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Tap. Tap. Tap.
Slowly, Brigitt finds her way through the bedrolls on the floor, carefully avoiding the outstretched hands and feet of the other children who are in deep sleep.
Suddenly, the room lights up in a flash again, for the sixth time this evening, and just a heartbeat later, another thunder rolls over her head. She flinches, cowers on the floor and presses her face into Honeysnout, her little brown sheep made of cloth.
When the thunder is gone, she takes a deep breath. Setting her jaw, she gets up and continues her way to the waggon's door.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
She has to go and find Gae. They said he would protect her, so she has to go and find him, and then she will be safe.
It's heavily raining outside, the water rushing down from the sky. Her grandmother said that the Gods were cleaning their homes. Her grandmother has held her hand when the thunder rolled. Her father has sung to her. Her mother has taken her in her bed, allowed her to snuggle close.
Gae sings to her, too, sometimes. His voice is different from her father's and his songs are different, too – but he is learning the real songs now. Ferenc and Ymi and Roxi are teaching him. Gae is also learning to talk to her using her language. Dwarvish. The real tongue, not that strange, foreign language that sounds so rough and coarse. He doesn't speak it very well yet, her language, and he does sound funny sometimes, but that's okay. Gae says that she has to learn the rough and coarse language, too, but she will wait and see if she really has to. Maybe she doesn't need to in the end, now that he's learning the real tongue.
Setting Honeysnout next to her on the wooden floor, Brigitt climbs down from the waggon, then gets on the tip of her toes to reach for the little toy sheep. Her parents gave it to her, when they were alive and everything was good. The ground is very wet, squelch, squelch, squelch make her feet as she steps away from the caravan and looks around the camp.
It is very dark. There was a fire in the middle of the waggons earlier, but it has all gone out now with the rain.
Is Gae's waggon to the left or to the right?
Once again, the world around her lights up and another thunder rolls, and she shrieks, but then clasps her hand over her mouth. She has to be brave and silent. If somebody hears her, they will get very angry and send her back to her bedroll, like they did a few nights ago. She bends her head and crawls under the waggon where the ground is dry. She puts Honeysnout in her lap and thinks hard. If only the noise would go away!
Another lightning strikes as she is looking around, and this gives her an idea. She cannot see as well in the dark like Gae, but she can see at night, because she is a dwarf, and when the sky brightens, she can look closer at the waggons and find the right one! She even knows how to tell it from the others - the waggon where Gae sleeps has a couple of ribbons tied to the entrance. Aiden tied the ribbons to help her find the waggon. Aiden is the tall Witcher with the red hair and the friendly smile. He is a friend of Gae. He doesn't speak the real words, but his voice is musical and nice. Aiden is nice, too. He always smiles at her, and his tone is always friendly. Sometimes, he juggles for her, and he has snuck pieces of cheese for him and her, too, once.
Carefully, Brigitt peaks out from under the waggon, pressing Honeysnout to her chest. “We will find him”, she whispers, “we are together and you are protecting me and he will protect us both.” She takes another deep breath and, when the next thunder comes in, forces herself to not curl up around her little sheep, but look around as the lightning illuminates the camp.
The first direction she looks is wrong, but she gets lucky on the second try. The waggon is four waggons down from where she is. This is stupid. Why won't they put them in the same place every time? Yesterday, Gae's waggon was next to the one she has to sleep in, before they travelled here.
The world goes darker again, and she crawls out of her hiding spot and darts for the protection of the next one, squelch, squelch, squelch, then hunkers down and waits. No one is calling out. Good. That means nobody spotted her so far. Another thunder rolls and Brigitt shivers and hugs Honeysnout tight. But then she runs to the next waggon, and suddenly, there is another thunder, right over her head and the lightning strikes something very near and she screams and drops Honeysnout into a puddle and when she picks it up, the little sheep is wet and soggy and probably stinky, too. Oh no.
Blindly, she runs in the next best direction, under the nearest waggon and as she sits down, she cries. She doesn't want to cry. But the tears won't stop running down her cheeks. She is cold and wet. Honeysnout is all wet, too, soggy and dirty, and smells of leaves and grass. She wants her mum and dad, but they are dead. She wants Gae to come for her. She wants him to find her and carry her to the waggon. He will know how to clean Honeysnout and he will let her sleep next to him. And she can hold his hand and go to sleep, because the others said that Gae is her men-tor, and he will protect her, and she is his now and he is hers. And Gae has said it, too. He said she is his kitten and when she is in trouble, she can come to him and he will help sort it out. And now she is in trouble and cold and wet and soggy, but he's not there to help. At this thought, she cries some more and then snivels and wipes her nose on her sleeve.
