Читать книгу Legend. Dark kingdoms - Dmitry Nazarov - Страница 5

A sharp jump brought me back from oblivion.

The shaking did not stop, and even without opening my eyes it was clear that I was now being taken somewhere on something. Although, why is it somewhere? In an ambulance, most likely. Nowhere else.

Whoever was the guy who hit me over the head, even if he doesn’t expect me to put the brakes on everything. As soon as the doctor gives a certificate, the first thing I will run to the station is to write a statement.

Every bump in the road resounded in my head with the strongest blow of a bell. Nausea rose in her throat, and her arms and legs seemed to stiffen.

I was lying on something hard and wet, and the back of my head rested on something soft, but not on a pillow. Hard for a pillow. More like someone’s knees.

A shadow fell over his face.

– Be careful, don’t move, – the voice of the girl who addressed me seemed vaguely familiar.

Strained barely working brains.

Exactly! It was she who screamed in the square, asked to have mercy on her, to take pity on her, while those bastards continued to kick her.

Opening her eyes, the first thing she saw was her face: a freckled nose, with traces of congealed blood under it, green eyes like grass in a meadow, broken lips and stubborn cheekbones.

I cleared my throat, about to ask her where we were going, but looking a little higher, I almost jumped on the spot. High above me was the blue sky, but I saw it through the thick bars of the iron cage, which evenly swayed in time with the movement… of the cart.

There was no city even on the horizon, and we drove along a dusty road, without any asphalt.

I myself was lying on the thatched floor, and my head was resting on the lap of a stranger who was sitting next to me. Shoes and a backpack were not observed nearby.

I didn’t give a damn about the headache, I raised myself on my elbows and stared at the back of the man sitting in front and urging the horse.

The fact that this was a man was clear from the width of his shoulders. You can’t see his face, and not because he was sitting with his back to me. An iron mask flaunted on his head, and his leather clothes, consisting of intricate laces and stripes, were covered with metal plates with sharp spikes. On the right side of my belt in a scabbard hung a huge sword, the hilt of which I could clasp with only two hands.

On both sides of us, at a distance of thirty to forty meters, riders were riding horses dressed, like our driver, riders. They paid no attention to the cart, staring straight ahead like well-trained soldiers at a military parade.

Something the environment is less and less like a movie.

Chills ran down his back. My heart was beating like crazy in my chest, and I, choking from a lack of oxygen, began to convulsively swallow air.

– What are you afraid of? – the girl moved closer to me and put her arm around my shoulders, sharing her warmth with me, – everything is fine, take a deep breath… yes, like that.

Trying to focus on her voice, which reached my consciousness through the noise in my ears, I did everything she told me, and the panic began to slowly recede.

– Who are you? I swallowed hard, sighing.

– Milana

Milana, that is. And I’m Snezhina, – I introduced myself in response, – tell me, Milana, what the hell is going on here? Where are we? Where are we being taken?

The girl sighed sadly, moved away from me and threw an angry look at the back of the man sitting in front.

– The locals wanted to burn me, and you are the only one who rushed to my aid. If the Black King’s soldiers hadn’t hung around nearby, we could have run away from the crowd, but they stunned you, grabbed us, and now they are taking us to Kandugan.

Milana carried such outright nonsense that I, shaking my head, sat down away from her. Well, not violent.

– Kandu… what? – I have to work tomorrow, I can’t travel around the region. I’m not an actress, and I don’t take part in role-playing either. There is some mistake here.

The girl leaned over and put her finger to her lips, calling me to silence.

– They ransacked your things and they think you’re a witch. But I know that it isn’t. You are not marked by moonlight. Who are you?

– Snezhina Murashkina, and I’m not a witch… I’m an accountant.

– I don’t know what kind of «bugatir» is, but it would be better for you to keep quiet about it for now. The dark elves are a very evil people, – Milana whispered, pointing with her eyes at our driver and the two accompanying riders.

– Dark elves? – You must be joking? Or am I still sleeping… Oi! I jumped up in surprise when Milana pinched my arm.

– Well, how are you sleeping?

– Not sleeping! But you don’t need to pinch either. Better tell me where we are.

– This is the Kingdom of the Four Moons, – she said, syllable by syllable, as if explaining to a lunatic, «we are going from the city of Sor, to Kandugan.

Okay, two people can play this game.

– Why are we going there?

– There is a prison camp in Kandugan, where the most notorious bandits of the kingdom are kept, who mine Maryin stone in underground quarries.

– And what kind of stone is this? – The girl widened her eyes in surprise.

– You don’t know that either? – Where did you fall like that? Is it from the sky? Protective amulets are made from marina stone. It completely blocks magic.

So, magic. So those people in the square… were they right? Are you a witch? I smiled, looking for a hidden camera with my eyes.

The girl began to look around to see if anyone was peeping, then nodded slightly and lowered her eyes.

