The Girl in the Woods

Chapter 7

            Wind blew stray pieces of Elizabeth's blonde hair into Geralt's face as Roach bounded towards civilization. Her hair was still secured in it's braids but they had gotten quite disheveled and she would need to redo them later. As they rode Elizabeth felt herself ease further back towards Geralt's firm chest, telling herself it was just because she was getting tired of sitting up. She quite enjoyed the feeling of his strong arm around her as well and it brought a blush to her face whenever she focused on it.

"Why were you disguised as an elf?" Geralt asked, speaking for the first time since they had begun riding. For a man that seemed so set on interrogating her, he took a awfully long time to begin.

"It was a costume. For fun." She answered. "My best friend and most of the others at the Fair were dressed up as well. Some were even dressed as Fairies and Mermaids."

Geralt grunted, "Sounds like a very strange place you came from, no one around here would don the guise of an elf for fun." He emphasized the last two words. Elizabeth could feel the low vibration of his voice, it sent a shock-wave into her stomach that erupted into a flurry of butterflies.

"Where is here?" Elizabeth asked him, leaning her chin up as far as she could to look at the white haired man's face. He tilted his own chin down at her to meet her gaze, their faces just inches apart. His eyes are so beautiful...she thought. She snapped herself out of her daze with a slight shake of her head and returned her eyes to the road in front of her.

"The Continent." He said "Specifically the Northern Kingdoms, more specifically Redania on our way to Oxenfurt, a city located on the Pontar river."

Besides the word "Continent" which he seemed to add extra emphasis on, she didn't know any of those places.

"Ok..." she spoke as she processed. "Where I came from I lived in the continent of North America, specifically the United States of America, more specifically the state of Kansas in the city of Olathe. Closest river is the Missouri but that's still a bit of a drive."

"Never heard of it." said Geralt.
"Well I've never heard of where I supposedly am either!" She started to get frustrated by the situation. "I left my best friend in a fake tavern being sung to by a fake bard dressed like a fake elf, used a tragically unkempt port-a-potty and ended up following a trail of fairy houses into fucking Game of Thrones!"

"You say such strange words."

"You say strange words..." It was a bad comeback and she knew it, she sounded like her father.

"If I had to make a guess as to how you got here I would put my bets on some kind of portal magic." He stated calmly.

"Magic doesn't exist." Elizabeth argued.

"Maybe not in this far off land of America but here on the Continent it does." Roach started to whinny that she was tired so Geralt slowed her to a halt. "We will give Roach a moment to rest." Geralt dismounted and helped Elizabeth down after him. Her legs felt like rubber after so long riding and she stumbled, Geralt caught her with inhuman speed and looked to her concerned.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"Yeah... Just not used to the whole horse thing. You don't get this feeling driving a car."

"Is a car like some sort of cart or wagon?" Geralt asked.

Elizabeth laughed, "You could say that I suppose."

"When you arrived, did you go through any sort of circular opening, perhaps some sort of strange doorway?" Geralt continued his questioning.

"No, I was just walking and then all of a sudden I was walking out of the woods into a completely different world." She muttered in response. "But nothing else makes sense so I guess it must be magic. When I decided to go back to the Renaissance Festival this year I wasn't exactly prepared to live it."