And Riverstein got bored, thought. Like a grumpy old man who'd been annoyed by his naughty granddaughters for so long and only realized how much he cared about them when they left...
We didn't really get a good look
And they jumped scared when the door to the student's room bumped.
- So..." said Lord Darrell, "there you are!
- We're not going anywhere! Not to Zagreb! - Xenia belligerently exclaimed and implacably raised her chin. I nodded.
Spider looked at us in surprise.
- Of course, don't eat! Who's going to let you go... Is that why you were hiding here? I've been looking for you since lunch!
- Why are you looking for us? - I asked.
- What do you mean, why? I'm burning with curiosity, of course! Come on, stop breathing dust in there.
We came out from behind the curtains, and with a sigh of relief left the dark student's room.
The empty Riverstein was so unused that we were bound to take a step, melting our breath as if afraid to disturb the silent corridors. And we fainted even more when we found ourselves in the heart of the shelter: Lady Araltis' office.
At the long oak table, as in Chaos, the Archarrion was comfortably and without shyness. Dressed in a white shirt, with no burns on his face, he was unceremoniously looking through the papers of his former mother Superior and irritably throwing away unnecessary ones. The floor of his boots was already covered with yellow parchment, open folio, envelopes and scrolls.
At the left elbow of the demon was a bottle of wine, half empty. And judging by the lack of glasses, the Archharrion had done the same without ceremonies!
- He found something," Lord Darrell asked, closing the door behind us. Xenah and I looked around, wrinkled on the doorstep and sat down quietly on a low couch with no backrest. I looked around with curiosity.
Only once was I in this office, in the holy of holies. The day the messenger from Starover arrived, thirteen years ago, and my fate was decided: whether I would stay in the shelter or not. I remember the perplexed look of the messenger, and the light, indifferent shrug of the Lady of the Village's shoulder. I watched the two men holding my life in their hands, and I remembered them as such: perplexity and indifference.
Then there reigned strict order and cold restraint. Now it smelled of ashes and wine, fire cracked in the fireplace and chaos ruled.
- Not much," said the Archbishop, looking at us with a petit look. "Aliza is cunning... I was supposed to be looking. So...A few underlined words, yellowed by frequent reading of the page...are not traces, but mockery!
The Archarrion angrily clenched his fists and took a big sip out of the bottle.
- Join in," he made a wide gesture with his hand.
Lord Darrell thought and applied himself to the bottle.
- I'm not offering you one," he told us.
- What's a pity? - Xenia sarcastically asked.
The Archarrion threw dark eyes at Xenia and she squeezed under his gaze.
- The cups are there," he waved. - Take them for yourself.
We pulled our nose curiously because we had never tasted alcohol. Then Xenia stood up stubbornly, took the cups out of the closet, and placed them on the table. Lord Darrell drops a drop in there. Xenia peered intruderily inside, spinning, smearing on the walls, and stretched it back out, demanding more. Shaider frowned.
- Pour it," said Archarrion without looking, "and you'll sleep better. They've had a hard day...
And the night. Night, especially.
Having received cups, in which a quarter of the dark wine splashed, the friend sat down again.
Spider settled down by the window.
- Lord Darrell," I asked the question that tormented me, "what happens now to Riverstein?
- I don't know yet, Vetriana," he replied thoughtfully. - It's a difficult question. Riverstein is my ancestral castle, and it turns out that the awakened source formally belongs to me ... But I can not think what to do with it ... I can not think.
- You're wrong, Shaider," the Archharrion grinned, "you own the castle, yes, but the land, from the ice pass to the Three Toothed Rocks, and most importantly, the source, belongs to the Keeper. This is the heritage of the Shiths, this is their land.
- But there are no more Schemits left!
- Left...alone. The Vetriana. And she is the Keeper of the Source.
Lord Darrell has translated a startled look at me. I waved my hands. For a few moments, Shyder was silent, and then he pulled a heavy chair towards me, sat down across the street and commanded me:
- Tell me about it. Slowly. Circumstantial and detailed!
