"LESSER EVIL" "Forgive me, sirs, I'm carrying out the orders of prince Hereward." "Nothing bad shall happen." "The prince has learnt that princess Cirilla of Cintra hides in Mercel." "You understand the prince would like to have custody of her." "The bloodshed and riots of nonhumans need to be stopped." "You've got a letter from the prince, count." "She's here, isn't she?" "No, she isn't." "Calanthe's granddaughter died in a siege." "Everyone knows that." "She's alive, the prince has evidence." "What evidence?" "Enough talking." "Where's Ciri, talk." "It's the prince's order." "In this temple I give orders." "And they're not in oposition to Hereward's." "I don't believe in your mission, you're lieing, count." "The prince counts on your help so watch your words, priestess." "You dare to say these are orders." "First you disgrace this saint place and then you say the prince wants a favour." "Are you mean or just stupid?" "This conversation is over." "You know the Tridam's ultimatum?" "A local baron imprisoned some of the Angren's crew." "You can't interfere with politics and expose this saint place." "I ask you - is Cirilla of Cintra here?" "If she is, I have to take her." "I won't restrain from anything." "They'll all die and you'll be watching." "You'll have it on your conscience!" "So, how much is worth mercy of a mercy priestess." "When the rest of them arrived he didn't want to release their fellows so they started to drown pilgrims - one after another." "The baron softened at tenth and released everyone." "You give me no choice." "Melitele took your lady's mind." "You can't interfere with politics and expose this saint place." "I ask you - is Cirilla of Cintra here?" "If she is, I have to take her." "I won't restrain from anything." "They'll all die and you'll be watching." "You'll have it on your conscience!" "See what the price of mercy is for a merciful priestess?" "Who are you?" "She's our seer." "Seer...you know the truth." "Yes." "I can see it." "I can see the future of you and Renfri." "You'll all die before a month passes." "Desist, you still have time, you can change your destiny." "Do you know your destiny?" "I'll die today." "And you will follow." "You're right." "You'll die today." "Speak then." "Leave her alone!" "Leave her and let us go." "What are you doing?" "I know what I'm doing, I don't have a choice." "Pray for me." "I don't understand." "Tomorrow they'll all know - kings, princes, barons, people of elder blood, they'll know you've kidnapped her, they'll get to arms and everyone will turn against you!" "No-one will know." "What have I done?" "Run!" "Run!" "They're gone." "They'll be back." "No-one." "Understand?" "No-one." "When we arrived to Ellander, Melitele's temple was already in flames." "No-one survived." "It is not yet known who is the perpetrator of this crime... but a day before the assault.... a unit of armed people of mixed blood was seen." "There were elves among them." "Certain Geralt of Rivia was also recognized in the neighbourhood at that time." "A witcher." "Supposedly a renegade." "I hope to avenge this monstrous crime and regain what was the loot." "I commend myself to the memory and kindness of our sovereign and gracious prince Herward, lord of Elander, et cetera, et cetera..." "Geralt can still be dangerous." "How come?" "His testimony will be of no value if the emperor gets Ciri from us." "Do you know what I mean?" "A gift from the Order." "Now, write a letter to the emperor in a similiar manner." "Only add this:" "I will immediately deliver to his brilliance what prince Heregard asked me to regain" "During the conversation I have had with him I concluded that the delivery would not arrive to Nilfgaard soon enough in case I would hand it over to the prince.." "but, as I suppose, only after additional arrangements, nature of which I would never dare to investigate." "What is it?" "Lord, she bit me." "We wanted to take her measurements for the mask..." "I hit her." "I ask for forgiveness." "Guards!" "This one will have his hand cut. 30 whips for the other one." "Take them away." "Spare them, please, they didn't do anything to me." "As you wish, I'll do it only for you." "Count, release me." "I'll be never the queen of Cintra, I don't want to." "I'm a child of destiny." "My fate cannot be changed." "I want to get back to the temple, to Geralt." "Please." "Lady." "Sorry to say so, but Geralt's fled." "They say he got into a conflict with a group of elves after he came back to Ellander." "The temple is burnt." "It's not known what happened." "You have nowhere to return." "I don't believe you." "Lady, I wish you trusted me and knew that I only want your wellbeing." "Leave me alone." "Leave." "Geralt, come." "I'm waiting for you." "The last letter to Kaer Morhen." "You'll sign it." "In the name of the chapter." "You'll write that Geralt attacked the temple, that he's a hitman and kills