The next morning we left the inn and continued our way further north. Just out of town, we left the road, searching in the thicket for any kind of creature, but to no avail. Days passed like that, looking out for threats, and nights in which we relished in the memories of a time before we settled down. Not that we regretted that decision, but we were free back then, just the two of us in the vast wilderness of the Continent.
A week passed till we came to the next town, posters lining the road on both sides. Halting our horses, Geralt jumped off and walked over to one parchment, ripping it off the pole.
"Finally," he muttered, stomping back over to Roach, mounting her again, and handed me the poster.
Witcher wanted. 2500 crowns reward. It read.
"They don't say what it is?" I frowned, flipping the parchment over, hoping to find more information of the back – nothing. "I don't like that."
"Yeah, me neither," my husband muttered as he spurred his mare, making me do the same as we rode into town.
The people cleared the way for us, jumping from the mainroad to squeeze into the small wooden stalls lining the path. They stared at us, in both fear and awe, two hooded, armed figures. A man came running towards us, halting just before our horses' hooves when he gripped the reins tightly to bring them to a stop.
"Witcher!" the man shouted, waving his arms through the air, "Thank the Gods you're here!"
"Yeah, yeah," Geralt muttered, tossing the man the crumpled piece of parchment, "This yours?"
"Yes, yes, please, Witcher, please follow me," the man rambled as Geralt and I both dismounted our horses, "You and your – ah..."
"I'm his wife," I smiled at the man with an annoyed edge to my voice. I was used to people assuming I was Geralt's whore, but that didn't mean it didn't piss me off every single time. So I tended to correct them before they could take that word in their mouth.
"Very well. Please, please come."
Waving his arms around in various gestures all meaning 'follow me', he led us to the town hall. First, he showed us the stables, ensuring us that Roach and Shadow would be taken good care of, before he brought us to a – compared to the rest of the small town – luxurious office.
"Please, sit, Witcher. And, my lady," he said, taking his own seat behind the massive oak desk. Nodding a thanks, I lowered myself to the cushioned chair, sighing quietly at the comfort of sitting on something else than a saddle for the first time this week. Geralt, on the other hand, remained standing.
"What is this all about?" he demanded with a frown.
Fidgeting with his hands, the alderman shot me a helpless look, then faced Geralt again, sighing. "We don't know exactly what we're dealing with. The... thing... it digs up our cemetery, one grave after the other. All we find is shards of bones and broken coffins," the old man explains hesitantly, turning white as a sheet as something flashed through his eyes – horror. He gaped for a moment, trying to find words to continue, but for a while, the room was dead silent, apart from the quiet creaking of the chair when Geralt finally lowered himself.
"A group of four brave men volunteered to find out what it was, but none of them returned. It must have gotten them, too," the alderman finally speaks. In his eyes, I could see the scene where they found traces of a fight: giant footprints and more than one pool of blood, swords and shards of broken bones.
"I'm sorry," I breathed, "About your son."
"How did y-" he asked, eyes wide from shock now.
"You were thinking about him," I shrugged, my voice gentle, "I'm sure he did not have to suffer for long."
My attempt to comfort the grieving father was thrown out the window when Geralt spoke up.
"Doubt that. It's a necrophage. They're not known for killing quickly," the witcher's deep voice rumbled through the room. I shot him a quick glare, which he just answered with a shrug. He's never been a 'spoon full of sugar...' type of person, not even with our own son. "Why so much coin?" he asked, facing the alderman again.
"Our graves are sacred! This beast is defiling them, night after night. And it claimed the lives of innocent men. Witcher, this is important to us. And a dangerous creature as well; the very first one to haunt our town. We have no experience. And the matter is urgent. We were hoping a high pay would lead a witcher here, and here you are!"
Geralt nodded along with the man's words. "So you could cut the pay after the job is done?" he accused. It wouldn't be the first time he'd be deprived of what he was owed; his suspicion wasn't entirely ill-placed.
"No! Of course not!" the alderman lifted his hand at the accusation, "We keep to our word."
"Hm." Geralt huffed and nodded curtly.
"For how long has the creature been here," I asked carefully, trying up to loosen the tense situation.
"We – ah – we found the first dug up graves about four or five months ago, close to the church at first, but they keep spreading. We think it lives in the crypt, no idea for how long it's been in there."
"Mhmhh, thank you." I got up. "We should get going, take a look before nightfall."
With a grunt, Geralt followed me outside, grabbed me by the arm and turned me to face him, his eyes narrowed and lips set in a thin line.
