The Witcher: Elder Blood

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***

We were following a path, winding and narrow, travelled over centuries, stretching from Caer Morhen itself to the exit to the track. It passed through the spruce forest dotted around the fortress, hidden from view by the high mountains. Through a rivulet running close to the fortress itself and, importantly, through a confusing route I was trying to memorise. We were moving towards one of the main exits, or rather, we were moving along a gorge - a hidden path.

This path was between the high cliffs of a mountain range, centred on a tunnel that widened as we approached Caer Morhen. But don't think that once a traveller finds the tunnel, he'll find the witches' fortress; he won't. Even through the tunnel, he must not get lost in the woods and, having found the right route, not wander into one of the many caves that dot the hidden zone.

As Vesemir, who is my only companion to the nearest village, told me: 'There are other paths, but they are more dangerous, and what can I say, there are monsters there too', - so if a traveller has no desire to fight for his life, he has only one way through this tunnel.

But if people don't want to, all these tricks will be useless, which can be perfectly understood by the attack on the witch's workshop. However, without the right knowledge, the main plotters of those events would not have been able to lead people to the fortress.

However, I will not talk about it now, my head is already full of other thoughts, concerning the sea of information about this world, which I receive every day, and from getting used to the local language, which gives me worse than the Elder speech, learnt in the past world. It is funny that the language of the local elves is similar to the invented language from my world. But they used to say to me: 'You don't need this Elvish, you can only speak it with geeks', - that's true, but this phrase doesn't apply to this world. Not only elves are here, some races speak Elder Speech, so add to that spells, they are also spoken in this language.

Added to that is the local economy, and not copper-silver-gold as you might think at first glance, when you start talking about a fantasy world, that would be too easy, but here.... It's complicated.

- So, correct me if I'm wrong,' I turn to Vesemir, trying to get used to riding a horse, something I had no experience in until the previous day. - Do they use stamps in this kingdom?

- Yes, that is the name for Kaedwen coins. They're not only used in Caedwen, they're also used in Covir.

- Covir. Northwest of Redania? - I tried to remember the map of the continent I'd seen in my first days on this world.

- That's right, and Redania is west of Kaedwen. Redania, by the way, since you mentioned it, has Krones in circulation. You don't really care about the other coins, Ban Ard is in the same kingdom. And once you've finished your studies at the academy, you'll learn about the others yourself.

While we were on the road, we needed something to keep us busy. The choice fell on the economy of these lands, so that at least to know about the different currencies, which turned out to be too many to memorise at once and, taking into account the different ratios, to fit in the head the value of each of them.

Many kingdoms use their own coins, some, like Temeria, have several, each with its own value, more often depending on the amount of gold in the currency itself.

In general, the desire to learn about currencies did not come from nothing, it arose because of the skins we were taking to the nearest village. The price of these hides in marks, will be converted into flour and potatoes, maybe something else, it will depend on Vesemir. I am a mere observer, watching the other horse, learning to ride in parallel.

While I was thinking, tailed by the witch, we had already come to a road not far from the tunnel leading to Caer Morhen. It was a path that the locals had made to connect the two villages along the Gwynlech River.

We went to the nearest one, which Vesemir had visited before, where he had already traded his loot for food a couple of times.

- How are the visions going? - I asked my companion, referring to the foresight I'd decided to tell him about. He had no knowledge of this kind of magic, but he could not help it.

Vesemir only knew about prophecies, such as Itlina's prophecy predicting the end of the world. That wasn't it. There, an elven woman - as believed by those who believe in prophecy - foretold a distant future. I also had a chance to see the future, but.... Not so vague, and much smaller in scale - still, saw not the full lives of several women of the same kind, but during the training, I saw the not so distant future, literally a couple of seconds further, and it happened instantly, as if everything around stopped at that moment. Vesemir had never heard of such a thing.

- There were no new ones. I tried to repeat it, but it didn't work.

As much as I tried, I didn't understand how I could see the future, and I don't know whether I'll be able to curb my foresight or not, but I hope for the first option.

- Hmmm, all in good time, - the witch doctor slowed down. In the distance could be seen village houses, among them wandered a few inhabitants. - We made it.

The village was small (though I could be wrong about the size), only a couple of dozen houses were in the neighbourhood. The houses themselves were rustic, made of planks and logs, and the roofs were made of thatch and clay, as it seemed to me at first glance. Not bad for a medieval village far away from the big cities, there must be another one like it nearby. The only thing that would catch my eye was the tall mill built next to a wheat field. There was no tavern, which was not surprising, since no travellers passed through here, except rarely.

I followed Vesemir, heading straight for the headman where I planned to exchange everything. He was a grey-haired man with a wrinkled face.

