Heart of Ice • The Witcher

Chapter 12 • An apple a day...

   The three had been traveling for a day. Having left the tavern behind to avoid any hunters that may have been on their trail, they headed through the forest and towards the next town. Geralt had been awfully quiet with Anaya, but she couldn't help but notice him staring at her from time to time. Every so often she'd catch him in the act, but he would just quickly avert his eyes elsewhere. She didn't understand why he was so quiet, but she assumed it had something to do with what had happened between them last night. They'd kissed, but more than that, they had basically confessed their feelings for each other. Maybe, she thought, his quietness was a way to distance himself from her, to prevent himself from feeling what he wanted to feel.

   "We'll rest here," Geralt said as they came across a clearing in the woods. The moment those words left his lips, Anaya's knees buckled and she fell to the ground in exhaustion. 

   "I hate walking," she sighed, rolling onto her back to look up at the blue sky. She decided that once she became Queen she would never walk again. People would just have to carry her around on a bed of sorts, because she would never use her legs again.

   "Me too," Garrison groaned as he took a seat against a tree with an apple in his hand. 

   Anaya watched as Geralt reached into Roach's sack and pulled out two apples, one of her and one for himself. He walked over to her and handed her the apple before taking a seat next to her on the ground. 

   "Don't you ever get tired?" she asked him, looking up at his face from where she lay. He was so handsome for someone who was considered to be a monster by many.

   "Witchers have high endurance," he said. "We don't get tired easily."

   "What do you do when you're not doing Witcher things?"

   "Witcher things?" Geralt said, looking down at her with a small smile. 

   "You know, like driving your sword through monsters and fucking women." 

   "Some men consider those to be the same thing," Garrison said. 

   "I sleep," Geralt said. 

   "Fun," Anaya rolled her eyes.

   "Alright, what do you do when you're not doing princess things?" 

   "I paint sometimes."

   "Fun," Geralt answered. 

   "I would prefer sleeping to that," Garrison said. 

   "Hey! I also read!"

   "Even better," Geralt said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. 

   "I bake too!" Anaya said, earning a laugh from Garrison. Even Geralt tried to hide his smile by turning his head away from her. "You know what, you two?" Anaya huffed, forcing herself off the ground, "Go suck an egg." 

   Geralt tried his best to stifle his laughter, but Garrison had a full-blown laugh attack after hearing those words. She didn't understand why though, her cousins always used to say that whenever they'd get mad. She thought it was sailor language. 

   Geralt accidentally let go of his untouched apple which rolled past Anaya and into a small patch of purple flowers. Deciding she didn't want to waste any of their remaining food, she went after it and reached into the flowers to retrieve it. They were beautiful flowers, she thought about plucking one from the ground, but decided against it. Instead, she walked back to Geralt and handed him the apple.