Chapter 61: Chapter 7
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***
Damian.
Tretogor was just as nice as Oxenfurt, even better in some ways.
The population was almost the same in number. "Cultural" monuments are smaller, of course, but the culture of Redania doesn't interest me much at all. There was a crafts district, a commercial district, a ghetto for non-humans and a poor neighbourhood, which was within Tretogor and took up a third of its territory, then there was a suburb with a few thousand mixed population. There was a river port that was only slightly inferior to that of Oxenfurt, and many more.
Of course, we were put up in the palace. Mum found favour with Queen Gedwig.
And the queen herself was favourable to me and my mother. I wanted to meet Gedviga's children, but Radovid was not born yet and according to my estimates it should happen, if I did not rape the canon with my appearance, in five years in 1255.
But I met Princess Mellegarda, but not Dalka, she had already managed to run away to a monastery and renounce worldly life. She was undermined by Foltest's refusal to marry her. First Vizimir blamed her for it, and then the girl herself, after which she went headlong into religion.
Radovid has an interesting situation, one older sister got into religion and the other into magic, while her mother can't think of anything good in politics and her father is not interested in the family. I don't wonder why he grew up so bitter, even though Philippa drove him to it. He has the potential to be a really great commander, politician, and in general he showed himself to be not a stupid man, but he went mad because of Philippa.
I remember a moment from the book, which was told to me by my Polish friend, that got me hooked on The Witcher, where thirteen-year-old Radovid stood with other kings queens and their advisers in Cintra at the signing of peace after the second war. Then the author gave a hint that the relationship between the two of them had managed to be twisted in some twisted way by Philippa. It was as if Radovid was recalling Eilhart's "hot lips and breath". It was quite possible that the lady had decided to rob the boy of his innocence and make him fall in love with her. But she failed. Although by that time she was mostly on the girls, but Philippa is still a lying and self-serving bitch, so she could fuck the king as she wanted.
Their relationship is not as easy as it seems.
In Tretogor we lived in the royal palace, where I often communicated with the still princess Millegarde, who was a year older than me, but she asked me to call her Milena. For by that name she would be trained at Arethusa.
On the 1st of September 1250, we celebrated my birthday. And something interesting happened there.
Since it was my birthday, and the king could not go hunting because of the weather, he ordered the whole court to celebrate, where he got drunk like a cattle. As they say, the man wanted a holiday, so he found a reason, since he couldn't go hunting.
And everything would be all right, there was a performance of the court jester, magicians, small friendly duels, a lot of drink and food, everything was fine. Until Vizimir started looking at me after my duel with his squire, who was a couple of years older. And he didn't utter a brilliant phrase: "You look just like Demavend! Honestly! You look just like him at his age. I know my cousin well enough; everything is the same as his, except your mother's eyes. Ha! And the character's the same!"
After that my mother gave a strange twitch and the gears in her head started working, Philippa looked at me just as carefully and just laughed, but I noticed that she thought about it, remembered the information and would surely check it out for the possibility that I might be the illegitimate son of King Aedirn. The other mages and courtiers also pretended it was a silly joke or just a flattering remark from their king. But I noted the coincidence to myself and kept it in my mind. Perhaps it would be of use to me in the future... or perhaps it would do me harm.
In the evening my mother took a few hairs "unnoticed" by me and retired to her room until morning.
I don't know what her expertise gave her, but she wasn't acting nervous or weird. It was just the same as before. True Philippa tried to be close to me for a while and even showed me a couple of tricks with magic.
In general, the magical community fussed over me again, but not as much as after my birth and Ortolan.
Towards the end of September Milena was sent to Arethusa and I just helped my mother treat her clients and customers, gaining experience and learning from Taren, Litta and my mother. I was also able to get into sparring sessions with the squires and some of the mercenaries in the service of the nobles and Philippa.
Thus passed day after day, night after night.
First all through the autumn, then through the winter as well. Eventually, after I was able, thanks to Philippa, to learn to fly not only on a broomstick, but also without it, as they say "on my own", my mother contacted Eastredd to teach me. By the way, Philippa herself can't fly in the air without a broom, and neither can most of the wizards. But there are a few who can fly without other devices like brooms or artefacts: Tissaya de Vries, Taren Merigold, the late Ortolan, a few mages from Zerrikania and Nilfgard, and the glorious Wilhelforz. And now I can do it too.
Taren did not assist me in this teaching, for at the beginning of winter he had travelled with Triss back to Vyzima for royal service. The political milestone of his stay was over quickly, though, so Eilhart helped me.
