A Scholar's travels with a Witcher

So yes. We managed to wake up Sleeping Beauty. A Witcher, a Dragon and a Scholar managed to get the job done. In any other ballad or story then the tale would have stopped there. The Princess would have woken up, blinked her eyes, stretched sleepily before gazing at her rescuers and being unspeakably grateful. The only problem was that none of us were Princes. Nor was it a Prince who's kiss had woken her up.

That is where the tale should end. With a nice and formulaic “and they all lived happily ever after.” But that's not how things works in the really real world do they.

But I am not a tale teller. I am a historian and I record what I see.

The Princess screamed. She screamed and screamed and didn't stop. Hands tightly clamped to the side of her head, palms covering her ears, knees drawn up until they were under her chin, eyes scrunched shut and she just screamed.

Kerrass, Malevolence and I just looked at each other.

“That's what I'm afraid of,” said the Dragon. “That she has lost her mind being asleep that long. Dreaming for that long.” That she said it so matter of factly was what got to me.

I stared at her in horror for a moment before I fell to my knees next to the screaming Princess.

“Blanket,” I said to Kerrass who was dithering. “Get me a blanket Kerrass. Then some more tea. Lots more tea, we're going to need it strong, milky and sweet.”

“What are you doing?” Malevolence asked.

“I don't fucking know,” I muttered as I unfolded the blanket. “I'm assuming that she's going into shock given that this is the first time she's felt real air in over a hundred years. It's a guess and an assumption but I've been doing a lot of both recently.”

The woman backed away. She was watching me carefully as though concerned that I might do anything to hurt her daughter but at the same time she had an air of “You seem to know what you're doing so I'm going to leave you to it.”

I ignored her. The Princess had shaken off my blanket.

Damn, not a good sign.

“Princess. Princess I need you to listen to me.” I spun back to Malevolence. “Dammit what's her name?”

“Dorn,” she said. “Like “dawn” only with the added “r” sound.”

“Princess?” I tried again. “Princess Dorn. I need you to listen to me Princess. You're awake now. I know it hurts and I know it's awful but I need you to listen to me.”

The Princess screamed a short phrase.

“What the hell was that?” I asked aloud.

“I don't know.” Kerrass had stacked more blankets and was building up the fire. “Try talking to her in elven.”

“Is this what you do the two of you? Divide the labour in this way?” Malevolence asked Kerrass.

“He's better at this than me. If she was awake enough I could ask her questions about the monsters she'd faced but to his credit, Freddie is better at calming hysteria and has some medical training which is more than I have. I just pour potions on the problem until it goes away.”

I ignored them. Instead I tried talking to her in Elven as suggested.

“Princess Dorn?” I tried. “Can you hear me? Princess It's alright. You don't need to be afraid.

“Then why are you shouting?” She screamed at me. It was in elven and I felt myself nod. She was capable of reasoning which was a good sign.

“Because you have your hands over your ears and are screaming at me.” I said. “I'll make you a deal. I'll stop shouting if you can take stop screaming.”

She did so abruptly. She was shivering. Hard.

“That's good Princess, That's really good. Can you hear me now, you don't have to say anything, just nod if you can hear me.”

She nodded. A short sharp nod that might have been a shiver.

“Good Princess, you're doing so well.”

Kerrass and Malevolence were arguing. He was explaining to her why I didn't just slap her across the face. I glared at them and hissed that they should be quiet.

Draconic methods of parenting leave something to be desired.

“Right then Princess. You're shivering, are you cold?”

Another one of those short, staccato nods.

“Right then, the next thing you're going to feel is me wrapping a blanket round you. I just want to get you warm, is that alright?”

I was speaking calmly and clearly. She wasn't quite in shock. She was reacting to her environment. I managed to get the blanket round her.

“The next thing we need to do Princess is to get your breathing under control alright? Otherwise you might hurt yourself.”

“Throat hurts,” She managed to croak out.

“You've been screaming Princess. I get that you're in pain right now.” I made eye contact with Kerrass who nodded and added some extra herbs to the kettle. “We can give you something to soothe your throat when you're a bit calmer do you understand?”

She nodded again.

“That's good. That's really good.”

It took a long time to get her calmed down. When her breathing was under control she started to relax her body. I told her not to worry about opening her eyes yet but to just focus on relaxing her muscles. Her hands came down from her ears almost reflexively and she hissed in pain.

“Cold?” I asked her.

She nodded again. “Everything seems so loud and jarring.”

Kerrass was already tearing up a spare blanket as we made some noise mufflers. We wrapped her hands as well to keep them warm. We were then able to reason that the lights would be bright as well so we fashioned her a gauzy blindfold to rest over her eyes as well as a hood to provide some shade.

“Her hands,” Kerrass muttered to himself over and over again. “I never thought to cover her hands but they've been exposed for so long.”

“You covered everything else though. I'll give you that at least.” Commented the Dragon who was watching everything with interested curiosity. She had decided that we were taking proper care of her daughter and was staying out of the way.

“We got the Princess calmed down enough to the point where she could sit up without aid.

“Stiff,” she said. Abruptly. It obviously hurt her to talk.”

“We can massage your muscles in a bit. You ready for a drink?”

She nodded and Kerrass passed me a cup.

“Now gently, try and open your eyes a little. If it hurts then close them again, we're in no rush.”

She nodded and cracked one eye, then the other.

“Why...?” She coughed.

“Don't try to talk. Here's your drink, it will help.”

She took a few sips. She seemed shrunken, like an old woman wrapped in blankets and cloths.

“Why does everything hurt?” She asked me.

“I don't know.” I answered. “I'm not really a doctor, but I would guess it's because you haven't used them for some time.”

She nodded and took a few more sips.

“The curse?”

I looked over at Kerrass and Malevolence. Kerrass shrugged.

“Yes.” I said.

“How long have I been asleep?”

It was not lost on me that she had taken a deep breath to calm herself before asking the question.

“It's not a nice answer. Are you ready for it?” I asked.

She considered for a moment.

“That's a long time then.”

“It's not short.”

“The full hundred years?”

“More. A hundred and twenty, give or take.”

She took it rather well considering everything that she had been through.

She sat and drank her drink.

“Can I have some more please?”

Kerrass came over and refilled her cup.

“Is one of you my Prince?” She asked hopefully with what I thought might have been some amusement.

“None of us are Princes Your Highness.”

She nodded again. “I always thought that that part was invented in an effort to make me feel better.”

I could see that she grimaced at the pain in her throat. She gave me the impression of someone who has woken up with a hangover and is waiting for their brain to start working properly.

She still wouldn't meet my gaze though. Her eyes shifting backwards and forwards as new thoughts and questions occurred but were then dismissed just as quickly. I watched her carefully, ready to catch her or to take the cup away if she started to shake. She clutched the cup in both hands, holding on to it as if for dear life. All the while taking slow careful sips. I was dimly aware that I needed to be careful in case she had some kind of fit or sudden pain. I was also aware that she had been assaulted so many times that there was the possibility of other injuries, Physical ones that I couldn't see as well as the obvious mental strain.

I saw her reach over and pinch the back of her hand. Hard.

“I'm sorry Highness.” I said quietly, “But this is not a dream. You are awake.”

“I know,” she said quietly. “Dreams, even nightmares are never this painful. And I have had a lot of nightmares.” Just an edge to her voice suggested that she was on the edge of tears. I didn't blame her, but at the same time, how does someone console a grieving Princess?

She took a deep shuddering breath.

“Your name is Frederick?”

“Yes Your Highness.” I manfully resisted the urge to ask her how she knew my name.

I saw her mouth quirk a little in what I hoped was the beginnings of a sense of humour. “Lord Frederick, I think, given the fact that my home is in ruins and my status is in question, that we can dispense with formalities for now.”

I nodded a response.

“You are a Lord are you not? Forgive my assumption but to know our noble's tongue you would need to be educated and I cannot believe that the world has moved on enough for such things to be the province of farmers and villagers.”

“It has not and yes I am a Lord although I am a Younger son at best.”

“Then I charge you, Lord Frederick to answer me truthfully. I have a number of questions that I suspect I know the answer to but I must ask them anyway.”

I nodded. She looked strained. Drawn. As though she was ageing before my eyes. I guessed that she was hiding some deep feelings behind the more formal turn of phrase.

“My parents?”

I shook my head.

“Dead?”

“Yes.”

I heard Malevolence hiss from behind me. Something hard flashed through the Princesses eyes then but I might have imagined it.

“My Kingdom?”

“The lands are choked with a magical plant that has been named “Blade-vine” so called because of the thorns that grow across those lengths.”

“They will have stopped growing now that the curse has been broken.” Malevolence put in behind me.

The Princesses rage was sudden and terrifying in it's power.

“Be silent. I will come to you soon, worm.” She spoke quietly but the words were no less powerful for all of that. Just as quickly, the rage left her as she turned back to me.

“My people?” she asked.

“There are around seventy people living on the edge of the kingdom. Making a living from selling the vine wood and off the side-effects of the curse.”

The Princess bowed her head. I thought I saw a tear fall and I looked away from it.

Kerrass was cooking, some kind of broth I guessed from the smell. Malevolence had stalked off somewhere in the face of the Princesses rage.

“Will you help me stand Lord Frederick?” The Princesses voice shuddered, as if she bought that calm question with great pain. “I have lain too long in this coffin.”

I crouched next to her and using one hand she pulled herself to her feet. She leant on me to step out of the coffin that had been her bed for many years and stood unsteadily. Gradually she let go of me to stand on her own two feet. She raised one leg and shook it, presumably to restore feeling and then the other. Slowly though she tottered towards a chair that Kerrass hurriedly lay a thick blanket over the top of before she sat again. He brought her a bowl of broth, a wooden spoon and a hung of bread which she devoured like a starving person.

I caught Kerrass' eye and he nodded further down the hall to where Malevolence was pacing up and down in what looked like a fury.

“Thank you.” Said the Princess quietly. “My mother would be furious with me, not using proper table manners or proper speech to thank my rescuers.”

“I think that on balance she might have let this one slide,” Kerrass said with a slight smile. I was pleased that I saw the beginnings of an answering smile on the lips of the Princess.

“So,” she said after smoothing her skirts down. “Lord Frederick. May I have your full name please?”

There was no ordering in her voice. No command, she was simply asking the question as simply and as carefully as she could.

“Lord Frederick von Coulthard of Redania Your highness.” I said bowing deeply before her in her impromptu throne, “and may I say that it is an honour to finally make your acquaintance. “I tried to make the tone light. There was an atmosphere gathering in the room. The Princess was speaking slowly and carefully. Malevolence was pacing relentlessly and Kerrass said nothing. I felt that there was a storm brewing.

“The honour is mine, Lord Frederick. Although I believe that you are rather more acquainted with me than I am with you?”

“Highness?”

“I was not wearing this dress when I went to sleep Lord Frederick.”

I coughed. “I think that is a matter for later discussion your Highness, when you are feeling stronger perhaps?”

“Perhaps,” she said with a slightly knowing smile. I reminded myself that this 16 year old girl was a young woman, not a young girl and that she had been gifted with Wit as well as Goodness. “Will you introduce me to your companion?”

