Chapter 7: Of Delicate Matters

Ciri rode long into the morning, pushing her horse to gallop and only giving the mare short trot breaks between running bursts. The poor horse was drenched in foamy sweat and panting hard when Ciri finally allowed her to walk and pulled her off the path. They couldn't stay on the road, or else she would eventually be found out by either her enemies or Geralt, if he was even searching for her. Part of her thought he was probably ecstatic upon waking, and had moved on.

Moving off the path, she pulled her Aspen into the trees, moving slowly as they navigated between the thick oaks. It took all her power not to panic in fear, as they moved into unknown territory. Ciri wasn't naïve, she knew there were horrible monsters that lurked out in the world, but she'd rather tempt fate with them, then risk being captured by the Nilfgaard.

After a long period of walking, they came to a small clearing with a river that ran straight through the middle. Dismounting Aspen, Ciri walked forward cautiously, looking around for threats before moving on out into the open, and led the horse to the stream so she could drink. The two drank from the cool, clean water, quenching their thirsts from the hard hours of travel.

Leaning back on a rock, Ciri held the reins loosely, allowing the mare to graze on the green grass that grew along the riverbank. The quiet munches soothed the girl, lulling her into almost sleep as the sun peaked through the tops of the trees, casting a warm light upon her. She dozed for a while, feeling calm, despite being alone in the woods. Of course, that couldn't last forever.

A sudden jerking on the reins in her hands caused her to start awake. Aspen's head had flung up, turning to look into the trees off to their right. The horse's nostrils flared, and the whites of her eyes were visible as her head flung up even higher. As the horse danced nervously, Ciri stood up and looked into the trees, unable to see what was making the horse nervous.

"Shh, there's nothing there," Ciri soothed quietly, trying to stroke the mare's neck. The horse only grew more agitated, and began to pull back, tugging on the reins that Ciri held in her small hands. With one strong tug, the reins slipped free and Aspen reared back before turning and bolting back the way they had came. "No! Aspen!"

Her shout did nothing, as she watched the back of her horse disappear back into the trees. Instantly, Ciri felt cold, alone, and scared, as her eyes darted back to the trees where Aspen had seen something. Peering into the shadows, Ciri watched for a moment, nearly jumping out of her skin when she saw a dart of moment in the thicket. Moving backwards fast, Ciri began to move in the direction of where Aspen had run off, her eyes never leaving the treeline.

A shape began to crawl from the trees, moving in her direction. Slowly, the shape became fully visible to her, and her heart skipped a beat. A wolf-like creature, with long gangly limbs, was stalking towards her on all fours. It had bright yellow eyes, and it's red tongue hung from it's mouth that was lined with sharp teeth. Deep growls grumbled from its chest, as it began to move towards her.

Moving backwards further, Ciri felt a scream rising up in her chest as she turned to run. As she turned, her foot caught on the roots of the trees and she fell to the dirt, the wind knocked out of her leaving her unable to make a sound as the creature lunged at her. Teeth and razor claws were heading straight for her throat, and all she could do was shut her eyes tightly in fear, as she shrunk down against the dirt.

-/-/-/-

Geralt was furious and anxious and stressed and every other bad emotion as he rode Roach at a full gallop. He couldn't believe they hadn't found Ciri yet, despite the pace they moved at. Jaskier's poor pony was huffing and puffing as they urged them on, trying to cover as much ground as possible. "Dammit," Geralt shouted, pulling Roach to a halt. His body moved in time as Roach's pants rocked the mare's body. Jaskier stopped Beast, the pony lowering his head instantly and letting out a few coughs between his deep, heaving pants for air. "The tracks stop here."

"Well she didn't disappear," Jaskier snapped, worry eating at him for the girl. She could be in serious danger, and she was all alone. "Did she head into the trees?"

Geralt looked around him, trying to determine which was the girl would have gone. As he looked into one section of trees, his sensitive ears picked up on a sound. When Jaskier began to pipe up, Geralt snapped at him to shut up for a minute. The sound began to get louder, and he realized it was the sound of horse hooves running. His head shot towards the sound, and Jaskier's head looked too as even his ears finally heard the sound.

After a short few seconds, Aspen flung out of the trees. Reins flying beside her, and tack slamming around on her back, emphasizing the lack of rider, she just about collided with Roach in her panic. "Fuck, easy now!" Geralt snapped, grabbing the mare's reins as she moved to run past Roach. He gave one hard yank and snapped the mare out of her panicked state. "Calm down."

He chucked the reins to Jaskier, who caught them awkwardly, as Geralt turned and kicked Roach into a gallop in the direction Aspen had come from. He heard the growls before he saw the beast, and his heart stopped as he emerged into a small clearing, seeing Ciri looking at a werewolf. Throwing himself of his horse, sword already in his hand, he ran towards the girl.

Ciri had turned to run, only to fall straight to the ground. Geralt felt his slow-beating heart nearly stop as the beast lunged, intending to kill the girl where she lay. Too bad for the awful creature, it was blocked by Geralt's sword as he sliced the werewolf along his side. With a loud roar, the thing landed off to the side and flung around to snarl at Geralt, who had planted himself in front of Ciri.

Ciri looked up in shock when the blow never came, and inhaled when she saw Geralt standing in front of her, sword bloodied and drawn as the werewolf charged again. The battle was quick, with Geralt killing the creature off with a few, well-timed, effective blows of his sword. The werewolf was skinny, and clearly unprepared for a fight with an experienced Witcher.

When the wolf finally lay dead, lying in its own pool of crimson blood which filled the air with the smell of iron, Geralt turned to look at her. She flinched back when he stepped towards her. He was probably angry with her, and she wasn't prepared to get yelled at. Thus, she was shocked when his warm arms suddenly enveloped her, pulling her into his chest as his nose fell into her wild hair. "Dammit Ciri," he murmured. "What were you thinking?"

Tears instantly pooled in her eyes as a hard sob forced it's way out of her throat. She couldn't even speak as the powerful sobs wracked her body, tears falling freely from her eyes as she cried into Geralt's shirt. Her hands clenched to clutch him, hanging onto him like the lifeline he was. "I'm-I'm sorry," she choked out. His hand came up to cup the back of her head, rubbing it soothingly as she cried, as she cried for the fear she'd felt, and of relief she felt that Geralt had came for her.

They stayed like that for a while, as she continued to cry, venting out all her pent up emotions as Geralt held her tightly. She couldn't live without him, and she could now accept that.