Heart of Ice • The Witcher

Chapter 4 • Siren

   "Fucking, Witcher," Garrison cussed under his breath before letting out a long yawn as he struggled to keep up. He looked like he was going to pass out from exhaustion at any second. Anaya gave him an apologetic look but kept moving. 

   When Anaya had accepted Geralt's offer of protection, she thought things would become much easier. After all, there was no better protector than a Witcher. However, she'd been terribly wrong. They had been traveling all night through the woods to create distance from any other huntsmen who may have spotted her in the village, and while Anaya and Garrison had been pushed to walk on foot for miles, Geralt rode comfortably on his horse, Roach.

   However, despite the aching in her back and legs, Anaya had somehow prevented herself from complaining. She couldn't ask for too much in the situation she was in. She had set her mind to bear it and smile, that is until she stepped into a pile of horse dung. 

   "I can't do this anymore! Do you even know where you're going?!" Anaya said, angrily wiping her shoe against the moss of a tree. Geralt stopped his horse and turned to look at her with eyes drowning in annoyance, but she didn't care. "I'm cold and tired and I need to rest. We've been walking all night."

   "Where's the dwarf?" Geralt said, his eyes scanning the area around her.

   "He's right..." Anaya turned to look behind her but Garrison was nowhere to be found. Had he fallen behind? She'd only just heard him moments ago. So where was he? "Maybe he needed to relieve himself."

   "Doesn't matter, we'll go on without him," Geralt said.

   "What? No, we're not leaving him behind."

   "We need to keep moving."

   "You go on ahead then. I'm going to go search for Garrison," she said, stepping off the trail they'd been following and into the dense woods. Garrison wasn't always the nicest or most helpful person, but she wasn't going to leave him behind

   "Aya!" Geralt called, but she kept on going deeper into the trees. She knew he would follow, after all, he had vowed to protect her, so she wasn't surprised when he came running after her.  

   "Don't even try to convince me to turn back. I'm not going back without Garrison."

   "He's a dwarf."

   "He's a friend."

   "He's probably already dead."

   "Don't say that," she said, wondering how someone could be so heartless and cold. "You can go back if you want, but I'm going after Garrison."

   Geralt sighed in exasperation and continued walking with her, Roach following close behind. "If anything happens to Roach, I'm killing both you and Garrison." 

   "Whatever," Anaya rolled her eyes. 

   As they trecked through the woods, the sun slowly rose in the sky, but the thickening trees were able to block out any light that attempted to shine through. The density of the woods grew with each difficult step through the deepening mud. The trees were becoming so dense, Geralt was forced to tie Roach up to one so they could continue alone. Anaya was beginning to doubt Garrison even came this way. She was about to suggest to turn back, but then a beautiful sound delighted her ears. It was heavenly, it sounded like bliss, it felt like warmth and pure ecstasy.