THE PATH OF RENUNCIATION

8

  The wind blew up in earnest. Outside the window now and then there was a crackling of bushes bending down to the ground and the distant sound of the sea. 

  “I called Vullis,” Carl said, breaking the long silence. – I want to transfer the house to Hamali.

  - To Mark? Christian was genuinely surprised. - Why on him?

  Carl shrugged.

  - I decided that this is optimal - for none of us it will be safe here anyway, and it’s a bit cramped for him and his mother in their closet. He paused and smiled. “But the family will keep the bills. Do you ever want to come back?

  Frowning in disbelief, Christian waved his hand.

  “Just tell Mark. It would be embarrassing if he found out from Woollis. And you need to do something with the body ...

  “Don’t worry about it; my people will clean up here. Carl frowned thoughtfully and looked again at the dial of the clock hanging over the kitchen door. Time to wake up my sister. 

Purring loudly, Bama entered the kitchen importantly. With a sniff of air, he waddled up to Christian and rubbed his red side against the chair leg. 

Taking advantage of the fact that the twin was distracted by the cat, Karl quickly put the unfinished cup in the sink and hurried out. 

*   * *

Dismissing the servants, Yakir asked Khashsha to stay. Nodding, the Mistress of the Kitchens waited while he folded the sheets of paper covered with names on the edge of the table. For the coronation, which was less than a week away, more than three thousand people gathered at the castle, not counting the two feet [1] called by Paraman from Gorgoth to maintain order and guard. The throne has been empty for more than fifteen years. This was the first time this had happened in the Kingdom since the Great Troubles, so even the most distant lords and those who had even a drop of Thar's blood in themselves did not want to miss the opportunity to personally swear an oath to the new king. 

  “We still lack about fifty rooms,” Yakir began, gesturing for Khashsha to sit down. “I ordered the dungeons to be put in order. Part of the servants who will serve the first level will have to be transferred there for this time. I don't see any other way.

   To his surprise, Hashsha reacted calmly. 

  - It's dry and warm. Her voice, guttural and low, sounded a little thoughtful. “I think even if there was no such need, the decision is quite reasonable, Your Highness.” I'll arrange everything, don't worry. 

  Smiling gratefully, Yakir handed her the top sheet:

  - A list of those who will need to be placed at the kitchens. I don't know much about them... 

  The hostess skimmed through the list.

  - Southern estates? Without suppressing a smile, she slowly nodded. “Understood, Your Highness. I'll follow.

  - Well, fine. You can go.

  Standing up smoothly, she bowed slightly and slowly walked towards the door. Despite the fact that she was barely thirty, Hashsha looked much older than her years: constant worries and worries dragged out life much faster than the running time. 

  “Another week…” – Dropping his head into his hands, Yakir closed his eyes and held his breath for a moment. The storm outside the window was gaining strength, and large, heavy drops were already pounding on the glass with might and main. Their soothing rapping made the heart beat more calmly. 

  “He drove the boy quite a bit,” a slightly mocking voice sounded above him. Look, I haven't even woken up.

  Recognizing Duke Aarmani's voice, Yakir jumped up, nearly knocking over his chair. He didn't really notice how he fell asleep. 

  "Your Highness... My general..." “Sorry, I only expected you both tomorrow.

  General Barthiota laughed and, pointing to Paraman, who was standing on the left hand, on two high chairs by the fireplace, he asked the maid-servant who looked in to bring wine and cold meat.

  “Study, Yakiri, study,” he answered good-naturedly and, picking up a stack of sheets with names with his finger, went to the hearth. His black coat gleamed with thin silver threads, just like the gray hair at the temples. - How many guests do we have planned?

  “About two and a half thousand, not counting two feet.” Covering his eyes with his hand, Paraman sighed wearily. “I hope at least the bad weather will force the curious to turn back.”

  “Don't hope,” Aarmani interrupted rather sharply and, waiting for him to look at him, shook his head: “After the murder of Lirdan, the position of the Leader has been undermined. You have a difficult task, son. 

  “You know perfectly well what’s going on,” he said languidly. “Even with your support, I will not go against the Order openly. One has already gone - and put the Leader in a position in which she has not been since the time of the Great Troubles. Who do we have left? Yakir, me and Ali-Nari? Despite the fact that the line of the sister is a big question. Perhaps she is alive because she is useless. 

  “Two is a lot,” the general said quietly. “Even if Yakir takes her as his wife, workarounds can be found. For the sake of the continuation of the Family, everything is permissible. And your daughters...

  Startled, as if from a slap, Paraman slowly lowered his hand and looked angrily at Aarmani:

  - I did not write them in Rod's book, and this is not discussed. None of them will touch the Leader and will not stand in the way of the Order. You have enough of me.

