The Divine Hunter

and drab, as if he were down with an illness, but he knew his place, and he asked no more questions.
Then he closed the bedroom door.

“Come with me please.” Grant swung the keys around.
“You may search the basement now.”

They went to the wooden ladder hidden under the kitchen’s trapdoor, and they climbed down into the dark, spacious basement.
The butler lit some sconces up and illuminated the room.

The witchers sniffed the air.
“What are these? They’re moldy.” Old clothes, broken armor, old furniture, and towels were piled up together.
Cobwebs covered them, and hills of sundry items lined the basement as far as the eye could see.

The butler waved the moldy air in front of him away.
“All of Amavet Fortress’ sundry items are here, and it has been decades since anyone cleared this palace out.”

He led Letho on a search for the blueprint, while Roy started scanning through the baron’s family tree.
The scroll was yellow, and it had a weird smell coming off it.
It was also slightly heavy.
“Alright, let’s see… The ancestor of the family came to the White Orchard that stands in the east of Vizima, Temeria.
This place was probably deserted then.
It’s only been two hundred years since the first witcher was born.
This is ancient.”

He continued, “The fortress was built in the east of the orchard in 1150.
Leon and Jennifer Verrieres were blessed with a pair of twins the very next year.
They were a boy and a girl.” Roy scanned through the family history and the family tree that had many branches.
“The ancestors of the Verrieres family, Leon and Jennifer, established this family.
They were blessed with another child in 1154.
So that means the second generation of the family was made up of three kids.”

Leon and Jennifer were on the apex of the tree, and it was split into three branches for the next part.
Eventually, the branches spread even more, expanding the family into a big clan.
“The second gen kids eventually grew up, and one of the twins, Sara, married a man named Richardson.
He married into the Verrieres, and they had a daughter named Laney, as well as a son called Firenze.”

Laney and her family were placed in the center of the tree, and they were the core members of the family.
Naturally, they were also the leader of the family as well.
“The other kids married women of another race, but they stayed in the fortress.” The family of the boys were located at the further side of the tree.
Apparently, they were not as important as Sara and her family.
“Weird.” Roy had a few questions. I thought aristocrats were patriarchal.
Why did they put Sara in the center instead of the boys?

He kept reading.
“Sara’s son fell off a horse and died when he was six.
A man married into the Verrieres, and his wife was Laney.
She was thirty-two years old then.
They had a daughter called Mary.
The branch families’ kids married people who were outside the fortress and expanded the bloodline.
They had more kids than Sara’s family.”

The left and right sides of the tree kept expanding into a big branch, but the branch in the center remained scarce, and it was starting to wither.
Up until the third generation, all family members were buried in the family tomb after their deaths, but everything changed during the fourth generation, which was when John and Mary ruled.

The other branches left the orchard and moved to Vizima in the west, while some moved further east, where Aedirn was.
The only ones left in the fortress were Mary, her husband, and the fifth generation Verrieres—Ignatius.
“I wonder if the ones who moved have the same mark on them.”

Roy scanned through the whole family tree again and realized something shocking.
According to the records, every single family member of Ignatius’ line died of diseases or accidents.
None lived to old age.
Compared to them, the other branches lived normal lives.
“Is this a coincidence, or is it because of that mark?”

John became sterile after he sired Ignatius with Mary, and he died because of consumption.
John and Mary only had one son, who was Ignatius.
“The baron is the only member of his family.
His parents are dead, his son hanged himself, and he’s alone.
He’s already sterile because of how much he drinks.
His family’s bloodline will probably end with him.”

Roy was reminded of Ignatius’ ridiculous past and how he became a shadow of his former self. Could it be because of the mark? 

Roy immersed himself in his thoughts, and Letho eventually came back with a blueprint in his hands.
It was the one that recorded the ways to make the school’s silver sword.

Roy took it and gave it a look before tossing it into his inventory, then he told Letho about his suspicions.

“If what you say is true, then this is suspicious.
Why did the family choose Sara to inherit the position of family head instead of the boys? We need to ask Ignatius about this.
And as for the mark…” Letho rubbed his chin.
“My instincts tell me that only Ignatius and his closest family members are affected.
They’re the only ones born with this birthmark, and the branch families are not affected at all.
That’s why his family members died horrible deaths and had few children.
At most, they had two children, but most of the time, they only had one.
The branch families have a lot more than they do.”

“They die horrible deaths and have few children? Is the mark some sort of curse?” Roy guessed.

“I have never seen a curse like this before.” Letho wore a solemn look on his face.
“Not even the Lionheaded Spider’s high priest can curse someone’s whole bloodline.”

“Not even the Lionheaded Spider can do that?” Roy fell into momentary silence.
“What about powerful sorcerers or mages? Ignatius’ ancestors might have offended them and got cursed.”

“Then we’ll need more clues.
We need to know more about his ancestors.”