𝐑𝐔𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐌'𝐒 𝐁𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐀𝐑𝐘 † THE WITCHER (ORIGINAL)

𝖛. 𝔱𝔬 𝔡𝔢𝔭𝔞𝔯𝔱, 𝔥𝔞𝔭𝔭𝔦𝔩𝔶

RUSELM'S BESTIARY
CHAPTER FIVE ─ TO DEPART, HAPPILY

RUSELM WAS SHAKING with unspent anger. Standing outside of the tavern away from those men helped him in remaining calm, but only barely. It was Cadmin's presence that gave him the push he needed to take a slow, deep and controlled breath. His new friend came to stand just beside him, resting a heavy hand on his shoulder. The village was teeming with morning life that ignored the two men, passing them by.

"Are ya all right there, Ruselm?"

He shook his head, "No. No, I'm not. Did you hear the way those men were talking about Obil? About how they killed him?"

"Aye." Cadmin sighed. "'Tis the way of life. We destroy things that might profit us, regardless of how innocent or precious it might be. I'm sorry, my friend. I wish it weren't so."

"At least you understand it," Ruselm hated the tears that threatened to spill over onto his olive cheeks. He turned his face away from Cadmin, hoping to hide his emotions. He knew it was stupid to be crying over a dead echinops but Ruselm's heart was stinging in his chest so horribly, the tears might help relieve him of his pain. His voice was tight. "But how many beasts have to die for those greedy bastards? Where is the line crossed? When they're so few in numbers that they're almost impossible to find? When they're extinct?"

Cadmin (thankfully) didn't comment on Ruselm's tears that had begun to splash onto his cheeks and the ground below their feet. He leaned closer and spoke in the young man's ear. "Be calmed, Ruselm, for when decent people like you exist, the cruelty of others will always be offset. Ya make this land better, I can feel it."

"If only you were right, Cadmin."

"I am," he insisted. "Ye've reminded me that there are brave little things in this world; there are things to hold out for, to protect, to cherish. I'll be damned if ya don't include yerself in that list. Ye've already shown me that there's nothing more powerful than yer compassion."

Ruselm looked up to Cadmin, feeling immoderately like a small child staring up at his father. The words had a strangely calming effect on him and made his heart swell with a sense of... pride? Happiness? Relief? He couldn't properly place the emotion and label it but perhaps the general feeling was a mixture of all three at once. And slowly, his tears dried, although his heart ached like he'd been punched directly in his chest, above his sternum.

He smiled at Cadmin, the receiver returning the action. "Thank you."

"No need," Cadmin brushed the comment off. He straightened again and glanced about them, his eyes lingering on a hooded figure down the road from them. Cadmin's eyes quickly flickered back to Ruselm's. The Kovirian smiled warmly and clapped a hand onto Ruselm's back. "I must be going, Nazairian. Remember, next time I see ya, yer paying for the ale."

Ruselm's features dimmed. He tilted his head. "You're going?"

"I'm afraid I must."

"You can't leave! I've only just begun to like you!" Ruselm protested, with all seriousness apparent in his behavior. His eyebrows pinched together and the edges of his lips curled downward, proof of unhappiness and even disappointment. "I thought we might stay together for awhile. Was I wrong?"

Cadmin chuckled and shook his head. "You know I do enjoy the idea of sticking by yer side a while longer, but I do have business to take care of here in Sodden."

Ruselm crossed his arms over his chest. He scowled slightly. "You never told me what that business was." This was a statement, not a query. "But..."—Ruselm was softening now—"That's alright. I'm certain we'll meet again."

He didn't want to leave Cadmin, but there was nothing left in Sodden. Not after the deaths of both Obil and the she-warg. Ruselm had come for them and now that both beasts were gone, Sodden didn't seem so lively anymore. There wasn't the potential of danger (not the kind he liked, anyhow) around each corner. There wasn't a new chapter in his bestiary. There wasn't a reason to stay.

"Aye, if Destiny permits it," Cadmin was saying. "Then I'll be all too happy to meet ya again, no matter where it happens to be. Farewell, Ruselm. I bid you luck in your travels."

Ruselm uncrossed his arms, throwing them around Cadmin's burly form instead. They embraced, though the Nazairian had to stand on his toes to reach around Cadmin, which the latter found amusing. "Thank you, Cadmin Vyrrentz. I'm paying next time. Good luck with your... mysterious business!"

And just like that, the Kovirian parted ways with Ruselm who stood with a little sigh just outside of the Pig's Arse, wondering if he should head south like the witcher before him. Cadmin disappeared in the direction of the cloaked figure, lost to sight.

Sodden held no more mystery, heading south would be far too dangerous what with the rising tensions with Nilfgaard, yes, Ruselm liked the sound of going north most. He could head to the coast! Blaviken, Balès, Allernia, Thetdow, Bayset—the possibilities were endless! The beasts he could encounter, the stories he could hear, the people he could talk to! Perhaps north was the only way left to go. 

Ruselm couldn't explain the feeling, but there was a pull in his chest.

It was like Destiny.