Encounter with the Wolf and the Swallow

Year - 1271 - After the Conjunction of the Spheres

White Orchard Inn -

-//-//-

In the dimly lit tavern at White Orchard's outpost, an old man with white hair and eyes like a cat enters in, making everyone in the Inn alert, he was dressed in chest armor and hard leather clothing, and on his back he carried two swords.

The man, ignoring the looks of disgust and hostility directed at him, walks towards a table, and sitting on that table, there was a person, hidden by a hood and a cloak. The man looked at the silhouette for a second and then looked at the sword he carried in his hand. The man shook his head and reinforced the decision he had already made.

He approached the table, sat down, and turned to the person with a fatherly smile on his face.

Turning to face the man, the light hits his face and reveals the person behind the hood. It's a woman, a blond woman with piercing green eyes, with a scar on her face, seeing the smile on the old man's face, she smiles too.

''Is it done?'' The woman asks expectantly.

''Yes.'' The old man answers in a hoarse, sour voice.

''Did he believe you?'' The woman asks again, taking off her hood and revealing herself.

''I have no idea.'' He answers.

The man then notices that right in front of the woman, there is a leather bag, curious, he looks at it and then at the leather bag, wanting to know what is inside.

''For the Cockatrice,'' She answers. ''And we the new contract, it won't pay much but I think it worth the toil.''

''You've been busy.'' The man says, feeling proud of his 'daughter'.

The man then crouches to the side, and from the floor beside him, he picks up the sword he had been carrying since entering the tavern, and shows it to the woman and then places it on the table.

'' It's yours.'' He says firmly.

''A Witcher's Silver Sword...!''The girl, surprised, takes the sword carefully and begins to analyze it with joy.

''You liked it?'' Said the man with smugness.

''It's beautiful!'' Answers the girl, who was still focused on analyzing the silver sword. ''May I?'' She asks, holding the hilt of her sword, ready to pull it out of its scabbard.

''Not here. You'll have ample opportunity soon enough, witcher.''

The girl agrees, but even so, she removes part of the sword from its scabbard, and observes the inscriptions carved into the sword.

Seeing the inscriptions, she was even more tempted to use the sword right there, ''What's this inscriptions?'' She asked without taking her eyes off the sword

The man, seeing the woman looking like a child who has just received a toy, could not help but sigh, ''It's an old witcher motto, had a sword like this one's myself, but this one's better, much better.''

The woman looked at the man with a satisfied, anxious smile, ''Let's try it ou then!''

''Maybe later, I'm tired.''

When the woman was about to respond, a man came running into the tavern, he entered with such force that he fell to the ground with a cry of fear, getting the attention of everyone inside.

The man and the woman get up like everyone else in the tarvern and went to look at what happened. when they got close to the man near the tavern door, the man who entered the Inn started screaming hysterically, ''It's the end! The gods are here! They came to judge us! Run! Run everyone! Save yourselves from damnation!''

''Geralt, is this kind of thing normal around here?'' The woman whispered to the white-haired man named Gerald.

''No.....'' Gerald grunted.

The people in the tarvern started to get scared by this man's behavior, he looked possessed, one of the customers noticed Geralt, pointed to him, and yelled, ''You! You're a witcher right? Do something with this idiot! He's probably possessed by something!''

Geralt didn't respond, he just stood there watching the man carefully, while the woman behind him seemed a little nervous about the situation a little unexpected.

The hysterical man began to cry and squirm, saying the same words as before. Then, while repeating the same thing over and over in horror, the man pointed up, to the ceiling.

Everyone looked up at the ceiling, but there was nothing there.

''Tsk! You damn drunk, stop scaring us like that!'' Said a guard who was in the tavern, and in a rage, started to kick the hysterical man who was on the ground, but the man didn't mind the kicks and continued to point up with fear in his eyes.

Geralt, after a short moment, realized what the man meant, ''It's outside.'' He whispered only for the woman behind him to hear, and started walking quickly to the door.

''G-Geralt! Wait!'' The woman followed behind him, her hand on the scabbard of her sword, ''Why are you going out? This beggar is clearly drunk or on drugs!''