“Your royal Highness,” I began, “It is my honour and pleasure to present Witcher Kerrass.”

Kerrass bowed deeply, his expression grave and stony.

“A Witcher no less? I have heard of your people Master Kerrass but I have not had the fortune to meet one.”

There was a snort from the other end of the room. I saw Kerrass' eyes slide sideways to where Malevolence was still stalking.

The Princess did not react.

“I must thank you both.” The Princess said. “Rewards are outside of my capability at present but rest assured that my gratitude is boundless.”

Careful words and careful phrasing. Again I sensed that she was using those words to cover herself.

“It was our honour Your Highness.” I said bowing low.

“Our honour, certainly.” Kerrass said. “But I owed you, and still owe you a great debt.”

I had forgotten the oath that Kerrass had made to himself. About what he would do when he stood before the newly wakened Princess. It was like that moment when you see something, pottery or glass slide towards the edge of a table and begin to fall off. You know that there's nothing you can do to stop it but you have just enough time to see it going and wince, or shut your eyes in anticipation of the coming calamity.

“I did you great wrong Highness.” Kerrass went on,

“Kerrass,” I tried but Kerrass' words overran mine, drowning me out.

“A great wrong and I promised myself I would put it right if I could.”

I turned my eyes to the Princess and I pleaded with the universe and to whatever Gods were listening that she not ask the next question.

But no-one was listening.

“What wrong Master Witcher?”

“He raped you.” Malevolence had had enough it would seem. “He took a contract from a foreign Prince, brought them here and then they took turns raping you.”

“I...” Kerrass began.

“That's what you did isn't it Witcher?” The Dragon spat her own rage at him. “Then when they were done with you, they came back nine months later and took your children away with them.”

“Stop it,” I snarled but I was ignored.

“Then he came back.” Malevolence went on, “Time and time again. He watched you while you slept. Feasting his eyes on you over and over again when he wasn't taking his pleasure on you. Do not tolerate his presence, there is not a punishment large enough in the world for one such as him.”

The Princess' eyes were round and shining as they darted between Witcher and Woman. One hand had risen to cover her mouth.

“I never touched her.” Kerrass began.

“Lies.”

“I dressed her when I found her naked. I avenged her wrongs when I found out about them.” Kerrass snapped, his rage lashing out. He had been in control for a long time now and I had forgotten his rage but it lashed at the Dragon now with the full force of his fury. “Where were you? You who called yourself her mother. Where were you when plunderers and rapists and abusers came for her. A great and mighty Dragon Sorceress who couldn't even be bothered to care for her own child. Which child, by the way, was only in danger because of her petty vengeance.”

“Have a care Witcher?”

“Or what. Hmm?” You'll turn into a Dragon and eat me. What kind of example does that set before your child.”

“An example to not stand for self-righteous idiots who think there's an excuse for actions taken while satisfying their own lusts and thirsts...What more could you do...Do you think that you could be forgiven. That you can be forgiven for what you did, what you allowed to happen? I should kill you wear you stand for what you did to her.”

“And I you. What I did I did in ignorance but I tried to set it right.”

“And I did not?”

“You set out to curse them?”

“I set out to curse her father, the wretched excuse for a man.”

“And look what it did. I came here to offer her my life if she wants it in restitution what did you come here to offer? Your scorn? What did you think she would do, run into your arms and tell you that all was forgiven?”

“ENOUGH,” I bellowed. I had once been taught how to properly support your lungs for a proper shout. I put everything into that bellow. Both of them turned at me, anger and pain warred in both sets of eyes. They might have killed me then in their shapeless anger but the Princess saved me.

She fled.

Tottering and bouncing off furniture as she commanded her legs to move through willpower rather than reflex. She fled through the door, sounds of her sobbing coming back to us.

I sighed and moved down to the steaming pot that still hung over the small fire that Kerrass had been tending. I poured myself a small cup of the herbal drink that had soothed the Princesses throat and drank it off before looking at the other two of them.

They were staring at me.

“You fucking idiots.” I said simply.

“How dare y...” Malevolence began.”

“Just shut up.” I said. “You've been a dragon for too long and you've forgotten how people work, if you ever knew that. And as for you,” I turned on Kerrass whose face was dark with emotion. “You're just as bad. The poor girls just woken up from a nightmare fuelled slumber of over a century and you were about to try and get her to sit in judgement over you in an effort to find absolution for all of your sins.”

I shook my head in wonderment.

“Malevolence is right. It's a wonder that she isn't, howling at the moon, mad. Apart from whatever she experienced while she slept, which I think is more than any of us know, she's lost her parents and yes,” I said to the dragon who was gathering herself up for another yell. “I do mean her parents. You might have been a mother of body but you were against everything that she knew. She only knew you as the woman that hated her and given how you behaved towards her today, can you blame her?”

Malevolence's mouth hung open as if she wanted to say something.

“So she's lost her parents.” I went on, “her home is in ruins, all of her friends are dead and the two of you tell her, between you that her mother isn't her mother, that she's given birth on several occasions and that she has been being raped for all the time she was asleep. But there's one thing that you both forget.”

“Enlighten us,” Malevolence spat. Kerrass had turned away, his hand over his eyes.

“She's sixteen. Neither of you remember what it was like being sixteen. I'm twenty and I remember only being angry at everything and when I wasn't angry I wanted to shag everything in sight and drink myself into insensibility. And I'm just a boy.”

Kerrass turned back to us.

“Freddie's right.” He had mastered himself again but his eyes were hollow with a lot of pain. “What should we do now?”

“Well, if she's like Frannie was when she was sixteen...”

“Frannie?” asked the dragon.

“Freddie's younger sister.” Kerrass answered.

“Then she'll have gone off somewhere to cool off. Pass me that bottle of Rye and I'll go and talk to her.”

“Vodka?” Kerrass' eyebrow rose as he passed the bottle over.

“Just a little bit. It used to make Frannie feel grown up so... Unless I miss my guess she won't have the stomach for much anyway.”

“What do we do then?”

“I think that depends on her now, don't you?”

Neither of them answered me.

I went in search of a Princess.

I found her in her Parent's bedroom. She was knelt next to the body of the woman that I had assumed was once her mother. Her shoulders were shaking gently and I guessed that there were more tears. I found a floor board that creaked and stepped on it a few times before being discreet and waiting out of sight just outside the door.

“You can come in,” she called after some time.

I approached slowly as she was still kneeling down. She had taken her impromptu veil off and knelt their now with her head uncovered. She had pulled her hair into a rough knot to keep it out of the way. She was beautiful to look at. To the point that I had to make a point of shutting that part of my brain down. More so than when she was just lying there. The life in her. The thoughts and the intelligence that I could see in her eyes and the animation in her face ran the danger of being intoxicating.

I wanted to protect her. I wanted to wrap a blanket round her and hold her close until all of her worries had gone away. It wasn't a physical desire but there was something there.

I also knew all the reasons that I couldn't do any of those things. It would be an intrusion, an assault and an unwanted one at that.

Instead I sat on the floor next to her and crossed my legs.

“You found me quickly.” She said after a while.

“In truth I found you on my second attempt. I tried your bedroom first.”

“Where would you have gone if I wasn't here?”

“Library next, followed by the chapel. Then I would have started on the servants quarters. I don't know which one was your maid's but it would have been my next guess.”

“You seem to know a lot about me.”

“I know a bit. But if I'm honest it's less about knowing you than it is about knowing my little sister.”

“Is that what I am to you? A little sister to be protected?”

I looked into her eyes. There was a deep hurt in there somewhere although I couldn't identify it.

“No.” I said. “No you're not. You are the Princess Dorn and My friend and I came to wake you up. Now that you are awake I feel a certain measurement of responsibility to you.”

She nodded unhappily.

“I would like,” I went on carefully. “To offer my services as a friend. Your position is a little lofty for such as myself but...”

“I don't have many choices.” She finished for me.

“I was going to say that even a poor man such as myself can dream.”

“Your answer is more charming.” She found a smile from somewhere.

I uncorked the bottle and offered it over. “This is Temerian Rye.” I said. “Strong stuff.”

She took a sniff and jerked her head back. “I'm not sure that my throat could handle that.” She commented before taking a small swig and choking. “I see what you mean about “Strong stuff”.” She passed the bottle back and I wiped it before taking a swig for myself.

“What do I do Frederick?”

I held up my hand.

“Much to my horror, my friends call me Freddie. You can use that if it makes you feel better.”

She nodded.

“What should I do Freddie?”

“Are you asking for advice?”

“Not yet although that will come I suspect.”

“What do you want to do?”

“I want to go back to bed. I want to return to sleep. I wish that I had never woken up to this awful place. I know that that is petty and ungrateful and petulant and childish but it's true nevertheless. I hate this world that I find myself in.”

“It's not so bad.” I heard myself say as I passed the bottle back, taking care to wipe it again. “But would you really go back.”

She took a swig. The coughing was much less this time. “No. No I wouldn't. But I want to. I'm afraid.” But I wouldn't go back. It was horrible there.”

“DO you want to talk about it?”

She took another swig and passed the bottle back.

“Yes and no. The dreams and the nightmares are all too real.”

“There were a centuries worth after all.”

“A century. Yes. Sometimes I dreamt of a great sea with an island in the middle. I was the island. Sometimes I would dream about flying.”

“A friend of mine at the university once told me that dreams of flying are actually dreams about having sex.”

“Really?” She took the bottle off me again. “What was I dreaming about when I was dreaming about having sex then?”

My face must have reddened then and she laughed.

“I'm sixteen, I'm not a nun.” She said but then she saddened. “Nor am I virgin anymore I suppose.”

We sat in silence for a while as she let that thought sink in.

“Did you know what was happening?”

“Oh yes. On some level at the very least. I knew your full name and who you were. Your Witcher companion is familiar to me and I am aware that I have him to thank for the fact that I woke up in a dress to hide my modesty rather than just covered by a blanket or out on display for anyone to come and look at which is what some of my other visitors would have done. One some level or another I can remember the many attacks, molestations and the terrible rage that I felt. I can even remember, I think, giving birth. I had a look earlier and I can't find any stretch marks or scarring though.”

I didn't have anything to say to that and hid my embarrassment behind taking another drink.

“So yes I knew. Or rather I think I knew. It was awful but at the same time it was....I knew that I was asleep. I was warm, safe and unhurt in my little bubble of sleepy warmth. I was...aware that... Oh I don't know what I'm talking about. But it hurt waking up. The sheer physical sensation of it.”

“It's ok.” I said quietly. “You don't need to talk it all through now.”

She nodded gratefully.

“So I have children?” she asked after another pause.

“You do, or rather I should say you did. Would you like to know?”

“Yes please.” A simple comment. Others might have nodded but she seemed to want to articulate things. I was prepared and got out my notebook.

