The fighters were quiet and looked around. The narrow earth tunnel is wider, the walls are made of earth stone, with rings for the torch.
- Look, there's soot on the stone," whispered Xenya, "a recent one...
The stone hole diverged to three sides, we got confused at the "intersection".
- Where to now? Danila?
- I think I've been here before," the guy said quietly. All his foolishness was taken off like a hand," he said in his sleep...in this very spot. Only then were the torches burning and it was so creepy... someone was walking beside me. Terrible...
- Do you remember where we went exactly? Which way? - I asked.
Danila closed his eyes, remembered, frowned.
- This way, I think. Yeah... it stood there and went there... and then it turned there... and then it took thirty more steps. Here, to the left. There should be a door. It's heavy and it's got rusty iron on it.
- Let's go," Xenya commanded and firmly pulled the bewildered guy by the sleeve. I marked the direction on the parchment and we moved to the left aisle. The stone floor was visibly going down. I tried not to think how deep we were underground so I wouldn't panic. It still seemed as if the piles of earth above us were pressing on an unreliable tunnel, threatening to collapse and bury us in our own depths.
I shaken up, forbidding myself to think about it.
Three dozen steps later, there was a door, like Danila said. Massive, of moraine oak, black from the resins that had soaked it.
Without hesitation, we rushed to it and broke into a small damp dungeon. The smell of rot and human defecation hit our nose and we froze on the doorstep. The room was empty.
- The children were here," Danila said.
I nodded," Danila said. Yes, someone was here a while ago. The corner was full of faeces, a small children's casing lying on rotten straw, dirty mittens and a broken clay jug of water in the other corner.
- Look," whispered Xenya. She squatted, scattered rubbish with her hand. The jug was scrawled crookedly "help" on the buried earthy floor with a shard of shrapnel. Xenya squeezed her teeth, Danila put her head down.
- It's the headmaster's daughter," he whispered, "she was the only one who knew the letter.
I felt a lump roll up my throat and swallowed it convulsively.
- We should look," I said in a hurry, "if she wrote anything else. Did she leave a clue?
And she began to clean up the trumpet and the straw in a fierce manner, looking for the inscription. Danila and Xenia joined in silently. We searched the whole prison, and this room was certainly a prison, looking for the inscription, but we found nothing else. Only...
I picked up the lamp higher, surprised to see the door.
- What is it? - I asked Xenya. The lamp was alone, so without the light, they still couldn't see anything and came to me.
- There were some drawings," she said. The dark oak of the door from the inside was full of three strange symbols, which at first glance seemed to be a bizarre pattern.
- It's not a drawing," I thoughtfully said, "I've read about it. It's a runes. Ancient language, dead.
- But where does it come from?
- One of the boys scratched it," Danila said, "he was a magician too, only without the power of the source. Neitsi... phooey, like a sleeper.
- Uninitiated. - I told you," Danila said, "like you and me. Without initiation, we too have almost no power, only echoes. Did this boy know the runes?
- He saw them in his dreams, like me. But he didn't understand the meaning. He was just sketching.
- We must show them to the lord. He must know what they mean! These... runes!
I gently touched the rugged tree with my fingers and shuddered. The ancient symbols ringed my fingers with force and it was as if they were icy.
- Danila, touch it, can you feel it?
- Yeah... an unpleasant sensation.
Xenya also held her palm and looked surprised.
- I can feel it too, my fingers feel like they're hurling with ice.
- Maybe the runes feel everything, even those who don't have the Power," I assumed. - Hold the lamp, I'll try to draw it.
Xenia picked up the light, and he danced at the door, casting moving shadows on the floor. Danila had eaten noticeably. We were all uncomfortable here.
- How much longer? - Xenia whispered impatiently and looked back, and it seems like someone's watching us. Brr...
I carefully checked the last sign and rolled up the parchment.
- That's it, I'm done. Let's get out of here, it's so cold...
- Yeah, I've finished all... like a dead man in a resting pit, that's the saint!
