I read the fragment of the upcoming witcher book. Here's my summary. SPOILERS

The fragment from "The Crossroad of Ravens" was published today in the latest issue of "Nowa Fantastyka." Here's my summary for those curious about the book.

The text begins with a quote, just like in the main saga, describing the Kingdom of Keadwen.

Chapter one kicks off right after the one event that was mentioned in the Voice of Reason short story. Geralt, who has just left Kear Morhen for the first time, has saved a merchant's daughter from being raped by a deserter. Due to this murder, Geralt was incarcerated by the authorities of a local village and is currently held captive and interrogated (obviously using violence) by the village mayor called Bulava. In the interrogation room, a figurine of a raven lies on a table. It is an inanimate object, yet Geralt noticed that the raven had winked at him a few times. Bulava wants to pump the information out of Geralt about the reason for killing the deserter since he doesn't believe that Geralt did this in order to save the merchant's life. Bulava is explicitly contemptuous towards the witcher and hoped that most witchers died after the events of 1194 in the mountains (likely a reference to the pogrom at Kear Morhen) and the rest of the witchers died soon after. Geralt evokes King Dagread's decree of 1150 that made witchers fully legal in the Kingdom of Kaedwen. Bulava dismisses that by pointing out three things. First Primo (it's not a mistake on my part; it was written by Sapkowski like that to show that Bulava is an idiot), that that law died alongside King Dagread. Second Primo, the captial of Kaedwen is far away, and he is the one who rules in that village. Third Primo, Bulava states that he arrested Geralt for murder of a human being, which is something that the King didn't authorize witchers to do. Geralt tries to argue that he acted in defense of other people, but it only makes the mayor angry. Bulava declares that he will transport Geralt back to where he came from, where he hopes Geralt will have his organs ripped out for other, better witchers to have (it's a rumor peasants have about witchers), but he will only transport Geralt in one week's time. Before that, Bulava will confiscate all Geralt's belongings and have him bludgeoned with a whip, because Geralt broke the law of entering his village armed.

After saying that, a man named Blaufall enters the room. He reprimands Bulava for wanting to hurt Geralt since he needs Geralt to be safe and sound in order to use his services. Bulava tells Blaufall to back off, but Blaufall persists and presents the witness of the crime, who Geralt recognizes. The witness is the merchant whom Geralt saved from a robbery and whose daughter he saved from being raped. The merchant is pale and acts scared, but he testifies that Geralt was the one who saved him and his daughter. Blaufall adds that it was the deserter who attacked Geralt first, which the merchant confirms and gives Bulava a pouch of coin. Bulava takes the money but is still reluctant to set Geralt free. They go out to the courtyard, where Bulava questions Blaufall why he needs Geralt so much. Blaufall explains that he is building a great road that is going to stretch throughout the entire kingdom of Kaedwen, and he needs a witcher because parts of the planned road go through places swarming with monsters. If he doesn't finish the road on time, an inspection will be sent, which would discover that he was involved in illegal deals.

When Blaufall tells Bulava to release the witcher, several armored horsemen show up. They turned out to be a unit of Kaedweni guardians led by a captain Reisz Carleton with an elf named Aelvarr on his side. His unit is lacking people, so Carleton is willing to forgive desertion, arguing that the life of a guardian is normally missing the entertainment, so soldiers have to do such things in order to have deserters back in the unit. That's why Carleton is angered with the fact that Geralt killed a deserter, and he doesn't care if he did it to save a human's life. He wants to hang Geralt as a warning to other people.

The henchmen were about to drag Geralt to the gallows when all of a sudden, it became eerily quiet and cold. Then, a new horseman slowly made his way to the scene. He was riding a black horse, had white hair, and two swords on his back (the description of his appearance is suspiciously similar to Geralt). He was a witcher called Preston Holt, and he seemed to have authority. Bulava was willing to do whatever Holt wanted without a question and was clearly scared of him in some way. Holt told Carleton to release Geralt, which was met with reluctance by Carleton. Holt insisted on Geralt being released, which made one of the Carleton's men furious, and he drew his sword. Holt made a short gesture (likely an Aard sign) and threw the guardian off his horse. Geralt, who has been untied, mounted the horse. Holt told him to follow him.

And here the chapter ends. What are your thoughts about it?