality of the situation, was no matter what you fuckin think, your scrawny eleven-year-old self wasn't going to do anything."
"That's not true! I could have-."
"No, you couldn't have, whatever you think you could have done, you couldn't have," Elise cut him off again, shaking her head. "I'll never sugarcoat things for you kid, but you know what you're biggest fucking problem is now? Is that you're so focused on what happened, you're not thinking about what's going to happen. You're going to have to fucking man up, and face down your sister."
"But what if I fucking kill her!? Or she doesn't listen to me, and she ends up killing me or Ciri? What if just like last night she doesn't listen to me?" Dominik said, getting closer to the woman, fiercely shaking his head as he met her eyes. "What if she's not strong enough to shake off the Hunt's grasp and I have to-."
"Do you know your sister kid?" Elise asked, sharply cutting him off as she met his intense glare with one of her own. "Do you know the person she is? The person who she really, really is?"
Dominik paused for a moment, and all the memories clashed into his brain. He saw his gentle, kind, loving, caring, full of life younger sister. The one who was always laughing, smiling, playing pranks, and gushing about different flowers from different regions, making him have fake tea parties with her while they pretended she was a princess. He could see her, himself and Ciri, running around the halls, being dragged into Ciri's room to watch the two of them try on dresses, and failed at their attempts to apply makeup themselves. He would always joke how he hated having to sit there and watch them, but in reality, it was one of his favorite things. His sister, and the girl that he loved, even back then, seeing them together had brought more joy to his heart then had ever been there.
However, he also thought about what had happened the last month. Fighting Bella in that cave outside Oxenfurt, at Kaer Morhen, all the dreams he had of her. He remembered watching Caranthir torture her, seeing her perform the ritual to track him. However, he also remembered Kaer Morhen, where their powers had almost killed each other, before she summing Kilgarrah had gotten them all killed, and had killed people he considered friends. Ciri had told him about Lofeton, how Bella had led the raid, slaughtering villagers from above Kilgarrah without a second thought.
Did he know who she was? He didn't know… and he hated himself for it no knowing.
He shuddered again as a cold breeze chilled his cold body. The clouds still casted the grey light over Elise as he both in that back-alley clearing.
"I thought I did… but… but after last night…" He said unsurely, meeting Elise's eyes he shook his head. "She's… killed a lot of people, tried to kill me… Ciri."
"Mhm… and do you think she would kill you? Do you really, in your heart think that she would kill you?" She asked him, her arms still crossed.
He shook his head again. "I… I don't know…"
"Yes you do kid… she's your sibling, siblings know siblings better than anyone most of the time…. Deep in your heart… you know if she would or not, if the real her would or not."
"Again, I'd like to think I do… but she's different now," Dominik said slowly, before sighing and shaking his head. "But… but she did spare me when we fought before… could have killed me but didn't," He told her, biting the inside of his lip as he ran a hand through his wet hair.
Elise met his eyes, and for the first time he saw them fall. She sighed, and shook her head, her hand curling around the hilt of Arno's old saber at her belt, before she looked up and met his eyes.
"Arno… he has an older brother, got lost with Natalis's army after Vizima," Elise said, shakily sighing before she looked and met his eyes again. "He was a blue stripe with the both of us sometime back… and we thought he was a traitor for a while."
Dominik bit his own lip, knowing that Elise wasn't easily rattled, but talking about Arno would be the one thing that would. He slowly nodded, remembering how she had told him, before they were both assigned as Adda's personal guards after she was married off to Radovid, they were both Temarian Blue Stripes under Vernon Roche's command.
"I didn't know… but I do know that Roche doesn't seem the type that would take kindly to traitors…" Dominik said, as Elise quickly nodded again.
"Aye he isn't. For a few weeks, he kept disappearing from camp, and a scout one day came back to us, saying he saw Corrin, Arno's brother, meeting with a band of Scoitael scouts," She said.
Dominik scoffed, remembering what Geralt had told him. "I'd think if there's two things Roche hates most in this world, it's traitors, and Scoitael."
"You're right about that again, Roche wanted to ride out, find him, and hang him then and there as soon as we got the report," Elise said.
"What stopped him?"
"Arno…" Elise said, shakily sighing again. "He didn't know what Corrin was doing… but swore up and down his brother wasn't a traitor, that he knew him, and he would never betray them."
"And Roche took his word for it?" Dominik said.
"He did yeah," Elise said, shaking her head again and scoffing. "Gonna admit, I didn't rightly believe him either, but Arno promised he knew his brother… and a couple hours later, Corrin showed up with the Scoitael commando we had been searching for tied up on his horse… Arno was right."
Dominik scoffed and shook his head. "Still can't believe that Roche didn't ride out to hang him."
Elise shrugged. "He wasn't happy he went off on the plan without telling him… but in the end, he was happy we caught the bastard…. Point is… Arno knew… he knew his sibling better than anyone, the real person. Now I know it's a bit higher stakes with your sister here… but tell me now kid, from your heart… would your sister kill you?"
Dominik took in the moral of the story. It served to only make him feel even guiltier at first that he hadn't gotten a chance to get to know Arno more before he died, but it seemed like just like the man did before the battle, his stories were helping calm him now.
He knew the real Bella; she was his sister. Bella was a young girl who loved exotic places, flowers, wanted to travel from one end of the continent to the other. Bella was full of life; she wanted the best for everyone she came across. She loved to laugh, play jokes, tease him about his crush on Ciri, try on new dresses, while also wanting to learn to use a sword like he, his mother and their father did. Bella wanted to live, and he began to realize, it was exactly as Elise had said, survivors' guilt.
Dominik loved his sister, she was the light of his life in his early years, and even when he met Ciri, who he loved more than anyone, and forever would, he still always made sure to find time for Bella. And Bella hadn't minded, she had always joked with him, that he needed to grow up and marry Ciri, which would make him King or prince consort, either way, it meant that Bella herself would get to be a princess, and she'd get a whole closet of pretty dresses like Ciri had. Bella had wanted to visit Toussaint, attend the tournament at Beauclair, see the royal palace. She loved stories about dragons, stars, omelets were her favorite food, purple was her favorite color, when she was angry she'd twist strands of her hair, and when she was happy just like Dominik did, she'd get a giddy, goofy smile and practically bounce off the top of her toes.
He would never forget the time Bella first ever called Ciri her, 'big sister', and how red and flustered Ciri had gotten. Bella loved Ciri, and he knew that Ciri loved her. It only made him feel even worse about what he had said to her before he left the Chameleon.
And above all, Bella loved him, and their family more than anything.
He knew who she was, and just like he had told her when he thought she was Baelen before they fought at Kaer Morhen, she wasn't a monster. And she wasn't a killer.
"No… no she wouldn't," Dominik said, slowly looking and meeting Elise's eyes. "And… she's strong, I know she is… if anyone can fight the Hunt's influence off… my sister can."
Elise smiled, but shrugged. "Then you got nothing to worry about kid, the solution is simple then. You talk to her… show her how much you still care."
"The simple solution is normally the best…" He said, still feeling his stomach turning, but managing a smile as he looked up at Elise. "Thanks Elise… for everything."
The red head smiled back at him and nodded. "Aye… of course kid. I think you should make your way back to your woman… talk to her… let it all out."
"You're right…" He said, a small laugh coming to him, but feeling his eyes sting as he shook his head and met her eyes. "I… I've been so… so angry that well… I've been a real ass."
Elise scoffed and nodded. "Ha, you probably have, but everyone gets like that now and then…. I'm guessing I'm not convincing you to come talk to Adda?"
Dominik shrugged. "I'll talk to her… but as I'm sure you know; we're still trying to fight the Hunt… still got work to do."
"That's all she asked, is just to talk again," Elise promised, shaking her head and sighing as she crossed her arms. "You know if she didn't need me now more than ever… I'd come fight those cucks with you, I'm sorry."
He shook his head. "No need to apologize, I know you would… I'm going to keep my promise to you… I swear it…. Gonna blow those cucks right back to their fucking world."
Elise snorted a laugh, and the two of them both laughed then in that alley. The rain had finally stopped, but the grey cloud cover still spouted out over the city. He felt his eyes droop even more as he suppressed a yawn. It felt like all at once, his body was finally beginning to feel the fatigue from the previous few days all coming to him at once. His limbs aches from the cold, from how long he had been awake. He hadn't been able to fall asleep the previous night. All he had done was lay awake and watch Ciri toss and turn in their bedroll.
