The Witcher: Black and White
At The Gates of The Enemy
The crew spent nearly an hour trying to keep Yen from killing Marvo. She had already given him three new wounds to be turned into scars. Yen proved to be a challenge to calm but they finally managed to do it and got the three of them sat down and talking it out in a civil manner, even though Dandelion, Zoltan, and Triss could hear Yen's infamous temper flame up every now and then.
From a safe distance from the sorceresses' wrath; on the other side of the inn, Dandelion, Zoltan, and Triss decided now was a good time to relax for a moment.
"You do remember what I said about love on the way here?" Dandelion asked Triss while lounging on a satin sofa.
"Before you flirted with her she threatened to harm you worse than she did Marvo? Also, I've seen how you 'love.' Your interpretation of it is lacking in legitimacy." Triss replied.
"Besides, Dandy. I've seen the lasses you brought in and out of the Rosemary and Thyme. Either they was struck by your never-ending charm or they just needed quick coin."
Dandelion look at his friend with a certain hurt confusion as his genuine love was being mocked so openly.
Zoltan chuckled. "What? You didn't feel your coin purse get a wee bit lighter every mornin' after?"
He shrugged. "I figured it was you, no wonder you never paid me back."
Triss stood up to walk away. "You're a phenomenal businessman, Dandelion, but you are the biggest fool I've ever laid eyes on."
"And how many men have you laid eyes on in your years?" Dandelion asked with a big grin.
"You saw what a sorceress did to a Witcher. Do you really want to play this game?"
Dandelion gulped. "Not really."
"Good." Triss replied with a smile.
/
Marvo and Ciri sat rather uncomfortably on the pair of chairs across from where Yen sat on another chair. Her violet eyes practically staring into the Witcher's soul.
Marvo looked at Ciri. "Geralt didn't ever have this talk did he?"
Ciri simply shook her head.
Yen's gaze drifted to Ciri. "I do not consent to this, but I see the parallels. I too fell in love with a Witcher, and I see now it'd be unfair to deny you the same." Yen again fixed her eyes on Marvo. She may have allowed the relations to continue, but that didn't mean she had to be happy about it.
Marvo was just as relieved as Ciri was when they were allowed to leave Yen's presence.
/
Dendri sat at the far corner of his cell away from the door. Sonfrith sat beside it, partially illuminated by the torchlight peaking through the cracks of the door. In the time he spent in the cell wasting away, the flesh from the cuts Turnican had given him had merged again but it had been left untreated and was grossly infected. Puss oozed from it day and night and the blood veins around his head turned a dark purple. The wound on his chest also had become infected and the infected blood had reached all the way down his chest and arms.
Something began to swell over his left eye, forcing it shut, the other crimson eye worked somewhat but his vision had become dim on account of his confinement. One of his ears had been hacked off earlier that day and the blood still poured down his face and into his infected mouth.
"Trust me, they get better." Sonfrith said from his seat beside the door.
Dendri put a hand on his mutilated face. "Does it? Everything hurts day and night for months. Sometimes, I've contemplated chewing my own wrist veins out."
"That would be a mistake." the Witcher replied.
"I see no sane reason to re-enter society with a face like this. Especially facing the people I've loved. It'd be better to die down here." Dendri replied.
The door to their cell opened and a guard stepped through. WIthout the guard having to say a word to him, Sonfrith got up and walked calmly out of the cell.
"There's time enough for that. Let's go."
The guard dragged the near blind sorcerer to his feet and out of the cell. Even the dim torches seemed excruciatingly bright to him and every step he took seemed like a mile to his cramped and boney legs. The shackles that bound his wrists, feet, and neck were dimeritium. Escape was truly impossible. Dendri's devotion to the lovely Lady Yennefer had fizzled away and he cursed the day the cunt was born for putting him in this situation.
