Caster-440: I'm so happy to hear that! I tried writing this kind of story couple of times already, but now I have the right tone I want and also planned what will happen. I shall try my best to maintain the interest. Thank you for commenting.
I first thought making the memories as clear and detailed of how things happened... Theeen just decided no, we go with wibbly wobbly children see and remember stuff differently!
Hopefully you'll enjoy?
There was verity behind Triss Merigold's words. If someone was after the witcher child or there was some other surprises, they should know about it. Not just to sedate their curiousness but for overall safety. The girl clearly wasn't going to tell on her own, not soon enough, too scared to recall the happenings. And she wouldn't know nor remember anything of their doings, according to the sorceress. It would be quick and easy, they wiser of the situation and the little one none. Yet it chafed the Viper. He was aware of his hypocrisy about lying and not telling things, believing it was all to protect the kid. There was a line however, how much he would trick her. He looked at those evasive eyes of the smiling sorceress. That tone of hers caused foul temper. It was the nature of the mages, Letho had learned long time ago, for them to play games with everything. It was like crows and ravens spying on things, croaking their hocus-pocus and scavenging from others. The girl trusted him greatly and taking advantage of it like this just felt wrong. So he declined. "No. I asked you to take a look and treat her. You're mistaking me to someone else, if you think I'll play these kind of games."
"It's not a game, we are helping her. What if something happens, that we could prevent by having the knowledge now? You don't just create a witcher and let them go." Wide shoulders rising and contracting, Letho confidently stated: "Then it will be dealt with. Also, we can always ask if she would agreed to this."
Hearing this propose, having the two look at her memories, the child furrowed. Eye shifting between the adults, before settling at the one who she trusted and whose opinion she appreciated. She reluctantly asked: "Do we have to?" No, not now. Not if she didn't want to. But it would be safe for her, she wouldn't need to remember anything and Letho was there. Rubbing feet against the sheets, thinking his words, the little one finally muttered: "If you think it's necessary." Calm strokes trough her hair comforted enough to smile at Letho. "It's only to help you," the witcher emphasized. That sealed the deal, the girl accepting this procedure. Triss was satisfied with the outcome: the child would have never agreed to this, if it had been the sorceress presenting the idea. No, it had to come from Letho who's aim was to take care of his ward and who the girl trusted the most.
After taking the weirdly tasting concoction, gagging afterwards, the witcher child settled onto the smaller bed in the room. They waited for the affect, Letho holding her small hand in his bigger one like promised. His thumb slightly rubbed the thin wrist of hers, keeping his own concerns in check and glanced down. Listening for the deepened breathing and calmed heartbeat, he confirmed to Triss that it was time. Taking off the stitches was easy and quick, involving just a little bit blood. The woman also had the opportunity to look at the scar properly now, confirming what she already knew. The eye of the young witcher had been removed surgically, cleanly. Why it had been taken, was another thing. Maybe the memories would answer to that. She suggested the Viper to settle onto the other bed, but he shook his head. He would be fine, sitting on the chair and holding the kid's hand. Not arguing more, Triss placed some candles, lightened them up and next took out some dried up herbs. She gave Letho also a potion, to make him more sensitive and open for this spell of hers. Finally things were on order and she casted the spell.
The first couple of things, that Letho noticed when perceiving his surroundings, was how things seemed a bit off. He was in some kind of room, worn wooden walls and few furnishings that were weirdly tall for him. He quickly realized that he was seeing things from the child's perspective. He tried to look around more and figure out what kind of place this was. But everything was somewhat blurry and unfocused. His mind would ache if he pushed his senses at the details. The second thing he noticed was the sounds. Muffled and distance, coming behind the only door in the room. He walked to it and tried to push it open.
