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„SO! Where do YOU come from?!“
Eskel blinked and sat up. Four boys were standing around his bed. One of them was holding a torch, and the flame turned the their faces into strange masks. Eskel pulled the blanket tighter around himself.
“Oy! Are your deaf? I asked you a question!”
The tallest boy stepped forward – his face was covered in freckles.
“Leave him alone, Ingvar”, another boy chimed in. He had ash blond hair. “Let him wake up first!”
“You’re such a wheenie, Geralt.” The boy named Ingvar sneered and looked Eskel up and down. “He’s almost pissing himself, look at him!”
“I am not pissing myself!” Eskel furrowed his brow and tried to look stern. “Who are you? You woke me up in the middle of the night! Leave me alone.”
“You’ve got an awful big mouth for a fresh egg.” This came from the fat boy who was holding the torch and who stood at the end of his bed. “Better play nice, or Ingvar will get nasty.” He gave Eskel half a smile. “I’m Yorick. I’m from Temeria. This is Fredrick-”, he pointed at a small dark-haired boy, “who doesn’t remember where he’s from – there’s no shame in that, happens to a lot of us – and this-”, he pointed at the blond boy, “is Geralt, He’s been here forever.”
Eskel nodded. “I’m Eskel”, he said, “I’m from a small village of Mallcore. That’s in-”
“Everyone knows that’s in Kovir”, Ingvar interrupted him. “So you’re from the mountains, eh?!”
“Yes.”
“Well, my father said, they’re just shagging sheep all day long in the mountains! And-”
Eskel jumped up from the bed and hit the boy as hard as he could. The surprise in Ingvar’s face filled him with grim satisfaction. He took a step closer.
“And where are you from, Ingvar?!”, he asked, balling his hands into fists, “Do you know where you are from?”
Ingvar recovered in an instant. “Of course I know where I come from! I’m from Skellige!”
Geralt rolled his eyes. “Yes, yes, and your family was all high and mighty, until they were hit by a streak of bad luck so they had to give you away.” He crossed his arms in front of his chest.
“At least I know who my family is”, Ingvar spat out, but Geralt just snorted, then spoke to Eskel for the first time. “So you know your family? Or remember them?”
Eskel nodded. “Of course I do. I have a father and mother.”
“And were they good to you?”
Eskel nodded again. “Yeah. And I will go back when I’ve become a Witcher and help protect my village.”
The three boys exchanged glances. Yorick opened his mouth to say something, but suddenly, there were steps in the hall, and the boys looked at each other in alarm.
“Out with the light!” the boy called Fredrick hissed, and Ingvar made a strange hand gesture that turned the room pitch black.
“How did you-”
“Shhh! Don’t talk now! Shit it’s Bertram’s duty tonight, we will get such a thrashing …”
The boys hurried away, and Eskel climbed back into bed and pulled the covers around him.
“Don’t worry about the light”, somebody whispered beside him, and he thought it was Geralt who had said that, “I’ll tell you in the morning. Night, Eskel. Welcome to Kaer Morhen.”