  “Then you will have to decide this issue yourself, Paraman. As the Head of the Family, you must take care of its continuation.

  “Even though Tarham made the decision to cut the line?” Paraman chuckled and looked away.

  “Tarham is not the whole Order, son. This old man's love of power knows no bounds. If you want to know, the only thing your late father did for the Kingdom and his family was you. We all took care of you the best we could.

  “It would be better if you took care of Lirdan like that.

  Taking a deep breath, Duke Aarmani closed his eyes for a moment. 

  - He did not know how to be flexible, Paramani ... I could not do anything. But you're right, it was our mistake. It was necessary to unite and give the Council a rebuff. Tarham managed to crush and break us one by one, even me. Who was stronger - survived, who is weaker ... - Turning his head, the general looked at Yakir. “Your father couldn’t take a hit, but at least he covered you, Yakiri, saved the Sideline for Rod. Always remember this, appreciate your life.

  “I am completely devoted to the Host, Your Highness,” Yakir assured him. “But Paraman is right: going against the Order is madness. We are bled and weak, and besides, we ourselves belong to their circle. After a pause, he spread his arms, glancing briefly at the whitening scar on his wrist. “We need to remember the lessons of the past and draw conclusions.

  Paraman nodded almost imperceptibly, thanking him for his support. It was clear that he didn't have the strength to argue.

  “So it is, son. Silently, the general waited until the red-haired girl who entered put the loaded tray on the table by the fireplace, and, smiling at her, reached for the uncorked pot-bellied bottle. “Yes, but it’s not the first time for Tara’s children to show flexibility. After all, we have been surviving for twenty-five centuries, and every time like this, on the verge. We did it before, we can do it now. After pouring a full glass, he handed the bottle to Paraman. – And there is my fault… Of course, there is. Yes, and Falinor is good: she knew her brothers no worse, she saw where she was going. I could have warned, yes, apparently, I was afraid for the children. And Kyle wouldn't stop, no... He wasn't that kind of person. Only death could tie his hands. 

  - Is it death? Paraman gulped down the crimson wine and threw the glass into the fireplace. – Do you believe in it?

  Seeing Aarmani's face turn to stone, Yakir frowned in bewilderment. 

  “More likely yes than no,” the general replied quietly. - If he were alive, he would not miss the opportunity to take you into his arms. The temptation is too great, son... Even for him. A cold, sharp smile crossed his lips. Do you think I didn't look? Or do you seriously think that I have no people among your fellows?

  - Even so? Crossing his arms over his chest, Paraman chuckled. His gray-green eyes reflected small flames, but the look was calm and a little thoughtful again. 

  - Of course. Having planted a thick piece of meat on a fork, Aarmani leaned back. “Yakiri, you should go to bed,” he advised, almost affectionately. “I’ve heard enough already, rest. We'll talk a bit here and we'll go. 

  Yakir didn't object. Bowing first to Paraman, then to the general, he went to the front door and, knocking three times, waited until the guards opened the outer bolt. 

  Tory stood guard in front of the high golden gates of the Throne Room, looking bored at the polished toes of his black leather boots. Noticing Yakir, he crept up, but did not change his expression. 

  “Into the night again?” - Approaching, Yakir looked at him cheerfully and with a gesture asked to open the gate. 

  “Your worries,” the officer said without moving. His comrade, turning slightly pale, immediately turned and unlocked the heavy, shiny bolt:

  “Please, Your Highness…

  Nodding gratefully, Yakir stepped towards the half-dark hall and, pausing on the threshold, said in a barely audible voice:

  – In vain you so, Erinma. It will be hard for you: I am not Lafast and not even Paraman. I won't regret.

  “But I don’t need your pity,” the officer answered in his tone, looking motionlessly in front of him. 

  - Well, as you know ... Then you will have to be on duty until the end of the celebrations.

  “I have orders from the duke to accompany Her Highness.” There was a hint of pride in Tori's voice. - I beg your pardon.

  Chuckling, Yakir turned and closed the door behind him. 

  You don't know who you're up against, he answered mentally. “Whoever is behind you, this is not Gorgoth.”

  Passing through the Throne Room to the small side gate, he knocked, and as he came out, he turned immediately to the left, towards the Council Chamber. The annoyance at Tori's defiant behavior had already subsided. Yakir perfectly understood both the anger he felt and its origins, but he had no right to let down impudence. In the year and a half that Erinma had spent in the castle, he should have already understood both the alignment of forces and the changes that were soon to come. After the coronation of Paraman, Yakir became the third in the order of succession to the throne and was a member of the Council of the Family and the Grand Council - this was a strong position. Very strong and very dangerous.

*   * *

With a loud cry, Leah sat up in bed and looked around. Memories came flooding back, momentarily cutting off his breath and making his heart beat wildly. Crumpled the blanket in her hands, she leaned back against the pillow and stared motionlessly at the ceiling. It was already dawn outside, but because of the rain, the room was still gloomy and gray. 

