Chapter 17: Arriving at Aretuza

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Their travels continued, despite a sudden encounter and Geralt's actions that resulted in one of them dying. They had to keep going; they had no time to waste.

After a week of almost no sleep, they set up the encampment to take rest and have some healthy sleep. During their travels, they had to cross a lot of dangerous areas where a minute of rest could lead to death.

Therefore, they had to make brief stops to have a break before leaving in the hurry. Now they were in the forests of Temeria, one in which it is usually safe.

Vesemir allowed boys to set up the camp and go for the hunt. All of them were exhausted from long and very hard journeys, so most of them dropped to the nearest tree and fell asleep.

Vesemir went to scan the area around, while Eskel and August went for a hunt deeper into the forest.

After half an hour, they found signs of the animal and followed the path, before they heard a scream coming from somewhere else.

Eskel looked in the direction where the scream came from. He turned towards August "Shall we help?"

August didn't want to help anyone, but he thought he could get something out of this. Maybe they could take something from the victim. "Yes, we might earn something out of it".

Eskel didn't quite understand the part about earning something with their act, but it didn't really matter.

They followed the scream that was coming from the deep forest before they saw some people running from a few Wargs.

Wargs are monsters they learned about. They are mostly resembling wolves, but their body is bigger, and they are much more aggressive. Their skin is harder than one of the normal wild wolves.

Eskel went ahead with the sword in his hands, while August covered him from behind. There were 3 Wargs that were following the victims.

August took a shot that hit the side of the Warg, slightly slowing him down. However, the arrow was not strong enough to pierce its skin to deal with anything close to vital injury.

Warg's attention shifted toward young Witchers. Without wasting time, Warg sprinted toward the boys with his intentions clear.

When he was close enough, another arrow flew right inside his mouth, making Warg stop.

Poor thing tried to get rid of the arrow that somehow went inside his mouth, however, this was enough for Eskel to arrive close to the creature and make a powerful swing that cut its head off clean.

With one done, Eskel and August went for the other 2. It took them some time and effort, but they killed both of them.

They walked close to those who were running from Wargs and saw that they were not humans. There stood 2 Elfs in front of them.

They had flawless skin and perfect looks, but one thing that stood out is pointy ears that allowed both August and Eskelto quickly identify them.

One of the Elf greeted the young Witchers "Thank you for saving us, we thought we were about to be ripped apart"

Eskel replied, "No need, it is our job to kill monsters"

August took something out of a small bag on his hips and gave some kind of powder to the elves saying "Here, eat this, it will help"

Both elves shared a look, but since they saved them, they didn't deny and ate it without asking questions.

Before long, several more elves appeared with weapons in their hands, their pointed arrows at young Witchers and commanded, "Don't move if your life is dear to you!"

Eskel frowned and dropped his weapon to the ground, "Alright, I don't have any weapons on me. We just helped your people don't point your arrows at us".

Before they could reply, 2 elves that August and Eskel just saved dropped to the ground, gasping for air.

One elf screamed, "What have you done to them?!"

August showed a smirk and said, "Oh nothing, I just gave them poison"

Eskel looked toward August with an open mouth. "You what?"

August tilted his head towards Eskel and repeated casually, "I poisoned them"

The leader of Elves gritted his teeth, asking, "What do you need?"

August pointed his hand toward him and said, "I want your bow"

"This is Zefhar, one of the masterpiece bows we wield. I won't give it to you! Choose something else!" said the leader of elves with anger boiling inside.

August shrugged, answering, "Then they will die"

One of the poisoned elves rose to his head and looked towards his keen pleading. "Please, I don't want to die."

Out of nowhere, an arrow flew toward August, flying right into his head. Before it could reach its destination, August tilted his head to the side, avoiding the arrow.

He took an arrow from his quiver and shot an arrow in the Elf's leg that he already poisoned.

His gaze was directed towards the leader of elves, as he threatened them, "One more move like that, and I will kill both of them right now"

The leader of elves screamed, giving the command, "HOLD YOUR POSITIONS AND DON'T TAKE ANY ACTIONS!"

He walked toward August. Arriving close, he asked, "How can you prove that you have a cure for your poison?"

August calmly replied, "I will cure one before you. The other one will have to stay poisoned until we leave at a suitable distance"

The leader of the elves gritted his teeth. He would better sacrifice those 2 to kill these children, but if he would do that, the morale of the rest would fall below anything. With burning eyes, he passed his bow into the hands of August. That was kind enough to give him one that was made of wood by the loving hand of Vesemir.

"Take it and cure them," said the man.

August showed a slight smile, giving something to the elf that could not walk anymore. After 5 minutes, the effect of the poison disappeared, leaving him with only one concern, an arrow in his leg.

August said, "Here is the result. First, you will allow us to walk on decent distance with this one hostage." August pointed his finger at another elf that he poisoned. "I will cure him when we are far enough".

Facing no other option, he nodded his head and allowed them to walk away.

When they were at a decent distance, August cured the second one, and they rush to the forest to avoid being tracked down.

While running, Eskel arrived closer to August, asking, "Why did you do that?"

August replied in a normal voice, showing no guilt for what he had done. "What? Poisoned and robbed them?"

Eskel confirmed, "Yes, was it really necessary? They didn't pose a threat".

"They could," replied August, "They could kill us if we were not cautious enough"

"I think you were too extreme there," said Eskel, before he suggested, "You don't need to take everyone, but us as your enemy"

That made August think for a second. Before now, he took all humans and elves the same way he perceived monsters. In his mind, there were worse than most monsters. And for August to change his mind, he will have to see a living example first.

Eskel signed seeing August like this, he asked him for a favour "Bro, we will need to interact with humans and elves, give them a chance at least before being extreme"

August nodded his head, but he thought that this was not a clever thing to do, but he trusted Eskel and agreed to give a chance to people he will meet before doing something.

They returned to the camp after they found a deer that was walking around. With a new bow by his side, August was quite happy. It was much stronger than the one he had before. He could aim with much more precision and the power behind arrows was much greater.

When they returned to the camp and Vesemir saw an elegant bow hanging on the back of August, he got curious and inquired, "August, where did you get this bow from?"

August lied without blinking, "Found it in the forest"

Vesemir's eyebrows rose, and he confirmed, "Are you sure?"

August nodded shamelessly, confirming his words. Vesemir looked at Eskel, who felt how chills run down his spine. Eskel's back got phantom pain from the previous whips he received from Vesemir when he did something stupid.

By the end of the day, Vesemir found the truth by interrogating Eskel, who spit everything out about the situation they got into.

Vesemir decided against whips for the moment, since they were not entirely wrong about their actions. He would try to resolve it peacefully, but since they were under their weapons, he allowed that event to pass.

They continued their trip and after a week of travel; they arrived at their destination of Aretuza- a magical academy.