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[PR: Ash]

A vibrant green reflected from the diamond-shaped screen of light. Drooping branches of a weeping willow swayed in the wind, a layer of mist blanketing the vast, rippling river.

A grimy Lambert stood on the soft ground beside the river, his face scrunched up. Every inch of him spoke of depression. His hair was as unkempt as a bird’s nest, and his M-shaped hairline looked dim. His greyish-brown armor was covered in blood. Obviously, he’d just gone through a big fight earlier.

On his left, Aiden of the Cat School stood with a sword in his hand. His face was gaunt, his cheeks sickly red, and he looked exhausted. On the right was Triss in a greyish-yellow hunting attire made out of beast hide. She waved her hands, and mana rained down, keeping the xenovox online.

Auckes was nowhere to be seen.

“What’s the situation?” Roy crossed his arms, cocking his eyebrow. He teased, “I thought you guys took up a bodyguard request. You look like you just fought a basilisk.”

Lambert scratched his nose and smiled awkwardly. “You were in isolation for a month, kid. When we got here, we found out Keira Metz wasn’t telling the truth. She said the job was to guard the mayor of Sodden. And there might be some exciting things on the side. I thought it was an easy job, so I took her up on the offer. Could make some money and have some fun, but alas, you can’t trust a woman’s words. Even a demon’s more trustworthy than them.”

Coral shot him a scathing glare from beyond the screen.

Lambert quickly changed his tune, “Of course, Lytta and Triss are the exceptions. Keira Metz lied, though. She wanted us to be bodyguards for Foltest, the new king of Sodden. I almost had a falling out right there and then, but Princess Adda and Triss are friends with you, so I stayed back for fun.”

Triss’s shoulders trembled. She held back the urge to slap Lambert. Hey, you’re the one who came all the way here to suck up to Keira and claimed you’d make her pregnant.

Roy smiled wryly. He was a witcher. He wouldn’t fall for such an obvious lie.

Lambert pretended not to notice the look given to him by the sorceress. Instead, he shook his head, lamenting in regret. “And then things went wrong. What’s gotten into this world? Foltest was trying to raise morale for the beleaguered people through a speech, but then, an assassin came for him. In broad daylight.”

Roy’s heart skipped a beat. No matter the era, regicide attempts were big. News of that magnitude could shake the world. Lytta was calm, but she was sinking her nails into Roy’s arm.

“Who’d be so bold as to assassinate the new king of Sodden and the ruler of Temeria?” Roy thought the timeline was wrong. According to history, Foltest would only be assassinated after 1270, when he met the son Louisa La Valette gave him. And his assassin was Letho, who was disguised as a pilgrim. But it’s only the summer of 1266 now, and Letho’s already quit his assassination gigs after joining the brotherhood. So who’s the guy?

***

“Who else but the Scoia’tael madmen?” Lambert said. “There were about fifty of them. Most of them were elves, some of them were dwarves and gnomes. Foltest was delivering his speech on the Blue Rose Concourse, rebuilt after the war. During his attempt to assuage the people, Scoia’tael set off a thick layer of mist. While everything went to hell and the people were screaming and running around, they struck.”

Hm, this is all related to Foltest’s policies and the Church of Virtue led by the Lady of the Lake in Vizima. Among the Northern Realms’ rulers, Foltest is the only one who doesn’t treat non-humans so harshly. That’s what gave Scoia’tael the opening they needed.

“So this was Francesca’s plan. She’s going to follow Emhyr to the end no matter what.” Roy massaged his temples. This assassination is just the elf queen clearing the obstacles for Nilfgaard’s second invasion. And the second war is not too far away. “You didn’t contact me just to tell me that, did you?”

“No. We have grave news.” Lambert put on a pained look. “The ruler of Pontar and Mahakam and the protector of Brugge, Angren, Riverdell, and Ellander, Foltest, has perished. He is now with his sister-queen.”

Roy could hear Lytta inhale sharply, and he shot Lambert a glare. “You should take more classes from Dandelion. Your acting’s lousy. Only kids would fall for that. Foltest isn’t even your son. There’s nothing for you to feel sad about if he died. And Triss doesn’t have the right look on her face.”