“The factor that brought Kerrass into your life produced a pair of twins. A boy and a girl. They were briefly used as pawns in an internal power struggle in a neighbouring Kingdom. Kerrass can tell you more about that when you feel up to it. I have notes and will write them up eventually but in the meantime...The side that had ...used your children, failed and the children were taken north and given into the protection of the Northern Emperor of Nilfgaard. A man named Torres. Torres was an ambitious man and was bringing his empire south. The boy died of an illness when he was six. I intend to look into that when I get out of here and have more access to some other sources but in the meantime...”

I shrugged. I couldn't tell if she was listening or not. She just knelt there.

“Your daughter was married off to one of the Emperors nephews. Which was used as a claim over the Neighbouring Kingdom and the nobles there that had ordered your assault. She was named Queen of that territory when she was twelve. Four years later she gave birth to a son but was badly weakened by the experience. She had two more children before the local doctors told her that any more would kill her. She eventually died of a chill in her forty second year after several long years of weakness in the winter months.”

“So I have Grandchildren.”

“Oh yes. They keep extensive records in the village amongst your people...”

I said the line deliberately as I thought it was time to remind her that she was a Princess. She stiffened.

“But those Grand children have now also died. You have, by my count, about half a dozen Great Grandchildren and four Great Great Grandchildren. From that line.”

I saw her rub at her temples, “From that line? There are more.”

“I'm afraid so. Once someone has had an idea, all it does is prove that someone else will have a similar idea again. On two more occasions have people come to you and sired children by you. You produced another son who is now an ageing, four or five times your age, Duke to the Southwest with children and Grandchildren of his own. I understand he was a warlord when he was younger and fought many battles for Nilfgaard and now rules a part of it in the local client Kings name. He is generally regarded as a good man although I doubt he even knows your name or that he is even your son.

“You also had two daughters. Both were prized for their beauty and their intelligence but the feeling I get from these notes is that the people who....sired them on you were hoping for sons. They were used in political marriages and notes on them are few. Both are known to be dead however.”

She nodded. “I don't know how to feel about that.”

I nodded and offered her the bottle back which she declined.

“If I were a more qualified advisor, Highness, I would advise you to put these men and women from your mind. I very much doubt that any of them think of you and now that you are awake, they might even become enemies of yours.”

“I had thoughts on that matter myself.” She sighed. “I wish I could believe that the world was kinder than that but if it was then I very probably wouldn't be alive.”

“I cannot answer to that.” I saw her purse her lips in thought.

I waited for a bit longer. If she was anyone else, I would have expected an explosion of tears and hysterics by now. I was honestly surprised that that hadn't happened and if anyone deserved to feel like that then it was this person here.

“Is this my mother?” she asked me. “Yes I am aware of that woman downstairs but was this person my mother?”

“I think so.” she was looking at the body that was lying in a corner.

“It's all so overwhelming. I should scream and shout. I want to but I can't seem to.... Talk to me a little more. I take it that it was you that figured out how to break the curse?”

“It was.”

“From what I've been told, Witchers are experts in that kind of thing. Why did he not manage it before?”

“I think that he was too close to the problem. Like everyone else who has ever tried to lift the curse they think that it was you that was cursed. They thought that all the hatred was aimed at you. So when they tried to lift the curse on you, they failed. For what it's worth, Your Biological mother was trying to undo the curse in the same way.”

“So it was my Father that she cursed?”

“Yes.”

“I remember. There's so much that I remember that I wasn't part of. I remember your conversation and so I know that she's my mother and I know what happened and why but...” I thought I saw the beginnings of tears then but then they were swallowed with what looked like a gulp made completely out of willpower. “I won't say that she wasn't hard done to. She was.”

She laughed suddenly, a bright and brittle laugh. “It is strange to realise that my father was an idiot.”

I chuckled as well. “One day, I will tell you about my family and what a colossal fuck up that was.”

She smiled at me again before her eyes went back into the middle distance.

“I am angry at her,” she seemed to decide. “My biological mother I mean. She could have told them what the original answer was, she could have let go of her hate. There were so many other things that she could have done but she chose to curse us all for it. The blame is not solely hers. A good chunk of it, but not all of it.”

“What are you going to do?”

“With her? I'm going to need to figure out what I'm going to call her for a start. Queen Leah was my mother. She bandaged my hurts and taught me how to be. I cannot take that away from her and I also cannot deny that she was my mother. I loved her dearly. But I also need to know more about my heritage though. I will talk to her. I am too angry at the moment but I will talk to her.”

“May I speak honestly?”

“Please.”

“If I were in your position I would be screaming, shouting and throwing things.”

She smiled slightly, that small little sad smile that threatened to bring me to tears, let alone her. This woman was spellbinding. If she is allowed to mature and gain a bit of confidence then poets will be writing about her for centuries to come.

“Would it help?” She asked. “I know that the world has moved on. The political and royal landscape has changed so much. I have people that will rely on me. More people will seek to use me when they realise that I am awake. It is all so overwhelming and at the same time... Everything hurts. My skin feels like it's on fire, my throat is sore, my head is throbbing and little sounds come to me like huge crashes of metal. Everything in my body and mind is screaming at me to just shut down but I know that I can't. I worry that if I did that, I might go mad.”

She had started to head towards the hysterics that I had expected towards the end but again, with another supreme act of self-control she brought herself back from the brink.

“We should also talk about Kerrass.” She said after a while. “Is he really going to offer me his head?”

“Yes,” I said. “I think there is even a significant part of him that wants you to take it.”

She shook her head in disbelief.

“What a world to wake up to.” I don't know if she meant me to hear that or not as it was said quietly.

“Should I take it?” She asked.

“It's not for me to say. I would say that I don't want you to take it but I am too close to the matter. Kerrass is my friend. One of the best I've had in my memory.

“Is he a good man?”

“Again that's not for me to say. I think that if you asked him that question he would say that he is not a good man. He would say that he has done too much, seen too much to be a good man. Not least of which is those events that brought him into your sphere of influence.”

“Did he... Did he rape me?”

“No. He hates himself because he did nothing to stop those men that did. He is aware of the other factors. He knows that if he had drawn his sword in an effort to do something then he would have died and you would still have been raped but that is no real consolation to him. He blames himself.”

She sighed and nodded.

“I don't know what to do Freddie,” She looked at me then. I saw tears standing in her eyes ready to fall and again, the look of the woman. I wanted to hold her and tell her that everything was going to be alright but sitting there and then, nothing would have helped and I had no right to do any of that. “I've been trained to be the heir to my Father's throne since before I could walk. I know about politics and war, economics, trade and bargaining. I know heraldry etiquette and how to properly gather a persons loyalty to myself but now that I'm here, I don't know what to do. I don't even know if I'm really a Princess any more, let alone a Queen. I know enough, I've heard enough that I know that there is another Empire, a nation that rules over my lands. I know that my people, such as they are, owe their fealty to that crown as well as to me. What do I do with that? What can I do with that?”

She did weep then, but only a little and she soon managed to swallow that feeling back down her throat.

“Goddess but I hate this. I feel so weak. What do I do Frederick?”

“This is going back into the direction of me advising you again Highness.”

“The advise me.”

I nodded and did my best to martial my thoughts, the same as I would have done when standing before my tutors.

“Sooner or later you are going to have to leave this place.” I said after a while. The curse is lifted, so by now the people on the outskirts will know that the curse is broken and that you are awake. That change is going to be profound to them.”

“You know of those effects?”

“I do. So then it is the branching set of decisions. Do you stay with them and do your best to help them and help yourself to rebuild your Kingdom. You are not poor although it might seem that way. We have recovered trade agreements in your name and you are not poor. That's disregarding the mines and quarries that are presumably still workable on your lands. So you do have money. That is the first choice.”

She nodded.

“Or you could vanish. Disappear. Either your birth mother or Kerrass would happily help you with that option. Life might be hard and I dare-say that life would be much different from the one you are used to, a hundred years of sleep not withstanding. But it could be done. Find a nice cottage somewhere and live out the rest of your life away from anything and away from history. That is the second choice.”

She nodded and gestured for the bottle.

“Would you help me Frederick?”

“I will do my best to help you no matter what you choose to do. As I said, I helped wake you up. It would be... disgraceful and disrespectful of me to do all of that and then just wash my hands of the entire affair.”

She nodded and took a small sip from the bottle. No longer swigging I noticed.

“The second choice is attractive, it really is. Running out on everything is something that I would like. I am not ready to take control of my country, even though the number of people that live here are less than a hundred people. I'm not ready for that.”

“Is anyone. Is anyone ever ready for that?”

“You are not wrong and your point is well made. The second choice is attractive to me but at the same time, I fear that there would be a lot of guilt tied up in that choice. I would hunt for the news of my people and my country. I would look at whatever and whoever chose or was chosen to govern these lands and think “Could I have done better?” I think that I'm going to take Option one.”

I felt myself relax a little.

“I can help you in more directions in this way. Your problems are that you need wealth and friends at court. Yes, in theory you and your realm are very rich but that is going to make you a tempting target to many noblemen and the like. They will want to swoop in, seduce and charm you into marriage and then take you and your Kingdom for everything it's worth.”

“How do I get round that?”

She looked so fragile. I don't know what it cost her to keep herself rigidly still and calm like that but found that I didn't want to be there when the dam did eventually burst.

“Well, in many ways you are lucky. If you had woken up five years ago then the Empire whose borders you fall within were at war with the north. You would have woken up and the Emperor would have you married off to someone, possibly even himself. Then your country would have been stripped of wealth and those funds would have gone over to the war effort. As it is though, the war is over. The Emperor is stepping down from the throne for, and I quote, “Reasons of state” in favour of his daughter.

“The very fact that there is going to be an Empress on the throne rather than an Emperor is going to count in your favour.”

“Unless she chooses to be harsh towards me in order to demonstrate her even handedness.”

“That is a risk but one way or another, to be recognised as the head of this state, on any kind of level, you are going to need to go to court and speak to the Empress. Your country has been a small fraction of a small percentage of imperial revenue for so long that the prospects of having a country to tax again, might upset the apple-cart but it might upset things in your favour.”

The Princess nodded. “It does seem that I rather have no choice.

“So we need to do two things. We need to get things moving on calling up all of your old mercantile efforts. Some of which will have gone under, some of which might refuse to recognise your claim, some you might need to take to court but some might end up paying out. The other thing that we need to do is to have you introduced to the Empress.”

“How do we do those things?”

“Well. As it turns out, you see I have this sister.” I grinned at her. “You'll like her.”

I explained about Emma's mercantile prowess and about how much influence she had on the flow of trade.

“My sister can stretch a copper further than anyone else I know.” I finished up.

“And how will this help me with getting introduced at court.”

“Well, I also have this friend.”

A small light went off behind my eyes and I caught my mouth smiling. “In fact, all things being considered I should have asked for her help some time ago.”

“Who's that?”

“Madame Ariadne, Comtesse de Angral.”

“Should I know the name?”

“I doubt it. Although you and she have a lot in common. She was also woken up to a world that she didn't recognise. But she is a Countess now. Her rank has been ratified by the Imperial throne and I have no doubt that she can get you some time with the Empress and impress upon her the benefits of helping you out. She is also a Sorceress, is known to be a Sorceress and can therefore teleport you around so that we can get a head start on any potential enemies that might want to get the drop on you.”

