Lana slowly put on her dress, pulled off the lacing on her chest. She straightened her heavy hair, throwing it over her back.Amtar watched her, stroking his chin. The man lay on the bed, free, relaxed. He was completely naked and did not even try to cover himself. But his gaze was strange, Lara still could not understand him. All the time it seemed that she was treading on very thin ice. One wrong move - and the icy water will absorb, drag you into a deadly whirlpool.Larana walked over to the table on which the mirror stood, adjusted her high collar so that the fresh bruise on her neck could not be seen. She reached for a glass of sweet wine.Suddenly, the floor trembled perceptibly, the dishes on the table tinkled alarmingly, and the chandelier with magical lamps swayed. The glass swayed dangerously and tipped over, spilling its contents. Larana snatched her hand back to save her sleeve and turned around.Amtar abruptly jumped to his feet, all gathered, listening. Somewhere in the
In the morning, Bery almost despaired. Barely waking up, Deya demanded to take her with him on a search. And no arguments that it is dangerous, and that it is generally better for a pregnant woman to stay at home and not worry so much, did not work on her. Almost got into a fight. Bery was in a hurry and angry, Deya stood her ground with iron confidence. Both were already on their nerves, and time was running out.- Okay, - Markat got angry. – Guardians!Two werewolves entered the room, guarding the chambers.- Go with the search party. Your task is to protect the mistress, not to step aside from her. Do not lower your gaze. Do you care about your heads?The men in black uniforms nodded in unison.“That’s great,” the man breathed out tiredly. “Deya, what are you doing to me?”The girl approached him, trustingly clung to him, rubbed her nose against his shoulder.- I should be there.-Good. Let's not waste time.The cabin that brought the search party to the city stopped much higher th
Aznar did not come to his senses for a long time. Atara took care of him, applied some kind of ointment, put incense burners with healing herbs next to him, treated Markat with magic. Dea helped her as much as she could. She was tormented by anxiety. She saw that Bery also did not find a place for himself. He was worried, now and then walked up and down the room, went to the window and looked down at the city for a long time, to where the rescue work was still going on.Deamara didn't ask, but guessed what he was thinking. About the losses brought by the avalanche. About the victims, about the missing crops and stocks. And about the discontent of those who survived. She herself constantly thought about it. Those bad rumors that Laran spread among her friends, and which had long since penetrated the city, now received the worst confirmation. Now even those who didn't believe would think it was her fault.The Markats are a cruel and wild people, my father said. They are dangerous, they
Trouble reigned in the streets of the city. People huddled in flocks, armed with sticks, spears and torches and shouting "Down with the witch!" and "For old Emberg!" attacked entire detachments of guards in black and silver uniforms. Some defeated others with varying degrees of success. Most often, the brawl quickly turned into an indiscriminate dump. In some places, especially desperate ones set fire to barns and warehouses. Their roofs were thatched, not tiled, and they caught fire almost instantly. Now black smoke rose from the buildings. Gray ash fell from above, like snow in the dark. Those who did not want to fight hid in the houses, firmly closing the shutters and barricading the doors. Together with the rebels, the marauders also woke up: several shops had already been looted.The battle, like a fire, spread to the castle. Several detachments of rebels staged a bloody massacre on the first floor, traitors were among their own: many of the guards were killed quickly and vilely,
The cells were located on the lower floors of the castle, going deep into the thickness of the mountain. Heat breathed in the stone walls, it was always dry and warm here. Nothing to do with the usual damp casemates, in which they died from diseases, rotted alive. The chambers themselves, hollowed out in stone, had rounded shapes and were closed with gratings with massive strong rods, so that not a single markat would break.Larana was sitting on a stone bench with her legs folded and hunched over. She was still wearing men's clothing, badly damaged in the fight. The wounds gradually healed, the itching and pain passed, but she did not care. She did not feel her body, her thoughts being far away.Aznar did not like to come down here. Here it seemed that the walls were crushing, suffocating and did not allow to breathe normally. And if you remember what a monstrous thickness of rock separates from the sunlight, hangs over your head, it becomes completely sickening.He walked over to La
Snow blizzards gave way to the pressure of warm sunny days. Under the hot rays, the snow melted rapidly, becoming wet and dense. The first clearings appeared, although where the shadow reigned, sparkling snowdrifts still breathed the cold of winter. Children were playing snowballs with might and main, snowballs fell on the walls of houses and melted there, spreading in streams.Outside the city, reindeer herds wandered into the field more and more often, moose came. They fought, and the crackling of horns reached the city walls. The ice melted off the coast and the merchants gleefully rubbed their hands, waiting to launch their ships into the water to trade with the magicians and the inhabitants of the islands.Dei's position became clear. The round belly was already difficult to hide. They made new dresses for her. Warm and spacious, with drawstrings under the bust. Deamara continued her studies with Atara, embroidering and sewing with Shali. Aznar and Bery again disappeared for days
-Are you okay? - Beria looked carefully and calmly. Of course, he had already been told about the incident on the walk."I'm fine," Deja gently stroked the raised scar that adorned his left cheekbone. The same was on the neck. - With me and with the children.The princess thought how much he had changed since their first meeting. How I learned to keep a mask in front of strangers. It's like he's grown up a few years.Yes, she has changed a lot since then. Who was she then? A poor girl who was scared to death of the Markats and dreamed of returning home. She wouldn't trade harsh Emberg for the Anmar capital now. The golden city was far away and in memory seemed like a ghostly vision. Like all past life.He and Beria settled down in a round living room in one of the towers of the castle. The walls of this room were decorated with a painting depicting a chain of snow-capped mountains. Four bodyguards remained on guard at the door: two inside, two outside. Shawls, along with other servant
The merchant and his family lived on the second floor of their shop. And at this late hour, he obviously did not expect guests. But he didn't sleep either. A dim reddish light shone in the windows. Beria, seeing this, narrowed his eyes:What can an honest person do at a time like this?- Do not rush to conclusions, - Aznar answered judiciously. “Maybe he's just counting the daily receipts.Beria raised his eyebrows, showing that he did not believe. The time was indeed well past midnight.“Knock,” he ordered the guards who carried the torches. Let's please him with a late visit.The merchant was “rejoiced” notably: he turned pale and almost slammed the door on the uninvited guests, but who would allow him. The man was clearly not going to sleep, he was fully dressed and did not look sleepy. Deya was alarmed, did this good-natured man who keeps his shop decide to resort to dark sorcery?The ground floor was in twilight. There were stacks of herbs and boxes on the counter.-What's your n