Селеста / Сelesta: Глава 10

Chapter 10

Camrad_RIP 12.02.22 в 18:07

The possibilities of creatures unable to bear the touch of the sun's rays are severely limited, primarily by time. The older ones, of course, have it easier. As they grow older, the urgent need to fall into a dead sleep disappears, and all that remains is to guard against the stinging touch of the light, that is, simply not to ascend to the upper tiers of the dungeons that pervade Taleya.

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 13:59

Celesta valued her time more than anyone else, but she couldn't work all the time. There was, after all, a limit to her stamina. Sometimes she felt that if she didn't stop and allow herself a break, she would break and fall like a hunted horse. She preferred to spend her rare moments of rest in the company of her loved ones, rather than on visits to revelry or seeking adventure because she had enough extreme stuff in her life. Those whom she trusted and to whom she could show her true self.

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 14:01

Medea was most often her companion. She enjoyed every opportunity to light a fireplace, climb into a deep armchair, grab a glass of expensive wine, and, plunged into the comfort of the room, start a conversation on hundreds of topics at a time. On occasion, her gossip would yield unique information, though more often than not, it would have no meaningful meaning. Celesta, however, was not silent either. She preferred to discuss the subject to the end, sacrificing breadth in favor of depth once she had grasped it.

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 14:19

"Are you still feeding all kinds of riffraff?"

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 14:21

"Celesta!" Medea raised her hands to the ceiling in irritation, calling the invisible heavens to witness. "How many times do I have to tell you! They're not jerks, they're celebrities! Ce-leb-ri-ties!"

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 14:23

"Do you think there's a difference?" The frail little girl smiled slightly. She thought an angry Medea looked very funny, so she teased her sister a little from time to time. "Okay, okay, I won't. So, are you two communicating?"

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 14:24

"Of course. You're wrong to be dismissive of them; there are some very talented young people among them."

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 14:25

"Are there any good writers?"

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 14:25

"Ratillon from Seki. What do you need it for?" The beauty, the lioness of high society, the successful spy, and, as well, the caring patroness of the arts, became wary.

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 15:43

"If we have to go free," the leader of the Taleyan undead snickered, "we should take care of our reputations. A favorable public opinion makes life a lot easier, even for the undead."

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 15:49

"What are you implying?"

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 15:49

"Let your boy write a somewhat romantic book," Celesta instructed. "Something snotty about eternal love, death, and the Prince of Night. Like, he was a great warlord, but his enemies poisoned his wife. Or better yet, they sent her a fake message and she jumped off the tower herself. Then he renounced Illiar to serve the Dark One forever. Morvan turns the warlord into a vampire, he sits in his castle for a hundred years, until one day he receives a portrait of a girl who resembles his beloved like two peas in a pod. The sufferer gets off the diet of the local peasant women and goes to town, finds his wife reborn, she dies, then he meets the dawn on her grave. In short, everyone is dead. Can your Ratillon handle it?"

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 15:51

Medea mentally counted to ten, and then inquired:

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 15:51

"But why?"

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 15:51

"Such, so to speak, literature is especially popular with teenage girls, dreaming of eternal love until the grave," a cold, cynical, and calculating mask looked unpleasant on a young face. "Then they grow up, get married, tell bedtime stories to their children. The next generation will no longer think of vampires as the original evil. It will be easier to work with them."

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 15:52

The beautiful girl nodded slightly. It was something she had expected to hear. However, her innate wickedness made her notice:

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 15:53

"Considering the conspiracy that is woven in the palace now, are you in any hurry to make long-term plans? If all goes as we planned, soon one could lose one's head for praising the undead."

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 15:55

"That's not bad either. A mediocre writer becomes a classic after his death, and it's harder to criticize him. Yes, by the way, there is no conspiracy."

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 15:55

"How so? - Medea wondered. "Then why did the governors of the Southern provinces so amicably ignore the latest emergency tax decree? Such unanimity is suspicious."

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 15:57

"There's no conspiracy," Celesta repeated in a confident tone. "Think about it. The Secret Service consists of four divisions, each dealing with its own area. The First Division oversees internal affairs, noble intrigue, counterintelligence, and the fight against separatism, that is, the excessive autonomy of the nobility. There is not much left of it, the professionals are gone, but some of the old-timers are still working. The Second Division is occupied by various kinds of sects, and we often communicate with its employees, too. The Third Division is External Intelligence and Counterintelligence. As of today, Taleya has no political opponents comparable to her in power, but this situation can change at any minute. For example, the Lord Captain of Deep Harbor marries the daughter of the ruler of Lanaka, and the resulting alliance will be difficult to cope with. The Fourth Division serves as the Human Resources and Accounting Department, so its personnel is guarded much better than the others."

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 16:00

Officially four people are working at each Division, but they are only the leaders, the visible part of the iceberg. It's such ice blocks floating on the sea. The bulk of them is hidden by the water. I don't know the exact numbers, but I believe there are about a hundred regular officers in all in the Secret Service, perfectly trained and educated.

