The Witcher: Elder Blood

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***

Earlier...

Left alone to observe the hangar from the street, Galantea sat down on the stone staircase away from the structure, so that she could watch the hangar's gates without attracting the attention of the rare passersby.

Before she leaned against the wall of a shabby building with an adjacent staircase leading to the first floor, the girl's gaze fell on the receding figure of Eren.

'His words made sense, we shouldn't lose sight of the merchant... Only, to hide the bound one under the spell would immediately lose all need for sitting still...' - Galantea shifted her gaze from the street to the sky. - 'I've accelerated my growth, stopped looking like a child. Isn't he enough? Why this tutelage? My surveillance of the hangar is of no use,' she covered her eyes, connecting her mind to the bird flying over the city. - 'At least this way I'll observe.'

The blue-black-coloured swallow perked up, changed its flight direction and began to soar downwards.

The picture of the world for Galantea split, revealing a bird's eye view as her eyes continued to watch the hangar entrance. Two pictures were being shown to her at the same time. No discomfort, though, the dual observation of the world did not cause her any discomfort.

'Who knew I could meet the heir to the Elder Blood gene. I would have met in an older form. He's so hard to interact with - being a child,' her eyelids drooped briefly, accompanied by a heavy sigh. - 'And yet, how did I... how did everyone manage to miss another branch of inheritance? I remember the missing Aen Hen Ichaer bearer...,' a warm smile spread across the pretty face. - 'I hope - she was able to find her happiness.'

Galantea, or the one hiding under the young bard's name, knew all about the Elder Blood gene. She knew the gene's origin, its purpose, and, something that still made her uncomfortable, she had witnessed the persecution of Lara Dorren. She had seen the elves' hopes of regaining the mobility lost during the Conjunction of the Spheres, and witnessed the extinguishing of those hopes.

For many years she had been forced to live among the elves, occasionally taking time out for the other races. After Lara Dorren went missing, she decided to diversify her life by observing humans more often, living with them. And then, decades later, a chance encounter granted her a meeting with a descendant of the Elder Blood.... not just any descendant, there were others, but they couldn't activate the gene unlike Eren.

'They'll mess it up again, better to waste more time. I'll try to do it on my own, at least I'll have a chance,' Galantea finally closed her eyes and turned her attention to the bird. It was circling over the location of the bard's companions.

Mostly concentrating on the swallow's vision, she could watch their entire journey through part of the Merchant Quarter, then review the search for the thieves. Galantea saw how they managed to find the young lad, watched his interrogation, and later watched their path to the den of the band of thieves. No one even paid attention to the bird flying over the houses, occasionally landing on one of the roofs above them.

The last landing of the swallow was on one of the tiles of a rectangular building, from the top of which Galanthea could follow the conversation with the thieves.

'Hmmm, it doesn't look like the resulting conflict can end in conversation. Their leader has an aggressive attitude...' - Not fully, but she was able to sense the emotions and moods of living creatures while they were around. Through a subordinate animal, she was able to do the same. Though, the swallow obeyed the bard rather than following all orders without free will.

Her thoughts soon became reality: the gang leader gave a sign to the captured boy. He immediately began to act: he hunched down, raised his left shoe to his hand, took out a shiv and thrust it into Dethmold's left foot, causing the wizard to cry out in pain. Due to the surprise and the sharp pain in his leg, the warlock's arm, which had previously held the boy in place, unclenched, releasing him.

At the same time, the rest of the gang holding bows and crossbows started firing at Eren.

'Defend yourself!' - had Galantea been with them, a concerned cry would have sounded from her lips, but as it was, the swallow merely chirped at the top of her voice.

Eren didn't need any hints, especially so obvious ones, to close himself off from all the projectiles under his magical shield and then shove the people approaching him from the entrance of the building into the wall.

Further actions swept across the courtyard at a rapid gait, sweeping away any signs of a peaceful end to all that was happening.

Here, arm thrust forward, enraged at the pain in his leg, Detmold formed in front of him and launched stalagmites at the fleeing lad.

Coping with the shock, the previously only defensive Eren decides to engage, moving to one of the balconies with Blink's help. With a sharp swing of his blade at the panicked man with the crossbow, he left a deep wound along his torso, severing the hand that was so well placed in the blade's trajectory.

The cloaked man cried out in pain, staring in disbelief at the stump of his arm. The crossbow fell downwards, making a thud. At the same time, choosing a new target, Eren moved to the next balcony. This continued until all the gang members carrying ranged weapons fell dead on their balconies.

