Kyana Of Cintra

86

Geralt gave a small grin, which soon fell as pain shot up his leg. Kyana frowned as he doubled over, holding onto the side of his thigh. "Fuck." He cursed, inspecting the necrophage bite that had torn an impressive hole into his flesh. Kyana stared at him, the buzz of her Quen shield dying down and signalling the fall of the protective sign. 

"You didn't cast Quen?" Kyana asked, in awe at how stupid this macho move was. Geralt shook his head, limping over to his sword. "Oh you fucking moron." Kyana mumbled, placing his arm over her shoulder and guiding him to their horses. 

"What would I do without you." Geralt stated sarcastically, limping heavily on his affected leg. Kyana scoffed, picking the sword up from the ground and holding it with her spare hand. Blood trickled down his leg, but it wasn't the blood Kyana was worried about; it was the venom swirling in his blood. The antidote potions she had were gone with her armour, as well as most of the ingredients she carried in her saddlebag rotting from the days where they had not been preserved. 

"At the rate you're going, you'd be dead." Kyana stated with a grunt, adjusting Geralt's arm to sit more comfortably on her shoulder. "Come on, Roach is right there." She pointed with the sword blade to the horse who sat barely a meter in front of them. Geralt suddenly let a lot more of his weight onto Kyana as his knees buckled, collapsing to the floor and taking her with him. Kyana let out a groan at the impact, her eyes worriedly looking over Geralt. "Geralt, are you okay?" 

His eyes started to flutter shut, his mouth moving in words that were barely spoken. "Not a happy ever after, after all." He said, very much aware that his heart would soon shut down in his chest. "A fitting end..." Kyana shook his chest with her hand, begging him to stay awake and stop frightening her so. "I love you." As soon as the words passed his lips, he dropped, completely unconscious, on the forest floor. 

"Geralt?" Kyana called out, shaking his shoulders in an attempt to wake him up. She listened, trying very hard to pick up a heartbeat before she started to completely panic. Kyana found one, a soft, delicate heartbeat that rang quietly and slowly in his chest, slowing every second she waisted. Kyana hurtled over to Pegasus, ripping a bottle of red Swallow potion from it and running back, turning him onto his back and lifting his torso against a tree. "Drink, please, please just drink." She begged, pouring the potion gently into his mouth. He didn't move, but the liquid did run down his throat. Kyana heard a twig snap behind her, immediately drawing her sword and twisting. 

The group of ghouls backed away at the sight of steel, but soon closed in again. Kyana counted 8 reasonably large ghouls. These must be the remainder of the pack. Kyana casted Quen around Geralt and herself, preparing to protect Geralt until her dying breath. Two ghouls launched themselves at her, which she met with a swift twirling strike, killing both of them as easily as swatting a fly. Another came forward and tried to tear at her leg, only to be stopped with the magical shield and get a sword through his brain and mouth. Kyana withdrew her sword, jabbing it into the throat of another and twisting her body to slice downwards on another. With five dead and three left, the ghouls became less confident, watching Kyana poise herself in front of her fiancee. Another blow landed on the next ghoul, decapitating it. The arm was cut off the next, launching it forwards for Kyana to slice its throat. The last ghoul launched itself at her, only for her to duck and shove her blade through its stomach, tossing it with her sword at least four meters. 

Kyana heaved her breaths in, watching as dawn's first light peaked into the trees. She threw the sword down and returned to Geralt's side, beyond tired after two packs of monsters had attacked. Instead of collapsing as she wanted to do, she gripped onto Geralt's shoulders and heaved him away from the tree, using her leg to support his back. Kyana breathed in and heaved once more, pulling him to his limp feet to rest his chest over her shoulder. Kyana grunted, stepping forward on shaky feet to Roach. 

"Give him to me, lass. I'll take you both in." Kyana turned her gaze tiredly to the source of the noise. The man that had been dragging the bodies stood before her, his cart and horse at the ready to pull both of them to safety. Kyana gazed at him warily, suspicious of his motives. "If I wanted to kill you, you'd rip my throat out half as easily as you took care of the monsters. You've nothing to fear. I mean you no harm." 

Kyana caved in, although she wouldn't let him take Geralt from her. Instead she struggled over to the cart, settling him down gently between bags of the man's provisions. Kyana made him comfortable with a bag as a pillow to stop him from choking on his own vomit. She turned to the man, pointing her finger at him in warning. "Touch him and you die." The man placed his hands up in surrender, genuinely afraid of her. He had seen how she had calmly killed the necrophages when Geralt had been taken down so easily. Seen how fiercely she protected her loved one, killing the ghoul pack brutally quickly. He knew she was not to be trifled with, under any circumstances. 

Kyana hurried towards the swords that lay on the floor, sheathing hers into her belt and Geralt's into the saddle's scabbard. She grabbed the reigns of both Roach and Pegasus, leading them to the horses at the front of the cart. Kyana tied them at either end of the front, keeping them close but not in a way that effected the cart's travelling pace. "My home is a few hours south." The man pointed to the south. "My wife can provide you with herbs should you need them." A moments silence as Kyana heaved herself up onto the cart, saddlebag in hand, with the purpose of mixing as much Swallow as possible. "My name is Yurga. What's yours?" 

Kyana shifted her gaze up to Yurga, her eyelids drooping with tiredness, although she forced them to remain open. "Kyana. This is Geralt." Yurga's eyes went wide with recognition. The announcement that Calanthe was dead had been cast mere hours after her death, that Nilfgaard was now in control of Cintra. Some man caused a fight, screaming that they should crown Kyana, the now rightful heir. In that moment, had Kyana known that man was Elias, who had sworn her to secrecy years before, she'd have hunted him down and torn his head clean off. 

Yurga cleared his throat and acted as though her name meant nothing to him. He climbed onto the cart, gripping his horses reigns and clicking his tongue for them to move forward. The cart rolled forward, jumping up and down when it hit any uneven ground. Yurga cleared his throat again and turned his head to face her. "You can sleep if you want, Kyana. I won't harm either of you." 

"So you keep telling me." Kyana muttered, desperately crushing at leaves to make more Swallow. Geralt's heart was still beating, however slow it was, it still thumped in his chest. "I must treat him, he can't be left unattended." Kyana hesitated, turning her gaze up to meet Yurga's. "Thank you for this. He'd die without the herbs I need." 

Yurga smiled at her, twisting in his seat to face the horses. "It's no problem. I owe it to you to do better."