Siren's Call

An Indignant Cockatoo

                "Jaskier? What are you doing here?"

Jaskier stared up at him from where he had been crouching on the floor and then painfully raised himself back up to eye level, an odd light in his eyes. "What am I-What am I doing- I have been KIDNAPPED and ASSAULTED. My lute has been taken away, my blood, my very LIFE FORCE has been drained, I have not bathed in a week, I have been forced to share quarters with honestly some of the most DISGUSTING people, my life has been a walking HELL and then the LAST person I ever wanted to see busts open the door of the CLOSET, Geralt they put me in a CLOSET, A CLOSET, where I was being forcibly held, and all you can say is 'Hey Jaskier watcha doing here?'" Jaskier paused to take a deep breath before continuing with his righteous tirade. "OBVIOUSLY Geralt, I am here because I am a valuable MONSTER with very valuable organs and such." He paused again, a thought striking him as Geralt tried to sheathe his silver sword as inconspicuously as possible. "OH-HO they sent you in to kill me DIDN'T they? Well I seem to remember only 'mercy' holding you back last time so now that you're being paid to kill the monster why don't you just GET ON with it?!"

Jaskier spread his arms wide in mock surrender, inviting Geralt to strike a blow. Geralt could see his hands trembling, smell the reek of old and new fear, and see the bruises and cuts that littered the visible parts of Jaskier's body. Bravado was the only thing keeping him on his feet.

"I'm not here to kill you."

"Well then I suppose you can leave." Jaskier spat out, suddenly vicious, his arms going back to his sides.

Geralt grunted in reply, stepping towards Jaskier, who flinched back. He stopped. "You can barely stand."

Jaskier met his eyes, fury twisting his face. "I can manage."

Geralt reached out and slung one of Jaskier's arms over his shoulders, putting his own arm around Jaskier to support him. He'd have liked to have been more patient for Jaskier to trust him on his own, but he didn't want any of the group to come back up and find them like this. He could handle himself but Jaskier was vulnerable and might get hurt if it came down to a fight. For all his talk, Jaskier offered surprisingly little resistance, although he still refused to lean on Geralt more than absolutely necessary. "Come on, this inn has a back door."

Geralt walked Jaskier, who had gone concerningly quiet and still, back out of the room. He planned to slip out the back and get to Roach with little fuss.

That plan was unfortunately upended by the face of the jewelry-bedecked leader of the little party downstairs, who had apparently been waiting just around the corner.

"What the hell is this! You were supposed to kill the thing!"

Geralt growled. "I only kill monsters."

"I don't know what it told you, but it is a monster, don't let it fool you with how it looks now, stick it in a tub and see what it becomes." The woman spat at Jaskier and he shrank against Geralt's side, trembling.

Geralt reacted without thinking, pressing the woman up against the wall with a sword at her throat. "You tortured him for potion ingredients."

She stared back at him, eyes wide and frozen. The monster in his chest was fully awake and screaming for blood. Kill her. Cut her throat open and watch her bleed. She hurt him, treated him like an animal. Kill her.

Through the haze in his head he foggily realized Jaskier was saying his name.

"Geralt-Geralt, stop! It's not worth it, you know it's not worth it. You'd never forgive yourself!"

That was an odd thing to say. He pulled the sword off the woman's neck and growled. "Leave, and remember the only reason you are still breathing is because of mercy shown from someone you tortured. If you ever touch him again I will hunt you down and kill you."

The woman nodded frantically and went scurrying down to join the rest of her crew, who were all clustered at the bottom of the stairs, staring up at them with wide eyes. Ah well, the cat was out of the bag now, might as well put on a show.

He walked down the stairs with Jaskier still suctioned to his side. Most of the group scattered. There was a moment when he thought bald dude might try something stupid, but he kept eye contact and hovered his hand over his iron sword and the man lowered his eyes and stepped aside.

A thought struck him. "Where is his lute?"

There was a dead silence from both everyone in the little group, and the unfortunate other patrons of the tavern, most of whom were pretending they did not exist. He let his face get more menacing "Where is the lute you took off this man?"

He heard the heartbeat of one of the people clustered around the woman whose life he'd just threatened speed up. He was dressed in the clothes of an aspiring bard.

Geralt unsheathed his sword and pointed it at the man. "You". From the smell the man pissed his pants.

"Ah, well, see I ah, it-it-it was Solma's idea! She said he wouldn't be needing it and it would-would be fine if I could-"

"Bring it here."

The man reached under the table and brought out was unmistakably Jaskier's lute. He heard Jaskier give a little gasp of recognition at his side. The aspiring bard came closer on shaking legs before practically throwing it at Geralt and making a run for it out the door. Geralt let him go, it wasn't like he cared what happened to him, and he managed to catch the lute before it hit the ground. He shoved it at Jaskier, who clutched it to his chest with shaking hands and a quietly whispered "Thank you" Geralt pretended he hadn't heard.

They made it to Roach unchallenged. Once they'd made it out Geralt let go of Jaskier, who promptly fell onto Roach. She, thankfully, appeared to grudgingly accept her fate and did not bite him.

"Can you ride?" Geralt asked gruffly.

"Yes"

Moving slowly so as not to startle him, Geralt reached out to help Jaskier on Roach, but the bard flinched away again. Geralt held very still, his hand out-stretched towards Jaskier, until he seemed to come to some kind of decision. Jaskier finally reached out and used Geralt's hand as a support to get up onto Roach.

Geralt swung up behind him, taking Roach's reins in hand.

"I thought Roach could only take one person?" Jaskier questioned.

"She'll be fine for a short ride, we need to get you out of town."

"Oh"

Jaskier didn't speak for the rest of the ride.