Of Monsters and Men

​

Ana bit her lip, watching as Zephyr tried to make the portal. She could tell the kid tried, he really did, but he just didn't have the experience. She shut her eyes, knowing what had to be done, and wishing upon the gods it didn't have to be her. But of course, it did. If you wanted me dead just have an assassin shove a knife through my skull. This torment is getting old. "I hope your arms are stronger then they look." She pushed herself off the floor, legs trembling like a newborn calf's as she held her hand out to the air, sweat trickling down her neck with the effort.

It took longer then she would have liked, but the magic didn't drain her body of energy right away. What normally would have taken as much effort as walking now felt as though she had lifted twice her body weight through a river. Or how she imagined such a thing would feel. She grabbed Zephyr's hand and shoved him through the portal unceremoniously before stumbling through, leaving only a few bloodstains, the smell of dimiterium dust, and the room in disarray.

Her knees landed on the softness of grass, and she curled her hands around the blades as her vision flickered in and out, the magic draining from her body. "Vyle," she breathed out as she slumped to the ground, her eyes shutting of their own accord. Where are you?

​

Treasa rolled her eyes and sneered at her uncle. "Maybe think with the head on top of your shoulders, Uncle?" She stepped forward, towards the female. "Today has not been the best of days for my mother's brother, he's a little old and crotchety." She ignored the man behind her and focused on the two in front. "If you're here to tell us the city is burning; we can tell." She pointed towards the church, which was at this point mostly a plume of smoke.

It hadn't failed to escape her notice that the man set her uncle off, even more then the female. She wouldn't stop the old man from her battles; she had learned early on how bad of an idea that was, but she would back him up if necessary. Or maybe not. She drew the line at genitalia comparison.
"I'd advise you to speak quickly and quietly, and move on." she sighed as she strung her bow and knocked an arrow. "After all, my uncle is prone to fits of rage when he's forced to stand in one place so very long. Especially when we have somewhere to be." She leaned towards Alanna conspiratorially. "He's got a bit of anxiety about being late, you see. Got left at the altar at his own wedding because he lost track of time at the tavern." She shook her head, her lips twitching in the barest of grins.

With her uncle's witcher hearing, he wouldn't have missed a thing.

 

Alanna chuckled at the girl accompanying the Witcher. Her lightness was an amusing juxtaposition to the two very intense individuals that she was accompanying. It was kind of a relief to see someone with a sense of humour. With everything that had been happening recently, it was a welcome change to well, everything.
"Huh, so you've got a companion who's awfully tense too? Glad to see I'm not the only one." She smiled genuinely at Treasa, before flicking her eyes back to Adolin. He was opening his mouth, and closing it. Oh no, this is going to be bad. She did the only thing that she could think of doing to help him. Alanna stepped close and clasped his right hand which she could see was moving for a sword. She squeezed his hand and looked up at him. "Adolin, the Witcher."
The Doppler felt a warm sensation on his right hand. Looking right, it was Alanna and she was... Holding his hand? He was surprised by the gesture, and it threw him off. With her reminder, it was enough to manage the words out. He looked back at the man that he did not know.
"Te- Tell the other Witchers inside... One of you has fallen." Adolin spoke as levelly as he could. "He had a sister. Tell his friends. Tell them to find her. Tell them that a madman is coming for her, and for them. The madman responsible for all of this." He nodded to Alastar and began to walk down the path. He had to get away from this situation before it got out of hand. He didn't know how long he could keep this up. He stopped again and looked around at the Witcher.
"I hope our paths never cross again, Witcher." This time, his distaste was palpable. Not that he would understand. Not that he would know. That man would never understand the true extent of his hatred. His hatred that could be free. His hatred that no longer was shackled by sympathy for family. Alanna tugged his arm and began to lead him away while his blood boiled.




