Chapter Six

~ Geralt ~

The path ahead lay clear of limestone outcrops, a straight run down into the next valley, and so I let Roach have her head. Securing Eliana tight against my chest, I leaned us both back a fraction in the saddle as the mare's hoofs thundered beneath us, gathering speed.

Now I had explained her birthright and why she was hunted, Eliana had lapsed into silence. I didn't pry; it was a lot to take in, and she was still healing. Her strength, despite her surprising show with my blade that morning, was low.

A full day had passed, and no one had found us. While I was glad we'd escaped, it seemed too easy. Something did not bode well, but I didn't know what. Easing Roach back to a trot, we entered the grassy valley, and movement caused me to bring the mare to a solid halt.

"What's wrong" Eliana spoke low, wary.

"I've found dinner." I grinned. In the long grasses, rabbits hopped about, some sitting upright, ears flickering back and forth in our direction. With slow movements, I eased the small crossbow from my back, and slid a bolt in place, nudging Roach in a half circle to ensure a clear shot.

Before me, Eliana sat as still as if she were made of stone, yet I could sense her coiled muscles. Her instincts were strong. She was hungry, and right now it was as if a predator lurked beneath her sun-gold skin.

I sighted up a plump looking creature, busying itself on thistle leaves. Exhaling, I released the trigger. The rabbit screamed once and then was still whilst the others fled to their burrows in a flurry of grey and russet brown. I nudged Roach towards the fallen creature. Swinging down, I removed the bolt from its neck, wiping the excess blood on the grass before replacing it with the others at my back. The rabbit I checked for disease, before picking it up by its limp back legs to fasten with a strap of leather off the back of the saddle. All the while, I felt her eyes on me. We were getting along, it seemed, but I still sensed her unease. At least she hadn't called me a monster again, but I'd seen how she studied my hair, my eyes. Did she think them beastly? Is that why she stared?

"Hope you like rabbit." Refusing to glance at her, I swung back up behind her in the saddle.

"I considered rat while I was…" She trailed off, but she didn't need to finish. That she'd shared something of her time captured was a surprise.

"They taste awful." I made to wrap my arm about her to settle her back securely against me before we rode again, but she pushed my hand away.

"It's fine." I frowned at the back of her head, but let my left hand fall to my thigh, pressing Roach into a lope.

~ Eliana ~

My mouth watered of its own accord as the rabbit Geralt had skinned, gutted and trussed up to roast over a fire cooked, the smell of roast floating on the smoke whenever a breeze pushed it my way.

He'd once again checked if there was any heat to my back indicating infection. Finding none, he'd decided to leave my bandages another day. Relief had rushed through my body. Last night had been hard enough to sit still, harder to awaken and realise I'd passed out unclothed.

I was certain after a full day of riding, and of the way his horse trusted him, loved him even, Geralt would not harm me. My instincts knew this. My mind, filled with dark memories, did not. Geralt looked nothing like those men. He looked nothing like any man I had met. He did not act like those men. So why did I keep making the mistake of thinking he was the same?

Blowing out a sigh, I shifted my weight from where I sat upon a soft bed of wild-grass, legs tucked beneath me. Tonight, we camped in a small hollow in a different gully to the one where Geralt had shot the rabbit. This one was deeper, and the air would be colder if it were not for the fire. I had Geralt's cloak wrapped about me and turned to watch him where he brushed his mare; murmuring to her in low tones I could not overhear. Was he cold without his cloak? He'd had a blanket when I had awoken this morning, so he felt the cold, but I wondered to what extent? Was he from a cold climate and therefore used to it? Is that why he had such a pale complexion? How did Petra know him? How did he know Petra? How… how could he have possibly known the King—my father's, mother? My grandmother? She'd been killed in a rebel attack nearly forty years ago… Perhaps he was a sorcerer? But if he was a sorcerer, why hadn't he used magic to do… well anything?

~ Geralt ~

She was watching me again. Was there no peace from her judgement? Finishing up with Roach, I checked the rabbit, tearing off a back limb to check it was cooked through. I hated the taste of raw meat, no matter what people thought. Unfortunately, I'd tasted my fair share of fresh blood from all assortment of creatures, including human.

Handing her the leg, I fetched the cleaned knife I used for cooking, and one of my two bowls. I carved up the meat, then settled with the bowl at Eliana's side, so we could both take from it. She didn't flinch like she had earlier when I'd checked her back. I'd made the call then to leave her be. The wounds were clean, the potion I'd given her was working, along with the Dragons Tongue leaf. Still, I'd have her drink the potion again tonight. Better to be safe. Too much weighed on her safe return to Verden. I was contracted to keep her alive.

