“Ha, ha, commandant, sir,” the dwarf laughed. “She? She’s a harlot, I mean a wife of loose morals. I hired her in Cidaris in order to bed her. You don’t miss home if you journey with a supply of fanny, any philosopher will certify to that.”

He gave Fryga a firm slap on the backside. Fryga blanched in fury and ground her teeth.

“Indeed.” The sergeant grimaced. “How come I didn’t notice at once? Why, it’s obvious. A half-elf.”

“You’ve got half a prick,” Fryga snapped. “Half the size of what’s considered normal.”

“Quiet, quiet,” Addario Bach soothed her. “Don’t take umbrage, colonel. I simply landed an obstreperous whore.”

A soldier rushed into the chamber and submitted a report. Sergeant Kovacs stood up straight.

“The gang has been tracked down!” he declared. “We must give chase at all speed! Forgive the disturbance. At your service!”

He exited with the soldiers. A moment later the thud of hooves reached them from the courtyard.

“Forgive me that spectacle, forgive my spontaneous words and coarse gestures,” Addario Bach said to Fryga, Trent and Ligenza, after a moment’s silence. “In truth, I know you not, I care little for you and rather don’t like you, but I like scenes of hanging even less, the sight of hanged men kicking their feet depresses me deeply. Which explains my dwarven frivolity.”

“You owe your lives to his dwarven frivolity,” added Geralt. “It would be polite to thank the dwarf. I saw you in action in the peasant homestead, and I know what kind of rogues you are. I wouldn’t lift a finger in your defence. I wouldn’t want or even know how to play such a scene as this noble dwarf did. And you’d already be hanging, all three of you. So be gone from here. I would advise the opposite direction to the one chosen by the sergeant and his cavalry.

“Not a chance,” he cut them off on seeing their gaze directed towards the swords stuck into the rafters. “You won’t get them back. Without them you’ll be less inclined towards pillage and extortion. Begone.”

“It was tense,” sighed Addario Bach, soon after the door closed on the three of them. “Damn it, my hands are still shaking a bit. Yours are not?”

“No.” Geralt smiled at his recollections. “In that respect, I am… somewhat impaired.”

“Lucky for some.” The dwarf grinned. “Even their impairments are nice. Another beer?”

“No thank you.” Geralt shook his head. “Time I was going. I’ve found myself in a situation, so to say, where haste is rather advisable. And it would be rather unwise to stay in one place too long.”