The building wasn't large, only two stories high, but the oblong shape of the main room and the two annexes that formed a 'P' with the garden in the middle allowed the men with crossbows and bows to position themselves in such a way that Eren had to zigzag through the middle of the 'P' until he was in front of the main thief.

The man had managed to pull out two daggers by then, bringing them to bear as Eren appeared across the room out of the bluish flash. Unfortunately for the thief, Eren had never put his swordsmanship skills first, gradually retreating completely into magic. In a situation like this, where the most important one had to be captured alive - otherwise there was no way to know the location of their valuables - he wasn't going to swing iron at him in the hope that he could knock the daggers out of his hands without killing the man.

He fended off a couple of the thief's attacks, tearing the distance between them, and then, pointing his index finger at the man, shouted in Elvish:

- Tu naice! - The fingertip glowed with a faint greenish light.

Before an extra second had passed, the flame shot out at the thief. His muscles spasmed, causing him to groan in pain, drop the weapon from his hands, and fall at Eren's feet.

Following, taking the incapacitated thief with him, Eren disappeared from the balcony, using Blink again to get into the courtyard below.

- Stay here, don't move! - he ordered one last time, this time using the Axius Sign, a yellowish inverted triangle glowing in front of his hand just long enough to give the order, and then disappeared.

***

Our skirmish happened too quickly. I hadn't had time to think about it, and I'd already finished off most of the gang. The teenagers, or kids - I didn't look at them closely enough - scattered in different directions as soon as I'd dealt with the first of the crossbowmen.

I stood at the bottom where I and Detmold had been earlier. Looking around carefully, I noticed several corpses from below, including the previously fallen guy whose back was adorned with stalagmites. Five metres away from his companion, a woman lay sprawled on the ground, riddled with many small cuts. Small, sharp ice flakes lay beside her.

Apparently Detmold had created a lighter version of Naglfar's Wave, a spell that threw ice shards forward. In its full version - the spell was like a controlled blizzard, only the snow was replaced with ice, allowing it to slice through enemies. And it was a good thing Detmold didn't have the opportunity to use the full version. Given the profanity coming from him, as well as the cursing at the gang of thieves, if he had enough strength and skill, he could have unleashed a full Naglfar Wave, in which case the place would have been a mess.

- Shit, it hurts so bad,' he continued to hold on to his leg, slowly pulling out the shiv. When he managed to get rid of it, he pulled a ten millilitre bottle out of his bag and drank it in one gulp. - What?' he asked at my frown.

I shake my head unhappily at the question.

- It doesn't matter. Go interrogate him,' I point the tip of my blade in the direction of the head of the gang of thieves before putting my sword back in its scabbard. - I need to rest,' I sit down on the porch.

- I'll interrogate that bastard so hard he'll ask to die,' Detmold muttered to himself as he approached the man, still holding on to his sore leg.

For some reason Detmold decided to use forceful interrogation method, which only irritated me more - he was able to find out the thief's last memories with the help of mental magic, though not as well as I did. His methods would only delay us more with all the confusion that had come over us.

I didn't interfere, though, so let him decide. I needed to get my thoughts in order, and I also needed to breathe a little.

To quickly deal with people with long-range weapons, I used one spell that was simple in nature, but useful in such a case - Short Amplification - inherited from the Druids. I managed to learn it from the academy rector, as such spells are not taught. Too complicated to master. If I didn't have the Elder Blood gene, which facilitates any interaction with magic - especially spatial ones - I couldn't even master such a spell directed at my own body so easily.

In fact, if the druids had more modern words in their vocabulary, they would have called the spell something else: Adrenaline Rush. Brief Amplification does not amplify the body, but instantly produces the hormone in a large volume. Anyway, even as it was, I found this spell quite useful, but I should have found something better.

- Are you done in there!? - I'm shouting to my partner.

- Yeah, they've got more than just our stuff. at least it's some compensation,' he smirks.

The potion has eased the pain in his leg and stopped the bleeding. Useful stuff, I should have paid less attention to alchemy. On the other hand, I've learnt more spells and perfected teleportation.

As I get up from my seat, I notice some kind of bird on top of a building - I've never recognised them before.

- Okay, lead the way to their hiding place,' I got up from my seat.

As I followed Detmold, I thought again about alchemy. I remember Yennifer suggested I study it. I could stay in Wengerberg for a while, learn more than just the basics of alchemy. The potion Detmold drank, for example, was not covered in the academy's general course. I could have learnt it on my own by visiting the library and digging through books, then buying the ingredients and cooking it myself, but I didn't do it. At that time I thought that everything could be replaced by magic, but it's not that simple. But I'll deal with alchemy later, for now it's time to get our stuff back..... and add a little something on top of it.