Нова Проспект / Nova Prospect: My Dragons Will Decimate (Цири)

My Dragons Will Decimate (Ciri)

Camrad_RIP 15.03.24 в 13:38

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Camrad_RIP 15.03.24 в 13:38

Between Shanghai and Yancheng, dawn.

Camrad_RIP 15.03.24 в 14:01

"Earth." It was an ironic name for a world where, instead of the proverbial earth, there was dense stone underfoot and the sky was a shimmering brownish-green color. Ciri had seen much stranger places: cities where cats walked on two legs and mushroom buildings rose to the heavens, where people traveled by flying insects instead of ships.

Camrad_RIP 15.03.24 в 21:17

But even on a giant grasshopper, Ciri wasn't as uncomfortable as she was in an iron box, hurtling along at full speed to an unknown destination. She'd inherited her knack for getting into trouble from Geralt.

Camrad_RIP 15.03.24 в 21:30

//"What happened to him after all?" - She thought as she watched Adam keep his eyes on the numbers running across the screen. At night, while he slept, Ciri had tried to sneak a closer look at him, to see how his mechanical arms were attached to his torso. They were nailed together as if with rivets, but the flesh and iron were joined very neatly - only an experienced healer could have sewn them together so skillfully.

Camrad_RIP 15.03.24 в 21:31

The saw cutting into the living with a soft creak... Bonarte. Ciri swallowed a bitter saliva.

Camrad_RIP 15.03.24 в 21:31

"Adam?"

Camrad_RIP 15.03.24 в 20:24

"Мh?" he replied, touching the barely visible pentagon-shaped scar on his forehead.

Camrad_RIP 15.03.24 в 21:53

"What happened to you?" Ciri nodded at his hands. "Did you run into the wrong guy? Or did you choose to become like this?"

Camrad_RIP 15.03.24 в 21:55

"Like this?" he echoed. "I never... Well, circumstances. Consider it lost in a fight."

Camrad_RIP 16.03.24 в 08:14

Many survivors of the Northern Wars were crippled, and the alternative to a mass grave was a bottle or a church porch. They'd lost arms or legs, but she'd never met anyone unlucky enough to lose all their limbs at once. And Adam was undoubtedly good with a shooter... gun. She'd forgotten the exact name of it, either Zakat or Zenith.

Camrad_RIP 16.03.24 в 08:16

"How'd you manage that?"

Camrad_RIP 16.03.24 в 08:16

Adam grinned unhappily.

Camrad_RIP 16.03.24 в 08:26

"Just a scratch, I've had worse," Ciri gave him a perplexed look and he clarified: "Monty Python. Never mind. Seriously, I still don't know exactly how it happened. I was told after the fact that there was no other way out."

Camrad_RIP 16.03.24 в 08:27

Because of the impersonal nature of the last phrase, Ciri pictured in her mind some entity that had come down to earth to tell Adam about the Destination.

Camrad_RIP 16.03.24 в 08:27

"I sympathize," Ciri sighed, but he wasn't listening, turning back to the string of numbers.

Camrad_RIP 16.03.24 в 08:29

It was not for nothing that Nanneke reprimanded her for her irrepressible inquisitiveness. //"Curiosity killed the cat,"

Camrad_RIP 16.03.24 в 08:30

As much as Ciri tried to look at Adam sleeping that night, she couldn't tell in the dark whether he was made of iron below the waist or just wearing black underwear. The former could at least explain why, lying in bed with her, he didn't even try to....

Camrad_RIP 16.03.24 в 13:59

Nothing.

Camrad_RIP 16.03.24 в 13:59

She'd taken casual touches and awkward compliments for granted for a long time - the days when Jennyfeather had called her, loving though she was, an ugly duckling were over. And Ciri certainly hadn't expected a man who, for the first time in a long time, had managed to arouse her... curiosity, to prefer to turn away peacefully.

Camrad_RIP 16.03.24 в 14:00

It was obvious he had not read Buttercup's philosophical writings in three volumes. //"Get it through your heads, gentlemen: you insult a young lady by not trying to attempt, not the other way around!"

Camrad_RIP 16.03.24 в 09:16

Ciri instinctively rubbed her cheek and tried to distract herself from the stupid thoughts. The vehicle was going faster than the Wild Gon, but inside the box, she couldn't even hear the howl of the wind, just an annoying noise that sounded like dragonflies. Here they liked to create fakes, trying to imitate the original: iron was made to look like flesh, stone like wood, and the artificial light only remotely resembled sunlight.

Camrad_RIP 16.03.24 в 08:31

Ciri wasn't comfortable in the skin-tight garment. The local craftsmen did a poor job of making the cloaks, so thin and narrow armor that only sorceresses could wear it on horseback. But the swords were very good! The one Armitidge had given her was as short and graceful as a dwarven gwyhir, but many times lighter and sharper. The hilt was smooth in the palm of her hand, and its curve invited her to bend at the elbow and slash.

