I instructed my mentors for an indefinite time, therefore I decided to stay in the estate and deal with the cases, for which I requested the advice of the senior steward - he was an invaluable assistant for my mother. In addition, Sekhbet, seeing my concern, promised to send a messenger and tell me how the campaign was advancing, and I secretly hoped to wait for news from him.
The days flowed one by one. I did not change myself: morning and evening spent in prayer, work and spiritual exercises, and in the afternoon Mr. Tammar, the housekeeper, dedicated me to the details of the estate's life, and I was amazed at how many things had escaped before from my sight. I, of course, knew what salaries are paid to the servants and where supplies are kept, but I forgot, for example, about the need to renovate the roof or buy candles, which I used to harrow in dozens, late at work, - my eyes began to see a little worse than before, and the light was required more; What was to be done with the fact that such a fragile and weak body has a living - only to accept and adapt. Income and expenses, taxes, seasonal work - from all this the head sometimes went around, but I set as my goal to study and fully understand the structure of my own house, to comprehend something from which I only turned fastidiously, and I must admit that I quickly succeeded - Tammar, at any rate, was pleased with me.
"Everyone would have such sensible owners, sir," he said one day, unable to restrain himself.
In the absence of my mother in the former chambers, who wished to save me from the sad memories and at the same time to use the empty bedroom for good, Tammar set up an office, for which I was very grateful to him. Of the things of the deceased parent, there was almost nothing left there - it was a room created for me, to my taste and meeting all my requirements - yet the housekeeper knew me from an early age and had a good time studying. At the same time, working there, I could feel my mother's footprints and sometimes even forgot that she had already left me - it was bitter to think about it again and again, and for the first time, not once or twice, I was unable to deter myself from heavy tears of sorrow. Only now did I begin to understand the depth of pain that I felt, and realize that many years will pass before my terrible wound, perhaps, will be prolonged.
My mother, from the day of her sudden death, never appeared to me in a dream, and I tried not to disturb her soul, which was at rest near Asha, - in the latter I was sure, for there was nothing to purify it from. There was no sin on my mother, her whole life remained in the memory of those who knew her by eternal service, an eternal sacrifice for the good of others... Only once she seemed to me, and this night was terrible.
I lay down quite late. The sun had set in a long time ago, when I reluctantly pushed back the old manuscripts, put down the notebook with the pen and extinguished the candles. Having done everything necessary, I, as always, tried to go to sleep in a state of calm and sublime, directing my thoughts to Asha. I slept serenely, but suddenly I saw my mother - pale, with a face distorted by pain, she came to me, stretching her arms, and crying in despair, and calling, and praying for something ... I understood at that moment that this is only a dream, but even in a dream, I felt uneasy about this spectacle. However, before I could wake up, I plunged into another vision. I found myself, as it seemed to me, in the center of a huge conflagration - all around, wherever you look, there were only fire, black smoke, coals, and ashes. I looked at the flame, inhaled the disgusting smell of burnt and could not move for some reason, to leave, to leave this terrible place, as if invisible bonds or fetters prevented me. I looked down and saw my own body, I saw the bones emerging from the charred flesh ... It burned and burned, it lasted and lasted, and I was still here, tied to it, and I suddenly felt incredible desperation, annoyance, and sadness. I called for death and could not reach her so that this hell finally ended, and suddenly someone's voice, full of melancholy, uttered somewhere very near, perhaps almost inside of me:
"Arantir... Remember me, Aranthir!"
It was Sekhbet's voice.
At this moment, I finally woke up - as I had never woken up before. I was choking. I wanted to call the servants, but the voice did not obey me. His hands and face were completely icy, a cold sweat appeared on his forehead, his fingers were numb. My heart was silent, as if frozen, and suddenly, with my awakening, it seemed as if I woke up and desperately pounded. I jerked myself up on the bed, trying to calm the frenzied knock in my chest and regain control of my body and mind, drive away the cold horror that seized me and start thinking clearly as it should.
Something happened with Sekhbet. But what? And why? An experienced necromancer, a great warrior who went on a campaign led by Belket himself, wise, knowledgeable, calculating, never mistaking... What could have happened to him? And why did my mother cry, about what she tried to warn me, about what she pleaded? I jumped up, rolled up my sleeves, splashed cold water from the pitcher into my face. Wake up, Aranthir...
I could not think of a dream again. My anxiety, the one I felt back in Illum-Nadine, and then at the grave of my parents, grew with every minute. As I hastily threw home clothes and cleaned my hair, I still managed to raise Asha a short prayer, begging her to show mercy to me and let me figure it all out, not to miss her signs and act correctly, when suddenly a rusting sound came from the stables. Realizing that it was going wrong, I ran down the stairs and downstairs I ran into Tammar.
"What's happening?"
"I do not know, sir!"
Both of us - I'm at home, and he's in the underclothes - jumped out into the street, and workers ran to meet us.
"What's wrong?"
"Mr. Arantir, Mr. Tammar, we do not understand! The horses are as crazy as they are, they are rushing about, they are bursting out, as if they are afraid!"
"Look, look!" Someone shouted. We all turned to scream - and froze in place.
Over the night horizon, a glow erupted. With each second it grew brighter and brighter, and suddenly we sensed what the animals had sensed before us - the earth trembled under our feet. And again. And again ... The woken servants ran out of the wings and their hovels and surrounded us with a dense ring.
