Chapter 56

So it was after the night of gathering the bandits' belongings, mostly weapons and the odd coin pouch, and making sure no monsters would feast on their remains we continued our journey with the first rising of the sun. We traveled down the main road for an hour or two before we finally came across a bridge that spanned over the Gwenllech river, but rather than crossing it we followed Vesemir off the main road and continued east following what Vesemir called "The Witchers Trail".

Apparently only trained Witchers of the School of the Wolf knew how to follow the hidden signs safely through the path to Kaer Morhen, a few days journey rather than the weeks it would normally take taking other paths. Anyone who tried to do so without knowing the path would likely meet a terrible end, which was why young Witchers called it "The Killer." Vesemir explained it was that way since it passed close by to a number of out of the way monster nests along with being a hard trial to move through in general.

Thankfully we had the Grandmaster of the Wolf School leading us and he knew the trail like the back of his wrinkled hand. Shame that Ivar wouldn't get to see any of it since the first day of the journey had him passed out next to Vesemir due regular applications of Somne.

"Your friend snores like a bear!" Vesemir shouted from the front of our little caravan. Ivar's noted snoring audible even with another fully loaded cart between us.

"It helps if you turn him on his side!" I offered with a smirk.

"He would roll out of the cart! I don't dislike him enough to do that." Vesemir complained, apparently getting annoyed that Ivar's honest interest in monsters and publishing the truth about them to the wider population had made the old monster-slayer warm up to the scholar.

"It's only for a day! We could just put him in a blindfold sooner if you want." Leo pointed out.

"Maybe…" Vesemir grumbled, voice so low I could barely hear it over the carts' wheels turning along the path and the sound of the animals with us.

He didn't, although Vesemir did put Ivar in the back of the cart instead so that he could lie down and not bother him with his snoring.

---

The second day of the journey and after a good way into the trail Vesemir had decided that we were far enough along and 'he wouldn't survive a trip back if he was planning harm', so he woke Ivar up and simply put a sack over his head.

"What was held in this before? Onions?" Sack Ivar asked.

"Turnips." Vesemir corrected.

"Certainly smells like it." Sack Ivar commented as he worked to eat some bread while keeping the sack on.

"At least it wasn't a sack that held medical herbs or alchemical reagents or else you would be smelling worse and passing out on us." Leo said.

"I think a sack over your head makes you seem very graceful." I joked.

"I pull it off better than you do at least." Sack Ivar fired back.

I heard Vesemir sign heavily. "Children, the lot of you." he complained. Though I could swear I could see him smirking a bit by our byplay. I think the old guy liked the company in general when in a friendly setting.

Not that this setting was a very safe one. For the most part, we kept silent as Vesemir asked us to keep quiet so that we could all maintain a watch against potential threats. The biggest concern was monsters attracted to the animals, but there was a chance of bandits hiding out here as well for all that it was crazy to do so this far from the main road.

Of course, later we had to deal with a pack of wolves stalking our camp for practically the whole night. Vesemir said that with winter so close pickings are slim for the beasts and with all the animals we had on us along with whatever else they could smell we made an attractive target. I felt bad for them honestly since they were only hungry and wanting to survive.

Thankfully just having some torches out and being on high alert made it so the wolves saw us as too big of a risk of attacking, especially with Ivar nearly hitting a couple with his sling at long range making it clear what would happen if they crossed the invisible line. They moved on for easier prey by morning.

I did Sign Xiil at them saying how we came across some boar tracks the day before if they were interested, I think they were.

"Have to say I never came across a Sign like that. Then again, the Griffins were always playing more with magic than most of the other schools." Vesemir brought up the subject as we prepared to move out once more.

"It's Xiil, it connects to the element of Mind and Water like Axii. It allows me to have brief and basic communication with animals and even monsters. Granted, it doesn't make them any more inclined to like me, unless I use Axii on them first." I explained.

"Interesting, though sounds pretty situational."

"It is, though it does help train Dogmeat and occasionally just talk to Griffin. I used it on a harpy once and knowing what it had to say about Ivar and I wasn't useful."

"Very informative though from an educational standpoint at least." Sack Ivar said.

"I also know Veoth, Air Element, that lets out ultrasonic sounds at a target which can really disorientate them and could even be deadly at full power or underwater. Finally there is Gal which uses the Fifth Element to teleport short distances. I even know the lesser used Signs like Somne, Supirre and Heliotrop." I listed.

"Way too many in my opinion. Witchers aren't mages. You only need the few basics at most and that's all." Vesemir said in his usual grumpy old man voice. "Besides, if your hands get too injured in a fight you might not be able to even make the proper gestures to use them right."

"Doesn't that apply to holding a sword too?" I asked with a raised brow.

"Maybe for you. When I'm done with you, you'll be able to hold a blade even if your whole hand is broken."

"He will." Leo spoke up with a visage of a person who was not enjoying looking back on the experience.

"Oh joy." I muttered.

---

Another day on the trail, another hungry wolf pack driven away. I guess Kaer Morhen is in serious need of farm animals if Vesemir got so many at once and knew he risked it attracting attention from predators.

"I am curious about something." Sack Ivar spoke up. "Why is it that Witchers spend their winters cooped up and away from people? While it is true that snowfall here in the north could seriously hamper travel would there not be monsters that would need hunting?"

