Ойкумена / Oikumena: Глава 8

Chapter 8. The Gate

Camrad_RIP 26.05.23 в 09:05

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Camrad_RIP 26.05.23 в 09:05

In the silence, she could hear a gadfly buzzing in the distance. A crow cawed farther away as if expecting a quick meal.

Camrad_RIP 26.05.23 в 10:34

"We don't know anything about that."

Camrad_RIP 26.05.23 в 10:35

"Pity," Ranyan didn't seem to expect any other answer. "Do you mind if I take a look?" the fighter pointed his gloved hand toward the cart.

Camrad_RIP 26.05.23 в 10:36

"I'm against it," the foreman sulked. "What we bring in is our business. And the wounded man is there."

Camrad_RIP 26.05.23 в 10:37

Santelli was in his right - Profit is Profit. What you find is yours, you can show it to the world, and you can hide it as far away as possible by hiding it in a hiding place. Ranyan was well aware of that. But from all indications, the mercenary had almost failed another assignment and was ready to go to any extreme. And extremes in the wastelands are commonplace. What no one saw has never happened.

Camrad_RIP 26.05.23 в 10:39

Ranyan pursed his lips, tugged the reins as he did so, and the horse stepped over with its heavy, shod hooves, barely visible from beneath its thick wool, like those of a true heavy-haired knight. It was clearly not a fast animal, but it was hardy and accustomed to combat. If a fight broke out, the four-legged opponent would be no less dangerous than the rider.

Camrad_RIP 26.05.23 в 10:40

Santelli felt a bead of sweat roll down his temple and into his braid. Kai, as usual before a fight, was breathing particularly hard, whistling. It's hard to live with a broken nose, even if it's restored with magic.

Camrad_RIP 26.05.23 в 10:41

"I insist, with all due respect," Ranyan said very calmly, very politely.

Camrad_RIP 26.05.23 в 10:49

Santelli shook his head.

Camrad_RIP 26.05.23 в 10:49

"That's our cart," he said just as calmly, and it was the calm of a string stretched to the limit. "Show it to you today, and tomorrow everyone will know that the brigade is unpacking to the first person they meet. Then there will be a second encounter. And a third."

Camrad_RIP 26.05.23 в 10:54

It sounded like the truth, especially since it was, in fact, the truth. Give weakness once, and then everyone would take it as a rule.

Camrad_RIP 26.05.23 в 09:07

"Pity," Ranyan remarked gloomily, very thoughtful as if deciding what to do next. Maybe he was deciding. Maybe he was just stalling for the right moment. The axe seemed heavy as if it were made entirely of stone. Santelli looked between the eyes of the interlocutor - only the interlocutor so far - and thought about the next action. A sharp throw of the axe, however, at the horse's head, not Ranyan's. And then...

Camrad_RIP 26.05.23 в 10:56

Then many things would happen very quickly, bloodily, and irreversibly. Shena, to put it mildly, looked at life with excessive optimism. The forces were by no means "nearly equal". Six horsemen against foot soldiers, and Bizo was no warrior after all, made the outcome of the battle a foregone conclusion. Just like this morning's "duel" between Kai and the redhead.

Camrad_RIP 26.05.23 в 10:57

But the brigade had Santeli's reputation on its side. And a direct consequence of that reputation was the obvious fact that more than one of Ranyan's mercenaries would die in the fight, and the rest would have to heal their wounds for a long time.

Camrad_RIP 26.05.23 в 10:59

Thus, it came down to how much of a rush the hair-brained brether is. How much he believed the brigade could really hide something. And how much the mercenary is willing to drop his credibility among his own. To give up on the tarred ones is also a defeat, however small.

Camrad_RIP 26.05.23 в 11:01

Lena's heart was pounding so hard it was a wonder the whole neighborhood hadn't heard it yet. Including the terrifying killer with the deep, strong voice of a professional actor. Lena felt a small shiver sweep over her hands and crawl over her face. The girl was immensely scared. Trying to calm her trembling fingers, she accidentally touched the sleeping Codure, who moaned through a half-dream and muttered something. But to Lena's great happiness, he did not wake up.

Camrad_RIP 26.05.23 в 11:03

Hearing a moan from beneath the bunting, Ranyan tilted his head quickly, like an owl that catches every sound in the night. His team moved the well-trained animals forward.

Camrad_RIP 26.05.23 в 11:04

"I told you, we're taking the wounded," Santelli repeated.

Camrad_RIP 26.05.23 в 11:04

An axe right in the horse's face. And back to the cart, where secluded, but, at the same time, available stashed another weapon, more suitable for the youthful skirmish with the horsemen. Or vice versa, with a dagger to finish. If luck is on and the swordsman's horse will fall. And the rest is as it goes. Brigadier looked at the brether and clearly understood that all his thoughts are obvious, like a gallowsman on the gate. Just as Ranyan understands perfectly well that Santelli understands... And so on. And it would end fast, bloody, messy.

