“Ok Kerrass. I think I've been really really patient up until now. We haven't seen any other sign of civilisation now for over a week other than this stupid track that we keep following. I'm tired, dirty and desperately in need of a drink so I hope that you take all of those things into account when you consider this question. Where, the fuck, are we?”

“We're in Nilfgaard.”

“I'm an educated man Kerrass and I know how to read a map. I know that. But what I also know is that Nilfgaard is a big place. One might even go so far as to describe it as being Fucking huge. So I will ask again. Where the fuck are we?”

Kerrass smiled a little. “Don't worry about it. We're nearly there.”

“I ask because, as you might have noticed. It's beginning to head towards autumn now, the leaves are dying and it's beginning to get fucking cold. These things tend to pray on a man's mind when he's miles from fucking anywhere.”

“As I say, we're nearly there.”

“That's lovely and everything but where exactly is that?”

“In Nilfgaard.”

“You know that I can tell when you're winding me up right? Your back has this particular tilt to it that tells me that you're being a smug bastard.”

“Temper,”

“Temper? My left tit. I want a bath Kerrass.”

“I once knew a man who lived to be a hundred and forty years old. He claimed that the only reason he lived so long was because of his steadfast refusal to take a bath.”

“I've heard this story before Kerrass. The man you're talking about was a Witcher. He further went on to claim that his stench used to do half of his work for him to subdue the monsters in question. I also remember hearing you say that he could clear a nekkers nest by stench alone. I, however am the son of a nobleman and as such I do not require such aromas to be announcing my presence three days in advance of my actual arrival.”

“It would at least tell you who your friends are.”

“Yes. My friends are those with no sense of smell. Where the fuck are we?”

“We're nearly there.”

“I also seem to feel as though you've been saying that for several days now.”

“I know, it always used to shut you up before.”

“Yes well that was before I caught on to your gambit. Where the fuck are we?”

“Wrap your cloak around you, you're beginning to shiver.”

“Now, you're not going to catch me out with that one either. That's because we've been climbing steadily for the last three weeks. I'm not good at guessing but we're considerably higher than sea level now.”

“I'm impressed. Does that mean that you shouldn't wrap up warm?”

“Why so interested in my health all of a sudden?”

“Because Ariadne threatened to pull out my spleen if you die up here.”

“Yes, but she meant it affectionately. Also, don't think that you've changed the subject. Where the fuck are we?”

It has to be said that I have since looked at a map. The area we were moving through was well forested on either side and was also well away from any of the major trade routes. It was indeed sparsely populated where the odd village seemed to be in place because it had been a while since people had settled anywhere. I tried to look up the history of the area and there is an astonishing lack of anything happening. As it held little to no strategic value, nor did it have any mineral wealth to speak of then the people there were left well enough alone to enjoy their freedoms. It was the kind of place where the imperial tax collectors would have to collect their payments in goods rather than in coin. What they did have, were trees.

Lots of trees.

The people there were large and heavily built. They maintained long dark hair and beards, men and women were both heavily muscled and wore heavy woollen clothing. They spent their days hunting and felling trees which were used to make, just about anything. Animal skins were their only real export to speak of and as such, everything else was used up.

I had the feeling that they were good people over all but at the same time they had a way of staring at you that would kind of put you off. As though they were measuring you up with their eyes and finding you wanting in every way.

We had landed on the shores of Southern Nilfgaard some three months before hand. We spent a couple of weeks on the coast line where Kerrass spent some time working and getting together what he described as “Capital” as he didn't want to be working while we travelled further inland. He gave me an odd look when I suggested that I could happily provide for us while we did any kind of travelling before insisting that he would be providing our travelling expenses.

This from the man who had used to insist that I pay for my own way as well as often demanding that I pay for certain amenities for himself as well.

He saw it as a responsibility now. Because I was doing something for him then that meant that he had to provide for me. As I say, he needn't have bothered. I had discussed my finances with my sister before departing in the summer and with the added amount that had been left to me by father, I had more than enough money coming to me on a regular basis for Kerrass and I to live in relative comfort for the duration of whatever errand it was that had brought us this far south.

He wouldn't hear of it though because he was a stubborn wretch.

I also knew that Emma had taken it upon herself to pay Kerrass for his time. Even though I had commissioned Kerrass to find my brothers killer and my payment had been in the form of performing a favour for him, Emma had insisted on paying Kerrass with Family funds.

I also know that that sum was not small and that Kerrass had made no effort to refuse payment.

But now we slept outside as often as we did inside and we ate frugally.

When we had been back at my fathers castle I had found myself looking forward to being out in the open air, of dressing simply without having to wonder what the current fashions were and who I might be offending if I wore blue rather than red. I had also been looking forward to plain and simple food rather than the carefully crafted dishes that our family cooks had implemented all of those times.

But now that I was out here, on the road. I found that I was becoming desperate for those small luxuries that people take for granted. Mattresses, pillows, properly cooked fresh meat and bread.

“Seriously Kerrass, where the fuck are we?”

“Patience.”

“I don't want to be patient Kerrass.”

“It's good practice for you.”

“What do I need the practice for?”

“When you get married.”

“Who says I'm getting married?”

“I would say that Ariadne has already decided the issue myself.”

“Yes... well... Don't think you're distracting me. Where the fuck are we?”

“I've told you before, I want you to see it for yourself and draw your own conclusions.”