people." "The problem will solve itself this way." "The witchers will kill him." "Come to me later and bring me the letters." "Where to?" "To the mayor." "I killed it nearby." "Leave this carrion." "What is it about?" "I'm waiting for the mayor and this one here..." "I'm tellin' this hick the mayor won't see him if he don't have a gift." "And he's sayin' he don't need to 'cause he is right." "Stupid or what?" "The mayor's not in the house?" "No." "Tell him I wait for him in the inn." "Geralt, the witcher." "Leave him alone, he's right." "There's a lovely business." "Who do you want me to kill?" "Geralt?" "!" "I thought they finsished you off." "!" "I thought they finished you off." "It's not that easy..." "Look how I ended up." "Look where I am!" "See, the greatest bard of these lands sings in Blaviken." "Nobody here understands poetry." "All they think about is cabbage and pig head." "When I sing about farting everyone's happy and lavish." "It can't be worse." "Go somewhere else." "It's nothing out there, the passes are covered with snow." "I must go south, to Yspaden." "The autumn scent came with a puff, the meaning sunk in the cold splashes." "Nothing can change my chosen path, even the diamonds on your lashes." "See the commotion?" "The fair's tomorrow." "Where you from?" "The devil with it, what difference it makes." "But I won't pay you for the kikimore." "I have no funds, the're gone." "People must have been killed." "They have, but so what, poeple die everywhere." "But why did you come here from Ellander?" "Can't believe you killed it." "Eh, Geralt, there are no more like you these days." "How did it go?" "Easily." "She was gorged and slow." "Peasants went twice with tenaces and spears but they had no luck." "She killed them and then two of my armed men." "It's quaintly over here." "I haven't seen anything like this for a long time." "It's a medley - traders, merchants or to put it straight - smugglers." "But the city lives thank to them." "Right now no-one will come here nor leave." "On the paths - brigands, peasants don't farm, the elven prince ousts farmers so they started to defend themselves." "They have?" "They had to." "They always had the worst land but what farmers they are anyway, they were shepherds and hunters." "And now?" "They took their meadows away and put guards in the forests." "They can do something else." "They cannot." "They're too haughty." "You ever seen an elven cobbler, miller or cooper?" "Like dwarves they don't want to serve in the army for they don't want to help people." "But they suffer too." "May anything happen - they always hang an elf." "I'm tired of it." "The booze a bit too strong, ay?" "You're a good man, mayor." "Nah, I'm here on duty." "What am I supposed to do?" "Orders, are orders but doesn't everyone has a bit of elven blood?" "Good luck to you and thanks for the dinner." "So..." "I think I should be going too." "I think they all lost their minds - they even burn fanes and temples." "Armed parties." "Which temples?" "The ones you came from." "Which temples?" "Tell me." "Please." "Go...to our Irion." "He talked about it." "But don't tell him about me." "Master Irion sees no-one." "Go away, honest man." "I'm not an honest man." "I am a witcher with an important business." "What do they call you?" "Geralt of Rivia." "From the wolves guild, also known as the White Wolf." "Geralt himself." "But you must prove it." "What are the three runes on the Kaer Morhen rock?" "I can't tell this to anyone." "But they all end the same way." "Now I know who you are." "Come in." "Stregobor, where are you?" "Over here, I'm outside the house." "Hail, witcher." "Have a seat." "I thought so." "Relax." "Forget about the evil world." "Is it all an illusion?" "Yes...but the flowers smell, you can eat the apples and a bee can sting." "But it's cold." "Bess are in hives." "Is she an illusion?" "Like everything here." "But if you'd like to you can ask er to..." "Stregobor..." "She shivers, warm her." "Conjure a sun." "What do you do here?" "Are you still into killing endangered species?" "I know you killed kikimore." "Why?" "Aren't these monsters better than the people who try to get us with their killing claws?" "You haven't changed a bit." "Speak normally." "I am!" "All right..." "What brings you?" "You want to ask me for something?" "Or just stopped by?" "I came from the temple of Melitele, Something evil went on around." "Riots, attacks, even massacres of the elves and others." "The temple was in danger but I haven't sensed that." "I don't know what happened since I left." "Do you have the power of bringing the sights?" "Maybe I do, maybe I don't." "It depends." "What do you mean?" "Don't be a child." "Why are you interested in people's fates?" "Or elves'?" "You were created to defend intelligent beings from monsters." "You're a killing machine." "Ain't that right?" "Stop it." "I have my reasons." "All