The Witcher The Swallow and The Monster

Consequences of One's Past

(F/N) twirled his blade slowly, Lambert watched by him closely, "Wrong." (F/N) gritted his teeth and looked for any flaw in his technique, he noted his footing was slightly off so he fixed it. The witcher shook his head and gave the boy a sneer, "Just give up now. Just toss the sword to the ground and walk right out of here."

(F/N) gritted his teeth and pirouetted with a quick slash, making sure to take steps forward at the same time, "No, Lambert." His arms were already aching and almost completely purple from the bruising he had received earlier in the day, it was the first time he had done the gauntlet on high speed, it had whacked him so many times, but Eskel had told him he had done well for his first time. Lambert laughed, "Fine, it only means you'll die later, I know a failure when I see it," sweat was pouring down the young boys face, his arm twitched from the pain. The witcher pounced, "Wrong. Do it again." (F/N) stopped and took a deep breath, he looked at his hands, they were covered in calluses and blisters from his experience. He looked off into the distance, he saw Ciri in that dress Triss had made her with magic.

The sorceress herself was sitting with her and they were speaking, he was still incredibly young, but his heart had a fluttered when he had met the red-haired woman. She had smiled to him so kindly and winked, he had offered to show her to her room, but Vesemir had told him to get back to training and assigned the task to Ciri. The young boy smiled at the sorceress, she didn't seem to notice, suddenly he felt a hand slap him upside the head. Lambert gave him another powerful sneer, "Stop. Staring. At. Merigold. Sword. Now."

(F/N) sighed and clenched his sword, he did the same maneuver again, this time he twirled his body, and made sure that the sword went in all directions. Lambert nodded in approval, "Left."

The boy jabbed his sword in the direction he was instructed and then went back to the slashing, he let out a deep breath as he kept going, he felt a sense of calm wash over him, "Forward. Dodge. Parry. Pirouette." The young boy did as told, then went back to spinning, he took slow breaths as he felt his heart rate slow down at a relaxed pace. Then he heard Lambert give the final order, "Rest." (F/N) put his sword to the ground tip first and leaned left, he looked at rest, but he could attack in a split second if required. Lambert sighed, "Well, that wasn't as horrible as before."

(F/N) was about to respond but then he heard clapping, he turned wondering if Triss had noticed him, but then he saw Ciri, she was smiling at him and clapping, her green eyes showed that she was impressed. The boy felt his heart flutter ever uncontrollably, the girl was wearing a beautiful blue dress, at Triss' demand, she wasn't to train when she had it on, for she was 'indisposed'. (F/N) liked seeing her wear it, she looked absolutely beautiful, he had no trouble believing she was a princess. He waved at her, she paused for a bit, then batted her eyelashes, perhaps unintentionally and waved back, he could see she was blushing.

(F/N)'s smile grew but then he felt the hand at the back of his head, "What is wrong with you? We're training not staring at them." (F/N) went to turn to him to apologize, but he forgot the sword was in his hand, he turned and accidentally ran the blade against Lambert's pant leg, if he hadn't been wearing pants there would have been blood. (F/N) winced, immediately sensing what was about to happen, it wasn't about the act itself, it was that he had risked his instructors safety, he should have known better, much better.

Lambert stared at the spot the sword had brushed past, for a second the boy believed he was going to get an earful, but with inhuman like reflexes, the witcher drilled his fist into (F/N)'s stomach. The boy let out a pained groan, he grabbed his stomach and bent over, making sure he kept his sword in his hand, and he remained standing. Lambert's sneer grew, "Don't you EVER swing a sword at me like that again. Do you understand?!"

(F/N) nodded profusely, there were tears in his eyes, the witcher shook his head, "You're pathetic. Start again, you're running the gauntlet after this now." The boy didn't dare argue, he just got in the same position and waited for permission to begin. Ciri showed no signs that she believed Lambert had crossed a line, but Triss' eyes were wide, her hand was over her mouth in shock. As was life in Kaer Morhen.