Time of Destiny (book 3)

Chapter 39

Selene had finally climbed down the ladder that led to the basement and she shuddered. It was dark, far to dark. So without hesitation she casted igni on a torch and watched as some light filled the room. Only for her medallion to hum moments later and stop just as suddenly. "That was weird. Something clearly isn't right about this place." As she finally found the sword she froze. Even if it was for just a minute she swore she saw something crawling along the ground and what unsettled her even more was the black goo that was in the basement.
      "Okay, no, time to get the fuck out of here." And with that she climbed up the ladder and quickly made her way out of the house. "Okay, I got the sword, can we get the fuck out of here?" Iorveth looked over at Selene with a raised eyebrow. She was usually never in a rush and the fact that she looked as if she was slightly on edge had him wonder what the Fuck happened. "Sure, is everything okay?" Selene looked at him and her silver eyes narrowed as she quickly nodded. "Yes, I'm just really fucking cold Iorveth." Iorveth rolled his eyes but pulled her towards him and whispered in her ear.
      "I know something happened, so as soon as we get a chance we will talk about it." Selene looked at him and nodded. "That's fine." The two looked over at Cerys. "I'm ready as well." And with that the group made their way back to Spikeroog and the Uldaryks home. Once their they gave him the sword and Iorveth pulled Selene to the side and looked at her. "What happened?" "Something else was in that house, I'm sure of it." Iorveth frowned but before he could ask Cerys walked over. "The sword needs to be taken to Aki's final resting place." Iorveth raised an eyebrow. "Which is where?" "Ulula's needle."
        "Aki And Udalryk went fishing there. Something happened though and when Udalryk turned back to see what happened Aki was gone. He had drowned to death." Selene raised an eyebrow at this. "Was it done on purpose?" "No, Udalryk wouldn't have done that." "Right so how do we do this?" Selene sighed before she took the sword. "I'll do it. I can swim down to the resting spot and leave the sword." Iorveth felt his eyes widen. "But you'll freeze!" Selene shrugged. "Just means I'll be curling up against you. But I should be fine. Just have some dry clothes ready for me."
      Iorveth frowned, he didn't like this idea yet before he could voice it was Selene already walking down the path. Cerys however looked at Iorveth and crossed her arms. "So, why isn't Geralt with her?" Iorveth stiffened at the name. Weather Selene forgave the idiot or not it still left a bad taste in his mouth. "They aren't together anymore. I'm with her now." Cery's felt her eyes widen. "Tell me everything." Iorveth mumbled a curse but in order to silence the child he told her what he could.
      Selene had finally sailed out to Ulula's needle and looked around. Knowing she was going to be soaked to the bone by the time she was done did she remove both her cloak and Iorveth's before diving head first Into the water. And fuck was it cold! Selene allowed her silver eyes to turn black as they quickly looked around to make sure no drowners or sirens were nearby. Continuing to swim down as far as she could did she finally see a pile of bones and the ring that showed he was part of Udalryk's family. Pulling the sword from her side did she finally place it next to Aki and swam up as fast as she could.
      As soon as she broke the surface she let out a gasp of air and climbed onto the boat. She was freezing, so she quickly wrapped herself up in her cloak so to not soak Iorveth's did she start rowing back.
It took her over an hour, between needing to stop and warm up and let a particularly rough wave pass. Did she finally get off the boat. Shaking her head she grabbed her stuff and Iorveth's cloak and made her way back to them. Only to hear a yell come from the Jarl's home. Moving even faster she ran inside and froze when she saw a shadow on the ground. It was a hym. A parasite monster that fed off the guilt of its host.
      Mumbling a curse she spoke. "What happened?" Iorveth quickly threw a bag at her with a scowl. "He gouged our his eye. Go change now." Selene's silver eyes widened as she went into a spare room and changed only coming out moments later and pulled the two to the side. "It's a hym." "A what?" "A monster it's a shadow type. It feeds off its hosts guilt, going as far as making it worse and causing the host to mutilate him or herself. There's only two ways to beat it. One is to trick it. The other is to deal with it the Witcher's way."
      "Does the trick work?" "It's only worked once that I'm aware of. But both parties would need to be unaware of what's happening in order for it to work. While one would know the other would be in the dark or the trick won't work. And trying to fight it could potentially kill Udalryk before it can be defeated." Cerys frowned for a moment before an idea came to mind. "I got it. Go wait for me at Udalryk's family home and I'll be there shortly." Selene raised an eyebrow before she shrugged and looked at Iorveth. "Let's go." "Oh and get a fire going while you're at it. It does get cold up there." And with that she left. Iorveth shook his head. "I hope this works Sele." "I do too." And with that they also left to get back to Udalryk's childhood home.