dissolved, and in its place appeared a grey, leaden sea, foaming, crests of waves breaking. And the seagull's cries burst through the silence once more.
'Fly,' said the voice, through the girl's lips. 'It is time. Go back to where you came from, Fourteenth of the Hill. Fly on the wings of a gull and listen to the cry of other seagulls. Listen carefully!'
'I conjure you-'
'You cannot. Fly, seagull!'
And suddenly the wet salty air was there again, roaring with the gale, and there was the flight, a flight with no beginning and no end. Seagulls cried wildly, cried and commanded.
Triss?
Ciri?
Forget about him! Don't torture him! Forget! Forget, Triss!
Forget!
Triss! Triss! Trisss!
'Triss!'
She opened her eyes, tossed her head on the pillow and moved her numb hands.
'Geralt?'
'I'm here. How are you feeling?'
She cast her eyes around. She was in her chamber, lying on the bed. On the best bed in the whole of Kaer Morhen.
'What is happening to Ciri?'
'She is asleep.'
'How long-'
'Too long,' he interrupted. He covered her with the duvet and put his arms around her. As he leaned over the wolf's head medallion swayed just above her face. 'What you did was not the best of ideas, Triss.'
'Everything is all right.' She trembled in his embrace. That's not
true, she thought. Nothing's all right. She turned her face so that the medallion didn't touch her. There were many theories about the properties of witcher amulets and none advised magicians to touch them during the Equinox.
'Did… Did we say anything during the trance?'
'You, nothing. You were unconscious throughout. Ciri… just before she woke up… said: 'Va'esse deireadh aep eigean'.'
'She knows the Elder Speech?'
'Not enough to say a whole sentence.'
'A sentence which means: 'Something is ending'.' The magician wiped her face with her hand. 'Geralt, this is a serious matter. The girl is an exceptionally powerful medium. I don't know what or who she is contacting, but I think there are no limits to her connection. Something wants to take possession of her. Something which is too powerful for me. I am afraid for her. Another trance could end in mental illness. I have no control over it, don't know how to, can't… If it proved necessary, I would not be able to block or suppress her powers; I would even not be capable, if there were no other option, of permanently extinguishing them. You have to get help from another magician. A more gifted one. More experienced. You know who I'm talking about.'
'I do.' He turned his head away, clenched his lips.
'Don't resist. Don't defend yourself. I can guess why you turned to me rather than her. Overcome your pride, crush your rancour and obstinacy. There is no point to it, you'll torture yourself to death. And you are risking Ciri's health and life in the process. Another trance is liable to be more dangerous to her than the Trial of Grasses. Ask Yennefer for help, Geralt.'
'And you, Triss?'
'What about me?' She swallowed with difficulty. 'I'm not important. I let you down. I let you down… in everything. I was… I was your mistake. Nothing more.'
'Mistakes,' he said with effort, 'are also important to me. I don't cross them out of my life, or memory. And I never blame others for them. You are important to me, Triss, and always will be. You never let me down. Never. Believe me.'
She remained silent a long while.
'I will stay until spring,' she said finally, struggling against her shaking voice. 'I will stay with Ciri… I will watch over her. Day and night. I will be with her day and night. And when spring is here… when spring is here we will take her to Melitele's Temple in Ellander. The thing that wants to possess her might not be able to reach her in the temple. And then you will ask Yennefer for help.'
'All right, Triss. Thank you.'
'Geralt?'
'Yes.'
'Ciri said something else, didn't she? Something only you heard. Tell me what it was.'
'No,' he protested and his voice quivered. 'No, Triss.'
'Please.'
'She wasn't speaking to me.'
'I know. She was speaking to me. Tell me, please.'
'After coming to… When I picked her up… She whispered: 'Forget about him. Don't torture him.''
'I won't,' she said quietly. 'But I can't forget. Forgive me.'
'I am the one who ought to be asking for forgiveness. And not only asking you.'
'You love her that much,' she stated, not asking.
'That much,' he admitted in a whisper after a long moment of silence.
'Geralt.'
'Yes, Triss?'
'Stay with me tonight.'
'Triss…'
'Only stay.'
'All right.'
Not long after Midinvaerne the snow stopped falling. The frost came.
Triss stayed with Ciri day and night. She watched over her. She surrounded her with care, visible and invisible.
The girl woke up shouting almost every night. She was delirious, holding her cheek and crying with pain. The magician calmed her
with spells and elixirs, put her to sleep, cuddling and rocking her in her arms. And then she herself would be unable to sleep for a long time, thinking about what Ciri had said in her sleep and after she came to. And she felt a mounting fear. Va'esse deireadh aep eigean… Something is ending…
That is how it was for ten days and nights. And finally it passed. It ended, disappeared without a trace. Ciri calmed, she slept peacefully with no nightmares, and no dreams.
But Triss kept a constant watch. She did not leave the girl for a moment. She surrounded her with care. Visible and invisible.
'Faster, Ciri! Lunge, attack, dodge! Half-pirouette, thrust, dodge! Balance! Balance with your left arm or you'll fall from the comb! And you'll hurt your… womanly attributes!'
'What?'
'Nothing. Aren't you tired? We'll take a break, if you like.'
'No, Lambert! I can go on. I'm not that weak, you know. Shall I try jumping over every other post?'
'Don't you dare! You might fall and then Merigold will tear my- my head off.'
'I won't fall!'
'I've told you once and I'm not going to say it again. Don't show off! Steady on your legs! And breathe, Ciri, breathe! You're panting like a dying mammoth!'
'That's not true!'
'Don't squeal. Practise! Attack, dodge! Parry! Half-piroutte! Parry, full pirouette! Steadier on the posts, damn it! Don't wobble! Lunge, thrust! Faster! Half-pirouette! Jump and cut! That's it! Very good!'
