(A/N: Some advice as to diet is given in this chapter. I have no idea how accurate it is and the stuff was written for amusement rather than anything else. Sorry if it’s horrifically wrong)

Things are never simple.

Kerrass would disagree of course. He would argue that sometimes things are very simple. You see a monster, you hunt it, you kill it, you move on. But that statement is one of those things that he and I are simply never going to agree about. Kerrass finds those things simple because he is a vagrant. Of no fixed abode. I don’t mean that as a bad thing, and having shared that lifestyle with him occasionally over the last few years, I can admit that the lifestyle certainly has some attractions to it.

The ability to stop what you are doing, put it down and move on without a backward glance is a seductive thing. See the monster, hunt it, kill it and not worry about the repercussions. After all, what kind of repercussions can come to you in this particular case. Imprisonment? Fines? Executions? All of which can be overcome with the presence of a particularly fast horse, ability to leave everything behind at a heartbeat's notice, or a willingness to travel overnight through terrain that the people chasing you do not wish to follow you down.

You would be surprised how many town guardsmen will steadfastly refuse to follow a fugitive into a sewer, or a swamp, or through a monster’s tunnels. Even if they, and you, know that the monster is dead. In some cases, it is even true that some particularly superstitious village militia won't even follow you into a patch of woodland if it’s dark.

So for Kerrass, life is often very simple. Because he doesn’t have to stay around and deal with what comes afterwards. He can kill the monster and begone. Even if that monster is a nobleman’s son.

But I can’t look at the world in the same way that he does, and to my mind, things are never simple. Never. I cannot help but look at the situations that we leave in our backtrail as we turn our horses backsides to the towns and villages behind us and imagine what is going to happen now. The angry spirit of the dead girl that Kerrass has fought in a circle of purple, magical lights might have been destroyed and her spirit banished into whatever world comes next for those poor souls.

But in the meantime, we have often had to ask a mother if the girl had a lover? Or ask the local mayor if there had been anything going on with the girl. And then we have to pressure them into finding out the truth. When we find out that the girl was forced to go to the local lord in order to pay for a sack of grain. Then she becomes pregnant as a result and becomes shunned, by the same village that she saved, for bearing a child born out of wedlock.

True story.

So what happened to that village after we dragged all that back into the light? For them it happened five years ago. But what about the young man who has become tall and strong now, but remembers his parents teaching him to hurl abuse at the big sister that he loved. What about the baker’s son who had loved the dead girl and didn’t understand why she had been unfaithful to him. What about the Aunt, who had believed her sister when she had turned away a weeping teenager because of the disgrace that had been lied about.

What happens then?

Nothing is ever simple.

The area around Oxenfurt is still reeling from the events that occurred around my father’s death. The lynch mob that had taken the perpetrators of those awful crimes and had them burnt on a field outside of the city. The fact that so many people had ignored so much horror for so long because it had been done to people that they had considered beneath them.

With the rebirth of the Princess, Dorne is a proper country now and the fact that it is still mostly forest means that the price of lumber in the Southern Empire has plummeted. A recent assessment of the matter that Emma showed me said that the entire population of wood cutters in The Empire could descend upon Dorne and still not make a dent in the land clearance that needs to be done there. And the fact that woodworkers are taking the thorns that came from those old vines and turning them into small weapons, is also taking certain parts of the world by storm. Bladewood they are calling it. The Dwarves are up in arms about it because apparently it is much cheaper to produce than steel, is lighter, holds an edge better, and there are thorns from the depths of the woodland that are longer than the zweihanders of the Nilfgaardian and Redanian Landsknechts.

The village of the Unicorn is all but dead. Our travelling companions in Skellige are now powerful men and women.

On and on it goes.

Life is never simple. And although it seemed like years since I had been hauled out of my bed in order to assist with the investigation into the matter of Lady Duberton’s death. It was actually still the same day. And although I felt as though I was stumbling round with weariness I forced myself to continue for no other reason than I could not have done otherwise. Even though, as Ariadne had said, I was exhausted in body, mind and soul. Where other friends that knew me well, or not so well for that matter, were describing me as being grey, or green, around the edges. I still had a long way to go before I could find my bed.

Not all of it was the fault of circumstance. Some of it was a fault that lies inside my own head. There was still so much information coming in. So much that I wanted to know, that rendered it impossible for me to get any proper sleep. I don’t know if this happens to you so I will try to describe it.

If there is a problem in your life and you have spent all your waking hours working on the problem. We will go with a light-hearted option here as it is also obvious to me that my last record was rather… bleak. Imagine that you are in love with someone. That you are obsessed with them. You don’t dare go anywhere near them because, what if they reject you. You think of ways of starting conversations. You try to find out what they are interested in to see if the two of you have anything in common.

Your friends and family tell you the same thing over and over again that the solution to your, at this stage, rather sweet crush is to simply go to the person that you have been admiring and to ask them out. Invite them out for a drink. Invite them to a party, take them to a play, or invite them for a walk in the gardens.

So you accept that. You accept that, sooner or later, you will need to express your interest to the person that you have fallen in love with from afar. But now, you have a different problem. Now you have to figure out how to talk to this person when they are not surrounded by their friends. It is going to be hard enough risking the ridicule of the object of your affections without also risking the ridicule of the people that they surround themselves with.

So now you are scheming again. How are you going to arrange the perfect moment to strike and then, what are you going to do when you get there? How can you make it appear as though it’s some kind of accident. How are you going to make the other person feel as though your entire life isn’t going to end if they turn you down. How is all of that going to happen?

I have played this game. Friends of mine have played this game. I have coached friends of mine through it and been coached by friends through my own crisis of romance.

And then, you finally screw up your courage to ask the question. It is the ultimate moment. You have been building up to it for a period of time that feels as though you have been working on it forever. And then…

They answer you.

Then there is a moment of… well it depends on what the answer is doesn’t it. The only time that the answer to that moment lived up to my wildest expectations was when Ariadne took the engagement ring from my hand and put it on hers. That expression of terrified hope that was on her face is still one that I take out of my memory occasionally and examine it when I need to cheer myself up.

But most often, it has been an anti-climax. The person has agreed to the drink, to the walk, to the whatever and then there is a moment as we walk away from each other where, all that build up, all that thinking and all that anticipation of whatever is going to happen next has nowhere to go.

But your body and your brain don't know that. It just keeps spinning. Sometimes in joy at the fact that they said yes. Or in sadness if they said no. Sometimes in anger if they just laugh in your face. Or in confusion if they tell you that they want to but can’t.

This happens to me, or rather it used to happen to me after exams. When I had been preparing for, building up to, the exams for ages. Working at it, studying with friends, quizzing each other. Really trying to nail down what it is that’s going to happen. And then comes the ultimate moment. Sitting in a hall with a number of my peers as we answer the questions. The only sounds being the scratching of quills on parchment, the occasional heavy footsteps of the examiners walking in the corridors between students that are frantically trying to get the knowledge that fills their heads down in a coherent pattern. All of that and the sound of your own breathing and heartbeat.

Then comes a moment where you don’t know what to do with yourself. Where you are still frantically trying to fill your mind with the answers to questions that you cannot guess. Where you look at your day and think. “What do I do now?”

This is the reaction that my family are worried about when Kerrass and I finally stop travelling together. That there will come a time where I am still trying to travel with Kerrass, wondering what he’s doing, what he’s fighting and so on. And it is that impulse, that would mean that even though I was still sick, even though I was as tired as I’ve ever been due to the exertions and weakness that my illness had left me with. Even though Kerrass was safe and the villains were in the process of being brought to the justice of Toussaint.

