WARNING: graphic injury, blood and torture, though torture will be more in the second chapter which I plan to be from Jaskier's point of view. Geralt and Jaskier kind of meet without meeting in the sense that they don't share name or even really get to talk/know each other. its just a brief meeting where Geralt takes pity on a creature and their for is the kind stranger who helps set Jaskier free.
Geralt smelt it before he saw it, the stench of dead rotting fish and blood left to stale in the sun. He'd passed a group of very pleased looking fishermen about two mile back, two barrels of sea water brimming with fish in their small cart. Next to their nets something big was wrapped and bound in thick wet cloth, a sliver of warm brown and a glimmering blue through a tear in the fabric was all he'd managed to peek of whatever lay beneath. A few of the men had looked battered a couple with bandages, perhaps they had a run in with some of the coast's less savoury creatures but given their merriment the haul had been worth it.
Rounding the shallow rocky bluff, he soon spotted the source of the smell, strewn across the rock and sand were rotting fish and entrails. Perhaps they had dumped their remaining bait or maybe it was thrown aside in hopes of distracting or placating whatever they had scuffled with. There was blood too, far too much to have belonged to any of the men he'd spotted, and trails in the sand as though something had been dragged either into the beach or out of it. Perhaps not all of their crew had made it out of the scuffle.
As he drew closer, he soon found what had been dragged, just a couple meters from where the dead fish lay, half concealed behind a rock jutting out of the sand lay a fishing net. Discarded and tangled around a fresh corpse of a young man, the sand around it, dyed red. No. Not a man he realised as he dismounted Roach for a closer inspection. Glimpsing a view of the small protruding spines on its back, and long scaly tail twisted in netting. A Siren or Nixa. And a male one at that, He had never seen a male one before, though he knew just because one hasn't seen something with their own eyes doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
Males certainly weren't a common sight.
It was still quite young by the looks of it, with a mop of soft brown hair and features that were still more boyish than man, though looks were often deceptive. Even the oldest sirens still took shape of beautiful young women or men. It was the shape of its spines that gave the impression it wasn't fully mature, they were still small and rounded, not the long sharp, formed spines he was used to seeing. That and the fact it had so easily been snagged in the fishermen's nets to begin with.
The creature's tail was a beautiful mix of tortoise shell like browns, golds and honey, with spattering's of bright sapphire blue veins.[JR1] Though it was dulled and drying with scales missing in patches were the entwinned net had cut through them into its flesh. Majority of its pale skin a violent red burn from having laid on the hot sand under the sun for who knows how long. A thick strip of cloth had been wrapped tightly several times around its lower face, likely to stop it from using its voice and rope bound its wrists.
Drying blood coated its fingers where its talon like nails had been ripped from their beds, the barb at the tip of its tail had been cut off as well. The net wrapped around its torso and tail blocked his view, but given the blood staining the sand it lay on and the glimpse of brown and blue of whatever was wrapped up in the back of the cart it was a safe bet its wings had been removed as well. No wonder the fishermen were in such high spirits, they'd likely fetch a high price for the parts they'd harvested from it.
Sirens were usually a danger to fishermen, they certainly didn't want to catch one in their nets, not that it happened often. It definitely wasn't often they managed to incapacitate and capture one and tie it down to harvest parts of value. Then again five men against one juvenile nixia ensnared in net, the creature hadn't stood much of a chance from the start. It was clear now the drag lines were from it being dragged from the water up the beach, but from the looks the poor creature had tried to drag itself back to the waves with little success. At first glance he'd thought it dead, but a twitch of its tail alerted him to the fact it was still breathing or more so struggling to.
Chest straining weakly in its struggle to draw breath through the cloth used to muzzle it. Red stains marred the cloth and the siren's skin where it had obviously tried to pull the cloth away, unable to grip it properly without its nails. Looking down at the butchered and weak creature Geralt decided to take pity, drawing his blade to end its suffering. Only bright blue eyes dulled with pain blinked open before he could swing the blade. Staring up at him in fear as it struggled to shift itself away from him in the sand.
