Читать бесплатно онлайн книгу автора  Immortals. Knights from Arkona

Sergey Solovyov

Contents

Immortals. Knights from Arkona

Don’t lose your head

Russian folk proverb

Prologue

The battle began suddenly, at the forest edge, arrows whistled, sometimes clay balls poured from slings on tree trunks, falling apart from the blow. Alma jumped on the back of her moose in one jump, looking around. The princess has already smelled the smell of enemies, strangers, who again came to Her land. A scythe, known to everyone in Siberia, was already spinning in the hand of the beauty — from Gandvik to Oum and the steppes of Semirechye, behind which were the steppes and deserts of eternally hungry strangers. This weapon drove even notorious villains from the Eastern Deserts into awe.

On the warrior’s chest, a band with five severed and smiling heads of the leaders of strangers was fun, in good memory of her wars. Around her neck she wriggled, trying to warm herself on the cold skin of the Princess, a snake, the well-known viper Skara. She rarely crawled away from the hostess, and now, as if feeling a battle, she opened her mouth wide, exposing her poisonous fangs.

The girl raised her head, and again cold drops of sadly drizzling rain fell on her snow-white face, the Dead Princess tried to calm down. She never felt the heat or the cold again, but the sound of rain itself gave her comfort. It was not by chance that Alma ended up here, it was necessary to visit fellow countrymen, heal the unwell and help the ailments. Here, after all, there was not far a village of several houses — fortresses behind ramparts and moats, and her path lay there, it can be seen to the misfortune or happiness of the gans.

And strangers, in their misfortune, ran into her watch from the Dead, two of whom attacked a hundred aliens, and they fired arrows and stones in response. The dead were not afraid of anyone, did not understand or say anything, but they steadily followed all the orders of the Princess, and she instructed the dead servants to attack strangers wherever they were felt.

— Athey! — she shouted to the companion, who had already delivered the bow and arrow, — do not let the enemies leave for the swamp! Take the rest of your companions with you! But do not go to the trouble, do not bring the fight to swords! Look, don’t lose your head! — and she threatened him with an oblique Death.

— Yes, Princess! he smiled, putting on a helmet made of wild boar fangs — whatever you want!

His elk, Shchepka, quickly moved to the edge, and followed him, the same on moose, and five young men and women, already with bows at the ready. These were her Companions, people from her deck, those who followed her, and knew Ihor, becoming forever Immortal servants.

— Kurei, — she called the rest, — and you and I will come to a detachment of strangers. Take care that their convoy does not leave, we need prey.

— Well, Princess, — nodded Kurei — Magi, putting on leather armor.

The man turned away from the Princess. He wasn’t too fond of the second she went berserk. Now Alma’s face quickly turned blue again from white, becoming almost Black from Hatred to enemies. The rain did not stop, and the sky was gloomy, as always, when the Princess appeared on these lands.

Kurei sent his moose to the left of the army, and Alma suddenly shouted:

— Forward!

The viper stretched up on the hostess’s shoulder, Alma’s white braids fluttered in the wind. The princess sent up her elk, Hot, he only shook his huge horns, obeying the hostess. The dead army did not lag behind, not paying attention to knots or fallen trees, bushes, and pits. The Dead did not even notice such trifles, jumping over them or crossing, it happened that they crawled over.

Near the swamp, the battle was in full swing. The arrows of satellites flew, hitting strangers when they tried to break through and escape from Alma, and her army, but it was too late…

Hot burst into their ranks, the Princess mowed down strangers, leaving no wounded. A monstrous blade, forged by the magi from gray metal found in Taimyr, chopped flesh with human flesh, as if it were cow oil or salty breasts. Hands, heads, cut bodies remained behind the passing Princess, and the forked hooves of her elk only drove the bloodless flesh deeper into the ground. Some tried to fight, throwing darts and spears at her, from which she easily dodged. But here, the tallest and strongest, the leader can be seen, rushed forward screaming and tried to hit Goryachy with his club. But the elk, standing on its hind legs, only hit the front legs with its hooves at once, crushing the madman’s head. The Dead the body flew into the thick of the enemies, and then the magician of strangers rose to meet, who decided to test his luck.