“What is this woman to you?”

“She's my...” How to explain this. “In all likelihood, the two of us are going to be married.”

The Princess looked at me with far too searching an expression. “I see.” She said. “Not that I'm complaining or anything but this does put me in a position of depending on you and yours a little more than I probably should.”

“It does Your Highness. Indeed it does. But at the same time, the offer of help is there. Ariadne can also do that thing which I cannot.”

“Which is?”

“She can be your friend.”

The Princess nodded.

“You also need to think about what you're going to do about the two people downstairs.”

The Princess nodded.

“How long is it going to take you to set this up?”

“I think Ariadne will take great delight in showing up sooner than either of us expect.”

I took out my pendant, the one that I had kept round my neck for so long that Ariadne had given me when we had last seen each other. The one that I was so used to now that I barely noticed it. I held it in both hands and called out her name. The Amulet that I should have remembered about a long time ago.

I felt her presence in the back of my mind almost immediately. I don't know why but I feel sure that she was smiling.

“Can I help?” She asked.

“I think you can.”

“Then I shall be there directly.”

Five minutes later and there was a flash. There she was, dressed in the same, off white travelling dress, trousers and boots underneath a skirt. She also had a travelling satchel over her shoulder. Her hair was tied back in a long plait. I will not deny that I felt my heart give a little flutter when I saw her. As always, she looked beautiful.

I stood to greet her while the Princess didn't move and gave Ariadne an opportunity to examine me from head to toe with an unblinking, slightly off-putting gaze.

“You haven't been taking proper care of yourself again,” she accused with just the slightest hint of a smile.

“It's what happens when you get attacked by a dragon.”

“I should have known that the pair of you would get into trouble. Also, why didn't you call me sooner?”

“Would you believe me if I said that it honestly never occurred to me?”

She gazed at me for a long time. “I would I think, although I am a little saddened by it.”

A thought occurred to me. “Did you know what this place was when Kerrass told you where we were going?”

“I knew a little. I must admit to a little worry when I found out that there was a Dragon here though. You have done well between you, for better or worse.”

“That wasn't what I was talking about.”

“I know. Don't worry about it Freddie. We can talk about it later if you like but there is nothing to worry about from your end, or anyone else's end for that matter. You have done well here and I can see, just by looking at you that the problem, plus the excursion and the other aspects of things has done you an incredible amount of good. Now, what can I do?

“I need your help.”

“You as the singular?” Her eyes went over my shoulder to look at the still kneeling Princess. “Or you as the plural?”

“Probably the plural but it is me that is asking.”

“I see. Then I shall certainly endeavour to give what aid I can.”

“I owe you one.”

She cocked her head onto one side. “No, I still think that this would leave me in your debt. Maybe a little less but in this, I take no charges. That's how the world improves is it not? We help each other out of tricky situations?”

“That is a nice thought.”

“Then why don't you tell me how I can help.”

I briefly explained the situation and laid out my concerns.

She listened, unmoving.

“I see. Yes, we need to get her in to see the Empress as soon as possible. We also need to help and support her through the coming weeks and months. Believe me when I say, waking up to a world that is not your own is a.... heart rending experience.”

“You seem to be Ok.”

“I had some very good friends who supported me through those early days. And then I made some more good friends. She will need friends and people who she can be close to. It is made more difficult by the fact that she is now a Queen and her circle of friendship will need to be... select.”

“Can you help?”

“I think so.”

I stared at her for a long moment.

“It is good to see you Ariadne.”

Her eyes searched my face for a moment. Although I still couldn't tell what she was thinking.

“It is good to see you too Freddie. Now why don't you introduce us.”

I nodded and led her towards where the Princess was still kneeling. I heard Ariadne deposit her bag on the floor.

“Princess Dorn?” I enquired.

The Princess levered herself to her feet and turned around. She moved stiffly, the way I imagined that I moved after a hard bout of practice with Kerrass.

“Princess Dorn it is my honour and privilege to present Madame Ariadne, Comtesse de Angral. Madame Comtesse, this is the Princess Dorn.”

I bowed and took a step back to clear the room between the two women.

Ariadne curtsied as formally as you could imagine and sank much lower than I had previously thought possible to do in skirts and with, you know, legs.

The Princess mirrored the curtsey, but only to a slight degree.

“Madame Comtesse,” she said.

I should mention that we were still speaking in Elven.

Ariadne gazed at the Princess for a long time.

“Oh my dear,” she said. “Oh sweetheart.” There was such feeling in those words, such depth of sympathy and caring that it all but took my breath away. Ariadne held her arms wide and the Princess flew into that embrace.

It would seem that that was what would cause the Princesses barriers to come down and for the torrent of pain and anguish to begin to come tumbling out. She buried her head into Ariadne's chest and just bawled for everything she was worth.

I dare say that she deserved every tear that she shed and more.

I caught Ariadne's eye, and she gestured towards the door.

“Main hall,” I mouthed at her and she nodded.

I left the two women alone and fled.

I returned to the main hall. Kerrass had brought our belongings up from the Kitchens and was setting up a more permanent camp. I don't know if he expected us to be spending any more time here but it was more done as though he just needed something to do.

Malevolence was pacing off in the corner of the room.

The feeling in the air was almost exactly the same as those feelings you get when you have caught someone doing something that they shouldn't.

They saw me almost at the same time.

“Where is she?” demanded Malevolence, “and who was that that just gated into the palace hmm?”

I held my hands up placatingly. “Why don't we all just calm down?” I attempted.

“Fuck that,” she yelled in my face. “You go off, in an effort to calm down my daughter in a ruined and rickety castle and then you leave her in the presence of some strange Sorceress. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't go up there and roast whoever it was that turned up.”

“I might like to see that,” Kerrass commented from his vantage point by the fire.

“You can fuck off and all.” Malevolence hissed at him. “Stupid Witcher with your stupid codes and things. Letting people come in and rape my daughter.”

I took the opportunity to dodge round the angry Dragon-woman and make my way to the fire.

“I might have let them do those things,” Kerrass commented mildly. “But then I hunted them down and killed them. Both them and the people responsible. I cut them down or they died accordingly. I also did the same for those men who came afterwards that assaulted your daughter. Any time I heard about them or the villagers got word to me that something had happened to your daughter again, I went and I killed them.”

I now know what people mean when they say, “that took the wind out of their sails.

“I didn't know that,” she said after a while.

“I am a Witcher madam.” Kerrass said, “I kill monsters.”

“Interesting.” She stood in the corner frowning in thought for a moment.

“Who is it?” Kerrass asked me in the short gap when the Dragon wasn't yelling. “Ariadne?”

I nodded.

“Good choice.”

“Yes, we really should have thought of her sooner. Like when we were thinking of jumping up and down while trying to attract the attention of a giant fire breathing dragon.”

Kerrass smirked a little. “I made some food.”

“Thank the flame for that. I'm starving.” I served myself up a platter of some roasted meat, bread and cheese as well as a cup of broth and a dried apple.

“Oi,” I yelled over to the woman in the corner. “Come and eat.” I held the platter out as an offer.

“I don't want to eat with the likes of you.”

“Suit yourself.” I took a large bite of cheese before folding the bread and making a sandwich with the meat before making appreciative noises towards Kerrass, who was forced to turn away to hide a smile.

Eventually, and to no-one's surprise, malevolence came over and took a chair. I passed over the bread, cut her a chunk of cheese and some meat and gave her a cup of broth.

“How's she doing?” Kerrass asked.

“Much better than I would be doing if our situations were reversed.” I said after swallowing my mouth full.

“She's going to need someone with her for a while and I would be willing to bet that the nightmare's that she's going to have are going to be something else altogether.”

Kerrass stared into space for a moment. “Yes, I supposed they will.”

“Who is this person that you summoned to help her?” Malevolence asked me through a mouthful of cheese and meat.

I exchanged glances with Kerrass.

“A friend,” he said slowly. “She's had something similar happen to her recently and so will be able to give a different insight into what's going through the Princesses mind.”

“Oh?”

“She was imprisoned.” I said. “Against her will.”

“Have you left my daughter with a criminal?”

“Criminality is sometimes in the eye of the beholder. For instance, aren't you the woman who cast a spell that caused an entire country to fall asleep and die of malnutrition while under the influence of your spell?”

“They call that genocide in some parts of the world.” Kerrass commented, supporting my point.

Malevolence opened her mouth as if to argue before snapping it shut and taking a bite out of an apple. She was eating everything in the wrong order I noticed and her table manners were...lacking.

We sat in silence for a long time after that. I did my best to jot down some quick notes, but the truth was that time was dragging and none of us were really able to concentrate on what we were doing.

Darkness fell and I began to feel the pull of my bedroll. It had been a long day, talking to a dead King, fighting his guards and then trying to talk to a Dragon.

But then Kerrass' head jerked up. Just a fraction of a second before Ariadne and the Princess walked through the doorway at the entrance to the hall.

I stood up and bowed. There was nothing else to do.

Seeing the way I behaved, Kerrass followed suit.

The Princess was still wearing the woollen dress that Kerrass had brought with him in his packs, but now, her hair fell long and lustrously down the Princesses back. There was a simple golden pendant around her neck and her hair was held back with a small, thin Golden band that, if you looked at it in a certain light, might look like a crown. There was a red jewel at the front of the crown and in the necklace itself. Her eyes were bright and her carriage was suddenly that of a Queen. I have yet to meet the Empress Cirilla but I have met King Radovid as he “inspected” the Quartermasters offices. We followed Radovid because he was our King, but in truth, I thought he looked rather small. I might be remembering him badly because of everything that he did, or had done, but he looked small and kind of weaselly. He was undoubtedly a clever man, more than gifted in the field of tactics and political science but if you put him next to this girl, this.... Queen, then I don't think anyone would have even looked at him.

Ariadne wore no expression. But I swear, I swear by the holy flame and the prophet that she was radiating smugness at the reaction that she had managed to illicit.

The two of them approached and it was going so well until Malevolence looked at Ariadne. There was a long moment where they stared at each other. I was reminded of two cats meeting each other for the first time.

The Princess gestured that the two of us rise up and when we did as we were bid, I noticed that the Princess had a small amount of make-up on. It suited her.

“Your friend ran me a bath,” she whispered to me with just the hint of a girlish giggle.

“Was it good?”

“It was glorious.” The Princess shut her eyes at the remembered luxury. “We had to change the water several times as I was filthy.”

I smiled.

I think it was that moment that I decided that she might have difficulty, but that the Princess was going to be alright in the end.

Further conversation was impossible though because that was when Malevolence started to speak.

“Do I know you?” The Dragon asked.

Ariadne frowned before a light went on behind her eyes.

“Draig?” she whispered. “By the force of magic that governs the world Draig it is you.” she spoke louder with delight and pointed at herself. “It's Królowa pająk,”

Malevolence's eyes widened.

“No,” she breathed. “It can't be. You died.”

Ariadne was nodding, plainly delighted. “No, I was imprisoned. A bunch of people managed to find a magic user and caught me by surprise.”

Malevolence's mouth hung open. “We all thought, you were...How did you?”

