Chapter Text
For the umpteenth dozen time, and certainly not for the last time, Aubry both praised and cursed the new patrols that Witchers now moved in.
Praised, because the Zeugl head, tentacles, and various alchemical organs that were draped over their horses wouldn't have been possible if they hadn't been in a group. Praised, because the director of the Oxenfurt university hadn't known an adult Zeugl from a half dead Drowner, and if Aubry had been alone down in the sewers he probably would have died.
Cursed, because sometimes despite his best efforts, Eskel really didn't take into accounting the fact that their team was not a good match. Socially, at least; for combat, they would be hard pressed to come across anything that could take them down.
Aubry didn't have an issue with Junod or Ealdred. Wolves usually got along with Bears and Griffins, especially as the three of them were all relatively quiet and non-confrontational men. However, their fourth, Kiyan of the cats, was as high strung as high strung got.
Not all cats were like that; some had the ability to sit still for hours on a hunt, and were calm as still water unless angered.
Kiyan was as close to calm as a Royal Griffin was to a damn chicken.
More often than not, Ealdred was left leading Kiyan’s gelding while the Cat took off like a bolt from a crossbow after any little thing that moved. Sure, they had more fresh game than rations most nights, and no shortage of potion ingredients, but it never ceased to be alarming when the Cat took off with no warning and was gone for hours, or when Kiyan got a little too into fighting and made a horrible mess.
Though he did sometimes come back with things he really shouldn't. And occasionally he used the whistle calls to get their attention when he's bit off more than he could chew; like the time he'd been treed by a young Chort.
At least none of the blood Kiyan came back covered in was ever Human.
"Wolf." Junod rumbled from behind the collection of horses following the trail between Devils Ford and Rinde.
"What is it?" Aubry twisted in his saddle, yellowed eyes flitting over to the older bear.
Junod, a massive balding man with a beard as thick as the bearskin cloak he wore, raised one meaty hand to point inland away from the Pontar. "The Cat is calling."
"Melitele's tits." Ealdred muttered sourly. "What's Kiyan found now? If it's another Griffin cub or a cockatrice egg, I'm likely to throw him in the Pontar."
"Not very chivalrous of you, Griffin." Junod snorted.
"Sorry to say that chivalry cannot even survive Kiyan." Ealdred deadpanned.
Ealdred was the one Kiyan tended to bring gifts to. Dead things, living things, occasionally the odd looking aberrant creature if he could wrangle it; Aubry would be out of patience too if he had a dwarf sized Drowner dropped in his lap first thing in the morning.
"I'll help you." Aubry chimed with a shake of his head, before reining his stallion off the path. "C'mon, he only calls if he thinks it's important. Let's see what poor creature he's treed this time."
"If he has found another Chort, Aiden will owe me fifty crowns." Junod rumbled.
The sound of Kiyan's whistling call grew more evident as the noise of the Pontar faded behind them. Foliage gave way to roughshod roads, a few empty houses- and the rising stench of smoke and rotting corpses.
"Fuck." Aubry muttered, spurring his stallion quicker.
The village they came upon was full of old buildings, hidden in the forest and far off the beaten path. In fact, Aubry had been this direction more than once and he'd never heard of this place. It was possible it, like to many other communities, had never gotten big enough for a proper road and an alderman.
The stench of death and smoke grew heavier as they broke the treeline, narrowly dodging a hastily dug hole at the very edge of what had once been a wheat field.
As they detoured around it, spotting the burnt husk of what had once been a village, the many corpses of an Endrega swarm came into view.
Attacks on human villages were common, even with the groups of Witchers roaming to try and protect the realm. Such attacks of this scale occurred mainly villages like this one had been, and they were either wiped out or survived and were forced to relocate after they couldn’t pay to have the Witchers come and take care of the problem. Or, in some cases, the Kingdom they belonged to was not on good terms with the Warlord in the Kaedwen, so their cries for help had to go unheeded.
Many of the Endrega corpses were still actively on fire, the remains of the villagers attempts to fight back obvious. The lack of Necrophages meant the attack hadn't been long ago.
After spotting a familiar throwing knife sticking out of an Endrega corpse, Aubry corrected his assumption to Kiyan having caught the tail end of it.
The noise of the Pontar and the breeze had blocked the smell from reaching them. Perhaps if the wind had favored them more, they may not have been too late...
"Aubry!" Kiyan called, a strangely uneasy lilt to his voice.
