Rogue ▹ Geralt of Rivia

CHAPTER SIX

"There's a job in Temeria. A fellow witcher, maybe a friend of yours, vanished after he took the job and the money. I heard people thinking he scammed the poor fool who payed him upfront." Caira's eyes were wide and eager to take up the job before someone else decided to do so.

The prostitute quickly left the room, trying her best to contain her embarrassment from being intruded upon by another women. The whole scene didn't bother Caira at all, she knew whores existed and she had her fair share with men, too. "A witcher?" Geralt knitted his brows, sitting up in the bed to look Caira straight in the eye.

She nodded furiously. "What's in Temeria?" Geralt inquired.

"That's what we should go and find out." Caira raised her brows at him, suggesting that was the point of her telling him this the entire time. "Seems like they're coughing up a lot of money for it, too."

Suddenly, a loud bang came from the door. "Witcher! It's been three nights, pay up or leave!" The innkeeper shouted.

"You haven't paid the man?" Caira tsked at him, laughing at Geralt. Geralt smiled mischievously and shook his head. "Let's get out of here before he has your head."

* * *

The two were off to Temeria, and they left their horses behind at the inn, promising to pay for their stay upon their return. Upon arrival, they heard a gathering of the townsfolk occurring in front of the king's castle. Apparently, they had a little bit of a pest problem that the king was not taking care of. "Years of attacks by this creature, and the king does nothing. We must force his hand.  Lay down our picks and refuse to work! Plenty of work south of Sodden." One of the townsfolk incited the crowd. Geralt and Caira quickly learned that the creature was presumed to be a vukodlak.

"My son.. rest his soul, told me in Nilfgaard, the king diddles whores while his subjects starved. Then someone came. The Usurper. And he rallied the people, and they took back what was theirs! I say we follow their lead!" Another man spoke passionately and riled up the commoners.

"You can't kill the vukodlak... so you decide to kill your king? Great plan." Geralt's deep and rumbling voice was distinct enough to catch the attention of all the peasants. They turned to listen to his words, took notice of his necklace and instantly tuned him out.

"Another fucking witcher. Your kind already swindled us once." One of the townsfolk spat at Geralt.

Caira began fidgeting with her cloak, tugging at it furiously since it would not sit still over her shoulders. "We'll take payment after the job is done and for a third of the price." Geralt spoke aloud, suggesting Caira was his plus one on this mission.

The townsfolk's eyes all turned to her, eyeing her as she stupidly struggled against her cloak. "Her?" One man seemed shocked.

Caira, without looking up, groaned. "How about we rethink the 'third of the price' discount?"

"It's an apology from my guild to yours." Geralt spoke to the townsmen.

"And if you can't kill it?"

"Then I die."

"And I run." Caira admitted, finally satisfied with adjusting her cloak and looked up to the men.

Out of nowhere, dozens of knights marched to the front of the castle, where they were all gathered, and a king's representative appeared. "Please, everyone remain calm. Lower your weapons and return to your homes. Do so quickly and without further theatrics and you have my word that our king will not hear of this treason." The rep assured the crowd.

"Foltest commits treason. He hides in his winter castle as we are eaten." A man stepped up to the representative's face, the rest of the crowd shouted unintelligible words of agreement.

"Mikal was a good boy. Revenge will not ease your pain." The king's affiliate place his hand on the townsman's shoulder. This townsman's son must've been named Mikal, and was probably one of the victims of this monster.

The townsman shoved his hand off his shoulder and literally spat at him, causing the knights to ready their weapons and the townsfolk to react with their own drawn weapons as well. The representative raised his hand to prevent the knights from further acting upon the action, telling them to back down. "You know nothing of my pain." The man growled at him, then walked away, disbanding the rest of the group back to their homes.

Geralt sighed after witnessing the altercation and turned to look at the representative, as he and Caira were the only ones left at the front of the castle now. "Does Foltest have a plan?" Geralt asked.

"See these two to our borders. Temeria's had their fill of Witchers and whores." The man ordered his knights to escort the two out of the city.

Four knights on horses led Geralt and Caira out of town while they remained on foot. Once they had been walking for a least a few kilometers, the knights began to fall off their horses—as if they were falling unconscious—as if a mage had put a spell on them. The thuds of their bodies on the snowy ground was what called Geralt and Caira's attention since they had been walking with their eyes at their feet—boredom. Instinctively, the two drew their swords, ready to take on any enemy that seemed to be after them. They looked around the foggy forest until their eyes landed on a woman with a hooded cloak over her head. "You can put down your swords. I'm not here to hurt you." The woman assured.

"Says the witch hiding in the woods." Geralt growled, suspicious of the mage.

"Oh yeah, let me just disarm myself against someone who could hex me with the snap of their fingers." Caira sarcastically mentioned.

"Sorceress. And with or without your sword, I could hex you with the snap of my fingers." She informed them.

She walked closer and revealed her face from the fog. She was a beautiful young witch, with dark curly hair and matching dark eyes. "Witch." Geralt reiterated.

"Triss Merigold. I serve King Foltest." She introduced herself.

"So he makes a show of kicking us out, then sends an errand girl to slip me some coin so I kill his monster. Not a very original plan for a king." Geralt lowered his sword, seeming unimpressed by the situation.

"It's my plan. My coin." Triss approached the two until she was only a couple feet from them. "And I don't want you to kill the beast. I want you to help me save it." Triss informed, causing Caira to drop her weapon instantly—taken aback by her words. How the hell were they going to save a monster? And what kind of monster was that thing, then?

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authors note | it wasn't time to update but I couldn't help myself, this is where geralt x caira starts picking up and it's one of my favorite chapters from the first ten chapters of this book. ugh

lmk what you guys think!!