She spun on me and her eyes narrowed, “I knew you looked familiar,” before she spun back to Ariadne “It is you. I thought you were dead.”

The two women embraced, laughing, shouting and giggling.

“Close your mouth Freddie,” Kerrass muttered although he was clearly just as stunned as I was.

The Princess was helping herself to some of the leftovers.

Still laughing and wiping a suspicious tear from her cheek Malevolence pulled away. “I'm so sorry, I heard you'd died. I even tried to avenge you but I couldn't find out what had happened.”

Ariadne was still giggling. “You remember that thing with that Necromancer where Enid lost her temper?”

“Yes?”

“I got back home after that and the locals had hired a mage to lock me up in my tower.”

“How did you get out?”

“Freddie and Kerrass of course.”

Another mood quickly flashed across the Dragon's face. “If I'd known Królowa, I swear I would have rescued you.”

“I know, and it's Ariadne now.”

“How did you get that name?”

“Freddie gave it to me. It seemed to fit.”

“Oh it's so good to see you. I thought all of the old guard had died. I haven't felt anyone's presence for well over seventy years.”

“The world changed when we weren't looking at it Draig.”

“Didn't it just. When did you get out?”

“A little over a year ago now. I've been getting to know the world that we live in now and all the changes that have come with it.”

“Is it much different to how you left it?”

“Very.”

I sat back down and put some more water onto boil.

Kerrass sat bemused as we watched a dragon and a vampire catch up like two old friends.

“For a start, magic is completely different.” Ariadne went on. “Not in the flows of force but the way that people think about it. I seem to have missed the best years of magical discovery and invention. I hear about the council of mages and more recently, the Lodge of Sorceresses and think to myself. I could have been part of that.”

“I missed a lot of it too,” Malevolence answered. “I've been guarding this little corner of the world for a long time now. How are things going? Are any of the old guard still around?”

“Enid is still around. She and Ida are members of the newly reformed lodge of Sorceresses. They haven't changed at all. So much so that they must have worked at it to change as little as they have. When you meet them it's like they've gone backwards in some ways.”

“Well, that's elves for you.”

“I don't think you'll know any of the others. The oldest is, I think, around the hundred and fifty year mark and she is utterly lacking in any kind of ambition. I'll introduce you. You'll hate them, it'll be fantastic.”

“And just like old times,” Malevolence cackled. “Are any of them worthwhile?”

“Oh, all of them have their own qualities. They strike me that, individually they are relatively good and clever people. But as a whole they've made some costly errors. They had a naked ambition which set them against some powerful people before they were really ready for it. As a result, they lost many of their number in the earlier years of the Lodge's existence to assassins and royal whims.”

“Careless of them.”

“I thought so. They will either learn or not.”

“Are you a member.”

“No. I've had conversations with a couple of them that rather suggest that they are sounding me out about joining but I've been determinedly non-committal. There is an interesting power-play at the moment in the Lodge.”

“Oh?”

I should mention that Kerrass and I were rapt. Listening to this conversation was fascinating. While this all went on we made a more substantial evening meal between us and handed it out to the other three women.

The Princess was plainly exhausted so we made her a bed of cushions up in a corner. We agreed with unspoken words, that we would set a watch over her during the night in case she woke up and needed reminding that she was back in the real world. She ate and crawled into the blankets that we had set aside for her and just passed out.

“Yes,” Ariadne went on. “The Lodge seems to have been the brainchild of a women called Phillipa Eilhart who was advising a Northern King during the war with the recent war with the south. Long story short, her side lost but not before she was put considerably out of favour by the King in question. So she was left adrift and a fugitive. The King persecuted a lot of the mages and Sorceresses so they fled, under the guidance of a member called Triss Merigold. I've met the woman twice and she has that look of someone who has had to grow up awfully quickly. She certainly seems very different from what I had been led to believe from reading about her in the various histories.”

“Go on.”

“Well, The King was persecuting the magic users and so the erstwhile Miss Merigold led them all North to Kovir. So without really trying, she has gathered quite a lot of influence amongst the magical community. She is not interested in leading the lodge though as she is too busy getting the magical folks settled and making sure that they don't abuse the hospitality of the people that give them shelter.

“Then there is the matter of the soon to be crowned Empress, who is also a member of the lodge by the way. She regards another woman, one Yennefer of Vengerberg, as a mother figure. Yennefer did many things to annoy and anger Miss Eilhart during the war. But to hear it, those things were done in the best interests of her daughter, the Empress.”

“I think I might need to take notes.” Malevolence said with no small amount of glee.

“The Empress and her activities are worth an entire books worth of conversations as it is. But, Yennefer has done her best to retire from politics and lives with her all-but-husband in a quiet way in Toussaint, a duchey to the North of here. However the Empress still relies on Madame Yennefer for advice on an almost constant basis. Much to the annoyance of Madame Eilhart.”

“I see.”

“I'm told, by reliable sources that when she is summoned by her daughter to council meetings. Madame Yennefer simply sits in the back of the room, with a book on something that she's studying at that moment and a notepad, while smiling sweetly at whoever the Empress is meeting with at the time.”

The dragon cackled.

“Yes, I thought you'd like that.” Ariadne went on. “This gives Madame Yennefer, more than a little bit of power within the Lodge, even though, as far as I can tell, she uses none of it. She is also close friends with Miss Merigold.”

“The woman from the north.”

“The very one.”

“So Madame Eilhart keeps trying to advise the Empress, who listens carefully before turning to Madame Yennefer for confirmation. All the while, the vast majority of the magic users defer to Miss Merigold who has no interest at all in running the Lodge. Have I got that right?”

“Pretty much.”

“Oh that sounds like so much fun.”

“I thought you'd like it.”

“What's this Empress like? Apparently she's a sorceress in her own right as well as being ruler over the majority of the continent?”

Ariadne took a deep breath.

“The Empress is... The Empress is the Empress.” Ariadne frowned for a moment in thought, “We were adversaries once yes?”

“Yes.”

“Would it be fair to say that I had the technique whereas you had the raw power?”

The dragon mused for a while.

“I would say that's a fair assessment. I would have had to catch you unawares but you were always suspicious. That was what made our rivalry so much fun.”

Ariadne's smile was predatory.

“I remember.” Her face straightened. “The other women in the Lodge run the gamut of power and technique. In many ways their understanding is greater than ours ever was and the raw power in someone like Madam Yennefer is terrifying and she tells stories of mages that dwarf her power. I'm not saying that I couldn't take them but I would be pressed. You see what I'm saying?”

Malevolence nodded. “I'm going to have to reassess my thinking about them.”

“That is a good thought. I certainly had to. Now put that image in your mind. You done that?”

“Yes.”

“The Empress, terrifies me.”

“What? You're joking right?”

“Look at me Draig. This is not a joke. The Empress is a terrifying woman. She looks like a woman barely out of her teens. She's athletic, beautiful, charming and fiercely intelligent. But she understands the universe in a way that no-one else does.”

Ariadne scratched her head.

“I've seen Enid once since being released. She calls the Empress “The Lady of time and space.””

“That's a hell of a title.”

“It is. I've seen the Empress teleport, without a gate, to a place of her choosing at will and at the speed of thought. She talks about other worlds as though she's visited them and says that she can go back there at will. I believe her. She talks about things like “Quantum theory,” “Molecular structure” and “the non-linear nature of time” in the same way that you or I would talk about the elements of force needed to create a fireball.”

The dragons mouth hung open.

“There was a courtier there, the last time I was at court. He was talking down to the Empress, largely because she was female and had the temerity to talk back to him.”

Malevolence snorted.

“The Empress frowned at him and he started to age, visibly before our eyes. Madame Yennefer was there at the time as the Empress had requested her presence on some matter and Yennefer cleared her throat noisily. The Empress blinked a couple of times and the man returned to normal. He apologised for the insult and fled.”

“My word.”

“Exactly.”

Kerrass had bunked down for the night by this point and I was writing in my note-book. Or rather I was pretending to write in my note-book. This modern discourse on the politics of the day was far too fascinating for my ears. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Malevolence had turned her head towards me.

“I like your human by the way.” She said to Ariadne.

I very carefully, and very deliberately, said nothing.

“He's not my human. Which is part of the point.” Ariadne responded.

“Oh please.” Malevolence commented. “He's clearly besotted with you. I would take him for myself if he wasn't so clearly in love with a certain vampire sat not so very far away from where I sit at the moment.”

“Such matters are still being worked out. At the moment I am turning all my energies towards living with the other humans around the place and I am grateful to both of them, the Witcher as well, for the opportunity to do so.”

Malevolence snorted but their conversation got quieter after that. From what little bits I could make out, they were reminiscing about old times using names and terms that I didn't recognise. Presumably from before the pontar delta had been settled.

The Princess hadn't during the night although I had checked a few times to make sure that she was ok. A horrible thought had struck me at about midnight when it suddenly occurred to me that the Princess might have decided that the entire thing might have been too much and have taken a blade to herself in an effort to end it all. Fortunately though, she seemed fast asleep. Malevolence had vanished somewhere on business of her own although Ariadne reassured me that the Dragon would be back in the morning. I talked to her about my concern but she reassure me, telling me that the thought had occurred but that the Princess was too locked into her sense of duty to do anything serious towards an effort of self harming.

I commented that the Princess was doing well.

Ariadne agreed.

“She knows everything Frederick.” She said, looking at me with huge, dilated pupils in the very centre of her eyes. The irises a very pale blue. I didn't remember noticing her eye colour before. I've since found out that it changes according to her mood from a very pale blue down to a deep and dark, almost purple colour when she is angry. Green when she is sad although it seems to vary. I once told her that I intend to keep notes on the status of her eyes and what they might mean. She laughed and said that she would have to remember that so that she could purposefully mess with the scale.

“She knows and remembers everything that happened in the hundred and twenty years that she's been asleep. When her eyes were open she could see through them. But even when they were closed, she could still hear. She still knew what was happening to her. She said it was like she was a prisoner inside her own skull, watching what happened to her body.”

“Holy Flame.”

“She recognised your voice as being a recent thing. She knows and can recall with perfect clarity every conversation that Kerrass has ever had with her. Apparently he is the only one who actually talked to her rather than talking around her. I think she loves him a little even though she is perfectly aware that she can't love him.”

“So she knew everything that happened.”

“Yes. If I had been here sooner I would have looked at the curse. Oh don't worry, I'm not angry. Certainly not with you. I'm furious at this Merryweather woman and Draig deserves more than a small amount of the blame to be sure. Because it was a curse of knowledge, the idea being that everyone would know what had happened between Stefan and Draig. And because it was centred on and through her. It meant that she was linked to everyone in the Kingdom. Everyone that has ever come through this Kingdom, she has been aware of them. That knowledge has become a two way street.

“I'm not sure I understand.”

“Neither do I. I suspect I could write a book on the subject and I still wouldn't understand. When you were in the outskirts of the Kingdom, you were affected by her mood. By her outlook on life and by her dreams. This was because the entirety of the Kingdom was supposed to understand what had happened beginning with her. Their knowledge was the knowledge that they received from the Princess. Because that was changed towards sleep, it also meant that they dreamt what the princess dreamt, they felt what the Princess felt.”

