EPILOGUE

GERALT: Why are you still here? Why did you wait for me this time?

LETHO: I knew you wouldn't give up, I knew you'd pursue me. And I don't aim to hide anymore. Fact is, only you know the truth about me - well, and a couple of folks whose word isn't worth spit anymore.

LETHO: I never saw you as a foe. I want to go my way, but if I have to fight you first, so be it. This story ends here and now.

GERALT: Tell me about Yennefer. What happened after I... departed?

LETHO: She was feverish for several days, delirious, in agony. We thought that was it - she was on her way out. Somehow she recovered, but even then she was disoriented. Amnesia, like you.

GERALT: What then?

LETHO: Well, the woman turned out to be quite a character. Throwing temper tantrums, trying to seduce Auckes, trying to drive a wedge between us. After you so nobly sacrificed yourself, we thought it'd be dumb just to leave her somewhere. She wouldn't've survived more than a month. The whims and vigor of a duchess, but she was just a sorceress with no memory...

LETHO: We were in the heart of the Empire, and as I'm sure you know, Geralt, in Nilfgaard mages who behave like that either drop their bad habits quickly or are drawn and quartered by horses in the middle of Victory Square.

GERALT: So I heard.

LETHO: So we set out, wandered through the provinces. Everywhere we went, she got in trouble and we pulled her out. And then one day they captured us - the Imperial secret police. Me, Auckes, Serrit and Yennefer.

GERALT: Imperial secret police?

LETHO: Mhm. We were separated, and they questioned us. Long and thoroughly, but it was uneventful, no violence.

LETHO: That's how I met Vattier de Ridaux, and a couple of weeks later, the Emperor himself. Me - a simple witcher.

GERALT: What happened to Yennefer?

LETHO: I dunno. Never saw her again. The Emperor offered me a mission in the Northern Kingdoms. As for Yennefer, I had the feeling she was somehow important to Emhyr. As I see it, they learned of the Lodge from her. Those Imperial spooks have their ways. All I heard is that Vattier had his men watch Yennefer closely throughout the time she was at the palace. Then we went off to slay the kings of the North, and that's where my knowledge ends.

GERALT: So she's in the Empire.

LETHO: She was when I left.

GERALT: How did a witcher agree to kill humans at another human's bidding?

LETHO: At the Emperor's bidding, Geralt. And he's no ordinary human. The rulers of the North come up to about where his poleyns end.

GERALT: Why?

LETHO: Simple - he promised to rebuild the School of the Viper, the witchers' order where I came to be. Witchers' schools in the south fell into ruin long ago, and witchers themselves became internal exiles, banned from entering most cities.

LETHO: Besides Serrit and Auckes, I know of two other witchers of the School of the Viper who should be alive and on the Path. I don't know where they are, haven't seen them for years. Now, they can come out of hiding, they can come home.

GERALT: Care to tell me what it was all about?

LETHO: Hm. Kill as many rulers as we could. Lay the blame on the sorceresses. Breed chaos. Prepare the North, soften it before the invasion.

LETHO: And you know what's incredible? We could not have imagined more fertile soil. No matter what the war's outcome, the Northern monarchs'll accuse one another, pursue their god-given rights, seek vengeance and be at each others' throats for years to come.

LETHO: The North resembles a whorehouse on fire, as your friend Dandelion would say.

GERALT: Where'd you get your information about the Lodge?

LETHO: From the Emperor and Vattier de Ridaux, the emperor's chief spy. And I believe they got it out of Yennefer.

GERALT: She recovered her memory?

LETHO: Nah, I'd never claim she informed on her friends consciously. I expect they found a way to tap into her memory in spite of her amnesia and without her knowing it. There was a sorcerer present when I was questioned. A young, proud intelligence officer.

LETHO: Whatever the case, they gave me a list of the sorceresses in the Lodge. Only Emhyr, Vattier and I were present. Only we knew of the mission.

GERALT: How did you manage to contact Síle?

LETHO: It wasn't a problem once I learned of the Lodge's existence. Initially, she watched my every move. But sooner or later, everyone starts treating me like a big oaf. I mean, I can't change how I look.

LETHO: I stayed close to Síle, killed a few beasts for her, and whined about how unhappy I was, how unfair the world was - so much, in fact, that I actually got her gander up a few times.

LETHO: I made sure a few potentially trustworthy witnesses saw us together, could link us... Security, in case I was captured. I also prepared to assassinate the king of Kovir. Esterad Thyssen was to be the first victim of the mysterious assassins.

LETHO: But before I could do the dirty deed, Síle asked me to slay Demavend. The gods had smiled upon me. I couldn't believe my luck. Here I'd been trying to figure out how to frame Síle, and now all I needed was to carry out her orders and follow through.

