Andrzej Sapkowski - Something Ends Something Begins Sapkowski

8/11/2019 Andrzej Sapkowski - Something Ends Something Begins Sapkowski

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'It does,' she confirmed and stretched on her spread arms, clutching the tips of theblanket, so that in that moment her breasts arose in such a way, that it evoked apowerful tremor in the lower part of the witcher!s body.

'7ook, $eralt, we created this weather. 7ast night. 5yself, /enneke, Triss andorregaray. I couldn!t risk, this day must be beautiful.'

She fell silent and jabbed his side with her knee.

'*hy, it!s the most important day in your life, silly.'

II.

The castle 8ozrog, standing on a jut in the middle of the lake, was in a dire need ofgeneral repairs, both e+terior and interior, and not just now. To put it mildly, 8ozrog was aruin, a shapeless heap of stones thickly overgrown with ivy, wild wine, lichen and moss.It was a ruin standing in the middle of lakes, swamps and marshes swarming with frogs,salamanders and turtles. It was a ruin even back when it was given to the king %erwig.The castle 8ozrog and the surrounding marshland were something like a lifelong gift " agoodbye gift for %erwig, who had abdicated twelve years ago in favour of his nephew-renan, called the $ood. $eralt met the former king through andelion, because thetroubadour stayed at the castle 2uite often, since %erwig was a pleasant and nice host.

andelion brought up %erwig and his castle when ennefer ruled out all places fromthe witcher!s list as unsuitable. #ddly enough, the sorceress agreed with 8ozrogimmediately, and didn!t even wrinkle her nose.

And so it happened that the wedding of $eralt and ennefer would happen in thecastle 8ozrog.

III.

At first it was supposed to be a small and off"the"record wedding, but in time it turnedout " for various reasons " that this was not possible, so it was necessary to findsomeone with organisational abilities. ennefer of course refused this she didn!t likeorganising her own wedding. $eralt and 0iri, let alone andelion, didn!t have a clueabout organisation. And so they charged /enneke, the priestess of the goddess 5elitelefrom (llander, with it. /enneke came immediately, and with her two younger priestesses,Iola and (urneid.

And the problems started.

I9.

'/o, $eralt,' huffed /enneke and stamped her foot. 'I will take no responsibility forthe ceremony or the feast. That ruin, which some idiot calls a castle, is of no use at all.The kitchen is falling apart, the dancing hall can be used only as a stable, and thechapel... (ssentially it isn!t even a chapel. 0an you at least tell me what god that lame%erwig worships)'

'As far as I know, he worships none. %e claims that the religion is a mandragora for


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the masses.'

'I could!ve thought that,' said the priestess, not hiding her scorn. 'There is not onestatue in the chapel, there!s nothing at all, not counting the mouse pellets. And on top ofeverything it!s such a damned backwater. $eralt, why don!t you want to have yourwedding in 9engerberg, in a civilised country)'

' ou know that en is a 2uadroon and they don!t tolerate mi+ed marriages in thesecivilised countries of yours.'

'-y the $reat 5elitele: #ne 2uarter of elven blood, is that a problem) Almosteveryone has some kind of a mi+ture of the blood of the (lder &olk. It!s nothing but idioticprejudices:'

'I didn!t make them up.'

9.

The list of the guests wasn!t that long. The engaged couple compiled it together andcharged andelion with sending the invitations. Soon it turned out that the troubadourlost the list before he could even read it. -ecause he was ashamed to confess, he useda cheap trick and invited whomever he could. #f course he knew $eralt and enneferwell enough that he didn!t miss anyone important, but it wouldn!t have been him if hedidn!t enrich the list of the guests by an admirable number of 2uite random persons.

And so there arrived old 9esemir from 1aer 5orhen, $eralt!s tutor, and together withhim the witcher (skel, a childhood friend of $eralt.

There came the druid 5ousehunt in a company of a bronzed blonde called &reya whowas one head taller and a couple of hundred years younger than him. Together with

them arrived the earl 0rach an 0raite from Skellige in a company of his sons 8adnarand 7oki. *hen riding a horse, 8agnar!s feet almost reached the ground. 7oki resembleda delicate elf. After all, it was no wonder " they were brothers, but their mothers were twodifferent earl!s concubines.

