The Witcher

THE SWORD OF DESTINY V

“Take off your blindfold, Gwynbleidd. We've arrived.”

A thick fog engulfed Braenn up to the knee.

“Duén Canell, the place of the Oak. The heart of Brokilone.”

Geralt had already been here before. Twice. But he had never told anyone. No-one would have believed him.

There was a sinkhole entirely covered by the tops of immense green trees, bathed in the fog and vapor emanating from the earth, the rocks, the hot springs. A sinkhole...

The medallion that he wore around his neck vibrated gently.

A sinkhole flooded with magic. Duén Canell. The heart of Brokilone. Braenn lifted her head and gave a shrug of her quiver.

“Come, give me your hand, sickly little one.”

At first, the sinkhole appeared dead and abandoned. But not for long. A strong and melodic whistle was heard. A slender dryad with dark hair descended gracefully, walking along a barely visible spiral of polypore fungus that embraced the trunk of a nearby tree. She was dressed like the others in a camouflaged garment.

“Ceád, Braenn.” 

“Ceád, Sirssa. Va 'n vort meáth Eithné á?”

“Neén, aefder,” replied the dark-haired one, casting a languid glance at the witcher.

“Ess' ae'n Sidh?”

Particularly attractive, even by human standards, she laughed, showing her shining white teeth. Geralt, aware that the dryad was looking him over from head to toe, lost his composure and felt foolish.

“Néen.” Braenn turned her head. “Ess' vatt'ghern, Gwynnbleidd, á váen meáth Eithné va, a'ss.”

“Gwynbleidd?” The lovely dryad pursed her lips. “Bloede caèrm! Aen'ne caen n'wedd vort! T'ess foile!”

Braenn chuckled.

“What's going on?” asked the witcher, annoyed.

“Nothing,” Braenn chuckled again. “Nothing. Come on.”

“Oh! Look!” Ciri marveled. “Look, Geralt, at all these houses, how funny they are!”

Duén Canell really began at the bottom of the sinkhole. The “funny houses,” whose forms resembled large balls of mistletoe, were hung from the branches and trunks of trees at various heights, just above the ground or higher, and even at the peaks. Geralt also saw some larger constructions on the ground: the huts made of woven branches and covered with leaves. He sensed the presence of life behind the openings of these constructions, but the dryads remained invisible. They would be far fewer in number than on his previous visit.

“Geralt,” Ciri murmured. “These houses are growing! They have leaves.”

“They are made of living trees,” explained the witcher. “That's the way the dryads live, and that's how they construct their homes. A dryad never hurts a tree by cutting or sawing. They know nevertheless how to grow the branches to form shelters.”

“How cute. I'd love to have a house like this in our park.”

Braenn stopped in front of one of the largest constructions.

“Inside, Gwynbleidd, is where you will meet Madame Eithné. Vá fáill, sickly little one.”

“What?”

“It is a farewell, Ciri. She's saying goodbye.” 

“Ah! Goodbye, Braenn.”

They entered. Inside the “house” sparkled a kaleidoscope of sunbeams, filtered and screened by the frame.

“Geralt!”

“Freixenet!”

“But you live! By all the devils!”

The wounded man beamed. Frexenet raised himself on his bed of fir. He saw Ciri clinging to the witcher's thigh. His eyes shone in their sockets; he flushed crimson.

“So there you are, little pest! I came within a hair of losing my life because of you!

Ah! You're lucky that I can't get up, because I would already have you firmly s*****d!”

Ciri pouted.

“That's the second one who wants to beat me,” she replied, comically wrinkling her nose. “I'm a young girl... Young girls don't get smacked! It's not allowed.”

“I will show you what's allowed,” Freixenet responded, coughing, “filthy little scab! Ervyll has lost his mind... Every message more terrified than the last, he says that your grandmother has set her army on him. Who would believe that you ran away yourself? Everyone knows who Ervyll is and what he likes. Everyone thinks that he... did something in a drunken state and ordered you drowned in a pond! We are on the brink of war with Nilfgaard. The treaty and the alliance with your grandmother were thrown to the devils! You see the extent of your misdeed?” 

“Don't get worked up over this,” said the witcher, “you could cause a hemorrhage. How did you manage to get here so fast?”

“If only I knew. I was unconscious the better part of the time. They pushed something disgusting down my throat. Forcefully, pinching my throat... What an affront, those bitches...”

“You survived thanks to what they forced down your throat. They carried you all the way here?”

“They put me on a sled. I asked for news of you, but they kept silent. I was sure you had fallen to an arrow. You were gone so quickly... and there you are safe and sound, and without so much as a limp; what's more, well done, you found Princess Cirilla. Devil take me, Geralt, you always pull through, like a cat landing on its feet.”