His body ached, he was tired, hungry, thirsty, and even with the newfound confidence thanks to Elise… everything that had happened still weighed heavy on his mind. All he wanted was food, and to find Ciri to tell her how sorry he was for how he had spoken to her, and for not coming to talk to her about the whole situation.
A small bit of thunder boomed in the distance despite no rain, as he finished laughing and met Elise's eyes again with a small smile.
"We should be leaving to fight them in Skellige in a few days…" He said, crossing his arms as he nodded at her. "If Adda's going to be here for the next few days I'll talk to her."
Elise smiled and nodded. "Aye, she will be, going to be crowned in about a…. GET DOWN!"
Dominik's eyes widened and he didn't question the order. He ducked down to the ground and was amazed at the speed of Elise just like he had been at Kaer Morhen. Quick as a flash, she reached to her belt and ripped her crossbow from her waist. She aimed and within seconds the bolt loosed, and he heard a loud *SQUELCH* from behind him. He scrambled up to his feet, turning and seeing a man with a crossbow bolt sticking from his eye dead on the ground, a sword just out of his reach.
Dominik's heart raced as he looked up towards Elise as she loaded another bolt into her crossbow. She looked over and met his eyes, her brown iris's narrowed.
"Remember what I told you? Always keep a bolt loaded at the start of a fight," She said with a bit of a smirk, but gesturing down towards the body. "Fucker almost cut you in half."
Dominik scoffed himself and nodded. "I remember yeah… fucking hell, no shortage of people who want to kill me, let's see who this one is."
The two of them both walked to the body. Dominik knelt down into the mud, his knees splashing into a puddle, as he pulled the massive man over. And when he saw the golden sun of Nilfgaard, his eyes widened, and his heart started racing again, as he cured under his breath and looked up at Elise, who finished loading her crossbow and met his eyes.
"A Nilfgaardean? Looks like an assassin, see the vials on his belt, and take a look at his sword," She said, pointing the man's sword that had fallen from his hand.
The man was massive, wearing all black leather armor with a black cloak. A slim dagger hung from his waist, and sure enough small vials of poison were clipped to his belt. Dominik slowly moved in the mud, with Elise kneeling down next to him. He carefully picked up the man's sword, and saw it dripping an oozing green liquid.
"Aye… that's poison sure enough, seen enough of it," Elise said, looking over to him and sighing before she shook her head. "Must have been after me… maybe they figured out I'm Adda's guard and tried to-."
"No…" Dominik said slowly, sighing as he stood to his feet and met Elise's eyes. "He was after me… fucking hell, same thing happened in the same damn spot the night I met you."
Elise scoffed, moving strands of the drenched red hair from her brow. "Nilfgaardean assassins after you? Heard around the keep you hated the Black Ones, but I just assumed that was because of the massacre at Cintra. The fuck did you do to piss off the Emperor?"
"I'm dating his daughter…" Dominik said dryly, sighing and shaking his head, cursing as he realized he didn't have any steel. He looked and met Elise's eyes. "You see, Emhyr is the one who gave Geralt and me leads to find Ciri. Ciri hates the fucker, Geralt and I never were going to bring her to him, but we used his leads, nonetheless. Last time we were forced to report to him I… may have lost my temper with him a bit, got a bounty put on my head most likely."
"How bad?" Elise asked, and Dominik was just about to answer before he heard the footsteps.
Elise must have heard the sloshing of multiple boots through mud, but she perked up as well, getting back to back with him as they looked at the multiple alleys leading out to the main streets.
And sure enough, just like when he and Declan were in the exact same spot, Elise and he soon became surrounded by an assassin from each direction. Dominik heard the thunder boom in the distance, and the rain gently start to so spit again, as they all stalked towards Elise and him. They were all similar in build, taller than Elise and him both, but slim and quick looking. Two carried smaller crossbows and swords, one carried an axe, while one held two slim knives. Dominik could notice one thing similar about them all.
They all dripped poison.
He looked to Elise as they all closed in and sighed. "Pretty bad you could say…"
"I can see that…" Elise said, pulling her saber from her belt and twirling it before grabbing her crossbow, while looking at him from the corner of her eye. "I thought you were supposed to be a witcher, what happened to your steel sword?"
"A dragon ate it…" Dominik said with an annoyed sigh, as he pulled the crossbow from his belt as well.
Elise rolled her eyes. "I'm guessing there's a story behind that… here… keep close and watch their blades, they're poisoned as I'm sure you know."
He looked at Elise pulled Arno's saber from her belt, and quickly handed it over to him. Dominik had never used a saber before but was surprised to see how incredibly lightweight the weapon was despite it being the length of a normal sword. He twirled it like he used to do his old steel, easily a fluidly, and he scoffed, realizing it could be a perfect weapon for a witcher.
"I know… thanks…" He said, twirling the blade once more and holding up his crossbow.
Just as the assassins all gathered around, crossbows and weapons aimed at Elise and he both, he got back to back with the red head again. The assassins all closed on as he saw the poison of each blade slowly dripping and being lapped up by the mud. The rain had gently started drizzling again, and his annoyance reached an all new level when he saw one of them step over the man Elise had killed, he was the one carrying a massive axe, as he looked over to one of the assassins and shouted in Nilfgaardean.
The one he shouted too scoffed. "He was a fool to go off on his own! This is the one the emperor sent us after…. The Emperor is displeased with you boy."
Dominik scoffed, his back leaning up against Elise's. "I know he is…. Gonna give you all one chance to leave, got way more important things to worry about the Emhyr!"
"You will address the Emperor by his full title or not at all!" The man screeched, one of his two swords at them both.
It was Elise's turn to scoff from behind him. "Jeez kid, you must have really damaged his fragile ego."
"Just wait till I tell you about what he tried to do to Ciri…" Dominik said darkly, looking back all of the assassins surrounding him. "Now all you get out of here, I killed the first group he sent after me in this same spot, don't throw your lives away for that degenerate."
"ON YOUR LEFT!" Elise said, just as Dominik heard the clicking of a crossbows firing mechanism.
He whirled around to his left and the saber he carried flashed up. He was surprised to figure out it was a slight as his silver sword, and easily deflected the bolt into the air, before he heard rushing from his right. He whirled around to see the large man with the axe shouted out in Nilfgaardean, Dominik would have been cleaved in half if not for Elise, who stepped in front and caught the axe head on her saber. She pointed her crossbow into the man's stomach, loosing a bolt into the man's torso, as he screamed Elise spun around, cutting across the back of his legs to bring him yelling to the ground. However, the yelling was soon cut short when Elise twirled her saber and thrusted it through the man's throat.
Dominik had remembered how fluidly the red head fought at Kaer Morhen, easily moving between her crossbow and sword. She did the same then, but Dominik had been so caught up watching her, he almost didn't hear the two men charging behind him.
"GAHHH FUCK!" He yelled, as he felt the small crossbow bolt find a chink in his armor, right below his left shoulder he felt it pierce him.
"KID!" Elise yelled, firing her crossbow, and killing the one who shot him.
Dominik stumbled for a moment, he had so little sleep the previous few days, that he was sluggish, but he managed to aim his own crossbow as well. He fired and it found home in one of the attackers' shoulders as well. The one he hit stumbled, but the other came leaping at him with both the blades he carried.
His shoulder erupted as he side-stepped and cut down across the man's torso. He knew with the bolt imbedded in his arm, he wouldn't be able to swing his sword how he would like, so as soon as the man came back up to attack again, bleeding from his torso, he made the proper hand sign, and fire spewed from his fingertips. The Igni sign that he fired wasn't nearly as powerful as some he had produced, with little to no energy or chaos to call on, but still it set his attacked alight. Taking the advantage, Dominik knocked aside the man's blades and came back to cut deep across his chest.
Behind him he heard rushing footstep again, and went to spin around, but he felt his very blood begin to boil. The bolt moved in his shoulder, having found the chink between his armor to pierce his flesh. He went to spin around, but his head went faint as he did, and he stumbled back onto the ground, just as the man was about to attack him. Dominik looked up, laying in the mud, as the assassin went to bring his blade down on him.
Before he could however, a crossbow bolt found home in his eyes. Dominik gritted his teeth and whirled around to see Elise come rushing past him, aiming her crossbow at the now sure dead man. The rain continued coming down harder, just as the blood from the now four dead assassins all lapped up into the mud. Elise turned down to him, just as another shot of pain erupted in him, as his bones screeched in pain at the slightest move. Gritting his teeth he looked down at the bolt protruding from his shoulder and cursed, remembering that each of the weapons the men had carried were poison, and he was sure that their first bolts were as well. It wasn't the first time he had been poisoned, but this time he could feel it rapidly shooting through his bloodstream, yelling as he tried to move.