- Can we not mention the dead in here? - Xenia whispered and pushed Danila with her elbow...
- Don't be afraid, the dead are humble," her boyfriend calmed her down, "well, unless they're raised by the Dark. Yeah, they can eat... or they can rip their heads off with their bare hands. It's not like they're hurt or scared, they don't even take fire. One finger will remain and it will crawl to you, it will crawl into your mouth, across your throat will be and all - there she is, death! That's what they told us at school.
Xenya looked at him with her mouth open. Then she started to squirm.
- Did you do it on purpose? Ew, you fool! And how did you get into this school of yours!
- That's who you are. Have I told you about Hlava's grandmother's goat yet? Well, she also had a goose... so she had no idea, she had dog poop, bad-ass...
- I'm gonna get you now!!!
Xenia grabbed Danila's ear and tried to rip him off, the guy would bounce off and elbow him. I quietly stepped back from the world into the darkness and turned to the wall. I couldn't see him with my eyes, but rather felt his gut, his blood. It was just that the darkness was thicker, denser and livelier there than in the rest of the room.
- I did not call you," I whispered.
"I don't need an invitation," it sounded in my head. I held my hands to my temples. The fact that the words were not spoken, but echoed inside me, was stunning and frightening. The darkness parted, the Arch'arrion stepped towards me. Suddenly it was quiet. I turned around. Danila and Xenia were waving their hands, their mouths opening, but I couldn't hear a sound.
- The veil of silence," said the demon, "you won't hear them, and they'll hear us. And your friends will not see me.
- How did you do it? - I touched my head," you read my mind?
- No, but I can answer if your thoughts are directed at me. It's the power of blood fusion.
I nodded at the door. Looking at it was... painful. And I tried not to look. And not to think about our last meeting.
- We found some symbols here, aren't they runes?
The Arch'arrion nodded.
- Do you know what they mean?
- The first symbol means death. The second symbol means path. And the third... is the duality of the whole.
I frowned.
- I don't understand anything. It doesn't make any sense! Why did the boy draw them? And Solmeya said something about the way...
- Solomiya? Serena?
- Yes, she came to see me.
- What does she want from you? - The Arch'arrion asked me harshly.
- Nothing," I was embarrassed, "just a chat... she's a child!
- She is not a child, Vetriana. The sirens have no feelings, they have no emotions, their essence is water, cold and merciless. Sirens do not experience pain, sadness or joy, human feelings are unavailable to them. Make no mistake about them. When Solmeya reaches the time of joining the Right by Him, she will summon Mayira to a duel and kill her if she can win. And she will be the new Mistress. Or Mayira will kill Solmeya.
- This is monstrous! - I exclaimed.
- No, Vetriana. It's just not clear to you, that's all. There can't be two Hosts in them, it's only a matter of time before their fight. That's the order of things, and the Abyss lives in each of us.
- This is monstrous! - I repeated it stubbornly. - in the underworld,
it's not what it seems. And that's it. But you're wrong, Solmeya's just a little girl who's lonely, I can feel it. And she's sad in Lake Im.
The Arch'arrion shrugged his shoulders.
- What did she say to you?
- Nothing much. We were just chatting, but lastly, Solmeya said that the way we traveled could be done again... somehow.
The demon put his head down. There was an impassive mask on his face, expressing nothing.
- Does that mean something? - anxiously asked me and touched his hand, Rion?
He shuddered a little, a beastly yellowness flashed in his eyes, and I thought he was going to kiss me again... but no. He was just a little away from my hand. I felt ashamed of my impulse and turned my back. Xenia tried to pull her shoes off her foot to hit Danila.
The Arch'arrion leaned slightly, looking at Xenia's head and seemed to dislike what he had seen. I felt uncomfortable with that cold, judgmental look and wanted to shut my friend out of it.
- Who is this girl? - the demon asked.
- My friend," I answered with a challenge, "is the best and only friend!
Ksenka felt something, shuddered, froze with her hand over her head. And she looked at me insecurely. Her lips moved, she said something. I looked questioningly at the Arch'arrion and the sounds came back.