"Is the mountain of fire in the south awakened again? Muttered the old cook, rubbing her eyes." I slept and slept for half a century, and on you...
The earth, meanwhile, continued to tremble, and the glow in the sky grew brighter, and suddenly the entire horizon seemed to flare up. No, it's not like - it really broke out. The flame, unnaturally bright, ran down the earth, flying through the air, as if a monstrous fiery tornado approached us.
"What is it, Mr. Aranthir?" - someone asked quietly. We still just stood there, unable to move. "Are there streams from the fiery mountain?" They never got here...
"No..." I answered and did not recognize my voice. "It's magic. Cursed magic..."
The servant behind my shoulder gasped and cried.
"Stop it, Juri," Tammar said sternly. "The lord is with us, he will protect us."
True magic created the words of Tammar - the fetters of numbness fell from me, and I turned sharply. Fear, pain, doubts and all my senses seemed to melt, only determination remained. I did not think what to do, I knew.
"Everybody's in a big house, quickly!" I cried. "Quickly, if you want to live!"
The servants fell from their seats and hurried to hide in the master's house. When they brought a lame blacksmith under the arms and placed them in the living and lifeless hall, Tammar informed me through the door that everything was assembled. Then I, forbidding my people to go outside and having abandoned thoughts of a fiery storm that rushed right at us, concentrated and consistently, as before the parental graves, began to build around the house protection - layer by layer: from fire, from the earth, from water, air, lightning, natural and induced by the human hand, from damage from accidental, from malicious intent and harm to vain, and around people - and from an empty death ... Having stretched out my hand and felt the response, I became convinced that the shields I installed, act, and ran to the stables. Having loaded the horses into sleep, so that they would not be put to death by fear, I repeated the same thing here. After moving to the wing, then - to the servants' houses. The fiery whirlwind was already very near, and I ran and ran, driven by the only desire - to have time to save as much as possible ... Suddenly, I stopped and, driven by an even worse than before, foreboding, raised his head. The illuminated sky was now covered by a gray cloud, as if from a dust, and suddenly stones sprang from above.
"Sir, Master!" Cried desperately to me.
I rushed into the house, realizing that I had done my best, and I had time to close the door behind me before the earth trembled from the boulders that fell from the sky, and then everything around drowned the flames.
It seemed that for many hours the spree of unknown forces lasted, in fact, only a few minutes had passed. The element began to recede, the blows of huge stones on the ground were felt less and less, the fiery whirlwind continued to sow destruction and destruction, and behind the windows was darkness, disturbed only by the fires of the fires.
"Do not go outside until morning," I said.
The servants settled down on the chairs, on the floor. The frightened servants sniffed, covering their faces with handkerchiefs and sleeves. Crying, without restraining, a gardener, life laid on the creation of a beautiful garden for my mother. Others only gloomily silent, secretly grieving over their poor possessions, as they thought, lost, and only the lifeless waited patiently for orders.
Finally, Tammar decided to break the general silence.
"My lord Arantir," he asked softly, "do you know what happened and why? What kind of element swept over your house, where did it come from? If it is a fiery mountain and an earthquake, why did everything end so quickly, why did not our animals sensate anything for a while?"
"Ah, Tammar," the lame blacksmith suddenly responded hoarsely, "a former soldier who was accepted for the service by my father for great strength and great skill." Do you frighten the owner with unnecessary questions? " The lord told you that it was magic! And the rest... You yourself do not guess that for a fiery tornado and a rockfall of heaven could come from the south-west?
The old soldier uttered what had long been known to my heart and that I had only realized with reason. My legs did not bowl at that moment, my head was not dizzy with horror-I remained standing, as I stood, feeling the mortal cold flood my soul.
"Mages, Mr. Tammar," I nodded softly. "Godless magicians from the Silver Cities... It's revenge. Revenge for the campaign of the great Belket. Not only our region - it is true, all Erish now flames..."
Asha is omnipotent, how many have died ?! Alive and inanimate. Mentors and students. Lord and servant. Muzhi and wives. Old people and rare babies. Domestic and forest animals...
How much has everything been destroyed and lost irrevocably? Fertile fields and beautiful groves. Clean sources and cemeteries, where our ancestors rested. Bridges and roads, castles and statues. Libraries with priceless books. All history and culture is ours, ancient writings and fruits of new research ... Great cities - Nar-Ankar, Nar-Erish, merchant Nar-Harad. Illuma-Nadine...
How many were we, running in the night, lit by a terrible glow, trying to save at least a hail of stones at least something, at least someone? The most experienced left with Belkut, in other estates there was no one who would have possessed the necessary degree of magic, and all those who were there were doomed. I could only hope for myself that the mentors in the cities in time recognized the danger, managed to protect the novices and residents...
"Do you understand, Tammar?" - the smith silently cursed. "The gentleman is speaking right. The heretics became angry because Belket went to war with them, and now they recoup us. On children, on women, on mutilated and old, on houses, on cattle and on our dead..."
Tammar touched my shoulder. I turned around and saw that he was paler than the bleached cloth.
"But, sir... How ...Because they had to fight the army of Archon Belket!" If they are now unhindered to take on us, it means..."
"It means," I did not believe what I said, "that there is no one else to fight with them, Tammar."
To be continued
Thank you for reading!