Ойкумена / Oikumena: Глава 16

Chapter 16 What do you want?

Camrad_RIP 03.12.23 в 12:21

* * *

Camrad_RIP 03.12.23 в 12:21

She stepped closer, and Elena smelled a subtle woody scent. The perfume was exquisite. It emphasized the wealth of the mistress more vividly than any clothes. A long cloak enveloped the aristocrat's athletic figure, a cap covered her head, and her face was hidden behind a half-mask. But the voice gave away the "duchess." It was velvety, perfectly pitched, confidential, and at the same time soaked with arrogance, like a festive pastry with sweet wine.

Camrad_RIP 05.12.23 в 16:44

"But fortunately, I like adventures," the uninvited guest reported. "Especially unusual ones. Especially intriguing ones."

Camrad_RIP 05.12.23 в 16:59

The guards, obeying the slight movement of his hand, backed away, turning around, forming a ring that covered the two women securely. Elena sighed and moved away from the wall, taking her hand off the knife. It seemed no one was going to kill or kidnap her. But... what next? She had no idea how to deal with highborns. The real aristocracy dwelt not even in another world but in another universe, securely walled off by steel guards, high walls, and closed stretchers.

Camrad_RIP 05.12.23 в 17:03

"Yesterday's bandit," Elena asked. "Your work?"

Camrad_RIP 05.12.23 в 17:03

"Mistress," Mourier commanded sternly in a half-turn, never ceasing to track the passersby.

Camrad_RIP 05.12.23 в 17:04

"Your work... Mistress?" Elena couldn't resist the irony.

Camrad_RIP 05.12.23 в 17:04

"Yes," the woman in black replied without a shadow of embarrassment. She didn't understand the sarcasm, or she ignored it.

Camrad_RIP 05.12.23 в 17:05

"He could have killed me," Elena said, and she winced at how weak and helpless that sounded.

Camrad_RIP 05.12.23 в 17:09

"He could," the Duchess agreed calmly. She did not seem to have hidden her embarrassment, and her eyes flashed with the flames of arrogant superiority and, it seemed, a fraction of disappointment. It was as if the hunting falcon she had bought at great expense had turned out to be a vegetarian.

Camrad_RIP 05.12.23 в 17:14

Elena clenched her fists and... no, she didn't shout, though she was tempted to give in to her anger. Draftsman's science came in handy. The swordswoman imagined that the heart - the receptacle of the soul, as everyone knew - was covered by a shield of purest and indestructible ice. It transmits images, allows her to see everything in the true light, and clears the eyes and intellect from fear and doubts.

Camrad_RIP 05.12.23 в 17:15

"Then I guess you owe me."

Camrad_RIP 05.12.23 в 17:16

That sounded good, correct. Without defiant defiance, with a cold calm, as if the words came from the heart, through that same icy armor chilled to absolute zero. The words of a brether who does not bare his blade first but is always ready to kill - without hesitation, without thought, without fear.

Camrad_RIP 05.12.23 в 17:17

The Duchess's thin, yet clear, inked eyebrow rose. The disdainful light in her blue eyes flickered like a candle in the wind. Elena realized that she was no longer walking, but jumping up and down on very thin ice, or, to use Ecumene's comparisons, pulling a taguar's whiskers. After all, the woman in front of her represented the Power and Wealth of the world. To play, to show what could be construed as disrespect, was quite dangerous, with the prefix "deadly". Milvess, of course, not the southern cities with their lawlessness of local princes-dukes, where almost every village goes under the ruler of the vassal, who himself is his own lord and judge. But the class society always remains so. It would be more sensible to faithfully play off a shallow and stupid fool, depriving the Duchess of a reason to be interested in an unusual healer...

Camrad_RIP 05.12.23 в 17:19

But Elena was in a state of excitement again, as she had been during the fight. Her body vibrated with fervor, energy, and a strange feeling. It traveled up along her abdomen to her solar plexus, tickling her muscles from the inside to run up her nerves to her fingertips. The healer, in turn, approached the duchess and looked into her eyes. She noted with her peripheral vision how the "rodent" named Mourier moved restlessly. Lovag gestured to the cloak, releasing the hilt of his sword.

Camrad_RIP 05.12.23 в 17:26

Blue eyes, not chrysolite. Rather even blue, very bright, saturated color, but at the same time transparent, as if carved from a fairy topaz.....

Camrad_RIP 05.12.23 в 17:26

"I'm not your adventure," Elena said clearly and plainly.

Camrad_RIP 05.12.23 в 17:27

Now, the Duchess took a step. The two women stood opposite each other, almost side by side, chest to chest. At such a distance, the perfume of the aristocrat made her head spin and tickled her nostrils like the scent of good (really good!) rum. It made her fingers tingle more and made her want to close her eyes so that... Elena shook her head stubbornly, breaking out of the second captivity of aroma magick. She thought she didn't smell like roses but like a man who'd spent hours jumping around a dark gym with exercise equipment.

Camrad_RIP 05.12.23 в 17:38

"I allow you to address me as 'you' and drop the 'mistress,'" the Duchess said calmly, with crystal clarity. "But you must remember that it is my permission."

