- Already pinned down, early bird. - Instead of a greeting, the old man muttered, but moved aside, letting the guest inside. - Well, come on, you've come.Claude did not force himself to be persuaded, deftly slipping past the old man into the room, which turned out to be surprisingly brightly lit by a multitude of candles, framed in skillfully made lamps, clearly coming out from under the owner's hand. The house consisted of two floors, but judging by the bed, table, and pile of clothes, the old man preferred not to use the top floor. However, the bed was not straightened and not even crumpled, as Claude realized, the master did not lie down at all that night.- Dear, Obran, is my order ready? - finally asked Claude, unable to bear the expectation. He was already terribly eager to get his blade, the very one that he had been dreaming of for several years, and which any self-respecting mercenary would wish to possess. It was no joke to have almost the strongest blade, which meant a lot
- Claude, we surround. Shooters, aim better, there may not be a third chance! - Rolk commanded, having intercepted the leadership of their group in this battle. - Caer, don't poke your nose.Claude did not really like the policy of his friend, since the repetition of the strategy did not always lead to a good result, and the guy who remained on the periphery of the battle now played the role of a useless ballast, without wasting even half of his capabilities, but he decided to wait, maybe he was wrong. Meanwhile, the monster, having finally woken up, began to move, huge paws flashed from side to side in an awkward attempt to catch nimble mercenaries, stones were crushed into crumbs under crushing blows, and the men had already almost circled around the slow creature, the rope entangled thick paws with a flexible snake, obediently swaddling him according to the plan.Trollgin froze in surprise, trying to take at least a step, but it was useless, his paws did not obey, but this did not
. The coast... "The coast is it!" Suddenly, a flash of insight came to mind.- Let's push him down! - issued a new strategy Claude. The idea was not the best, but there was something in it. Thoughts frantically swirled in my head, processing various options on how best to do this, and the hands kept on and on throwing stones at the monster, the knives did not cause him any harm, but Claude did not want to lose them in vain. He must find another way out, and Rolk was already beckoning the monster behind him by throwing his darts and constantly keeping the attention of the creature on him, getting closer and closer to the cliff. "Crazy, what is he doing! You can't do it alone!" - the mercenary got angry, outraged by the carelessness of his friend, he did not want to lose people on a mission.- Alita, try to call on the local snakes, let them twist his legs!But they will die!"Would it be better if we died?" the man said irritably, no longer trying to look patient and kind. Everything p
After enduring a few more micro bites, whoever was there, he was not big, Claude noted with satisfaction that his freedom was already close. When the cut on the paw reached twenty centimeters, he dodged, pushing the incised limb with all his strength, which, unable to withstand the load, came off, dousing the mercenary with red-green blood that did not have time to coagulate in the stiffened body. And the man himself, having lost his support with a slight cry, fell down, right towards the small creatures, which turned out to be some kind of modified fish, which he had never seen before. Frantically waving a knife to scare away the predators who were delighted with such a gift, he was confused for a few seconds. A pulse roared in my ears, and as far as the muddy water allowed me to see, there was a trolgin, or what was left of it, small creatures managed to work on it too. But now all their attention turned to Claude, apparently they liked live food more. Raking his arms and legs, he w
- I'm Claude - a free mercenary. In your places aisle. - The man introduced himself, confidently looking at the owner of the house. - I wanted to ask you to stay for this night, with dinner and bed, and of course not for free.The man thoughtfully scratched his chin without taking his eyes off the guest, trying to see in his face only he knows what.- My name is Eli. You can even stay overnight for free. There are rarely guests in our area, especially mercenaries."Nice to meet you," Claude replied politely, bowing his head slightly. Something strained him in this stranger, although he did nothing suspicious, and intuition was already calling and pushing him in the other direction from this house. But he didn’t want to go anywhere, he was very tired, so advising to be on guard himself, he followed Eli.Inside, the house was not very different from hundreds of others he had seen before. The same walls, windows, wooden furniture, household items, only a huge full-length mirror hanging o
- This is electricity, - the man said almost in syllables, not particularly accustomed to such complex words. - We inherited this miracle from our ancestors.- Unusual. - Only the guy could pronounce, continuing to follow the lights.- There is almost no such thing left in the world, perhaps only with us. - Showed off the local landmark Eli, proudly examining his transformed home.As Claude was forced to admit, he liked such a festively transformed village, almost nothing like the gray, wretched village he had come to during the day, but he still did not want to stay here.- Welcome to our dance in your honor, Claude. - Eli announced a little pathetically and with an inviting gesture circled the square, where the entire population of the village had gathered. People all as one, with poor faces and thin figures, walked around the clearing, some in groups, some alone, but invariably looking at the guest. Claude was not flattered by such attention, but it was not unusual either. This oft
- It's your fault, - the guy grunted angrily in her ear, pulling out another throwing knife hidden in a sheath on his back with his free hand. He hesitated only a second, his hand did not flinch as the thin blade entered the man's chest and he collapsed like a mowed down man, hiding in the grass.Oglaia's body shook with silent sobs, but she was unable to speak, held by the mercenary's hand. Already moving away from the village, carefully watching that they were not pursued.Stop crying, it's your own fault. But if you are obedient and lead to Vogra, without a tail, you can save your father. Although I'm sure you won't be killed that easily. Anger didn't want to leave him. "Why is the girl such a fool, forcing him to attack another non-human," - he understood that these people were not monsters, but the same as him, only preferring isolation.- You're lying ... - the captive croaked, finding the strength to speak.- Not. I have never lied to you.- But why?- You started it all by you
The man stood amazed at the unexpectedly warm welcome of the girl, and the rest of the companions stood unable to hide the happy smiles that lit up their faces. "Has he really become so dear to them!" - the guy was surprised, in no way able to get used to the idea that someone could worry so much about him. No, of course, they worried about him before, and waited, as if without it, but so much, as if he were not just an acquaintance, an accidental fellow traveler, but a real friend. Uncertainly embracing the fragile, trembling shoulders, he suddenly, somehow confused, lightly patted the girl on the shoulder, wanting to comfort her. But she burst into tears only more than before. Finally confused about what to do, the guy just froze, hugging Daisy and no longer making attempts to console her. Only occasionally listening to how through soft sobs she muttered fragmentary phrases,- We thought... you were dead... we were looking... you... we...Finally weeping, she pulled away, punching