the Seven must not stop us. Morelia is already with us. When we attack from the south, they will come from the north. When Dream is finished, Shamon will no longer have to fear the power of the Seven. And then the world will fall at our feet!
Morelia has been on the side of the Dark Forces in previous times.
A few days later, Tram miraculously managed to escape. But if he doesn’t make it on time and doesn’t fulfill what was intended, what was the point in all this?
– Then it would have been better to rot behind those bars! – shouted Tram.
– You got hit! – Liton grinned. – It’s a good pipe, isn’t it?
Several days passed, and the crew of the Soul of the Corsair reached the port of Heney. Tram said goodbye to the pirates and headed towards Dream. So familiar, and so alien now.
Chapter 3. Return to Dream
During his years in exile, Tram had become accustomed to the fact that it could be cold. He is used to basking in the sun in the warm Dragha. And his native Dream greeted him with torrential rain, which seemed to have no end or edge. Clouds covered the skies with a gray blanket, and nature did not want to crawl out from under the warm shelter into the cold world, like a gentle princess on a winter morning. The wind blew and a bright yellow leaf hit Tram in the face, and with it the sand, making him sneeze. It smelled damp. Crows croaked and dragonflies, huge dragonflies, scurried back and forth. Tram pulled his hood lower, hoping that this would help against the ubiquitous sand, which even the rain could not force to lie on the ground. The familiar walls of the temple were tinged with silver. In such weather he would happily sit at home and not show his nose outside, but the local residents were not afraid of the rain. They scurried back and forth, pushing, shouting, quarreling. Someone was kissing, someone was stealing apples from under the merchant’s nose, someone was chasing her husband with a club in his hand:
– Cattle! How could you meet with that woman secretly from me!
Life was in full swing, the city was alive, and he did not yet suspect what danger awaited him.
Tram approached the white walls of the majestic castle.
– Wait, who’s coming? – at the entrance there are two: one is still quite a youth, even a mustache has not appeared on his face, thin as death itself. The other was an old man with a belly almost to the ground. But they are somewhat similar – either son and father, or the eldest – the uncle of another guard.
Tram took off his black glove, and a silver ring with a special rune appeared before the eyes of the guards. Then he took off his hood.
– Take me to the king. The matter cannot wait.
A man on a black horse rode up to the guards. He got off his horse and whispered something in the older man’s ear.
– So-so! You are welcome! His Highness has ordered that everyone associated with the Soul of the Corsair be brought to him personally, and our honorable informant claims that you sailed on that damned schooner. How much did these thugs drink our blood!
Tram was hit painfully in the stomach, and then his arms were twisted from behind and tied up. Oh, this is not how he imagined returning home! Not at all like that!
He was led through urine-smelling corridors. There was a completely different smell in the hall – a mixture of fashionable perfumes and the same urine. In the viceroy’s castle, hygiene was more carefully monitored than here.
King Leslie the Unsociable sat on the throne. To his right sat the Princess of Syria.
«She looks like me!» – Tram noted to himself.
On the right was Queen Esteri. She has become haggard and aged. Hubby is still a tyrant.
– They say they found one of the corsairs? Although, I see that everyone on your schooner doesn’t give a damn about the law. I expelled you from the lands of Eldoras forever, has anything changed since then? Why did you decide to break my will?
– This is a special time, Leslie. We must put aside our personal grievances to unite against a common enemy.
The king snorted contemptuously:
– If this common enemy is pirates, I will gladly!
– Pirates are not the worst problem that the Erin Sea conceals. To fight this, I am ready to unite with the corsairs – they are saints compared to Chamon.
Everyone present gasped. A hundred frightened eyes were directed at the guest.
– Shamon? You’ve probably been hanging out with savages for too long. Shamon was killed two hundred years ago. And the ancient city of Antimonikos was destroyed so that no stone was left unturned.
– They didn’t kill, but only put to sleep. You know – the Dark Lord is practically unstoppable.
His ancestor had such an opportunity once. But he got scared and did not complete the ritual to the end. Shamon could be dead forever. But he wasn’t.
– And what do you propose, Exile? – the king did not hide his hatred and contempt for the guest.
«We must reassemble the Order of the Seven.» We must restore its former power in order to fight the great ancient evil on equal terms.
– Ah, so that’s what you want. The robbed ships are not enough for you. You also want to take away the power from the king.
– I don’t need your power! Why do I need her? The Order of the Seven – it was not created to rule!
– You tell me your fairy tales. I didn’t call you. If someone tries to attack Eldoras, the king will cope on his own, without the advice of the Exile. Therefore, take this offender to jail – let him think about his behavior there.
The king had his reasons for doing this – Tram understood that. For many years, duty forced him and his beloved to stay apart. Her father chose her future husband. She was from a noble family – and who is he, the son of a monk? Yes, once the Order of the Seven had real power, but then the kings deprived them of power, fearing competition. Esteri married the king. Vows of fidelity meant too much to Tram back then, and he tried never to meet her gaze in order to resist the temptation to speak.
But one day he returned home from the battle ahead of the squad – with other wounded. And then he met her for the first time in years. Love broke the dam and flowed like a river.
One witch told the king that he would not be able to have children. But, returning from the battlefield, Leslie found his wife in labor. Tram was driven out of sight. If there had been someone else, he would have executed, but Tram is one of the Seven – people would not understand, why does the king need unrest?
Tram had not seen his daughter until that day. Leslie recognized her as a princess. He couldn’t have children, but he needed an heiress. They say that the old kings recognized power only in boys. But new times mean new laws. The king did not want to admit his weakness to anyone. The wife knew that he, as a husband, could not do anything. For this he took revenge on her all these years, which is why she grew old before her time.
– Get out! – the king yelled. – Do you, raszyavs, need to repeat it twice! Put the pirate in a cage!
Soldiers approached Tram. Among them was Stewart, an old comrade in arms. Together they ate a ton of salt and shed a river of sweat in battle. They cut down the enemy shoulder to shoulder.
– Sorry, Jumper!
How long has it been since he was called by this battle nickname! Tram even shed a tear, remembering the past. Once you make a mistake, your whole life goes awry.
He was thrown into a damp cell, and the door slammed behind him.
The men sat in a semicircle and looked at him, studying him.
– New guy?