“So when the Princess was angry, they were angry. When the Princess was having a nightmare, or being hormonal. Everyone was having a nightmare or being hormonal.”

“Precisely. Everyone concerned should fall on their knees, from morning till dusk and worship whichever Gods or Goddesses that they pray to that it was this girl that was cursed. Not some tyrant, or the kind of girl that delights in cruelty. The other problem is that those thoughts and feelings went both ways. She knew to trust you because the villagers like and trust you. You were kind to your “companion” which is unusual enough to be noted by them and therefore it was unusual enough to be noticed by her.”

I spent a long time looking over at the Princess where she slept.

“Is she going to be alright?”

“No. No she's not. Or at least, not in the ways that we think of as being “alright” We'll know more in the morning of course. A night of proper sleep will either give her strength or strip it away from her. But whatever happens, she is going to need help of one kind or another for the rest of her days. I expect there will be many days when she thrives on the challenges that life gives her. But likewise there will be some days when she looks around herself and sees nothing and no-one that she recognises and there lies the potential for the blackest kinds of depression.”

“I'm sorry to have laid this on you.”

“Don't be. You were right in thinking that the two of us have a lot in common. But vampires are supposed to go without company for years, or even centuries at a time. It's almost as though we were designed to that end. Humans though? Humans are social creatures. It's a rare human that can live without contact for years at a time. Let alone a hundred and twenty, while also watching your body being beaten and abused.”

“I should have got here sooner.”

“No Freddie, she should never have been cursed in the first place. The damage was done, long before your Grandfather was even born. The hope is that she takes the help where it's offered and learns to be able to choose the honest well wishers from those who want to take advantage of her. I might be wrong of course. She is at least, part dragon. That might fortify her mind more than I have guessed. But she will not be alone. I have some thoughts in that direction already. I'm pretty confident that the Empress will look after her. The Empress is not so jaded yet that she won't recognise a need for kindness, pity and support. With a gentle prod, I expect that the Princess will be looked after and supported with what needs to be done to rebuild her Kingdom.”

“Good, I'm glad of that. I was rather worried that I had been cruel to her, to wake her up.”

“No, the cruelty would have been to leave her there. In the grip of whatever curse has bound her for so long. At the mercy of whatever and whoever came by. Now she has agency of her own and can act. However she sees fit.”

I nodded. “I'm glad you came.”

She smiled. “Of course I came. For you, I will always come.”

She laid a hand on my arm.

I shivered.

I tried not to. I didn't meant to. I was aware that there was the potential for physical contact and I thought I had been prepared. I don't even know what kind of shiver it was.

But I shivered and as I looked at her, her mask was back in place. Plain, beautiful features showing polite interest, a little concern, just a hint of amusement at the world but otherwise there was no sign of change. Her eye colour had deepened a little, maybe a shade or two but I might have been imagining things in the candlelight.

“I'm sorry.” I said.

“No, I'm sorry. You've had a rough few days. You should get some sleep.”

I stood up and moved away a little to take the good advice, but I turned and looked at her. She had picked up her book and was in the process of removing a bookmark.

“I really am sorry.”

“I know Freddie,” She smiled. I couldn't tell if it was a genuine smile or whether it was there for my benefit. “Get some rest.”

I did as I was told.

The morning found me feeling stiff and uncomfortable. Not really surprising given everything that had happened the previous day. Kerrass kicked me awake with his boot, a gentler act than is probably envisioned, and we set about packing up the camp. We seemed to be packing up. I looked over at where the Princess had been sleeping and she wasn't there. I raised my eyebrows at Kerrass who shrugged. Ariadne was also missing. Malevolence was pacing, looking as though she was working herself up into a proper fit of temper. I ate some leftover boar meat and washed it down with some well watered wine while at the same time noticing that we were just about at the end of our supplies.

We had the bags tied up and stacked. I went down to the Kitchen where I wasted a small chunk of my life getting the donkey up the stairs to the main hall where we tied a lot of the empty sacks to him. He bore this with only a little bit of a protest, baring his teeth at me a couple of times. Then we settled down to wait.

Malevolence's temper was not improving.

“Where the hell has she taken her?” was the first thing that she said to me when I coaxed the donkey through the arch-way into the main hall.

“By she, you mean Ariadne, and by “her” you mean the Princess?” I still struggled to refer to the Princess Dorn as anything other than “The Princess.” I found that I struggled to think of her in any other way than “The Princess”, even if she marries and eventually becomes Queen. Or runs off with Kerrass or one of the many, many men that will be drawn to her beauty, then she will still remain “The Princess” to my mind.

“Yes of course I do. Who else would I mean?”

“It's important to check these things.” I said as Kerrass and I started to tie our belongings about the poor much put upon beast of burden.

“Have a care, you forget who you are speaking to.”

“I think it would be impossible to forget who he is talking to.” came a voice. It was cold, hard and utterly unbending. The Princess had come back. She looked better, still tired and haunted but she looked better. I knelt. It seemed like the right thing to do and I was dimly aware of Kerrass following my example behind me. “I will never forget who you are.” The Princess snapped at her mother. “The Dragon Sorceress that cursed a nation.” There was anger in her voice. A terrible rage that hinted at a huge and buried well of feeling.

“I...” Began Malevolence.”

“Be silent, I will come to you shortly.”

I had forgotten, we all had I suppose. Sixteen she might be. The original damsel in distress, she might have been. But she had been trained to be a Queen and her aura of command was absolute.

“Rise Frederick.” I climbed to my feet and gazed at the Princess as she walked past me to stand on the dais where the royal throne mus have stood. I had looked for it at one point but Kerrass suggested that it would have been torn apart by looters in an effort to get to the riches that were contained within it. I was dimly aware that Ariadne took up a position in the background, but not on the dais.

“Lord Frederick.” The Princess began. “We owe you thanks. Our Queenship and rule over these lands might only be a temporary thing. But while it exists we would have you know that we are endlessly grateful for your service to our nation. It is our understanding that you have rank and title elsewhere, also that your loyalty lies to a foreign crown. Know that if that were not the case then we would offer what title and land it was within our power to grant. Also such things would not be small. Alas we currently have no other way to show our gratitude but know that it is boundless. If you ever have anything that we might be able to help with, then send word and if it is within our power to grant, then it will be so.”

I bowed. She gestured and I stepped aside to where Ariadne was standing.

“You gave her lessons?” I whispered.

“No, it's all her. She asked some advice but otherwise. It's all her.”

The Princess stands at around 5ft 4in tall. She was dwarfed by both Malevolence and Kerrass, but she dominated the room.

But someone wasn't dominated.

“Are you done playing royalty?” Malevolence hissed. “This is neither the time or the place for such....”

“BE SILENT.” Thundered the Princess, her voice echoing round the room. “You will be silent. We are not playing at anything. What state this hall is in. What state this country is in does not matter. It is ours. We understand that the nation is a shadow of what it was. That we stand in real danger of being eaten up by our neighbours and that is a problem that we intend to deal with one way or the other but... We have also not forgotten that the reason that this is the case is BECAUSE OF YOUR ACTIONS.”

“That's a....”

“DO NOT SPEAK YOUR TIRED EXCUSES TO ME.” The Princesses voice was a thing of perfect tone and intonation. It only cracked a little through lack of use. I was watching her carefully though and the crack at the end was not due to emotion. “Our Father could have handled things better. Our Mother could have done things differently. But that is regardless of the point that you went into the situation willingly and with the knowledge of the circumstances and knowing what might happen. You forced your way into a banquet and CURSED OUR NATION. Every single death, every single corpse, every lost life in those hundred and twenty years since that curse lies at your feet.

“There are two reasons why I am not asking the Witcher to slay you. The first is that the mistake was unintentional. Yours was merely the first step towards disaster. But you could have decided not to take that step in the first place.

“The second reason is that you are our mother.” I saw the Princess swallow. It was the first sign of her emotion. I looked sidelong at Ariadne who was watching the Princesses display with rapt attention and maybe, just maybe, a little pride. The swallow was perfectly timed. With just that hint of vulnerability, the Princess tamed the dragon. One day, I hope to ask the Princess whether that swallow was deliberate.

Malevolence bowed her head and sank to her knees before her daughter and wept.

The diminutive Princess stepped down to where her mother was kneeling.

“I am so angry with you mother. So very angry, but I find that I cannot hate you. I wanted to. I really did and I tried, so very hard during the night and most of this morning. But I cannot. Father treated you badly. They say that Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Well let that count double for a dragon-woman. I would also learn more about that side of my heritage. But not now.”

The Princess lifted her mother to her feet before walking back to the dais.

“However we cannot call you Draig or whatever you called your self. We have heard others call you Malevolence but we cannot think of you like that either. If you would indulge us. We recall expressing a thought as to what it would be to be a dragon and to fly to the heavens. We wondered what that would be like and our other Mother, the Queen, said it would be Magnificent. So We will call you both together, Malevolence and Magnificent. We name you Maleficent. Does that suit?”

The newly named Maleficent rose up. I am confident that I was not imagining the pride on her face. “It will suit very well. My Queen.”

“Good. We are also aware of the role you had to play in our awakening. Know that we are not ungrateful.”

Maleficent bowed again. The Princess gestured and Maleficent joined Ariadne and I. The two women put their heads together and had a short, whispered conversation that I didn't hear. I was too busy watching Kerrass.

“Witcher Kerrass, rise and face us.” The Princesses voice was warm. Kerrass did as he was told.

“Witcher Kerrass. Kerrass. We are aware of what you intend to do. You intend to call out to me your crimes. You intend to confess to every assault on our royal person and everything that you did not do to protect us. You intend to admit your complicity in those same crimes as well as the executions, murders and other dark deeds that you undertook in our name in the pursuit of justice and then you demand judgement for those same crimes.”

Kerras said nothing. He didn't even move as the Princess stepped down off the dais.

“What you did was awful.” She said. “I do not mean, standing by and allowing your then companions to.... to assault our royal person. You had no choice then or you would have died yourself. But the actions afterwards? I cannot condone those actions. But nor can I condemn them. Who is to know what those same men would have done if left unchecked. In the perfect world that we all wish that we lived in, those same men would be brought to trial and justice could be achieved. But this is not a perfect world and the feudal system would have seen them go free.

“What you did was awful.” She said again. “However, I also remember you coming to see me. The very fact that I stand here, dressed is down to you. Without you I would still be asleep. Without you, I would have been alone as I remembered your words to me while I slept. All of those times where you kept me company over long nights. Not assaulting or touching me. But caring for me as a friend. For that I am grateful and I find that I cannot condemn you either.”

The Princess climbed back onto the dais.

“There may come a time, Witcher Kerrass where this Kingdom is fully restored in all it's glory. When knights and warriors, courtiers and townsfolk, farmers and villagers come to our halls and lift up their voices to cheer whoever stands on this dais at that time. It might be that, come that day, we no longer have need of your services. But until that day, I would ask that you serve as champion. I am aware that that will take you from your path, until I am in such a position that I no longer need your services, but even then I would still ask for your friendship.”

