Immortals. Knights from Arkona

– Stratiot, warrior for us.

– Here, you see, it turns out at me.

And the restless teenager wrote another word, or rather, two more:

«Mega Igemon, the Great Lord,» the guard read, «it’s a little.

– Well done, – there was a strong voice, – Boyko, soon you will learn to read Roman, not only our letter you will know! Leonty, what happened?

– Hello, decarch, – the boy began ceremoniously, – my father asks you to come to our inn with your soldiers. You said that you should report all suspicious foreigners.

«What’s wrong with them?»

– Yes, they themselves… Everything, as if from one egg hatched – each seven feet tall, hair very light, blue eyes. Everyone knows how sailors behave after a hike – they are looking for a tavern with wine, but accommodating women. These are decorously sitting in their dormitories and waiting for dinner.

– And how many are there?

– Thirty people, just like in the tales of savirs about heroes.

«Thank you, lad,» Vanir added, tapping the messenger on the shoulder. «Now we will come.» And you run to your father, behave as usual, do not bully guests. Wait.

Desyatnik, or decarch in Romanesque, because there were many Romans living in Kerch, almost more than northerners, or wends who had recently come in large numbers with Oleg. Yes, the felling then was between the northerners and the Wends, although short, but terrible. Oleg, calling himself a guest, entered the harbor on three ships, and first captured and killed Dar, and then, with his banners, entered the fortress and hacked Oskol there. Part of the detachments of the northerners, together with the saras, locked themselves in Surozh and cut with the Wends, and Oleg could not take the city.

Oleg announced that he had taken power on behalf of Igor, also by blood from the Veles clan, accused Oskol and Dar that they had tortured the fugitives from the Elbe who had gone to the Dnieper from the evil Karla. Yes, Oskol sent magyars to the Wends, to take tribute, because the newcomers sat down on his land, the land of the northerners and Saras. Magyars burned Vendian towns on Volkhov and Dnieper. The Wends from despair tearfully asked the Velesovichi on the Varangian Sea to give them a prince, and Rurik came from the Western Wends.

Then the news came to the White Kings that the Saxons and Franks were attacking the encouraged and Lyutichi, and, throwing lots, they decided that the Magyars would go on a campaign. So the forces of the Kings became impoverished, and Rurik began a rebellion. White kings died, and the Siberian princes, Northern and Ural did not recognize the authorities of Rurik… And, now the warriors of the Wends feared the revenge of the northerners, and were always at the ready. Vanir, who already knew what the northerners looked like, therefore remembered what had happened and prepared for the worst.

– Put on your armor, and quickly go to Anastasia’s inn, – commanded the decarch to his people.

The warriors began to quickly put themselves in order, helping each other. However, Zhnyr, differed, as always:

«What are the reservations to take?» It’s very hot… Merchants came, it’s usual. We will make sense, if necessary, put it in the underground.

– Faster… Let’s go in order, – said Vanir harshly, looking at the troublemaker badly, – a weapon to be ready!

He only spread his arms, and no longer argued with the decarch, only threw the shield behind his back. The soldiers walked briskly along the narrow Kerch street, past a solid line of adobe fences that merged into another wall. Even on small plots of land, grapes and peach trees grew, where there were pear trees. True, sometimes there were wastelands, with destroyed houses, fallen roofs. And in such abandoned places only nettles and ivy turned green.

Finally, the wind brought the smell of the edible to the guards, and even the eternally dull Zhnyr, smiled, and loudly pulled the air with his nose:

– Mullet, fried… Moreover, with pepper, garlic and basil… So only Psaki smells…

– It’s close. Shields at the ready! – commanded a foreman.

The detachment quickly approached the open gates of the gate, and quickly, past the silent dogs, moved to the forge. Vanir, without repairing, jerked open the door of the tavern, upholstered in strip iron, and went inside. A dozen guests sat at a wide table, as Leonty said, men, or rather, young men of enormous height, and not at all frightening in appearance. They ate quickly, ate Anastasios’s cooking with pleasure, the peddlers smiled at the prigozhe merchants.

– Vanir? Come in for a snack? – found something to say Anastasius.

– Well, yes, time to eat, – the guard played along, – if I don’t interfere. Will you feed my guys? – and the warrior put the coin in front of the tavern.