"GAHHHH FUCK, FUCKING FUCK!" He said, screaming as he fell backwards into the mud again when he tried to lean up against a crate.
Elise's eyes widened. "Easy kid! I gotcha!"
She slid her saber and crossbow back to her waist and fell to her knees next to him. The redhead wrapped his arm around her, and drug him through the mud, and leaned his back up against the crate. Every move made him want to scream, he could feel whatever poison it was slowly spreading, to his legs, arms, into his stomach. Despite the freezing cold and rain, his blood boiled, sweat as well as the rain started trickling from his forehead, and he screamed again when Elise adjusted him against the crate.
"GAHHHH FUCK," He said, trying to control his breathing, as the poison coursed through him at a slow steady rate. "Fuck what… what did… what did Uncle Vesemir say about poison… control… control your breathing and… and always carry an antidote… FUCK!"
"Easy kid, take it easy, I'm gonna pull the bolt out!" Elise said, her voice growing frantic as Dominik quickly shook his.
"NO! No you… you can't I… I'll bleed out and-."
"If we leave it in, that's more poison that's entering your blood stream! Hold still, I'm gonna go on three! One…."
"GAHHH FUCK! I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU'D GO ON THREE!?" He shouted, when Elise pulled the bolt out of his shoulder.
She looked at it for a moment then tossed it to the side. "Would've hurt more if I gave you time to wait! Hold on kid, gotta staunch the bleeding, then try and figure out what poison it is!"
"You… you know… you gotta calling me 'kid'," Dominik said, coughing as he felt his chest begin to explode, looking up at Elsie and shaking his head. "You… you're not that much older than I am!"
He coughed again as Elise ignored him. His head began to get dizzy, as he watched Elise pull his silver knife from his belt and cut off a large piece of her cloak. It drenched right away from the rain, and despite his screaming, she pulled his shoulder up, and wrapped the black material around it, before tying it tightly to stop the bleeding. He knew it would be long before it bled through. It was goof he had his armor on, if he hadn't, then that bolt surely would have killed him by then.
However, despite the bleeding being staunched, his insides kept erupting. He could feel the corruption spreading through his bones. More and more sweat dripped down his brow, each breath became harder and harder to take, and with each small movement of his arms or legs, his bones screamed at him to stop. He tried to think, but with each thought his head erupted, the headache at the bottom of his head stretching further and further and further through his skull, pinging around, preventing him from thinking.
Soon however, he felt his bones begin to ache more, like a hammer being pounded against them repeatedly, and it was the exact same effect that his Uncle Vesemir told him about, when he felt his heart begin to beat at a dangerously rapid pace.
"FUCK!" Elise cursed, shaking her head as she put both her fingers to his neck. She shook her head, her wide brown eyes frantic as she looked at him. "Gotta figure out what kind of poison it is! Your heart's beating too fast, I need to-."
"He…hemlock… it… it's hemlock, I recognize it," He struggled out, groaning loudly as he shook his head, his eyes shot to Elise's.
Elise frantically scoffed. "Hemlock!? Don't you witchers fucking drink it and use it in potions!?"
"If… if I was fucking… fucking mutated it wouldn't be a problem…" He struggled out, each breath struggling to leave him. "Harmless if… if you boil it but… but deadly if you don't."
"Then I need to find you some kind of antidote! Come on, you're a fucking witcher, you gotta know some kind of cure!" She said, pressing down on the makeshift bandage she made of her cloak.
Dominik shook his head, blinking rapidly and not daring to look away from Elise. He needed to focus his mind. The second he looked away from her, into the grey clouds and rain above, his dizziness would only get worse. He sat as still as he could, knowing moving would only make the poison spread faster, and he wasn't going to let this be the death of him. He had survived too much up to this point.
He wouldn't give Emhyr the satisfaction of being the one who ordered his death.
"There… there is no cure…" He said, speaking slowly as he met Elise's eyes, and looked deep into them. "Elise you… you're gonna have to move me. Magic it… it's the only thing, Yen… Yen will know what to do."
"Are you mad!? You can barely move yourself without screaming, and you want me to move you all the way to the fucking inn!?" Elise said, shaking her head incredulously.
It was true, but he had no other option. Hemlock had no cure, if he had been fully mutated, then it would have been no problem, but if he wanted to survive, he needed Yen, he needed magic. The only other way was with some spirit, or White Honey, a witchers potion that cleared toxicity. It was one of the few potions that he could drink and not have it kill him.
He met Elise's eyes and struggled as he shook his head.
"We… we don't have any other choice. I… I'll handle it," He said, trying to struggle up, but as soon as he did, his bones all erupted at once. "FUCK!"
"Well, well, well… it looks like you two are in quite the conundrum!" An unfamiliar voice said.
Dominik's head shot around to the source of the voice, and Elise quickly shot to her feet, her crossbow leaving her waist and aiming at a minute.
"Who the hell are you!? How long have you been there!?" Elise demanded of the bald man.
The man held his hands up and laughed, the rain pattering off his bald head. "Aha… simply a worried well-wisher, heard some commotion in the alley… decided to investigate… and it seems that I was correct. Poison hemlock… no cure for that, unless of course you have the White Honey potion!"
"How… how the hell do you know about that? Witcher potions are… are supposed to be a secret to regular people…" Dominik said, his breathing growing ragged, as Elise kept her crossbow trained on the man.
The bald man laughed again, reaching into his pocket and producing a small vial. Dominik kept his body laid up against the crate behind him, he worked to keep his body still again, but his eyes trained on the bald man as he held the vial out towards them, a smirk on his face as Elise slowly walked forward, her crossbow staying aimed as thunder boomed in the distance again, the rain starting to come down faster.
Smirking, the man handed Elise the vial without issue and looked back to Dominik. "Aha… you could say that I've been around, met a witcher or two, they were… loose lipped. When they told me about the potion itself, I decided to test a few myself."
"So just a curious alchemy student then…" Elise said suspiciously, slowly walking back towards Dominik on the ground, her crossbow still aimed.
"Not at all, I simply… value knowledge. And a potion that can cure poisons? Such a thing would be useful to a traveler like me, a man in my line of work," The man said, giving them a small bow, as the rain continued to drench his outfit.
Dominik eyed the man again; he wasn't wearing any weapons except got a slim dagger on his belt. He also didn't seem exceptionally large, only about as tall as Dominik himself was, and not muscular in the arms at all. He wore a simple silk yellow tunic, brown trousers and boots, and didn't seem to be concerned with the crossbow aimed at him at all. Dominik didn't believe for a second that a witcher would simply hand over the recipe for White Honey to a random stranger.
Right away he thought too magic, but with the little bit he was able to move his head then, he looked down to see his medallion was silent. It didn't hum, and the eyes didn't glow. Elise didn't seem to think the man was too much of a threat either, because for a moment she lowered his crossbow. The man didn't make any moves for hidden weapons when she did, simply standing and smirking at them both, his hands calmly folded in front of him. The rain fell around him, washing away the blood in the back alley, he seemed like a normal man, but there was something about the way the man smirked, that he appeared seemingly out of thin air that rubbed him the wrong way.
He and Elise both were highly trained, their senses tuned, he found it hard to believe that the man truly had managed to walk up near them without either of them hearing him. However, it also could have simply been the rain masking the sound, either way, it still made Dominik nervous, and with everything that was going on, with Bella, with poison running through his veins, he wasn't in the mood for any more questions or mysteries.
The man had also simply given the potion to Elise. If he had learned one thing during his years traveling the Path by himself, it was that people very rarely did things for free, out of the goodness of their heart.
"Can you tell if this is actually it?" Elise said, uncorking the vial, and holding it up to his nose, while she kept her eyes on the man standing a few meters from him.
Dominik did the same but nodded. The poison didn't take away his sense of smell, so when Elise held the vial up to his nose, despite the deteriorating feeling in his bones, he was able to identify the potion, and when he did, moving his head ever so slowly, he looked back to the man.
"That… that's the… the one…" He said, looking up and meeting the man's eyes. "Who… who the hell are you? Why… why are you doing this?"
The man smirked and scoffed, waving his hand. "Who me? A mangy vagrant nothing more believe me."
