« Don't need to tell you but your arrow's made of stars,
and the shot that you've made punched it straight into my heart.
It's a little ignorant but everybody's saying that forever is the place
where you and I were made. »
Started: November, 2020
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[ She left the inn and walked towards her home alone, those yellow eyes on her mind being the only thing that kept her company. ]
The screams of the villagers reached her ears quickly. It was late at night, judging by the placement of the moon, midnight had already gone by a few hours ago. Darrene couldn't sleep. It wasn't for any reason in particular, or that's what she would like to think.
She had a knife in her clutch, her hand gripping it forcefully, her knuckles almost white. She wasn't facing the door but she knew what was coming sooner or later. It would end up reaching her even though she lived on the outskirts of the village.
She broke from her trance dropping the knife in her hand and went to grab her leather bag, throwing the little money she had left inside of it and a few of the rarest ingredients she had gathered over the years and were now kept in small jars that didn't take too much space too. She also took her bow and quiver full of handmade arrows and hid them under a blanket.
She knew she didn't have enough time to flee unseen by the bandits and maybe them following her was worse than her being killed in her own house. She let out a shaky breath and a string of curse words. A hard thump on the wooden door almost made the whole house shake. It wasn't a knock, it was not asking for an invitation; it was a warning, saying that they were going to get in one way or another. Two thumps more and the wooden door was opened, the upper hinges breaking.
Two men entered the household. One of them turned to her, the other was more preoccupied with finding valuable things to steal.
"This one here is pretty, isn't she?" she pointed at Darrene with his dagger and she regretted having dropped her weapon, "Maybe we should take her with us."
He started walking towards her menacingly, with an evil smile on his face, still pointing at her with his knife. She gulped and backed up. He reached her in no time and put his blade against her neck, over her black choker. He slid it slowly, without pressing down, only leaving a mere red scratch on its way, while he tilted his head, thinking.
She took a deep breath and pushed the blade away with her left hand, while with the other she slapped the man hard. His surprised expression gave her a few seconds to take the knife from his grasp, and with a shaky hand, pointed it towards him. He smiled, his hand over his red cheek, as he called for his colleague. Darrene panicked, unfamiliar with the situation of having to defend herself like this. Still, she stilled her hand and plunged the blade into the bandit's stomach. Her eyes filled with hatred, she took the knife out and the blood started pouring incessantly.
The bandit closer to her stepped back, trying to cover the wound with his hands to no avail. The other one came to help him, his pockets clinked with the sound of coins. With her blood boiling and her hand still had occupied by the knife, her sight was blurred and she only saw the man coming towards her.
The thing she saw next was the blade of a sword peeking through the man's stomach, coming from his back.
"Come with us before more come." a deep voice she recognized as the witcher's, spoke from behind the man.
Darrene hesitated for a few seconds, taking deep breaths and then she ran. She ran to her room, uncovered the weapons, put her leather bag over one shoulder and the quiver over the other.
The witcher was almost out of the door (or at least what was left of it) when she started following him. The screams coming from the town hadn't stopped, they seemed to become aggravated with no walls blocking them out. She turned to her left and saw the bard beside her horse, trying to grab her reigns while the horse purposely tossed his head away from him.
The brunette woman reached them and grabbed the reigns easily. She saw how he was badly saddled, she guessed that it was the best that the bard could have done with the stubbornness of the animal. She took a few seconds to adjust the leather seat a bit better and jumped on Eben.
The witcher and the bard had already mounted the ones they had. The witcher rode the one she had seen at the tavern the first time she had encountered the pair, she assumed it was his; the bard had probably stolen his in while no one noticed.
Geralt gave a tug to the reigns in his hands, guiding his horse and started galloping towards the forest; so the bard and Darrene followed him, doing the same.
Darrene reached the white-haired man when his pace slowed down a bit, she took the opportunity to speak to him, "Just take me to the next town, I'll be fine."
The witcher kept riding in silence, he clenched his jaw and he didn't look at her.
