บท 68: Not Rats, but scum. Part 1.
A.N. - hey guys have a look at my other fanfiction about Blood Bowl. Blood Bowl - Player, Coach, Legend.
Like, comment and give stones!
Hope you will enjoy it as well as Cyberpunk 2077 - Trauma Team
- Don't look at me like that. I was doing the right thing.
Ciri was giving me the stare.
- No. That only works for VJ, and that's only when it's about food. So stop glaring at me and try to enjoy the journey on horseback rather than walking.
She glared at me even harder and chewed on the gag, hinting that if her saviors hadn't bound and gagged her, I would have heard a lot of interesting things about myself from the young Witcher's mouth.
After I knocked Ciri out, I had to wait for a while until the people spotted in the distance arrived. As I had expected, this troop turned out to be Nilfs, Trappers with an officer in charge. Quickly looking around, they hastily tied and gagged Ciri, so that if she did not attract other monsters with her screaming, and not just the local bastard of the love affair between a lion ant and a scorpion. They left the desert territory with all possible caution and speed, putting the tied up little bird on one of the horses.
And I, along with VJ, followed them, levitating, though in VJ's case, that fat ass just sat on the horse, making it nervous, poor thing, sensing some kind of crazy shit. But the whip and the strong hand of the rider did not allow the horse to do anything, so it nervously snorted and carried the fat cat on its back, because magic is magic, but a lash is a lash.
A few hours or so passed when Ciri finally regained her senses. She was, to say the least, very surprised to wake up bound and gagged. She even wanted to do something, or even yell, but a quick shush told her to keep quiet and not do anything stupid right now.
And so they rode on until at last the sun began to go down. The party began to prepare for a rest, although according to the overheard discussions the leader of the Trappers and the officer wanted to hurry up, but people, and most importantly horses, could not withstand another crossing, and at night, so they should be given a rest, and in the daytime go on a forced march and get as quickly as possible to the nearest town, where they could identify, and in case of success spend all their winnings.
They already tried to talk and interrogate Ciri, but she skillfully pretended to be a stupid and mute girl, so that the Trappers even began to doubt and wanted to let her go, but the officer firmly stopped such thoughts, pointing to the hair and eye color. And as for the silence and stupid behavior, the Trappers thought and said among themselves that this was not a problem, because if she turned out to be the wanted heir of Cintra, her job was only to sit on the throne and nod when Emperor orders. And give birth to heirs to secure the Empire's claim over Cintra. A woman's fate under the feudal system, obey your husband and give birth. Yeah. I wonder what they'd say if they met a magician like Triss or Yennifer, or even Ciri's grandmother, the famous Lioness of Cintra. I think they would discover a lot of interesting things, especially in the field of torture and punishment, where their tongues would be cut off or other unnecessary parts of their bodies.
- What are you looking at? Come eat. You're gonna need energy. I sense this is not the end of our misadventures.
- Marcus. I seem to have lost my magic. I can't even lift a spoon properly with simple telekinesis. - Ciri whispered quietly, but there was obvious panic and fear in her voice.
- What did you expect when you gave up on her yourself? Oh, I've changed my mind, let's go back to the way things were? You really are a little bird, well, in terms of brains for sure, - I half-jokingly start lecturing her.
- Marcus, you don't understand! It's... - she didn't manage to finish, as I, having poured that fire magic into my hand, materialized it and quickly picked up the first pebble from the ground and threw it towards the bushes, making them rumble. We almost got caught, one of the Trappers was sitting in the bushes not far from us, having to mask Ciri's voice with the sound of the bushes.
- Quiet! Speak quietly and only when no one's around! Now calm down. Yes, you've lost your magic. But it's not a death sentence. You'll probably get it back, because you are the Source.
- How? How do you know? - Ciri almost raised her voice again, but she came to her senses in time to whisper.
- Ciri. You have my word. When we get to safety, real safety, I'll tell you everything. - I look her right in the eye and make a promise.
- Okay. But you have to tell me everything. - Ciri says with visible relief.
- I gave you my word. Okay. Now try to get some rest. Like I said before, you're gonna need your strength. And do you want me to tell you something to cheer you up?
- Go ahead. I haven't had enough good news lately, so let's hear it.
- Yeah, and me showing up with VJ is bad for you? -I'm putting on an insulted look.
- Well, Marcus. - Ciri tries to apologize, but I just laugh and wave my hand at her to show that I'm not really offended.
- I'm just kidding. You've really been having a hard time lately. Well, you've gotten so used to me that you've forgotten about my astral existence in this world. Notice that you can not only see, but also contact me, and your magical abilities are not gone, but weakened, so it's not all bad. You could say that the magic, or whatever it is, is just a little bit offended by you. Give it time, and everything will work out. - I said, my words lighting a flame of hope in her eyes, and she fell asleep.
