A few months after the events of The Wild Hunt, Geralt and Ciri are working a contract together within Toussaint they're investigating an old tower keep said to be haunted by some kind of evil spirit.
Ciri sighs while re-reading the contract while on Kelpie with Geralt ahead of her on Roach "I really wish people would be more specific on these" she says with the annoyance in her voice very clear. "You get used to it" Geralt says as if it's to be reassuring.
About an hour later the keep is in sight and so far nothing seems wrong with the place, as is usual with a witcher contract, things can turn upside down in seconds. Geralt uses Aard on the old rotten door to force it open. Ciri sighs "so much for element of surprise" Geralt just smirks as he walks in and unsheathes his silver sword. The duo sees a big flight of stairs and Geralt groans "I'm sure these stairs are the real killer here" earning a small punch on the arm from Ciri.
After ascending more stairs than most people are comfortable with, they reach another old rotten door atop them and Geralt again blows it down revealing a big empty room with a ladder going up to the final level and beside the ladder sits an armoured knight looking figure, the figure wears black armour and sits with its back against the wall with one knee up and one leg out flat and a longsword stuck in the ground infront of him.
The figure slowly raises its head and then slowly stands up as if it hasn't moved in hundreds of years, it appears very emotionless as it stands up and grabs the sword and pulls it from the ground. Ciri now unsheathes her sword as well as her and Geralt stand ready but also wait for the creatures next move. The black knight begins walking toward them and picks up speed as he does so, flipping the sword in his hand around and into a battle stance before swinging at Geralt who swiftly dodges and swings at the creature while Ciri also gets a swing in, nothing but slight blunt force damage, the armour is too tough. The figure swings again but in a horizontal slash motion that would surely behead an unexperienced foe, Geralt however ducked under the swing and in return he swung at the creatures legs again to no avail. The way this thing fights is complicated as it moves slow and then very suddenly attacks surprisingly fast. The black knight now thrusts his sword with incredible strength and form and Geralt barely dodges it but he quickly attempts to follow up with Igni to try new tactics, the fire had absolutely no effect and before Geralt could even see through the flames a kick punched through the fire and hit Geralt in the chest knocking him over and the creature walked through the fire and lifted its sword above its head ready to cleave and it follows through but Ciri teleported infront of Geralt and raised her sword to parry the knight, the loud clash of steel rang through the old tower keep and Ciri was knocked over right beside Geralt by the sheer strength and force of the knight who still stands strong with both Witchers at his feet he again goes to cleave with a heavy swing but Geralt quickly thrusts his silver sword into the Knights gut and the sword surprisingly pierced the plate armour, the creature didn't have a reaction of pain but the strike did interrupt the creatures attack as he staggered backwards and dropped his guard to look down at the sword, the knight grabbed the blade of the sword and pulled it out with a considerable amount of blood following, it threw the blade on the ground and once again raised its guard into attack stance, by now Ciri and Geralt had stood up and readied themselves as well, Geralt drew his steel sword now "Silver doesn't appear to effect it" he says. "It's also bleeding red blood" Ciri adds, these things together lead the Witchers to believe that this thing is human...
Ciri teleports behind it and begins to swing away as Geralt attacks from the other side of it, the knight goes on the defensive and impressively parries and blocks and dodges almost all attacks thrown at it, this knight was no novice fighter to be sure. Ciri went for a stabbing attack but the knight grabbed the blade of her sword and ripped it from her grasp and threw it across the room and quickly turned to Geralt and blocked a low slash attack and followed up by hitting Geralt in the face with a pommel strike causing the Witcher to stagger backwards. The knight was not at all slowed by his wound and infact seemed to be more aggressive after its infliction. Ciri looked toward the ladder in curiosity and Geralt glanced at her and yelled "Go!" Ciri nodded in return, grabbed her sword and began ascending the delicate rotten wood ladder. Geralt cast Yrden under the knight and paused to see how it reacted, as expected the knight appeared slowed and vulnerable, Geralt then began a flurry of attacks and the knight was only able to block a small handful of the incoming strikes and all the force eventually brought the knight down to its knees while it tried to hold its ground against the attacks, Geralt ended his attack chain with a quick knee strike to the knights head which completely knocked him down onto his back.
Ciri reaches the top of the ladder and is in a small room with a few books and a floating black and red orb about the size of a melon, she inspected the anomaly for a moment before striking it with her blade, shattering it. A strange magical effect erupted from within it and faded into the air.
Geralt walked up to the downed knight and lifted his sword above his head with the tip pointed down, ready to deliver a final stab motion when he noticed the knight appeared different, it grunted in pain and raised one hand to his wound, Geralt paused in his stance and spoke "Now you feel that?" The knight only again grunted in pain. Ciri came sliding down the ladder quickly to see if her idea bore fruit and was happy to see that her reckless plan apparently worked, she ran over to the knight and Geralt. "Who are you?" Geralt asked the man before them who paused before giving response "I- don't remember..." The low voice said with confusion and pain, physically and mentally. Ciri kneeled down and removed the Knights helmet as his breathing was heavy and sounded obscured, he turned out to be a normal man, a bit of blood spilling from his mouth. Geralt dropped his guard now and kneeled down beside the man "take your armour off, we need to seal that wound for now or you'll bleed out" the knight slowly sat up and Ciri placed her hand on his shoulder to support him and he began removing the chest plate that burdened him now, after the plate he removed a tattered coat of mail and finally a red tunic he had on, finally revealing his naked torso, Ciri was caught off guard by the sight and turned her head away for a moment to regain proper thoughts. He was a muscular man with a good amount of battle scars etched into his flesh, much like the Witchers here. Geralt wasted no time in casting Igni on his sword and quickly cauterizing the wound on both stomach and back, the knight hardly let out any noise impressively.
The knight removed the rest of his armour and put his tunic back on.
Now that the worst appeared to be over Geralt stood up "Ciri, take him back to the nearest village or town for proper medical treatment, I'll linger and try to find out more about the curse and then meet up with you" Ciri simply nodded and helped the knight up with one arm around her "sorry about the stairs, it's gonna hurt"
After they struggle down the stairs and out the door Ciri helps the man up onto Kelpie she climbs up too "try and hold on" she says, the knight barely able to stay conscious wrapped an arm around Ciri's waist for support so he won't fall off, with that they begin their ride for medical treatment.
The knight spoke up to break the verbal silence "Thank you for releasing me" he says gently with a whisper-like tone as if speaking any louder will hurt. "Don't talk, you need to save your energy" Ciri replied sounding almost angry at first but the tone faded to concern.
About thirty minutes passed before they arrived at a village with a healer, Ciri quickly but gently hopped off Kelpie and assisted the knight in climbing off too, he was hardly awake and wasn't looking too good.
Ciri while keeping the man propped up banged on the healers door, it was fairly late into the night but there was no other choice. The healer opened up, she was an old lady who assessed the situation quickly and gestured for Ciri to bring the man in, Ciri and the knight staggered through the door and the healer directed them toward a bed used for patients, Ciri gently plopped the man down and the healer began to work her magic.
"I'm sorry to disturb you at such an hour, but this couldn't wait" Ciri says with concern. "it's no problem dear, go get some rest at the inn, check up on him tomorrow" the healer says while tending the wounds properly. Ciri nods and takes one last look at the man before heading out toward the inn.
YOU ARE READING
An Oath To A Lion (Ciri X Reader)
FanfictionCursed and spit on by fate, you were once a loyal knight in service to a maiden whom you cared dearly for, on a quest in her name you encountered a cruel fate and were ensnared by magical forces which enthralled you. Are you worthy of redemption?