The guard opened a door and shoved him inside. The room was wide and almost empty aside from an upright table and two men standing beside it. One was his first torturer Turnican in an elegant blue and gold coat and leather trousers and knee high boots. The other man was tall and impossibly skinny. Rags hung from his bony shoulders and his face didn't quite look like a face from all the deformities and lack of teeth in his mouth. His nose and eyelids had been removed, giving him the look of a rotten corpse.
"Ah," Turnican's slithery voice called out. "Dendri. So glad you could join us."
Dendri had no choice but to limp forward feebly without saying a word in response. He was afraid what they'd do if he said something.
"Dendri, this is Undrag. He's going to take care of you like he did the Witcher you've been asking about."
Dendri's one eye widened. "How do you-?" he began.
"I know a great many things, Dendri. Now, come here and we'll get you set upon Undrag's lovely table here."
Undrag smiled hideously. Whatever the creature was going to do, it wouldn't be enjoyable. Wait, what was he thinking? Calling Undrag a creature? Why, Dendri figured he looked just as much a monster as Turnican's torturer.
Dendri hobbled to the table and was fastened into place by Undrag. As Undrag worked, slime and saliva dripped from the corners of his mouth. His yellow eyes darted this way and that like a nervous lizard. Whenever Dendri would squirm with discomfort, Undrag would slap of scratch him with his long pointed fingernails.
Finally it came, the thing he had been dreading. Dendri had been properly fastened to the table and Undrag grabbed a crude syringe and filled it with a clear liquid. Dendri was too weak to move as the liquid was injected into his body. His head began to feel more woozy than it already did and he felt himself blacking out. Just before he did, he saw Turnican step in front of him.
"What is your name?" Turnican asked.
Dendri spoke without his control. "I have no name."
"What is your purpose?"
"Kill Witchers."
/
Four Days Later…
"Your's sure this plan will work?" Yen asked telepathically.
"I don't see why it shouldn't." Marvo thought back. "Look, I'll get inside the fortress, find Geralt and Dendri, and get the fuck out. Simple as that."
"I recall Geralt having plans as simple as that, they rarely went as simply as we would've liked." Yen warned.
Marvo's ears popped as Yen severed the link between them. He walked through the forest at the base of the Blue Mountains in the thick of night, no weapons to speak of. His plan, get himself captured or at least feign capture. He reached a cavern entrance where two soldiers were standing guard. When Marvo emerged from the thicket with his hands in the air, their spears immediately pointed at him. At least they had good reaction time.
"I surrender." he said simply.
The guards exchanged worried glances but went along with it. They each grabbed one of the Witcher's arms and pulled them behind his back. The guards began leading him down the long cavern tunnel into the fortress. As they were nearing the first checkpoint, Marvo stopped a moment.
"What's the holdup, freak?" one of the guards asked.
"I just wanted to ask a question." Marvo replied.
The guard sighed. "What?"
Marvo managed a cheeky grin. "How long were you expecting to live?"
Without warning, Marvo pulled away from their grasp. Wrenching a spear from one of the men's hands, he stabbed the man through the narrow opening in his helmet. Swiftly dodging the spear blow from the other guard, he pulled his spear from the guard's face and stuck it in the second guard's belly. He to fell to the ground, giving Marvo time to see which one was closer to his size.
Moments later, Marvo was dressed in very tight Redanian armor. Yen had used a spell only minutes previous to disguise his yellow eyes for that of a normal human with dark brown eyes. Marvo hid the bodies in the woods and walked back to the checkpoint in the cave. The three men standing guard there ordered him to stop.
"What's the problem?" Marvo or the Redanian asked.
"What do you think you're doing?" one guard asked.
Marvo sighed. "Taking my leave, my shift's over."
The Redanians murmured so he couldn't hear but Marvo did, every word. They were discussing when the front guard's shifts end but they concluded that none of them knew, so they let him pass.
Marvo moved past the checkpoint and into the fortress of the Knights of Roshytta. Unsure of what awaited him, he could either succeed in his task and retrieve Geralt or he could die trying. He only hoped for his and Ciri's sake it was the former.