Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of the witcher. Those are property of Mr Sapkowski and I using Netflix series canon mixed with the books.

Warning : Violence (some graphic). Traumatic events and post traumatic state, anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts. Emotional and physical whump.

Note : I am not writing too much graphic stuff but this chapter as some brutal moments. There is no detailed description of body horror but there is a lot of blood and big whump so it can trigger.

Also the normal part is external POV this time, with other character focus at the beginning. Italic is still Jaskier writing his memories.

You know, afterwards, the world called it the Bleobheris incident where Temeria successfully tamed a riot from the non humans, plotting a coup. I call it a gabegie and a massacre.

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Chapter 3 : Lullaby

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She was bleeding heavily from a deep stab wound in her belly but was running without paying attention to it. The elf was holding her daughter's hand and leading her out of the camp as fast as she could. The little girl was crying, clinging onto her bunny ragdoll as much as onto her.

They were far from the main battlefield but not out of danger. They hadn't reach the outline of the camp. They were many tents in the woods surrounding the Great Oak. Most of them were destroyed by the soldier and were the tombs of those who thought they could hide inside. The mother was trying to avoid those bloody carnages but she had nowhere to go.

Some temerian soldiers were patrolling with bows and arrows, searching for those who escaped the first traps. Like them...

The elven woman had suffered a severe puncture to her belly, protecting her daughter from a spear probing the hiding, but in the chaos of the attack and thanks to the early intervention of the druids, they could escape. Unfortunately, and she knew it, her wound would be her doom.

She could feel her strength faltering quickly as she found some path between bushes. She hid a few seconds behind a tall tree, time for her to catch her breath. The little girl pressed herself against her. She contained a hiss of pain.

- "We have to be extremely quiet. Do you understand ?" She whispered to her daughter, in elder. The girl nodded.

The woman pushed herself up and resume their escape. But as they rushed into a small glade, they found a man crying over the body of an elf whose back was pierced by several arrows. The woman pulled her daughter out of the way and stepped back into the shadow of the trees. She quickly assessed the situation. Human was not a good option but by the look of it he wasn't to the side of those who were slaughtering her kind.

She shuddered, realizing that a patrol could come back at any time. She pressed her free hand against her side. Blood was gushing out too fast. She was beginning to feel light headed. She couldn't ignore the fact that each beat of her heart was weakening her, spilling her vital fluid out of her body. The last run had worsen her condition badly. She had to make a decision. Quick. The most important of her life, for her daughter to have a chance of survival.

Catching her breath, she looked back at her daughter for a moment. She smiled at her, trying to be soothing but the little one just stuck to her harder, in fear. She spoke softly to her.

- "You are going to go with this man back there, ok ?" The little girl shook her head, clearly afraid. "Mom is going to ask him for help. To take you somewhere safe."

- "He is a human." Whispered the child. "Humans kill elves." Her voice went up as terror was overwhelming.

- "Not all humans. This one is crying for one of us. This one can help. I am certain. He can take you somewhere safe." She repeated.

- "I don't want to go with him."

- "I know but there is no choice. You are the future for our kind. You have to survive. Do you understand ?"

The little girl nodded but pressed her face on her side. The woman made her daughter release her grip, asking her to stay hidden for the moment. She approached the man and almost crashed next to him. Her hiss of pain and her daughter's cry hidden in the bushes were what jolted him back to reality.

When he turned his head to look at her, she gasped. It was Jaskier, the famous bard. She heard him sing a few days ago, by the Great Oak. He was clearly in a deep shock state but seemed unharmed. Maybe he wasn't the worst option, after all.

She put her bloody hand on his shoulder.

- "I need help." She said in common language. He shook his head slowly.

- "Just flee. I am no help." He replied.

- "I can't." She sadly smiled at him.

He finally noticed the blood. He gasped. She saw in his eyes how concerned he was and yet completely lost. She just needed him to come back to his senses enough to understand.

- "Sir, there is nothing to be done for me, but I have a daughter… Save her. Please…"

- "I couldn't save him." He replied, becoming teary again. "I am not a warrior. I am just a bard… I..."

