Chapter 22
Geralt was enjoying the quiet as they made their way North. Originally, he had wanted to take Julia to Toussaint, but the war-ravaged areas south of Wolnosci were too dangerous to travers. So instead he decided to take her to Kear Morhen, the place where he had grown up. Yes, there were bad memories that hid amoungst the rooms at his home, but over the years many good memories were also forged, and it was a beautiful place.
They had travelled well into the afternoon and Geralt had found a nice clearing to spend their first night on the road. Checking the area to make sure they would have no surprises he returned to find Julia leaning against a fallen tree trunk. A warm fire blazing in front of her. He just stood admiring her as the flames illuminated the highlights in her hair, and the soft smile that turned up just at the sides of her lips as she concentrated intently on something she was making. How this woman made his arms ache to hold her, and his heartbreak at the thought of her ever leaving him. Stepping forward he deliberately broke a branch underfoot to alert her to his presence. She looked up as Geralt strode purposely towards her the small smile faltering before breaking into a wide grin that lit up her eyes as she recognised who it was.
Unable to be without her in his arms any longer he sat down beside her leaning back against the tree trunk and pulled her into his lap. She giggled lightly placing the food aside that was in her hands she turned looking at his now whisker covered face and scolded Geralt "Hey you'll ruin dinner" not really caring about the dinner he lowered his lips to claim hers wanting to satisfy another kind of hunger, one that had been put off for too long.
Julia's mind was losing the battle, she wanted to follow through with her plans of making a nice dinner for her husband. She had remembered from her days camping with her family some simple recipes and was eager to show Geralt that she could cook as well as heal. Right now, however his soft lips had claimed hers and the deeper the kiss the less she though about the food, and the more her body was responding to his. She felt his hands caressing, searching looking to release her of her clothing, reminding her of their wedding night however this time there was no nervousness. Keeping the kiss connected she Lifted up the hem of her garment and shifted herself to straddle her strong warrior.
At the connection of their bodies Geralt groaned as he felt his wife's nimble fingers undoing his laces, lightly grazing his growing need. She pulled away from his kiss and looked longingly into his eyes, the depth of love and joying speaking volumes from the deepening pools of her eyes. That look told him more than any words ever could, she was his and he was hers and for the rest of their lives together they would seek to show each other that love.
Later that night they reclined together in front of the fire. Relaxed and enjoying the simple bread and meat meal that Julia had made. The night sky was full of stars, that Julia could see as she looked up through the trees. She had missed this part of camping, the business and noise of her daily life replaced with the sounds of owls hooting, crickets and frogs singing their songs and the odd wolf howling in the far-off distance. She was relaxed here protected in the strong warm arms of her husband. Placing her hands on his stomach she sighed and said in a lazy soft voice "I love this Geralt, the serenity of nature, just you and me. Most of all I love you." her hands tracing the outlines of his muscles she saw a small rippling effect as he sighed contented and replied in his own husky deep voice "I love you too Julia"
The next morning Julia awoke snuggled into a warm pillow, the pillow moved as Geralt took each breath. He was awake too looking up at the first rays of the sun streaking through the sky. His soft gravelly voice whispered through the clearing "Good Morning my love, how did you sleep?" as his arms wrapped possessively around her waist pulling her closer into him. Enjoying their closeness Julia just murmured not creating a usable word. Chuckling Geralt shifted so they could look at each other. "We should make a move soon if we want to get to Flotsam Inn by night fall, sleeping under the stars is lovely but I want a warm bath tonight." Julia grinned at the thought, she really didn't want to have to wash in the cold waters of the Pontar river. Leaving the warmth and security of his arms Julia stood up and gathered some food from the saddles. Thank fully Nessie had provided easy travel food oat bars, banana's and biscuits to keep them going as they packed up and headed further North.
