Blood and Wine

Ch.14 Blood

After Jaskier had successfully taken the red pigment, he was given a new set of clothes, a shirt and breeches, which he was told were very expensive and he was able to fit into them. Fyzrel wanted to speak with him and Jaskier, despite not having any idea of what exactly it was that was going on, decided to go and face the Prince.

When Jaskier arrives, Fyzrel is standing right outside the door waiting patiently for him to arrive. When he sees him approaching, he quickly pushes open the door and beckons him inside, shutting it afterwards.

Fyzrel looks over at him with a smile on his lips, "Hello Julian, how have you been? You look better than when I last saw you.." He states with a small chuckle.

"I'm good." Jaskier simply responds, giving Fyzrel a smile, which he returns. They fall into a seemingly comfortable silence for a bit. Jaskier looks around the room, trying to take in all of it, trying to figure out what's going to happen next.

"Why am I here again?" He asks, glancing over at the prince. He sees Fyzrel nod his head, acknowledging his question. Jaskier stands still beside Fyzrel as the prince continues to explain himself, "Your Witcher is currently trying to find you."

"..Geralt's searching for me?" Jaskier questioned, tilting his head to the side, his eyebrows knitting together. He has been missing for a month now, he was sure nobody let alone Geralt was even trying..

"So that's the Witcher's name, interesting."  Fyzrel mused, Jaskier's jaw dropped, "..That's not.." he began to stutter out excuses. The more he tried, the more the prince laughed harder.  Eventually, Jaskier gave up on making a coherent explanation and just stood there with a blank expression on his face and his mouth hanging open slightly.

"I must have you know, that this Geralt can never find you or this place.. lucky for me I have help from others outside this castle. I have spies everywhere, even at the most secluded of places." Fyzrel reveals, smiling widely. "And, they've come up with quite a nice little plan."  Fyzrel finishes, looking proud of himself.

Jaskier swallows dryly, still speechless.  Fyzrel gives a satisfied smirk. "Now, Julian.. there's just one thing I need for this plan to work.." He starts, "Your blood."

He reaches forward grabbing hold of Jaskier's hand, lifting it up, examining his wrist closely and pressing the backs of his fingers against the skin. Jaskier stiffens, feeling like he's getting ready to be stabbed, yet the prince only presses harder against the spot.

"Please..don't..." Jaskier begs, trying his best to pull away from the grip but to no avail. He then feels a stab of pain, his breath catching in his throat as he closes his eyes tightly as tears begin to spill out onto his cheeks.

The stabbing pain stops, allowing him to catch his breath before opening his eyes slowly, staring at Fyzrel with wide, fearful eyes. Fyzrel smiles at him sweetly before dropping his hand, pulling back from Jaskier.

"You can come in now, Tisal." Fyzrel announces. The sound of the door being opened causes Jaskier to turn around quickly. His whole body tense at the sight of a hideous bald, long-nosed and yellow-eyed monster with elongated limbs, dripping black blood onto the ground. He takes several steps away from it, stumbling slightly as his legs suddenly give out beneath him, falling to sit upon the floor.

"Tisal.." Fyzrel calls out to the creature, sounding amused. "His blood..." It turns to Jaskier then, taking careful steps towards him. he shudders at the sight of its monstrous form towering above him. He begins to feel dizzy.

"Don't worry about him, here take his blood." Fyzrel instructs, holding up a vial of Jaskier's blood, he didn't even noticed that Fyzrel had the vial. Tisal grabs hold of the blood and lifts it up, drinking from it.

Jaskier couldn't help but almost vomit when the blood enters Tisal's system, the smell nearly overwhelming him. The creature drinks greedily until it had drunk every drop possible. Fyzrel sighs and glances at his watch.

The monster growls loudly, It's body begins to morph, it's legs growing thinner as it grows taller. it's feet beginning to resemble a humans and it's once bald features turns into dark brown hair. Soon enough it changes forms completely, becoming someone Jaskier has seen all his life.

Himself.

_____

In the morning Geralt was greeted by Yennefer in the dining hall, "Your up early." Geralt shrugs, "Couldn't sleep." He answers simply. Yennefer hums in response. She knows it isn't the first time he had stayed awake after all it was rare for Witchers to get real rest.

But this time she knew it was because he actually really misses Jaskier, she can see it written on his face every single time he thinks no one is looking. But he still tries not to show it. She would be lying if she said she hadn't missed Jaskier too, she's just better at hiding her emotions.

Once everyone arrived, Yennefer was the one to conjure a portal to the woods where Jaskier had been taken. Yennefer, Ciri and Geralt stepped through first before the rest of Witcher's followed, the forest around them dark and quiet as the trees blocked out whatever light the morning offered them.

Yennefer leads the way as Geralt followed closely behind, not saying a word as they walked along the trail. The path they were following was clear cut with no sign of anyone ever walking through it, not even a bird disturbed it. Geralt kept his hand firmly attached to his sword, just in case.

Yennefer stops dead in her tracks when she realizes the forest has become much darker, so much darker that even Ciri was suspicious.

"Was it this dark before?" Ciri questions quietly, her gaze fixed at the darkness surrounding them.

"Hmm..yes." Geralt responds, still keeping an eye peeled for anything suspicious. "This is where we killed it." He continues, referring to the werewolf. "There should be something around here to give us some sort of idea."

As if in answer, he hears footsteps coming towards their direction. Everyone stops moving, listening intently and ready for whatever might come their way. They stand there frozen and waiting.

There are a few moments of absolute silence before the person who had been approaching comes into view. It doesn't take long for everyone to recognise who the man is. Holding his hands up in surrender in front of himself, he makes his way carefully across the clearing towards them.

"..Don't hurt me.."

"Jaskier?"