The darkness was unimaginably thick. He couldn't move for a long time. The feeling of immobility was akin to nighttime numbness. Lying on the cold floor, he tried to open his eyes, but, as before, he could not see anything.
Not immediately, but he managed to separate his fingers and feel for the pouches at his waist. A magical firefly dispersed the darkness. Launching it, Tant went cold. He saw a stunted stream of a waterfall and a bas-relief with a triangle. At the top behind the stairs was a black door with an outlandish lock. Kord lay nearby. Tantus scooped up water from the lake and splashed it in his face.
" Master, are we alive?" Kord whispered, raising his head. - It's hard to breathe ... Oh, I dreamed that I was at sea with my father and the boat capsized.
Taking a deep breath, Tant called Taur and Engure, but no one answered. Kord gave a strangled cough, tugging at his bandage. The cough made sense. Tanta followed his gaze and froze. An eyeless woman stared at them from the gloom. The stranger stood in the very place where the witch's mirror had denounced her.
" They're all dead," she explained, and tilted her head, letting the black strands fall over her shoulder. You shouldn't have brought them. Metriya's crown went into full effect because of you. If you had listened to me, they would not have had to be executed.
Her voice sounded softer, as if she was talking after a long silence:
I remember when the first snow fell. I remember the first ships off these shores. I remember how the cities in the north were deserted, and I remember you, son of Estebas of Sindelin. Fifteen years is a long road for a man. I remember the day you found the Letterbiter. One day you fell asleep with him and had a dream.
In order to give weight to her words, she raised her hand and circled the hall, holding her finger on the massive door with a lock.
“ You ended up in Tentalco Meru. This is my home. Mirai was here too.
– Who is he?
“ Mirai was a scientist, just like you. One of the six high priests of the forgotten people, which you call "creators".
The woman fell silent, looking sideways at Kord.
“ These priests wore amulets with magic stones. Each was a reservoir of energy. Your Letter Gnaw is a stone of will and a symbol of knowledge. - Pale said, stubbornly continuing to look at the boy. “Thousands of years the amulets of the priests helped people by sending them visions in their dreams, but none of the bearers tried to find the place in which they were created.
What about Wistan ? Renier squad? Infert, finally?
Only he and Wistan remembered the latter. At the end of the second century, Infert wandered around the island, studying the caverns and valleys in which the temples stood. It is not known who this curious Nismant was, but it was from his diaries that the order learned about the creators.
“ Plunderers often look for treasure in ruins,” the woman said, raising her eyebrows over what she had instead of eyes. None of them have gone that far. Thanks to me.
She turned into smoke and in a moment was already standing nearby. There was a rustle behind him. This frightened Kord crawled away.
“ Only you interested me, Tantabus. It was I who opened the door to the sanctuary and left the stone in the hall with the crown in order to meet you alone that night.
The bone dagger pointed at Kord.
- Spare the boy! He's just a ragamuffin from the slums. Who will believe him?
Tant covered Kord with himself, feeling him wrap his arms around his shoulders. The woman lowered the blade, turning the black holes on it, and softly said:
- Good. The boy will live, but he will not become a nismant.
" It's easy to arrange," Tant replied without hesitation, helping the young man to his feet.
– Just like you.
He wanted to remind her that the pale woman was three years late with this, but then he remembered that she already knew everything.
“ This boy can be useful,” the woman said in thought, and, placing her skinny hand on his shoulder, she whispered: “He will live ...
– Thank you.
“ It will…until you regret it.”
The pale woman smiled coldly, turning two seething clots in her eye sockets at him. Kord opened his mouth, but did not dare to speak. Instead, he said:
“ Did you say that this temple is your home?” So you are some kind of god?
The woman nodded languidly.
Why then all these sacrifices? Why didn't she come when I was alone?
“ I don't belong to this world. The full moon gives me the strength to appear every month for just one night.
But why kill? Was it easier to put everyone to sleep like in kenovia?
“ I am not omnipotent, Tantabas. In kenovia, your brothers were already asleep. It is easier for me to keep a dream than to plunge into it.
Tant did not ask her name. All these questions could wait. Only one was important, which he had long dreamed of asking.
“ Three years, every full moon I have nightmares. Do you send them?
“ These are not dreams. I show you what I see myself.
She took a deep breath as she walked over to the water. Tantus tensed; looked at Cord. The boy stood swaying like a mast, casting timid glances at the pale one.
- So is it true? Will it all be over soon? Answer! I'm only here for this reason.
“ I’ll say yes, and you won’t believe it,” the goddess said evasively, watching half-turned. “I’ll say no, you still won’t calm down.
- The truth! I want to know the truth!
Even though pale and was a goddess, she loved to chat, like any mortal woman. Tanta has always irritated people. As a child, the disease burned dry out of him craving for communication. He was used to talking to the point and did not like games.
“ The truth is that you don’t have to be afraid of the snow,” she said more angrily than before. - Live as you lived, Tantabas, and you will see the day of the last light. Earth and water will burn, and people will turn into ash on hot stones. So it was foretold in the holy book you call the "Fire Scripture." And so it will be if nothing is done.
