Summary: The world was a cruel place and none knew that better than the vipers. It didn’t mean they couldn’t take a rest.
@save-a-witcher-bingo
The fortress of Gorthur Gvaed stood still. The sun was high and there was not a cloud in the sky for miles. There were no sounds of swords clanging or arrows thunking into targets. There was no laughter, no screams, no barked orders to do better in the training yard.
It was warm and it was quiet.
Kolgrim laid on his back atop the high stone wall with his blanket rolled beneath his neck. He was stripped down to his smalls and basking in the sunlight. The sandstone under his back was pleasantly warm and so long as he laid just there he could sleep for as long as he wished. Slow and lazy, not a state he ever lingered in for long. But on that day, the longest of the year, he was allowed such an indulgence. He stretched his legs, arched his hips, and settled back down again at the touch of a cool breeze.
Letho had claimed a patch of sun under the large windows of the library, he was only three decades or so off his Trial of Medallion and thus had no right to claim the better spots outside. This though? This was the best spot in any of the old halls and he would not have given it up for coin or blood. The door to the library opened and the pitter patter of little feet was cause for opening one eye. Thick as thieves the twins, who were not related blood any more than all Witchers were blood brothers, came in. They were about twelve and just off their grasses, Letho had seen them train for six summers already.
“Oh.” The disappointment was deep, as if Serrit had expected the library to be unoccupied. Their bedding was carried in their arms and Auckes clutched it a little tighter. There was enough room for them to lay out near Letho if they were brave or suicidal.
The boys began backtracking.
“Come over here then. No need to waste daylight trying to move somewhere else.” he drawled, wondering if they could be brave. He’d pillowed his head on his own arm and Auckes approached from that open side. The pile of blankets and pillows landed almost but not quite touching his side.
Brave little thing that one. Where one went the other followed and soon both boys were curled in the sunlight at Letho’s side, gangly things that they were he found that they gravitated toward him in their heat-relaxed haze. Letho found he didn’t mind it all that much.
He didn’t mind them at all.
In the high tower Warrit sat in a cushioned chair pulled as close to the window as he could manage. Peace, it seemed, was a rare luxury in their southern kingdom. The low murmur of conversation, sleepy and serene, was a lullaby to the old Witcher’s soul.
The world was a cruel place and none knew that better than the vipers.
Tragic Viper Boi Kolgrim (Inspired from the original Gwent art here)
Hey so I wanted to start to post more regularly this year so I’m gonna be attempting to post at least every week. So Happy Witcher Wednesday, I’ll be trying to post Witcher-related sketches and art on Wednesdays:P
How To Make Mistakes (such as friendships and lovers)
Summary:
Kolgrim of the Vipers had every intention of walking the path alone, doing his job well, and retiring to a ditch where perhaps one of the young Witchers would find his medallion and no one would remember him particularly fondly for anything. It was a good plan. A great old plan actually.
Trust a Griffin and a Bear to fuck it right up.
@save-a-witcher-bingo Prompt: Free Space
He met the Bear first, on an autumn night that was as clear as a mountain stream. Kolgrim fell asleep under the stars and woke to a curse and a boot in his ribs. “Hells- I didn’t see you!”
Kolgrim groaned and sat up, “Are you too tall to watch your feet?”
“Sorry, what are you sleeping so close to the path for anyway? Bringing new meaning to snake in the grass, aren’t you?” Kolgrim stood, half expecting a fight and resigned to it.
“I’ll move.” he said.
“No no, I’m sorry. I’m Sindri, you’ve got a good spot here. I was looking to bed down for the night.” The man rubbed the back of his neck, “I’ll move on.”
With a long suffering sigh Kolgrim shook his head. “Room for two.” He gestured at the soft expanse of grass. The Bear, Sindri, didn’t hesitate to take the offer.
“What’s your name?”
He could have stayed quiet. Let it be a night no one remembered in three years.
“Kolgrim.” He told the stars.
He met the Griffin some months later in a tavern where Kolgrim lost several crowns more than fair on a meal flavored with spit.
“Well, it’s good to see a brother.”
The Witcher was as broad as a wagon and he took the seat across from the Viper with an easy smile.
“Can I get you a drink?”
“Shouldn’t. The ale’s worse than Piss and the only spice they’ve got is spit.”
“Ah. Well, how about a companion and some rations? I’m Agravain of the Griffins.” His armor was nice, well cared for but far from shining. Perhaps his company wouldn’t be too bad at all.
“Kolgrim.”
“Well met my friend. Do you play dice?”
The second time he met Sindri was in the sewers below Cintra. He’d been slogging through for quite some time when splashes alerted him to something fast approaching. He pulled his silver sword and brought it up. He pulled back just in time, the edge of the sword resting against the Bear’s neck. A single finger came up to push it away, revealing a long silver scar quite close to where the blade had stopped.
“Oh hey! It’s you!” Never before had anyone seemed quite so happy to see him; not even his own mother. “So, it’s funny that you’re here cause the problem has been dealt with! Good news right?
"How far is it to the surface because we really need to go?”
“What?”
“Time bombs- we have time but not a lot-“ the walls shook and the Bear winced. “I might have misjudged. How fast can you run?”
One big hand clasped his shoulder and turned him around before he could get another word out, “Run!” and they were running.