With a rod hung with bells in one hand and a stone ax in the other, he attacked the Princess, thinking to embarrass the witch with his volshba. But, with a face blackened with indescribable anger, Alma did not even notice this, only dodged the blow, carried her oblique head off the shoulders of the unreasonable and immediately caught her trophy by the beard, tied to the saddle.

The fight turned into a beating, where the Dead destroyed strangers, literally driving enemies into the ground, turning bodies into bloody slime. A convoy of twenty teams of steppe horses did not have time to leave, and there were several women left, with bows in their hands. On one of the red tape, Alma saw a bound young man, apparently alive. Next to him sat an elderly woman with a bronze dagger in her hand, intending to cut the prisoner’s throat.

The princess, without lowering the bloody Spit of Death, shouted in the language of strangers:

— Let him go, you will live and return home!

— He’s going to die, just like you, damned witch! ’shouted a madman, plunging a knife down the throat of the bound captive.

At two moments, dismounting, Alma jumped, as if not touching the ground, got to the drag, and holding the braid in her right hand, with the end of the blade reached the woman’s neck, and chopped off her head, but so that the strip of skin was held, preventing it from falling to the ground. The body of the murdered fell, generously irrigating the Siberian land with enemy blood. The Princess hacked the rest of the women walking, not thinking of stopping, not sparing anyone, not paying attention to screams and screams.

Magus, with a bloody club, sat on horseback, inspecting the battlefield. There were more chopped bodies, and they became useless. But those three whom he killed could be used, and the economic man carefully plucked them aside, laid them flat, prepared them for revival. Sensible of weapons, what is better, put in heaps. Now, it was possible to relax. after all, Alma came to her senses, and did not expect important things, it was necessary to change the sables for grain and honey.

Kurei, looking around, drove up to the Princess when her face became just tender — blue. Black lips parted to reveal the beauty’s pearly teeth, black eyes staring, barely blinking.

— Collect all the prey, magi. We need a lot.

Cooray just shrugged. Everything has already been collected, but I was not going to argue with the Mistress. Alma went to the lying young man, and instantly cut the belts, squeezed arms and legs. Blood flowed from the wound, but he was still alive. The witch nodded, and, so also with a dagger in her hand, sat down on the red tape, and instantly cut her wrist, so Kurei gasped.

— Princess… he just whispered.

«The deck is not full yet,» the witch replied.

She brought her wound on her arm to the lips of the dying man, and a trickle of clear liquid, Ihora, fell into the youth’s mouth. Alma now held her wrist to her lips, licking it, and the ichor immediately stopped flowing. The body of the gant, a blonde young man, began to fight in convulsions, so much so that the cart almost turned over. Finally, he opened his blue eyes and saw the Dead Princess, the one he had seen more than once, coming to their city. He who came to life with difficulty got up, bowed and said:

— I serve you until my death, Princess!

— What’s your name, warrior?

— Jaromir!

There would be bones, meat will grow

Arkona

A murder for a murder

Shitik simply rushed along the waves of the Sarmatian Sea, the oars almost bent in the oars in the powerful hands of tireless rowers. These sailors could row from dawn to dusk, and there was no need to change tired to fresh. The fishermen welcomed the soldiers, but were surprised that the ship was going to the East, and not to the West, to repay the grievances of the Danes. That’s right, the Svyatovit’s Squad often went to Roskilde, and their swords were like a security certificate from the fury of enemies. But no, now they were waiting for a distant land in the East, they went to Constantinople, or called Danes still Gardariki, which meant the country or city of the King…

It was not difficult to drag their ship, with leather sides sewn to the frame of the boat, so that it would not be so difficult to move from one waterway to another. In general, such sewn ships in Pomorie were rarely built by the Wends, but the knights of Svyatovit were faithful to the customs of their ancestors. It is clear that they hired carters, it was necessary to transport the cargo, and huge carts, drawn by oxen, dragged expensive goods from one river to another. Silver penyazi became a generous payment for help. Here the knights did not make enemies, paying for work under the contract..

