Житие Мое / Life of Mine: Глава 6

Chapter 6

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 18:54

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Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 18:54

In the early hours of the next morning, our boat entered Trunk Bay with flags on the mast and a dull, monotonous plague alarm. Through the morning fog, the watchtowers flashed their lights, and at the entrance to the fairway we were met by an iron gate that reminded me of Capetower. The gate, however, was open. The boat's captain was nervous, Mr. Smith was tapping impatiently on the rail, and it took a good half-hour for the quarantine staff to wake up, spot us, and indicate the ship's berth.

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 19:42

Contrary to expectations, our appearance at Trunk Bay did not cause a sensation.

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 19:43

The head of the quarantine service and part-time chief of the local NZAMIPS office took the news of the death of the keeper of Yudoli with a grim fatalism:

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 19:45

"We told him, Get out of there while you still have your head, and he said, Everything is under control, everything is under control!"

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 19:46

I nodded sympathetically, and my uncle hummed understandingly - for a black mage to admit that he'd failed at something was completely unthinkable.

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 19:47

The chief of NZAMIPS was an old friend of Uncle Gordon's and a sensible man, so when we arrived in the quarantine zone, we were immediately put on probation and assigned to work as freelance orderlies. There were surprisingly few black wizards among the staff; Chief Harlick was always suffering from incomprehension on the part of others and took his breath away by inviting us to tea every night.

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 19:50

"Are you going to exorcise Rustle?"

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 19:50

"Where to find him now! This abomination will make a mess, and then it's gone. No, we'll collect the remains and mothball the buildings. Now the capital's bosses won't argue with that."

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 19:53

"How did people live there before?" I wondered

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 19:53

"Before... Three years ago, they were going to close us - there were no patients, and now we are building a new block - there are not enough places. We are living now."

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 19:55

It was difficult to argue with Chief Harlick - he knew too much about everything.

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 20:00

For me, the twenty-eight days in Trunk Bay were a real holiday - full board, comfortable rooms, and a rich cultural program. Chief Harlick turned out to be a connoisseur of Krowhard folklore and a sociable man, which for blacks is a rarity. He willingly commented on what was going on, asked no questions about my and my uncle's studies of the Source, and taught me a simple exorcism ritual, just in case. It is so much easier to live when everyone in charge is an insider!

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 20:01

I wrote a letter to my mother, reassuring her that we had finished the work on King's Island and complaining that it would have to wait a little longer to return (she had no reason to know about the quarantine). In the meantime, my theoretical knowledge of the undead was filling up quickly with practical application: we were invited to receive new arrivals and tame the especially violent ones-only a black mage could react properly to the antics of a mind stricken by an undead contagion. I got the kids. Lots of children with wandering smiles, impetuous movements, and unpredictable mood swings. In each of the little patients, I saw Lucik. It made me somehow very clear that my white family must be removed from Krowhard.

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 20:03

"The kids are coming to us from Brand Valley," Chief Harlick explained. "There's a whole town there that's grown in the last ten years, a lot of strangers coming in. Now they have to teach the rules of undead handling in schools as a core subject. I'd have started before, but the parents were against it, you know, unstable kids' psyche and all. So now they bring the kids to us, and the adults die on the spot because they know less about it than the little ones."

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 20:05

Well, at least as far as knowing the rules was concerned, I didn't have to worry about Lucik.

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 20:06

For volunteering for NZAMIPS, we were paid a hospital attendant's salary, one crown a day. Together with the twenty crowns we had earned in the two weeks, we had been on the expedition, we had received almost fifty. Note - earned by honest work! This sum did not solve my financial difficulties, and I began to cry to my uncle about my bitter fate. How could it be that the black mage had left no property to his son?

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 20:07

Uncle shrugged:

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 20:08

"If you want, I'll ask Harlick to find out why. I hadn't been in contact with your father in years, but you're right, it was strange. I mean, I'm a mediocre alchemist, but he was a real wizard, a cool black one. What the hell happened back there?"

