Lady of the Lake (novel)

The Lady of the Lake (Polish original title: Pani Jeziora) is the fifth novel in the Witcher Saga written by Polish fantasy writer Andrzej Sapkowski, first published in Poland in 1999. It is a sequel to the fourth Witcher novel The Swallow's Tower (Wieża Jaskółki).

Plot summary

The story opens with Ciri bathing in a pond in an unknown world. As she does so, Sir Galahad of the Arthurian legend stumbles upon her. After mistaking her for the Lady of the Lake, they then talk and Ciri recounts her story.

The story cuts to a distant point in time that takes place after the story, where a young maiden, Condwiramurs, meets the Lady of the Lake to study the legend of Geralt and Ciri. They do so through intense study of the pictures portraying the characters and events from the story, which they then dream of. Eventually Condwiramurs starts to dream of the events at the behest of the Lady of the Lake. Her first dream is that of Stefan Skellen and Leo Bonhart, who are revealed to be working with Vilgefortz and have imprisoned Yennefer in some unknown castle.

The dream ends and a new dream starts, this time dealing with the adventures of Geralt. Geralt has been completing monster contracts in the city of Toussaint while the rest of the group, Dandelion, Regis, Milva, Angoulême, and Cahir, have been exploring and relaxing. Geralt eventually starts a relationship with the castle sorceress, Fringilla Vigo. Fringilla is one of the few members of the Lodge, a group of sorceresses that wish to control the political world, and is assigned the task of delaying him to seek out Yennefer and Ciri. Geralt eventually receives a contract to investigate and potentially kill several monsters which live in an abandoned castle near the city of Toussaint. While accomplishing the task, he overhears Skellen, Bonhart, and several other associates talk about where Vilgefortz and Yennefer are located and how Ciri is missing. Geralt rushes back to Toussaint in order to gather his group and leave to save Yennefer.

Ciri is shown to have arrived in a foreign world after entering the portal at the Tower of the Swallow. This world appears to be ruled by elves, who live in peace except for occasional fights with the unicorns. She meets with several elves, notably Avallac'h and Eredin Breacc Glas, who is the leader of a cavalry unit called Dearg Ruadhri and reveals that the unicorns have become restless since she entered their world. She is told she must bear the child of their king, Auberon, who appears to be addicted to fisstech and is emotionally cold. Despite her disgruntlement with the situation, she agrees. After several fruitless nights, she confronts the other elves of the castle and demands that she be let go, as it appears their king is not interested in her, and that she wants to return to her friends. She is told that time happens differently in this world, and that once her task is accomplished she will be returned to her time. Eventually Eredin confronts her, giving her a vial and hinting that she should poison Auberon.

In a bout of frustration, she rides her horse, Kelpie, as far away as possible from the castle, despite the warnings that the barrier prevent her from leaving the place. As she is riding she is cornered by several unicorns, who threaten her, fearing her power. She is spared, as she had saved one of the unicorns, Ihuarraquax, from death earlier. The unicorns then tell her that she needs to escape from this world and reveal how she can bypass the barrier. Ciri returns to the castle to see Auberon die from the poison given by Eredin. She steals a boat for herself and Kelpie, which is revealed to be the only way to pass the barrier. She is confronted by Eredin Breacc Glas, enraged by her runaway. A brief battle ensues, in which she injures Eredin and escapes to join Ihuarraquax and other unicorns waiting for her. Eredin and his riders soon chase her, and a battle between the Dearg Ruadhri and the unicorns ensues. Ciri, in the midst of chaos, teleports out of the world at the assistance of Ihuarraquax.

The story then follows Jarre, a temple scribe who chooses to join the army which has formed due to the alliance between all of the Northern Kingdoms to repel the invading Nilfgaardian army. He meets up with several individuals, including characters seen earlier in the story, and joins a unit called the PFI, or "Poor Fucking Infantry."

Ciri's story continues, where she is jumping between worlds and times trying to find her own, still running from Eredin and the Dearg Ruadhri. She eventually appears before the Lady of the Lake and Condwiramurs, who wish her luck on her journey and provide a portal to the right place and time.