"Hey, Vyle doesn't drink blood. At least, I think so. That woman isn't food at any rate." Derrick said, trying to clarify that. He wasn't sure whether Veera was joking or not. She wouldn't know about the fact that they had met before. "And Vec, don't worry. I don't intend to die here. And thanks, I'll need this" Derrick immediately downed one of the two doses of Swallow he was given and pocketed the other one and the oil. After the brief exchange, Derrick made his way towards the inn. The city was a picture of chaos for sure, but it seemed that it was calming down just a little. The Witcher was able to slip through the city relatively unnoticed. In the haze of smoke and movement, he was just another face in a crowd of fleeing people. The occasional scream echoed nearby, but he forced himself not to be pulled into anything. He couldn't afford it. Eventually, he reached the inn. A pair of men were standing there, one of which was taking a knife to the rope that was tying his horse to the post. He sighed. He should have expected it really.
"Get away from my horse!" Derrick shouted drawing his blade. Nothing from the medallion, definitely humans. His yellow eyes glowered viciously at the two would-be thieves. "Or do you want to start something that you won't finish?" He raised an eyebrow. The two men looked at him. Their eyes were wide and desperate. Instead of running like he hoped, they decided to stand and fight.
"It's the end of our world mate! The crowds are coming, there's nothing for it"
"Yeah, you going to stop us? There's two of us you dumb sh*t!" Derrick sighed emphatically.
"I'm a Witcher. Enough said." It seemed that they weren't going to back down. He felt bad about what was going to happen next. It was over as quickly as he expected. The man with the knife rushed him, only to find a whirling blade that split his stomach open. He collapsed to the floor with a sickening wet gasp. His friend hesitated when he struck with the club that he was carrying. Even if he hadn't, the strike would have missed. His throat was cut with deadly precision and he collapsed, dead instantly. The man on his knees attempted to hold his intestines inside. Derrick shook his head and stabbed him in the heart from behind. The opportunist fell on to the floor with his face on the muddy ground. Derrick wiped his sword off on the cloth of the second man's shirt and sheathed his sword. He patted his horse affectionately and headed inside to collect his things. ​

 

Treasa was entirely wrong in the fact that he wasn't thinking with the head on his shoulders, for he was actually trying to do so and not with the little head. Then she took the piss with the others and Alastar couldn't surpress a smile. He didn't miss a word of what his neice was saying about him exploding into fits of rage if he was asked to stick around for too long, she had hit the nail square on the head. This is also why he tried to avoid politics because it only was counter-productive and it involved a lot of sitting there looking pretty, neither of which he was good at. Then she struck a bit of a nerve about him being left at the Altar, he hadn't really made peace with that yet, taking contract after contract, always traveling so there wasn't any time to think idly and get saddened over this, eventhough it had been a few years ago, before Treasa had come to him. "That's enough, Treas" Alastar said, his voice only containing the vaguest hints of the painfull memory that he was reminded off, his overall tone was harsh. And Treasa knew him well enough to pick up the faint hints within his tone.

He listened attentively to what was being said by the others, but he kept his eyes on Adolin, he didn't trust him and all the red flags didn't help either. And that is when Alanna uttered a wrong combination of words. This man, a Witcher? That was the biggest pile of pigsh*t he had ever heard being uttered. "That man, ain't a Witcher, just an imposter" Was all Alastar said, the message they were supposed to pass on gave him even more red flags. A non-witcher running around with witcher blades, knowing of a witcher being murdered, his fist tightened around the hilt of the throwing axe. The man left them with a threat. "I'll let it slide this time, but next time I will be burying your corpse." Alastar said, more promise than idle threat keeping his hand wrapped around the hilt of the throwing axe. He watched them leave and when they were far enough away, he turned to Treasa "We should go, we wasted enough time already..." He looked at the smoking church that she had pointed to before. This was gonna be a long day.​

 

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"He'll turn on her one day." Veera muttered wearily, forcing herself to stand. The knee twinged painfully when she tested her weight on it, but she didn't collapse back to the ground. Nodding her thanks to Veceslav for the potions, she tucked them into her pouch before setting off after Derrick, limping as quickly as her body could manage and leaving Veceslav to cover the rear. He apparently didn't need any help slaughtering peasants, and Veera crossed her arms to watch, one eyebrow raised. So he can do it and no one says a word, but when I do it it's the end of the world? She blinked, then squeezed her eyes shut as the searing pain ran through her head.

A minute later, it was gone, and she rubbed her eyes before opening them to see Derrick patting his horse. What the hell is wrong with me? She wondered nervously, leaning against the nearest wall for support. Wearily, she followed Derrick up the stairs, taking them very slowly with a mutter of, "Last one up is guarding the horse." Speaking of, where was hers?

She swallowed hard as she realized the steed must have been left with Aaron's, wherever it was. Well, if she had to walk back to the Kaer, then she had to fucking walk. She arrived at the top of the stairs, and froze. "Derrick...how important was that woman to your vampire friend?" She asked, her voice calm even as the smell of blood wafted towards her nose.