Even though all of that was the case, I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep. I had too many questions. I would want to pace and more around and shout at people. It was going to be interesting to see if I could even sit still long enough to eat something. Although the fact that I had enough brain power floating around to realise that I was hungry was an encouraging sign.

We couldn’t stay in the grave yard though. Ariande was concerned that it was too cold for her invalids. Her invalids meant Mark, Kerrass and myself.

Emma scooped Mark off and the pair of them went with Laurelen back to the palace. Kerrass was a slightly trickier proposition as the magic that was knitting his body together was still working it’s… well… magic. Ariadne told us that the spell required her to be in close proximity to Kerrass for the immediate future, closer the better although they wouldn’t need to sleep together in the same room or anything. Adjoining rooms would be perfectly adequate. Something for which I found that I was absurdly pleased. Neither of them would betray me but that was where my brain went at first.

So before she went back to the palace to coordinate the various manhunts that were going on, Syanna ordered a covered wagon to come and take the three of us back up to the palace. We would then join her there.

Kerrass protested at this, he declared that he just needed to “Walk it off” or whatever that meant but Ariadne was having none of it, threatening to spell him if it came down to it, pointing out that he would not have the strength to resist her if that was the way things were going to go. It said something about his mental and physical state that he did not protest this too much.

Syanna left, Palmerin stayed and commanded the guards and other Knights that were preventing Kerrass from being swamped with well-wishers and people who would be saying things like “I always knew you were going to win.” And “The man was a scumbag. I always said so, a scumbag.” I was grateful to him for that, I don’t know how Kerrass would have taken that.

He was going through his own thing anyway. Someone had brought him his sword which had obviously clattered off some stone when Alain had sent it sailing through the air and he was taking a whetstone to the edges. It was a fruitless endeavour to my eyes as it would clearly need the attention of a proper blacksmith, even despite it’s meteorite nature.

But it gave him something to do while we waited. His forehead was creased in thought.

Ariadne and I stood together as I was feeling more than a little emotionally fragile myself. We didn’t want to talk too much. I don’t know why but certainly from my perspective it was something to do with the fact that there were a lot of people watching and I wanted some privacy for what I was going to ask next.

So Ariadne and I stood together and said nothing. Ariadne occasionally frowned in concentration as she maintained the healing spell on Kerrass that was returning him to health and strength.

Alain had been taken away. Lord D’Alambourd had gone with him, partially as acting as Alain’s appointed friend and representative but also because I think he wanted to watch the final disgrace of his tormentor. I can’t say that I blamed him.

The wagon finally arrived, Palmerin shook hands with Kerrass and myself, expressed his private joy that things had turned out the way they had, kissing Ariadne’s hand as was proper before turning to make his own way to the palace.

When we had all settled into the wagon, Ariadne firmly instructed the driver that he was to drive slowly and carefully and do his best to avoid any potholes in order to avoid jerking Kerrass’ frame. Which seemed like the best place to ask my question.

“So how is Kerrass? Really I mean.” I wondered as we all settled in. Ariadne had commandeered all the cushions that were in the wagon and instructed Kerrass to place them around himself.

“You understand that I can hear you right Freddie?” He wondered.

“I can.” I retorted. I could not help but grin at him. It felt so good to just be able to bicker with him as we had been able to do. So soon after I had all but given him up for dead. “But I decided that your judgement as to your own capabilities was not entirely trustworthy given recent events and as such, I am asking the professional.”

Kerrass opened his mouth with a quick retort at the ready before he stopped, tilted his head on one side and nodded.

“No that’s fair.” He said before turning to Ariadne. “So how am I? I am feeling stronger by the second.”

“That is because you are getting stronger.” She told him. “The spell will be done with your outward appearance and musculature relatively quickly, although I will admit that your ear will never fully regrow.”

“Darn.” He said. He seemed more amused than I would have expected at being permanently disfigured. He certainly took the news far better than I would have in his place. “I can still hear out of it though.”

He placed one hand over the uninjured ear in order to test that before nodding.

“That is to be expected. The spell will cause a certain amount of regrowth although you may notice some lacks in certain registers. Certainly during the first stages as well as your inner ears are still recovering from the damage that they took during the duel. But if you truly want the full range of your hearing back at some point in the future, you should start saving for a Magic user to regrow you an ear and have it reattached. I understand that that kind of thing is quite expensive.”

“Can you not do it for me?”

“Maybe, but my rates are quite high. I am also rather busy at the moment with other projects and learning how to regrow parts of the body from scratch is a bit beyond me. Regenerative healing is a useful skill that I have made it my business to learn.”

I could not understand why she was looking at me at the time that she said that.

“But regenerating bits that have been completely cut off is both more difficult and requires a completely different set of skills. It is more alchemical in nature, or so I would think, just putting my mind to it now. I think you would be better off asking Laurelen for that kind of thing. She would certainly be able to point you in the direction of a proper professional.”

She considered for a moment. “I really should think about how such a thing would be done though.” She was looking at me again before she shook her head.

“Reknitting the torn muscles is relatively simple healing magic however. It took longer to heal your arms in the North because the healing had already started with your alchemical efforts and your natural body’s healing efforts. Muscle is, at the same time, more complicated and much simpler to reconnect than bone. And again, I don’t think it’s possible to understate how lucky you were that Laurelen and I were on hand as quick as we were. So your physical strength will return relatively quickly and you could expect to be at your normal strength levels by later on this evening. That is not to say that you should just go running around off your own efforts however. Your gut injury is far more complicated.”

“How so?”

“A human’s digestive tract is a complicated series of organs, nerves and chemicals. Those things have been pierced, cut, fried on hot metal, cut again and then contaminated with all the other chemicals and stuff that is in your belly. As a result, some bits of your stomach are still not where they should be and there are still some bits of your own digestive process that are trying to poison you from within.

“Yet again, I must tell you that you are a lucky person. If you were not a Witcher, then some of those toxins would have succeeded in killing you. But a Witcher’s metabolism and resistance to poisons, acids and the like will simply be absorbed and moved on. It will not be comfortable though.”

Kerrass squirmed in his seat.

“How so?” I wondered with morbid fascination.

“Try and imagine the worst attack of gastric distress that you have ever experienced and then triple it.” She told me before brightening. “It will in fact, be a lot like that time where you were having your insides liquified by Spider Venom. Remember how awful that was for you and how you spent a lot of time excreting things that were quite disgusting.”

“I do.” I said, looking at Kerrass with a mixture of amusement, sympathy and horror.

“Well it’s going to be a lot like that.” She told me before turning back to Kerrass. “I am going to give you a list of foods that you are not allowed to eat as well as another list of foods that you should actively pursue in an effort to make things easier on your bowls. You will not enjoy this process as it is all but certain that the stuff on the list of things that you are not allowed to eat will be among your favourite things.”

“Sounds horrifying.” Kerrass commented.

“As yet, you have no idea.” She told him. “In the meantime, the only pieces of advice that I have for you are these. Sit on soft cushions. Never trust the urge to break wind, it will often be far worse than that. And finally, do not strain when you feel the urge to use the toilet…”

“Why not?” Curiosity really is going to be the death of me one day.

“Because there is a real possibility that he will shit out part of his Colon.”

“Lovely.” Kerrass said, squirming again.

