Cold. Hard ground and scratchy hay on the face. That's what the witcher and the princess found, when they heard Chireadan's voice.
"Wake up! Wake up!" he kept repeating.
Both of them lazily opened their eyes, upon recognizing the elf they quickly got up on their feet. They looked around. They've been locked in a prison, their hands restrained by iron shackles chained to the wall. Same went for their left ankles. Anna felt a strong headache, while Geralt felt like he'd got hit by a pendulum in Kaer Morhen.
"Are you proud of yourself? Was it worthy to fall into a rage?" Chireadan questioned him, contempt could be heard in his voice.
The grey-haired man furrowed his eyebrows. The last thing he remembered was the argument with the sorceress. He looked at the blue-eyed woman, however she didn't know what had happened as well, so she only shook her head.
"Rage? What had I done?" he was curious.
"Hm. Where shall I start?" the medic replied.
"Best of all, from the beginning" the princess muttered.
"Of course. Firstly, you'd properly beaten up the owner of the pawn shop, your next victim being the pharmacist. Then you killed them both. Rings a bell?" the elf asked.
"Nothing at all" Geralt responded honestly, looking for the way out of the cell.
"Both were members of the town's council. Both wanted to take down the mayor and get rid of Yennefer. She used you to get her revenge" Chireadan explained. "Matter of fact, I've tried to stop you, but they thought I'm your accomplice and threw in here. We've got sentenced to death".
"Damnit" Geralt murmured, continuing his search.
"Hold on for a second" Anna interrupted, feeling a bit better. "I have an important question, actually two. How did I get here and where the hell are Jaskier and Olaf?!" she asked nervously.
"I only know that the witcher had took Your Majesty from the mayor's residence and left you here. Your sword had been confiscated. The snowman should be in this building too, as the witcher also took him. In case of your wounded companion, he must've stayed with Yennefer" Chireadan said.
"Bloody hell" she murmured unhappy, then she started walking back and forth. "Alright, we just need to get out of here, find Olaf and retrieve my sword, we go back there, kill Yennefer, take Jaskier and get far away from this town, yes, this sounds like a brilliant plan..." she was speaking in one breath.
"Is Her Majesty always like this?" the intrigued elf turned to the monster slayer.
"Only when she gets nervous" Geralt explained. Normally he'd try to calm down his friend or cast Axii on her, nevertheless he couldn't because of the shackles.
The inmates sat in the cell for some more time. Anna was constantly working on a plan how they'll handle the raven-haired sorceress, Geralt tried to tear the bars from the shutters, while Chireadan stood in silence, praying in soul. He also reprimanded himself for not properly preparing the company for the meeting with the violet-eyed woman. If he'd done so, he wouldn't have ended up in a dirty cell, waiting for death. The monster slayer whispered that "he'd really like to get out of this prison". Suddenly he felt a light gust of wind and heard the approaching scraping of something hard on the floor, so he hushed the blue-eyed woman and informed about the mysterious sound. At the same time he realized an important thing, which he'd have to check the moment he'd get freed from the chains. The elf nervously swallowed his saliva, as he was convinced that it'd take longer to build the scaffold. A moment later the door opened, and the prisoners saw Olaf, who was dragging Anna's sword behind him.
"Olaf!" the princess and the witcher exclaimed, happy to see their snowy friend.
"Anna! Geralt!" the snowman was happy to see his companions too. He took his carrot nose, which he had used to open the door, then approached the cell. "How wonderful to see you! Oh, and mister medic is back! Wait, how did you get here, sir?" he wondered, scratching his head with his nose.
"It's... a rather long and complicated story" Chireadan said.
"Oh, I understand" Olaf replied and used his nose to open the cell. Next, he began to free his companions.
"Where have you been?" the intrigued blue-eyed woman asked.
"I woke up in a very light room, hearing laughs the entire time" Olaf was telling. "I stood up, looked, and I saw two guards similar to that mean man that was guarding the mayor's house. A moment passed, one of them left, the second one turned to me and stared at me in shock. I knew I had to somehow get out of there in order to I could find you, so I decided to solve this the witcher way" he freed Anna and gave back her sword, then approached Geralt.
"The witcher way, meaning...?" the grey-haired man raised his eyebrow in wonder.
"I offered him a round of Gwent" the snowman answered. "Luckily, he agreed to it and we sat down to the game. I must admit, they have a really nice collection of cards here! All decks completed! We've been playing with the Northern Realms deck. So we're playing, until I decided to use hypnosis. I would've used Axii, nevertheless I cannot yet. That's why I recalled the hypnosis method which Master Spoon had taught me a long time ago on the market. It worked, and then I went on the expedition" after freeing the witcher, he began opening Chireadan's shackles.