The reeve 0aldemeyn from -laviken reported with his daughter Annika, a 2uiteattractive but terribly shy girl. The dwarf arpen ;igrin showed up, without " which wasinteresting " his usual company of bearded bandits, whom he called 'ogars'. arpen was

joined on the road by elf 0hireadan, whose status among the (lder &olk was not 2uiteclear, but indisputably high, accompanied by several reticent elves, known to no one.

There arrived a clamorous troop of halflings, of which $eralt knew only ainty

-iberveldt, a farmer of 1notweed 5eadow, and by hearsay his 2uarrelsome wife$ardenia. To this troop belonged also a halfling who was not a halfling " the famousbusinessman and merchant Tellico 7unngrevink 7etorte of /ovigrad, a changeling,doppler, acting as a halfling under the assumed name of udu.

-aron &rei+enet from -rokilon appeared, together with his wife, the noble dryad-raenn, and five daughters called 5orenn, 0irilla, 5ona, (ithe and 1ashka. 5orennlooked fifteen and 1ashka looked five. They all had fiery red hair, even though &rei+enetwas black"haired and -raenn honey blond. -raenn was visibly pregnant. &rei+enet


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claimed 2uite seriously that this time it must be a son, while the flock of his red"haireddryads looked at each other and giggled, and -raenn added with a light smile that thesaid 'son' will be called 5elissa.

There also came 6arre #nehand, the young priest and chronicler from (llander, wardof /enneke. %e came mainly because of 0iri, whom he secretly loved. 0iri, as it seemedto the embittered /enneke, took the shy flirting of the crippled young man too lightly.

The list of une+pected guests was began by the prince Agloval of -remervoord,whose arrival was considered a miracle, since he and $eralt openly despised eachother. (ven stranger was, that he came in the company of his wife, the siren Sh!eenaz.(ven though Sh!eenaz once sacrificed her fish tail in e+change for a pair of uncommonlybeautiful legs, it was known that she never moved away from the seashore, because shewas afraid of land.

&ew e+pected the arrival of other crowned heads " who weren!t invited anyway./evertheless the monarchs sent letters, gifts, messengers " or all at once. They musthave arranged it, because the messengers traveled in one group and became friends.1night ves represented king (thain, castellan Sulivoy represented king 9enzlav, sir5atholm represented king Sigismund, and sir evereu+ represented 2ueen Adda, theformer striga. The trip must have been cheerful, because ves had a cut lip, Sulivoy!sarm was hanging on a band, 5atholm was limping and evereu+ had such a hangoverthat he hardly kept himself in the saddle.

/o one invited the golden dragon 9illentretenmerth, because no one knew how toinvite him and where to look for him. To the general astonishment the dragon turned up,of course incognito, in the form of the knight -orch vulgo Three 6ackdaws. #f course,where andelion was present, one could not speak of any incognito, but even so, fewbelieved when the poet pointed at the curly"haired knight and claimed it was a dragon.

/o one e+pected nor invited the colourful rabble, which was marked as ' andelion!sfriends and ac2uaintances.' It was mostly poets, musicians and troubadours, plus anacrobat, a professional dice player, a crocodile"breaker and four over"made"up dolls outof which three looked like prostitutes and the fourth one, who didn!t look like a trollop,was undoubtedly one, too. The group was complemented by two prophets, out of whichone was fraudulent, one sculptor, one blonde and ever"drunken female medium, and apock"marked gnome who claimed his name was Schuttenbach.

In a magical amphibious ship, resembling a swan crossed with a giant pillow, arrivedthe wizards. There was four times less of them than had been invited, and three timesmore than e+pected, because ennefer!s colleagues, as the rumour went, disapprovedof her marriage to a man outside their brotherhood " and a witcher on top of that. A part

of them ignored the invitation, and a part e+cused themselves because of lack of timeand a necessity to participate in the annual world convent of magi. So onboard the " as

andelion named it " 'pillowbird' was only orregaray from 9ole and 8adcliffe from#+enfurt. And there was also Triss 8anuncul with hair of colour of #ctober chestnuts.

9I.

'*as it you who invited Triss 8anuncul)'


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'/o,' the witcher shook his head and silently praised the fact that the mutation of hisblood system didn!t allow him to blush. '/ot me. I think it was andelion, even though allof them claim to have learned about the wedding from the magical crystals.'

'I don!t want Triss to be present at my wedding:'

'-ut why) She!s your friend.'

' on!t make a fool out of me, witcher: (veryone knows you slept with her:'

'That!s not true.'

ennefer!s violet eyes narrowed dangerously.

