As soon as the light of the morning sun gently illuminated the room, touching the closed eyelids of the mercenary with its rays, he woke up. Over the past night, Claude had a wonderful rest and blissfully stretched, dressed. The brother and sister slept in the next room on the second floor, but he waited to wake them up. The dining room was also empty, even the snakes that habitually sprawled everywhere were absent today. As soon as the treacherous thought crept into his soul: “Alita, deceived him by running away while they were sleeping,” as light steps were heard behind him, forcing him to turn around. Near him stood Alita, and at the same time not Alita. The face of the woman in front of him belonged to the queen of snakes, but she was transformed beyond recognition. The features of the face have retained their attractive charm, but have lost their former brightness, and if earlier it fell into the soul, bursting like a fiery hurricane, now she charmed me with the soft steps of
- Simply, she promised what he wants, but it's too early for you to know about it, grow up for now. - She clicked on the nose of a curious girl and turned to Claude, cooing in a gentle voice. - Honey, you wait for me a little, I need to "talk" with my chosen one. From her words, Claude already winced, but he nodded in agreement. - But not to long. - We're coming soon. - And then she added very quietly, so that only Claude could hear, - this is the return of the use of charm, I must squander what I called for. Claude nodded in understanding, but said nothing. In fact, she was not obliged to explain herself to him, but Alita honestly fulfilled this oath, and he respectfully treated her words. The woman, having calmed down, went forward to meet the guard. What they were going to do, Claude did not want to know, but he guessed. He now had another concern. The absence of Anren at the gate caused bad premonitions, which he was afraid to voice out loud. Finding a secluded c
- Don't panic. Don't make a fuss, I came to talk! - Claude said in the very ear, closely clinging to the voluminous body, which did not prevent him from trembling, like a leaf in the wind. If you understand, nod and I'll let you go. Nodding obediently, the man exhaled heavily, showing no signs of resistance, so Claude, removing the blade, sank into the nearest chair, not waiting for the invitation of the mayor's right hand. Thorng, rather quickly moving away from the first shock, sank into a chair opposite and even pointed his finger towards the decanter, with contents unfamiliar to Claude, which the mercenary did not dare to drink. To which Thorng shrugged indifferently and poured himself a full glass. - Tell me where they took Andren, the old man from the gatehouse? And I won't believe that you don't know. Claude began confidently, having no doubt that Thorng knew perfectly well where to look for his grandfather. The man caressed his glass with a thoughtful look, drownin
- Old man, around here. We need to find a descent down, it will not be far from here. - He shared his discovery with his companions. - Did the potato tell you? - exclaimed Caer with a grin, looking into the room that Claude had just left. - Balda. - The mercenary threw it without malice. - Open your ears. With these words, Claude was already approaching the next door, he could not argue with the boy, and he had no desire to explain anything, after all, he did not pull them along. - Caer! - Deisa called to her brother in a whisper, trying to put all her indignation into her voice. “Let them figure it out themselves,” Claude threw, pulling the handle of the next door, which turned out to be the one leading to the kitchen. "Damn, what kind of nonsense is this!" he growled and turned back. The next door led them into a wide hall, as the mercenary understood, located opposite the central gate, from the middle of which a wide staircase ran up, leading, as Claude remembe
When the strength of five warriors remained circling around them, Claude glanced up the stairs at the foot of which their battle was taking place. Ivanos was still there, but he no longer looked so self-confident, his lips were tightly compressed, and his eyes followed their group with close attention, and something in this look Claude desperately did not like. He recognized that look, which the mayor had bestowed on him the first time they met, when he was testing his stability. Apparently then he realized that Claude is not quite a man. Intuition sounded a desperate alarm. Turning sharply in the direction of the only person in their squad, Claude barely managed to dodge the blade of Caer's knife, which passed a few millimeters from his neck, with an extinct look, looking straight ahead. "Not!" Claude snarled, dodging a second attack. He didn't want to kill the boy but it was difficult for him to be torn between him and the soldiers of the mayor. Deftly dodging the blade of one of
Leaning forward, Andren looked around excitedly.- Why did you come, son? Is that all Ivanos needs? - the grandfather asked the mercenary, not taking his burning eyes off his face. And there was so much happiness, joy, mixed with excitement and concern, in this look that Claude felt embarrassed that for a few minutes he doubted the sincerity of the old man.- Don't worry, old man. Ivanos will not touch you anymore, - the guy said in an unusually embarrassed way and opened the lock. No matter how touching their meeting was, they should have left this place as soon as possible. And Andren was already hugging him tightly in an unexpectedly strong embrace. Frozen for a few seconds, Claude disentangled himself from his hands and awkwardly retreated deep into the corridor, such an undisguised display of grandfather's feelings made him confused. So not fitting into his usual life.- What did you do with him, boy?A barely restrained chuckle came from Alita, the fact that an adult man was cal
Having thrown open the ancient wooden door, he rushed inside like a hurricane and grabbed his warm neck, drowning in a silky mane, enjoying the native smell of his friend. His friend. His Elusive. "Good boy. He came to Andren himself. He didn't disappear. His faithful companion. He also sent help. Why can't people be so reliable. Like you?!" - he whispered tenderly, affectionately sorting through the hairs, tickling behind the ears with a habitual gesture, stroking his head and shoulders. How he missed him. Claude didn't even realize how much he missed him. He didn't know how much time passed as they stood so close to each other. Yes, he didn't care. As if realizing that they needed to be alone, a mercenary with a horse, no one interrupted, even Andren, somehow quietly disappeared, returning to the house. For which Claude was grateful to him. As the mercenary was in no hurry to leave Permit, they still had to stay at Andren's for a couple of days, waiting for Caer to come to his sens