They reached the Sun just as the ground rumbled beneath them and their ears rang with the explosion.
Someone was laughing.
Kolgrim was amazed to find that it was him.
The second time he met the Griffin he wondered if perhaps the Bear’s antics hadn’t rattled him more than he first thought. Though Sindri had assured him that they were both quite alright after an evening of drinks.
It was a turn of brilliant or horrid luck that landed Kolgrim playing guard dog for a minor Redanian noble. Agravain approached him with a hand outstretched. “My friend! I see they’ve brought you into the fold as well!” Golden eyes were blown wickedly wide behind a half mask made of bronze.
“Are you alright, Agravain?” He clasped the man’s outstretched hand, for otherwise he feared a hug was fast approaching.
“I am wonderful.” The Griffin grinned, leaning close. “There’s a potion- here I have another bottle” He began to pat down his chest in search of the mysterious potion while his eyes strayed to the chandeliers. “It makes the lights look amazing, like the dancing sky.”
“Oh dear.” He whispered, “You’re as high as a Kestrel, aren’t you?”
“Certainly. It makes these functions much more interesting.” Two ladies in skirts as wide as they were tall bustled past, pausing just long enough for the Griffin to bow and offer them a greeting forty years out of style. They covered their mouths as they giggled and curtsied.
“Aha! Here it is!”
“Give me that!” He hissed, snatching the vial before anyone could see. Agravain looked joyous for a fleeting moment, before the vial disappeared into his coat at which he seemed crestfallen. It should not have been cute.
It was adorable.
“Come on, you can stand here and watch all the lights while looking the part of dashing knight while I actually work.” He steered the man toward the balcony and set him up just inside by a column. “The paragon of chivalry and poise my ass.“
“It’s a good one.”
He would not be amused.
Not until two days later with the Griffin’s form shrinking in the distance and the potion in his pocket a promise to meet again.
The third time that they met, it was both of them at once in a Temerian jail cell. He stumbled in and was met with matching cat-slitted eyes, burnished gold and goldenrod. Kolgrim groaned. Fate truly was a cruel jester.
“Kolgrim!” Came the echoed greeting, followed by a long pause as the Witchers stared at each other.
“This is your Viper?” Agravain asked.
“Excuse me I’m not anyone’s-“
“Yeah, but you didn’t say he was yours!”
“I really don’t think this is helpful. Nor did I realize that you were planning a joint attack on my sanity.” He took a seat, resigned to the evening he’d been sentenced to, though his lips twitched.
“You like us.” Sindri said. “I don’t know why you pretend that you don’t.”
“Honestly you should travel with us, share mead and perhaps some warmth. You seem to come across our paths often enough.”
They were both earnest and it was confusing as it was terrifying. They hardly knew him and yet they wanted him to travel with them? Them? Who had apparently known each other so long as so converse about his sparse encounters and to lay in a cell with their heads rested against each other? It was insanity.
But the craziest part was the ‘yes’ that sat on the tip of his tongue.
Best to set them straight now and save himself the disappointment.
He placed his hands on his knees and gave his best refusal for the thing that he wanted. “I’m cursed. Have been since birth.” He picked at the loose threads of his pants. “Wherever I go, whatever I do, no matter the steps that I take, something goes wrong.”
“Nonsense.” Agravain murmured at the same time Sindri said, “So that’s how you’ve gotten stuck with us.” Agravain swat at the Bear but to no end.
“Every fortune bestowed upon me is ruined threefold and I find that it would, somehow, pain me greatly if either of you were caught in such a mess on my behalf.” Agravain came to kneel in front of him, Sindri followed.
“What if you let us decide what we are willing to go through? Hm?” Agravain pried his hand off his knee to hold it between two of his own. “What do you say?”
“I-“ the guard slammed his hand against the metal gate and Kolgrim faltered. Sure that his luck had been tested enough. Heedless of his anxieties Sindri stood and walked toward the door with a pleasant smile.
“We’re having a conversation here,” he drawled “if you wouldn’t mind moving along?” One massive paw landed on the bars hard enough to rattle them in the stone. The guard fled. “Thank you!” The bear called jovially.
Kolgrim felt a smile come on despite himself, he fought it down but it was a hard battle only won by hiding his face. Sindri took his place back and grinned. “So I believe you were gonna tell us that you’re happy to accept our affections?”
“Or friendship.” Agravain was quick to add.
This was all quite new and overwhelming, to simply have two people to talk to. Two people who wanted his company so badly they would risk jail or worse for him. To have two Witchers vie for his … attentions … was inconceivable. Yet here they were.
Ivar would kill him; or he’d laugh himself to death in a fit. Kolgrim was no longer sure.
“I think that would be agreeable.” Agravain smiled, small and sweet, pleased. Sindri broke into a boyish grin that highlighted just how young he was- a man by the continent’s standards but a child in his big heart.
Yes, he could get used to these men.
“Friendship. And perhaps your affections after a time.”
Sindri, the fool, whooped and leapt to his feet.
The Griffin smiled and shook his head, looking to Kolgrim as though they were sharing a joke. Perhaps they were.
Affections.
Yes, he feared those would prove just as difficult to avoid.
He had no plans to try very hard.
