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[acrowamongsparrows]

Daily Writing Challenge - Day 1 Silver / Darkness

@daily-writing-challenge

He knew he shouldn't do it, but at the moment Eld found little other way to pull himself up as he stuck his sword in the ground to leverage himself up.  Silver shone bright in the matching moonlight as he swayed to steady himself in the broken wood around him.  He was cold, but warm at the same time as he felt the slick crimson slip inside his ruined sleeve along the black hilt of the short sword.  Everything was getting darker and crimson at the late hour as he listened to the sounds around him of muted moans from those he called family, only for them to drowned out by the beast before them all.

Blinking hard as he finally found purchase on his bad leg, Eld steadied to stare at the rising creature as it roared into the night sky.  It's body a mass of wounds now from a dozen or so different stab wounds to match the pin cushion that had developed over it's fur from the numerous crossbow bolts they had fired at it.  Blood seeped black from these wounds but it didn't seem to notice them in the least as it's wide eyes stretched and rolled with a madness brought not from nature from the curse that plagued it.  A curse the man within had tried to hide for so many years.

"Damn it Arthur," Eld whispered, feeling the dripping despair in his tone match that of the hot blood coursing out of his body.  "Why didn't I listen to you?"

The bear only answered again with it's wild roar, now becoming more guttural and bearing the echoing hints of the man trapped within.  It didn't notice though as it squared and paced in front of the witcher, it's heavy paws thumping over the earth causing the dirt to lift from the tremors of it's supernatural weight.  Eld knew his years were ringing by the high pitch whine in his head but it wasn't enough to hide the mounting terror of those he now stood between.

Gregor was yelling for him.  Yelling for him to move or for help, it was all to muted.  Mina was silent but he could hear the boys screaming for their unconscious mother as the young Klaudin sons could nothing to wake their wounded parent.  The only one who did not speak was Verida.  He knew the old woman would stand as stone with him as the next defense of their family.

In his heart the witcher knew what needed to happen next, knew that he could put it off no longer as the bear began to grow more agitated and mad with the growing moon that lite the clearing.  But he couldn't do it.  Not in front of them.  Not now.  Why did happiness and joy need to always be so fleeting for him?  Was it just the poetic justice of his profession?  For what he was trained for?  What he was built for?  To kill.

The bear would roar again as it looked to be fighting with itself as much as Eld was in what to do next.  It could run.  The Klaudins could run.  Go their separate ways and wait til sunrise to sort it all out.  To perhaps save them and then finish it.

"Eldridge."

The voice was soft behind him as he felt the hand of one of his only friends touch his back, Verida's words soft but steely.  "Uratuj moją rodzinę."

Save my family.

A deep breath was drawn in as the weight of three simple words struck him deeper than any blow from the beast.  A shaky return was all that he could provide as he blew forth that same breath and reached up to rip the blood sleeve from his wounded arm.  Tossing the cloth to the ground before using the same good arm to draw his sword from the earth again.  His creaking step was solid as he focused, his mind and spirit into one as he started at the bear.

No.  Eld was coming for Arthur.

Silver sword shining in the moonlight, dripping red in the darkness as his free hand began to achingly shift his fingers.  He felt the fire he had trained for so long to master but could only ever hope to guide ready in his heart.  Arthur too was on the move as his maw of sharp teeth and gaping jaw flapped open to roar in the face of it's new foe.  The witcher's dull eyes could see clearly into the depths of that darkness and a for moment almost caught the agony ridden face of his friend.

"Arthur," Eld couldn't muster any other words as he felt the power well to his need before lifting his hand to feel the word he needed in his broken heart.  

Igni.

[acrowamongsparrows]

Daily Writing Challenge - Day 2 Forever/Displaced

@daily-writing-challenge​

Waves sang their unending song as they crashed upon the beach, spreading the wet course sand with a steady gentle toss.  The sand was never alone though as bits of rock, shell, and debris always managed to find their way among the silent grains of deep earth to find the sun.  One piece of debris was much larger than the what it had brought forth from the depths on this pale morning.  Larger but not unfamiliar to the ocean, the strong lapping crashes would toss a figure from it's embrace to lay silent as the dead.

But death had no place for this creature.

The figure would roll over weakly onto it's back, resting in the bed of sand it had been so unceremoniously deposited.  Long brown hair wet and stringy from the elements coated it's face much like the bits of seaweed that clung to wild wracked limbs.  Though not so much an it as a he from the beard that sat wild on his pale skin, a skin stretched thin but still healthy despite the pallor.  Clothing once rich of crimson were now scorched black by could only be deduced as fire and cooled by the very salt of the sea, sat in rags about the thin form in a mockery of what had been a much stronger man.  The tide continued to sing it's low dirge as the man's chest matched the rising waves, the water trying to drag him back as much as it pushed him further inland.  Harsh wracking coughs would break the symphony of the depths as the man found him expelling the strangling remnants of his former master.

Salt and brine bubbled out to be wretched into the sand as the man rolled over on his side to continue to vomit up the ocean on his hands and knees.  Body shaking and convulsing from the expulsion of the element before struggling only up to his knees, his head leaning back as he tried to suck in as much air as he could.  Despite all the obvious pain his body conveyed, his face was did it's best among the sand and filth to portray a surprising look of satisfaction.

And a smile.

"It worked," a croaking whisper ached forth as the man tried his best to slow his breath and calm his hacks.  The red blotches of sunlight would grow bright behind his lids before he would finally open his eyes to see the world he had come to at last.  Dark, near black eyes would peer out into the growing light of morning as he felt the long lost friend that had been the sun.  His hand lifting to guard his weak gaze from the brightness as his smile grew stronger at the feeling of it's warmth despite the cold of the sea all around him.  The hand would sit silent above him as he stared at it, the digits flexing and folding as if staring at something that did and did not belong to him.

"Extraordinary," he would whisper again as he brought the hand down to touch his face and trace the lines across his skin against the abrasiveness of his salted hair.  "Absolutely extraordinary."  

As he marveled at his appearance, the man would slowly begin to rise to his feet.  Stumbling a step or two before finally catching his bearings to stare about the empty beach, not even perturbed by the lack of bird or fish at this juncture he now found himself in.

"I did it, Iseult," he would whisper again as he smiled again feeling the brightening day above him as he closed his eyes.  "I'm free."

And so Duncan Waycrest had come to the Continent.