The witcher smiled without responding. Freixenet turned his head to cough violently and spit out a pink substance.

“So,” he added, “from the fact that they haven't finished me off, I must be doing well. They know you, those diabolical huntresses. That's the second time you've saved me from danger.”

“Don't mention it, baron.”

Freixenet tried to sit up, groaning in pain, but had to give up.

“With my barony in the latrines,” he grumbled, “I was Baron of Hamm. I am currently something resembling a voivode for Ervyll of Verden. Or rather I was, because even if I get out of this forest alive, my only place in Verden will be on the scaffold. Cirilla, that little minx, escaped under the surveillance of my guards. You think I would have gone adventuring with two companions in Brokilone for fun? No, Geralt, I too have fled. I could only count on the clemency of Ervyll under the condition that I brought her back. And then we came across those accursed creatures... Without you, I would still be in the hole. You saved me again. It's destiny. It's clear as crystal.”

“You're exaggerating.”

Freixenet turned his head.

“It's destiny,” he repeated. “It must have been written that we would meet again, witcher. And that once again, you'd save my skin. I remember that we spoke in Hamm after you freed me from the spell of that bird.”

“It's chance,” Geralt retorted coldly, “chance, Freixenet.”

“What chance? Hell, without you, I would still be a cormorant today.”

“You were a cormorant,” Ciri cried in excitement, “a real cormorant, a bird?”

“Yes,” replied the baron, clenching his teeth. “A... a whore... a bitch... for revenge.”

“You clearly didn't give her a fur stole,” Ciri said, wrinkling her nose, “or a muff.”

“There was another reason,” Freixenet continued, blushing slightly, “but what difference does it make to you, you dirty brat?” Ciri, visibly annoyed, turned her head; Freixenet began to cough. “Yes... me... You delivered me from a spell at Hamm. Without you, Geralt, I would be spending the rest of my life as a cormorant. I would fly over the lake and deposit my droppings on the branches of the trees, dressed in the shirt woven by my little sister with pine nettles, in her pigheaded determination to improve things, to liberate me from the spell. Hell, when I'm reminded of that shirt, I want to hit someone. What an idiot...”

“Don't talk like that,” said the witcher, laughing. “Her intentions were pure. She had been tricked, that's all. A number of nonsensical myths approach the question of disenchantment. You're lucky, Freixenet. She could have ordered that you be plunged into boiling milk. It has happened before. Dressing someone in a nettle shirt doesn't threaten their health, even if it doesn't help.”

“Hmm, perhaps so. Perhaps I expected too much of her. Elise has always been a fool, since she was a little girl: silly and pretty, perfect material for becoming the wife of a king.” 

“What pretty material is that?” asked Ciri. “And why to become a wife?”

“I told you not to meddle in this, brat. Yes, Geralt, I was lucky that you appeared in Hamm and that the good brother of the king was inclined to spend the ducats to have you disenchant me.”

“You know, Freixenet,” responded the witcher, laughing more and more, “that the story has spread far and wide?”

“The real version?”

“Not quite. First, you've been decked out with ten brothers.”

“Oh no!” The baron raised himself on his elbows, coughing. “Including Elise, then we would be twelve? What dark idiocy! My mother was certainly not a rabbit!”

“That's not all. It was thought that a cormorant was not sufficiently romantic.”

“Indeed it isn't! There is nothing romantic about it!” The baron made a face, massaging his chest, which was bandaged by twigs and strips of bark. “And what then do they say I was transformed into?”

“A swan. More precisely, swans plural, because there were eleven of you, remember?”

“And how, I ask you, is a swan more romantic than a cormorant?”

“I don't know.”

“Me neither. But I am betting in this story, Elise delivers me from this fate with a damned shirt of nettles.”

“You've got it. By the way, how's Elise?”

“The poor thing is consumptive. She won't last much longer.”

“It's sad.”

“Yes,” Freixenet confirmed without emotion, looking away.

“To return to your enchantment...” Geralt leaned against the wall of braided, supple branches. “Do you still have any symptoms? Feathers growing on your body?”

“By the grace of the gods, no,” sighed the baron. “All is well. The only characteristic that remains from that time is a taste for fish. Nothing beats a good feast of fish. Sometimes I visit the fishermen in the morning on the harbor, and before they've caught even one more noble piece, I content myself first with the delectable taste of a handful of a dozen bleaks, still teeming in their holding tanks, some small loach straight, a dace or a chub... It's more pleasure than a real banquet.”

