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Time Of Traitors 1
A bell rumbled from the side of the cathedral square, announcing the end of another day. People - living and dead - involuntarily added a step. A prickly drizzle charged, and the outlines of the houses blurred, floated along the dirty streets. The first peals of thunder rolled along the horizon - a storm was promised.The coming October tirelessly undermined the day. Early winter breathed after him, which, hand in hand with toothy winds, brought people of various occupations under the roofs of the city: pilgrims and merchants from the East, fallen maidens and gypsies, preachers and predictors of the Third End of the World, breters and mercenaries, merchants of holy relics and Lords of iron - many, many rogues that the Saved Kingdoms are so rich in.Among these waves of playboys, Cres walked invisible. His tall figure under a fur hat flashed in the dim rays of the setting sun. His path lay along black pits, on the site of which there was once a great number of haunts - until recently B
Time Of Traitors 2
Whispers and gnashings immediately returned, something heavy and clawed began to stir and jump around the corners. Cres picked up a kerosene stove from the table in the hope of dispersing the villains in their holes, or at least to understand who he would face. Only puppet eyes still protruded from the gloom, as if stars were winking from the bottom of a well.Cursing all the Khamers and their mothers, Kres found with difficulty the ajar door hidden behind the desk. Behind it, a low corridor, more reminiscent of an earthen hole, stretched like a snake. At the end, there was a tiny strip of light on the floor. Closing the door tightly behind him, Cres walked straight towards it. A frightening rattle breathed into the back of the head, which did not even think to calm down. The floor suddenly wobbled like the deck of a ship, nearly knocking Cres off his feet. The boards creaked under heels, pressed in and cracked, clinging to the sole with nails. The dark tunnel stubbornly did not want
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He threw the whip over his shoulder and dragged his beloved on a leash, burrowing deeper and deeper into the Wild Taiga. The road was left far behind, and only serpentine animal paths led away from the past life - to the country of barbarians and legendary monsters, in which people can only believe.Ada's arms were tied behind her back, a noose was pulled around her hips, as if she were a sacrificial lamb. The girl kept trying to break free and run away. Why and where - she herself did not know, she was driven only by fear and madness. Both were reflected in her eyes like two bright stars, in pairs: first one, then the other.The horse was left to rot on the road a day ago. A good horse: she retreated under him for three years, not knowing fatigue and fear. Not knowing pity for enemies. Not knowing the pity of the owner. Cres heard the growing terrible rales clearly, but for some reason he did not slow down, but kept urging the animal on with the steel stars of his spurs, glancing aro
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For some time the Prisoner could not recover his breath from fear, while his weakening heart trembled in his ears, and his nerves cracked and torn like rigging aboard a ship dying in a storm. He got up on shaky legs, but could not stand it and sat down on a straw bed, the only object in the cell besides the stinking pot in the corner. The prisoner tried to detach himself from the world around him so that these frightening sounds would leave him alone. But with each new step of the shod boot, the frail body on the floor was shaken by a new wave of panic fever, thoughts jumped more and more frantically - from the past to the future and back, the mind refused to admit that its turn had come. The prisoner tried with all his strength to drive reality as deep as possible inside, but it pressed with a vengeance.The prisoner crawled away from the door, dissolved in darkness, pressed his cheek against the cold stone. Even though the walls are lined with scratched cobblestones, behind them one
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And her, too, to Senches and his wives, living and dead. Cres turned and walked back.Ada was still sleeping sweetly, covered with a cloak with her head. Cres took time to push his beloved and decided to do warm things. The bag contained a jacket, a pair of holey mittens, and pants heavily moth-eaten. Not God knows what, but it could hardly have been better. At least Kres no longer risked his trousers, and that's not bad.Clutching his clothes to himself, he turned around and froze - Ada was sitting on the floor and rubbing her swollen eyelids.…Good morning my love. Breakfast is ready. And you?I secretly hoped that this time I wouldn't have to drag you by force. Maybe today you will open your eyes and look at me with that old look?Yes, that would be nice.Today I won't have to shove bread into you piece by piece, fight for every new step, drag you in my arms, fight until you stop screaming and biting?It's the same game, silly.Today is not that terrible day when I will again be f
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Enough of these games, dear. Your cat is tired.There was nothing he could do now, he had to move on if he did not want to wander around this place in the dark. Then Cres quickly gathered the remaining things and threw a bag over himself. He dragged the saddle into the house and plugged it deeper from prying eyes. The thing is expensive, but it was impossible to carry the girl and carry this thing with you.With great difficulty, he managed to put the girl on his back and rise, holding her by the calves - Ada did not even flinch. It weighed a little more than the saddle left behind - his eternal thin man on water and bread was losing weight very much every day, and the road promised nothing but sweat and tears. A couple more careful steps and he was more or less used to the new burden. It seems to work, if only the boots would not fall off her thin ankles and then they would not have to come back for them.They went deep into the unknown, and the days were intensely followed by days.