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Treasa's lips twitched in response to Alanna's smile. A kindred spirit, at long last. Good to know I'm not the only one left with a freakin' sense of humor. Her spine stiffened at the mention of other witchers, more specifically dead witchers. It was going to be bad if a witcher had died. They didn't make it through the Trials just to get taken out by a stray crossbow arrow. There was a reason Alastar hadn't allowed her to try and complete them. Gods above, what have we stumbled into?

She growled and smacked her uncle on the shoulder, tired of his attempts to bully the other man. "Let them go." She hissed, keeping the arrow knocked and the bow pointed towards the ground, ready to be drawn as they started towards the city. "They've clearly been through hell. And since when do you bury the corpses? Because if I'm taken off of corpse removal duty I wasn't notified and that's just rude." Her humor rarely failed, but her eyes were already turning towards their next objective.

"Besides, I have a feeling there's more then enough work for the both of us." She told Alastar, her mouth set in a grim line. Gods go with you, Witcher-Imposter and Kindred Spirit. I hope you find a place with no corpses to bury.

​

Tessa froze for a moment, put off kilter by his words. Those words, often said by drunken or desperate men and women, had never been spoken with the same reverence that man in front of her used now. But then her thoughts drifted to the huge scar that would heal, and cover her back, and she turned around, leading Seth to the bedroom he had previously placed her in.

I used to be.Now I'm just scarred. Her heart was heavy, but she pushed it down as she grabbed a bowl primarily used for washing hands and the drying cloth before placing them on the floor. It took some effort to maneuver herself to a sitting position, but she managed before beckoning Seth to sit in front of her.

"We'll have to visit an herbalist or an apothecary, but for now I can at least clean it." She murmured, pressing the cloth into the water to drench it before pointing at the dresser. "Check if that's wine?" She asked softly. "Or some sort of alcohol. And don't drink it."

 

Treasa had punched him in the shoulder for alledgedly bullying what she thought was an innocent man, it didn't hurt him at all, but it got the point across. Telling him to let them go, well he had left them behind them hadn't he? But she clearly had missed all the red flags he had seen. "They know of a dead witcher and the bloke is carrying Witcher swords, not looking like he could afford a legitimate pair of them. The bloke might as well have been the one to end the Witcher's life." Alastar said, as he walked down the road, he knew it might sound like paranoia to his neice but it wasn't an option to be discounted. And he had only brought it up when they were far enough removed from the duo so they wouldn't hear. "It was merely a manner of speech and I thought you enjoyed digging around in the earth just convenient it's also a way to dispose of corpses. But hey if you don't want corpse duty anymore, I think that could be arranged once I get a signed request for change of duties." Alastar said with a smile, her sense of humour while sometimes stricking his nerves rarely failed to get through to the Bear. "It'll be a long day alright, but we've seen bad before, we'll make it."


Veceslav brought up the rear, following both Derrick and Veera through the city to the place where they had been, when they finally got to the Inn he felt kind of stupid for being unable to find them before. Veera was having difficulty walking and he would like to check the injury later on if there was a chance, if the spear had shattered her knee cap there might be a chance a sliver of bone would get suck between the bones. Actually they'd be better off finding a bloody surgeon for that. Veera seemed to have some trouble when Derrick was cutting down the peasants that were trying to steal his horse. Not the cleanest way of solving things, but he understood that there wasn't always the choice of how it turned out. When Veera muttered last one up would guard the horse he stayed with the horse, not even going up with them. If they needed him they knew where to find them. He stroked the horse across the front of it's head, gently. He was reminded he would have to find Hawk again before leaving this all behind, there was no way he would leave his loyal steed behind.​

 

His heaving chest struggled seemed to struggle to take in enough air, his robes clung to his back from the dampness of the sweat running down his body, gashed hands gripped his knees in a claw-like grip as he knelt on the ground. His face only showed desperation.
A circle of five hundred meters of ripped and scourged earth now devoid of any vegetation surrounded Evander, marked by stone obelisks of varying sizes, the lowest eight feet tall, straight and smooth as a nobleman's tombstone, obviously the product of technique and skill, the tallest a towering mass of rock almost a hundred feet tall, rough and crumbling as a storm-wracked mountainside. It had been born of anger and desperation, a brutish work.
And yet, none of it helped.
Evander gritted his teeth. No, it hadn't worked. Not one bit. He'd always been told, always believed that if he just focused his mind and power enough, he could fend off the voice, wall it in, keep it away. It had always worked before, ever since he had been an apprentice to Ethal. It had been her that had found the solution to his problem.
Ah, but she didn't really know, did she? Just a theory, wasn't it? And one you both thought confirmed. But what if, just what if, it had never been true? If I was just leading you on until the moment, eh?
Evander squeezed his eyes shut, pressing his fists against his eyes forcefully. Oh gods, why wouldn't they just shut it up?
I don't really like 'what if's' though, so I'll tell you the truth. Ethal lied to you. Oh, she found that she could keep me away for a time, for long enough for her and her masters to use you, but all along -
Something in Evander snapped. “SHUT UP!” The voice simply laughed, and with a sinking feeling Evander realized that he had made a mistake, addressing it directly. For some reason, it seemed to have left him be, for now, but he was sure it would be back even stronger before long.
Fuck.