The warriors went to the Don, and then their appearance changed. The sail on the mast, as if by a miracle, turned out to be different, the merchants, and now not the soldiers, grew small beards. And before the eyes of other merchants, they were already prospectors from the Jellied Sea, with a small but precious load of walrus tooth and fur of the haze beast, also called sable. The tall merchants no longer traded amber, and where did the amber come from on Uterus or Grumant?

On the Don, northerners passed the fortress of Tana, an ancient town with several stone turrets, where they paid soap for soy goods. The city was small, dae without walls, surrounded only by a rampart, but wonderfully rich in fish. Merchants gladly tried the local sturgeon. Further, the wanderers’ path lay along the calm Lake Meoti, to the rich and glorious Tsargrad, Korchev, or Kerch, who, as they said. Nearby was the city of Sarov, Sugdeya or Surozh, also well fortified and rich.

The harbor of the port city, the capital city of White Russia was defended by a squat tower, on which a new banner developed — the Coat of Arms of Rurik.

On the nose, the standing foreman of the merchants smiled badly, but did not insult the Holy Banner. And how can you? And this sign is sacred, for four thousand years as or more, those who have dedicated themselves to the Dead Princes put it on their forehead, or on a helmet or hat. And everyone sees two white rays on his forehead, and the third, red, like the language of fire, between them. This was the famous Kolyumn, or Kolomna.

But now, their ship, here very small, among the huge Roman merchant ships, stood at the mooring wall. The merchants quickly unloaded the ship, paid for the washing, and dragged the boat and cargo to the depots. One of the merchants has already taken out a ring flashing its wings and beak in the sun, and what is strange — with lion paws. The imperial merchant who passed by only shrugged his shoulders, surprised by the ancient coat of arms.

— What did you get, Lute? What seal? ’another said quietly, ’it said, a bear with an ax…

— Tired of the road, brother…

— Seal it faster, — the man murmured, — Okay, let’s go look for an inn…

Strangers in the trading city did not surprise anyone, although the authorities tried so that the guests would not interfere with the residents of the city. They stayed at the institution of the romance Anastasia Psaki. Stone structure, with two extensions, with kitchen, labaz and stable. It turned out a considerable estate, even for such a large city as Kerch.

— Will you take the Penyazi of the King of the Franks, Anastasius?

— Why not take it,» the innkeeper agreed, taking out the scales.

Lute took out a cat, and began to lay thin silver coins one on top of the other.

Silver migrated to the koshel of the romance, and the tension in the eyes of the owner subsided. It was hard to believe that this was a romeo, only by the clothes one could say that he came from a great empire. If you just look at the face of this sluggish man, at his gray Slavic eyes, then Anastasius seemed more like a foreman from Lyubitsa or Mikelin.

— For lunch I can offer fish, I have fresh, not salty, — Anastasiy boasted, — How to contact you? he asked, finally at the foreman, whose neck was decorated with a golden hryvnia.

— Viten, foreman of the artel.

— My cook cooks perfectly, my bread is also my own. There are wines from Cyprus, Crete, and local, from Taurica.

— Let’s try Taurida’s vine today,» the foreman smiled.

— Master is no stranger to poetry?» Korchmar joked.

Viten decided to keep silent better, and looked at each other with an assistant, and he nodded to him in response.

— I’ll send you a boy when your dinner is ready. He will take you to your dormitories. It’s warmer than yours in Cimmeria!

Korchmar was surprised when the merchants did not ask what kind of rhetoric. The appearance of the merchants was unusual, although he heard from the guards that these were guests from the Studed Sea. Well, Anastasius tried to be useful to the city and a thousand, because in Korchev he lived much better than in the damned Trebizond. There are almost no extortions here, and no one scares with reprisals and sophisticated executions for non-payment of tribute. So it was necessary to do… At first he went to the kitchen.

— Irina, — he turned to a nestar woman, — a good lunch with fish and wheat bread for thirty people. Now the merchants live with us, and have occupied almost all the rooms.

«Well, yes, only two remained,» the servant grinned, «no one else will stick to you, Anastasius!»

«Nothing, we paid for two weeks, now we have enough money for three months,» the tavern answered sternly.

— I understand it, baked fish for lunch?

— And fish pies, and fish stew, — said Romay, — all from fish

«We’ll cook it soon. Hours in three.

