The main hall, compared to night time, looked neglected and deserted, only Berg snoring at the table, and a couple of new ones, were all the inhabitants of the tavern. Where the owner was still confident and cheerful behind the counter. “He sleeps at all, someday,” the guy was amazed at the stamina of the innkeeper, and the man was already smiling affably at the mercenary, trying to attract his attention.Sir, Claude. There, on the right, we have a small room where you can put yourself in order, ”the man suggested confidently, which made Claude only smile sourly with a corner of his lips. Apparently his appearance spoke for itself, even if the innkeeper sent him to freshen up and put himself in order. Behind the discovered door, he was met by the promised mini-latrine, consisting of a wide polished dish and a washstand nailed to the wall above it. All the used water flowed into a small vat, which the maids then took out into the street. A shaggy something was looking at Claude from th
- Don't be sorry. We must go forward. Despite everything, I'm even glad that I met you, it was an unusual adventure. Take care of yourself. And hold on to each other. Claude suddenly became emotional, instructing the teenagers as if they were his children.“And we were glad.Daisyra's eyes suddenly moistened, glistening with a pearl of a single tear that rolled down her cheek. Jumping up impulsively, she even took a step towards him, exclaiming excitedly:Claude, I...However, it did not come to an agreement. The door clicked and their relative entered the room, cutting off what the girl wanted to say. The mercenary even felt sorry that he never heard the end of her phrase.— What are you doing, children? the old woman said unexpectedly benevolently and sank into the remaining free chair. The whole furnishings of the room consisted of a few armchairs, a small table, and a wall-to-wall wardrobe filled with books and figurines, everything was so light and airy that Claude tried not to n
- It's not a man! came the frightened whisper of the enemy he had attacked before the blade pierced his heart.The floor was slick with blood, and a small pile of bodies had already formed in the doorway. Turning around frantically, he noted with satisfaction that the teens had worked together quite well to hold the window. A couple of defeated guards were already lying near the young man’s feet, although he himself was not without damage. Apparently, the recently wounded hand was still letting the guy down, and a deep cut on his cheek had already stained his right side with blood.Two more guards were already squeezing through the door, pushing each other and trying not to step on the fallen comrades-in-arms. What Claude took advantage of, he did not have such a moral problem. Jumping up to the taken aback men, he sharply deflected the blade of one, inflicting a hand with a knife in the groin of the other. Barely having time to deviate from the blade that passed a millimeter from the
All this time, Claude followed the enemy, remembering and noticing everything. He will take revenge. Definitely get revenge! By the time the commander left the place of their captivity, the soldiers had almost removed the bodies of their dead and wounded comrades. Each time they carried another body by, they cast murderous glances towards the captives, someone even spat at their feet, but they did not beat them again. Leaving work for the executioner.Soon it was their turn. Grabbing the captives by the arms, the men dragged them along the ground, not allowing them to stand up normally. The knees were worn to the blood, but no one cared, as if they were deliberately trying to cause as much pain as possible. Thus, avenging his heavy victory. The wagon that was waiting for them differed from the carriage that had recently sped away in its shabbiness and gloominess. No insignia and even ghosts of comfort, a bare floor made of roughly knocked together boards, walls, windows, gratings part
The puzzled look moved to Claude, cutting through the heart with incomprehension and annoyance. Already in this man he was always confident, knowing that it was he who would accept his truth. But this distant, puzzled look was worse than insults and scolding. Rolk silently studied his friend's face as if seeing him for the first time, and indeed it was. And the light that beat into the eyes, as if on purpose, made the pupils narrow to barely noticeable lye. That's just why, as if, Claude realized bitterly - this was done on purpose to show the difference between Claude and Rolk, an inhuman and a man. All fraternal friendship, trust, all the time spent together collapsed under this incredulous, offended look.- You did not know! - the bastard admired and laughed derogatoryly. — Inhumans destroy everything around them.- What did the inhumans do to you? Claude asked distantly, not hoping for an answer, just to break the oppressive silence hanging between him and his friend. He did not k
Tense muscles, reduced by an uncomfortable posture, responded with sharp pain, blood, as if with needles, making its way through the veins until it bypassed all the limbs entirely, establishing normal circulation. Almost moaning, Claude restrained himself, he would not bring them joy from the pain he experienced. And his hands were already twisted behind his back, not allowing him to move away properly, things were no better for his comrades. Alita's light groan did not pity anyone, there were quite a few beautiful women in these casemates. It was not even hidden from her comrades what greasy looks the men threw at her, but they did not succumb to charm. Another chance to break free failed. Claude didn't know why Alita's charm didn't make the same impression on the guards as it did on him. Perhaps they had protection from this kind of influence, because they constantly dealt with non-humans, and perhaps love for Rolk, so influenced her herself, that a woman was not ready to charm othe
Claude now really did not care, his body ached and was almost not felt by him. With each oozing drop of blood, he felt how his muscles stiffened, how a nasty cold creeped up, threatening to cool his hot heart, which was still stubbornly beating against everyone and everything. He had never been afraid of death, but serving the emperor was even worse. Deiza screamed from somewhere on the side, the executioner took up a new victim. And for some reason, her cries turned out to be more painful for him than anything he had to endure himself. The heart trembled treacherously, from the anticipation of new cries, and the envoy of the emperor had already taken a step away from him. It had to be decided. Oh, how he did not want to accept their conditions, agreeing to them, he lost not only freedom, he sold his soul to the devil that was hiding in the human form of the emperor. But he could no longer listen to her crying.- Stop! - Claude shouted a little louder than a whisper, wanting to stop t
- As you have already been told, you are entering the service of the emperor, there is one thing that he wants to entrust to you, and only for this reason such as you have been spared life.- They could not cripple at the same time.“You, nonhuman, all nonhumans must die. It's a sin to complain about you, so everything heals quickly. And besides, you would hardly have agreed so easily. You nonhumans have no concept of honor and responsibility to the ruler.“A ruler who destroys people like me?”- And he does it right. But now is not about that. Here you go, now it's yours.With these words, she pulled out of her pocket a small strap with a pendant in the form of a star with five rays in a halo of sparks that were extinguished in the water. Without giving him a chance to protest, narrow palms, hardened from private swordsmanship, snapped the lock around his neck. A narrow pendant tightly gripped the throat, breath stopped, from the outburst of indignation quickly grew into anger. This
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