“This shelter is not a wise choice.” a voice behind her suddenly says, and Brigitt whirls around and screams. She is very lucky tonight, because just then, another thunder rolls and drowns her voice a little. Behind her, standing on his hands and peeking under the waggon, is the Witcher with one dark brown and one yellow eye, the one who brought her to the Caravan.
The Witcher cocks his head and smiles at her, all teeth. “This is Brehen's waggon. I humbly suggest you find another hiding spot.” Brigitt swallows and presses Honeysnout to her chest. The Witcher … He is the one with the difficult name. Schr-Schro... Schrödinger. And suddenly she realises that she can understand him. He can speak the real tongue, like her! She tries to put on a stern face, like Gae.
“I'm looking for Gae-Ga-e-tan. I just can't find his waggon.” She remembers a phrase her father used. “It is a matter of im-por-tance.”
The Witcher raises an eyebrow and nods, then shifts his weight to balance on one hand. He waves at her to come closer. “It's right over there. I'll take you.”
Brigitt frowns. What if this is a trick? But Gae said he's a friend, like Aiden is. Also he brought her here and gave her to Gae. So maybe she is safe. Carefully, she crawls out from under the waggon. The night wind blows rain into her face and she is cold. She shivers.
The Witcher is heading left, not looking if she is following. She has to run a few steps to catch up, squelch, squelch, squelch. “Why can you speak like me?”, she asks.
“The same reason you can”, he says, and there is another thunder and lightening illuminating his face, although …. something is off. Is he a He? The voice is a little high and he does not move like the men she knows. Maybe he is a girl? She will ask Gae later. Maybe.
“Gae is on night watch, you know. If you are looking for him, he won't be in tonight”, the Witcher says, conversationally, “but since you were just looking for the waggon – here we are.” Really, they are really standing in front of the right waggon, the colourful ribbons are hanging from the post where Aiden tied them, drenched by the rain.
Brigitt turns to the Witcher and bows, like it is custom at home. “Thank you very much.”, she says, then gets on tiptoes and puts Honeysnout near the entrance before trying to climb up. The old wood is slippery though, and she struggles to get a good hold.
The Witcher cocks his head again. “Would you like some help?”
“No. I … can... do … it.” A Witcher is self … selfrel-... She has to do things on her own, Gae says. It is very important. It's bad enough that she needed help to get here. She takes a few steps back, and then runs and jumps, and the almost knocks Honeysnout into the dirt again, but the Witcher catches it just in time and hands it to her.
“After you.” The Witcher says, and Brigitt enters the Waggon.
It's warmer in here than in the kitten's waggon. The sound of breathing and soft snoring fills the air. It smells different, too, of herbs and the other people living here. As her eyes are adjusting, she can make out several shapes, some outstretched on the floor, and at least two in the several hammocks which are strung from one end of the waggon the other. She knows where Gae's bedroll is – he sleeps in the far right corner, on the floor. But Gaetan's place is empty. He is not here for her. This makes her sniffle again, but now that she's here, she'll stay. She will sit up and wait for him to come back. Yes. That's what she'll do.
One of the shapes in the hammocks is stirring. “For fuck's sake, Schrödinger-”, a female voice hisses, and then says something Brigitt can't understand. She hugs Honeysnout to her chest, which makes the little sheep drip onto her feet. The voice belongs to Lilesha who is very beautiful. She is also very grumpy. But often, Lilesha is nice to her, too. She helps her braid her hair and watches her on the tightrope.
Schrödinger says something about “Gaetan's kitten” and then repeats so she can understand: “Gaetan's kitten's joining us”. The Witcher hoists the hammock closest to the door further up before climbing it effortlessly.
“Gaetan's kitten?”, another, male voice asks sleepily, and then she can see a pair of greenish eyes gleam at her. She exhales. She knows the eyes and the voice. This is Aiden. He will not throw her out.
Gracefully, he slides out of his hammock and crouches in front of her. He crooks his fingers and points at a nearby oil lamp and a small flame flickers to life.
