The Girl in the Woods

Chapter 9

A/N: Trying out doing longer chapters. And enjoy bathtub Geralt.

           Elizabeth woke to a bright stream of sunlight right in her face. She groaned in annoyance and held her hand up to shield her sensitive eyes and see where the stream was coming from. There was a window to the far side of the room that while decorated with a curtain, was not fully closed. Elizabeth shifted her legs off the side of the bed onto the cool wooden floor and stretched her arms behind her back. She was still wearing her cloak as well as her bloodied shirt. She winced at her appearance as well as a sharp pain from her temples and the stiffness in her muscles. Memories of the night before came to her then, realizing she had drank much more than she had in quite a while, the headache made sense. Unfortunately her usual hangover cures would not be easily accessible in the dark ages.

             She tried to walk quietly across the room and tugged the curtains fully closed, darkening the room just enough for her eyes to no longer sting. She removed her cloak and threw it on the ground next to Geralt's pack and swords. Thinking of Geralt her green eyes trailed over to the Witcher in question. He was laying on his back, at some point in the night he must have removed his shirt because it was thrown haphazardly on the floor next to his side of the bed and his defined chest was bare beneath the thin sheet covering him from the stomach down. She breathed a sigh of relief as she noticed he was still wearing his pants. His white hair had been released from the leather band that usually held the front pieces away from his face and was sprawled around the pillow. While his face was not free of scars, no place on his body seemed to be, he looked almost serene laying there with his eyes closed. Elizabeth wondered how long it had been since he truly slept, he usually just "meditated", a process she has tried and failed to understand, eventually surrendering to the fact it must have something to do with the whole "mutant" thing. To her, even though she had seen his inhuman reflexes, those cat-eyes and the crazy strength he had, he still felt like a regular man.

           Elizabeth decided she wanted to look through her pouches again, maybe this time she will find a clue she had missed before. But as she pulled out bobby pins, extra makeup for touch ups, a wallet full of cards and currency she couldn't even use and her phone that still remained a brick without energy, she sighed once again at her failure. Even though her time with Geralt has so far been fairly enjoyable, she still longed for answers on how she can get back home. When the Witcher woke up she decided she was going to ask him what their next step would be.

           A soft knock sounded on the door and Elizabeth's head snapped towards it, it caught her off guard as she had once again descended into her own thoughts and left reality for a moment. The sound, even as quiet as it was, finally woke the sleeping wolf, his yellow eyes opened so fast it was almost hard to believe he had actually been sleeping just a few seconds before.

"Scuse me?" An accented voice called from the hallway.

Elizabeth started to reach for the door handle before Geralt could remind her of her bloodied clothing.

"My Gods!" The plump older woman exclaimed, a hand flew up to her bosom as if it would calm her jumping heartbeat. "Are you alright Miss?"

Elizabeth was confused for a second at the woman's reaction before she looked down and it dawned on her again.

"Oh yes I'm fine, I only have one outfit..." She trailed off in embarrassment.

The woman seemed to calm after she looked her over and saw that her injuries all looked to be healed or healing.

"That won't do!" The woman's tone was leaning toward scolding, it reminded her of her Grandmother when she would do something wrong as a child. "I'll send for a hot bath for ya at once, and I believe I can source ya somethin' else to wear from one of the girls."