It was always cold in the huge castle of Sekhbet. The master of Illum-Nadin did not care at all, like half of his servants, but in honor of my arrival he ordered the fireplaces and stoves to be flooded, and soon in the big hall where we intended to spend the evening, it became slightly hotter. However, I was still wrapped in my traveling cloak. Noticing my clumsy attempts to warm up, Sekhbet sent me to the rooms where I was to spend the night, and refused to talk with me until I changed into warm clothes prepared for me. They must have belonged to him; I literally drowned in them, soft, heavy, covered with intricate embroidery - mighty Sekhbet was much denser than me, and even taller.
Soon, thanks to the care of my good friend, I really warmed up, and the servants gave me the simplest supper.
"I know, my boy, that you are fasting, so I will not tempt you with plentiful feasts," Sekhbet said about it, and I was very grateful to him. A modest meal was not only more pleasing to me: if the ruler of Illum-Nadin had planned to regale me like an atheist from the Silver Cities, I would have been in a very difficult position, not wishing to insult him by refusing food because she , you see, for me it is too luxurious, not to show promiscuity, indulging the temptations of the flesh, which is very good to me already obeying.
While I gratified the hunger with gratitude, Sekhbet, sitting opposite, was staring at me, and I chose the words, thinking how to tell him about everything and not fall into verbosity and not grieve the amiable host with his excessive sorrow. I did not know him well! Giving me wine (about what was in his own cup, I preferred not to think), Sekhbet asked briefly:
"Who, my friend? You are overwhelmed with such a monstrous pain of loss that I'm afraid to assume the worst... Really mother?!"
"Yes." More I could not squeeze out a word and lowered my head to hide my face.
Sekhbet paused, and then suddenly put a cold hand over my palm:
"Yes, Asha will receive the faithful minister, and will determine her the best place near her throne... We can not resist the will of the goddess, Lord Arantir, it remains for us to mourn over our departed neighbors. Do not be shy about your feelings in these walls, my boy... It's strange, beyond the features of a mature husband in his prime, I still sometimes see the face of that frail boy who I met you for the first time. Do not be offended that I call you so."
"How can you take offense at your kindness, Mr. Sekhbet?"
"Leave courtesy. You are like a son to me, Arantir, and if not a son, then a younger brother, and my soul grieves with yours. The most honorable lady, your mother, - I will always be grateful to her, including for acquaintance with you, - found a long-awaited peace by the grace of Ashi, but it hurts me that my only friend suffered such a grievous loss. Let the ignoramuses say that we have ice hearts, that we are like marble statues, that we are no more than walking dead, but do not believe them, Aranthir. Our souls are alive and capable of feeling suffering, and ours, and the other... But something else is troubling you, my boy. I feel something new in you, something that I felt before, but now it's directly glowing in your veins!"
Again I was amazed at Sekhbeth's insight. It seemed that for so many years I had learned to curb and hide passions, but he looked down into the very depths, into my very core.
"It happened... I learned something, Mr. Sekhbet," and I told Sebetu, the only one of all, about my discovery made in the cemetery after Mother's funeral, and about the old legend that suddenly turned out to be the truth. Sebet listened to me, and his face was the same as always, but something in his gaze alerted me, and I imagined that he felt a strange satisfaction, even contentment. I suddenly broke off in mid-sentence:
"Mr. Sekhbet... Did you know?!"
"I'm not the only one who knows, Lord Aranthir."
"Mister Sekhbet," I said quietly, "you can be frank with me, and I'll tell you the whole truth, which I could never have trusted in anyone else. I did not immediately but realized that I was being hidden. I was not taken to the society, I was not introduced to anyone, my mother did not let me go for a long time... Once an old woman arrived in our house in a rich coach. My mother did not tell me to show herself, she met her respectfully, with a bow, kissed her hand, and the old woman immediately attacked her with insults, threats and curses. What did she tell her! I was in the next room and heard everything, and if you knew, my friend, what was it worth to me not to break into them and not expose this evil bastard! My mother begged her, asked me to look at someone at least - then I realized what was on me - but she recoiled, saying that she did not want to insult her gaze, looking at the fruit of the sinner's sin and the fall of a worthy person... When she left, mother came to me, hugged me and cried. It was her mother, Sehbet! Her own mother! I thought for a long time that I... "I stopped, not daring to continue.