There is a groan coming from the direction of Lilesha's hammock, but Aiden just rolls his eyes and smiles, then frowns as he looks at her. Gesturing to her soaked night shirt, her wet hair and her dirty feet, he shakes his head, then stands and grabs a towel from his hammock and carefully starts to dry off her hair.
Brigitt closes her eyes and lets it happen for a moment, then takes the towel from him and dries her hair herself. She doesn't need any help. She has to do things alone, just as Gae has said. It is very important. Surely, this is one of the things, too, and she is not a baby anymore. Taking the towel was obviously right, because Aiden nods and smiles again and gets another towel, before he helps her cleaning her feet. Then stands once more, goes over to Gaetan's bedroll and takes a clean shirt out of the pack in the corner.
“Gaetan's kitten, Gaetan's shirt”, he says, using the real tongue, with a very heavy accent, and she puts on the clean shirt and takes off her drenched night shirt underneath. Aiden picks it up with two fingers, squeezes it a bit and makes an impressed face as a few drops of water drip onto the wooden floor. She giggles. Aiden goes to the entrance of the waggon and wrings out the wet shirt, then hangs it up at a free space at the wall.
Another shape stirs and the person next to Gae's bedroll sits up. This Witcher is younger than Aiden, almost still a boy, with black, curly hair and amber eyes like Gae.
“Joel”, Aiden says, and then continues with something she doesn't understand. Brigitt frowns at him and shakes her head.
“Joel is kind of Gaetan's kitten, too”, comes Schrödinger's translation from the hammock above the door. “At least he kinda picked Gaetan. He has slept next to him ever since he's been with us.”
Joel rubs his eyes and looks at her, a curious look on his face. He grins and gives her a small wave. Brigitt frowns at him. This is not fair. Why is he allowed to sleep next to Gae? He's all grown up. He doesn't need protection.
Joel seems unbothered by this, though. Aiden looks at him and points to her feet, saying something else she doesn't understand, and Joel nods, turns to rummage through his own pack and brings out a pair of woollen socks. The socks look way too big. But they are light blue and that is her favourite colour.
“Here!”, he says, smiling brightly at her, and gestures for her to put them on.
This is nice. Brigitt finds herself smiling back at him and he looks at her fondly.
“Little Kitten”, he says, and then something she cannot understand.
“He called you 'Little Sister'”, Schrödinger's voice provides, and Brigitt frowns again. He's not her big brother. She never had any siblings. But still. He … has been nice so far. She bows to him, like her parents taught her, and then to Aiden, because he has been helping her with her hair and feet and given her Gae's shirt. She puts on the socks which are way too big for her indeed and Joel pats the spot next to him and waves her over, but she shakes her head and goes straight over to Gae's bedroll. She sits down at the foot of it with her back to the wall and brings her knees up to her chest, hugging Honeysnout tightly. The sheep drips onto the shirt a little bit, but it's okay.
“We are safe now”, she whispers as softly as she can, looking down so that the others cannot see her face. “We made it. We can wait for Gae here.” Joel says something again, and she can hear Aiden saying something, too, but she doesn't look at them anymore. She turns her face to the door. Gae will be here soon. He must.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
When Gaetan arrives at his waggon, he is soaked to the bone and dead on his feet. His drenched clothes are clinging to his body and his shoulders crack audibly when he rolls them back. He'll have to wash his shirt as soon as possible, try to get the bloodstains out, and he should look after his boots to see if the leather needs any more grease. But not now. Now, the only things on his mind are a tankard of booze, a set of clean clothes, a warm blanket, his bedroll, and hours of sweet, dark nothingness.
Fuck Lexandre and his laziness. Pissing off at the first opportunity to booze and snore, leaving his side of the Caravan entirely unguarded. And of course those assholes from the nearest village decided to get to Dyn Marv tonight, torches in hand, while Gaetan had to switch places so much to guard the Caravan. Thank fuck Schrödinger showed up – two of the group had brought crossbows.
Gaetan sighs. They'll have to start moving soon today – no way they can stay here, with the men gone missing. They're gonna search the forest for them in a few hours. Guxart knows already though, so there is nothing more he can do. Fuck. He had been banking on the break. Catching up on some sleep, spending time with Joel who is back from the Path, teaching Brigitt some new phrases. There won't be time for this now – she'll stay with the other kittens in her waggon and he'll have to tend to Gods know what, now that he's staying in Dyn Marv this year for Brigitt. It will all have to wait until they reach their next resting spot. He didn't even get to check on her during the night because of Lexandre's bullshit; the thunderstorms were heavy and she is terrified by the noise.
