A/N: Unlucky chapter 13. Oops.
Despite a rather steamy make out session between Elizabeth and the Witcher after their conversation ended, nothing else happened that night. Elizabeth still felt uneasy from the roller-coaster of a day she had and Geralt didn't push her. Instead they fell asleep wrapped up in each other's arms, Elizabeth's consciousness lulling away with the sound of Geralt's oddly slow heart.
When the sun came up the next morning Elizabeth was cold, much colder than she had been when she fell asleep. Turning over to the side she saw that Geralt was gone from the room. Trying to calm any racing conclusions she searched the area and noticed that his swords and pack were still there. He would never go anywhere without at least one of the swords so she let out a deep breath and let herself relax.
The day before had been one of the strangest days of her life, maybe even the strangest day of her life. And she certainly had not intended on revealing any of the things she had been thinking about Geralt. She was supposed to be finding a way to get back home and see her family, not running around a magical world with a sexy mutant boyfriend. Not that she expected Geralt to even want to be her boyfriend. The Witcher didn't seem like the type to want commitment like that, he probably just wanted to finally get in her pants.
But he's been so...gentlemanly.
She also thought how Geralt would probably have a good laugh about someone thinking he was a gentleman, at least after seeing his reaction to someone calling him Sir. Her foggy morning musings were cut off with the doorknob turning and the door opening like the person doing so was trying not to be disruptive. Unfortunately for that person he was over six feet tall and built like a truck so he was difficult to miss and Elizabeth was already awake.
"Good morning." Elizabeth smiled lazily at Geralt.
"Good Morning Beth." He smiled back, she realized that he didn't smile like that often, one that actually met his golden eyes and crinkled them at the corners.
Sitting up in the bed Elizabeth was delighted to see that he had brought her a bowl of what looked like creamy oatmeal and berries. He must have remembered how much she enjoyed the berries at the farm before they arrived in Rinde. He also had a mug of ale in his hand that he drank from liberally.
"Isn't it too early for alcohol?" Elizabeth asked, her nose crinkled as the smell of the beer hit her.
"Why do you ask that?" He seemed genuinely confused, must be normal here she supposed.
"Nothing, just that where I'm from the beer normally doesn't come out until at least lunch." She shoved a large spoonful of her oatmeal into her mouth, it was sweetened well by the berries and what tasted like cinnamon, but not overpowering like some of the stuff she was used to seeing at the store.
She closed her eyes and let out a happy sound at the taste. A sound that sort of sounded like a moan that made Geralt choke slightly on his ale. Elizabeth didn't even notice as she was digging in for more. In just a matter of a few minutes the oatmeal was gone and she was leaning against Geralt's shoulder as they sat on the bed.
The Witcher had finished draining his mug and set it down on the nightstand turning towards Elizabeth to talk to her about the plans for the day. As he was opening his mouth she grabbed the sides of his face with both hands and pulled him towards her for a deep kiss, one that Geralt reciprocated eagerly despite his surprise, they stayed that way for a few moments until Elizabeth needed to breathe and pulled away.
"Just wanted to make sure I didn't dream what happened last night." She told him.
The Witcher pulled her down to lay on top of him, she settled comfortably on his chest and he played with her hair absentmindedly.
"You definitely didn't." He smiled again. "But I was about to tell you I was going to look for the Djinn today. I'll be gone until dark most likely." Seeing how disappointed she looked that he was leaving the smile fell. Elizabeth opened her mouth to protest but Geralt was a few steps ahead of her and shushed her with a finger to her lips that made her eyebrows knit together in frustration. She was supposed to look angry but Geralt had a hard time not thinking it was adorable.
"You can't come, it's too dangerous if it gets loose." He told her seriously, clutching her to him a bit tighter.
"You can't tell me what to do." She pouted, "I'm a grown ass woman and if I want to come with you I'm going to." She pushed herself up but since she had been laying on Geralt's chest she ended up having to straddle his hips in order to face him properly. This was awfully distracting for the Witcher.
"I don't want you to get hurt." He was still very serious about his stance on the issue but Elizabeth was noticing how his tone gave just slightly.
"If the big scary genie escapes then I'll run away. Or Jaskier can come too and he can protect me." Geralt still couldn't help the low growl he emitted when she said Jaskier's name, particularly in reference to what he should be doing for her.
"Really Geralt I told you I didn't mean what happened with him." She crossed her arms in front of her. Geralt was once again distracted as her breasts lifted higher than usual above the neckline of her dress and they squished together. She noticed this time that his eyes were not where she wanted them to be and directed his eyes back to her own.
