The Girl in the Woods

Chapter 6

A/N: Sorry not sorry for the heavy use of images from the Netflix show. Henry Cavill has made me feel some things. My fiance would like me to shut up about it so I need a new outlet. :P 

            Almost as soon as the sun rose above the horizon the Witcher was ready to travel. This enigma of a woman sleeping in his bedroll was a challenge Geralt was motivated to solve. The way she spoke lacked the rounded vowel sounds of most of the Continent's accents, including his own. She also used strange words and phrases so naturally. The Witcher couldn't even begin to start a cohesive reasoning for the disguise she wore, or the fact she denounced the existence of elves as if he was the one that was foolish for thinking otherwise. While Beth slept Geralt picked up what little he had taken out to camp, only pausing when he heard the distinctive sound of her stomach growling.

           Of course she was hungry, Geralt cursed himself for not getting her to eat something the night before, but the whole situation had shaken him of his usual composure. Despite the cry her body made for breakfast, her heartbeat continued it's relaxed beating, meaning she still slept. He was quite surprised she had managed to fall asleep so quickly, and for so long, especially with her injury, but he guessed it could also be because of her injury and the cause she was so tired.

         The Witcher set out into the surroundings of the camp to find food. He didn't have to wait very long before a rabbit darted out from behind a tree to his right and bounded across the grass. The rabbit was fast, but Geralt's mutant reflexes were faster. Drawing a handheld crossbow he aimed at the animal and fired right as it paused for just a second. The small arrow hit the target and the Witcher walked forward to claim his kill. He had some dried meat and other meal rations in Roach's saddlebags but Geralt didn't know how long it had been since the girl's last meal and wanted to make sure she gathered as much strength as she could. They weren't as close to the next town as he'd have liked but if Roach could handle it, he deduced they could make it to Oxenfurt by nightfall. Perhaps Jaskier would be there and he could assist with his problem. Though he felt a pang of guilt over referring to Beth as a problem, he for once was out of his comfort zone of knowledge and experience.

           Geralt rolled a solid log over to the fire pit and sat on it to skin and prepare the rabbit. Once again using the Igni sign to light the remains of last night's fire and throwing in some new fuel. He set the animal up to roast above the flames and walked over to Beth's sleeping form. Her messy red hair had been part of her disguise and he thought again about why she would do such a thing. The Witcher fully intended on getting answers from her on the ride to Oxenfurt. He quite liked her natural hair however, the color of honey or gold, it looked like it would be soft to the touch as well and he had to pull back a hand that had thoughtlessly began to reach towards her. He settled on putting a light hand on her shoulder and giving her a gentle shake, not wanting to underestimate his strength and aggravate her wounds.

"Beth." He spoke at full volume in order to get her attention.

"No mom, just 5 more minutes." She muttered.

"I'm sure as hell not your mother." Geralt replied in a very unmotherly tone.

"Shit!" Beth's eyes flew open and her upper half sat up quickly only to cause her to wince in pain from the strain on the bandages.

Geralt could hear the quickening of her heartbeat as she awoke and took a moment to remember what was happening to her. She groaned and put her face in her hands.

"This isn't a dream is it? How can you go to sleep and then wake back up like this in a dream!"

"It's not a dream." He was getting a bit agitated at this weird dream thing she kept going off on. "Think you'd be able to feel those claw marks so vividly in a dream?"