“He was a cormorant,” Ciri said slowly, looking at Geralt. “And you're the one who disenchanted him. You know how to cast spells?”

“That seems obvious,” retorted Freixenet. “All witchers know how.”

“Wit... Witcher?”

“You don't know that he's a witcher? The famous Geralt of Rivia! Indeed, how could a brat like you know that he's a witcher? In our time, it's not like it was. There aren't many witchers today. You almost never meet them anymore. Have you already seen one?”

Ciri slowly shook her head without looking away from Geralt.

“A witcher, kid, is...” Freixenet paused and turned pale, seeing Braenn enter the hut.

“No, I won't! I don't want anything stuffed down my throat, no way! Geralt, tell her...”

“Calm down.”

Braenn only gave Freixenet a furtive glance. She went directly to Ciri, who was

crouched next to the witcher.

“Come,” she said. “Come, sickly little one.”

“Where are we going?” Ciri asked, grimacing. “I will not. I want to stay with Geralt.”

“Go ahead,” Geralt said, forcing a smile. “You'll have fun with Braenn and the young dryads. They'll show you Duén Canell...”

“She didn't blindfold me,” Ciri said very slowly. “On the way, she didn't blindfold me. You, yes. So that you can't come back. That means that...”

Geralt stared at Braenn. The dryad shrugged and took the little girl in her arms, holding her close.

“That means...” Ciri's voice broke. “That means I will never get out of here. Doesn't it?”

“No-one escapes their destiny.”

They all turned their heads in the direction of that voice: full, low, firm and decisive.

A voice that demanded that one listen and tolerated no objection. Braenn bowed. Geralt knelt.

“Madame Eithné...”

The sovereign of Brokilone wore a thin green dress, light and flowing. She was, like most of the dryads, small and thin, but carried herself proudly. Her serious and hard face, her pursed lips, gave the impression that she was larger and more powerful. The color of her hair and her eyes resembled molten silver.

She entered the hut escorted by two younger dryads, armed with bows. She silently motioned to Braenn, who hastened to take Ciri by the hand and led her toward the exit, bowing her head. Ciri, pale, confused, followed with a stiff and inelegant gait. When she passed beside Eithné, the silver-haired dryad seized her chin and looked the little girl in the eyes for a long time. Geral saw Ciri shaking.

“Go,” Eithné said at last. “Go, my child. Don't be afraid of anything. Nothing can change your destiny. You are in Brokilone.”

Ciri trotted quietly behind Braenn. She turned at the door of the hut. The witcher noticed that her lips trembled and that her eyes filled with tears, brilliant as glass. He nevertheless continued to kneel silently, always bowing his head in respect.

“Rise, Gwynbleidd, welcome.”

“Hail, Eithné, sovereign of Brokilone.”

“I am once again pleased to welcome you to my forest. Even though you come without my consent or even my knowledge. Entering Brokilone in this way is risky, White Wolf. Even for you.”

“I'm on a mission.”

“Ah!” The dryad smiled slightly. “This explains your temerity, to use the only appropriate term. Geralt, the immunity of delegates is only observed among humans. As for me, I do not accept it. I recognize, moreover, nothing that is human. Here, this is Brokilone.”

“Eithné...”

“Silence,” she cut in without raising her voice. “I gave the order to spare you. You will leave Brokilone alive. Not by virtue of your status as a messenger, but for other reasons.”

“You don't want, then, to know for whom I act as delegate?”

“To be honest, no. Here, we are in Brokilone. You come from the outside, a world that does not interest me at all. Why should I waste my time hearing delegates? What does it matter to me, the proposals or the ultimatums set by someone who I know thinks and feels differently from me? What does it matter to me what King Venzlav thinks?”

Geralt turned his head in astonishment.

“How do you know that it's Venzlav who sent me?”

“It's all too evident,” replied the dryad, smiling. “Ekkehard is too foolish. Ervyll and Viraxas hate me too much. I see no other surrounding areas.”

“You know a lot about what is happening outside Brokilone, Eithné.”

“I know many things, White Wolf. It is the privilege of my age. Now, if you would, I would like to resolve a matter. The man who looks like a bear...” the dryad stopped smiling and looked at Freixenet, “is your friend?”

“We know each other. I once delivered him from a spell.”

“The problem is that I do not know what to do with him. I can't order his execution after allowing him to be cared for, even if he is a threat. He doesn't have the air of a fanatic, perhaps of a scalp-hunter. I know that Ervyll pays for every dryad scalp. I can't remember how much. The price increases along with everything else from inflation.”

“You are mistaken. He is not a scalp-hunter.”

“Why then did he enter Brokilone?”