“You really should think of some of the repercussions of your actions in future.” Ariadne told him. “Healing does not just include taking some potions, binding your arm up, or being off your feet for a few days. Sometimes the healing can manifest in other, far more uncomfortable ways.”

Then she began to smile, viciously and nastily.

Kerrass stared at her for a long time.

“This is revenge isn’t it.” He said with a slight smile.

“You do anything quite so foolish again and I will do more than enjoy your discomfort.” She told him. “Freddie loves you and therefore, I love you. But he is my first, second, third and fourth priority over caring for you. Your healing is going to be uncomfortable. There is nothing I can do about that. It was going to be uncomfortable anyway. But you upset Freddie like that again? You do anything quite so foolish as that… again. And I will go out of my way to make your healing more uncomfortable. Have I made myself clear?”

I thought she spoke in a surprisingly sweet voice given the context.

Kerrass and she locked gazes for a long moment before Kerrass turned to me. “I deserved that.” He said before laughing and wincing at something and staring off into space in thought.

I took Ariadne’s hand and squeezed it.

“A little harsh?” I wondered of her.

“Only if you look at it with any kind of understanding from his point of view.” She told me. “I can understand why he did what he did and if that was the only consideration then that would have been fine. But in doing so, he risked you as well.”

“Only this morning you were telling me to look at things from his perspective. You said that his actions were inevitable.”

“And they were.” She told me. “And you needed that speech then. I, however, am protecting you now that the crisis is past.”

“I don’t understand.” I moaned.

“I do.” Kerrass said, refocusing his eyes. “And she’s right. If I follow correctly, she was right this morning in what she said to you, and she is right now as well. I did not think about how my actions would affect other people and that is what she is telling me. I could not have done anything other than what I did. But I should, also, have been more considerate as to how it was going to affect everyone around me.”

He shook his head before going to stare off into the distance again.

“I have been travelling on the road for so long. I have, only twice, found someone to love and therefore had others to worry about other than myself. The Princess needed protection, but I would be lying to you and myself if I said I only did it for her. It would even be true, as I admitted at the time, that she would have been horrified for the things that I did in her name. And now I find that I have almost a family of my own that has taken me in when I wasn’t looking for it. That is… new to me. I am not sure that I like it.”

“You do.” Ariadne told him.

“Yes.” He admitted after a moment. “I do. I was taught to depend on myself and only myself. That there would be no-one coming to my aid as I fought the monsters in the holes and the caves of the world. Now there are, and it never occurred to me that I would be hurting them by continuing to live my life the way I always have. Huh. Something to think about.”

We rode the rest of the way to the palace in silence, Kerrass staring out of the gap in the covered wagon, watching the streets go by.

I was watching Kerrass when he climbed out of the wagon. I rather thought that, even in the small amount of time that it had taken us to get from the Graveyard up to the palace, he was feeling stronger still. But he visibly, and consciously, made the decision to take his time getting up off the cushions and climbing down the stairs. Ariadne and I were about to head out into the palace when Kerrass called us over as he walked, slowly and carefully over to a bench where he wanted my help to get the sword strapped to his back.

“I want to feel like a Witcher again.” He told me.

“What is the real reason that you called us over though Kerrass?” Ariadne wondered in a calm voice.

Kerrass laughed. “I have a message for Freddie and I suspect, for you too.” He said.

“What message?” I wondered.

He grinned, he seemed to be expressing emotion a lot more since his near death experience.

“The Goddess says hello.” He said.

“Really?” I wondered. “Tell her that she can get fucked.”

Kerrass chuckled. “And she said that you would say that. She also said that that was kind of the idea. And that this time, you should bring Ariadne with you.”

“You’re not jealous?” Ariadne asked, surprisingly calmly given that I was spluttering with rage.

“No.” He sighed and tugged at his harness straps to settle them into place. “You won’t have seen her, but she was in the crowd. She was next to my head when you caught me Freddie.”

I nodded. That made a certain amount of sense.

“She told me that you were right about the thing that I’ve given up on.” Kerrass told me. “And that, despite your hating her, I should follow your example more closely when it comes to my religion in that your actions are far more immediate and determined. She told me that this was why she would offer you her blessing if you want it. And also that I should ask about what I have given up on.”

He seemed to square his shoulders a little, as though getting ready for a fight. “So what have I given up on Freddie?”

“Are you sure?” I asked him.

“The Goddess was pleased with what I did today. She was pleased with what you told me at the end, that I should go down swinging and make him work for it. But she told me that she has been angry with me recently which is when she told me that you know why. I do not want my Goddess angry with me, Freddie.”

Ariadne nodded. “Sounds wise.”

“So what have I given up on?”

“Princess Dorne.” I told him. “You love her, you know that. She loves you. You know that too. You have been running from your feelings since we left this place last year. You should go to her and you should not give up on your own happiness. Even if it must wait a year or two for her to… I dunno… age a bit. Do what she needs to do to secure her Kingdom.”

Kerrass nodded, again, calmer than I expected.

“I do not know where to begin with that.” He admitted.

“It starts with a conversation.” I told him. “A letter maybe?” I checked with Ariadne.

“She will be at the wedding.” Ariadne said. “As part of the Empress’ entourage. You should write to her that you will see her then, so that you might converse and discuss matters properly.”

Kerrass nodded.

“Then I will do that.”

He nodded again as though making a final decision and set off marching towards the palace gate. There was a slight limp to his step and I looked in askance at Ariadne.

“Those bowel issues are making themselves known I suspect.” She said with a smile.

I laughed,

“So what do you think?” She asked as she linked her arm through mine and steered me to follow Kerrass. “Should we take the Goddess up on her offer and accept her blessing?”

I stared at her. “Surely you can’t be serious? The last time I went near that woman, that... thing, she all but destroyed my mind and my sense of self.”

“Yes.” Ariadne agreed, “but for two points. The first is that I think you needed the shock of what she told you and what she did to you. I think that much of that is still going through your mind and that you should not discount what she had to say quite so easily. She could have done it gentler but for the fact that I don’t think that that is in her nature, or that you would have listened to a gentler version.”

“And secondly.”

“When offered, even though it is not a religion that you follow. Is it really wise to turn down the blessing of a Goddess? Especially when offered freely?”

I don’t know.” I told her. “In this case, it might.”

“Besides,” she went on. “This time, there would be someone with you.”

“There was one last time as well.”

“But that person was not me. And it might be an experience.”

“We will talk on this later.” I have been told by married men that this is sometimes a necessary tactic. If there is clear sign that the other person in your life is determined to have their way, or thinks that they are in the right when you are less convinced, then sometimes, all you can do is put the matter off to be discussed at a later date.

It was dark now and we moved slowly as we moved through the courtyards of the palace. Part of that reason was that Kerrass was moving slowly and with pronounced care. Could he have moved faster? Probably, but he was taking his new vow of taking more care of himself to heart and the exaggerated lack of speed seemed to be part of that. The torchlight guttered and we were occasionally forced to stand to one side as groups of guards or Knights were rushing this way or that way. The Palace guards were augmented by the black armour of the Imperial forces again which was telling me something.

I was tired and anticipating the prospect of my part of all of this nonsense being done. If they had managed to turn one of the conspirators then there was an almost certainty that they would have what they needed. I looked forward to a long bath, followed by a nice meal followed by the kind of pleasant slow collapse into bed of the man that knew that he didn’t have to get up in the morning. You know the one, where you want to try and enjoy the process of falling asleep.

The night air smelled good, burning lamp oil combined with the smell of damp and coming rain and I felt really really good.

