Novigrad (Part 13)

He stretched out his hand, feeling the icy touch of water droplets.

"Rain... huh." - came a melancholic sigh. - "I only recall it when it rains."

"Recall what?" - Naevis stepped forward, making a little dome of thin water above their heads.

"Three dear persons. Two of them I can't remember no matter how much I try. The third one fell under my hand. I dislike rain. It's full of loneliness."

"But you are not alone today, no?" - she said while they were moving down the street.

"I'm not." - he said with a slight smile.

'But I feel I am.' - he thought inside. Speaking of it, he recalled another scene that slightly dampened his feeling of melancholy. It was the first time he found rain beautiful. - 'Several years have gone past since then, huh?'

Alan lifted his head and looked at the gloomy night sky.

* * *

Several years ago. On the way to Flotsam.

"Hua... hey, Alan, I want more. That's not enough, give me more, pretty please!" - a girl of about ten years old hopped around a boy who sat in meditation. Nearby a man with two swords on his back and hair as white as first snow took care of his horse, removing the saddle.

"Ciri, don't disturb him." - said the man evenly.

"Hmpf... he should like it when I disturb him! He should thank me for my attention! Hmpf... hmpf." - pouted the girl, but still sat down in front of the boy and looked at him with a curious look. In a couple of breaths of time, she began to fidget around, after another couple of breaths her face revealed utmost boredom. And finally, she couldn't sit still and stand up.

"Alan... hey, Alan. I terribly want more of that black drink with bubbles! It is sweet and tasty and tickles! I so want it. Give me more, pretty please!" - she made the cutest face possible, tilted her head to the side, and came so close that her forehead nearly knocked the nose of the boy. - "Come on, Alan! Give me, give me!

An exasperated sigh escaped from the boy, while he opened his eyes and flicked her forehead. He wasn't angry in the slightest. Ciri might have behaved like a spoiled child sometimes, but in reality, she intuitively knew when to stop and not cross the line, when her cute act turned from something that uplifted the mood to irritating rumbling.

"Fine, fine. Even the ghosts will flee far away under your nagging."

"He-he, I'm that strong, right, Geralt?" - she took a can of cola from Alan and laughed openly while rubbing her nose.

"No. Any wraith can kill you easily. If you see one, run." - said witcher seriously and sat down. He took out whetstone and cleaning tools to perform proper maintenance of the swords.

Ciri pouted, showed him her pink tongue, and opened the can with another wow escaping her lips.

"So tasty!" - Ciri as usual waited for the duo to do something interesting, but saw no movements from them in a minute and grew restless with energy again. She looked around the open field inside the forest.

Alan observed with half-opened eyes, how adorable girl full of life and energy skimped away again, but not too far. She entered the field of flowers and crouched there like a little lion ready to fight butterflies, touching and admiring colorful petals while drinking her fill.

Meanwhile, he forgot the rain. It didn't look dark or bring the coldness. It was a bright rain with no clouds in the sky.

It painted the ambiance in the rainbow, creating a hazy image of a surreal scene.

A little girl dancing over the field of flowers, laughing at the world, that tried to defeat her with darkness and blood.

A charming girl shrouded in light and a rainbow above her head.

* * *

"What are you thinking about?" - Naevis looked at a slight warm smile on the usually distant face and felt a pang of uncertainty in her heart. It was her first time seeing him with such an expression.

"Nothing in particular. Just that I suddenly find the rain brighter than it usually is." - replied Alan with a relaxed feeling, but it went away as soon as they stepped into a dark alley.

His face again became cold, but this time with a tinge of battle readiness.

Naevis felt the change and frowned too.

"We are surrounded." - she whispered and prepared delayed spell, ready to enter the fight with a defensive move.

There was no talking and no shouting. No one came out of the shadows to perform a villain speech with a smug face like they do in novels and films.

These people were professionals, they knew full well the importance of surprise attack and fast killing moves. Alan heard a twang of a bowstring and turned around, unsheathing his steel sword. Steel cut the air with a whistling sound and a strike landed on the edge.

Bolt deflected away, but that was just the start.

Naevis reacted very fast, however she still missed the second arrow. It was fast. Too fast. No human can move at a speed enough to stop it.

Arrowhead arrived right in front of her eyes, aiming directly for the head.

Naevis knew this very moment that she is completely powerless to prevent this bolt from killing her.