I went to deal with my new abilities, leaving VJ to look after Ciri. Well, I mean left. That lion descendant snuggled by Ciri's warm side and fell asleep. When I was far enough away, I began to materialize my astral body. Filling my body in certain areas with magical energy, it became material. Having made sure that the materialization did not disappear for half an hour and then an hour, I began to materialize my body. This was not so simple. If before the consumption of energy was not too big and my reserve did not decrease, but the full materialization already required a large amount of energy. But fortunately, based on the intuition, I can say that the amount of magical energy in my reserve will be enough to last at least a couple of hours, if not more.
Here it occurred to me to check the capabilities of energy accumulation within my body. Could I increase my reserve, or was everything fixed? If not to increase the reserve, but to increase the speed of energy gathering in order to minimize the losses, or even to achieve a balance? I had to experiment, and I had to keep looking around so as not to attract unwanted attention.
The first experiment was with energy gathering. Here everything turned out ambiguous. There is, so to speak, passive gathering, when a small but constant flow of energy was coming to me. It was very small, but constant. No matter how hard I tried to meditate or catch additional flows, it was all for nothing. I even cursed until I came upon a campfire that was slowly dying out, near which sat a guard who had been placed by the squad for the safety and surveillance over a precious prisoner.
What was it about the bonfire that attracted me? The fire. Or rather, the firestorm that had nearly burned me and VJ. It was a much weaker kind of fire, but it was still fire. As I reached for it, I felt a strange connection, and a stream of energy rushed through it. It was very thin, even thinner than my passive gathering, but it was there. The more I pulled energy from the fire, the faster it began to die out. The sentry had to toss a pile of kindling, and more than once, until I came to my senses and stopped collecting energy.
The second experiment, unlike the first, was much easier and more pleasant. My reserve turned out not to be fixed. Roughly speaking, I could absorb quite a lot and then not worry about materialization problems for a long time. The main thing is not to forget to replenish the reserve whenever possible.
I was busy with my experiments until dawn. The squad began to prepare breakfast, gather belongings and checking horses.
- I will fuck you in the ass, Rudy! You burned enough fucking firewood to last a couple stops! - the leader of the Trappers was saying something to the guard.
- Fuck yourself, Skomlik! The fire burned badly all night, I had to put some wood in it, - he pointed to the bonfire in the center of the camp.
- Oh, yeah, it's fucked up. Cut the crap, you just didn't want to freeze all night, and instead of taking a couple sips of moonshine, you burned a lot of wood that the squad had been gathering for hours. Well, thanks a fuckin' lot. From the bottom of my heart. I'll spend a couple of hours collecting wood again instead of having a proper rest,- Skomlik bowed in gratitude and took off his hat as if to a noble.
- If I didn't want to be cold, I would have done as you said and drank some moonshine and then stuck my dick in your ass while you were sleeping, because you always say that you should keep your head warm, - guard continued to stand his ground.
His answer made the rest of the squad burst into laughter. Joking and cursing, the squad finished with breakfast and packing. After a while, the squad was on its way. Several days passed like that. Sweers, the leader of the squad, tried to get Ciri to talk to him and was polite enough to make her feel at ease. But the witch kept the guise of a silly and dumb girl, so all his attempts were unsuccessful.
I was waiting for a meeting with the Blue Knight's squad to organize Ciri's escape. But instead of the expected meeting, the two squads met in Glyswen. At the very entrance to the village, the Blue Knight recognized a sworn enemy of his clan and without further ado challenged Sweers to a fight.
The units of both nobles formed a kind of dueling circle in which the longtime enemies fought. Horses galloping, shouting, metal clanging. Quite an interesting spectacle, I even start to understand why lots of people of the Middle Ages were so fond of tournament fights and other spectacles similar to gladiatorial games. At least some sort of entertainment in this era of scarcity. Except something didn't go the way I expected.
I remember from the book that Sweers was supposed to kill the Blue Knight, but after receiving a mortal wound, he was supposed to die a little later. But this time, everyone except Sweers died. His squire was able to put up quite a good fight, buying Sweers enough time to defeat his enemy. But the cost of defeating the Varnhagen representative was the squire's own life, as he was struck down by the Blue Knight's right hand. Enraged Sweers, seeing the death of his squire, with one good blow of his mace broke the helmet of the last enemy. And judging by his condition, he got off easy enough this time. Well, relatively, he's not going to die, although the Blue Knight's axe managed to pierce his armor in a couple of places and left him bleeding.
Weak from blood loss, he ordered his squad to move to the inn and call for the local healer. The other squad only stared at the corpses of their commanders, not knowing what to do next, and cast angry glances at Sweers.
