The Tower of Swallows

 The Tower of Swallows by Andrzej Sapkowski (1997) 525 Pages

In The Tower of Swallows, we pick back up where the previous book left off. Ciri is missing, and while the entire world is at war Geralt is once again searching for her. Linked by destiny, they share dreams of what the other is going through, battles, hardships, and fear. Ciri is being hunted by not only Geralt, but seemingly every enemy. She is the child of the Elder Blood, the prophetic savior of the world, and everyone wants to capture her for themselves and their own agenda. Emhyr, the emperor of Nilfgaard was given a Ciri impersonator, which cause many of his enemies to believe she was already captured. Other rumors circulate that tell of Ciri's death. Geralt and Yennefer alike do not have contact with each other, although the share the same goal. Most of this book, however does not cover Geralt but focuses more on other character's struggles. Ciri is pretending to be a bandit "Falka" which hides her identity for some time. Eventually she runs into trouble, is gravely wounded, and is chased and hunted through a forest. Ciri's face is horribly disfigured by a sword and she wakes up in the care of a hermit. Her horse, Kelpie brought her to safety. The hermit does not know her identity, as she nearly dies from her injuries and is unconscious for a very long time. When she gets well, a lot of time is spent at the hermit's house, telling each other stories of how they ended up there, in order to gain each other's trust. After several months, Ciri finally understands how the transported from the last tower, and she must reach the other tower, the Tower of Swallows, in order to teleport. Everything is connected! We are discovering, finally what it means for Ciri to be of the Elder Blood. A bombshell drops at the very end when we discover that to have the elder blood means that Ciri can not only time travel, but travel across dimensions.