Something Wild (Child of the Winter Moon Book 1)

18: A Plan

"She screamed like a madwoman. In an instant, the wager had been forgotten. Every man ran to save his own skin, even if he were to break his own neck."

"They make it?"

"Some, aye. Others were not so fortunate. But what happened then..." Phillip shook his head. "I must say, Witcher, I've seen a lot, but not like this. Ever."

"I know that look."

"You'll get the rest when Juray returns and the two of you find Anna."

"I'm pretty sure I know where she is."

"Where? Why haven't you brought her home?"

"She's in Crookback Bog. Got food, a place to live, and keeps herself busy. Didn't look like she had the slightest desire to leave."

"You were to bring her back! Not report on her living conditions!"

"I was supposed to find her. And I did. That was our deal, nothing more."

"You still think me rotten to the core, a base bastard, don't you? You believe I alone am at fault here?"

Geralt didn't respond and Phillip shook his head, turning and taking a seat behind his desk.

"My opinion doesn't matter," the Witcher said.

"Yet I see contempt when I look at you. I don't know about the world you Witchers inhabit, but in ours, nothing is ever black and white."

"Then enlighten me." Geralt sat across from Phillip.

"With Annie, it was love at first sight. A spear tore through my shoulder at the Battle of Anchor, she tended my wound. Once I'd recovered, I asked her to marry me." Phillip smiled. "She wept with joy. Soon after Tamara was born and after that they sent me to Cidaris. A warlord had risen against King Ethain and Foltest sent help. It was one battle to the next, one conflict after another. 'Twas a life of war, I was seldom home and I found comfort in drink." He scoffed. "Grew so fond of hooch I couldn't part with it when I did get home. I went from front to front, battle to battle, collecting soldiers' coin, while Anna sat alone with the babe for months. Later, I learned she'd not been so alone after all. For nearly three years, she found comfort in one Evan, a childhood friend." Phillip scoffed. "A dog's bunghole." Phillip stood. "Understand, damn it! One tussle in the hay, I'd 'ave waved aside, put it out of my mind, but the woman cuckolded me for years! Without a whisker of concern for me. For my love!"

Geralt realized now that there had been much more to their rocky marriage than his drinking and heavy hand. "How'd you find out?" he asked.

"Came home one day and Anna was gone. Her things, too. Found a letter. Wrote that she didn't love me, that she'd left me for that knoblicker and taken Tamara with her." He sat back down. "Felt like I'd been rammed in the arse by a horse. I went to find the bugger, to get the girls back, bring them home. Yet, soon as I saw him, something inside me turned, something dark. I slaughtered the shit-eating twat and fed his carcass to the dogs."

"Guess they call you the Bloody Baron for a reason after all."

"What?"

"Your nickname. Makes sense now."

"No, no." He waved his hand. "That's an entirely different story."

"Mhm. Imagine Anna wasn't pleased."

Phillip laughed. "Bloody understatement, if I've ever heard one. She flew into a fit, hysteria, threw herself at me, kickin' and clawin'. Finally grabbed a knife. It would have been the end of me if I hadn't leapt aside." He looked down. "First time I hit her. Had to calm her. Felt I had no other means. Things changed, they would never be the same. Anna tried to take her own life, and mine, several times." He stood again and walked over to the fireplace. "She would prod me, goad me, taunt me, in the hopes that I would hit her again, perhaps? She'd scream that I robbed her life of love, that I destroyed the idea for her and so might as well kill her. How many times I apologized, how many armfuls of blooms and gifts I brought." He shook his head sadly. "She cared not a bit. Two years of her anger turned to indifference, broken at times by her bouts of hysteria and my bouts of drunkenness."