Селеста / Сelesta: Глава 18

Chapter 18

Camrad_RIP 21.10.22 в 18:47

Alat generally liked the current situation.

Camrad_RIP 21.10.22 в 18:47

It took him four months to get over the initial difficulties. He could have done it faster, but he couldn't kill too many people, and neither the bandits nor the guards would understand. Therefore - first negotiations, then the incomprehensible to the nail, no other way. There were some rough edges, but on the whole, the neighborhood gangs returned to the firm hand of the vampire community without too much fuss.

Camrad_RIP 21.10.22 в 19:08

Alat did not change the structure that existed under Zervan. There was no need. The city was still divided into districts, and each district had its overseer, who was responsible for the Coffers and didn't get involved with gangs. Vampires had been the only Watchers before, but now, with the staff shortage, about a third of the badges with the eye symbol was worn by humans. Alat considered inviting his friends from other cities but then decided against it. We'll do without strangers.

Camrad_RIP 22.10.22 в 17:33

The "big boss" did not sit permanently in Taleya, still preferring to wander around. The work is established, and the deputies can handle it, in case of incidents, there is a mirror communication, which even the younger ones know. Then, however, the head hurts, and he is thirsty. Witchcraft skills are bad for those who walk in the path of the Beast, it takes a lot of strength, and he is not Master Hustin, and especially not the Mistress, even capable of reaching Zonna in the daytime.

Camrad_RIP 22.10.22 в 18:43

That's not to say that there are no difficulties at all. He's still not so much at enmity with the guardsmen, but close. How else could it be, when they look at you like you're shit, all of them! Good thing he's on good terms with the mages, Vador put in a good word. Otherwise... It would have been bad, really. He'd seen what they were capable of.

Camrad_RIP 22.10.22 в 18:45

Well, humans do shit on a regular basis, too. There is nothing to be done about it - those who have brains, rarely go to gangsters. The fighters usually mess up on the small stuff, and it's the bosses who deal with their mistakes, so if something got to Alat, it means that the levels below the responsible failed and serious effort is required. There have been two occasions when he couldn't fix it himself and turned to Merk for help.

Camrad_RIP 22.10.22 в 18:53

A gut feeling told him that today would be the third time.

Camrad_RIP 22.10.22 в 18:53

The Squint's gang was running the Right Bank Market and a few outlets near the former Gold Quarter. The curse had swapped the upscale neighborhoods of Taleya with those of the poor, and the map of the city as a whole had changed dramatically. Only the palace of the Son of the Sea still towered haughtily on the cliff.

Camrad_RIP 22.10.22 в 18:54

What had happened with Squint, Alat did not understand - the fighter from the neighboring gang, who ran straight to him, did not say anything clearly. His leader sent messengers to all possible places where Alat could appear, with the order to tell about the big mess at the Right Bank. It seems that the mages there have fought and killed someone important because the guards are swarming and there is a total raid. The vampire listened to the message, cursed profusely, and rushed to meet the trouble.

Camrad_RIP 22.10.22 в 18:57

By the time he arrived in the market area, something had cleared up. Not in terms of visibility - it was the middle of the night - but about what had happened. Yes, indeed, there had been a fight between mages, but not two, but more. And while one side was more or less clear (high-class mercenaries, who were often seen in the local taverns), the other had never been seen in the area before.

Camrad_RIP 22.10.22 в 18:58

"The faces are well-groomed, they're covered with trinkets," the petty goon described them, standing at attention in front of Alat. "There were three of them and a dozen swordsmen. They've been taken to Vislo's shop and won't let anyone in."

Camrad_RIP 22.10.22 в 19:00

"There are a lot of guards," the ringleader added to his report. "The spiders are here, too, I recognized one of them, he had a conspicuous face. And someone else, I don't know who, but they're all lowering in front of him."

Camrad_RIP 22.10.22 в 19:01

"I see," Alat tossed a coin to the shining boy. "Are the mercenaries gone?"

Camrad_RIP 22.10.22 в 19:03

"I don't think they've all been killed," the younger bandit said. "It's a small unit, about twenty men, they're well known here. They're strong if they're hunting demons. At least someone must have survived. You want me to look?"