"No, no, Arantir." Sehbet squeezed my hand, "never think of parents badly, no matter what they say, no matter how slanderous they are!" Your father was a great man, he made the right decision, sacrificed the pride and reputation of the ascetic, but thereby saved your land, and possibly all of Erish, and your mother was and will remain an example for all wives and maidens, a model of purity, sacrifice and self-denial !! And, fortunately, not everyone knows that "the son of the great lich and innocent virgin" is exactly you."
"Why fortune?"
"And you do not guess? Being a descendant and direct heir of two ancient families whose history began long before our exile, you have the right to a good third of all the land of Erish, if not half... The fact is that your father recognized you, Arantir, and remember this your numerous relatives who are aware that if you now appear before them and show the rights of the lawful son, they will remain with nothing, beggars on the road, and at best miserable survivors, chickens, pecking crumbs, fallen from your table and left behind they are out of mercy... You may have enormous wealth in your hands, my boy, but please be careful! But what's wrong with you? You seem to be even more sad."
"Mister Sehbet!" I cried. "What do I need it for?" Could it be that only because of the wealth that I could get, the family did wrong with my mother, and she spent her entire life rejected by the recluse? Was it because of the pieces of metal and scraps of swampy earth that my own relatives were ready to kill me as a child, and so she carefully concealed me from all ?! I believed that she was ashamed of me, and she, a saint, experienced an unjust offense, day after day, saved my life, just as she once saved her father's life at the cost of her own blood and flesh ... I serve Asha, Sekhbet, even if they serve silver and grain measures, and Ashe does not need worldly treasures! Believe me, my mother's sacrifice will not be in vain. Let the wealth, contaminated by betrayal and humiliation, continue to burn unclean hands! Only the treasure of spirit and knowledge I intend to collect and not retreat from my path!"
Sehbet leaned back in his chair. It was absurd, but for a moment it seemed to me that he was about to laugh:
"Arantir, my noble Arantir, you are so impractical! You, my boy, although born here in the Erisha Valley, are in fact the true son of the desert, seemingly restrained, but hot, as if in your veins not blood, but a sultry wind and hot sand... Your dust is sincere, the faith is deep and the mind is unusually sharp, but you, forgive me, lack the worldly grasp. That's why I'm afraid for you - you are directly risking your life, although, perhaps, great wealth would help you achieve your goals faster. Remember my words: do not take revenge on your relatives and do not reveal the truth about your origin until you have enough strength and knowledge to plunge enemies into dust with one wave of your hand, with one stroke of the staff! Believe me, with all outward modesty, many of us want to power and treasure and will not stop at anything in order to get them. Take this at least Lord Giovanni. You did not like him, did you, Aranthir?"
"Who am I to judge your friends, Mr. Sekhbet?"
"Ha, Lord Giovanni is not my friend at all."
"Praise Ashe," I remarked.
"What troubled you, my boy?" Sebbet asked curiously, bringing the cup to his lips and settling himself comfortably.
"If it pleases you... I repeat, I have no right to judge, but does not he glance over the walls of Illum-Nadin with a master's eye?"
