((This is where I decided what I'd cross over with. None of those I thought. You can find a piece of my mind below, at the end of the chapter. The world I'm crossing into is that of The Witcher.

On one word in particular: Shaman. The correct English plural is shamans. Barclay uses shamen, so I do that, too. Artistic license I guess, and who am I to argue with that?))

Chapter 3

Fallen From Grace

'You ploughing fools! You think I am alone?' Thaler would have laughed if the situation hadn't been so dire. What had he expected? The king dead, he was the one who, ultimately, was to be made responsible. Never mind the murderer, get rid of the man who always got in the way. His two guards, supposed to protect him against precisely this, smirked, and he realised that they would help kill him while his only potential friend in the world was far away. He should have run. Now it was too late. His message was on the way, assuring the man he would be all right. How fun. 'Get done with it, then, you fucks.' His voice was rough, his pulse beating in his throat. He would not give them the satisfaction to beg. He'd die with dignity.

He felt the dagger slide into his flesh and suppressed a scream, merely drawing in his breath. He slumped against the door behind him, banging into it so hard it would be a miracle if the inhabitants didn't wake up. His strength was seeping out of him quickly, the last tirade, laden with expletives, never making it from his brain to his mouth. A pity, he thought. His monocle slipped from his left eye and Thaler heard the significant clink that told him it had shattered. When his assailant pulled the dagger free, he felt like his entire side was being ripped open, and at last he gave them the satisfaction to give his dying voice to the pain. His last conscious thought was that he wouldn't need his monocle any more.

Ϡ

Hirad had his arms slung around himself to stop freezing. It didn't help much. Thraun didn't seem to feel the cold. He was cowering beside the little man, his head in his lap. He had used snow to gently wash the blood off his face and was whispering a constant stream of pleas to open his eyes.

He wasn't dead, Ilkar had said, but unconscious. The Unknown knelt beside Thraun. 'Listen, we can't stay here. Carry him, but we've got to get somewhere warm.'

Ahead of them there was a village. Hirad shook his head. 'How come he looks like he got into a bar fight?'

Ilkar shrugged. 'Well, we're all an early stage of ourselves. So's he, apparently. But whatever happened to him, he evidently recovered, and he'll recover again. I'm not worried about his physical state. I'm worried that he'll still be as apathetic as he was when he died.'

'It isn't just that.' Jandyr had come over from where Will lay, his face a blank mask. 'Gods, but I hated him when he was at that age.' He shook himself visibly. 'That wound, it got him sick. Badly. Erienne saved his life back then, but she can't do it here. She says she cannot use the mana that's here.'

Ilkar frowned and closed his eyes for a few seconds. 'She's right, it would rip her mind to shreds. Or mine. Jandyr, what kind of sickness did he get?'

Jandyr looked at the prone figure on the floor that was, at last, stirring. He tore his eyes from the sight and looked straight at Ilkar. 'Lockjaw.'

Ϡ

'I haven't … It's hers. Let go!' He thought he had screamed, but he couldn't hear anything.

'Will! Will, can you hear me?' He opened his eyes at the voice, and only in doing so realised that they had been closed. He tried to answer but no words came. There was a gentle touch against his cheek and he pressed into it. 'Gods Will, you're in there, I know you are. Don't try to talk, get it together. It's freezing, we've got to leave.' He relaxed. Thraun's face was hovering above him. He was confused. Thraun had no business being here, he had sent him away. But then he remembered …

'Thraun.' His voice was very quiet, but the word came out this time.

'I'm here.' Thraun's hand squeezed his, and he squeezed back as well as he could. 'Will, I'm going to carry you someplace warm, but I have to set you down for a moment.' There was a short loss of contact, but only a moment later Thraun hovered over him, pushed his arms underneath him and lifted him seemingly without effort. Will put his arms around his neck and managed a smile.

'Fancy seeing you.' His voice was rough and his head ached, but none of that mattered as long as Thraun was there. His eyes fell on Hirad, who offered him a wink. 'Get it together, my arse, Thraun. I thought first I'm still in Dordover, like a hundred years ago. Bit more than ten, anyway.'