– I am glad to the guests, – only the romey answered.

Vanir brought his own, dressed more for sich, and not dinner, so the soldiers had to fold the armor. The ashen-haired merchants were noticeably revived, among them there was laughter, however, they ate treats and drank wine with the same zeal.

Vanir sat down next to Anastasius, with a fish jam in his hand, and looked inquiringly at the tavern.

«These?» – without looking towards the guests, asked the foreman.

Romay just nodded, and drank wine from the cup. I looked at the main of the northerners, and Vanir also looked at the northerner with a golden hryvnia around his neck. The foreman wiped his mustache, got up from the table, stepped over the bench, and ended up next to the guards. He was without a sword, only with a dagger on his belt.

– My name is Viten, – the giant called himself, – the foreman of the merchants, we came from the Jellied Sea.

Vanir calmed down slightly, the man, or rather, the young man, did not look intimidating. The guard looked closely at the embroidery on the sleeves, but he was alerted by the tattoo on his hands. There was no sword on the belt, only a large knife.

– Some of mine went to have a little fun after a long hike, but by night they will return, – explained the foreman, – they are not a hindrance to the city.

The foreman calmed down, or pretended to be calm, put his thumbs in his belt, put his left leg forward.

– Everyone is glad that merchants from distant edges come to Kerch, and you are welcome here.

– We know the laws, guard, and do not bother.

«Let’s not stop you from eating. Anastasia is being fed wonderfully well, you made no mistake about the place, Viten.

Vinar sat down with his friends at the table, ate quickly, and soon his soldiers left the inn.

– Everything worked out? Gunei asked quietly.

– Vinar went to the pit. I hope for Asan and Sinas that everything will end there without a big swara.

– But not without a little? the interlocutor smiled.

Viten swallowed from the cup, and smoothed out a light mustache. Asan and Sinas could be relied upon.

***

But not only the kitchen attracted the inn Anastasia guests from the North. The foreman looked at the black night sky, strewn with stars, and saw a donjon standing on a hill, Oleg’s shelter. It used to be the court of Oskol and Dar. Viten took out a leather pipe from his bag, the creation of the ancient masters of Priobye, pushed it apart, and began to look through it at the castle. Rounded and polished pieces of rock crystal seemed to bring the stone towers closer to Viten’s eyes. The moat, the light bridge, the light burning in the windows of the castle, everything was visible in a wonderful pipe. The palace, as the foreman knew, was guarded by about a hundred of the best vigilantes. Witen just grinned. Another way awaited them, wherever they met the vigilant guards of Oleg’s castle. He returned to his dormitory, where Lute was already waiting for him. There was no fire in the room, these people did not need light.

– Look, Viten, – and the knight unfolded the yellow parchment, – The plan of the underground passage to the castle…

– I see, on your contented grin, you already found and start of move to the castle? – the knight looked at his friend and comrade-in-arms.

– In the stable, foreman, – slowly, almost in syllables, Lute broadcast, – we will pass in two hours. Before sunset, you need to go underground in order to be in time.

«Take three more. Five of us will do everything quickly, we will take with us only daggers, ropes. We do not go to fight, we will not give the killer a fair fight, we will only kill Oleg for deception and that’s it. Do not forget the venom box.

«Will he take the corpse with him?» Lute revived.

– No. Let’s throw it in the castle. Everything must be done wisely. Remove suspicions from yourself, but point it at whom…

So another day passed… In the rays of the sunset, unnoticed by the servants of the inn, only five shadows slipped to the stable. The gates creaked and everything died down. On the hayloft, where the lovers rested, they did not even notice the soldiers. Leonty only rustled with straw, shook his head, driving away the hassle, and again hugged his beloved beauty.

***

Nine worn steps led down, however, it was not bad to go, because clay slurry, a frequent companion of such moves, was not here. Just think, nonsense – a dozen hefty rats eating an old cat to the bone, and so, nothing so terrible. But the barn predators were driven away with clever blows of their boots, and here Lute was especially lucky – he hit two at once!

The knights bent almost twice, the course was low, hewn calcareous stones covered with cobwebs and mold threatened to knock down felt caps from tall northerners. Soon the slope of the course began to rise significantly, it became a little harder to go, but these people had no difficulties or fear of darkness, they saw in the darkness no worse than in the light of the sun.

