Chapter 3: Lodge of guards

It is night both princes are asleep but Rigran, his eyes back to normal but we're now cats eyes and slitted, only pretended to be sleeping to put the elf in a form of false security.

They all will be working together but seeing that fallen band made him curious on what that band on the ground meant so he set aside his steam engine and made his satchel a pillow to lay his head and quietly listen.

Rayle looked at the band. She first poked it, tugged it, and chewed it with her teeth but it led nowhere.

"Unbind yourself," said the elf now talking aloud to the band. "Unbind… thyself. Unbindo!" She tried hitting it off to no effect.

"Accessory trouble" Rigran said catching the elf off guard, she bounced from her rock but that led her to lose her balance and fall off her rock this got Rigran laughing as it was almost comical.

"How long have been awake," ask the elf slightly upset,

"Why are you talking to that band?" Rigran replied, Rayla looked away not saying a thing, she turned back and for the first time saw his eyes and gasped, "your eyes?" She said,

"This is to help us Witchers see at night it's part of our Mutation", Rigran explained and that only gave Rayla more questions, "but let me take a guess that band is to be unbound when you make your kill, since only one is gone I can guess why".

"Yes," confirmed the elf, "well then it's your job to tell them, and you better do so otherwise this mission will only get harder" Rigran said, "I will" Rayla said miserably.

That is when bait gave her a look and croaked.

"Don't judge me. So, what, I'm talking to my ribbon-thing? How is that any worse than talking to a…whatever it is you are, said Rayla to the toad.

They had a stare off which ended when bait licked his eye. Hearing the sounds of church bells, Rayla felt all the more guilty.


Back to the castle of Katolis a funeral is proceeding through the streets of the kingdom with Viren in the front with a group of clerics carrying the coffin of the now deceased King Harrow.

At the front Viren walked with the head cleric behind him who was less than pleased, "A funeral so soon is madness" she said disgusted, "it is tradition to mourn fallen kings for seven sunsets. You've not even given him one, nor have you given Dravaan an opportunity to."

"I understand your concern, Opeli, but Dravaan is seriously injured and in a time of war, we must move forward," said Viren but to Opleli she became curious about what he said.


After a couple of hours of walking, procession continued close to the royal graveyard. That is when we see Soren and Claudia walking with the procession where Soren is barely keeping his eyes open and Claudia being wide awake.

"Hey, keep your head up," Claudia reprimanded her brother after he yawned.

"Sorry," said Soren before stretching. "Long night."

"Drink this," said Claudia, opening her water skin only water did not come out of the skin when pouring into the cap made cup. "I call it "hot brown morning potion.""

Soren looked at the drink and sniffed. So far it does not smell bad and he proceeds to drink it. Once he had the first sip it immediately perked him right up, and the drink tastes great. Soren chuckled, "Wow it's good."

Back to the form of the procession, the king's Coffin was placed on an altar, Viren turned to the crowd and spoke, "Today we woke to a devastating truth. Our king has been taken from us, Slain by the forces of Xadia, vile Moonshadow elves," the revelation frightened the people, but he continued.

"To me, he was more than a king. In his final hours, Harrow called me…his brother,", "but what off the princes, they should be here" Opeli said, "The princes…are dead, along with Dravaan apprentice" Viren lied, The crowd gasped by this news.

"We cannot let Xadia's cruelty go unanswered. We must move forward with strength. Light the pyre," ordered Viren but Opleli put out her torch not following his order so did the other clerics.

"Claudia," said Viren and Claudia opened a jar with a spider in it and with a chant a fire was formed in her hand and lit each grand torch to the king's casket to finish the ritual.

"When a ruler of Katolis dies, we mourn for seven days. But we are at war. Today, we must mourn sevenfold…for tonight, there will be a coronation," said Viren with the black smoke behind him symbolizing the coming dark days.

Kaja herself however among the crowd squinted suspiciously at the dark mage, she did not believe that Rigran would dye so easily, and she was going to have some answers to look for once everyone was said and done.


That morning

Now out in the woods we see Callum looking at his Primal stone and sketching it in his drawing book.

"Callum. Callum. Hey," said Rayla, tired of repeating herself but she got his attention. "That's your name, right? Callum? Clem? Or was it Camel?"

"Uh, it's Callum," said the prince to the elf's question. "I guess I was just distracted trying to draw this…primal-ball."