Struggling to his feet, he began walking, leaving the circle of obelisks behind. The tallest of the huge slabs of stone could be seen for miles around, and his display of the Power would be visible to those watching for such things at a much greater distance. Evander wasn't inclined to talk to anyone right now. He simply wanted to curl up on the nearest soft patch of grass and sleep, but as much as he was exhausted he knew he had to get away from this place, before someone with less than a little bit of common sense came to see who had made the obelisks.
He began to trudge through the long grass.

 

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Treasa sighed. "I don't think, Uncle, if he had been the one to do it, he would have told us about it." she replied, keeping a way eye behind them. "Not only that, but he wouldn't have wanted to take the risk that you would have deduced it was him by telling you what had happened." How did she know this? Well, if the Kindred Spirit was following him, then he couldn't have been that stupid. They meant something to each other, and Treasa sighed, ignoring the pain in her chest by simply brushing it aside.

"I know we've seen bad before, Uncle, but this seems worse. We've never avenged a witcher before." Her voice got quieter, and she looked at her uncle's back before returning her gaze towards their surroundings. What would she do if she lost him? She couldn't imagine; he was all she had left. Oh, she would survive, and be able to make her way through the world, but would she want to? Why survive, if she had to do it alone?

​

Tessa gently took his hand again, her fingers skimming over the surface of his palm as she dumped the bottle of water into the basin, dropped the cloth in, and let it soak. "I don't like Sigmund." She muttered, keeping her face lowered, bent over Seth's palm. "He's going to make you take care of her." Why did she feel so much aversion towards this girl? She hadn't done anything to Tessa, hell, they had never even met. You're jealous. Jealous that he has to take care of her. She grimaced, grabbing the cloth from the basin and wringing it out before applying it to Seth's palm, gently cleaning the wound best as she could.

Because he doesn't have to take care of you. The thought caused a lump in her throat, and she swallowed, determined not to cry, not again. And maybe he'll come to like her. She's probably pretty. He's been with her twice, but you?

The cloth came away discolored, and she wrinkled her brow; infection. She let it sit back in the water, and let her fingers rest gently below the wound, biting her lip. Maybe once he would have been with you, but you're too inexperienced, too young, too naive. How could he want to stay when you're only a burden?

Taking a deep breath, she blinked back the tears and smiled a little up at Seth, giving no indication of her inner thoughts. "We should go find someone on our own." She murmured. "Hopefully there's an apothecary close by.

 

Treasa did bring up some points worthy of noting. However he forgot the way men could boast about such feats if it only were to impress the fairer gender. And the risk she mentioned was nothing compared to the so called glory of deluding a witcher. It hardly mattered he would end the blokes life if he ran into him again. No idle threats, but rather promises that needed to be kept. And it wasn't like that bloke wouldn't try anything himself after all he made the first threat, he however wouldn't show mercy if he was attacked.

Treasa then was worried, he could hear it in her voice. Avenging a witcher aye that was something new, but they could handle it. Younger witchers fell all the time and it was more likely that it was a young one that had made mistake than a seasoned witcher that had died. Though it wasn't impossible. He figured that his neice worried about losing him too after all she had lost. And while it wasn't entirely impossible that would happen, he wasn't one to go into his grave quietly after all he was a bear. "It'll be alright, Treasa. There are other Witchers in town so it won't just be you and me." Alastar said as he put a hand on his neice's shoulder.

