Chapter 8

AN: Well, here it is, finally an update to this story. It took me forever to return to it but I did. I hope all of you readers enjoy it and feel free to leave a review. I have also fixed the mistakes I made in the previous chapters so it should be easier and more enjoyable to read.

It has been a few days since Geralt and Yennefer arrived at Kear Mohren, the sorceress was hard at work with her colleagues at rediscovering the proper way to undergo the witcher trials, Alzurs original notes had proven to be more cryptic than anticipated. The Ofieri mage had even joined them after the prince offered his help to Yennefer and she agreed to say that more help with making this go faster, it went unsaid beside his magical expertise the sorcerer had known the common tongue this entire time but in princes own words was a quiet man who had barely spoken during the whole journey. Geralt, Eskel and the rest of the Ofeiri had continued to do repairs where ever they could, they weren't masons but they knew how to fix a thing or two and clear ruble.

The witchers had used Yenns megascope to contact Kiera and she agreed to find Lambert for them and talk to him if possible persuade him to come back to the keep.

Geralt persuaded Eskel to spar against each other to take his mind of Lambert for a short while at least. Pulling out their swords they stared sparing in the courtyard and soon a crowd gathered around them. The offeiri have never seen a witcher fight if what the prince says is true, let alone two going against each other.

Swords clashed, strikes were blocked and parried, they spun around each other, to the Ofieri the fight looked more like a dance. To the eyes of the veteran soldiers, the strikes were quick and precise, but they were not lacking in power either. The guards were awed at the precision with which the witchers fought, if any of them fought either of them the Ofieri would have a hard time matching them at best and losing outright at worse. The fight went on for a while until Geralt decided to bring it to a stop, the two wolves were offered water which they gladly took. They heard talking and turned to see the prince talking with his captain in her language while looking at them.

"Captain Sarim says that he is impressed by your skill with a blade, he says that he had never seen anyone fight will such speed before."

"Tell him that years of training and few mutations will do that to you," the prince translated the witcher's words to his captain who simply nodded while looking at the two witchers, a look of respect in his eyes. Then a voice was heard from the side. Geralt and Eskel turned their sights to see one of the guards saying something they did not understand.

"He says that he wishes to test his skill against yours," the prince said. The two witchers looked at each other and Geralt let Eskel take this one. Both warriors took a stance and on Geralt's mark, the fight began. Eskel went easy at first, probing the man's defences to get the measure of him and the ofieri had proven that he had some skill with a sword but once Eskel became serious the fight didn't last too long, the soldier ending up disarmed and laying on his back on the stone of the courtyard. Eskel helped the man up and nodded, the man nodding back as a sign of respect. Few more fights followed between the witchers and their guests until they all decided that they had enough and that it was time to return to work of cleaning the keep. Before they went Eskel stopped Geralt.

"I know why you did this wolf, and I thank you Geralt," Eskel said sincerely.

"For you Eskel, anytime," Geralt replied back and then continued to join the rest.

Eskel tossed the last rock onto the pile. "That's the last of it here."

"Aye, it is," said Geralt, around them stood a few more ofieri who had been helping the two witchers. "There is little we can do anymore, to really fix the keep will take bringing real masons and workers who know how to build a castle. Finding those should not prove to be too hard but the issue is getting them here without letting every other person in Kedwin that we are here."

"You are right there wolf, but to start rebuilding properly we will need to get the gold from the prince and I would like to talk with Lambert before we continue this any further," Eskel said, it was obvious that he still felt bad for Lambert but there was still some anger about what Lambert said about Vesemir.

"Once he gets here we will deal with the issue, it is up to him if he is willing to join or not, that is his choice. Let's just hope Kiera finds him and talks to him first," Eskel just nodded to Geralt. Then as if on cue a portal opened in the middle of the courtyard and two figures stepped out.

"Huh," Geralt shrugged "Speak of the devil."

Lambert exited the portal with Keira behind him. He looked around the yard to see that some things have changed in the weeks he had been gone, the first thing he noticed was that the yard was much cleaner, there was no ruble laying around, then he noticed the stables to his right which looked almost brand new with an ofieri guard brushing a horse at the entrance and finally he saw Geralt standing next to Eskel. He walked over to his white-haired friend.

"So, he got you in on this insane plot as well," Lambert said looking at Geralt, it was not a question.

"Eskel and Ornela came to Toussaint and asked us to help, Yenn and I agreed after some thinking."

"You cant be serious Geralt, we all agreed to forget this place, to let the witcher ways die with us. The world is moving on and so should we," Lambert said in a low tone, there was anger in it.

"I know but as Eskel said there might be something to this, rebuilding the school was Vesemir's dream. Kaer Mohren was our home, if we cant bring back the witchers we might as well rebuilt the keep that once housed them. I agree with Eskel at least that much, Vesemir deserves that much."

"The keep is a ruin, just let be it already, there is no point at trying," Lambert argued. Geralt looked at Lambert with a stoic gaze before looking up to the tower where the laboratory was situated. Moving his gaze back to Lambert the white wolf signaled his brother to follow, both angry and intrigued at the same time Lambert did so, Eskel stayed behind, Lambert only giving his brother a quick glare before moving on. Once they entered the stables, Geralt looked around seeing only one ofieri which he knew did not speak the common tongue. Turning his sights back onto Lambert he spoke.

"Listen, the reason I and Yenn came here is not just to help Eskel, yes it is a part of the reason but not everything," Geralt knew what his friend was about to ask so he continued. "Yenn doesn't trust Ornela, she hasn't exactly told me what happened between them but I get the feeling something did Fracnly after what I had to face when I fought de Aldersburge I would not trust any none witcher with our secrets, especially a power-hungry sorceress that has spent most of her life in her sister shadow. The two of us are here to make sure Ornela doesn't get any ideas and if she already has to make sure they fail."

Lambert stared at Geralt for a moment before his posture relaxed a bit. "So you are here to act as a watchdog in case anything goes south with Eskels little plan."

"You can put it that way," Geralt said.

"Good, for a moment I thought you had lost all of your wits. So what will you do with me, I don't exactly want to be a part of this whole rebuild the school thing that is going on, I would be perfectly happy back on the road or in some tavern."

"You are free to do as you wish, nobody is forcing you to do anything, we just wanted to bring you here to talk. Eskel feels bad due to how you two parted last time and we could use more people to keep eye on Ornela."

"You have a royal garrison, what more do you need?"

"More witchers, apart from the mage none of them have any magical training and their senses are not as sharp as ours. Ornela could easily do something and they would miss it," Geralt said. "Besides its Kaer Mohren, whatever we do we always end up back here. If this thing proves to be a letdown that at least we had the chance to spend one last time here together."

"And why should I be a part of this little game? I don't really care what happens here anymore, hadn't cared in a long time."

"You care about Eskel don't you?" Geralt asked but he already knew the answer. "You can be mad at him all you want but he is your friend and brother just like me, the three of us have been through many tight spots and Eskel had always had our backs. Now it's time for us to have his."

Lambert looked at Geralt with his piercing cat-like eyes and then sighed. "Fine, I will stay here to help you and Yenn. And to tell that stupid idiot I told you so when this all turns to shit."

Geralt smirked. "Good to hear, just continue to act like a prick like nothing suspicious is going on and all will be alright."

"Yeah, fuck you Geralt," Lambert said with a small curve on his lips.