Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of the witcher. Those are property of Mr Sapkowski and I using Netflix series canon mixed with the books and my twisted version of the lore.

Warnings : swearing again haha. We are still a safe spot there :)

Notes :
Thx for the kind words in reviews and private messages :). I have a lot of pleasure revisiting the classic stories. By the way, my goal isn't to rewrite what was done per se. I am telling new stories with the same base. So don't be alarmed that I am not following the events as we know them. Especially with this first story that I am filling with a lot of things. But if think this is the game of AUs, right ? :-]

This is a full Geralt chapter but the little flower isn't far ;).

The devil of Posada - Part 2

The hunt

###

Geralt drove for about one hour in the tranquil countryside of Posada and reached the countereffort of the mountains. He could already tell there was something wrong. The forest had burned in several places creating dark patches of no life. These were clearly intentional controlled fires. The farmers were trying to have more lands for free but they were damaging a fragile ecosystem that could prevent monsters from coming to human lands. Maybe this was what started some sort of retaliation.

He went off road on one of these charcoal parcels and reached the border of the forest. Geralt parked there, hoping the surrounding darkness was enough to hide his vehicle. He removed his hat and left it on the dashboard. He moved his swords and then he opened the glove box to extract a sawn-off shotgun from it and some munitions aligned in a leather ribbon. He verified the weapon and attached it to his right leg and the reserve of munitions to his belt. This was not the way of the witchers but highly sentient creatures had upped their game during the last centuries. He needed to play the same cards if he didn't want to die stupidly. Although, Geralt was one that used guns the least. He didn't find it noble. But having the weapon in sight was usually very dissuasive.

He also took a little box with some vials in it. It was those he had prepared at Kaer Morhen. The night was as dark as ink and even with his enhanced sense it would be hard to see. He took a vial of cat vision elixir that he drank on the spot. He gave it a few seconds to kick in. Soon, he could feel the burning sensation of the poison being assimilated by his body. His vision tunnelled to gray and the next blink he was seeing in monochromatic high contrast. He knew that his face was now probably very scary for anyone to see. Dark veins, totally black eyes and a white chalk skin complexion. This was a strong shot that would last at least one hour. He didn't want to go far, just take some informations on the ground. One hour should suffice. The hunt was on.

He took his swords while going out of his car, and passed the complex leather fixations around his torso to secure them on his back. He didn't waste time and went for a walk in the dark. He passed rapidly two series of trees and found a small path going up. Those mountains were not as deserted as he thought and implicitly validated his first idea about human trespassing an invisible frontier.

He took the general direction of water. He could hear a small river flow nearby. Water meant concentration of life. And probably more clues. This was not an external river, but better. There was a thin cascade filling a large pool. Meaning there was indeed a river but coming from the mountain side. Meaning there were probably caves. And caves were great hiding places. He would maybe need to find them at some point. Probably not today.

He approached carefully, trying to minimize the sound he was making. He spotted some deers and foxes, seeing their eyes reflect the small night lights. The moon was not up yet and the stars were the only sources of light. Fortunately the sky was clear.

He kneeled and tasted the water. It was very clear. There were probably no aquatic monsters around. He smelled the air. Nothing strange either. So he continued his investigations. He went around the pool, and after a little walk in the thickets he found a small path going East. This was definitely not human made. He found some unusual hoof prints on the mud. Not large enough to be a horse, and the path was too thin for that anyway. The space between the marks was unreadable. Whatever it was, it was coming back and forth regularly.

He sniffed the air again. There was a strange smell there but he couldn't tell if it was animalistic or not. So he followed the trail. It was going up quite abruptly. He had to pass several boulder obstacles, almost at human size. He finally arrived in a clear area that solved the mystery of Posada and Geralt understood that there was no way he could have the other 500 orens he was promised.

- "Fuck…" He whispered looking at the lines of cultures, or more likely attempts of cultures.

It was in a large transformed land. The soil wasn't the one from the forest, nor the one from Posada's valley. This was clearly one that came from the other side of the mountains, the wild lands. It was known that that soil was extremely poor. Whoever, or whatever, was stealing and damaging the farmers' cultures was trying to make things grow on the other side… And Geralt had a pretty clear idea of who were the ultimate beneficiaries of this experiment. Elves…

A large portion of elves tried to adapt to the human world. Most hid in the population with the help of surgeries to look more human, like most of the humanoid creatures that chose this way. Some were trying their best to stay as they were in a growing violent world against other species. But there were some that refused the change. Most of them had been killed in the big cleansings, centuries ago, and the other part was forced to the frontiers of the Continent, where the ground was extremely poor. It was very rare to learn from them. Medias didn't cover those kinds of subjects and people mostly forgot that they existed at all.

