The Traveler: Part 1

Chapter 27

He brushed a few pebbles off of a large collapsed stone with his finely stitched rose-tanned leather boot pondering the events that might have transpired. A portion of the castle was still standing yet most of it had collapsed. The base of the fortress containing runes which disrupted particular magical fields was still intact, making direct teleportation a bit of a challenge. Nevertheless, it was an obstacle easily overcome by the adroit sage.

Avallac'h had hit a dead end after Crookback Bog. He'd gone to the ruin of Fleapil and found only the remains of a fire. He had attempted to cast a spell of reminiscence, but the lack of any living creature, any insect, mouse or rat within the ruin resulted in nothing. At the time it didn't concern him. He had a sure and simple way of finding a certain someone who was either with Ciri or might know where she was. To Iespeth he had given a white rose, an illusion of his own making fashioned after the blooms of Shaerrawedd. And on that rose was his own blood. No location spell was made more simple than finding one's own blood. Alas, the spell led him back here, to Kaer Morhen.

Before you can go forward you must go back.

He looked around the ruin noticing the scorched rubble and wondered if anything had survived the fire. The elven mage pricked his finger once more till a drop of blood emerged and spoke the words, this time with a different intonation so as to get a more precise, yet shorter-ranged sanguinus reading. An area of bricks glowed a refulgent hue of crimson showing him where to look. Avallac'h carefully stepped across the rubble towards the dim light.

He commanded the rocks to rise with a subtle movement of his hand. They hovered like pigeons unsure of where to land until the sage sent them flinging to the side with a wick of his fingers. There it was, the white rose. He picked it up and examined it. The petals were still as perky and the dew still seemingly as fresh as the day he had made it. The weight of the stones hadn't affected it in the slightest. He placed the flower into his pouch, his fingers brushing up against a wolf medallion necklace contained within. This he had found in a small box amongst Weavess' belongings in Crookback Bog and had known exactly who it belonged to.

He leaned against one of the few standing walls and pondered his next destination. He thought about where Zirael might go. If she were in trouble she would mostly likely seek out the Witcher Geralt, wherever he may be. The sorceress Yennefer would be another possible destination. Perhaps she needed no help. Perhaps she simply left Kaer Morhen and merely continued on the Path. He hardly had any leads and needed to seek out someone more in tune with this world. A seer.

***

Iespeth unstrung her new bow before she sat down in front of the fire. It was what the elves called a Cumaisc – presumably named after the Seidhe who invented it. The riser was actually made from a light metal and given a woody design. The bow string had been fashioned from specially prepared fibers instead of animal sinew and lacked the typical gamey smell. It had two sets of hickory limbs on both sides – one for ease of pulling and one for increased force. Apparently, only a few elven smiths could make such finery. It was a gift to her from Iorveth, though she felt guilty taking it. In truth it had been Kell'am's bow till he had fallen. "It will serve you better. A true elven bow should remain in the hands of one of our own instead of pawned off to some d'hoine for coin," he had told her solemnly. "Besides, it was I who gave him that bow in the first place."

The real gift though, was the instruction he gave her on how to use it. He showed her how to harness it's power using less strength. It took much longer now for her arms to tire. She was rather astonished as to how straight it shot, hitting its mark nearly every time. The trickiest part was learning to notch her arrow on the right rather than the left. After a while, pulling the arrow from her quiver to the rest now located on the right side became automized and she could shoot faster to boot.