They arrived at the city of Oxenfurt's Eastern gate and he turned to Treasa "If we get seperated, we'll meet back here. I won't leave you behind, Treas." Alastar said, despite being a witcher and a bear school witcher at that, he still had a soft spot for his neice. She was his family and not a lot of witchers could say they still were in touch with their families. It also was the last piece of family he had left and all they had was each other. He unslung his Dane axe and entered the city. It was a disaster, the city had clearly been in chaos, broken windows and broken down doors everywhere. He looked over his shoulder to Treasa, he was a bit reluctant then again she had seen some seriously bad things. If it was too much she always told him, generally afterwards or in an indirect way by having nightmares, but he generally found out. The Witcher and his neice wandered into the city, trying to either find the other witchers or survivors, directing those dopplers that wanted out to the refugee camp.

While Tessa was hating on Sigmund and Seth had been rumaging through the things in the guest room, Sigmund had been making stew, the entire lower part of the house was filled with the scent of the stew, since it wasn't a bad day outside he got himself a bowl of stew and went to the front garden where he had a set of outdoor furniture for exactly these occasions, then again there generally was company around when he did this. While he sat outside in the sun he began to reconsider the punishment. The lad wanted a different punishment and well normally it wasn't really a choice was it? Take it or death, but Sigmund too old and tired for this young man's **** was going to reconsider. He thought of an alternative punishment, the girl he had attacked had been scarred badly unable to return to her previous line of work, and of course the emotional trauma she would have to recover from, yes that was it. Sigmund dug into his stew with a newfound smile on his face.​

 

Ethan's pov:



The young sorcerer had a glare in there eyes. "You should stop before you get yourself hurt." 'Never that sword will be mine.' He remembered a time when he was young. Not even a few day ago he was a young child. He now was older, by some unknown magic orb. He guessed that he was lucky that he gained some knowledge when he turned older. That that when the sorcerer attacked him again with earth magic. He was going to have end this some how, before some one got hurt. He was probably going to have to fight back at this mage at some point, but he did not want to hurt the sorcerer. He jump out of the way of the earth attack. "Stop." 'No, never.' He did not see what was so important with the sword that this sorcerer had to have it. This time the sorcerer attack him with fire. He had enough of this and he let out a wind spell to stop the fire heading towards him. 'Your, your a mage?' "Yes" 'It will not matter I still want that sword.' It looked like the sorcerer was not going to back down.


Olivia's pov:



She looked at the two people in the room with her wondering which one would attack first. That was when she spotted a third person entering the room. The man seemed to appear out of nowhere. 'Leave her to me, you two must stop the witchers outside.' 'That is what I plan to do,' The other man said before charging her. The man attacked her first, but he was to slow. She hit him with her elbow, sword in hand. She then followed up with another attack landing the ma one the floor. 'That is why you don't attack a witcher blindly now go,' The first man said. She then watched the man she knocked over get up and leave with the women. Now she had to ended this other man and find out where the others were at. 'What is a young witcher doing by herself?' the man asked her. She guessed that he was trying to throw her off. He attacked with sword in hand. This one was more skilled then the first by far. She was just able to get away from the attack. This man was good and he was not playing around.

 

​

Vyle watched with a grim expression as Bryce was impaled. A merciful death was the best he could offer this man. Swiftly, he flew down to the inn to find Ana "Hey, sorry I left you alone..." Suddenly, he noticed... nobody was here. Well maybe they'd just hidden somewhere away from the mob... hopefully. He looked around inn with his superhuman perception... nowhere to be seen. There was however, blood on the ground... not Ana's... the shackled mage? There were signs of a struggled evident, Vyle clenched his fists. This was his fault, they'd probably been kidnapped again. Flying out rapidly he scoured the land. Where could they have gone? Who could help him? There was a camp nearby for the injured, he would start there.

 

​

Zephyr was still lamenting over his failure to make a portal to hear just what Ana had said clearly. However when she had shoved him through the portal that she'd made for them to escape the area. Realizing this, he looked towards her to see that she was now slumped on the ground. Making that portal must've taken the rest of her strength out of her. In an attempt to get on his feet, Zephyr had placed unneeded pressure onto his injured arm, resulting in a sharp pain. He needed to do something about this wound, least temporarily anyway. Fortunately his sleeve was ripped around where the wound, thus he went ahead and ripped that sleeve off and wrapped it around the injury (something that wasn't exactly easy to do with just one hand).

When that was taken care of, Zephyr did a quick test to see how much movability his arm had. He moved his arm to the left, the right, up and down before concluding his test. He was able to bend his arm slightly but not alot. Fortunately be was able to bend it enough to be able to pick Ana up. As carefully as he could, he crouched down, moved Ana so that he was resting on his back before standing up and heading off in some random direction (towards the camp).

