«You said that I put a spell on the door, which would not allow anyone to enter or notice this house at all.»
«If our so-called colleagues were not aimed to break me in a shredder, then this night we could sleep well. They, like locust, make a raid at the most unexpected hour, and they are able to crawl at least into a keyhole. Envious competitors are always ready to destroy the one who has achieved success.»
«Success?» in the voice of the spoken was heard an indignation. «The former allies are about to arrange the court over us.»
«They don’t arrange, until they caught us, and in this their chances are zero,» said Vincent. «They envy to those who retain youth and independence. Listen attentively, Arno, when I was born, this city has not yet been on the face of the earth. The kingdoms underlying from here began to form only many years after I ran away from our famous school. To have obedient mortal servants is much more profitable than allies from our environment. Among the pirates and smugglers are full of people faithful to me who are happy to serve the sorcerer. Tomorrow at night in our secret harbor you are waiting for boats with a commodity. I go to the fortress and gamble with a lord, who manages this area. Before the midnight he will lose to me most of his possessions.
«And he will give you a lost?» Cynically asked Arno.
Yes, he will,» followed a calm, confident answer.
«How are you going to the fortress. Any guard will recognize you on the scar on the throat?»
«Let’s see,» he grinned and throws his cards on the table. They immediately swayed the fan and swept like a colorful leaf fall.
«I would like to try the happiness of the player at least once in my life,» he laughed. «For more centuries, my fate is moving up and down. There were few next decades when Fortuna smiled to me, and then they began to lay the foundation of this city wall. Already then, my accomplices foresees that Lara will be a picturesque place. Only in those days the city had not yet been the name, as long as before the builders did not appear the spirit, in the place where the quadrangular turret is shoved now.»
Vincent continued to chat. Now his voice rang in my mind, like an alarm bell. Does all this spoke that audacious, self-confident boy, who, leaving the port, promised that our new meeting would fall on the upcoming centuries? I leaned a forehead to the cold wall. How many years has passed since the galleon of prince took me from the flaming coast? The hat flew from the head, I did not even try to pick up it. My raincoat rustled in contact with the wall, and Vincent immediately broke away from his classes.
«Is there someone here?» Arno was alerted.
«I do not know. I do not feel anyone,» Vincent sniffed to the air.
«I hope this is not one of the newcomers enrolled in the school of witchcraft.»
«Oh no,» Vincent interrupted him, «not every champion could compete with me, not the newcomer.»
«Still, it is better to retain the curtains and draw a few more signs,» the accomplice advised.
«You’re right!» Vincent rose from his place and I hurriedly slid away, as fast as it could only make a shadow. I went a little aside and turned around, but I did not notice the luminous window, only a weak orange spot in the shrouded haze.
To spend so many years in the dungeon, someone has been whispered to me this seems to appeal to revenge. Even if the native kingdom had not been drawn to the ashes in my eyes, everything that I knew and loved, now it would be equal to the rush. Familiar places would have changed beyond recognition. I finally understood why Rothbart was aged so fast. One day, having made a mistake, he could no longer focus all the strength on maintaining his young posture and a little attractive face.
And I stayed all the same fearful young man.
Leaving the city, I followed the dragon. As if the silk thread led me on the smell of related, self-turning blood. The winding track slid between the hills, wetlands, where the reed and tiny lakes were crushed. I noticed a small, female shoe, laying in dust. In this place, the dragon grabbed his sacrifice. The trail ended, and I had to go on the wet from the dew grass, while the swamp did not seem. Here lived our mysterious lord.
I did not have to wait long. Knowing that he can take a more pleasant appearance, I mentally ordered him to do it. In front of me appeared a rural nobleman. If there was still no danger from him.
News in our society spread quickly as a forest fire. The marsh dragon preferred at least a bow to express his respect, and not to throw a challenge.
«Where is the girl?» I asked.
«You come a little earlier, and she would be yours,» he rummaged in a vest pocket and removed from there a sapphire bracelet and several carnelian pins. «I’m afraid, that’s all that remains from her. In Lara there is a lot of other girls who will follow you anywhere, and it was just a daughter of the money-lender, and also a cunning pretender who loved to follow at night from her window for drama unfolding on the street.
