I do not own Witcher or any of the characters.

A Better Way

"Please! Save my child!" the woman who'd hired them sobbed, her pale face streaked with tears, her blue eyes bloodshot, and her brown hair a mess from her frantic search for her child before someone had reported seeing them being chased through the woods by a monster.

"We will," Eldin promised the woman. "Don't worry. We'll be back by dawn."

"What is it we're hunting this time?" Renfri asked as Eldin joined Aaralyn on their horse, the three riding out of the town to the north.

"A Fiend," Eldin said, resting a hand on his satchel. "Know what it is?"

"No," Renfri said, shaking her head.

"Yes," Aralyn nodded.

They huge creatures with a head shaped like a deer, antlers, hair on their back and legs, huge claws, a nasty temper, and a third eye that can hypnotize their victims," Eldin listed. "They're fast, powerful, and aggressive. They have a nasty penchant for killing."

"And if that's true, how are we supposed to save her son?" Renfri asked.

"We aren't," Eldin said. "You are. Both of you. You're going to take the child and flee. I'll fight the Fiend."

"Can you win?" Renfri asked.

"It's not my first," Eldin said. "It's going to hurt, but I'll win."

Renfri nodded, and they all fell silent until they reached the Fiend's hunting grounds. The ground was torn up, animals and monsters alike had been crushed, gored, trampled, or speared to death, and there was something roaring just over the next hill. Eldin dropped to the ground, drawing his sword as Renfri and Aralyn followed suit. They quickly climbed the hill, only to stop, finding their target ramming his horns against a log where there was a blood-stained body lying inside with a bundle of something on his chest.

"Oh my God," Renfri breathed. "It's massive!"

Eldin nodded, eyeing the creature that was nearly the size of a barn. It was fully grown and angry. He'd been hoping to catch it with its guard down.

"I'll draw its attention," Eldin said. "You two get to that log."

Aralyn and Renfri nodded, and Eldin circled around behind the Fiend, drinking an elixir as he went. He grimaced as his flesh burned, his face paling as black veins spread as far as his hairline and the collar of his shirt. Then, as the Fiend backed away from the log to charge it, he jabbed his hand at it and its back ignited like a match. It roared in pain and anger, staggering to the side, then turned, spotting Eldin. It bellowed in rage, dropping its head and charging instantly, and as Eldin moved to meet its charge, Aralyn and Renfri sprinted for the log. Eldin leapt into the air, stepping off of the Fiend's head, and slashed its back before landing behind it, only for one of its hind legs to slam into him, hurling him aside. He bounced and rolled across the ground before managing to roll to his feet, picking his sword back up and readying himself. The Fiend roared, then turned to the log just as the others raced out of it with the body, the young boy of maybe four they'd been charged with saving. It roared, only for the roar to turn into a shriek as Eldin again ignited the hair on its back. It turned on him again just as he pulled on his mask, feeling his emotions silence themselves. It roared, charging, and Eldin unleashed a roar of his own, his voice distorted by the mask and sounding every bit as demonic as the mask appeared. Both charged, but this time, as the Fiend dropped its head, Eldin spun and ducked, narrowly escaping the horns. They grazed his back, tearing a large patch of the shirt off behind him, but in exchange, he slashed its left rear leg off just below the knee. It shrieked in pain, crashing to the ground, but as he turned, it hurled itself around in a circle, swiping and raking its claws against his chest with enough force to hurl him across the clearing. as he rolled to a stop, he returned his gaze to it just as everything around him went dark, save for its third eye shining ahead of him. He narrowed his eyes as he stood, watching the eye sway first one way, then the other. It bobbed and swung around him, circling. Then, without warning, something exploded into him from his left, hurling him again. As the world around him lightened, he pushed himself up, looking around and spotting a second Fiend, this one slightly larger than the first and standing over his fallen sword.