- "She is just a little girl. I beg of you…"

She turned slightly and made a sign for her daughter to get out of the bushes. The girl approached them holding her bunny doll close to her heart, terror in the eyes. She fell into the arms of her mother. The woman began to sing to her, with tears in her eyes and her voice.

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I never thought about having children on my own. I've never had the idea of settling down, having a family. My way of experiencing love was to the antipodes anyway.

I had never felt like a protector either before. I remember going nuts sometimes when Geralt was in danger but I was a threat to no-one. I was weak and fearful most of the time. But that night something changed in me. Because, of all things, I learnt a valuable lesson. All protectors don't fight.

I saw that woman and her child begging for me to help. I was so sure that I couldn't. But I observed that her protecting her daughter from the situation in itself. Everything was terrifying. We could hear screams from the battle not that far. I was rocking a dead body in my pain. That child probably saw a lot of horrifying things already, if not her mother being hurt and now bleeding to death. All was simply too much to take for anybody, but especially for a young mind.

I looked at this desperate, but yet brave, woman next to me, singing an old elven lullaby to her terrified daughter. Trying to reassure her in this madness. I knew the song so I joined her. The woman smiled at me and slowly pushed the little girl in my arms, over Adrian's dead body.

Progressively, I let my lover go as I welcome the child. I felt my heart twist painfully in my chest. I saw hope in the eye of the elven woman and it gave me strength. I held the little girl close and she began to cry against my shoulder. She understood that it was a farewell.

I got up on shaking legs and looked back again at the man who had briefly brought back some light in me, - his body maintained in an odd angle by the deadly arrows - then at the bleeding out mother partially prostrated over him, crying and smiling at me. I turned round and just went.

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The little girl understood that she had to stay silent. So she just kept her lips sealed during their escape.

Jaskier pushed into the forest, taking cover in a denser vegetation. He wasn't discreet, even if he wore much more neutral colours than his usual. His shirt was too white for him to properly hide and his dark waistcoat was only covering his back.

He found a ditch carved by a small river, almost dry, and didn't hesitate to go down. The less the could be seen, the better. Also the night mist wasn't totally dispersed, especially near water. It was floating over and around them.

Jaskier followed the path of the river, until he couldn't hear anything and stopped between some big roots emerging from the bank above. He put the little girl on her feet. She had red eyes but she wasn't crying anymore. She was looking into the void, clearly shocked. But she came closer, as if to find some warmth or confort in him.

- "What is your name ?" He asked in a whisper. The little girl didn't react. He asked again in elder this time. She slowly looked at him, but didn't answer. "It's ok. I understand..." He said with a forced smile.

He wasn't as good as her mother to hide his feelings right now.

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I was trying to find a solution to get out of the forest alive. I was helping the best I could and this is what I try to hold onto when I remember that day. It's the same I try to keep in mind when I have to pretend I don't see what is happening in Oxenfurt or when I fail to my mission sometimes.

A part of me now wonder what I would have done for this little girl, after all of this ? If I didn't have failed...

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They walked a long time in the cover of this river. The humid soil was absorbing the sound if their boots and the high banks border by trees was the best hiding for the moment. Though soon or later they would have to get out and walk without cover.

Jaskier had choose to continue moving foreward. His bet was that the temerian army was concentrated near the Great Oak and that if they were far enough, they could escape. During their walk into the ditch, he had seen several goblins making the choice to stay hidden and wait. Their short stature was an advantage but they were probably too many to not being noticed if the soldiers decided to search the area.

They even found a whole family hidden between the roots of the trees in the same river they were practicing. Only them could fit in those really narrow spaces.

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Bleobheris was a thick patch of forest surrounded by large farming lands. I was so sure that those lands were our freedom. Maybe I was too shocked to pay attention to the details.

We eventually get out of the river, when I clearly saw the woods becoming less dense. But I should have noticed the bodies in the last mile near the exit, or to be precise their position. Ironically, I saw them and prevented the little girl from being exposed to more gore. I took her in my arms and asked her to keep her head toward my torso and her eyes closed.

We passed maybe ten corpses turned towards the heart of the forest, in the area surrounding the river. But I couldn't see or hear any danger.

