Time of Destiny (book 3)

Chapter 12

Geralt had just finished speaking with Keira Metz about Ciri and where she could possibly be. Unfortunately he ended up having to take a portal with the witch to a cave where an elf should have been waiting with a message for Ciri. As the pair walked into the cave they stopped as they saw the Wild Hunt had already beaten them here. "Geralt we need to leave now." "No, we need to find out what they're after."
      Keira looked at Geralt and almost scowled. Yet she understood. If this was for Ciri there was no stopping Geralt. "Alright, stand back I'm going to open a portal!" Geralt nodded and the second it was open they ran through. Geralt fell into a body of water and cursed before swimming out of it. "Keira!" "Ahh! Geralt help!" Golden eyes widened and he ran following the sound of her voice. Stopping only when he saw it was rats. "Really Keira it's just rats." "I don't care! Kill them! Do you have any idea the disease these things carry?"
     Rolling his eyes he quickly killed the rats before setting the nests on fire. "You alright?" Keira dusted herself off as she looked at him. "Yes, although I don't know where we are." He nodded at this. "Something must have interfered with the portal. But why did theirs work?" "They have something called Navigators. So they're magic is different from yours." Kira scowled but soon followed him out of the room. Heading down the hall until they saw a magical projection. "That's him, thats the elf."
     Geralt raised an eyebrow but walked over to it just as it started to speak. "Zireeal, follow your namesake." The two shared a look. "What does that mean?" Geralt looked at her and started to walk. "It means follow the swallow." "How would you know that?" He sighed. "It was a message for Ciri, something only she would understand and those who knew her." "Oh, well let's follow the swallow. We need to find this Elf before the Wild Hunt." The two nodded and continued walking easily finding the next swallow. "A portal?" Geralt mumbled a curse but activated the gem.
     "It worked! Let's go quickly." The two ran through and soon ran into the same issue. Repeating the process till they saw yet another projection. "Zireeal, the answer you seek lies in the form of Kelpie." Keira blinked. "Kelpie? That damn sea creature?" "No." Keira just started at him. "Her horse. She named her horse Kelpie, it had the speed Only known among demons." "Why would she name it that?" "To keep people off her trail. These messages are all for her." Keira sighed but began to look around.
     However Geralt saw something in the water, something resembling a horse. Without thinking he jumped down into the watery hole. "Geralt?!" Once he resurfaced did he swim over to the horse. "I'm fine! I'll be up soon. I found the horse!" Diving back under he found the way out and swam through the opening. Resurfacing once more as he climbed out of the water. Seeing yet another horse and a swallow did he touch it. Something up top began to move and Kira yelled for him.
      "Hurry! Something is opening up!" Making his way up the stairs he soon saw that a part of the wall had opened up. "Great, let's keep moving." And with that the two ran through. They continued to make their way through the cave like ruins until they saw a golem. "Oh no." "Fuck."
     The golem soon came to life. "Intruder alert, leave now or perish." However the pair refused to leave and the Golem attacked. Dodging the blows Keira worked on stunning the monster while Geralt attacked its unprotected back. It was a rinse and repeat cycle. Continuing until the golem was defeated. "Well, if that wasn't pleasant." He rolled his eyes as he looked at her. "You're telling me. But let's keep going."
     Nodding the two made their way out to yet another room where they saw the Wild Hunt and a bunch of frozen guardians. "What caused this?" Geralt frowned. "The white frost." Keira's eyes widened at this and Thats when the hunt saw them. The one ordered for portals to be opened as they vanished and closed the way behind them. "Ugh! We'll freeze to death!" Geralt shielded his eyes, he was not about to turn back. His mind wandered to what Selene would do. "Keira, can you close those portals?"
      "Are you insane?!" "Yeah I am, but we need to chase after them!" "Geralt it's suicide!" He shot her a sharp glare and she gulped. "I know it's for Ciri, but it's no use if we are dead!" "Then give us some cover! I am not failing her now! I will not abandon her!" Keira saw the determination in his eyes and sighed. "Very well, then stay close. Keep those things off me and I'll close the portal." Moving towards her he watched as she raised her hands. "Da'arian Annoil!" The barrier soon surrounded them as they made their way through the room.
     As Geralt slayed the beasts from the Wild Hunt Keira was working on closing the portals. "Bhain'ne Calar! Ann Gal Scam'hanach!" This was done three times before they finally got the white frost to stop. Keira swayed and Geralt's eyes widened as he caught her. "Keira, are you alright?" She tried to get her strength back before she spoke. "Yeah, just tired." "If you can't go on." "You can't leave me here." He chuckled. "I wouldn't do that. As much I wish we could rest a moment...." "no, no we must go on." And with that he helped her stand once more.
     The pair looked for a passage but found nothing. "Hmm, my medallion hums here. But I don't see anything." "It's magic. Stand aside and I'll handle it." Swapping place she soon removed the illusion and walked through, Geralt right behind her. Once they made it to what was hopefully the final room did they see Nithral, a man from the Wild Hunt. "You are stubborn for a Dh'orin." Geralt said nothing. "Let me help yo-" "no." "Stop telling me what to do"
     The two quickly got ready and then the fight began. Nithral, while strong, wasn't as fast as Geralt, then again it wasn't like he was held down with heavy armor. Half way through Nithral opened a portal for the white frost again and more hounds appeared. Making quick work of them and the portal he once again attacked Nithral. The final swing of his sword sliced his throat clean open before he used Igni to completely finish it off. "Is it over?" "Yeah. Let's go see that last projection."
     They climbed to the top and listened to the elven mage talk about how this place was no longer safe and they would meet again soon. Checking the room once more he found a few things that might be useful before he left the room with Keira after getting the eye of nehaleni from her. "I need to find this lantern." Geralt raised an eyebrow but figured he would help her once more. Walking into yet another room he saw a plaque with a riddle on it. He was only able to make sense of half of it before he had Keira translate the rest.
      "The first to light his fire, dared not march on the end. The second, by the first, played a woeful lament. The third kept close to his faithful beast. The forth March not beside the first, yet like the second he played a tune. And thus they stood o'er their queen, who slept beneath the flickering stars." Geralt frowned at the riddle before he looked at the statues. Figuring it out he slowly lit them on by one until the door opened and they retrieved the lamp and left the cave. Keira looked at him as she opened a portal. "If you have a moment to spare, come and see me again. I should have more work for you."
      Geralt raised an eyebrow and figured it was time to correct this before she tried anything else. "I'll stop by when I can. Next time I'll have my wife with me though. If she's done her work." Keira raised an eyebrow and hid a scowl. "I see no ring." "We haven't had our ceremony yet but she's my wife." "Right, I'll see you both next time, and I'll have a book for you. It might just be of help." And then she vanished. Geralt inwardly cursed, he just had to bring up Selene, who as far as he was aware was a stone statue. Shaking his head he finally set off to find the pellar and see how he could help with finding Anna and Tamara.