"You're not going there," he stated.
"I wha-?!"
"You go and look for an inn, I'll go take a look."
"No, Geralt. I came with you because you need help. I won't sit still in some tavern while you are out there risking your life. I don't want this to end like our wedding night! I'll come with you, end of discussion."
With a sigh, he released my arm and started stomping off in the direction of the small church. I hurried to keep up with him. He was doing that on purpose; he knew that he was too fast for me with his long legs. And I knew why he was doing that – to protect me – but right now, it pissed me off.
"Geralt," I hissed, "For fuck's sake! Wait!"
With a huff, he stood and I ran up to him.
"Thanks," I muttered and we continued walking, slower now, until we reached the church.
"Can you at least look at the graves further away from the crypt?" my husband questioned in a huff.
"Mhmhh," I hummed in return, my eyes already scanning the graveyard – quite big for such a small town.
With a glance at the sky, Geralt took hold of my arm, making me focus back on him. "Hurry, alright. Back here in ten minutes. I want you to be gone from here before dusk."
"I know," I breathed. Better to agree with him than to argue. Still, I had to supress the urge to roll my eyes at his overprotectiveness. There was nothing I could do about that, though. I could sense nervousness on him, a constant pressure to make sure I was safe. With a sigh, I reached my hands to his face. "Minne, look at me. And listen. Concentrate on the job. This is not any different from when you go alone, alright? I know what I'm doing; I know how to defend myself. And I'm pretty sure my magic is stronger than yours. So just... focus."
"Hm," he huffed, not relaxing one bit. Honestly, what did I expect?
I pulled him down for a deep kiss in a last attempt to calm him.
"What was that for?" he asked in a daze as I pulled back. Smirking, I just shrugged and set a foot into the cemetery, making my way to the far side, away from the crypt.
I found just what the alderman had described: dug up graves, destroyed coffins and shattered remainders of bones. Row after row looked like that, tombstones hanging in weird angles, sometimes threatening to fall into the gaping hole, the only indicator of the person that once was buried there was the name engraved in stone, everything else just... gone.
Crouching down next to one grave, I inspected the edge a little further, hoping to find out which creature it was exactly to haunt this poor town. Scratches left by large hands with long nails, clawmarks left by a huge beast, no doubt. The dirt it dug up littered a radius of a few yards, shattered pieces of wood proving one thing; the creature was strong, no doubt. I leaned in just a little closer, when –
"Nienna?" the witcher's shout rang through my ears, making my head snap up. Quickly, I ran back to the gate to meet with Geralt.
"I know what it is," I panted slightly from my sprint, "A gr-"
"Graveir," Geralt and I spoke at the same time, "And it wakes us soon, so we better get going."
He gently shoved me to move, but after a few steps, I stopped abruptly, turning around just as fast.
"We should stay here. Watch it. Just to make sure what exactly we're dealing with," I suggested, and before Geralt could protest, I added, "Outside the graveyard grounds."
He seemed to consider for a moment, taking in the whole area, then focusing on me.
"Fine. Over there, the bushes." He pointed to a large scrub just by the gate. "I'll stay here; you go tell the alderman that we're staying here. Tell them they should stay at home and that we're dealing with a -"
"I know, I know, minne," I smiled, putting a hand on his shoulder reassuringly, "How many times do I have to tell you-?"
"That it's not your first time... Yeah, I know, but-" he interrupted, only to be interrupted by me.
"No 'but's, I know what I'm doing; I've been around for a little longer than you, and I dealt pretty well in that time, you know."
Finally, finally, my constant reassurance seemed to break through his tense shell. He smiled at me, eyes twinkling with a memory of what felt like another life.
"Yeah, I know. How could I ever forget? That feisty little kitten, either brave of stupid enough to attack a witcher from behind," he chuckled.
"Hey, I did good. If it hadn't been for that damn wall..." I laughed back, cocking a brow at him as his hand came to rest on my hips.
"Wishful thinking," he grinned, "And now you should hurry. I want you back here when that thing wakes up, okay?" I nodded. "And bring blankets, the night's gonna be cold."
"Yeah, yeah, but I have a human furnace," I tease, getting up on my tippy toes to press a chaste kiss to his lips. Only reluctantly, Geralt lets go of me, but when he does, I jog down the path we came, back to the small town.
I knocked at the alderman's office, but no answer.
"Shit," I muttered, turning on my heels and hurrying over to the stables, grabbing Geralt and my bags. A huff came from Roach and I patted the side of her neck. "I know, girl," I whispered soothingly, "But you two have to stay here for tonight. We'll come and get you in the morning, alright?"