Her polymorphism remained a mystery to me, despite all the same books I used with her permission and that she used to comprehend this branch of magic. Perhaps I never will be able to, Tissaya de Vrieux never did in all her years. So it's not for everyone. But I don't despair. After all, I might be more interested in Goetia than the other disciplines. I've already learnt how to summon spirits and weak elementals thanks to my mother and Litta Neid. So it's a matter of persistence and experience when I subdue one of the Geniuses. Though not far away, in Rinda, there's still an Air Genius who's still imprisoned. In fact, as far as I know, nothing that "interesting" involving a witchfinder has happened there.
As I mentioned at the end of winter, my mother contacted Eastredd and he agreed to take me into training. Plus, he was going to be leaving his town soon to travel the North and even Nilfgaard, so I'd have an interesting apprenticeship. But until then, I'll stay with her.
They've agreed to meet in a month's time in Oxenfurt and there I'll pass into the hands of a warlock.
And the funny thing is, when Mum told me this, she got a message from an old acquaintance in Rinda. And he was asking for help for himself and inviting her there.
My gut squealed that it was quite possible that Geralt could be somewhere near Redania right now and heading with Buttercup to the vicinity of Rinda.
So I took the outwardly normal news that we were going there, but inwardly I was already looking for ways to find out what lakes there were in the vicinity of Rinda, in order to be the first to find a bottle of genie and use it for myself.
Preparations for the trip were not long, rather longer we said goodbye to the court and the royal honour of Redania. Litta as well as Mosaic, whom I had also befriended, had travelled to Kovir. So it was just the two of us.
Rinda was a rather small town, but in some ways pleasant to the eye. We settled into a merchant's house, where we stayed for almost a week before Mum had to deal with the problems of her old mercenary merchant-lover friend. And I went with the servants of this acquaintance of my mother's to the neighbourhood "for hunting" and "walks".
The search for the cherished bottle took almost nine days before I found the right lake, or rather a former tributary of the river, and the ship in which the genie was.
I guess from the outside I looked like an alcoholic for getting to moonshine in a barrel after all these years, hehe.
But I didn't care what those servants with me saw.
I drew a pentagram to protect myself, and almost the same for the genie, which served as a sort of barrier for him.
Just in case!
A glowing red smoke erupted from the bottle as I popped the cork. The smoke pulsated and shook at the level of my head, but it didn't leave the barrier, it gathered into an irregularly shaped ball, in the middle of which I could see a kind of "skull" that stared at me.
For a while, we stared at each other in silence. He made no attempt to escape or harm me, and I studied him calmly.
A genie is a powerful spirit of the air, a concentration of the power of that element, endowed with consciousness and character-usually of an abominable nature. They are capable of fulfilling almost any, even the most sophisticated desires, though they do it extremely reluctantly.
And I couldn't help but seize such a moment.
- Genie. Listen to my three wishes! - I said, perhaps a little pathetic and childishly. - First - I wish that my mother could have children!
I couldn't spend the first wish on myself, at least not all wishes on myself. My mother is Yennyfair, she deserves a far better child than I do. I realise that, for I am far from a little boy and it is quite possible that despite my knowledge, experience and luck, I may die before I produce my heirs for her to play with her grandchildren. So it's only fair and just that it's the woman I hold dear who gets the first profits. She has done a lot for me and I owe her a lot.
- I CAN'T! - uttered suddenly instead of granting my wish D'yin. - SOMEONE HAS INTERFERED WITH HER! I HAVE NO CONTROL OVER IT!
Fucking hell! The Lion of Night has interfered in her life and destiny and now it seems not even the Djinn can change that. The residual effects of the Night Lion's actions are beyond their control.
I'm sorry Mum, but there's nothing I can do for you in that sense.
All right! Get a grip Damian, you need to make three wishes.
- Then listen to my other wish! My first wish - I wish that the Child of Itlina's Prophecy that has not yet been born will love me more than life and will always love only me.
The Air Genius glowed slightly and answered me again:
- I CANNOT INTERFERE WITH DESTINY!
Fucking hell can you even do anything? R-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r!
Okay, I should have known that I'd have to meet Ciri in person and work hard to make her fall in love with me. But these Gods and Destiny are really boring me.
Fuck you, D'yin. I'll have to make a wish for something simpler, but no less useful.
- My first wish! - Now I spoke with considerable irritation. - I wish that my mother and I would become immune to all the poisons and harmful gases that exist in this world.
D'yin shimmered and rattled slightly, then returned to his "normal" state.
It worked!