“Fucking Witchers and their fucking air of mystery and their stupid, superior...”

“What was that?”

“Nothing. I just belched.”

“Well you can't be that hungry then can you.”

I swore loudly.

It was around four months now, since father had died but try as I might I couldn't quite get myself back into the mind set that I had used to occupy. So much had changed now, even just between Kerrass and myself. His attitude towards me had changed. Now he acted more like some kind of mother hen, fussing over my clothes and preparations, clearing up after me and making sure that I had had enough to drink and eat and that I was getting enough to sleep.

There was also the other thing that seemed to have happened, without much input from myself. As far as women went I was now off the market.

Ariadne had spent that first night consoling me before I eventually fell into an exhausted sleep. She was gone when I woke up however I did get to discover that she had brought us a cooked breakfast from the castle.

That would set the pattern for the next little while. Kerrass and I would ride on, taking our time to get to Novigrad. She and Kerrass seemed to have come to some kind of understanding although I never saw them talking about it. We would ride on the main road for the majority of the day, taking it easy and eating from the saddle but at various points, Kerrass would look up as though he had seen something and lead us off the road to a place where we could camp. There we would always find Ariadne waiting for us, food preparing over the fire, firewood stacked, fodder for the horses as well as fresh supplies for the day ahead. The three of us would sit and talk while Kerrass and I ate. Ariadne claimed to have eaten at the castle with Emma and Laurelen although I never had the nerve to ask her what they had eaten. She and Kerrass kept the tone light, her asking comical questions about modern civilisation and courts while he asked her about the habits of various monsters and alchemical ingredients that she might know about.

At some point over the course of the evening, I would find myself alone with Ariadne. Sometimes it was Kerrass that would wander off to “train” but just as often it was the pair of us that would go off for a walk. I remember waiting for some gesture of intimacy. For her to take my arm or to offer a cheek or a hand to be kissed in some way. I don't know what I expected really as I had never really had the opportunity to be part of any kind of formal courtship but what I do know was that it wasn't happening. She seemed perfectly content to just walk and talk with me.

For my part, I talked about my family mostly. I did a lot of grieving during that week or so that we took to get to Novigrad. One of the first things we had been told by Ariadne was that Emma had booked us passage on a ship that wasn't due into port for a little while so we took the time. I was grateful for that. Novigrad is a wonderful place, second only to Oxenfurt in my opinion but at the same time there would be far too many people who would know who I was there. Far too many people who might harbour ill will towards my family and I, and I didn't entirely trust my temper to stay subdued.

Not that I needed to say that to Kerrass. He either knew, or had his own reasons to want to stay out of the city.

But mostly Ariadne and I spent time talking about my family or the works that she had begun to take in Angral. She talked excitedly about the new manor house that she was having built and about how she was entertaining herself by asking for open planned buildings with lots of light and ventilation rather than the dank and unpleasant buildings that people expected of her. She talked about her meetings with the Lodge of Sorceresses and her thoughts about them. She had lots of questions about those women, about their past history, about what they did, what they had been doing and what they intended to do.

One of the important things to be said was that she not only heard everything that I said, but that she listened to what I was saying. There is a difference after all but she listened to my opinions and took them on board.

I liked that.

But she said absolutely nothing about any potential betrothal or even a remotely possible wedding. Every time I tried to steer the conversation towards the subject she, just as deftly steered the conversation away.

When our ship came into port, the visits stopped. She told us that she didn't want to risk teleporting onto a moving ship but that she would do her best to be in touch when we reached port. Her intention was to return to Angral after all as Emma was getting stronger and more assured in her new position.

We parted on the docks. I bowed as formally as I could manage and she nodded a reception to that bow and told us that she would see us in Nilfgaard.

The voyage was long but relatively peaceful. We did have one exciting period where the captain had us run from some pirates. Whether by skill or luck, we lost them in a small grouping of islands before making landfall in Nilfgaard.

Ariadne was waiting for us on the docks.

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about a potential wife who knows where I am at all times.

She greeted us and told us that we had rooms booked and paid for at the local inn so that we could get a good nights sleep before heading off.

I was still feeling a little bemused by the entire thing but was lead by Kerrass who seemed to take the entire thing in his stride.

Ariadne was waiting for me when we got downstairs.

Technically Kerrass was waiting for me. He had managed to snag us a table but when he saw me he pointed over to the bar where Ariadne was standing. She was gently, but firmly declining lewd suggestions from a couple of the locals who were suggesting things like “Dangerous night for a lady,” and “What's a nice girl like you...” and things of that nature.

Never let it be said that I am not at least a little bit shallow and the fact that Ariadne is clearly a beautiful woman.

She seemed to be enjoying herself though but she deftly disentangled herself from their clutches when she saw me before leading me outside.

“Are you alright?” I asked.

“I'm fine. There are always going to be people like that.”

“They would run a mile if they knew who you are.”

“You mean, if they knew what I am,”

“That's not what I said,”

“I know,” she smiled a little, half teasing, half melancholy. “But it was what you felt. Anyway, I wanted to talk to you and also I have something for you.”

“Right,” I said it a little more guardedly than I had at first meant to. We sat on a nearby bench.

“This is awkward,” she said before laughing a little.

“More than a little bit,”

“Right then, I'll just come out and say it. I'm not going to talk to you about romantic things. My general feeling from you is that you are still too...”

“Terrified?”

She smiled a little.