- The chickenpox," she called uncertainly, "why are you stuck there? Let's get out of here, it's really cold in here...
All her fighting excitement blew away like the wind, she looked around confusedly eating.
I frowned, trying to suppress her vague anxiety. Now the demon was looking at me just as closely. But I wasn't cold from its sight, rather I felt it as a touch. It was as if it touched me with long, dark fingers and inside, a fire of Chaos lit up.
I was embarrassed and looked at the frown. The Arch'arrion smiled.
- Chickenpox! - It's Xenia again. I wrapped my arms around me, trembling.
- We must...go," I said with difficulty. I even wanted to add "let me go," though he didn't seem to be holding. Or did he?
I turned sharply, wrapped up the hem of my dress, and went to the door.
* * *
It seems to me that every day there are more questions and fewer answers. I mean, there were none at all.
When we got out of the dungeon, we said goodbye to Danila, promised to visit him later, ran to Danina to tell her that our son was waiting for her at the gate and rushed straight to the top floor where Lord Darrell's room was located. He was in no way surprised to see us, as if he had been waiting for us.
- Lord Darrell! Look at this! We found this in an underground tunnel!
While Shyder was looking at the signs I painted, Xenia was hurrying to tell us what we found.
- What does that mean?
I didn't say I already knew, I kept quiet. The Lord gave me the meanings of the runes that the Arch'Arrion had already discovered. Xenia's gone.
- Blood and death... that's not good, I think...
- Yeah! Signs of morning dawn and field buttercups would make me more happy," smiled Shyder.
- Why, are there such signs? - Xenia was amazed.
- No. I was joking," said the Lord seriously. The girl was embarrassed.
- Why do you think the boy painted them? - I asked.
- It looks like ancient blood magic. Such rituals are the prerogative of the dark, and they are forbidden as far as I know," he shook his head, "even the runes themselves are ancient knowledge and have their own power. But I don't understand what the boy wanted to say! Maybe he didn't finish it.
- But this rune looks like Argard," I said thoughtfully, "a snake biting its own tail.
- Yes, it means "return." It also means the loop of infinity... I don't understand...
- A noose? Is it like a noose or something? - Xenya sticks her nose in the parchment - maybe it means a gallows?
- The noose in the metaphysical sense," said the lord.
We felt the way Danila feels about us. When we talk nonsense. I don't understand, and I want to give it to the eye.
- I mean, in the handheld," Shaider explained.
- I think it has something to do with the runes and Argard," I said. - It's not for nothing that they look alike. And what exactly does an artifact do? I honestly didn't get it that far.
Spider looked at me and suddenly it turned pale.
- Aargard creates a time loop, Vetriana! The endless loop of time! Breaks the temporal tissue, forms a temporal transition! Oh, it's tempered! I thought it was all legends of the Underworld.! It's impossible!
- Yeah. We thought dragons were only in fairy tales, too," Ksenia said seriously, "and children were frightened by wizards and demons.
- I have to go to Eloar! I have to go to Elloar! Wait here! Stay where you are!
Lord Darrell grabbed a thin, shiny disc out of his pocket, squeezed it in his palms, murmured the transition spell, and a hole in space was created in front of him, tightened by the gray mist.
- Wait!
And it's gone.
We crumpled, glanced and scattered around the room, looking at the situation. There was nothing to look at: a bed with a shoe, a table, a carelessly thrown paper, a wooden chest in the corner. Of note was the fireplace, which was pulled by the living warmth. The window, as in all Riverstein, is small, micared, muddy.
But before we could see it all, the space was torn apart again, and the Lord, with the heavy book in his hand, stepped into the room and ran into Xenia, who was just standing there! The book flew to the floor and the lord picked up the girl who was flying in the other direction.
- Oh!
- Are you crazy to stand at the crossing point? - Shyder was outraged, letting Xena go and looking at her angrily - do you want it to drag you somewhere in the Devil?