"Is mangy vagrant a profession now?" Dominik asked, feeling the strain on the back of his throat.
The stranger laughed again. "Aha… I suppose it isn't… Gaunter O'Dimm, a merchant of mirrors, been so long enough, the budding public dubbed me, 'Master Mirror', or 'The Man of Glass.'."
Dominik shook his head and groaned. "Didn't… didn't answer my other question… why… why are you doing this?"
And the look that came to the man's face then, would be burned inside Dominik's brain for the rest of his life. The smirk that came to Gaunt O'Dimm's face, even with his blurring vision, was twisted, knowing, plotting, and it sent a shiver down Dominik's spine that had nothing to do with the poison, his fatigue, or the cold wind and rain.
O'Dimm laughed again. "Aha… let's just say I… enjoy helping out the misfortunate. Who knows Dominik of Cintra! Perhaps one day… I'll be in need, and you'll be there to help me…. As for now, you'd best get that potion in you before the poison takes hold."
"How the fuck do you know his name!?" Elise said, shooting up to her feet again, careful to not spill the potion.
"Oh… well… it's not every day a man like me gets to rub up against greatness, the son of Geralt of Rivia… whom he saved from the sack of Cintra," O'Dimm said, smirking again as he turned from the both of them, towards the turn down one of the alley's, before he looked back to them both. "I do hope I could have been of some help… until we meet again…."
The bald man began to whistle, an eerie tune, that shot goosebumps up his trembling skin. O'Dimm somehow whistled clear over the sound of the rain, and the thunder booming overhead. He didn't look back at them once, turning down the alley, his whistling tune getting fainter and fainter. Elise from next to him narrowed her eyes towards where he had walked.
"Hey! Hey, wait, that's no explanation!" Elise yelled, turning and handing the potion to his weak hands before she ran with her crossbow towards the alley O'Dimm had turned down.
Elise got to the spot where O'Dimm had leisurely walked down. Her eyes widened, and she turned her head back to him leaning against the crates. "He… he's gone… it… it's like he just disappeared…"
Dominik's skin crawled as he heard the man's words echo in his ears. The potion was loosely gripped in his hands, and the poison continued coursing through him, but somehow the sound of the man's voice, and his echo still hit her ears. He had known Dominik's name, that he was the son of Geralt of Rivia. Of course he had met plenty of people who heard the story of Geralt saving him from the sack of Cintra, it was after all one of Dandelion's most famous ballads, and even though he had tired of hearing it, he had used it once or twice to help him get a discount at an inn or tavern. However, never once in the ballad was his name mentioned, and most people when he introduced himself, simply assumed his last name meant he was from Cintra, which he was, but never had anyone deduced he was the one Geralt saved from Cintra unless he outright told them.
The man had also apparently disappeared into thin air, could he have been a mage? If that had been the case, his medallion would have hummed if he truly teleported. Even if the man were some kind of djinn, his medallion would have still hummed at his sight.
However, who Gaunter O'Dimm was, was the least of his worries at the moment. His hands tried to grip around the potion vial again, but soon he cough violently, blinking furiously. It felt as if his heart had combusted at once, and all of his internal organs were being mushed together. His very limbs tingled and hummed, as if at any moment he was going to start bleeding. The very small amount of strength he had left was quickly drained, and he barely found himself able to lift the vial up to his lips.
"E…Elise… Elise…" He said, his voice growing more faint, as his eyes finally had started blinking furiously, his heart racing faster.
Elise slung her crossbow back onto her belt and whirled around, her eyes widened upon seeing the look in his eyes.
"Hold on kid! Don't pass out on me, come on!" She yelled, coming and sliding back down to his side in the mud.
"Ci…Ciri… Ciri… gotta… gotta… talk to…" He said, as his eyes continued to blink, and everything that had happened came rushing back to him.
All could think about now was Ciri. His vision was blurrier and blurrier, his eyes blinking faster. As he blinked, all he could see was Ciri. Ciri, himself, Bella, all of them. He wanted her, just to hold her. His sister, his little sister, Bella, she was with the Hunt. Eredin had taken her, he'd kidnapped her as well, brainwashed her, Caranthir had tortured her, they had also chased Ciri for years, tried to kill her. The Hunt had done that, they had tried to kill them both, and he was going to kill them for it. Eredin, Caranthir, every single one of them were going to die, and he was going to make sure it was slow and agonizing.
"Don't talk kid, hold on, hold on I gotchu," Elise promised, her red hair sticking to her forehead as she took the potion from him. "Don't know who that fucker is… but if you say this potion is it."
"Ciri… Bella… she.. she's… gods…" He said, remembering her anger from the previous night.
He could see himself screaming at Ciri earlier, accusing her of not caring, shutting her out when she had tried to talk to him. He saw her, himself, and Fiona, all standing together at Kaer Morhen, Fiona dipping and dodging the pendulum as Ciri and he both stood and told her what to do. He was the hard one, yelling at her to watch her footwork, while Ciri simply smirked at them both. He saw Ciri and he teleporting away, away to a different world, perhaps the world with the throne made out of swords, or Camelot, the world she had told him about first. He saw their future, Fiona, he and Ciri, introducing her to Geralt and Yen, Freya, Faram, George, Dandelion, Priscilla, all of them, all of his friends, his family, the people who made all the suffering worth it around them.
Uncle Vesemir had also told them, that Hemlock caused you to see visions when it was entering its most deadly stage.
"Ciri… Ciri… gods I… Ciri… I-." He was cut off when he felt the potion vial shove to his lips.
Elise held his nose back and forced his mouth open. The second he felt the first bit of the potion hit his lips, the inside of his body exploded, as if it were turning into a sauna and the White Honey was the water dousing the hot coals.
"GAHHHHHH FUCKING FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!" He said, feeling his eyes blink again, every bit of his body erupting.
"Is it supposed to do that!?" Elise quickly asked, frantically holding his head straight.
After the moment of pain, he felt the effects of the potion slowly take effect. His stomach hummed, churned, but not in pain like it had been. It was like finally soaking your aching bones into a relaxing tub of hot water after a long day. His bubbling, mashed together insides slowly untwisted, untwisted and went back to normal.
But that didn't stop his eyes from watering.
"Yeah.… Yeah it… it is…" He said, tears starting to slowly stream down his cheeks, as all he wanted, all he needed was Ciri.
For so many years, that was all he wanted, just to have her arms around him again. He wanted to hold her, he had been a complete ass the previous night and that day so far. He probably didn't deserve it, but all he wanted was her.
"Alright kid… I'm gonna try to move ya… think you can stay awake long enough to help me move you to the inn? You're… a little heavy in your armor," Elise carefully asked him.
He nodded slowly, the tears coming down his eyes still. "Yeah… yeah come… come on… sorry… sorry I… almost got you killed."
Elise shook her head, and got low to the ground, putting Dominik's arm around her shoulder.
"No problem kid… you're a good one… you and your woman both… never really had many true friends myself growing up… I'll help the ones I have now," She said, as the redhead helped pull him up to his feet.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
Ciri knocked at the door, having mentally prepared herself for the conversation she was about to have. She knew Avallac'h would be annoyed, angry, and probably quick tempered. Ciri couldn't afford to piss him off further, but she also wouldn't let him walk all over her. She still hadn't heard anything from Dominik coming back downstairs, and as much as Ciri was yearning to hear he had come back, she knew him not being there would make the conversation easier. She needed to assure that Avallac'h wasn't up to anything that would put them in immediate peril. Geralt had told her when he was explaining what had happened while she and Dominik were in Claywitch, that Avallac'h had taken him to Tir'Nala, to assure that the Aen Elle wouldn't come to Eredin's aid. To do so, they had enlisted the help of a dreamer, the same one who had helped Dominik and he figure out she was in Novigrad, and showed Ge'els, the steward of the Aen Elle, the truth of the death of King Auberon.
Eredin had killed him, Ciri could have told anyone that. She wouldn't mourn for Auberon, not in the slightest. The man had been cruel, for months had made her feel like she was less than a pile of shit on the side of the road. He had hunted other races in other worlds, he was Lara Dorren's father, so he was technically one of his great-grandparents as much as she didn't like to think about it. That was why Avallac'h and Eredin had forced her to try and sleep with him, to bring about another heir so they could use the power of her blood. They had used it and wanted it so that they could keep their gate, their access to other worlds, other sources to find new slaves opened. It was part of the reason Lara Dorren had left, ran away, because she hadn't wanted to be used for such a purpose.