Aubry dutifully guided his horse in the direction of his voice as both Junod and Ealdred dismounted and set off on foot to canvas the area and ensure the swarm and all eggs were eradicated.
Yellowed eyes blinked in surprise as he spotted Kiyan hovering in the bottom of an empty barn, staring upwards at something out of sight.
"Kiyan?" He called, dismounting and leaving his horse where he was. "What is it?"
"I hear a survivor." Kiyan stated, pointing up at the ladder that had been drawn up to remove access. "I don’t want to scare em though. You're better at Humans."
And less bloody too, Aubry mused as he cast an eye down at Kiyan. He was green with Endrega gore- combined with the ever present slightly deranged grin that rested on his face would surely panic whomever had managed to survive.
"Alright. Go case the area with the others and see if you find anyone else alive. I'll handle the civilian." Aubry rumbled.
Kiyan beamed at him, patted him on the shoulder, and then went on his merry way back out into the ruins of the village.
Aubry sighed and rolled his neck, already calculating how hard he'd need to jump to reach the edge of the loft.
With the weather having been deceptively rainy, even this far south in Redania, it had become the perfect breeding grounds for the Endrega that had, unfortunately, wiped out nearly all of the populace of this small village, all except whomever Kiyan had located but had not jumped up easily to retrieve. Which, given his excitable nature, was impressive to say the least.
Still, now as Aubry was left standing in the barn while his fellow Witchers made sure the invasive Endrega were for sure ended and the dead given burials, he focused on the task of convincing the survivor that they were truly safe. A task easier said than done since they had gone still and were likely watching.
"Hey," He called upwards, lowering his voice into his 'calm the scared humans' register. "It's alright now- I'm Aubry, of the Wolf Witchers. It's safe now; none of the monsters can hurt you anymore."
Clouds passed overhead outside, casting the barn in a darker light. It was the perfect shading to allow a Witchers sharp eyes to catch a subtle eye shine from under a pile of hay in the loft.
A normal human would have thought it a trick of the light, but among his brothers, his family, he knew it was anything but. This was no human that lingered in this place; but it was not an Endrega either.
So, he was left with a dilemma, jump up and spook the hidden form, or hope that they came down of their own free will.
Aubry waited a fair sum of time, listening quietly to the flutter of a heartbeat above. Frightened though it was, the fact it hadn't changed had him wondering. Maybe they couldn't hear at all, like Warret couldn't see. Wouldn't know until he got to actually see who was hiding.
They could see him though- and he could see the inhuman glint of their eyes too.
Subtly, his nostrils flared. Under the smell of death and monster guts, he could smell hay, animals, and... Something different. Not something he was familiar with, other than the vaguely sweet smell that indicated something was female. Whatever she was, it wasn't a creature he had ever personally encountered before.
Had this been before the Wolflaw had been made, he might have drawn his sword. Instead, Aubry moved to better see the glint of eyes, and folded his arms across his chest.
"Listen, lass, I know you're up there. Witchers got keen ears- I can hear your heart fluttering like a bird, n'see those eyes peeking at me." He rumbled softly, speaking slow so that if she was hard of hearing, she'd have a chance at reading his lips through his beard. "Witchers don’t hurt the innocent, human or not. I'm not gonna hurt you. You got a name?”
"Kneala."
Yep, female as he had deduced, not young either. That voice was that of a woman's, though sweet and soft spoken.
That fluttering he heard of her heart began to steady out to a calmer rhythm; she believed his words, or at least had heard of Witchers and their capabilities, even if she had no idea that they did not harm innocents.
Add to the fact she was alone and heard several male voices, it was understandable that she would ere on the side of caution.
Movement followed then, strands of hay falling as those eyes blinked out of existence for several heartbeats. Slender fingers gripped the edge of the loft to pull the body they were attached to out from under the hay.
What was revealed, even as the clouds moved on, allowing more sunlight to filter in from outside, was a fair complexion of unmarred skin, hair revealed a queer but lovely subtle gray blue hue. Though somewhat falling free of the high bun it had been pulled in, she seemed fairly put together for her age- something this woman could not have been that far into.
Yet, striking still from the odd hair color, were the eyes that leered down at him. Even from their distance, he could make out their green and golden hue, as if lit from inside.
Odd looking woman for an odd little village, it seemed. He wasn't one to comment on looks, especially those of humans, but he'd never seen one with hair or eyes like she had. Mages maybe, but not typical humans.
