Prologue

Vernon Roche was furious.

Most people probably would not be able to tell, but Geralt of Rivia could; they had been traveling together long enough now for him to be able to spot the little signs which indicated that Vernon's mood was slowly edging toward the danger zone.

His hands were trembling slightly, for one thing - almost too faintly to be noticed - and clenched to fists at his sides. The commander's face underneath the black chaperon was calm and emotionless, but the wild look in his eyes spoke volumes.

"Henselt?", Geralt asked quietly.

Roche shook his head and said nothing. He did not slow down, nor did he stop or look back. Geralt fell in beside him, choosing not to speak.

They walked away from the town of Vergen, which was engulfed in flames and raging with war between now kingless soldiers and non-humans, walked away from the monarch's corpse, lying on the cold stone floor with a knife in his chest.

"Only we know what happened here... Well, and Henselt. The sooner we forget it the better.", Geralt said.

"I'll erase it from my memory."

But Geralt knew Vernon would not. He had had his revenge (or at least part of it), but the murder of king Henselt of Kaedwen would forever haunt him.

He was a loyal man to Temeria, a soldier, and had been absolutely dedicated to his king. You could say a lot of horrible things about Vernon Roche, and most of it would be true. But he was not capable of killing a king and simply forgetting about it.

It was curious - that man had slaughtered countless non-humans, among them women and children, but the death of another country's ruler who had also been a rapist and the murderer of his comrades had effected him more than anything.

"Do you regret it?"

"Not now, and not ever. The bastard got what he derseved, Geralt. Next is his little pet dog, that ploughing sorcerer. And he won't be so lucky, I tell you. If I get my hands on 'im, he's gonna suffer. I'll cut of his balls and shove them down his throat if need be.", Vernon growled. "And I'm going to enjoy every second of it."

Geralt let it drop and they lapsed back into silence, which was only broken by the clanking of their armor resounding from the high stone walls that enclosed the valley they were passing through. Around them, butterflies danced happily to and fro beside green bushes and inconspicious little flowers on the wayside, completely oblivious to the people dying only a few miles away from them.

A ship's mast appeared in the distance, drawing steadily nearer as Geralt and Vernon made their way towards the barge waiting on the shore of the Pontar river. As they approached, a figure emerged from the shadows and hurried to meet them.

It was Ves, the young woman serving under Roche in The Blue Stripes. She looked relieved, but tired and had dark circles under her eyes. It was obvious she was suffering from the same disease as Vernon was: The pain of having seen the death of her friends, of not being able to do anything, and of still being alive.

But she, just as Vernon, was a soldier - and did everything she could to keep her emotions in check.

"Commander. Geralt.", she said as calmly as possible, but Geralt suspected she would rather throw her arms around him in relief.

"It's good to see you. The sailors were already getting nervous because you were gone for so long. What kept you?"

The two men exchanged a glance.

"Nothing in particular.", Vernon lied. "Let's get out of this goddamn place, and fast. Come on."

They followed Ves onto the ship. As soon as they set foot on the deck, someone shouted "Cast off!" and off they were indeed, towards their next destination: Loc Muinne, the ancient town in the mountains, where Vernon and Geralt would confront Sile and Letho, take revenge on Dethmold once and for all and rescue Foltest's daughter, Anais, from the sorcerer's clutches.

But before all of this could happen, the Witcher and the Temerian commander would have to go on another unexpected adventure, a journey with many dangers, old acquaintances new discoveries...

AN: Phew, so I could finally bring myself to post this story. Until now I had my doubts, but I read it again and decided I wanted to reward myself for the work I put in this. Anyway, I hope you like the story, I will probably add some chapters over the following week. Thanks for reading!