Shifting Shadows

A Pain worth Bearing

*I could see him making himself comfortable on the chair, legs spread apart, his left elbow on his knee hand holding his face at an angle, his right arm slumped over his thigh, what was he looking so intently at....*

My brows furrowed, a puzzled look spilling across my face. I couldn't grasp why he was looking at me in that way. His eyes almost glued on me- my form was far from breath-taking wearing the dark brown material trousers which in all fairness were mostly covered with mud from when I was running away from Geralt, my cotton shirt ruffled up with a gaping hole on my shoulder soaked in my, now very dry, blood. My eyes followed his gaze. My shoulder. My hand instinctively grabbed at my shoulder. Bad move. A wave of pain rippled across my back and arm. My mouth ajar from the pain, but no noise came out- a rogue tear or two danced across my cheek leaving a glittery trail on my skin.

His face dropped as he jumped up back onto his feet stammering to get to me, "Hey, hey ,hey..." he grabbed my arm "Y/n? look at me please," his cold emotionless voice now filled with concern "lets get that patched up, okay?"

The smell of leather and cedarwood filled my nose again- I felt so safe with him. More tears began welling up in my eyes. I WASN'T MEANT TO CRY. My plans were foiled, they now knew how weak I was. Well, it was too late to turn around now. My head was hung low as I nodded. At least now that gaping whole would be closed and would stop hurting there must be some sort of wither remedy for it right? His grip on my forearm loosened as he slid his palms down to meet mine, he took my hand as he led me onto the bed tapping it, inviting me on.

"Lie down on your front, ill be back soon." His voice growing distant with each word.

I could hear his heavy footsteps making their way across the corridor and up the winding staircase. Soon it quietened down only the cracking of the flames in the fireplace were left. How long was he going to be gone for? Who knows. I wiped the wet trails left by the tears onto my sleeves and sat on the bed- it was much softer than I expected. Shuffling backwards into the bed and lying down on my front; my face was greeted by the soft fur lined pillows. I gave out a sigh and closed my eyes taking in the comfort of the warm flames and the softness of the pillows.

I could hear three sets of heavy footsteps now making their way down the corridor, how long was I out for? It didn't matter I lay down on my front again arms cradling a pillow which my head rested upon. Familiar voices soon filled the empty silence...

"Well its not my fault Lambert used all the nostrix up for his stupid experiments"

"Shut up Eskel, it was valid research, just cause your pea brain cant comprehend it"

The yapping grew louder and louder as they made their way across the corridor, which was probably more amusing to me than it was to Geralt.

"Hmm." Ah the iconic sigh "Lambert, Eskel for the love of god please stop we have bigger shit to deal with" his voice gave away how annoyed he was with both of them.

I couldn't help but smile. I twisted my head to look at what they had, boxes filled with various solutions and liquids, herbs and plants spilling out the sides. Gently, they took out small vials with clear coloured liquids and lay them neatly on the table just across the room chattering amongst themselves about how to go about doing this. With the final box being emptied out on the table they gathered around the bed. I could feel their eyes on the wound. Worried looks spreading across their faces did not bode very well.

"Nice hole you gave them Geralt."

"Shut it." His voice had gone cold and harsh, was he truly sorry for what he did to me? Perhaps but I couldn't be sure.

"Let's begin then, we need Y/N to bit down on something... it might hurt... a lot" thanks for that Eskel you've filled me with so much hope.

They looked around the room for a few seconds for something for me to bite down on, their search was quickly cut short.

"Just bite my hand if it hurts" there was a slight pause "well go on then I'm a Witcher I've had much worse creatures bite me."

Laughs erupted from the other two the obvious reason being Geralt's remark, which made me chuckle a bit in all honesty. As sweet as that was for a solution for the problem it wasn't necessary I had to cut his torment short somehow, I felt bad for him. I knew he meant well but, this was not the way.

"Its okay ill just scream into the pillow, lets pray these walls are soundproof." I let a smile melt over my face, and as they uncorked the various viles I plunged my face into the comfort of the plush pillow. I knew I would soon regret not taking Geralt's offer. A pair of scissors was used to cut away at the blood-soaked material that clung to my skin like glue accompanied by a chorus of 'sorry' every few seconds. I felt cool liquids hit my skin begin fizzing and bubbling up, I hissed in pain as more concoctions and leaves of various sorts were poured and rubbed into the puncture. They were right the pain was near unbearable. I could feel myself getting dizzy, the room began to spin and the words that the witchers were saying began to blur all together. Soon enough the room went dark...