We were shown straight into the main centre of the investigation where only that morning, before Kerrass’ idiocy had even been a part of his imagination, we had sat and talked about the death of Madame Duberton and where we were going to head to as part of the investigation now. It seemed like a long time ago now.

I had expected the place to be a hive of activity, people rushing in and rushing out and shouting with each other. Much like it had when we had first turned up to the headquarters of the Knights of Saint Francesca.

But it wasn’t. There were considerably fewer people in the room for a start. Syanna was there and was sat, happily, discussing things with Lady Tonlaire and a couple of other courtiers. One of which I knew to be the herald and the other I didn’t recognise. There was also an armoured and visored pair of Knights on the door.

Other than that, the only difference that I could see was that someone had propped a large chalkboard on one of the walls. On which was written a series of names. Some of which had been crossed out.

Syanna saw us first.

“Lord Frederick.” She exclaimed with a happy smile, leaping to her feet. “You know the Lord herald don’t you?”

“We have met but only briefly.” I said, shaking the man’s hand. “Your servant My Lord.”

“No no Lord Frederick. I am at your service,” the older man said with a smile. Shaking my hand. “I understand that I have you to thank for all the excitement in the courts recently. That business with Sir Gregoire and the Courtesan. Quite entertaining.”

“If costly.” Lady Tonlaire was smiling. There was a set to her features that suggested that she was happy, but confused with it. As though that happiness was a new sensation to her and she didn’t really know what to do with it. “But without that action, I would not be here now to enjoy the downfall of so many terrible idiots.”

Syanna laughed at that. Like her sister, Syanna is a beautiful woman, but I always thought her a bit hard. But now, in her triumph, she suddenly seemed dazzling in her beauty. It was as though her face had become alive and she positively shone with joy.

“So many idiots.” Syanna said happily. “I too am enjoying some of their downfalls. But let me finish the introductions before we all go back to basking in our victory. Lord Frederick, Madame La Comtesse, Witcher Kerrass. It is my honour to present Lord Mathieu Devereaux. He is the high Prosecutor of Toussaint and will be putting together the trials of those people that we have captured, or are capturing as we sit here and speak.”

She looked over at the messenger that had just come through the door and passed her a piece of paper. She opened it and read it. “Hah.” She said with delight and leapt towards the chalkboard before crossing another name off. “Sir Costeau is now in our custody.” She crowed before clasping her hands in joy..

“Lord Frederick.” Lord Devereaux seemed a dour man, old before his years and I don’t think he would be cross with me if I said that he seemed to stoop in a recognisable way to me. It spoke of many hours sat crouched over a book, peering at the contents. But he smiled as he shook my hand, kissed the air above Ariadne’s knuckles although I noticed that he kind of had to steel himself to do so, and finally shook Kerrass’ hands with unalloyed delight. “And Master Kerrass. Thank you sir. Thank you. You have made an old man very happy.”

Kerrass raised his eyebrows.

The older man sighed and winced a little in remembered pain. “The former Lord Moineau decided to seduce my wife. The prospect of sleeping with a heroic young Knight was more appealing than sleeping with an old-before-his-time Lawyer. And he did it because I was dealing with a land dispute between a friend of his and someone else. Then he broke my wife’s heart when he ridiculed her in public after the case was over. I couldn’t duel him of course as I barely knew which end of the sword to hold and so I had to console my wife in private while pretending to be unaware of why Alain and his friends were laughing at me behind our back.”

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“Will your wife return to court now?” The Herald asked.

“I doubt it. She will be too afraid that people will laugh at her. She stays on our estates now.” He told us. “We understand each other. There is affection there, but the love that we both hoped for has passed beyond us I fear.”

“There is time yet.” Syanna said as she came back to the table. “Especially now that her tormentor is almost certainly going to hang.”

“I will speak with her.” Lady Tonlaire told the other man. “Woman to woman. From what I understand, the Empress is trying to change how the world views service and the virtues of those that serve.”

“I thank you all.” Lord Devereaux said.

“Before my fiancee almost kills himself with questions.” Ariadne jumped into the conversation with both feet. “I must ask if dinner can be ordered as both my charges need something to eat.”

“After the afternoon that they’ve had, I’m not surprised.” The Lord Herald harrumphed. I had never before heard someone speak in a Harrumph before. I wonder if you can train someone to do it.

Syanna laughed and called in a servant. She seemed to be laughing a lot at the moment and I didn’t want to take that away from her

“I’ll have…” I began but Ariadne cut me off.

“Lord Frederick will have whatever red meat that you have roasting with some thick gravy, whatever green vegetables that you have available, bread, butter and plenty of all of it. No cheese however.”

“What?” The herald looked horrified whereas Syanna was amused.

“The Witcher will have some chicken, preferably a breast, with some mashed carrots and swede. He can have the innards of some soft white bread and may drink a cup of milk for refreshment. It is vital that no seasoning at all be applied to either the meat or the vegetables.”

The herald was aghast. For such a thin man, I would not have taken him for a foodie.

“Further to this.” Ariadne went on. “Neither man is to be brought any food whatsoever without consulting me first. Lord Frederick can eat what he likes for the rest of the day but I am to be consulted for his three main meals. Kerrass is forbidden from eating anything other than what I say.”

I was bemused. Kerrass was appalled and as the servant left, Ariadne spun on him. “Consequences of your actions.” She told him.

Again, Syanna laughed, her mild laughter turning into a loud guffawing when Kerrass nodded meekly and went to sit down.

“Where are we?” I asked.

“More than half the prisoners that we want have been caught and taken into custody.” Lady Tonlaire said while Syanna recovered her composure. “Lord Velles was most co-operative and is under guard in one of the guest rooms as well, away from the cells where the other people are being kept.”

“There is some concern that he would not survive being amongst the other prisoners.” The Lawyer said. “Personally, I would say that it would get rid of a lot of problems if they did. But in the meantime?” He shrugged.

“What have we learned?” I wondered. I suddenly felt quite weak and found that Ariadne had pulled over a chair for me to sit on.

“Not much.” Syanna told me as she recovered from her fit of the giggles. “Names mostly at this stage. I want to get them all caught before we start to really get on with the interrogations. We need to prevent another Jack attack tonight otherwise all of this is going to be for nothing.”

I nodded. I was fading and I could feel my brain and thought processes retreating from me. I sat and waited for the next questions to occur. “So Velles has confessed?”

“He has.” Syanna said. “He almost seemed proud, if a little resigned. He’s trying to make out that he was acting for the benefit of Temerian trade concerns and that Queen Anais will be angered if he is inconvenienced. That the new regime in Toussaint has made it difficult to get their proper trading done.”

“Has it?” Ariadne wondered.

“No.” Syanna said. “What it has done is meant that Temerian merchants can’t smuggle as much across our borders under the guise of everyday trade.”

“The problem with the matter…” The lawyer began. “Is that he is, or rather claims to be, a Temerian national and as such, we can’t just hang him.”

Syanna waved her hand in the negative. “Even as we sit here speaking, my sister is writing to the Temerian Ambassador to demand that we be allowed to try Lord Velles in our courts and with our laws. They might have a Queen and we only have a Duchess, but we are still of equal standing in the Temerian court. Even if Queen Anais denies the request, the legal concerns would carry on for years and the Empress will almost certainly come down on our side. The man confessed after all and the Empress has views on rape and murder.”

A thought occurred to me. “If you do get into too much trouble with the Temerian court, then you could do worse than speaking with Emma. She is friends with the Temerian Chancellor’s wife and has them both up to the castle for tea whenever the Chancellor is in Novigrad addressing trade concerns.”