“That as well, but I was going to say that you have a little too much on your mind to be worrying about romance. That's not to say that you would necessarily say no to a roll in the hay with some willing woman but long term intimacy is not something that you are really ready to consider yet. Am I wrong?”

“No you are not wrong,” I admitted after a while. “I will also admit that you surprised me when I got home to find out that you had opened negotiations with my family.”

She smiled at that. She has a wonderful smile when she does so genuinely. She sometimes has a habit of hiding her mouth with her hands to hide the fact that she has fangs rather than teeth.

“I'm glad, I wanted it to be a surprise but...I also know that...Dammit.” she chuckled again. “This is a lot harder than I thought it would be.”

“Conversations like this often are.” I said. “Try it from my end. I'm talking to an undeniably beautiful woman,” I ticked the points off on my fingers. “Who is of higher noble rank than I am, from a different time and a different race. Not to mention my trained prejudices as well.”

“Does it make it uncomfortable for you?” she sounded fascinated, as well as delighted by the effect that she was having on me.

“Arousal, plus terror, plus shyness, plus nervousness plus Flame knows what else. Discomfort and confusion in equal measure I think.”

She nodded, clearly delighted. “You really think I'm beautiful?”

“Of course you are.”

“I should tell you that I' not wearing an illusion at the moment.”

“Really?”

“Really.” She peered at me to try and guess my reaction.

I felt a little stunned.

“Wow,”

“Is that all you can say?”

“Hey, don't just lay that on me. Terrified remember.”

“Oh yes. I forgot. Anyway...” She was all business again. “I wanted to tell you that I don't consider you to have any kind of obligation towards me. Of course I would like you to tell me if you find someone else to marry and I will admit to being disappointed if that happens but at the same time I have no objection if you decide to have the aforementioned, “Roll in the hay” with a willing woman.”

“Right?” I felt as though there was a catch here somewhere.

“I will also say that you seem a lot better after the sea voyage so I will no longer be keeping tabs on you. I will continue to write to your sister in an effort to maintain that relationship. I would like to think that even if negotiations between you and I fall through, that I would be able to maintain that relationship. I will also write to you as well if you are agreeable.”

“Of course.”

“Good, I am pleased.” She said it as though We had completed a business transaction. “But I want to give you something.”

She produced a small cloth bag.

“It will be a small effort of will not to keep track of you because I know that the life you are living at the moment is a little dangerous. I...worry about you.” She looked away as she said it. “And I would hate to think that something happened to you when I could have done something about it. So I have made you this.”

She produced a small pendant. It was a beautifully made holy symbol of the eternal fire wrought in silver with the fire made from some jewel. I could not imagine how much it must have cost.

“You didn't have to do this.” I said as I looked at the pendant in wonder.

“No,” she said with a slight smile. “But I want to. I made it with my magic as crafting from silver was an old skill amongst my ancient people and I wanted to see if I still had it. I also had it blessed by the Bishop of Angraal who said he was honoured to do it.”

“It's beautiful. Thank you so much.”

“Before you get too grateful there is something else I should say.”

I looked back up at her.

“This pendant is tied to me as well. If you take hold of it with your right hand and call my name, I shall come to you. Kerrass knows about the pendant and what it does.”

“What did he have to say about it?”

“He said that it would be nice to have some artillery support. Whatever that is.”

I laughed. “What should it be used for?”

“For any reason. Although if it's combat then you might want to give me some warning so that I don't accidentally throw balls of fire into your allies.”

“That would be problematic.”

“That's one word for it.”

She held it out and I ducked my head so that she could fit the chain over my head.

“Thank you Ariadne.”

“You really like it?”

“I love it.”

“Good, I am so relieved.” She laughed again. “Well I'd better get going.”

“You won't stay for dinner,”

“No, you have fun with your friend.”

“Did Kerrass tell you where we're going?”

“No, although he did tell me what might happen there?”

“Is that bad?”

She laughed again. “No, I don't thinks so. Indeed, you should enjoy it if what he says is true. Take care of yourself.”

“I will,”

She took a moment to stare at my face for a moment before abruptly walking off amongst the buildings. A blue circle formed in the air and then she was gone.

Kerrass was eating when I went back inside.

“Do you like the pendant?” he asked without looking up.

“It's beautiful.”

“That's not what I asked.”

I thought about that for a moment.

“Yes, I like it.”

“Did you kiss her?”

“No,”

“You should have kissed her.”

It seemed that that was the end of the discussion as far as he was concerned as he took that opportunity to shovel spoon full of vegetables into his mouth.

Two months later and I'm still getting used to the extra weight around my neck.

Kerrass spent a lot of time procrastinating around the area where we landed, taking various jobs and working monsters that I didn't think that he would have bothered with previously. I found the entire situation rather amusing, certainly from a studious perspective. Kerrass is always the most comfortable person in the room.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

He lounges while other people fidget. He has the soldiers trick of being able to fall asleep in the most uncomfortable positions in all kinds of strange and wonderful places. I found myself wondering if this was his version of being uncomfortable. If this was his version of wasting time, or putting off a task that he didn't want to do, in the same way that I used to put off writing a particularly long essay, or cleaning out my horse.

Very carefully though, I said nothing. Nor did I do anything that might interrupt whatever was going on in his head. I figured that he was doing something, processing something that I didn't know about, something that he hadn't told me about.

So I watched, waited and did what I was told.