Anastasius came out, walked quickly through the courtyard, covered with slabs of ashlar. There was an incomprehensible fuss in the stable. The man tapped the joint with a stick, as if driving the rats away from the pythos with grain. A boy rolled out of the building, seemingly fifteen years old.

— Anastasius? Uncle? What happened? ’he said, shaking the straw out of his head.

— Run to the foreman, Vanir, tell me, thirty people stopped at me. They called themselves an artel from the Studenoy Sea. Tags showed that the wash was paid. Got it?

Anastasius pretended not to notice a young supper slipping past him, shaking off his skirt and apron from straw. The young man looked at the girl, blushed, and tried to make a smart face, frowning.

— Why run to the guard, since the guests have tags? ’he asked.

— Let Vanir decide for himself. You never know. Painfully calm… They didn’t drink wine right away, they didn’t go looking for girls, they didn’t start fights… All this is strange…

— Too good? — thinking, approved the young man.

— Unusual…

Leonty nodded, and with two fingers grabbed the belt on the tunic, tied the belts on the shoes, got up, and quickly walked to the harbor, a small house, where their acquaintance Vanir was on duty with the guards.

***

— While everything is not bad, Viten, — Lyut said quite smiling, lying on the bed, — softly, much better than sleeping on a bench.

— You’ll sleep everything, the garden head… — the foreman joked angrily, — the romey did not hurt us… He is a broken wolf, and did not see such… The case now… Five go to look for girls, and ten will have to pour wine in the next tavern.

— Viten?

«What are you looking at, Jaromir?» For a long time, Arkonskaya and I did not go down the cliff… After a long journey, the merchant must look for the joys of life. So you go to drink wine today… Moreover, lunch in two hours will be, not earlier…

— All right, let’s go… Sinas, Asan!

— Yes, we already… What’s the matter, governor?

— Leave swords, take only daggers with you.

— What knight without a sword? — and the warrior proudly laid his fingers behind the waist belt.

«We’re merchants here.

— I see, Viten. Maybe I’m with Tiudemir, girls?

— It is said to the incomprehensible, — the foreman sighed, — in the tavern.

Young travelers, and in appearance each of them was no more than twenty full years old, folded superfluous in their dormitories, and a noisy crowd descended the stone staircase of the inn. Anastasius watched the servant sweeping the yard from garbage, and turned to look at the guests. It was evident that the person was very surprised.

Well done, they went to a hot spot. This tavern was simpler and worse than Anastasios, because there were more people here, you see, food and wine are much cheaper. And, here was what they were looking for.

A suspicious person, but in elegant clothes, with a staff in his hand, went to them, strained and habitually smiling.

— I see, I see, well done from the North… After a long journey, there is no better warmth than the heat of a woman’s embrace. You, right, were looking for where to relax? My name is Pelagius, and everyone here knows me.

— Well, a well-known thing,» Sinas began evasively.

— For such noble people, say, half an ounce of silver from each?

— A coin of equal weight…

— Miliaresis?

— Dirhams…

— Great. My assistant, Aristarchus, will see you off.

— If, by chance, my friends wake up with a sore head and without boots, then do not fail… — the knight began to explain, holding the handle of the dagger,

— Personally, I will personally look after their beautiful shoes, — Pelagius spoke with a tongue twister, holding his hands to his chest, — And, even I swear, I will buy new boots myself in case of loss. By the way, I know where you can buy a beautiful malvasia.

«We’d take some amphorae.

— Tomorrow I will deliver, the most honorable… Inn Anastasia Psaki?

«Exactly… Do not worry, but we will check the wine, then fill it with our seal. Don’t think we don’t trust you, just what if you make a mistake in a hurry?

— Whatever, — the merchant was upset, — it will be necessary to find out more precisely whether the wine remained in the warehouse, or Aristarchus sold everything. Wine is a running product, and you think that it is, but it has not been for a long time. You know, a guest from the North, my clerk is a real sneaker, I suffer with him so much, but I can’t drive him away because of a good heart.

Sinas made a misunderstood face, but comparing the simple face of the clerk and the roguish Pelagia, especially how diligently the merchant now hid his fingers behind his back, he did not strongly believe the words of the romance. But, as agreed, several people followed Aristarchus. Actually, only two northerners remained in the tavern.