"You swear that you mean no harm?" Revealing herself was a show of trust in her eyes; she was still cautious it seemed.
One brow climbed upward on his face at her soft spoken question. He unfolded his arms, before making a fist with one and crossing it over his heart. He offered a shallow bow, before straightening back up to peer at her.
"I do. Neither myself nor my kinsmen will bring you any harm." He paused, considering the open nature of that promise and the subtly inhuman looks of the woman peering down at him, and then added, "I can't promise that we won't retaliate if you attack one of us first, but none of us will start anything."
Those mesmerizing eye shifted at the mention of his kin. Uncertainty colored them and her whole body trembled a moment in contemplation.
"I would not harm a soul. It is not in my nature." That same soft spoken voice followed before she turned to start towards where he could see the hole for the ladder.
While graceful in step, perhaps befitting a mage, hay was anything but, and with her closeness to the edge of the loft, it wasn’t shocking that disaster struck. Albeit far less than the tragedy outside, but alas. Up became down as the woman lost her footing and fell, a cry of fear escaping her as her hands narrowly missed the loft edge.
"Bugger." Aubry muttered, before moving.
In this particular instance, Kiyan would have been useful; cats were fast without even meaning to be. In order to cross the distance and catch Kneala, Aubry had to go from a standstill to motion between one heartbeat and the next.
Doable, but not what he was built for.
He caught her all the same, taking a knee so that the impact didn't drive her down onto the armored rivets studding the length of his gambeson. With her settled in his arms, he took a moment to let her body catch up with the sudden stop whilst he did a cursory glance for any wounds.
"There might have been an easier way down, lass." He remarked dryly as he looked her over with a critical eye and a sensitive nose; she was filthy in the way all folk tended to be after tragedy, but he didn't smell anything that indicated serious wounds.
In fact, she, like much of the village, had that scent of smoke and thunder about her. The latter more subtle than the first. Still, in his arms he could see and even feel that she was healthy as well. Not skin and bones. No, before the attack, this village, small as it was, had been a prosperous one for those that lived there.
"I- I am sorry," Was her terrified gasp when everything caught up. Though startled, she did not struggle in his arms, merely focused those odd eyes on him again, "Thank you for catching me though."
The state of her body had spoke well of the care she had received in the village- but it was all that more devastating in the long run. All that prosperity; gone.
Aubry shook the maudlin thoughts from his mind, and carefully tipped her to settle her on her own feet before rising to his own.
"No thanks needed. I'm a Witcher- we are made to protect the people." His low reply was followed by him swiftly removing his cloak and swirling the heavy fur inside around her shoulders. The weight of it was grounding and hopefully would forestall any panic that might arise in her. "Will you come with me? We'll get you away from here while my kinsmen get rid of the Endrega bodies."
And bury the villagers deep enough not to attract Necrophages, but Aubry wasn't going to horrify her with that. If there were any survivors to be found besides her, they'd be reunited wherever Aubry camped them at, and they could decide from there what they wanted to do.
Though he wouldn't say it out loud, he doubted enough people survived in a hamlet this small to even try rebuilding.
Kneala peered around the barn, that look once more overtaking her eyes before removing the sight from them once her lids closed.
Her village was gone, her friends and family. There would be nightmares, there always were with survivors. Still, she had them now. Safer with a troupe of Witchers than alone waiting for Endrega to potentially find her.
Startled though when he suddenly draped his cloak around her, she focused those orbs on him again until realizing what he had done as he down played the assistance he offered.
Her lips moved wordlessly a moment, trying to think of something to say before she nodded to herself, "You still did not need to help and yet you did. Your friend found me as well and for that I am grateful. I… I will come with you. Safer to be with a group of men that will not harm me than travel alone."
Most wouldn't count Witchers as men, let alone a safer option than traveling alone. It was refreshing not to be awash in the sour odor of terror that most people outside of the wolf lands had in regards to Witchers.
Aubry gently guided her out a side door in the barn, one broad hand across her shoulders to steer her away from the mess.
"Aye, tis' most unpleasant for many a single traveler most days." He agreed, tone light as he used his body to block the sight of the remains of an elderly man, half under a slumped and dead Endrega. "You know how to ride a horse, lass?" He inquired, giving a short whistle that had his stallion skirting around the barn with an answering whinnie.
If she had heard of Witchers it could explain her initial fear, but maybe it was something in his tone that lead her to believe he really was being honest. Either way, she was on the ground and not hiding anymore and they could bring her to safety. Either to stay with them or be sent to a village or city close by.
