Blinded by grief and dumbfounded by the mystery of his origin, I went to Sekhbet, unable to stand alone with everything that had collapsed on me overnight. I learned to restrain myself, but I did not flatter myself-I understood how necessary a sober glance and a wise word were for me at a grave moment, and could not and did not want to trust anyone else. However, for a long journey I managed to curb my feelings and take myself in hand so that until the time does not cause in my friend and patron of any suspicion and do not grieve him yet in the doorway.
In Illum-Nadine, always animated, there was some unusual movement, reminiscent of preparations for the battle. The reasons I could not understand and decided after asking Sekhbet. I saw him on the square - he, apparently, saw off another guest, by the sight of a vampire, whose horse suite awaited in the distance. However, the owner of the castle greeted me, as always, cordially, reproaching me in jest:
"Ah, Arantir, Arantir! You have not covered the life of a poor recluse so long ago that you should be ashamed. I am lost without you, judge for yourself, the other day I gave myself up to versification, is there any worse shame ... Let me, Lord Giovanni, introduce you to Lord Aranthir, my good friend and that young genius whose work on the spiritual world so praised yesterday at our supper the learned elders."
They knew what I had to go through in my early adolescence, so that later this work could see the light... However, I bowed politely. The guest of Sehbet, called Lord Giovanni, was looking at me leisurely, and I glanced sideways at him. Frankly, I did not like this lord. He was obviously accustomed to pretending to be a kindly wit, but there was something grave in his features, vicious, moreover, terrible. If he had snatched up his weapon and suddenly struck Sekhbet's back at the back, I would not have been surprised at all, that's why I was worried about my patron. Perhaps, a premonition aroused in me also the way Lord Giovanni looked around the city square - as if a cat watching from afar when the servant would leave the jug of fat cream unattended.
Lord Giovanni himself looked at me with a mixture of contempt, pretended pity, and some secret regret-that would be the kind of obscene and already obsolete maiden who had looked over the suitors for too long and was left with nothing. I did not know who or what he saw in me - a piece of meat, still relatively fresh, or a goblet of blood, but from this look, fixed, long and heavy, I felt uneasy.
"Ah," he drawled, not without derision, "this is your friend, Sekhbet? I've heard about you, young lord, a lot of seductive. I would like to know for sure, really you really are so good in everything... However, Sekhbet always had an excellent scent, you can trust him."
"Do not tease my guest, Giovanni," Sehbet said conciliatingly. "He suffered a heavy..." He somehow stopped for a moment, but immediately continued "the road, and rest he needs much more than our friendly pick."
"There it is that... Then, gentlemen, I'm leaving you and I hope to see you both in good health someday," replied the vampire-lord, as if joking, but behind the playfulness of the tone, I felt something unkind. "Especially you, Sekhbet." Good luck to you in your adventure, and I, "he stretched himself on the saddle," are already old enough for such pleasures. I also do not know what now can move the old Giovanni from a comfortable chair near the fireplace...
When we bowed, Giovanni joined his retinue and shouted from a distance:
"Farewell, Sekhbet, I will miss your tedious speeches about the soul! And feed your young spider before you drink its juice, or else, look, you will remain hungry!"
Vampires let the horses gallop and soon disappeared from sight, leaving behind them only clouds of dust. Sehbet watched them go.
"Be careful, Lord Giovanni," he said suddenly, as if he had forgotten my presence, "very cautious. Otherwise, someday, this spider will suddenly bite you."
To be continued
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