Sinas and Asan sat at an almost clean table, which a peddler smoothed with a knife right in front of them, and then raked shavings from the floor. Then they brought them a jug of wine and cups of green glass.

«Should I drink three jugs?» Asan inquired of a companion.

— No less… To remove suspicions from the locals.

«Who are we going to beat?» ’he asked frowningly.

— And here, these — and Sinas nodded at the six Romanesque merchants — and it is possible to others. I don’t care.

They were stocky, bearded men dining on bread with soft sheep’s cheese. There was also a dish with dried fish, a jug of wine. The merchants also had considerable knives on their belts, and they looked detailed and bold to the sailors.

«No murder, Asan. And so there are many corpses behind us.

— And I don’t want to start a matchmaker, twin. So you have to fight!

But everything was decided not to say what was for the best for the Romans. But not so hard for the northerners, after the incident, their conscience calmed down. A peddler, a young girl, while walking slipped on a defended fish head, and poured wine on a dark felt cloak of one of the romance merchants, who picked up the floor of his clothes with annoyance and hit his strong girl’s ass with his palm. The girl, unaccustomed to such treatment, covering her face with her sleeve, cried and ran away.

— Why so, kind man? — Asan gladly intervened, — or is it customary for you, in Trebizond?

— Are you, Dylda, her guardian, or maybe the groom or husband? asked the angry merchant.

— You are a dishonest man! — was his answer.

Romaeus immediately grabbed a heavy stool and threw it at Asan. He did not dodge, and having caught the seat and leg, he threw the offender in the stomach, and he just gasped, fell on the dirty floor of the tavern and scraped his thick fingers on the boards. The rest, five, with their fists at the ready, rushed at two northerners. It wasn’t an equal scrum. Sinas immediately knocked down one, meeting with a punch in the hypochondrium, Asan sent the other to unconsciousness with two blows.

Three merchants, seeing the fiasco of their comrades, exposed daggers and tried to use them. But they could not even scratch the Romans of the northerners. However, the knights gave time for the Romans to get tired well, so that sweat was already pouring with hail.

Finally, three guards simply flew into the tavern, with sticks and axes.

— Drop the knives, stop the rampage! — shouted, you can see the eldest of the guards, — otherwise it will be bad!

Romei threw daggers, and bent down, tried to lift their friends from the floor. Lying only grunting and moaning, got up, leaning on their hands, wiped blood from broken faces. The guards looked at both tall guests, and the elder called the northerners to the tavern door with a sign. Asan put two coins, payment for the treat, and without hesitation went to the courtyard of the tavern.

— Sit down… — the guard pointed to the bench with a sign, — I am Vanir, the foreman of the city guard. Why are you starting a matchmaker?

— I am Asan. They were the first to attack, in truth there is no guilt on us.

— Yes. And from them I will take five coins in your favor. But merchants are dear to us, and we have no trace of daring them.

— And we are trading people, Vanir. They came to sell goods from the Studded Sea.

«It doesn’t hurt you like merchants. These, with daggers, could not even cut your clothes, they could not hurt anything, but people, they are not weak, and have been in alterations more than once or twice.

«Every merchant, he’s a warrior. You know, Vanir.

Desyatnik looked at tall guys, no longer young men, but they were far from a man’s article. But even now they were extremely strong and fast.

— Just don’t come here with a week until these Romans leave on a merchant ship to their Sinop.

— Let’s wait for friends, and leave, — Asan agreed, — we will finish the wine only…

— Who did your friends leave with?»

— Yes, a new acquaintance, Aristarchus, promised to show them the city…

The guards laughed, Vanir’s face also lit up with a wide smile, the foreman only looked at each other with his comrades. Well, that was understandable… The guys are young, only from the campaign, so the girls went…

— No, then of course, it’s important, wait… There is something to see in Kerch. That’s why he is Tsargrad.

***

Leonty came running quickly, finding a warrior sitting on the bench at the gatehouse, with an ax in his belt, with a bow and a quiver full of arrows on his side.