"Hey, my eyes are up here. Men here are just the same as the ones back home. My goodness!" She complained.
"Fine you can come, and so can Jaskier. If anything, and I mean anything goes wrong you both are to get as far away as possible and let me handle it." He relented.
"Thank you!" Her miffed expression turned back to her usual smile and she kissed him again, this time she pulled away after just one.
"I'll go tell Jaskier!" She jumped off of him and was out the door in a flurry to inform their friend of the plans.
"Fuck, shes going to be the death of me." Geralt muttered to himself as he too got out of bed.
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Roach and Jaskier's mare trotted next to each other as the trio made their way to the bank of a lake that had been marked on the map Geralt was staring at intensely.
"According to the mage this is where she felt the magical signature of the Djinn." The Witcher stated.
"Do the genies come in a bottle? " Beth asked from her place behind him.
"Djinn, not genie. And sometimes, it's whatever vessel it is trapped in." Geralt's wolf medallion began to vibrate and increase in intensity as they neared closer.
"There's definitely some kind of magic here, stay with the horses." The Witcher dismounted Roach gracefully and pulled a thick net from her saddlebag.
"What are you going to do to get it?" Jaskier asked, one hand reaching to rub the back of his neck.
"I'm going to fish it out." He said simply.
"All this pomp and circumstance, for fishing?" the bard clarified incredulously.
"You wanted to come." Geralt had known this was not going to be the most riveting of hunts as long as everything went according to plan, it was their own fault if they got bored.
"Actually, Lizzy wanted to come. She told me there was going to be an adventure." He pouted.
"Just, stay with the horse damn it!" Geralt stomped away from the bard thoroughly frustrated.
"Why don't you play me something?" He heard Beth ask Jaskier as he walked towards the waters edge. The Witcher shook his head and focused his attentions away from his companions and towards the lake, stalking around the shallow waters at the edges until he identified the strongest magical pull. He then pulled off his heavy leather armor and set it down, wading into the water until he was submerged up to his chest, using his enhanced strength he directed the net out into the water and waited for it to sink all the way down so he could pull it back in and inspect the trappings.
It took him at least 3 hours throwing the net into the water and then pulling it back in to find what he was looking for. A clay amphora with a seal on it inscribed with runes. The way the silver at his throat reacted to it he knew it was his best guess. And he was getting tired of "fishing" he heard rustling from the foliage behind him and the smell of jasmine wafted towards him.
"Beth I told you to stay with Jaskier and the horses." He was tired but he was still a Witcher and if she thought she could sneak up on him she was mistaken.
"Is that it?" Her melodic voice spoke from the waters edge. He turned around to face her.
"I think so. Has this been everything you'd hoped?" He asked her with a raised eyebrow.
"I at least got to watch you." She smiled. "Don't see how this was so dangerous though."
He gathered the net, clutched the amphora to him and made his way out of the water. Once he was out he shook the water off of himself and flicked the hair out of his eyes.
"Finding it wasn't necessarily the dangerous part." the Witcher explained. "The Djinn itself is the dangerous part, if the vessel breaks then the Djinn's powers are unconstrained. There's no telling what it can do without restraints."
"So do you really get three wishes?" She asked curiously.
"Yes,that's what they say." He answered.
"Why does Yennefer need all three?" She wondered, "If she just needs one wish to fix her fertility issue then why can't she share?"
The Witcher sighed, he didn't know why and didn't necessarily care why the witch wanted all three to herself. Geralt couldn't think of anything he'd wish for anyway.
"Djinn require wishes to be very direct, if you try to ask for something too complicated then they get off track and you can end up with something completely different. They also like to be tricky and literal in their interpretations. Perhaps she wants multiple wishes in order to ensure her goal, she might have to ask for it in phases." The Witcher gave his best guess, but at the most he could still only see her using two of the wishes. One perhaps to restore her womb and another to ensure it fertile or to give her her ideal mate perhaps.
"But it doesn't matter." He donned his armor once again and grabbed Elizabeth by his unoccupied hand, leading back to the horses. "She asked for a Djinn and I'm going to give her the Djinn. Then she's going to help us with the portal."
"Couldn't we just wish for a portal?" Beth questioned.
"Fuck, I don't know!"
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Elizabeth dropped her questioning. She was genuinely curious about the whole thing and was generally distrustful of Yennefer. Though that could be the 'sex pollen' grudge getting to her. Geralt though was looking very exasperated and she didn't want to push him too far. She mounted Roach and this time Geralt sat behind her, caging her in with his arms on the reigns.
