The Witcher: Black and White
The City of Red
1 Month Later…
Marvo began to realize how much he actually travelled. His coin purse was a little light seeing as how he spent more time going from place to place than actually finding and taking contracts. He had requested to Ciri that they take one or two on their way to Novigrad but she remained adamant that they make good time to Triss and Yennefer. Soon, they reached the beaten and war torn land of Velen. Previously ruled by Philip Strenger or the "Bloody Baron" as he was called.
Four or five years ago, Marvo had heard that a Witcher was tasked with finding his missing wife and daughter, whatever the outcome of the search Strenger ended up hanging himself anyway. Now, it was under the thumb of Denneryn Rothschild nicknamed "The Cold Baron." Marvo was unsure why.
In the time of an afternoon, Ciri and Marvo passed Crow's Perch and Oxenfurt. By night, they were riding over the southern most bridge into the sprawling city of Novigrad. As they rode through the streets, Marvo saw either Redanian soldiers or witch hunters patrolling the streets. On nearly every street corner, a priest of the Eternal Fire spouted their religious nonsense.
The air in Novigrad stunk of burnt flesh and the coppery smell of fresh blood. He figured he shouldn't be surprised by this, The Redanians frequently carried out burnings of anyone they thought was nonhuman or harboring one. With or without any proof. Beheadings were also common, seeing as how Novigrad's crime was at an all time high and the prisons were overflowing with no way to get rid of them all.
They wove through a series of tight alleys until they reached what was obviously the poor part of the city. Each building was connected to the last and were all at least three stories tall. Each room in these houses were occupied by a different family and they all emptied their waste from the same place, their windows.
They'd lean out the window and dump the chamber pots out onto the street. Dousing any unlucky soul who was passing under. It wasn't rare for two people on the second and third floor to empty the pots at the same time, having the one on bottom get hit by their mass of shit.
Marvo was appalled by the condition these people were living in but Ciri seemed used to it all. She had obviously been through more than most and had seen and done unspeakable things. Marvo wanted so much to ask but he knew he couldn't. She didn't trust him or anyone except probably Geralt enough.
They finally got out of the district and were met by the very homely Rosemary and Thyme. Marvo had never heard of it, but it looked innocent enough. Ciri and Marvo dismounted and tied their horses to the hitching post before stepping inside the establishment.
If the people in the Rosemary and Thyme weren't witch hunters or drunks, they were prostitutes and strumpets. It became evident that the Rosemary and Thyme was a place of many services.
They reached a flight of stairs and Ciri motioned for him to wait before ascending the gracefully. Marvo sighed and glanced around the establishment. He noticed the hateful gaze of a witch hunter and his friends.
Marvo tried to avoid their eye but to no avail as he soon sensed them advancing on him with their hands on the pommels of their sheathed swords.
"You, mutant." one of the witch hunters said. "Your kind ain't welcome here."
Marvo turned to face the men. "You don't own this establishment, how do you know who's welcome and who isn't?"
The witch hunter took a step forward, Marvo could smell the scent of cheap beer on his breath. He was very drunk, easy fight.
"Cause, we're the law in Novigrad, what we say goes!" he exclaimed.
Marvo grimaced mockingly. "I'd really hate to take orders from a dimwitted bigot like yourself."
"Why you fuckin' cunt!" the witch hunter screamed.
The witch hunter took a swing at Marvo with his left arm. As if the world slowed down, Marvo's senses caught every detail as he mapped out his strategy perfectly. Marvo first leaned back and allowed the man's fist to sail past him.
Marvo caught the man's arm by the wrist and brought his free arm's elbow onto the back of the witch hunter's joint. With a snap, the arm bent forwards and the man howled in pain. Marvo then brought his elbow up and into the man's nose, knocking him to the floor.
Two of his friends advanced on him and Marvo did the same, the hunters were taken aback at the sight of someone not cowering in fear of them as they were used to. The man on Marvo's right took the first swing at Marvo, he knocked it out of the way, withdrew the man's dagger and kept it. With one punch, he knocked the man out.