Camrad_RIP 22.10.22 в 19:04

"Yeah, find them. I want to understand what the heck is going on here."

Camrad_RIP 22.10.22 в 19:10

Clashes between two units with magical support within the city limits, even if not in the most prestigious area, are not frequent, so the fuss made by the guards had an explanation. What Alat didn't understand was who the mercenaries were fighting. Anything happened in the Capital, sometimes in street fights the nobles' squads came together and it was necessary to involve troops, and even the Royal Guard, to separate the enemies. Before, however, it had always been clear who was fighting whom. Now the locals could not determine one of the sides. The guards clearly knew something, but they preferred to keep quiet.

Camrad_RIP 22.10.22 в 19:12

The surviving mercenaries were found quickly. It only seems easy to hide in the city; if you know who to ask, and you're authoritative enough, you can find anyone. An hour later, Alat was standing outside a ramshackle house, practically a barn, and sniffing around, trying to determine how many people were inside. It smelled of earth, dampness, cat urine, and old shit. It smelled of blood, too, along with notes of medicinal tinctures. At least two hearts were beating inside the house, and my intuition told me that there were actually more people, only they were covered by magic.

Camrad_RIP 22.10.22 в 19:13

The vampire grimaced. Mages, until you punched them in the face, liked to show off.

Camrad_RIP 22.10.22 в 19:38

He walked into the courtyard without hiding, approached the symbolic porch, and swung the door open... The events then proceeded apace. Behind the door, an elderly but sturdy man jerked his hand sharply forward with the amulet clutched in it, and the vampire was simply swept backward. The impact was so swift that the body flew through the air for three meters and then rolled on the ground, stopping just outside the gate in the street.

Camrad_RIP 22.10.22 в 19:39

A human would have died on the spot. The younger vampire would have gotten away with broken limbs and perhaps a brief loss of consciousness. Alat pulled his face out of the dirt and roared angrily, feeling the world turn violently bloody.

Camrad_RIP 22.10.22 в 19:43

The paths of the Beast give those who follow them extraordinary strength and a range of abilities designed to strengthen the physical body. If an outsider were here, he would have seen the vampire's fangs lengthen, his shoulders bulge beneath his rattling clothes, and the muscles in his naked arms swell up in knots. Alat shot himself out of the way, traversing the ten paces that separated him from his foe in the blink of an eye, crashing headlong into the blue light of his nimbly erected shield. The shield vanished. The next blow, not quite as hard, struck at the thin outline of the mage's defense, which also crushed it. The mercenary, however, immediately jumped back, throwing his arms up in the air and shouting:

Camrad_RIP 22.10.22 в 19:47

"Peace! Peace! Redemption! Peace!"

Camrad_RIP 22.10.22 в 19:47

Not that his shouting stopped Alat, but he held back another blow. The hard slap only knocked the mage to the ground, not knocked half his head off as it might have. The man rolled deftly onto his back without rising from the floor, covering his legs and one hand with the other as he fumbled for something on his chest.

Camrad_RIP 22.10.22 в 19:48

"Peace!" he finally pulled his hand out from behind his groin and held it up, revealing a red glass on a leather string. "Elder, peace!"

Camrad_RIP 22.10.22 в 19:48

Alat looked closely at what he was poking at, snorted, stepped closer, and kicked the man. A little, as a prophylactic.

Camrad_RIP 22.10.22 в 19:49

"Get up, you scum. Who are you?"

Camrad_RIP 22.10.22 в 19:51

The man showed him what he called a "gratitude" amulet, an amulet that used the freely given blood of a vampire to create it. It was a simple thing, showing that some elder had cooperated with the mercenary before and was pleased with the result. There was no particular preference for "gratitude" amulet owners. It was just evidence that you could do business with this particular mortal. The amulets had no protection against falling into the wrong hands, so they were made of glass to be broken more often.

Camrad_RIP 22.10.22 в 20:04

"Nestorius Kraas, platoon leader of the Steel Squirrel Free Squad," the mercenary got to his feet with a grunt. He staggered. "Don't hold a grudge, Senior - I wasn't expecting you."

