I am fifteen. Only a year left until graduation, and I still haven't achieved my goals. I have saved up enough money: if I cannot honestly make my way into the upper echelon of mages, I will simply leave on a journey. I will leave to beco at least soone. Naya is already famous throughout Mount Slick as a great healer who works miracles. And ? I haven't achieved anything.
I am sixteen. I made it into the upper echelon after all. But it would have been better if I hadn't. At the exam, the mbers of the commission looked right through , and then declared straight to my face: I passed only because of my last na. If they had failed , it would have beco a "black mark on the greatness of the Helvard family."
That is why I am leaving today.
I gathered all my belongings, my savings, and left ho. Now I stood on the very border between the lands of Growtar and Mount Slick. Here it is, my own life path.
"Wow! You're leaving?" a voice suddenly rang out from above.
I sharply threw my head up. "Father?! Yes, I'm leaving! And your words won't..."
But he didn't let
finish. Father was walking through the air right above . What's more, he was walking upside down: his head looked down at the ground, and his feet confidently stepped on an invisible ceiling.
"A-ha-ha-ha!" he laughed. "I'm not going to stop you anyway. It's just... you could have at least said goodbye to your sister, huh? Who knows how many years you'll disappear for now. Here, take this."
From the invisible ceiling, right to my feet, a blade fell with a clatter.
"Father, I took a musket with ," I patted the weapon on my back. "I won't need a sword."
Father thoughtfully paced back and forth through the air, still hanging upside down. "You will et enemies that ordinary bullets won't take down. And while you are reloading—most likely, you will die. Therefore, take the sword."
I bent down and picked up the weapon. The blade turned out to be surprisingly light. A strange, complex engraving was visible on the tal. "And what kind of sword is this? Does it have a na?"
"A na?" Father was genuinely indignant. "Giving nas to inanimate objects is a bad habit. It's just a sword."
"Judging by the weight and balance of the hilt, this is a paired blade," I noted, twirling it in my hand. "And where is the second one?"
"Don't know," the upside-down Zenkhald shrugged. "Lost it sowhere. And actually I don't even rember if there ever was one."
In the next mont, a fluffy ball appeared out of nowhere right in Father's hands. It was Shish.
"Take him with you," Father carelessly tossed the cat down. He landed deftly on all four paws right in front of . "He wants to go for a walk. And you are just going for a walk."
"This is not how any of this was supposed to happen!" I objected, looking at all this absurdity.
"Agreed," Zenkhald nodded seriously. "According to the rules, a beautiful girl was supposed to see you off with tears, and you were supposed to grandly and heroically declare: 'I will definitely return!'."
"What?!"
"Nothing. Go on." And Father simply disappeared, dissolving into the air without a trace.
I was left alone on the border. With a musket on my back, a naless sword in my hand, and Shish, who was already busily licking his paw by my boots.
"What the hell..." I exhaled quietly. "Alright. First of all, I need to understand how people beco famous in general."
The first thing I decided to do was to reach so city in the lands of Growtar. Most likely, there would be problems there, by solving which one could earn a na. The closest city to Mount Slick was called Karvi. It was about two hundred kiloters from the border.
In the very first nearby village, I bought a horse. Shish turned out to be a surprisingly adaptable cat: he didn't cause any problems, just lay on my neck or dozed on my travel bag.
In a week I reached Karvi. The city turned out to be huge. Winter was just retreating, and there was impassable slush everywhere. Karvi didn't look like a single whole—it seed like so disjointed conglorate, divided into parts by small wastelands and dirty vacant lots.
I had absolutely no idea how exactly to beco famous here, so for starters I just walked into a local tavern. The establishnt was huge, about a hundred people were sitting inside, and there was a dense stench of sour ale, sweat, and unwashed bodies.
(Sowhere far away, off-screen)
Zenkhald and Naya were watching what was happening through Shish's eyes. "A-a-a-ah... what a boring journey," Zenkhald drew out lazily, propping his cheek with his hand. "I'm going to fall asleep right now. Alright, Naya, I'm off, you watch the rest yourself."
He disappeared, leaving his daughter to watch Art sit at the table. Art simply asked for a glass of water and a bowl of boiled potatoes. Silently finished eating, paid, and left. Absolutely nothing happened.
This book was originally published on . Check it out there for the real experience.
(From Art's POV)
He who seeks adventures on his own head will always find them. True, I didn't expect everything to happen exactly like this.
I was walking through dirty alleys, trying to navigate the city, when I suddenly heard a woman's scream. My legs bolted towards the sound on their own. In a dead end, I saw a young girl being disgustingly harassed by so guy. He was roughly pawing her while she tried to break free.
I walked up from behind, grabbed the guy by the shoulder, and sharply threw him aside. He roared, jumped to his feet, and lunged at
with his fists. One short, precise blow to the nose was enough for . The crunch of cartilage—and the guy collapsed to the ground, writhing in pain.
"Are you alright?" I asked, turning to the girl.
She imdiately threw herself around my neck. "Thank you! Oh gods, thank you! That bastard... he..." tears rolled down her cheeks, and she buried her face right into my chest.
Shish, sitting on my shoulder, suddenly arched his back and hissed aggressively.
I didn't have ti to understand what was wrong. The girl suddenly carelessly grabbed a half-empty bottle from the ground, took a large gulp, and then... abruptly pulled
towards her and dug into my lips, forcefully pouring the vile, cheap swill into my mouth. She generously splashed the remaining alcohol onto my clothes. Then she grabbed my hand and forcefully pressed it against her chest.