- Kohl with skins, my lord witch doctor, - the old man began to examine the brought goods, as soon as he got up from his seat.

- With them, where to unload them?

- So to my house, I'll call my dummy, he will count everything for you, - the headman disappeared inside the house, and after a couple of minutes he came back with his son.

Without wasting any time, he began to examine all the skins, and as soon as he had finished he went off in the direction of the mill, from where, in the company of another lad, he brought sacks of flour.

While we were waiting for the same sacks, but with potatoes, we were approached by an anxious woman nervously fumbling with the hem of her soiled dress. She was immediately noticed by the headman, who had already taken his seat:

- Zofya! We've decided he didn't die from the monster.

- What do you mean? - Vesemir asked, shifting his gaze to the slumped woman.

- It's her husband, who went for mushrooms yesterday and didn't come back. The men went to look for him in the morning, and there he was, lying in the woods, not moving. The entrails are lying around, right there, they took a bite out of him... Wolves! - shouted the old man, looking at the girl again. - They were wolves, I tell you.

- Come on, let her say what she wants to say,' the headman's son said, earning a disapproving look from his father.

- It wasn't wolf marks on her body, - it was obvious that it was difficult for her to choose words, and it hadn't even been a day since she had learnt about her husband's death. - It was as if she had been stabbed with horns at first, and then.... - The woman fell silent, trying to hold back her tears.

Vesemir, standing next to me, was thinking, as could be seen by the frown on his face. I didn't know whether he was thinking about the possible reward for killing the monster or about the monster itself, which might be a mere animal. About a minute passed, which made everyone a little nervous, but the witch doctor still agreed to the woman's request:

- How far was it?

- Less than a verst, over there to that mountain, - the son of the headman pointed in the direction of a high mountain, visible to us from the village. - I can take you to that place.

- Let's go then, we'll finish quickly. Eren, - Vesemir turned to me. - Stay here, look after the horses and things.

- No problem.

We put the sacks next to the horses, which were tied near the headman's house. There I stayed waiting for the witch while he went into the forest with an escort, taking with him a silver sword and a potion unknown to me.

It was a pity, of course, that I hadn't been able to go with Vesemir. Not because of the need to keep an eye on things, who would steal them here? The villagers wouldn't steal from a witch who might not be happy about it, and the others wouldn't be happy about it. I couldn't go for another reason - incompetence. That was the difference between me and the witch, who had a lot of experience in killing monsters, unlike myself. If I go with him into the forest, and immediately meet a monster there, I will only be in his way, unless I throw him off the cliff with the help of Aard, which is unlikely.

Thus, indulging in universal boredom, I watched the activities of the locals, while being under verbal fire from the headman, who wanted to know: who I was, why I'm with witches, and why I did not go with Vesemir. In general, I answered little, a lot of things I decided to hide, such as my arrival in this world.

If quite briefly, then we can say that in his eyes, I remained a kind of student of witches, not going through this mutation, but just wanting to raise skills in swordsmanship to high parameters.

In such a way we had a conversation, until, to my surprise, the witch doctor returned after an hour or so, but without a killed monster, to which he immediately said:

- You have a devil, or rather in the cave by the mountain. It was he who caught the man, first knocking him down, the horns had caused wounds that aroused Zofia's suspicion.

- So, can you kill him? - The headman was worried, not quite sure what the devil was and why he had come to their land.

- I can, but not now. We'll take the stuff back to our place, and then I'll come back with another witch. It'll be easier and safer together, or you might think it's a bigger one.

- Mater Vesemir, how much will I have to pay? - the woman addressed him. - We have savings.

- Shut up!' the headman interrupted her. - If it's not the wolves that have bitten us, then we are all in trouble. We'll all chip in and pay for it. When you come back, tell us the price, and we'll collect it equally.

- It's a deal, but it's better not in money, but in food, - agreed Vesemir.

We agreed on that, and afterwards, throwing the sacks on the horses and taking them by the reins, we set off on foot in the direction of Caer Morhen, which I was glad of, for I was not even close to being accustomed to riding a horse.

While we were travelling in the opposite direction, I decided to ask Vesemir what the hell it was. Turns out it's this huge creature that moves on four limbs. It looks like a mutated overgrown ram. Except it only has hooves in the back and paws in the front to tear its prey apart. And they come in different heights, varying greatly in size.

Vesemir had told the villagers about the attack, so that the villagers wouldn't wander into the forest yet. The devil himself usually hangs out in his territory, which was the mountain, but, apparently because of the reduction of available food, began to move away. As the witch doctor said, if you stay out of the forest from morning to noon, you won't have much chance to run into him.