The brain seems to be lit up a flash, I saw a girl who looks with curiosity and fear how the dragon kills his sacrifice under her windows, and nodded with understanding. It is impossible to leave a single witness alive, people should not suspect our existence otherwise, as then we can get lost in the crowd with our impeccable faces and luminous eyes.
«Did you come for the established tribute?» The question suddenly invaded my thoughts, and I woke up and with arrogance looked at the owner of the swamps.
«Later, my trustee will come to you,» I explained in the harsh tone. «Do you support the connection with others… those who are something like you?»
He understood me and nodded:
«With some, but not with everyone.»
«Everyone is occupied only with his problems and his territory?» I grinned.
«We support the connection, because everyone is destined to serve one lord.»
«So, yell the rest that the laws remained the same. I will not be able to visit everyone in the near future and you will be calmer from this, you will not have to take a dangerous guest. My servant will collect tribute. And then, perhaps, I will get acquainted with everyone in turn.»
«When?»
«For seven years,» the words remembered me from the conversation in the empty city. «Maybe a little later, but I will come to them and make everyone obey my power. And there, let’s see if anyone will dare to disobey. No matter how many years have passed, I will not leave my subjects alone for municipality,» I smiled contemptuously and added. «Time has no longer power over me.»
I do not know if he caught a secret meaning hidden in this phrase. Most likely, no, because he did not know that once I was as mortal and vulnerable, like those people he abducts from the city.
Percy was delighted with the fact that I entrusted him the first responsible task and did not even ask why I went to the walls of the stone fortress, located next the masquerade’s city. I decided to get ahead of Vincent. I had a lot of hours in stock. With his exacerbated hearing, I could catch the conversations that were conducted in distant taverns. From their scraps, it became clear to me that the lord was a gambler and good luck rarely left him. Vincent chose the desired string to, playing on it, and succeed.
For me, it was no longer difficulty, again take the appearance of a golden snake, slip into a climbing ribbon along the night air and squeeze into a narrow hole of the loophole. Updating inside, again became myself, shook off the drops of the evening rain and felt a pleasant warmth from the flaming fireplace. For the guards, I remained invisible, they did not even notice me when I passed just a few steps from their posts.
I acted successfully, although I could not remember most of my witch skills. I was disappointed. The dragons were greed and evil. They were not resembled in any way a fascinating spectacle from the distant past when I have seen the flight of a whole flock of sparkling dragons over a grandiose fire. Now I could behave with them on an equal footing and still did not find any of them neither wisdom nor an understanding, no one with anyone could talk to souls, only animals that were required to tame. It was too early to beat the alarm, because I met only with two representatives of the ancient race, but for some reason the confidence grew in the fact that I would not meet anyone with an outstanding intelligence. Although I can try to visit and the rest, but it is unlikely that such a visit will cause their joy immediately after the news about the hard-hearted ruler will be transmitted by living chain. Their treasures did not interest me. Tribute served as a guarantee that they will obey my orders. About myself I have sworn that I will not give them to plunder the richest and most prosperous kingdoms, to which they are targeted. Let this land has become a stranger to me, but I still loved its splendor. Bustling cities and unhurried for human life reminded me that I myself was once a man. Of gold and jewels, hidden in the recesses of the dragon, on the other hand, it exuded an unpleasant cold. I do not even know why I need to keep any particles of terrible treasures. The same can not be said of Rothbart. He probably already knows everything and requires the lion’s share of the profits. For him the main thing was to divide the booty, not to reflect on where it was taken. If the rate were the treasures, he would have beaten at cards, even the devil. Or maybe he just was a devil. At least, I used to consider him as such.
Reflecting, I crossed several corridors, where guards with halberds were. They did not notice me. Their eyes from the slots of helmets looked at me like I was an empty space and did not feel anything suspicious. Not a sound of steps, nor my quiet breath, they certainly have not heard. Invisible shadow passed by was immune to their guns and spears, but at the same time could cause harm to them. It was pleasant to realize my full power over the people who have grabbed their weapons, even hearing too noisy scraping mice.
At the door of the owner I stopped. The lord was not alone. Next to him were a valet and some women.
All the same, they would not be able to notice me. Opening the door, I boldly crossed through the threshold and passed to a high window with an arched niche. It was nice to look at the starry sky from the fortress.
