Chapter 8: Road to Kaer Morhen

POV Cahir

After riding out of Cintra, Cahir quickly found a large group of refugees. He joined them on their way to Brugge for a few uneventful hours going deeper into the night. Then he started hearing whispers about his soot covered armour, the children, the quality of his horse. He soon left the group, fearing that some brave man or men would question him too closely or if the children woke, the group's reaction to seeing two, discretely bound and gagged, struggling children with a fully armoured man.

So, he parted from them and headed east towards Lower Sodden and a few miles later, the children awoke. Knowing that their struggling would only make his mission all the harder, he decided to put up his camp. So, he turned off the path and into the woods, until it was out of his sight.

He dismounted and left the pair on the horse while he built his fire. Once the fire was warm and roaring, he pulled off the boy and tied his hands to a tree a little way from the fire. The boy looked at him with a cold, calculating gaze that hid the fear underneath. The boy's hands secure, Cahir gently lifted the princess from the horse and sat her next to the fire.

Cahir tried to calm his charge with comforting words or explain himself, but, for the life of him, he couldn't remember the Nordling language. So, the princess looked at him with scared eyes the whole time. He tried again, removing his gauntlets and started washing her face of the ash and grime, but she still could not see his intent. With a mental sigh, he laid next to the fire and stared out into the empty woods letting sleep take him.

The agent woke with a start, with hands freezing. Rubbing his hands, he notices the cuffs of his tunic and the ends of his vambraces were covered in frost. His worry growing, he looked to where he left the bound princess and saw nothing. Only cut ropes. Then he looked to the tree where he tied the boy and saw the same, along with a long brown feather. Cahir looked to the sky and noticed that the sun was near its peak. "Stronthe!" he cursed.

With the head start they had, Cahir knew could do naught but return to the army. So, they could start sending patrols and search parties

POV Jon, hours earlier

Jon watched the man go to sleep and waited for an hour to pass before calling down Gwyn. The eagle was quick to respond, swooping down in front of him. Jon slid his bound hands as low as he could, leveling them with the bird's beak and Gwyn, sensing his intent, grasped one of the ropes in his sharp beak. He squeezed for a second, the ropes trying their best to resist, before they snapped. Freeing Jon's hands to untie the gag.

Jon ran two fingers over Gwyn's head and down his neck, just as he likes it, in thanks. While rubbing his jaw and mouth with his other hand.

Jon then snuck his way over to a sleeping Ciri. Reaching her he whispered her name, trying to wake her. She quickly opened her eyes, Jon realising that she was faking.

She was about to say something when Jon put a finger to his lips and jerked his head to the sleeping form of their captor. Ciri shivered and nodded, bringing up her bound wrists. Which prompted Gwyn to waddle over and cut her ropes for her.

Jon looked to the armoured man, staring in thought and he decided to try something. He crept over and looked at the man's hands. They were close, close enough to bind together, but the ropes were now useless. Reaffirming his choice, Jon focused his will on the dew around them. Turning it into ice and forced it to him, bringing it into one large piece half the size of his head. He then pushed it towards the man's hands, the ice elongating and thinning as it did so. It snaked around the man's wrists, slowly as not to wake him, until it was tight and one solid piece. As he did this, he felt his energy leave him quickly, but not as bad as when he did it in Cintra.

Jon released the ice, letting it become lifeless, and turned to Ciri. Giving her a nod, they both snuck northward, and away from the campsite. Once they were out of earshot, they ran. Ran until the sun peaked over the horizon, before slowing to a walk. The pair walked until late morning, only stopping when Ciri asked "Jon, where do we go?"

Halting his quick pace, Jon answered "We need to find a witcher, any witcher. Hopefully they'll know how we can find Geralt of Rivia. We need to get away from the Nilfgaardians too, so we go north."

Ciri nodded, her usual boisterousness missing. Jon hopped it would come back soon. They soon ended the short brake and, using Gwyn's memory of the area, started walking north, to cross the bridge near Dillingen.

