The World Around (Part 2)

Several weeks after the battle in Rinde.

"Jaskier, I want to believe these kind gentlemen are your dearest friends. Please, Jaskier, tell me it is so. Tell me we are among the marvelous company of friends who eagerly waited here to greet your noble persona. Can I have the luxury to be certain they are here with friendly intentions?" - said Coen with a sigh, looking at the man by his side.

He was forty in age, albeit looked like thirty in appearance. He believed himself to be twenty but always acted as if he was ten. A person of very intricate mind and sensitive inner world. A feather on his hat trembled as he shook his head.

"You can't." - said Jaskier cockily, because he reasonably concluded that even a couple of dozen men can't take care of two witchers. Of course, no one asked whether those particular witchers wanted to get involved or not.

"So, you have no idea why this crowd of armed gentlemen stopped us with furious faces while claiming that you ruined the untainted body of some noble lady?" - asked Coen again, while habitually placing his hand behind his back to run his fingers over two scabbards with the swords.

He was very unsettled when found nothing and gave Alan a distasteful glance.

"My friend, I am a respectful bard and poet. How can my genius and highly educated body full of tender feelings for women ruin her? No. No. I never did such a thing! You have to belive me!" - Jaskier lied without even blinking.

Alan sighed and scratched his forehead in slight shyness while quickly cutting off his vibe from utmost pornography he witnessed inside the mind of the bard, poor as a street mouse, but very adept in courting ladies of high nobility.

Courting up to horizontal positions of all kinds.

Albeit this time he jumped over his head, made a turn, and jumped again, performing a splendid maneuver to sneak into the bed of a daughter of local underworld gangster. However, Alan didn't mind it. It's not like the girl of twenty something gave her eternal love and first time to the purple disaster who can't keep his pants on. And he reasonably believed that the said gangster didn't care about someone's nightstand with his daughter. Being a father was a question on its own.

The crowd of thugs was surprisingly well disciplined. They even stood around in a certain formation that both witchers noticed at a glance. Only Jaskier was like a hen protecting the eggs.

Loud, cocky, and utterly useless.

"Jaskier, we entered Novigrad yesterday evening. You are truly a fucking talent. I don't know what else to say." - Coen grumbled and looked at the group of thugs.

"Please, dear gentlemen, stop staring at us like an audience during one of my absolutely numerous and undoubtedly successful performances. Yes, like that. Silent and in awe. Please, state your business, sirs." - raised his voice Jaskier and declared his dominance in negotiations that took place in some dilapidated dark corner of Novigrad.

Alan came to this city on the border between Redania and Temeria for a reason. He wasn't that bored to come here for simple sightseeing, but one had to admit that there were many things to see. The city was tremendous and had lots of work for the witchers. However, his primary aim here was to find a clue about something that Gaunter talked about. Although his meeting with unfathomable being was several years ago, every word never left his thoughts.

The second was the simplest one. Alan teleported Coen with no equipment. It included his swords, armor, and bag with elixirs. If Alan could compensate for most, swords of the witchers were not your random common goods. And the two precious weapons were lots on the underground auction for nobility.

Alan naturally was keen to win them over, but he lacked the invitation that he hoped would come to his hands on its own soon.

And the third reason came unaware. It ambushed him in Rinde after ransacking the hideout of assailants they annihilated. It was a jade figurine of an exquisite woman. A woman he recognized. It's a shame that he never learned about artifact compression from Triss. This spell and method just slipped his mind.

Novigrad wasn't very welcoming to sorceresses or mages, but still had a fair share of them. Finding help here would be relatively easy. But who would have thought, that after just a day Jaskier already got himself in a great deal of trouble?

Why it was great? Because of the man, Alan noticed long ago, who was now making his way to their location.

"They are waiting for me, Jaskier. And I must admit, you are the same as ever. You just can't do anything properly. That is why I always gave you very, I must underline this word very precise orders." - suddenly another man entered the scene. - "But one must notice your talents. You are very talented to mess up the most trivial tasks and make them so bothersome that I almost want to kill you."

Coen just glanced at a newcomer and stayed vigilant. It was understandable that he didn't recognize the man.

Jaskier reduced his cockiness by half while Alan seeing a very ordinary but highly unpleasant face with a plump figure, felt a tremendous amount of headache incoming. He even wanted to knock everyone out here and erase their memories, but giving the headcount, that amount of Imperio magic would bedridden him for weeks.

The man came closer and sat on the brought chair nonchalantly.

"I'm not offering you to sit as you will refuse. And Jaskier, you can forget about lady Esmeralda, you had an exciting night exercise with. She is one of my own, so don't fret. And of course, her task was to keep you in place. Sadly, she wasn't able to give me much time to properly prepare our meeting in more... comfortable place." - said the spy and grinned. - "Getting old, ye?"