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Suddenly, the ground beneath him rushed away, and Cres rolled head over heels into the ravine. From the wet and cold ground, there was no longer any reason to curse the white light. He is tired.The wound was driving him crazy - he felt it, just to the left of the navel. At every wrong move, the flesh groaned as if it had been torn with iron hooks. Soon the composition will begin to operate, and then Kres will be able to rise - wait a little more and he will immediately go on.... until the pain in his eyes peered into the inaccessible sky. High above, blue stars blazed above the sweeping paws of the refs. The strength to rise went to look for the sun.Soon the pain really receded - through the body, from the top of the head to the tips of the fingers, grateful warmth spread. Immediately, a pleasant drowsiness pressed persistently on the eyelids, whispering a long-forgotten lullaby into my ear. Cres took a deep breath, thankfully free of the hot cage that tentacles of pain had encased
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They were alone, far from Ada, and that was the most important thing. Cres threw back his head - hooked branches scratched the sky. The tree was tall, climbing it would not be difficult for a stubborn boy who just wants to survive.Bosorka, crouching with her stomach to the ground and raising her ass like a cat, slowly approached - she hoped to finish him off with one movement, and then play enough.He jumped, completely forgetting how seriously injured he was, and clenched his fingers on the first branch. His feet slid over the bark, but he held on, hauling himself up and clutching at another branch, gritting his teeth in pain. Another impossible move, and the yellow leaves covered him completely. Bosorka, either from hatred, or from the anticipation of an imminent feast, tore his throat for the whole district, cutting circles around the trunk. The beast was preparing to release his guts, and he would not have done anything to stop her claws, but the dirty nature still took its toll.
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- Time Of Traitors
Epilogue
Cres rose with an effort. All of his muscles were curled into one tight knot and were reluctantly relaxing now. The wind roared in the head and in the corners of the hut. He raised his head and only then saw the second dog-head dying on the floor in a foul-smelling puddle. And above him, Leshy's eyes burn with primal malice, illuminated from within by some kind of silvery sheen. In the dim light, the herbalist looked less and less human.- What are you standing for? Grab your grandma and tick!He said, turned on his heels and, as if nothing had happened, went to the door, wiping his bloody palms on his trousers.Cres threw off his stupor, felt for the half-dead Ada and climbed out the window. Vassa followed him.“I’m already tired of sharpening laces with you, wanderer! shouted outside. - If you don't want it to be good, we'll be bad!Footsteps thundered. Closer and closer.“Wait, what if he still has my shava?” - whispered somewhere very close. Cres recognized that voice: it was Golg
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- Are you serious?! The messenger is already over a hundred, and I have nine winters and one summer! - Vassa could not stand it and shook all over. - A good defender - he could not even kill that bastard who killed his father in front of everyone. You protected your mother, now you are responsible for her!“Shut up,” said Kres, unwinding the whip in front of Vassa. - You do not understand anything.– I understand everything! Father is gone now, and there is no one to protect mother. You are a coward who only cares about himself!- And this is what the one who climbed into the house with a knife, where the defenseless girl is sleeping, is telling me?“She is not defenseless,” Vassa gritted his teeth in an attempt to hold back tears. - That's all she is. She is to blame! Because of her, Yuvasa died, because of her, rats attack us. She bewitched everyone - Khalsa, father, mother, Messenger, and especially you! You talk about her all the time.- How are you concerned about this? I am sitt
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Khalsa and Musa were burned after sunset, right on top of the Sacred Tree. Kisha herself brought the torch to the feet of both, loudly and distinctly uttered all the necessary praises and appeals to the d'ahs, and did not leave the raging flame until the bones of the warriors turned to ashes. Her children were surrounded by monotonously howling former Khalsa dog-heads - they crowded in a circle, wiping their tears and shifting from foot to foot, because they had nowhere else to go. Vassa soon disappeared somewhere, and Cres did not see the wolf cub all night, which seemed to him too long.Keisha collected the ashes left from both fallen warriors, without anyone's help she climbed onto a branch of the Sacred Ref and scattered the ashes in the wind.Cres wanted so badly to drop everything and run to the Skin House, where he left Ada in the care of an eccentric he barely knew. What's wrong with her now? Did this Leshy offend her? He sent Ieassa and Shuna to them - to find out what and ho
