“Just shut up and take my orens!”
The words of the mayor still buzzed in his head. Upon learning that another witcher had taken up the contract, Geralt had been quite insistent on knowing his identity. And the mayor had less than forthcoming.
The white haired man tried to think of a reason why the presence of another of his kind had bothered him so. It certainly wasn’t coming from the loss of income that this new competition could signify. He had earned quite a haul in his more recent adventures, and Kovir, a rich land by any standards, made for rich peasants, as demonstrated by the heavy purse he was carrying, earned just by dispatching a lowly nest of drowners. Not to mention that his lover earned a fortune as the king’s advisor and could, if necessary, cover any expenses both might have if he ever decided to slack off.
So no. Definitely not about money.
Perhaps it had to do with his recent and not so friendly encounters with witchers from different schools than his. He’d been forced to kill a few of them and those actions still troubled him. They were a dying breed, a relic of times long past and, because of the machinations of a few powerful men, they had found themselves on different sides of the fence.
He wasn’t entirely blameless in that regard, he had been at playing politics too. Perhaps out of necessity or circumstance, but the fact remained he had placed himself there. And he hated it. Nothing good ever came from his involvement in the world affairs, and yet, he always seemed to find himself in the middle of them.
He consoled himself by remembering that whenever he could, he stayed out. Even when it was something that seemed obvious to the most clueless of bystanders. King Radovid was a man who threatened the lives of many he held dear. The opportunity to get rid of him had been there. And he had walked out. In light of the more recent events, he realized that had been a mistake, still, his priorities had been clear at the time.
Another byproduct of his neutrality had been his decision to spare Letho’s life. The man had caused him no end of trouble. Not to mention capturing Triss, subjecting her to many hardships in the process. The sight of her, beaten and bruised on that Nifgaardian dungeon still brought him shivers. Yes, he had killed those directly responsible for her treatment. Every single person in that camp had met their end by his blade. And he ought to have killed Letho just for that reason alone.
But in the end, he had stayed his hand. Maybe he thought there had been enough death already. Or maybe his tale about how he cared for Yennefer when Geralt himself had been unable to, had tipped the scales.
A wave of nostalgia hit him as his thoughts focused on the raven haired sorceress. Though often apart from each other, she had been a constant in his thoughts and heart for as long as he could remember. They separations and reunions had been just another trait of their relationship, something uncomfortable but a fact that both had come to accept as normal. Last time, though, it had been different and they both had known it.
The euphoria of Ciri’s return from wherever she had had gone had not been enough to overcome the bittersweet mood of their last farewell.
The sadness in those violet eyes betrayed the smile she wore as she wished him and her friend good luck in their future life together. He could relate to the feelings in those eyes, as his had borne a similar expression. A pain, a sensation of loss, a feeling that something that both held dear was being ripped off from its existence.
But it had to be done. In order for something to be born, something had to give way. And had wanted, he had chosen Triss. At those docks, when it seemed she would erase herself from his life forever, his heart and mind still torn between two strong currents, the matter had been settled for him. His voice had, for the first time and almost involuntarily, uttered words that had given form, entity to feelings that had been deeply rooted within him.
His train of thought was interrupted by a change in the other otherwise monotonous landscape. He had been riding a narrow path surrounded from both sides by the low hills that were the staple of this country he now called home.
Just ahead of him was the mouth of a cave. His enhanced eyes perceived it without difficulty, even as the sun had already hidden its presence behind the ridgeline, marking the hour as late.
He was surprised to realize that he had stayed from the main road and ridden to the location given up reluctantly by the mayor. Curiosity had the better of him and he dismounted, deciding to at least check the entrance for signs of this new arrival.
The entrance was scarcely populated by a few shrubs and, standing on its wake, he could see the that cave ran deep into the earth. Using his witcher senses, he examined the ground closely, noticing several sets of tracks. The most noticeable were the clearly inhuman shapes left by the monsters, nekkers if there had been any truth to villagers’ tale.
Apart from those, he noticed other distinctive sets. The first one corresponded, as far as he could discern, to a well made pair of boots, no doubt belonging to his wannabe competitor. The others were lighter and he had difficulty placing them correctly.
This mystery got the better of him and decided against his common sense to check further into the cave. He convinced himself by thinking that perhaps this new witcher was either Lambert or Eske,l and they might need some help. That his friends wouldn’t come to his new home without first visiting his house was something he didn’t dwell on as he got ready to delve into the darkness.
