Chapter Text
“How much further?” Jaskier asked for what felt like the hundredth time.
“I don’t know, alright!” Yennefer snapped. “I've told you to be quiet, I need to concentrate.” There was no real heat to her words, but by the gods if his incessant questioning caused her to miss one of the many traps in this damned cave, they could both very well end up dead.
For his part, Jaskier did as he was asked and didn’t utter another word. They followed the pale light of Yennefer’s magic down the narrow passage, damp stone pressing in on all sides. Yennefer had never been claustrophobic, but the oppressive darkness and too close walls were starting to get to her. That and the fact that whoever had been here last had left a multitude of trap spells in their wake.
The whole excursion had been a waste of time unfortunately. They had come based on rumours of a spell book, rare and powerful. What kind of spells it contained, Yennefer didn’t know, but curiosity drove her to seek it out. Of course, Jaskier had insisted on coming along. They had gone through the usual spiel, Yennefer telling him it was too dangerous and him coming along anyway. At this point it was more of a routine than an actual complaint. They both knew Jaskier was going to tag along regardless, and most of the time things went fine. So far on their travels, Jaskier had been hurt more by unpredictable accidents than dangerous excursions. Save for the incident where he was blinded for two days in that swamp.
Perhaps he actually did listen and was more aware of his surroundings when they ventured somewhere dangerous. More likely it was a combination of Yennefer keeping an eye on him and sheer dumb luck. How he survived for twenty years with Geralt, Yennefer really didn’t know.
It had taken the best part of an hour to painstakingly traverse the narrow passageways of the cave, Yennefer on constant lookout for more traps, disarming them as she found them. Eventually they emerged into a small chamber. The only thing there waiting for them was an empty chest. The spell book was nowhere to be found. Yennefer assumed it had been taken long ago if the thick dust coating every surface was anything to go by.
Overall, she hadn’t been too worried about Jaskier coming with her, even as they made the treacherous climb up the mountain to the cave’s entrance. Her guard had been down then, not expecting danger to present itself so soon. They had only just cleared the cave’s entrance when the ground began to shake. Yennefer had felt a slight twang of magic as a hidden trap was activated, causing the ceiling to collapse. Jaskier had pulled her out of the way of the falling debris, just in time to avoid having her head smashed in by a large chunk of rock.
With the way they had come thoroughly blocked, they had been forced to continue deeper into the cave system in the hopes of finding another exit. Which is how they ended up here, squeezing through gaps barely big enough for a human in the hope it would lead to a way out. Yennefer was having a slightly easier time of it than Jaskier with her smaller frame, the bard almost getting stuck more than a few times. Internally she scolded herself. She should have insisted he stay behind this time. There was no need for him to come, no songs to be sung, no adventure to remember, just endless hours of crawling through a cave in the dark in the desperate hope that they weren’t trapped.
“Wait,” she said, coming to a stop. She felt the faint traces of another’s magic nearby, indicating the presence of yet another trap. Sure enough, after a little probing with her own magic she managed to disarm it.
“Do you think there’s even a way out this way?” Jaskier asked as they set off again. The path here was narrow, the stone pressing at her back as she pushed her way through the passage.
“There wouldn’t be any point placing traps here if it didn’t go somewhere.”
“Maybe whoever placed them wanted to make sure we died.”
“I doubt it,” she huffed, ducking awkwardly as the ceiling lowered sharply. “It’s a lot of effort to set traps like this. If it were me, I wouldn’t bother protecting it unless it led to what I was trying to hide.”
“So we follow the traps and hope whoever put them there wasn’t overly obsessed with traps for the sake of it.”
“Pretty much.”
“Great.” Yennefer paused to wait for Jaskier as he tried to follow after her, struggling to duck low enough to get himself clear. In the dim light of her magic, she could see the way opened up a little just ahead. She wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or not.
Constantly having to keep an eye out for traps was gradually taking its toll on Yennefer. It was getting harder to focus her magic and find the traps. Increasingly more often she was almost setting them off before she noticed them, and she knew it wouldn’t be long until she would exhaust herself. Even just keeping the dim light hovering above them going was contributing to her exhaustion, something she could usually keep going for hours without even blinking.
Jaskier finally managed to squeeze himself through the gap with a bit of effort. If he really did get stuck, Yennefer could probably break some of the rock, but that would really be a last resort, draining the rest of her energy. It wouldn’t be safe to keep going without it, even without the threat of the traps. The pitch black could hide all kinds of dangers.
As she had suspected, the path opened up a fair bit just ahead, wide enough for them to almost walk side by side. Yennefer wasn’t sure if it was a welcome change or not. She was debating in her head whether they should stop and take a break while it was at least possible to sit down when she felt a shift in the air.
A slight prickle ran up her back, a tension suddenly released. She should’ve rested sooner. “Shit!”
Cracks opened the rock above them, splitting the ceiling asunder to drop large chunks of stone which shattered on impact. She tried to push on, hoping that maybe if they reached the other side of this opening they would be safe.
Yennefer cast a simple shield spell above them. It wasn’t much, just enough to stop either of them from getting crushed, but it wouldn’t last long, taking the remainder of her energy. The sound was near deafening but above it all Yennefer caught a pained cry from Jaskier. She stopped, turning to check he was still following, expecting him to be close. Instead, he was sprawled on the ground, scrambling to get to his feet.
Without hesitating, Yennefer ran back to him, grabbing his arm to help him up. “Quickly, we need to go!” she yelled above the noise.
Just as Jaskier got to his feet, the ground buckled under their feet, causing them both to lose their balance. Yennefer felt herself falling through the darkness, the light she had conjured having been extinguished. She didn’t know where Jaskier was, didn’t know how far she was falling, didn’t know if she was going to die.
She did what she could, cast a second shield spell around her, large enough to hopefully also protect Jaskier if he was close enough.
She hit the ground and the cave went quiet.