"Ah, so this did not escape your gaze? However, I'm not surprised at this, nor does it seem to you repulsive. The old vampire, remembering Sandro, Giovanni was always greedy and dishonorable, he did not even disdain to trade for the sake of gaining power and fortress of la Segador... We have a few more days, I'll tell you this story. Giovanni often comes to me with his pack, just like the future possessions. Alas, no matter how much the Comte de la Segador - the former Comte de la Segadora - licked at my castle, he would not receive it even in the event of my final death. Frankly, I would very much like that Illuma Nadin someday become yours, my friend, but I, alas, have a legitimate heir - Lord Malfrooy, my distant relative. I'm not sure that he will keep Illuma-Nadine, and this is very sad. I put a lot of effort into building and strengthening the castle, in order to maintain life in this city, it would be a pity to lose it all because of some of its oversights..."
"Mister Sekhbet," I suddenly became cold, "why do you speak as if you yourself have gathered to the throne of Asha?"
"Perhaps it will, my boy," Sehbet said quietly. "To you, exhausted and heartbroken, I did not say at once that in a few days I am campaigning. Is it true that your sharp eye noticed military preparations in the castle? So, the great Belket calls us to battle. We, those who have not yet participated in this war, go to the lands of the magicians, and perhaps with the protection of Asha we will be able to restore justice and return to where we have always lived in piety, faithful, to where our roots and our true homeland..."
What?..
I felt like I had a slap in the face. Sekhbet and other necromancers gathered on a great march to complete the holy war that lasted for a good decade, and people like me were left out. Nobody considered us, scribes and novices, who did not accept full initiation, warriors worthy of such a grandiose mission, no one called us to a feat in the name of Ashi ... Sekhbet understood the feelings overwhelming me.
"My friend," he looked into my eyes, "do not be upset. Vladika Belket leads only the oldest and most experienced, not wishing to risk those who are younger, to throw scientists at enemy swords and spears, and he, as always, is right - there is no need for it. To fight should be those to whom this is not a novelty, and not those who are only at the beginning of the road, and not those whose great knowledge and free thought allow Erish to blossom ... What's the point, if you now go with us and die? No, no, my boy, you should go the other way, your life is too valuable, and your battles are yet to come, believe me. Continue to learn, comprehend the depths of the spirit, and when filled to the brim with wisdom and power, pour the nectar of knowledge and experience into the empty cups of disciples and followers. Then Asha herself will show you the right way... Tell me, Lord Aranthir, - he suddenly leaned over to me with all his body and lowered his voice, - can I afford the audacity, can I ask about what to ask obscenely?"
"Anything, Mr. Sekhbet." I have no secrets from you.
"What is on your sacred cloth, Aranthir?" On the very same thing you were adopted at birth?
I could wait for any question from Sekhbet, but not that. Such secret details have never been the subject of idle talk, but I promised to give an answer.
"I do not know, my friend, why you are interested in this, but there are no arms of the families from which my parents originated." Rather, they are, but woven into a small ornament that goes along the edges. I did not notice them for a long time and thought... I thought I was illegitimate, "I finally breathed. - In addition to them, only Asha symbols are on the canvas.
"That's right, my boy," Sekhbet nodded in satisfaction. "This is a rarity, but in your case it should be so, and I did not in vain ask you about this too personal, but extremely important detail. Do you understand, Arantir, what does this mean? This clearly confirms that the father and mother considered you a gift from Asha, believed that your birth was made possible by her will, at her own will, that you are connected with Asha much more than with relatives, and that the spirit bonds in your case are many stronger than the bonds of blood, and therefore diminished the ancestral symbols in comparison with the symbols of the goddess... I know that in front of me at this late hour a great man sits with a mournful face, so great that I should bow to him. I see this, and you will have an opportunity to make sure that I am right, not once or twice. Whatever happens, Aranthir, do not lose your great faith, do not turn off the right path, and Asha bless your labors."
For some reason, at that moment, I realized that terrible - Sekhbet thought he would not return. He seemed to say goodbye to me, hurrying to convey the last parting word. I nodded, in turn, squeezed his hand, and after that we sat in silence for a long time. However, I overcame myself and tried to distract him with all my might, pretending that an inexorable presentiment was only a momentary alarm caused by the grief, and he yielded, pretending to believe me.
To be continued
Thank you for reading!