  Silently opening the door, Karl entered and, glancing at the photo album lying on the floor, for some reason frowned.

  - How are you, better? – cautiously asked he and, picking it up, put it on the nightstand.

  Licking her dry lips, Leah nodded uncertainly.

  Leaning down, Carl touched her forehead with his lips and sat down beside her. He smelled of coffee and some bitter menthol medicine. 

  “My story will be short,” he said, placing his hand over hers. “Perhaps I should have explained earlier, but I wanted you to live in peace. Christian and I had a short but happy childhood. I wished the same for you. The deeper the roots, the stronger the tree, as my father used to say.

  Pulling back, Leah blinked in confusion. After what they'd been through a couple of hours earlier, the words they'd spoken sounded almost intimidating.  

Lightning flashed outside the window, and after a couple of seconds the air was again shaken by a distant peal: the storm circled stubbornly over them, as if under siege. Wrapped up in a blanket, Leah sat up in bed and leaned her back against the wall. Carl watched her closely, still hesitant to start a conversation.

  “In baptism, we named you Leah,” he finally said and, jerking up, went to the window. - But in the book of the Leading Line of the Family, you were recorded by your father as Liramel. In the Ancient language, your name means "song of the wind."  

  - What? .. - Leah frowned, looking at her brother's broad back in surprise.

  "Wait," he turned around and raised his hand in warning, ahead of her question, "I'll start from the beginning." Do not try to remember the names and dates - this is not necessary now, we will still have time. Plenty of time, I hope.

  Hugging her shoulders with her arms, she caught a glimpse of his gaze in the gray glass and silently nodded.        

  “Several thousand years ago,” Karl began, lowering his voice, “before the Great Flood, the Earth was protected from cosmic radiation by a dense water shell. You must have heard: “And God created the firmament, and separated the water that was under the firmament from the water that was above the firmament. And it became so. And God called the firmament sky” [2] . But few people, except for the children of Tara, know that "the water above the firmament" was held by a strong air dome. After the catastrophe, dense air flows descended to the surface of the Earth and, under the influence of mutual attraction, formed a kind of shield over a small continent in the Atlantic Ocean, where the magnetic pole was located at that time. That's where you were born... Almost sixteen years ago.

  Leah looked at her brother so intently that he turned around. Their eyes met and for a long moment did not part, as if fighting in an invisible struggle. Carl waited in silence.

  “I don’t know what to say…” her voice trembled like a torn string. “You speak so calmly, as if nothing happened, and I should just take it and believe ... They tried to kill you, Carl!” They tried to kill me. You shot a man in front of me. And now you're saying that... What are you even saying?!

  “Just listen,” he continued calmly, as if nothing had happened. “I know enough about the nature of the Singing Winds, as they are called in legends, but I’m afraid it will be difficult for you to understand. In short, air, like water, has three natural states: permeable, viscous and impenetrable. The winds surrounding the Kingdom are impenetrable, their halo is conditionally viscous. Due to the reflective properties of the microparticles of the viscous layer, modern technology cannot detect either the shield or what is hidden under it. This territory simply does not exist for the rest, the Big World. Have you heard stories about the Bermuda Triangle and the disasters associated with it? Sometimes one of the trails that drop out of the shield passes in that place. It does not touch land anywhere, unlike the others - two descending and two ascending.

Leah nodded slowly. It felt like the world was collapsing around her like an empty cardboard box. What my brother was talking about was more like delirium and did not fit in my head.

  “Well,” Karl sighed, “then you will be able to compare theory and reality. Now there are more important things. Judging by the oldest chronicles, the history of the Kingdom began about one thousand one hundred and fifty years before the birth of Christ. Several hundred people, led by Tara Vallor, fleeing from enemies, were miraculously transferred from the Arabian Desert to the uninhabited lands of the Small World. Whether this is true or the chronicler's fiction is now difficult to find out, so take it as a fact.

  Seeing movement out of the corner of her eye, Leah turned her head to meet Christian's gaze. My brother stood at the door and listened attentively. 

  “Our ancestor became the founder of the ruling royal dynasty, or the Leading line, as it is called. - Pretending not to notice the twin, Carl walked over and stood at the foot of the bed. “Three hundred years later, several dozen ships washed ashore behind the Northern Mountains. The people who managed to survive the encounter with the Shield of the Singing Winds called themselves Allotars and founded an independent Principality at the foot of the mountains. Gradually, the story became a legend, and the people of the Kingdom lost their idea of ​​the true world order. Only a few children of royal blood - the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Tar, who dared to repeat his path after the first trip - compiled maps and tables that allow calculating the space-time points of contact of the Winds on both sides of the shield. These points are called Paths, there are four of them, as I said. Then the Guardians appeared who watched the wanderers and helped them survive in unusual conditions. You already know one of their distant descendants: Paul Anders entered his legacy not so long ago, but his roots go back to the Missara family.

