Don't believe the prophecies! Otherwise, you run the risk of starting their execution. Virita’s father believed, and now the girl is forced to run away from home, from her disgraceful groom. And what to expect when the path chosen at random leads her to the tower of necromancers, and even in the midst of a dangerous ritual?
A necromancer and his apprentice, an ancient god, a damsel in distress and a summoned spirit. What can such a diverse company do? At least fulfill a couple of prophecies – but not at all as expected!
CHAPTER 1. Scandal in a noble family
Before you disinherit your son, get another one!
– I'll curse you. I will disinherit. I’ll send you to a distant garrison. Brat. And this is my son!
Marius expected, of course, to face his father's anger, but did not think that it would be so strong. The hissing, barely audible whisper sounded more like the hiss of a snake than a human voice – a sure sign of extreme rage. Sieur Gaunt del Marre never raised his voice, considering it inappropriate for a relative of the royal family, and the more angry he became, the quieter he spoke. Whoever does not listen is to blame.
The words spread like a heavy poisonous gas, wrapped around and suffocated, Marius’s temples rang and he wanted to gasp for air, like a fish thrown out of water. And suddenly the father almost lost his temper, steel rang in his dispassionate voice:
– Shame of the family, the ancestors are turning over in their graves!
The obsession disappeared, it became easier to breathe, as if a gust of hurricane wind carried the poison away – but for how long?
“They don’t roll over, I know for sure,” Marius objected disrespectfully. – And you, father, better imagine what benefits it will have for the family if you have a heart-to-heart talk with your ancestors. One great-great-grandfather’s treasure is worth something! And those strange hints of royal gratitude in your second cousin’s diaries? What about your father’s secret techniques that he didn’t manage to teach you? And how many more did the ancestors take with them beyond the Border that could be useful to the clan? And you – “I’ll deprive you of your inheritance”! Yes, and deprive me, I’ll ask my grandfather on my mother’s side for protection!
In Marius's voice, resentment became clearer and louder, a nervous blush flared up on his cheeks, and magic flared and crackled in his dark, military-style, short hair like green swamp lights. But the proof of considerable magical power did not at all please the high-born Sieur Gaunt del Marre.
Why be happy? Because the heir and, alas, only son, with the connivance of higher powers, was born a magician? And it would be nice if he were also a combat magician, an elementalist, or at least an empath – such gifts can be easily combined with service to the crown and with the elevation of the clan. But a necromancer! Pah-pah, Great Power forbid! And if, as the father orders, forget about the damned gift, so he, you see, decided to study! And I even found a mentor without asking my father!
To be honest, it was with his mentor that the heir showed himself to be quite good: master Turvon was passing through their area, not everyone would have had time to make such a fuss. Go find a master necromancer who is ready to take on an apprentice. There are maybe a dozen of them in the whole world, or even less, but in the kingdom there is only one. And, to be honest, in the depths of his soul, Ser Gaunt understood this very well. As well as the possible benefits of finding grandfather’s and great-grandfather’s hiding places and secrets. But the son is a necromancer!
But, whatever one may say, son. The only one. One cannot expect continuation of the family line from daughters; they will go to their husbands’ families, and in general, abandoning the first-born, the blood successor of the family name, and accepting a son-in-law-consort is much worse than allowing a son to study in a way that is not entirely appropriate. It is “not quite”, and not “not at all…” – magic, after all, not some kind of chicanery or, Great God forbid, trade. And the wife, although she does not interfere in the upbringing of her son, loves him and will not allow him to be driven out. To fight with his wife and daughters who adore his brother – no, he is still sane! Peace in the family is worth more than indulging a kicking offspring.
“Okay,” Ser Gaunt said almost forcefully. – I won’t say that I think it’s appropriate, but…
“Acceptable” will be quite enough, suggested Marius.
But then the idea of procreation finally came to its logical conclusion, and Sieur Gaunt again fell into a hissing rage.
– "Acceptable"? How will you order you to look for a bride? What girl would agree to tie her heart to a necromancer? I will not allow the family to fade away. Neither. Behind. What.
For some time, father and son silently glared at each other. Marius was the first to break the silence: he, after all, could not help but understand how terrible the very thought that the del Marre branch could dry out was for his father. And even more so – through his fault.
– Is this the last reason? What if I give my word that I will find a suitable bride myself?
