Ойкумена / Oikumena: Глава 3

Chapter 3. "An Englishman in New York."

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 13:28

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Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 13:27

Dawn was dawning, announcing its imminent arrival with a pinkish streak at the edge of the horizon. Frightened shadows thickened, hurrying to take one last drink of the night's darkness. A cold wind swept through the city, clinging to weathervanes, blowing over spires. Torches, wax and rag torches, were still burning in the street lamps at the crossroads and on the main roads, but Milvess, "the city of a thousand wells," was already waking up. The slothful man rises with the first rays of the sun, and the honest citizen at least a quarter of a small watch before dawn.

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 13:59

The lamplighters turned out the lights, and the alarmers rattled and banged on the shutters. In churches, the priests' first prayer was to praise the Father of the Universe who, in his inexhaustible mercy, had granted the world and men a new day. Demiurges necessarily added non-canonical words of gratitude for the last and greatest creations of Pantocrator the human intelligence and freedom of choice between good and evil. For a fact, the Creator allows everyone to determine his own life by his actions, defying the machinations of the Unclean and thus deserving of posthumous bliss. The believers in the Two Creators were also praying but more secretly because the pogroms had begun again in the capital. Not even pogroms, but rather some unrest, even without the normal arson. And still, nobody wanted to tempt fate.

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 15:05

The thin scarlet stripe on the boundary between heaven and earth was brightening, becoming a vivid color, so vivid and intense that no painter could have rendered it with his brush. The moon, shimmering with reflected silver light, was leaving the sky, dragging the waters of the sea behind it. The tide was coming in, and the red lights on the lighthouse of the coastal fort flashed warningly. While the water was still high, ships that had ventured into the night were hurrying to enter Stone Harbor, which was securely covered by an old fortress wall two men's height thick.

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 15:07

The city was waking up... Only in the stone houses of the aristocracy, safely hidden behind high walls amid dense gardens, reigned silence. For a man of noble birth should not get up in the early hours of the morning. It causes damage to health and spoils the skin of the face. As the sun rises to the heavenly dome only after dawn, so the noble lords should not be in a hurry. After all, all the goods of the Ecumene already belong to the best of men.

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 15:11

Here, too, on Remembrance Island, there was silence. It was like a graveyard, which, to a certain extent, it was. A graveyard of old pleas, of desperate hopes, of forgotten destinies. There were no brigands on the island. It was avoided by otherworldly creatures. And even the wicked sorcerers who despised the precepts of the Church did not conduct their rituals here, for the air of the island was completely devoid of sorcerous power. It was simply ... this place was shunned. Thousands of stone statues - from crude statues made of boulders and bonded with mortar to refined sculptural groups - kept in themselves the memory of times that had long passed, of people who were long gone. And this neighborhood made the most hardened sinner uncomfortable. Besides, sometimes people just disappear here like magic. There was a man, and then he was gone. Without a trace.

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 15:21

Yes, it was very quiet. And gloomy. The dawn rays had not yet slipped over the palace roofs of Milvess, and the night was clinging to power with its last strength. A figure in a dark cloak with a very wide hood was almost invisible among the stone statues. But whoever knew where to look found it quickly.

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 15:23

Shoehorned boots clattered faintly on the stone slabs. The one who came to meet him held his sword open, under his arm, hilt forward. A fine weapon, made in the newfangled southern style, for fights on city streets that go fast and are fought only to the death. A long, light blade, a one-handed hilt, and a bronze bar spiraling from thumb to pinky.

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 15:24

"Hello," with those words, the waiting man threw back his hood. Only the sturdy netting kept the wave of long, heavy hair the color of the darkest night from falling apart. Dark eyes glittered, reflecting the light of the departing moon. Barely visible tongues of blue flame ignited in the stiff, succulent fall grass. The sorcerer's fire, flowing along carefully measured and drawn lines with a flint knife, kept the meeting place hidden from sight and hearing. Rare, very complex magic requiring a lot of borrowed power, especially here. Few could produce such a ritual. The dark-haired sorceress could. And she could do it without paying the price, spending months of other people's lives rather than her own.

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 15:28

"Hello," echoed the guest, removing his leather triangle. The hat hung on the outstretched arm of one of the statues without any reverence for the dead. At the same time, the guest removed the mask of illusion with a flick of her fingers, and her mesmerizingly beautiful and, at the same time, eerie, completely inhuman eyes flashed in the shadows. Dark blue, almost violet whites turned to irises, the color of dark ruby, without pupils.

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 15:31

For a few moments, the women stood facing each other as if they had met after a long absence and were trying to remember something. They looked very much alike, both tall, black-haired, and, at the same time, as different as the sun and the moon.

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 15:40

"You're late," the waiting woman stated.

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 15:41

"Once the bridge was released," the guest said briefly, the faintest note of uncertainty ringing in her voice. As if the conversation made her uncomfortable and promised some difficulty. "I do not command the tides."

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 15:42

The answer was fair; the island was so called because it was connected to Milvesse only by a narrow shoal with a bridge built in time immemorial, which was hidden by the tides. And yet the first woman did not deny herself a poisonous prick.

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 15:43

"What about the magical transition?"

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 15:43

The guest gritted her teeth and clenched the blade under her arm, feeling the thin, hard strip of metal forged by the finest southern weaponsmiths.