– How, what can be seen ahead?

– For a long time, Jaromir,» the foreman did not console his brother.

– It’s a pity that I’m not a dactyl, – Lute muttered, – they are familiar… Once, once, and there…

– Yeah, dactyl in our squad, – whispered the funny Uslad.

– Quieter you, – Viten muttered, – soon already, here, signs on the wall.

And he showed the well-known sign hidden under the dust – URDHVA-PUNDRA, or Kolyumn. This sign has always been the coat of arms of the Bosporus kings, and they were also from the family of the White Kings. And during the confusion, three hundred years ago, the White Kings settled in Kerch, a convenient place rich in fish and grain from the Kuban. Yes, and trading, but true, it was not very good with water, they only stored rain in huge tanks.

But now, they came to the door. Only it turned out, the door is new, with a noble castle.

– Please, work for you, – the foreman whispered, – not just sins.

– Yes, I’ll try… – the knight answered, taking out a bunch of cunning keys.

For a long time the castle did not resist, did not squeal or creak, clicked the shutter briskly, and the heavy door leaf almost opened itself.

«I’m ahead,» Viten said.

The knights quickly screamed at the door, and again closed the lock from sin. Judging by the low vault, and roughly processed blocks of walls, they were in the basement. There were also very picturesque hooks in the walls.

– That’s right, Oleg here tortures enemies… On the hook, and done.

«No, Uslad,» Jaromir replied, picking up the grease on the wall under the hooks, «it ran from the oil lamps. And soot from torches.

– Maybe. – comrade did not bicker, – we must go upstairs. What is the idea, Viten?

– There are ovens in the undercloths. I took good herbs. Let’s throw it into kindling – and everyone will fall asleep without hind legs, such nightmares will haunt – and Elena the Beautiful will not help them…

«Everything will work out as it should,» agreed Lute.

The stoves were melted, there were no stoves yet, and new ones appeared. Viten put a large piece of grass in each of the four furnaces, and closed the shutters, and opened the door from the basement. Smoke began to fall from the stoves, rising higher and higher, on the floors of the donjon,

It is always hard to wait, time dragged on, as if soaked soaked until all the grass burned out in the firebox.

– Close your mouths with wet rags, and let’s go, – Viten ordered.

Well done, they moistened rags from flasks of water, and tied their faces, looked at each other, and carefully began to understand the stairs…

There were callous bodies lying around. Warriors, servants, boyars, maids, smoke deprived everyone of consciousness and strength. Many had crimson – red faces, distorted, with foam at the mouth. The knights walked quickly, not paying attention to the suffering of others. At the door of the princely chambers lay ten crouched warriors with axes in their hands. Many apparently tried to rise, but nothing came of this venture.

Viten exhaled, and opened the door with a push. The footsteps of the knights were silent, their legs just drowned in the thick pile of Persian carpet spread on the floor. The windows were covered from the inside with carved shutters. The foreman went to the bed, next to which lay a man in a brocade dressing gown, who was also unconscious.

Viten brought him to the nostrils of a bottle with a sharp-smelling composition, and the man’s eyes slowly opened. The whites of the eyes were red, and the face, on the contrary, was whiter than chalk.

– Have you come for me yet? I’m ready, – the prince said without fear, and began to rise with difficulty.

Oleg sat down in a chair, drank wine from a glass glass. filed by Vitenem.

– I’ve been waiting for you for a long time, local people, – and the vend drank more wine, – let’s go… There is no need to bloody the floor, otherwise the terrible will begin, and the guards will be executed. Although what are they against you, immortals? I saw such people, we went on a hike to Roskilde together. You, Viten, are good with a beard! Oleg laughed.

– And you were good, governor, but there was no trace of the Tsar to kill, such non-peace on the Volga and in the Urals began.

– So I, Rurik and Igor too from Veles sort.

– Nobody can raise a hand on the White Tsar and stay alive, you know…

– Oskol shouldn’t have sent his royal eels to Ilmen Magyar, not in Truth.

Viten thought, they didn’t know everything and the knights on distant Arkon could not know, but Oskol and Dar were killed, and they must take revenge.

– Not their land, not Vendian, and everyone knows that the White King judges and rows. And no one except him dares to be called king and kagan. In the western lands, all only princes are called kings, guardians of the lands, and swear allegiance to the White King, and send gifts. And therefore this land in the West of Gardariki is called – the Land of the King.