Shadow nodded her head lightly and I laughed, gently petting her soft muzzle. She licked at my hand and I quickly retrieved two apples, feeding one to each of them. "Be good, yeah?" both of them blew through their noses. "Good," I smiled and rushed out of the stables.
Where could the alderman be? Giving it a try, I entered the tavern with determined steps. And to my luck, I found him sitting at the counter, a pint of beer standing just by his hand. Quickly, I stepped up at him, telling him everything Geralt had told me to. "Make sure no one comes close to the graveyard, not today and not tomorrow."
He nodded, a little drunkenly. When I made my way back outside, I heard him yell over the tavern-cheer, ordering his people to stay at home for the next day and to stay away from the cemetery.
"Here," I huffed a whisper as I crawled into the large scrub, joining my husband.
"Took you quite long," he commented, slight worry lacing his voice, mirrored my his eyes.
"Sorry, the alderman wasn't where he should have been," I shrugged, "oh, and I got this." I handed him his satchel with a knowing smile.
"Thanks," Geralt whispered, taking the bag from my hand and pulled out three vials.
While the witcher did his job, I set up a little camp for us, making sure to move as little as I could, not wanting the Graveir to notice us, in case it had left the crypt without us knowing.
Just as the last rays of the sun disappeared, a bone-chilling crunching sound echoed over the open. And then we saw it, a large, burly beast with big hands and a proportionally small head emerged from the church's backdoor. I held my breath for a moment, unsure if it would hear us, but when Geralt uncorked the first vial of the night with a plop, and the creature didn't snap its ugly head in our direction and came charging at us, I let out a quiet sigh of relief.
We watched for a while, seeing the thing dig up the first grave and devour the corpse. In this moment, I was glad my vision wasn't as sharp as my husband's. The sickening cracking and slurping sounds, produced by the Graveir sucking marrow out of rotting was enough to make my stomach turn; with a visual it would be straight down horrifying.
Despite the slight nausea churning my stomach, I was overcome with sudden tiredness and rolled up on the mat I had put out, my back pressed against Geralt's side in an attempt to soak up as much of his warmth as I could. The night proving itself to bring quiet a chilling wind that even the bush couldn't protect us from. With a low chuckle, Geralt covered me up with a blanket, positioning himself in a way that he could both watch the Graveir and wrap me up in his warm body.
"Thank you," I whispered in a yawn, trying to tune out the horrible sounds coming from the graveyard. Back then, these sounds wouldn't have fazed me, but being a mother must have changed me more than I realized.
It went on for hours, the crunching, the cracking, the slurping, the digging, an occasional roar when the bounty was meek. The moon stood high, its light breaking even through the thick crown of leaves surrounding us. By now, I had turned in Geralt's arms, facing away from the monster that would definitely follow me in my dreams tonight. It wasn't that I was scared – I have faced worse monsters, both creature and human; as had Geralt. It was more the thought that this thing lived off corpses. Not humans that it had killed beforehand, just to eat them, but people that had been buried, sometimes for years! Just the thought that even after your death, you wouldn't be safe in this world, had something gravely unsettling.
But the soft moonlight painting Geralt's face in all shades of silvery shadow calmed me immensely. His eyes flicking to mine from time to time soothed my racing mind and churning stomach. He had taken his potion, his eyes were onyx, no trace of the soft gold I loves so much and called home to be found in them. The paleness of his skin made the black of his eyes stand out even more, just as it did with the dark veins that cris-crossed wildly beneath the dark orbs. But even when he looked like that, once his gaze landed on me, it held softness. Maybe it was a softness only I was able to see, but it was there, making me feel safe, seeing the beast he was made to be and knowing he'd do everything in his might to protect the people he loved.
Another yawn ripped through my body and I quickly covered my mouth to stifle it, not wanting the Graveir to realize it's being watched. Strong arms pulled me closer against a warm chest, big hands stroking my back soothingly.
"You should sleep, my love," Geralt whispered, tugging the blanket up to my chin and nuzzling my head into his neck to keep my exposed skin warm.
"You sure?" My words were slurred by sleep slowly but surely consuming my mind and body, but if he needed me to stay awake, I would fight it.
"I am. Look at you, you're already half sleeping. Look, I'll be fine, and I don't want you to be all grumpy tomorrow, okay? That's my job."
I chuckled tiredly, pressing myself closer against him until I couldn't go further. "I love you," I whispered and the moment the last word left my lips, I fell into a deep slumber.