Hadriana was silent through the entire ride, not daring to speak, scream or kick, not wanting to provoke the bastards to use violence against her. She also desperately tried to gain at least some of her magic to make a new escape attempt before they reached their destination, but it proved to be quite a task. All the energy she could muster was needed to keep her awake. She was weakened and now she was becoming even more tired than she already was before. All she could do was to form a plan of her next actions, but anything she could think of had no sense. She found herself at the head of the procession now and was closely watched not only by Imlerith, but also by the King himself. Any hasty action could end deadly, there was no point in performing any rebellious stunt just yet. On the other hand, she also wanted to know their reason for taking her with them... They hadn't killed her yet, surely there was something they wanted from her. "Gods forgive me, I detest all my sins,I know I was a pain in your arses, but even I don't deserve this. Just make them disappear, pretty please".

It was already dawn, it was getting a tad lighter now. Thick clouds still covered the sky, but the rain stopped and Iana was thankful for that. She was quite cold and still a bit wet from her puddle encounter earlier, additional rain would make her feel even more uncomfortable than she already was. Wait...Iana? The sudden memory of her friends shortening her name like this caused her to think about the previous events. She remembered receiving a message from Yennefer, her former mistress, and beloved friend, on her megascope. Yen asked her for assistance in Kaer Morhen, she said it was urgent, but she didn't explain any details, she just asked Iana to come as fast as she could. Hadriana was not only anxious about the task, but also excited to finally break out from her boring routine as a village- curse breaker . She was an expert of curses and dark magic, especially destructive arts, so she assumed Yen needed her expertise to deal with something quite extraordinary. Maybe a nasty spell, a demon possessed person...

Unfortunately, Hadriana remembered only opening multiple portals and finally arriving at the Witcher's nest... She landed just in front of the stone well in the courtyard...what happened next, she didn't know, and that was quite frustrating. She started to think about Imlerith's words...they were going to Tir Na Lia...she was sure, she's heard that name before, but she couldn't grasp any concrete memory of the name. She decided not to force anything and to let her memories come back to her on their own.

Her deep thoughts were suddenly stopped, the cavalcade apparently reached its destination. The horses stopped rather abruptly, snorting, kicking and neighing, almost causing the sorceress to fall off the saddle and crash to the ground. She cast a glance at her surroundings and figured out, that they were standing in the near of a huge lake, she could barely see the other shore. It was cold now, the water was covered with a thick fog and the air was almost disgustingly moist.

The Dearg Ruadhri got off their horses, Imlerith firmly grasped her tied hands and was about to pull her off the horse like a sack of grain, but the King grabbed his shoulder and pushed him aside. Then he did something unexpected... He approached her, put his arms around her waist and took her off the horse without any effort, just as if she had no weight. He moved away immediately after she touched the ground and moved forward. Hadriana was too startled to make any move now or to say anything, even if she had thousands of curses in her mind.

„Caranthir! Make it quick!" he ordered the elven mage.

The mage turned around to face their demonic horses.

„Va voort!" he called, and with one swift movement, he shot a spell aimed at the animals. They began to choke, neigh and almost cry in agony, their skins glowed and after a couple of seconds, they became sand. Hadriana has never seen anything like this before. Impressive elven trick...I must keep an eye on that one, he seems quite powerful.

After this little powerful display, Caranthir walked towards the shore and waved his staff just above the water surface. The lake immediately started to freeze and all of the riders gathered on the shore, preparing to cross the lake. Hadriana stood just beside Imlerith and Eredin and watched the spectacle. She realized, that she was somehow enjoying watching these bad boys... They scared the fuck out of her, yes, but there was something intriguing and fascinating in the way they acted or spoke, something that made her respect them. However, it didn't mean she wasn't going to try and escape by the next opportunity.

She didn't have to wait long for the occasion. Before they could even step on the thick icy surface, they have heard a wild, animalistic war cry coming just from behind them. More cries followed soon and Hadriana realized that they got attacked by a rather large group of drowners. She threw herself on the ground as soon as she saw the first stone flying in their direction, and rolled towards the nearest bush. The riders drew their weapons and launched at the attackers. Stones and mudballs were flying, apparently there were many more of them in the nearby bog. Heads and limbs were rolling, blood has been already almost everywhere, staining almost everyone and everything. There were more monsters than Red Riders, but their number was getting lower by every passing second. Eredin and his band were slaughtering drowners like they were ordinary pigs, ignoring the harmless stones flying in their direction.

Hadriana finally felt a rush of adrenaline and energy coming with it. Could be enough for a spell or two... She managed to get on her feet and started to run as fast as she could, hoping that her captors were busy enough not to notice her gone, but she suddenly heard someone heavily armed following her. She turned around quite abruptly and concentrated on casting a particularly nasty spell.

„Azaaar, anatha, veelos!" she screamed, stretching her bound hands out. Rather big fire bolt got the bastard and the one trying to help him catch Hadrina and get her back. In the second the riders sank to the ground, she saw no other than Caranthir and Eredin coming at her. Opening a portal with her hands bound was not an option, so she used her last bit of energy on casting a rather strong shockwave towards the elves. Caranthir however, was able to cast a counterspell. After that, he motioned his staff towards her and she could only feel her limbs getting soft. She crashed to the ground and the next thing she knew, was being carried by Eredin towards the other shore of the lake. This was worth a try...-she thought. There was no other option than to follow them now.

„Did you really think this will be that easy, my lady?" she heard him speaking."At least you seem to be quite talented... and fierce...but very, very impatient. I like insane women" his voice was barely more than a whisper now. Soon after saying that, Eredin passed the numb woman to Imlerith and motioned his last few soldiers to cross the frozen lake.

„You are lucky Eredin wants you alive and well... because I would love to make you pay for killing my comrades" he stated."It is hard not to crush your damn skull for being such a pain in the ass".

„You can bloody piss off, fuck face. Why does he want me? I will surely try to kill you one by one, if you continue to treat me like this, I swear it. I will slay the fuck out of your tribe if you won't let me go" Iana couldn't move, but she still could speak in her most diplomatic manner.

„Eredin will tell and SHOW you himself, believe me. He has his reasons. You will come with us...and you will grow to like it there, that is sure. No matter how long you fight, you will do everything he asks" he threatened.

By the time Imlerith told Hadriana off, they reached the opposite shore. Caranthir placed himself just in front of the gate, but before he opened the portal, he knocked Iana off with a spell. All she could see and feel was darkness, everything went still.

Hadriana woke with a start, feeling warm and cozy. She could feel a soft mattress underneath her tired and abused body, her clothes were no longer cold and wet, because she had a light and silky nightgown on. She was still very tired, she felt lightheaded and she could not think straight. It was pitch black in the room, she could see nothing. She closed her eyes again, the previous events felt like a bad dream. Hadriana felt like lying in her own soft and warm bed was just what she needed, so she quickly fell asleep again.