Work Text:
Kacper
Julian is tagging along with his older brothers and their friends that day. Alfred and Maxwell only allowed him to come because their father told them so. Julian doesn't really mind it. He has no friends of his own, so he is grateful that he can keep close to his brothers. The weather is nice, the warm summer sun shines down on them while a coastal wind keeps them from getting too hot. It's Julian's favorite kind of weather and he'd much rather play outside with his brothers' friends than be on his own inside the Pankratz estate. Even if it means that he's constantly losing the games Maxwell comes up with.
They are playing 'catch and dare' in the bustling market plaza, waiting for Hugo – one of Alfred's many friends – to get off work, so they can go and play at the beach. The game is a bit unfair, Julian knows. He's only seven years and two months old and all of the others are at least eleven.
His legs are too short to outrun them and he's not very brave, so he hardly ever completes the dares when he's caught. Not completing a dare means the other boys can do something mean to him. To be honest, he'd much rather just watch them play instead, but one of the many rules Alfred has is that if Julian wants to come with them he also has to play.
It's unfair, but it's better than being on his own. So he doesn't protest when one of the older boys catches him by pulling harshly on his arm and then drags him back to the street corner where the others are waiting. The boys laugh at him and his brothers send him disappointed looks for losing again. Before they can berate him though, Hugo comes running towards them, face white as ash, a finger outstretched to point at something behind him.
“There's a monster-man! A monster-man!” He shouts loudly at them, immediately catching their attention. Julian nervously shuffles on his feet. That doesn't sound good. “My Pa told me everything about them!” Hugo exclaims breathless. “They are half man, half monster. They bring misfortune wherever they go, pox ridden and ugly and mean. They steal babies right out of women's arms and they- they kill children and animals!”
The boys look at each other in fright, but it's Alfred that steps forward. He stems his hands to his hips and raises his chin like he does whenever he tries to imitate their father's authority. “No monster-man should be allowed in Lettenhove, this is our land!” Alfred says to them determined, getting a few unsure nods in return.
To the boy's pure horror, Alfred turns towards Julian and regards his brother with a weird look. “Juli you are a coward of a brother,” he begins and Julian dreads where this is going, “we always have to take you with us because you're too spineless to get your own friends and you never complete a dare!” Next to him Maxwell nods in agreement. “We don't want to be your brothers anymore.”
Julian's eyes water at the harsh words and his chin wobbles visibly. He knows that he's not brave enough and he knows that his brothers don't always like it when he follows them, but Alfred's words cut deep. His little heart pounds in his chest and he draws in a couple of shaky breaths to stop himself from sobbing. One of the older boys groans and rolls his eyes, another starts laughing at him, but Julian doesn't take his eyes away from Alfred.
“You're too much like a girl anyways, we don't want to play with you anymore. The only way you can change that is by going to the monster-man and telling him that he has to leave Lettenhove once and for all!”
Julian sucks in a harsh breath and involuntarily stumbles a few stops back. There's no way he can do that. Absolutely not. How is he supposed to tell a children-eating monster that it's supposed to leave when nobody else has done it before? He's not brave like Alfred or strong like Maxwell, he's not as important as his father and he doesn't have anyone to help him if the monster takes him away. But if he doesn't... Then he won't have brothers anymore. They won't play or talk with him anymore, he won't be able to watch Maxwell's knight lessons or be taught about politics alongside Alfred anymore. He wouldn't be allowed to eat at the same table as them, maybe he'd even have to sleep in the stables where it gets really really dark at night.
For the first time in his life, he can't find the words to tell his brother no. Hugo uses that moment to turn and point towards a market stall across the plaza, “That's him, that's the ugly monster-man.” Shaking, Julian follows the line of the finger towards where the monster stands with its back to them. “The one with the two swords on his back, that's him!”
He can see it. And it's big. Julian wants to run away and hide.
Someone shoves at his shoulder and he stumbles forward. “This is your last chance, Juli,” Alfred says sternly and actually manages to sound like their father. Maybe that's the reason why he manages to take another step towards the monster and then another and another. Slowly he stumbles across the plaza, his whole body shaking like a leaf in the wind. Despite his visible distress, no one takes notice of him. The grown ups are too busy with their own thoughts to notice the small boy between their mids.
Before he can even think of a way to tell the monster to leave, he's already reached it. He slowly turns around to look back at his brothers and their friends and sees them cowering in the corner of the street. Alfred makes a shooing gesture at him and Julian damns his own cowardliness. If he were only a bit braver, a bit stronger, a bit more like the rest of his family, then he would already be back playing with the others, the monster far away from their home.
He gulps down the uncomfortable feeling that has settled in his throat and reaches out to tug at the monster's arm, but before he gets the chance to even touch it, its head turns around and looks right at him. Julian yelps loudly and darts back as if he burned himself. His head shoots around, eyes full of panic as he tries to ask his brothers for help, but the corner of the street is empty. They left him with the monster.
The monster that is still behind him.
Ever so slowly he turns his head back to look at the monster. His heart is thumping in his chest so loudly he can hear it clear as day. And then he sees the monster for the first time. Really sees it.
