The Last Wish

In Cintra, Geralt is dressing up for a banquet given by Queen Calanthe in honor of Princess Pavetta’s 15th birthday. The queen has hired Geralt, who will pose as the nobleman Ravis of Fourhorn. Geralt cannot coax the reason for his hire out of the castellan.

At the banquet, the queen is curt toward Geralt. He wonders whether she wants to hire him to murder someone, but she says this would be silly—he is too expensive to hire for such a simple task. Instead, she needs his help to ensure the princess’s marriage alliance with a nobleman from Skellige. The queen could command Geralt to carry out the task—in that case, she will spell out what he has to do and the punishment for disobedience would be severe. Alternatively, Geralt can choose to freely accept without knowing the details—this way, he can set his own price.

At that moment, Geralt notices Mousesack, a druid from Skellige, looking at him while forming runes into a question on the table out of breadcrumbs. Geralt nods quickly, and Mousesack brushes the crumbs away.

The princess arrives. The queen bemoans the alliance, but it is necessary. Geralt accepts her offer; the queen moves off to mingle with other guests.

Much later in the evening, a figure covered in heavy armor arrives, announcing himself as Urcheon of Erlenwald. The queen invites him to join their festivities, but he declines. The queen bemoans his lack of respect and demands he remove his helmet, but he must leave it on until midnight due to his knight order’s vows.

15 years ago, Urcheon rescued Calanthe’s husband, King Roegner. When the king offered Urcheon a reward, Urcheon “asked him to promise me whatever he had left at home without knowing or expecting it”; this had turned out to be the princess, as the king had not been aware that Calanthe had been pregnant (156). Now, Urcheon has come to collect the promised reward—the princess’s hand in marriage.

The banquet turns into an uproar, and Geralt’s witcher medallion, which grows active around magic, has been spinning—both he and Mousesack can sense something, though they are not sure what. The princess’s eyes dart between Mousesack and Geralt, while Mousesack mutters incantations.

Calanthe admits that Urcheon speaks the truth. She will convene a council the next day to determine whether the king’s promise still applies. Geralt exclaims that a council might not be necessary. Why would someone want an oath that “creates a powerful, indissoluble tie of destiny between the person demanding the oath and its object” (162)? He argues that the so-called Law of Surprise is only valid if the child consents. Urcheon questions Geralt’s expertise, but Mousesack explains that Geralt knows the law because it had once applied to him, leading to his becoming a witcher.

Calanthe confirms that Geralt is a witcher; as midnight has passed, she demands that Urcheon remove his helmet. He does, revealing that he is a humanoid monster. Calanthe believes she has won, as she is sure the princess won’t consent. However, shocking everyone, Pavetta does. Urcheon insists on leaving immediately, but the banquet descends into chaos, with everyone climbing over themselves to get at Urcheon. Geralt leaps to his defense, fighting off guards and suitors alike.

Pavetta is in increasing anguish, and the magic in the room grows more chaotic. The room explodes, with chairs, tables, and people flying everywhere. Mousesack and Geralt work together to block the princess’s powers. They succeed, and the princess collapses to the floor.

The druid reveals that Pavetta can use the Force, which had skipped a generation, because she is not a virgin. Urcheon reverts to human form—the castle clock rang early and it’s only midnight now.

In the queen’s chambers, Urcheon, or Duny reveals that he has been cursed since birth to only be human from midnight until dawn. He and the princess have been seeing one another for a year. Calanthe is perfectly capable of blocking their marriage, but she won’t. Instead, she will take Eist Tuirseach of Skellige as her husband—they, too, are secretly in love.

When dawn arrives and Duny remains human, they realize the curse has been lifted. Duny insists he owes a debt to Geralt for saving his life, so Geralt asks of Duny and Pavetta what Duny had asked of the king, the gift of something he has but does not know about—in other words, Pavetta’s unborn child. Geralt explains that witchers must be born under the shadow of destiny, which is why there are so few of them; he will return in six years to see if destiny has been kind to him.