Chapter 192: Brand and Banshee
Roy and Letho pricked their ears up and tried to hear if there were any weird sounds, but there were none. Their pendants did not vibrate either, which meant there were no magical activities nearby. There were no wraiths.
“Where did Mary’s corpse go?” Roy tried to figure it out, and at the same time, he scanned through the blueprint. It was the blueprint for a sword, and the crossguard, hilt, and blade were drawn separately. The measurements, thickness, the materials needed for them, the furnace’s temperature, and the ways to make the sword were detailed extensively. It was a complete blueprint for the Viper School’s steel sword. “Now that we have this blueprint, we’re halfway through our mission here in the orchard. All that’s left is the silver sword’s blueprint.” According to Kolgrim’s unsent letter, Ignatius stole the other blueprint. “Good. We’re on our way to see him too.” Roy kept the steel sword’s blueprint carefully. “Time to collect our debt from the baron.”
Letho was still thinking about the disappearance of Mary’s corpse. He had been in this line of work long enough to see that something had to be wrong. “Kolgrim’s death and Mary’s disappearance must be connected, Roy. Check the other coffins.”
They would not have done that in any other situation. Witchers were no graverobbers, and they had their own creed. Opening coffins and disturbing the rest of the dead was not something they would do, but they had no other choice in this situation.
“John, Florian, do please forgive us. We have our own reasons for doing this,” Roy mumbled as he opened the coffins.
There were two and a half corpses in the coffins. The baby was too small to be considered a unit, for it was only as big as an adult’s fist. The witchers went and checked the skeletons’ pelvis to determine their sex.
“The pelvis is thick, tall, and narrow, while the hip bone is big, narrow, and deep.” Letho took on the role of coroner. With decades of witcher experience under his belt, he was already familiar with the skeletal structure of humans. “The pubis is connected at a higher position, and it’s smaller on the lower end. These are male corpses.”
Mary’s corpse was still nowhere to be found, but the witchers did not plan on opening the coffins on the wall. There was no need for that. Letho scanned the other parts after he was done checking the pelvis, and he found something. There was a small line of words etched on the back of the skulls of the skeletons. “This looks like Elder Speech. Roy. Take a look.” Letho turned the baby’s skull over, and he gasped. “Gods. What kind of sick monster would do this to a newborn?”
“Let me see it.” Thanks to his bloodline, Roy had a better grasp on Elder Speech than Letho did. “Po…wi…ca…si…?” he muttered.
“What does that mean?”
“Sacrifice? This…this means sacrifice in Elder Speech. They were chosen as sacrifices.” Roy’s face fell. “There are grimoires that talk about this. It’s an evil spell. A forbidden one. The caster usually does something terrible to gain power or something more sinister.”
“How did you know that?”
“Coral told me about it when she taught me the basic theory of magic back at Melitele’s temple. She looked solemn.”
“We’re dealing with an unknown and evil spell that involves a sacrificial ritual? Then Kolgrim’s death is not as simple as it seems.”
The ruler of the White Orchard and his family must have something dark to hide.
“Are we going to keep looking into this?” Roy looked around the eerie chamber, and he suddenly felt his blood run cold. “You always say curiosity kills the cat.”
“Witchers are far more resilient than cats. Are you going to back off?” Letho looked at him coldly.
“As if.” Roy wore a serious look and changed his tune. “Kolgrim is an important member of the school. We can’t let his death be for nothing.”
“Good. But then there’s the spell. We don’t have enough information about that. All we know is that the bodies belong to Ignatius’ family, and their skulls were engraved with a sacrifice rune. That’s all we got. We might get some new clues after we see the baron, but I got an idea about Mary’s whereabouts.” He paused for a moment. “There are three possible situations.”
“One, she’s in one of the coffins in the wall. Two, her body isn’t in any coffin here. As for the third situation… Roy, do you remember how wraiths are born?”
“In special environments. This family tomb, for example. It’s the best place for wraiths to live in.” Roy dragged up the memories of the classes he had with Serrit. “And there’s also the mental state of the person before they die. Those who become wraiths after their deaths usually have an obsession or unfinished business. Either that, or they’re tethered by powerful emotions like longing or hatred.”
“And Mary Verrieres died because of difficult labor,” Letho emphasized.
“You’re saying that she became a wraith after she died and killed Kolgrim?”
“Correction. She did not kill Kolgrim. Wraiths will never move a human’s body into any coffins. So…”
“Kolgrim went and hid in the coffin himself,” Roy muttered. He smacked his head, and a vivid image appeared in his head. “He was exhausted, and he knew he couldn’t fight the wraith in that state, so he went into the coffin and tried to rest.” Well, Geralt did use the same strategy when he fought the striga back in Vizima.
“But it’s such a shame. I guess Kolgrim’s wounds were too severe, and he couldn’t make it. But where did the wraith go?” Roy asked curiously.
Letho had no answer to that. “I didn’t see any specter dust in this room. I have a feeling Mary’s wraith won’t die that easily.”
Roy brushed his hand against the coffin’s rough surface. He stared at the empty space within the coffin, and for some reason, he jumped into it, just like Kolgrim had.
“I just want to see how it feels to be in a coffin.” Roy lay down in the coffin, but he didn’t feel satisfied. “Letho, close the coffin.”
“Are you mad?” Letho scoffed, but he closed the coffin anyway.
Darkness overwhelmed Roy, and he was locked in a cold, claustrophobic place. But even so, his sight was enough to see through the dark thanks to his mutation. He scanned the stone slab above it, then he slowly moved his gaze down. He suddenly froze up and touched the lower surface of the slab, where the marks were engraved clearly. “Letho…”
“Scared now, kid? Then get out and don’t waste our time.”
“There’s something in the coffin. I think it’s a warning Kolgrim left.”
“Kolgrim engraved one word on this slab. It says… banshee.” Roy pushed the cover aside with difficulty and sat up. “He was telling us that Mary became a banshee.”
“I see!” Letho held his own hand. “I was wondering why the wraiths disappeared all of a sudden. It didn’t make sense considering we had to fight hordes of them earlier, but now it’s clear. Powerful beasts are usually territorial, and they would chase away any and all threats in their territory. It’s the same thing for wraiths. Mary has become a powerful banshee, and her existence scares the other wraiths.”
Banshees and wraiths might both be specters, but the gap between power was huge. The latter were just evil spirits who moved solely on instinct, but banshees retained part of their human memories. It was harder for a banshee to manifest, but they had special and powerful abilities granted to them in return.
For example, plague maidens could spread plagues and diseases. Banshees, on the other hand, possessed the power to knock people out with their wails, revival abilities, and they could even leave the grave to move about. The sun couldn’t hurt them.
“Mary died in 1259, and it has been two years since then.” Roy went to Letho’s side. “The banshee Mary turned into must have left this place, but where would she go?”
“Mary was the baron’s mother, right? So what place would hold most of her obsession? Let’s go. It’s time to see the orchard’s baron himself.”