“When you find…,” Ser Gaunt began, cooling down, but his son interrupted disrespectfully:
– No, that would be wrong! I need a girl who won’t be afraid of my gift, which means she can’t hide it.
“You won’t find such a girl.”
– Would you like to make a bet?
In the dark eyes flashing with excitement, in the stubbornly upturned chin, Ser Gaunt suddenly saw himself, young, not yet really learning to restrain his hot temper. Son, flesh from flesh, blood from blood… an apple from an apple tree, as the common people say. And it’s true, how can one not admit it – it’s a bull’s eye!
“I haven’t spanked you enough,” grumbled the high-born sieur. – With ignoramuses like yourself, you bet on clicks. Here's my will for you. I allow you to study. But so that no later than the next harvest festival he introduces me to his chosen one. Of course, I will negotiate with her family myself, but the girl must agree.
– But there’s less than a year left!
– Did you hope to remain single until old age? This winter I intended to find a worthy match for you, so consider that I also received a reprieve.
Marius grunted with displeasure, but bowed, acknowledging his father’s will, and that was the end of the argument. And an hour later, having collected the necessary things, hugged his mother and sisters and accepted his father’s blessing, albeit reluctantly, the heir to the del Marre family clenched the portal amulet given by his future mentor in his fist and disappeared from the castle of his ancestors, as if it had never happened. And in the ancient tower in the middle of the reserved Deer Log, in the very one that people knew as the home of the master necromancer Turvon, a student appeared.
***
Oleniy Log, an ancient protected forest, is located very close to the capital – you can reach it on foot in half a day, and the horseman can quickly gallop there. But both on foot and on horseback took the tenth route around it, trade routes were bypassed, even though the convoys lost a few extra days on the long journey, and even poachers were afraid to go there, although everyone knew that the royal rangers were not guarding this forest.
Everyone knew that in the Deer Log, behind the windbreaks and swamps, among the ancient oaks and hazel thickets, the Altar and the Tower were hidden. Everyone knew that noticing them even from a distance was not good, and even meeting their owners was a completely disastrous thing. But no one could indicate exactly which path would lead you there; Well, how do you come across it by chance? It’s better not to set foot in the forest at all.
On the Altar they talked all sorts of tall tales. Whose is it, what powers did they bow to there, what sacrifices did they make? Nobody knew for certain; even in old chronicles there were no mentions of it. Make up whatever stories you want, one more terrible than the other, you still can’t check it!
The tower is a different matter. People did not know how old it was and who lived in it before, but for almost two hundred years it served as a dwelling for a necromancer magician. Master Turvon, tall and thin, as if withered, with a piercing gaze of eyes as black as hellish tar, and the same black hair tied in a ponytail at the back of his head, has not changed at all in two hundred years. That is, maybe a few wrinkles and gray hairs have increased, but who will notice such a trifle? What’s more important is that the way his great-grandfathers described him is how his great-grandchildren see him.
Although necromancers are distinguished by their nasty character, Master Turvon has not aroused any special fear in the residents of the surrounding villages and the not-so-distant capital – and, as a result, the entire kingdom – for a long time. Among the magicians you won’t find fluffy bunnies, they’re all wolves; Well, a hellish dog has wormed its way among the wolves, so what now? Do not touch unnecessarily, and he will not touch you; and when the need arises, don’t rush like crazy to the Tower, pounding on the door and yelling under the windows, leave a sign on a post near a withered oak tree at the edge, and the magician himself will find you. Moreover, Master Turvon did not raise cemeteries, did not summon evil spirits, preferring to question the dead or murdered for the benefit of their living relatives or the crown. And what he does in his tower is his business, which it is better for no one to meddle in. And they didn’t go in, and even for the most part not out of fear, but because it is clear to any sane person that where the necromancer casts spells, it’s better not to meddle there. Otherwise, how the Great Power forbid will enchant you by accident!
That's how we lived.
No one knew that the master had a student. The high-born Sieur Gaunt del Marre was in no hurry to tell everyone where the heir had disappeared. “Learns the knowledge necessary for a young man from a knowledgeable mentor,” and period. Those who were interested in the details received, instead of an answer, thoughtful reflections on the fact that service in the border garrisons, especially in the south, did not make people such idiots. And so it turned out that Sieur Gaunt did not seem to be lying, but he reliably hid the location of his son from everyone.