“To look for the little girl for whom he was responsible. He risked his life to find her.”

“That's absurd,” she said coldly. “He took more than a risk. He went to certain death.

He owes his life to having the constitution and strength of a horse. Regarding the child, she also owes her life to chance. My daughters did not fire, believing her to be a pixie or a leprechaun.”

Her gaze rested once more on Freixenet. Geralt noticed that her lips were losing their unpleasant harshness.

“Well then. Celebrate this day.”

Eithné approached the bed of branches. The two dryads who accompanied her did the same. Freixenet paled and curled up in the hope of disappearing.

She watched for a moment, blinking her eyes slightly.

“Do you have children?” she asked at last. “I am speaking to you, blockhead.”

“Pardon?”

“I spoke clearly.”

“I'm not...” Freixenet cleared his throat, coughing. “I'm not married.”

“Your family is not important. I want to know if your fat loins are able to k****e fires. By the Great Tree! Have you ever knocked up a woman?”

“Eh, well! Yes... yes, madame, but...”

Eithné gave a careless wave of her hand and then turned to Geralt.

“He will remain in Brokilone,” she said, “until he is completely healed and then for some time longer. Then... he will go wherever he pleases.”

“Thank you, Eithné.” The witcher bowed. “And the little girl... What is your decision?”

“Why do you ask me that?” The dryad's silver eyes fixed coldly on him. “You know that well.”

“She isn't an ordinary child, she is not from a village. She is a princess.”

“This does not impress me. It makes no difference.”

“Listen...”

“Not another word, Gwynbleidd.”

Geralt paused, pursing his lips.

“What about my mission?”

“I am listening,” murmured the dryad. “Not out of curiosity. As a personal favor to you: you can testify to Venzlav that his request was made and collect the money that he certainly promised you for your visit to my kingdom. But not now. I am busy. Pay me a visit tonight in my Tree.”

Freixenet rose onto his elbows after the dryad was gone. He groaned, coughed, and spat in his hand.

“What does this mean, Geralt? Why am I supposed to stay? What does she want with these children? What story are we beginning, eh?”

“You will keep your head, Freixenet,” replied the witcher in a tired voice. “You will become one of the privileged few who have left Brokilone alive. Lately, in any case. And then, you will become the father of a little dryad, perhaps several.”

“How? I must become... a breeding stallion?”

“You can call it what you like. Your choice is limited.” 

“I understand,” groaned the baron, with a vulgar smile. “I've seen prisoners of war working in the mines or digging canals. Of the two evils, I prefer... I simply hope that I have the strength. There are quite a few here...”

“Stop that stupid smiling, thinking your dreams are coming true,” Geralt said, scowling. “Here there is no honor, no music, no wine, no fans, let alone hordes of amorous dryads. You will meet one, perhaps two. There will be no sentiment. They will treat the matter and even more so yourself very pragmatically.”

“They don't feel pleasure? At the least, I hope that it doesn't hurt them.”

“Stop acting like a child. In this respect, they are no different from ordinary women. At least physically.”

“What do you mean?”

“It is up to you whether the dryad enjoys herself or not. This does not change the fact that only the outcome will be important. Your person in this case is secondary. Expect no recognition. Ah! And never take the initiative, under any circumstances.”

“The initiative?”

“If you meet her in the morning,” the witcher continued patiently, “bow down, and by all the devils, don't smile or wink. This is for dryads a gravely serious subject. If she's smiling or approaches you, you can then start the conversation. It is best to talk about trees. If you don't know about those, you can still talk about the weather. If, on the other hand, she pretends not to see you, keep your distance. And keep your distance from the other dryads. And your hands in your pockets. A dryad unprepared for this exchange wouldn't understand what you were doing. You risk a knife-s***h for wanting to touch her: she would not understand the intent.”

“Have you already tasted the joys of dryad marriage?” joked Freixenet. “This has

happened to you?”

The witcher did not respond. He had before his eyes the beautiful and svelte dryad, the insolence of her smile. Vatt'ghern, bloede caérme. A witcher: a sorrry fate. What do you have to report, Braenn? What can he give us? There is nothing to be gained from a witcher...

“Geralt?”

“What?”

“What will happen with Princess Ciri?”

“You can depend on it. She will soon become a dryad. In two or three years, she'll put an arrow through her own brother's eye if he tries to enter Brokilone.”

“Damn,” shouted Freixenet, blanching. “Ervyll will be furious. Geralt? It wouldn't be possible to...”

“No,” interrupted the witcher. “Don't even try. You will not get out of Duén Canell alive.”

“That means the little one is lost.”

“For you, yes.”