Foltest never imagined he would one day gaze upon the mighty walls of Vizima, or even stand within the Throne Room while a Witcher had a personal hearing with the High King and his court. Of course, had anyone told him two years ago that he would wound up to become the learner of said Witcher, such discussion would only end with their fists behind Midcopse's local winesink. And yet here he was, sitting near the warm fire to cull the nightly cold wind from rattling his bones, dining with overcooked beans and drinking old vodka.

It wasn't like they didn't deserve such lavish meal, after all, these last days had been bone-breaking for the young hunter. Waking up with the rise of the sun, practicing the sword forms and then sparring with Rilden for three hours, before spending most of the mid-day with Contracts or studying Signs and the differences between Rotlfiends and Devourers, and then returning to swordsmanship until the sun hid behind the horizon, then they ate, meditated and back to sleep. And today wasn't any different, as Foltest was given the task of crafting Dimeritium Bombs or gathering bait for the Griffin while Rilden handled the execution of the creature they were after. When he dared to ask why he wouldn't track the Harpies down with his enhanced senses, the Wolf gave him a proper tongue lashing, claiming that when he was half his age he could trace a nekker nest in the middle of the Blue Mountains just by the spit of the buggers. No one as old as him was ever trained to become a hexer, but desperate times called for a bend of the doctrine.

He was repeating the Fast Style chain for the tenth time, his body was just recently getting used to the pirouettes and acrobatics when the sound of a shriek shot through his ears. Grabbing his steel longsword, Vosons instincts and training kicked in and rushed back to the barn. He was told by Rilden to never engage a beast on his own, at least not until he took the trials.

"What was that?" he asked his master as he saw him rushing out of his confines, blades in hand "We cleared out everything in the area, the Contract was supposed to be a fluke..."