Tant pushed Kord away from him and wrapped his arms around himself. The pale one was right. He did not believe, but he could not forget what he saw. Tant himself did not notice how he began to walk back and forth, like a thinker in a library, and almost fell when she appeared from the fog opposite.
“ Your skin is so white,” the stranger said solicitously, stroking his cheek. “You and I are alike, Master Tant. You just chose the wrong path. Why serve Nismass? He was cruel to you from a young age.
Looking at her pale skin, Tant thought. By the power of the sun, Nismass kept Gamelan alive. It prevented him from breathing for many years, and now it even threatened to destroy him. Should he serve the one who dooms him to death?
“ Nismass created the celestial sphere, but he has no right to dispose of its insides,” the woman explained and extended both limbs with her wrists forward, depicting the canonical pose of the bound statues. The gods are omnipotent as long as people don't stop praying to them. Once I could return life and control the course of heavenly bodies. Now I can't even move the tavern.
" Then how can you help?"
I will regain my former strength. It's not hard if you do it right.
- And what is needed for this?
“ I must become the first deity of Gamelan.
Tante almost laughed. He expected anything but this. Many peoples, communities and clans lived on the mainland, which only outwardly looked alike and were ruled by single leaders. All these people and even demi-humans prayed to the three deities. They had never heard of any pale women from the moon and would have killed anyone who dared to claim that such an effigy was capable of ruling the world.
The pale one read these thoughts and smiled sparingly.
“ I have many supporters, Tantabus. The time will come when they will all come to you.
- Why to me?
“ You are a learned man, you know how to conjure, and you are connected with the order. You will be more useful.
She disappeared in a puff of smoke and reappeared on the mossy slope by the waterfall.
“ Nine years ago the great war began. It will be long and at its end the heavens will open.
Are you talking about the Fourth Gothamelan War ?
The Northern Nikts lived in Tantalia for thousands of years, during which time they often attacked the southern valleys. New clashes between the Magors and them have begun recently. The bestial warriors took the watch-fortresses of Eridor and Crag Bal in three years, after which they bogged down at the River Thelma. The two duchies that the Nikts were trying to capture easily repulsed them. Maybe everything was just beginning, but the invasion did not seem great to him.
“ But what am I to do? I am a Nismant,” he said, regretting it for the first time. - I have responsibilities. You can't just leave the order as a practitioner.
- You will be expelled.
The pale lady's voice grew heavy. That it was a statement, and not an assumption, he did not doubt. There was an undercurrent of certainty in her tone that was gradually transferred to him.
- Do you see the future?
- I predict. Time and events are cyclical. Many symbols are woven into them,” the woman said, after which her outlines began to weaken. – I can read them and compare events. Our story begins when a doomed maiden with the body of a snake comes to the island. Six stones will find their owners, and Mirkhold will plunge into chaos under the banners of knights.
“ That doesn't tell me anything.
- Signs are always vague, but the closer the event, the easier it is to interpret. You found the first stone and opened the door, now find me supporters.
The outlines of the figure became thinner than her airy dress. The woman turned into a disembodied phantom, but for some time a hollow voice still sounded from the depths of the hall.
“ Get used to death, Tantabus, and don't regret anything. Ralin's sword hangs over everyone's head. There's a lot to be done before he falls.
The phantom pointed to a bas-relief with an inverted triangle and three blade-like appendages, but neither Tant nor Kord had time to figure out which one. Mirage thinned out. They were left alone in the gloomy sanctuary, in complete bewilderment - the teacher and his first student. The pale lady left their world with the moon, which waned, as did the night.
441 years from the founding of the kingdom of MagoriaToward midnight, a thick fog filled the valleys of Myrkhold, rolled over the hills and climbed the coastal cliffs. Soon the whole island was covered with a whitish veil, from which the peaks of mountain ranges protruded like spears. The port of Gotford at this time resembled a ditch in flames, thanks to the scattered light of the torches in the hands of the militia. Dozens of people lined up on the pier, watching the ships gliding through the haze.The first to enter the bay was a two-masted ship. By the wooden figure on the bow, depicting a lady with a snake tail instead of legs, any inhabitant could recognize the Astrid caravel. Passing a rocky island at the edge of the bay, the caravel lay down to drift. The bell sounded. As soon as the ship froze near the shallows, a signal was given from the shore to board the boats. On board, they began to prepare for the descent of goods, but before starting, the team took care of the sea wa
The light of the sunset sky filled the forest with magical colors. Late evening in the middle valley, as usual, began with a play of shadows. The sun was slowly sinking behind the mountain line, lengthening the shadows of the trees, which lived their own lives at that hour. Colliding with each other, they crawled from the edge into the thicket, clinging with ghostly branches to the forest canopy.Vegetation was sparse near the fields. There were barns and farmhouses everywhere. Along the roads, wooden windmills cut the air with their blades. Plowed land darkened up to the mountains. This piece of land people won back from the wild three hundred years ago. Most of the predators preferred to avoid the valley. The only constant enemies of the peasants were wolves, earth-biters and shaggy mirquichts. Like bears, Mirquichts lived in dens and caves, and at nightfall they roamed the forests in search of food. In the valley they appeared infrequently, but it was still not safe to leave the ho