“Good to know.” Syanna said. “But I don’t think it will come to that. Anais is certain to be as horrified as anyone about what has happened here.”

“How are the other prisoners doing?” I wondered as Ariadne poured myself a cup of something hot and steaming. I looked for Kerrass who was over lying, stretched out on one of the softer couches which suddenly seemed like a really good idea.

“They are fine.” Syanna said.

“They’re not fine at all.” Lady Tonlaire said. “They are too calm. They should be outraged. They should be trying to bluster their way out of whatever mess that we’ve got them in. They should be whining and shouting. They are not, they are waiting.”

Something tickled in the back of my brain although I couldn’t tell what it was.

“They are in shock.” Syanna told her. Desperately trying to hold onto her triumph. But I could tell that she wasn’t quite happy with it. “They’re in shock. They didn’t expect that they were going to get caught and now that they have been caught, they don’t know what to do with themselves.”

“I’m sorry.” Lady Tonlaire shook her head. “I know that I am the new child in the class, but I don’t agree with that for a moment. One of the things that Lord Frederick…”

“Freddie, please.” I said from my position seated at the table with my head in my hands.

“What?” She asked, shaking herself out of her current train of thought.

“It’s Freddie to the people that I work with. “Lord Frederick to enemies or people that I don’t know.”

“Huh.” Her eyebrows raised in surprise. “Does that mean that I’m promoted?”

“Time will tell.” Ariadne told her. “It can vacillate depending on his mood.”

“Noted.” She considered this for a moment or two before shaking her head. “One of the things that Freddie has said over and over is that these conspirators are clever people. Lord Velles is hiding behind attempts at diplomatic immunity and the, from what I understand, huge trading power that Temeria has when it comes to the selling of Toussaint wines abroad. So there are two factors here… The first is that the other conspirators would know that there is a real possibility that there is a weak link somewhere and they will have a plan to get rid of that weak link when they eventually fold.”

She looked at Syanna significantly. “Lord Velles is under guard isn’t he?”

“Significant guard yes.”

“Because if he is kept in some guest quarters, Lord Frederick’s sister has proven that not all of those guest rooms are entirely secure.”

“We know about all of those passages now after Lady Vigo went through the palace with the proverbial fine toothed comb and…”

Lady Tonlaire was warming up to her subject now and waved this off. “So they would know that there is a possibility of a weak link in their chain somewhere. But they would also know that there is always the possibility that they would be caught. We have them now because, frankly, we were cleverer than they were. But they knew that this was a possibility. They had to. SO what do they have in place to stop this. What do they have ready to be in place should it all fall down around their heads. Because they will have something. Even if it’s not a very good something.”

She sighed as she seemed to run out of words.

“It’s not an invalid point.” Kerrass said from his couch.

“It’s not.” The herald agreed.

The lawyer looked thoughtful, while Syanna tugged at her lip unhappily.

“To be clear.” Lady Tonlaire said. “We’ve not done anything wrong, we have made no blunder. I think, I agree, that they are beaten. My question is, do they know that. And if they don’t?”

“What do they know that we don’t?” I finished looking back up.

Silence fell on the room for a long moment.

“Fuck.” Syanna said. “We’re back to reacting again aren’t we. Fuck.”

She picked up a cup and threw it at the wall before laughing bitterly. “Prophets but I am such a cliche when I get angry. I need something to hit or,” her gaze became contemplative. “Or something to fuck I suppose.”

“I’m injured.” Kerrass complained.

“I’m too old and remember you as a baby.” The herald smiled. “It would be strange.”

“I am married.” The lawyer said, a little bitterly. “And although my wife has not always been faithful, I will not betray her in the same way.”

I was too busy enjoying the attempt to lighten the atmosphere to see where this was heading.

“I would offer to lend you Freddie.” Ariadne said calmly. “But he takes pride in that kind of thing and he is too tired and sick to properly perform.”

“Hey.” I protested.

“Call me a liar Freddie.”

She wasn’t wrong.

“Fair enough.” Syanna said. “How about it Lady Tonlaire. You fancy a go? The table looks sturdy enough.”

The lady in question was clearly astonished at the way the conversation had shifted. “I… I’m not sure it would be appropriate.” She spluttered. “And… I must confess… I do not find the female of the species interesting in that way.”

“I do.” Ariadne said, still with an infuriating calmness.

The room went deathly silent for a moment. Speaking for myself, my imagination was running away with me as Syanna made a play of considering the prospect.

“Nah.” She said after a moment. “It would send the wrong message if I got involved with another Vampire.”

“It would seem a bit distasteful.” Ariadne agreed.

“And given that Damien is still dealing with Leblanc, I guess I need to find something to hit.”

She pulled herself together and back into seriousness.

“Ok,” She said. Going and picking up the broken cup before she poured herself another drink. “What are they going to do? What’s their plan? No idea is too stupid.”

“Having Velles killed.” Lady Tonlaire answered promptly. “If he is removed then that is a lot of their justification for it. If they can get some poison in him or otherwise debilitate him? If they can portray him as mad or some other way. As it is, they can just claim that he is foreign and therefore not to be trusted but at the same time…”

“I need to stay here,” Ariadne said. “but if I can recommend Lady Laurelen examine the man to see if he has already been poisoned. She is more skilled in such matters than Lady Vigo. If all else fails, I can take Kerrass and we will go together.”

Syanna scribbled a note on a piece of card and passed it to a servant who scurried off.

“Anything else?” Syanna said.

“Last ditch attempt on the Duchess, or another target?” The herald said. “The resulting arguments about succession would last for months, if not years and would almost certainly involve an Imperial intervention. After that, the conspirators’ imprisonment would be prolonged, delaying the trials which would give relatives and friends the opportunity to bribe, engineer and politic their way to freedom.”

“My sister’s protections are vast and varied as it is.” Syanna said. “Since the first time that Freddie suggested the possibility that my sister might be the ultimate target, her guard was increased. Her food, drink and clothing is all tested for poisons and she wears gloves. Her maids are highly trained by the Imperial intelligence service as a gift from the Empress and the guards that Damien and I have placed on her room are amongst our most humourless and utterly lacking in Imagination. She is as secure as I can make her without locking her in a box and burying her in a ditch somewhere.”

“That’s… a bit extreme.” The herald had paled.

“Not all that long ago, I planned to send an Elder Vampire against my sister in order to kill her.” Syanna said reasonably. “Before that, I had considered many other schemes and since our reconciliation I have worked to plug those gaps that I found when I was looking. Which include gaps that I only knew about because I grew up in the palace itself. Any more ideas?”

“They know, that we know, that Jack is more than one person now right?” I wondered.

“I have no idea.” Syanna said. “Other than Velles who has only really had time to give us a list of names and to admit some of his own part in what was happening, we have not had time to question any of them.” And the people that would be doing the questioning have been busy with other duties or are busy rounding up the last of the conspirators.”

I nodded at that.

“Then there could be another Jack attack. If there is someone that we haven’t caught yet. Or if there is a decoy or something.”

“Who would do that?” The lawyer was appalled. “They would then be the scapegoat for everything.”

“Someone could be forced.” I suggested. “Or the other thing is that they wouldn’t need to even do very much. Just make it clear that Jack is still out there and to be feared before vanishing somewhere. It could be a flunky or a hireling or…. Any number of things. Then our existing prisoners will argue that they had nothing to do with it, that Velles would say anything, would implicate anyone in order to save his own neck and on and on it would go.”