He sighed. This place was a clear attempt to improve those recluse elves' lives. They had probably encountered a deadly threshold in the wild lands and needed the science of humans to survive. He looked around, the place seemed deserted. He could distinguish the line of tents further to the North of his position but there was no sounds, no movements, no lights. And he would need to find some topological maps of the area but he was certain there must be some caves not too far away. He could see some trucks and cars too in the distance. They came with technology, which was very unusual. Those elves from the other side were known to be very proud of their traditions. Something had definitely changed.

Geralt chose to stay on his side of the field to secure his position and not wake those who could sleep in the tents or the caves he couldn't see. He walked by the lines, studying what was done. His first suspicion about technology was confirmed. There was some basic irrigation system, with a solar water pump that was clearly made from scraps.

Something was making food rarer on their side and they needed to learn to use their poor soil differently and adapt the human agriculture techniques to their needs.

Geralt took his phone out of his trousers side pocket and tried to take a picture. The light from his device even at minimum was blinding, because of the cat elixir. He needed the flash, so he closed his eyes for each shot.

He took photos of the plantations. The green was too small and young to determine the species. But he was sure that, in a few months, every kind of plant the town master had reports for would be found there. He took evidence of the installations and from the prints. The hoof ones were mixed with human size footprints there, on the rare muddy patches around the almost sand like imported soil.

At least there was that. The beast… There was one more mystery to solve but he wasn't sure anymore he wanted to search further. If he found the link, this might be the end of this experiment and those elves weren't doing bad. Only their way of collecting the plants was problematic. He needed to come back during the day to talk to them. But there was one tricky point. The language. His elven was not basic by any means but speaking with recluse elves from the wild lands would probably need more than he knew. He had learnt modern elven with a bunch of elder to communicate with very old species, but the few times he tried the conversations were limited.

The singer from the motel just flashed into his mind. There was a difference between singing old elven songs and actually speaking elder but what if he knew ? No this was a stupid idea. This boy was human and young as spring, he couldn't speak elder fluently. And this was going against his rules. No humans on the hunt. But was it still ?

He sighed and turned round toward the forest. He would sleep on it tonight. Maybe he would have clear head by tomorrow. But he needed to think fast. The forest was progressively eaten by men anyway. They had not much time to adapt before being discovered.

The journey back to his car was easy. But he had a weird feeling. The feeling of being watched. He stopped several times to look around. He could hear animals. If there was someone or any monster around, their scent was under the wind.

When he arrived at his car, he knew that his incursion had been seen. His front lights had been crushed.

- "Fuck…" He muttered. He looked around. Hoofs prints... "Ok !" He began out loud. "You spotted me ! I am not here to hurt anyone. I promise. We can talk !"

- "Torque don't talk to human. Human must leave. Never return." Came the reply. Geralt turned round.

This creature was both intelligent and discreet. He could barely see it, hiding behind a tree, even with the cat elixir still active in his system. It probably knew what a witcher was and the danger he represented. Yet it was the one to menace. The voice was husky and the accent was strange. The words were definitely not produced by vocal cords made for this. It learned the common language.

- "I am not human. I am a witcher."

- "Torque don't care. Torque protect. Humans. Witcher. They must leave."

- "I won't hurt you or the elves. I want to speak to them. You are in danger."

- "Elve don't speak human well. Torque understand. Torque help. What danger ?"

- "Do you see those burnt forest patches ? The human are going to destroy that forest. The elves won't be able to stay hidden long. I found you in less than an hour. That small path won't be a protection for long. You are safe only because farmers just don't go there for their pleasure. But they already are at your door step. And the more you destroy their plantations, the more there will be hunters on those woods. If those elves need human technology now, there may be a solution. One that doesn't involve killing."

As he was speaking, Geralt had an idea pushing in his mind that he was refusing. That young singer he just met was popping in his mind like a remanent image. No human in hunts. He tried to convince himself. But there was that other voice in the back of his head saying that rarely in his life things happened randomly. He had to try I least to determine if destiny was playing with him or not.

- "I need to find some informations. It can take a while. Don't steal the farmers. Stay quiet till I come back."

- "Torque don't obey people. Torque protect. Elves need food. Torque steal plants and food."

- "Just two days. I need at least two days. Please. I wanna help too."

The creature tilted his head and his eyes caught suddenly some light, in an almost scary way. And in the dark, it was almost all that was visible. It seemed to think. Maybe his urgent tone was making a difference. Geralt saw a slight movement in the back. It wasn't alone.

- "Torque don't promise. Torque don't believe humans or witchers."

The creature moved out of his hiding place. Even with the cat elixir it was hard to tell what was vegetal, animal, humanoid. It was a sylvan. His big eyes were now capturing all the residual lights piercing through the forest vegetal shield, and with his current vision, it was almost like shining to Geralt. Torque moved and something moved with it in the back. Deers and boars were now revealing themselves. They were observing him too.