I made some new contacts in the south. Many more letters of introduction were given to various nobles who wanted to make the acquaintance of the new Baron Von Coulthard and the lady who would be heading up the Coulthard trading company. I made some notes on some of the monsters that could be found in the southern areas of the continent that don't turn up in our more northern climates. I was even able to perform a couple of autopsies and send off some samples to the university.

In the end, Kerrass' decision seemed to come on him fairly abruptly. We were sat on the outside of a nearby town. That curious state of being where a place is bigger than a village but much smaller than a city and Kerrass was negotiating the destruction of some kind of beast that was haunting the outskirts. Abruptly Kerrass just stared off into the distance for a long moment, much to the concern of the villagers that we were talking to at the time. Then he turned and told them that he had to leave. He left some instructions as to how the beast should be driven off and methods to be used to render the beast harmless. (Apparently they really like milk. A small bowl of milk left outside will send the creature into a torpor where it will sleep for days at a time) Then he turned his horses head and without another word we started to ride South East.

After several weeks travel of travelling through rather boring farmland I became aware that we were beginning to climb. The terrain started to become rockier and with a lot more trees dotted around the place. There were other changes as well. People stopped farming sheep and started farming goats instead. Cows started to become a much hairier variety and I was informed that they were called Yaks.

Still Kerrass said nothing, other than to tell me that there were less likely to be bandits attacking us and more likely to be wandering beasts of some kind. For himself, the silver sword was strapped next to his steel one so that he ended up wearing the two together. I've only seen him do that kind of thing when he's really concerned about the kind of place we're going in to.

Regardless, the signs of civilisation became less and less. Villages became fewer and fewer. The road became less and less maintained. There was a frontier kind of feeling to the place. As though humanity made occasional efforts to set out into that wild place and yet that same frontier fought back.

We even talked about the subject once. Sat near the camp fire while Kerrass roasted some animal over the fire. I didn't recognise it's shape and when I had asked what it was Kerrass told me not to worry about it. It was an old subject for the two of us to chew over around the camp fire which was whether or not “monsters” were dying out and whether or not Witchers were still needed. I had made the observation that there were obviously still monsters lurking around the place. In the dark areas off the road and moving through the undergrowth. Kerrass had had several enquiries of work being available as we moved through the region so why had the Witchers not moved south. Why wasn't the place crawling with monster hunters who make their money off hunting these things. Not just Witchers but mercenary groups like the Crinfrid reavers or the dwarven Trollhunters.

“It's not as simple as that.” Kerrass said sticking his knife into the meat to check on it's level of being cooked. “As well as monsters to hunt, we also need to find people to pay us to hunt them. Otherwise why bother. In that regard, Witchers are very similar to everyone else. When we get paid we like to spend that money on luxuries like food, wine and women. I'm not as keen on gambling but I can understand the allure of it. Out here there is simply nothing to spend it on and the kind of people who also like to drink and enjoy the company of the opposite sex gravitate towards those centres of civilisation where the most money can be made. Out here people are wanting to get away from those kinds of things so that they can think of themselves as being free.

“Then there is the problem that once they get out here. Who's to say that they want to hire a Witcher. Yes there are plenty of monsters but how would they pay me. I can't eat rabbit skins and most taverns or whore houses would laugh at me if I tried to pay them with a goat, and rightly so.”

“So why aren't there the other kinds of monster slayers. The knightly orders who claim to have a duty to make the countryside safe for the common folk.”

“Come on Freddie, you're not as naïve as you used to be. You know the answer to that.”

“I do, but I want to hear what your answer is.”

“Because the important thing about being a holy knight who walks into danger for the good of their fellow men is so that they can be seen to do so. It's all well and good being holy and wonderful if no-one's there to tell you how holy and wonderful you are.”

“That's fair enough. So where are we going again?”

Kerrass grinned at me and threw some rosemary into the fire without saying anything.

It was a long way. A very long way that we travelled. I had a rough idea that there were some more signs of civilisation ahead of us. I knew that at least one city lay between us and the wastes that were in existence further to the east but I also knew that most people travelled via the trade routes to the south or went via the middle of Nilfgaard to the north. All that was in the direction that we were travelling were a few rather sharp hills that the locals referred to as mountains.

It was the cold that should have been the thing that had begun to warn me that something strange was starting to happen. When you spend so much time exploring old ruins and strange places, temperature is one of the things that you look out for. You start to watch your breath in case it starts to mist, or billow in any way that is out of the ordinary. Cold can betray any number of things, mostly it tells about the presence of spirits or a pervasive aura of magic.

But in this case I didn't notice it. It was a slow, creeping thing. It was also not entirely uncomfortable.

I've spent a bit of time trying to think about how I should describe this feeling and so I shall try this.

Imagine that you've lived through a really hot and humid Summer. Even if you're the most ardent lover of the sun, sooner or later the constant heat and thickness of the air can become oppressive. Now imagine that the air has started to cool, that a breeze has blown up and wraps round yourself, finding the little holes and gaps in even the thickest of woollen blankets before one day you are walking around outside in your “summer clothes” and suddenly you shiver for the first time. You laugh at yourself and at your stupidity in wearing the thin garments this late into Autumn and you resolve to start wearing more clothes starting the following day. Then you climb into bed and where you had been leaving the vast majority of your bed clothes aside and been forced to lie separately from your bed partner, suddenly this is the first time that you can wrap yourself up and appreciate the comforting feeling of being properly wrapped in a nice warm blanket.