right...the fate of some people is important to me, even though, as you know, I'm not interested in people and their affairs." "It makes me very glad." "This sheer contradiction." "If you care about people, you'll have to fight... and kill - to defend them." "There are no one sided emotions, Geralt." "Or, maybe you're a fake wolf?" "Stop it." "Don't tempt like this, it's pathetic." "This whole illusion of yours didn't turn out well." "You know why?" "Because the black sun is coming." "You can see its shadow." "Let's speak plainly then." "All right." "I've spent two years in this tower." "I never leave." "That's right, I'm hiding." "How come?" "With your magical abilities?" "They don't work." "She's immune to magic." "Who's she?" "Renfri of Creyden." "They call her Shrike because she impales people to prolong their suffering." "She found me here." "Tommorow or the day after she'll try to kill me." "I saw the black sun in the crystal ball." "She's coming." "....." "In the town" "She..." "Renfri..." "I heard this story." "You call it the Curse of the Black Sun," "I call it the Mania of Mad Etibald." "In the name of his crazy idea you were murdering innocent girls." "Renfri..." "If it's she then she has every right to seek vegeance." "All those girls born after the eclipse were inclined to cruelty and agression." "They were harbingers of Lilith and the doom of the human race." "According to the inscriptions on the menhirs of the Dauks, the tombstones in the necropolises of the Wozhgors, the path for Lilith was to be prepared by 'sixty maids in golden crowns, who with blood shall the valleys of rivers fill'." "Rubbish." "No." "I was in the Creyden's castle back then." "Princess Aridea possesed a powerful artifact." "The Looking-Glass of Nehalenia." "She learned there would be a carnage from the hand or Fredefalk's daughter from his first wife." "This child was filled with cruelty since her birth." "So you advised to get rid of her." "The Master of the Hunt was supposed to kill her." "But she survived and she seeks vegeance." "Simple story." "How do you know?" "Because she killed the Master of the Hunt and I killed the other assasins." "Have you seen the man in the crystal ball?" "Then I took her to Mahakam." "She was a nasty girl, sure." "But she wasn't the only one." "I didn't know." "All right." "You asked if I had the gift of bringing the sights." "Remember." "These sights are somewhere inside you." "Concentrate." "She sent you, you want to kill me!" "I'm princess Renfri." "And you're a traitor who killed people." "What happened there?" "I don't know." "Something's wrong..." "I can't see anything." "Geralt, she's here." "She has an artifact or..." "Help me." "I can't see." "Help me." "I can't see." "You want to hound me, you're stirring, speak clearly, fool!" "Somebody's life's at stake." "Mine is too!" "I beg you, help me." "I'll do anything." "Wait a second, they are somehow connected..." "Renfri and Ciri." "Are my thoughts connected?" "But...what?" "I don't know." "Renfri's in the town." "I could've been wrong about the others but she's a monster!" "Kill her!" "Tell me more, how are they connected?" "Come tomorrow morning, I'll know more." "I get it, you want to make a deal." "I'm not a killer, I don't murder people, I defend them." "Defend ME then!" "I will." "If Renfri attacks you, I will." "Only then." "Will you tell me now?" "Come tomorrow." "Sod off somewhere else!" "I sod off!" "?" "..I sod off." "Ah, it's you." "My best friend!" "Where were you when the poet was shamed?" "Do you know what it means?" "The poetry was shamed." "I know, you were on the bottle, go to the digs." "Geralt, wait." "They'll kill you." "They don't need a reason." "Jaskier, I must go there, don't stop me." "Wait, I go with you." "Jaskier..." "I'll go." "Jaskier!" "Jaskier!" "Sleep, poet." "Who are they?" "Six men-at-arms, they serve the prince." "There's no more booze, bastards!" "Sir, leave her alone..." "Let's have some fun." "We need more." "It's ok." "Quiet!" "Renfri will be back soon." "We have time..." "Sire!" "Help me!" "Who's the misfit?" "Get out!" "I wait for Renfri." "I told you not to try with him." "We haven't even started." "You're lucky you didn't." "Leave us alone." "How did you know I was here?" "Silly question." "How did you know I was here?" "They told me." "So many years..." "I recognized you, even though you're older, tired, and have more scars." "And you, have you recognized me?" "No." "You were so young." "Now they call you Shrike." "Don't ever call me that." "But, to the point." "You saw the magican." "Don't get yourself involved." "I came with the prince's order." "I'll take him dead or alive." "Is that so?" "Prince's order?" "I heard you had a bone to pick with each other." "But it's not my business." "Leave him alone." "I need him and so does the town." "There are no private matters." "Especially now." "Stay