Syanna listened carefully. “So we must keep the Jack watch up.” She said. “Lovely, people are going to love that.”

“Only until we are certain that we have everyone.” I told her.

“And when is that going to happen?” She said with a resigned smile. “Alright, what else?”

“They could frame you.” I added. “If everyone suddenly starts arguing that this plot was your doing.”

“That might work.” Lady Tonlaire suggested. “After all, your recent attempts against the crown are still in a lot of people’s memories.”

“Including yours?” Syanna grinned nastily. “But why would I have worked so hard to catch them?”

“When you were given no choice by the pressure of the court.” I said.

Syanna sighed and visibly set aside the scorn. “Important people wouldn’t believe it. They would know.”

“And,” The herald spoke up, “they will have possibly forgotten just how irate your sister gets whenever your loyalty is questioned.”

Syanna laughed at that. “She does get cross, doesn’t she.” She sighed. “I think that’s the least likely. They could try it, and I suppose that a few people would believe it. But I must admit that the people that would stir up that kind of thing are among the people that we’ve arrested.”

“True.” Lady Tonlaire admitted. “And my husband is neutralised on that count as well which robs that courtly faction of their leader.”

“So what else?”

The conversation went on like that for a while. Each of us adding things and ideas. There was a break in the conversation when Guillaume and Gregoire came back like conquering heroes.”

“We have properly got Alain.” Guillaume said. “The names that Kerrass gave us of some of Alain’s staff and groundskeepers that would be more than willing to testify that he is a villain. We also have some more names…”

“I hope that you’ve…” Syanna began.

“We’ve already sent out some people to get them arrested.” Guillaume said.

“How did it go otherwise?” I asked.

“Boring.” Gregoire told me. “I was looking forward to some righteous violence but everyone was overjoyed to see us. And those of Alain’s guards that are under suspicion surrendered without a fight.” He sneered at that and the good natured laughter that his words enjendered. “I thought there was supposed to be some good fighting with all this “Being a hero” nonsense.”

“Sometimes.” I told him. “But I have to admit that the main reason for being a hero is that we get the best women.”

“There is truth in that.” He admitted.

Ariadne smiled at me.

“And so you are victorious.” Guillaume greeted a Kerrass who had climbed up to meet the two Knights. “I will admit, I was not sure that I would see you again.”

“You nearly didn’t.” Kerrass said. “He had me, I will not deny it.”

“It’s true.” I added, “blade through the gut and everything.”

“Alain’s weakness was always that he insisted on playing to the crowd.” Gregoire said. “Over and over it was that that meant that he was not as good on a horse as he could be. Insisted that the horses looked pretty and that his lance was properly festooned with ribbons. Which meant that he turned away from proper… Ah well. I would have liked to see him piss his trews in fear though. That must have been something to see.”

“It was.” Syanna said.

“No word from Captain de La Tour then?” Guillaume was scribbling some new names on the chalk board.

“Not yet.” Syanna said. “I would expect something any minute.”

We filled the two men on what we had surmised about the state of the prisoners and they offered some other solutions. Gregoire was of the opinion that the prisoners were shocked. That they simply could not conceive that they had been caught and so were frozen by it.

“The argument has more merit than you might think.” Guillaume said. “I have rousted several bandit groups that were led by a nobleman in disguise who was using the bandits to impact his neighbours trade goods and to supplement his excitement and other appetites. They were always baffled and outraged at the fact that I insisted on arresting them and ignoring their demands that I unhand them at once. Then they would kind of freeze in outrage.”

Syanna grunted at that.

It was clear that we had run out of ideas about what could possibly be keeping the prisoners so calm though. The Herald informed us that he would arrange a large part of the morning’s court for Syanna to announce and explain the arrests and then he retired. The lawyer was not far behind him. He told us about the need to start early on getting ready for all the public trials that were bound to come up after that.

Lady Tonlaire stayed. I think she was enjoying seeing the other side of things now while Guillaume interrogated Kerrass about the duel and everything involved.

Gregoire sat in the comfiest seat he could and went to sleep. For a moment there, I found pity for Anne. Gregoire snores. And I mean like a tree saw.

The room slowly sank into silence then. It took a long time and my cutting off all the conversations that were still taking place there, is being a little bit unfair. There was still a lot of talking. A lot of moving around. But none of it gives any insight into the minds of the people at work that you don’t already know. None of it was new or groundbreaking. A lot of it was gossip or going over old conversations that had already happened elsewhere. So it seems rather pointless to go through them all word for word.

Guillaume spent a long time analysing the duel with Kerrass. I don’t know if this was cruelty or kindness on Guillaume’s part as the two men went through it. Kerrass would later claim that it was useful to happen as it further emphasised to him just how much he was outclassed by the other man. They sat and talked about every move, every countermove and every gambit. There was technical language there that I did not understand and had no frame of reference to go through. It was… kind of boring to try to listen to. I imagine that it’s much the same as how it sounds when a complete novice, or someone who is completely uninterested, tries to listen to two high level card players talk about what they can do with their decks.

Lady Vivienne came to join us after a while. The Duchess had retired early, looking forward to the morning’s court as I suppose she had every right to. So Lady Vivienne came down to spend a bit of time with her husband. Not that the two of them spent any actual time together. They seem to be the kind of couple that are content so long as they can spend the time in the same room. Lady Vivienne sat and talked with Ariadne about things.

What things? I’m afraid I’m going to be very stereotypical here and say “feminine things.” They talked about dresses, fashions and makeup. They talked about our coming wedding and their wedding that had taken place a couple of years ago. But not about the bits that I was interested in. They talked about flowers, types of flowers and their arrangements as well as the particular kinds of perfume that each of these flowers would put out. They talked about those bridal traditions that I had no idea even existed. Things like the fact that Ariadne had to wear something that she had borrowed from a friend or relative. I have no idea why.

But it went on and on to the point that eventually I kind of drifted off into other thought processes. I did briefly wonder if part of the reason that they went through all of that stuff was due to the fact that they were trying to wind me up in some way.

Kerrass’ and my food turned up. His plate was as uninteresting a pile of mush as I have ever seen when it comes to food in Toussaint. The food of Toussaint is almost universally delicious, if a little over rich for my taste. It’s the kind of thing where, after a short while of it, you find yourself longing for some simple meat, vegetables and gravy.

When you are out on the road and eating the substance that you optimistically call “stew” that was made from whatever trail rations that you have left as well as whatever herbs and vegetables you have been able to forage from the side of the road, you pray for this kind of well cooked, carefully seasoned, meal. But after a certain time spent eating as a guest of the highest court of Toussaint, I would have cheerfully taken a bowl of stew and a loaf of hard trail bread any time.

Kerrass’ plate was a disgusting looking mush of vegetables that had been mashed together along with a plain chicken breast. The entire thing was covered in a white sauce that Ariadne frowned at until it was clear that it was merely milk, flour and a bit of salt.

Kerrass looked at it, looked at my plate, looked at his place and then, with the expression of a man who was on his way to sacrifice himself to dark gods so that other men don’t have to. He took up a fork and started to eat the food.

After his first mouthful, he wore an expression of a man doing what he has to do.

My food was delicious. Red meat, onion gravy, white bread, butter, green vegetables. I could feel my body taking in the goodness from the meal. I could literally sense all the goodness being sucked out of it to the point where I was forced to slow down with the eating so that I could enjoy what was happening.