  Leah took a deep breath and closed her eyes several times. Thoughts mingled and scattered. It seemed to her that this was just some kind of terrible dream - a little more, and she would wake up.

  “Several eons passed before the throne of the Kingdom passed to King Ariton, our grandfather. – Carl ran through his disheveled hair and threw away the annoying black lock from his forehead. “Despite the fact that power in the Kingdom has long belonged to a direct descendant of Thar, crowned according to tradition and law, fifty years after the First War, almost all issues began to be decided not by him, but by the Council, consisting of the heads of the Ten Influential Families. The purity of the clan, and even more so the genetic lines of those who continued the royal dynasty, was always observed very strictly. Our father was the heir to the king, but did not find a common language with the Council and therefore was forced to hide in the Big World for some time. When the grandfather died, he had to return and take the throne. About what happened after, I think, Christian will tell better.

  Startled, as if from a slap in the face, Christian looked at his brother in bewilderment.

  “I don't think I can do it any better, Carl.

Smiling silently, he turned away and went to the window. 

Christian was silent for more than a minute. Frowning, he looked first at Leah, then at his brother's broad back, and finally said softly:

  - We found you on the threshold of the Anders' house, where we stayed with Aunt Lis. With you there was already a letter opened by someone and a royal ring. So you ended up with us. As for the father, it is unlikely that at that time he was still alive. That, in fact, is all that I know.

  “Father asked me to take care of you,” Karl added quietly, turning around, “and when the time comes, to help you return to the Kingdom to accept the inheritance. The leading line should not be interrupted - such is the axiom, causa causarum [3] of the existence of the Genus. Remember this for the rest of your life, Lyramel. Never forget! And do not open to anyone except the one who will someday take your place. 

There was a tense silence.

  “And that man today?” Despite Leah's efforts, her voice sounded frightened and hoarse. - Who is he?

Carl nodded approvingly; he loved it when she asked the right questions.

  - Probably, his mind was clouded from a long stay in the Big World ... I think it was he who then brought you to the doorstep of the Anders. Paul, by the way, is of the same opinion.

  - He knew? Christian perked up.

  “And I knew.” Carl chuckled grimly and pursed his lips in annoyance. “This man has been making inquiries about us for a long time. My people followed him.

  - Your people? Leah shook her head reproachfully, catching the confusion in her brother's voice. She completely lost her understanding of what was going on.

  “I was ordered to enthrone you,” Karl calmly explained to her. “As your guardian, I believe the time has come to carry out the will of your father. You are returning to the Kingdom, Lyramel. Today.

The rain drummed on the glass, a lone little fly buzzed under the ceiling. The world, so cozy and familiar, collapsed, falling apart like a mosaic. Leah suddenly remembered how just recently she shared her dreams and plans with Karl: to graduate from school, to enter the Medical Academy, like him, then to marry Mark ... Her brother listened, nodded, but never said that all this would come true - and now she understood why. It was as if a heavy stone fell on his chest and a vague foreboding, sometimes inexplicably disturbing the soul, finally took shape. She wanted to scream in pain and despair, but she did not dare - she did not find the strength in herself to deceive the hopes of her brothers, who had put their whole lives to ensure that she was happy.

The clock continued to tick indifferently. Carl never took his eyes off her. Christian looked away grimly. None of them could now console her or give her even a glimpse of hope for a choice.

  “I need to think everything over,” Leah said, opening her dried lips and shuddering: her own voice suddenly seemed so alien and strange. - I'll take a little walk ... I'll go to Mark. Can?

  Carl nodded in agreement, as if he had been waiting for this question.

  “We don't have more than two hours, Liramel,” he warned, calling her again easily and habitually by another strange name. “We'll pack some things and we'll be waiting for you by nine. Remember, not later.

  - I understood.

  - Be careful.

  “I’ll try,” she promised, and, running her hand over her neck, she added with pain: “This won’t happen again: I can stand up for myself, you know ... 

Chuckling, Carl turned to the twin and said something sharply. The words sounded as incomprehensible as in a lullaby, but she already knew the language. Judging by the readiness with which Christian answered, it was not difficult to guess the meaning of what was said. However, she was now too ill to argue. After the experience of her brother's guardianship, Leah did not seem either strange or excessive. As if to confirm his suspicions, Christian began to fuss and, having explained that he needed to call for a lawyer, left.

Already on the threshold, Karl called out to her and, after a little hesitation, held out his stiletto. Nodding gratefully, Leah hid the thin sheath in the sleeve of her jacket and, after piercing the fabric, fastened the clip.