Thraun let out a low growl. 'Shut up, Will.'

'Sure you want to put up with me?'

'Only if you quit babbling until you know what you're saying.' Will struggled against Thraun's hold on him until the big man stopped walking. 'Are you hurt?'

Will let out a snort of laughter. 'Feel like my head's been kicked in. Felt like that once before and I know where it got me. Good thing Erienne's here or I wouldn't get very far.' He felt Thraun tense. 'What?'

'I can't cast, Will.' Her voice was high and shaky, and Will knew what it meant.

'Short reprieve I got.' He buried his face in Thraun's neck and fell silent for the rest of the walk. He remembered the white, now aware what it had been, and hoped fervently he wouldn't have to spend the rest of eternity there if he died.

Ϡ

A groan escaped Thaler's lips, moments before a foul tasting fluid was forced between them. Something pressed his tongue down, causing him to swallow. He wanted to turn away but was too weak. Blinking, he tried to chase the fog from his eyes and mind. A familiar red-framed face filled his view. 'Shani?' He jerked upright, nearly head-butting her in the process. Searing pain rippled through him and he sank back down, clutching at his side. He realised that he was lying on a soft bed rather than the street. And he was breathing. Every lungful of air sent a flare of pain through his body, but pain equalled life, and that in itself seemed to be a miracle. Shani obviously thought the same thing.

'Whoa, stay down. You're lucky to be alive.'

'I'll say.' He frowned. 'How is that, anyway?'

'You collapsed against my door, but when I showed up and made a racket they ran. Cowards. I dragged you inside. They've been creeping around the house ever since.' She swallowed. 'These are the most unlucky assassins I've ever seen. Thanks to a particularly vicious knife you've lost a lot of blood, but they didn't injure any vital organs. I don't know how to get out, though. You should be in hospital, not here, this wound is still serious, and it will take long to heal completely. Thaler, what the hell did you do?'

He offered a humourless smile. 'I fucked up. Geralt murdered the King and I didn't stop him.'

Shani flared. 'How dare you suggest …'

Thaler cut across her. 'I'm telling you what they're thinking. I know I wasn't there because I wasn't supposed to, and I know that Geralt isn't a murderer. Same difference. I have to leave, at least until the succession is settled. And you might consider that, too, if they saw you helping me. Can you bandage me so that I can walk? I doubt I'd get very far right now.'

'You need time to recover,' Shani answered.

He shook his head. 'No time.' Thaler struggled to a sitting position. 'Look, if I just get out of here I do believe they just might leave you alone. Long as I'm here, I'm a threat to you. Give me something to numb the pain, I'll manage.'

'And bleed to death in the process. Aside from that, where will you go? How do you suggest you get safely out of the city?' When he didn't answer, Shani reached out and squeezed his shoulder. 'Thaler … if you know how, maybe I can help you.' She folded her arms. 'How is it these people have turned against you anyway? Aren't they supposed to be working for you?'

'Supposed to, exactly. In fact, however, I've been a thorn in a few people's eyes, it seems.'

Shani huffed. 'Indeed, how come people don't like being used by spies? I can't imagine.'

'I still don't get how posing as someone little better than a thug when in fact I am an agent of the King is so unforgivable.'

'You lied. You used me. You had me followed! Gods know what they'd have watched if I hadn't noticed them.'

He struggled to a sitting position. 'I tried to keep you fucking safe, not just myself! I'm a dangerous man to be around. You should have figured that out by now. What are you doing here of all places anyway?'

'I moved,' Shani said drily. 'My house burned down.'

Thaler shook his head and rubbed his forehead. 'Doesn't matter. Whatever you gave me is giving me strength. As far as I'm concerned, I owe you already without a chance of ever getting even. You're a sensible woman so I'll trust your judgement. Do you believe you are safe, or do you fear they will harm you for aiding me?'

Shani looked at him, obviously wondering if it was wise to tell the truth. 'I … I believe they'll come after me in the end. I heard their threats.'