Contract or not, although her watching me was annoying, the company on the road was a pleasant change. She didn't speak much, and I was unsure if she was quiet by nature, or if she just didn't want to speak to me. On the contrary, in explaining the goings on of Verden to her, I'd spoken in one day more than I had in an entire year. At least she didn't provoke me to open my mouth without knowing what would crawl out, like Yen used to.

Yennefer. My ribs contracted, crushing the air momentarily from my lungs. Damn witch. She'd been right. In our hideaway, we'd thought our minds, our hearts had found peace. No more fighting, no more judgement. We could be ourselves. Together. We were joined, along with Ciri, a family tied by bonds which would never break, because of destiny, because of a last, desperate wish.

I never considered time, the breaker of us all, even those who could live for centuries.

"You are restless, and I am weary." Yen said, staring out across the crystal waters of the lake. "The peace you seek is not here, no matter how hard you wish it, because in the end, we are held together by your wish."

"It's more than that." I countered, angry she would bring any of it up.

"A wish you made out of desperation, a wish which binds me to you, and you to I." She finished. It was nothing I didn't already know, but my restlessness, I'd tried to hide it. I had grown restless with idling by, as the world shifted, rising and falling.

"I too have made a wish, Geralt." Her voice, it was… no... It was final. Panic seized my heart, and I grabbed her arm, spinning her to face me.

"What have you done?" Those violet eyes gazed back at me, weary, older. Their spark faded. "Yen?"

"I love you, Geralt of Rivia, but I am tired. My soul is tired."

"No." I barked out, pulling her closer, pressing my lips to her forehead. "No." I said against her brow, softer.

There's someone out there, with no ties to you because you had to make a choice. It will be real."

"This is real." I pleaded, but in my heart, I knew each word she spoke was the truth. I'd known all along I would lose her, known all along she was never truly mine. But to let her go, to be without her? No. No, I could not endure without her.

In the end, I endured because she asked me to. I was still enduring. Yen had bid me promise to live too. Was I living?

I'd come back after Yen had taken her final breath, because without her, I only knew monsters.

"Geralt?" Pulling myself from the torments of my mind, I turned to Eliana, noting she'd eaten half the rabbit meat, and left the rest for me.

"Hmm?"

"I uh, was wondering if you would like your cloak back?"

"You need it more than I." She nodded, staring at the flames before us. The question was an odd one, surely she knew a Witcher could withstand extreme weather beyond the capacities of a man? A small yawn escaped her, and I decided it was time to give her a second vial of the potion. As if sensing my thoughts, she turned her head, wary blue-green eyes finding mine.

"To be safe, I'll give you another dose of the healing potion, then you should rest." I got up, before she could protest, and pulled the correct vial from a pack resting against a nearby shrub. When I stood again, she was too.

"Uh, here." I uncorked and handed the vial over, and she downed it in three gulps, her decidedly fair elven features screwed up from the bitter taste. The empty vial was thrust back into my hand, as she used the water from a skin she also held, to wash down the taste.

"Thank you." She bit out, tone harsh, surprising, until I realised standing had pulled at her injuries. She let out a low hiss between her teeth as she moved to the other side of the fire.

"What are you doing?"

"Finding a place to rest." She muttered, testing the softness of the grass underfoot, the mass of my cloak causing her to blend into the darkness, despite my keen eyes.

"There is a bedroll remember, wait and I'll unroll it for you." I strode to where it lay, still rolled and tied.

"No, it's yours, I'll be fine here." Stubborn girl, what was she playing at now? Carrying the bedroll, I stalked to where she was still testing the grass beneath her bare feet. They were freezing, surely. She couldn't sleep on the grass. My own feet were bare, and despite it bothering me little, I knew each blade of grass held the chill of winter in this deep valley.

"It's too cold for you, here." I unravelled the roll before turning to her.

"Fine, I'll sleep on the other side." I thought she'd conceded, offering to share the bedroll, but no, she brushed past me, returning to the other side of the fire. A growl of frustration worked its way out of my chest.

"Eliana."

"Geralt." She mimicked back, and I almost laughed, but her antics were maddening. She needed sleep, I needed sleep, and she didn't need to go and freeze herself to death. I followed her back around the fire where she'd stilled. No, she swayed. "I was right, you are drugging me." Her words were slow, coming out wrong, but they still stung of accusation.

"Not intentionally. The healing potion is not meant for someone like you, it's too strong."

"Then whose it meant for?" Her knees buckled from beneath her, and her hands shot out, grasping, but I had her, holding her steady at the sides. Still, her fingers were twisted into the front of my shirt, over my heart.

"It is meant for me."

