Chapter 32:

In Eden who sleeps happiest? The serpent. - Derek Walcott

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A Few Hours Later:

Current Year: 1261

"Why aren't you talking to me?" Ciri asked while poking me with a stick she found on the ground. We had just woken up not too long ago and were currently travelling along the path. We only had another hour or so before we reached Fayrlund

I left her question unanswered while an uncomfortable silence formed between us. She had been incredibly annoying since she caught up to me last night. I could have just shoved her through a portal to send her back, but that would probably form a rift in our relationship. I wasn't angry enough at her to try and force her to leave.

"Harkon?" Ciri asked again, this time a bit impatient.

"Because you're a fool, Ciri. You shouldn't have followed me." I replied truthfully. I knew Ciri had a penchant for running away from things, she did it in the books when Calanthe arranged a marriage between her and Kistrin of Verden. However, her coming along on a monster hunt with me has to be incredibly stupid.

"You are the one who is a fool." She stammered out in her defence. "What twelve year old goes off on his own, in Skellige no less, to go and fight monsters?"

"The twelve year old who was trained as a witcher for seven years and as a druid for more than two. You, on the other hand, have absolutely no reason to be joining me. I don't even want to ask how you managed to get out of the keep. I imagine I'm going to be in quite a lot of trouble once we get back." I replied while letting out an enormous sigh. I'll be lucky if they don't inform Calanthe, but that was just a pipe dream. She will probably issue a warrant for my arrest for 'convincing' her granddaughter to run away.

"I'm sorry…" Ciri meekly intoned while looking at the ground as we continued to walk. "But you weren't even going to tell me you were leaving! I heard everything you told Mousesack. What if you never came back? Would I just go on with my life while you were ripped to shreds in a monster cave?"

"Yes, probably." I said without much sympathy. "You would live your life rather similarly to the way it was before I met you. Nothing much would happen. You would grow up, make new friends, rule your kingdom when you came of age and possibly get married. My death wouldn't impact you as much as you think."

"How can you say that?!" Ciri bellowed out while throwing the stick she had been holding into the tree line. She stopped walking and just stood in the middle of the road while staring at me. "I don't want to do any of those things. I don't want to rule Cintra. I don't want to make new friends. I don't want my grandmother to force me into marrying someone else. What I want is for you to continue to stay with me… Why do you want to run off and die in some monster den somewhere when you have me by your side?"

"Ciri…I won't be able to stay by your side the way you want me to. You might not realize it now, but one day you'll find someone you love enough to marry. That is going to be the person you want to stay by your side forever, not me." I responded with sincerity.

"Always so sure of everything, aren't you?" Ciri asked angrily. "What makes you so certain that you aren't the person that I want to be with, that I don't want you by my side forever?"

"Ciri, it would never work out." I said while putting my head into my hand and sighing. "I know that you like me, Ciri. I admit that I've grown quite fond of you as well, but it would never work. I'm a simple commoner and you are a princess. For Lebioda's sake, your grandmother is the 'Lioness of Cintra'! She would never allow a half-elf, a mutated one no less, like me to marry you. It's preposterous."

"So… what? That's it then? Our stations are too far apart so you won't give us a chance?" Ciri asked me in a sad tone. Clearly hurt about my unwillingness to accept.

"It's not like that and you know it." I said in a frustrated tone. "What do you want to do? Elope and get married together? A witcher and a princess on the run? There's nowhere we could flee to where they wouldn't find us."

"Well, it's not an absolutely terrible idea…" Ciri replied while staring into the sky in contemplation.

"We'll… Talk about this later. I don't have the patience to talk about this anymore." I stated absolutely, signifying the end of the discussion. "The village we're travelling to is close by. When we get there, I'm going to see if the villagers will round up money for a contract. While I do that, you will stay within the village and be silent. You will not venture out into the woods, no matter what, do you understand?"

Ciri wanted to keep talking about the previous conversation, but I told her that the debate was over for now. We could talk about it when the monster was dead. We started our pace back up again and continued walking on the trail towards Fayrlund. After several minutes, we reached our remote destination. I told Ciri to go wait on a nearby bench while I went to talk to a villager I had in mind. She resisted at first, but I told her it was either that or I teleport her home.

