HEART | Geralt

05

"I tried to cure them, locked them in towers for safekeeping, but the girls always died."

"Internal....mutations?" Geralt stressed the first word, realising what Azalea had been speaking of when he stopped her.

"They were autopsied, of course, to confirm my suspicions. But eliminating these women was the lesser evil." He gained a disapproved sigh from Geralt and a scowl from Azalea. "They could've drowned entire kingdoms in blood. If you'd been alive during Falka's Rebellion, seen what i saw-"

"Innocent women are dead." Geralt pressed, his own brows pressed together. When Stregobor look down, away from Geralt's gaze, the Witcher hummed. The sound rumbled from his chest as he stood upright, his arm stretching backwards to push Azalea a little further from Stregobor. "But not Renfri, the beautiful one." A sting in Azalea's chest had her scowling, but she soon dropped the expression as a wave of confusion overwhelmed her senses instead. "She's after you."

"Daughter of King Fredefalk of Creyden." He explained as he walked away from the two Witchers. "I delivered the princess myself in the middle of the afternoon in pitch black."

"You don't simply think it's a coincidence? What of those born from poorer families?" Azalea tried to argue, get Stregobor to see he was delusional, but he pretended as though he hadn't even heard her. The only indication she got that he had, indeed, listened to her was the sharp sneer he sent her way before dropping the expression.

"Do you consider me a fool, Witcher? I know your...beguiling companion does." Stregobor glared at the White Wolf, as though he already knew Geralt's answer. "Do you think i did not conduct research? Renfri was acutely affected. Her stepmother, Aridea, told me she tortured a canary, strangled two puppies, even gouged out her maid's eye with a comb. I admit what happened next was not ideal, but...with the lives of Aridea's own children on the line, we had to act. So, i dispatched someone to follow Renfri into the woods. We found him in the brush, Renfri's antique brooch jammed into his ear."

"And you're possitive this wasn't a whole thing set up so Renfri wouldn't be able to ascend the throne and it would be Aridea's children, instead? Royals have rather prickly affairs in this sort of thing." Azalea folded her arms over her stomach, a singular brow raised in an attempt to prove she could see through Stregobor, but he shook his head.

"My dear, you know nothing. You're a woman." He sneered at her before recollecting his composure and clearing his throat. "After that, i organized a manhunt to find the princess, but....eh...she was gone." Taking slow steps away from the Witchers, his back facing them, Stregobor tried not to grin. "Two years. Until she reappeared, robbing and murdering merchants on the roads of Mahakam. Impaled them on sticks at first, but soon, she picked up sword skills. And now no man can defy her, it's said."

"Seems like she had good reason to defend herself." Azalea prayed this was the case, that Renfri only did those things in order to defend herself, but the more Stregobor spoke, the less she believed it. But Renfri had been so nice to them, how could she be as heartless as this wizard is making her out to be?

"You're not a man." Geralt then said, sending an empathetic look towards his friend. "You're a magician."

"She's resistant to magic."

"That's impossible in humans." Geralt then argued, brows furrowed once more.

"Not...mutated ones. She's chased me for years, bent on revenge. And now she's tracled me here, just as you arrived. Destiny." Stregobor was facing the Witchers once more, but still, mainly looking at Geralt. "Kill her. I'll pay you both anything."

"We kill monsters."

"The kikimora kills because it's hungry," Stregobor spoke in a lecturing tone, as though he was right and they were wrong. "Renfri kills for pleasure. She is a monster. She is the last of Lilit's women. And she possesses the power to destroy us all."

"I doubt that." Azalea snorted slightly, unsure on how Renfri, the sweet woman that had bought them drinks, could possess such power.

"You laugh now, Woman, but wait until you cross blades with her." Stregobor glared once more, and that's when Geralt took a dangerous step closer, glaring and staring down at the ageing wizard. 

"I don't believe anyone has that power." He then turned, raising his arm slightly so he could guide Azalea to turn and walk away with him, once she had turned, his hand rested on the small of her back. His warm, calloused hand touched her bare skin, enough to send her shivering, but she kept her cool and continued to walk.

"With the fate of the Continent at stake, is that a chance you're willing to take?"

"Well, shit...it rhymed." Azalea spoke sarcastically with a smooth roll of her eyes, not believing how desperately Stregobor was trying to sway them to kill the brunette they had briefly conversed with.

"Killing Renfri is...the lesser evil."

"Evil is evil, Stregobor." Geralt replied with a deadpanned look, as though obvious. "Lesser, greater, middling...it's all the same." He then shook his head slightly. "I'm not judging you. I haven't only done good in my life, either. But now, if i have to choose between one evil and another, then i prefer not to choose at all."

The Witchers turned in sync and left the tower with great haste, shaking their heads in unison and disbelief. They wondered on how a man like Stregobor had the nerve to ask them to murder a girl that, for all they knew, had fair reason to do those things.

When Azalea finally left the tower, she could almost kiss the floor and roll in mud. She was so glad to be out of the dress and into her usual clothes. With her being relieved, she looked towards Geralt as though he wouldn't have been there. But he was.

"That was a shit show."

~

a/n

i'm sorry if this isn't as long as other chapters but i wanted to give you guys something before i get engrossed in the Witcher 3, Wild Hunt again lol xx pls comment and vote x