And the master, of course, did not take the undergrowth with him when he went to perform dark magic at the home of his next customer. Magic is not about weeding beds and allowing the untrained to practice. But even incompetent people don’t like garden beds; but it’s better to confuse weeds with cabbage than, instead of summoning a soul that is peaceful in a good afterlife, suddenly raise an evil corpse.
Marius did not dare to grumble, although every time his mentor went to work, he had difficulty suppressing the desire to ask to come with him. And master Turvon, you know, left the student with tasks that were dirtier and bigger for the time he was away, so that he wouldn’t sit idle, wouldn’t suffer from nonsense and wouldn’t climb into places where he shouldn’t climb without supervision.
So Marius sat in a black tower in the middle of the forest, like an enchanted princess from a fairy tale. He chewed on the intractable science of magic, dismantled ancient books, memorized rituals. Daily household chores – cleaning, a garden with herbs and a stable with the only inhabitant, the black hellish horse Garo – were also on him. You never know whose heir you are. You may brag about your high birth in the palaces, but in the tower of a magician, while you are a student, you are nobody and there is no way to call you. In addition, maintaining proper order in the home, and magical herbs, and even more so, the inhabitant of the stable is the same part of the training. You need to understand what to do with all this and why it is this way and not otherwise.
It was difficult at first. But the autumn poured down with dull rains, the winter swept through with snowstorms, the early timid spring snowdrops blossomed – and from the old Marius, who fiercely wanted to learn, but in the explanations of the master who understood well if one word out of ten, only the name remained. Now he could distinguish one herb from another by smell and touch, even in dried and mashed form. I discovered that thoroughly washing the floor before drawing a circle of invocation on it perfectly sets the mood for the ritual. And the mad creature Garo caressed, accepting the treat, allowed him to comb his mane and pat his terrible face and did not try to bite off his fingers right up to his shoulders. And the master moderated his sarcasm, making remarks about the dubious intelligence of some high-born blockheads.
And at night, through sleep, voices were heard at the very edge of consciousness. They whispered something incomprehensible, called, promised. In his dream, Marius thought that in the morning he should tell his mentor, ask what kind of strange dreams he had, who was calling him and whether this call was dangerous. But in the morning I forgot.
CHAPTER 2. Fatal accident
Before entrusting a student to lead the ritual,
Take a safety test!
Marius didn’t completely forget the promise he made to his father, but put it on the farthest shelf of his memory. Well, really, where should he look for a bride now – in the forest? In the ancient dungeons of the Tower, shrouded in eternal darkness? Or in cemeteries, where the master began to take him so that he could learn to smell the emanations of decay and dust and work with them? How old is he, he'll have time! Breaking one’s own promises, of course, is not right and is completely disgraceful, but perhaps the father will understand and he himself will free him from the word given in the heat of the moment. And anyway, there are still six months before the harvest festival, you never know what can happen. Why worry in advance? Moreover, very soon – one of the eight Axes of the Wheel of the Year, day and night, when very special rites and rituals are performed. For three years already, Marius had met a necromancer as a student, but until now he had been admitted to these rituals only with the rights of an unreasonable child: “stop, look, don’t touch anything, where I tell you, repeat after me.” And this time the master promised to allow more. He said that the student would need help in a very important and special matter. How about brides here?
On the eve of the long-awaited day, Master Turvon ordered the student to rip out the floor throughout the entire tower, from the basements to the guard area on the roof, and not to forget the stone-paved area between the stables and the vegetable garden.
– Why there? – Marius was amazed.
“When you finish, find the answer in the treatise “On the rituals of the annual Wheel,” answered the master and, without saying anything else, he was transported somewhere by a portal. And Marius, sighing and looking lustfully at the library window, trotted off to the well.
He would have preferred to start with a treatise rather than with the work of a scrubber, despised for a high-born person, but the master said – the student did, and nothing else. And be quicker, otherwise there won’t be any time left for reading!
He carried water, wrung out rags, scrubbed dirt from black stones – there wasn’t much of it, that dirt, but he still had to wash it often, the master really respected cleanliness. And, while my hands were busy and my head was free, I remembered that very treatise on rituals. After all, Marius read it, how could he not read it! But I can swear by anything that there was nothing there about the fact that some rituals must necessarily be carried out in the open air. Preferably – yes, and spring ones are right there, along with summer ones. But the correctly drawn ritual circles are more important than the ceiling above your head or the sky, and in the basement the circles are drawn, the signs are soldered into the stone with the necessary metals and imbued with power. Where is the uneven stone platform against them, which will have to be painted with chalk? No, he probably just doesn’t remember something or understood something wrong. So I was in a hurry to wash up and stick my nose into a book.