Roy looked at Triss. The sorceress pulled her bangs back and wiped the grime off her face. She smiled sweetly at the witcher.

“Oh, you seem to know Triss very well.” Lambert made a face at the sorceress. Triss flicked her hair back, ignoring Lambert.

“Fine. The assassination attempt failed. The high priestess of the Church of Virtue, Adda, along with Keira, Fercart, the army, and us witchers, kept Foltest under guard. No one could get near him. A few dozen attackers were nothing.” Lambert looked at the hill hidden in the mist across the river. Thirty-eight assassins died in the chaos. We captured eleven, but they committed suicide by poison. A few spread out and escaped. Furious, Foltest sent his army after the assassins in the east. Auckes stayed back in Sodden to keep an eye on things. The three of us came all the way to Brugge, to this here Chotla. If you’ve gone through your second mutation, come over here and get that assassin, kid. We need to find him before Temeria’s soldiers do.”

“Wait, what?” Roy was surprised. “You’re not going to help the king capture the assassin?”

“The guy who escaped was no regular man.” Aiden clenched his fists. He had a conflicted look on his face. Hoarsely, he spoke.

Roy had a guess who that person was, and Aiden said, “He was Gaetan, a witcher from the Cat School. Used to be my comrade. I’d never forget that face.” It had been a long time since he joined the brotherhood, and Aiden had almost forgotten that the Cat School made a living through assassination requests. He didn’t think that another witcher would still take dirty jobs like that in this day and age. And it was no ordinary job; it was a request to kill a wise and mighty ruler of a big kingdom. If the assassination had succeeded, Temeria would be plunged into chaos. Many would perish.

Aiden emphasized, “Gaetan was a rational man. The Trial didn’t affect him too much, though he would have the occasional outburst.”

Gaetan? Roy realized who that person was. In his mind, he saw a bald man with a scar on his face, and a memory surfaced. Down the line, a leshen would terrorize a village in Velen by the name of Honorton. Gaetan accepted the request to slay it. When he came back victorious, the village elder refused to pay him his dues. He was led to the barn and was ambushed with a pitchfork. Enraged, Gaetan slaughtered the whole village. Geralt ran into him by chance, and the Wolf and Cat started a dangerous chase.

This was the butterfly effect again. Because of Roy’s meddling, the attempt on Foltest’s life had been brought forward. The assassin, instead of Letho, was replaced by Gaetan, now an ally of the elves. “They say the Cat School has a lot of elven members. A sizable portion of that school served the elves of Blue Mountains in the past,” Roy said.

Aiden paused for a moment. With worry, he said, “An ancient tradition. Not many of them follow that now, but Gaetan does have elven blood. He obviously sees himself as part of that race. Gaetan was hit by Keira and Fercart’s spells, and he sustained heavy weapon injury. We followed the trail of blood here, but the river cut it off. He can’t be far. If he wants to live, he has to stop somewhere across the river to heal up.”

Aiden looked at Roy, his eyes glistening, the look on his face one of genuine plea. “I want to find this comrade who has been led astray and lend him a hand.”

“That’s right.” Lambert swung his fists. Excited, he agreed, “Gather all the witchers worth making allies out of is why the brotherhood exists. It’s our raison d’être!”

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep a secret,” said Triss matter-of-factly. “I need to make sure that guy won’t attack any other kings of the Northern Realms. If any kingdom falls into instability, the people will be gravely affected.”

What the heck, guys? You’re Foltest’s bodyguards, but now you want to save an assassin? Roy fell into silence. They want to go against Foltest’s orders and recruit this Cat assassin. Is that worth it?

Everyone on both sides of the xenovox held their breaths. Roy eventually said, “We’ll have to find him first, and then we’ll decide what to do with him.”

“Don’t just stand there, Lambert. Call Kiyan and Eskel. What do they say? Ah yes, two heads are better than one!”

“I knew you wouldn’t let me down, kid.”