Camrad_RIP 05.12.23 в 17:40

She clearly emphasized "mine." Elena wondered if it was a score of one-on-one in the verbal duel or if the lowborn townswoman had been put in her place.

Camrad_RIP 05.12.23 в 17:41

"What do you want?" Elena asked

Camrad_RIP 05.12.23 в 17:41

The Duchess sighed, tilting her head slightly to the side. In these moments, she looked less like a cat than like an exotic bird. Tall, slender, and full of the predatory beauty of youth and strength. Extremely dangerous.

Camrad_RIP 05.12.23 в 17:46

"Shall we walk?" suggested the visitor unexpectedly, turning slightly and making a gesture with her hand at the same time as if both pointing and opening the way. "Milvesse is fabulously good today, and the most interesting things are ahead. I've never seen a Remembrance here before, have you?"

Camrad_RIP 05.12.23 в 17:47

"No," Elena answered automatically.

Camrad_RIP 05.12.23 в 17:47

"Then we shall be interested," the Duchess moved easily and casually to "we." The smile on her pale, pearlescent lips seemed very sweet, almost friendly.

Camrad_RIP 05.12.23 в 17:48

For a moment, Lena felt like Pol (or was it Paul?) Muad'Dib in Dune. A point in the center of the universe, from which countless myriads of threads and connections diverged in all directions. A second of absolute equilibrium, when nothing has been decided yet when all paths are open. But touch one, make a choice, and the world changes, crossing out all other probabilities, at least for one person. And you can do nothing because procrastination is also a choice.

Camrad_RIP 05.12.23 в 17:50

// "And why not, after all?"

Camrad_RIP 05.12.23 в 17:50

"How should I address you?"

Camrad_RIP 05.12.23 в 17:50

"Flessa."

Camrad_RIP 05.12.23 в 17:51

"Just Flessa?"

Camrad_RIP 05.12.23 в 17:51

"Yes."

Camrad_RIP 05.12.23 в 17:51

"And them...?" Elena swung her chin toward the bodyguards.

Camrad_RIP 05.12.23 в 17:55

"They don't need to be addressed, why?" Flessa was surprised.

Camrad_RIP 07.12.23 в 13:42

"They're coming with us?"

Camrad_RIP 07.12.23 в 13:42

"Of course," Flessa was even more surprised. "This is my retinue."

Camrad_RIP 07.12.23 в 13:46

Elena took a breath. Everything was turning out kind of... weird. Wrong. Or vice versa, everything was going as it should, except that she didn't understand it. She couldn't let go of the strange feeling that right now a truly fateful choice had been made, and something had become predetermined. And something on the contrary would never come true. Like that hour when she changed her mind and took the noose off her neck.

Camrad_RIP 07.12.23 в 13:46

"Let's go."

Camrad_RIP 07.12.23 в 13:47

It was interesting and unusual to walk side by side with a real countess. The tall, blue-eyed brunette stepped exactly in the middle of the street, not caring a bit about who or what was ahead and behind. The five bodyguards shifted to form a compact horseshoe formation, the lovag named Mourier walking in front, elbows outstretched as if he were an icebreaker or a battering ram. He hung his cloak over his left shoulder, passing the double cord under the arm of his right hand. In this way the sword was concealed from outside eyes, and the long dagger, on the contrary, in full view. Encounters were dispersed on the sides, pressing against the walls, also no one was in a hurry to overtake the small procession.

Camrad_RIP 07.12.23 в 13:48

"And I remember you," Elena said in surprise. "A year ago, you rode through here on your warhorse."

Camrad_RIP 07.12.23 в 13:48

Flessa thought for a few moments and smiled with the words:

Camrad_RIP 07.12.23 в 14:04

"Yes, indeed. Pantocrator brings people together in bizarre ways."

Camrad_RIP 07.12.23 в 14:04

"What do you want?" Elena repeated the question.

Camrad_RIP 07.12.23 в 14:05

"You," the Duchess answered ingenuously.

Camrad_RIP 07.12.23 в 14:08

"Me," the healer said, because... what else was there to say here?

Camrad_RIP 07.12.23 в 14:09

"See," Flessa adjusted her black cloak, which, upon closer inspection, appeared to be trimmed with some sort of smooth glossy fur. The boots tread softly and lightly on the stones. Elena felt like a human walking hand in hand with an alien. Even their language was different, the Duchess pronounced the "s" with an emphasized hiss and regularly dropped the last consonants. Elena had heard something like this before in bits and pieces when the prison had been visited by high-born bonoms. Apparently, it was not a regional accent but some kind of speech tradition. [1]

Camrad_RIP 07.12.23 в 14:20

"When I want people, I buy them," informed Flessa with a charming and creepy casualness. "I wanted you, but you didn't take the money."

Camrad_RIP 07.12.23 в 14:18

Elena smiled sparingly, with just the fringes of her lips. It was a beautiful bowing scene that could have been made into a movie.

Camrad_RIP 07.12.23 в 14:21

"Are they all for sale?"

Camrad_RIP 07.12.23 в 14:21

"Of course you do. Everyone needs something. Everyone has desires that they can't satisfy. Different wants have different prices. Money, favors, opportunities."

Camrad_RIP 07.12.23 в 14:22