KAER MORHEN -
Snow had settled thick and heavy over Kaer Morhen's inner courtyard, and despite the biting cold, the keep was full of activity, of men bracing properly for true winter. Vesemir worked at splitting wood near the old stable, Eskel hauled fresh-cut timber toward the breach in the east wall, and Lambert cursed steadily at a stubborn hinge on the armory door that refused to sit true no matter how he coaxed it.
Near the training yard, Ciri moved through a sword form alone, her breath fogging thick in the cold air, her strikes sharper and more clipped than her usual fluid rhythm.
Geralt noticed from across the yard and crossed toward her, frowning. "You shouldn't be out here training. Not in this cold, not unless you're after a proper fever on top of everything else."
Ciri's blade cut through the air harder than necessary. "Then what am I supposed to do, Geralt?" The words came out sharp, cracking louder than she'd intended. "Everyone keeps telling me to find something to occupy myself with, to stop sitting beside him looking miserable all day, well, this is what I can do to keep my mind from unraveling entirely. So forgive me if it isn't to your liking."
She kept swinging, harder now, as if daring him to argue.
"That's not what I..." Geralt started.
A hand settled on his shoulder before he could finish, and he turned to find Yennefer standing just behind him, watching Ciri with understanding in her violet eyes. "Let her," she said, low. "It's only natural she's this on edge. It's been a full week, and he still hasn't woken. This wasn't any ordinary curse, first time I've ever treated something quite like it. I did what I believed was right, but I can't promise you it was the best that could have been done."
They walked a short distance away together, out of easy earshot, while Ciri continued her forms behind them.
"He's alive," Geralt said. "Unconscious, but alive. That's more than you give yourself credit for. If you'd done it wrong, he'd already be dead. You did everything you could."
"I'll have to leave soon," Yennefer said, not quite answering that.
"Back to Nilfgaard." Geralt's tone sharpened slightly. "You still haven't properly explained to any of us why you've been spending so much time down there."
Yennefer was quiet for a long moment, something weighing behind her eyes before she finally spoke. "I told you I was gathering information about Ciri, and anyone they sent after her. That was only half true, I'll admit." She exhaled slowly. "The Emperor no longer wishes to marry her, Geralt. Not anymore... not now that half the North already know the truth, that the Queen of Cintra he's hunting is, in fact, his own daughter and the other half suspects it. He wants something else entirely now. And I've been trying to help make it happen."
Geralt's jaw tightened. "What, exactly, does Emhyr want.
"To name her his heir," Yennefer said simply. "Nothing more complicated than that, on the surface. Plenty within his court still oppose the idea, naturally, but if the Emperor brings her before him and simply decrees it they'll have no choice but to fall in line. It would also cement his hold over Nilfgaard considerably alongside Cintra, beyond question."
"And you think Ciri would agree to that?"
"Of course not," Yennefer said. "If I believed she would, I'd already have discussed it with her directly. She cares nothing for thrones, you've seen that for yourself. But I do believe there will come a day when Emhyr personally asks me to bring her to him. For now, he's still playing the part of the harsh, grieving father hiring dangerous men to drag her back by force. I've been working to convince him to call all of them off." A faint, tired satisfaction crossed her face. "It's working."
Geralt's eyes narrowed. "You're saying everyone he sent looking for her.. they're being recalled."
"Yes." Yennefer's expression darkened slightly. "There's another reason I've needed to stay close to him, besides. The Emperor is preparing a fresh campaign against the North. It doesn't look good for any of the northern realms right now, especially not after what happened in Rivia."
"Right." Geralt's jaw tightened further. "Seb's tangled up in that, as it happens. Philippa's behind what happened at Rivia's royal castle."
"I know," Yennefer said. "Seb's practically infamous in Nilfgaard these days. Or famous, depending entirely on who you're asking and which side of the border they stand on."
"He didn't kill those kings."
"I know that," Yennefer said. "But the kingdoms believe otherwise. A dark-haired witcher, working alongside a sorceress, assassinating monarchs with a horde of frost monsters at his back, sounds like exactly the sort of tale that shouldn't hold up under scrutiny. Except the reports that reached the Emperor were real, Geralt. Very real, and very bloody."
