Her Sweet Kiss | Geralt of Rivia X OC | The Witcher FF

Chapter 7 - Evelyn of Rivia -

The crows formed a small circle, one through which I couldn't see through anymore. I steadied my stand and the grip on my sword. The crows dissolved and all that was left now was a tree, with arms and leathery armour. A deer skull with a giant antler and sticks reaching out of his shoulders with various things on them, a wooden spoon, a baby skull and old bandages. This was a Leshy. The first one I ever laid eyes upon, the first one that wasn't in the book Vesemir used for teaching purposes. It was looking and turning into Jaskiers direction, but I suppose it hasn't really caught upon his presence. I whistled to get its attention. It looked over its shoulder at me and kneeled on the ground with its hands on the floor. 

The ground grumbled again. I could hear the roots move underneath its feet and moving closer to me. I had to wait for the moment they would stop underneath my feet and shoot up from the ground. Not even a second is between these two stages and my timing had to be precise. The grumbling got lesser and that's when I had to prepare to get out of the way. I jumped aside but I should have listened to Vesemirs voice in my head. If you ever encounter a Leshy, always roll out of the way, never jump. Because of that, I had a scratch across my right cheek. I wiped away the few drops of blood with my palm and smeared it across my black leathery pants. I charged at it but while I was getting in range, it raised its arms and disappeared with a swirl of dark smoke. 

It would reappear soon. I followed with my eyes the almost invisible cloud of smoke as it stopped behind me. It would break instantly, but Quen should cover most of the attack it will go for in mere seconds. The Leshy got thrown back by the small explosion when Quen breaks and I followed that with a load of Igni and its branches started smouldering. While it is burning it is unable to defend itself. That was my chance to hit a few strikes with my sword at it. I landed three strikes. It raised its arm and lunged at me with it, hitting my left arm. As I hissed and looked at the wound on my shoulder, a deep cut, it used its opportunity to disappear again with crows flying from its current position.

It growled as it reappeared. I growled back at him with another shot of Igni and four strikes in a row as I used more strength into the hits now, for more damage being dealt. It went back into its smoke form. I groaned. "Come now! That's no fun." I said as I looked at my belt for a small glass bottle with red liquid. I found it and drank almost the whole thing down. The small amount that was left of my potion, swallow, I had poured over my wound on my shoulder. As it reappeared it placed its hands on the ground again, controlling the roots, there wasn't much energy left for him to fight. This time, I've learned from my mistakes and rolled out of the way. 

It was confused and I rammed my sword right through its back but before I could slice through there was a sharp pain in my leg, it didn't go through the tough leather but I still felt the bite. A wolf. It was at its end that it relies on wolves now, to get rid of me. These weren't usual wolves, there were manipulated by the Leshy, so there was nothing to be sorry for when I decapitated it and in that same strike cut through the stomach of the living tree. It fell to the ground with a groan. Roots immediately began to grow from the ground, around its lifeless body. 

I grabbed my dagger from my belt and cut off its head, as proof of the monster being killed. "Jaskier? Are you alright?" I asked my friend as I tied some ropes around the head and put it over my shoulder and held it like a bag. "You ask me if I am alright? Excuse me, you have a quite ugly looking wound on your shoulder and some cuts across your face, yet you still ask about my wellbeing?" he started to complain as he walked towards me. "I poured a potion over it. Should be gone in a few days." I shrugged. Of course, the wound bothered me but I couldn't admit that in front of Jaskier, he would freak out, that I actually was in pain. 

I put the skull of the Leshen on the counter of the bar in front of the barmaid. She flinched and shrieked at the sight. "What is that?" she asked, terrified and pointed at the trophy I had collected. "Your monster." I answered her question. The tall man examined it. "That's the thing that killed our people?" he asked. "Killed?" The maid asked with wide eyes. "Yes, it summons wolves and crows as a distraction to make people think that it is just nature being hungry." I fumbled in my pocket and grabbed the necklace I had taken off of the corpse.

"I found that on a corpse. Do you have any clue to whom it belonged?" I asked the man who took the necklace into his hands and inspected it. "No, I hav-" he got interrupted. "That's my brothers." The barmaid said and grabbed the necklace as small tears formed in her eyes. "I'm sorry." I said as she walked to the kitchen. The man grabbed a bag of coin and slammed it on the table. "Your payment, Witcher." he said. My eyes widened slightly and I looked at him with an arched brow. I didn't ask any further questions, I just nodded and took the bag with the coin. "May I have your name, in case we have a monster problem again?" he asked as I was turning and on my way to leave. "Evelyn of Rivia."