Chapter 7

The sun had already set when Geralt and Yennefer arrived back to their vineyard home. As they were getting out of their formal attire and into something more comfortable Geralt asked if they could trust Ornela Vigo.

"Personally I would not trust anyone with power like that. An ability to create witchers, that is something dangerous if in wrong hands," said Yennefer.

"Someone could create an army like Jacques de Aldersberg did, only with using the proper way this time. I rather now have to face another army like that," said Geralt.

"With a bit of luck, you won't have to. I intend to keep a close eye on her while you will find what else Eskel knows about all this."

"I never thought that we would be returning to Kaer Morhen. We can't seem to shack that place, whatever happens, we always come back there."

"We do have some fun memories there." the sorceress said with a smile.

"We sure do." Geralt came closer tho Yen and kissed her by the lips. "That brings back some memories."

"Yes, it does."

"What if Ciri comes here and we are gone?"

"We will just tell Barnabas to tell her where we are. Alright, let's get what else we need and I will open a portal to there."

"You know I hate portals."

"And what were you thinking we were going to do, ride there? It would take us weeks to get there. Enough complaining and be a man."

"Ah, fine," Yen smirked at Geralt's reluctance.

They got themselves ready and Yennefer opened a portal to the witcher fortress, she was the first one to go through it while Geralt stayed behind and looked at the orange hole.

"Fuck. Let's get this over with." Geralt glared at the portal for a moment and then stepped through the portal. Once he came out on the other side, he found himself in the hall of the main keep. There he saw Yen just a few meters in front of him and a large detachment of ofieri soldiers looking at him and the sorceress. "I guess that these are the royal guards Eskel spoke about."

"It seems so. Let's not waste time, they are probably in the laboratory." As they passed the guards, they observed each other carefully. The guards noticed that it was another witcher and a sorceress so after a quick loo most returned to what they were doing, all except the captain and the mage. Geralt and Yennefer made their way to the laboratory of the witcher keep. There they found Eskel, Ornela and Aamad talking.

"You finally arrived. Took you long enough," said Ornela, her eyes glaring at the other sorceress.

"I needed to pack my things dear, I can't go somewhere unprepared," said Yennefer with a small smile on her lips. The two sorceresses stared each other down. Three men in the room guessed that the two had some prior history together, but so far neither had said a word about it, by the looks of it was going to stay a mystery.

"Let's get to work shall we dear?" asked Ornela.

"Of course. Just show me the notes." The two women trow themselves to their work, while the tree man exited the room and went downstairs and sat down at the table.

"So things with Lambert did not go so well."

"That would be an understatement. He said that we wanted nothing to do with us anymore, then he just took off. I wished to follow him but I knew that I would be pointless. We are just going to have to wait for him to calm down." said Eskel.

"Knowing Lambert it's going to take a while."

"I know. I only wish that we had some way of checking up on him,"

Geralt thought about it for a moment. "There might be. We could ask Yen to contact Kiera Metz and talk to him."

"You know what, that isn't a bad idea. She might be able to talk some sense it him."

"I will go and see it will Yen. You stay here."

Lambert sat at a table in some pore tavern drinking his sorrows away. He wanted to take another sip but noticed that the bottle was empty. "Barkeep, more vodka!"

"Do you have the coin for that?"

"I-I do… just keep it coming. Stupid Eskel, stupid sorceress, stupid prince. Why did I ever take that job? Bring back the witchers he seas, Vesemirs dream he seas. Well, fuck all of you!" The drunken witcher's head fell down at the table. "F-F-Fuc..."

A female voice was heard behind him "By the gods look at yourself, you look like a wreck. It truly is a sad sight to see."

"W-who?"

"You don't even recognize my voice. You really are out of it. Come on let's get you out of here." The woman picked the witcher up and carried him outside where she opened a portal. They stepped through and came out in a luxury apartment. Lambert could barely keep himself awake, he could only see the floor of the room. As she was carrying him, the witcher fell out of her grasp and on to the wooden floor. He managed to pick himself up slightly before vomiting everything he had drank.

"Great, now I going to need clean that too."

When the witcher came to it was already evening, opening his eyes he realized that he was no longer in the tavern, but in some city apartment. He tried getting out of bed but his legs gave way and he fell on the ground again. As he was getting up he heard someone coming to the room, then the door opened and he saw a familiar face.

"Kiera?"

"Good, you are finally up. You made a real mess out of yourself."

"Where are we?"

"In my apartment in Kovir. I found you in some tavern drinking your ass off, then I brought you here."

"How long was I out?"

"Seven hours. It's a good thing that you can process toxins better than a normal person or you would be out a lot longer or even dead."

"How did you find me?"

"A simple tracking spell. Finding you was the easy part, cleaning after you that's another story."

"Cleaning after me?"

"Yes, you vomited your way across half of my house. I suggest you stop drinking cheap vodka."

"Sorry."

"Its no big deal. I just wanted to check up on you. I was worried."

"You were worried about me, I'm flattered."

"Yes, I was. After our little adventure in the mountains, I knew you won't be over it that easily," the sorceress paused for a second "and then I hear that you ran off from Kaer Morhen from Eskel and the others, Lambert..."

The witchers face turned serious, his eyes glared at her with anger."So they put you up to this! They want to see if I'm still pissed off about Eskel. Yes I'm! And you, you even helped them, that's how you knew about the laboratory in the first place!"

The sorceress crossed her arms and look the witcher straight in the eyes. "Yes I did help them, but I did not immediately know that it was. It took me some time to figure out that it was Alzurs old laboratory and when I did I wanted to see it for myself."

"And so you used me go get in there?"

"No!"

"Then why?"

"Because I wanted to go there with you. I wanted it to be you with me. I'm sorry about what you found out there, but at least it's in the hands of one of your own and not some madman."

"Madman? You do know that he intends to bring back the witchers, to restore the school."

"I know, Yennefer told me."

"Yennefer?"

"Yes, she and Geralt are there helping Ornela and Eskel. There is also some prince there with them."

"Wait, that fool is still there?"

"Yes, it seems he wants to help them."

"Great, now everyone is there trying to bring back the witchers. If Emhyr var Emreis decides to help them too I will kill myself."

"He is."

"What?"

The sorceress started laughing. "I'm just joking. You should see the look on your face."

"That was not funny."

"Yes it was, you are just no fun."

"So they asked you to check if I'm alright?"

"Yes, they did. Lambert, they are worried about you, you should at least talk to them." the sorceress came closer and put one hand on his chest "I know how you feel about these things and that you think fate played a cruel joke on you, but that might not be the case. You have people who care about you and who need you. Yes, Eskel might want to rebuild the witchers, that is his thing but don't make it tear you guys apart. He is like a brother to you, just talk to him." Lambert set down on the bed, his head in his hands. He thought about everything that happened to him during then years, all the good things and the bad. One thing was always the same someone always had his back, whether it would be Eskel, Geralt, or Vesemir, someone would always be there. He thought long and hard about everything.

After a long silent moment, Keira asked. "So, what do you say? Will you at least talk to them?"

Lambert sighed "I will, but just once."

"Good, I will give you more time to pull yourself together and then we will go there."