Chapter Three

"Gods."

Geralt summoned the strength to look up only to see Triss standing horror-stricken in the doorway. Once she spotted the brazier, she came surging forward, kicking it aside. It skittered to a halt along the side wall. The sudden rush of cool air kissed Geralt's burns and he actually gasped in relief.

Triss couldn't be there, it wasn't real. How would she even know where he was? He simply didn't care at the moment. Maybe it was just a dream, but he certainly wasn't going to question it. The only thing that concerned him was that if Triss really was there, she was in danger. "Triss." It was barely even a croak. "You can't… they're looking…" Geralt could hardly speak, but Triss silenced him with a wave of her hand anyway.

"I know. That's why I came. I couldn't let them…" She took in his ravaged form and tears pooled in her eyes. "I'm so sorry." His lack of response spurred her onward and she blinked back her tears, resolve hardening. Her words were soft, determined, expectant of obedience. "Geralt, just stay with me. I'm getting you out of here."

With a muttered spell, his shackles came free. She caught him under the arm and looped her other arm around his back, careful to steer clear of his wounds. He grunted with the sudden movement. Having the fire away from him was a relief, but a small one. Each step was excruciating and he had lost a lot of blood in the initial torture. It took everything in him just to keep his feet under himself.

The hallway was just as cold and damp as the cell had been and Geralt could see that there were many other cells besides his. It was utterly dark as well. Only a few torches lined the considerable length of the corridor, usually near an offshoot that branched to another wing of the dungeon. Yet more doors disappeared behind corners as they passed.

The going was slow. Triss wasn't quite strong enough to carry much of Geralt's weight and Geralt was too far gone to do much more than drag one foot after the other. He was straining just to keep his eyes open. Once they came to a set of stairs, they slowed to a crawl. Geralt could barely move by the time they reached the top.

Up on the next level, the air was fresher, cleaner, somehow less stale than it had been. They were probably back above ground judging by how many steps they had climbed. Geralt was just glad they hadn't run into anyone. Most likely Roth's men were all asleep. Then, as if to prove him wrong, Geralt heard footsteps approaching, coming from a connecting corridor in front of them. He knew Triss had no chance of escaping if she was towing him around. She had to get out of there.

"Triss… leave me… go…" He tried to get his point across in as few words as possible, but she just ignored him and kept them moving.

"I'm a big girl, Geralt. I can take care of myself."

The footsteps grew nearer, any second they would be found out. But Triss looked unconcerned. Maybe she couldn't hear what he could.

"Besides," Triss added, "that's not who you think it is."

Triss pointed toward the junction ahead and there, striding into the pool of light, was Shani, with both of Geralt's swords and a large sack strung over her back. In his delirium, Geralt hadn't even noticed that the footsteps were light, careful—a woman seeking to go unnoticed.

"Geralt!" Shani stood shocked as he and Triss moved into the light. She shot Triss a questioning look that bordered on accusatory.

"Later," Triss countered. "Right now we need to get him out."

Shani nodded once in agreement and took her place opposite Triss under Geralt's other arm. As they started moving, Geralt spoke, voicing his question in a single word. "Portal…"

Triss luckily understood what he meant. "I can't make a portal until we get clear of the grounds. There is some kind of magic barrier around this place. I can use magic within it, but it won't extend beyond the border. Somehow it just… disappears. Like it fades into nothing. We are going to have to get outside the old fashioned way, I'm afraid."

With that, they trudged along in silence, Geralt having to spend a considerable amount of energy to remain quiet. They were moving a lot faster with Shani bearing some of Geralt's weight, however, and they made it to the exterior door in a matter of minutes. They were nearly free.

"There's a door in the outer wall maybe twenty yards past this point. Once we get through, I'm going to open up a portal so we can get out of here. There are a few guards on duty from what I could tell, but they generally aren't looking this way as it's on the back side of the complex. If we stay quiet, we should make it to the door without a problem," Triss explained in hushed tones. After taking a moment to meet Shani's determined gaze, Triss carefully unlatched the door and swung it wide.

But as soon as they stepped out into the open, a biting wind rammed into Geralt's chest and it was too much for him. He cried out, a sound that pierced the chilly night air and carried across the grounds. He quickly bit down on his tongue to stifle the noise, hard enough that a bitter metallic taste coated his mouth. But it was too late. Up on a terrace, a guard swiveled to find the source of the noise.

"There! He's escaping!" The guard nocked an arrow to his bow and fired.

Triss hurriedly threw up a protective shield and the arrow ricocheted off harmlessly. "Go! Get to the trees, I'll hold them off!"

The tree line was another thirty yards past the outer wall. Geralt didn't see how they could make it, not with him slowing them down. But he knew they wouldn't leave him and he wasn't going to have their deaths on his hands. So he dipped into whatever willpower he had left and started running, or as close to it as he could manage with Shani's assistance.

The complex was relatively large. They had exited one of the main buildings that looked as though it had been some sort of abandoned outpost. A tower jutted up from the side of it. The tower, along with the other buildings, was shabby and crumbling. It must have been twenty feet higher in its heyday. Vines strangled the stone walls and the courtyards were completely overgrown with weeds and grasses. The trio stumbled their way through the undergrowth, weaving between chunks of crumbled stone.

Guards were pouring from doorways looking disheveled, woken from what should have been a peaceful sleep. Some drew swords while others loaded crossbows and strung bows.

Triss hung back to deal with them as Geralt and Shani made for the door. A cacophony of shouting and swearing followed the pair to the door, swelling ever louder. Mixed in amongst the din were lyrical spells, uttered by Triss to buy them time. She hurled fireballs at swordsmen and constantly sent up barriers to deflect bolts and arrows. She even turned the plants on the attackers, bidding the vines and brambles to tangle around their feet. Her defenses never wavered.

It wasn't until they all reached the outer wall that a booming call sounded above the tumult.

"STOP THEM!" Roth bellowed, having just emerged onto a balcony halfway up the tower. He had already loosed an arrow from the powerful longbow in his hand.

Triss was the only one who had turned back, focused as she was on stopping incoming arrows, but Geralt knew it was Roth by sound alone. He would know that voice anywhere. And he knew Roth would stop at nothing to keep them from escaping. Geralt bade his feet move faster.

A sudden flash of light illuminated the trees ahead of them as a portal blinked into existence. Geralt and Shani were only feet away, hastening towards freedom, Triss right behind them. A colossal roar thundered after them. Then the world closed in around Geralt and all went silent.