I told you. I kept silent about Archharrion, to which he almost raised his questionable eyebrow, not taking off me a heavy dark look.
After my story, Shaider grabbed his head, jumped up, and I think he was going to repeat Xenia's actions in the forest. But no, he held on.
- It's unbelievable! Unbelievable! How can this be? Time gap... Change of the road... Passage... Exit... Soon chomir! The Taleba is deaf! We have to go to Elloar now, tell... tell! Gather the elders... the circle of light, finally! The heiress of the Scheats... Unbelievable!
- I'm not going anywhere! - I said, "I'm scared, and don't tell anyone!
I imagined how I would be seen as a curious animal, discussed, and got sick... I wish I hadn't said anything. I'd say I can't remember what happened in the Time Loop, that's the whole story. Or that nothing happened there! I was lying in the fog and I came to my senses in the pentagram.
I squeezed myself to the whiteness of my palms, embracing a cup of wine that I never tasted.
- Rion! - Spider jumped up again, - can you open the transition to the Empire? Until I recover, I can't make a portal!
The Archarrion turned the bottle in his hand, saw the remnants of the fire splashing on the bottom.
- No," he said leisurely.
- What, no?
- No. I will not open the passage. And you will tell no one or anything about the heiress of the Scheats. As long as she doesn't want to.
- But..." started Lord Darrell, and he's gone. He looked at me, squeezed on the couch.
- Chickenpox... Don't you want to talk about it? Do you want to talk about it?
I waved my head negative and Shyder sighed.
- But don't you get it! I mean, this. That's...
- No," said Archharrion quietly.
- Forgive me, Lord Darrell," I said quietly.
- All right," Shaider gave up. - Of course you have the right to do this... Promise me you'll come to me when you're ready to tell the elders.
- Why should she believe me? - Xenia was surprised. The girlfriend had already tasted the wine and her cheeks were flushed with hops.
Spider shook his head.
- There's an Oracle in the Circle of Light and it's impossible to deceive or hide the truth. What the Oracle confirms is undeniable. And then... The blood of the schemits. You can't hide it. Now, when the Source wakes up, the blood will also wake up. Apparently, it's already been awakened in the Vetriana, and after the initiation of, uh... your kind of initiation! - this power will only increase. I think so. And then... If the Source Keeper of the Vetter, it will also be imprinted on its essence and its aura.
Xenya has crooked.
- Aurians, oracles, keepers... Like you magicians, it's complicated! - ...and she's been whipped out of the cup again... I looked at my friend with a slight anxiety. Is it just me, or is it the Dark that's hovering over her getting a little thicker, thicker?
- Lord Darrell," I called, "let's get back to it later, shall we? Right now I'm more worried about Xenia...
Xenia had a little hiccups. The archpriest raised his eyebrow.
- The original darkness holds it in its paws," he said, and we shuddered harmoniously. - Has she returned from the Shadow World?
Xenia nodded, and I looked at the demon beggingly.
- Yes, I opened the door for her. I don't know how!
And I told her
briefly about the night that Xenya was dying.
- I was wondering where so many subdued spirits came from around Riverstein," said Lord Darrell, "and I couldn't find the necromancer or the transition spell... and it turns out you're a Vetarian, just singing a song... Yes...
- I didn't know this was gonna happen...
- Yeah, it worked. No awakened power, no knowledge, no spells. With a song! - He closed his eyes for a moment, comprehending what he had heard, - We know almost nothing about the schemes, Vetriana. They lived inside the Devil, very separately, and then... then there were no one left who could tell about them. Or about their abilities!
- So what do we do with Xenia? - I reminded you.
Lord Darrell repented with his hands.
- I don't know, I'm sorry. We must look for those who know the answer. There are necromancers in the Empire, of course. But they're weak, that magic is not characteristic of the Light. In the west, there's the Faceless Clan of the Dark, their ruler, Ram Saa Ten, one of the strongest spellers of souls. I've heard that he can hold a spirit on the edge and even pull it out of the world of shadows to enslave it, but I've never heard of a spirit returning to the body... and then... The Faceless are becoming more and more distant from the world of the living, they've never come to Eloar in the last three hundred years, even though Ram is one of the nine rulers of the Unified Sub-World. And they won't let anyone in the Valley of Oblivion either.