— Boyko, hello! — the young man greeted, — so Anastasius calls Vanir with his warriors.

«The ten will be back soon. You want to sit here, wait here.

— Okay, — the boy was not very upset, and began to draw letters on the sand.

The boy taught a little writing to the empire of an intelligent guard. There was such an agreement between them. The Romance letter was not easy for the servant of the law. And, he repeated after Leonty, bringing out letters with a stick, in the sand, pronouncing words to himself. Everything did not work out right away, and it was hard to get used to other people’s letters. The lad drew words and Boyko read:

— Stratiot, warrior for us.

— Here, you see, it turns out at me.

And the restless teenager wrote another word, or rather, two more:

«Mega Igemon, the Great Lord,» the guard read, «it’s a little.

— Well done, — there was a strong voice, — Boyko, soon you will learn to read Roman, not only our letter you will know! Leonty, what happened?

— Hello, decarch, — the boy began ceremoniously, — my father asks you to come to our inn with your soldiers. You said that you should report all suspicious foreigners.

«What’s wrong with them?»

— Yes, they themselves… Everything, as if from one egg hatched — each seven feet tall, hair very light, blue eyes. Everyone knows how sailors behave after a hike — they are looking for a tavern with wine, but accommodating women. These are decorously sitting in their dormitories and waiting for dinner.

— And how many are there?

— Thirty people, just like in the tales of savirs about heroes.

«Thank you, lad,» Vanir added, tapping the messenger on the shoulder. «Now we will come.» And you run to your father, behave as usual, do not bully guests. Wait.

Desyatnik, or decarch in Romanesque, because there were many Romans living in Kerch, almost more than northerners, or wends who had recently come in large numbers with Oleg. Yes, the felling then was between the northerners and the Wends, although short, but terrible. Oleg, calling himself a guest, entered the harbor on three ships, and first captured and killed Dar, and then, with his banners, entered the fortress and hacked Oskol there. Part of the detachments of the northerners, together with the saras, locked themselves in Surozh and cut with the Wends, and Oleg could not take the city.

Oleg announced that he had taken power on behalf of Igor, also by blood from the Veles clan, accused Oskol and Dar that they had tortured the fugitives from the Elbe who had gone to the Dnieper from the evil Karla. Yes, Oskol sent magyars to the Wends, to take tribute, because the newcomers sat down on his land, the land of the northerners and Saras. Magyars burned Vendian towns on Volkhov and Dnieper. The Wends from despair tearfully asked the Velesovichi on the Varangian Sea to give them a prince, and Rurik came from the Western Wends.

Then the news came to the White Kings that the Saxons and Franks were attacking the encouraged and Lyutichi, and, throwing lots, they decided that the Magyars would go on a campaign. So the forces of the Kings became impoverished, and Rurik began a rebellion. White kings died, and the Siberian princes, Northern and Ural did not recognize the authorities of Rurik… And, now the warriors of the Wends feared the revenge of the northerners, and were always at the ready. Vanir, who already knew what the northerners looked like, therefore remembered what had happened and prepared for the worst.

— Put on your armor, and quickly go to Anastasia’s inn, — commanded the decarch to his people.

The warriors began to quickly put themselves in order, helping each other. However, Zhnyr, differed, as always:

«What are the reservations to take?» It’s very hot… Merchants came, it’s usual. We will make sense, if necessary, put it in the underground.

— Faster… Let’s go in order, — said Vanir harshly, looking at the troublemaker badly, — a weapon to be ready!

He only spread his arms, and no longer argued with the decarch, only threw the shield behind his back. The soldiers walked briskly along the narrow Kerch street, past a solid line of adobe fences that merged into another wall. Even on small plots of land, grapes and peach trees grew, where there were pear trees. True, sometimes there were wastelands, with destroyed houses, fallen roofs. And in such abandoned places only nettles and ivy turned green.

Finally, the wind brought the smell of the edible to the guards, and even the eternally dull Zhnyr, smiled, and loudly pulled the air with his nose:

— Mullet, fried… Moreover, with pepper, garlic and basil… So only Psaki smells…

— It’s close. Shields at the ready! — commanded a foreman.