'It is true.'

'Is not:'

'It is:'

'All right,' he turned around angrily. 'It is true. So)'

The sorceress was 2uiet for a moment, playing with the obsidian star on the blackvelvet ribbon around her neck.

'/othing,' she said at last. 'I just wanted you to admit it. /ever try to lie to me, $eralt.(ver.'

9II.

The wall smelled of wet stones and sour herbs, the sun shone through the brownwater in the ditch, drew out the warm green of the growth on the bottom of the marshesand the sparkling yellow of the beaver lilies floating on the level.

The castle was slowly awakening to life. In the western wing someone flung open thewindow"shutters and laughed loudly. Somebody else begged in a weak voice for thesauerkraut brine. #ne of andelion!s colleagues, visiting in the castle, a blind man,sang while shavinglague on them, bloody fishers:' cursed 0rach an 0raite. '*hen the fish are nibbling,they forget about the entire world. 8agnar, go fetch them:'

'*ait,' said -raen and brushed the dandelion fluff out of her deep decolletage. '*eneed someone who can run fast. 5ona: 1ashka: 8aenn!ess aen laeke, va:'

'I told you,' spluttered /enneke, 'that you couldn!t rely on %erwig. An irresponsiblefool like all the atheists. *hoever had the idea that he should be the master ofceremony)'

'%e!s a king,' said $eralt uncertainly. 'A former one maybe, but still a king.'

'7ong liiive...' sang suddenly one of the prophets, but the crocodile"breaker calmedhim down with a punch to the back of his neck. The crowd of the halflings buzzed,someone cursed and someone else got punched in the nose. $ardenie -iberveldtscreamed, because the doppler Tellico had stepped on her dress.

The female medium began to sniffle without reason.


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'A little while more,' hissed ennefer with a kind smile and fingers clenched aroundthe bou2uet. '6ust a little while more and I!ll have haemorrhage. 7et it finally start. 7et itbe done with.'

' on!t wriggle, en,' snarled Triss, 'or you!ll rip the stitching.'

'*here is the gnome Schuttenbach)' s2uawked one of the bards.

'*e have no idea,' the four whores shrieked in chorus.

'Then, by dog!s mother, have someone look for him:' yelled andelion. '%e promisedto bring flowers. *hat are we going to do now) /either Schuttenbach nor the flowersare here. *hat do we look like now)'

&rom the chapel entrance came murmur and both dryads sent to the lake ran inscreaming. -ehind them dashed 7oki, soaking wet and dirty, with a big slash on hisforehead.

'7oki:' cried 0rach an 0raite. '*hat happened)'

'5aaamaaaaaa:' wept 1ashka.

'?ue!ss aen:' -raenn grabbed her daughters and, all shaking and disturbed, shepassed into the dialect of -rokilon dryads< '?ue!ss aen 2ue suecc!ss feal, caer me)'

'#ur boat turned over.' breathed 7oki. '8ight at the shore. A terrible monster: I hit itwith the paddle, but it chewed it up ... It chewed up my paddle:'

'*ho) *hat)'

'$eralt:' cried -raenn. '$eralt, 5ona says that it!s a cinarea:'

'A zhirritva:' cried the witcher. '(skel, go get my sword:'

'5y wand:' called orregaray. '8adcliffe, where is my wand)'

'0iri:' said 7oki, wiping blood from his forehead. '0iri is fighting it: She!s fighting themonster:'

'&uck: 0iri doesn!t have a chance against a zhirritva: (skel: $et me a horse:'

'*ait:' ennefer pulled down her tiara and threw it on the floor. '*e!ll teleport you.

ou!ll be there sooner: orregaray, Triss, 8adcliffe: $ive us your hands.'

All fell silent and then cried out loudly. In the door of the chapel appeared the king%erwig, soaking wet, but whole. /e+t to him stood a bareheaded youngster in a strangeshining armour. -ehind them entered 0iri, water tricking down from her, she was allmuddy, dishevelled, with $evir in her hand. %er face was gashed from temple to chin.&rom beneath the sleeve, ripped from the shirt, blood rushed out.

'0iri:::'


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'I killed it,' said the girl witcher in a weak voice. 'I split its skull.'

She 2uailed and so $eralt, (skel and andelion caught her and supported her. -utshe didn!t let go of her sword.