No, Ciri wouldn't mourn for Auberon, she was glad he was dead. However, of all the Aen Elle she had met, at least he was the most honest with her. Unlike Eredin… and unlike Avallac'h had initially been.
"What is it!?" Avallach's annoyed voice snapped from inside the room.
Ciri sighed and rolled her eyes. "It's me."
It was silent for a moment, but the sage's voice soon came again. "Come…"
She huffed and pushed the door open, walking inside what Dandelion had called the ruby suite, which Avallac'h had taken over without even saying a word. Inside, there wasn't anything special, the sage only had a few old books strewn about the large table on the inside, with a bowl of fruit and a few empty pitchers of water. She knew the sage had basically been a recluse, but she was shocked to see truly nothing else in the room. The large four poster bed was in one corner, a balcony with a brilliant view of Novigrad looped around the top floor of the inn. A brilliant fireplace crackled warmly, giving Ciri a bit of warmth to combat the chilly breeze that came from the balcony.
She closed the door after taking a few steps inn. Before she had left her room, she ate a bit more downstairs with Freya, Faram, George, Geralt and Yen, saying hello to Triss, and even Lambert who had come with the blonde sorceress Keira Metz. Ciri had even spotted Phillipa again, along with Margarita, and the sage Ida Emean. Phillipa had cornered her and 'politely' asked her to come and meet with her and the other sorceresses in the coming days before they all left for Skellige.
Ciri had known exactly what it would be about. Phillipa would ask her to join to the Lodge of Sorceresses, or 'suggest', she go off to marry some random king or prince like they had after she returned the first time. She assumed Phillipa was foaming at the mouth to try and have control over the 'future empress of Nilfgaard.'
She wasn't the 'future empress of Nilfgaard', she didn't consider herself a sorceress, and she wouldn't in any way let those women try to tell her what to do again. Ciri knew however, that they needed the sorceresses, and knew that the last thing they would want to hear was what she was really thinking, which was that she couldn't care less about their lodge or whatever they had to offer. So, Ciri had politely told Phillipa that she would meet with them at a later date. She figured she would go listen to them speak, and either politely decline or tell them she would 'think about it and get back to them', and then in fact never get back to them.
Sighing, goosebumps ran up her arms, and she shivered. She hadn't taken her sword with her, but she put her corset and gloves back on, and tied up her hair again. Footsteps hit her ears, and she turned to see Avallac'h annoyedly stomping towards her, out from the balcony.
It was as Ciri had expected, the sage's face was healed of blood and bruises, but if Ciri looked closely enough, he could still see it slightly crooked. Dominik had done a number on him; any normal man would have been near death at this point from the blow Dominik gave the sage. She remembered Dominik telling her how in the past, Alexander of Lod had defeated Avallac'h, and quite handily. If not for Eredin's interference, Avallac'h would be dead, and she knew that fact was part of the reason Avallac'h hated Dominik so.
Blaming people now, for the things that their ancestors had done, it was something Avallac'h and the Aen Elle had now done to Dominik and Ciri both.
"You should count yourself lucky I am even still here Zireael," The sage hissed, crossing his arms as he angrily met her eyes. "You need to learn to control your repugnant, animalistic little boyfriend!"
He's started already… this is going to be a long conversation. Ciri sighed, crossing her own arms and rolling her eyes. She didn't feel bad for Avallac'h, after what the sage did to her, and how he had been acting towards everyone, a small part of her was happy Dominik had tried to put him in his place. As Faram had said, the sage had it coming to him from how he had been acting. She hadn't forgotten how he tried to force her to stay instead of going to Claywitch with Dominik just a few nights earlier.
Ciri also was getting tired of the sage pretending like he was here for anything other than his own selfish reasons. She knew he was doing this all for a reason. Geralt and Dominik both told her, that one day Avallac'h would ask her for a 'favor', in return for saving her. Ciri knew it was true, she wasn't naive. She wouldn't fall for the sages honeyed words and promises of protection again.
The last time she had done that, he had then forced her into Auberon's bedchamber, in an effort to try and create genetic offspring from her. He had told her that if she did, she would have been allowed to leave… but she knew that was a lie, and he planned on keeping her trapped their forever.
She rolled her eyes at the sage, her hands on her hips. "Oh come off it, stop acting like we're the lucky ones you're still here. You don't give a damn about what happens to any of us, stop acting like you do, it's getting extremely irritating."
"You are aware Zireael, that if I were to leave, Eredin would find you within moments," The sage snapped back, his crooked nostrils flaring. "You and your power both would fall into his hands without me, so yes you should consider yourself lucky!"
Ciri scoffed as she crossed her arms. "I can take care of myself; I have plenty of people I trust to defend me. You should be the one considering yourself lucky!"
"Yes, multiple people defending you… how did that work at Kaer Morhen?" The sage said condescendingly. "I gave up everything to save your life, to make sure your power doesn't fall into the wrong hands, so that-."
"Oh again, would you fucking come off it," Ciri snapped, cutting the sage off and taking another angry step towards him. "You only came to help me to stick it to Eredin, you want to use me just like everyone else has, I'm not the same foolish little girl I was when we first met!"
Ciri's words made the sage pause, as she jabbed a finger towards him. "You tricked me the first time, fooled me with the same song and dance! You only helped me because you need to use me for something, you don't give a damn what happens to me or anyone else in this world! So do us both a fucking favor… and stop fucking pretending that you do…"
Her words had been boiling up inside her for days. Even when she traveled with Avallac'h, stayed in the world they had for so long, she hadn't forgotten what the sage had done to her the first time. Even during that time, he was controlling, brash. At times he had been pleasant company, but that would always be followed by Ciri remembering what he had done to her last time. He appeared calm, composed and welcoming the first time she had met him as well, and that had turned out to be a sham, just like she knew this was. She knew the type of person Avallac'h was, he never did anything not in his own best interests.
Now, he was using her again, and whatever it is he wanted from her, he wanted it badly, and it didn't seem like he wanted to give her much choice. He was maneuvering himself, to make it out like Ciri owed him, in a way of shoehorning her into doing whatever it was he wanted.
Avallac'h recoiled for a moment, before narrowing her eyes at her. "I still saved your life you ignorant girl… you would be dead by now if not for me! You owe me your-."
"I OWE YOU NOTHING!" Ciri finally snapped again, her green eyes flaring as she shook her head and darted her eyes at the sage. "You finding me and training me, if you paying me back for when you tricked me, and FORCED ME TO TRY AND FUCK YOUR KING!"
"IT WAS YOUR DUTY! YOUR DUTY TO RIGHT HER MISTAKE!"
"NO! IT WASN'T!" Ciri said, shaking her head and scoffing, looking pitifully at the sage. "What an ancestor who I never met did, is not my responsibility! That's what this is isn't it!? You believe you were robbed of Lara Dorren when she left you, and now you have her descendant in front of you, and you believe that I owe you, that for some reason Lara owes you, and you can get it back by controlling me!:
"You tread on dangerous ground Zireael!" Avallac'h snapped, his crooked nostrils flaring as he shook his head. "She was mine BY RIGHT! And now you-."
"NO, I OWE YOU NOTHING!" Ciri snapped, shaking her head furiously and glaring deep into the sage's eyes as she scoffed. "I have news for you Avallac'h… Lara Dorren didn't owe you a single thing… and neither do I."
For a few moments there was silence. Her gloved hands shook in fists at her side. How anyone, or the sage himself could possibly think, after everything he had done, she would owe him a thing she had no idea. She had the theory of Lara Dorren in her head, ever since Dominik told her about the vision he saw with Alexander, learning Avallac'h was supposed to be the one to marry her ancestor.
Her words had the intending effect. Because, for the first time since she had met the sage, he was at a loss for words for a moment. Outside thunder boomed. The rain had momentarily stopped, but now it had picked up again, blowing wind in through the balcony, and chilling her bones. After a moment, Avallac'h adjusted himself, and looked darkly into her eyes again.
"Tell me then Zireael…if you believe you do not owe me, and obviously still hold such a disdain for our past encounters…" The sage said slowly, narrowing his eyes. "Then how come… you didn't let your little boyfriend kill me?"