Jaskier pouted and proudly declared innocence, expressing that he was still a versatile fighter in that field, but no one listened.

"To your luck, my useless friend who brings trouble everywhere you go, I'm here not for you. And not for you, Coen. Although witchers are strong, my expertise lies in areas where your talents are hardly useful. That is right." - he gave Alan a long look with cold eyes. - "I am here for you, mister Alan, Sky Flame, Butcher of Buki, and the one who so splendidly ruined my trap for a very sneaky bastard I'm trying to catch."

Alan sighed.

After a commotion they made on the streets of Rinde it would have been a miracle for Dijkstra not to pay attention. But a personal meeting was out of Alan's expectations. Still, the spy made a tremendous mistake here.

His brain is full of national secrets and he came in contact with a battle mage without proper protection. Still, Dijkstra was anything but a fool. And Alan knew full well that he wouldn't come for negotiations without having both a candy and a lash.

'He must have something on and for me to negotiate. If he is here to probe without preparation, then he isn't Dijkstra.'

"Why do you need me?" - Alan said evenly and the seasoned spy snorted.

"Man of direct speech. Can be slightly inconvenient but I approve. So let me say that you owe me. Seriously at that."

"I believe it's our first meeting and you are already talking about debts. Very bold of you."

"Naturally I'm not talking about Rinde incident, that can be considered a mistake of my men. What I mean is your great support of Temeria over these several months." - he said and crossed his arms over the large belly.

"Caravan?"

"I like to have a conversation with smart people. Although some in your company hardly can be considered as such, you are an exception." - noted Dijkstra and gave a provocative glance and Jaskier.

"At least I'm smarter than you and have enough intelligence not to argue with spies." - snorted Jaskier with provocation. Coen gave him a strange look, Alan sighed again and Dijkstra outright smiled. He was very glad to prove his point to that mess of a brain with no logic whatsoever.

"We will talk about our matters later Jaskier. And I hope you won't ruin your next work, as it is very simple. To the point where it can't get any simpler."

"I'm not working for you, Dijkstra. I'm only helping you out of patriotic feelings as I don't want some Nilfgaard dogs here." - declared the bard with a righteous face. If one didn't know Jaskier, he or she would see a real patriotic spirit here.

"Oh, but I think you work for anyone who pays you the coin. Temeria, Redania, Aedirn. You are willing to sell yourself everywhere you go and spread information left and right with no regard for the bigger picture. So, Jaskier, let's stop here, I have more pressing matters to discuss with your friend here than arguing with the likes of you." - parried Dijkstra. It was clear that bard seriously got on his nerves.

"Jaskier, let's hear the man, I still want to eat my breakfast. Yes, Dijkstra, the one you ruined." - Alan directed the last sentence at the superspy of Redania.

"Fair enough. My deal is simple. I want something from the vault of the auction organizer. It is any books and papers there. Everything you can find. As for money or other valuables, you can have them."

"So... you want us to steal?"

"Oh please, let's drop this moral bullshit. We are talking about local gangsters and their bands here. Do you think they all are good innocent people? They are bloody cutthroats and butchers."

"Yeah, and you here a saint." - said Alan with sarcasm.

"I'm not, but pointing it out so directly is inadvisable. I will pretend you never said that. By the way, you will receive an invitation from me. For two, the second person is the accompanying partner. It is better to be a lady of some skills and I have a couple of candidates here."

"I will decide with whom to go myself." - said Alan, as he already had a person in mind.

"That can be allowed, but the person at least needs to be of use." - said the spy after some deliberation.

"She is a sorceress." - simply stated Alan and received a silent nod. - "But what's in all this for me?"

"Simple. You see, I already purchased the swords for a hefty sum of money. They will be returned as soon as you agreed. And of course, I will conveniently forget and accidentally ruin anything related to your attack on the caravan. To be more specific, I will make it so its relation with Redania disappeared in thin air to never cause you inconvenience."

Alan sighed. He long ago found the manticore issue fishy. And now it turned out so nasty with three sides mixed in the fray. Temeria, that slaughtered it, Redania that most likely had some use of it and Nilfgaard that could lay their hands on Ban Ard mages.

A colossal headache. But not the one Alan wanted a relation to.

Alan gave Dijkstra a look. He didn't trust the man at all. In short, his part of the deal depended on the mood. But he had no choice. All north is boiling with the threat of Nilfgaard, Scoia'taels uprising, and inner fighting. He was not the fence seater here as well.

Was it his relation to Ciri and Geralt, contacts with Triss and Yennefer, or this caravan, he got himself into the chessboard long ago. All that was left to maneuver with smarts and not to get killed.

"We have a deal." - said Alan.

Coen crossed his arms in front of his chest in silence, while Jaskier grumbled something under his nose. Something very profane in language.