Inessa Rudolfovna stood in front of the door of the apartment in which she had once been and that was seven years ago.There was not much chance of finding a person with whom it was very important for her to talk. But it was still worth trying. For a while, she listened to the sounds, hoping for signs that someone was at home. Finally she pressed the call button.After standing for exactly one minute, she rang again and decided not to wait any longer, stepped onto the stairs. When she was already down to the platform, there was a click of the lock. The door was opened by a 35-year-old brown-haired woman of very pleasant appearance, with a noble-beautiful face, long straight hair and bangs falling over her eyes. Judging by how strictly and elegantly she was dressed, she had recently arrived or was about to go out somewhere. - Hello, sorry for the trouble, - Inessa Rudolfovna began, - it may seem a little strange, but I would like to see the person who lived here seven years ago. You a
The cardinal sighed, got up and walked in circles along the linen walls. In motion and thoughts began to run faster. The way out of the mousetrap was found quickly, but the path to it promised to be thorny and long. If it can be passed at all. Moreover, the main role in the implementation of the plan belonged to other people whom Gaetano could not fully control. And the weakest, as well as the most important place was Lorenzo. Which time. The Inquisitor had been restless in recent months as he began to rely too heavily on his second in command, so close to being dependent on his own subordinate. Therefore, the cardinal pushed back and forth a little more, wondering if another solution to the problem would appear on the mental horizon. But - alas! - the original idea remained the only one.Time was against Gaetano, and he did not hesitate any longer.“Our only trump card is the Wolf Ruby,” the cardinal began preparations from afar. - If we get the artifact, then we will dictate the ter
Vlad could not arrange his head so that it would hurt less. The prisoners were not supposed to have pillows, and through the skinny mattress all the unevenness of the soil and acorns were felt. In the end, the guy spat and sat down in Turkish, desperate to find a level place. Armand put his hand under the back of his head and whistled as he gazed at the cloth ceiling.What interesting things did you see there?"Shut up, I think," snapped the Frenchman.Offended by such a tone, Vlad answered the arrogant mercenary in a simple way, in Russian, mentioning his mother and other relatives. Contrary to expectations, Arman did not fall for a provocation and did not swear in response, but said in an icy voice:-Listen, you're here for the second week and still running around like a puppet on strings, which are pulled by everyone who is not lazy. All because you don't think. I'm not going to follow your lead.-What have you decided? – asked Vlad, instantly cooling down. The mercenary was right,
The glade and the house looked exactly as it seemed to Arman from Vlad's story. Silence hung over the clearing in the forest, and it was not much brighter here than under the canopy of leaves. The clouds completely covered the sky, and a small, nasty rain sowed from above, climbing with cold fingers behind the scruff of the neck. Therefore, the Frenchman did not see the notorious grass silvering in the moonlight and the wolf luminary itself.The hut is old, rickety... If it were not for the reflection of the fire in the small window, it would seem like a long abandoned wreck. Considering that this was the first example of local architecture seen by Arman, there was no favorable impression of the world. “Does everyone here live like this? Or is it only those who hobnob with animals? For greater unity with nature, so to speak ... "The werewolf guide left them at the edge of the tree line, without stepping into the open space, disappeared, as if dissolving into the darkness, silently, l
Cesare looked, to put it mildly, not in the best way, but to tell the truth, it was scary. A face with a huge bruise on the cheekbone, a trickle of blood caked under the nose. His shirt was in tatters, there was a shallow cut on his collarbone, and on his back there was a mark from a wolf's paw that had gone through with its claws. The matted hair almost covers the face. His hands are twisted behind his back, and a barely audible whisper escapes from his broken lips. At first, Vlad did not make out the words, and only listening, he realized that the boy, without ceasing to repeat prayers, reaches the end and starts again from the beginning, and so continuously."Cesare," he called cautiously.No effect. The archer didn't even look up, the mumbling didn't stop. Vlad slightly shook the boy by the shoulder and said louder:-Cesare!The young man tossed his head, looked so that goosebumps passed over the skin - so much pain and approaching madness shone in his eyes. The endless prayer sto
They walked through the oak forest for the third day. From time to time they deviated to the side, but, having heard a mournful howl, they corrected the route. Somehow the responsibilities were assigned. Cesare and Vlad took turns shooting at the birds for food. In the best of times, the boy would have coped alone, but now, with a not quite capable left hand, it was inconvenient for him to pull the bowstring, the arrows quite often went “into the milk” and they had to be searched for a long time. Arman was cooking game on a fire lit by common efforts. The mercenary was slowly mastering the difficult art of using flint and flint. At night, they took turns standing on the clock. No one wondered why this was necessary, because there was no third-party danger, but it was more familiar and calmer.And oddly enough, there were no more conflicts. It is not clear why this happened, but although neither of the men had any special positive feelings towards the other two, nevertheless, quite sta
Vlad was at a loss what was stronger in him - curiosity, which only flared up even more from the proximity of the necessary information, or fear of the unknown, hostile magic and, to be sure, ghosts. People who previously did not believe in the supernatural, when faced with irrefutable evidence of its existence, experience much more shock and horror than those who have always been afraid of meeting ghosts, goblins or zombies. That is why Cesare felt most comfortable and confident of all of the trinity, for him the City of Ghosts, although it was an implausible legend all his life, in the end it was much easier for a local inhabitant to come to terms with its existence than for aliens "from a distant world".The stones that could be seen behind the trees really turned out to be ruins. It was not possible to determine the original appearance of the buildings from what was left: separate blocks and slabs, fragments of walls, usually not more than the first floor high, sticking out like b
This hall was not so grandiose in size. But most likely the main one in the temple. The room was filled with the sun, beating through the huge windows in the ceiling. After the dim glow of the sanctifier, all those who entered for a while closed their eyes. And as soon as the eyes got used, they froze in admiration, surprise, disbelief ... Twenty meters ahead, right in front of them, on a dais, he lay. Wolf Ruby. Even though no one present had seen the ancient artifact before or even read the descriptions of its appearance, everyone understood that it couldn't be anything else.The amulet did look like a gem, but natural rubies don't get that big. It was no smaller than a fist. Sparkling with bloody facets, throwing glare on the walls, floor and altar on which he lay. It made the whole room look reddish. The altar very clearly reminded Vlad of what he saw in his time in Conrad's room and explored in the basement under Lionella's shed. The same stone parallelepiped, with a ligature run