Kerrass bowed.

“And you would have it. But I do not doubt that you will soon have your champion.”

The Princess smiled. “Maybe. But not today.”

She gestured and we all joined Kerrass on the throne room floor.

“From here, Countess Ariadne has offered to teleport us to the outskirts of the forest where we intend to make ourselves known to what remains of our people. This is not something that can be avoided, nor would we wish it to be so. Thereupon we will leave, in the company of the Countess and our champion to the royal court where we will place our case at the feet of the Empress, where we hope that we will be able to better acclimatise ourself to the times that we now live in. This will be, an undoubtedly long process. Maleficent we believe that it would probably be wise if you would meet us later at the Countesses residence, either in the capital itself or in her home country of Angral.”

Maleficent nodded, a slight smile suggesting that her wicked sense of humour was coming back. “Probably wise.”

“Lord Frederick. We would ask that you join us in coming to the outskirts but from there we have no hold over you.”

I nodded.

“Then I shall summon the gate.” Ariadne signalled.

I'd never travelled by gate before. I've done it once since and it's an odd feeling. I tried to detect the very moment of transport. That moment when I wasn't in one place but I was in both. I shivered and looked back as I walked but there was nothing there. An archway leading into blackness but that was it.

Kerrass followed me through the gate, leading the donkey. He was scowling a little. He had spoken before about not liking using transport gates although he wouldn't say why. They just seemed to make him uncomfortable.

Ariadne had moved us to a small clearing, a little distance away from the village and we took a moment to get our bearings. Also to calm the donkey down who was wild-eyed with terror. I saw the Princess walk over to one of the vines and touch it. She also examined one of the thorns. The air was missing something that had been there when we had been walking through the vines before. An atmosphere, or a pressure that I couldn't put my finger on. It felt, lighter, less oppressive maybe.

Kerrass led the way back to the village. The Princess came next with Ariadne walking beside her. I came last with the donkey. Maleficent was presumably off somewhere, maybe even back in her tower by that point. Both Ariadne and I were watching the young Princess and so we both saw the moment where she had to take a breath to steady herself before stepping out to meet her people.

It is odd to say that one of the people that I look up to is one of the people that I have only just met. I admire Kerrass, Mark as well, Father Jerome as well as a number of the other people in my field. But this Princess had some stuff in her. I could not and can not imagine what she was going through but it must have been awful. But she squared her shoulders and strode forth. Again it was that small moment, the difference between being the beautiful young sixteen year old girl and then being a Queen. Nothing had changed, not her clothing, hair or make-up but suddenly again I was looking at a Queen.

We walked through a gap in the trees and there was the village. Just as we had left it. The air seemed unnaturally quiet but then I realised that the axes had stopped their constant music. The song to keep the rhythm was no longer being sung. I didn't see the people gather, I was too busy pulling a still reluctant donkey along by it's halter so instead I only saw the finished... product if you will. People were still coming. Streaming from where they were, leaving axes, tools and chores half done, doors were banging and names were being called as more and more people came, running to see what had happened.

I stopped short, Ariadne was watching the Princess carefully. Kerrass had stepped aside, also watching the Princess. His face was a mask but I am glad that I didn't see triumph there. It would have been all to easy for a man returning to a place that hated him with the object of his quest, to have worn triumph in his eyes. But I didn't see it in him. I am glad. I'm not sure I would have been able to manage the same thing in his place.

The Princess stood, still as a statue as she watched. The village was on a little rise up from where the edge of the thorn forest was and the people were running down the hill. But then they just knelt, taking a knee before their Princess. Before their Queen.

I heard more than one person weeping openly.

“Oh my people.” The Princess began. “Oh my people.” I saw confusion on their faces. The Princess saw it as well. “My people?” She tried again but in a different tongue. It must have been a dialect or a heavily accented version of what was now the common Nilfgaardian language. I didn't understand it and I could see that more than one person was straining to understand.

“Frederick,” she called. “Could you translate for me. I don't have time for language issues.”

Ariadne took the donkey's halter off me and I jogged up to where she was standing and translated from the elven.

“Another heartbreak.” She said. “Another tragedy that I should be kept from my people. Another barrier that stands between us, like the wall of time between the day I was cursed and the day that I was freed.

“Oh my people. Do not kneel. Stand. Please stand.”

She walked forward and physically lifted one of the first people there to their feet.

“Please stand. You should not kneel to me. You who have kept faith for all of these years. You who have lived on the edges of that land that is your home, that should have been your home, eking out a living when you should have had all of this at your disposal. You, who stayed and fought that no-one should forget who I am, who you are and who we are together. I should bow to you.

“No in fact...”

She held her skirts and dropped in the lowest curtsy that I had ever seen. As low as I ever expect to see.

There were still more people crying now. In the dim part of the back of my mind I was aware that I wanted to join that flood of emotion but I had a task now. I was a translator.

A woman rushed out of the crowd. I recognised her as Sarah, the Innkeeper. Kerrass' companion from before we had departed.

“Highness,” she said. She looked up at me, tears standing in her eyes. “Highness, don't bow, don't kneel. You ...” She stammered to a halt. Others in the crowd were calling their denial.

“Try speaking a bit slower.” I told the woman. “Slowly and clearly, avoid slang and remember the oldest documents that you might have read as to how people spoke back then.

Sarah nodded. “Please don't kneel Highness. We are, and have always been, your devoted subjects.”

The Princess straightened, looked the woman in her eyes and embraced her.

There was cheering then and I allowed myself a small tear. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I turned. Ariadne smiled at me. I very nearly lost my control then but I managed to return the smile.

More people came, fortunately they were fairly orderly and they didn't crush the Princess to death.

I witnessed a couple more moments that were unexpected. I saw Sarah, the innkeeper who had previously expressed hatred walk over to Kerrass. They stood facing each other for a moment, clearly a little unsure as to what to do next before she threw her arms around him. I saw her whisper something in his ear although I don't know what it was and I shall let the two of them keep that secret. The villagers led the Princess around and slowly I found that my services as a translator were needed less and less. The Princess had to concentrate to understand and occasionally I had to shout for quiet so that she could hear what was happening and what was being said to her. She was showing off that “wit” that she she had been gifted with all of those years ago and was picking things up at a remarkable rate.

She was shown everything. The inn, the cottages, the storage place for the weapons. They brought her to the orchards and to the bee-hives. I looked for Marion but I couldn't see her although I was often diverted from looking properly as I still had to provide the meaning behind odd words here and there.

The Princess stood and looked out over the cemetery for a long time. She wept then and I didn't blame her. Even Ariadne seemed a little taken aback by that, the scale of the thing is shocking when you don't know what to expect. She saw the cabins were long term visitors stayed and the warehouses and granaries that stored the supplies over the winter. She also took on an incredible amount of information. I never once had to remind her of a name or a persons occupation. She kept that knowledge somewhere and produced it easily.

From the various bits of conversation we learned that the thorns had stopped growing the previous day, roughly when the curse had been broken. Apparently there was a comical few moments when people kept chopping at the vines, only for there to be nothing to chop. We also knew that the influence of the dreams had also left. People were calm and collected whereas before they were passionate and driven. One person said that it was like a noise in the back of your mind that you had known about for years. You had always known that it was there but for some reason, you didn't miss it until it was gone.

They had guessed that the curse had been lifted and were in the process of putting an expedition together to go and see what was what when we came out of the trees.

I don't remember much of it. There were a lot of emotions that day. A lot of tears and a general sense of something ending. An era had passed and we were watching the death of it while also witnessing the birth of a new one. I felt a certain sense of anti-climax myself. The Princess was needing me less and less and I found that I wanted nothing more than to go off somewhere quiet and be by myself. I saw Kerrass several times in what I guessed was a similar mindset. He was watching everything going on around him. There was such stillness about him and an air of quiet melancholy. Periodically people would approach him to shake his hand or to give him a hug. Suddenly he would appear animated, smiling and laughing but then, as soon as the person had left he would be back to being quiet and pensive.

There was a feast organised.

We were now into autumn.

That was it, that's the thing I'm thinking about. When we had departed for the Princesses castle, it had been though we had left the fairytale village in the fairy tale version of autumn. But now that was done. Now it was autumn itself. The leaves were visibly changing shade and I felt the desire to go and find a warm cloak to wear.

But the feast.

The villagers did themselves proud and cooked up a veritable feast. If the Princess noticed anything lacking from it and the feasts that she used to attend when royalty, we saw nothing to express that. There was no seating arrangement and it was conducted outside under the stars. A huge bonfire was built and the flames leapt up to the sky.

I was staying near the Princess, on hand for translations should I be needed. I hadn't eaten much and had drunk even less. I noticed how little the Princess was drinking and was enjoying watching a couple of the villagers comments on how much their princess could drink. That they said it with such pride made me smile. But I was standing close by when Ariadne found me.

“Are you alright?” she asked me.

I looked down at her face, her eyes were a very pale blue I noticed. I also saw, not for the first time that she was a little smaller than I was. Not by much, a couple of inches or so. Her face showed concern so I decided to treat it as what it appeared to be.

“No.” I said. “I feel an immense sadness. I feel as though I'm missing something here and I don't know what it is. So much has been brought to this moment and now...”

She smiled in gentle sympathy.

“You did a great thing Frederick. A very great thing. A thing that no-one else has been able to do in over a hundred years.”

“I know. I should be happy. I should. And I don't know why I'm not, which makes it worse.”

“The human condition?” She put an edge to it, just a hint of teasing.

I smiled a little to show that I had seen the joke.

“Maybe.” I said.

She patted my shoulder. “I'll take over for a bit.” she said.

“It's ok.” I tried.

Ariadne just pointed. Marion was standing on the edge of the firelight. She looked a little different. A little taller, a little thinner perhaps, her features were a little more pronounced than I remembered. Harder lines where I had remembered softness. She was looking at Ariadne and I. An unreadable expression on her face.

“Ariadne I...”

“Go to her. It's ok. I'm not angry. Go on. You deserve some celebration too. But I want to talk to her as well when you are done so bring her back here when you've said what you needed to say.”

I looked back at Ariadne.

“Don't worry,” Ariadne smiled. “I'm not going to eat her. But I've got some things to say to her and some questions to ask. That is all. I'm a grown woman and I'm not jealous. But I do need to talk to her and it's important. Go on, take your time.”

She gave me a little push.

Marion saw me coming and was smiling a little sadly as I approached.

“You were right.” She said. “She is very beautiful.”

I looked at her for a long time. “What in the world am I supposed to say to that?” I asked, trying for a smile but I heard my voice crack at the end as my own melancholy threatened to overcome me.

“Oh Freddie,” she said. “Come here.” She held her arms out and like the petulant child that I felt I was being, I stepped into her embrace. She held me for a number of minutes.

“I'm so sorry.” I said when I eventually pulled away.

“What for?”

“For being down on what's supposed to be a day of celebration.”

“It's no bad thing to mourn the passing of something.” She said.

“I guess not.”

“I also know something else. Something that I've been watching for.”

“What's that?”