That's what it felt like.

There were other clues of course. One of those clues would have occurred to me if I had any knowledge about what one of my friends described to me as “human geography” which is about how humans found Kingdoms, settlements or cities. He would have taken the map and pointed out that their should have been a Kingdom there. Or at the very least a settlement and a significant one.

He wouldn't have been wrong. The strategic value is significant, any castle would be extremely defensible. There is plenty of wood for timber as well as stone and the enormous potential for mines of various ores. So why wouldn't there be a settlement. Or industrial community that mined and chopped before sending their goods further away.

All of these clues should have occurred to me. But they didn't because I was cold, tired and bored.

Instead, what I did do was to wrap my cloak tightly around me and began to doze. To allow my thoughts to slowly sink into a stupor where I just stared at the horse in front of me without moving or commenting.

I don't know how long it took or how long before I eventually just let it happen but what I do know is that Kerrass was waiting for it as he caught me just before I fell of the horse.

“You alright?” he asked as he tried to push me back into a seated position.

“Tired,” I managed, blinking at him stupidly.

“We're nearly there. Hold on a little bit longer,”

“Need sleep. Eyes heavy.” I grumbled.

“I know Frederick, just a little bit further though.”

With quick movements he tied me to the horse and led me onwards.

I slept.

I woke up to some kind of demented hellish landscape. It was dark and I was beyond exhausted. My eyelids were heavy as though weights were pulling down at them. I felt sick and feverish and I raved like a madman.

I was screaming and it was my own screams that woke me.

Kerrass pulled me from my horse but he still held my arms tight. Other men joined him and I was carried somewhere. All around me was fire and smoke and the sound of axes chopping, always chopping deep into fleshy wet trunks of things that I didn't recognise.

The smoke was choking me and I screamed more and more until I was hoarse. I felt the shadows leap out at me and the fire leaping towards me. It burned me and all the more I screamed. Sharp blades tore at my arms and at my clothes, shredding my skin and muscles with lines of fire.

I pleaded with Kerrass to kill me.

There was a woman's voice.

“Handsome isn't he,” she said, almost matter of factly. I didn't know the voice but a ringing slap exploded against my cheek.

“Believe me when I say that it's just his fucking luck that I get him here just as she's having a nightmare.”

I came to. I was in a wooden building although the planks that made up the wall seemed oddly shaped as though the trees that they had been cut from had twisted together while they grew. The grain of the wood almost seemed as though they were weaved together as though they were a tapestry. It looked beautiful.

“I take it it's his first time here?” the woman said.

“Yes,” Kerrass' voice.

“You should have left him outside and come in by yourself to find out how things stood.”

“Yes I should, but I was already pressed for time.”

The woman snorted as she grabbed me by the chin. Just as I was about to sink back into sleep and into that nightmare.

“You're always pressed for time aren't you.” her dislike for Kerrass dripped from her voice. “You always leave it till the last possible minute before coming here and then, when you do turn up it's the rest of us that have to deal with your messes.”

I felt her thumb prise back my eyelids and bright, stabbing light was held close.

“Luckily, if we can keep him awake for the next couple of hours, I don't think he'll go mad. Why, didn't you send a message ahead?”

“Would you have answered?”

“No,” The woman sighed. I still had no idea of who she was or what she looked like. I fought to keep my eyes open but I felt sick. It was like I was out the other end of being drunk where the nausea and the dizziness hits you.”

“Can you help him?”

“Yes, at least long enough until she gets back into a normal sleep.”

“Good. I'll be outside.”

“What's his name?”

“Frederick. He's a good man Sonja. He'll feel guilty if she does the whole...”

“Yes yes, I know the drill. Go on, get out there. The axes are still in the same place.”

I heard a door close. I started to nod off again and felt my head loll.

Once again I heard the flames and the screaming before a sharp pain in my ear brought me back to myself.

“Drink this,” her voice was much more gentle. “I know it taste's awful but it helps.”

I drank the thick, viscous fluid that she gave me. It was salty and bitter although it left a feeling of fire in it's path.

I tried to focus on the figure in front of me.

“Don't try. It's pointless. Just try to hold on for a bit longer. She's been going like this for a few hours now so she should be due to go back to sleep in a little while just hold on.”

“This is getting worse.” said another woman's younger, but enough like the first that I automatically thought of her as a daughter.

“You're not wrong.”

“You always say that it was easier when you were younger.”

“And I'm right. Take some water out to your father.”

The door opened and closed again.

“Now listen to me, Frederick's your name?”

I managed a nod.

“Well I don't know how you managed to fall in with Kerrass the puss filled bag of puke. But whatever crime you might have committed isn't worth it. If we were anywhere else and you rode in with him I would have given you a horse and a bag of money so that you could get away from him. But here?”

She sighed and grabbed at my ear again before I dropped off to sleep.

“You need to listen Frederick as this is important. It's going to be some time before you begin to get used to this. So in the meantime there are some things that you need to know in order to survive. When you wake up it's vital that you eat as much as you can stomach before going back to sleep, otherwise the danger is that you might starve to death. So eat.”

I felt a fork full of something that smelled like porridge being held near my lips. It was pleasantly smooth and well honeyed after the salty mixture from earlier.