Frightened by the sight of the angry and wounded knight, the tavernkeeper immediately gave him a free room and sent one of his workers to fetch a local healer. The knight, despite his wounds and weakness, left Ciri by his side. She looked at me questioningly while I thought about a new escape plan.
On the one hand, Sweers is alive and that's a problem. But, on the other hand, it means that only one squad will guard Ciri, because in the book it was written that after the death of the noble, the two squads merged into one for the sake of the reward, which can be divided more fairly in their opinion, without the need to give the lion's share to the noble, and it is safer to travel in a large group. Running away from one troop, albeit with a knight at the head, will be much easier. Fewer men, and the knight is wounded. So, now we need to wait until the group leaves the village, and there on the way to kill or just run away from the Trappers and the knight in case of complications. I should take full advantage of the stopping in the village, gather supplies, get information, or better to get a map with a guide. Although with a guide it will be problematic, it's better to go with the map, though I need to find it first.
There was a commotion downstairs, as if a crowd of soccer fans had arrived. I left VJ to keep an eye on Ciri and Sweers. I headed downstairs. In the hall were two squads of Trappers, sat at a common table and ordered a beer, but the leaders sat separately and discussed something.
- Skomlik, what should we do now? Your knight killed ours, leaving us with practically nothing, - the Trapper who was speaking downed a shot of vodka as if it were mere water.
- I don't know, Remiz. But one thing I can tell you is that you are in a shitty situation. Sweers may have killed Varnhagen, but that doesn't mean the dead man's clan won't want to get revenge against you too. Unlike Sweers, you'll be easier to reach. At least this way they will be able to fulfill their desire to avenge the death of one of their own, - said Skomlik thoughtfully, looking at Remiz.
- Yes, I understand that! That's why I'm asking for your advice and help! You are my relative after all, and you should help me in some way! - Remiz yelled loudly and kicked the chair.
Remiz would have continued shouting if the healer had not entered the tavern in the company of the innkeeper. When Remiz saw the healer, he cursed and drank some more, but Skomlik kept his eyes on the healer who was coming upstairs.
- Hmm. Remiz, you know that even after a healer's aid, people can die, right? - Skomlik whispered conspiratorially.
- Yes, and they demand a lot of money without any guarantees! You can give everything to the last coin, and then still die, and he will only sigh sorrowfully and lie that it was too late to call him. It's happened so many times. - Remiz said angrily, spitting on the floor.
- So why not take advantage of it? - Skomlicki smiled and pointed upward.
- What's your point? You think you're going to get gratitude from a noble? Ha, you're a fool to believe in such things.
- No, Remiz. You're a fool if you don't get my point. You said yourself that even if you pay a lot of money, you can still die. So why don't we help Sir Sweers to die from wounds that opened during the night, or just die from exhaustion, because he's already lost a lot of blood. After his death, we can deliver the prisoner ourselves and get a reward for her, if she turns out to be the one the Emperor is looking for. - Skomlik whispered.
- And the reward can be divided between us? - Remiz understood the proposal at once.
- That's right. Even if the reward is divided between our squads, we'll still get much more, and you and I are the leaders of both squads, we can figure it all out. After all, we are relatives and will not scam each other, - Skomlik made a special emphasis on the words relatives and each other.
- Ha! Yes. We can do it the right way. As a family. We should drink to that! - Remiz, happy about this opportunity to get rich, filled the glasses with vodka to the brim.
- Let's drink. Only us will help Sweers to die. I trust my guys, but it is better to take trusted men. There's no need for unnecessary witnesses or participants in such an important case. - after drinking, Skomlik began to describe his plan.
- Yeah, and you won't have to share with them for keeping quiet. All right, we'll deal with Sweers, and in the morning we'll form a large group and go to Amarillo to turn the girl in. It's safer that way. - Remiz nodded.
- You're right, but I'll still get more than half of the bounty. We were the ones who found her, after all. My squad respects me, of course, but even that's not enough to give you half. - Skomlik pointed at the table where their subordinates were drinking.
- I see. I'll talk to my men, and you talk to yours. I'll explain everything to them, but I hope you won't wrong me with the reward? - Remiz asked with a smirk.
- Of course I won't. We are family after all. - Skomlik answered him as if it were a matter of course.
- Let's drink to family again! - Remiz hastily poured vodka into glasses and raised one for a toast.
- Let's drink ! For the family! - Skomlik cheered him on and clinked glasses with a smile.
- Oh, shit. I have to improvise again. - I cursed after I finished eavesdropping on the two fuckers.
I'd have to change my plans. The situation had gotten a lot worse than I'd expected. But if the collusion of the two leaders of the Trappers had added to the problem, the subsequent events had opened up new possibilities.
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