Auri ran for her life for the third time that week. The first two times had not been her fault, she decided. She had left Aedirn behind after finally finding the Nilfgaardian scouts. Foltest had warned her to keep her magic away from Temeria, and to keep her need for revenge out of his court. She'd agreed only because he promised to give her enough coin to get back to Skellige.
Still, the Nilfgaardians kept coming and the coin stayed where it was, in the very very deep pockets of the disgruntled Temerian King.
When she crossed the border from Rivia and into Lyria she'd thought she was safe. She had been wrong. Auri waded across the Yargua early the next morning, carrying a steel sword in one hand and a coin purse in the other. The two Nilfgaardian scouts she'd come upon had called her a whore and threatened to take her head. She had no idea how they had even found her, she left no tracks and she refused to use portals. Whoever was hunting her was clever enough to track them if she used them, and as of right now, being as far away from Nilfgaardians as she could was the plan.

Auri was perfectly happy in having kept her somewhat aching head on her shoulders, the scouts.. not so much.
'If I were you, I'd leave. Now.' she had said, eyeing them from beneath her green hood.
'Ain't gonna do that, missy. We have orders to follow.' the biggest one had said, he reeked of stale wine and sweat. She smelled them both before she saw them. The smaller one had just looked her up and down and cleaned his long fingernails with a jeweled dagger.
'Leave or die. I don't have time for this. I don't care what you want, stay the fuck away from me. I assume you know what happened to the other scouts sent to find me?' she had said and waved a hand toward the pile of discarded weapons, coin purses and armor she'd placed by a rock.
'They were stupid, we're not.' Said the smallest one and attacked.

She had left their heads near their fallen companions. The rusty steel armor they wore had fused onto their skin. Auri had never been a fan of torture, so she severed their heads before she burnt them. Fire magic scared her, yet, the feeling of it made her long for more. She had seen plenty of fire mages consumed by the power and by the end most of them had been soulless husks shaped like humans.

The water reached her knees. It seemed to soothe the burning rage inside her for just a moment. She stopped in the middle of the roaring river, sheathed her sword at her back and groaned. She ran her hands through the cold water and splashed some of it into her face. Her skin hissed. It was the fire, she could stop whenever she wanted to, that wasn't the problem. If she didn't let it out she would burn. The fire would consume her and if she didn't have enough control to stop it it would kill her.

The water soothed the aches and froze her joints. She stepped off the little slippery rock she had been standing on and made her way to the other shore, eager to finally get home. All she had to do was to follow the Yaruga until she reached the sea. She had enough coin to secure her passage back to Ard Skellig and finally leave this blasted Continent behind.
Auri stepped onto the sandy banks and stopped dead in her tracks. She looked to the west, and then the east. She was standing between Scala and the mountains, and she quickly realized her mistake when the wind blew through the copse of trees to her left.
'Fuck!'

The ghoul came from the woods, jaws reeking of blood and filth. Its massive head appeared between the trunks of two trees and she nearly dropped her coin. Usually, they attacked in packs. Which meant that if she was unlucky she was about to be ripped to pieces by the rest of the pack she hadn't spotted yet. If she was lucky- This was not a day for luck she realized, ghouls preferred to hunt at night, only hunger and desperation drew them from their lairs and into the sun.
The growling monster took a step toward her. She kept her stance and placed her legs apart, trying as best she could to force her weight to even out as she drew her sword. The steel glinted in the rising sun and she prayed to whatever God that would listen that this was not how her life would end.

The growling grew in intensity and she ran. She had been right. It was a pack. She heard their thundering steps as she headed for the smaller river leading to the sea. If she had to swim she'd do it, she didn't give a fuck if she froze. She'd rather freeze to death than be eaten. Her magic would take the brunt of it, and as long as she managed to keep her head and warm herself up after she'd be fine.
She stepped off small rocks and tried to find a tree high enough to give her shelter, she had been running from the Nilfgaardians all night, there was a limit to her running capabilities.

Her thighs ached, and she kept going. Auri kept her eyes on the clearing between the mountains and debated trying to lose the ghouls in the woods. She was nimbler than them, if they hit the trees enough times they'd probably give up once they lost her. She was not hurt, there wasn't a drop of blood on her. So if she held them off long enough they would turn back and smell their way to the corpses she'd left in her wake.

Auri cleared the bend of the pile of rocks marking the border to Dol Angra and screamed. She leapt out through the thickets to find a man staring at her. His horse stopped drinking from the river and she ran for him, if he was Nilfgaardian too she'd let them eat him first, steal his horse and flee. Much to her surprise the man simply placed a hand on his sword and braced himself.
She was ten steps from him when he reached out a hand for her. She had no time, she whirled on the ghouls, dropped her sword and her coin and snapped her fingers. The fire flared up in the palms of her hands and she dropped down into a crouch. Auri took a breath as the fire forced its way into her shivering heart and sent a ball of fire toward the nearest ghoul. The soft sound of steel clanking against leather made her turn.