Some of the victims, all elves and dwarves, had been shot down, like Adrian, several arrows embedded in their body, other had been brutally murdered and laid where they had fallen, sliced open, more often then not. I had to refrain myself from retching more than once.

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They were almost in the open area when the little girl whispered her name. She was clutching onto him and her bunny. Jaskier almost smiled. She was named Hana. "flower" in elder. And she trusted him enough now to give him her name.

He sang to her softly a old elven song he knew about flowers and she sang with him. The moment was magical. He felt like he accomplished something important.

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I walked into the light, without fear. I was so sure that we were free. The morning sun had risen above the land and I let its heat warm us. I was blinded but confident. I was singing louder and so was Hana. Not loud enough to be heard in the distance but we were not hiding either. When I heard the scream I came back to my senses brutally. The elven girl just gripped me harder in pure terror and I realized what a fool I was.

I turned my head toward the noise. I saw a man running out of the woods, maybe 50 yards from us. He stopped at once and tried to get back in the shadow but three soldiers, swords out, intercepted him. They were coming from the woods also. He fell on his knees and they kept him upright while piercing his body repeatedly.

They didn't see us so I tried to move forward but this is when I noticed what made the poor civilian run back into the forest. The sun was in front of me, blinding but, in the warm light, I saw the silhouette of a line of soldiers facing us, in the distance. They didn't move, they were there to block the roads and kill those who escaped. I saw two dwarves emerged from the forest, not that far from the man who was being overkilled. They were running toward a field, avoiding the soldiers in the distance. I saw a few men in the line moving, bending their bows.

Dwarves are strong people for sure. It took several arrows to stop them completely.

My blood ran cold. Temeria had launched a war force against us. We were maybe two hundreds or maybe a bit more in Bleobheris. They were four or five time that number. This was ridiculous. But their goal was to eradicate so I guess the goal justifies the means.

I panicked and made the same stupid move as the man I watched being murdered a minute ago. I ran back to the forest. My swift move was surely what caught their attention. I heard a scream in my back. Scream that was not for us but for those who would take us down. I don't know if it is the fact that I travelled most of my life by foot or if the fear was giving me wings to flee, but my course lasted longer than that poor guy before or even the dwarves.

They tried to shot us like them. I would not call it luck per se, but the arrows missed. Maybe we were just out of reach. I didn't try to push my "luck" further, I took what I thought was an unexpected curve to reach the border of the forest and pushed to the north. I was running as fast as I could, jumping over small bushes, slaloming between the trees and the woods were rapidly growing thicker. I thought that if I could reach a denser portion of the forest I would lost the hunters. But I was not the first one they caught, and they were prepared.

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The shock was brutal. Jaskier felt like he had run into a wall. As he reached the inner tree line, someone charged him to the side and knocked him to the ground. His right arm had taken most of this initial impact and his shoulder almost popped out of his socket. The second impact was less painful but more spectacular.

As he was holding the girl, he tried to protect her in his fall. He didn't catch himself and landed sideways into bushes. He miraculously just had long cuts on his back, as branches pierced his shirt and waistcoat in several places.

Hana screamed but she was still holding strong. Winded out, he took him just too much time to get back on his feet and resume his course. Something heavy connected with his head. He black out for a few seconds and fell onto his knees. He had a terrifying feeling of déjà vu and was waiting for the swords to slay him down. But it didn't happen. Instead he heard someone said:

- "He is human. Bring him back to the camp with the others. I think we got a good one there. Take the girl too."

Hana was crying now and he fought against the arms trying to get her from him, shielding her with his body. But more men came to separate them, and they won.

Jaskier's ears were ringing from the knock out but he kind of heard his ribs crack when a heavy kick landed on his right side in a vicious angle, pushing him back in the dirt.

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The pain came after that, when I tried to breathe. Paralysed by the stabbing sensation, I couldn't hold onto the little girl when the soldiers took her from me. I saw terror in her eyes and her hands trying to reach for me. In my grip I had only her bunny ragdoll. She disappeared from my sight and her screams got rapidly muttered by the distance as we were separated. They literally dragged me all the way back to the camp.