Both Fiends roared, the world once again darkening except for one of their third eyes glowing, and Eldin narrowed his eyes, waiting. He listened carefully, hearing one of the pair moving, then charging. He waited, and at the last second, leapt into the air. His torso bore the full brunt of the impact, but he grabbed onto its horns, clinging to it until it stopped before roaring in effort, twisting and dragging it around by its head, not by strength but by pain. As it crashed to the ground, the hypnosis of the other's third eye once again faded, and Eldin roared, shoving his left arm into the Fiend's mouth. It bit down instantly, shattering the bones of his left forearm, but he merely roared again as he formed Igni's sign again. This time, flames roared from his hand, flooding into the great beast and roasting it from the inside in seconds. It thrashed, its paw slamming into his leg and sending agony shooting through him from the middle of his thigh, but after a moment, it fell still, smoke curling from any opening it could find. He withdrew his arm, letting it hang limp, only for the first Fiend, its leg fully regrown, to suddenly leap onto its dead kin, swiping Eldin aside with its claws. He flipped into the air and crashed down hard, stopping dead on impact, only to begin to rise again, finding he'd landed beside his sword. He picked it up just as the world darkened, but this time, he simply snarled. A moment later, the Fiend charged, bellowing in rage, only for Eldin's left arm to snap up, headless of the agony using it cost. A forcefield appeared before him like a shield, and when the Fiend impacted it, there was a deafening crack and the sound of something splintering. Eldin's feet skidded backward as he and the forcefield were pushed away by the force of the Fiend's charge, but after a moment, the world lightened, revealing the Fiend's broken neck and shattered antlers. Eldin let out a growling breath, lowering his arm, then swept his sword arm up smoothly, the Fiend's head rolling away from its body. He stared at it for a moment, then kicked it to the other Fiend and walked over, severing that one's neck as well before sheathing his sword and shoved one of the antlers of the second head into the first's mouth before beginning back toward the village, limping on his injured leg. He paused after cresting the hill to remove and store his mask, sighing as he felt the incredible psychological weight the mask had taken on at some point lift, then gripped the massive antler again and continued on, dragging the two massive heads, both as large as his torso at least, through the woods. Finally, after nearly an hour, he reached the gate, passing through it with his prizes, only to stop as Aralyn and Renfri found him.

"Two?" Renfri asked, eyes widening as she stared at the heads.

"One showed up while the first had my attention," Eldin said. "How's the boy?"

"Not well," Aralyn said. "The Fiend skewered him in the side before he managed to escape into the log."

Eldin sighed, shaking his head. "He's too young to die."

"Can we help him?" Renfri asked.

Eldin considered. "There might be a way. I could make him an elixir, one to speed up the healing process, but it would be poison to a normal human." He glanced at Aralyn. "What about you? Can you heal him?"

Aralyn hesitated, then nodded. "Maybe. I'd need some very specific ingredients, but I might know a spell that could help. It's not a healing spell, but I can make him temporarily immune to poison."

"Allowing him to survive my elixir," Eldin nodded. "What do you need?"

"A lot," Aralyn said. "What are we...doing with those?"

"First I'm going to put them somewhere no one's going to take them and claim they killed it," Eldin said. "Then I might use them for a weapon. Their antlers can rip though metal, and their brains are useful for enchantment. The third eyes, however, are going to be used for elixirs."

"The one for the child?" Renfri asked.

"The ones I drink when I need a boost in a fight," Eldin said. "The healing elixir is much easier and contains less revolting ingredients."

Renfri nodded, and she and Aralyn left to start hunting for ingredients. Eldin took his prizes to a blacksmith, paying him a few coins to keep them safe for him before leaving to help. Many hours later, they'd either foraged or bought everything both Eldin and Aralyn needed and went to the boy's house.

"We think we have a way to help him," Aralyn said. "A combination of a spell and a potion, if you'll let us."

"I asked you to save my son, not kill a Fiend," the boy's mother said. "Do whatever it takes!"

Aralyn nodded and picked up a metal bowl from off to the side, setting it on the boy's chest before placing the herbs, berries, and assorted insect and animal pieces she'd needed to gather into the bowl. She began to chant, and after a moment, the contents of the bowl burst into flames for a moment before going out, a thin, violet smoke drifting out of the bowl, and then into the boy's nose as Aralyn continued to chant. As she did, Eldin placed all of his own ingredients into a small vial, added a few drops of toxic, acidic, monster blood to dissolve and blend them, then began to shake the bottle. As Aralyn finished her spell and nodded to Eldin, he held out the bottle, seeing it was a light pink color, and placed it to the boy's lips, tipping it up and pouring it down the boy's throat. Instantly, his face scrunched up and he groaned, but after several moments, his breathing eased. Eldin waited, and after a moment, the veins in his neck began to turn an angry red, starting at his collar and spreading upward.