"Primal Stone," Rayla corrected Callum while sitting herself down next to him. "Right," said the embarrassed prince. "It holds the pure essence of a primal spirit inside."

"Primal Source," Rayla corrected Callum again. "Right." "You do know what the six Primal Sources are," she asked.

"Uh, if I say yes, are you gonna make me name them?," asked Callum, Rayla was about to reply when Rigran spoke up, "the six sources are sun, moon, stars, earth, sky, and ocean." Said Rigran as he used some pieces of wood to make some arrows for his quiver.

"Uh yes" Rayla said, "so what are you doing?" Rayla asked as Rigran took out a veil of unusual liquid, "making arrows' ' he deadpanned as he took the cork out of the veil and poorer it on the head of the arrow.

The smell was awful. Rayla actually gagged, "what is that?" She coughed, "I don't think you want to know" Callum said covering his nose and mouth with one hand once the smell had cleared he took it away, "At least this potion smells alright compared to the other ones".

Rayla guffawed, "he has options that smell worse?!" She exclaimed, "I'm just used to them" he shrugged, "my eyes during the fight was due to a potion that would allow me to see stuff that was invisible".

"Right and those signs of yours?" Rayla asked, "the only Magic Witchers can do the rest of us is just mutations and fatal chemicals" Rigran explained, Rayla frowned as she took Callum's drawing book, "back on topic…" she said as she drew six symbols.

"All magic in the world comes from the Primal Sources. They're the original and purest forms of magical energy.", she began pointing to each symbol as she named them, "The Sun, the Moon, the Stars, the Earth, the Ocean, and…"

Rayla taps the stone that is when Callum realized the element the stone uses.

"The Sky," said Callum, picking up the stone. "Yes," said Rayla.

"To cast a spell, a mage needs Primal Energy. So that wind breath spell you did? You'd usually need a storm or at least a strong breeze. But with that stone, you have all the power of the Sky, any time," Rayla explained. "Wow." Callum said.

"My master calls it all chaos, everything even dark magic is Chaos " Rigran said, "here chaos is divided into those elements according to my master, he said that mages could channel it, that primal stone my guess is makes channeling it easier".

"And you know how?" Rayla asked, "I have a friend who has a primal stone of fire" Rigran said, "oh yeah Kaja, she's the town blacksmith" Callum said.

Callum then looked at the symbols in his book and a memory struck him, "Wait, I…I've seen these before. At the Banther Lodge. There was this little cube thing and it had these exact symbols on it." "Uh, neat," said Rayla, not being sure how to answer.

"What if it's magic? We have to go get it," said Callum, getting excited about his clue, "I remember that cube, damn near nearly disintegrating the whole lodge trying to figure out what it was".

Rayla gave him an odd look, "it was a very big accident" Callum said trying to help out his friend, "hold on" Rayla said, "We have real problems to worry about. Ending the war. Taking the dragon egg to Xadia. Remember?".

"Maybe we should just head to Xadia cal" Rigran said, "Xadia's to the east, right? So is the lodge. It's on the way," said Callum's plan of convenience.

"Oh, great. I'm sure it won't be crawling with humans. Humans that are looking for you and want to kill me! Yay!" Rayla said sarcasm.

"No, it's the winter lodge. It's been empty for months. Trust me," said Callum to Rayla, Rayla didn't look convinced. "*sighs* Look…Rayla. Princes are supposed to be good at things. Uh, sword fighting, leadership…riding horses. But I've always been kind of bad at, well, everything. So, when I tried that spell, I was sure I'd end up on fire or covered in spiders…" Rigran gave Callum a raised eyebrow at that.

"but it worked. And then you called me a mage, and that felt…right. I…I just have this feeling that the cube thing could help me." Calum finished

This got Rayla to think about what the prince said

"Callum," Ezran called out while waking up. "I had a weird dream."

"It wasn't a dream, Ez. All of that was real," said Callum taking a knee in front of his step-brother.

"Are you sure," asked Ezran, giving his brother a confused look. "There was this giant pink hippopotamus and I pulled it's ear off. Because it was made of taffy.".

Rigran burst out laughing; he was speechless and breathless by the end of his hearty laugh, Rayla gave him a raised eyebrow.

