Η Φωνή του Λόγου is the framing story in Η Τελευταία Ευχή, divided into seven parts.
Most of this story takes place in the Ναός της Melitele in Ellander while Γκέραλτ is recovering from injuries he gained in a recent fight.
Summary[]
Η Φωνή του Λόγου 1[]
Part 1 describes how Iola, a priestess of Melitele who has taken a vow of silence, enters the chamber in which Γκέραλτ is resting and the subsequent sex.
The scene is followed by the short story "Ο Μάγιστρος".
Η Φωνή του Λόγου 2[]
Part 2 begins with Nenneke waking Γκέραλτ and Iola up. The girl quickly leaves, and the elder priestess and the witcher talk while Nenneke checks Γκέραλτ's injuries. She chides him for 'losing his touch', for letting himself get hurt so badly by an ordinary striga. Meanwhile, Γκέραλτ's stand on faith and belief is made clear.
Later on the temple grounds, the cult of Melitele is described as Γκέραλτ walks the pathways looking for both Iola and Nenneke.
He finds Nenneke and they discuss faith once again. The priestess tries to get Γκέραλτ to agree on a trance, for she senses something 'wrong' about the man. He refuses, arguing that his lack of faith would make such an attempt pointless. She merely remarks that it would be the first time lack of faith would have any power at all.
This segues into the short story "Ο Κόκκος της Αλήθειας".
Η Φωνή του Λόγου 3[]
Part 3 opens with the introductions of Falwick, count of Moën and Sir Tailles of Dorndal, both knights of the Order of the White Rose, on a mission from Prince Hereward. Nenneke doesn't like either of them, her remarks growing more scathing the more Tailles revels in his youthful righteousness. The knights demand that Γκέραλτ leave immediately; Nenneke counters by telling them that the temple is not under the jurisdiction of any duke. Tailles sees red, and throws down his gauntlet, demanding a duel with Γκέραλτ. Nenneke ignores the gesture, calmly telling the adolescent to pick up what he dropped.
The knights leave with a promise to return, throwing one of Γκέραλτ's many aliases, Butcher of Blaviken, into the conversation, thus introducing the third short story, "Το Μικρό Κακό".
Η Φωνή του Λόγου 4[]
Part 4 is a monologue without any description other than Γκέραλτ's own, while he's sitting with the silent Iola in the gardens of the temple. Γκέραλτ tells her about witchers, how they came to be, about Kaer Morhen and Vesemir. About destiny and how he shouldn't have stuck his spoon into that soup, cuing the short story "Η Ερώτηση της Τιμής".
Η Φωνή του Λόγου 5[]
Part 5 introduces Νταντέλιον, Γκέραλτ's faithful friend. Nenneke says she despises him, but the witcher and the bard get along very well. Having hit a patch of blues, Γκέραλτ wonders out loud about the sorry state of witchers, about how he can barely make a living anymore. Νταντέλιον doles out some words of wisdom, which lead to him asking Γκέραλτ if he remembers the events at "the Edge of the World".
Η Φωνή του Λόγου 6[]
Part 6 takes place in the crystal-roofed caves on the temple grounds, where the air is humid and an astonishing variety of both rare and ordinary plants and herbs grow. While Nenneke tends the flora, the priestess and Γκέραλτ discuss Γιενέφερ. The witcher wishes to give part of the reward he received for the striga to the temple, and asks Nenneke if she would forward the rest, a few gems to Γιενέφερ, to help her finance her search for "a cure". Nenneke refuses to work as an intermediary, and they argue about Γιενέφερ and her situation. The priestess pleads with Γκέραλτ to stay on a while longer at the temple to heal, bringing up the idea of a trance again. He refuses, again.
Finally, Nenneke asks about how this thing between the witcher and the sorceress began, setting up "Η Τελευταία Ευχή".
Η Φωνή του Λόγου 7[]
Unlike the others, part 7 happens outside the safety of the temple walls. Γκέραλτ and Νταντέλιον are riding down a road, when they're suddenly surrounded and stopped by lancers, knights of the Order of the White Rose, and the captain of Hereward's guards, a dwarf named Dennis Cranmer. Γκέραλτ is forced to either accept Tailles' earlier challenge, or face the gallows. The rules of the duel further state that if Γκέραλτ even touches Tailles with his sword, the witcher will be made to suffer a slow death.
Γκέραλτ accepts the challenge, and the duel is short with the witcher easily evading the inept slashing of the adolescent. The duel ends as their blades meet and Γκέραλτ's block causes Tailles' own blade to slash his face. Falwick, seeing that the boy was injured, demands that the footmen seize Γκέραλτ, but Cranmer stops him stating that the rules of the duel were fulfilled "to the letter", and that Γκέραλτ is free to go.
After a not so fond farewell to the representatives of the Order and a much fonder farewell to Dennis, Γκέραλτ and Νταντέλιον leave. The witcher plans his route with Νταντέλιον as they go. They make a brief stop back at the temple where Nenneke informs them that she has restocked Γκέραλτ's box of elixirs. Iola appears and brings the box to the witcher. As their hand touch, the girl is whisked away by a vision (or has an epileptic seizure).
Nenneke and the other acolytes try to calm her. Once the fit subsides, Nenneke instructs the younger priestesses to take Iola to her room and watch her. She then turns to Γκέραλτ as if to plead one last time that he undergo a trance, but the witcher merely comments that he's seen it before, that there's no point in watching over one's shoulder. Still, the priestess begs him to stay.
Γκέραλτ leaves.
Χαρακτήρες[]
- Cintrian child (mentioned only)
- Νταντέλιον
- Dennis Cranmer
- Ermellia (mentioned only)
- Falwick
- Γκέραλτ
- Hereward (mentioned only)
- Iola
- Lunin (mentioned only)
- Nenneke
- Roderick de Novembre (mentioned only)
- Striga (mentioned only)
- Tailles
- Tyrss (mentioned only)
- Vesemir (mentioned only)
- Γιενέφερ (mentioned only)
Notes[]
- The witchers' blades, the medallion and the trials are explained, more or less, in part 4.
- Roderick de Novembre's The History of the World and Lunin and Tyrss' The Arcane Mysteries of Magic and Alchemy are mentioned in part 5.
Adaptations[]
Στην ταινία και την τηλεοπτική σειρά[]
The seven parts of this story served as a base for many scenes in The Hexer TV series.
(elaborate)
Στο παιχνίδι The Witcher[]
The Order of the White Rose was the basis upon which the Order of the Flaming Rose was built.