He steps inside and finds himself face to face with Schrödinger, whose face is upside down in front of him.
“You've ended your watch early.” Schrödinger says.
Gaetan feels his mouth curl into an amused smirk, despite his tiredness. “One day”, he says, sidestepping Schrödinger and taking off his sword belt, “one day you'll do that and I'll grab your face and kiss you on the mouth.”
“That would not be advisable”, he hears Schrödinger's voice as he puts his swords down and takes off his soaked-trough gambeson, “as neither of us would find it enjoyable.”
“Yeah, well, maybe I'll make an exception”, Gaetan replies – and dodges the pillow that Lilesha is throwing at him just in time.
“Stop making so much fucking noise!”, she hisses, “it's way too early to be up!”
He picks up the pillow and throws it back at her, “Sorry to interrupt your beauty sleep, but you can all get up right now. We have to leave.”
Aiden sits up and blinks. “Leave? Why?”
Gaetan turns away from Lilesha and takes off his shirt, bends to pick up his gambeson and his swords, “because we were attacked. Men from the village. And without Schrödinger, I'm not sure I'd be here, because Lexandre-”
“- he fucked off again?!” Aiden's voice is rife with incredulity, “Again?”
“Yeah, well, the weather was too bad for him to keep watch.”, Gaetan says sarcastically, “Can't expect him to-” He stops dead when he sees the little figure who lies on his bedroll, curled into a ball. With two strides, he is by her side. “BRIGITT! What are you doing here?”
Brigitt blinks and sits up.
“She was stumbling around the camp, looking for you”, Schrödinger says, “I saw her on my way back and brought her here.”
Gaetan stares at him for a second, his eyes growing wide with horror. “You ran around camp tonight?!”, he asks Brigitt, who has now sat up, “tonight?!” He switches to Dwarvish and struggles to find the words, “I, I – I told you to stay inside!” He grabs her by the shoulders, but loosens his grip immediately, “I said it's too dangerous.”
Brigitt swallows. “I was afraid”, she says, her voice small, “it was loud. You said you protect me!”, she says and sniffles, “you SAID I am your kitten and-”
“- and if you are in trouble, you can come to me”, Gaetan finishes the sentence with her. He exhales and hugs her for a moment, then looks at her sternly. “Never. Never go out alone at night again”, he says, “it is too dangerous.”
“But we needed to find you!”, Brigitt says, her voice rising. Her eyes are brimming with tears. “We needed to be safe!”
Gaetan frowns in confusion. He can feel the beginnings of a headache building behind his eyes. “WE?”
“Honeysnout and I!”, Brigitt says, and shoves her little toy sheep under his nose. It's dripping wet and smells strongly of mud and leaves.
Gaetan recoils instinctively.
Brigitt snivels again. “It was loud”, she whispers, “it woke me up. I was all alone.” Shyly, she grabs his hand, but doesn't look up at him.
He sighs internally. He's tired. He's so godsdamned tired that he could drop any moment. He doesn't want to deal with this. He wants to sleep. The rain is still drumming onto the roof of the wagon. But if they are going soon she will have to travel with the kittens in their wagon. Guxart will be counting them.
“She came here by herself”, Joel's suddenly says, and Gaetan turns his head to see the young Witcher smiling at him, “can't say I don't understand her. I mean,” Joel's grin grows wider, “even if I can't.”
Gaetan sighs and nods. He lets go of Brigitt and turns to Joel, puts a hand on his shoulder and presses his forehead against Joel's so that the tips of their noses touch. “I had hoped to talk to you today”, he says quietly, “afraid that will have to wait.”
He turns to look at Brigitt who is now hugging her knees and scowling at Joel. And then he decides that he doesn't care anymore. To the hells with this shit. He wants to sleep. He is responsible for his kitten, Guxart has said it himself, so if she wants to spend the day in this wagon instead with the other kittens that is fine by him. He looks at her and lowers his head, and she eagerly crawls up to him and presses her forehead against his. “Little kitten”, he says quietly, “my little kitten”. Brigitt looks at him, a pleading look on her face and he nods. “Fine.”