"Not as many as you would think." Vesemir answered as he steered his cart through a narrow path in the forest around us. "Most monsters enter a period of hibernation not unlike some normal animals, finding a nice lair or nest to spend their time in until the spring when prey becomes more plentiful. And even inhuman itinerant monster hunters need time off to rest and recuperate from the year's trials. Also helps that most people are cooped up just the same as us so actually running into monsters is much less likely."

"Not all of them though." Leo spoke up. "Monsters like spectres who don't have physical needs can still haunt places deep into winter, though like said people are hardly around them enough to matter." talking as if he was recalling what he read in a book or from what Vesemir taught him.

Vesemir shook his head, a gesture unnoticed by Sack Ivar. "It's the lesser evil," he said. "If we're not out and about, more people will die. But if we don't have the opportunity to rest from the Path on occasion, we'll wear out, get sloppy, and potentially die ourselves. This, in turn, would kill far more people in the future from the monsters we never had the chance to slay."

That makes sense, even with peak human bodies Witchers couldn't work 24/7 or else they would go crazy. Having an excuse to settle back at their homes for a few months would be nice.

Vesemir then suddenly called out. "Leo, what type of monster is extremely active during the winter months and can reduce an entire hamlet to nothing if unlucky?"

"I… I'm not sure." Leo sounded glum admitting that. "I think it was a type of necrophage?" he offered.

"Cursed Being actually." Vesemir corrected firmly but not without some warmth. "Have been a thing even during the elves' time. Evil spirits that come out during winter and possess poor sods who run out of food and resort to cannibalism to survive. We call these things-"

"Wendigos." I spoke up almost without thought, the description sounding just like it in my mind.

"Correct. Nasty creatures. Far faster than their gaunt appearance would imply, with razor sharp teeth and claws. Jump around their prey to confuse it before going in for the kill. Drag them back to their caves to devour every scrap of flesh." Vesemir described. "They usually appear only in locations low in human presence, or in places facing famine. Areas where it's hard to find food. Be thankful they are nearly always inactive during warmer parts of the year."

"What would happen if it was cold longer, or all year round?" I asked as thoughts of the ice age world Geralt traveled through came to mind.

"I'm sure they would be out more often then, tracking down any warm-blooded things they could get their claws on." Vesemir said. "I hunted a few in my lifetime, easily some of the most dangerous contracts I have ever done."

"For all that I am curious about a rarely seen creature… there aren't any around Kaer Morhen, correct?" Sack Ivar asked.

"No. Everyone who died there did so by means other than starving and eating each other." Vesemir said grimly. "Leo, we're going to have to review the chapter on wendigos when we get back. Along with a general retread of cursed beings."

"Yes master." Leo agreed with no complaint. "It'll make for good reading during winter anyhow."

"I would not mind taking part in your teaching session alongside seeing your books." Save Ivar spoke up.

"Seconded." I said, a little freaked out now about the idea of fighting wendigos and cursed beings in general. They tend to be pretty varied in power and form since apparently any person who just hates enough could cast a curse on a person, granted it is more likely with some magical power/knowledge which is rarer but still.

"Well I got a whole lecture for you all then. Werewolves may be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of cursed beings, but I should tell you about the time I had to deal with a woman who was cursed into a painting of all things…" Vesemir then went into a whole tale of how a vindictive hag had trapped a little girl into a painting and forced her to live out her life in it until Vesemir finally got her out as a young woman.

I think I can get why, after tales like that, people would not like mages.

---

It was on the third day that we had reached the final leg of our journey. We climbed the path up a hill and when we reached the top were able to see the late autumn majesty that was Kaer Morhen Valley.

A valley that was surrounded on all sides by the snow capped Blue Mountains and full of mostly evergreen trees standing tall and proud and a minority of trees naked of leaves this late in the season. I saw the Gwenllech next to us stretch off into the mountains and not far from it I could see the fortress itself not too far away.

I have to say, Kaer Morhen was pretty good looking despite being old, understaffed, and in need of repairs nearly all over. The granite fortress may have sported more than a few holes in the walls but it still had an aura about it. This was the headquarters of the School of the Wolf and I wish I could have seen it in its prime, something which Vesemir likely still recalled.

I was just taking everything in when-

"Get down!" Vesemir called out suddenly as a shadow passed over us along with a loud roar. Acting on reflex I let loose an Aard above me and watched as it hit a freaking 

I must have hit it in the wing as it was coming down to grab something, likely one of the goats or cows, which messed up its dive and caused it to veer away from us. It recovered it's flight quickly enough and didn't look any worse for wear taking an Aard powerful enough to break the bones of a healthy adult man. All it did was roar in what I was sure was annoyance as it flew off, apparently deciding we weren't worth it.

"What is it?! What did I miss?!" Sack Ivar shouted in excitement.

"Godsdamned forktail. Leave the valley for barely a few weeks and they forget the pecking order." Vesemir grumbled as he sheathed his sword and pulled off Ivar's sack.

"And I missed it?!" Ivar yelled in dismay.

Ivar, always focusing on the important things.

"Must be collecting food for its nest with winter around the corner. Of course now that it's attacked us can't have it hanging it around anymore and thinking it can try again later." Vesemir pointedly ignored Ivar.

"We have to hunt it down then?" Leo asked as he calmed the animals who were understandably freaked out from the forktail. Something which all three of us had to use Axii on our horses after the attack so they didn't run off in panic.

"Later, first let's get inside to unpack and get our guests settled. We have been on the road long enough and need to get our supplies into storage anyhow." Vesemir said as he urged his cart forward.

I didn't complain and I was simply enjoying the fact that I was finally here.

The first step was finally done, now it was for the second.