Chapter Text
Not for the first time in his life, though perhaps for the last time, Letho was completely fucked. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed since that day, but his life had since been confined to one solitary cell. Whoever held him captive seemed to leave his men to their vices. Allowed them to beat or starve him as they saw fit. The funny thing is he didn’t even have a contract against the backwater so called king, who saw him and immediately thought to fear the King slayer. Now, though, one of his life goals if he ever got out of here is to separate the man’s head from his body, after some time “talking.”
There was almost no interaction to be had and his days were mostly spent in a passive mediation, a large part of him seemed to be going steadily insane. He wasn’t much for social interaction, but he was almost ready to start talking to the next guard who came in to kick him while he was down. Sometimes, they really did just come to physically hurt him, other times they ate and drank in front of him while he starved. Sometimes the simply tortured him, trying to see how long before he would heal. None ever allowing him to leave the room. He hadn't had more of a conversation than it took to get paid in almost a year. His list of allies is getting smaller by the minute. His now normal schedule was interrupted by a truly colorful array of curses, some he himself had never heard. He was careful to leave his head down even as he looked upward toward the commotion. The cell across from his, previously empty, was opened and a man who was wearing chains, being restrained by two of the larger guards was chained to the wall.
“...uck you, you twice cursed…” He tuned in and tuned out the others words, he’d heard enough anger in his time here. He didn’t need more of that. Instead he focused on watching the others movements, they were sluggish but even so the guards seemed to be struggling with controlling him. Which was a bit odd considering he was almost half the size of each of them, the two humans rivaled even him in size. After some time they finally got him contained and one made sure to give a parting kick before the two walked out grumbling under their breath. They left and the new prisoner yelled after them an unflattering insult about their mother and for the first time Letho caught a look at his face. He was handsome, and a witcher. The viper shook his head as he realized he’d definitely processed the wrong half of that information first. The other man was undoubtedly small, his amber colored eyes hazy with something and Letho noticed with almost a start, he’d stopped yelling and was now staring intently at him. “You're a Witcher too…” he said, an odd lisp clinging to the edges of his voice but not impeding the words. Letho wanted to say something but the words clung to his throat. His eyebrows drew in confusion, he tried to speak again and was once more surprised when the words wouldn’t come. He cleared his throat and tried again before making eye contact once more with the other and shaking his head confused.
He’d never been the most verbose, but normally he could at least talk. He was internally divided between panicking and a sort of depressed detachment. Before his thoughts could spiral any further, he heard the others voice again “Can’t talk? Must be that mage.” He looked up in question. Silently huffing in irritation as a part of his heart seemed to be buoyed at the sight of what was hopefully an ally in this place. “Some crazy sorceress seems to be fucking with the citizens. Her and that fuckwit of a king seem to be having a grand old time.” He shrugged, his chains jangling and he huffed quietly before he wiggled around and made quick work of dislocating his thumb and easily slipping out of one of the cuffs. There was no noise, no whimper at all as he pushed the digit back into place. Letho had tried that before, but the cuff on his wrists were too tight to slip out, cutting the blood flow a bit.
“I got enough time to break out before the next round?” The cat asked. Letho closed his eyes and thought for a moment. Of course, he’d been paying attention, even though his chance for escape had seemed impossible for so long. After playing through the routine a few times in his mind he opened his eyes and his heart skipped a beat as his eyes locked immediately with the witcher slitted eyes, so much like his own. It had been so long. He nodded confident that the cat would be able to sneak out in the time it took for the guards to finish their rounds and return to torment him. The other waited only a moment before he dug around his ankles and pulled out two small metal pins. With some maneuvering he was able to unlock his other hand and quickly set to work on the three other locks pinning him to the wall. He was up in a breath, his thumb still seemed to bother him, whatever drug that caused him lisp, also slowing his healing, though he still made quick work of the lock on his door. ‘Just like that,’ Letho thought, despondent as the one splash of color in this prison was already leaving him. In an odd way he was glad to see the other escape so quickly for some reason his gut twisted oddly thinking of the small cat being as broken and tortured as him.
“Great. Let's get the fuck out of here.” Soundlessly the stranger crossed the stone hallway and opened Letho’s door in seconds. His train of thought completely froze. Why should the cat waste a second of escape time on him? He couldn’t even flinch as the cat crowded against his neck and began to remove the chain around his neck, for the first time in ages, Letho was able to fill his lungs to capacity, no longer restrained by the too tight dimeritium lined collar. the sweet and slightly anxious smell of the smaller Witcher, filling his brain. Then the chains were removed from his wrists and ankles, and he felt the chaos return in full strength and without his own input, his hand shot out to the left and with his powerful signs, he cast igni just to feel the power flowing through his body. He grabbed the cat's hips and stood in a single motion turning the cat and forcing him behind him. He didn’t wait for even a second before he took off, leading the other deeper into the fortress. Nearly silent footsteps followed him and Letho was distantly surprised that his instincts silently accepted the other wasn’t a threat. It was only a few minutes later and they entered a small armory and off to the side was both his own gear and the cat’s.
“Well done, Scales! Brilliant.” Letho felt himself blush at the complement, glad he'd remembered the layout, glad the guards had left his equipment but at that point they both were rather occupied as they pawed through their things cataloging what was taken. They had no potions and neither of their medallions were there either. They could still survive this escape with any luck at all. Two armed Witcher's had a better chance either way. They armed themselves and with every piece of armor and every weapon that slid into place, Letho felt more himself. The unmoored feeling had finally started to abate. He cracked his neck, then his knuckles, and turned to the cat who stood ready at the door.
“Ready to kill a mage?” The other’s voice dripped with violent intent. Letho couldn’t help the bloodthirsty lilt of his grin as he left the room, followed by the silent cat as they walked together to enact their revenge.