- How touchingly sentimental you are, I fell in love with you even more, - Alita commented on his act. But Claude paid no attention to her words. She did not live like this, she does not understand. Each of them had their own childhood, which gave them memorable lessons. It only depended on them what they took out of them.- He earned his money! - suddenly stood up for Claude Daisyre, to which the man only smiled: "Children."In the meantime, they had already crossed two streets and reached a small house, over the door of which hung a signboard, faded from the sun, depicting a bucking donkey. Which is quite consistent with the name - "Not an obedient donkey" engraved on it. However, despite the funny name, the food here was very good and relatively inexpensive, although the contingent was still the same, but it was time for his companions to learn to defend themselves, although he was not particularly worried about one member of their company. No sooner had they entered the semi-dark
The Rancia empire prospered. Those terrible times when the Ransians fearfully expected the birth of their own children are far behind. With the accession to the throne of the new emperor Claude re Tigras the First and Empress Daisyre re Tigras, the people stopped living in fear and excitement. Now every Ransian, human or not, had the same right to life and happiness. The persecution of non-humans stopped, because the ruling family also did not belong to the human race, mixed marriages began to appear more often, and cities grew. Life became calmer, now the imperials were not afraid to travel between cities, risking being in the mouth of some monster. All creatures, of course, did not disappear, but as a result of a number of innovations introduced by Claude from the experience of his mercenary life, they greatly facilitate the fight against these creatures, forced them to go away from human habitation or hide deep in their holes. Man again became the dominant race on the planet, and e
- Oh, those boys. Alita purred as she slid off her man's lap and sat down on Claude's bed. “In general, sweetheart, when we burst into the hall, we only made it to the finale, when you, with completely wild eyes, rushed towards the door until you stretched out on the floor, not having reached us a few steps. And then Alexander quickly stepped forward, ordering that you be lifted and taken to the imperial chambers and called for a doctor, and then he explained to everyone present that according to some ancient law, I don’t know where he dug it up, you become the next emperor, taking the place of the deposed you ruler. We didn't even believe what we heard. You are Claude and the emperor. It sounded kind of unbelievable. And to be honest, they also managed to catch this cold, so they thought it was the result of a fever. But as it turned out, no, they heard right and you were really glorified as the future emperor. He cleverly organized everything here. So even the few dissatisfied witne
- Infections... It's people like me that you call an infection?- Yes. To be honest, I even liked you a little, not often non-humans managed to hide from my eye for so long, and your stupid principles ... naive, frankly childish, but noble, made me smile. However, the fact that you are a monster cannot be changed and you have no other destiny than to die.“It’s like seeing which one of us is a monster.— Ha! Have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror?“Appearance says nothing about a person. Yes, my eyes and ears are different from human, but there is much less blood on my hands than on yours.- What are you talking about. Turn around. All these people could live if not for you.“My fault for their death is no less than the one who set them on me. At least I was only defending myself, not sending them to their deaths.They died because they were doing their duty.Or because they were left with no choice.This conversation did not lead them anywhere, without bringing clarity or sat
And now only three of them remained, the horses carried the tired mercenaries forward, whipping dust into the air and crumbling the age-old stone into the sand. Two hot streams of steam escaped the air from the wide, nervously quivering nostrils of the driven horses. No one believed that they would catch up with the warrior, only hoping that the emperor would not realize his terrifying plan immediately upon the arrival of his assistant. On the horizon in front of them rose the towers of San Pen, brightening up the dull landscape with each kilometer growing higher and higher, delighting and frightening at the same time. Claude did not know what awaited them in the capital, for the first time he did not have at least some slightly thought-out plan, only one desire to be in time, not to be late, to stop. Inside, everything was shrinking from a bad premonition, but the guy drove away uninvited thoughts. You should never take on a job with a gloomy attitude to its failure, otherwise, every
Leata's voice broke through her rage-clouded consciousness. "Finally!" the guy exhaled, looking at the best thing to do in order to retreat without consequences for his health and life. It was not far to go, the creatures had already almost pressed him to the failure, from which the mercenary was separated by several steps, he needed only a couple of three seconds to get the coveted vial and jump over to the other side. Taking a step back, he seized the sword more comfortably and threw the dagger at the creature closest to him, slashing the blade across the entire expanse available to him and forcing the creatures to retreat a couple of steps. Here are his seconds. Rushing back, he removed the blade with one hand, and with the other he felt for the coveted cork. Which is specially marked so as not to be confused with others. The previous experience of using this remedy in the battle with sectroses taught him decently, but there was no time to sip drop by drop. Let it be what will be.
