I was relieved to put aside a gold plate decorated with red stones and stepped behind it.
And I sighed. There was no dazzling shine in this room next door, but you could see that this is where the master's soul is. If in the next room - everything was piled up and even slightly supported by dust, the perfect cleanliness and order reigned here. There were weapons here. Blades, blue and black, with dim edges and the living force contained in them.
Slowly, as if afraid to frighten a rare bird, Xenia came to the rack and delightfully removed from the stand a dagger, narrow and long, with a simple white braid. When her friend raised her head, detached from his contemplation, in her eyes stood such a reverence, which were unable to cause all the jewelry of the underworld.
- May I take... him? - She exhaled...
- Hmm... - the dwarf thoughtfully put his fingers in the beard, - didn't expect, though...
- I'll buy it! - With the heat, Xenia exclaimed, - I'll give...everything!
The dwarf shook his head and I had a suspicion that this simple blade was not easy... and not cheap.
- You see, she's a warrior," he said leisurely, "you're holding an acanar in your hands... These are special blades. It is not the master who chooses them, but they are the master. And if they are not chosen the first time, there may be no second attempt...
- What do you mean, it's not going to happen? - I asked with suspicion, sensing a catch.
- He who tries to get Akanar must prove that he is not afraid to die," the dwarf explained, "if the blade thinks otherwise, it can easily cut. There you go. So that the clever one, of course, will choose something else...
- What should I do? - I interrupted him, Xenya.
The dwarf looked at me confused.
- Xenya, are you sure?
A friend sparkled her eyes.
- What am I supposed to do? - She repeated it sharply.
- It's so simple," Dagamar explained uncertainly, "just give the acanar a drop of his blood and throw it into that deck over there...
He did not have time to agree, and Xenia had already pierced his finger, watching for a moment as a scarlet drop spread across the blade, and threw a dagger into a wooden circle on the wall.
We froze. Dagamar strained, preparing for something... The white braid in the deck shuddered, clogged up like a caught dragonfly, gently slipped out of the wood and returned to Xenie's palm with lightning speed.
- He admitted it! - The dwarf exhaled stunned, wiping sweat from his forehead... Oh, Mountain Spirit... Who would have thought, admitted it!
Xenia looked at the dagger in her hand and smiled gently at him. The dwarf frowned as if he still did not believe. Then he woke up, shaking his redhead.
- Well, so be it..." And he turned to me, "Did the humble one choose something for herself?
I shook my head with a smile. I wasn't tempted by my weapon, not even a scarecrow, but the jewels only blinded my eyes... Why should I want a gold cup or an expensive ring? It's stupid and scary to wear it, there's nowhere to keep it... It's strange to sneak around in a saddlebag on the roads of the Underworld, too...
- Maybe I can pick something on the way back. Well, or... some other time?
The dwarf frowned, thinking. And he slammed himself on his forehead!
- And I know what I'll give you, you hesitant one! And he dragged us somewhere, through a room with jewels, through a corridor and a hall with a fireplace, and dragged us into a little closet full of junk. There he almost buried himself, looking for something and muttering under his nose, and then pulled out a dark wooden casket into the light. And he pulled a small round locket out of it on a thin and dull chain and solemnly put it into my hands.
- What is it? - I was interested. On the dull metal was drawn a leaf like a willow leaf, thin and long. My fingers felt a thin slot on the side, but I didn't understand what it was for.
- Whitish-haired! - Dagamar said solemnly, I give you a family heirloom of the Great Family of Masters and Wizards! Take care and keep it!
- Oh, don't give me the relic, it's expensive, isn't it..." I got scared trying to put the rounds back in the box. The dwarf got confused and said calmly and without pathos.
- She shouldn't be a bear...
- How? You say it's a relic, right?
- I don't know how much... I don't know! No one wants it... But! - The dwarf raised his finger, - there's a legend!
- What legend?
- That you have to give it to someone who will take nothing!
- Yes, - Xenya stretched it out, - and Vetriana is the first one so... modest.