The detachment quickly approached the open gates of the gate, and quickly, past the silent dogs, moved to the forge. Vanir, without repairing, jerked open the door of the tavern, upholstered in strip iron, and went inside. A dozen guests sat at a wide table, as Leonty said, men, or rather, young men of enormous height, and not at all frightening in appearance. They ate quickly, ate Anastasios’s cooking with pleasure, the peddlers smiled at the prigozhe merchants.

— Vanir? Come in for a snack? — found something to say Anastasius.

— Well, yes, time to eat, — the guard played along, — if I don’t interfere. Will you feed my guys? — and the warrior put the coin in front of the tavern.

— I am glad to the guests, — only the romey answered.

Vanir brought his own, dressed more for sich, and not dinner, so the soldiers had to fold the armor. The ashen-haired merchants were noticeably revived, among them there was laughter, however, they ate treats and drank wine with the same zeal.

Vanir sat down next to Anastasius, with a fish jam in his hand, and looked inquiringly at the tavern.

«These?» — without looking towards the guests, asked the foreman.

Romay just nodded, and drank wine from the cup. I looked at the main of the northerners, and Vanir also looked at the northerner with a golden hryvnia around his neck. The foreman wiped his mustache, got up from the table, stepped over the bench, and ended up next to the guards. He was without a sword, only with a dagger on his belt.

— My name is Viten, — the giant called himself, — the foreman of the merchants, we came from the Jellied Sea.

Vanir calmed down slightly, the man, or rather, the young man, did not look intimidating. The guard looked closely at the embroidery on the sleeves, but he was alerted by the tattoo on his hands. There was no sword on the belt, only a large knife.

— Some of mine went to have a little fun after a long hike, but by night they will return, — explained the foreman, — they are not a hindrance to the city.

The foreman calmed down, or pretended to be calm, put his thumbs in his belt, put his left leg forward.

— Everyone is glad that merchants from distant edges come to Kerch, and you are welcome here.

— We know the laws, guard, and do not bother.

«Let’s not stop you from eating. Anastasia is being fed wonderfully well, you made no mistake about the place, Viten.

Vinar sat down with his friends at the table, ate quickly, and soon his soldiers left the inn.

— Everything worked out? Gunei asked quietly.

— Vinar went to the pit. I hope for Asan and Sinas that everything will end there without a big swara.

— But not without a little? the interlocutor smiled.

Viten swallowed from the cup, and smoothed out a light mustache. Asan and Sinas could be relied upon.

***

But not only the kitchen attracted the inn Anastasia guests from the North. The foreman looked at the black night sky, strewn with stars, and saw a donjon standing on a hill, Oleg’s shelter. It used to be the court of Oskol and Dar. Viten took out a leather pipe from his bag, the creation of the ancient masters of Priobye, pushed it apart, and began to look through it at the castle. Rounded and polished pieces of rock crystal seemed to bring the stone towers closer to Viten’s eyes. The moat, the light bridge, the light burning in the windows of the castle, everything was visible in a wonderful pipe. The palace, as the foreman knew, was guarded by about a hundred of the best vigilantes. Witen just grinned. Another way awaited them, wherever they met the vigilant guards of Oleg’s castle. He returned to his dormitory, where Lute was already waiting for him. There was no fire in the room, these people did not need light.

— Look, Viten, — and the knight unfolded the yellow parchment, — The plan of the underground passage to the castle…

— I see, on your contented grin, you already found and start of move to the castle? — the knight looked at his friend and comrade-in-arms.

— In the stable, foreman, — slowly, almost in syllables, Lute broadcast, — we will pass in two hours. Before sunset, you need to go underground in order to be in time.

«Take three more. Five of us will do everything quickly, we will take with us only daggers, ropes. We do not go to fight, we will not give the killer a fair fight, we will only kill Oleg for deception and that’s it. Do not forget the venom box.

«Will he take the corpse with him?» Lute revived.

— No. Let’s throw it in the castle. Everything must be done wisely. Remove suspicions from yourself, but point it at whom…

So another day passed… In the rays of the sunset, unnoticed by the servants of the inn, only five shadows slipped to the stable. The gates creaked and everything died down. On the hayloft, where the lovers rested, they did not even notice the soldiers. Leonty only rustled with straw, shook his head, driving away the hassle, and again hugged his beloved beauty.

