"I was really angry at Geralt, you know." Lambert said in between scooping some soup into his mouth. I raised my brows and played with the piece of bread by dunking it in and out of the soup until it eventually crumbled into it. "He came here with this princess, killed Eskel-" I choked on my saliva. "What?" I asked in disbelieve. Lambert nodded. "Eskel got infected by the Leshy. Geralt and Vesemir tried to save him, as it seems. It was too late for him." he explained and lowered his head. He then huffed a laugh. "I thought he made us lose two of us, but luckily you're here." he said and squeezed my shoulder as a hug. I smiled a little at him.
"I remember one time," I started with a small chuckle. "Eskel and I tried to hide from Geralt. We had trained for so long that I thought I'd lose my legs any time soon."
"Wait, Geralt." Eskel panted while having his hands on his knees to catch his breath. "We got some training to do, you should know better, Evelyn." he said to me, as I leaned with my arm and my head against the wall. "I'm finished, mate." Eskel said, straightening his back. "We're finished when we're counting worms in the ground, not after an hour on the combs." Geralt scolded us and I laughed exhaustedly. "Three fucking hours." I said and held up three fingers while straightening my back now as well.
"You sound just like Vesemir." Eskel mocked while chuckling. "Last I checked, we come here to rest in the winter, and to restore, and to have some fun, not train till our legs give out." Eskel said. Geralt took a step forward to what Eskel jumped back a little. Geralt snorted. "Legs seem fine to me." he grinned. "Arsehole." Eskel laughed. "I haven't seen you so sore since-" Geralt started and I shot him a glare. He laughed. "since Vesemir's training." he finished his sentence. "See, you're just like him, isn't he?" Eskel said and pat my shoulder at that. Geralt kept that small grin on his face.
"We're all just like him. We won't get any rest. None of us will have any peace until there are no monsters left in the world. Until our life's mission is complete." he said and put a hand on Eskel's shoulder. "Which will be never." Eskel said. "What else would we do?" I asked and shrugged. "Exactly." Geralt agreed.
Lambert laughed. "Geralt was always one to swing around a speech." he said and I nodded. "Sure, but then you haven't heard one of Jaskier's." I said with a chuckle. He rolled his eyes. "Don't remind me of him. I remember his poetical nonsense quite vividly." he said.
"Hey, where did you bury or burn, or whatever, Eskel?" I asked, changing the topic. Lambert frowned. "Why?" he asked. "I want to say goodbye properly to him." I said while taking a small sip out of my mug, my waiting gaze not leaving Lambert until I get my answer. "The wolves' cave." he said with a small nod. "Thanks." I said and stood up from the table to make my way to said cave.
Drops from the stones above me and around me dripped to the floor, pooling themselves into smaller and bigger puddles. In the middle, there was a big stone with leftovers of flesh, wood and flesh covered in wood. That must be what was left of Eskel. I sniffed a little and sat down on a smaller rock with my one arm steadying on my knee. My hand resting on my chin. I pulled out the small bottle made out of leather. Usually, I'd store water in there but today it was mead.
"Eskel, hey, um-" I started and opened the flask. "I'm sorry for what happened." I said with a sigh and then put the flask to my lips. "I'd offer you some but, uh, you're dead... very very dead." I mumbled and took another sip. "hmm- right!" I exclaimed and quickly pulled the mead away, a few drops dripping on my pants. "I brought Gwent cards. Remember, you still owe me." I smiled to myself as I took out the cards from the pocket attached to my belt. "So, I assume you play Nilfgaard again. Even if I prefer to play against your Skellige deck but that's alright." I chuckled and placed the cards onto another rock next to me. "Alright, I'll be playing..." I said and closed my eyes to randomly choose a deck. "Scoia'tael it is." I said as my grip landed on the green-backed cards.
"Well, Eskel, you're not most talk active nowadays, aren't you?" I said and lazily played a card. I knew I was playing here by myself with two different decks against each other, but I wanted to do this. It's not like Eskel would know, or see, or play it with me. It's just to ease the 'debt' he still had. It wasn't actually a debt but I wanted to have matters finished and that Eskel could fully find his peace now. The wind whooshed through the cave and nearly made the cards fly off of the rock. "I've seen you play better." I mumbled and played my last card. I chuckled. "Well, seems like you've won, Eskel. Congratulations." I said with a small smile and collected the cards to put them back into my pocket.
I stood up and took a last glance into the cave, a last glance at what was left of Eskel. I hit the stone wall of the exit a few times, the sound echoing through it. "See you, Eskel." I said and left the cave. It would get dark soon and I don't have Cat with me and I do wanna find Kaer Morhen in a whole piece again. The cave was at the foot of the mountain on top of which the fortress stood. Getting down was an easy task, even when it was dark but getting up there. Well, there are stones and roots growing out of the ground. Tripping isn't much of a nice experience here. And trust me, I managed to do that a lot.