"You did well" the monster slayer praised him, while rubbing his own wrists. Glancing at the right one, he noticed two cuts. His assumptions turned out to be true. "But you could have taken some cards with you".
The princess and the elf looked at him confused. The witcher only rolled his eyes. He liked Gwent, next to it among his favourites was the dice poker. Besides being able to win a lot of money in bets, Geralt saw those games as a way to relax for a bit. When everyone was free, Anna put her sword in the scabbard and said with determination:
"There's no time to waste. Let's get out of here and go get Jaskier" after these words she left the cell, her companions followed closely after.
     They expected that the search for the troubadour will take longer, they were ready to conduct an assault on the mayor's residence (except for Chireadan, who wasn't willing to fight). However, when they saw the brunet leaving the building in a hurry, they weren't only positively surprised, but also relieved. Tears of happiness appeared in the princess' eyes. She quickly forgot about the plan to get Yennefer, as the euphoria upon seeing her beloved one completely flooded her mind.
"Jules!" she exclaimed excitedly.
The bard immediately looked into her direction. Fear on his face got replaced by joy, he thanked the gods that his dearest one was safe and sound. Smiling, he shouted back:
"My muse!".
They ran towards each other and fell into each other's arms with a strength that a bear would not be ashamed of. The snowman sighed out of awe, while the witcher smiled. Moment later they joined the hug, Chireadan looked at them, touched. Jaskier spoke up first:
"Thank the gods, it is marvelous to see you! Luckily I've managed to escape that nightmare! And I'll gladly leave this town!".
"Nightmare? What happened?" Olaf questioned.
"I've been dreaming... at the beginning I saw you, you were by my side the entire time... I even felt my lovely nymph's hand... but then you disappeared and I was left alone with... her" he shuddered. "Most simply put, she was a bad woman".
Anna and Geralt exchanged telling glances.
"Let me guess, raven-haired, violet-eyed sorceress" the grey-haired man rather stated than asked.
"Indeed... how..." the surprised poet started blinking intensively.
"Jaskier... it wasn't a dream..." the blue-eyed woman made him aware.
"Hold on a moment, "a bad woman"? But misstress Yennefer..." Olaf did not finish.
"Did the sorceress do something particular? Do you recall anything?" Geralt questioned.
Jaskier thought for a moment, then responded:
"She drew an amphor on her stomach and ordered me to make the last wish".
"She wants to make a vessel out of herself..." the witcher realized.
"A vessel? For the djinn? What does she need it for? Or maybe not... I prefer not to know..." the princess stated.
"She desires power... but she'll die trying to gain it..." the grey-haired man continued, ignoring his friend's words.
"Oh. That's a though case. We can pray in its' intention on our way out of this wicked town, which is as quickly as possible" the bard suggested, his beloved one nodded her head.
"I'll go get our horses, they should still be here" she declared.
Unexpectedly Geralt departed from the group and began walking into the house's entry direction. "For gods' sake!" Jaskier shouted, then went after him alongside Anna, Olaf and Chireadan. His companions tried to dissuade him from intention to save the woman who smelled like lilac and gooseberries. The only exception was the snowman, who in spite of everything refused to believe that Yennefer had despicable intentions. He expressed his opinion out loud, the witcher sent him a light smile in gratitude for understanding him. In the end, Anna agreed with them as well. Although she did not like the raven-haired woman, she had in mind that thanks to her the troubadour was alive and she was grateful for it. Not minding the words of the bard and the elf, the grey-haired man entered the residence. He arrived at the room where the sorceress was trying to take control of the djinn, becoming the vessel in the process. In a confrontation with her, the White Wolf revealed shocking truth - in fact, he was the djinn's masters, the wishes were his, not poet's. To save Yennefer, the witcher made his last wish. At the same time the mayor, who's been all dressed up for some time already, left the house in a rush, joining the witcher's companions who where waiting outside. Storm clouds gathered over the town, a strong wind began to blow. The creature, which the princess, the bard and the snowman had seen at the lake the day before, flew out trough the bulding's roof, going straight to the sky. Thus, it has brightened. Just a moment later the upper part of the building collapsed, it was the place where the witcher and the sorceress were. Geralt's friends shouted a shrill "NO!" simultaneously. Jaskier fell down on his knees, Anna crouched beside him hugging him. Olaf did not know what to think or what to do. They couldn't believe their dear friend was gone. He's always managed to get himself out of the most dangerous trouble. And suddenly poof - no sign of the grey-haired man. Our heroes spared no tears, they stopped paying attention to the world around them. To be honest, they didn't know what to do, where to go, what adventure to experience. Geralt's been their guide. Without him, most simply put, it wouldn't have been the same. Jaskier swore to write the most beautiful ballad in history about him, commemorating all of their adventures, when Chireadan approached them with a smile on his face.