“The other thing is that, this is awkward. At the moment, she's having a nightmare. Sometimes that dream becomes more... lustful. When that happens, do not feel guilty about what happens next.”

I tried to speak but another spoonful of porridge interrupted my voice.

“You'll know it if it happens.”

I ate as much as I could before even the sharp tugging at my ear could no longer keep me awake.

I slept.

I awoke slowly. The bed was comfortable and warm and it took a long time to clamber towards wakefulness. The climb made even worse by the fact that I didn't really want to wake up. After the last nightmare my sleep had been blissfully quiet and uneventful. My eyes opened by themselves so that I could stare at an unremarkable, if spotlessly clean ceiling.

“You're awake.” A young woman's voice came to me along with the scent of chicken soup that almost physically reached down into the depths of my being to grab my stomach and shake it. “Half a moment.”

Strong arms grasped me and helped me into a sitting position. At first I fought against them wanting to tell the person that I didn't need help but as it turns out I did. My head swam and for a moment my vision blurred.

“Eat,” said the voice. I had a blurry vision of Green cloth and red hair before a spoon all but forced it's way between my teeth. I chewed and swallowed automatically. The soup was delicious.

“Try some more.”

Another spoon followed another and I could feel the warmth sliding down my throat and into my stomach. The dizziness began to recede as my body started working furiously to take on the nutrients as fast as possible.

I closed my eyes to concentrate on the sensation.

“Try and keep your eyes open, if you can. You need to concentrate on staying awake for as long as possible so that we can get some food into you.”

“Why is it always chicken soup?” I managed to gargle out between spoonfuls. “When we've been ill, why, chicken and not beef soup?”

The voice laughed delightedly. “He told us you were clever, but not that you were funny.

I took another spoonful.

“I didn't think that was very funny.”

“It's better than some of the lines we get fed. Take some more.”

I swallowed.

“Why am I so tired? I feel weak as a kitten.”

“Just a little more, that's it. I promise I'll tell you everything later. Good. Rest now.”

Her last words were a little redundant as I was already sinking back down to sleep.

I dreamed. I cannot remember much about although I remember it being particularly vivid at the time. I felt as though I was living an alternative life where I had never left to go to university and I was arguing with Father about how crop rotation really worked.

When I did wake up I felt his name on my lips and then the crushing realisation that he was still dead hit me like an avalanche and I felt tears welling at the corners of my eyes.

“It is good to remember the dead.”

I looked over. A young woman was carefully putting a bookmark into the volume that she had been reading from before placing the book on a nearby table. She was startlingly beautiful. Long, curly red hair that edged just towards a lighter shade of ginger at the edges. A heart shaped face with green eyes that was covered in freckles and her cheeks dimpled when she smiled. She wore a plain green dress that looked as though it had been made with simple, hand woven cloth over which she wore a waistcoat made of dyed green leather. She had a belt that tied the entire thing down that had several pouches attached, including a sharp knife that I recognised as belonging to a herbalist as well as several pouches that looked as though they were designed to house specimens.

“Do I pass inspection?” she asked with a sly smile.

“I'm sorry.” I said, looking away. “But your beauty startled me.”

“Charming as well.”

“Hang on, am I naked?” I felt myself blush.

“Yes,” she said simply. “You have been in bed now for several days and it became necessary to clean you. There is no need to be embarrassed.”

“Wonderful.”

“I thought so. My name is Marion and I have been assigned as your companion while you are here.”

“Marion. Where are my clothes?”

“Off being cleaned. They will be returned to you.”

There was a knock on the door. Marion got up and let in a woman who must have been her mother as the family resemblance was significant. A large tray of food was handed across and Marion set it on my lap.

“Eat,” she said. “There's no better cure for what ails you then food and rest.”

“What ails me?” I will confess that I spoke with my mouthful but the smell of the meat and gravy had set my mouth watering.

“Do you not know?”

I shook my head. Not wanting to waste time with silly things like words when my mouth could be better employed by eating the delicious green vegetables.

She sighed and rubbed at her temples. “That Witcher companion of yours is more trouble than he's worth. Believe me.”

“That doesn't answer my question.” I managed between mouthfuls.

“No it doesn't. There is a significant magical spell that affects this entire area.”

“That makes us sleepy.”

She smiled a little mischievously. “Among other things. You truly do not know where you are?”

“No.”

“In which case, may I say that you are taking this all remarkably well. I would have been climbing up the walls by now.”

“You say that you are assigned to me. Why?”

“I will answer that question later, but you are already tiring. Eat. Keep eating and then eat some more.”

I felt more questions bubbling towards the surface. I opened my mouth to ask them but Marion came over to the bed and took my eating implements off me and started shovelling the food into my throat almost faster than I could eat it.

She was not wrong though. My brief spurt of energy was already waning.

I don't remember when I dozed off but I do remember waking up again. Marion was asleep in the chair next to the bed, her head back and a blanket was tucked in around her as though placed by a loving hand. Another tray of food was next to the bed and remembering her previous instructions I ate as much as I could before beginning to feel the pull of sleep I set the tray aside.

I only just made it.

The next time I woke up I was alone. My clothes were laid out on the chair next to the window and a slow rhythmic sound came to me which at first I couldn't identify. I had heard it before in the midst of my nightmares but this time the noise was far from frightening. As I listened carefully I could hear music that went with it. Many male voices rose in song over the beat, working together in automatic harmonies that I couldn't follow. There were words in that song that I couldn't hear properly but I resolved to find them.