***

Nine worn steps led down, however, it was not bad to go, because clay slurry, a frequent companion of such moves, was not here. Just think, nonsense — a dozen hefty rats eating an old cat to the bone, and so, nothing so terrible. But the barn predators were driven away with clever blows of their boots, and here Lute was especially lucky — he hit two at once!

The knights bent almost twice, the course was low, hewn calcareous stones covered with cobwebs and mold threatened to knock down felt caps from tall northerners. Soon the slope of the course began to rise significantly, it became a little harder to go, but these people had no difficulties or fear of darkness, they saw in the darkness no worse than in the light of the sun.

— How, what can be seen ahead?

— For a long time, Jaromir,» the foreman did not console his brother.

— It’s a pity that I’m not a dactyl, — Lute muttered, — they are familiar… Once, once, and there…

— Yeah, dactyl in our squad, — whispered the funny Uslad.

— Quieter you, — Viten muttered, — soon already, here, signs on the wall.

And he showed the well-known sign hidden under the dust — URDHVA-PUNDRA, or Kolyumn. This sign has always been the coat of arms of the Bosporus kings, and they were also from the family of the White Kings. And during the confusion, three hundred years ago, the White Kings settled in Kerch, a convenient place rich in fish and grain from the Kuban. Yes, and trading, but true, it was not very good with water, they only stored rain in huge tanks.

But now, they came to the door. Only it turned out, the door is new, with a noble castle.

— Please, work for you, — the foreman whispered, — not just sins.

— Yes, I’ll try… — the knight answered, taking out a bunch of cunning keys.

For a long time the castle did not resist, did not squeal or creak, clicked the shutter briskly, and the heavy door leaf almost opened itself.

«I’m ahead,» Viten said.

The knights quickly screamed at the door, and again closed the lock from sin. Judging by the low vault, and roughly processed blocks of walls, they were in the basement. There were also very picturesque hooks in the walls.

— That’s right, Oleg here tortures enemies… On the hook, and done.

«No, Uslad,» Jaromir replied, picking up the grease on the wall under the hooks, «it ran from the oil lamps. And soot from torches.

— Maybe. — comrade did not bicker, — we must go upstairs. What is the idea, Viten?

— There are ovens in the undercloths. I took good herbs. Let’s throw it into kindling — and everyone will fall asleep without hind legs, such nightmares will haunt — and Elena the Beautiful will not help them…

«Everything will work out as it should,» agreed Lute.

The stoves were melted, there were no stoves yet, and new ones appeared. Viten put a large piece of grass in each of the four furnaces, and closed the shutters, and opened the door from the basement. Smoke began to fall from the stoves, rising higher and higher, on the floors of the donjon,

It is always hard to wait, time dragged on, as if soaked soaked until all the grass burned out in the firebox.

— Close your mouths with wet rags, and let’s go, — Viten ordered.

Well done, they moistened rags from flasks of water, and tied their faces, looked at each other, and carefully began to understand the stairs…

There were callous bodies lying around. Warriors, servants, boyars, maids, smoke deprived everyone of consciousness and strength. Many had crimson — red faces, distorted, with foam at the mouth. The knights walked quickly, not paying attention to the suffering of others. At the door of the princely chambers lay ten crouched warriors with axes in their hands. Many apparently tried to rise, but nothing came of this venture.

Viten exhaled, and opened the door with a push. The footsteps of the knights were silent, their legs just drowned in the thick pile of Persian carpet spread on the floor. The windows were covered from the inside with carved shutters. The foreman went to the bed, next to which lay a man in a brocade dressing gown, who was also unconscious.

Viten brought him to the nostrils of a bottle with a sharp-smelling composition, and the man’s eyes slowly opened. The whites of the eyes were red, and the face, on the contrary, was whiter than chalk.

— Have you come for me yet? I’m ready, — the prince said without fear, and began to rise with difficulty.

Oleg sat down in a chair, drank wine from a glass glass. filed by Vitenem.

— I’ve been waiting for you for a long time, local people, — and the vend drank more wine, — let’s go… There is no need to bloody the floor, o