– Previously, Hunigard was called the land of the Huns, but now Wendland, the Land of the Wends, – Oleg answered proudly, – and here I took Constantinople for Rurik and Igor. And the son of Oskol is alive, I sent him to Chernigov.

– Well, the whole earth from time immemorial and Russia is called and will be called, – Lute shook, – by the name of our army. And for the royal son, thank you, governor.

– Let’s go, it’s time for me to die, – smiled the unafraid vend, – maybe put poison in my wine? – and he readily held out a glass.

– We must go, Viten,» Lute hurried.

– Come on, Oleg,» the foreman finally decided.

The governor got up, he only slightly did not grow to the immortal. Viten walked ahead, Oleg followed him, and the rest of the knights covered, holding daggers at the ready. They walked briskly down a stone staircase into the courtyard. Torches did not light, and the doomed was surprised and did not hide it

– They say about you, and in the darkness you see. Thank you for not interrupting the squad, eternal, – thanked the doomed for his people.

– Blood is not water, Elena the Beautiful will ask us twice for every drop.

– So I heard that the Princesses pour blood immensely, and the severed heads are hung.

– So the Princesses, the bottom has its own Truth, do not envy them, Oleg… But Elena, Ella, she is different, – Viten remarked hotly, – after all, the young woman came to Varta… She did not offend anyone in a word, did not kill, saved many… Whatever she turns to, and does not become the Eternal Queen on Earth, she herself ascended to the fire…

– So, they say, it just melted…

– I saw her governor’s blood… Red, even though her mother is rumored to be Elga…

«The one who shut herself up on the Forbidden Island?»

– She, Dead Princess… Then she took the Twin for the death of Wang’s daughter, and took his sister away from the Princess…

– Well, these are already tales, Viten.

– I saw that Van was missing, I myself saw how I returned with Alena from distant lands. And in that battle, when Elga brought the army of the Dead, I myself also fought.

– A terrible thing… – said Jaromir, and stared into the darkness, – what remains after them… And not the bodies of those killed, but as in a saying – a wet bloody place.

So, they approached the stable, where Oleg’s favorite horse stood. Viten looked around the place, calmed down.

– Say goodbye to the horse, governor, and die.

– Thank you, Immortal. Not bad I’m leaving… – the vend answered quietly.

Oleg stroked the mane of the white stallion, he snored excitedly, sniffed the owner and his friend. Viten did not shift the sad business to others, and with a thin blade, with two points on the blade, pricked Oleg’s hand. He turned to the knight, nodded, managed to breathe twice, and holding on to the neck of the horse, slipped to the ground strewn with straw, and died. The knights looked thoughtfully at one of the Velesovichi, until Lute returned them from their dreams:

– We leave, and quickly – and the foreman pulled his friends by the hands from the place of death.

– That’s right, twin, – supported the foreman Lute, – quickly! Time is very short!

The knights passed through the gates, past the sleeping guards, and already quickly reached the Psaki inn. They managed to lie under blankets in their dormitories before the roosters sang, and the workers began to restore order in the paved courtyard.

Anastasius, with a staff in his hands, walked around the yard and checked how the four only hired men worked, but he did not notice when the knights returned to their rooms.

***

The knights gathered at the tables of the guest house, and a wonderful lunch seemed to be a reward to the sea prospectors for a restless night. It is not clear why the bells of the churches rang here, Anastasius looked at Leonty, the boy only shrugged his shoulders, not understanding what was the matter.

The artisans were happy to absorb the beautiful cooking of the restless cook of the inn, and the always gloomy woman amused when she saw how happy her cooking was. Anastasius again approached Viten, bowed:

– Are the guests satisfied? Romey asked again.

«Excellent.

– Foreman, you have to wait for princely tyun. He will examine the goods, and if the princely court needs anything, he will buy from you before bargaining.

– Will we be at a loss?

«Tiun pays a fair price for good.

«Well, then. I hope it’s not too late? Otherwise we will wait, but no one will appear.

– Tiun Gorazd is a solid man, he observes his honor! So there will be no deception. Do not worry, – Anastasius reassured the guest.

Leonty came running, with a red face, breathing heavily and immediately rushed to the owner and whispered in his ear. Anastasius only rubbed his forehead in confusion.