- Yes," Dagamar smiled a little embarrassedly, "everyone finds something they like in the first room. Or the second one... Always.
- Sure this thing isn't valuable? And it's not magical? - I brought the medallion to my eyes. I've had enough of that dull snake ring I stupidly put on my finger.
- Not a bit," the dwarf assured me, "just a piece of iron. I think it was made by one of my ancestors, the first masters, and I was so glad that I decided to pass it on. Now you won't even know... Do you want me to put a stone in it? Blue? It'll be more beautiful!
I thoughtfully stroked the leaves on the metal.
- You don't have to, let it be like this. Thank you, Dagamar soil, it's a wonderful gift!
- Come on," the dwarf swung his hand, "think about the rock, think about...
Xenia snorting mockingly, showing that she thinks of such a gift, and lovingly stroked her acanar.
Already at the exit, the dwarf let Ksenia pass ahead and held my hand.
- I must say... - He crumpled and sighed, bent on the closed door, - Akanar chooses not only the one who is ready to die... but also the one who is ready to take someone else's life. And in whom darkness lives... Be careful, little one...
I calmly met his eyes. And I remembered Archarrion's blue blades.
- Rion has acanarians too, right? - I'd rather specify than ask, so the Dark lives in him, too?
The dwarf nodded sadly.
- In him, especially... Edie, fearless her, your friend is waiting for you.
I said thank you again and came out holding the door so it wouldn't slam.
Chapter 17...
When we left the workshop, we split up. Eternally hungry Xenia went to look for food, and I decided to go where I had been drawn since my awakening. To the Source. I could feel his location with all my gut, as the Source feels all beings endowed with the Power. This knowledge did not prevent me, it is like feeling the light of the sun - even without looking, always knowing exactly what it is in the sky.
I quickly walked along the busy street of Graham, trying to hide myself from the curious gnomes' eyes. I nodded politely at their greetings, but I didn't stop and ran past them faster than they could think of and start asking questions.
The main street of the underground city was replaced by narrow alleys, and soon I stumbled into a staircase pushed into a rock. It was quiet here, and as I looked back, I began to climb the stone steps, holding my hand against the slightly damp wall. After five dozen worn-out steps, I reached a semicircular platform with an uneven natural entrance to the underground grotto.
I expected to see inside a font or a lake, somehow sure that the Source is always water, but I found only a small cave, the walls of which were as if lined with pieces of expensive overseas salt, white and porous, with rare splashes of silver sparkling sparks.
And, undoubtedly, it was the Source of Power. Not at all like Riverstein, and its Power was heavier and more earthly.
I smiled at my feelings, and sat on the floor against the wall, pulling my knees up against my chest. I closed my eyes and just swam on a wave of feelings... Wonderful visions swooped before my inner eyes: black rocks sleeping under the snow; gold veins encircling the mountains like sparkling snakes; heavy iron, at the hand of a master becoming a deadly blade; the heat of the earth, boiling in the depths of the Free Mountains; thousands of loud dwarves ready to die for their rocks... or to drink a barrel
of ale to them!
Still smiling, I opened my eyes.
- Are you a what? - The old man was sniffing around, looking at me closely. When he came up, I didn't notice and so I jumped up a little scared, shaking my skirt.
- My name is Vetriana. I'm, uh... a guest in Graham. My friends and I arrived yesterday with the Dagamar soil.
Dry as a brisket and a completely gray dwarf, with such a long beard that it dragged on the floor, looked at me, squinting my eyes and kept quiet. The long gray and very dirty hoodie covered it completely, leaving bare feet with twisted fingers open.
He didn't answer, and it even seemed to me that the old man had just fallen asleep with his eyes open. But as soon as I took a little step aside, he woke up and asked again:
- "Who are you?
I sighed. What to do, old age... and opened her mouth to call herself again, but the dwarf threw up his hand.
- No... You'd better tell me who I am... You will?
Oh, the poor guy's out of his mind... he can't even remember who he is. Maybe he's a local teller. I looked into the dwarf's tricky little eyes, wondering how to answer more gently. And suddenly I saw. A white light with silver flashes, the wisdom of the ages behind the tricky squint and the soul of the Free Mountains imprisoned in the body.