POV neutral

Not much happened on Jon and Ciri's two-week long journey to Dillingen, Gwyn caught rabbits for them to eat and, as they neared to Yaruga, sometimes fish. They avoided all human contact, fearful of disguised Nilfgaard patrols.

When they reached Dillingen, Jon started asking people about witcher sightings. He didn't get much other than "Why would a kid want to find one of those terrible mutants?", "Don't look for them, those cursed ones." or a simple "Get lost!". Thankfully, Jon eventually met a rather open-minded merchant who told him that witchers traveled all over the northern realms, but lately were most often seen in and around Kaedwen.

With an ultimate destination in mind, the children continued their journey. Now that they were on the 'safe' side of the Yaruga, Jon decided that they should follow the main road. Less chance of bumping into monsters and a faster travel time.

Ciri started acting more herself five days out of Brugge and four days from Mayena. Jon's presence helping her greatly, thought he didn't know that. Jon kept strong and driven throughout, Ciri his rock keeping him from thinking on all his lost family. Both new and old, though she didn't know that.

It was weeks later, at the fork in the road near Brenna, that Gwyn spotted a brown-haired man, with a sword in his hand and one on his back, who was fighting what seemed to be several quick, moving, human corpses in a small battlefield and throwing flames from his free hand.

POV Eskel

Eskel lumbered over to the hut, panting slightly and holding the alghoul's head in his left hand. Getting to the door he gave it a small, polite knock. He waited a moment, then the door slowly opened, revealing a nervous middle-aged man. Sweat rolling down his bald head, he said "H-ello, witcher. D-did'ya take care o' that field?"

He's going to try to cheat me. "That I did, do you have my pay?" Eskel asked.

"W-well... 'bout that. Ah... Law of Surprise?" the man tried.

"You do realise this is your home." Eskel calmly stated.

"D-don' worry, master witcher. Somethin's bound to appear." The man said, false bravado seeping into his voice.

"There's no way tha-" Eskel was interrupted by movement in the bushes to his right. Eskel and the man in the doorway, who was smiling, turned to look at Eskel's Law of Surprise reward. It soon revealed itself to be a boy. He was young, around thirteen, the witcher guessed. He was dressed in ragged, dirt covered clothing that used to be fine. His hair was dark brown and framed what would become a pretty face with steel-colored eyes.

"H-how surprising!" the man said.

Eskel merely grunted, as he subtly tossed the head away.

The boy was soon followed by a dirty, boyish girl with ashen hair who seemed about eleven. "You! Master witcher!" the boy called, strutting over to him. Curious, Eskel watched as the pair came closer. Stopping a few feet from him, the boy looked straight into the witcher's cat eyes and asked "Do you know Geralt of Rivia?" Eskel tried to hide his disappointment. Oh, they're just looking fo- "This is Cirilla, princess of Cintra. She is his child surprise." the boy finished.

Just... perfect. Two child surprises, my and Geralt's. Damn, misery loves company. And they're right here, there's no avoiding it. No running this time, not that it would work.

"Yeah, I know him." he said, causing both children's eyes to light up. "And I can take you to him."

Eskel turned his head to the man, who was nervously staring at him. Eskel sighed and gave him a nod, letting the man slam his door closed.

The witcher walked over to the pair and told them to follow him to his horse. Which he took by the lead. Eskel looked to the sky, wondering what he did wrong and started on the road to Kaer Morhen.

POV Neutral

The first week of their two moons of travel was filled with questions: Jon asking of a witcher's training and about the various skills and abilities that witchers possess, Ciri asking about monsters and magic, Eskel asking about the two's lives.

