“Listen”, Visenna sounded after a while. “What do you think, what could the future look like? Is it really possible that humans will no longer have need of us? For the simplest things, matters of healing? There is some progress, let us look at, for example, herbalism, but can you imagine that one day, it can cure the whooping cough? Childbed fever? Lockjaw?”
“Twiik twiiit.”
“That is also an answer, I suppose. Theoretically it is even possible for the horse to join our conversation at any moment. To say something clever. And what about cancer? Will they handle cancer? Without magic?”
“Trrk!”
“I think so, too.”
They entered the forest which smelled like cold and humidity. They crossed a shallow stream. Visenna rode onto a small rise, then back down into heather which reached her stirrups. She found the path again, which was sandy, overgrown. She knew this path, had followed it merely three days ago. Only in the opposite direction.
“It seems to me”, she continued. “that a small change would do us good. We atrophy, cling too tightly and uncritically to tradition. If I return…”
“Twiit”, the colorful bird interrupted.
“What?”
“Twiit.”
“What are you trying to say? Why not?”
“Trrrrk.”
“What inscription? And what pole?”
The bird flitted from her shoulder, flew off, disappeared in the foliage.
Korin sat there, resting his back against a pole at the crossroad, and watched her with a bold smile. Visenna jumped from the saddle, walked closer. She felt herself smile against her will, more than that she surmised that her smile might not looked especially clever.
“Visenna”, Korin called. “Admit it, are you possibly clouding my mind with magic? Because I feel quite some joy at this meeting, amdownright unnatural joy. Unbidden, knock on wood. It has to be magic.”
“You were waiting for me.”
“You are incredibly clever. You see, I woke up in the morning and noticed that you had ridden off. How nice of you, I thought, not waking me for such a stupid, meaningless farewell. Works just as well without it. Who greets and says goodbye these days, after all? It’s nothing but a prejudice, a habit, right? I turned around and slept some more. It was only after breakfast that I remembered something unusually important I need to tell you. So I mounted my horse and took the shortcut.”
“And what do you need to tell me?” Visenna inquired while coming closer and looking in his blue eyes which she had seen in her dream the night before.
Korin showed his teeth in a broad smile. “It’s a delicate matter”, he said. “It can’t be summarized in a few words. I don’t know if I can make it until dusk.”
“Start, at least.”
“That’s the catch. I don’t know how.”
“Sir Korin is at a loss for words.” Visenna shook her head, still smiling. “An unprecedented event. So let’s say: Start at the beginning.”
“Not a bad thought”, Korin retorted in mock seriousness. “You know, Visenna, for too long I’ve been…”
“…aimlessly wandering the woods and country roads by myself”, the sorceress finished and snaked her arms around his neck.
The colorful bird, high up on a branch, batted its tiny wings, spread them, threw back its head.
“Trrrk twiit twiiit”, it said.
Visenna broke away from Korin’s lips and looked at the bird, winking. “You were right”, she responded. “This really is a road with no return. Fly, tell them…”
She hesitated, dismissed it.
“Tell them nothing.”
Translator’s notes
There are a few points of this translation that I would like to remark on.
The source of this document is the official German translation of “Droga, z której się nie wraca”, called “Der Weg, von dem niemand zurückkehrt” (‘The Road With No Return’) published in the anthology ‘Coś się kończy, coś się zaczyna’, respectively “Etwas endet, etwas beginnt” (‘Something Ends, Something Begins’).
The German edition, as is most likely true for the Polish original as well, is prefaced by an introduction written by Sapkowski himself. While I consider it important, I decided to prioritize the actual story and its translation. I will, of course, add the preface once I have finished the story.
Names (of places, people, etc.) are often a problem in translations, Sapkowski’s novels are no exceptions here. In the official German version, all names derived from actual nouns (e.g. ‘Dandelion’ in English, ‘Jaskier’ in Polish, ‘Rittersporn’ in German) have been translated. Hence, I have decided to keep with that tradition and ‘anglicize’ when possible and appropriate. The following table lists all the names found in the story in both the Polish and German versions as well as the English translation I am using. Although I hope it won’t be the case, some translations might change; more will certainly be added throughout the translation process, though.
(The names for beasts were taken from the official Wiki)
Polish
(original, official) German
(official) English
(proposed translation)
Klucz (loc.) Schlüssel Key
Mikula (Name) Niklas Nicholas
Czop (Name) Zapf Bung (?)
Porog (loc.) Schwelle Sill
Kaczan (loc.) Strunk Stalk
The Road With No Return Page 5