Chapter 37:

Eve said to the serpent, "You know I could go for a bite to eat, but I don't know you from Adam." - Red Buttons

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A Few Days Later:

Current Year: 1261

My mouth is unbearably dry. That's the first thing I noticed once I awakened. I licked my lips a few times to try and stop the discomfort, but it was clear that I needed some water. My head was pounding like I had just experienced one of the worst hangovers to date. My eyes peeped open slightly to try and gauge my surroundings. It was unbearably bright for a moment, but the mutations done to my eyes soon fixed the problem. I was inside a shanty looking room that looked like it was barely holding itself together. I was currently resting in a small poor looking bed with animal furs that were laying on top of me that acted like my covers. There was a battered looking door off to the left of me that looked like it had seen better days. A wooden window was open to my right that allowed me to see some light that was peeking through.

I could feel the cold Skellige air seeping into the room. I breathed it in deeply for a moment, my chest throbbing with pain as I did so. Not just my chest, but my whole body felt like it was made of broken glass. Fortunately, that almost unbearable stinging sensation also jogged my memory of what exactly had happened. I remember that I was forced to fight against Sven and a few of his cronies right after my intense battle with the Ancient Leshen. I won, but I was extremely injured in doing so. I was stabbed through the chest by Svend and just as an archer was about to execute me, Ciri came to my rescue.

The mere thought of Ciri made my eyes go wide for a moment. In a bit of a rush, I attempted to push myself up into a sitting position. I needed to try and assess the extent of my injuries and find out what exactly was happening. I winced as I sat up, my chest was no doubt the most injured part of my body. I slowly lifted off the furs that were covering my chest to take a good look at my bandages. They were wrapped thickly around my whole torso and they were lightly soaked with blood, but they were holding. I peeled them back slightly to take a look at my wounds. As I did so, a small grimace formed on my face.

Whoever had done the job of sewing me up had done a shite job of it. The stitching was all wrong and it looked like the scar was going to be ridiculous once it was done healing. I didn't even want to check my back, shoulder, and calf. I would probably be just as, or even more, disappointed than I already was. I'll have to try and repair the damage on my own when I get the chance. I could probably fix this mess as long as I was diligent, I just needed to devote a bit of my time towards healing magic.

I ripped off the blanket that was covering my legs and maneuvered my feet slowly towards the ground.

"Fuck…" I growled out in pain as I covered my abdomen with my hand. Moving right now was looking to be extremely difficult.

As I was attempting to get up, I heard light sounding footsteps that were rapidly approaching. Suddenly, the door that was to my left slowly creaked open. An ashen haired girl carrying a pitcher of water suddenly came within my gaze. I glanced my head over at her and a bright smile made itself known on my face.

"Hey Ciri," I said in a rather weak tone. "How's it hanging?"

Ciri stood in the doorway with a baffled expression on her face. The fact that I was awake and sitting up must come as a relief to her.

"Harkon!" Ciri screamed out in elation. She dropped the pitcher of water she was carrying to the floor and quickly ran over to me. As soon as she reached me, she grasped me into a fiere hug and began to cry softly.

"Hey now, watch the merchandise." I said while coughing slightly in pain. "I'm still quite injured, princess."

"Sorry…" Ciri responded tearfully, but she refused to let go of me. Her grip on my body lessened somewhat while she held her head on top of my shoulder. We enjoyed each other's embrace in solidarity for a few moments while I gave Ciri the opportunity to cry. After a couple of minutes, I decided it was time for me to speak up.

"Ciri…" I asked out vaguely.

"Yes, Harkon?" Ciri responded while tearing her head away to look me in the eyes.

"I just wanted to say…Thank you. For everything." I said while rubbing the back of my shoulder in embarrassment. Being saved by a little girl isn't really my style.

Ciri looked down at the floor for a few moments, clearly I was bringing up some bad memories by even mentioning the situation.

"He… The man… The one who was holding the bow…" Ciri said while putting her head into her hands. "I had to do it, right? He was going to kill you… wasn't he Harkon? I'm sorry… I had to do it… I had to do it. I had to do it. I had to do it. I had to d-"

I quickly grasped Ciri into another embrace, despite the pain it caused my body. Clearly the trauma from her first kill was making itself apparent. I slowly stroked the back of her head while she continued to bawl her eyes out in my arms.