'Again.' moaned the bard. 'Again she caught it straight in her face ... *hy must shehave such a damn bad luck)'

ennefer shrieked loudly, pushed away 6arre, who was only standing in the way with just one hand, and grabbed 0iri. The sorceress didn!t even look at the muddy water andblood staining and damaging her dress, put her fingers on the girl witcher!s face andshouted an incantation. It seemed to $eralt that the whole castle shook and the sundarkened for a second. ennefer moved her hands away from 0iri!s face and everybodysighed in wonder. The ugly gash pulled back into a thin red scar, hemmed with severalsmall drops of blood. 0iri stayed hanging in the arms that held her.

'(+cellent,' said orregaray. 'A 5aster!s hand is known.'

'0ongratulations, en,' said Triss 2uietly and /enneke started crying.

ennefer smiled, rolled her eyes and fainted. $eralt managed to catch her before sheslid down to the floor like a soft silk ribbon.

=II.

'0alm down, $eralt,' said /enneke. ' on!t get e+cited. It will pass in a moment. She just e+erted herself a bit too much, that!s all. And besides those nerves ... ou know howmuch she loves 0iri.'

'I know.' $eralt raised his head and looked at the young man in the shining armour,standing at the chamber!s door. '7isten, son, return to the chapel. This is none of yourbusiness. And, just between you and me, who are you anyway)'

'I!m ... I!m $alahad,' replied the young knight. '5ay I ... 5ay I in2uire how is thebeautiful and brave maiden feeling)'

'*hich one)' smiled the witcher. 'There are two here, both beautiful, brave, and bothmaidens, though one of them is a maiden only by chance. *hich one do you mean)'

The young man blushed visibly. 'The younger one,' he answered. 'The one whorushed to help the &isher 1ing without hesitating.'

'*ho)'

'%e means %erwig,' /enneke butted in. 'The zhirritva attacked the boat in which%erwig and 7oki were fishing. 0iri came at the zhirritva and this lad, who was nearby bychance, came to her help.'

'So, you helped 0iri,' the witcher looked at the young knight with more attention andgratitude. '*hat!s your name again) I!ve forgotten.'


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'$alahad. Is this Avalon) The castle of the &isher 1ing)'

The door opened and a pale ennefer appeared, supported by Triss 8anuncul.

' en:'

'*e!re going to the chapel,' announced the sorceress in a 2uiet voice. 'The guestsare waiting.'

' en, we can postpone it.'

'I will become your wife even if devils had to take me: And I will do it now:'

'And 0iri)'

'*hat 0iri)' The girl witcher came out from behind ennefer, smearing glamarye inthe healthy part of her face. '(verything!s all right, $eralt. It was just a stupid scratch, Ididn!t even feel it.'

$alahad, with loud clanging and creaking, knelt, or fell on one knee.

'&air lady.'

0iri!s big eyes widened even more.

'0iri, allow me,' said the witcher. 'This is knight ... hmmm ... $alahad. ou alreadyknow each other. %e helped you when you were fighting the zhirritva.'

0iri blushed deeply. The glamarye began to work, so it was a blush really fair and the

scar was almost invisible.

'7ady,' mumbled $alahad. '-e so kind. Allow me, o beautiful one, to stay. I desire ... Idesire...'

'1nowing life, I believe he desires to become your knight, 0iri,' said Triss 8anuncul.

0iri clasped her hands behind her back and bowed gratefully, still silent.

'The guests are waiting,' ennefer interrupted them. '$alahad, I can see that you!renot merely a warrior, but a polite lad. ou fought together with my daughter, so you mayoffer her your arm during the feast. 0iri, go on, change into a dress. $eralt, you comb

your hair and tuck your shirt into your trousers, because it!s out. In ten minutes I want tosee all of you in the chapel:'

=III.

The wedding was splendid. 7adies and maidens cried collectively. %erwig was themaster of ceremony, a former king, but still a king. 9esemir from 1aer 5orhen and/enneke acted as parents of the betrothed couple, Triss 8anuncul and (skel aswitnesses. $alahad accompanied 0iri, and 0iri was blushing like a peony.


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'I know, daughter.'

'$alahad ... $alahad is coming with me. I don!t know why. -ut I can!t hinder him, canI)'

'#f course not. $eralt:' ennefer!s eyes, glowing with a warm violet light, fi+ed uponher husband. '$o and have a walk around the tables and talk with the guests. ou canalso drink something. #ne cup. A small one. I!d like to have a talk with my daughter here,like a woman with a woman.'