"Uh…no. That…that was a dream. I thought you meant the elves, the smoke wolves, the dragon egg. That was all real," said Callum, mistaking the situation for the little prince's memory/dream.

"Then I tried to thank the hippo for the taffy, but he couldn't hear me, because I was eating his ears," continued Ezran's detailed memory of his dream and that got Solomon to chuckle.

"Hey, sad prince. *sigh* Let's go get your cube," said Rayla, accepting the quest to find the cube.


The group began walking. They walked for a very long time, after some time Ezran tried to speak up.

"Hey guys? Can we-" he tried to say "We're not stopping yet," Rayla interrupts Erzran. "But I'm-" Ezran tried again "No snakes."

"I was going to say thirsty," said the little prince. "Fine. Drink this," Rayla relents and grabs a bottle full of red liquid.

Callum looked disgust while Ez walks towards the bottle, but he was by his brother's hand. "Uh, no, thank you. We don't drink…that," said Callum."What," asked Rayla.

"Blood. We don't drink blood. We don't mean to be rude, but, uh, you can keep it," said Callum and Rigran smacked him on the back of his head, "she's not a Bruxa" Rigran said scoldingly, not that he has ever seen one himself but his Masters Stories gave him a very good idea of one.

"It's moonberry juice" Rayla said, "*scoffs* Is that what humans think we are? Bloodthirsty monsters," said Rayla walking away being disgusted. "Or a Whatever it was,'' Rigran said."

"No, no, no. It…It's not that." Said Callum to Rayla while both Ezran and Rigran caught up to him.

"I mean, I…I have heard stories, but…but I'm sure they're just stories. Horrible, awful stories. Oh, look at that we're here," said Callum's terrible attempt in apologizing for stereotypes but he is right they made it to the lodge.

"See? No winter, no humans at the winter lodge," said Callum to Rayla who is hiding next to a tree.

Rayla, still being skeptical, said, "Let's just make this quick. Tell me where the thing is, and I'll be in and out."

The team turns around where Callum uses Ezran's backpack as a sturdy surface to draw and says, "Okay, so this is the game room. Cube should be in there." Callum said looking around

Callum ripped the page he drew and handed it to Rayla where her assassin skills were put into use to get in the lodge. She got inside with ease with the added help of an open window and she made it with no issue.

"Like I said, no winter, no humans. Right," said Callum.

"Yeah, but it is kind of weird there's no one here…since this is where Dad was sending us," said Ezran, being curious and Rigran thought it a very good point.

"I do agree Ez" Rigran "where are- "a horn sounded. "Never mind.".

That is when the boys see a group of soldiers on horseback coming to the Banther lodge. "Yeah, we probably shouldn't have come here," stated Callum.

It was General Amaya and her forces, Amaya was the mute and dead aunt of the princes and an aunt figure to Rigran. General Amaya dismounted her horse and took off her helmet giving them a smile, "Aunt Amaya," asked Ezran and the general threw her helmet to her assistant while she gave the princes the hug.

She then hugged Rigran and slapped his back examining him, "you've grown again" Amaya said in sign language with her assistant translating. "Good to see you as well" Rigran said in sign language, "oh it is so good to see the three of you safe and sound" said a new voice.

Dismounting from his own horse was a bard by the name of Walter, he was formerly a struggling bard and skilled hunter, but some years ago he had met Dravaan and helped him in a hunt and Dravaan had given some songs about Witchers from his land most of which had been sung by the families bards such as Jaskier/Dandelion.

"Walter, what are you doing here?" Rigran asked in surprise, "I was worried about you three, Dravaan sent me and Amaya a message saying that you would be here, and here you are safe and sound" Walter said.

"Extremely safe," Callum stammers. "Safe and…alone!" Amaya looks up and she gains the face of suspicion and looks through the opened window. Amaya steps past all three of the boys and Callum steps in front of her to at least delay her for Rayla.

"Oh that door is locked. So, uh, you wait here for a minute, a couple minutes, few… However long it takes. I'll go find a key," said Callum but Amaya simply kicked the door down.

"I don't believe in locks," said the assistant translating Amaya's signs. "I believe in them and other people's property, especially their doors" Walter said dryly in a slightly disapproving manner.

The group walked in and General Amaya looked to have a feeling that someone was in here and signed for her translator to say, "Someone's here."