In the deepening twilight, a patch of sky over the mountains rapidly turned black. A secluded valley, surrounded on three sides by rocks, turned into a seething cauldron. The south winds bent trees and threw stones from the ledges, trying to touch Bangladore. The sorcerer stood at the top of the hill and cast a spell. The hem of his frilly robe curled like a flag. The wide blade was directed with its tip into the boiling firmament.Air currents gathered around the hill, forming a powerful whirlpool. Cobblestones, small animals, dry branches and clouds of sand flew into the gigantic funnel. Banglador shouted orders, imploring Nirgal to bless the mighty steel, which he pledged to hand over to his chosen servant.Einhart, Buster and Ansell hid in a cave with painted visors covering their faces. Soon the appeals were heard. Before their eyes, the blade burst into azure flames. There was a low rumble. Silvery lightning flashed through the old man from head to toe. The sorcerer screamed and
In the early morning, a yellowish radiance rose in a milky haze over the mountains. The wind ruffled the crowns of trees and grass in forest clearings, one of which was surrounded by thickets of hazel. In the very center of it lay a severed limb.A long time passed before a menacing snort was heard in the thicket. The bushes rustled. The foliage crawled to the sides and a wolf's muzzle poked through the thickets of hazel. The hump on the predator's black back was crossed by three stripes of white fur. Long, pointed ears swiveled to either side. Red eyes flickered mischievously.The young hunter watched the monster from ambush, with difficulty containing his excitement. Last evening he had learned that a flock had found shelter in the vicinity of Godwin's farm, not hunted by Albert's pastures, and he hoped to take off a couple of skins this morning, but he did not dream of such a trophy. In the inhabited part of the island, giant wolves were not found, but this did not prevent them fro
- And you imagine that Bartok now decides to prove to everyone that he can hunt no worse than you and go to Mirquicht. We'll be lucky if we find his remains to give to his father.- It won't happen again. I swear! - He said loudly and in syllables, thereby making it clear that he had finished the conversation. “Let me take care of the carcass, otherwise I won’t be in time for Niklas’s departure.” I need to go to the city... I need to visit my friends. I'll probably die if I don't see them.He uttered the last words in a rush and was very embarrassed, catching his father's wary look.“ You visited Cassia and Fergus the day before yesterday.– Yes?“ Something is happening to you. You can't live a day without them. – In the old man's voice, notes of concern sounded again. - It looks like a lunatic. You should go to Morella and draw blood.- To the witch? Never!“ Then to Kenovia to Master Tamadan.” Maybe he will finally make you understand that it is not good for a young man to be frien
The rest of the day, Grimbald wandered around the city, managed to see everyone he knew, borrowed some money, looked around the port and admired for a long time the caravel with scarlet sails that had run aground in the center of the lagoon. A couple of times I almost stumbled upon Bartok with friends. The shorn hunter, as always, staggered about with a bottle of gin in his hand, smoked vomit grass and did not watch his tongue.Grimbald kept his distance from the slums, walking only along the wide streets, and walked around almost all of Gotford, going up to the temple square in the evening. In a cozy tavern, he took a table, ordered a glass of wine, and waited for Fergus.The owner of the Golden Horn, known to everyone on the island as Vasco, was a kind man. He came to town five years ago. Calling himself a friend of the well-known throughout Magoria, Count Senlak from the Rylos Highlands, Vasco bought out an old tavern and quickly became rich selling Rylos wine at ridiculous prices.
Grimbald slid his hand over her head, but she did not move. Her friend's short brown hair was combed carefully. In this form, she walked for the last six years, not embarrassed by the sidelong glances of the townspeople and relevant proposals to retire. It just so happened in Gamelan that short hair was not worn by those women who could be called "ladies". In the north, they were warriors and hunters. The strongest of them so equated themselves with men, according to the law of the clan, they received the right to engage in noble crafts. In Magoria, as a rule, whores and victims of violence were cut short. Cassia herself was often ironic about this, arguing that in her case one can be a whore and a warrior at the same time.Looking at his friend, Grimbald smiled. Cassia settled better than all of them, but she also paid a considerable price for it, having made a dangerous enemy. Once in the courtyard, she walked on the edge of a knife for two years, serving a monster named Hodd. Thirt
It was late evening when Niklas came back. In the camp by that time life was in full swing. There were more and more hunters under the rock. There is less and less peace and quiet. The free people kindled fires, roasted meat and sang songs. As he was driving down the hill onto a small road, a whole crowd passed by his wagon towards the "Black Locker". In a nearby grove, a group of archers practiced their marksmanship by shooting arrows at an apple fastened to the head of a drunken comrade. Two drunken idiots were jumping over the fire.Niklas was not touched by the usual fun. Stopping the cart not far from his hut, he jumped into the grass, and was about to take care of the load, but Kirk came out to meet him. As always, in a bad mood.Noticing the gray-haired headman, Niklas nodded and threw back the side of the cart. Kirk stood beside him, giving him an incredulous look.- Where is your saber? The old man finally spoke, putting his hands on his hips.Taking off the black bandage fro