- Guardian," I said.
The old man nodded slowly.
- So the truth is told by the mountains," he stretched out thoughtfully, looking at me.
He leaned hard on a wooden cranberry, bowed his head.
- What is your Source, Guardian? - He asked. I smiled.
- Water. To be honest, I thought all the Sources in the Underworld were water...
- Here's another thing, - the old man sniffed contemptuously, - different everything... The others have different things, don't understand it... Yours woke up, so... - thinking about what's mine, the old man sniffed, - hm... then maybe there's hope... maybe the Abyss will retreat... pity....
His voice was getting quieter and quieter, his head getting lower, and I could hardly hear him murmuring into his disheveled gray beard. No, still, the old man was a little out of his mind.
- Why are you up? - All of a sudden he yelled and I jumped up and got scared - get out of here! He's standing here, distracting me from business! He's eavesdropping! Get out of here! - and he swung the key at me.
As I picked up my skirt, I hurriedly jumped out of the grotto and went down the stairs.
* * *
There was a reception in our honor tonight. Although, I thought the restless and talkative dwarves, any occasion spills out in a noisy feast, with barrels of ale, breaking the table and jumping to the shove. The reception at the Supreme was different from the feast on the border only by the number of people present and a stronger table, covered with iron rims. The fist of the Supreme Dwarf was heavier than that of Dagamarovski. Or, he knocked on the table more often!
Ksenia and I were seated at the table with the dwarves, apart from the men, and in half an hour my head was breaking from the endless questions and instructions. Two dozen dwarves literally attacked us with a heap of various tips, from recipes for the best oprah for dough to methods of raising children. At the same time they not only taught us, but also loudly argued among themselves, and, like men, knocked their fists on the table!
When the cute residents of Graham came to a discussion of men's charms and virtues, not at all embarrassed and not even lowering my voice, I could not stand, and painfully red, crawled out of the table, muttering that I really need to leave for a minute. And as I flew out of the noisy hall, I threw myself into my room, wondering how to lock the door so that I wouldn't be found here.
But Ksenka stayed, and even listened very interested. And when I flew away, I also started to ask questions, heaving ale and yielding forward not to miss anything. The giggling dwarfs were so excited about her that they missed my flight and sat down to give Ksenka all the information on the subject!
When the hall howled and the dancing started, I laid down on the bed and closed my eyes. Someone looked into the room and stood at the door, but I pretended to be asleep and the door closed with a quiet knock.
I sighed a sigh of relief and turned my back, frowning and trying to figure out where that depressing alarm came from. Though, what to think, I have an abyss to worry about.
Then somehow, imperceptibly, my thoughts shifted to the words of the dwarves that I had heard before I escaped. The ones that they giggled and sighed hotly told me about the relationship between a man and a woman...
And besides her will, she remembered that kiss in the woods near Riverstein, and how the snow was falling, and how hard her lips were. It was the only memory with which I could catch the wild wind with my hands there, on a slope under the rockfall...
It was dark in the room, but I could feel my cheeks burning. And as hard as I tried, I couldn't help but think about it.
* * *
Fortunately, we didn't stay late at Graham. Danila knocked in the morning, very wrinkled and pale, it seems that yesterday's fun did not go without a trace for him. And he told us to pack up.
I had nothing to pack, so after half an hour I was standing near the stables, looking for the others.
- Oh! Beautiful her! - Dagamar yelled as he approached me. I smiled in a friendly smile. Where did you run off to yesterday? The fun just started, I see, there's no white-haired neem! And your friend got upset, went looking...
- What friend? - I don't get it.
- So Shyder! Or is he not your friend?
I didn't quite understand what a dwarf pronounces the word "friend" in. And I decided not to develop the subject at all.
- Grun Dagamar, are you still coming with us? - I asked, looking at his battle axe. I liked the dwarf, and I wouldn't give up on his company. But he shook his head.
- No, little girl, I'm only going to see him off till he's overlapped. The free people do not like to leave the mountains...
