Bound By Destiny (book 1)

Chapter 23

As Selene finally made her way to the barons home was she suddenly stopped by two Guards. "Halt, no one may enter at this time." Selene rolled her eyes. "Get that sword out of my sight before you get hurt." The guards looked at each other before she saw the eye color.

   "Lady Witcher, we didn't realize it was you. No Witcher has been here in so long..." "I know, we're hoping to change it. But in order to do so, I need to talk to Baron about these contracts." And with that the guards moved and allowed Selene to move through the gates.

    As she entered the Baron's estate did she notice that most of the men were either drunk or sick and a few glared at the sight of her. Ignoring the men she walked to the Baron's room and knocked on the door. "Enter." Selene opened the door and walked inside, closing the heavy door behind her.

   "So you must be the bloody baron." And with that the man turned, startled at the feminine voice and even more startled by the swords and silver eyes. "And who might you be?" "Selene of Vesina. A Witcher, I'm here to take care of your drowner problem, and your ghoul problem, and I brought two more Witcher's with me."

   The baron's eyes widened at this. "Well that's wonderful news, Valen hasn't seen a Witcher in over a year. Tell me, why you have all left and forsaken us." Selene shifted as she crossed her arms until the baron motioned for her to sit. Shrugging her shoulders Selene sat down and watched as the baron studied her. "Is everything alright?" "Hmm? Oh yes, you're  eyes are just unique."

   "We know." And that's when Selene looked up at saw Geralt leaning against the doorframe. "Geralt." He nodded and walked so he now stood behind Selene. "I thought you had your own contracts?" "I talked to them already, so I figured I come find you, learn some more about this ghoul issue."

   And with that both Witcher's turned to the baron. "Well? How many am I going to be dealing with?" "A group of maybe 15." Selene almost cursed but that was child's play. "That's simple to deal with, and how many drowners?" "Those are the smaller group, roughly 7." Selene nodded. "I assume they're in the swamp like the notice said?" "That would be correct. However i do wish to know why your kind avoided Valen for a year." 

    "That would be because the people
Of this continent almost killed one of us." The Baron frowned "which one?" Geralt simply nodded at Selene and the baron get his blood run cold. "Her?" "Yes her, the only female Witcher known to man, was almost killed because of lack of information, and information was withheld. We usually let stuff like this go, a job can sometimes go wrong, but when it almost kills her, when it kills her companion, and actual humans tried to kill her, well that was it. We turned out backs on Valen and only now with Selene's permission have we returned to work."

    The baron was silent for a moment, processing the information he was just given and Selene simply stood as Geralt placed a hand on her shoulder. "My deepest apologies, those of here in crows perch will make sure you are treated right and with respect and well paid for any job." Selene nodded. "Alright, well We'll be going now, all of us here have jobs to do." And with that Selene and geralt left the estate.

     Selene stopped walking before she turned to Geralt who looked at her with concern. "Sel?" She didn't speak she just hid her face against his chest and he frowned before holding her close. "It's okay Sel, I got you." She gripped his shirt and closed her eyes as she tried to force away painful memories. "I have a job in the same area, I'm just finding someone's lost order, i can go with you." Said woman looked up and shook her head.

    "It's alright, it's an easy job. I can handle it." He frowned but nodded. "Alright, just run if it's to much, or scream, I'll head right for you. Lambert's Taken a job cleaning out a cave of Nekker's."
Selene nodded and walked with Geralt once she was aura she wouldn't lose control of her emotions. They walked together until they reached the outside of the village and went to part ways. "Not taking raven?"

    "No, because gods forbid it happens again, I'll never forgive myself, and there's a chance that they're are more. A small one though." Geralt nodded understanding her logic so he held his hand down to her. "Come on, I can at least get you there faster." Sighing softly she took his hand and allowed him to pull her up behind him.

     Once they were at the swamp did she climb down and watch as he also climbed down before tying Roach to the tree. "Alright, meet me here when you're done, if you're not back before I am I'll come find you." Selene only nodded before walking off knowing Geralt had already left as well.

    As Selene walked through the swampy area she followed the tracks that she had become so familiar with, drowner tracks, and going the other way was the ghouls. Shaking her head she decided to take care of the drowners first.

   It didn't take long to reach the area where most of the drowners were but she swore as she saw a water hag amongst them. "Well fuck." Drawing her sword she slowly moved, keeping her footsteps as light as possible before attacking one from behind easily slicing off its head. She repeated the process all the way up to the water hag who had now spotted her. "Come on you ugly son of a bitch."

   And with that the hag threw mud at Selene's eyes and went to attack however Selene easily jumped backwards since she was still able to hear the creature coming. Cleaning the mud from her eyes she quickly sliced off the hags arm and set to work on finishing the job. Once that was done she shook her head then swung her sword down easily removing the blood. "Alright, one more..." And with that she set off for the ghouls.

    Once she arrived she felt true fear slip into her blood, fear she hadn't felt in ages. "Alright, I can do this, it's only 15 of them...versus one of me..." shaking her head she downed an elixir and drew both swords before making her way down towards the nest. However a single sound was all it took and within moments the ghouls had seen her. "Well fuck me."