Chapter 8: Dreams of Terror

Geralt, though he would deny it for the remainder of his existence, felt like the stars had realigned now that Ciri was back and safe with him. She sat behind him on Roach, the only other person he would even dare allow to ride the mare, arms wrapped around his waist to stay in the saddle. They slowly worked their way through the forest, allowing Roach to navigate the path calmly and safely this time around.

Jaskier was waiting for them, sitting on top of Beast and holding Aspen's reins with a put-out look on his face. He smiled when he saw Ciri behind the Witcher, clearly unharmed from her time fleeing. "Aspen! You found her!" Ciri grinned, and before Geralt could grab her, the princess swung off the back of Roach and darted over to her bay mare. Scratching the mare in one of her favorite itchy spots, she cooed quietly: "I'm so sorry girl."

Jaskier huffed, his arms crossing over his chest when Ciri took the reins from him. "She didn't even miss us, Geralt. Not one bit."

Ciri gapped at the Bard, her jaw dropped as she fumbled for words. "What? No, that's not true… I just-" she trailed off, not sure how to explain herself quite yet.

"That's enough Jaskier," Geralt grumbled, even though he too, wanted to know why the girl had fled. "She won't do it again, or I shall tie her to Roach."

Ciri swallowed hard, certain he was joking, but she didn't dare risk it. There was no where safe for her without Geralt, and she wasn't going to tempt her fate again. She just hoped the man didn't hate her for getting saddled with her for life.

A yawn suddenly escaped the Princess, and she blushed with embarrassment, her hand shooting to cover her mouth as it stretched open. Her exhaustion was catching up on her fast, and she suddenly felt a little less stable on her feet. Noticing this, Geralt swung off of Roach and took Aspen's reins from the girls fingers, tying the leather ropes to the back of his saddle. "You ride up front, then you can sleep," Geralt stated, already hoisting Ciri up into the saddle and plopping her down. Gracefully, he swung up into the saddle and settled in behind her.

Ciri opened her mouth to protest, but as Geralt's arms came around, one hand keeping her in place while the other grabbed Roach's reins, she felt too warm and safe leaning against his broad chest. They began to move out, Jaskier humming some tune he had made up, lulling the girl into a peaceful sleep as all the tension left her body.

-/-/-/-/-

Ciri walked out of the woods, the warm, tropical biome rapidly changing to one of snowy tundra. The wind picked up instantly, howling sharply and is stripped the hood from her head and sent her hair waving in sharp snaps. The hair on her body stood on end as goosebumps rose across her flesh. There was no longer any sun, just thick dark clouds casting a dark shadow across the open plain.

Trudging through the thick and heavy snow, white powder up to her calves, her shoes were filled with snow. "Geralt!" she called, her voice echoing, getting carried off by the wind. She didn't know how she'd gotten back here, or where Geralt and Jaskier were. This growing need to find Geralt was all she could focus on. "Geralt, please!"

As she moved across the frozen tundra, her heart skipped a beat when she caught glimpse of some tall monster disappearing into the tree line. Ciri shuddered, and moved away from where the thing had gone, trying to avoid being seen. Moving on, for what felt like an eternity, she finally felt scared enough to start calling.

"Geralt!" she called, desperation filling her voice as tears pricked the corners of her eyes. "Geralt, please, where are you?!"

There was no answer beside the wind, every howling at her, and burning her cheeks with its icy sting. The tips of her fingers had turned blue, and she lifted them up into her armpits, in a feeble attempt to bring some warmth to them. The cold hurt her ears, and her mind was getting a little foggy as she wished for a warm fire to curl up next too. Exhaustion pulled at her limbs, making them unbelievably heavy, and she began to think about stopping for a break…

Peering across the snowy landscape, a dark cloaked figure on top of a horse appeared along the horizon. Relief blossomed in her chest as she screamed: "Geralt! Over here!"

Picking up pace to a run, which was difficult with the deep snow and her toes being nearly frozen, she headed for the dark figure that was galloping towards her. Her happiness rapidly turned to horror, as the figure lifted a bow and strung an arrow while the horse bolted full speed towards her. With the realization that it was not Geralt, but rather the dark knight Cahir, she turned and began to run the opposite direction.

A loud whizzing sound met her ears moments before a sharp blinding pain pierced her calf. Falling to the snow, she let out a scream of pain and looked down to see an arrow jutting out from her leg. "Geralt!" she screamed louder, tears pouring as she tried to get up and keep moving, only to fall back to the snowy ground. "Where are you?! Please help me!"

Another arrow jammed into her shoulder, sending her face first into the snow. The pain was intense, and she could feel the warm sticky blood seeping from the wounds. Glancing behind her, she could see the horse was almost upon her, and the next arrow was pointed straight for her face.

"Please don't," she cried, hands going up to shield her face as she lay down in the snow. "GERALT!"

"Cirilla!" She realized she was falling, no longer freezing cold and being held onto tightly by thick arms. Her eyes flew open as she realized she was heading for the ground at a terrifying speed. Geralt was wrapped around her and rolled them so that it was his back that hit the dirt, taking the brunt of the fall. A loud huff of air escaped Ciri as she slammed down onto Geralt's chest, while a grunt of pain rumbled through his chest at the impact.

"Dammit," Geralt cussed, as he looked up at Ciri who was wide-eyed and shaking.

"What happened?" Ciri murmured, as she moved to get off his chest, flopping hard onto her butt beside him. Geralt sat up slowly, wincing at the pain in his back as he rose. Resting an arm on his knee he looked at her in exasperation.

"You were having a nightmare," he muttered, clearly unimpressed. "Screamed bloody murder and scared the shit out of Roach and the other horses. I couldn't hold on with you in front and we fell in her panic."

Ciri looked around and saw that all the horses and Jaskier were gone. She turned to look back at the Witcher, guilt in her eyes. "I'm sorry," she whispered, looking down at her hands which were clenching her dark robes.

A heavy hand came forwards and brushed her hair out of her face. Looking up, she saw Geralt's eyes soften. "It's alright," he rumbled. "You'll just have to make it up to Roach and Jaskier, who is surely gone for the ride of his life. Poor pony ran like the devil was after him."

Geralt rose to his feet, and held a hand down to help Ciri up. Tentatively, she placed her hand in his and allowed him to help her stand. As she stood and looked around, she spotted Jaskier riding back towards them, Aspen in tow (her reins broken from snapping off Roach's saddle), and Roach was trotting loose beside them. "A little warning next time Princess," Jaskier stated, his hair askew as he stopped in front of them. "That was quite the ride."

"Little pony can run after all," Geralt chucked, as he grabbed Roach's reins when she came to stand next to him. "You, on the other hand, no better to bolt."

Roach blew hard on his face, her ears pinning for a quick moment. Geralt just rolled his eyes, and turned his gaze to Aspen's broken reins. "There's an extra set of reins in my bag," Jaskier chimed in, reaching into Beast's saddle bag and grabbing a spare set of reins.

Accepting them, Geralt quickly exchanged them for Aspen's broken ones and helped Ciri back onto her horse. "Let's keep moving then," Geralt stated, as he swung onto Roach.

So off they went, following the path towards the next town.