"His body's rejecting it," Eldin said. "It'll kill him."

"What!?" his mother shrieked.

"There has to be something you can do!" Renfri said. "Eldin! Anything!"

Eldin thought for a moment, then reached up, tracing his finger over the boy's forehead in a seemingly random design. However, after several seconds, the color began to fade from the boy's skin, the dark veins receding again, and the boy sighed before falling silent again. Eldin rested his ear on the boy's chest for a moment, then sat up.

"He'll live," Eldin announced. "The wound will still take time to heal, the elixir can only do so much, but I've staved off the worst of the reaction to it. He'll run a nasty fever for about a month, and he'll feel like death, but it'll pass. Force him to drink water and to eat, I recommend something light, berries and leafy vegetables, maybe some fish. He'll be healed before the fever passes, and he'll have a nasty scar, but he'll be alright."

"He's...he's really...going to be alright?" the mother asked.

"Yes," Eldin nodded. "He'll be fine."

Tears rolled thickly down the mother's face, and when she thanked Eldin, it came out as more sobbing than words. She reached for her coin purse, but Eldin caught her hand.

"Keep it," Eldin said. "You need it more than I do."

Again, she began to cry, thanking him again and again before finally settling to sob into her son's chest. Eldin and the others excused themselves from the home, and the mayor of the town met them outside.

"Thank you, Witcher," the mayor said. "Ever since the boy's father died, he's been so reckless! I can't even begin to imagine what drove that boy to go out into the woods with a Fiend nearby!"

"Heroism," Aralyn said, nodding toward a small, grey dog seated near the house, whining, the dog looking to be barely a month old. "He had that with him when we reached him. I'd bet he saved it from the Fiend."

The mayor made a noise somewhere between a laugh and an exasperated groan. "That boy!" He sighed. "We'll look after the dog until he's well enough for it to be around him. I'm sure his mother will agree to take it in once she finds out he saved it."

"Just keep it out of the woods," Eldin said.

"Yes, I'd wager that'd be best," the mayor agreed. "Thank you again, Witcher."

The mayor left, and Eldin led Aralyn and Renfri to the blacksmith, brewing a second elixir like the one he'd given the boy and drinking it. once he'd reached the blacksmith's workshop, he thanked him for holding onto the heads before beginning to drag them out of the town, Aralyn helping this time. Once a good way away, Eldin removed their eyes and set about beginning to break pieces off of the antlers with a combination of precise Igni casting and Aard casting to weaken and then break the horns.

"Why didn't you accept her coin?" Renfri asked. "I thought you only work for pay."

"Most of the time," Eldin nodded. "But you saw their house, right? Worn down, empty, no food or candles, no books or tools of a craft. They were poor, and she doesn't work in a trade, or at least, not one that requires tools. She probably sells her body to afford food for them, and never enough to buy a stock of food, only enough for a meal at a time. The coin she was going to pay us with was probably all they had saved up, money meant for a better life. I have no intentions of ruining someone's life. No money is worth that."

Renfri smiled, nodding.

"How did you calm the boy's reaction to the elixir?" Aralyn asked.

"It's a specific sign, one that's almost more spell than sign," Eldin said. "It improves the lifeforce of whatever it's traced on, but only barely. I was lucky it was enough to calm the boy's reaction to the elixir."

Aralyn nodded.

"You're heroes," Renfri smiled. "Both of you."

"And you," Aralyn said. "You carried him."

Renfri smiled, shaking her head. "I had the easy part. I carried him to the horses, but Eldin fought two huge monster and both of you found ways to save him from his wounds. I barely did anything."

"Then we'll teach you to," Eldin said. "There are ways to help a body heal that don't involve magic or potions. I can teach you some, like how to close wounds with a needle and thread, but we'll have to find someone more trained than me to teach you anything more advanced than sewing. But you could learn to save lives, rather than simply knowing how to end them."

Renfri's eyes widened before she smiled and nodded. "Alright. Let's do it."

Eldin nodded and turned his and Aralyn's horse right at the next fork in the road, toward a larger town than the one they were leaving behind.

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