 

Derrick frowned at the scent of blood from upstairs. Inside, tables and chairs were upturned as people had fled in a panic. There was nothing down here. Derrick approached the stairs and began to walk up, keeping his senses alert to anything that may come. Veera spoke up at this point, just a little behind him. He looked at her seriously.
"Trust me, Vyle wouldn't do anything to that woman. He busted his ass trying to rescue her, he's not exactly going to try and gobble up her blood is he?" He answered. Besides, the impression he got was that he was a man of justice. He had made enemies of Solomon and Bryce, two people utterly abhorrent to all those with morals. Sure, it might not have been common in vampire, but they had the same capacity as humans to be creatures that held a sense of right and wrong. In that sense, Vyle was more human than many humans. That comparison seemed unfair, but this wasn't the time for philosophy. As he approached their room, he heard the light tap of footsteps, a familiar gait. He knew exactly who would be inside. "It's him. Don't do anything rash, he's a friend." Derrick stepped into the room. His eyes widened in surprise. It was a mess in here. There were clear signs of a struggle but luckily his things hadn't be disturbed where he left them.
"Looks like there was a fight here. Any idea where your friend is Vyle?" Derrick began to collect up the blankets and other items he had left on the floor.




"Telling him that you hoped you never met him again..." Alanna sighed, shaking her head. She looked at the Doppler. "That was easily one of the worst things you could have said. Has anyone told you that you are the absolute undisputed master of talking to people?" As far as she was concerned then they could have nearly caused a fight between the two of them. She hadn't expected much out of the other man's attitude but Adolin did next to nothing to help the situation. Luckily, the woman that accompanied him was probably smart enough to work it out between her and Alanna to prevent their respective companions butchering each other. That was entirely down to the Witcher's decision. She was glad that he chose not to make a scene.
"Yes, that was a bad idea but what do you expect from me? It was hard enough for me to speak to him at all, let alone try not to fight him." Adolin protested. He hated it when she got like this. There was no arguing with her. He realised that it was a mistake as soon as he responded. Luckily, she simply sighed again and turned away. His face and his ears would be safe - For now.
"Well, where now?" Adolin put a hand on his chin and considered her question. Oxenfurt and the University were now out of the question for getting explosive compounds. The next best place to check was Novigrad. With a bit of luck, the King hadn't actually found out about what happened and he could slip through relatively unnoticed. Of course, the best disguise would be to take up the guise of Carrak of Cintra. A Witcher was the last person they would expect to be a Doppler.
"Novigrad." Adolin stated as he donned the face of Carrak of Cintra once more. "Alanna, open the portal." And she did. The two of them stepped through, arriving at the outskirts of the city. ​

 

​

Ana had a vague impression of movement, but her exhausted body refused to let her open her eyes. She had a good feeling about the kid, otherwise she wouldn't have offered to escape with him, but she hoped there wouldn't be any more danger between them and....wherever she had put them. She could hear the sounds of the wind rustling the grass, and birds singing; a forest maybe?

Either way, she was locked in the folds of her mind until her body regained its strength. A pathetic place to be, but there was no help for it. Vyle, I'm sorry. You trusted me to stay there, but we couldn't. As soon as she was stronger, she would go back to the city, and she would find out where he had gone.
She would explain herself, and hope that he would forgive her.

Once I find you, I'm never leaving your side again. We'll take down Solomon, but we're going to do it together.

​

Zack watched Rael work on burial duty before going back to the papers in front of him with the quartermaster. They needed supplies, but where to get them....He was still waiting for the messenger to return from Novigrad on whether any supplies there would be willing to help in exchange for a debt. Zack had no means to pay for food or shelter, but he would. He would have to do this. More and more stragglers trickled in, with stories of witchers and undead, and, more importantly, of Bryce's demise.

Zack had previously been helping in the makeshift infirmary, but could only stand to hear the story so many times before he had to leave. Now his mind was involved with numbers, ciphers, and mathematical problems. The number of people they had just kept growing, but what little they had couldn't be stretched too much farther.

"Send two down to the village a short distance from here. Barter for tents, but if they have none, then cloth, wood, sewing supplies, everything it takes to make them. We need to get the wounded out of the sun and weather." For now, their luck had held, and no undead or witchers had come from the city. Neither was it raining and turning everything to muck. Zack saw it as a sign that the gods were giving them time to rebuild, and he would not waste it.

