The Path: A witcher's tale

Chapter 25

     First off, let me say that I hate bloody portals, I don't understand how mages go through them without a problem. Anna's portal landed us right in her bedroom at the Koviri palace in the dead of night. I thought it would seem suspicious that a witcher managed to somehow slip by undetected into the palace in one night, but Anna told me not to worry about that.
     The first thought to enter my head was that we should get some sleep before we deal with all of those political pieces of shit at the council tomorrow morning. As I was getting ready to sleep, I noticed the somewhat seductive looks I was getting from Anna as she was getting closer and she put her arm around me and said, "It would be shame to sleep in this bed alone, don't you think?" I gazed into her icy blue eyes and I solemnly said, "I can't, you know that, I'll sleep alone tonight."Her eyes bored into mine as she said in a very sad tone, "You love her that much?" After a long moment of nothing but silence, I looked away and replied, "No, I love her more than that. I'm sorry." There was a heavy silence in the air and a very tense night followed.
     In the morning, things were surprisingly smoothed over, as if that never happened last night. When I woke up, Anna was still asleep, so I started putting my armor and swords on, I guess the clinking of my swords and the noise coming from cloth and mail of my armor as I smoothed out any ruffles in it woke her up. I wasn't sure at what I was doing wrong because as soon as she analyzed what I was wearing, she put her face into her hands and gave a sigh of frustration.
     Instead of saying something like "Good Morning," she tells me, "It's good thing you woke me up Andrezej, if you went to the council looking like that, you would've been arrested and thrown into a dungeon on the grounds of suspicion for assassination. I'm afraid you'll have to leave your weapons and armor here. I have some clothes for you, so I hope you like black velvet with red accents."
     I looked at her and said, "Well, good morning to you too, princess. Do you have a chest I can store my things in? I would only trust this to one person, and she isn't here." "There's a chest in the back of the room and I'll have the key to it, don't worry, now leave the room, I must get dressed," she said to me. I walked out in that blasted formal doublet and trousers, that seemed to nearly be bursting at the seams and she walked out in her characteristic blue dress with her ashen hair falling lightly over her shoulders.
     We then walked to the banquet where the council was being held, I was constantly on edge, there were quite a few Nilfgaardians from different provinces, some came from as far south as Nazair. There were also some Temerians, who were at least a bit better than the Nilfaardian scum present. To top it all off, various mages were there to discuss issues that concerned magic, Anna was part of that group and was also the representative of Kovir's interests. Before we walked in, I told Anna, "I hate banquets like this, the food tastes like shit, the booze is like piss water, and anytime someone talks to you they're just trying to get information for their political agenda." "Well then Andrezej, it's a good thing you don't belong to any kingdom, as you would be torn apart on your first day at court. Now stop whining and let's go," she said as we walked into the banquet hall.
     I felt all eyes fall upon me, as you could clearly tell I wasn't supposed to be there, everyone present was either an old or nearly obese official, a wizard in their robe, or a sorceress in her dress, and I didn't fit into any of those categories. As we were greeted I would here whispering among the crowd saying things like, "A witcher? What is that kind of filth doing here? And why is he with the sorceress?" Every statement was coupled with looks of resentment and disgust. Anna told me to stand by and just stay in the area, and she would get me if she needed me.
     I wandered to the food table and I didn't even grab a plate, I simply just stood there leaning against a nearby wall. I saw a Nilfggardian walking towards me, to probe me for information no doubt. In a thick accent and terrible pronunciation of the common speech, he said to me, "What are you doing here, vatt'ghern? Shouldn't you be in some swamp killing something, like you are supposed to?" "I can go wherever I please, and I'm accompanying a friend, protecting them even. They're the only reason I'm here, people like you are last kind of people I want to be close to, Nilfgaardian scum," I said in retaliation with audible hostility and anger in my voice.
     "By the Great Sun! Bloede vatt'ghern," he yelled as he threw a fist my way. I caught his fist without batting an eye and said, "Trust me, if I wanted to, I could kill you right here, right now, and as much I want to, I can't. Making a scene right now would look bad for both of us, don't you think? So why don't you simply fuck off and stop tempting me." I threw his fist aside and he walked away, ashamed and blushing with embarrassment.
     Then, a familiar face came my way, it was the half breed, Íbegard. "Caedmill, how have you been? It's been a while since we dealt with the dragon hasn't it?" I said to him as I was shaking his hand, relieved that I wasn't the only one who was out of place in this situation. "Bloede Bleidd, it has been a while, indeed. What brings you here? I'm here as a bodyguard myself, an ambassador from Metinna hired me for defense." "I'm here for the same reason as you, 'cept I'm working for free and I'm here on behalf of a friend."
     We kept talking over trivial things, like recent jobs and travels until I heard something unusual. "You hear that? Something's hissing," I then yelled, "Everyone! Get down! There's bombs in the vicinity!" Everyone fell to their knees holding their heads and sure enough, the walls exploded and everything burst into flames. I shielded Íbegard and I with quen and I was relieved to see that the mages had shielded everyone else with their magic. Íbegard and I said goodbye as we went to go check on our clients. I found Anna who, thankfully, was unscathed and ready to look for who was responsible for those bombs.