But then a blade of light flashed in front of her face, cutting a bit of golden hair, which fell to the ground under the heaviness of pouring rain. Another ringing sound spread out and deadly projectile went aside, above her head.

The entire life flashed in front of her eyes at this very moment, making her knees weak.

'Concentrate.' - sent Alan thunderous thought through vibe connection and dragged her into the side valley.

'Door.' - he commanded and Naevis acted on instinct, creating a telekinetic blow. With a wave of a hand and several more arrows stopped by a shield, the duo ran inside the dilapidated house.

Alan rolled over the bed to the corner in the room, where the window was. In one seamless move, a head was sent into the air, and the body with crossbow still clenched in its hands fell to the floor.

Naevis turned around and slapped the floor, saying something in a very fast manner. Wooden tiles went flying, creating a sturdy barricade and sealing the entrance behind.

They didn't stop. The main priority now is to escape encirclement. This ambush was well prepared, but the assailants miscalculated on one thing. They never expected Alan was fast to this degree with no mutations.

He didn't waste time and find a moment to drink elixirs. Right now, without magic, Alan was fully reliant on his swordsmanship and body.

'They have a mage. I think it is Rience. That smell of cinders and the foul stench of burning corpses is hard to mistake with anything else.' - said Alan.

'I'll take care of him. Rience is just a loyal dog. But he is not a wolf.' - Naevis followed the young witcher outside. They jumped through the window.

Something bloomed inside the empty house, setting it aflame and a wave of heat assaulted duo's backs, but they already were in the open. Alan shifted forward like a ghost. His battle state and elixirs complemented each other, creating a fearsome war machine out of human he is.

"Fuck, flank him! Third, fourth, to the right!"

"The hell?! Didn't he say it is just a woman and a warrior? How can that boy be so fast!"

"Ah!!! My legs, bitch cut of my legs! Aaahh!"

He didn't have much to say anymore, as the second flash of the razor-sharp witcher sword decapitated him on the spot. Alan, however, was experienced enough to avoid the crowd. He went to the side, parrying the sword strike from the right and kicking the other man to the ground.

Step to backward, fast chop, and another one fell to the ground with chest cleaved diagonally in two.

'Get down!' - came a telepathic command and Alan rolled to the sidewall of the narrow street, feeling his hair tingling with a static field.

Thunder and lightning escaped outstretched hands of the elven sorceress, sending arks of blinding destructive power in the conical area in front of her.

Even rain was evaporated into dense mist. The strike flashed like a spark, killing several people while burning their bodies to a crisp. And right after it from another side came a cannonball of condensed flames.

Naevis knew full well that in such battle whoever cast a spell first will be playing at the timing of the enemy, yet she still did it. The only reason was Alan beside her.

He shifted in front of the sorceress, the sword in his hand went up in uplifting pirouette. Runes shone with the golden light of magic while enchanted edge with a high amount of dimeritium cut through the spell. The resistance of the special metal, that denied mana, worked like a ram, sending the spell sideways.

Hot flames condensed into fireball plowed the ground and exploded far behind. It was so loud that even the ears of people involved in battle felt ringing sensation.

Alan saw a surprised look of the mage with a face scarred to utmost ugliness and smirked. He ran forward, intending to kill the man here and now, but stopped halfway to dodge a sudden strike from the flank.

An enormous axe came crashing down from above in a mighty chop.

"Hmpf..." - snorted a gigantic man. His voice was deeper than any Alan heard so far. - "Not bad for a human. Ya worthy. Ya can do Mor'Shan with honor, human warrior!"

Alan swirled in place, seeing another strike incoming. He only had time to position the sword in the blocking movement. The colossal force slammed at him and sent him flying backward through the air, but it never broke his sword-wielding stance entirely. Young witcher was trained to fight even giants, so even if such a blow can make him step back or even lose footing, it will never mess up his footwork or sense of balance.

"Now that's something new." - said he hoarsely.

'I never thought they will hire someone like him.' - came a thought from Naevis, who didn't stop casting and dragged Rience into a magical duel. The battle between them raged forward, shaking the land and rending the sky.

"Name is Gurtun! Tribal warrior of Huhun!" - said the creature with stature so huge, that even Letho will shrink in defeat.

Alan didn't speak. It was his first time seeing someone of their race, aside from some pictures in books of Kaer Morhen.

He stepped forward noticing, that he was the only foe left standing for him to kill.

"End is near." - said Alan, coming forward through the curtain of dense rain, while steel of his sword craved for blood.