"Halt!" Raised voices caught his attention, and he clapped the quartermaster on the shoulder before hurrying down to the fringe of the camp, where two of the "guards" had spears raised towards a young fellow. "Stand down." Zack commanded. "And help him. He's a friend." He strode towards Zephyr, helping the other two dopplers take the unconscious woman from his shoulders before clapping the mage on the back. "It's good to see you. I was worried you hadn't made it out, or..." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I should have taken you with me. By the time I tried to go back, it was just...impossible. I'm so sorry. Is there any way you can forgive me?" He looked back at the camp. "At the very least you can have some hot food and a place to rest. And your friend will be well looked after. The two healers here aren't magical, but they know their stuff." He tried for a smile, but it wasn't forth coming.

​

Veera remained in the hallway, the halfway point between Veceslav and Derrick, who had told her in no pointed terms not to do anything rash. Wait, since when had she listened to Derrick? She shook her head, pressing her back to the wall as her legs sagged. The shaft still remained in her shoulder, and she sighed, unbuckling that part of her armor and letting it slide open so that her undershirt was revealed. At this point, she didn't much care if she had to stand nude in the river, she just wanted some food, and a bed while her family slept beside her.

I think that's called safety. Her mind's voice told her with a wryness in the tone. Veera had to smile at herself before baring the injured shoulder, biting down on the leather that was part of the armor's straps, and reaching around to grab the head of the arrow. It had luckily pierced through her skin of her back, and she yanked it through, a muffled yell pulling itself out of her throat as she did so. Dropping the wooden piece to the ground with a clatter, she tore the lower part of her undershirt's sleeve off and pressed it to the injury, leaning her head back against the wall as she waited for the sluggish bleeding to stop, and Derrick to finish....whatever he was doing.

It didn't sound like he was being eaten by a vampire, so she ruled that out. Did vampires have sex? It was possible that Vyle was that type of "friend" Derrick was famous for having, but not everyone's standards were so low.

Gods, this day. From losing my memory to killing undead to thinking about Derrick having sex with a vampire. And Aaron's- Her throat closed up, and she shut her eyes, not so entertained by the direction her thoughts had taken. Food, sleep. She just needed those two things. Food, and sleep.

"You still alive out there Vec?" She called, her voice pure exhaustion. The bleeding was nearly stopped, and she slipped the sleeve of her shirt up, pulling on her armor, but refusing to get to her feet just yet.

​

Treasa's hair on the back of her neck stood up, and she kept checking behind her as if waiting to be grabbed by some infernal demon. "Maybe we just shouldn't get separated." She muttered to her uncle, every sense on edge. A man turned the corner, and saw her. He started towards her with an ugly grin on his face, blood still fresh on his clothes. She could only guess as to what he had been doing, and it turned her stomach.

Glancing back, she saw that her uncle was in shadow; the man simply hadn't seen him. A grim smile on her face, Treasa turned and aimed the arrow at the man as he kept coming closer. His steps faltered, and he took one back. "Run, if you dare." She whispered, the feathers of the arrow tickling her face as she drew back the bowstring. He turned, and she let the arrow fly, straight into his heart. He collapsed, and she began to walk towards him. It took a couple minutes, given the distance, but she yanked the arrow out of his body and put it back in her quiver before turning back to catch up with Alastar.

"I don't see any city guard among the dead." She commented after a while, breathing through her mouth before the stench made her stomach revolt. "Did they even try to stop this?"

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Tessa stared at Seth for a moment, her hand finding it's way to his as she pulled it from his face to interlace her fingers with his. Decisions flashed through her mind, each one settling for a moment before being brushed aside by another. Finally, she pushed them all away and crawled onto Seth's lap, leaning her head against his chest and shutting her eyes as she listened to the steady thrum of his heartbeat.

"The wound should be okay for now. We have to get medicine for it soon." But not now. "I just want to stay here." She whispered, ignoring the sting of her back as she shifted slightly. What if he doesn't want y-She pushed the mental voice away, tired of her own insecurities whispering to her. There would be time for that, time for the medicine, time for Seth's fate all later. She just wanted to soak up this little moment of peace and quiet, of safety and comfort.

Something in her chest told her it wouldn't last for as long as she would have hoped.

