The Girl in the Woods

Chapter 24

A/N: Long time no update, that is for sure. I am sorry for the massive gap in updates however I have had quite a lot happen to my life in the last few years. In September of 2022 I was married to my high school sweetheart and we are currently settled into a new place together with our standard poodle son Happy who is pictured in the image at the top. I will do my best now to continue this story and hopefully, it will mesh ok and not be weird since it's been so long, these first few paragraphs are left over in my drafts from before. 

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                Geralt's breath was coming out in deep pants, his hair had escaped the leather band holding it back, and shocks of white striped his forehead and into his yellow eyes. There was blood on almost every part of him and he was so full of adrenaline that he didn't know how much of it was from the dead bodies on the ground and how much of it was from his injuries. Another mercenary was hacked down and Geralt finally felt a lapse in time to take an inventory of his surroundings. There were only a few of the men left and no mages to be seen. Lambert and Eskel quickly dispatched the remaining grunts of the mysterious elf's army. An elf that was currently nowhere to be seen. Leaning up against the stone wall to his right was Vesemir. Looking paler than usual and holding his side. 

            Geralt ran to his mentor and hastily dropped to a knee beside him, Vesemir's eyelids were drooping and a small trickle of blood escaped his mouth after a weak cough. 

"Eskel, Lambert!" The White Wolf yelled for his brothers to come and help him. Though he didn't know what could be done, to begin with. Vesemir was nursing a deep sword slash, blood has spread across his tunic and armor and was puddling on the ground beneath him. The angle of the cut was too high and Geralt feared he had punctured a lung. 

"He needs Swallow!" Lambert was the least composed and aloof as Geralt had ever seen him before. His abnormally slow Witcher's heart was doing its best to pound. 

"Don't bother." Vesemir finally spoke, his voice was gravelly and low. "I'm too old boys. If I couldn't keep up in a sorry excuse for a battle such as this then how could I ever hope to get back on the Path." The oldest Witcher attempted to chuckle but just ended up in another blood-splattering coughing fit. Eskel reached out and put a hand over his mentor's. 

"N-no. Don't say that Ves, you can't give up like that. You'll be fine, w-we just need some Swallow and some first aid and you'll be good as new." Lambert had a strained smile on his face and a glossy look in his eyes. 

"I'd rather die from a fight, protecting my home than succumb to my old age some other way. At least this is somewhat honorable." Vesemir's voice was getting lower and lower, to the point now where it was only a whisper. Luckily all the men had superior hearing. 

"We will not let this be forgotten Ves." Geralt finally spoke again. "I will find the man who put this together and remove every trace of him from the face of The Continent." Eskel and Lambert nodded solemnly in agreement. 

"I have no doubt, my sons. You've always made me proud..."  And with that Vesemir of the Wolf School, breathed his last. 

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           The need to find Beth and see her safe filled Geralt with newfound vigor, he took steps two at a time towards the storeroom he had left her in and his skin chilled when he discovered that the door was wide open, though as he investigated he saw that it was not just open, it was dead. Somehow the solid wood that the door was made out of at least a century ago had decayed like a branch in a swampy marsh. Inside, as he had suspected, but hoped to disprove, the room was empty. Grains of wheat and rice were spilled out onto the floor from torn bags and barrels were splintered apart, a trickle of blood and the scent of jasmine flowers trailed for several yards and then stopped abruptly. The hairs on the back of his neck stood at attention as though he could feel the crackling energy left over by the portal and an acrid sulfuric smell lingered in what would be to anyone else indetectable. 

          While his slow heart constricted with the knowledge that Beth was not only gone but had appeared to be targeted specifically, he could not let his feelings cloud his judgment. Something he was most definitely not used to having to deal with. Unfortunately, he could tell he was going to need the assistance of someone more familiar with magic users on the Continent and possibly tracking spells,  and the only person he knew that could do that was Yennefer. 

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A/N I know it's short but it's mostly just a bridge from the older parts of the story to the newer ones I will be updating in the near future.