Ciri's stomach turned but she scoffed. "Because… even with everything you've done to me… I understand we still need you if we want to have any hope of defeating Eredin… I'd just prefer if you could cut the bullshit…"
Avallac'h sneered. "Exactly… you need me, but I must agree with one thing you said…. No more games. It is clear that we both wish to be rid of each other. You… are nothing but a grotesque reminder of what should have belonged to me. And I've wanted to be rid of you, I promise for just as long as you've wanted to be rid of me."
"Then I'm glad we're on the same page…" Ciri said, anger seething through her tone. "You should be lucky that I deign to be in the same room as you… after your sick twisted plans for me the first time."
The sage rolled his eyes. "I will not argue about that like a child with you Zireael… I will not apologize for it."
"I didn't expect you to, it's just the kind of person you are…" She said in disgust.
"Good then… but contrary to what you believe Zireael… you do still owe me," The sage said, rolling his eyes as he glared at her. "You owe me for deciding to stick around here after the display you animal of a boyfriend put on this morning."
She shook her head, narrowing her eyes. "You should be the one owing me, Dominik would have killed you if not for me."
Avallac'h continued glaring at her. "Believe you me Zireael… I could have handled your pathetic little boyfriend."
"Call him pathetic again… and see what happens…" Ciri said darkly, taking another step closer to the sage.
The elf scoffed and shook his head, and Ciri saw a darker look then she ever had appeared, as Avallac'h spoke in a deep, dark tone.
"I have more power than even you know Zireael… if I wished for you and all of your friends to be dead now… they would be…" The sage said, and Ciri kept a neutral face, but on the inside she trembled as the elf sighed. "Either way… no matter what has happened, one thing remains true, and that's that I have not lied to you since we've begun traveling."
Ciri shuddered from the cold draft of the open balcony, and begrudgingly nodded.
"You haven't… I know you have something planned for me yes… but, as I said before… I need you if I want to defeat Eredin… I'm going to have to trust you, it's my only way…" Ciri said, crossing her arms again.
She had made the mistake of trusting Avallac'h fully once. Ciri had only a select few people she trusted completely in that world, and the sage wasn't one of them. However, it was as she told him, she needed to trust him then, to stay on his good side. She knew no matter what happened, the one goal her and Avallac'h both shared, was that they both wanted Eredin dead. The sage had claimed he wanted the King dead so, 'her power didn't fall into the wrong hands'. However, Ciri knew it was for another reason, wanting to stick it to his rival was one reason, but from what she knew of the sage, it was more than likely to try and gain greater power for himself.
The sage nodded, crossing his robed arms again as the wind blew the loose strands of her ashen hair. The rain got worse, and she could hear more thunder booming, along with seeing bolts of lightning flashing in the distance. The lightning, the storm that was brewing, only made her wish to curl in front of a fire more with Dominik and their friends down below. However, she knew that she needed to make sure that Avallac'h was still going to stay, which she had confirmed, so now, she needed to know one more thing.
However, what the sage had said next, had been what she was least expecting.
"Yes… I also must… apologize…." The sage said, as if every word he said pained him to do so. He shook his head and sighed rolling his eyes and crossing his arms. "I have been… brash with all of you. It is no secret I wish to be rid of you all, and you all of me. Let us both agree… to trust each other for now. I promise to be more… accommodating, you will not see me unless it is for training, or completely necessary, and after Eredin is dealt with… we will never see each other again… is that something you can agree to?"
He's doing damage control… he knows I'm going to ask about Bella. Ciri narrowed her eyes, knowing that if the sage did promise this, then she knew he would keep his word, and avoid them all at every available opportunity he could. However, would he really not lie to her? When he had said he hadn't lied to her since he found her again, Ciri knew this was true. He was plotting something yes, but everything that Ciri had asked him about, the sage had told her. He had helped her learn a semblance of control over her power and was still keeping them safe from Eredin.
Ciri needed to trust him, however, there was one thing she needed to know first.
She narrowed her gaze at the elf. "I'll agree… on one condition."
"Which is…?" He asked, the annoyance clear in his voice.
"Bella…" Ciri said, and she noticed the elf perk up, his beady eyes looking at her. She slowly shook her head and went on. "Look me in the eyes and tell me the truth… did you really not know that she was with Eredin?"
Her gloved hands curled into fists, as she looked for any sign of movement, of deceit in the elf's eyes.
Avallac'h showed none however, as he shook his head. "No… I did not know…. Your little brat of a boyfriend disgusts me… but even I can understand the difficulty of the situation-."
The sage was cut off by the door slamming open with a bang.
"CIRI!" The voice of Faram of Undviik bellowed into the room.
Ciri and Avallac'h both turned, and sure enough, Ciri saw the massive bear witcher had burst into the room, his yellow witcher eyes wide and frantic.
"You bumbling oaf!" Avallac'h sneered, shaking his head in disgust. "Can you not see we're in the middle of a-."
Faram however, ignored the sage as he cut him off, his eyes turning directly to Ciri.
"It's Dom! He's back," The bear witcher said, looking deep into her eyes as they widened, and he slowly shook his head. "He was hurt pretty bad; he was asking for you!"
And within seconds, all thoughts of Avallac'h, of Bella, of the Hunt were all gone.
"What!? What happened, is he alive!?" Ciri said, her voice breaking as she ran towards the massive witcher.
Faram quickly nodded as they both turned towards the door. "He's alright yeah, Elise found him in the streets, drug him back here, said something about assassins and being poisoned!"
"Poisoned!?" Ciri asked, her heart dropping to her boots.
Faram nodded, now out of breath. "No need to worry lassie, Yennefer and Triss are over him now, he'll be alright, he was a bit delirious, he kept asking for you…"
"Come on, come on let's go!" Ciri said, grabbing the door to the room as her eyes started to quiver.
Avallach's voice rang in her ears as she grabbed the handle. "Zireael! We have not finished-."
But Ciri cut the sage off by slamming the door to his room shut.
Nothing mattered then, nothing except being there for Dominik when he needed her most. Just like he would always be for her.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
"What the fucking hell happened!?" Ciri yelled, as she burst open the door to her and Dominik's room, Faram bursting in behind her.
Her and Dominik's room was full of people, and right away they all turned to her at once, except for Triss, who was still sitting next to Dominik on their bed, a spell casted over his shoulder. Her eyes widened as her heart beat out of her chest, she looked straight for him, and wasted no time in getting to their bedside, near Triss, who upon seeing her breathed a sigh of relief.
"D…Dominik…" Ciri said, sitting next to Triss, leaning over him as the sorceress finally stood.
She hadn't taken notice of where everyone was in the room yet, all she was concerned about then was him. They had taken off his shirt, he was pale, sweat dripped down his torso, and Ciri's breath caught up in her chest when she noticed the piercing wound in his shoulder, and the black and blue bruise around it. She shakily sighed, and ran her hand over it, and he winced, his eyes fluttered open as he finally looked over to her. Ciri met his eyes, and frantically ripped off her gloves, tossing them to the side she gently held one hand over his chest, the other gently going up to his face. As carefully as she could, her own eyes stinging she cupped his face, leaning down as she shakily sighed to meet his gaze.
"Ci…Ciri… Ciri… gods…" He said, his own eyes watering, as Ciri quickly shook her head.
"Shh… it's alright… it's alright, I'm right here… I'm here…" She said, her thumb stroking his scarred cheek.
He gingerly nodded to her, his eyes still quivering as he shakily sighed and his head fell back on the pillow, looking up towards the ceiling before closing his eyes. Seeing his pale face, the wound in his shoulder, her hands shook as they slid down towards his chest.
I should have gone with him… I should have gone with him. She shakily reached up and gripped the swallow that was around his neck, before doing the same with the ring around her neck. He had been in so much pain, she had known this, but still she hadn't gone after him. She wasn't there for him, she hadn't been there for him for eight years… but that would change now.
"Ciri… here…. Make sure to clean it for him…" A voice said behind her, and she whirled around to see Freya.
With her bare, trembling hands, Ciri grabbed what Freya was handing her. It was a fresh white, wet rag, and she looked behind the blonde to see a bucket with another blood rag in it, along with what looked like a ripped off piece of a black bloody cloak.
"Th…thanks…" She said, turning and finally seeing everyone in the room.
Triss and Yen both stood near her dresser, Yen's face paler then Ciri had ever seen it. Freya sat on the bed next to her, while near the door Faram stood with a grim look, his arms crossed as he gave Ciri a nod. Just like the bear witcher had said, when she looked to the table they had in their room, Geralt stood with Elise De Le Serre. Ciri noticed she had three long scars, claw marks from the battle of Kaer Morhen going down her right cheek. She had two saber at her belt, and Ciri noticed how she just finished putting Dominik's sword, dagger at crossbow onto their table, where they laid next to his blood armor.