"Figures." She half scoffed, half mumbled, words failing her as the potion began to take over. "You are monstrous compared to me." Just like that, she'd reminded me of what I was. A monster, nothing more. A monster created to slay other monsters. Her weight deadened in my grip, and with a snort of derision at her last words, I pick her up, carrying her to the bedroll. I had no desire to wake close to her, and once I was certain she would not freeze, stalked back to the other side of the fire. I'd sleep with my blanket and the company of Roach, the cold be damned.

~ Eliana ~

I wiggle in the long grass, watching the seed heads sway back and forth in the warm breeze. Back and forth, back and forth, they go. High, high above, big white clouds soar across the blue sky.

Yesterday, Carr was here with me. He taught me how to spot the animals in the clouds. I squint at a funny-looking mass. It kind of looks like a horse… or is it a wolf? A big, white wolf. A big white wolf like the one from one of mamma's lullabies.

Mamma, she will know which one it looks like most. I jump to my feet, and dash through the long grasses of the meadow past the grazing horses, past the fruit trees, vegetables and herb gardens, and tumble through the wooden fence rails.

"Mamma!" I call out for my mamma, pushing open the back entrance into the kitchen. When I left for the meadow, mamma was singing, but now the cottage is very quiet. She does not answer me, and so I call her again, stomping in impatience. If she doesn't hurry, the clouds will move and the horse or the wolf will be gone!

"Mamma?" I don't know why she won't answer, she always answers when I call her. A funny feeling, like I've swallowed wriggly earth worms, makes me wrap my arms tightly about my tummy. The kitchen is filled with sunshine, but beyond the door into the rest of the cottage where our bedrooms are, and little washroom, and hearth room, it is dark and there is no singing.

I feel scared, the wriggling worms wriggling more in my tummy. Its stupid. Mamma and Petra both say there is nothing to be afraid of in the cottage, it is always safe, but I am scared, and I don't know why, and I don't know why mamma won't come out.

Making sure to be silent like the foxes and hares which live in the meadow, I creep into the hearth room. It's gloomy, but I can see. I can see mamma; she's lying on the ground in front of my favourite chair. Is this a game? Is she pretending to be asleep so I can sneak up on her? I keep creeping, being very, very quiet, creeping around the chairs, dropping to my hands and knees to crawl. I am a wolf, like the one in the clouds, sneaking up on her from behind a huge, huge tree, and she can be a sleeping deer, or, or a bear! A bear sleepy still from the winter! I am a clever little wolf; I'll wake her up!

I curl my fingers into paws and drop my shoulders, like I've seen the friendly wolves in the forest do, and stalk towards her. I am so close, and I think I will pounce on her, give her a good scare, but my paw hands are wet. I sit back, opening my palms. Its sticky, whatever the wet stuff is. I sniff at it, catching the bright red colour of it in the light. Blood. It smells like blood.

"Mamma?" I stare at her, I call out her name over and over again, but she does not wake up. "Mamma!" I can feel the wet blood oozing on my hands, my arms, my legs, as I crawl right up to her. Her eyes are open, green as leaves, but she won't move, she won't answer me. Mamma is staring up at the rafters like she can't see me, like she can't hear me. "Mamma!" I shake her, I tug at her hand. It's cold, so cold like she's been out in winter snow, but it is summer, and she hasn't been out in the snow! "Mamma! Mamma!" I curl into her side, pressing my cheek against her collarbones. I can't hear the thump, thump of her heart... "Mamma…"

"It's all right, shh, it's all right."

I clasp on to the familiar smell of the man's shirt. He is mamma's special friend, Carr, and my friend. He'll help, he'll fix mamma.

"Help mamma, help mamma, she can't see me, and she's hurt." I plead him, but he's carrying me away, into the kitchen. It's dark outside now, the sun is gone, no more birds are singing, just like mamma isn't singing. "Help mamma." I tell him again.

"Shh, it's all right my little firefly, Petra is with her."

"Okay." I say, because Petra can make everyone better. Petra is a healer and works at the castle for the King.

"Are you alright?" Carr says and I nod. He is still holding on to me and he always gives the best cuddles, so I press my head against his black shirt, and hug him back, hiding my face when Petra appears, when Petra tries to explain to me why mamma isn't all better, why Petra could not fix her.

Carr is crying, I can feel his tears all wet in my hair, and so is Petra, and so I cry too, because I want my mamma, but she isn't coming. She'll never see the wolf or the horse in the clouds.

Toss a coin to your witcher, oh valley of... Uhem, I mean reviews are welcome if you have any questions or thoughts.

blasttyrant - Haha no more pennies here, just dollars, cents and plastic notes! Glad you are enjoying it! Gosh I better get my butt into gear and update There Were Ten!