Camrad_RIP 26.05.23 в 11:08

But instead of bringing the horse forward and trying to stomp the brigadier at once or, on the contrary, jumping down to impose a foot battle, at which the brether was very good, Ranyan did quite a different thing. He drew from behind the wide sash of his glove a small object like a monocle - a lens with a tiny, two-finger handle and a scrap of the narrow chain of a dozen links. The frame and all the metal parts of the monocle reeked of antiquity - crossed with scratches and patina. The monocle seemed to have been a thing of history long before the Calamity. The lens, on the other hand, looked like it had come out of the grinder's grindstone yesterday. The absolute cleanliness of the glass was striking, especially in contrast to the frame.

Camrad_RIP 26.05.23 в 11:11

Behind the cart, Bizo breathed noisily, sucking in air through clenched teeth like a whale taking in a stream of water with a school of fish. The alchemist clearly understood what it was. Yes, and Santelli had heard of such lenses, too. The secret of making them was long lost, and there were a handful of such artifacts left in the world. Whoever was looking for the mysterious maiden was very... no, VERY wealthy, had good connections, because just for the money "the Eye of Alzor" did not get. And the mysterious employer wanted very much to find the right person...

Camrad_RIP 26.05.23 в 11:13

Ranyan wiped the lens with a piece of suede. Sunteli saw how much the brether didn't want to use it. No wonder. All magical artifacts, in one way or another, are charged for their use. Some required a sacrifice or a drop of blood, and others required a light memory to be turned into its opposite, while others simply reduced the user's life by weeks or even months. Either way, Ranyan finally finished polishing the glass and looked through it at the cart. At that moment, he and his hair looked like an aristocrat, eyeing an actress in the theater to see whether or not she was worthy of the honorable role of a passing infatuation for a couple of nights.

Camrad_RIP 26.05.23 в 11:16

Time stood still. Santelli could literally feel Bizo's hand squeezing the lever of the crossbow and the sturdy leather bowstring barely hanging on the edge of the "nut" - the knurled wheel with the grip. Nor could the brigadier see Kai, but he could sense that the swordsman was frozen with his weapon, ready to rush forward. Kai could move very fast, and more than once, he had cut down cavalrymen who were too sure that looking down from above gave them undeniable superiority over the infantry.

Camrad_RIP 27.05.23 в 11:22

The mercenary stared at the cart through his monocle, and the whole wasteland seemed to stand still in grim expectation. The thin line between life and death now passed through the small glass in the brether's hand. Ranyan stared indefinitely, though really, of course, for a matter of moments. Then he shook his head and hid the monocle back. And nothing else happened. Brether turned his horse around, tossed "Good luck and good riddance" over his shoulder, and moved on, riders one by one stretching out in column behind their master.

Camrad_RIP 27.05.23 в 11:23

Santelli exhaled noisily and with a gasp, realizing that the brigade had once again happily parted with ... not death, but big trouble for sure. He was also well aware of the look on Ranyan's face before the mercenary turned back. And it was obvious to the brigadier that the brether had not retreated in the face of force. Ranyan did not see through the lens what he had expected, and he was quite surprised. He was saddened, too, because the result would be a new ride in the Wastelands. And finally, there was a third thing, something that Santeli again realized and which he saw confirmed in Bizo's eyes when he returned to the cart. Ranjan could not see through the lens of a redhead named Hel. Which meant she had no magic, no magical gift. Not even a tiny drop.

Camrad_RIP 27.05.23 в 11:32

The small group continued on their way as if nothing had happened.

Camrad_RIP 26.05.23 в 11:16

After another hour or so of travel, Bizot grumpily remarked that it would rain by evening, but the crew should make it, even with plenty to spare. Santelli looked critically at Hel, who was still hiding under the tarpaulin, and remarked that the crew had no human clothes for her. Let her sit under the rag until the Apothecary.

Camrad_RIP 27.05.23 в 11:35

In the meantime, the scenery was gradually changing. The mountains came closer, and now the gray-green peaks with narrow tongues of glaciers could be seen. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, step by step, the heath was taking on the features of a more or less settled place. The road from a nominal direction became a real tract, well-traveled. From time to time, there were even foot, horse, and cart travelers. Not so often, but enough to understand that this place is inhabited.

Camrad_RIP 27.05.23 в 11:58

Then Lena saw the first houses or rather huts. They were all one-story, very stocky, with windows at about belly level and low thatched roofs. Around each house was usually a garland of outbuildings laid out haphazardly, obviously according to need and situation, without a plan or aesthetics. The houses with additions looked ugly but inhabited, reliable, and even decorated to a modest extent. There was a weathervane in the form of a wooden animal that looked like a cat (Lena shuddered at the memory of an angry "cat"). There's a rope with flags made of faded multicolored scraps.