Thaler could well imagine the sort of threats Shani got, and he had no doubt they would make good on them. If these men laid their hands on her she'd go through hell before being allowed to die. He leaned forwards, staring up into her face. His voice was low, his expression serious. If she refused him now, they might both be dead. 'I think you're right. Now here's the thing. You saved my life, but you don't trust me much more than those dicks out there. So what'll it be? Do I have the permission to get your arse out of this fucked-up city?'

Ϡ

The Raven reached a village only half an hour later. The only inn belonged to an old Balaian named Jake, who was kind enough to let them in even though they told him they had no way to pay him just now. Extricating what this place was without giving away they had only just come from another world in between Balaia and this one was a challenge in itself, but they managed. Erienne kept a careful eye on Will, who looked tired but otherwise perfectly healthy. That would change in the next few days, she was sure.

'I have a very odd question.' She tore her eyes from the little man and looked squarely at the ageing innkeep. 'Are there any healers around?'

He raised his eyebrows. 'A mage comes by now and then, but he's not a healer. He's due next week, you can ask him. That cut the boy's got's going to heal all right, though. Doesn't look too deep.'

Erienne sighed. 'Perhaps we won't need a healer. Just perhaps.'

It became clear, however, that they did. It started after a few days with an aching neck. Will tried and failed to convince them it was nothing to worry about. By the time the mage should arrive, Will was shut into a dark room under Denser and Erienne's care. They hardly let anyone in except Thraun, who barely left the little man's side. Jandyr was very quiet but refused to see his friend, dreading to cause him too much excitement.

'What on earth is it he's got, anyway?' Hirad asked. 'I mean, there must be something that can be done.'

Ilkar shook his head. 'No, nothing other than magic.'

'What exactly is happening to him?'

'Well, basically it's cramping. But not just a bit of a cramped leg. A sound, a touch, anything can set it off. All the muscles in his back lock so hard they can break his vertebrae. He's feverish and in constant pain and dying.'

'And if I didn't know better I'd say he's losing it.' Denser looked tired. He had joined them only minutes ago, leaving Erienne alone with Thraun and Will for the moment.

Sirendor frowned. 'Lockjaw doesn't do anything to the mind.'

Hirad raised his eyebrows. 'How d'you know?'

Sirendor rubbed the bridge of his nose. 'Watched someone die of that. Guy was perfectly clear. What makes you think his mind's afflicted?'

Denser shrugged and slumped into a chair. 'What he keeps saying. That he's sorry, and that he didn't want to do any of it. Keeps muttering names, too. Erienne said she knew one of the people, but he's been dead for ages.'

Ilkar considered for a moment. 'Odd. What names?'

Denser looked at the elf. 'I don't know any of them, suppose they're all Dordovans. One was some Jeryl Mardel, that was the last one he said, the one Erienne knew.'

Sirendor stiffened. 'I knew him too. He was a tradesman in Dordover, I met him the only time I went there. He was murdered during my stay.' He frowned and looked at Denser. 'Remember any other names?'

Denser shook his head. 'Not really. Thraun's the only one who gets what's haunting him I think, but he's even more quiet than usual.'

Sirendor gave him a searching look. 'I think Erienne might know, too. Or guess. Did she send you out?'

Denser nodded. 'Told me to get some sleep.'

Sirendor turned his gaze upon Jandyr. 'Just how long have you known each other?'

The elf licked his lips. 'A decade. Although I know Thraun and Erienne much longer than Will.'

'Anything we should know?'

Jandyr shook his head. 'Nothing I could think of.'

Sirendor glared at him. 'Were you hitmen before you joined the Raven?'

Jandyr bridled. 'Gods, no. We did recovery jobs. We're not hitmen.'

'What did you kill those seven people for, then? Everyone thought it was a madman who murdered his lovers.'

Jandyr looked away. 'It wasn't. Well, yeah, it was but …'

'What on earth are you two on about?' It was the first time The Unknown had spoken all evening. He wasn't used to facing a danger he couldn't fight with a sword. 'A man's dying and all you can do is discuss an ancient sex crime in Dordover that was solved ages ago?'

Hirad looked at Sirendor, a slight frown creasing his forehead. 'Yeah, what's this all about?'