First he checked his pouch, noticing he had few potions left from his last job. He thought he identified a flask of cat potion and promptly emptied its contents into his mouth. As the nausea left him, he noticed with annoyance that the expected clarity of sight never arrived. Instead he felt a renewed wave of vigor. He sighed, deciding it would have to do and he set forth on his way.
The cave was almost pitch black and, as far as he could see, completely empty. He made his way further in, with an ominous and uncomfortable feeling in the back of his head.
Still unchallenged in his exploration of the cave, he noticed that in the way ahead the tunnel he had been navigating opened into a large and more illuminated chamber. With the intention of not losing the element of surprise against whatever awaited him there, he silently withdrew his silver sword from its scabbard.
He walked forward, sword in one hand and a grapeshot in the other, in case the nekkers decided to use their usual overwhelming numbers against him.
His pace continued to be unchallenged though, until he eventually noticed a small mound in the middle of the chamber. He approached it carefully and noticed it was made of out smaller shapes. As he got closer, he noticed a small way leading to the right, probably the continuation of the system of caves. Still, he needed to see what this new object, which had picked his interest in a rather curious way, was about. So he moved closer.
As Geralt got within a few yards from it, the indistinct shapes took form before his eyes. They were heads. The heads of a dozen or so nekkers, neatly separated from their bodies, had been left there by whoever had committed the deed.
Slightly taken aback, he came closer still and noticed a piece of parchment, attached to the head on the top, by means of a vaguely familiar dagger.
This strange situation certainly made for a very weird kind of trap, yet if there was something his long life had taught him, it was that it only took a moment with your guard down for someone to get the better of you. So he moved to one of the corners in the chamber and waited in the dark.
The eerie environment of the room was unaltered. Five, then ten minutes passed. He decided that perhaps he was being a little bit overcautious. He approached the pile and took out the note. The dim light made for a poor medium in which to discern its contents. Having grown impatient by his earlier and futile wait, Geralt deemed stealth to be pointless. Tucking away his bomb, he used his free arm cast igni on the assortment of heads.
The whole chamber illuminated instantly, revealing itself, as Gerald had begun to realize, to be completely devoid of anything worthy of note. As he turned his gaze towards the note however, the whole place reverberated with the sound of a high-pitched scream. It belonged to a voice he knew too well.
He carelessly dropped the parchment into the fire and ran towards the direction of the sound.
His race took him out of the big chamber and into the side entrance, almost in a blur. There was no time to take in the details, and there were none to be had, the light coming from distance casting shadows on the seemingly empty walls. He heard the scream again, more closely this time and he quickened his pace, making it to the end of the narrow tunnel, which ended in another, smaller chamber. This one was barely illuminated by the remnants of the light he had created just moments before.
A quick scan of his new surroundings revealed a small pond in the middle. The waters were dark, but he was able to make out a figure in the middle.
“Geralt! I’m so glad it’s you!” the figure said, with obvious relief in her face. “The water... I can’t move.”
His lover, Triss Merigold, was in the middle of the pond, apparently trapped somehow. Her auburn hair was loose and wet. Her beautiful face bore an expression of utter terror as she scream yet again. She was also, as far as could discern with the poor lighting in the area, completely devoid of any clothing.
In his head, he quickly went through his knowledge of monsters, yielding no explanation as to which might be involved. Or what might be happening in the first place. He knew a few creatures that would paralyze their victims, but never a case in which the later retained their control of speech to such degrees.
“Triss, what happened?” he asked, his mind racing through the possibilities.
“Can’t... hurry... the water... crushing me” she answered with difficulty. He considered diving to reach her, discarding the idea almost instantly. There was no way to reach her without being at the mercy of whatever was holding her, in which case this place would become a tomb for both of them. She was too far off from any side to try to hoist her up from solid ground either. Even if he had a rope, he saw no way for her to actually grab it. He was running out of options.
“Hurry! Jump in and get me out! My magic is blocked, but you... your natural resistance should suffice. It hurts!” She sounded even more desperate.
That settled it. He dropped his sack and swords in the ground, considered taking his shirt off but saw no point in it and dove head first into the small pond. He met no resistance from the water as he reached the bottom, noticing with relief that it was shallow enough for Triss’s feet to be reaching the ground.
Still underwater, he opened his eyes, searching for something out of the ordinary. Unfortunately, even his enhanced vision offered nothing in the pitch black environment. He used his hands to rebound and turning his body into an upward position he propelled himself up.
