The Path: A witcher's tale

Chapter 9

Beauclair is a very large city, and while roaming around, Karadine and I saw a very peculiar contract notice posted on a board in the wealthy district of town. The notice said to go to the palace and speak to the duchess who oversees the duchy. I've heard mixed things about doing contract for monarchs and government officials, like how they offer a king's ransom sometimes, but failing to complete a contract could result in being sent to the gallows. Karadine I decided that this notice was worth looking into, for it seems that there was either nobody willing to help or those who tried failed. We rode to Beauclair palace and spoke to the duchess, she said that she had heard of two witchers roaming the countryside and getting rid of monster filth that contaminates the land.
The duchess explained that a visiting aristocrat was suffering from voices telling this aristocrat to damage himself. Doctors were summoned, but all they could do was say that this was an extreme case of insanity. She said it was time to see what witchers can do that the best doctors can't. We were led to the room where the aristocrat was staying, and sure enough, he was there surrounded by doctors and alchemists, trying to find a suitable treatment. Karadine and I told everyone to exit the room while we tried to address the problem.
The aristocrat said that he had been hearing whispers in his head that have been telling him to draw his own blood and do other unspeakable acts. While he was doing so, in the candlelight I noticed an oddly shaped shadow dancing on the walls, definitely not that of the aristocrat. I asked if had recently committed any acts that he has felt guilty about. He responded that he had to struggle with his brother for the position of power, and to eliminate resistance, he brought about the end of his brother. I asked where exactly this had happened and he had replied that it occurred in his childhood home in Cintra. I stopped the questioning and went to speak privately with Karadine. I had said that the whispers are not those of insanity, drugs, or hallucinogens, but those of a hym; a rare and dangerous parasitic demon that latches onto the soul of a guilty person and feeds off their suffering and pain, growing stronger all the while. She agreed, as the murder of a brother is something that most men would be guilty of doing. We had resolved that we would solve this problem the witcher's way; spending one night in the hym's lair, which in this case would be the aristocrat's childhood home, and forcing the hym to show itself and kill it once it is tangible and not immaterial.
We had said that we must ride for Cintra and spend a night in the victim's home. After about 3 days on the road we arrived, the house was quite charming, a large estate with plenty of land. Karadine and I investigated the house and concluded that the lair of the hym was in the cellar, when a lit candle revealed the hym's shadowy figure for a small moment. We went outside and started to prepare, we made moon dust bombs, greased our blades with specter oil and drank swallow. Once night had fallen, we entered the house and made sure to light every candle, lamp, and torch in the house.
We brought the aristocrat in the house and stood guard, and after about two hours, the hym attacked. The specter sent a shadowy claw my way and I rolled out just in time to thrust my blade into the demon's side and throw a moon dust bomb. The hym recoiled on contact with the silver splinters in the bomb while Karadine came and sent a well-aimed slash at the demon's leg and sent it to the floor. The hym rose as quickly as it fell and attacked with newfound rage and fury. I cast quen just in time as the specter sent me into a wall and I would have died on impact if not for the sign. I came running back at the monster and used yrden to slow it down so we could kill it. It took many slashes and cuts to the specter's body in order to have it drop. The monster still did have a lot of fight left in it, as it kept thrashing and attempting to evade the blades while trying to injure one of us witchers.
Once it died we returned to our "patient" who collapsed from fatigue after the bond between him and the hym was severed by our silver blades. Once he came to once the sun had risen, we started on our way back to the Beauclair palace, where we were greeted by the duchess expecting results. We explained that the problem was not mental, but supernatural, that was why doctors could not do anything. We also mentioned that the aristocrat will be dealing with fatigue for about a week, so he should be kept out of any energy expensive activities. We were paid a hefty purse of gold, around 4,000 crowns and we were on our way. We had returned to my vineyard to rest up, as neither of us had dealt with a hym before and we were very tired from the experience.
Upon our arrival we were greeted by my majordomo who had said that someone had gotten into the house and when I asked who, he said that they never said. I drew my steel sword and rushed inside to deal with this unknown intruder, only to find out it was Marçin who needed help on a nearby contract. When I asked him what the hell he had gotten himself into that he needs two other witchers besides himself to deal with. He had explained that there was a cemetery crawling with necrophages and wraiths that he had to clear out. Karadine and I exchanged glances and agreed that we would help out once we recovered from the aftermath of the hym contract.