Sword of Destiny Andrzej Sapkowski Translated by David French orbitbooks.net orbitshortfiction.com Begin Reading Meet the Author A Preview of Blood of Elves A Preview of A Dance of Cloaks About Orbit Short Fiction Orbit Newsletter Table of Contents Copyright Page In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at
[email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights. THE BOUNDS OF REASON I ‘He won’t get out of there, I’m telling you,’ the pockmarked man said, shaking his head with conviction. ‘It’s been an hour and a quarter since he went down. That’s the end of ’im.’ The townspeople, crammed among the ruins, stared in silence at the black hole gaping in the debris, at the rubble-strewn opening. A fat man in a yellow jerkin shifted from one foot to the other, cleared his throat and took off his crumpled biretta. ‘Let’s wait a little longer,’ he said, wiping the sweat from his thinning eyebrows. ‘For what?’ the spotty-faced man snarled. ‘Have you forgotten, Alderman, that a basilisk is lurking in that there dungeon? No one who goes in there comes out. Haven’t enough people perished? Why wait?’ ‘But we struck a deal,’ the fat man muttered hesitantly.