This was a magical sight. They were hiding with it and now moving as part of the same pack, without a word, without a visible sign. That was the real language of sylvans, not these broken sentences it was pushing out of its throat. It didn't came closer but it went out of the protection of the trees with the animals. Silhouettes in the dark, like ink forms on a greyish painting. Geralt could see some details of its fur and the vegetal parts that worked as camouflage in back-light. It had powerful goat legs and much certainly that beast face. He could see its horns, and its tail moving very slowly to imperceptible balance readjustment. He understood why the rare farmers, who had almost see it, thought it was a devil.

But there was nothing devilish in that beautiful creature. On the contrary. If only humans knew how important some monsters were to their environment. And this one was a very rare specimen. Extremely intelligent and adaptative.

Torque raised an arm and pointed him.

- "Witcher must go now."

- "Yes, I go for now. But please. Try to explain the danger to the elves."

The sylvan didn't reply and Geralt returned to his car. Torque and the animals didn't move till he was actually leaving. He saw them in his mirror returning like shadows to the trees and disappear. He sighed. This mission was turning bad. Very bad.

###

Geralt drove a few miles and stopped on the side of the road, when he couldn't go further. The cat elixirs effect was weakening. Driving without lights in this totally dark area was a problem in itself that he wouldn't be able to compensate very long, especially with the side effect of witchers potions. The elixirs were all different poisons and drugs and their trick on the body was effective as long as their mutation was metabolising the deadly molecules. But the resulting products were stronger poisons that need all their body strength to get over. For the cat elixir, the resulting product of the first full metabolization was a neurotoxin provoking spams. It wouldn't last long. Just a few minutes. But being on the road with heavy shaking muscles and a failing sight was clearly suicidal. So he decided to wait there.

The first wave hit him like punch in the guts. He groaned and clenched his jaws. The trembling was growing it intensity to hit a pick about a minute later. An unadvertised witness would believe he was having a seizure at this point. This was not very far from the truth but it was more impressive than dangerous for him, even if not a pleasant moment to go through.

Soon the spams ended and he took a deep breath and appreciated the soothing sensation of the last metabolization. The night was so dark now. He decided to stay there till dawn. Not that he couldn't drive at all in those conditions with his extra mutated sight. I was possible even if hard. He just didn't want to return the human world now.

He looked at his weapons on the passenger side. His blades against the door. His shotgun on the seat with the munitions. He purposely had shown Torque he was removing his weapons getting in the car as a sign that he wouldn't hunt him and his protégés. He hoped the message was clear.

He took his phone out and connected to Internet. He had notifications from his chat group with his brothers. He read their last hunt stories, looked at the pictures. Eskel was hunting a kikimora in the North, Coën and Lambert were hunting a leshen near Cintra. The others didn't find any mission yet and Vesemir was giving advices from home. He sent his photos in a private message to the old man with a small comment. "Elves are trying to survive in the wild lands stealing humans food and trying to learn to use their agriculture. A sylvan is helping them. This could degenerate."

Vesemir was offline for a few hours, he didn't except any answer till the morning. So he returned to the main chat, put some thumbs up under the stories of his brothers and some sad emoji for those who hadn't found a job. Then he threw his phone on the passenger seat and the mobile device was stopped by his gun. The screen turned black after longs seconds. Geralt closed his eyes and let the sleep take him.

That night he dreamed of the hunt in the woods, but he was a wolf. A big white wolf. He was running behind a pray he couldn't see. And then, there was a voice, singing. He followed it and found the young singer with his crystal gray eyes in a glade. He was smiling at him and Geralt felt good. He approached and the man began to speak to him, in elder. He was telling him strange things. Things about destiny and a child. And then he tried to touch him and his animalistic instinct kicked in. He bit. The scream of the young man woke him up.

The first ray of the sun were warming his skin and the car. Geralt was feeling strange. The dream was still fresh in his mind and he was shivering, not from fear though. He took his phone back. Vesemir hadn't answered yet. He searched on the internet "Jaskier Posada". He found many articles about flowers. Apparently Jaskier meant buttercup but it wasn't precised in which language. After two pages of results, he found a small article in a local online newspaper talking briefly about the singer. There was a photo of him smiling and the remaining informations were about the motel and the owners where his shows were taking place, not much about him.

- "Are you part of my hunt, little flower ?" He asked, plunging in the big gray eyes that were almost looking back at him through the screen.

Geralt disconnected and put his belongings back in order. The gun in the glove box. The phone in his pocket. His hat on his head. The swords were already at the right place. He started the engine and drove back to the town. The Valley of Flowers and Posada may have some history to unfold. The hunt wasn't finished yet.

Notes :

I hope you like that kinda cowboy Geralt and the small changes I have made for Torque. I wanted him to be more like a part of the forest, in sync with nature, and extend his role of protector. Also I wanted to make more dangerous and rare to use.
I hope you're still on board with the new settlements :)

See you soon !