Читать книгу Boredom of the immortals - - Страница 4

Viscount Leivead’s detachment was approaching a small village called Odebrun, which is on the border of the Ennian forest.

Silence. It seems that no one except travelers dared to disturb it, not even birds were heard. Gray clouds have been swarming in the skies for several days in a row.

«It feels like no one has been here for thirty years!» – said Ermekar, one of the soldiers. Battle-hardened, graying, but retaining the sparkle in his eyes, like a young man’s. – Fields where unharvested wheat rots. Yards overgrown with grass.

«My uncle said that the attack happened no more than six months ago, and the last residents left their homes a month ago,» said Leivead.

– Oh, I don’t like all this. Not good, my heart feels.

– Hey people, is anyone there? – shouted Leivead. – People, respond!

Silence. The Viscount pushed the wooden door, and it opened with an unfriendly creak. It smelled of dampness and musty air. There were abandoned remains of food on the table. Midges swarmed. Fresh footprints were visible on the thick layer of dust. The Viscount followed them. There was a man lying in the corner. Leivead grabbed the unfortunate man’s shoulder to turn him around and looked into his face. Open eyes looked at one point.

– Looks like he’s dead. «It needs to be burned,» Ermekar whispered. Suddenly the man opened his eyes and grabbed Leivead’s hand. The warriors immediately took up their swords.

– Messenger of Darkness, you are not welcome here! Leave our lands! Otherwise there will be retribution!

After these words, the man seemed to lose all interest in the guests. He lay down in his original place. Did your eyes remain open? He looked blankly at the ceiling.

– What does it mean? Why did you say that?

The owner of the house continued to lie silently.

– Answer! – Leyvead trotted him by the shoulder.

– Leave. I don’t want guests.

– Strange place. «You can’t say anything,» Ermekar said. «I hope we won’t stay here overnight?»

«We will stay here until we find out the reasons for what happened, ” said Leivead.

– Leivead, have you seen his eyes? Look! They radiate a power I don’t understand. They…

– Someone has enchanted these lands. And this is by no means a weak sorcerer.

They entered every house, and everywhere it was the same: desolation. Where such colorless people lived, and where it was completely empty. We decided to spend the night in one of these abandoned houses.

We chopped wood and lit the stove.

– I hope the owner won’t be angry? Why do we behave as if we are not guests at all? – Ermekar asked.

– A kind host would not allow his guests to die of hunger and cold.

We roasted the chickens that were scurrying around the yard.

The night lay a heavy black and gray blanket. An owl hooted. The gray wolf howled, the fierce, lonely wanderer. Hungry, or simply hating the whole world. Or maybe he just started singing? It’s getting colder. The glass was frozen with a strange pattern. A storm howled outside the windows. Leivead woke up with a bad feeling. Others did not sleep either. Creaking footsteps were heard outside the door.

They walked outside without saying a word. The door creaked treacherously.

When you exhale, light steam flows.

– Stop! Who goes! – Ermekar shouted into the darkness. He saw better than others at night. Leyvead looked closely and saw a shadow in the distance moving towards them. – We’ll shoot. Come on! – the uninvited night traveler did not pay attention to the words, he kept moving towards the soldiers. – Once! Two! Fire! – arrows flew towards the uninvited guest. But he, not paying attention to the arrows that seemed to pass right through, walked leisurely towards them. Or maybe they were just poorly oriented in the dark, so they missed? This is unlikely! The best Eldoran marksmen rarely missed their target. Meanwhile, the mysterious night owl was approaching. You can hear his chilling breath. He is tall, three heads taller than the tallest of the warriors, Krystell.

– Who are you? – Leivead asked. There was no answer. The stranger extended his crooked fingers. Leyvead succumbed to an incomprehensible feeling and pierced his new acquaintance with a sword. But the blade passed through the hooded man without causing him any harm.

– Ghost! It’s a ghost!

The warriors clumsily read prayers, and Leyvead remembered the words of the spell. Meanwhile, the spirit looked into Ermekar’s eyes. He turned to his comrades and hissed:

– We warned you! Go away! Leave our lands!

For a while Ermekar regained his composure. He cast a spell, and violet flames enveloped the ghost from head to toe. And then the villain flashed green and disappeared into the fog.

Ermekar sank to the ground. He was looking somewhere into the distance.

«Run before it’s too late,» he whispered.

– What happened to you? – Leivead asked.

– This ghost… He is not like us. I have seen a lot in my long life, but not this! He drank my soul, it was worth looking once into his bottomless eyes.

– You killed him! It’s over now!

– No, everything is just beginning. I got to know him! Understand? You must know this necromancer spell, Leivead.

The Viscount knew. The book with forbidden knowledge lay in a closed wing, but he often secretly made his way there to, by the light of a darkened candle, glean a new secret inscribed on worn parchment. Necromancers of antiquity knew the dead from the inside in order to find a weak point and return them to their graves.

«I have come to know him, and it seems to me that now I am poisoned by his charms.» I’m afraid of becoming just like him. Please kill me. And then run before it’s too late.

– But we did not fulfill the will of my uncle! We still don’t know what happened in these parts. And these lands are under the protection of the Duke!

– You’re unlikely to find out anything. These ghosts are a dime a dozen here. I read it in a moment when I looked into the eyes of the monster. They eat souls, leaving emptiness. Dolls! All local residents are now just dolls in the hands of ghosts.

– We’ll go to the forest…

– No, you will go home. We need to assemble a Council of Necromancers. And maybe you’ll even have to ask Velzuvik for help. You can’t defeat ghosts that easily. Run before it’s too late.

Ermekar closed his eyes and showed no more signs of life. His heart was beating, his lungs were heaving, but not a word came out of his mouth.

Leivead whispered words in a forgotten language, and a bluish mist of healing spells escaped from his fingers. But it’s all useless.

– We must find out what secrets the Ennian forest keeps!

Krystell placed his hand on the young man’s shoulder.

– Have you heard that Ermekar rocks? We must deliver him to the Duke. Maybe he can heal our comrade? Leivead, beware of imprudent actions. Sometimes it’s worth retreating, but waiting for reinforcements rather than getting into trouble. There is only one life, you can’t turn it back.