Polyanna: A Witcher's Mage

11 | Of Magic Anomalies & Innkeeps

"What're doing here?"

Of course Geralt managed to find her in the middle of virtually nowhere (well, on a small isle north of Sund in Ard Skellig). Euphemiya sometimes wondered if he had some sort of sixth sense that involved knowing where she was at all times.

Geralt came to stand next to her and watched the grim view alongside her. In front of them was Birna Bran, former queen of Skellige, chained to a rock; she was left to die here, either of dehydration, hunger or being pecked to death by harpies and sirens. Or all these combined.

"I wanted to see her," Euphemiya answered honestly.

"I know you wanted an alternative, but it's not how they do things in Skellige," Geralt tried to explain.

She sighed. "I know. I just... started thinking of her. How different she used to be,"

"What do you mean?"

"I remembered how scared she was to marry Bran and then how frustrated and upset she was when she discovered he had several mistresses. The more I think about it, the more I realize how that man ruined her," Euphemiya concluded.

"Don't think a thirst for power had anything to do with it?" Geralt crossed his arms as he looked away from Birna's corpse.

"I think she wanted to be in control of her life again, well, as much as she could as queen, but... it started to get out of hand,'

"Maybe she was glad Bran died on his hunt," Geralt suggested.

Euphemiya sighed softly. "Perhaps. We'll never know,"

"Unless Yennefer does another attempt at Necromancy," Geralt joked.

Euphemiya firmly shook her head. "That was horrid. Not to mention, Freya's garden is completely destroyed. The priestesses of Freya had already lost enough. I shouldn't have let Yennefer have a go at it."

After they examined the scene in Freya's garden in Lofoten a mere day or two ago, Geralt stumbled upon a corpse of a young man. Yennefer had surprised the other two by demanding Geralt to bring the corpse to her, where she promptly used the gardens magic to revive the fellow using Necromancy. She had done that to force the corpse to talk and, granted, they managed to get important information, but Euphemiya heavily disagreed with the way she handled.

The man had told them how a masked man carrying an unconscious Ciri had approached him on the beach, asking the dead man for help. Him and his family had nursed Ciri back to health, but the Wild Hunt attacked the village and how the man has led Ciri to Drowned Dead Rock. Some time later, the dead man had woken up on the beach and briefly found himself face to face with a deformed being. That was all the information they were given.

"Yen wouldn't have listened anyway. And you couldn't have done anything; I should've stopped her," Geralt said, taking all the blame.

Euphemiya cringed at how cowardly she was portrayed in his mind, but she didn't blame him; she didn't give him any reason to think she could handle on her own. It was best this way. Though, the women he... chose, were usually headstrong and powerful sorceresses. It was slightly embarrassing to be so different from them.

"Then do something about it!"

Euphemiya's eyes darted to the top of the rock Birna was chained to, only to meet a cheery Gaunter O'Dimm. He leaned one elbow against his knee, leaning forward. Geralt didn't seem to be able to hear him.

"It can be changed in a heartbeat, my dear," Gaunter O'Dimm continued, snapping his fingers once.

Euphemiya felt it would be rude not to answer, but she didn't want Geralt to think something was amiss, so she decided to stay still, throwing an apologetic look to the Master of Glass, who just waved her away with a grin.