- My second wish! - I wish that in our house in Vengerberg and in my mother's vaults we have exact copies of all the scientific treatises and magical books of the world that we do not and could not have access to.
D'yin shimmered and rattled slightly again, then returned to his 'normal' state.
It is fulfilled!
Great, my mum will be happy about this! This wish will give me carte blanche to do a lot of things, and just having copies of the many books and manuscripts, even if not all the ones in the world about magic and science, is a good thing. As the saying goes, "Knowledge is Power!"
Now for the third...
Busy, but all the really important wishes I've made, I can only make or think of some little thing that's not really important anymore. I'm not going to wish for a Valyrian steel sword. Immortality or eternal youth? D'yin could put some kind of crap or trick in my system. That's why I can't wish for Wolverine-like regeneration. And he doesn't know who Wolverine is. And making myself a master of some element with his help, it can also be destructive to my body. Besides, I can achieve it myself with training and persistence, which I can't take away.
I must have thought about what to wish for a few minutes before I smiled and decided to mess around and do a similar situation to what our "great philosopher witch doctor" had thought of. But with a slight adjustment to the lady's name and a couple of details.
- My third wish - I wish that Philippa Eilhart of Tretogor would fall head over heels in love with me after my fourteenth birthday when I meet her.
And for the third time the situation was repeated. And my wish was granted.
Yep, silly, childish, but could be useful. Philippa, if the canon doesn't change in this, will become the head of the Enchanters' Lodge, and she's a very smart, beautiful and capable lady with influence, power and lands, so she'll be useful to me. And after fourteen... well, it's not right for her to suddenly fall in love with a twelve-year-old boy!
D'yin swung the barrier and it burst, and the Air Genius flew off to the east. Away from this place and Rinda.
I breathed a sigh of relief and lay down on the ground.
I've had my fill, now it's time to have a few drinks and head back to Rinda to see my mum. Time to make her happy.
And she did, after she gave me a hell of a beating. She was too scared for me. Afraid of losing me, said a lot of things to me in her lectures about my mental faculties and "childhood in one place."
But after about six or seven hours she calmed down and already praised me for my right wishes. True, when I told her about Philippa, she blinked her eyes and just smiled. But she didn't chastise me about "playing with her feelings" or say "that's what she should do."
But at one point she smiled and kissed me on the forehead like when I was a little girl, after I told her my very first wish about her ability to have children. All she said was that she had enough of one such a beautiful and caring son and didn't need any other children.
Then we had our bodies tested for toxins and gases, and it turned out that we were both immune to all poisons and harmful gases.
And then we teleported to Wengerberg where we found our home with an entire "flood" of coveted works and books. Which made the famous Jennyfair of Wengerberg look more like a child than me. It was like Christmas when a child got a present and lots and lots of candy in his sock.
True there was a lot of haemorrhoids to systematise, to distribute to the jars, the house and my mum's hiding places all this goodness that fit in our house.
Luckily, I didn't ask for "all the books and treatises in the world." Otherwise, the Wengerberg and our house would be bursting with all the junk literature about romance, rhetoric, poetry and so on down the list, which would only take up space. And this is the medieval world, not the 21st century of my world.
Yes, my foresight has played into my hands.
After three days of tedious but necessary work, we cleared out the rubble, and returned with a small part of it to Rinda, where from time to time until our departure for Oxenfurt we studied it all, mastered it, and picked up new literature for ourselves.
When the day of "Hae" came and we left for Oxenfurt, some of the literature we had already looked over and studied was given to Eastredd, telling him what had happened.
Then for another week the two of them walked and spent time together like a couple of lovers, while I continued to study the treatises, which, judging from the language, were probably in the imperial library of Nilfgaard.
And then came the time of parting with Mum.
- Don't cry. - I smiled at her. - It's not forever, but only for a year or two. And you and I will see each other regularly.
- Try not to answer me on the megascope connection. - she frowned. - I'll lock you in the tower like a princess from the fairy tales.
- I'll keep an eye on him, Yenn. - Eastredd assured her.
- You both need looking after. - She snorted and came to her senses.
- I promise I'll come back to you, Mum. And not just for fun, but as one of the strongest wizards in the world.
- You have my word, my little boy. - she kissed me on the cheek.
After a few more minutes of hugging, Eastredd called out to us.
- We should go, Ian. The ship won't wait forever. Besides, a long send-off is a lot of tears. Your boy should be a little more independent.
Mum didn't say any more, but silently let me and Eastred go to the ship.
That was the end of my "childhood" and the beginning of another phase of my adventures and life in general.
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