We continue with Jarre, while the armies of the Northern alliance and Nilfgaard have collided in a valley near the village of Brenna. The battle lasts several hours, teetering on the brink of victory and defeat. Elven units, led by Yaevinn, attack the flanks of the Northern army, going so far as to slaughter the injured in medical tents. As the Northern army finally starts to rout, a contingent of Redanian infantry charge over a hill that was not scouted properly by the elves. This causes panic amongst the Nilfgaardian forces, which soon are abruptly slaughtered. The commander of the Nilfgaardians, Coehoorn, is killed in an attempted escape. The battle is referred to as the Miracle at Brenna soon after. The Northern alliance soon pushes all Nilfgaardian forces south of the Yaruga, which served as the border, and a ceasefire is declared in order to make peace.

Ciri is soon revealed to have gone to Vilgefortz's castle in order to save Yennefer herself, unable to find Geralt and knowing that Yennefer would die without her help. Ciri asks that Yennefer be released in exchange for herself, but Vilgefortz laughs and imprisons her anyway. Geralt arrives at the castle quickly after Ciri, not knowing that she arrived earlier. Geralt and his group storm the castle, killing many of Skellen's men before eventually Milva dies from an enemy arrow. Geralt and Regis go to find Yennefer, whereas Cahir and Angoulême go to save Ciri once they learn she is here. Yennefer is saved by Geralt, who indiscriminately kills to save her. Bonhart ambushes Ciri, desiring to kill her in a fair fight, but she flees and encounters Cahir, who wants to fight Bonhart himself to save Ciri. Cahir is killed outright, and soon after Angoulême dies from her wounds. Ciri and Bonhart soon fight, with Ciri finally winning by using the environment to her advantage. She takes the three witcher medallions that Bonhart claimed to have taken off the corpses of witchers previously. Ciri runs to find Geralt and Yennefer.

Meanwhile, Geralt, Regis, and Yennefer seek and fight Vilgefortz. Regis is obliterated in fight, turning into a molten mass of dust. Geralt and Vilgefortz fight, with Geralt being victorious. Ciri eventually finds Geralt and Yennefer, who chose to go outside. One their way to the courtyard, they kill more of Skellen's men. As they reach the courtyard, they find the Emperor of Nilfgaard's men taking the castle and imprisoning everyone. The Emperor is revealed to be Ciri's father, who faked his death years ago. Geralt and Yennefer are told to commit suicide while Ciri is taken to the capital of Nilfgaard to be married to the Emperor. Geralt, without much of a choice, accepts, and Yennefer and Geralt take a bath together, with a dagger left in the room. Ciri eventually enters the room, saying that the Emperor's men left without a word. The three soon leave, with Ciri leading the way to all of the places during her adventures earlier in the story. The three eventually return to Toussaint, and save Dandelion from being executed. The four now split into two groups, Dandelion and Geralt heading to Rivia and Ciri and Yennefer going to meet with the Lodge of sorceresses.

During Geralt's time in Rivia, a riot erupts, in which humans are killing non-humans indiscriminately. Geralt, in order to defend a couple of his dwarven friends he was in a pub with, enters the fray and kills several individuals before being impaled on a pitchfork. Ciri, Yennefer, and Triss Merigold arrive in Rivia shortly after the rioting starts, and they eventually find Geralt on the verge of death. Yennefer, in an attempt to revive him, dies herself. Ihuarraquax the unicorn shortly appears and channels his power through Ciri to heal Geralt and Yennefer. Ciri sends her trusted mare, Kelpie, with Ihuarraquax to their world. The rioting moves away from area which they are at, and Ciri brings them out onto a nearby lake in a boat. While Triss, Dandelion, and their dwarven friends say their goodbyes, Ciri takes off into the lake which erupts into a light and the three disappear. Geralt and Yennefer awake in an unknown location, comforting each other.

Ciri ends recounting her tale to Galahad, whom has been listening intently the entire time. Ciri sarcastically says that the tale ends with Yennefer and Geralt getting married, and that a celebration ensued between all the different dead and alive characters of the saga. Galahad eventually invites her to the court at Camelot, which she accepts. The saga ends with Ciri and Galahad riding side by side, holding hands.

Translations

It was published in Czech (Leonardo, 2000), Russian (AST, 2000), Spanish (Bibliopolis, 2006), Lithuanian (Eridanas, 2007), French (Bragelonne, 2011), German (DTV, 2011), Italian (Editrice Nord, 2015) and Finnish (WSOY, 2016).

The English translation will be released by Gollancz in 2017.^[1]

References

1. ↑ "Gollancz Acquire Three More Witcher Novels". Gollancz. January 19, 2015. Retrieved January 19, 2015.