Ariadne just watched the pair of us eat with a smug expression on her face.

The biggest component of the sinking mood was Syanna though. When we first came into the room, she was animated, happy, laughing and cheerful. There was a stream of messengers and guards that were coming in to talk to her, pass messages to her and give her updates. At first she was happy with each message. She would thank the messenger graciously and every so often she would get up and walk to the chalk board where she would cross a name off the list or she would add another name in a sorting order that I did not understand. When we first saw this she would give a little exclamation of joy before she would return to whatever conversation she had been part of up until that and picking up where she left off.

But as time went on, the stream of messengers became less and less. The names that were being crossed off were becoming fewer and fewer and Syanna’s mood was dropping further and further into the gutter. At first she became less and less gracious to the messenger. Then, as they became less frequent, she would look up when another came through the door, only to let her smile fall as it became clear that the messenger was for someone else, or didn’t carry the message that she was waiting for.

About the time that Kerrass’ and my food turned up, she stopped even trying to be part of the conversations that were happening around her and started pacing the room, slowly, with her hands clasped behind her back. Every so often she would stop in front of the chalk board and examine it in detail before she would do something with it. She might move a name from one column to the next column before changing her mind and moving it back.

Then she would make an effort. She would ask a question, crack a joke, demand of Ariadne as to when she would get an invitation to the wedding, tease Guillaume or Lady Vivienne or make fun of some foibles of her sister.

Then she would stop, her face would fall gently into contemplation rather than humour or even anger. And then she would start to pace again.

And gradually, one by one, we all ran out of things to talk about and instead, we were all just watching Syanna pace.

After a bit longer, it even became clear that there was a pattern to what was happening. She would pace so far in one direction before stopping and peering at the wall. Then she would turn and pace back the other way. She might stop any of her journeys from one end of the room to the other to suddenly turn on one of us, opening her mouth as if to answer a question and we would all lean forward in anticipation of whatever words or orders would come forth. Then she would stop, tip her head on one side, shake her head in the negative before resuming her slow trudging from one end of the room to another.

The silence became so oppressive that Gregoire woke up.

So oppressive that every time I yawned, I felt embarrassed for the sudden noise in the deepening gloom and weighty sense of anticipation.

Syanna’s armoured footsteps echoed on the polished wooden floor, her armour rattling with every stride. Then she strode to the chalkboard suddenly and picked up a piece of chalk and viciously underlined Raoul Leblanc’s name several times with enough pressure that the piece of chalk broke.

“Where the hell is he?” She demanded of no-one in particular.

I only narrowly avoided asking who “he” was. Guillaume was much smarter than me.

“It could be taking time.” He said.

“How long does it take to ride to the Leblanc estate?” Syanna demanded of him.

“From here, riding hard and straight with a small number of men, it would not take him long.” Gregoire said. For those wondering. It was about here that I realised that everyone was talking about Captain de La Tour.

“But he stopped to marshall troops.” Guillaume said. “He detoured to headquarters to find troops. Marshalling and equipping them would have taken time. And he would have wanted to make sure that everything could happen when the duel was taking place.

Syanna nodded. Everything that people were saying made sense.

She turned to Ariadne “Could you use your magic to… I don’t know… look to see what is going on?”

“The correct term is to “scry”.” Ariadne told her. “And such things are far from certain or confident in their accuracy. Also, I will need some components that I don’t have to perform the ritual that I know. Which include Fifth Essence.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s an essence of certain magical beings.” Kerrass said. “You harvest it from Fiends and is also a byproduct of certain Alchemical processes but the generation of which is random and isolated. It is one of those elements of magic that are more chaos than art or science.”

“It is rare,” Ariadne said. “And rather expensive.”

But Syanna was waving the pair of them off. “Yes yes.” She said. “I take your point.”

And she resumed her pacing.

It was in this way that I learned that the room was six of Syanna’s paces wide, by a little over fourteen paces long. A little over because the progress was impeded by the presence of a drinks cabinet on one end and some other kind of dresser on the other.

I was dealing with my own conflict. The conflict being that my body was clearly exhausted, but my brain refused to allow it to rest. Every time that my body would just be on the verge of nodding off, or putting my head on the table in front of me, my brain would fire another dose of the stuff that Ariadne calls “Adrenaline” into my system. I would straighten in my seat, shift my weight around a bit and then peer around myself to see if I had missed anything. The noises of those movements echoed in my skull hugely and reinforced my embarrassment.

And still we waited, listening to the sounds of Syanna’s feet falling on the ground and the jangling of her armour. The time stretched out in front of us and behind us into an endless procession and again, I could feel it tugging at me. The attraction of wrapping a blanket around my shoulders and wriggling down into the warm embrace of the bed that would welcome me in the same way that a mother hen welcomes home her chicks.

Or I assume that’s what she does.

And then I realised that the pacing had stopped.

Syanna was standing in front of the chalkboard. I tried to remember the last time that some messenger had come through the door to make a change. I tried to remember what that change was.

But I couldn’t. It seemed too long ago.

Syanna reached out and picked up a piece of chalk and rolled it around her fingers before very slowly, reaching forward and circling Sir Raoul Le blancs name. The scraping of that chalk as she circled the words seemed to echo loud in my mind. A far more pleasant sound than that of nails on a board, but the effect was exactly the same. It drew the attention of everyone in the room. It sucked in the sight and the mind until we were all just watching her hand as it held the chalk and it scratched round Sir Raoul’s name over and over and over again. It stopped, near where she had begun, at the end of the name where she did a little squiggle that anyone who uses chalk regularly would recognise as the full stop or period at the end of the writing. Then she lifted the piece of chalk off the board slowly and let the hand holding the chalk fall down to her side as she continued to survey what she had done.

Then, after a long while, she placed the chalk back in the groove.

“Come on.” She decided. “I’ve had enough of sitting here with my thumb up my ass. To horse gentlemen.”

Sir Guillaume and Sir Gregoire had been waiting for something like this since she had stopped a little while ago. They were up and out of the chair in short order and heading for the door, strapping sword belts and things to their waists as they clattered out the door.

Syanna approached me.

“Freddie.” She said carefully. “I wouldn’t ask, because you look like an undercooked egg. But…”

“I know.” I said.

“It’s just that… You have a habit of seeing things that I miss, or noticing things, or thinking in ways that I do not have the expertise or manpower to deal with.”

“I understand.” I said, pouring myself a cup of coffee and drinking it down in one.

“And you have a way of needling people that would make it…”

“Relax Knight Commander.” I said formally. “If I can help. I will.”

She put her hand on my arm in thanks. “I promise.” She said, forcing a smile onto her own face. “I will drown you in courtesans. You will have so many tits in front of your face that you won’t know what to do with yourself.”

“I can think of a few things.” I said. “Sleeping for a start.”

She forced a laugh as she peered at Kerrass who was climbing to his feet. “I wasn’t going to ask Witcher, given what I hear about your recent injuries. But I would be lying if I tried to claim that you wouldn’t be useful.”

Kerrass looked better. He still had the greenish purple glow that was dancing round him as a sign of the magic that

was still knitting his body back together. But he moved with his old energy and grace as he climbed out of the couch.

“Am I well enough to go?” He asked Ariadne.

She shrugged. “The ride there is going to be far from pleasant for you. I might suggest an extra cushion or a few layers of sheepskin to soften your saddle.”

“In which case…” He said turning back to Syanna. “Just you, try and stop me.” He said. “The man himself might be getting whatever’s coming to him. But Lady Moineau’s death was part of a greater plot. And the people responsible for that still need to pay.”

