Legacy (Daughter of War #2)

Chapter 21: Breads and Pools (Part 1)

Music is Outskirts of Novigrad from The Witcher 3 OST (because you can never go wrong with Witcher OSTs). Play it!

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The next morning, I wake up to a refreshed soul and surprisingly cheery demeanour. I encounter Everest at the dining table, just as he's about to head to the Raven Room for more research. At my arrival, he beckons a servant to pour him another cup of tea, deciding to accompany me as I tuck into my breakfast.

"You seem...different today," he remarks as I spear a sausage. "Yesterday, you looked like you were ready to collapse anytime."

"A good night's rest does wonders, I suppose," I reply, stuffing the sausage into my mouth.

"Glad to see that." He offers a wary smile. "So, off to the Cave of Three Souls again?"

"Aye." I take a long swig of tea, scalding my tongue in the process. "There might be something useful in there."

"By the way, you didn't share your experience inside the cave with us last evening, if I recall correctly."

For a split second, my nerves freeze. I cover up the minor blunder with a laugh. "Didn't I?"

To my dismay, Everest shakes his head. Pst. Otheius preserve my soul. It seems that my perspective of the man hasn't been proven wrong—he really is too sharp to let anything escape under his nose. "You didn't," he says, quiet but confident.

I manage another chuckle. It sounds too high-pitched, betraying my nervousness. Focus, Constantine! "Well, what can I really say? It is a cave, after all. I admit though, the wards Sir Kendrick had claimed to be there had no effect on me. My Lorelay blood, I presume."

"So you went in." I bow my head over my meal, pretending to be fascinated by a mountain of scrambled eggs. I feel Everest's scrutinising eyes drilling into me. "Anything happened in there, Rutherland?"

Think, Constantine. Think! Curse me and my dysfunctional brain. I have to think of something plausible, but what? I can't just tell him that for one, there's a real witch inside there, who happens to be the Champion of Pst. Zorah; two, my alternate self or spiritual guide or whatever Abner is had been forcefully taken away; three, I can now access past lives.

All right, perhaps I could divulge point number three. But the others? Point number one: I might be beheaded alongside Maya for hiding her presence. Point number two: I'd sound plain mad.

Then again, I am their Champion. Maybe they'd take anything I say at face value.

Still, better not risk it.

I eventually decide to take the hard way out. "There really wasn't anything noteworthy in there, Everest," I say, weaving compulsion into my tone. "Just your usual cave. Rocks and rocks and darkness."

His brows draw together, as though he's puzzling over a problem I just gave him. "There should be something inside there," he insists, albeit less forcefully than before. "I saw you when you return. It was like you had your soul drained."

"You must be mistaken, Everest," I reply. "I was in perfectly high spirits."

The muddled look on his face clears; I nearly heave a sigh of relief. Until his next words, that is.

"No. I remember the state you were in very clearly."

He sounds so assured, so firm, and with a belated sense of dismay I realise that from this point, nothing I say is going to make him budge from his standpoint.

He's...broken the compulsion? I fight not to let the shock spill from my nerves and into the outside world. But how? How was he able to resist it? No, not just resist, but completely dispel it. Is he a sorcerer himself? Even so, he probably wouldn't have any knowledge of his power, and thus can't put them to full use...