As Marvo moved towards the last man with the dagger, his hands flew to his face to block whatever strikes would come his way. Marvo grabbed the man's arm and forced it down on a wooden table. He took the dagger in one hand and drove it down into the last hunter's palm. He screamed horrendously as Marvo shoved the man back, forcing the dagger through his hand and out of the crevice between his ring and middle finger.
The two hunters who were still conscious, holding the various wounds inflicted by the Witcher and scampered out of the Rosemary and Thyme.
Ciri rushed down the stairs and found Marvo with blood on his knuckles and elbow, and a bloody dagger stabbed into a table and an unconscious man on the floor.
"What the fuck did you do!?" Ciri shouted.
Marvo shrugged. "They attacked first."
Ciri growled and grabbed Marvo by the shoulder and hauled him up the stairs. Marvo didn't really try to resist, he knew she was furious with him for some reason. Ciri brought him to a room with no windows and minimal furnishings. Only a six chairs, four of which were occupied.
Marvo recognized only two though as Triss Merigold and Yennefer of Vengerberg. The other two were unknown to him.
"Who is this? We wanted Sonfrith of Cintra. He is obviously not him." Yennefer said.
"Yen, this is Marvo of Claremont. Another of Geralt's Law of Surprise victims." Ciri said.
Yen glanced at her comrades and stood up. Intimidatingly, she walked up to Marvo and studied the young Witcher upside down. From his Wolf medallion to his dark brown hair, which had grown to a good length and was kept in a ponytail.
"You claim to know Geralt, describe him for us." Yen demanded.
"Silver hair, like her." he said, gesturing to Ciri. "And a scar down his eye."
"What did he say to you about us? Who are we to him?"
"You're Yen, his you know. And you are Triss Merigold, a previous flame. I'm not sure who the others are."
Triss frowned at the word "previous."
"What was Geralt's first kill?" Yen questioned after a brief silence.
"A brigand that was about to rape a little girl in front of her father." Marvo answered.
"Why is he called the Butcher of Blaviken?" Triss asked.
"Because he slaughtered a band of rogues including their leader Renfri."
Yen sighed. "You do know Geralt. Fine, he can stay."
Yen returned to her seat and the two men he didn't know stood up. One was very flamboyantly dressed and the other was a dwarf. They approached him and the flamboyant one took his hand and began shaking it.
"I am Julian Alfred Pankratz viscount de Lettenhove, but friends of mine including Geralt call me Dandelion." the flamboyant one said.
Marvo sighed. "Why does everyone have names that are so damn hard to say?"
The dwarf walked up and crossed his arms. "Zoltan Chivay." he said simply.
Dandelion huffed at his business partner's refusal to be friendly to the newcomer. "Zoltan is usually quite talkative. He's just been sour since our dear Geralt of Rivia went missing."
"How long has it been since Geralt went missing?" Marvo asked.
Yen crossed her arms. "We dispatched Ciri to find someone as soon as it happened. So about a month."
"Do we have a lead at least?"
"We do." Ciri spoke up. "12 years ago, Kaer Morhen was attacked, remember?"
"I do. Sir Adius Turnican and the Knights of Roshytta. Funded by King Radovid, rather shoddily in fact." Marvo replied.
"Well, that was a full decade ago. They're much better funded. They wiped out the School of the Viper and most of the Griffins. The Cats have stayed to themselves and we've heard nothing from the Bears." Triss reported.
"So our only lead on Geralt is the Knights? It's barely the beginning of a start. What about a location, the last one you saw Geralt?" Marvo said.
Zoltan scoffed. "None of us were the last to 'im. That'd be Jakob Tizus, a mercenary from Skellige. He was accompanying Geralt on an incursion into a fort held by the Knights."
"Then that is where I will go." Marvo said, turning to leave.
Yen took a step forward. "Won't you be needing a portal?"
Marvo chuckled. "Us Witchers aren't fond of 'em."
Yen also chuckled. "That explains a lot."