Syanna nodded. “But you will behave under my orders. No more foolish and noble gestures that will endanger everyone.”

Kerrass grinned at that before nodding. Syanna turned to Ariadne.

“Lady Ariadne, I would be grateful if you could come as well.”

“If you mean to bring Freddie and Kerrass then you would struggle to stop me. Apart from anything else, I need to stay near Kerrass in order to maintain his healing.”

Syanna nodded and led us out of the room at a fast pace. Fast enough that we had to scramble to keep up.

I was unsurprised to find that our horses were ready and waiting for us when we got to the courtyard. We mounted up after Kerrass discovered, much to his disgust, that the gag about padding his saddle was not that much of a gag after all. Gregoire and Guillaume had already mounted up and had commandeered a dozen palace guards as well as another half or dozen or so Knights of Saint Francesca and there were more rushing over.

“I’m not waiting.” Syanna declared. Now that she had made her decision, she was determined to do what she needed to do about it. “You two,” she pointed at a pair of lighter armoured guards. “Ride to Headquarters and bring as many as are left to the Leblanc estate. Bring Lady Caroline herself if it means that her guards come with us.”

There was some exchanging of glances.

“And find out when Damien was there and how long ago that he left.” The two men raced off into the night.

Others in our party were busy lighting lanterns and torches. The main roads of Beauclair and Toussaint itself are well lit. THe cloud cover and the damp made it so that we would get no light from the moon or the stars…

People in the cities always mock those things where people talk about getting their way forward from the light from the moon. They say “How can the moon be bright enough for a man to see in the pitch darkness of nightfall.” To which I would wonder if they have ever actually been out there in the middle of the night. When the air is clear, the moon is bright and well over the half moon. It bathes the world in a soft silver that is easily used to travel. I wouldn’t want to move through thick woodland while that sort of thing is going on, but through lanes and well known tracks? No problem.

Ariadne helped by raising her staff in the air which gave off a pale green light. It might have been a bit sinister given the fact that it was green rather than the yellow orange of flame. Or the fact that it was the spider part of the carving that was glowing. But we were travelling with the highest lawkeeper in the land.

Also, the bit that I found sinister was the fact that she didn’t have it with her when we stepped out of the palace and into the night air. Ariadne’s staff is one of those mysteries about her that I keep meaning to ask her about and then I forget until she’s not around. But when she is there. I always have something on my mind.

Syanna rode to the front of the group and turned her horse so that she could face us all.

“I wish I could tell you what we’re expecting.” She told us all. “But the truth is that we just don’t know. There are a range of possibilities including that when we get there, Damien has caught all the people that are there and is just making sure that they are all secure. That one thing or another is delaying him and when we get there, he’s going to smirk that annoying smile of his and say something like “Oh, you were worried?” If that’s the case, I reserve the right to smack the shit out of him for worrying me.”

There was some laughter. And to be fair, her impression of Captain De La Tour was rather good.

“But the other extreme of the possibilities is also true. That the reason that we’ve not heard from either him or the people that went with him, is because Lord LeBlanc has captured them and is holding them against their will. That what we are riding on is a rescue mission. Or…”

She bared her teeth in a snarl.

“Or, we are riding to get our revenge for the murder of those Knights and guardsmen.”

There was some murmuring.

In the meantime. I expect you to watch each other’s backs. Expect ambush. Expect traps and expect them to sneak up on us. Seconds to me are Guillaume and Gregoire. But if Comtesse Ariadne, Lord Frederick or Witcher Kerrass order something, or shout a warning, then I expect you to do what they tell you to. Clear?”

There was one of those affirmative choruses that seems unique to military people about to set out to do something violent. Mostly, made up of people nodding and saying “Aye.” But there are other noises in there as well. Including more than one “Fuck yeah.”

Syanna didn’t wait to hear what everyone was going to say. She just turned her horses head and steered us out of the courtyard, down the path and across the bridge into Beauclair itself.

After our earlier conversation, Beauclair was still in a curfew lockdown in preparation for the possibility that Jack might still be out there and on the loose. So the streets were deserted. I had the strongest feeling of deja vu as we rode and it occurred to me that it was only this morning that we had all ridden out in an effort to try and solve the murder of Madame Duberton. It seemed strangely surreal to me. We even took the same route through town in order to get to where we were going.

There was more noise now though. I mean, yes, there were more horsemen in our party as we rode forth. But there was more noise coming from the houses and inns that we passed. We might have been under curfew but the gossip had gotten out that the watch and the Knights had arrested a whole heap of people. And so, there was almost an air of celebration in the air. We heard sounds of raucous singing coming from one tavern. Another larger house had some genteel music playing. A burst of laughter came out of an open window, echoing strangely in the torchlit streets and one, more private house had a carriage outside and open window from which issued the unmistakable sounds of a man and a woman enjoying each other’s presence.

We did not ride too quickly. There was a sense of withheld speed. As though this was a long distance race rather than a sprint. A slow trotting more than anything.

The guards on the gate were ready for us and the gates opened as we came into sight. Meaning that we didn’t have to stop which was better for everyone involved I think. I am not sure that anyone would survive Syanna’s wrath that night. She was making the best of it. She was cracking jokes and answering questions and making the speeches. But she was on edge and there was no mistaking that. There was a set to her shoulders that I had not seen from her before.

Her humour was that little bit darker and she was a little bit more prone to snapping at the people around her.

Guillaume rode at the front of the procession with Syanna behind him. THe huge form of Sir Gregoire brought up the rear, a massive, domineering weight that followed behind us. Reassuring in his solidity as we headed out into the night.

There only seems to be one road in and out of Beauclair when these important missions are concerned. We rode past the olive trees of Corvo Bianco and came to the bridge of the Cockatrice. The Inn itself was closed for custom although there were some lights on behind the shutters and no noise came from within. We turned and rode on, deeper into the countryside, past the road that would eventually lead down to the Headquarters of the Knights of Saint Francesca and as we did so, it started to rain. Just a gentle drizzle, far from the torrential downpours that I have weathered in the North. But there was a biting cold to this rain. As though it was made up of tiny little needles that were driven into the flesh.

I have no idea if I felt it worse than anyone else, it certainly felt as though that were the case and I pulled my cloak that little bit tighter around me. The falling water was not quite enough to threaten the torches though and we rode on. The hooves of our horses began to splash as we rode through the slowly forming puddles. THe ground was too cold to properly absorb the water and for some reason, it occurred to me that this would be miserable weather to have to fight in.

I did not ask how far we still had to go although I desperately wanted to know the answer. I felt like a child that is halfway through a long journey, wondering whether or not he would be shouted at for needing to relieve himself yet.

Out of nowhere, Kerrass pulled his horse to a stop. Fortunately, it was a horse that had gotten used to him, even if it had been loaned to him out of the Ducal stables. So the horse didn’t rear, or protest over much. But we were in the middle of the column and so it bunched up.

A strange thing happened to me then. I was riding along, minding my own business and slipping into the gentle dream state of the experienced traveller. It’s kind of a fog that wraps around your brain like a blanket when this happens as you watch the road and world roll by under your horses feet. I shouldn’t have been in this state really, but again, I was tired, sick and it was dark. There was the smell of burning oil in the air and even though we were moving at the pace of a trot, I was actually finding it kind of restful. I have been more tired, and I have been more sick, but there was something going on about that particular combination that was conspiring to make the circumstances feel even more soporific.