directions. Panthers run out after them. Just as frightened, their ears flattened, they seem not to notice the people standing in front of them.
– And who are they so scared of? – Svurt muttered to himself under his breath, and aimed his crossbow in front of him. Together with his friends, he slowly crept up to the forest. Approaching the first trees, the guys carefully peered into the darkness. The unintelligible details of the bushes seemed like living things. Suddenly, a flock of birds flies out from above, making Horus flinch.
– This is a cursed forest! – his nerves could not stand it. – Let’s go back to the city, that’s enough adventure for me.
«Don’t you dare curse my forest,» Selim replied indignantly. – I am the owner of these lands. I have lived here for a very long time, and I know that it is safe here. – He entered the thicket and lit some kind of pipe, from below on a crossbow. With a dim, white light, she illuminated just a couple of meters in front of him. Well, at least something. Suddenly there was another loud crunch from the side. Turning sharply, Svurt took aim in the direction of the sounds. Then he quickly pulled his free hand on his wide honeycomb bracelet and it stretched out in segments to the very shoulder. Then, thrusting his hand under his shirt, he scratched in the chest area and armor enveloped his entire body under his clothes. A mechanical, folding suit turned him into a flamboyant warrior. Holding his breath, Selim moved forward. My heart began to beat quickly in my chest. Finally, an image of two people appeared in his eyes.
«Stop,» said an unknown voice. A strange man in a long robe and draped hood, he himself went to meet the prince. «Please don’t kill us,» a male voice continues with an unfamiliar accent.
– Come on out of here quickly. So I can see you! – raising his hands, palms forward, the stranger went out to his comrades. – You too! – he waved the crossbow, taking aim at the second, in the same robe, a man. – You are lucky that you nahmau, – stopping behind them, Svurt lowered his weapon. «Otherwise, I would immediately kill you like wild animals. And so, you will live to see tomorrow. Tomorrow you will be sentenced to death for crossing the forbidden territory of Shelber.
– But, we did not know that these territories are closed. There are no markings or fences here.
– Don’t be smart! – Dolmi, Selim’s cousin, approached him point-blank. On him, a similar miracle of armor was already deployed, with strongly protruding shoulders and covering completely the body and even part of the head. – Everyone in the district knows where you can walk and where you can’t meddle! Even if you are foreigners, this does not absolve you of responsibility. And take off your hood when I’m talking to you! Before you there are five heirs of two kingdoms, spoiled!
«I beg your pardon if I seemed rude,» the stranger removed his cape from his head. The second, behind him, also showed a face. It was a woman, young or not, in the dark it is not clear. It can only be seen that she is thin. The man is noticeably mature, also thin, but rather tall, strong and wiry. Can easily be dangerous. «I was looking for my sister,» the stranger began to make excuses. «We are heading from Eridu to Jericha with an educational mission. Also, we need the seed of a healthy man to fertilize my sister. Her years are passing, and we need a continuation of the family.
– Show your little sister closer, – the bearded man grinned, – maybe I can render her such a service.
– We’ll see. She is very tired now. During the last rest, she went to pick mushrooms and lost her way. I was looking for her all day and we, just recently, met here.
«Sounds believable,» the bearded man sniffed.
– Did you walk the mushroom trails? – Svurt looks from under his brows, frowning. – There are no edible mushrooms here. There is only death. Alluring and frightening.
– That’s it. What kind of mission do you have, «Seth asks without much curiosity. – Judging by this, there is nothing to teach us, since you went west to the Jews. The path is not close, of course, and how much do they pay you?
– We don’t need a fee. It’s free. This is charity.
– No, well, have you heard this beggar? Hora laughed. – Look at yourself. Well, what an idiot you have to be to walk barefoot half the world and not ask for a penny.
«Take them to the horses,» Selim said calmly to Set. – Now we will take them to the castle, and tomorrow morning, I will personally talk to them. If they don’t lie, I will let them go. If they lied, then I will publicly feed them to my beloved lions. And I will go while I check if they have awakened the evil sleeping with eternal sleep in the forest of the dead, a couple of kilometers north of this thicket. Don’t wait for me.
– What are you talking about? Hora approached him in bewilderment. «Recently, you said not to call your forest damned, but now you declare that evil lurks there.
– Keep it simple, buddy. I just went to shit.
Laughing at their friend, the men moved towards the river, taking with them two strangers. There, their horses and tent were standing by the fire. The princes treated the prisoners not like criminals, but with respect and understanding. This was affected by their good upbringing. Early in the morning, when the first rays of the sun had not yet passed through the walls of the majestic castle. The son of King Shadakh – young Selim, temporarily replacing his father, the ruler of Shelber, while he went on a campaign, with his retinue turned into narrow streets between giant towers. People who got in his way fell to their knees, or simply covered their faces with their hands, not believing their eyes. One of his stern, elegant appearance discouraged those around him. As if from the future, its protective frame shone in different colors. Stopping at a long stone wall, he exponentially clenched his fist, raised hand, signaling his bodyguards – the invulnerable guards Shadakh, to stop. Approaching the thick bars of the iron grating, he raised one eyebrow in bewilderment and grinned.
– Who put you here? – he asks two strangers in torn dresses, sleeping on top of each other in an embrace.
– My lord, – came from behind a pleasant, clear intonation of one of the guards, in fantastically beautiful, silver-blue armor made of incomprehensible material. – Maybe you need the ones in the next cell? He asked in a quiet, ringing voice. Slowly, approaching the next cage, Svurt froze in bewilderment:
«No, they weren’t dressed like that,» he said.
– But, over the past day, only two street cameras were occupied. Those brought by your brothers were seated here.
«Yes, yes, my lord. He speaks correctly. – A man of about fifty came up to the fence. He is wearing expensive clothes. A blue checkered caftan, like a short cloak, with a slit in the back, yellow patterns and stripes on the chest. Shiny, jeweled shoes with elongated, pointed toes. A woman in a white short dress with an unbuttoned collar came up with him. She was not just thin, as it seemed yesterday, but very slim and curvy. On her feet are very strange white shoes made of solid fabric. They were high-soled sneakers with red laces. – Your hotel is so-so, – the stranger smiled. – But, I’ve been to places and worse. «Only now, by his voice, did Selim recognize him as yesterday’s wanderer. Once again, carefully examining the prisoners from head to toe, he turned in displeasure to his guard:
– Who changed them? And for what?
– They will not give you an answer to this question, my young boy, – the wanderer took hold of the bars with both hands. – How much time is left before the verdict? He stroked his short gray hair with his right hand.
– I don’t know. Maybe… you won’t have a verdict.
– This castle, – the wanderer with admiration examines the blurry buildings seen in the distance, fused with each other. – It was not built by you.
«How do you know,» Svurt came close to him.
– Oh,