He was a soldier. Definitely. He removed his helmet and tossed it aside, apparently annoyed with how little vision it provided him. His hair fell in slight curls down to his shoulders and he reeked even worse than the dead Nilfgaardians on the other side of the river. Auri's eyes widened when he swung his sword in her direction. His blue eyes flared, but they were not focused on her, they were focused on-
She ducked.
The soldier's sword sliced through the second ghoul that leapt for them from the right, moments before its jaws snapped shut inches away from Auri's leg. The wet crunch of steel meeting bone spurred her into action once again. She regained her footing, snapped her fingers again and sent a new roaring ball of fire toward the last ghoul. It leapt out of the way almost human-like but the moment it hit the grass it turned, kicked off the ground and dove for her. Auri had no chance, the fire burnt, but she wasn't fast enough to even-

The man's sword sliced down from above. He shoved the blade through the ghoul's skull with such force that the tip of the sword embedded itself in the ground, the writhing ghoul shrieking in mad frenzy and pain.
The man simply placed a foot on top of its stinking head and pushed the sword down to the hilt. Black blood oozed from its mouth and Auri scrambled away from the beast, panting hard and finally extinguishing the small flame still burning in her left hand.

'What the fuck did you do to piss them off?' the man asked and wrenched his sword out of the ghoul.
'I was alive, that seemed to be enough.' Auri replied and took his outstretched hand. His grip was hard, as if he didn't want to let her go. She noticed his swordhand was shaking and it made her nervous. She had half the mind to grab her own sword in case he attacked.
'I suppose,' he said and dried the blade off on the already fuming grass. It was true then, monster blood was corrosive. She had never stayed long enough to actually see it, but sure enough. The black, sticky blood smoked a little where it had hit the ground, the grass turned from green to brown, and then it died completely.

'What were you doing out here, girl?' he continued, finally sheathing the damn thing and looking at her.
'Hunting,' she said simply and pointed at the corpse, 'was it not evident from all the burning and the shrieking?'
'Mhm.'

Auri turned to leave. She should thank him, but she was still nervous about the sword and still desperate enough for her coin to turn her back on him. She went over to her coin purses and picked them up. The man raised a brow and followed her every move.
'Yes I stole them.' she said and scoffed. 'Does it matter?'
'No.' he said and turned to his horse. The black stallion was remarkably calm for an animal that had just witnessed three ghouls trying to eat his owner. He patted the horse on the neck and grabbed the reins.
'And yourself, what are you doing here?' Auri asked and crossed her arms. Something was wrong. She felt it deep in her, there was something off about him. The way he moved and the calm horse. 'Are you also a Nilfgaardian sent to treat with King Foltest on behalf of the Emperor?' she asked pointedly and waved a hand in his general direction.
'No.' he said and tightened his grip on the reins. 'I am a bounty hunter, and you just killed two of the three contracts I had.'

Auri smirked. Bounty hunter. She could rob him too, if he had coins. Then she'd leave him here and take his horse. Easier to travel by horse and she'd probably get back to Ard Skellig without being eaten.
'Apologies, bounty hunter. I didn't plan on being eaten today. If I ever see you again and there are more ghouls I'll let them eat you first if that is agreeable,' she said and turned on her heel. She was halfway to the trees when she heard him again.
'Wait!'
'What?' she turned to find him walking next to the horse, staring at her.
'What's your name?' he asked.
'Auri, and I am sorry about your contracts. If it helps I don't need the coin so you can just go back to the issuer and get your pay.' she tried. She didn't want him to follow. She still didn't know who he was or how exactly he ended up here. There were plenty of contracts elsewhere. It was a bit too convenient that he'd shown up just in the nick of time and right after she'd decapitated more Nilfgaardians-
'Where are you going?' the man asked.
'To the other side of the river. I am going home, you should do the same, soldier.'
'It's commander general, and I don't think so. The way I see it you owe me two ghouls. I think I should stay until you find them for me.'
'Very well,' Auri said and kept walking in between the trees. She'd find him the ghouls, come nightfall the woods would be crawling with them, he could take his pick of them and then leave her to her own devices. How hard could it be?
'Who are you?' she asked and turned to face him.
'My name is Mawr. I used to be a commander in King Foltest's army, but now I am here. Is that a good enough answer for you?' he said and walked up beside her, his horse whined softly and dragged his muzzle over her shoulder.
'Good enough. For now.'