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laughing. They were immediately silent at the sight of a grey light which had formed around the sorceress.
    "Another word out of you and you'll be polluted air, Yarpen," Yennefer shot back at him in a metallic voice. "And a black stain on the grass."
    "Very well" Boholt broke the silence which had just descended with a cough. "Be silent, Zigrin. Let us hear what Lady Yennefer wants to tell us. She regrets that our business discussion is taking place without her. I deduce from this that she has a proposal to make to us. Let's listen, my dear fellows, to what this proposal consists of. However, let's hope that she doesn't offer to slay the dragon alone with her spells."
    "Why not?" Yennefer reacted, raising her head. "Do you think it impossible, Boholt?"
    "It is perhaps possible. But for us not very lucrative, because you would then demand half of the dragon's treasure."
    "At the very least," the sorceress replied coldly.
    "You see that's not a good solution. We, madam, are only poor warriors. If we don't get paid, hunger threatens. We've only been eating sorrel and white goose..."
    "After a festival, sometimes marmot," added Yarpen Zigrin in a sad voice.
    "... We drink only water." Boholt drank a good draught from the demijohn and snorted. "For us, Lady Yennefer, there's no other solution. We get paid or it's death outside in the icy cold winter. Because the inns are so expensive."
    "Beer too," added Nischuka.
    "And the whores," continued Ripper, dreamily.
    "That's why we're going to try to slay the dragon without your spells and without your help."
    "Are you sure about that? Remember that there are limits as to how to go about it, Boholt."
    "There are perhaps. I've never encountered them for my part. No, madam. I repeat: we shall kill the dragon ourselves, without your spells."
    "What's more" added Yarpen Zigrin, "spells, too, are subject to certain limits."
    "Did you figure this out by yourself?" Yennefer asked slowly. "Perhaps somebody else has told you? Does the presence of a witcher at this so noble gathering explain your egotism?"
    "No," replied Boholt looking at Geralt who pretended to be dozing, lazily stretched out on a blanket, his head resting on his saddle. "The witcher has got nothing to do with this. Listen, dear Lady Yennefer. We offered a proposal to the king and he has not honoured us with the answer. We'll wait patiently till morning. If the king accepts, we'll continue on our way together. Otherwise, we shall leave."
    "Us too," murmured the dwarf.
    "No possible negotiation," Boholt went on. "Take it or leave it. Please repeat these words to Niedamir, dear Yennefer. And I'll also add that the deal could be favourable to you, to you and also to Dorregaray, if you agree with the king. We don't care about the dragon's carcass. We want only the tail. All rest will be yours. You have only to help yourself. We shall claim neither the teeth nor the brain: nothing of interest to magicians."
    "Of course," added Yarpen Zigrin, sneering, "you can also have the carrion. Nobody's going to steal that from you, except perhaps the vultures."
    Yennefer got up, drawing her coat around her shoulders.
    "Niedamir will not wait until the morning," she announced firmly. "He accepts your conditions forthwith. In spite of my advice, as you suspected, and that of Dorregaray."
    "Niedamir," stated Boholt slowly, "has proved himself of sound judgment for such a young king. Because for me, Lady Yennefer, the wise show an ability to remain deaf to the advice of stupid or hypocritical people."
    Yarpen Zigrin sniggered. The sorceress put her hands on her hips and retorted:
    "You'll be singing another tune tomorrow when the dragon falls upon you, skewers you to the ground and breaks your legs. You'll kiss my arse and beg me to help you. As usual. I know you well, as I know all those of your kind. I know you so you well, it makes me sick."
    She turned and walked away into the darkness, without saying goodbye.
    "In my time," said Yarpen Zigrin,