I nodded and winked at the dwarf a little bit.
- You're not thinking about the rock? I'll be there in a jiffy!
I unwittingly touched a ball of amulet, whose thin chain was visible in the gate.
- No, the Dagamar soil, I like it already, thank you.
He nodded, winked again and left to saddle his tall horse.
Soon the others came: Xenia with plaguey eyes, pale green from Daniel's ale and frowning Lord Darrell. Everyone seemed to have had a good time yesterday, and no one had felt the urge to talk in the morning. The last to appear was the Archarrion. He looked at me a little longer than necessary, and I turned away, panicked, wondering how solid my inner wall was yesterday, and whether the voice of blood could have carried my night thoughts to the demon.
And again my cheeks caught fire, and I hurriedly turned away and threw myself into the stables.
When the glorious city of Graham was left behind and we arrived at the deaf wall, Dagamar stopped and got off his horse. He drew a circle right on the rock, put his gold medallion on it. And he turned to us.
- Well, let's say goodbye..." the dwarf threw his axe and smiled at his red beard.
- Here we go..." Daniel stretched out, "to a cliff, to a stone...
Xenia snarled displeased and stroked eloquently the white braid of the dagger sticking out of the sheath on its side. The guy croaked and turned away.
I finally smiled warmly at the dwarf and thanked him once again for his hospitality and hospitality.
- Take care of yourself, little brave one. Maybe we'll get together again! - The gnome gave me a hug without ceremony.
- Grun Dagamar," I remembered when the dwarf let me out of his bear embrace, "and your Guardian... he's been... wrong for an hour... Well, normal?
Oh, Holy Mother, what am I carrying? You can't talk about an important person like that, right...
- Which Guardian? - I was immensely surprised at the dwarf.
- Your Guardian of the Source! I met him yesterday, by accident... only he seemed a little... uh... sai
d... oh, sorry!
Dagamar had his eyes out for me.
- No one's seen our glorious Gurust in a hundred and a half years! - They say that the Guardian has merged with the Force so much that he has become an ethereal spirit, resting under the vaults of the Graham, sitting on one of the stone ledges!
I remembered the dirty bare feet and the wooden cranberry. No, the old man certainly wasn't a spirit!
- And when was the last time he was seen?
- He never remembered... oh, long time ago! I wasn't there, but they say that the Guardian jumped out of the grotto of power, and went somewhere muttering about the greedy insatiable Abyss... Maybe an ale of no good drink? No one has seen him since!
- I see," I said, upset. Though it is clear that it was not. But there was nothing else the dwarf could tell me.
- Well, have a nice trip! - The dwarf shouted, and we drove into the rock.
* * *
For some reason, I thought we were gonna pop out of the aspen cliffs again, but no! There's a field before us, overgrown with dryness and sedge. Behind it there was a forest of dark trunks, turning into a thick deciduous forest. The Devil and the Free Mountains were left behind, and strangely enough, it was colder down here than on the slopes. I had to wrap myself in capes again. But how delighted I was to see this field, and the expanse and a little frown! Breathing immediately became easier and the mood improved greatly. Echo, too, snapped out of the palm of his hand and swirled, swept up the pretty leaves.
Lord Darrell held his horse, adapting his step to the unhurried lynx of my filly. But as he levelled, he said nothing, he just rode along, thinking about something. So I asked, just to dilute the silence.
- Lord Darrell, a disgruntled look. Oh, I can't get used to it, though it doesn't seem difficult to call it by its name, and I've asked so many times! Oh, I sighed. - Spider. Tell me, is this some kind of intersection? Not roads, but spaces? Did I get that right?
He nodded, smiled, his peanut eyes lightened up. To know, he also had a hard time with understatement.
- That's right, Vetriana! This is the point of convergence of two places. And sometimes three or even more... In Eloar, in one of the towers there is the overlap of two dozen exit points at once. But that's rare, mostly just two points. All of them are guarded and opened with a key, have you seen the locket at Dagamar's?
The Wind of the North Page 41