The witcher was yanked back by his arm. "Don't go there," a child, taller than him, said with their face disorientated and voice shattered. He glanced back at the door. Letho couldn't make out the words, but he could feel the tone of the conversation at the other side. It was venomous, loud and upsetting. "What they are talking about," he tried to understand, the tall kid tightening their hold onto his hand. "...The man is angry," they said quietly and then spat: "He says the hair color is wrong!" Something shattered in the next room and the kid pulled Letho away from the door. The room vanished and turned into a thick forest. His hand still held, the witcher was forced to follow the child who now seemed to have a familiar shawl on them. "Let's go," they commanded, climbing over a thick root and helped him over it. "Where we going?" he wondered this time. He had quickly settled to the idea of going with the memories like this, experiencing them as the girl remembered. Not like he had any other option. "To a better place," the kid said and this time their voice was clearer, young but determined: "I met someone, who will help us. Here." They let go, taking off the shawl and put it on him. It was warm and soft, smelled faintly of hay and feline. After that, things changed again, kinda.
He was still in the forest, but at the same time he was under the ground. Scent of bare earth and old animal musk. There was shadows moving outside the burrow. They moved unlike humans, not entirely like animals either, while it rained. They moved quickly around the hole where he was sitting in, alone and feeling cold. He didn't see the kid anywhere. Then he heard faintly how the shadows started screeching. They faded out one by one, as if cut down. The witcher himself was greatly confused, when a cat appeared in front of him. It sat at the burrow's opening. The orange tabby cat smiled and meowled: "Hey there, it's okay now. Wanna come with me?" He shook his head, saying he was waiting. "Waiting for what?" the animal asked and licked its claws clean. Letho couldn't answer. Not as he first was trying to remember who he was waiting for. He remembered the child, taller than him and someone that he was supposed to follow. Something was missing. "How about this," the cat interrupted and stepped into the burrow, surrounding him with its purring body and fuzzy fur: "We wait till the rain stops, then, if the one you are waiting for isn't here, I'll take you with me?" To where, he asked. "To home, of course! Me and my family live in this magical, secret grove. Outsiders fear it, as how easily they get lost in there. But that's only because they don't know how to find their way." Letho tried to question what was this place called, but was unable to.
Instead he agreed to this deal and the two of them waited in the den, the feline holding him and telling him things. So many things, that he was unable to remember it all, hearing how the cat complained of its many family members. How it loved the color red in hair, like early apples in spring. That she was a monster hunter and so was a good person, nothing for him to fear of. That the Cats are the ones who Wolves, Bears and Vipers envy. When the rain stopped, the cat took him with her. When stepping out of the burrow, the animal was a big as a horse as it carried him. "Now I'll have my very own kitten," the cat happily said and skipped. "I'll show you to my family, and we'll make you a real kitten! It will be wonderful. You and me travel around, dance along the Path. My little red kitten, you'll be happy with this new life, I'm sure!" The forest disappeared and the feline took them over and down tall hills, a forest looming and a large river shimmering in the distance. The cat sung as the sky turned orange: "Sleep little one, sleep already. Or nekkers come and take you away. Sleep little one, sleep already. Or nekkers come and eat you up!" When they arrived to the new forest, which vegetation and ground was black as coal, the cat climbed up a tree. There Letho was carried through a labyrinth of leafy branches, light peeking through here and there. Things faded into mist and reformed as something else.
It was different from the other places so far. It wasn't a forest anymore, it was somewhere inside of stony walls, among spiky plants and below hanging curtains. Sand squeaking under steps and shifted like waves. The cat was herding him forward, pass the other cats. There were children among them, as little shades, everyone with their own furry friend guarding them. "Now we will meet the witch," the tabby orange of his whispered: "Do not speak if not asked, and do as said. It will be fine, kitten. I won't leave your side." Something moves and stands there, waiting and watching him coming closer. Letho tries to peer see ahead. He sees branching horns with long white strands hanging from the antlers. The watching eyes are gleaming and dark, surrounded by black vines. The form of the witch slowly builds as he comes closer, then it burst into blue flames. Don't remember. Alarmed Letho can feel the child's quivering fear, repeating in whispers from the mind's depths. Don't remember. Don't remember! The flames start spreading, trying to burn the memory down. The witch with the horns steps forward and with long claws catches his face. Witch is bad, the witch is bad! "You have beautiful eyes," he hears softly said, in tongue that sounds foreign to him: "It will be shame to loose that color." The blue flames swallow everything into darkness as the echo cries: Forget, forget, ForgetFORGET!
