Kithamar is an unforgiving city. The common wisdom states that it was founded on hatred, but this is a misunderstanding. In truth, it was founded on hunger, and there are many kinds of hunger at its heart.

—From the secret journal of
Ulris Kaon, court historian of
Prince Daos a Sal

Years ago, before Prince Byrn a Sal’s rise to the city throne and all that came after, Alys had been a young child and her older and only brother Darro left their mother’s house for the last time and in anger.

Mother had discovered that Darro and some of his friends had been robbing warehouses in Seepwater, hauling whatever they found up to a trader in Riverport, and spending the silver and bronze they got on wine. Alys wasn’t sure whether it was the theft that enraged their mother or that he hadn’t brought a share of the money home. Maybe her mother didn’t know either.

Alys had tried to stay small enough to go unnoticed while they shouted at each other. She remembered Darro screaming I don’t eat anyone’s shit and her mother yelling back They will kill you if you don’t.

In the end, Darro took a satchel and a club and the pair of good boots that he and their mother usually traded off using depending on who’d be walking farthest, and he left. Mother threw herself on the cot, scowling and weeping. When her attention finally wandered to Alys, she shook her head.

“Your brother has a good heart, but he’s drunk on himself. Don’t be like him,” she said, and pointed at Alys with crossed fingers like the street-corner blessing men did to ward off evil. “Don’t you be like him.”

Alys nodded her little head and swore she wouldn’t. She even meant it for a while.

By Andrzej Sapkowski

HUSSITE TRILOGY

The Tower of Fools

Warriors of God

Light Perpetual

THE WITCHER

The Last Wish

Sword of Destiny

Blood of Elves

The Time of Contempt

Baptism of Fire

The Tower of Swallows

The Lady of the Lake

Season of Storms

The Malady and Other Stories:

An Andrzej Sapkowski Sampler (e-only)