“You know, you never congratulate me on my ballads,” Dandelion suddenly spoke up. “I’ve composed and sung so many of them in your company. But you’ve never said: ‘That was nice. I’d like you to play that again.’ You’ve never said that.”

“You’re right. I haven’t. Do you want to know why?”

“Yes?”

“Because I’ve never wanted to.”

“Would it be such a sacrifice?” asked the bard, not giving up. “Such a hardship? To say: ‘Play that again, Dandelion. Play As Time Passes.’ ”

“Play it again, Dandelion. Play ‘As Time Passes.’ ”

“You said that quite without conviction.”

“So what? You’ll play it anyway.”

“You’d better believe it.”

A flickering candle, the fire went out

A cold wind blew perceptibly

And the days pass

And time passes

In silence and imperceptibly

You’re with me endlessly and endlessly

Something joins us, but not perfectly

For the days pass

For time passes

In silence and imperceptibly

The memory of travelled paths and roads

Remain in us irrevocably

Although the days pass

Although time passes

In silence and imperceptibly

So, my love, one more time

Let’s repeat the chorus triumphantly

So do the days pass

So does time pass

In silence and imperceptibly

Geralt stood up.

“Time to ride, Dandelion.”

“Oh, yes? Where to?”

“Isn’t it all the same?”

“Yes, by and large. Let’s go.”

EPILOGUE

On the hillock, the remains of buildings shone white, fallen into ruin so long ago they were now completely overgrown. Ivy had enveloped the walls and young trees had grown through the cracked flagstones. It had once been—Nimue could not have known that—a temple, the seat of the priests of some forgotten deity. For Nimue it was just a ruin. A pile of stones. And a signpost. A sign that she was going the right way.

For just beyond the hillock and the ruins the highway forked. One path led west, over a moor. The other one, heading north, vanished into a thick, dense forest. It went deep into the black undergrowth, vanished into gloomy darkness, dissolving into it.

And that was her route. Northwards. Through the infamous Magpie Forest.