"Noble lady and noble sirs!" he shouted. "They're alive!".
The troubadour, the princess and the snowman looked at him confused.
"You must be joking, sir!" Olaf said with disbelief.
"I would not dare!" the medic replied. "They're safe and sound!".
"What are you waiting for?! Lead us swiftly!" the blue-eyed woman ordered.
The elf led them to one of the windows in which the glass was completely shattered. Upon seeing Geralt and Yennefer making love to each other, Anna quickly covered Olaf's eyes and the part of his head where ears should be. She herself widened eyes out of surprise and scare, the bard did so as well.
"Oh, they are alive!" he said. "Woo, pretty much alive!".
Anna and Chireadan exchanged telling glances and quickly drew Jaskier and Olaf away, leaving Geralt and Yennefer to themselves.
In the late evening, when the company had gathered back together and collected their belongings from the camp by the lake, they stopped at an inn on the outskirts of Rinde. As always, Geralt and Olaf occupied one room, while Anna and Jaskier the second. The bard was lying on the bed, the princess was sitting next to him, who was looking at the floral pattern at the bottom of her nightgown, lost in her thoughts. Wanting to find out what was weighing on his beloved one's heart, the bard rose to a sitting position and asked caringly:
"My nicest, what are you thinking so fiercely about?" after these words he put his hand on her arm.
"This whole situation... firstly troubles with the djinn, then with Yennefer... you don't even how... how much I was afraid that I'll lose you" she turned her head into his direction, the emerging tears could be seen in her eyes.
Jaskier, having sighed deeply, mused for a longer moment. Finally, he replied:
"It is a fact that my fault is in it too... I should've payed more attention to your warnings about the djinn and not overreact to Geralt's opinion on my singing" he confessed with remorse. "I promise you that I'll be more careful and will do my best to prevent such situation from happening ever again".
"Let's oath" she said. "Let's oath that we will never lose each other. That one will not leave this world without the other. That... we will forever stay together. I love you beyond my life, Jaskier. And I'm not able to imagine walking on this earth without you by my side".
"Oh, Anna" the troubadour got emotional. "Those are... those are the most beautiful words I have ever heard. I love you beyond my life too. I am incredibly thankful for meeting you and I don't imagine, don't even want to or am able to do so, what would it be if one day I woke up, knowing I was left without you in this cruel world".
The blue-eyed woman smiled. The pair grasped each other's hands, then both closed their eyes and touched their foreheads together. They said the words of a miraculous oath, which from then on was to make their bond even stronger than before. After taking their vows, they joined their lips in a tender kiss. However they pulled away from each other a moment later, made short eye contact and began to kiss again, but this kiss was different from the previous ones. It was longer, passionate. They fell down on the bed - and without a single doubt it can be said that they spent a very pleasant night.
     The next day, when our heroes were after breakfast and getting ready to leave, the snowman decided to ask a question about a thing that has been bothering him.
"Anna... why were there weird noises coming from your room at night? They were very similar to this awful heartburn those people from the mayor's residence had..." he said.
Anna and Jaskier goggled their eyes and looked at each other. They stood like statues, not knowing what to say to their snowy friend. Luckily, Geralt saved them from their oppression.
"You see, Olaf..." he started. "From what I've learned, there are a lot of rats in the building's walls. Pesky rats which make a lot of noise. It's them you've heard".
"Oh... it explains a lot" Olaf stated. "Well, I hope that they hire a ratcatcher soon and get rid of those pests".
The witcher agreed, then sat the snowman on Roach's back. The princess and the bard mouthed "Thank you", to which the White Wolf replied "You're welcome" just as quiet. When everybody got on their horses, before departuring the grey-haired man accosted the brunet:
"Hey, Jaskier. Want to know what I really think about your singing?".
"Of course" the curious poet responded.
"To be completely honest, I like it. In comparison to many minstrels I've seen in taverns, it's not tiring. And I'm glad that I still will be able to listen to it".
The bard widely smiled at his friend's words and thanked him heartily. In this joyous atmosphere our heroes set off on the trail, heading for new adventures.

~⚔️~

And with this accent we end this chapter. I hope you liked it.
If you've noticed any errors, feel free to let me know.
Now I'll say goodbye to you, sending greetings to all of you! Be well, see you next time!