"What? No, no," said Callum stepping in front of the others.

"No one here but us and all your human troops," said Callum shouting the part of the human troop. Rigran facepalmed with little to no fear of being suspected off why would he? He was a professional Witcher.

"Callum, you know it doesn't help to yell. And why are you saying, "human troops" like that," asked the translator assistant through Amaya.

"Uh, what do you mean," Callums asks to change the subject, luckily Rigran saved his skin. "I do believe he is just a bit rattled from the news of the assassins; perhaps a song would calm him down" Rigran suggested.

"Oh well very well Come Callum let's find somewhere for me to sing" said Walter twirling his cane as he walked back out the door.

"So uh Rigran how are things?" The assistant asked not to translate this time, "fine thanks you" Rigran said but Amaya grabbed him and looked at his neck where there were still some remaining black veins from the potion he had drank the night before.

She crossed her arms sternly and looked at him, "you took one of those potions didn't you?" She signed with her assistant translating.

"Okay so we had a bit of trouble on the way here" Rigran said rubbing the back of his head guiltily, "I know little about Witchers but Dravaan told me enough for me to know that those Potions are dangerous even for Witchers" Amaya signed.

"And black veins on the neck do not give reassurance" Amaya said, "I'll lay off them for a while you know me" Rigran said in an attempt to ease the general as Amaya got uneasy very quickly.

Amaya did seem partially reassured "By the way there was a part of the message saying that you guys might have wanted to build a dirt man" said the assistant on his own accord.

"We do not" Rigran deadpanned, "no we don't" Ezran confirmed as he brought out a tomahawk from the toy's chest.

"Oh I wondered where that went" Rigran said, taking the tomahawk, "I will go practice with this" he then went outside and went to find a nice spot to train, no one else followed him, Witcher training was no joke and now Rigran had a his favourite tomahawk.


Meanwhile in the lounge

Walter was singing a song about a Witcher by the name of Geralt of Rivia and sung by Dandelion as he plucked the strings on his lute.


When a humble bard

Graced a ride along

With Geralt of Rivia

Along came this song

From when the White Wolf fought

A silver-tongued devil

His army of elves

At his hooves did they revel

They came after me

With masterful deceit

Broke down my lute

And they kicked in my teeth

While the devil's horns

Minced our tender meat

And so cried the Witcher

He can't be bleat

Toss a coin to your Witcher

Oh, Valley of Plenty

Oh, Valley of Plenty, oh

Toss a coin to your Witcher

Oh, Valley of Plenty

At the edge of the world

Fight the mighty horde

That bashes and breaks you

And brings you to mourn

He thrust every elf

Far back on the shelf

High up on the mountain

From whence it came

He wiped out your pest

Got kicked in his chest

He's a friend of humanity

So give him the rest

That's my epic tale

Our champion prevailed

Defeated the villain

Now pour him some ale

Toss a coin to your Witcher

Oh, Valley of Plenty

Oh, Valley of Plenty, oh

Toss a coin to your Witcher

A friend of humanity

Toss a coin to your Witcher

Oh, Valley of Plenty

Oh, Valley of Plenty, oh

Toss a coin to your Witcher

A friend of humanity

Toss a coin to your Witcher

Oh, Valley of Plenty

Oh, Valley of Plenty, ah-ah, oh

Toss a coin to your Witcher

A friend of humanity


At the end he stopped and waited for Callum to say something. It was his favourite song after all, it helped calm him somehow. "Okay I'm feeling better thanks" Callum said, "can you sing it again?" "Most certainly" Walter said as he tunes his guitar and began again.

Callum sighed, "This is all my fault. We should have never come here," Callum thought, sliding down to an inclined position, "but at least we found the egg and Aunt Amaya, not that we can tell Amaya anything to her Elves are just Monsters for Dravaan and Rigran to hunt".

Rayla, still on the roof quietly snuck back inside the same window she came into to look, most of the guards were too engrossed watching the spa match between the young Witcher and General Amaya so there were reasonably less humans inside the lodge now.

"It's the winter lodge, Rayla. No winter, no humans," Rayla imitates Callums words due to the situation she is in.

After taking both a quick look from the picture and actual room it is confirmed to be the right place, so she looked around until she found a box on top of the fireplace and picked it up. Once she dumped the contents inside the box, she had found the cube with a collection of keys.

