The morning brought us nothing joyful. Telling the women to stay in the house, I left him first, after left Tammar and the other men.
"Sir," exclaimed the groom, "can you, at the risk of yourselves, save our houses? Bless you, the great goddess!"
However, the general rejoicing quickly died down.
"Our lady, but for what ..." someone whispered.
Everything around, wherever you look, was destroyed, except for the buildings that I managed to protect. There were no ruins, no debris, no barrels of charred - there was a scorched hilly wasteland all around. There is no garden, no well, no gate, no roads. The dead earth was covered with a caked black crust, and it was not clear that there was grass in it, a flower, and that the remains of a living being. Nothing was around, except for the broken stone boulders, only where the remote cemetery was still yesterday, towered two lone gravestones clinging to each other. A sharp smell of burning burned in his nostrils. In the distance, where there was a forest, nothing could be seen - everything was covered with a thick veil of smoke. It seems that we all gasped at once:
"Asha is almighty! Rakid..."
Master Rakid with his wife and two grown-up sons lived in a house near a sawmill, which he managed quite successfully for many years. His skills were enough to give orders to lifeless workers, but, of course, he could not protect his house and his family, and to get here to the manor house, they did not have time - to the sawmill and on the good road it was an hour and a half on foot.
"Mister Aranthir..." "I never saw Tammar like that." He seemed completely desperate. No wonder - almost everything that he dedicated his life, was incinerated before his eyes. "What shall we do now, Herr Aranthir?" After all, I'm afraid that our entire country has ceased to exist in a single night ... Asha is almighty, "suddenly burst out at him," how good that you took it earlier, that even though she does not see this and does not suffer!"
He was talking about my mother. Really valued her not only as a gracious lady? Is there another reason for his devotion? However, to study the depths of someone else's heart the moment was unsuitable.
"Mr. Tammar," I was barely able to speak, crushed by the realization of what had happened. "Nothing is known to us, and we can not do anything great now. Let's start with small cases, but necessary! Our houses stand as before, we have some supplies and a couple of barrels of water in the basement, and we ourselves are alive and have kept our health. Let's do this: let us raise Ashe's prayer and first of all we will restore the well, so that there is something to drink to people and horses, and when the fire settles and the smoke dissipates, we - you, I and the master of huntsmen - will go to the sawmill, even on foot on impassability, and learn about destiny master Rakida and his household. Then we will begin to clear the way to send messengers and find out how things are in the nearest cities and whether it is impossible to get provisions there. About more we will not guess."
Tammar looked at me in amazement, and his face brightened.
"Mister Arantir," he said shamefacedly, "you are right. Forgive my involuntary weakness. Could you proceed immediately? Hey, did you hear what the host said? Carry the spades! Water is needed!"
"The old well has collapsed, Mr. Tammar!" Shouted from a distance.
"So, we'll clean, or even dig a new one! What now, death from thirst to wait? Come on, come on!"
To be continued
Thank you for reading!