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 16:37

Some of them we know, we have encountered in various situations, but I am willing to bet that the names of many are unknown to us. And each of them has their own agents, snitches, enthusiastic patriots and other freelance sources of information. So we can assert that if the conspiracy had existed in reality, it would not have passed by this structure. The net woven by the "spiders" is very dense, and a small or very large organization is bound to get caught in it. Once the three nobles get together, the ears of the secret guards are sure to show up somewhere nearby. I would rather believe in the existence of a lone psychopath who miraculously cheated his way into the Guards and stabbed our dearest Chancellor to death during a night visit to another lady.

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 16:38

And besides the "spiders," there is also the army intelligence, subordinate to the First Sword; the personal guards of the noble houses, the special office of the Guard, the department of international relations under the diplomatic corps... Not to mention us, the silent ones.

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 16:38

"No, Medea. If a conspiracy existed, we would know about it. At least on a yes-no level."

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 16:39

"Then I don't understand what's going on," the beauty admitted. In other companies, she would have pouted, but with Celesta, she could do without masks. "Before, the parties at court had never before been so openly and harshly intrigued."

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 16:40

"What's going on? Collapse. The economic and political mistakes of the government, the stupidity of the Son of the Sea, the greed of the relatives of the Chancellor and Queens, the dominance of the monks of Blue Ang... In this situation, many bet on Prince Kono. He has not voiced and is not going to declare his goals, he does not need to - the logic of events pushes him to make certain decisions. Which are essentially two - either a takeover or a split of the country. Well, he can also commit suicide. In a certain sense, the prince is not in control of his desires: he has many obligations to supporters who want to escalate the conflict. Some sincerely believe that Irrhan shouldn't be on the throne - I agree with them, by the way - some hope to get more material benefits in the form of land and money from the coming mess, while others have lost loved ones to repression and simply want revenge."

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 16:50

"Well, what should we do?"

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 16:51

"Watch. Waiting. Gather rumors. You know many feudal lords whose lands lie near the borders, don't you? Those who have the right to keep a retinue? Talk to them, much depends on their position now."

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 16:51

"With pleasure," the beautiful undead purred. "A little warm, friendly company wouldn't hurt after meeting His Highness. It's unlikely he'll want a closer acquaintance."

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 16:52

The meeting with Prince Kono was in the best traditions of the spy genre - the night, the secret passage, the figures in broad cloaks, the dim light of lanterns... Alas, the audience was short and ended with a puff. Medea had only had time to express her joy at seeing a kinsman of the Son of the Sea - may he rule forever - before she was interrupted in the middle of a tirade. She was informed that the current king disapproved of all things associated with the Darkness, and was only accepting Mistress Medea in memory of the many favors rendered by the undead to ancestors of the ruling family. The prince spoke briefly, hinting, but he said interesting things.

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 16:54

If you translate his words into ordinary language, it's like this: He'd like to help, but he doesn't know-how. The vampires and their network of informants were important to him. But to help them... at least to have some joint business means not only to spoil not the warmest relations with the priests but to get into the personal fiefdom of the head of state, carefully guarded against the eyes of others. Kono will not take such a risk, for it is possible to get a silk string to strangle himself for less. Period.

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 16:56

"By the way, shouldn't we invite Latham to the party? You have to agree, he'll make an impression on this crowd."

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 16:57

"Don't," Celesta declined the offer. "He's sending his son into exile, first of all, and secondly, I have other plans for his group."

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 19:35

Medea leaned forward, her eyes gleaming excitedly:

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 19:35

"Does our unsociable knight have a son?! Oh, my goodness!"

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 19:36

"Didn't you know that?" Celesta was a little surprised. Normally high society gossip didn't get past her friend. "The current Baron Kaparu is Latham's child. A bastard, but he received some of his father's inheritance."

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 19:36

"He's about two hundred years old now," Medea recalled. "So Latham conceived him just before he died."

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 19:40

"No, it's more complicated than that. Officially, the Baron is considered the son of, um, his father. Don't smile, you know what I mean. It's just that the old baron has lost the ability to procreate and has asked a favor of his suzerain's heir. The line must not be interrupted. Little is known of this history, and thank the gods - otherwise, we would not have been given the order to eliminate Kaparu."

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 19:41

"Tulak has become completely insolent," said the beauty.

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 19:42

"The initiative does not come from him."

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 19:49

"However..."

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 19:50

A light knock on the door prevented Medea from making an accurate assessment of the identity of the respected curator. The undead looked equally disgruntled at the heavy oak barrier that separated their quiet quiet sanctuary from the greedy outside world, then Celesta set her glass on the table and resolved:

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 19:50

"Come in, Merck."

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 19:51

She wouldn't be disturbed over nothing right now.

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 19:51

"I'm sorry, Mistress," he said, a slight wave of uncertainty and embarrassment coming from the undead who had entered, he was young and not yet able to hide his emotions. It was easy to detect them. "You ordered me to let you know at once if I could find Panari."

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 19:59

"Yes. Where is he?"

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 20:01

"Beggars spotted him in the catacombs under the North Market, so I took the liberty of bringing him here. He's in the waiting room. We had to use force, though - he tried to escape."

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 20:01

"All right, Merck," the mistress nodded. I'll be right there."

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 20:02

When the young vampire came out, the two eternally young girls looked at each other grimly. Neither of them wanted the party to end. There was silence in the room for a while, interrupted only by the crackling of embers in the fireplace, and then Celesta made a sour smile:

Camrad_RIP 13.02.22 в 20:02