The walk back was faster than our escape but it took a long time. The camp was much more silent than I remembered. Many had died during the first phase. Corpses of every races were scattered everywhere I could lend my eyes. But there were prisoners also. I was one of them.

I was pushed in a group of persons guarded by several soldiers near the Great Oak - ordinary humans, druids, dwarves and goblins who survived the initial assault. And I learnt later, we were all helping elves during the assault and we were the only ones still alive. Most of those who fought back had followed the same destiny as those they were trying to protect.

We were not that many. Fifteen to twenty. Further, there was another group, but of elves only. They were more than us. I tried to see if Hana was with them, but there were too many soldiers in the way.

The Great Oak, the millennial tree, was burning like a torch behind us, while other smaller fires were eating tents and carriages in the wood near by. The smoke was darkening everything and even if the sun was up, we couldn't see the blue of the sky above us. Leaves of the sacred tree turned to ashes were floating in the dry air while the rest of it was combusting with cracks and hisses so loud that it was like wood was screaming in pain.

We stayed here for maybe an hour or less, I can't say. But they seemed to had found every one they needed to go to the next phase... They let us live to be witnesses and be vessels for their terror message.

Someone came and screamed in front of us that Temeria had pacified our dormant revolution. He explained that they knew rebels were hiding in Bleobheris under the cover of the apparent welcoming place. And as this place was on temerian ground, laws of Temeria will apply.

Then they put us in a line, holding us by the shoulders and forcing our head up to make us watch while they perpetrated the most barbaric acts on the last living elves of the camp. A new panic movement won the elven prisoners when they saw what happened to the first ones.

I don't blame those who didn't move - I was almost one of them, too shocked to even think - but some of us resisted. We trashed, we yelled. I wasn't sure I was more than an animal at that moment. I would have done anything to make it stop, for those who were slaughtered or for me... The horror was never ending. They had dozen of victims to sacrifice. And the number was falling rapidly. Soon we stopped fighting on both side. The pain was gaining over my body fast and what I was witnessing was breaking me piece by piece, while I am sure the same thing happened to the remaining elves.

This was not acceptation over what was happening. It was accepting death as freedom. I would have welcomed it also... I just wanted this madness to stop.

I truly lost my mind when I finally saw Hana being pushed in front of us for the next round. I don't know how but found some new strength in me. I had just one thing in mind. Her mother begging me to save her, and the silent promise I gave her. I still had legs to run after all...

I remember freeing myself from the grip of the soldiers, pushing against the pain in my upper body to reach for that little girl. Yet, they didn't need much to stop me. A vicious kick was all it took to send me back to the ground, as my right kneecap almost disjointed in the process. All my right side was on fire. I couldn't move my arm anymore, the tendrils were clearly distended, I was breathing badly between the pain in my ribs and the smoke and now I couldn't walk either as my knee was probably even more damaged than my shoulder.

Instinctively the child ran toward me. In a way, I am flattered that she saw me as a safe place. But she stopped the moment I fell and new soldiers came to keep me steady - which was ridiculous because how incapacitated I already was. We were just a few meters apart. I still had her bunny in my hand. It was now all muddy and bloodied because the soil was saturated with blood from where I fell.

I saw fear in her eyes, she probably saw the same in mine. She screamed just once, as someone axed her down brutally. It wasn't clean and she didn't die right away. They did not show any mercy, even for a child. I wriggled in the grip of the soldiers, I couldn't do much more, but they didn't release me. A few punches and I just stopped moving.

Hana was agonizing and I was powerless so I did the only thing I could to help her get to the next world in peace. I sang her mother's lullaby, as loud as I could.

For a brief moment, everything fell silent, except for me singing, the little girl's gurgling sounds and the tree howling in the back. They watched us. Soldiers. Prisoners.

When she finally died I simply screamed. All the pains inside. The old ones that I was trying to heal from, coming here. The new ones that this inhuman madness had just pierced into my heart and soul from every horrors I witnessed that day.

I barely registered the next abuse. They kicked me in the chest again and I just collapsed when my body just shut down from pain. They made my case an example to the others.

Those who are friends of the elves are the enemies of the human kind. Strangely, it didn't work on me the way they expected.

OK you are still there ? The trauma doesn't end here though.

See you soon 😈