“No-one has thanked you yet.” She hugged me again. “Thank you Freddie. Thank you for your kindness and your spirit. Thank you for saving her and saving us while you were doing it. Thank you.” She kissed my cheek before pulling away.

“Are you saying goodbye?” I heard myself ask.

“I don't know. Maybe. I feel.... Oh Freddie, I feel free.” She danced a little twirling step. There's nothing keeping me here now. Oh, I'm going to stay and help out but knowing that there is a decision there. That I could choose something else. Oh, it's intoxicating.”

“Well don't get too intoxicated. Ariadne wants to meet you.”

“Oh? What for? Should I be worried?”

“I don't know. I don't think so.”

Marion nodded.

When we got back to Ariadne, she was eating a chicken leg with a cloth under her chin, she set the two of them aside and wiped her hands.

“That didn't take long,” Ariadne commented. “I was expecting the two of you to go off for a good couple of hours at the least. Should I be concerned about your stamina Frederick?”

I must have looked suitably horrified because Ariadne laughed. The sound was musical and ripe with amusement.

Marion curtsied, more out of reflex than anything else.

“You don't need to do that.” Ariadne said. “Please. I want us to be friends.”

“Your grace, I don't see how.”

“Then we shall show them. Come, I have words that are only for you,” Ariadne smiled sweetly at me, “and away from Freddie's prying ears.”

She took Marion's hands and the two of them went a little way off. I saw them talk for a little while and felt ashamed that I felt the need to check up on them. Then Marion laughed long and loud. She looked delighted. She stood up and waved to me before vanishing off somewhere.

Ariadne returned with a look of satisfaction.

“What did you do?” I asked.

“Oh. The Princess is going to have to come to the capital to meet the Empress. There is a very good possibility that she will be there for sometime. I will be there certainly but I thought that Marion would do well as a companion for the Princess. A friend, to remind her of home. She's charming, intelligent, educated and so on so she will emphasise that these people are not back country hicks. The fact that you were attracted to her speaks well of her. I think the two of them will do well together.”

I looked at the vampire Queen.

“I must ask. Are you really not jealous?”

Ariadne looked at me levelly for a while.

“We are not promised to each other Freddie,” she said after a while. “I have no right to be jealous. Yet.”

She grinned at me.

“I also know what effect this place has, or rather had on the human mind. Marion was good for you. I think.”

I nodded although I still don't understand what happened there.

There was some dancing. I danced with Sarah, Marion and a few of the other village women. I even danced with the Princess once who, although she didn't know the dances, gave as good as she had. I managed to screw up my courage to invite Ariadne for a dance once which she declined graciously.

I was disturbed by my relief at that.

Then, as night was really falling the Princess stood out before the fire, the flames lit up the sky and illuminated her face. She gestured me forwards.

“Friends,” she began in everyone's common tongue. “I have things to say and I will ask Frederick to say them as I still struggle.”

She nodded to me and I translated as she spoke.

“My friends. You call yourselves my subjects but I would call you my friends, for calling you “subjects” seems too low a term to describe such excellent and noble people. Know that I love you all and am grateful for your faith that one day, our nation would be restored to the glory that it once was. I am overwhelmed by your welcome but know that on the morrow I must depart to the capital of Nilfgaard to present myself before the Empress. I will not be called a rebel. Nor will I hide. I am sorry that this means that we must be parted so soon after we are reunited but this is vital if we are going to govern ourselves under Nilfgaardian rule.”

“What should we do while you are gone?” a few voices called. The Princess had been warning people that she would have to go all day so it wasn't a complete shock.

She thought for a while. Or rather, she appeared to think for a while. I couldn't tell because she had to have known that this question was going to come up.

“We are a Kingdom. We have to start thinking like we are a Kingdom and we need to start building things for our future. We shall assume that the Empress will give us our autonomy and act accordingly as I have heard nothing but good about that soon to be crowned personage.”

Clever touch that. In saying that she expected the Empress to be kind. Bureaucracy is bureaucracy the world over and if the Princess was delayed in seeing the Empress for any reason then the people at home could become restless and resentful. Rebellions have formed over less and the Empress would have to stamp out even the smallest uprising with a speedy ruthlessness.

“Our first priority is that we must stop depending on others for our food. At the moment we trade wood for food but now that must change. We have a Kingdom of thorns now but that will not last forever. So to start with we must clear the land for farms. For crops and for our herds. That must be our priority.

“There is also the matter of the vines themselves. We have used that wood as building materials and other such matters. Bend your minds my people, what else could we use that wood for. I have seen these thorns that grew out of them and remarked on their sharp edges. Could we turn those things into weapons, could they be made, or linked in some way. Could we turn that into our industry? No-one else has these thorns or these vines as they are magical in nature. Can we grow them? Can we cultivate them? In short, can we use them? These things that have kept our Kingdom choked off for so long.”

She thought for a bit longer.

“Next. I tell you this. I wept to see the graves of our fallen. For every person who died when the curse struck and every person who died in the efforts to lift that curse, regardless of where they came from. They are our fallen and they deserve to be remembered. But that part of our lives is over now. Now we must work to forge our Kingdom into something for the living. To that end, the cemetery will cease to grow from this day forward. No new graves will be made in that area. What is there shall be maintained as a monument so that we can remember those who died so that we might live. But if we keep giving land to the dead, then soon there will be no land for the living. If we find bodies as we clear our Kingdom, then they shall be buried or burned according to current religious practices but they will be remembered.”

There was some unease in the crowd although I agreed with the Princess. Building a necropolis is a seductive prospect but she was right, in devoting resources to looking after the dead, then those resources could be used to look after the living. The next few years would be... dangerous for this community. They would live on a knife-edge with progress on one side and utter destruction on the other. They would need everything that they could get.

“But anything for you your Majesty?” Someone asked, I didn't notice who it was.

The Princess looked taken aback. As well she might.

She looked round the place and then looked up at the stars and I saw, or thought I saw, tears in her eyes.

“Build me a home.” She said. “Something for me to come back to. Somewhere I can receive guests. A place that is mine a place where, where I do not need to defend myself and can feel safe. I do not want a palace or a castle, no manor house or stately mansion. I want a home. Something that is mine where I can receive friends, read books and write letters.”

She lowered her gaze and the tears fell then.

“Do you understand?”

She was greeted by silence.

“Do not take away from your other efforts to see to my comfort.” She said. “But we have been given a gift. A gift that we must never take for granted. We are no longer ourselves, or the people that have come before us. We are the future as well, our children and our grandchildren as well as those settlers that will undoubtedly come here in an effort to make a name and a life for themselves. We must build for them, as well as for ourselves.”

People were nodding.

The Princess let her head fall.

“Three cheers for the Princess.” Someone shouted and the people screamed themselves ragged. I could no longer stand it and I stepped forward into the circle of light and held my hands up for silence.

When it came I turned to her.

“Three cheers for the Queen.” I said and fell to my knees.

Ariadne opened a gate for me to go home the following morning, papers in hand for Emma to start proceedings on the young Queen's behalf. Ariadne wrote a short note to Emma saying what her plans were with regards to get the Princess legitimised into being a Queen in actuality rather than just in my declaration.

Kerrass and I parted ways there as he intended to stay with the Princess as her champion until a new one is chosen which he doesn't think will be long. He cited her youth and physical appearance as evidence for this, suggesting that knights will be falling over themselves to swear their swords to the Young Princesses service. He is probably right. He gave me a huge hug before we parted and he was the second person to thank me for my efforts.

The ramifications of what happened that day are still being felt in the southern part of the Continent. A lot of people have been really concerned that a northern Lord, no matter how minor my lord-ship may be, and a Northern Witcher have seen fit to travel south and interfere with problems that were none of our business.

My response to that is a nice and firm “Go Fuck yourself”.

I've also heard a lot about the questions of her...legitimacy as an heir for so large a portion of the southern Empire given the questions regarding her parentage.

Let me be clear. I sought and was given permission to publish those details by the persons involved so that there would be no lasting questions on the matter. If you have a problem with this I would refer you to the aforementioned Angry Dragon. If you are lucky enough to survive the matter then I suspect that you might wish that you had stuck with my perfectly polite “Go fuck yourself.”

As to the matter of the Princesses Legitimacy, I have no doubts that she was legitimately decreed heiress to that particular crown. The concern is not whether she is legitimate but rather, what status does she have now? You only have to look at her to know that she is royal but what does that mean in a modern Nilfgaardian empire?

That is beyond my wisdom.

All of the paperwork has been sent off for verification. Luckily there are magical people that can verify the validity of the documents in question so the question of them being forgeries will not be a question for much longer. The rest of it lies in the hands of the courts and indeed the hands of the soon to be Empress.

My hope is that she be allowed to rule over her small patch of land as a titled Lord of some kind or, at best, one of those many client Kingdoms that swear their allegiance to the Imperial throne.

What will probably happen is that the poor girl will be married off to the highest bidder who will then assume Lordship over the area.

If it was still the Emperor that was in charge then I would be surprised if that hadn't already happened. I rather suspect that the Princesses only hope lies in the fact that the soon to be ruler of the Empire is going to

be a woman herself.

I like to think of them, a few powerful women getting together in a kind of tea circle. Where they decide things of vast and international import over tea and cake and small polite words. For all I know, that's how the Kings used to do it as well but I can't help but think that the very fact that the King's all being men, would mean that such meetings would soon turn into dick measuring contests.

The realm itself is rich enough to be able to survive. One of the first things to be seen as valid were the old merchant contracts that Kerrass and I had found. Those papers are being challenged in the courts but the long and short of it is that the wealth that had been invested in various merchant ventures. Some have failed, some have multiplied out a thousandfold. If even one of those many (many) cases are found in favour of the Princesses people then the Kingdom will survive. It's more a problem of lack of people to work such a large landmass.

There will certainly be settlers needed and support as well from their neighbours. But I can't help but think that there are lots of people who are sharpening knives in the hope of taking advantage of the situation.

It all comes down to the whims of the woman on the throne.

Yes, Emhyr is still the Emperor and will be until Cirilla is crowned in the Spring. But I am told that he all but defers to his daughter now and openly comments on what he's going to do with his retirement and I strongly suspect that this is the kind of decision that you leave to the new people. It's probably not the biggest decision the new Empress will have to make in her first few days on the throne but it won't be small. I've tried reaching out to the few friends I have at court but apparently the one thing that can be said, with any certainty about the future Empress is that “On any given day, there is no telling what she will choose to care about.”

I've heard that described as both a virtue and as a weakness but I suppose time will tell on that regard.

As for the Princess herself? I understand she is doing as well as can be expected. Kerrass is with her and I expect to meet up with him around the time of the Empress' coronation in the Spring. She also has her mother with her (for better or worse) and spends her time between her Kingdom and the Imperial capital.

I have received many letters since this story began including many people demanding to know what was happening with regards to the Princess so there is a brief and potted overview.

No she is not romantically interested in anyone.

No, not Kerrass either.

If you want to try your luck you can go for it if you like. Just remember who her mother is and be aware that as far as she's concerned, she's trying to provide security for her people at the moment and her own prospects are way down on her list of priorities.

Also, try not to forget the Angry Dragon that watches over her.