"Huh," said Rayla looking at the cube being peculiar until something does not feel right, and she sees Amaya about to swing her shield at her but Rayla dodges it.

Rayla pulls out her sword and attacks the general. The elf is quick and can deliver many swings with her blades, but Amaya's shield is to strong to be penetrated. Rayla tries to stab her but her are was caught in the gap from the shield which nocked her blade off her hand and delivered a strong punch to Rayla's face.

The punch sent the elf to one of the support beams in the room and Amaya is charging at her. In one second Rayla dodged the second punch by rolling under her fist and gaining distance from the shield user. Amaya smirks and gives a come at me gesture to Rayla. The elf jumps to deliver a mighty stab, but the shield blocked the attack and Rayle bounced off the shield landing on the broken table from earlier.

Rayla tries to get her sword but Amaya grabs her and pins her to the wall with an angry look. Amaya is about to pull her sword before Gren, the name of her assistant, and Walter open the door.

"The Prince's have disappeared and So has Rigran" Said Gren, Amaya, still angry, turns to the elf but puts away her sword and knocks the elf out.


It is about twilight and Rayla begins to wake up. She looks around and finds out she is tied up to a support beam. She struggled to no avail. Amaya step in front of Rayla and Gren asks, "How did you do it?"

"How did we do what," Rayla asks back with a look of being smart in front of the general. Amaya did some gestures, "" We"? How many of you are there?", "Did I say "we"," asked Rayla playing dumb but the General is in no mood to play games.

"Don't look away from me," Amaya gestured her hands looking serious to the elf. "It's just me. I'm alone," said Rayla, looking her in the eyes and saw that she was almost as Scary as the Witchers.

"Liar," Amaya gestured and Gren translated.

Amaya gets back up and looks at her men, seeing the signs she gives Gren translates, "If there are more of them, princes are in danger. Even if Rigran is with them. Keep an eye on here".

The guards do that while Amaya stomps out of the room. One of the guards looks at Rayla's sword and grows curious. After pushing the button the blade comes out but luckily for him, he is not injured.

"Careful with those. Wouldn't want to lose a finger. I mean, can you imagine going through life with only four fingers," asked Rayla, wiggling her fingers to frighten the guards.

That is when Rayla hears something coming down the dumb bar elevator.


The noise was from Callum, Ezran, Bait and Rigran climbing up the shaft with Rigran up front relatively speaking and Ezran right behind.

"This is one of your weirdest ideas" Callum said to Ezran, "Is it weirder than that snail armor?," asked Ezran, "not really" Rigran said, "Ez, snails already have armor," said Callum.

"Then why do they keep getting smooshed," asked Ez, "look the point is… this might not work but I'm going to make it work" Rigran said as Bait was passed to him.

Once the elevator reaches its destination, Rayla can see who is inside the box, the glow toad Bait.

Rayla smirks knowing what to do, "Have you met Bait? Say hello to my little friend." After she said that she closed her eyes and the toad flashed at the guard's blinding them.

Rigran then rolled out of the elevator and punched the first guard in the stomach and knocked him out with a second blow to the head before kicking the second guard in the knee grabbing him by his Color and began beating the guard unconscious with 5 quick and brutal punches.

Rigran then tossed Rayla her swords, who cut herself free, "thanks" Rayla said, "good now let's get out of here" Callum said.

All of them ran outside the lodge only to be surrounded by guards outside at nearly all direction Amaya stood before them glaring at the elf with he shield in hand. "Stop right there, elf. Callum, Ezran, come here," said Amaya through Gren.

Ezran looks to his brother, "Callum, we should just tell her." "Boys, get away from her," ordered Amaya, "I say hold your breath, hold your breath and run to the river" Rigran told everyone.

The soldiers advanced as the Witcher snakes his hand behind his back and drew out a Witcher bomb but Callum had a plan which honestly made the Witchers plan better.

"Wait," said Callum stepping forward doing some sign language he learned from his aunt. This got Amaya worried and Rayla asks, "What are you saying?"

"He says, if we don't let you go, you'll kill them and drink their blood." Amaya said through Gren "That you are a monster and that the actions you did-" "now!" Rigran shouted as he tossed his single bomb which was called Kings and Queens.