As his head surfaced though, whatever he was about to say was forgotten when his whole body was hit by something, like a strong current. He cursed internally. All the parts of himself that were in direct contact with the water had been paralyzed. He retained his senses, but was unable to move even them an inch.
“Triss, I’m so-“
His speech was cut again, this time because his eyes had caught something strange. Triss, who by his own calculations should have been at least a small distance away from where he has dived, was right next to him. He could see her blue eyes eyes fixed on him.
“How-“
His words were cut yet again, this time by her finger reaching his lips.
“Hush... You careless witcher. You were caught by the witch,” she said with a hint of a smile.
“You can move,” he said, the situation slowly dawning on him, feeling a rush of excitement surge through his body.
“Indeed,” she replied playfully. “And it would seem you may not.”
“So… I am at your mercy. What are you going to do to me?”
“Ahhh, that’s the question. What should I do with you?” Triss said with a slow and purry voice, her body coming closer, to the point where she was almost pressed against him.
“You shouldn’t trust the words of beautiful women that you meet in these dark dungeons. You seem to have grown careless... You are so used to coming to places like these, all strong, slaying the poor monsters.” Her hands were grabbing his shirt and tearing it open. “Maybe it’s time somebody stood up for the poor creatures… yes… I believe I should take up that role and...”
“And?” he said, when she wouldn’t go on.
“Punish you accordingly” she finished, kissing him strongly in the mouth. His instincts were to grab her body as well and he involuntarily tried to do so. His arms however, were not responding. Even in his lust, his posture showed a bit of frustration, which she caught on after some time, causing her to disentangle herself from his body.
“So, it seems you don’t enjoy the role of the victim here.” He wanted to assure her that was definitely not the case, but as he stared at her, he noticed she had placed a finger in her mouth, thinking to herself. “Mmmm… I am not without mercy… and you did try to save me… so, tell you what. I’m going to tell you some “safe” words. And if you say them, we’ll stop this right here.”
Geralt was sure that whatever those words might be, saying them would be the last thing he ever did. Still, he played along. “And the words are?”
As if waiting for precisely that, she moved slowly and seductively towards him again. Her body now firmly pressed with his, he felt in his skin the signs that she was indeed aroused as well. She wrapped her arms around his neck and manouvered her head so that her lips were close to his ear, telling him the phrase with a whisper, which in turn raised his body temperature even more.
“Those… seem to be pretty ambiguous. You could-”
“I know… You’re going to have to trust me to make the right call if you say them,” she concluded. He said no more and they stood there, staring at each other.
She smiled, taking for granted from his silence that he would not make any further objections. Her hands left his neck and worked their down, still they found his last remaining piece of clothing. They promptly removed it and he was left just as she was. Unable to contain himself, he tried to wrap his own arms around her back in an attempt to pull her even closer, again to no avail.
She raised an eyebrow questioningly at him and he might have said something, except that she had quickly again resumed her earlier position of clutching to his neck. This time though, she began moving rhythmically up and down. He could still move his head though and used him to kiss her passionately. Unable to do more, he surrendered to the bliss his body was experiencing.
They continued like that for a while. Triss eventually broke the kiss and tilted her head back, moaning with pleasure. She increased her tempo and her yells become louder. Louder, perhaps, than his previous calls for her had been.
He noticed her breathing was quickening as she was beginning to reach her climax. His own reason gone, by reflex he tried to bring her face back to his own. In the back of his mind he was a little surprised to see his arms actually break free from the water and do what they were commanded.
Kissing again, he left one hand there to continue pressing her and lowered the other so he could grab her bottom, assisting her in their rhythm. Triss gave no signs of noticing this change, still lost in lust. He did notice though, that the spell had been broken and he had already started matching his movements to hers.
A few moments passed and they both both reached their limit together. Panting with exhaustion and a smile in her face, she kissed him and freed herself from his grasp.
“The spell broke,” he said, stating the obvious.
“You are a witcher after all, and this witch here apparently misjudged your prowess in the field.”
“So-” he began.
“Considered me defeated then... and thoroughly pleased”
“I don’t know about that, maybe I should deliver the killing blow just in case... unless of course, you feel like giving up and saying the words.”
She paused, seemingly considering his proposal. His lust however, waited for no answer and he grabbed her, turning her around so her back and other features of her body were towards him.
Meekly, perhaps out of exhaustion, she bent her body, holding herself with her arms against the border of the pond. She turned her head, fixing him with a blue stare, filled with tiredness but also desire. “All right,” she said. “You win.... make love to me Geralt.”
He eagerly complied.