''No he is not,'' Geralt stopped at the door holding the handle and turned to answer the woman. ''His breath doesn't smell like alcohol or the smell of any hallucinogenic plant, in fact, he just smells like horse dung, so there's only two options, either he was born crazy or...''

''Or has he met a creature that has driven him insane...'' The woman finished.

''Hmm.'' Grunted Geralt in approval.

''Good! Looks like I'll be able to test my sword sooner than I thought!''She said excitedly.

Geralt snorted and when he was about to open the door, he shivered, and like a cat, he jumped back and unsheathed the sword on his back, scaring the girl, who upon seeing her father and mentor ready for the fight, she quickly pulled out the sword from the scabbard and stood guard looking at the door.

''Geralt, what is it?'' The girl asked apprehensively.

Geralt continued to stare at the door, and with each passing moment, he tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword, ''Look around you, Ciri.''

The girl named Ciri quickly looked around and realized what Geralt meant, she was surprised and scared by what happened around her without her noticing.''Are they all…dead?''

Looking around the Tavern that had been noisy a short time ago, all the people besides them were lying on the ground or on the tables, not moving or making a single noise.

''No...not dead, but sleeping'' Geralt replied, still on his guard.

Ciri sighed in relief, but she was still very apprehensive, she knows Geralt and the other wizards have superhuman senses, they can sense danger like wild animals, and she's never seen Geralt this tense, so she promptly went back to paying attention the door, and the handle soon began to move.

The door started to open, but Geralt and Ciri didn't make a move, attacking without knowing who the enemy is is suicide in this world full of monsters. The door finally opened, and both Geralt and Ciri were confused by what they saw, as it wasn't monsters or elves who entered the tavern, but a hooded woman and...a woman dressed as a maid?

The hooded person was Ciri's size, and wore a white hooded overcoat, completely covering his image, and the other one, the maid girl is a little taller, she has gray eyes and sapphire blue hair, and wore a maid's outfit, but Geralt didn't recognize her maid's outfit, because in each region there is a different uniform for the servants.

The hooded person laughed in a sweet, mesmerizing voice, and then said, ''What a warm welcome! Don't you agree, Ela?''

It was clearly a woman's voice, which made Geralt a little more nervous, as he's pretty sure she could be a sorceress, and he's already had his share with his encounter with sorceresses.

''Indeed, Lady Arcadia.'' Answered the maid.

''Now stop pointing your swords at us, that's rude.'' Said the hooded woman named Arcadia to Geralt and Ciri.

''Give us a reason to do what you say, sorceress.'' Geralt said, still pointing his sword at them both.

''Heh~, exactly what I expected from Geralt of the Rivia, the greatest of the Witcher's and also the unluckiest in love among them.'' Said Arcadia sarcastically.

Geralt just grunted in response, but Ciri who was standing next to him couldn't help but giggle, as that description fits him very well.

''Say what you want.'' Geralt said angrily, he don't have much patience to dealing with sorceresess.

''Oh don't worry little wolf, I'm not a sorceress, no need to be apprehensive,'' She says while gesturing with her hand as if in surrender. ''I'm someone who needs help from both of you, so why don't you let us in and we can talk about it? You can treat this as a contract.''

''Sorry, but we already have a contract.'' replied Ciri.

''All right, I understand, but even so, I want to make the offer to both of you. I have a lot of time, I can wait for you two to deal with any Cockatrice, so can you let us in?'' Arcadia said.

'How does she know we're going to hunt a Cockatrice?! Was she following me?' Thought Ciri.

Geralt realized that the hooded woman wasn't the type to take 'No' for an answer, but he didn't feel any bad intentions from her, on the contrary, he could sense the hooded woman's genuine curiosity directed at them.

The woman didn't seem to be hostile, and she looked like a customer, so he didn't see any reason to antagonize them anymore.

He put the sword back in its scabbard and signaled for Ciri to do the same, then signaled for the woman to follow him inside.

Arcadia waited for them to enter and then whispered to the maid next to her, '' So these are the 'heroes' of this world, intriguing, isn't it Ela?''

''Certainly, Lady Arcadia.'' Ela replied, without emotion.

Arcadia, already used to her servant who shows no emotions, ignored her, ''Right! Lets go in! They are waiting! '' Arcadia says, walking into the Tavern.

The maid Ela just nods and follows her from behind.