– I don’t really know how to create magic, I’m more of a health resort. She took pity on the child in the square. There was a big wound on my shoulder, I wanted to burn it with light, but I saw a merchant standing nearby. She made such a noise, I still have ringing in my ears. Old Marie told me to send everyone to the forest, she warned. And I? Fool stupid! It’s strange that they didn’t kill him on the spot. Probably, there are not enough free hands in the quarries, so they decided to take us with you.

Well, you can’t play like that. This girl believed in every word she said, infecting me with this faith. All these witches, dark elves, magical amulets… magic, they didn’t fit in my head, but I didn’t find any reasonable explanations for what happened either. Okay, I’ll leave it until better times.

– Young man, I want to go to the toilet, – I reached out through the bars and tapped my fingers on the driver’s back.

The cart screeched to a halt. The man, like an arrow, flew to the ground, drew his sword, quickly raised it, put a razor-sharp blade to my throat and pressed painfully.

– If you touch me again, you vile witch, I’ll chop off your arms and legs! – His sepulchral voice seemed to come from far away. It looks like the effect was created by the mask.

I froze in place, afraid to breathe or even move. The point bit so hard that it seemed that a little more and blood would gush out of the throat.

– She won’t be anymore, – Milana stood up for me, – let me go.– We will sit quietly.

The man stood for a moment longer, then removed the sword from my throat and returned it to its sheath.

– I will not repeat it again! – we nodded in unison and all the way further frightened pressed against each other, without uttering a word.

***

In the piggy bank of unnecessary information: riding in a swaying cart can lull any person suffering from insomnia, and pills are not needed here.

The driver pushed Milana and me aside when the sun had already disappeared over the horizon.

Putting our wrists in shackles, he, pushing us in front of him, forced us to go forward. I tried to see where we had arrived, but the darkness prevented me from doing so.

There was the sound of swaying leaves, which means there was a forest nearby or a place with a large cluster of trees. Sharp stones underfoot scratched the feet until they bled, and in order not to scream in pain, I had to bite my lip.

A cold wind blew, piercing to the marrow of the bones, from which it was impossible to hide.

The convoy accompanying us was not heard or seen, and I did not want to ask the soldier where they had gone. I still have a vivid memory of the tip of his sword at my throat.

There was a bluish glow ahead.

– Where are we going? Is this Kandugan? I asked Milana in a barely audible whisper.

No, it’s a portal. There are only two of them in the kingdom, one leads from the cave of Aris to Kandugan, and the second, according to rumors, is located in Kandugan itself, but no one knows where it leads.

Portal. So I’m going to go through the portal now. Through the damn portal.

Panic began to show its ugly face again, but I tried to nip it in the bud, reassuring myself that this was just a dream. It is better to leave all worries and anxieties for later, when there will be time for this, and «dark elves» with cold weapons at the ready will not walk nearby.

After a few meters of barefoot climbing over the stones, the driver led us to the cave, and pushing us in the back, led us inside. The radiance emanating from a kind of mirror ten meters from the entrance blinded the eyes, but these were small things. To my joy, the wind did not penetrate here, and the floor under my feet was smooth and warm.

Milana was pushed to the mirror first, although she did not resist much. The girl winked at me, then stepped into the bluish haze and vanished, making me scream in fright.

– Shut your mouth and follow her! – in a closed space, the sepulchral voice of the driver seemed even more terrible to me.

Without thinking for a second, I took a step forward, following Milana.

The misty haze enveloped me in soothing warmth, like a grandmother’s duvet. His head was spinning, and his stomach sank somewhere down.

She quickly closed her eyes, and opening her eyes, she began to look around frightened.

I was standing in the middle of a circular room with brick walls. One single door was closed, and a large wrought-iron key stuck out of the lock.

A man in a mask, and in the same armor that was on our driver and convoy, hung over Milana, pressed against the wall, on which there was no face from horror.

Seeing me, she slipped under his arm, jerked me behind my back and hid there.

– Peck, and you are generous today. For a long time such cute did not result. Mind both of mine, – the soldier croaked, looking somewhere behind me.

I turned around and saw the driver coming through the portal and dusting himself off.

– Calm down, Harry, this abomination is unworthy of sharing a bed with the likes of us. – Hell witches will collect stones, like all prisoners. No concessions. – Hearing the word «witches,» Harry took a couple of steps toward the door, as if frightened.

Why didn’t you kill them on the spot? Why did you bring it to Kandugan?

– Ask old Loter. Our prisoners are dying like flies, there are not enough hands. I was given a delivery plan, I stick to it. Witches or not, I don’t care. Give them collars with marina stone, they won’t be able to lift a finger. And give out rags, and burn their rags. I’ll hand over their personal belongings and arrange them soon, – Harry nodded and reached for the key in the door.

– Excuse me, but if I don’t get to the toilet now, someone will have to mop the floor!