The day was long and lazy as Geralt show Julia the beautiful land to the north. She had never travelled this far and was enjoying being a tourist. As they neared Flotsam Inn though the feelings of enjoyment faded. She had forgotten that unlike Wolnosci many humans disliked Witcher's. She now however could feel the curiosity, distrust, and fear as they passed through the different towns as people kept staring at them Julia realised this is what Geralt had been experiencing most of his life. I was soul destroying, she had always had warmth, acceptance and love even when she travelled in her early years their family had been accepted.
After they moved through Biaey Most Geralt had stopped and change into his cloak hoping to hide who he was so that Julia would not have to experience people's prejudice. He had been spoilt in Wolnosci; He had not forgotten what this was like, but he could feel it more knowing that Julia was being subjected to it as well. Hoping that Flotsam would not be as bad they headed towards their night's accommodation. Dismounting at the Inn, Geralt took Julia's hand in his, her warmth gave his comfort as they headed indoors.
Julia had visited inn's before, the smell of Ale, the laughter and music, but this was different again. The sound of women's and men laughter was floating on the breeze from a stairwell that lead to a lower floor and on this level, there were men singing and laughing as they lifted their mugs in salutes. Geralt spoke to the bar keeper and after he was pointed to another flight of stairs that went up he had turned around to Julia an unreadable look on his face as he took her hand and lead her upstairs. At the top of the stairs Geralt led her to a door and unlocking it made their way inside. It was simple, a queen bed on one side, a fire on the other and a long bathtub sitting close to the fire. Geralt turned to her and said with concern "I'm sorry Julia, I forgot"
Geralt was kicking himself. It had been so long since he had been to Flotsam Inn that he had forgotten that it was also a brothel. The sounds of music, dancing and more could be heard through the thin walls and he was horrified that he had bought his beloved into this place. He could tell by her face that she had not cottoned onto what kind of establishment they were in. Could he just pretend and hope that they could sleep and then leave without her realising? She smiled as her face turned to the bath and walked over and filled the two metal jugs sitting beside the bath with water from within the bath then sat them beside the fire to heat. A sound of groaning and a loud squeal of laughter came floating though the wall, at this Julia's face turned back to Geralt a look of surprise crossing her features as Geralt groaned he was not going to live this one down.
That night after they had both had a long bath and were now cuddled in the bed, Julia giggled again into Geralt's chest remembering the red blush that had crept up into his face as he described where he had bought them for the second night of there Honeymoon. She had worked out something was different when the sounds became less laughter and singing and more moaning as they night had grown closer to midnight. Geralt had been mortified trying to apologise and Julia had found it endearing that he had wanting to protect her innocence. She was not worried as a healer she had met many different people and although she did not want to make a habit of staying in places like this she was grateful for the hot bath, clean room and warm soft bed.
Keeping her ear to his heartbeat to drown out the noise she asked "Geralt can you tell me a story, one of your adventures?" His deep chuckle became the only sound she could hear as he began telling her about how he had saved Cirilla's father who at the time was enchanted as a hedgehog. His deep voice filled her ears and lulled her into sleep with images of sward fights, magic and a child surprise who was now her daughter.
Early the next morning they had left Flotsam Inn, the images of half-dressed ladies sitting around the tables eating their breakfast still floated around Julia's mind. She could never imagine being in a situation that would leave her with that as the only option of survival. Grateful to her father and her husband for providing for her and then for her mother who gave her a skill that she could always use to support herself no matter what happened.
Together Geralt and Julia spent the next four nights sleeping under the stars not willing to try another Inn but enjoying the peace and gentle noises of the forests. On the fifth night before reaching Kear Morhen the weather had turned bad with a storm moving through. To take shelter they had found a cave. They sheltered near to mouth of the cave as Geralt was not comfortable going further in as an unease settling around them. Unable to make a fire Geralt held Julia close their body the only thing to keep them warm as their clothes and blankets were soaked.
