Geralt's Arc

Chapter 4 of 17

Night fell on the stone shelf. The runes on the cave door still glowed. Geralt sat with his back to the rock and tried to raise his right arm. It would not lift past his chest. The pull he had taken catching Rain had wrenched the shoulder deep. He set his jaw and reached for his silver sword. His fingers closed on the grip, but when he drew, the blade tipped and near fell from his hand. He could not swing it. Against whatever waited behind that door, a slow arm meant a dead man. "Stop," Rain said. She knelt in front of him, the sorceress who had once come to halt his hunt. She had been cold the day they met, all sharp words and doubt. Now her purple eyes moved over his shoulder with plain worry. "You can't fight like this. Take off the shirt." "It'll heal," Geralt said. "Not tonight. And tonight is when we need it healed." She did not wait. Her fingers found the buttons of his black shirt and worked them open. She pressed along the joint. He hissed. "The bone sits wrong," she said. "It slipped when you held me. I can push it back. It will hurt." "Do it." She braced one hand flat against his chest. The other gripped his upper arm. She spoke a low word and her palms warmed. Heat sank into the muscle and loosened it. Then she pulled and turned in one sharp motion. Something ground and clicked. Geralt's breath tore out of him. His vision went white for a moment. When it cleared, the deep pain was gone. A dull ache remained, but the arm moved. He lifted it past his head. He rolled the shoulder in a slow circle. "Try the sword," Rain said. He drew the silver blade again. This time it came clean. He swept it through the cold air, once, twice, a full cross-cut. His grip held. His timing held. He could fight. "Good as new?" she asked. "Close enough to kill with." He sheathed the blade and met her eyes. "You could have let me climb down and lose the beast. You mended me instead." "I said I would help you," she answered. "I keep my word." But her hand rested a moment longer on his arm before she drew it back. Geralt buttoned the shirt and stood. His shoulder answered him now. He looked at the cave mouth, at the runes burning brighter than before. Something inside had heard them. It was moving toward the door. "It knows we're here," Rain said, rising beside him. Her worry was gone. In its place was the cold, ready calm he had first mistrusted, and now trusted at his back. Geralt drew steel with his good arm. "Then no more waiting." He walked toward the glowing runes, and Rain walked with him.