away from us and our business." "We're a special unit and we represent the duchy." "I don't want to argue, forsake this." "He's changed." "He's an old, scared man." "You wont quench the thirst of your vengeance." "Do you know what he's done to me?" "To the princes' daughter?" "Instead of killing me they called me a bastard." "I was sold, beaten, raped and imprisoned." "Can I forget it?" "Forget who I am?" "Answer me." "Leave him alone, please." "You saved my life, I remember." "But my life is worth nothing so I have no gratitude." "Don't fall foul of the law, I have said it for the last time!" "I saw your law." "No-one else can impale people like you." "What do you care." "Elves ain't people." "Geralt, don't you interfere with matters you don't understand." "It's about purity of race, it's the new world order." "Non-humans are weeds and you kill weeds." "You better go back to your monsters, it's where you belong." "When I look at you I have a feeling there are many kinds of monsters." "I am not a monster." "And you're not a man." "Be careful." "Now I'm warning you." "I'm not going to idly watch the wickedness of yours." "I know, I know." "I don't like you either." "I was just kidding." "But I'm not." "Draw the iron." "You may have heard of me;" "I'm Ivomirce." "The master of sword." "I'm also called Cykada." "I always wanted to check if there's any truth in the tales about you." "Come on!" "Get lost." "I don't fight any ragman." "I thought so, coward." "Do I have to spit in your mug?" "Go on." "The master of sword!" "The master of sword..." "Not bad for a start." "You always jump on women like that?" "You." "Me indeed." "Get off me if you're not planning to take advantage of this situation." "Wait a second, honey." "First I'll see what you brought here." "You witchers are very scrupulous." "You tickle me." "I have to be." "Light the candle." "Unlike you, I can't see in the dark." "I didn't know about Cykada." "But I'm sorry." "I don't have bad intentions." "Why did you come here?" "I don't know." "Maybe it hurt when you called me a monster." "And maybe I wanted to prove you I'm a normal woman." "I don't know." "We're so similiar." "And maybe I wanted to prove you I'm a normal woman." "I don't know." "We're so similiar." "How so?" "Life shoved us off the margins." "We weren't given a chance." "We have to kill." "I, because I had to survive, you, because you were forced to." "I kill to avoid harm." "You're bask in cruelty." "We're not alike." "Why did you come here?" "You lack perspicacity." "I want to avoid a fight between us." "We don't need this talk." "Just leave Stregobor alone." "Renounce the vengeance, this way you'll convince me." "Besides, you'll have the whole Blaviken against you." "You're not serious." "Have you seen my people?" "And can you imagine me standing and watching idly?" "You won't, indeed." "Kill Stregobor then." "He's a maniac and a brute." "He's tormented many girls." "When you saved me the Master of Hunt was carrying out my stepmother's orders." "But it was Stregobor behind it all." "Did you know?" "And then they hounded me like an animal." "I was in the dungeons stinking of urine." "I gave myself for a bowl of peas to survive." "And I was running." "How can I forget?" "You kill monsters." "Ain't he a monster?" "Understand." "I'm not a hired thug." "Don't you see I'm offering the lesser evil, the best solution?" "The citizens won't be hurt and Stregobor...you can kill him graciously." "One sudden blow." "He won't be knowing he's dying." "I can't guarantee this myself." "Just the opposite." "There's no lesser evil, Renfri." "Evil is evil and will always be." "I won't kill Stregobor nor you will." "I won't allow any carnage." "Give it up." "Then you'll prove for yourself you that can cut this chain of fate." "That you can forgive." "You'll become someone else." "And if I do?" "What then?" "Do you know?" "My enemies will get me." "And friends as well." "The law of the wolve's herd." "Will you defend me then?" "Do you have something to drink here?" "No." "I have." "Drink with me." "To your health, Geralt." "I thought I'd convince you." "Would be fair." "Pour me another." "What are you doing?" "I'm staying with you." "So that you can be sure I renounced the vengeance." "For we'll stay together until I leave the town tomorrow." "You can't throw me away now." "Close your eyes." "Now look, Geralt." "Is this what evil looks like?" "You won't stop me white hair." "Poor naive witcher." "But you'll live." "The debt is payed." "Not all is gold that glitters" "Subjection ain't consent" "We love to play with virose flowers" "Fatal's their scent" "Though you were fooled once more" "Not all is lost" "Though the demon of your nightmare" "Hugs you in her claws" "Not all is gold that glitters" "Subjection ain't consent" "We love to play with virose flowers" "Fatal's their scent" "Fatal's their scent" "Fatal's their scent"