The Witcher

THE LAST WISH VIII

The portal, roaring and whirling like a hurricane, spat him out with a force that bruised his lungs. The witcher collapsed on the floor, panting and catching his breath with difficulty.

 The floor shook. At first he thought he was trembling after his journey through the splitting hell of the portal, but he rapidly realised his mistake. The whole house was vibrating, trembling and creaking.

 He looked around. He was not in the small room where he had last seen Yennefer and Dandilion but in the large communal hall of Errdil's renovated tavern.

 He saw her. She was kneeling between tables, bent over the magical sphere. The sphere was aflame with a strong, milky light, so bright, enough to shine red through her fingers. The light from the sphere illuminated a scene, flickering and swaying, but clear. Geralt saw the small room with a star and pentagram traced on the floor, blazing with white heat. He saw many-coloured, creaking, fiery lines shooting from the pentagram and disappearing up over the roof towards the furious roar of the captured djinn.

 Yennefer saw him, jumped up and raised her hand.

 'No!' he shouted, 'don't do this! I want to help you!'

 'Help?' She snorted. You?'

 'Me.'

 'In spite of what I did to you?'

 'In spite of it.'

 'Interesting. But not important. I don't need your help. Get out of here.'

 'No.'

 'Get out of here!' she yelled, grimacing ominously. 'It's getting dangerous! The whole thing's getting out of control, do you understand? I can't master him. I don't get it, but the scoundrel isn't weakening at all! I caught him once he'd fulfilled the troubadour's third wish and I should have him in the sphere by now. But he's not getting any weaker! Dammit, it looks as if he's getting stronger! But I'm still going to get the better of him, I'll break—'

 'You won't break him, Yennefer. He'll kill you.'

 'It's not so easy to kill me—'

 She broke off. The whole roof of the tavern suddenly flared up. The vision projected by the sphere dissolved in the brightness. A huge fiery rectangle appeared on the ceiling. The sorceress cursed as she lifted her hands, and sparks gushed from her fingers.

 'Run, Geralt!'

 'What's happening, Yennefer?'

 'He's located me ..." She groaned, flushing red with effort. 'He wants to get at me. He's creating his own portal to get in. He can't break loose but he'll get in by the portal. I can't— I can't stop him!'

 'Yennefer—'

 'Don't distract me! I've got to concentrate . . . Geralt, you've got to get out of here. I'll open my portal, a way for you to escape. Be careful, it'll be a random portal, I haven't got time or strength for any other ... I don't know where you'll end up . . . but you'll be safe . . . Get ready—'

 A huge portal on the ceiling suddenly flared blindingly, expanded and grew deformed. Out of the nothingness appeared the shapeless mouth already known to the witcher, snapping its drooping lips and howling loudly enough to pierce his ears. Yennefer jumped, waved her arms and shouted an incantation. A net of light shot from her palm and fell on the djinn. It gave a roar and sprouted long paws which shot towards the sorceress's throat like attacking cobras. Yennefer didn't back away.

 Geralt threw himself towards her, pushed her aside and sheltered her. The djinn, tangled in the magical light, sprang from the portal like a cork from a bottle and threw himself at them, opening his jaws. The witcher clenched his teeth and hit him with the Sign without any apparent effect. But the genie didn't attack. He hung in the air just below the ceiling, swelled to an impressive size, goggled at Geralt with his pale eyes and roared. There was something in that roar, something like a command, an order. He didn't understand what it was.

 'This way!' shouted Yennefer, indicating the portal which she had conjured up on the wall by the stairs. In comparison to the one created by the genie, the sorceress's portal looked feeble, extremely inferior. 'This way, Geralt! Run for it!'

 'Only with you!'

 Yennefer, sweeping the air with her hands, was shouting incantations and the many-coloured fetters showered sparks and creaked. The djinn whirled like the bumble-bee, pulling the bonds tight, then loosening them. Slowly but surely he was drawing closer to the sorceress. Yennefer did not back away.

 The witcher leapt to her, deftly tripped her up, grabbed her by the waist with one hand and dug the other into her hair at the nape. Yennefer cursed nastily and thumped him in the neck with her elbow. He didn't let go of her. The penetrating smell of ozone, created by the curses, didn't kill the smell of lilac and gooseberries. Geralt stilled the sorceress's kicking legs and jumped, raising her straight up to the opalescently flickering nothingness of the lesser portal.

The portal which led into the unknown.

 They flew out in a tight embrace, fell onto a marble floor and slid across it, knocking over an enormous candlestick and a table from which crystal goblets, platters of fruit and a huge bowl of crushed ice, seaweed and oysters showered down with a crash. Screams and squeals came from around the room.

 They were lying in the very centre of a ballroom, bright with candelabra. Richly-clad gentlemen and ladies, sparkling with

 jewels, had stopped dancing and were watching them in stunned silence. The musicians in the gallery finished their piece in a cacophony which grated on the ears.

 'You moron!' Yennefer yelled, trying to scratch out his eyes. You b****y i***t! You stopped me! I nearly had him!'

 'You had s**t-all!' he shouted back, furious. 'I saved your life, you stupid witch!'

 She hissed like a furious cat, her palms showered sparks.

 Geralt, turning his face away, caught her by both wrists and they rolled among the oysters, seaweed and crushed ice.

 'Do you have an invitation?' A portly man with the golden chain of a chamberlain on his chest was looking at them with a haughty expression.

 'Screw yourself!' screamed Yennefer, still trying to scratch Ger-alt's eyes out.

 'It's a scandal,' the chamberlain said emphatically. 'Verily, you're exaggerating with this teleportation. I'm going to complain to the Council of Wizards. I'll demand—'

 No one ever heard what the chamberlain would demand. Yennefer wrenched herself free, slapped the witcher in the ear with her open palm, kicked him forcefully in the shin and jumped into the fading portal in the wall.

 Geralt threw himself after her, catching her hair and belt with a practised move.

 Yennefer, also having gained practise, landed him a blow with her elbow.

 The sudden move split her dress at the armpit, revealing a shapely breast. An oyster flew from her torn dress.

 They both fell into the nothingness of the portal. Geralt could still hear the chamberlain's voice.

 'Music! Play on! Nothing has happened. Please take no notice of that pitiful incident!'

 The witcher was convinced that with every successive journey through the portal, the risk of misfortune was multiplying and he wasn't mistaken. They hit the target, Errdil's tavern, but they materialised just under the ceiling. They fell, shattering the stair balustrade and, with a deafening crash, landed on the table. The table had the right not to withstand the blow, and it didn't.

 Yennefer found herself under the table. He was sure she had lost consciousness. He was mistaken.

 She punched him in the eye and fired a volley of insults straight at him which would do credit to a dwarven undertaker - and they were renowned for their foul language. The curses were accompanied by furious, chaotic blows dealt blindly, randomly.

 Geralt grabbed her by the hands and, to avoid being hit by her forehead, thrust his face into the sorceress's cleavage which smelled of lilac, gooseberries and oysters.

 'Let me go!' she screamed, kicking like a pony. 'You i***t! Let go! The fetters are going to break any moment now. I've got to strengthen them or the djinn will escape!'

 He didn't answer, although he wanted to. He grasped her even more tightly, trying to pin her down to the floor. Yennefer swore horribly, struggled, and with all her strength, kicked him in the crotch with her knee. Before he could catch his breath she broke free and screamed an incantation. He felt a terrible force drag him from the ground and hurl him across the hall until, with a violence that near-stunned him, he slammed against a carved two-doored chest of drawers and shattered it completely.