Next to the chair, on the table was a large platter of bread, butter, meats and cheeses along with an apple and a large jug of milk that was cold enough for condensation to form on the outside of the jug. A note was propped against it which read simply “EAT”.

I dressed and did as I was bid before leaving the room.

Outside the room was a landing with a number of doors leading off it. I climbed down some stairs and into an open area, at one end was a large bar behind which was another woman. Again she was astonishing in her beauty, although where Marion was young, this woman was older and more mature with her beauty. I guessed at an aunt of some kind although her hair was long, dark and straight where Marion's was frizzy and ginger.

She caught my eye as I climbed down the stairs and poured some kind of steaming liquid into a large mug that she placed on the counter top.

“Marion will be along shortly.” She said.

“Alright?” I was confused. The way the woman said that was as though I had just asked for her or was wondering where Marion was. The woman noticed my confusion and frowned a little.

“Marion was assigned to you wasn't she?”

“I have no idea. Although she did mention something like that.”

“Ah, you're the ignorant one.”

I drank from the mug. It was a pleasant, nutty drink. “Ignorant?”

“I meant unknowing. In your case it isn't really your fault although you could do better in your companion.”

“People don't seem to like Kerrass very much around here do they.”

The woman looked at me, flatly and carefully neutral. “No,” she said before moving off.

Marion came running into the room, looking as though she was out of breath. She was taking off a wide brimmed hat from which hung a thick veil as well as un-wrapping a scarf.

“I'm sorry,” she said dashing towards me. “Are you alright? I wouldn't have left you but I keep the bees you see and they needed some care.”

“I'm fine, also, your life is your own business. Why would I care where you went to?”

“Because I'm your companion in this.”

“In what?” She was peering into my eyes and frowning slightly and I was finding it rather off putting.

“In this place, at this time.” She said before subsiding in what I thought looked like satisfaction. “But I think you're over the worst of it.”

“Worst of what?”

She sat back and looked at me. She was smiling and I realised I was staring.

“Sorry,” I said looking back down at my cup. She really was beautiful.

“Don't be.” She said simply, putting her hand on my arm. The touch was electric and I found that I was hyper conscious of it. My tongue seemed to become thick and I struggled to find something to say. Anything to say.

Holy flame, Was I nervous?

“I've sent word. Your...companion will be along shortly.”

She took her hand from my arm and asked for some drink that I didn't know. She was poured a mug of what I had and I thought it was endearing the way she held it with both hands. I looked away.

“Is that,” I cleared my throat, “Is that important?”

She smiled again and I realised that I was noticing how her eyes sparkled.

“It is. It's for him to tell you what this place is. Then I will explain it and answer any questions I can. I should say that he owes you an explanation.”

There was just a hint of steel in her voice as she said that last part.

“Why?”

“That will wait until you see where you are.”

“You aren't telling me very much.”

“I know and I'm sorry.” Her hand found my arm again. I so desperately wanted to take that hand in my own and hold on to it. I wanted to tell her that she didn't need to be sorry.

“This place is a place of rules by which we must live if we are to remain here. Please understand,”

Her eyes pleaded with me and I wanted to reassure her.

Dear flame was I falling in love with her?

“I don't understand.” I forced myself to say. “But I will wait for my explanation. For now.”

She nodded and seemed mollified by that. She went back to sipping her drink which left a small frothy moustache on her upper lip. I longed to wipe it off for her but instead I just pointed this out with a gesture.

She rewarded me with a radiant smile.

“Are there any other rules I should know about?”

“No weapons,” she said promptly. “They are kept under key which is held by others in a safe place. If you wish to leave here, those weapons will be returned to you. The reason for this will become clear. You are exempt from the working rule as this is your first time, even more so because you are ignorant which is how we describe those rare souls who are lucky enough to find us by accident before something worse finds them. It is no insult.”

“I take it that the reason for these rules will be forthcoming.”

“Yes,”

I had to force myself not to look at her as otherwise I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to look away.

It had been a long time since I had last been crushing on someone this hard.

“The last rule is that you do not force yourself on anyone...”

“I thought that was self-explanatory.” I was appalled and frantically trying to keep the tone light.

“I wasn't finished. The full rule is that you do not force yourself on anyone other than your companion.”

I stared at her appalled.

“What?”

She wasn't looking at me.

“Please don't leap to conclusions Frederick. You do not know everything yet.”

“Marion I.... I would never force....I couldn't.”

She silenced me by putting her finger against my lips.

“You are a good man,” she said. There was a deep sadness in her eyes as well as a pain that I thought was deeply buried. “I can tell. But you do not know everything yet. Kerrass will come, then come and find me. I will be beside the bee-hives and I will explain everything.”

She left. Almost at a run and I stared after her, my mouth hanging open in horror.

The woman behind the bar leant over and put a kind hand on my shoulder but I barely felt it. I turned to her.

“I would never...”

“I know son. We all do.”

She went back to the small chores that always seem to need doing in a tavern, wiping surfaces and cleaning cups.

I don't know how long I sat there but it was a long time before the door opened again to admit Kerrass. He was stripped to the waist, was covered in black ash and sweat. He propped a large woodsman's axe against the door frame.

You don't often think of a Witcher sweating, but they do. The thing about them that's different is that the sweat is all but odourless so as not to give away their position to monsters.