$eralt sighed.

The party was getting more and more jovial. andelion!s pals sang songs thatcaused Annika, 0aldemeyn!s daughter, to blush fiercely. A very tipsy dragon9illentretenmerth was hugging an even drunker doppler Tellico and tried to convince himthat changing into the prince Agloval in order to replace him in the bed of the beautifulsiren Sh!eenaz would not be a very friendly deed.

&rei+enet!s red"haired daughters could jump out of their skins just to please the royalmessengers, and the royal messengers tried their best to impress the dryads, which in away resembled a fun house. arpen ;igrin, snuffling with his hooked nose, e+plained to0hireadan that as a child he wanted to become an elf. 5ousehunt roared that thegovernment would fall, and Agloval opposed him. /o one knew which government theymeant. %erwig was telling $ardenia -iberveldt about the great carp he caught on a rodwith a horse"mane line, and the hobbit nodded dreamily and only occasionally called ather husband to stop drinking too much.

#n the galleries, the prophets and the crocodile"breaker ran about, trying in vain tofind the gnome Schuttenbach. &reya, clearly disgusted with the weaker men, drank

helter"skelter with the female medium, while both of them kept a virtuous and serioussilence.

$eralt walked around the table, clinked his glass against the guests! ones, profferedhis back to friendly claps and his cheeks to friendly kisses. At last he came near to theplace where the lonely $alahad was joined by andelion. $alahad, his gaze fi+ed at thepoet!s cup, mumbled something and the troubadour s2uinted and listened with interest.$eralt stopped and stood above them.

'... and so I boarded that ship,' $alahad was saying, 'and I sailed out into the mist,even though I must confess to you, 5aster andelion, that my heart was clutched byterror ... And I confess that I was losing hope at times. I thought that my end had come,

that I would die in that impenetrable mist. And then the sun came up, shone upon thewater like ... like gold ... And then suddenly I saw before me ... Avalon. This is Avalon,isn!t it)'

'/ot at all,' argued andelion, filling their cups. 'This is Schwemmland, which can betranslated as 5arshland. %ave a drink, $alahad.'

'And this castle ... that must be 5ontsalvat, no)'


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'-y no means. This is 8ozrog. I have never heard of 5ontsalvat in my life, son. And ifI haven!t heard about it, then it by no means e+ists. 0heers to the newlyweds, my lad:'

'0heers, 5aster andelion. -ut that king ... Isn!t he the &isher 1ing)'

'%erwig) #h he likes fishing, true. %e used to prefer hunt before, but then he waswounded in leg in the battle at #rth, and so can!t ride a horse anymore. -ut don!t callhim &isher 1ing, $alahad. &irst, it sounds 2uite stupid, and second, %erwig could getoffended.'

$alahad said nothing for a long time, while playing with a half"empty glass. Then hesighed deeply and looked around.

'They were right,' he whispered. 'It!s but a legend. A fairy tale. A fantasy. In short " alie. Instead of Avalon a common 5arshland. And no hope.'

'There, there,' the poet jabbed at his side with his hand. ' on!t fall into sorrow, boy.*hy the damn melancholy) ou!re at a wedding, so have fun, drink and sing. ou!re stillyoung, you have an entire life ahead of you.'

'7ife,' repeated the knight thoughtfully. '%ow is it again, 5aster andelion)Something begins, or something ends)'

andelion shot a short, in2uisitive look at him.

'/o, I don!t know,' he replied. 'And if I don!t know, then no one does. The conclusionis that nothing ever ends and nothing ever begins.'

'I don!t understand.'

'And you don!t have to.'

$alahad thought again, frowning.

'And the $rail)' he asked finally. '*hat has become of the $rail)'

'*hat is this $rail)'

'It!s something we!re searching for,' e+plained $alahad, setting his sad eyes on thetroubadour. '*hich is the most important. *ithout which the life doesn!t have sense.*ithout which we!re incomplete and imperfect.'

The bard pressed his lips and looked at the knight with his famous look, in which awise sight mi+ed with a jovial honesty.

' ou fool,' he replied, 'you!ve been sitting ne+t to your $rail for the entire evening.'

=I9.

Around midnight, when the guests were already 2uite capable of having fun bythemselves, and ennefer with $eralt, freed from the feast, could look into each other


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Andrzej Sapkowski - Something Ends Something Begins Sapkowski