The place they were aiming for was located more or less halfway along the route from Kerack to Cidaris, some way from the road linking the two cities which wound among forests and rocky wildernesses. The journey took them some time; time they killed with idle chatter. Mainly contributed by Dandelion.

“Common knowledge claims that swords used by witchers have magical properties,” said the poet. “Passing over the fabrications about sexual impotence, there must be some truth in it. Your swords aren’t ordinary. Would you like to comment?”

Geralt reined in his mare. Bored by the protracted stay in the stables, Roach’s urge to gallop was growing.

“Yes, I would. Our swords aren’t ordinary swords.”

“It’s claimed that the magical power of your witcher weaponry, fatal to the monsters you fight, resides in the steel from which they are forged,” said Dandelion, pretending not to hear the mockery. “From the very metal, that is the ores found in meteorites fallen from the sky. How so? Meteorites aren’t magical, after all, they’re a natural phenomenon, accounted for by science. Where’s that magic to come from?”

Geralt looked at the sky darkening from the north. It looked like another storm was gathering. And that they could expect a soaking.

“As far as I recall,” he said, answering a question with a question, “you have studied all seven liberal arts?”

“And I graduated summa cum laude.”

“You attended the lectures of Professor Lindenbrog as part of the astronomy course within the Quadrivium?”

“Old Lindenbrog, known as Fiddle-Faddle?” laughed Dandelion. “Why of course! I can still see him scratching his backside and tapping his pointer on maps and globes, wittering on monotonously. De sphaera mundi, errr, subdividitur into four Elementary Parts. The Earthly Part, the Aqueous, the Aerial and the Igneous. Earth and Water form the globe, which is surrounded on all sides, errr, by Air, or Aer. Over the Air, errr, stretches the Aether, Fiery Air or Fire. Above the Fire, meanwhile, are the Subtle Sidereal Heavens, known as the Firmamentum, which is spherical in character. On that is located the Errant Siderea, or wandering stars, and Fixa Siderea, or fixed stars…”