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 15:44

"You know, I try not to overuse transitions," she retorted, trying to maintain a look of cold calm. It was the same as the icy cold of the blade under her arm, which didn't seem to want to be warmed by body heat.

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 15:44

"Really?" sarcastically inquired the "hostess" of the meeting. "And I thought you were openly ... disregarding the schedule I made for you."

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 15:45

Instead of "neglect", "spit" was clearly heard. The armed lady bowed her head, simultaneously acknowledging some guilt and showing that she did not want to continue this line of conversation.

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 15:46

"You know transitions are bad for us," the unarmed mage sighed hopelessly. She was clearly repeating this not the first and most likely not even the tenth time. Her voice was drenched in hopelessness. "If this keeps up, I won't be able to reassemble your soul anymore, and madness will finally consume the mind."

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 15:47

"I know," the red-eyed woman retorted with seeming indifference. "But it's a risk you have to accept."

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 15:52

Ruby eyes sparkled like the lights of a hidden lantern.

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 15:52

"Or do you wish to decline my services?"

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 15:53

"No. And I'm very interested in what you have to boast about," the woman with the hair in a net ended the preparatory-pleading part of the conversation and got down to business. She seemed distinctly displeased.

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 15:53

"Almost nothing," the guest answered honestly. "We know that Hel has reached the capital. She is most likely already in the city..." The witch looked over to where the finally awake Milvess, the largest city, and heart of the world known to humans, was already bathed in pinkish light.

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 15:55

"And?.." The interlocutor said curtly and angrily, literally snarled.

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 15:56

"That'll be all," the witch grudgingly admitted. Her usually beautiful, expressive voice sounded dull, like frayed rags. "That's all for now."

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 15:56

"That's not very encouraging."

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 15:57

"Yes. But the net is wide open. She doesn't know the city, and she doesn't have any useful contacts. Sooner or later, Hel will go to the temple, or the magicians, or the parlor, or jail. She's conspicuous enough, I'll get word."

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 15:57

"A wide-spread net, that's bad," the sorceress cut off. "Raises questions. Besides, we have rivals."

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 15:58

"Who?" the witch asked quickly and sharply.

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 15:58

"The Masters of Malersyde, for sure. Probably someone else. They're looking for the girl, and they're looking hard."

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 15:59

"Clavel Wartensleben," the witch hissed, flashing her devilish irises again. "I shouldn't have messed with her. Greedy thing ruined everything."

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 16:00

"Let me remind you that the 'greedy creature' has fulfilled everything that was agreed upon," the sorceress blurted out. "You're the one who failed."

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 16:01

"Yes, I failed," the red-eyed woman was unexpectedly quick, unopposed to accept the obvious, not needing to be reminded of the horrifying effects of necromancy that had covered Hel one step away from death.

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 16:01

The sorceress was silent for a moment, squeezing the gloves nervously as if she were about to tear the thin but surprisingly strong leather. From the Wartensleben tanneries, by the way. She remained silent for a few moments, recovering her composure after her outburst of anger. It was stupid and senseless - to be angry at the failure of a faithful performer who followed all the instructions and did not succeed for quite objective reasons. But still ...

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 17:15

// "One step away from success... May Erdeg take you all. One blow with the sword, and it would be done!"

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 17:16

Inhale. Exhale. She is a sorceress. She stands above the crowd, above the Bonoms, even above the Primarchs of the Twenty-Two - the great families, the only aristocracy to survive the Cataclysm. Anger, fear, and malice are for the lower creatures. And her destiny and virtue are pure reason, which is like water from the depths of the great ocean. Water does not doubt, does not fear, does not hesitate. It simply crushes the obstacle with the unstoppable pressure of the waves.

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 17:17

"Too many outsiders," the enchantress said curtly. "A good spy always has at least two masters. At least two. And when he gets an order from one, he runs to tell the other for a reward. That's how we learned the Wartensleben are looking for Hel. That's how something else will find out we're looking for her, sooner or later... if it hasn't already."

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 17:18

"She can't be killed from a distance," the witch caught the patroness's train of thought on the fly, especially since it was a possibility they had been meticulously considering.

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 17:18

"It can be done."

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 17:19

The sorceress fell silent again, whipping her gloved fingers against the sleeve of her velvet jacket a couple of times.

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 17:20

"It can be done," She repeated. "I sent an order to the Wastelands. I need the Colorful Ribbon."

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 17:30

The witch held back her feelings, for it was impossible to read anything in the devil's eyes. She drew in air noisily.

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 17:30

"There are none of them left..." There was not so much a statement as a question in her words. A doubt. "But even if one could find such a ... relic, it has no price."

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 17:33

"It is," grinned the enchantress grimly. "Only it's measured in barrels of phoenixes."

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 18:53

"I understand," the witch said very seriously. "I understand. Someone is going to come back to the Kingdoms a very rich man."

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 18:53

Now, she paused in her turn, pondering what she had heard. There was no point in recounting the danger and difficulty of using the Ribbon in a city of several hundred thousand inhabitants, full of odors and many streams of other people's lives. The sorceress was ready for extreme measures, and it should have been simply accepted.

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 14:00

Or...

Camrad_RIP 28.08.23 в 18:54