“I was told my baby wouldn’t come until I killed the Butcher of Blaviken.”  Myin said as she groaned slightly.  Jaskier took a full step into the rain before he realized what he was doing and got back under the cover, but Geralt was still as he took in the sight of her.  A petite woman with big dark eyes and sweat wet hair whose only hope of ending her living hell was to kill him.

“How are you supposed to kill him?”  Jaskier asked incredulously once he had processed her statement.

“Honestly I didn’t even know who the Butcher was until I was eight months along.  Everything had been normal and going smoothly that I didn’t really think about it.  I was on the move, my lover’s mistress had him killed shortly after I had been cursed. Midwives told me everything was fine, and I was likely to have an easy delivery with a healthy baby three months ago. Two weeks after my baby was supposed to be born, I remembered the curse and went out looking for anything I could find on the Butcher of Blaviken.”  Myin looked from Geralt to Jaskier.  “I heard your song about a month ago, and here we are.”

“Here we are,” Geralt said slowly.  It was the first thing he said since Myin admitted she was probably going to try and kill him. “Words are very important with curses. What were the exact words?”

“Something about trapping the truth within until death is delivered to the Butcher of Blaviken,” Myin whimpered as her body cramped up.  Geralt looked over at Jaskier with something akin to hope in his eyes.

“Myin I’m pretty sure there is a way out of your curse without you actually having to kill anyone,” Geralt said.  Jaskier moved closer to Myin as she slumped back and let her eyes flutter closed.  “Myin?”  Geralt leaned forward to brush the back of his hand against her cheek.  “She’s burning up.  We have to move.”  Geralt lifted Myin and carried her to Roach with Jaskier in tow.

“Do you think she will make it?”  Jaskier asked grabbing his things quickly and only being met with Geralt’s stoic silence.

 The night was late, and winds blew hard when the three of them came across an outpost.

“Roach,” The Witcher made eye contact with his horse then pulled Myin down from the steed.  It wandered off to graze and Jaskier opened the door for Geralt to carry Myin inside the warm building.

“We need a room,” Geralt grunted at the innkeeper.  The older man gave him a disgruntled look before turning to look at Jaskier.  The innkeeper’s wife handed Geralt a key.

“Should I call for a doctor?”  She asked as Myin bit her lip from crying out.  She had regained some consciousness on the road, but her contractions had gotten stronger.

“No, she’s not ready for that yet,” Jaskier said soothingly.  “I’m actually a bard.  It would be an honor for me to play for your house as payment for our room and some food.”

Geralt left Jaskier there to talk about niceties with innkeeper and carried Myin into the room the woman had given him a key for.  He laid her down on the mattress and Myin scurried to pull her skirts up over her knees.

“Mm, Geralt it hurts,” She groaned as she white knuckled the hem of her dress.  “Pleases help me,” she said as tears spilled down her cheeks.

“Tell me the truth about who you are, Myin.”  Geralt was standing next to the bed pouring some water into a bowl and finding whatever he could use as towels and blankets.

“What are you talking about?”  Myin sobbed.

“You weren’t sleeping with another woman’s husband.  Why are you cursed and why am I involved?”  Geralt stripped off most of his armor and knelt at Myin’s spread legs.

“My love and I owed a mage our lives.”  She whispered as she tried to bear down.  “He promised us our freedom in return for help with something that he claimed we would never miss.”  Myin huffed a laugh as her contraction ebbed.  

“Oh gods!”  Jaskier cried as he flung a hand up to cover his face and quickly close and lock the door to the room when he saw them.

“Shut up, Jaskier,” Geralt growled over his shoulder.

“I found out I was pregnant three weeks later,” Myin continued looking up as Jaskier came over to brush her hair out of her face.  “He made me come back all the time, to his hideout.  Disgusting and filthy palace,” Myin spat her distaste.  “He would cast magic or make me drink potions.  He never said what they were for, but I knew he had a plan for my child.  So, we ran away.  Or at least we planned to.”  Myin sighed deeply as her grief washed over her.  “A woman came into town and killed several men.  My lover included.  I saw her one time when I went back to town.  I was sick and had gone to the mage like a stupid girl.  He knew what we had been planning and tried to convince the woman to kill us.  He cursed me. Told me that my child the reason that my lover was dead.  That had I done what he asked the woman would have been stopped.  Instead, he had to hire a Witcher to kill the woman, and it had cost him dearly.”

“Renfri,” Geralt said in understanding as he held Myin’s hand.  Her whole body trembled with need as they talked.  

“I don’t know what the mage did to me, or my child.  But I know that he hated you, and he told me that I would bring you your demise.” Myin looked at him guiltily.  Geralt looked at Myin and then quickly up at Jaskier.

“Have the innkeepers wife draw a bath and bring lots of salt.”  He said as he moved to finagle Myin out of her dress.  Jaskier ran out of the room.

“What are you doing?” Myin asked letting her clothes come off.

“You weren’t cursed.  Not really.  There was magic cast on you, but I think we can wash it away.”  Geralt said as he worked her braid out of her hair.

“Your hands are soft,” Myin mumbled numbly as the Witcher smoothed down her hair.

“Do you have any other knots?”  Geralt asked as the innkeeper’s wife and Jaskier shoved a bathtub into the room and then began filling it with warm water.  Myin held up her hand showing a twisted leather ring.

“It was all that he could afford,” She mused sadly.  Another contraction took her and she moved onto her knees to try and get gravity to work for her.

“Leave,” Jaskier said to the innkeeper’s wife before he moved over to Myin and helped her stand and move to the bathtub.  Geralt had grabbed the bit of leather band and was working to untie the knots that kept it together.

“Geralt, something’s wrong,” Myin groaned at the edge of the tub as the first tie of the leather started to come loose.   “Fuck!” Myin squealed as she squatted deep with Jaskier’s help and his own cry of pain.

“It’s working, get in the tub,” Geralt instructed as he continued to fidget with the leather. Jaskier took some of the salt in his hands and started to scrub Myin’s body gently with it.  He took a jug and held it at the ready as Geralt put a hand up to stop him.  “Not yet,” The Witcher instructed.  He twisted and pulled at the leather band until he grabbed the last knot.

“Now,” he said as he pulled the knot free, and the water pour over the top of Myin’s head.  She cried out in surprise and put a hand between her legs in shock and agony.

“I can feel the baby,” she whimpered.  Jaskier dropped the empty container and put his hands on Myin to steady her shaking body. Myin shrieked as the water in the tub took on a bright red hue and then she sagged into Jaskier’s grip and lifted her babe against her chest.

“She should breathe more and scream less,” Geralt chuckled as he took in the sight of the baby girl and let a small smile grace his lips.

“I think she has bigger problems,” Myin smiled at the White Wolf, it faded quickly though.  “How will she cause your demise?”  Geralt shook his head in uncertainty.

“Did you all just see me deliver this baby?  Because I will not be doing it again,” Jaskier said as he stepped away from the tub and promptly fainted.