- Sacred elders..." Xenia whispered frightenedly and added sadly, "How do I know where your passages are?
- Who did I tell to stand still? The cats are curious...
Xenia got drunk, her lips trembled.
- Lord Darrell, have you learned something? - I was in a hurry to distract Schyder, - oh, what an old book...
I leaned over, picked up the folio and pulled the cover. And I was hit so hard by the Force that I cried out, my teeth clacked, and as I flew off to the chest, I fell to the floor. The dress shamefully climbed down to my thighs.
- Chickenpox! Tar ma sheh! Are you all right?
- Good book, good book, so... - I flipped through, trying to sit down and obsessed the hem. Shaider was anxiously touching my arms, my legs, my ribs... put his hand on my chest, listening to my heart...
- Are all the bones intact? Why did you go to her, silly? You can't just open a book like that, it's ancient magic! They're conspired! And they can kill, not that they can maim.
I realized what the lord was doing, blushed and took his hands.
- I'm all right," I mumbled uncertainly, "come on, stop it! I didn't know you couldn't open our books... like wild horses!
- I didn't know where your crossing points were! - I squeaked on the other side of Xenia.
The Lord helped me up and looked at us outraged. Then he hummed me.
- All right, come here. Let's see...
He froze above the book.
- We have to say some kind of spell," Xenia said.
- Oh, really? What kind of spell would you like to say, too? - The lord squinted.
- Oh! Excuse me, Lord Darrell! I just thought...
- All right. Both of you! Stop talking! Keep quiet, okay? You can't talk! You can't think! You can't move! You can breathe... you can breathe, so be it. Do you understand?
We nodded scared.
The Lord very carefully lifted the book off the floor, blew off the dust and put it on the table, carelessly wiping off all the papers lying there. We froze, barely breathing. The Lord leaned on us, exhaled, stretched out his hand, and said solemnly:
- Oh, the Great Book of Ancient Knowledge! I ask you to entrust us with your secrets! We swear to honor them and t
o protect them, and to use only for the good!
Then carelessly moved the stool, sat down, and opened the book stumbled into the text. We exhaled noisily. Still, we stopped breathing, too!
- And that's it? - I was amazed, - just like that: please trust us... and it opened? And no spells, magic amulets and splashes of power?
- Well, yes," the Lord smiled, "of course there are opening spells, but why should I? I'm the master of this book myself, so it wouldn't dare hit me!
- So you tricked us? - I was outraged.
- What's that about? - I was genuinely surprised at Shyder. I was thinking. It's true, there's nothing... the book is enchanted, and who, we didn't ask! but there's still a sense of catch. Well, that's all right. I leaned towards the Lord's shoulder. On the other side, I slipped Xenya's nose.
- It's not clear," she said, disappointedly.
- Because it's an ancient language," the Lord explained.
- Is it the language you use to fight all the time? - I winked at my girlfriend and asked her innocently. And, well, the Lord was embarrassed!
- I don't swear," he said, confusedly, "they're quite decent expressions!
- Are they? - Xenia was glad," and what does "tar ma sheh" mean? - and she winked at me.
- Ksenya! Don't you ever say that again! Anyway... are you interested or not? Oh, tar ma... phew!
We carefully concealed the smile.
- Interesting, interesting, Lord Darrell! Excuse us! What kind of book is this?
And we sat down on the bench, ready to listen.
- It's a book by Art, compiled by an elven chronicler and magician a thousand years ago. He studied rites and ancient rituals. It's a very rare book. As far as I know, there are only two copies left, this one and one more in the Dusky Abode of the Dark Dived. But there is no connection with them for three centuries ... there are no exact instructions, and many runes have double or triple meaning, but the essence can be understood.
I rose up looking at the pages. The book was very old. It was very old. It was felt, not only by eyes, but at the level of another, unknown. The leather cover was wiped through the corners, yellow and grey parchment and black symbols on it. And also... when the Lord opened it, I could smell the smell of the dead, as if it was not the book that had been opened, but the skin on the corpse.
The Wind of the North Page 24