Pat and surroundingsWaking up, Karl looked up for a long time. The light from the torches snatched out of the darkness only part of the wall. Above was impenetrable darkness - thick, heavy and stifling. For the first time in many months, the prince did not follow his thoughts and feelings: in the Black Fortress, Miel controlled everything and everyone without mental tentacles. It seemed that even the stones served him, obediently absorbing excess anger and hatred. I didn't want to get up. A few stab wounds from a brief skirmish with Simmer were still bothersome, although the stitches healed quickly and the temperature after taking the antibiotic subsided and did not rise again. Passing his hand over his shirt, Karl smiled mirthlessly: in the days of his youth, it was not in vain that an officer was considered the best footman in Bartiot. He tried to stop him as soon as he realized that he had been deceived. Fortunately, the sleeping pill worked in time. Now the son of the Hermas

A wide white road wound through the green-yellow hills. Slightly touched by the gilding of the dawn, the high walls of the ancient fortress cast long blue shadows on the misty ground.Liramel had never seen Bartayota, but she knew her story well, and her first impression was right. Unlike Gorgoth, famous for its architecture, it was a real military stronghold - ascetic and severe. The jagged thick walls that surrounded the city in an even ring reached almost twenty meters in height and more than eight in width. Bartayota was not just called the "stronghold of the North": for the second time she was to be in the center of the war between the two peoples of the Small World. Impregnable and majestic, it has traditionally been home to the most numerous garrison of the Kingdom. About nine thousand soldiers guarded the inner city, where the Academy and the general's residence were located. As Yakir once said, in Bartayota any woman or child could defend the walls and fight on an equal footi

The dawn was truly magical. The air, saturated with the smell of rotten grasses and damp earth, swirled over the withered grass in a thick fog. The high towers of clouds drifted slowly from north to south, and the golden rays of dawn scattered around them in a wide fan. The horses snorted softly, impatiently moving their hooves, and the warriors tried to warm themselves by stretching their legs that had become stiff during the night. In the morning, Liramel still managed to fall asleep, although his nerves were so tense that he almost did not feel tired.Having had a quick bite, Hyde ordered to build up and, having waited for a messenger from the fortress, asked Liramel for permission to order the handbrakes to advance their detachments. Soon the border was left behind, and under the hooves of the horses, between the grasses crushed by the winds, a foreign land turned black. The reconnaissance, which returned an hour after they left the place, reported that some kind of movement had

The white road, running in withered autumn forbs, broke off before reaching the border. Then the ground trampled down by hundreds of hooves began. Having reined in his horse, Yakir unfolded the map and peered into the half-erased outlines. The western borders of the Principality, according to ancient scrolls, were almost uninhabited, but this did not mean that they still remained so. Miel certainly knew about the weak points of his lands and had to take measures to protect them.- Let's go a little to the left of the Hills. Holding out the map to Tory, he waved from a distance to the sentinels who came out to meet them. “Before the month of thunderstorms has begun, it is better to move at night - it will be more difficult to see us. “The mountains are three or four days' journey, my lord,” the officer objected. We don't have time to afford that luxury... Yakir smiled indulgently.Christian will follow the previously planned route. There is no need to rush to the mountains, we wil

Opening her eyes, Lyramel blinked in surprise and furrowed her brows in concentration, trying to remember when and how she had ended up in a small stuffy room with a low semicircular ceiling. The last memory was very vague - it seemed to her that someone was calling her, but the voice was alien and unfamiliar, so she did not want to wake up. How much time has passed since then, it was difficult to understand.Gathering her strength, Lyramel resolutely threw back the thick woolen blanket, then stood up, twisted her matted hair into a bun, and, going to the window, climbed onto the wide window sill. From the dizzying heights, the steppe looked like a huge motley carpet."Is it possible to escape from here?" Liramel thought with sincere bewilderment, looking at the thick rods with rust spots. Reaching through the grate, she pushed open the unlocked shutter, raised her palm to the wind, and took a deep breath of the cool, dry air.Above the fortress, cutting huge circles, a hawk yelled dr