I jumped in.
- Then who did? Them? A lake of sirens? Can it help?
- How do you know about it? - Shaider looked at Archarrion not happy, he smiled. I tried not to look at the demon at all, even though he looked completely calm as if nothing had happened. Maybe it did, though. For him.
- Perhaps the Vetrions will answer them. If he wants to," said the demon, lifted up, pulled the faded muscles. I took my eyes away," he said, "at least it's worth a try.
Lord Darrell nodded thoughtfully. Xenia nodded again. It's louder.
- Will you open the passage to the eternal forest? - Spider asked.
The Archpriest finished the bottle with one sip. The look of him got even darker.
- No. I can't open the crossing.
- Why not?
I turned my head and ran into his evil eyes. The demon carefully placed an empty bottle on the table. And I was burned from the inside by a flame raging in it. Only for a moment, but it was as if I had been burnt and shattered by the ashes of red-hot demonic madness burning in the Archarion.
My beast of air wrapped itself uneasily at hand, scattered the paper scattered on the floor. The fire in the fireplace twitched frightfully, fluttering with its gust, and I held the beast.
- I can't turn around," said Archarrion calmly, without giving up the fire that burns it, "I've exhausted the power reserve in the pentagram.
- But there is a Source of Power in Riverstein!
The Archarrion shook his head, and Shaider nodded understandingly.
- Yes, and he saved my life. A human life. But for the demonic essence, I need the Source of Chaos. The problem is, as a human being, I lack a lot of abilities, the transition doesn't open to me, and any portal is useless. Chaos is too well protected from outside intrusion. I personally installed the shields.
- What should I do?
- Well... - Archharrion laughed, - I'll have to be human. Until we arrive in Chaos.
- So what, we're gonna sit in Riverstein until I get magic back and make a portal across the Devil? - Lord Darrell asked grimly, though... He looked at me, why not... And then, across the Devil, without the portal, we can't cross the Devil anyway.
- No! - I exclaimed, - is there no way out? We have to get to them as soon as possible! I think, I added quietly, the darkness is getting bigger...
- There is a way out," nodded the Archharrion, "Shaider, have you ever wondered why children with magical powers are born in the Northern Kingdom, enclosed in the Ring of Hell?
- Well... A blood legacy?
- What kind of blood? There were no magicians... Only schemata. And the magic background? Weak, yes... But constant.
Shyder squinted and looked mistrustful.
- Wow! Are you saying there's a rift in the Devil?
The Archarrion nodded and smiled.
- I've been fascinated by the Black Sands for a long time... Their strange power, their incomprehensible power over life and mind, over magic... - he was silent, and I remembered that night when I found myself in the Devil and watched the demon fight with the snake monsters. And I remembered his sensations: the pleasure of battle, the thirst for blood... devastation. And when I was moved by Argard, we met there, too. What was so dragging Archharrion to this place? He raised his head, threw away his dark hair. And his emotions.
- There's a passage in the Devil. There's one for sure. There's a narrow gap in the sand. There's no dehydrating power in the Devil and even a man can pass.
- Um... and where do we go out?
- To the foot of the Free Mountains. And then we'll go through Memory Canyon all the way to Graham. So be glad we have no elves among us.
- Why not? - I don't get it.
- Mountain people can't stand the ears," Shaider smiled, "Dwarves, Vetriana. Dwarves live there.
Xenia listened to them with her eyes wide open and dashingly waiting. Or was it hopy? I couldn't stand it, I jumped up, I was sweeping around the room.
- Are we really going to the Underworld? When do we go to the Underworld? Chickenpox! We go to the dwarves!
I smiled at a friend. Poor thing, she thought the Underworld was inaccessible to her...
- Tomorrow, Xenia," smiled Shyder. We'll have to get the horses... I hope you don't fall off them! And we'll have to close down Riverstein and leave security here...