He has expected it to be ugly, like Hugo has said, with big red eyes and bushy brows, a bulbous nose full of warts - like witches have them - and very, very big monster teeth. But the man standing in front of him looks nothing like that! Julian frowns in confusion, quickly forgetting about his initial fear to look around the market, seeing if maybe Hugo pointed him towards the wrong person. He can't see anyone else with two swords though. “Are you looking for someone?” The man asks and quickly regains Julian's attention. Still frowning, the boy shakes his head. “Are you the monster-man?”
The man snorts, his passive face splitting into a wide grin full of sharp teeth. “I think so,” he says, “people call me many different things, so I wouldn't be surprised if I was.” The boy makes a face, assessing the man critically. “You don't look like a monster, though, you are far too pretty to be one!”
It's true, he thinks to himself. At home he has a story book with many pictures of all kinds of monsters and the man in front of him looks more like the knights and princes of the stories than anything else. He's very tall, maybe even taller than Julian's father, with pointy ears and long, blond hair. The only thing that could be considered monstrous are his eyes, yellow and thin-slitted, but they instantly remind Julian of the eyes of the cook's cat. He likes that cat.
The man's smile widens even further after being called pretty and he squats down to be at eye level with the boy. “Thank you, lad. You're very pretty too.” Julian grins.
“Are you looking for someone, or did you want to come to me?” The boy shakes his head at the first question and then nods, suddenly remembering the reason why he came over to begin with. “Alfred dared me to tell the monster-man to leave Lettenhove because he said monsters don't belong here, but you're no monster, so I can't do that anymore,” the realization comes to him as he speaks and he shoves his lower lip forward in a pout, “But if I don't complete the dare I can't be his brother anymore, he said!” The man raises his left eyebrow at that. “Well I don't think your brother can make that decision, I'm sure your parents would have the last word when it comes to who can be whose brother or not. And – if it's of any help – you did talk to me just now, so you did complete the dare. I won't be staying long in town, I'm just here for work.”
That gets Julian's attention. “Are you a knight? Are you here to fight a dragon?”
The blond laughs, “No, I'm definitely not a knight. I'm a monster-man, remember? A witcher. I am here to kill the monster that lives in the forest.”
“There's a monster in the woods?”
“Hm, yes. A very big and scary one. So big and scary not even the redanian knights are strong enough to fight it. That's why I'm here, because I'm way stronger and way smarter than a knight,” the man – the witcher – tells him and winks. Julian is not entirely sure if winking means the witcher is lying, but there's something about the man that makes him want to believe him. And if the man is as brave and strong as he says then surely that means he can help Julian too. “After you fought the monster in the woods can you come back and make the one that lives in my closet go away?”
The witcher chuckles, “Oh sweetcakes, I'm afraid the only one that can make that monster go away is you.”
“What? But how could I make a monster go away?”
“I will tell you a secret, a special way of how we witchers get rid of closet monsters, okay?” Julian nods eagerly and leans in closer. Like every seven year old, he loves secrets and the way it sounds, it's a very special one. “Tonight, before you go to sleep, you take a parchment and you will have to concentrate really, really good, or else this won't work, alright?” Again, he nods, his whole body moving with him. “So you take a piece of parchment and you have to draw a dog on it – not just any dog though. It has to be a very big one, one that looks like it can protect you when you sleep, alright? And then, after you drew the dog, you place it in front of your closet - and now it's important that you speak very clearly and determined - and you tell that monster that it's going to leave you alone from now on or else your dog will bite it.”
Julian's eyes grow huge at the idea of telling a monster what to do. “But how can I do that?” he exclaims with his lips wobbling, “I'm not brave or strong enough to make a monster disappear! I can't even become a knight because I'm no good at fighting and if you need to be stronger than a knight to fight a monster then there's no way I can do that.”
The witcher huffs out an amused breath and ruffles through Julian's hair. “You tell yourself that a lot, don't you? That you're not brave or strong enough to do something and yet you are here, talking to a scary monster-man while none of your friends were bold enough to follow. And I can see, just by talking to you, that you are plenty smart, maybe even smart enough to go to Oxenfurt, definitely smart enough to outwit a closet monster.” The blond witcher gently nudges his shoulder. “Strength is not always as important as some people think.”
“You really think I can do it?”
“Of course. You just have to be a bit more confident.”
The boy nods deep in thought, it does make sense the way the witcher says it. He has never looked at it like that before, his brothers always telling him that he needs to be strong. But if he's not strong, then maybe he can be smart. Smarter than his brothers and a lot smarter than monsters, maybe he can become as smart as a witcher if he reads enough. He will certainly try to outsmart the monster in his closet tonight.
Lost in thought, he doesn't really notice the witcher's yellow eyes focusing on something behind him. Only when he stands up and waves at someone does Julian react.
“Kacper! Come on, the Viscount's going to pay,” an unfamiliar voice calls out, making Julian turn around at the mention of his father's title. To his utter surprise there's another witcher standing in front of them. He's waving the blond one over with a somewhat hurried movement.
Once more a a big hand ruffles through his hair and when he looks up to protest, the blond winks at him. “Remember what we talked about, alright, lad?”
Julian takes a deep breath and nods. He can do this.