Aiyana, hurry up. Something is not happening.- One more second. Here it is! - the girl purred enthusiastically, pressing the lever near the capsule, and completely not noticing what was happening around.- We have no time. It's time to go.- Not! Until I find it, I won't leave.- Crap! Is it worth your life?- Yes!Discouraged by the answer, the mercenary fell silent for a few seconds. That's devotion! She could be admired if he and his comrades of life did not depend on her.Tell me what to look for! - finally, unable to stand it, he grunted, finally entering the room and feeling the cold enveloping from all sides.- You don't know the language.But I can see. I'll find it by sight. Show me or we'll all stay here.She did not argue further, obediently showing what symbols she had to find. There were few of them, at most four, of which one was a letter, and the rest resembled modern numbers. It was not even a name, but rather a code. He moved along the nearest shelving unit, running
At Leata's remark, Claude only shook his head, as they approached the ruins, Leatrice became more and more irritable and angry. He did not know what was eating her, most likely she was also afraid. After a quick bite, they hit the road. The sounds that accompanied their breakfast didn't help their appetite, and neither did their conversation. In anticipation of a meeting with the owners of these voices, people unanimously grew gloomy, but walked, carefully looking around. It gradually began to get light around, mischievous rays gently ran across the grass, reflected in drops of dew, flashed on people's weapons, playfully looking into their eyes and blossomed with a gloomy rainbow, reflected from the surface of the lake. The one that Leata called the "Lake of the Dead". For what it received such a name, no one knew, but the assumptions were different. Maybe the ancients drowned their dead in it, or maybe this is due to some mysterious story, since the lake was no different from its cou
- What the hell! cried Claude with a loud splash as he went under the water. The turbulent river picked up its prey with the joy of a small child who discovered in his power a toy he had long desired. The big man was twisted and twisted, sometimes hitting the side of the shell. Water clogged in his mouth, nose, forcing him to spit, smearing haze before his eyes. You can't give up! Claude remembered that he was not alone in the water, but he did not have time to really see the creature that had so cleverly discounted him. However, this did not give a reason to underestimate her. Ripping up the water with powerful strokes, he forced himself to swim up. Thank the Gods, he did not have time to take aside. The shell, like a native, clung to him, dragging him along, trying in vain to pull him under him. The body already almost did not obey him, bound by a terrible cold. Pushing off from the surface of the water, Claude desperately jumped up in an unsuccessful attempt to grab the edge, feeli
— Falcon. Daisyra prompted, following his gaze. For her, this distance was not a problem. - Beautiful.- Yes. And lonely.- How are you!- What did you get?“This is how we met you in that tavern.- When it was. Seems like another life.- Yes. And I'm glad we met.- And I.They had a strange conversation, they seemed to be talking and at the same time not. Pictures of their meeting floated before his eyes, taken apart by the words of the girl, and seeing himself, he looked and did not recognize. Now he was no longer the same person. Claude has changed. Becoming somehow something ... more integral, but still in his chest did not want to melt a tight lump that appeared there in childhood, as if not allowing him to free himself from the cage created by himself.- For me, he is not alone, but strong. Rolk muttered thoughtfully.— Who are you talking about? Caer joined in, also following his eyes sparkling in the rays of the sun, following the bird circling above them.- About both.“We wi