- Security will not be needed," said Archharrion, "Vetryana, let's go. Let's try to do something...
I was a little scared to look at him, but I got up, left the cup, which I never drank. The demon went silently to the door. We reached out obediently, walked through the Riverstein corridors and into the courtyard.
The night gently wrapped the earth in a velvet blanket, covered the sky with bright celestial lights, and tightened the silence. The cherbed moon, yellow, torn from one side, swayed lazily over the tops of the fir trees. It was dark in the sanctuary. No one lit the lamp at the font today. And somehow it made me sad.
We stopped looking at the quiet, dark water. I couldn't help but put my palm in it, feeling the gentle embrace of its spring...
- The Keeper is connected to the Source," said Archharrion, "and can influence it. For example, to put him to sleep for a while. Or ask for protection. Or to create a grimness that diverts one's eyes so that no one will find him. Try it, Vetriana.
- Can I do that? - I was surprised, how do you know?
Lord Darrell looked at the demon with displeasure, but he answered for it.
- You've already realised that every Source has its own Guardian. And it is carefully hidden, of course. The situation in Chaos is unique. Their Keeper is always the Ruler.
- Why is that?
- I'll tell you somehow," the Archharrion smiled, "not now. Come on, Vetriana, try it. I will help you.
- But what should I do?
- Talk to him. Feel it. Do not be afraid.
He stood behind my back, touching my shoulders easily. I flinched, and Lord Darrell hummed. I was embarrassed.
- Shaider, shut up," the Archharrion slugged lazily, "you're in the way.
Lord Darrell snarled again, but stepped back to the wall and froze there, keeping his grim gaze on us.
- Close your eyes," the Archarrion said in my ear. I ate my lip, feeling his presence too distinctly. Memories, images... a half-dark ablution room, his hungry look, my wet shirt stuck to my body...
And immediately the Archpriest was tense behind my back, his palms tightened my shoulders, and my breath was slightly interrupted.
- The chickenpox..." he said quietly, "just look at the water.
<
br /> The air beast circled our legs, encircling us in a ring. I felt the Archarrion's surprise, but he said nothing.
I looked at the water.
Inside me, the fire of chaos burns. Rabies. Anger. Desire...not my feelings, his...flame beats inside like a wild beast, rushing to the will. And it humbles itself... The ashes fall asleep... and fall. It calms down. It calms down. Silent desolation, a light silence of senses... the cold water of the font. Studded to the point of breaking down in the fingers. I sink into it. Not body, soul... deeper and deeper...
And taking off. It's not a font anymore, it's a vortex! It's a waterfall demolishing the dams of my mind, it's a storm of elements, it's an infinity...
And I merge into it, I become a part of it, I feed on its power! The vortex doesn't spin me anymore, I'm spinning with him in a wild dance. I'm a cannon caught in a tornado, I'm a dry leaf swept up into heaven. I want to stay here, in endless motion, in the furious dance of the elements.
But the strong hands clutch my shoulders... the only support in the Force's unrestrained circle...
And I'm stopping. A little slow... And then I tame the vortex, stopping the dance. And the element stops, spreads with cold water... and becomes a font again.
- Now the defense," whispers in my ear the Archarrion.
And I imagine the walls around Riverstein. They rise up to heaven. No beast can climb over them, no bird can fly over, no man can make it. No one in the underworld will find it. He who walks will turn, he who is lost will not see, he who seeks will pass. A hundred tracks lead to Riverstein and none leads. The frowning pines, coming closer, hiding Riverstein behind dark trunks. Wild loach and prickly juniper are wrapped around the stone walls. Spill lakes and swamps. The beast of the forest stands on the outskirts of Riverstein, looking out for bird prey.
There's no way in here.
No road, no trail, no rut.
No one but friends.
Riverstein's asleep. Waiting for the Source. Waiting for the Guardian to return...
Sleeping Riverstein...
I sighed.
The archpriest hugging me never took his hands off. I turned to him, looked into the dark abyss. He looked at me with a strange expression, which made me uncomfortable and hot.
The Wind of the North Page 34