Sirendor met his eye. 'A bit more than ten years ago … Well, ten years before I died, that is, I was in Dordover. City was in uproar because there was some stranger killer who had done in six people. All men, all after sleeping with them. First one was horrible, his entire abdomen ripped to shreds. The next third were married and had their throats cut. Five and six were not married and killed more viciously, stabbed in the gut but not as brutal as the first. Seven was Jeryl Mardel. Perfectly nice, a bit obviously queer, but that's his business. He sold seeds, and that was when I was still just a farmer's son. He was said to sell best quality hemp seeds and we considered selling to a rope maker. I remember that he was in quite a hurry when I saw him, because he was going to meet someone and he was very excited. Next day he was dead.' Sirendor looked at Jandyr. 'While later, the day I rode out of Dordover, they were all celebrating because the murderer had been caught trying to rape someone and had been shot by a guard. So which of you did it, and why? And why did you cover it as a sex crime? And who had to die so you could get away?'

It wasn't Jandyr who answered, very quietly. 'It wasn't a cover.' Sirendor's eyes snapped to Hirad, whose eyes were fixed firmly on Jandyr. 'Was it, Jandyr?'

The elf shook his head. 'No. And even though that was the official explanation all the time, no one believed it was a normal sex crime, either, if indeed there is such a thing. Everyone seemed to think is was someone from the north-east, from around Merrybrook. You see, they don't like this kind of thing up there. A man sleeping with a man warrants a death sentence, and the execution is not getting your head chopped off. You're raped to death in front of the village, especially the male minors, to make an example. You would know, Hirad.'

The barbarian nodded. There was a haunted look on his face. 'Kind of thing that never leaves you. Horrible.'

'The offence or the punishment?'

'Offence, my arse. Like Larn said, no one's business.'

Ilkar smiled vaguely. 'True. So what was it about, then? Not a hate crime, but what? Just some madman?'

Jandyr shook his head. 'Jealousy, or rather a very broken heart. The mur…, the guy, he was betrayed and it broke him. Took revenge on the bloke that hurt him, sliced his guts to bits in his anger. Then he went and found three married men who betrayed their wives and killed them for being traitors. Far as I know that cost him his belief in people altogether and he killed anyone he got into bed. Until it all ended.'

The Unknown raised his arms and shook his head. 'Because he was shot. I don't get what this part of ancient history has to do with Thraun and Will.'

'Only he wasn't shot,' Sirendor said. 'Why's Thraun still alive?' All eyes snapped to Jandyr.

Hirad shook his head. 'Nah, Larn, you don't know Thraun. He'd never do that.'

Sirendor looked at him. Hirad looked away, apparently well aware that his answer didn't quite fit the question. 'No, imbecile. But of course you know what I mean. He should be a victim. Will's the murderer.'

Hirad showed no reaction to that, not that Sirendor was surprised. Jandyr got to his feet. 'I hated his guts for this, you know. But he's not insane as I thought first. He's stable and wouldn't hurt a hair on Thraun's head. And I've come to be his friend. He's a good person who made a dreadful mistake, and it will haunt him forever. Thraun knows, of course. I'm going to see him. If that mage doesn't come very soon it's my last chance.'

Ϡ

No mage arrived that day or the next, and Hirad noticed The Unknown wasn't all that worried. The revelation what Will had done in the past had shocked them all, and Hirad remembered that at their first encounter he had disliked him. He had later developed a grudging respect for the little man who refused to be cowed by Thraun in the shape of the wolf. Now he found he couldn't bring himself to think anything but highly about someone who had given his life fighting by his side for no reward at all except the survival of the rest of the world.

Will was rarely conscious. Denser and Erienne did what they could without magic, the former mostly because Erienne showed neither surprise nor shock about what she said she hadn't known before. He was her friend, she had told them very firmly, and she didn't care about anything else. Sirendor had gone to talk to him some time earlier and was now staring at a point behind Hirad. 'So what did you ask him?'

Sirendor blinked. 'Sorry. You said?'

Hirad tutted. 'Did he talk to you?'

