The Witcher and the Seawolf

Chapter 9

Fenris

It was around midnight when he returned to the shack. He was scared to knock on the door, scared to see Ciri and have her look at him like he was a monster. He was still covered in blood and mud, his wounds weren't taken care of and he felt like just falling into the dirt and dying just to get some rest. But he raised his shaky hand to the door and knocked on it lightly, filling him with regret instantly at the thought of waking one of them up.

Within seconds of him knocking the door swung open to reveal Ciri. She looked so hopeful and her face fell once she took him in, filling Fenris with shame. He should have washed up in the river beforehand. "Princess." Fenris said softly. That one word made a tear roll down Ciri's cheek and she threw herself around Fenris. She buried her head into his neck, but Fenris could only think of how he was getting her pretty dress dirty. "You're getting dirty."

That made Ciri let out a water laugh and she pulled back a little. Her nightgown was now filthy thanks to him and with everything that was going on in his head, not sleeping properly for days, not eating right, the exhaustion of battle both mentally and physically, seeing how he made Ciri dirty again just broke something in Fenris. "We can wash it later." She said with a smile. "Come on, we should get you-" She grabbed his right arm and tried to pull him inside, but Fenris hissed in pain. Ciri's eyes widened and she pulled up his sleeves, revealing the little holes in his arm from the magic rocks. "What happened?"

"We won." Fenris responded.

Ciri looked up at him and sighed. "Come inside, we need to get this looked at."

"I don't want to get the place dirty." Fenris told her. He stepped back a little. "I'll go wash in the pond really quick and-"

"Were you hit in the head as well?" Ciri asked. "Get inside. Now."

Fenris didn't move from the front door. He wanted to go in, he wanted to. But his body wouldn't allow it. Ciri huffed and stomped off, only for the kind woman to come back instead moments later. "Your back!" She yelled. Fenris thought she sounded happy, but he didn't know why exactly she was. "Come inside."

"I'm dirty." Fenris said.

"That's alright." She gently took his left hand and led him inside the house. His muddy footprints left a trail from the door to the chair in the middle of the living room. Fenris sat down there while the woman moved some of his greasy hair out of his face. "Are you in pain? I know a tea I can make that can help a little."

Fenris shook his head. "I don't want to be any more of a bother."

His words seemed to hurt her, and she raised her hands to hit him, making him flinch and look away. But instead, she gently placed her hand on his cheek, making Fenris sigh and lean into her touch. "You're not a bother. You could never be one."

Fenris felt tears sting his eyes and he just nodded slowly. Ciri came back with a bucket of hot water and a cloth. "I need to take off your armor." The kind woman left to make the tea while Ciri started to undo the straps to his breastplate. He hissed in pain as Ciri lifted it off of him, but it allowed Ciri to see the blood more clearly through his white shirt. "What happened?"

Fenris looked down to his left shoulder. "I got stabbed." Then he looked to his right arm and sighed. "There were mages there. They made these vials with magic rocks and there was an accident inside the walls." Fernis counted twelve different holes in his arm, none of which were bleeding since the rock cauterized the wound upon entry. The area around the wounds was gray like dust, and cracked. "I got lucky. The others weren't."

Ciri nodded slowly and started to clean up his face. The hot water against his face felt foreign to him and each time Ciri put the cloth to his face he would lean into the warmth and sigh peacefully. "You look tired."