It hit Amaya dead in the face and exploded into a cloud of green gas that spread through the soldiers when they opened their eyes they saw Rigran, Ezran, Callum even bait looking almost Zombie like by the images shifted and Colors changed at Random but Rayla remained a constant with glowing yellow eyes pale skin devil horns and sharp teeth with large bony Sword like blades extending from her upper arms.

Luckily Rigran, Rayla, Callum, Ezran and even bait were holding their breaths as they made their way to the river. They found a boat and Callum and Ezran hoped in, Rayla however shook her head still holding her own breath but Rigran grabbed her and tossed her in regardless.

He pushed the boat off before hoping in himself after a little bit they felt safe to breath again even if the lodge was still in sight. Callum sighs, "That worked. I can't believe it."

Rayla has her hood up being angry at both Callum and Solomon for being a monster, "I can't believe you and your friend are such jerks."

"What? What's wrong," asked Callum, not understanding Rayla's current attitude. "You called me a bloodthirsty monster. You have no idea how that feels," said Rayla, becoming sad.

"And that gas bomb only made it worse what was it?" Rayla said turning on the Witcher, "a hallucinogenic bomb meant to discourage them and make them feel fear" Rigran said seeing Rayla's point and beginning to feel a little glum.

"If they weren't so afraid from that then they would have tried to kill me regardless and you just made things worse" Rayla went on, She then tossed the cube to Callum shoulder slumped.

Callum looks at the cube amazed, "You found it?"

"It's a toy. Probably a piece from a children's game. I hope it was worth it to you, putting everyone's lives in danger," said Rayla and causing Callum to hate himself for his action.

Callum looks at the cube but drops it next to his Primal stone and one of the symbols begins to glow and Rigran's medallion begins to buzz, this causes both to be curious about the cube and whatever secrets it might keep.


Back at the castle, Viren is getting dressed for his coronation.

"It's almost time, Father. Crown time. Or, as I like to call it, the Crown Hour. Crown o'clock," said Soren making up new words for coronation but his father does not want to hear more of those ideas.

Viren sighs, "Thank you. That will be all."

When he walks away Soren frowns. Viren looks at pip the former king's pet bird in his cage.

"No song of the occasion? Hmm," asked Viren to the bird but looking at the bird it appears to have greater intellect than it did before nevertheless the bird looks away staying silent while Viren narrows his eyes and walks away.

The doors to the castle open for Viren to see a crowd of people here for the coronation.

"People of Katolis, King Harrow's death has wounded us deeply, but the loss of his sons, our princes, is a greater injustice. By taking the heirs to the throne, our enemies sought to leave us without a leader. It would disgrace Harrow's memory to allow the kingdom he loved to be lost in darkness. Though it is a heavy burden, I will humbly take up the battle in Harrow's name. I will become Lord Protector of the realm," said Viren's speech and that caused quite a stir in the crowd.

Kaja as part of the crowd however wasn't too sure if she believed it as Rigran was not one to die easily and where was Dravaan? He should be here and present for this occasion not wherever the hell he was.

Viren turns around and kneels where Opeli steps forward holding the crown with the face of disgust. Before the crown was placed horns were heard.

"Stop," said Gren, stopping the ceremony.

Where both Amaya and Gren arrived saying, "Stop the coronation! The princes are alive!"

Everybody was shocked but Opeli smiled while Viren frowned. Kaja begins to chuckle, "so they are alive" she said happily as she figured hope had just arisen for everyone.

Post credit scene-

Unknown location

In a forest a purple smoke appeared in a ring in the air and a black whole formed in the centre of it, and from this black void came forth a rider on a black horse.

The horse was scary enough with its blackish blue Armor with dark gold detailing all covered in spikes while on its head was a helm with two horns in the middle of its forehead and eye holes designed to make its two glowing orange eyes seem like four while a mouth cover was in the shape of a beast jaw with sharp teeth and a fake tongue lolling out.

But the rider was even scarier, for he had a cloak covering his body with two large and oversized swords on his back, his helm was shaped like a skull with two pointed metal elf-like ears but longer sticking out to the side of the helmet and a row of human teeth closed around the mouth area.

The rider looked around with black hollow eyes, and in one hand he held the Reins and in the other he held a bottle

"So another one is here" said the armoured figure, "well then this makes the hunt all the more interesting"

And just as he finished snow began to fall, so the late king Harrow was right after all. winter was coming.