Читать книгу Elven heritage - - Страница 11

Still woke up from unbearable pain. Dawn. The guards woke up the slaves with lashes. A little more and it will crack. He will shout that he is the crown prince, I can’t treat him like that.

And then what? Will Derr go to his father to apologize? What nonsense. Instead of this cell, where he spends the night with his faithful comrades, he will be put in a golden cage. Friends will die. Maybe Duncan will stay, or Nermall. But others will not survive the arena. And Derr will exchange his own life for something very expensive. Maybe even Tivol’s crown.

«No, Still, you shouldn’t think like that. Be stronger. Not long left. We are all in the hands of Fate, and we trust in it. If you think about it, death isn’t that scary. Do you remember the fairy tales that your grandmother read to you at night? In them, good always triumphed over evil.»

But things didn’t get any calmer. «Life is not a fairy tale,» whispered a second voice, somewhere in the depths of my soul.

They brought food. Still endured the tasteless mess without pleasure. «We don’t even feed pigs like this,» he thought. The prince is unaware that for some Sutheringians such dinner was the main dish. On holidays, the poor prepared the same porridge, but fresher. «You wanted to know how ordinary people live!»

Bonecrusher snatched the bowl from Nermall’s hands.

– Better take mine.

Nermall raised an eyebrow.

– Do you think the king has forgiven you for your freedom yesterday? – Bonecrusher asked. – I don’t think so. Most likely, your portion contains poison or sleeping pills.

– But why do you want to eat it?

– I owe you my life. Moreover, I’m not hungry. I don’t like to eat in the morning.

And then they were taken to the arena. Still found himself in the fresh air for the first time. He spent the last two days in a sweat-smelling, stuffy cell.

There were stakes on the ground. Everyone took one.

«Remember,» said Bonecrusher, «worms have one vulnerable spot – their belly.» Aiming at the back, head or anywhere else is useless. Hit the belly and the creature is dead.

– Ladies and Gentlemen! – shouted the dwarf presenter. – The second round of the Games has begun!

The crowd applauded. Derr sat silently on the throne and did not take his eyes off Nermall. Then he glanced at the other slaves. When his gaze fell on Lewis, he almost jumped in surprise. His son had disappeared years ago, and he believed Lewis to be dead. And he is here, nearby, among the slaves! He reached for the eyepiece to get a better look at what was happening. This short glance is enough for Councilor Ezigurd. He didn’t need an eyepiece to see the face of the king’s illegitimate son. There was another person in the crowd of spectators who, without magnification, would have recognized the bastard at any distance. This is Carewyn’s stepfather. He beat Lewis’s mother when she gave birth to someone else’s child. And Lewis himself often had to hide in the desert or on the streets of the city so as not to fall under the hot hand of a drunkard.

– Let’s greet the desert sorcerer, the snake and worm charmer. Advisor Ezigurd!

The advisor whispered words in an unfamiliar language. Four black ribbons appeared from his hands and rushed deep into the sand. He pulled the ribbons towards himself, as if using them to urge horses. First the head of a monster appeared from under the sand, and then the worm blocked out the sunlight. The monster looks more like a dragon without wings. The same elongated head with a crown of spikes and scaly skin, the same fanged mouth. The monster roared and lowered its snout, killing two prisoners at once. One of them turned out to be Skull. Esigurd concentrated all his strength so that the worm would not inadvertently attack Lewis. The Bastard could be useful in his political plans. The worm looked around. The prisoners ran here and there to avoid being eaten. However, Bonecrusher was dizzy and seeing double. Well, Nermall beat him yesterday. Or is there poison in the food? And the worm was just waiting for that. Nermall said:

– Duncan, you have always been better than others in using a spear. Can you handle the stakes?

– I think yes.

– We will distract him, and you hit him right at the pink spot on his stomach!

– Fine!

Everyone except Duncan gathered in one place. The monster began to lower its head. It suddenly seemed to Nermall that Lisa was standing next to him. Lately he had often seen this, and not always in his dreams. She beckoned him along:

– Come with me, Nermall. There is silence and eternal peace. You deserve it!

«Lisa,» the old man whispered. Still managed to push the teacher onto the sand, and the worm’s mouth closed in the air. The monster began to rise, and then Duncan drove the stake. The worm roared and fell onto the sand.

The crowd applauded. Victory! But why is there such devastation in my soul? Still counted the survivors and fifty people entered the arena. And now twenty, or even less.

Lewis clenched his fists. This city has always been the most inhospitable place for him. He will survive. And he will burn it to the ground, and then scatter the stones so that there will be no memory of this damned place. And he will give his father to be eaten by a worm. Together with a nasty dwarf who, smiling, made a speech:

– The second round of the Games is over. The final round awaits us tomorrow!

***

Lewis was woken up in the middle of the night and taken away somewhere. In the corridor the air is not half as musty as in the cell. The guard brought the guy to Derr’s chambers.

– Hello, son. Long time no see.

Lewis was silent.

– I buried you a long time ago. I didn’t know you’d be here! In slavery!

– You’re a beast. How can I be the son of a monster? Tomorrow they will force us to kill each other!

– You don’t have to kill. I’ll let you go.