I searched the village for a few minutes, looking for a few key persons of interest. I saw the girl, Hilde, whom the monster I was hunting had marked with magic. It's a shame that she was going to have to be run out of the village, but there were no other options. After looking around once more, I spotted a certain ginger man with a short haircut. He looked a lot younger than he did in the third game and he didn't have a beard. I recognized him by the frustrated expression he wore on his face. He had a sword on his hip and looked to be making some patrols around the village.

"Are you Svend?" I called out to the man in question.

"Aye. What's it to ye?" Svend replied while looking at me with a strange expression. I was technically an 'an Craite' like him because I was from Crach's domain in Ard Skellig. However, I didn't really consider myself as part of their clan. He probably didn't call me an outsider or any other slur because he recognized my accent.

"Name's Harkon. I'm a witcher. I've heard that you got yourselves a monster problem?" I asked the ginger man inquisitively. Svend looked me up and down for a few moments.

"Aren't ye a little young to be a witcher?" Svend questioned me in return.

"Witcher's are monster slayers at every age. Now, that beast you have in the forest… you want it gone?" I asked the ginger man once more.

"If you're talking 'bout that ploughing 'Woodland Spirit', then aye. I want the beast dead." Sven stated while crossing his arms and nodding his head.

"Great." I said with a smile. "I can get rid of the monster for you, as long as you're willing to pay…"

"Fair pay for fair work. I'll round up yer coin from the village. Make sure the beast stays gone for good." Sven said resolutely and began walking away. I stopped him before he could get too far.

"Sven, the beast I'm hunting is known as a Leshen." I spoke while holding my hand in front of Sven to keep him from leaving. "It's a very powerful monster that can control nature to some degree. There is something about it that you should know. It has the ability to 'mark' somebody in the village. As long as that mark remains, the beast will be reborn when I kill it."

"Are ye tellin me that some whoreson is in cahoots with the beast?! Those damn elders… I'll round them up and kill 'em myself!" Sven screamed out at me with anxiety

"No, I'm not." I said calmly. "The person who is marked has no idea it's been done. They just need to leave the village and never return. That way, the monster beast won't be reborn."

"Alright, tell me who it is. I'll drive them out myself." Sven said with a confident smirk on his face.

"The person who has been marked… Is Hilde, Sven." I said with a sorrowful tone. I didn't really want to drive an innocent girl out of the village, but there was literally no other way. It was either that or kill her.

"But… But she's one of us!" Sven yelled out with futility.

"I'm sorry, but this is the only way. I'm going to head into the forest to kill this 'Woodland Spirit', do whatever it is you must before I get back." I stated my terms clearly. I'm not going to kill this beast a second time, so they will have to decide for themselves what to do with Hilde.

I walked away from Svend, he needed some time to stew in his thoughts. I made my way over to the bench where I left Ciri. She was still faithfully sitting down and kicking up some dirt with her shoes.

"Hey, I've done what I need to do here. I'm going to go into the woods to find the monster I intend to fight. If you even THINK about trying to come in after me, I'm going to make a portal and send you home. It is not up for discussion. You will stay here until I return, understand?" I said with an absolutely authoritarian tone. This request was not up for discussion.

"And when you die in that forest… I'll be left here without you, wondering how I could have helped." Ciri replied in a very pouty tone. She was looking at the ground in sadness.

"Cir." I said solemnly while sitting myself down right next to her. I grasped her into a hug and pulled her close. "I'm not going to die, okay? I'll be back in an hour at most. Just...Just don't move from this spot, okay?"

Ciri just mutely nodded at my attempts to make her feel better. I gave another big sigh and then got up onto my feet, she probably needed some alone time anyway. I began walking off into the forest nearby. I readied myself for what I might possibly face within. I would need to find the beasts totems and destroy them, but that should prove the easiest part out of this little debacle. The hard part would be fighting the Leshen in open combat. However, despite the danger I was in...I found myself...Smiling? It truly had been too long since I had a good fight, my blood was pumping and I was ready to go. This fight would end the same way as my last, with utter and decisive victory at hand.