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Vassa screamed terribly, as he had never screamed in his life. But his cry was quickly drowned out by the outburst of indignation that exploded in the audience. The circle of d'ahs has not seen such a disgrace in many winters and years. To the cries of indignation, he, not remembering himself, rushed across the sand to his already dead father.- Fool, come back! - belatedly exclaimed, but it was too late.A blade flashed in Vassa's hand. Baring his teeth, Asa raised his hand with the sword, covered in the blood of his father.It rumbled as if a huge leather string had been torn. The knife fell out of the fingers of the wolf cub, buried in the sand. Vassa ripped open the bloody mass of sand with his face. The crowd sighed in one breath, exhaled, choked on their own cry, when Vassa was abruptly dragged back, away from the blade, which only missed his head by a finger.Going through all the curses with which Senches filled his brain over the past twenty-eight winters, Cres quickly pulled
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The people still rejoiced, but somehow out of tune. Certainly not such a reception was expected by the newly-minted d'aher.“Before you name him d'ahger,” a small old man in a flowery robe kept shouting from the crowd. – Is there anyone among you who dares to challenge the right of Asa?!"The D'ahs have spoken," Asa declared, not looking at anyone. Then he dropped his shield and suddenly met the eyes of the Messenger, who was trying to put his foot on the sacred sand. It felt like a fire was going to ignite between them. The old man finally twitched his cheek, looked away and took a deep breath.- Of course have! - sounded over Vassa's ear. Too close, and the wolf cub turned its head in disbelief, not believing its ears. The crowd seemed to rush to the side. She darted in one impulse, trying to find out who dared to challenge the one who had just killed Khalsa himself.Musa stepped out of the crowd and froze with his arms outstretched.- Here I am, Musa, the son of Barik, I want to ch
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The sun was looming in the pre-morning haze and slightly outlined the black refs, slightly powdered with snow, and people were already flocking to the top of the Heart-House, heading straight for the temple, where preparations for the sacred duel were already in full swing. The people lined up along the edges of the sand circle, right under the wooden faces of the d'ahs, carefully watching each villager. When Vassa and his family climbed to the upper platform and stood directly under a huge statue with a bear's head, snowflakes were flying in the air, it was fresh and quiet. The cub shuddered and began to rub his palms. The day promised clear and frosty.My father closed his eyes and whispered something silently. Prayed, I guess. Noticing the attentive look of his son, Musa smiled and tousled his hair. The mother whispered something to the father, and the smile instantly faded from his face.“I told him not to twist the tail,” muttered Musa. “But he never leaves the d'hanka.It only m
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The pebble rolled across her palm like an apple on a saucer. His eye beckoned and frightened at the same time. A light yellowish glow emanated from it, and if it becomes even brighter, then you can naturally fall into it and get stuck there forever.Give him blood to drink and urgently! If they don't hurry, then Sareth's torment in Barandarud will go down the drain.“Mine was better,” Vikta said, handing it back to her brother. She grimaced and said it more out of spite. Her ears were stuffed and for a moment the light faded in her eyes, as soon as the little thing fell into her hands. It was just breathtaking. Brother's Philosopher's Stone was strong. Very strong.Sareth didn't answer, didn't even raise his head, didn't make a single move to take his jewel."He's yours," he replied, poking his wand at the fire.Victa thought she had misheard.“Take it,” she said, handing him the stone.Is he yours, deaf or what? he muttered.- Like this? she couldn't believe her ears. - I already loo
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“I remember the darkness,” Sareth was saying. “And some prickly creatures. I remember how they purred contentedly and pinched me painfully, as if I were a calf that they go to slaughter. Abomination - I do not want to remember! I know you might think I'm crazy..."No, I don't think so," she cut him off. - This is true. The Khamer saved you."Saved" and "Khamers" in one sentence. She couldn't help but smile bitterly.- The ones that Ryzhek spoke about ? Looks like Les is really a wonderful place.“I'm already fed up with these miracles of his,” Vikta turned away. “We were supposed to spend a week here at the most and return home, and everything stretched out almost ... Senches knows how long! And the end of all this promises to be not at all happy, as in your stupid fairy tales. Well, that's why, it happened to you? Where did you go, fool? What have you achieved?“I don’t know,” Sareth grimaced, as if from a headache. - I haven't checked yet.– Yes, what are you talking about? Vikta ex
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Akai left them almost at the exit. Victa hooted as the weight of a heavy body rested on her frail shoulders. She clenched her teeth and tried to take a step, and flopped to the ground.“What a clumsy you are, Vikta. - Complained her escort. “Better drag him by the armpits.” It's too heavy for you to carry in your arms.Vikta, puffing from the effort, did as the underground inhabitant advised. In the same way, she once dragged the dead Apol out of the cave in order to give the Khamer for the profit. There was still nothing to be seen around, but she felt that gradually her eyes began to pick out separate outlines from the environment. Akai was here too, although she couldn't see anything clear beyond a vague black spot. And only once in the emerging light two menacing eyes seemed to flash."Don't get distracted and don't look at me," he advised her. Vikta immediately lowered her eyes to the ground, and continued to drag the man to the surface. Akai didn't say another word, didn't even
