The small stones and branches under the wheels of the carriage lead to an unsteady ride. Luckily I had a good balance in my position, so I wasn't hobbling in my seat like the man, Yurga as I got to know, next to me. "How long has it been since you meet that Witcher?" I asked him without looking at him but looking ahead on the road. He blinked a few times and thought about it. Come now, can't be that hard. "Must be around three days." My eyes widened and I looked at him. "What?" I asked in a mumble more to myself than to Yurga. Three days? I've been longer in Cintra than I thought. On Roach, she's a really swift horse, he could be anywhere. I should stick to the plan for now and then see what I can do.
"Did the Witcher say anything about where he wanted to go?" I raised a brow, I was inpatient. "He said something about the Blue Mountains." The Blue Mountains? "Why?" I know I'm asking a lot of questions but I needed information. "He was bit by a ghoul and needed healing and said then that there is someone who'd be able to help him but a sorceress already did that. I guess that's not his destination anymore." he explained and my clues about his whereabouts got lesser than they were before. Great. Still, I should pay a visit there but that could take weeks or even months. The Blue Mountains are wide and have plenty of caves. To check up on everything there would take me ages. I sighed and leaned back in my seat at the front of the carriage.
"I am curious, how come I never met a female Witcher?" he asked the question, nearly everyone asked when they got to know me and found out that I am a Witcher. I explained to him my situation like I always did and each time I had to do so, I made it a little shorter. He nodded at my explanation. "Where do you plan to go now?" he asked me after he saw how clueless I was after finding that the Blue Mountains weren't Geralt's destination anymore. "Lyria." I answered and he looked at me with a raised brow. "Lyria? What's so important there?" Why is he so interested in that? "Getting an armour but as a Witcher, it's hard to afford one. I'll have to ask my mother if she can do something about it?" he was confused again and I rolled my eyes a little but didn't care to explain who my mother was, there was no need in everyone knowing that.
In front of a small house. A woman was hanging sheets and clothing. She looked over at us and smiled a little. "Yurga!" she exclaimed and put the rest of the laundry in the basket that stood next to the clothesline. "Did you bring another Witcher?" she asked with a tilted smile and her hands on her hips. "Yes, dear and can you imagine, she's looking after the other one." the woman chuckled and I jumped off of the carriage and took Ambers reins off of it. "Thank you for the information but I must take my leave now." I said and nodded my head a little like a goodbye. "A formal one." I only heard the woman say before I sat on Ambers back to ride off. Yes, I was formal, needed to train already for Lyria or else I'll never get my mother to pay the blacksmith for me.
If I'll hurry I should arrive in Lyria by tomorrows evening. I took the road through the forest, fewer people mean less trouble what would bring me faster to Lyria. I was always looking around because I was sure I heard leaves rustling and branches cracking. For a normal human that wasn't audible but for me? It was me getting paranoid. My left hand on the reins the right was hanging loose on my side, ready to draw my sword at any moment. I wasn't sure if the noises were made by small mice or hedgehogs running through the forest. That's the missing experience. I don't want to blame Geralt for anything but he would've already told me if it was some kind of animal or humans sitting between the bushes and trees, watching us.
My fingers twitched, I was so unsure about the presence that is around so I stopped Amber. I closed my eyes and sighed in annoyance. Same situation as in Cintra. Unnecessary stones are put in my way in finding Geralt and the child surprise. A brach cracked and with that, my patience ended. "Alright, who's there?" I asked annoyed and I could feel the veins on my head pound against my skull. More leaves rustled. And at a certain point, I was sure it must have been one person or even more who were watching me. I heard a sound like grabbing something from the pockets. I could hear the leather and wood how it scrubbed against each other.
The wood sounded hollow and I tried to focus on the sound to identify where it comes from. It was so... muffled. I squirmed my eyes and shut them even tighter. It made my head ache, that I didn't know what was after me and especially from where they were after me. I wanted to get off of Amber and look, how naive it may seem, for the potential danger myself. A sharp inhale from my left. I quickly turned my head there but I didn't see anything. A muffled 'plop' came from that direction and something small hit my neck. I hissed a little and touched the spot where I got hit and felt something with feathers at its end. I took it out and looked at it dizzily.
A small arrow shot by a blowpipe. I tottered a little in my seat and knew I was gonna fall, before I could get a tight grip on the reins I felt myself falling. "Fuck." I cursed and only felt my body hit the ground. I tried to keep my eyes open and saw two people run out of the bushes and jump from the tree. Long blonde hair I could identify on the people's heads. Sharp ears lurked out of the hair. Elves.