The fire had burned low, its flames reduced to a bed of glowing embers, the night was deep and still, and somewhere in the distance, an owl called, its voice carrying through the darkness. The woods stretched around them, ancient and vast, their secrets buried beneath layers of moss and fallen leaves.
Sebastian's eyes snapped open.
He lay still for a moment, his body motionless, his senses reaching out into the darkness. Something had woken him, a distant sound, a presence, a disruption in the quiet rhythm of the night. His medallion was still against his chest, silent and cold, but that did not mean nothing was there. Some things were beyond the reach of witcher senses, old things that had learned to hide from the silver and the steel.
He rose silently, his feet finding the ground without a sound. Zoltan was snoring softly, his thick body curled on his bedroll like a hibernating bear. Dandelion lay on his back, his mouth slightly open, his expression one of peaceful oblivion. Neither of them woke up.
Sebastian drew his silver sword. The blade caught the faint glow of the dying embers, he paused at the edge of the clearing, his yellow eyes scanning the treeline.
'A woman's voice?'
It came from the deeper forest, a sound so faint that he might have imagined it. A sob, perhaps. Or a whisper. It was impossible to tell, distorted by distance and the rustle of leaves.
Sebastian stepped into the woods.
The trees closed around him, their branches intertwining overhead, blocking out the faint light of the stars. The ground was soft with fallen leaves and moss, muffling his footsteps. He moved with his sword held low, his senses straining for any sign of the source of the sound.
The voice grew clearer as he walked. It was a woman's voice, he was certain now, soft and broken, with grief and fear. It seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere, echoing off the trunks of the ancient trees, weaving through the undergrowth.
"Help..." the voice whispered. "Please... help me..."
Sebastian stopped. He listened, his head tilted, his eyes scanning the darkness. The voice was distorted, not quite human.
"Help me..." the voice repeated. "I'm so cold... so alone... Don't kill me... Please..."
Sebastian's jaw tightened. He knew what these sounds were, and he knew what they meant.
He followed the voice.
It led him deeper into the woods, weaving between the trunks of ancient oaks and the tangled undergrowth of brambles and ferns. The sound grew louder, more distinct, the sobs and pleas becoming clearer with each step.
And then, abruptly, it stopped.
Sebastian found himself standing before a massive oak tree, its trunk so wide that five men could not have encircled it. Its roots were thick and gnarled, breaking through the earth. Its branches stretched toward the sky, bare and skeletal, their tips catching the faint light of the moon.
But it was what hung from those branches that caught Sebastian's attention. Strange objects, bundles of herbs, strips of cloth, small bones tied with string. The trunk itself was carved with runes, symbols that Sebastian recognized from his studies at Kaer Morhen and they were old.
Sebastian's eyes narrowed. "Clearly used for witchcraft," he murmured to himself. "Dark magic, possibly. The kind of magic that leaves a permanent mark on a land."
He looked around, his sword still held ready. The clearing was empty, silent, the only sound the rustle of leaves in the night breeze. The voice had vanished, as if it had never been.
"Now the only thing left is..." Sebastian paused, his eyes scanning the ground. "A corpse to find, or some human parts.. That sort of magic can't be done without them.. Considering the forest is alive, what died here is mostly likely human."
He searched the area, his enhanced senses probing the darkness. But there was nothing, no bones, no blood, no sign of violence. Just the tree, and the runes, and the strange objects hanging from its branches.
"C'mon now," Sebastian muttered, frustration creeping into his voice. "Don't tell me that voice was nothing.. Show me something.."
His eyes drifted down to the base of the tree, where the roots had grown thick and tangled, their gnarled fingers digging deep into the earth. The soil was disturbed there, the moss torn and scattered.
"Maybe..." Sebastian said slowly.
He knelt, sheathing his sword, and began to dig. The earth was soft and damp, yielding easily to his fingers. He worked quickly, uncovering the layers of soil and leaf litter.
It did not take him long to find the bones.
They were human, that much was clear immediately, the shape of the femur, the curve of the pelvis, the delicate structure of the ribs. Sebastian carefully cleared the remaining soil, revealing the skeleton of a young woman. She had been buried here, beneath the roots of the ancient oak, hidden from the world for years.
Sebastian examined the bones, his fingers light and careful. The skull was intact, but there was a mark on its surface, a deep groove that could only have been made by a blade. The ribs were shattered, the chest cavity destroyed by violence. The bones were old, their surfaces weathered, their edges worn by time and soil.
Sebastian's voice was soft, almost reverent. "A woman. Not even twenty, I'd wager. Buried here at least five years ago, maybe more." He paused, his fingers tracing the mark on the skull. "She was stabbed. In the chest and in the head. Someone wanted her dead, and they wanted to make sure she stayed dead.. She was probably used as a sacrifice."
He looked at the bones for a long moment, his yellow eyes unreadable. Then he spoke agian.
"That voice belonged to her," Sebastian said. "But now it's gone."
He stood, brushing the soil from his hands. His expression was thoughtful, his mind already working through the possibilities.
"I could just leave and not take care of this," Sebastian said slowly. "But oh well... let's help a ghost. Shouldn't take long."
He looked at the tree, at the runes carved into its trunk, at the strange objects hanging from its branches.
"I need to return in the morning," Sebastian said. "I need to identify what type of wraith she is, and then I'll be able to help her, she probably only appears at a certain time of day.."
He turned and began to walk back toward the camp.
Behind him, the ancient oak stood in silence, its branches stretching toward the sky, its roots still wrapped around the bones of a young woman who had died too young and too violently.
And somewhere in the darkness, a voice whispered,
"Don't leave..."
Sebastian paused, but he did not turn around.
"I'm not leaving," he said quietly. "I still have to figure out how to help you."
He continued walking, leaving the voice and the tree and the buried bones behind.
/-\
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