Now he was hiding, this time behind a tree with the other kids. Their shadowy forms barely recognizable as they leaned against him. They all snickered and huddled close together, shushing each other. A giant jumps in front of them. With excited fright they all scatter, except the witcher who's hauled up into the air by this giant, who was tall and thin like a tree. "Gotcha!" Eyes of yellow and green smiles, the giant carrying Letho by his legs in the air. "You aren't very quick one, are you? Heh, you should keep hiding in the treetops, like a puss!" The giant swings him around, laughing, before the cat appears: "Don't toss my kitten around like that! Put her down, right now!" Dropped down the witcher was knocked breathless. He watched the cat walking on its hindlegs like a human and slapping the giant. The two argued, growling and hissing, till the giant muttered: "It's not like this one will live through the trial either." Letho saw the cat smacking the giant down, before the vivid memory changed. He continued laying on the ground, this time surrounded by cats and the children. They stood faraway and watched. Sounds of scratching called the witcher's attention in front of him. The tabby orange was there, hunching over something, clawing fiercely. Wet and dripping ripping and smacking. "Anyone else hurts my kitten again!" the feline growled, mad and giggling, continuing shredding something apart: "They'll be the next practice doll." Something pools on the ground, something black and spreading till it filled his vision.
He's moving through branches, above the ground. Alone and fast, swimming through the labyrinth till he slides down along tree roots. The tabby cat waits for him at the ground and meowls happily: "Well, what has the kitten found?" It's warm, like a summer day, when the cat nuzzles him. He answers: "Found boars, mam. Not far, four of them." The cat takes him onto her back and starts stalking between the trees: "That's my kitten, already hunting without her claws. We'll give a feast for everyone, they knowing my kitten is the best of the cubs."
A long tent with the pack of cats. And lot fewer shades of kids than before. The orange one sits next to him and sings the song while petting him, helping to fall asleep. The giant with scales slitters closer, the feline hissing a warning. "Heard you demanded her to be the last one," the giant spoke quietly. "My kitten won't be turned into that kind of thing," the cat promises, her petting paw shaking: "The witch better fix her formula before mine, or we look for more kittens."
Then Letho sinks down into a vortex of familiar ordeal to him. The burning, the rush, the ache and the sting inside veins and flesh. Melting, boiling and shredding open. He convulses and shakes as the Trial of Grasses tests him for the second time now. Everything spins around, blue flames and smoke, barely seeable figures standing around. Staring and waiting, ignoring the screams and cries filling the air. Forget, forget! There's faint muttering and singing next to his ear, paws holding his head still: "It's okay kitten, it will be okay. It hurts I know, my sweet kitten. Sleep little one, sleep already. I'm here, it won't take much longer, just hold on. Do it for me, do it for mam, kitten." The Viper wants to shout them all to fuck off. Acid pile rises in his throat before he sees the witch again, in this twisted fairytale of memories. The witch hovers above like leshen, thin roots from her hands seeping down into his veins, before the fire swallows everything.
FORGET!
The nausea and pain dulls as he's lifted off, now seeing things with half-view. He hears fighting around, metal clashing against metal and flesh. He smells smoke and sees shadows dancing around. The tabby cat carries him in her paws this time, running through the mass of brawling shades and diving into the black forest around. "My kitten," she feverishly mutters and tightens her hold: "My kitten, mine. They promised."
Then he falls again, now shaking and trembling, staring up leaves and branches. His twitching hands are burning from scratches when he plummeted down from the tree. The cat appears, collecting him into comforting embrace, mumbling: "It's okay kitten, breath. It's just a little shaking, it will go away, just breath. Mam will keep you save."