But I never managed to get to the book. He polished the uneven stones to a shine, appreciated the suddenly appearing pattern of sharp fractures and the depth of the glassy blackness, and wondered why he had not noticed before how difficult the stone was here? Why does it seem like I’ve already seen something like this somewhere? And then the master appeared. Dissatisfied – Marius had already become very good at guessing his mood behind his seemingly impassive expression. Threw:
– Hurry up. We start at sunset.
And there’s still time left before sunset to rinse off and change into clean clothes. And why with sunset? After all, Axis rites begin at dawn and end at midnight!
– What are we starting with, teacher? – he asked, unable to bear it.
– Rush order.
– Right now?! Or…
The master understood what was not said and explained:
– No, not one of those that are made only for the Axis. And it would be better not to take it, but sometimes it’s easier to charge triple the price and eventually agree than to explain to the customer why not. – Marius feigned extreme curiosity with his entire appearance, and the master relented: “Vitor del Bornio, do you know this one?” He wants urgently, absolutely immediately, to get a special bodyguard for his daughter.
– For what?! – Marius was amazed. – Virita deglia Bornio is a quiet, calm, well-mannered girl, the world would rather turn upside down than she would get into trouble.
Virita was indeed quiet, calm and well-behaved. And also boring. So boring that, despite the obvious beauty and sweet smile, already in the third minute of communication I wanted to run away anywhere, as long as it was far away. She's a bodyguard too?!
“So the world has turned upside down,” Master Turvon shrugged his shoulders and cast a short glance at the sun, which had almost disappeared behind the crowns of centuries-old oak trees. – Enough talking. Let's run.
The riddle called “a bodyguard for Virita” occupied Marius so much that he forgot to even think about the treatise. And how important is it, if he didn’t have time now, he’ll read it tomorrow. Or the day after tomorrow. In the end, if it were critical, the mentor would explain it right away.
And only when, with the last ray of sunset, together with Master Turvon, I stepped onto the perfectly round platform shining with the black fire of the night, I remembered another word spoken by the mentor: “a special bodyguard.” And, like a key in a lock, it clicked in my memory: “Mirror of the Night.” A ritual circle that does not require additional signs and amplifiers such as fire, blood or sacrifices. Only the shape, size and material work in it – fabulously expensive and rare, specially cut hellish glass. It is used to search for and summon souls that can linger in the world for a long time, and to install them in a suitable body. And, if necessary, to create this body.
Highest necromancy. So high that even among the masters, it would be good if one in a hundred would undertake it.
What is this that Vitor del Bornio ordered for his daughter?!
“You will be a conductor of power,” the mentor told Marius. “At the same time, you’ll look at a ritual that you’d better not get involved with for another hundred years.”
"You'll see"! How much will the conductor of power see if his job is to support the conductor of the ritual with his magic and not be distracted by anything else? After all, all the most interesting things don’t happen here. Master Turvon stood in the center of the circle and fell into a trance, and Marius could only stand in dead silence, strictly on the border of the circle and the lush grass, and stare at the lean figure, barely visible in the thickening darkness, motionless and literally soulless. The soul of the master necromancer, reflected by the Mirror and caught up in its dark radiance, wandered beyond the Boundary, looking for what he wanted. Marius would like to see how this search is going on! Yes, at least just to see what is there, beyond the Bound. The books I read were too contradictory to each other, describing the Edge and travel there. One might think that their authors organized a competition of liars, not for the sake of interest, but, at the very least, for a royal reward. And Turvon answered all the student’s questions with one answer: “You will see for yourself how the time will come, but for now it’s too early for you, I don’t teach.”
But you can secretly feel proud: even though the mentor is strong, the ritual would not have been possible without his help, an ignoramus. No matter how you look at it, you need a guide, someone who will serve as a beacon and an anchor, from whom a thread or a thick rope will stretch – as strong as you can – from the world of the living into the twilight of the Edge.
