Toussaint (Part 7)

'Heliotrope and viola... I can't sense her through the necklace, that only means that she is farther than a mile from me. Ah, Ciri, what are you up to again?' - Alan walked down the road while smelling her scent.

He entered a market place with numerous stalls and a crowd of people. Most gave way when they saw his unusual attire and two swords behind his back, others gazed with reproach, as they would at any foreigner.

'She was here, bought bread?' - Alan looked at the place and kneeled down to search the ground. It was pointless by normal means, but not with his magic vision. - 'Her aura stayed here for some time. I guess she was talking with someone.'

"What are you doing down there?" - a woman's voice sounded from above.

Alan raised to his feet and saw a girl gazing at him from behind the counter. Their eyes met. She turned red and gasped.

"I'm looking for a girl. Pale hair, green eyes, about this height and similar age to yours." - he traced his chin with a palm.

"Oh..." - the girl sighed awkwardly. - "I remember her! She was wearing a sword on her back like you but only one!"

"Yes, that's her. Where did she go?" - Alan asked and slightly shifted to the side, giving way to the customer. His eyes roamed the surrounding area quickly.

"How about some wine?" - asked the girl with a crafty smile.

"But you are selling bread."

"For me! Have a drink with me!"

Alan frowned. Why are people of Beauclair so crazy about drinking wine? He barely stepped out of the palace and already got two of them trying to make him drunk.

"I am a poor witcher." - shrugged Alan.

"Oh." - the girl lost interest instantly. Her tone changed to swift and cold one. - "She was with a boy and bought an entire bucket of bread from me. They walked down the street."

"A boy?" - Alan saw another aura by her side and knew who it belonged to right away. They met halfway through the market. He glanced at the girl, noticing her large black eyes and used Vibe. - "Do you know him? Is he local?"

"Of course. Everyone knows Little Filo here. He is a good boy from the docks. I don't know more."

"Thank you." - Alan threw couple of crons on her desk and took freshly backet sweet muffin. - "Keep the change."

The girl nodded and silently watched him go away.

'So, the five to six years old boy is Little Filo and Ciri was talking to him about the case. Sadly, the merchant girl didn't hear much. Excellent choice of the source of information. Locals, especially kids, have a surprising amount of knowledge about the events happening around. It won't even surprise me to find a little boy like Filo trading information for a living.'

On the other hand, one needs to be cautious around such people as they deal with many sides of society and their trading goes many ways. Ciri is too eye-catching and befriending such gang can leave an enormous mark on her head for the hunters of Emhyr.

Alan wasn't naive enough to think the Emperor will let go of his daughter, even if Vilgefortz did so. And headhunters he will send this time are not Rience, but professional secret service men. His own force of spies, that is only equal to Dijkstra and his people.

Let alone they are now behind the enemy lines, on the territory of Nilfgaard empire. Albeit Toussaint has unique status, after all Anna Henrietta is a cousin of Emhyr himself.

'Ah, Ciri is still quite naive. That gang of kids might be a double-edged sword. Well, at least I know where to go.'

Alan followed their trail while eating. He wasn't anxious about Ciri, as she can give a fight against most people. Of course professional mercenaries are another case, but thugs and young knights will only ask for a beating if they try to bother her.

'Ah, there she is, the necklace is working. Beauclair is a vast city indeed. She noticed me too.'

Poor district was enormous and very tricky to navigate in. It was like a labyrinth of houses from stone and wood with lots of people working here and there. Mainly they did menial jobs, and it resulted not only in noise around but smell too.

Tannin, coal, iron and fish from the docks. Not the most pleasant mixture of aromas.

Soon Alan arrived at the little shack by the river. Although the house was tiny, the yard had some space to hold big gatherings.

"Alan!" - Ciri walked out with mud on her face and a relaxed smile. It was a rare sight recently, with all turmoil going on.

He wiped the dirt from her face with a sigh while the girl stood obediently and pouted.

"You forgot the meeting place. Took me quite a while to find you." - Alan looked at the crowd of kids with two of Ciri's age at the lead.