Her head had shifted, a silent agreement with him before his question made her blink and tilt her head. "Shortcake… well Cake for short. If she survived… she was my horse." Was her gentle answer, even as she saw the stallion, her hands rising and reaching out to him. "So I have some experience."
Aubry had a single moment to wonder what the fuck a shortcake was, before his overly friendly stallion was pushing past him and shoving his velveteen nose into her palms.
Aubry barely dodged his foot getting stomped on, and shot the horse a withering look. Hopefully she didn't mind the grisly head hanging off the back. If they didn't find her horse, he'd have to foist it off onto one of the others so she could ride double with him if it came to it.
He wasn't subjecting her to Kiyan, even if he was the lightest of them.
"I'd offer up his name, but he ain't got one." He glanced down at her with a soft sigh as he patted the dark shoulder of his horse. "You up to riding? I can hunt the scent of horse easier if you're somewhere safe."
And on the back of a Witcher's horse was the second safest place there was on the continent. The first being Kaer Morhen, in Aubry's opinion.
"He doesn't have a name? Well that won't do will it Onyx? No, no it won't." She cooed to the beast, and in typical fashion, he ate it up like a pampered show pony.
Bumping her head against the stallion's as he enjoyed her petting, her eyes seemed to brighten. In the sunlight, they practically glowed that had nothing to do with the eye-shine he had seen before in the barn. Still very dirty, sure, he could see the natural healthy glow of her cheeks and how, well, he could imagine her hair was when not in that barely hanging on bun.
After a moment though, she looked up at him and gave him a quick incline of her head. "I am more than up for riding. Shortcake is a good mare, she likely ran to her flower patch just to the west of the village."
To his credit, Onyx was entirely unbothered by the Witcher crouching near his legs. In fact, he was more than content to gently lip at her dirty dress, mouthing the little bits of hay out of the cloth and greedily eating them under her gentle attentions.
Aubry grumbled to himself because now he'd never be able to refer to the stallion as anything other than Onyx, but didn't let it deter him as he shifted down to cup his hands at about stirrup height for her. Which was league's below his own stirrup height.
"Up you get, then. Onyx," and the name rolled off his tongue like it was meant to be there, damn it all, "is a bit shy at his flanks, so grip with your knees and not your heels, or he'll take off under you."
When his movement caught her attention, she peered past the large head gently lipping at her dirty dress to retrieve the hay stuck there. A subtle tilt, which had those tresses falling across her face and hanging in the open air caught the light again and he could see a subtly brighter shade there. A bath would be needed to see her true beauty.
"Shy on his flanks? Poor thing. I shall remember." Moving around that head that followed for more of the sweet treats, she reached a slender hand out, delicately bracing it on Aubry's shoulder, the other reaching up to grip as close to the horn of the saddle as she could while she raised a foot for his cupped hands to support.
He lifted her with ease, keeping her supported as she got twisted and settled into the saddle. With one pat to her ankle, he left her to getting settled on the newly dubbed Onyx as he turned and put his nose to the wind and started sorting through scents more in depth.
Kneala wasn't wrong- the mare had gone west, bolting in what sure smelled like a panic. Understandable, given what had happened. Most horses wouldn't be anywhere near monsters, let alone ferry parts of them; her response was typical of untrained stock.
Hence why the head hanging from Onxy's saddle was so important. It was good training material.
Her horse didn't smell damaged, though. Frightened out of her mind, certainly, but he smelled neither monster nor blood so that was a good sign.
"Kneala," He began, her name rolling off his tongue at the first taste of it, "keep a few lengths behind me. That Zeugl head will send your Shortcake bolting again if I don't get her calmed first."
Settled, those slender fingers feathered over Onyx's neck, making him quite happy for the affection. The girl would spoil him at the rate she was going, trained or not. Still, it seemed to comfort her.
As he spoke her name once more, she blinked, peering behind her in genuine surprise but, unlike many would have, she did not begin to weep in fear. If anything, she seemed mildly curious.
"I had not even noticed. I shall keep back at least five horse lengths until you get hold of her bridle." A fondness coated her tone, revealing she cared dearly for the beast. "She should come willingly."
"Witchers have a way with animals if she wont." He replied ambiguously, and set off into the ground eating lope that Witchers could sustain for hours.
Onyx's ears perked up, dark eyes tracking Aubry as he set off. But, ever obedient, he waited until she gave the nudge for him to follow.