Elise seemed to notice Ciri staring at her because the redhead nodded at her.
Ciri gingerly stood and shakily sighed. "Elise I… Faram said… said that you-."
"Aye… it was no problem dearie," The redhead said, a small smile coming to her face as she nodded towards Ciri. "It's good to see you again, see you all again really."
Geralt nodded, looking to meet the redhead's gaze. "Good to see you too but… what the hell happened?"
"He's right… who did this?" Yen hissed, her angry violet eyes shooting over to Elise. "You said something about assassins?"
"Aye… I had come looking for him, Adda wanted to talk to him again," Elise explained, looking back over to Ciri now. "He… told me about what was going on. Gave him some advice… that was when the assassins came… Nilfgaardean ones."
"What!? Emhyr has sent assassins after him!?" Yennefer demanded, her eyes flaming as she shot her eyes over to Geralt. "Did you know?"
"I did…" Geralt said slowly, a bit of shame to his voice, as he turned to look at Ciri. "Remember he told us… he fought them off with Declan."
Ciri's blood ran cold, but it quickly heated. She did remember, and she remembered how incredibly pissed off it had made her. Dominik told him how he got into a shouting match with her 'father', and he had sent assassins after him, trying to kill him. She had already hated Emhyr, and now it was only more fuel to be added to the fire.
"Yes… I do," She said, her head slowly turning to see Dominik breathing heavily, his breaths short and shaky, making her tremble more. "I swear… he'll pay for this…"
"If Emhyr's ordering Dominik killed, how are we supposed to trust any deal he offers us? That's the crux of our deal with the other sorceresses, what if he orders us to give him Dominik to keep that end of the deal?" Triss said from next to Yen, pulling Ciri's attention back to them.
Very few times in Ciri's life had she seen such a seething anger in her mother's eyes. The raven-haired sorceress crossed her arms, shakily sighing and shaking her head. She narrowed her murderous violet eyes around the room at them all.
"He won't… he needs Ciri too badly…" Her mother said, turning to look at Dominik laying on the bed, before shaking her head again. "But he also knows Dominik is an obstacle to her doing what he wants…"
Ciri scoffed, her anger boiling. "I hate to inform him… but even if Dominik wasn't involved, there's not a chance I would fucking do anything he asks of me."
Yen nodded in agreement. "I know darling, but he's arrogant, thinks he can coerce you, that he has some type of power over you. Dominik is in the way of that, he thinks if he removes him, then he'll be able to make you do what he wants."
"Just like he did with your mother… according to Dominik," Geralt said, anger dripping from his words.
Elise scoffed. "I always knew he was a cunt… Adda will take him down, I fucking know she will…. Thought I should let you all know; she's sworn to keep your secret."
Elise directed her view at Ciri, and Ciri nodded thankfully. It had been a lingering feeling in the back of her mind, that perhaps Adda would use her identity to her advantage. However, she trusted Elise, she was the reason Dominik was alive, and for that she was eternally thankful, so she trusted the redhead.
At hearing Geralt's words however, her fists curled. Dominik had told her what he learned, that Emhyr had been the one to order not just her capture, but for Cahir to kill Gregory, Dominik himself, and his family. During the time after Ciri's mother and Emhyr had married, while he was still using a fake name, Gregory hadn't trusted him, was always in the way. He resented Gregory for this, Gregory being there didn't allow him to fully control Ciri's mother, and now, the same thing was happening again apparently.
She wouldn't let it. Ciri wasn't about to let Emhyr control any facet of her life anymore. She wouldn't bail the man out of his problems, if she could avoid it, she'd never even come face to face with the man again. Her heart raced, and the anger that surged through her reached new heights now. Still he was trying to control her, the man who had chased her, wanted to rape her and impregnate her, marry her, his daughter, no she wouldn't let that man control her life anymore, not again.
And now he had tried to kill Dominik.
Ciri's eyes turned to Elise. "Tell Adda… that I said thank you… and that I hope she puts a fucking knife through Emhyr's neck next…"
Elise scoffed and nodded. "I'll relay your message… you can be sure."
Geralt nodded next to her, looking between them all. "This is good an all, but Elise, what else happened? How the hell did you get him here, you said he took a poison crossbow bolt to the shoulder."
Ciri's eyes widened as she looked over to Elise, but before she could say anything, Yennefer cut in again.
"Sending assassins with poison after my son… that man is lucky I need him…" The sorceress said darkly, before she looked over at Elise. "Tell Adda… that I will provide any and all-."
"STOP!" Dominik's voice croaked out, and at once, everyone in the room turned to him.
Ciri whirled around, her hands gripping tightly around the wet rag in her hands again. She looked and saw Dominik had opened his eyes again and looked over at them all. She could see his large chest rising and falling rapidly, his eyes quivering as he looked at them all. Ciri had never seen such a look in him, and she knew exactly what was wrong, what it was.
He was finally breaking down. He met her eyes, and Ciri's own quivering as she saw the pain built up in his emerald eyes.
"Dominik…" She said softly, sliding towards him on the bed.
He kept her gaze for a minute, before he turned over to everyone else. "I… I don't give a fuck about politics right now…. Everyone… everyone except Ciri… go… please…"
Ciri looked to everyone in the room as well, and all of them seemed to understand that they needed to be alone. Geralt slowly nodded at her, turning to Elise and gesturing towards the door.
"Come on… tell us more downstairs," Geralt said, as they all started shuffling towards the door.
Her hand was squeezed, and she looked up to see Freya nodding at her. "The water's over there if you need it…"
Ciri nodded to the blonde, before like the rest of them, left their room. Within seconds, the room was silent. She saw Yennefer look at them last, a forlorn look on the sorceress's face as she closed the door behind her. After hearing the door click, she turned and saw Dominik again, his head going back down onto the pillow. His eyes were tightly shut, quivering, and not opening as if he was trying to will the tears not to fall from them.
She right away looked down and noticed the rag in her hands had gone damp. Quickly she looked at him, his eyes still closed, the bruise and wound on his shoulder still blue and festering. Quickly Ciri kicked off her boots as well, getting up and walking to the bucket Freya had left. Her heart thumped out of her chest, as while she wetted it again, all she could look at was his pale face, his quivering, now open bright emerald eyes. The same eyes that Bella had the night before, the ones they had both looked into, the ones they had both been broken upon seeing.
Ciri wrung out the water in the bucket, before unbuckling her corset as well. She let it fall to the floor as she got to his bedside again. His eyes were open now, and he looked at her, silent, biting the inside of his lip as she gently went to dab the rag over his wound. Upon the contact he winced, and Ciri's heart broke, as she saw the tears finally fall down his cheek.
She had spent all day wondering what more she could do for him. Everyone had told her all she could do was simply be there, but Ciri had wanted to do more. She loved him too much, loved him and Bella both, but he was the love of her life, and seeing him like he was now, it made her hands tremble as she wiped over his wound. She wanted to bring Bella to the inn then, to erase the memory of last night from them both, something, anything just to make his pain go away.
But truly, all she could do was be there… and have him let it all out with her.
"Dominik…" She said slowly, gently moving the rag from his hard chest, and scooting closer, she reached down and gently cupped his face as he looked at her. "Dominik I… I-."
"Ciri…" He said shakily, his one hand reaching to grip onto hers.
"Yeah…" She said, the tears threatening to spill from her as well.
Finally, he sobbed, the tears coming from his eyes as he looked at her. "Please… please just… just lay with me… please…"
"Of course… always…" She said, finally feeling small tears come from her own eyes as well, the whole weight of the situation hitting her as well.
He didn't say anything, he didn't have too, Ciri could see what he was feeling. She pulled her hair out of its bun, laying down next to him on the bed. Right away, he shakily sighed, his arm going around her neck, as Ciri curled up into his chest. Her hair fell out over him, and she could feel his rapid heartbeat as her hand went over his chest. Goosebumps traveled up his arms, he shakily sighed, and Ciri saw the tears still coming down his cheeks.
For the first time that day, she finally had time to reflect, digest what had happened.