Male was looking at him like an enemy, female like a monster.

And both had slight fear, but didn't mean any harm to Ciri.

"I... I didn't! I was investigating!" - she protested and moved the stone on the ground with her foot here and there.

"I'm not blaming you, Little Lioness." - Alan smiled at her in a barely visible manner, but it was enough for the girl to notice. - "So, what is this all about?"

"Oh, you see, little Filo tried to rob me."

The boy turned sideways, as if he is not the one, and whistled something.

"And I presume without success. The worst thing one can do is try to rob a sorceress with witcher training."

The boy snorted and pressed his lips together with face turning red. Looks like Ciri did something quite shameful to the boy. She can be very... ruthless at times.

"He-he. Naturally." - Ciri said proudly. - "So, I caught him and we talked about this and that... he showed me the city and told many interesting things. You see, they know a lot, terribly much about everything. They live on the streets, work in the inns and sometimes got hired as guides. People talk, they hear many things."

Ciri took his hand and pulled inside the yard.

They walked in and Alan sat down on the ground without even as much as a little frown. That owned a bit of goodwill from the juvenile gang.

"This place is an orphanage, but also a little clinic. And the doctor disappeared about a month ago. He was a well-known physician, who helped people and believed in that prophet... how was his name again?"

"He-he, Lebeda, Cili! Cili folgot again!" - smiled a little girl with broadness of her half grown teeth. She was barely four.

"It is Ciri, Imely."

"Cir'li..." - tried to say the girl and went red. The crowd around relaxed and laughed. Only a young boy of sixteen to seventeen still looked out of place and gazed at Alan with caution and slight hostility slowly brewing inside the heart.

"So, how did he disappear and why do you think it may be a lead?" - Alan asked, while scanning kids with Vibe. Their life can't be considered good, and the doctor wasn't some grey cardinal behind the scenes as far as he understood from their viewpoint.

Naturally, Vibe can't give all the answers, as it reads the surface thoughts and gives personal information with all proper or improper understanding the person has. But facts can still be unearthed.

Ciri took some time to think about the answer. Despite her tomboyish attitude at times, she was a smart and meticulous person. That is something a stranger will never notice, but Alan knew very well nimbleness of her mind.

"He went to help a noble person during childbirth. They remembered, because he wanted to buy a new home for them all after the payment."

"Hmm, it can be a lead, yes. After all, everything about the curse revolve around the dead infants." - he nodded. That is some luck that Ciri always had, but she was looking for someone like those kids from the very beginning.

"See!" - Ciri looked at Alan in expectation of praise.

"Okay, you did well." - he patted her head.

"Hehe." - Ciri felt at ease for the first time in a while. She felt a drunken haze of freedom and forgot about danger.

Alan opted to let her be like that for some time, but keep an eye on this little trouble maker. Well, fine, not so little anymore. He shifted his eyes elsewhere.

It is never too late to pour a bucket of cold water on her hot head after she relaxed more and had a good rest from all the blood and killings. This will be beneficial for her mental health.

As for Alan... rest can change nothing for him. Only motion and new, brighter memories that act like a shield. Only moving forward without looking back.

Alan never liked looking into his own past, because it tends to look back.

"We need to go."

"Already?"

"How do you think?" - Alan came closer and leaned to her ear. Ciri felt ticklish from his breath and grew nervous. She felt so every time they are close. - "They won't listen to me, but you should advise them to keep our visit a secret. They better pretend to be strangers the next time we meet. If we meet at all."

Ciri sighed and nodded.

"Don't worry." - Alan traced her cheek with his palm and the girl comfortably leaned on his arm, half closing her eyes. - "One day you will be free and we can travel everywhere we want."

She nodded, not opening her eyes, and Alan sensed something from the side. The same was near the stall of a girl.

"You can come out. With the same result, a regimen of soldiers could have escorted us. Not stealthiness at all."

A middle-aged knight walked out from the corner of the house and cleared his throat awkwardly.