They were a few hours from the main city proper and the guarded gate, the ride out to the lake had been almost peaceful. Elizabeth had hugged Geralt's waist tightly and pressed her face into his back watching the trees rush by, savoring the scent of leather, musk and herbs. The distinct smell of Geralt was something that she couldn't really explain the appeal of, other than it made her feel comfortable and warm. She had always hated the smell of that ridiculous Axe Body Spray that the guys she was around back home used.
About halfway through the forest Geralt's body tensed, his body was never soft but it was as if he had turned to stone in the saddle behind her. She turned her face to see what was wrong as he stopped Roach and motioned for Jaskier to slow his mare as well. He was listening to something, then his nostrils flared, then his brows set in a look of determination. An arrow flew through the air and struck Elizabeth in the side of her torso causing her to jolt,she would have fallen off the horse if not for Geralt catching her. The pain was so strong it shut off all of her other senses, nothing could be felt but the tear of muscle and the lightness in her head as lifeblood began to pour.
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Geralt saw the arrow but was too late to stop it, for even he wouldn't have been fast enough to draw a sword and parry it away in time not knowing which direction it had come from. If he was a praying man he would have prayed for it to miss, maybe he should have been a praying man as the arrow struck flesh. Beth's flesh.
Geralt was quick to catch the woman before she could completely fall from the horse, but when he had steadied her and assessed the damage the side of her dress and the hand that had caught her were both covered in thick red blood. He knew that there were others in the woods, he had heard their footsteps and had smelled the stench of men who had been living off the land for at least a month. Though they had managed to stalk and surround the group and fired the weapon. He cursed his incompetence, dismounted and yelled to Jaskier to get Beth somewhere else. He could tell the bard was in shock as his reaction time was painfully slow. But he managed to jump off of his horse and grab Beth, running into the trees with her in his arms, she never even screamed.
Another arrow came towards him but this time he was prepared and knocked it away with his steel blade.
"Come out and fight cowards!" He yelled.
"Your odds are not in your favor." Sneered a gangling man in shoddy leathers that appeared in front of him, the man held an old steel sword. Behind him came two more similar men as well as a plain and dirty woman wielding a crossbow. Bandits. Part of the reason Geralt preferred to take back roads and an obstacle he was daft to believe they wouldn't face eventually.
"If you truly believe that thief, then you have never fought a Witcher." he growled and lunged first to the woman with the crossbow. The woman that shot Beth.
She attempted to load another arrow as he approached but she carried no short range weapons. One of the men tried to come to her aid but Geralt had already sliced her neck before he could thrust his sword at the Witcher. Geralt was ready for the attack and easily defended against the blade, as well as another coming from the other direction. The third man was rummaging through Roach's saddlebags. He parried one of the swords and flung it away from the bandit's grip with ease. The second attacker received a swift kick to the gut, knocking him off balance while Geralt speared the unarmed bandit in the back after he had turned it to retrieve his weapon. Then before the other could compose himself his head was rolling away in the grass. Sweat dripped down the Witcher's brow and he slowed his breathing, anger over Beth and frustration from doing the mage's quest had overtaken him. The blood of his enemies streaked his face and clothing, the blood of Beth was sticky on his hands. The feral expression of the Witcher resembled the snarling Wolf medallion as he spun around to face the last thief.
He was literally shaking in his boots after witnessing Geralt cut down his companions with ease, he knew he didn't stand a chance. He could still feel Beth and Jaskier's heartbeats, telling him that they did not make it far. Beth's was much too slow and the metallic smell of her blood was overwhelming even at such a far distance. She was dying and they were too far away from town to get there in time.
Geralt shook his head to clear it enough to finish his final goal. Geralt was a man that killed monsters, and as far as the group of bandits were concerned to him, they were all monsters today. Geralt caught the man by his scrawny neck and slammed his back against the nearest tree knocking the potion bottles he had been examining out of his hand and shattering them.
"P-please." The bandit sputtered, unable to catch his breath with Geralt's inhuman strength crushing his windpipe. Geralt's sword pushed without resistance into the man's heart and ended up skewering his limp body to the tree he was pushed against. Somehow the Witcher had managed to push it at least six inches into the wood.
The Djinn. Geralt thought back to Beth arguing with him about how Yennefer didn't need all three wishes. There would be no side of the deal for her to uphold if Beth died and Geralt was sure he would become truly as emotionless and numb as people said he was.
Yanking the vessel from the saddle bag and roughly removing the wizard's seal, at first he was infuriated that nothing happened, then the leaves on the trees began to tremble and the wind picked up, whipping his white hair around his face.
"I wish to heal Beth." He begged the wind, for the first time in his extremely long life, he begged.