– What happened? Viteni asked, getting up from the table.

– Eat, eat, – the tavern waved his hands, – you are our guests!

The northerners milked and finished, and the bells rang again. Then a stranger entered the dining room and turned to the keeper of the inn:

– Prince Oleg is dead. I felt bad, went to say goodbye to the horse, and there the forces left the ruler, – the tyun said in a stern voice, – the prince died there. I am ready to purchase your goods for the princely court.

– Foreman of the Viten artel. I will be glad… Sable and fish tooth, – Viten said willingly.

– My name is a Gorazd. Sorry, many in the city have sadness in their hearts after Oleg’s death. And I have. Let’s go show the goods?

– Of course. Two more will come with me. Please! Jaromir! Come with me! Lute, wait for those who went to the city!

– I’ll do everything, foreman, – answered his assistant.

– Did the artisans go to town? Tine yielded. – from the road, it is clear…

Viten equipped himself quickly, took sumu with tags and keys to the labaz, and waited for Uslad and Jaromir. Tiun sat on the bench sad, and Anastasius, too, apparently, upset and frightened.

«Why is Anastasius in doubt?» Jaromir Vitenya asked in the old language.

«Now they’re afraid of war. And how Oleg will be buried…

«Why is there?» – Uslad was surprised, – is it really a different custom?

– If the ancient custom… The body in the cauldron will be boiled out until the flesh disappears, then the bones will be washed with wine and decorated with gold, well, they will be put into the crust as it should… The head is kept separately…

– Well, before the mustache still made nests. The body was boiled, then either covered with clay, or, for the deceased, new flesh was sewn from the skin, and old bones were put in it, and then they drove around the surrounding villages, said goodbye.

– Yes, it’s easier now… – Viten thought.

Other knights were silent. It happened that they also died, and quite if they lost their heads in battle. And one magi was resurrected two hundred years later, Viten himself saw it. When he himself bought the skull from the Saxons by equal weight for gold… But no one could watch Euratius resurrect then. The body was clothed with flesh for almost a month, and to see it was above his strength. Only the magician Radey was inseparable with the knight, bringing water and honey to revive Evpatiy.

«Let’s go, Gorazd,» said the foreman quietly.

He just nodded his head in response, and went ahead, tapping his staff on the pavement. Five of his youths followed him, in addition they rolled a cart. The road here was lined with calcareous, already worn slabs, so there was not much mud in the rain, and in the rare snow here.

They walked slowly, the people who met were also with sad faces, as if they had lost something dear to themselves. Tiun greeted some people, apparently also going to the port on trade matters. The sun hid in a cloud, and although there was no rain, the day turned gray and dull, but it did not get as hot as yesterday. But now, they also approached the labaz fenced with a fence made of large rough stones.

– Hello, Khvylya, – Gorazd greeted the guard

– And you live, – he answered, so holding his hand on the belt, behind which a battle ax was inserted with a wide blade up.

– We are in the lab, – Viten already spoke, taking out the tags.

The guard nodded, examined the seals, compared the cut on the tree of the tag from the northerner, and his own, nodded his head, and gave out a weighty word:

– Come on in, dear guests!

Labaz was not particularly large, and there were not so many goods. Viten removed the seals and opened the wings, showing both a fish tooth and rich furs from the North.

«Let me light the wick in the lantern, you can’t see anything,» Gorazd said quietly.

– Exactly, – Viten was found, – almost forgot.

And he scolded himself for forgetfulness. They, immortals, see in the dark as during the day, and ordinary people do not see anything… I looked again at the tiuna, but he was not worried, or scared. Just wanted to inspect the goods. The foreman took out a fire, in two blows he got a spark and quickly lit a fire. True, he praised himself that he did not use another toy – incendiary glass. That would be superfluous… The lantern gave light, although the smoke was too much at first. A lot with his left hand with a lantern, and with his right with a staff, walked past forty fangs of a fish tooth, admired sable, iridescent skins…

– What else is there in the north? thiun asked.

– Yes, – and Viten took out a handful of light black stones, oily to the touch, – Combustible stone, from Grumant Island. It burns hot, words cannot convey. Well, Indrik’s tooth is a beast. But it hasn’t been brought in for a long time.

– A lot of it there?»