"Philippa will pay for all of this," Geralt said, "I'll see to that personally. And Triss... her whereabouts are still unknown. She tried to help Seb, from what I understand, and it seems to have cost her."
"I'm afraid I can't help you with any of that directly," Yennefer said. "But I'll aid you however I can from a distance. I've left a megascope here at the keep Seb will know how to work it, I taught him myself, years back. I only hope he still remembers." Something softer crossed her face. "I know he'll wake up, Geralt. When he does, tell him not to be reckless, and above all, tell him to stay clear of Redania, Temeria, and Lyria and Rivia. He's a wanted man in all three kingdoms now."
"We'll fix that too, in time," Geralt said.
Yennefer leaned in and kissed him, before stepping back. "Protect them. All of them."
She crossed the courtyard to Ciri, who had finally lowered her blade, breathing hard, and pulled her into a firm, steady hug. "He'll wake up," Yennefer said quietly, pulling back to meet her eyes directly. "That's not comfort, Ciri. That's a professional's word. Hold onto it."
With that, she turned, and a portal bloomed open before her, swallowing her whole in a shimmer of violet light.
Vesemir had just set down a split log near the woodpile when his medallion gave a sudden, violent shudder against his chest. He straightened slowly, brow furrowing, and looked around the courtyard. "Are you feeling this?"
"Feeling what?" Lambert called back, still wrestling with the armory hinge.
"Yeah," Eskel said, going still, his own medallion trembling faintly now too. "Feels like... magic. Strong magic.."
Geralt felt it a heartbeat later, the familiar prickling unease crawling up the back of his neck. "It's coming from outside the gates."
The sky was beginning to dim toward evening, the last grey light fading fast over the mountains, and Ciri, catching the sudden tension rippling through all of them, climbed the nearest stretch of wall to look out over the tree line herself. What she saw made her breath catch.
Movement, a great deal of it, dark shapes shifting restlessly among the distant trees, far too many and far too coordinated to be ordinary wildlife fleeing the cold.
"What is that," she murmured.
Geralt had already reached the gate, staring out at the same tree line, his expression hardening by the second. "I think we're being attacked," he said grimly. "Not by some disorganized mob of peasants this time."
Lambert yanked his sword free of its sheath, squinting into the deepening dusk. "Yeah, I see it now too. Monsters, by the feel of it.. but something's off. Too orderly. Monsters don't move like that on their own."
"Close the gate," Vesemir said, already moving, "Get to positions, all of you. This is not some random attack." He paused, something grim settling over his weathered features. "When was the last time this keep was actually attacked like this?"
No one answered. Because they knew the answer far too well.
Deep within the tree line, two figures walked toward the distant keep, flanked on either side by shapes that moved too smoothly, too silently, for anything natural.
"I'm impressed," Leo Bonhart said, glancing sidelong at his companion. "You higher vampires command an army of your own kind so casually. Makes me wonder, why has none of your lot ever simply conquered a kingdom outright, with numbers and powers like that at your back?"
The higher vampire's mouth curved faintly. "Would you rather slaughter your entire herd of livestock in a single season, Master Bonhart, or allow it to continue growing, year after year, so that it might feed you properly for centuries to come?" He let that settle. "I imagine that answers your question well enough."
"Fair enough." Bonhart's own smile was considerably less philosophical. "The witchers are finished, one way or another, once we're through those gates. Leave the girl alive, though. I need her breathing when this is done."
"Understood," the vampire said. "The others, I care rather less about preserving." Something colder slid into his voice. "Though I would ask the same courtesy extended toward the one who killed my beloved. I wish to have him delivered to me alive as well... for however long I ultimately decide to let that last a while longer."
/-\
If you Like this story! Check out my other stories! Shadow Monarch: In One Piece / Shadow Monarch in DC
&
If you wish to read more or simply support me than check out my pat-reon / FrenzyAren"
You can Get Access to More Chapters Ahead of Release on All of My Stories!