Camrad_RIP 22.10.22 в 20:12

"And whom?"

Camrad_RIP 22.10.22 в 20:13

"Guild mages. They put our squad down, I don't even know who else got away."

Camrad_RIP 22.10.22 в 20:13

"The Guilders?" Alat asked again. "The Royal Mage Guild, was it?"

Camrad_RIP 23.10.22 в 08:57

"Yes, these ones."

Camrad_RIP 23.10.22 в 08:57

What the Royal Mage Guild did, the vampire was vaguely aware of. As it happened, he had no dealings with them, and neither did the other servants of the Mistress. The Guild as an organization was tightly bound by numerous prohibitions, its members were under constant supervision of the government and "voluntary helpers" in cassocks, and there were no strong specialists there. Intelligence seemed to be keeping an eye on them, but Alat didn't know the details.

Camrad_RIP 23.10.22 в 09:13

"Let's go," he nodded at the doorway leading inside the house. "Tell me what they want from you."

Camrad_RIP 23.10.22 в 10:59

There was a thick smell of blood and human sweat in the room. It was clear at once why Nestorius was the only one fighting - the other two simply couldn't get up from their beds, so badly wounded they were. Three out of twenty? They had been badly beaten. Maybe someone else is hiding in other places.

Camrad_RIP 23.10.22 в 12:04

"So what did the guilders want from you?" Without asking permission, Alat sat down on the only stool in the room, ignoring the wary glances of the wounded.

Camrad_RIP 23.10.22 в 12:06

"I don't know. They came in the evening, asked the commander, and went up to a private office together. Well, not exactly an office - there's a cubicle in the inn on the second floor for a private conversation. I mean, there was. Fifteen minutes chatting, then a crash, the commander ran out, something hit him in the back, ours grabbed for swords. The inn went up in flames, then someone hit me with the Staff of Wrath, and the walls came tumbling down. I got out, grabbed the lads, and was off," the mage, slumped against the wall, speaking tiredly, not trying to be coy. He was eager to talk. "My contract with the Guild was up a few months ago, covering an expedition in the Rhyn Mountains. They're a quarter of what we were promised, the bitches."

Camrad_RIP 23.10.22 в 12:08

"What they were talking about, of course, you don't know."

Camrad_RIP 23.10.22 в 12:08

"No, of course not," Nestorius shrugged. He thought for a moment and grinned wickedly. "And anyway... Red Hey said he sensed one of yours in the guild's castle."

Camrad_RIP 23.10.22 в 12:21

"Tell me!"

Camrad_RIP 23.10.22 в 12:22

"We received the payment at their branch near Ivyanki, about a day's trip south, such a big village."

Camrad_RIP 23.10.22 в 12:23

"I know it. Next."

Camrad_RIP 23.10.22 в 12:49

"The Guild has a castle there. So when we were standing in the courtyard, Red Hey said he smelled a vampire. He had some sort of instinct for yours. It wasn't even magic, but a natural ability. But it worked. He went up to the commander afterward and whispered to him about something for a long time."

Camrad_RIP 23.10.22 в 16:55

The commander believed him and decided to try to blackmail the guilders a little, mentally added Alat. In vain. The wizards were foolish, too, underestimating the mercenaries, or they panicked and thought of nothing better than to start a fight at once. In any case - the story is interesting, the Mistress will surely want to hear it.

Camrad_RIP 23.10.22 в 16:56

The vampire gathered his spirits:

Camrad_RIP 23.10.22 в 16:56

"Mistress!"

Camrad_RIP 23.10.22 в 17:00

"Alat?" As always, he felt as if someone huge was standing behind him. Invisible, exuding cold. "Is something wrong?"

Camrad_RIP 23.10.22 в 17:00

"I've got mercenaries fighting guild mages near the Right Bank Market. I've got the mages dead, but there's not much left," the vampire said in a low voice. "Well, one of the survivors says his friend, who was killed, got a whiff of us in the mage's castle. They have a castle near Yvianki, where the mercenaries were paid off."

Camrad_RIP 23.10.22 в 17:02

"Interesting," came the reply after a short silence. "Where are you now?"

Camrad_RIP 23.10.22 в 17:02