– Save-ee-ee!!! – a wild scream mixed with a squeal, which can only be emitted by a girl frightened to death, broke the silence into fragments. A lathered horse rushed out of the dense thickets of hazel trees, breaking branches; in the dim light of the moon, Marius clearly saw bulging, bloodshot eyes and flakes of foam on the skin shining with ripe chestnut. The brain noted that the horse was scared to death, no worse than the rider, the gaze, tearing away from the mentor, became attached to the thin figure in a tight dress, the body twitched treacherously to help the damsel in distress, to stop the racing horse. But he had to stand straight and watch only the master!
The bay horse crashed against an invisible barrier – for the duration of the ritual, the circle of the Mirror is not in the world of the living, but on the Edge, where there is no place for mortals with a still beating heart. It burst out and, as if the meeting with an otherworldly obstacle was the last straw, it slowly fell onto the black stones. Marius even shuddered from a surge of necroemanations, much more powerful than from deer killed in a hunt. The maiden flew out of the saddle with a desperate squeal, head over heels, over the head of the falling bay. Straight into the circle made by the death of the horse! And it would be okay to just join a circle, although this would not lead to anything good, but! This… shriek! She somersaulted right to the center of the Mirror, knocked Master Turvon off his feet and fell straight on top of him! And she froze, because now, in the midst of the activated ritual, her soul was guaranteed to go to the same place where the soul of the master necromancer wandered.
And what, one wonders, could a person who is not completely ignorant, but a categorical dropout, do in this difficult situation?!
First of all, don’t panic. This rule, true for any sudden problems, was hammered into the student not only by Master Turvon, but also by his father before him, from early childhood. And Marius, fully aware that he did not know what was “right,” instantly decided to do the only thing he could and that seemed to suggest itself. He continued to pour power into the thread that connected him with the master, preventing it from breaking and the necromancer’s soul from getting lost without a return path to the world. The connection, however, after the girl’s spectacular fall across the teacher’s body, behaved strangely. It twitched and tossed around, like an angry huge fish caught on a fishing rod that was too weak – it was about to break, but it didn’t break, it would tangle the tackle, hook it on a snag and… and still break. It became more and more difficult to hold on, not to let go, at some point Marius even imagined that at the other end there had happened, no less than, a fight, as if two hungry greedy fish were grappling with a tasty worm. Oh, if only he wasn’t that worm himself! How can creatures from the dark world, for whom there is nothing more desirable than warm human blood, get through the connection? How bad it is to be a dropout; he doesn’t even know what to expect, what to be afraid of, what can happen and what won’t happen for sure! And the master is also good, if only he could explain in detail all the dangers of broken or disrupted rituals, and how to deal with them! And he only said once, at the very beginning:
– If you make a mistake, the world may not collapse, but you risk not knowing about it.
But it can’t be that nothing can be done and there’s no way to save the situation? Here are two bodies without souls lying on sparkling black stones, but it’s too early for souls to cross the Brink, which means they should return? This means that he feels them through the connection, and all these twitchings are because instead of one soul, two went through the Mirror. Right?
Marius nodded to himself: the explanation seemed consistent, and most importantly, reassuring. You just need to not miss the connection, and the mentor will return. But then it’s time to demand that all the subtleties be properly explained! Otherwise – “ignoramus, ignoramus”… Let him teach! And at the same time explain to the girl that it is inappropriate to interfere with the rituals of necromancers. And if you are not sure that you can cope with a restive horse, then it is better not to ride alone. Especially in Oleniy Log. Especially at night. What kind of demons brought her here anyway?! I would sit at home, have fun with embroidery or something else appropriate…
The worst thing is that Marius did not know how long the ritual would have lasted without the intervention of the stranger and her horse. Searching for a soul is a matter of luck. And now at all. Should I wait quietly, or should I urgently remember what my mentor told me about uninvited guests from beyond the Border and ways to escape from them? Or not to be saved, but to be pacified, or even put into service? It all depends on who exactly shows up.
The longer the night dragged on, the more Marius wanted, if not his mentor, then at least someone to come back. If only the exhausting uncertainty would end!
Perhaps it was worth remembering that too desperate desires tend to come true down to the last letter? Exactly to the letter, and then it’s too late to go back and convince the Great Power that this is not what I wanted at all. But, honestly, Marius was not ready to see how the dead bay opens his eyes filled with otherworldly light. Yes, demons take it all, calling souls is the exact opposite of raising wights! This simply shouldn't happen!
It doesn't happen like that!
“So it happens,” he retorted doomedly to his own panicky thoughts.