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 20:09

No, it's still good to have friends, although for blacks this is the exception rather than the rule.

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 20:09

We got home when we were less than ten days away from the end of the summer holiday. Joe had put the hives away somewhere (though the bees were flying in the garden), but I didn't care about them anymore - I was now a real black mage, tough and brave.

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 20:10

I spent the time I had left before I returned to Redstone riding my scooter, scaring the cows, telling the kids stories about King's Island (which had nothing to do with reality), helping my uncle to clear a month's backlog of work in the workshop, and gathering rumors of what was going on in Krowhard. Chief Harlick was right: everything pointed to a return to the legendary days of yore. Eventually, I decided to talk to my stepfather about it.

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 20:11

"Joe, it has come to my attention that Krowhard has been in turmoil of late. You ought to move somewhere closer to Redstone or the capital."

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 20:12

The stepfather only sighed:

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 20:12

"I should. But we don't have the money to move, Thomas, even assuming I get a job right away."

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 20:12

Then we should at least get Lucik out of here. You should send him to a boarding school, or maybe you have relatives.

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 20:13

"I'm thinking about it."

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 20:14

I put my hard-earned fifty on the table.

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 20:14

"There! When I get back to Redstone, I'll send more. Think harder."

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 20:15

He crumpled and was in no hurry to take the money. Another white sickness on my head!

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 20:15

"What else?"

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 20:15

"You take such good care of your family. You do so much for the younger ones... And I never apologized to you!"

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 20:16

"What for?" I didn't understand.

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 20:16

"I invaded your home, took your father's place... You must be angry with me."

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 20:17

I sighed. How typical! The white mage would measure everyone by his own standards to the last. You'd think he was an empath.

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 20:18

"Haven't you been lectured on psychological differences?"

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 20:18

"They did, of course. I've always tried to be... well... understanding..."

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 20:19

But he still didn't understand it to the end.

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 20:19

"If my father had spent enough time at home for me to remember him. If you had come to the house when I was eight instead of eleven. If you had tried to lecture me. If you had forbidden me to buy that damn scooter. If you had started those fucking bees before I left... Anyway, if you had done things differently, I would have hated you to the core. But as it is... I guess real parents don't always understand their kids either, but it all works out somehow."

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 20:21

Joe smiled:

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 20:22

"You are older now. Wiser."

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 20:22

"There's that."

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 20:22

All that's left is to find a job. Oh, the money...

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 20:23

The day of my departure for Redstone was a noisy and hectic one. I had gone to the train station the day before and pulled a little scam: my compartment ticket had gone to an unidentified lucky man, and I was to return to Redstone on a shuttle bus. It wasn't entirely legal, but it gave me an extra eighteen crowns. Too bad it was going to take twice as long. My mother tried to put a tattered, jingling bag in my rucksack, and I persisted in taking it out.

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 20:23

"Son, take it on the road!"

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 20:23

"No money!" I was adamant that I didn't want it. "You need it more. There's always plenty of money to be made in the city."

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 20:24

I wish I knew how...

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 20:24

At the last moment, it turned out that the train wasn't stopping at Wilderness Station, so Uncle Gordon had to take me in his jalopy through two mountain passes. There was an upside to that, since there was no snotty goodbye, and a downside, since I couldn't talk to my mother about my father again.

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 20:25

It was an annoyingly slow journey on the local trains, which rarely run and stumble at every bouncy station. It was a good thing I had my food with me (my mother had done her best), and Joe had guzzled some of his own mead into a gourd (it made the journey a lot more fun). It took me twenty-six hours to get to Eckwerwer station, and from there were two trains to Redstone, so I had another three hours just to wait for my locomotive. Sleeping at the station was fraught with trouble, and I didn't want to spend money on a locker, so I sat in the waiting room, cuddling with my rucksack, bored to death.

Camrad_RIP 19.04.23 в 20:26