of the gray-haired sage. This table is built in the style of a huge egg splitting across. One half of the egg is a table, and the other, suspended from the ceiling with thick chains, is a chandelier. A glossy white table and a similar chandelier with glowing blue veins outside and kerosene lamps inside.
– Ergonomic. You have a delicate taste, – the wanderer turned again in search of a chair. – I appreciated this chip with the shell of a huge lizard. Is this one of your father’s trophies?
«Don’t talk about my father. He may have died. The room was not designed by us. The castle is as old as the world. This table has been standing here even before the beginning of time. – Selim went point-blank to the table, and the floor beneath him fell slightly. Some green thing rose with a crash right behind. It turned out to be a pull-out chair, with a pointed, petal-shaped back. Without saying anything, Carney repeated the trick, stepping on the lever tile next to her, and settled herself comfortably in the chair. A couple of minutes later, a servant rushed into the hall. Waiters set a full table by forcing it with decorative crockery. In each container, there were different dishes. Minuscule portions, about two teaspoons in size, are neatly laid out in the middle of the plates. The wine decanters were full, but the glasses were almost empty.
«Funny,» Grul took out of his pocket a round thing the size of two of his fists and, also going up to the table, rolled it straight in the direction of Svurt. He abruptly slammed the oval ball with his palm, stopping it at the very edge of the table. Then he raised it right before his eyes. There was a toy in his hand. A transparent egg, with a metal partition inside, on bearings and a pile of sand.
– What is it? – in bewilderment he twirls the trinket. Then, looking closely, his eyes slowly bulged in surprise. Inside the glass egg, across there was a partition with small holes in a circle. On the hinges, when the oval was rotated around one axis, it retained its horizontal position. Sand poured into these little crevices. It poured up and stuck to the top of the oval, as if it were magnetized. From one container to another. Also in the lower part of the box, the sand stuck to the partition, and did not lie at all at the bottom, at the bottom.
– This is a clock, – calmly speaking, the wanderer leaned on the table with both hands. – Just an hourglass. Consider this a gift. I know you will be looking for a catch, but there is none. Time inside this form goes in the opposite direction. – Svurt silently put this thing on the table and continued to look until the remaining sand completely adhered to the upper wall of the vessel. Then, he turned the egg over, and the yellow dust continued to pour from bottom to top. – This clock works in a hundred-fold frame of reference. A primitive device that contains an entire universe. An exact copy of ours.
– How can there be a universe in the sand? – Selim grimaced incredulously. – Even on a reduced scale, it cannot have such an absurd shape and composition.
– As much as you can. If you break the shell, this sand will simply fly into space and take positions in space opposite to those of matter. For us, it is not real. What you see is the broadcast of the sand dust that is actually there.
– Here are the cases. I will definitely keep this curiosity. – He got up from the chair, which abruptly slid into the stone floor and began to pace around the empty, gloomy hall, the light into which barely penetrated, through the high, but narrow and dull windows. Removing a beautiful ring from his little finger, with his own engraved surname, covered with purple diamonds in a circle, and protruding crystals that emphasize volume, he approached the girl:
– Take it, this is my gift. More modest than yours, but… he is dear to me.
– The name ring of the rulers of Shelber, – she raised the ring up to the light, aloud, slowly reading the inscription.
«I see you like wearing rings. Well, add one more to your collection and accept the offer to become my wife. – The woman smiled broadly and was surprised at the same time. Looking at her brother, she laughed out loud. He looked at her seriously, and it is clear that he too was holding back a smile.
– What’s so funny? – the young man could not resist.
– If you want to marry me, give me the ring that you have on your other hand. – Svurt raised his left hand, clenching it into a fist. On his ring finger, an even more beautiful ring flaunts. It is completely transparent, with moving shining grains inside. If you enlarge it greatly, you will notice that these are not just sparkles floating in some kind of solution, these particles had certain shapes of objects and different inscriptions.
«No,» Selim dropped his hand. – This is the ring of the great Lafar Veia, and it will remain with me forever, as I promised him. But apart from that, I can give you almost anything.
– Very grateful. I need a seed, not a husband, «she replied calmly. – My heart has been occupied by my brother for a long time, I’m sorry.
– Then why don’t you create an artificial fruit with your own capabilities? – Selim grinned, moving the dishes and sitting on the table.
– Because my DNA code, in combination with the DNA of a healthy person, can give a new perfect look, much faster than doing it by the method of selection. – Having drunk wine from two glasses at once, she carefully got up from the chair, which also automatically slid into the floor. – And I will not go anywhere from here until you help me, – Grasping the man by the neck, she pulled him off the table, she sat down in his place, she spread her legs, showing her white panties.
– Enough, – Svurt turned away. – I won’t do it here. Moreover, with him.
– It won’t hurt. I see you want it. In our tribe, sex necessarily takes place in front of witnesses, so that everyone knows whose child will be born.
«But, I’m not in your tribe. And you cannot use me in your dirty deeds. Remember, not one woman in the world, and not one man, will decide who I should inseminate and who not. My father, could not force me to marry not one of twenty concubines, but you so simply decided to take advantage of my pure Nahmaut blood and run away. – The woman jumped off the table, grabbing Selim’s hand, put it on her chest. Svurt felt that he had fallen in love with her, and struggled with the temptation. Passionately kissing her, he pushed the girl away from him so hard that she even fell and took out his sparkling sword.
– Run while you are alive. – Jumping over the table, Selim in a rage, with one blow of the sword, cut off the chain on which the chandelier hung. She fell with a crash on the table, and the egg seemed to slam shut. Crawling back, the girl seemed to be numb from what she saw.
– Break, crash! What kind of demon lives in you? «Gruel simply slammed the huge table, and it flew off to the side with a bullet. Flying into small fragments in the air, which, for a moment slowed down in flight, then accelerated again and with crazy force hit the wall, so that the entire building was shaken. The gray-haired wanderer thrust his leg into the concrete floor with force, and stones under Svurt’s feet burst out of the ground, lifting him up and twisting him in the air, pushing from his back with a solid slab in the direction of Grul. Raising his hand without touching, the sage stopped him in flight. From the momentary stop, his limbs and head almost flew forward of the body. But Selim was not at a loss. He drew two daggers from behind, with forked blades. They immediately burst into black flame, and with a sharp blow, Svurt severed Grul’s arm. Tumbling in the air, he struck the second blow in the neck area, and, having landed on his feet, criss-cross with lightning strikes began to shred the body. Swinging from top to bottom, obliquely, immediately from bottom to top with the other hand, then, directing one blade with a point towards the body, he mercilessly pierced it, and drove the other here. Slowly, he began to back away, as if scared himself by what he had just done. His hands shook.
He turned around, remembering the girl. But, she was nowhere to be found. Looks like she escaped. Grul’s body flared with blades protruding from him, lighting up the darkness with even blacker flames. He spread his arms to the