 

Veceslav kept to himself outside with Derrick's horse as he kept the gentle creature company as Derrick and Veera had gone inside. Eventually he heard Veera yell at him asking him if he was still alive. He tied the horse down and cast a quen on the rope so it couldn't be cut. He then made his way up the stairs and went to where he had heard Veera's calling from. He found her in the hallway cleaning one of her wounds. She was pulling her armour back on. "Bloodied, but still unbroken." The Crow said. "How are the wounds?" Then sleep crashed into him and he yawned, he hadn't noticed how tired he had become from all the fighting. Witchers didn't need sleep but he felt like he could do so now if he lay down for it. But the city wasn't safe and someone would have to keep watch over the others while they slept and he didn't trust the vampire not to murder them in their sleep, so he would hold watch over his scions.


Alastar held his dane axe in one hand as he lead the way, Treasa had said they'd better not get seperated at all. He kept an eye behind him to see if Treasa was still following him around. When he heard the bowstring discharge behind him he wheeled around to see his neice with her bow in hand he couldn't exactly see what she had fired at so he took a few steps back as his neice walked away. He could see the body of the man she had shot. That bloke really should have thought of a carreer change. He went back on slowing his pace making sure his neice could keep up with him. She had taken note of the fact that there were no guards among the dead. She was nearly going to throw up of the stench and it smelled bad alright, but after fighting a Zeugl not much made him throw up. "Don't think they did, sold out to whoever did this for their own safety..." Alastar said grimly "Cowards, every last one of them..." So many dead, if the City guard had done something it maybe wouldn't have been this bad. This wasn't a battle, this was a massacre.

They moved throughout the city carefully, those foolish enough to not run and Alastar really did give them a chance to be smart for once but those that didn't back down and realised too late in horror they were dealing with a briliant team soon felt their lives escape their grasp as they fell to either thrown axe or arrow. Eventually they happened upon what had been an inn or tavern with a horse tied outside, he looked at the rope and found it had been shielded by what clearly had been a quen sign "Witchers..." Alastar said more to himself than anyone else. "Alright, they can't be far from here...." Alastar said this time less . "ANY BROTHERS HERE?" The Bear school witcher belowed, his voice resounding throughout the section. It was answered by a few low growls and in the shadows he could see movement. Not good, he put his Dane axe on his back and got out the silver coated axe. "Treasa, stay sharp... I don't like this at all...." Alastar said as he looked around trying to spot what he thought had heard. He was surprised they would be here already it normally took them longer but he didn't think much of it.​

 

Ethan's pov:



The young sorcerer still had the look that they would kill for the sword he had. Someone was going to get hurt and it was not going to be him. He watched the sorcerer attack with something he did not expect, but that was not going to stop him. The sorcerer attacked with a rock using earth magic the he heated it up with fire magic. The end result looked like some kind of lava attack. This was going to have to end now. He launched a rock above the sorcerer's head and then used wind to get out off the way of the lava. 'You missed, but I will not.' "Did I?" The look of worry crossed the sorcerer's face. That was when he launched an air attack above the sorcerer's head in the same place as he launched the rock earlier. He watched at the sorcerer was about to move the lava attack towards him when rocks began to fall onto the sorcerer. At first there was a few, but then there was more. He there was not enough to kill the man only to knock him out. He though that it might be best to leave before some other whack job came in an attacked him. The only question now was, What now? He did not know what to do. He had the answer he wanted and some person would be after him if they remember he was there, but he was now free to do what he wished.


Olivia's pov:



With two people now gone she might have an easier time then she would if she had to fight all three of the people at once. There was one thing that was clear from the exchange so far and that was that these people were not that smart. The man ran towards her with intent in his eyes. She was able to move away from one blade coming from her side, but was not able to find a way to knock the man off balance. The people maybe stupid, but this one knew how to fight. She would just have to keep moving and try to find a weak point and hope that the other two people would not come back.

 

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Zephyr walked through the forest with Ana on his back till he came across a camp in the distance. Perfect, maybe something there could help Ana as well as treat his arms. His steps sped up slightly as he tried to close the gap between himself and the gate, until he reached the point where the two "guards" had their spears pointed right at him.

"Stand down."

The voice was heard clearly and the two "guards" in front of him removed their spears from in front of him. Zephyr was relieved to see that it was Zack who had ordered them to stand down. Fortunately Zephyr wasn't injured on his back, otherwise Zack clapping him might've actually hurt, but it didn't so there was no reason for concern. "Don't write me off just yet, I'll been through enough hell as of recently." It's pretty much been one bad thing after another ever since that necromancer showed up at the orphanage. Speaking of which, Ana said she knew something about him. Just what exactly did she know? Since he couldn't just as her now, he would just have to take Zack up on his offer of rest. "It's fine, you're offering to house and take care of us while we're here. That's repayment enough."