Camrad_RIP 16.03.24 в 08:32

Adam finally broke away from contemplating the running lines and walked over to her, leaning against the opposite wall and crossing his arms over his chest.

Camrad_RIP 16.03.24 в 08:32

"If we're going to be honest about it," //"When did we decide that?" thought Ciri. "Are you seriously... um... the Emperor's daughter?"

Camrad_RIP 16.03.24 в 09:11

How? Ah, yes, Ciri said that to Bmbi in a vain attempt to scare the false archmage. Information travels faster than the wind around here-- a spy's dream, not the world.

Camrad_RIP 15.03.24 в 21:11

She was a little puzzled at the very question - Ciri had never thought of Emhyr as a father, or herself as the heir to the Nilfgaard Empire. The Emperor could be called many things: a fine ruler and strategist, an egregious liar and a schemer - those qualities had always been remarkably compatible - but a father? That place in her life was long ago and firmly occupied by another.

Camrad_RIP 16.03.24 в 08:49

"Daughter of the Emperor of Nilfgaard, yes. Also known as the Lady of the Lake, the Lady of Time and Space, the Unexpected Child, and so on," Adam grinned at the third epithet. "Smile-smile, I haven't laughed in a long time."

Camrad_RIP 16.03.24 в 09:10

"Is it all right if we are without titles, Your Grace?"

Camrad_RIP 16.03.24 в 08:46

White teeth gleamed in the dim light.

Camrad_RIP 16.03.24 в 08:47

"Your Highness," Ciri snorted jokingly. "I'm a princess, not a duchess."

Camrad_RIP 15.03.24 в 21:06

She remembered the ridiculous portrait Сalanthe had hung in her chambers, a little girl with pouty lips, all starched ruffles and bows, against a background of the Cintrian coat of arms. Ciri chuckled.

Camrad_RIP 15.03.24 в 21:08

"I beg your pardon, Your Highness," Adam did what he probably meant by a ceremonial bow, but for which, however, the imperial chamberlain would have chased him through the court. Ciri laughed even harder.

Camrad_RIP 16.03.24 в 08:34

"That's better."

Camrad_RIP 16.03.24 в 08:34

She had spent the last five winters on the run, hiding from those who saw her only as a title, not a person. //"Destined, Promised, Obliged" she could put it on her coat of arms as a motto, under the imperial sun.

Camrad_RIP 16.03.24 в 08:35

Moments of calm were precious to Ciri.

Camrad_RIP 15.03.24 в 21:05

* * *

Camrad_RIP 15.03.24 в 20:24

Four hours later, Red Bank ground zero.

Camrad_RIP 15.03.24 в 20:25

She loved watching Adam. He was damn good at what he did, a lightning-fast and precise attacking phantom, able to guess where his opponent was hiding. And his weapon was just as good, compact, and silent.

Camrad_RIP 15.03.24 в 20:25

She wonder who would emerge victorious - him or Geralt - if they were to clash in a fight?

Camrad_RIP 15.03.24 в 20:26

But Adam didn't have the brutality of killers used to hiding in the shadows. He didn't kill the ridiculous man in his uniform but hid him in a back room. And while Ciri appreciated the noble gesture, she was still of the opinion that mercy was too much of a luxury and that if you had to strike, you had to strike for sure.
T.N. Strike first. Strike hard. NO MERCY.

Camrad_RIP 15.03.24 в 20:28

But she didn't have to kill. All she had to do was get into the schematically illuminated vault and tear through time and space until it literally smelled like burning.

Camrad_RIP 15.03.24 в 20:28

The room - four wide square walls of smooth white stone and the same ceiling - was not richly decorated. The room had no furniture except for the wide screens and the massive terminal. It was toward the latter that Adam headed. Ciri was convinced that nothing in this world worked or could work without hardware.

Camrad_RIP 15.03.24 в 21:04

She found the decision to entrust security to a piece of metal that could so easily be overbought reckless. She'd come to that conclusion after the square golems - she thought they were called drones - had let them into the room without objection.

Camrad_RIP 15.03.24 в 21:03

"Is everything all right?" Ciri asked, thinking Adam was taking too long.

Camrad_RIP 15.03.24 в 20:55

That one was silent.

Camrad_RIP 15.03.24 в 20:56

Instead, her question was answered by a howl worse than a bruxa's scream. Less than a moment later, the massive doors slammed shut with a terrible rattle of hidden mechanisms. Ciri looked up at Adam, and for a split second, the reflection of her own fear flashed in the dark lenses before her.

Camrad_RIP 15.03.24 в 20:56

An invisible enemy was watching them from the mirror screens...

Camrad_RIP 15.03.24 в 20:30

...ПРИЙТИ СЮДА БЫЛО КРИТИЧЕСКОЙ ОШИБКОЙ (COMING HERE WAS YOUR FATAL ERROR)...

Camrad_RIP 15.03.24 в 20:30