"Ciri, listen to me." I spoke while gentling moving Ciri so she could sit down on the bed. "You had to do it. If you hadn't arrived when you did… I'd be a corpse in the ground. I'll never be able to thank you enough for what you've done. Please, please don't do this to yourself. You're the 'Lion Cub' of Cintra! You need to hold your head high!"

Ciri cries became softer and softer. After a minute or two, they stopped completely. She wiped the tears and snot from her nose and stood back up from her seated position. She sniffled a few more times, but managed to compose herself.

"Thank you… Harkon." Ciri spoke out with confidence. "I'm still not over it… but I'll hold my head up high in the meantime. I'll go and get some more water. It's been awhile since you last drank."

"Wait before you leave, I have a few questions…" I asked the princess in question. She nodded at my statement and gestured for me to ask away. "Where are we? And how did we make it out of that forest?"

"We're in the house of that guy who tried to kill you." Ciri said bluntly before continuing. "The elders think that he was killed by the 'woodland spirit' because he tried to challenge it. At least, that's what I told them. They're allowing us to stay here for the time being. I had to… do some emergency stitching on your wounds as soon as I found you. You were bleeding out too quick, I was worried you wouldn't even survive the trip back. After that… I managed to slowly drag you here. You've been asleep for a few days."

Damn… No wonder my stitching was fucked up. Ciri is the one who did it. During my time tutoring her, I've only been allowed to teach her the absolute basics on the practice of medicine. Even then, she has never actually attempted to practice on a real life person. It was merely theoretical work. Calanthe didn't really want her to learn any 'useless' skills like that

"Well then… it seems like you were actually paying attention whenever I managed to teach you. Just one more teen tiny thing…" I asked mysteriously.

"What is it?" Ciri asked while tilting her head.

"Well, I was just thinking… This house looks to be fairly small. In fact, it looks like this is the only room. So… Where exactly did you sleep while I was passed out?"

"...I'm going to get more water." Ciri said while blushing slightly. "I'll be back in a minute."

Ciri quickly walked over to the pitcher she had dropped to the floor earlier and picked it up. She then quickly ran outside the door and off into the village of Fayrlund. I just smile at the embarrassment the princess was showing me, but that's not the only thing I felt. After Ciri had left the room, a much colder and more sinister expression made itself known on my face.

I was absolutely furious at everything that had transpired. I shouldn't have gone into the village to ask for a bounty, I should have just killed the creature on my own in the first place. The Leshen will eventually be reborn now, Sven saw to that when he decided not to exile Hilde. I'm certainly not going to kill her after everything that happened. This village can rot for all I care. I hope that Leshen is reborn quickly and wipes this mingy town off of the map.

Worrying about this shitty little village wasn't going to help me. I needed to think about more pressing concerns. Since Ciri has joined me on this little 'escapade' of ours and it's already been a few days since she came here… There's probably no chance I'll be allowed to return to Cintra. In fact, I reckon Calanthe has already been informed of this whole situation. She's no doubt called for my imprisonment or maybe even for my death. That was fine with me, I was planning to leave Cintra at some point anyway… just not this soon. She probably would have refused to let me leave when that time came as well. Kings and Queens that live on the main continent are all the same. All they care about is their plots and their schemes. Calanthe is no different than them.

Thinking about Calanthe also made me think about something else… The only people who hold any 'real' power in this world are Kings and Queens. They control everything that matters. Originally, I was going to leave Calanthe's service and flee to Novigrad. After I had done that, I would form my own spy network. I would build up my own faction, similar to what Sigismund Dijkstra did and control the city from the shadows. However… Now I believe that I was thinking too small. I don't want to control any stupid gangs or other small factions that barely have any impact. No, I want something else. I want power, but to have it… I will need to form an army. I want land, but to own it… I need to conquer it from others. I want wealth, but to take it… I need to steal.

I want… a crown… sitting on my head.