«What’s the matter?» said the lord. «Why do you look as if you saw a ghost,» he turned to his lady and the servant.
«Someone opened the door,» murmured the servant.
«It seemed to me that I saw someone’s silhouette,» the lady concluded, while resorting to her rich imagination. Otherwise, it was impossible to explain it, because of her thoughts it became immediately clear that she had seen no more than the rest.
«The door is opened from the wind,» the owner of the castle calmly said. «The wind blows here from all four sides. Go to yourself, Leonora,» he turned to the lady. «And you too go and close the door behind you,» followed the second order for the servant.
As soon as the door behind the servant and Leonora was closed, the lord began to look restlessly around. Then, without finding anything unusual around him, he sank into the carved chair:
«It should be true, just the wind.»
«You really think so,» I walked away from the window’s niche and found myself in the middle of the hall. The poor fellow lifted his eyes to me and almost cried out of surprise, because at first he heard an infrequent voice emanating from emptiness, and now, in addition, he saw a silhouette of a golden smoke.
«You’ve been waiting for someone else?» kindly asked I, having already assumed that Vincent not just dropped in here. «Most likely, I disappointed you, coming here instead of your friend’s unusual, and even without an invitation.»
– No, I’m just waiting for my partner in gamble and not a friend. The lord once again looked at me, trying not to miss a single detail of my appearance. He had a good reason, because the visitor entered the castle unexpectedly and could be anyone.
«You got bored of gambling with your friends, and your wife, why are you waiting for someone different from all of them,» I began carefully to read his thoughts.
«You did not even guess,» he was afraid.
«I guess. The luck smiled so often to you that no one wants to gamble with you… only he.»
«All that way. Nobody wants to help me dispel the boredom,» sadly said the gambler. «When he came to me, I was in despair and loneliness. And now I’m ready to play cards even with the devil himself.»
«He is in front of you,» I responded with gloomy courtesy, while my eyes flashed naughty, and I was ready to swear that the lord saw the black shadow of the dragon.
The lord was nor alive, or dead. In this moment, even addiction to gambling could hardly bring him out of stupor, so I did not wait for the invitation, took a place at the table. Before me stood white chess and taking advantage I made the first move, of course, while not touching any figure. White pawn itself moved forward to one field, quickly and deftly, as if a brave soldier.
«Adrian,» using the confusion of the interlocutor, I decided to contact him by name. For me, it was not difficult to read all his names and titles among other thoughts arriving in confusion. «You should not trust either a penny for this fraudster. If he visits you again, drive him away.»
We both understood about whom we are talking. And the lord every time, thinking about Vincent called him with another name. It was indifferent to me, in the end, Vincent had the right to call himself as he liked, but I didn’t want to have entire provinces under the rule of this scoundrel. It will be impossible to follow him forever, but I need to save at least these prosperous places from him and located nearby Lara with their noisy masquerades, cozy taverns, sea of artificial flowers and garlands, and even marshy outlines. When memories of the swamp and his host, the mood rightly spoiled. The only consolation was that if Vincent declares the swamp and meets there with my new acquaintance, then either leaves out of there, or it will not have time to carry his legs at all. For some reason it seemed to me that all these years he was engaged in the fact that he was deceiving around others and used them for its purposes.
«You do not want to continue the party?» I asked.
The lord who came down from fear, stretched out the trembling hand and made a pawn, and so it was so unpleasant that this figure was immediately lost. His move followed, then my, a few more thoughts and movements of fragile chess figures, while the game was not a duel of two minds, and rather reminded the hunt for a rabbit, which suddenly began to beat back from the pursuer.
«I warn you, do not trust this card-sharper,» Shah and Mat followed the warning immediately. Adrian flinched and moved away from the figures as if they were enchanted and could harm him.
«I just warned you, now you have the right to get rid of the scoundrel,» I tried to soften the tone a little, but the advice sounded too cold and sternly.
«But you said that you…» the lord was not deciding to call me once again by the Devil.
«Yes,» I confirmed carelessly, caught in his thoughts this word and fear that he experienced before his guest. «Just, for the first time in the century, I decided to make one good deed. So, for the sake of diversity.»