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THE OUTLAND 88
“Again, why do I need it at all? - I clarified. - Well, I will sail with you wherever you are sailing. What's next?- Next is the holiday. The old man was surprised. — Feast, dancing, ritual trip to the island of temples.— Is that all? Is there anything else required of me?“Depends on what you know, sir. I'm just a translator, I don't understand anything about religion. But no one will harm you, sir, but on the contrary - as an honored guest, all the glory, the best pieces of meat, wine and women!Women. Before my eyes again, as if in reality, one red fidget, laughing, happy, much more often cheerful and contented than sad and thoughtful. Here is someone who knew how to love life, so this is Yolka. She would be here now, she would rejoice at the local holiday! Maybe call her again tomorrow? What if the stupid situation with her number is just some kind of internal system bug? Something told me that outwardly the red-haired killer should also be very similar to the image with which
THE OUTLAND 89
This time, the previous day's game session started in the evening, so the next entry after the session was reset was expected right after midnight - I counted the time almost automatically. Stretching in an armchair, he groaned blissfully, paid his debt to the state, refreshed himself and, relaxing, closed his eyelids - he was just a little tired, he decided to take a nap for half an hour ...And in a panic, with a pounding heart, he jumped up in his chair at the beginning of the sixth morning! Plans, plans... Make the creator laugh - share your plans with him! It seems that the busy schedule of recent weeks has not had the best effect on my general condition - despite the fact that from the point of view of an outside observer, a live player is just sleeping and dreaming, in fact, there is no question of any dreams! Maximum electrical activity, constant polling of the organs of perception… Coupled with the altered perception of time, in fact, accelerated by five times, it is not surp
THE OUTLAND 90
“I was not alive. I thought thoughtfully. “I was in a different place all day, not here.- But how is this possible? The old man was amazed. - The gentleman walked, talked ... Drank.- Yes, that's possible.I thought hard, trying to figure out how to turn the situation to my advantage. No, well, this sorcerer - well, damn it, thanks, you made me feel better, you bastard! You can't leave for a day. I need to figure out some way to keep control, how to get the restless thaumaturge to sit still while I'm away. But how? Instruct others to be tied up and kept under lock and key? I'm afraid this won't help much against a blood mage who understands how his abilities work and knows how to use them to the point.Five points of proficiency with each new skill, excluding only "cold hatred". This means that one of them - together or together - is able to strengthen local alcohol. But something told me that the sorcerer did not limit himself to this, did not limit himself at all. This stone that t
THE OUTLAND 91
I never found out the correct name of the boat - in response to my question, the translator gave out some kind of furious word - a nightmare of a xenologist. Tya… Tlalo… Lta… In short, let there be a trimaran. Floats, net, mast and rudder, nothing more."Are you going to hit me in the head again?" I grumbled as I climbed into the net. The interpreter translated my words to the captain, who burst into a satisfied laugh.- He says that if the master insists, then please. But the location of the temple island is no secret, people flock there from all over the archipelago.- But, perhaps, the Amri village is a secret? I can probably get from the temple to the village.“Master can try. - The interpreter translated. - Right now. Where is the village?The captain gestured with his hand to one endless water to the horizon. - The northern channel reaches the daytime crossing in the widest part, there are no landmarks if you do not know them. Is that the stars and the position of the sun. -
THE OUTLAND 92
The spider wants me to achieve the same result, but at the same time not lose the ability to think on the battlefield. I suppose I will need a thinker just for the correct counteraction to various magical and priestly attacks.- Sir, wake up. - The old man called, slowly knocking out the receiver. “Temple Island is already on the horizon.- I didn't sleep. I replied, pulling myself out of my thoughts with difficulty. Scenes from the prophecy revolved in my head, Sabaf and Okama, Thomas' stasis and Rick's slippery earth. The answer lay on the surface, but no matter how hard I struggled, I could not get it.He turned in the direction where the translator had waved his hand - from the sunny side, a temple island was approaching, as if cut in half by a huge sword. The side closest to us was a gentle rise, overgrown with grass and trees, here and there you could see small buildings of a clearly religious persuasion on man-made terraces. And on the far side, separated by an abyss, stretched
THE OUTLAND 93
Two hours later, I was sitting in the guest quarters, washed to a creak, dressed in a good outfit, obviously gathering dust in a chest for every fireman, well-fed and angry.Why are you angry? Yes, damn it, for a whole host of reasons! You can start, for example, with an old translator who burst into my room with happy tears in his eyes:- Master, master! News has arrived from the village! - The old man ran up to me and hugged me with an amazing hug for such years - my ribs almost cracked.- Well, great. Wonderful. And why do I need to know? I asked carefully, making sure that there was a heavy, immovable table between us.- Sir, news from the granddaughter! Today the spirits have named a new number of the tribe - my number.— Eh… What?- I will become a great-grandfather! The old man announced happily.- Congratulations! And ... - He does not want to say that that red-skinned beauty who visited me just before sailing ...- Thank you, Mr. I thought it would not work, the lord needs so
THE OUTLAND 94
- Not. Everywhere only scattered references.- Well. I suppose this is because the truth is not very convenient for either the old or the new gods. You see, the younger gods know the power of the nameless, it is not a myth for them, but a real threat - as it once was for the older ones. And we are talking not only about the divine couple, who were driven out of the occupied lands, but also the elder seven as a whole.- Nameless? What side is he here?- So that it is not a name or some kind of title. The nameless one may not be a person at all, that's why he is nameless. This is the answer of the world if something goes very wrong. For example, if one scoops too much from the Font or the power of a sleeping person, if the natural order of things is violated, the nameless one appears.- Wait. But at the moment when the first gods appeared, there was no nameless one!- Did not have. Only everyone is silent that not seven people came to the Kupel, but six. The Nameless One appeared the mo
THE OUTLAND 95
Perhaps one of the nicest things about religion, from my point of view, is that going from a devout believer to an atheist is actually a breeze. It is enough just to stand before your god. When you know that the object of your prayers does not sit somewhere in the heights, controlling the fate of the whole world, but rather sits on the edge of the fountain and, waving his arms, arguing about something with another god, you involuntarily stop believing. For how to believe in something about the existence of which you know absolutely exactly, saw it with your own eyes, and so on.Complex issue. But it seems that the same Spider Astrix did not care about worship at all, he turned out to have other goals, other values. Ware, even before his sleep, preferred to raise children in a house on an island, and not pretend to be an evil uncle on a cloud. Yes, they should be like that, if you approach the issue with the utmost honesty. Thoroughly mundane, solid, once people, and now they have beco