Sirendor nodded. 'Yeah. I asked him about the killings, and he didn't even try to deny them. Kept glancing over at Thraun who was staring daggers at me. He then said he knows he can't stay with us now we know and that that's better really because he's a coward.'

'Funny how he knows that when I don't.'

Sirendor offered a wry grin. 'The Unknown doesn't want him to stay. You know that as well as I do. Neither does Ilkar.'

'What about you? You're a people person, Larn. Tell me what to think.'

Sirendor sighed. 'I … I like him. Completely unfounded, illogical sympathy. But I like most people, Hirad.'

'And more often than not, you're right. Take Denser for example. He's really a good bloke, but I hated him, wanted to kill him even. You still don't even think it's his fault you died.' Sirendor shrugged. 'You know, The Unknown can't decide for all of us. Will's a good fighter, there's no lock he can't open, and there's courage in him all right. He just needs to find it.'

'He doesn't look like he's got a lot of stamina.'

Hirad scratched his head. 'Yeah … well, he looked a lot more wiry when I met him. If he did it once, he can get there again.' He looked at his oldest friend with a very serious expression. 'I don't want to send someone away who has already become a part of us. It simply isn't right. I mean, if he'd stuck with us all this time and would have told us now, we wouldn't have ever considered sending him away, not even The Unknown. It isn't his fault he couldn't be there because he died.'

'You think he's got the gut for what we do then? He died because he lost it.'

Hirad smiled and leaned back in his chair. 'He'll get there. If that bleeding mage shows up, that is.' He paused. 'That aside, he was completely alone. Thraun was a wolf and scared shitless. And the rest of us … he hadn't been with The Raven long enough to rely on us as completely as you would. And if I felt alone in a situation like that, I might crack as well. Anyone might. He's just got to learn that he's never alone.'

The door was swept open and a blizzard came in, carrying a young man in a thick fur cloak with it. The arrival banged to door shut. All faces in the guest room were on him, some smiling, most, however, with open hostility. The man was oblivious. 'Jake? Jake I'm dropping my shopping list off here. I don't care for the weather out there. At all.' A few people laughed. The innkeep walked over at a brisk pace and hugged the young man. Hirad wondered why some people looked so scared. He had friendly eyes and a kind voice and merely a trace of a lilting accent.

'Come to the fire, Garvain. Need a hot drink?'

'Yeah, sounds like just the right thing. Really, once one invasion's over there's the next. I'm half glad I missed the one in between.'

'Invasion?' Hirad echoed. Jake was a talkative man, but he hadn't mentioned a war or an invasion.

Garvain grinned at him. 'You types. Balaians. You're preferable to monsters, I'll give you that.'

'Thanks a bundle. Where did that snowstorm come from? When I was out there wasn't so much as a breeze.'

'Weather's a bit freaky this end of the country. What do you think why no one leaves their houses unless they must? We know how it gets. No one's going to come or go in the next five days.' Hirad's face fell.

'Couldn't a mage melt a path or something?'

Garvain blinked at him. 'Why would they?'

'There's one supposed to come here.'

'Indeed. And what would you do with a mage if you had one? Seeing how you're all scared of them.'

'A few of my best friends were mages on Balaia, I'm not scared of them.'

Garvain's face lit up. 'In that case, you've found one. How can I help you?'

((Afterthought:

I had considered Dragon Age, A Song of Ice and Fire, and The Ascendants of Estorea for crossover worlds.

The first would be easiest. Mostly I wanted to borrow the country, Ferelden, and Jowan aka Levyn. I would have taken him with his new identity, but somehow I didn't really want the setting.

Second would be a problem. I would have had to place the story before the events of the books since I haven't the faintest idea where the hell that story is going. I couldn't have borrowed a character for that reason and would have chosen a time before the Mad King. In other words, I might as well invent something of my own.

The last would be an obvious choice, as it's a Barclay book as well, but I'll rather keep that in the back of my head for a different purpose.

I had just played The Witcher while writing this chapter. Now the advantage over Dragon Age is that it feels more compatible with the Raven, language- and otherwise. I will not borrow much, only a couple of characters who I know make no personal appearance in part 2 and the world itself.))