"Don't go," he says and holds onto the cat's tail, hearing rutting sounds of gooses and pigs around, dogs barking and hens clucking. There are doors around and the animal noises behind them were odd. "It won't be long," the cat smiles and flicks its tail out of his hands. The tabby smiles and walk away: "I really need to do this, it will be quick. Then you and me will go. Just wait for mam here, kitten." He watches her disappear through one of the doors and feels cold.
A snake with a strange scar looks down at him, its body coiled while its head stand high above. The eyes of it looks familiar. It leans down, to his eye level. "How about we go looking for your friend then?" it offers a deal: "She can be hurt and needing help, while you are here." The snake's eyes shine. They're bit like mam's, just less waltzing and more still.
Another change, another memory. This one more detailed and clearer than others before. Letho himself also remembers this, finding it odd seeing as he sees it from the child's perspective now.
They had been traveling through woods back then, avoiding roads as Letho had still been cautious. Without him noticing, the girl had gotten stuck in mud which they were walking through. She had observed Letho's effortless advancing on the difficult ground as she struggled. Looking down at her feet she tried to lift them but it was hard. The mud had swallowed her boots. With determination she twisted and lifted her feet to walk after the witcher. Seeing him further and further away made her worry to grew. He wouldn't leave her behind, right? She has to move before he gets too far away! Finally she manages to move her right foot, by accidentally yanking it out of the shoe. In panic she flaps her arms around and tries to correct her falling stand. She ends with her hands sinking into the dirt, one leg raised over her back and other still in its shoe, firmly held by the soft dirt. "Letho," she had finally voiced her troubles. She was relieved when he came back for her, lifting her up by her armpits.
She had looked at the smirking witcher, then started tearing up when he had laughed at her. Letho hadn't meant to make her cry then, he just found her unhappy and dirty look amusing. The tears had made him stop and put her onto his shoulder, patting her knee: "Come on now, it's just dirt, it'll wash off. No need to cry." She nodded and held onto his clothes while he snatched the fallen boot. Then he placed it back to her bare foot and she felt a little bit better. "Let's make this easier then. I'll carry you for a bit?" She nods, gladly skipping the mud. As he turns and walks, she feels speck of jealousy. She had struggled but he was moving in strides. She wishes she could be like that too, strong and big. However, she realizes after thinking, that then she couldn't sit on Letho's shoulder anymore. She liked it there, on his shoulders. It felt safe and fun. She saw things from his perspective. Everything seems so far away and small. He must not see anything or anyone as a threat. She wondered was Letho ever intimidated by anything. He's like mam, the girl thinks at the same time happily and sadly, wondering would he stay with her.
When the ground turns more solid he puts her down and smiles. She mirrors the expression: "Thank you." Then wipes her hands onto her shawl and grasps his hand with her own. She hopes he will stay.
The Viper comes back with mild headache prickling his temples. He's still sitting on the chair and holding the girl's hand. He continues doing that while rolling his neck and shoulder muscles to relieve the tension. "How you feeling," Triss asks, looking pale and her arms crossed. "You saw the same things?" he wonders instead. "The cats, shades and horned witch?" Triss chuckles: "Yeah, I knew the spell doesn't show memories as clear as they should be, but that was pretty garbled."
Placing the child's hand onto the bed he looks at the small, sleeping form. "Think that's because she's a child?" The sorceress nods, thoughtful and observing the two. "Partly. Also her psyche is protecting itself. I tried making the memories of this witch more focused, but it caused even harder resistance. Don't think we will try this again, not soon at least. It would just give us more worse results." Letho agrees. That had been a rough ride, almost like after couple bags of fisstech and some purple mushrooms. He stands up and starts walks past the woman, towards the door: "How long will she sleep?" Getting his intention, the redhead also follows and stretches her arms: "Long enough for us to try figure out the riddles. I think we should ask Dandelion to help with that." With some spirit, the witcher mused while holding the door open for them. As the door closes, the kid left alone turns onto her side and sighs. "Kitties..." Small smile appears, the hand that Letho had hold squeezing into a fist. "Stay..."