"How can I thank my savior?" she whispered in a completely changed, mocking tone.
I froze in a daze. My brain refused to understand what was happening.
And then the stomping of many boots was heard from afar. The girl's face instantly changed. She carefully pulled the hilt of my naless sword, unsheathing the blade just enough to slash herself across the palm. Blood spurted. She quickly sared it on my jacket, abruptly jumped back to the wall, and scread so loud my ears popped:
"Please! PLEASE! HELP!" she slumped to the ground, and tears gushed from her eyes again.
What the... was all I had ti to think in complete bewildernt.
Ten n in city uniforms ca around the corner. The guard.
"Look what we have here," one of them, apparently the senior one, smiled broadly and carnivorously. "A drunken youth was harassing an innocent maiden. And brutally beat up her boyfriend too. What a vile outrage."
"What?!" I imdiately stepped forward, spitting out the bitterness of the alcohol. "It's all a lie! That guy was harassing her, and I helped her!"
"No! Lies!" the girl shrieked hysterically, pointing at
with her bloody hand. "He beat up my fiancé! And then threatened
with his sword! Said that if I don't give myself to him, he'll stab !"
Sobbing loudly, she hid behind the backs of the guards.
The man in uniform smirked mockingly, looking
straight in the eyes. "Tie him up!" he barked. "You are under arrest."
I imdiately raised my musket and took aim at them.
The man in uniform didn't even flinch. Calmly, with a lazy mocking smirk, he pronounced: "Think about what you're doing, kid. You'll only make it worse. Not only did you outrage a girl and beat up an innocent person, but you're also threatening a representative of the law. And if you shoot... Oh-ho, we have a serious criminal shaping up here. The death penalty could loom for that. If you resist—you'll drive yourself into the grave. Kill , or, if by so miracle you're lucky, lay us all down—more guards will co running. And then you will beco an enemy to the entire state. Besides, it seems to ..."
He took a step forward. Then another. He relentlessly approached until he rested his forehead right against the barrel of my musket. The other nine guards synchronously raised their weapons, surrounding
in a ring.
"You have never killed people," the senior one pronounced quietly, with absolute certainty.
Damn. I'm cornered, I thought feverishly. I still had weapons. If I use a wind vortex and water magic right now, I can still break free and escape. But then I will beco a fugitive hunted by the entire city. That is not at all how I was planning to beco famous...
The guard noticed my hesitation and pressed harder: "Yes, youth, you have definitely never killed anyone. And you are not even thinking about pulling the trigger. Right now you are only thinking about how to escape from here."
At that mont, Shish sharply lunged from my shoulder. The fluffy ball jumped right onto the captain's face, painfully slashing it with his claws.
"A-a-a!" the man recoiled with a yell, grabbing his scratched face, and took a couple of unsteady steps back. "You vile animal!"
With a swing, he tried to kick the cat with his heavy hobnailed boot, but I rushed forward and caught his leg dead in the air, not letting the blow reach its target.
"TIE HIM UP!" the guard roared, spraying saliva from fury and pain.
I lowered my hands and did not resist, allowing them to twist my arms behind my back and put on heavy shackles. After all, everything that happened was just a ridiculous misunderstanding. There must be justice in court in any case. They will definitely listen to my side there, check the facts, and all the truth will co out.
My hands were tied, and the captain of the guard walked back up to that girl. He tossed her a silver coin and said: "I expect you at my place tonight at midnight."
I was brought to a two-story stone building. They took absolutely all my belongings and shoved
into a cramped room.
"Aha-ha-ha, what a catch!" the guards laughed. "Kid, haven't you thought about why we chose exactly you?" "What? You chose ?" I was taken aback. "You're a fool, kid. Showed up in our city... By your clothes, it's imdiately obvious: rich, from a noble family, and without guards on top of that. Look at his hair and eyes, how well-grood. Definitely an aristocrat."
"So you set it all up on purpose?" "Walked into a tavern, ordered food," they continued to mock, "and ate very neatly, like a real lord. And your musket imdiately caught our attention. Such engravings! You ca from the north, and in the north there is only Mount Slick. Real treasures lie there. Aha-ha-ha, kid, you are our golden nugget! How much money do you think your parents will give us to hide your sha? A hundred gold? They definitely have five hundred, and if they save up, they'll bring a thousand!"
I stubbornly raised my head: "The court will figure everything out." The guards only laughed even louder.
An hour later, a well-dressed man entered the room. "Oh, Mister Judge," the captain greeted him. They shook hands, and the newcor sat at the table. So, he is the local law.
"What do we have there?" he asked. The captain began to report: "Attacked peaceful residents. Brutally beat with the use of a weapon. The fiancé received severe injuries: a broken nose, cuts, bruises. And outraged the girl, threatened to kill her, even slashed her with a blade."
I jumped up from my seat: "Lies! And you will believe him?!" Mister Judge rely smirked and shook the captain's hand again. "So, not the death penalty." "Yes, we can't kill the kid, otherwise we won't get the ransom." "Agreed," the judge nodded and left.
Everything finally fell into place in my head. They are in collusion. The entire law here is just a fake.
I was led down into the dungeon, where a piercing cold drifted. There were about thirty cells. I was shoved into one of them, where a person was already sitting in the twilight.
As he left, the guard tossed to my neighbor: "Be a sweetheart. He can't be killed."
Reviews
All reviews (0)