I didn't look up as he walked in but I heard him. Something about his tread sounded so familiar that I just knew it was him.

“Dear, sweet flame Kerrass where have you brought me.” It wasn't really a question.

“Would you believe that I've brought you to one of the number one vacation spots in the southern part of the old Nilfgaardian empire?”

I felt my self growl.

“That's not fucking funny Kerrass.”

“I know.” He sighed as the tavern woman put a mug of frothy ale on the counter top for him. He took a long swallow. “But it's true none the less. I am so sorry Freddie. I've seriously messed this up.”

“You think?” I bellowed at him.

He remained un-ruffled but I saw the inn-keeper reach under the counter top for a moment.

“Flame Kerrass but if anyone else, including you, had told me what she just told me I would have done my very best to plant them in the fucking ground.”

“I know.”

“What kind of place,” I looked up at the woman behind the bar. “No offence, but what kind of place needs a fucking rule that says you only rape the person that they provide for you? She didn't say, “don't worry about it,” or “you don't need to be gentle with the product” or any of the other bullshit sayings that they give you in cheap brothels, she said “don't rape anyone but me.” What kind of a place does that Kerrass? Where the fuck have you brought me?”

Kerrass took a long drink from his cup.

“Humanity or any of the other sapient races are not the only people who act without thinking. I should have known how this would affect you Freddie and I'm sorry, I truly am. I promise that I'll find a way to make it up to you.”

“Why did you bring me here Kerrass?”

“I need you to do something.”

“What is that?”

“Come outside and I will show you. It's easier that way.”

“It fucking better be Kerrass or I swear to the holy flame and all of the prophets in heaven on earth that I don't care how much I owe you or how many times you've saved my life but I will walk away and if you try to stop me I will do my very best to put you in the fucking ground.”

“I know.” he stood up. The innkeeper handed over a large water-skin that was bulging and he led me outside.

We were on the top of a hill over looking a vast valley between two mountain ranges. I thought that there might be an entrance on the other end of the valley, but that entrance was already capped in white snow. For want of a better word, the view was beautiful. Straight out of a story book, or out of an oil painting.

Kerrass led me out to a point where there were several picnic benches on a flat piece of ground that gave a wonderful view. As we walked, the same rhythmic sound could be heard as well as the singing rising up and down like the swell of a wave. The air was heavy with heat and I could smell wood fires.

Where we sat we could see all over the valley floor which was covered with vines. There were trees there as well but even those were covered with long thick, tendrils, the tendrils themselves were black in colour with Silver highlights. The trees bloomed from between the thick, rope like vines and this gave the impression that the valley floor was muted in colour. There was only an endless sea of greenery. There were birds down there but I couldn't see any other signs of life.

There were also some hills in the distance and I thought that I could make out ruins on the top of those hills.

“Where are we Kerrass?”

“Wait, it will come to you. She normally hunts at this time of day.”

“She who? Is this the she that was having a nightmare?”

“No, it will come to you.”

In the distance a vast bat like shape rose from one of the hills. It's extended wing span was made small from the distance and so it was impossible to tell how large the whole thing actually was. However big it was it was certainly huge. As we watched it seemed to circle around the hill.”

“We are on the outskirts of the ancient Kingdom of King Stefan and Queen Leah. This is the small part of land that has been reclaimed from the forest of thorns by those members of the kingdom who were outside it's borders when the spell was actually cast. They returned to find their Kingdom had been all but swallowed by those vines that cover everything. The silver flashes that you can see from here are the blade like thorns that jut out from every trunk of the vines.”

Kerrass spoke evenly and almost quietly.

“These people managed to clear an area so that they could live in their own kingdom rather than be beholden to anyone else. They only agreed to a client status from Nilfgaard because they had no other choice. The sound that you can hear is the axes that work constantly to keep the thorns at bay. They work at it morning noon and night so that they can keep this land clear and free.”

I didn't speak. It seemed, somehow sacrilegious to interrupt. It was like Kerrass was praying.

“The fires that you can smell are the pyres where they burn those vines and the fires form a bank that protects the settlement from the encroachment. Your companion will be able to explain more.”

I caught my breath as the huge, bat like creature suddenly dove, even from where we sat I could see a long string of flame shoot out from the front of the creature.

“Wait,” I breathed. “Is that a dragon?”

Kerrass said nothing.

“Is that a fucking dragon? Did you bring me here to help you kill a dragon?”

“No. Witcher's don't hunt dragons. It's one of the few things that all the schools agree with. We don't hunt dragons.”

I thought for a minute. There was something on the tip of my tongue. We sat there for a long time as I watched the dragon as it, presumably, hunted for it's dinner.

A thought occurred.

“Wait, I know those names.”

Kerrass said nothing.

“This is where the sleeping beauty myth comes from isn't it?”

Kerrass turned to look at me. “Yes it is,”

I looked back to the valley. “All the stories say that she was woken up by the prince.”

“Yes, those are the northern versions that want a happy ending. The truth is much different.”

“So you want me to wake up Sleeping Beauty?”

“No,” I looked at Kerrass' face for a moment and it was wearing an expression that I had never seen before. I have seen Kerrass with signs of fear, amusement and relaxed contentment. I have certainly seen rage and sometimes even confusion. But here there was a naked and raw longing that I could not have put into words. Indeed, up until that point I didn't think that he was capable of.

“I want you to help me wake up Sleeping Beauty.”