Camrad_RIP 27.05.23 в 12:25

There were many vegetable gardens. The girl was completely ignorant of rural flora, but carrot tails, something else that looked like dill, and bushes, one and the same as cucumber and potato bushes, seemed familiar to her. She began to wonder how the agricultural seasons were related here, and how productive agrarianism was in general, with a steady and dim sun and a huge moon, which must have an effect on something.

Camrad_RIP 27.05.23 в 12:31

The gardens were scattered in outward disarray but carefully fenced with ... barbed wire? In Lena's head at once, like a rewinding film, ran a kaleidoscope of frames inspired by fiction. The decline of technological civilization, high-tech artifacts, and savages with smallpox inoculations and barbs. But a closer look revealed that it was not metal wire but the long whiskers of some vines or ivy stretched as a barrier between the wooden posts. It was a very long mustache covered with sharp thorns.

Camrad_RIP 27.05.23 в 12:34

A large cart loaded with dried fish rumbled past. Somehow it was headed away from the unknown Gate, though logically, it should have been the other way around. Probably the owner had purchased a large consignment for some of his needs. The fish were small, yellowish, and almost transparent in appearance.

Camrad_RIP 27.05.23 в 12:35

"Yes. It's going to rain," Santelli reported into the void, drawing in the cool, damp air. "Clouds are coming in from the ocean."

Camrad_RIP 27.05.23 в 12:40

"It'll pour for a couple of days," Bizo added. "Hardly more than that."

Camrad_RIP 27.05.23 в 12:41

"Just right," summed up Santelli as a matter of course.

Camrad_RIP 27.05.23 в 13:12

Lena snuggled even deeper under the covers.

Camrad_RIP 27.05.23 в 13:12

There weren't many people around, and she couldn't say anything special about them. People were like people. They were rare, usually on foot, occasionally on low, funny-looking animals that looked like donkeys with short rabbit ears. They were dressed conventionally medieval, in clothes with a predominance of brown shades and an abundance of all sorts of laces and ties. "Medieval," in the sense that if Lena had seen something like this in movies about the events of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries of Earth's history, she would not have been surprised at all, taking it for granted. Almost no one wore hats, mostly hoods with a long "ponytail" at the back, which just hung along the back or foppishly wrapped around the neck like a scarf. The footwear was mostly wooden boots pounding on the rutted road.

Camrad_RIP 27.05.23 в 13:15

The poorer-looking travelers had wooden shoes all the way around. The richer ones had only the soles, but the tops seemed to be leather. They knocked almost identically, though. And they were probably equally uncomfortable to wear. Yeah, it seems that she can't find shoes with supinators here...

Camrad_RIP 27.05.23 в 13:17

And then there was the fact that everyone, absolutely everyone, was armed. There were knives, clubs, heavy staffs, and axes like the one Santelli wore.

Camrad_RIP 27.05.23 в 13:19

The brigade ignored the passers-by, just as the wayfarers ignored the bandit crew. Everyone gave way to the cart, but the brigade didn't shy away from anyone. No, once a small cavalcade of horsemen, like the hunters for the unknown woman, rode by. Except that they had bigger horses and more metal on their clothes. The brigade not so much gave way as moved with the cart to the side of the road, and Santelli made a sort of polite half-bow. Judging by the fact that he, in turn, was not answered, the rules of politeness here were strictly one-sided, from the bottom up, or very different from those Lena was accustomed to.

Camrad_RIP 27.05.23 в 13:22

The girl wondered what her unexpected traveling companions were really doing. Who were they? And then she remembered Santelli's grim warning that she had better demonstrate her medical talents, or else...

Camrad_RIP 27.05.23 в 13:24

Or what?

Camrad_RIP 27.05.23 в 13:24

No one guarded her. No one tied her back to the cart. Even the surly and distrustful Shena had lost all interest in the redheaded Hel. It seemed self-evident to the brigade that this was the best place for her, in the cart and under the burlap. They didn't even think about the fact that all she had to do to escape was slip out from under the blanket and dive over the side without getting caught by her traveling companions.

Camrad_RIP 27.05.23 в 11:20

And that self-evidently kept Lena in place better than any restraints.

Camrad_RIP 27.05.23 в 11:19

"The gate," Bizo murmured, adjusting his hat and getting a little dewy-eyed. "Finally..."

Camrad_RIP 27.05.23 в 11:18

Lena dared to poke her nose a little further out from under the cloak. As she did so, she struck again at Codure. This time he came to his senses almost immediately and looked at his companion with a quite sensible look. Lena, in turn, eyed him warily. They were lying very close to each other, just a little out of the embrace. The wounded man was hot as a stove, but it was not a painful fever. Just the high fever of a sick man who'd already moved away from death.

Camrad_RIP 27.05.23 в 11:17

Codure was even somewhat handsome. The affliction had sharpened his features and dilated his pupils. She could see clearly now that the wounded man was still very young. No older than twenty by Elena's standards, and God knows how many years old in the local calculation.

Camrad_RIP 27.05.23 в 11:15

"Are you an angel?" the young man whispered unexpectedly.

Camrad_RIP 27.05.23 в 11:14