Julia noticed Geralt's unease and as the night went on she noticed his silver medallion started to vibrate remembering the same action when she was a child Julia not making a move asked in a very quiet voice "Geralt, are we sharing the cave with a monster?" all Geralt could do was humm quietly while he thought out a plan. Unsure what he was about to face he quietly put his hand into his side satchel. The only elixirs he had was the Golden Oriole, and Cat Elixir hoping that he would not need anything else picking each one up and opening the bottles with his teeth he drank them down. For a moment he realised Julia will be seeing him with his cat eyes but knowing he needed to protect her he stood and decided to go on the offensive rather than wait for the monster to come to him. Silver sword in hand he bent down and kissed Julia on the head "wait for me, if sounds get louder head into the trees just there and be alert, I love you" Julia whispered back "I Love you too" as Geralt headed deeper into the cave.
Julia waited, listened and did all she could not to panic as the sound of a bird like screech pierced the night. If she was to accompany Geralt on hunts she would have to get used to this. Granted they would be more prepared right now Geralt had no idea what he would face. Doing the only thing she could Julia started praying, and prepared herself to help Geralt in whatever state she found him in. The sound grew louder and in an instant, she jumped up and ran for the trees as Geralt had instructed. Just as she turned around, she saw Geralt run out of the cave and with a movement of his hand it looked like a bolt of flames flew towards the creature coming at him. The creature flapped its wings and tried to slash at Geralt while Geralt returned with his own sward parries.
The Beast had a birdlike beak, webbed wings, hooked talons and had crimson skin hanging from its neck. If she would hazard a guess it looked like a dragon but Geralt would never harm a Dragon. When they were reading of the monsters in the library, he had said time and again that dragons were endangered intelligent creatures to be protected. While she watched him fight, the creature hovered up as if to fly towards him, but with a flick of his fingers another bolt of fire flew at the beast causing it to drop back down. and Geralt used his silver sword to attack. In her mind the fight was slow, and her mind was working slower trying to remember which monster this was, surly they had talked about it. A picture came to mind the red skin hanging from the neck, the beak like face it hit Julia so Quick that she whispered out loud "it's a Basilisk" also remembering there talons were not there greatest defence but a Poison they shoot at there prey. She prayed the Golden Oriole would be enough to protect Geralt.
Julia watched helplessly from the trees as a cloud of spray hit Geralt in the face, slightly blinded the beast came at him again slashing at his torso. Holding in a scream Julia huddled by the tree continuing to pray. Geralt swiped at his eyes and made another sign with his fingers once more fire flew at the beast this time it was so shaken that it did not see the silver sward as it came down on its neck severing its head from its body. The best dropped fully to the ground as Geralt also collapsed. As she looked from behind the tree, she was the beast was dead, seeing Geralt laying on the ground she ran towards him. The poison coated his body, she knew she could not touch him. Looking around she saw the horses and their canteens hanging from the saddles, quickly she ran grabbing both canteens and also her shoulder bag containing her elixirs. Grateful she had packed them she ran back to Geralt.
Watching him carefully, Julia poured the first canteen of water over the wound on his torso it cleared the substance away from the wound. Hoping it was clean enough she grabbed an elixir and poured it over the area. It bubbled and hisses, seeing it was cleaning the dirt and toxins out of the wound and reducing the bleeding she breathed a sigh. She then placed a piece of cloth over it to protect the wound. Geralt groaned looking up at her his eyes looking more like cat eyes but still she could see the pain reflected there as his body fought the toxins. He tried to move but she placed a hand on his clean forehead the only place not covered in the stick substance. "Shh my love don't move" he laid his head back down, his breathing laboured as the pain seemed to take his consciousness as he passed out. There was little left she could do, she needed more water, she needed help to move him to a safe place. Making one more desperate petition to her unnamed God two things happened, she heard a voice call out and the heavens open.
A/N special thanks to my Husband who said the story needed another fight scene and to my brother in law who suggested the Basilisk that was often found in the games near Kear Morhen. :)