The woman press to her mouth a cambric handkerchief with lace edges. The handkerchief was covered in blood.
‘Stand up, sir,’ one of the knights, standing next to Geralt whispered. ‘Offer up tribute. This is the Queen.’
The Witcher stood up. He bowed, overcoming the pain in his loins.
‘Tyf defended moft?’
‘What?’
The woman removed the handkerchief from her mouth and spat blood. Some of the red droplets fell onto her breastplate.
‘Her Majesty, Meve, Queen of Lyria and Rivia,’ said one of the knights standing beside the woman, who was dressed in a purple cloak adorned with gold embroidery, ‘asks whether you are the man who heroically defended the bridge over the Yaruga?’
‘It just happened.’
‘Wyflo!’ the queen attempted to laugh, but did not succeed. She frowned, then cursed, although unclear and spat again. Before she was able to cover her mouth, he saw a terrible wound and noticed the lack of several teeth. She caught his eye.
‘The attack,’ she said from behind the handkerchief, looking into his eyes. ‘Jakif fkurwyfyn slammed me in the mouth.’
‘Queen Meve,’ the man in the purple cloak said emphatically, ‘stood in the first line, brave as a knight and stood against the overwhelming forces of Nilfgaard! The wound hurts, but it will not disfigure! You saved her and the whole army. After some traitors kidnapped the ferry, the bridge was our only hope. And you heroically defended...’
‘Pfeftan, Odo, as fie nazywaf, hero?
‘Me?’
‘Of course you.’ The knight with the purple cloak looked at him menacingly. ‘What’s wrong with you? Are you wounded? Did you hit your head?’
‘No.’
‘Then answer, when the queen asks! You can see that she is wounded in the mouth and finds it difficult to speak!’
‘Pfeftan, Odo.’
The knight in purple bowed, and then looked at Geralt.’
‘What is your name?’
Who cares, he thought. I’m sick of all this. I will not lie.
‘Geralt.’
‘Geralt from where?’
‘Nowhere.’
‘No famowy?’ Meve redecorated the sand under her feet with splashes of saliva mixed with blood.
‘What? No, no family. Your Royal Highness.’
Meve drew her sword.
‘Kneel.’
He obeyed, still unable to believe what was happening. Still thinking about Milva and the way he chose for her, fearing the Ysgith marsh.
The queen turned to Purple.
‘You powief formula. I cannot spweak.’
‘For unprecedented valor in battle for a just cause,’ Purple recited emphatically, ‘as proof of your virtue, honor and fidelity to the crown, I, Meve, by the grace of the gods, queen of Lyria and Rivia, By my power, right and privilege knight thee. Serve faithfully. Accept this accolade, one that will not hurt.’
Geralt felt a blow on the shoulder blade. He looked into the pale green eyes of the queen. Meve spit, thick and red, pressed a handkerchief to her face and winked at him from over the lace.
Purple walked over to the queen and whispered. The Witcher heard the words –“predicate”, “red diamonds”, “banner” and “tribute”.
‘Slufilie,’ Meve nodded. She spoke more clearly, overcoming the pain from the gap in her broken teeth. ‘You held the bridge together with the soldiers of Rivia, valiant Geralt of nowhere. Thus this honor, ha, ha. Well, it gives me great privilege to knight – Geralt of Rivia. Ha, ha.’
‘Bow, sir knight,’ Purple hissed. Geralt of Rivia, the knight bowed to Queen Meve, his sovereign, who did not see his smile, a bitter smile, over which he had no control.
Also by Andrzej Sapkowski
from Gollancz:
The Last Wish
Blood of Elves
Time of Contempt
Baptism of Fire
Copyright
A Gollancz eBook
Original text Copyright © Andrzej Sapkowski 1995 - English translation CD Projekt Witcher Forum 2013
All rights reserved.
The right of Andrzej Sapkowski to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by HIM/HER in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published in Great Britain in 2014 by
Gollancz
The Orion Publishing Group Ltd
Orion House
5 Upper Saint Martin’s Lane
London, WC2H 9EA
An Hachette UK Company
Published by arrangement with Literary Agency ‘Agence de l’Est’
This eBook first published in 2014 by Gollancz.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978 0 575 09096 5
All characters and events in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor to be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
www.andrzejsapkowski.pl
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Also by Andrzej Sapkowski
Copyright
Andrzej Sapkowski, Baptism of Fire
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