GERALT: How'd you manage to slay Demavend?

LETHO: Síle's magic. I mean she could give us the king's every move, his habits, the positions of the palace guards, anything. All we had to do was navigate the labyrinth and land the final blow. Besides, she had plenty of gold for the preparations, greased palms abundantly. It had all the makings of a cakewalk, but it's never that easy.

LETHO: We barely avoided our pursuers. And we wouldn't have if not for Iorveth's Scoia'tael - another of Síle's ideas. With Iorveth's elves, not only did we cut down Demavend, but traveling with them put us out of the Lodge's reach. We could calmly plan Foltest's and Henselt's assassinations.

GERALT: How did you know Foltest would come to the monastery's solar?

LETHO: Iorveth and I planned Foltest's murder. The King of Temeria would have to deal with the La Valettes sooner or later, and he made no secret of it. I was sure he'd want to recover his bastard children in the process. And where do they take the children when a castle's under siege?

LETHO: I had to become a monk. But I couldn't just arrive at the monastery and claim I'd seen the light. Not very believable...

LETHO: So, one of Aryan's patrols, out in the forests, happened on a Scoia'tael unit torturing a helpless monk. Aryan's brave men drove off the elves, and I found shelter in the monastery.

GERALT: No one noticed you had no wounds?

LETHO: I paid the monk who treated me a lot of orens to stay silent. Actually, it was only a loan, 'cause I killed him later. Only the dead can keep a secret.

LETHO: Then all I had to do was wait for the situation to develop. When I saw you enter the chamber with Foltest, I thought I might fail... Luckily, you failed - to recognize an old friend...

GERALT: So Síle was looking for you when she came to Flotsam.

LETHO: Mhm. She thought she was still in control and wanted to get rid of me. I'd bet my eyes that she thought I'd lost my mind, or that Iorveth was manipulating me.

GERALT: And the North descended deeper into chaos.

LETHO: Exactly. There was just one problem - you. I could've killed you in the elven ruins. Thing is, you weren't really my enemy...

GERALT: When did you decide to get rid of Iorveth?

LETHO: As soon as I realized I couldn't manipulate him. A true fox, that one. He was so observant, so dangerous. I got the sense he might see through me at any moment.

GERALT: You made a mistake. You were untouchable as long as the Scoia'tael were protecting you.

LETHO: Maybe, but with Iorveth, my hands were tied. If I'd finished off Ciaran...

GERALT: But you didn't, and that allowed me to drive a wedge between you and Iorveth. I forced you to flee.

LETHO: And I let you live. You know I could've killed you. You're forgetting...

GERALT: No, I remember.

GERALT: How did you know where we'd find the Wild Hunt?

LETHO: Every witcher who wears the viper around his neck knows the place. We had so many books and scrolls about the Hunt that I used to think our school was founded for the very purpose of solving the riddle of the spectral riders.

GERALT: Know who they are? You know the true identities of the riders?

LETHO: From what I understand, they're some damn elven race. But they turned out to be a big ruse. The legendary omen of war proved to be a fairground attraction...

GERALT: No market square mage could possibly conjure up a cavalcade of wraiths speeding across the sky. Then there's the amnesia. No, they're something more, I assure you.

LETHO: Go ahead, enlighten me. I can tell you want to.

GERALT: There are a lot of legends and myths about it, but the Wild Hunt is a fact. I've fought and killed many of its wraiths. They were spectral emanations, the avatars of real riders... The riders we ran into by the Hanged Man's Tree.

LETHO: Are you telling me you were carried off by elves? Real, material sons of bitches, like the ordinary kind we deal with in this world?

GERALT: They may be ordinary in their world, but they're strangers in ours. The Conjunction of Spheres - know the theory? Do you know how monsters appeared in our world?

LETHO: There's not a witcher who doesn't know that.

GERALT: So you know there are other Spheres. The most powerful of our mages can open passages between these worlds, and they usually do that to summon the monsters we then have to hunt.

GERALT: The elves we saw come from another world. And they weren't summoned, they found the way on their own. It's not exactly easy, so they usually send their spectral emanations. They come in person on special missions.

LETHO: As they did for you and Yennefer.

GERALT: Mhm.

LETHO: So, elves from another world and their trained wraiths... What did they want from you?

GERALT: I've got an idea, but that's not your concern.

GERALT: I've learned all I wanted to know. I can feel the memories coming back. Your death won't change a thing. Go where you will.

LETHO: Just like that? No threats? No words of wisdom?

GERALT: You going or not?

LETHO: Huh. Farewell, Geralt.

[Letho leaves.]

GERALT: Time to fight. Ready?

LETHO: As I'll ever be.