Bella was with the Wild Hunt, helping lead them. Eredin had brainwashed her, controlled her, tortured her, made her suffer for years, turned her into what she was now. And Ciri had almost killed her, she had almost killed them both. Bella, the girl she considered her sister. Ciri would never forget the first time Bella referred to her as her 'Big Sister' in Cintra. They had been in her room, and Ciri was trying to find one of the old dresses and cloaks she had that would fit her. Dominik had gone down to the kitchens to try and get them all food, leaving it just Bella and her. Ciri was helping her try one on over the clothes she had, and she would never forget the elated look Bella had gotten.
She had turned to Ciri and said how happy she was that Dominik had met her. Ciri had said that it was no big deal at all, that Dominik was her best-friend, and since Bella was his sister, that made Bella her best-friend too. And that was when Bella had told Ciri she loved her brother yes… but she had always wanted a big sister, saying how Ciri could be that in a way. Ciri had almost cried, having always secretly wished for a sibling herself.
Even back then, she had a massive crush on Dominik, so she didn't consider him her brother, only her best friend, who she hoped felt the same way about her. Bella however, had truly felt like that younger sister she had always wanted. Even though she hadn't spent as much time with Bella as she did Dominik, Ciri still loved her all the same. She couldn't imagine what Dominik was feeling, but she did know that it was even worse than what she felt then. He sobbed and shakily sighed, and Ciri's heart shattered, looking up and seeing the tears build up in his eyes. She reached her arm around himself, pulling closer to him on the bed then, just as a massive clap of thunder boomed from outside, the rain pattering violently against the window.
She looked up and met his eyes, tears slowly coming from. "D…Dom… Dom are… are you-."
"Ciri…" He said, sobbing as he did, looking down and meeting her eyes. "I… I'm sorry… I'm sorry for yelling… for yelling at you and… and saying that you didn't care and-."
"Shhh… it's alright, gods Dominik it's alright," She said, as he slowly sat up, groaning in pain as he pushed his chest up.
Ciri did the same, looking over at him as he shook his head. He shakily sobbed again, meeting her eyes and shaking his head.
"No… no it's not I… I said… I said that you didn't care about Bella…" He said, shaking his head as he sobbed and looked at her. "Ciri… Ciri gods Bella she… she's…."
"It's alright… it's going to be alright I swear…" She said, cutting him off and hugging around his neck, pulling his head towards her chest. "We… we'll get her back… we will… I promise…. Gods I promise…"
"I don't know if I can do it… I don't know if I can…" He said, melting into her as he cried, gripping around her waist, his head burying into her as she held him. "Bella… gods Ciri it… it's Bella…"
"I know… I know… you're strong enough… she's strong enough… we'll make sure she's alright… I swear it…" She said, silently crying herself, knowing she couldn't break down with him in her arms then.
He sobbed into her top again and shook his head. "Bella…. Bella gods…. My sister Ciri… it… it was really her… she… she's alive… gods Bella…"
"I know… I love her too…" Ciri said, finally shaking sobbing herself as she dug her fingers into his hair, squeezing her arms around him. "It's alright… we'll get her… I promise…. Let it out… I'm here… I'm here… and I'm never going anywhere again…"
"Gods Ciri… Ciri I… I almost killed her… killed Bella… fuck… fucking… fuck…" He said, shaking his head again as it stayed buried into her. "I… I'm sorry I… I just-."
"It's alright… gods Dominik it's alright… I'm here… I'm right here…let it out… go on…" She said, shakily sobbing as she hugged tighter around him again. "I promise… I promise… you can always break down in front of me… I'll always be here… from now on…"
And finally like she had been expecting all day, he broke down then in his arms. Loud booms of thunder roared from outside the window, lightning flashed casting an even darker light over the entire city outside. Ciri thought the weather was fitting. She knew the road to freedom, to their freedom, the lives her and Dominik had discussed since they were children would be long, perilous, full of hardships. They had both already finished the longest parts, the journeys alone they both took that brought them back to each other.
However, now their journey was truly reaching its apex. She didn't know what she would have done if she learned about Bella without Dominik, and she didn't know what he would have done if he learned about Bella with her. It was something they'd have to face together.
But Ciri wouldn't be able to fight Bella, talk to her, that would all fall on Dominik, and she would never be able to imagine the pain that caused him, and she wanted to help him somehow, do something, anything for him.
And for the first time in Ciri's life it seemed, her problems couldn't be solved with a sword.
A/N: And now ladies and gentlemen we have the fallout from last chapters shocking revelation. This chapter took me a very long time to write xD It's about at the 40,000 word mark, which is massive so I'm going to assume that was why lol. To be quite honest, I could probably break up most of my chapters into smaller chapters, but if I did that this story would be over a hundred chapters long xD But either way, we're almost finished in Novigrad, one more chapter before we head to Skellige for the final battle! Let's break down this chapter first.
The first and longest scene, is something I've been waiting to write for the longest time. Dominik storms back with Ciri to the Chameleon, and we finally see him snap and lose his patience with Avallac'h. Avallac'h claims he didn't know about Bella being Baelen… what do you all believe? Is Dominik in the right? Should Ciri have just let him kill the sage? How will this all come up later?
After that, we finally see Dominik lose it with everyone, but can you blame him? He just learned his sister was alive, and working actively to kill him and Ciri both. All story we've seen him mature, able to keep his angry outbursts contained, and finally we see it all come out. He storms out of the inn, and after a funny scene where Geralt and Yen learned they're grandparents, we learn more about what it will take to get Bella back.
As I said before, everything that normally happens around this time in Novigrad happens, Geralt gets Margarita, Phillipa, and now in this version, Keira and Ida to the Chameleon, and goes to Tir'Nala with Avallac'h. But the main thing we have here, is Yen explaining the Stockholm Syndrome that's set in for Bella, and what it will take to break it. Ciri realizes it's what happened with her and the Rats.. before she gets some much deserved rest.
After a small scene with Ciri and their friends we cut to Dominik.
Dominik meets up with Elise De Le Serre, and I was sooo happy to bring her back. She's been one of my favorite OCs to write, and you see why in this scene. He gives Dominik the hard truth, which is something that he needed, before we get a bit of action as Nilfgaardean assassins are after Dominik again.
My favorite part of the chapter however, comes at the end of this scene, with an appearance from Master Mirror… and I'm sure you can all guess what his appearance means xD
After that, we get another scene I loved writing. The brutally honest scene with Avallac'h and Ciri, where Ciri finally calls him out on all his bullshit. As anyone who's read my previous AN's knows, one of the few things I am NOT a fan of in the witcher 3 is how Avallac'h is portrayed as a 'good guy' of sorts, and what he did to Ciri in the books just seems to be completely forgotten by her, him and Eredin in the games. I understand why it's not mentioned, it's so that the games can appeal to people who have not read the books, but I don't have that limitation in this story xD
Avallac'h in this story is going to be like book Avallac'h, a scheming, prideful bastard, who wants to use Ciri for his own gain. And YES, we are actually going to mention what he did to Ciri in the books, because that's realistic, Ciri doesn't seemingly just have amnesia of that situation like she does in the actual games lol xD
So we get Ciri calling him out for that and everything else, and the two eventually come to an agreement, and again, he claims to not know about Bella…
After that, Faram bursts in, and we get an emotional final scene with Ciri and Dominik, finally digesting the magnitude of what happened….
SO, after all of that, we have finally reached the last chapter in Novigrad, before we head off to Skellige for the final battle. We of course are going to have a few chapters in Skellige itself before the final fight begins… we are approaching the end.
Next chapter, is going to be much lighter in tone as we have one last chapter in Novigrad before we're truly in the endgame. I won't reveal much, but as I said, it will be much lighter in tone compared to the last few chapters.
I also want to announce, that I am OFFICIALLY, in development of a new series that will release as a side project. This story and its sequels are obviously a priority, but this project will also be released as well. Soon I will be releasing the first chapter of 'The Witcher: Through the World, The Ends Beginning'. This story will follow season 1 of Netlfix's The Witcher, so it will be relatively short. However, after that, I will release 'The Witcher: Through the Worlds, Blood of Elves'! Yes! This will be a series following the books, where instead of Dominik going off to search for Ciri by himself, Geralt makes the decision to bring him to Thanedd with him, and after the Coup of sprung. Dominik and Ciri both escape together! SO tell me some of your theories on what will change for the books in that series!
I've rambled on long enough haha. I wanna quickly announce there is NEW fanart on my Instagram I've made for this story dominik_of_cintra we have even more coming soon and I'm so, SO excited for it!
Thank you all so much as usual, we are almost at the end! Be sure to follow, review if you have time and most importantly everyone stay safe, and I'll see you all next time!
