A Grain of Truth

"A Grain of Truth" is a short story included in The Last Wish collection. This short story describes how Geralt the witcher met a man in a monster's mask, Nivellen.

Summary
Geralt strays from his path as he spots birds circling in the forest. There he finds the corpses of a merchant and his daughter, and follows the path they came to a rundown manor. Geralt's horse, Roach, gets anxious. In the yard, there's a fountain with a dolphin made out of white stone, and a remarkable rosebush with indigo flowers.

The next moment, Geralt comes face to face with the mansion's current owner, Nivellen.

After a moment of awkwardness, Nivellen invites the witcher inside, where they proceed to dine and chat. Nivellen tells about himself, his father, his grandfather, the last twelve years that he's spent cursed. Meanwhile, Geralt listens and tries to come up with a way to break the spell.

At the end of the dinner, Nivellen escorts Geralt out, unwilling to discuss the latest girl, Vereena, who lives with him. He does mention the dreams he's been having lately, and asks Geralt to do his duty if things go really wrong.

Geralt agrees, and leaves.

After a night spent in the forest, he returns to the mansion, silver sword in hand, and confronts the bruxa in the yard.

A battle ensues, Geralt's forced to defensive, the creature almost too fast for him to hit. But Nivellen comes out of the house, and distracts the vampiress, saving Geralt's life. Geralt, in turn, saves Nivellen's life, and Vereena's love, mixed with her blood, undoes the curse.

Geralt leads Nivellen, a man again, away from the yard and the corpse there, answering the man's confused questions to the best of his knowledge.

Characters

 * Geralt of Rivia
 * Roach
 * Nivellen
 * Lenka (mentioned only)
 * Fenne (mentioned only)
 * Primula (mentioned only)
 * Ilka (mentioned only)
 * Venimira (mentioned only)
 * Vereena

Trivia

 * This story is remarkably similar to the tale of Beauty and the Beast, right down to the roses' significance.
 * Near the end of Act I in the computer game, Geralt answers Shani's comment about how all that happened in the Outskirts was like a fairy tale with "In every tale, there's a grain of truth."

Ziarno prawdy Un Grano de Verdad