Failing to do more than exhaust itself further.
He stares down at the creature as it looked up at him with big fearful pleading eyes, and he found himself giving in to better judgement. Lowering his blade and watching as those blue eyes turned wistfully to the shoreline both close yet impossibly out of reach in its current state. Even as injured and weak as it was the creature wanted to return to the sea. Then, the witcher had witnessed Nixia retreat to the depths when injured, perhaps the ocean's salt water helped them heal. He wasn't sure the creature before him would survive even if it returned to the sea, yet he'd witnessed beasts survive worse.
Perhaps it would live, perhaps not. Either way it was surely a kinder death to succumb in the cool water it calls home than blistering under the hot sun mere meters from the comfort of the waves.
The siren's tail sluggishly whipped about hindered greatly by the net weighing it down in attempt to defend itself as he scooped it up by its underarms. "Easy." He calmed though he doubted it understood his words, as he carefully drags it to the water's edge. Setting it down in the shallows, he pulled out his dagger and cut the gag from its mouth. Regretting it instantly as a high pitched shrill assaulted his ears, making him dizzy, the sound stopping nearly as soon as it started as the creature ran out of breath, desperately choking and gasping in air to fill its lungs.
The growl he let out at the noise had the thing cowering, those big dazzling blue eyes wide with fear as it curled further in on itself. He probably should have left the gag in, its teeth and voice were the only weapons it had left, but there was little point in dragging it back to the water to try and cut it free if it ended up suffocating before he could do so. Pausing a moment and waiting for the creature to calm down a little he reached forward cutting the rope bound tight around its wrists.
It drew its injured hands protectively to its chest, cautious eyes watching him warily though some of the previous fear had given way to curiosity. It let out a shiver as he scooped water to wet the area's that the waves could not reach. Telling it to stay still as he grabbed at the nearest part of the net, working at cutting its torso and tail free. The siren letting out little shrills and growls whenever the net snagged in its smooth scales or pulled at its wounds.
As he removed more and more of the tangled net the gruesome injuries left where its wings were cut off came into view. One a mess of cuts and fractured bone left exposed where the fishermen had clearly hacked and sawed at the wing's base until they had managed to cut through the bone. A deep rough meaty gash was all that remained where its left wing had been cut and torn from its socket. No doubt having learnt from their struggle with removing the other. The wounds were still sluggishly bleeding and Geralt was honestly surprised the thing was even still alive.
A couple minutes later and he was cutting the last of the net free, the siren giving a strange chirp like shrill before twisting with a little struggle and slinking away from shore. Geralt watched it disappear into the waves, tucking his knife back in its pouch and scooping up the remnants of the net so nothing else would find itself caught in it. Returning to Roach and continuing his way down the beach towards the cove he'd been paid to clear of the drowners nesting there.
It was late evening by the time he was making his way back to the town he'd picked up the drowner contract at. The setting sun painting the ocean in reds and golds, as he looked out over the shoreline, half expecting to find a dead nixia washed up on the sand. He wasn't quiet where the thing had disappeared back into the waves, but he found his eyes kept finding their way back to the water anyway.
A small group of sirens, about half a dozen in number, twirled and darted around in the sky occasionally diving into the water by a cluster of sea stacks a half mile out from the sore. Perhaps the male once circled and danced with them. In front of him the sand turned to rock as they came upon an outcrop of rockpools, and he was just about to guide Roach around the rocks when he caught sight of something in the pool.
There curled in the shallows, amongst the rocks, mostly shaded from the sun lay the siren he'd cut from the net. Sunlight glimmering off the patch of scales it did reach as the creature lay sleeping with one arm pillowed under its head. It still looked practically at deaths door, though its burning red skin had since faded to an angry pink. Seemed the water was doing good for the creature, though it was still littered with open wounds but the worse of them no longer looked to be bleeding.
Still he couldn't be sure if he'd done the creature a mercy or if he'd just prolonged its suffering. Would it even be able to survive with such disfigurations? Its claw like nails would likely grow back eventually but not its barb and it would never fly again.
He guessed only time would tell.