The tension leaves her immediately and she yawns.
Gaetan yawns as well. The rain grows even stronger, the noise becoming almost deafening, but also strangely soothing. Another thunder rumbles in the distance. Gaetan takes an undershirt made out of soft, warm cloth and a pair of light, long trousers made from the same material out of his pack. He stands, takes off his boots (he will really have to clean them tomorrow), puts his socks next to his bedroll and strips naked, before hanging his soaked-through clothes up on another nail on the wall. He puts on his light clothes and goes over to the large bucket in the other far corner of the wagon they use for washing themselves, cleans his hands, face and head. Barefoot, he makes his way back to his bedroll where Brigitt is still huddled in his blanket, clutching her little toy sheep and struggling to keep her eyes open.
“Little kitten”, he says, “sleep now.”
Another thunder rumbles and Brigitt starts to shiver and whimpers. When the lightening strikes she jerks and bites her lower lip hard. Her eyes are brimming with tears again.
Joel makes a move to sit next to her, but Gaetan shakes his head, takes Brigitt's hand into his and casts Quen. Her eyes grow big in wonder as she looks at the golden light around them.
“I promise you are safe with me”, he says, “go to sleep”. He lies down onto his bedroll, puts his socks back on and crosses his arms behind his head. Brigitt cuddles up next to him, curled into a ball, lying on his right side.
“Thank you”, she whispers, her voice barely audible. Her heart beat slows a few seconds later as she falls asleep. Another thunder rumbles, but she doesn't flinch.
Gaetan closes his eyes and listens to the others getting up, hears them rummaging in their packs, listens to their voices as they hash out who gets to wash first. Before he can drift off, however, heavy steps approach the wagon and the door opens.
“I see you're all awake”, he hears Guxart's voice, and he opens his eyes and sits up.
“Do we really have to keep moving today?”, he hears Aiden.
“Travelling in this weather will be shit”, Lilesha says, but Guxart shrugs.
“Got no choice unless we want to fight the whole village and the men who will join them to avenge the ones we killed”, he says. “Get moving. No use cooking in this weather, but you'll get rations and then we're leaving as soon as we can.” He spots Gaetan sitting in his corner. “Have you seen-”, he starts, but then his gaze falls upon Brigitt.
“Let her stay with me”, Gaetan says, “the thunderstorm terrifies her, the other kittens will get pissed from her crying and screaming. I'm gonna teach her new phrases, too”, he offers, “been wanting to do that anyway. The earlier she gets better at this, the earlier she'll be of use in the camp.”
Guxart scoffs, but nods. “Fine by me”, he says. “Rest now. You two did a good job tonight”, he acknowledges, looking up at Schrödinger, who is sitting in his hammock and sharpens a throwing knife, “Lexandre will be dealt with.” With one last nod, he leaves.
“Shall we bring you some food?”, Joel asks, but Gaetan shakes his head.
“Nah. Too tired.”, he says, and lies back down again. A few moments later, he is fast asleep.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
When Brigitt wakes up, the rain is still falling onto the roof of the wagon. They are moving, she can feel it, but the horse is not going too fast, the wagon isn't shaking like a few weeks ago. She feels warm and sleepy. She is nestled against Gae, he has an arm around her shoulder. She frowns. Why did she wake up? Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Lilesha approaching them. Brigitt closes her eyes and pretends to be asleep, peering through her half-closed eyes.
Lilesha is carrying two bowls of food and sets them down at the end of the bedroll. Then she looks at Gae, turns and goes over to her hammock. When she comes back, she is carrying her blanket. Carefully, she spreads the blanket over Gaetan, who is still fast asleep. He makes a little sound, a happy grumble, at the extra warmth.
Lilesha looks at Brigitt and brings a finger to her mouth. “Shhh”, she makes, and Brigitt nods, before she remembers that she should not have done that. Lilesha eyes her for a moment and nods, then steps outside.
Gaetan has rolled onto his right side and is breathing deeply, his face content and peaceful. Brigitt yawns. She rolls onto her right side, too, and Gae puts an arm around her in his sleep, keeps her close. Brigitt feels warm. There is another thunder, but she doesn't have to be afraid. The Caravan is moving. She is safe. The rain keeps falling on the roof and the drumming sound soothes her as she sinks back into sleep.