On their second night, Eskel met Gwyn. The bird intrigued him; it was like nothing he'd ever seen. It was much larger than most White-tailed eagles, almost twice the size. With frost blue claws and beak, he concluded that it must be a mutation. The bird acted odd, whenever it wasn't flying it was perched on Ciri's shoulder and it had an eerie, human intelligence. Which he later learned was a part of Jon's magic.

The group learned a lot about each other over their journey; Jon and Ciri learned that under his rough, scarred and admittedly terrifying exterior, Eskel was a kind and thoughtful man: Eskel learned that Jon and Ciri's personalities were opposites, Jon was calm and reserved, Ciri was boisterous and had no trouble expressing herself.

But don't think their travels were all talk, for a witcher was always low on funds. At every town they passed, Eskel would stop and take a look at the notice board. In one of these towns, Eskel found a job where he'd be paid a horse. Turns out that a jumpy local horse breeder was losing members of his herd in the night. Eskel accepted the contract and did some investigating, quickly discovering the culprits. A simple, and thankfully small, pack of wolves.

Eskel put the pack down, the breeder thanked him profusely and rewarded him with the horse. When Ciri asked if this usually when so well, Eskel had only one thing to say: "Never.". And, sure enough, the horse died two days later. It had a fatal disease that turned its brain to slush, one the breeder had to have known.

Eskel took two more jobs over their journey: from a poor famer and an alderman. The farmer was kind and had a serious monster problem, but was too poor to pay, so Eskel accepted a pint of Vodka instead. The alderman was all business, but it was only children's pranks, so no payment for the witcher.

Needless to say, Ciri was disillusioned with her potential future. Until they reached a small, nameless village north of Ard Carraigh. On the way to the notice board, the group saw two demolished houses. Which Eskel had called "Promising...". The notice spoke of a monster in the woods. Eskel went to see the alderman for more information, and the greybeard told Eskel that the beast started its attacks when a traveler killed six cows for seemingly no reason, so village had saved 90 Ducat for the monster's head.

Eskel left the next morning and in the afternoon, everyone could hear explosions coming from the forest. When Eskel came back in the evening, he looked like he swam through a river of blood, dragging a Chort's head by one of its horns. The alderman, quaking at the sight, paid in full and they all left.

Not half an hour out of the village Ciri started gushing about his entrance and demanding to know every detail about the fight, Jon listening closely. Eskel was amused by how disappointed they were when he told them about it. "I found it, we fought and I won.".

A week later, the trio reached the gates of Kaer Morhen.

POV Rose, 293 AC

Rose knocked gently on the door to Lord Stark's solar, she had never been summoned by any of the three Lord Starks she had served and so she had never been in the solar. Not to say they ignored her, all three would greet her in the halls and they would talk if neither he nor her were busy, but Rose was only asked for officially by the Lady Stark. So, she was nervous. Have I done something wrong?

"Enter." she heard his voice boom from beyond the door. Rose pushed a loose lock of her half-blond, half-grey hair behind her ear and opened the door.

The first thing Rose noticed was that Lord Stark's solar wasn't a warm room, it was terribly chilly. She entered then spoke, "Lord Stark." and curtsied, looking down then back up again. Her brown eyes looked into her lord's.

"Rose, do you know why I called you here?" he said, his fog grey eyes easing any of her worries.

"I don't, my lord." she evenly stated.

"I have an offer for you."

"An offer, my lord?" she asked, worry coming back, but only in the very back of her mind.

"Aye, I am starting a new position in my household. A head maid, and I would have you to fulfill this role. You will be in charge of all the house and serving maids. To lessen the load on Vayon. You will also do various tasks he asks of you. You will only answer to him and myself. Understood?" he said, his eyes sharpening slightly.

"Yes, Lord Stark." she said with a reserved smile etched onto her face.

"Good, you are dismissed, seek Vayon if you have any questions." his eyes turned back to fog, then went down to his paperwork. Something about wood.

Rose quietly left Lord Stark's solar, giddy like a girl a quarter her age at the thought of her new job and quickly started searching for Lord Poole.