“Announce the entire list, please!” Hysterically shouted a long, thin elf with a strange shaggy haircut. “The whole list!”
“Barracudas are ready to start buying!” Said someone else — unimpressive.
“There are a lot of lists … first, the ships. Fifty-two large warships,” the Queen’s agent began to announce. “With full rigging. Very expensive! Thirty-eight large warships, slightly damaged. They are slightly cheaper … Twelve medium ...”
“Do not read it, friend! Sleepless will take everything. Name the price!”
“Screw off Sleepless! Stop monopolizing!”
“Screw off yourself, green freak!”
“Yeah, your wallets are bottomless!” Someone supported the fat man from Architects. “Blockade the Sleepless! Push them away from the curbstone, guys! Crowd them! Push! Shove!”
“I will push you away! I will push you!” The thunderous roar of the Scarlet Baron was drowned, for a moment, by the roar of the crowd. “I will kill you! We will push you out of Zar’Graad so fast you will fly back to the mainland! And only grant you a three-hour visa! Do you hear me?”
“Yes, yes…”
“Yes, we all know who you are ...”
“I take the fifty-two ships,” the fat member of the Architects clan proclaimed, talking about it as though it had already happened. “What’s next on the ship list? Give me everything. And Let us go already - I will take the goods right away, buddy.”
“Hey!” Goldie yelled, smartly resisting lashing out at the Arch. She feared, quite rightly, the “local” guards. Compared by force, one native guard was the same as a dozen guards of Algora – this I was told by Klest.
“Nobody has sold you anything yet! Let us auction! By ship!”
“Twenty and a dozen ships up for auction! It will be faster this way!”
“Fine!”
“Let us do the top ten bids!”
“Deal!”
“Five ships per lot at most! Why are you listening to these idiots?”
“Well, we…” The head of the Queens tried to get back to business. “We have … more cargo … alchemy, weapons, materials … enough for everyone! Full sale!”
“We already understand. They are telling you - five tons of the same type of cargo per lot! And you’re going to take that?”
“Let me take a look at the list,” the fat man said again.
“Hey! One hundred thousand gold for five frigates and a couple of small boats! What do you think?”
“One hundred ten thousand gold for five frigates!”
“What’s up with these insane prices!? Humph! Give us a chance!”
The crowd went wild. The tranquility of the island life seemed to be a distant dream.
Shaking my head, I put my hood up and hurried on, taking my friends along. We scurried between the players like small fish in a predatory flock of pike fish. Far ahead, Orbit rode on Kolyvan. The mammoth saw our approach and followed suit. The seller was torn apart. The others were smarter— they went to the Architects and the Sleepless one on one. They had also suggested arranging a closed auction. Want an auction for only two clans, want for five. They managed to negotiate, each replenishing the clan reserves with ships, weapons, cargo, alchemy and other good things necessary for the continuation of the voyage.
“Why do we need to go back to the mountains?” Doc panted.
“To pump my mana,” I answered, trying not to lose sight of the fat rump of the mammoth. “Roska suggested it. Must be something good…”
“Really?”
“Malice is not responding to my messages.”
“We cannot do it without him?”
“I wanted to share with him. He helped me a lot.”
“How did Roska know?”
“I have no idea. She vaguely explained something about a dark skinned, gray-haired old man, something about spices, about a crackling bonfire and a bottle of sailor’s black rum. The old man was talkative, ruminating about something. Very mysterious.”
“Right…”
“Yep… Well, Malice is not answering. Oh! - it finally came through. “Contact me urgently… possible mana increase.” And, sent. Now I can be completely sure that if Malice reads my messages, he will answer right away as soon as he is free.”
Relieved, I continued on — doing my best to keep up with Orbit. It was already evening — but the days here were very long, and the sunsets so slow that, if you decided to meet the sunset with a glass in your hand, you had every chance of reveling about death before the sun plunged into the turquoise water.
Over the past few hours, we had managed to do a lot. And Bom did too, if you take into account his money deals. Where did he get so much money? Why did he never forget about profit? In our adventures, he did not have much time to collect things which could be sold— but he still managed. And how did he behave when walking in a forest alone? It is unlikely that he walked idly. Everything was business. What amount has he already accumulated? Sometimes, he talked words that meant nonsense to me — incomprehensible investments. Once he borrowed a considerable amount from me, and returned it quickly, beaming like a polished gold coin. A successful investment … I would not be surprised if he owned a lot of land, or had already built up some real estate. It was in his spirit.
We had already gone twice outside the peaceful territory. The first time we had met the Lugr. The second time we - or rather, Bom- were instructed to walk down a road that had once existed, but had disappeared by now. We were instructed to go to a specific place on the map and drop some luminous sea shells in a particular place. The road itself followed, and the land was magically covered with an evenly trampled strip of crumbled shells. In a word - the Great Navigator was setting down the road.
There was one negative — after about three hundred thousand steps, the elf finally hung his head and began to moan softly, complaining about the tedium of the journey. Bom snapped, too, reminding us that these islands did not rise out of the sea for a couple of days, but for the rest of eternity. And, in the future, the islands would serve as a resting point — an island between the two continents. And the aboriginals had already mentioned something about a couple of dozen more large islands in the vicinity. We needed only to go there.
What was that to us? Ha!
The natives would not pay us generously — but beyond generously! But not counting the money — our reputation points were growing before our eyes. While there was opportunity - it was necessary to try. In the future, the fruits of our efforts would ripen!
Logical … But Orbit suffered even more from such dry logic. He was approaching agony.
After a couple more minutes, there were some loud screams. An unknown bird the size of a car flew through the air, carrying a mammoth in its claws.
“What a lovely violation of physical laws!” Yelled a skinny figure clinging to the trunk.
An envious roar came from below - Tyrant wanted to be part of the fun.
Bom had discovered a dozen or so shells with pearls in them, which he then carefully wrapped in an extremely rich-looking red silk handkerchief with gold embroidery and large initials with the initials, LTS. I did not know who owned the monogram, but I doubted that Bom had spent any copper for the purchase. I had no idea why he needed shells. I did not ask. I had my secrets - he had his own. He was a greedy and clever hamster by nature, and I … I was myself …
We hardly had time to rejoice for the previous victory before we ran into the fray again. This time, it was Roska who spurred us onward. As soon as we had gotten back, she began to talk to me about an old man she and Kirea had met on the sandy shore — an old man with a beard trailing into the water. They had helped him catch fish — and Roska, with one stroke, pulled five fat fish out of the water at once. The old man was in complete shock. And soon enough, impressed as he was, he began to talk…
He knew a lot. My daughter remembered everything, down to the last word - to my sorrow, this was not a characteristic of being divine, but the i
nfluence of Orbit — the instinct to seek out small and strange facts, for these facts alone led to a stranger, mythical country unfamiliar with the concept of boredom.
Thanks to my daughter’s stories, I found out about a chest with strange black shells hidden inside it — it had once appeared on the shore. During strong winds, the shells began to moan, summoning evil beasts. The shells were collected and buried. The old man had personally buried them.
There was also some mention of a cave full of treasures.
And more so, there were traces of footprints leading to another cave hidden in the depths of the jungle. But this entrance was hidden. The howl of an unknown creature was sometimes heard there. Only the devil only knows what kind of creature it is… but who can leave such huge footprints?
I forgot half of the story, leaving only the most vivid stories in my memory. But when I heard about the increase in mana, I instantly remembered everything to the smallest detail. Especially the details of the route.
The Left Wing of War. Very close to the sea shore. A high coastal cliff once settled by thousands of swallows and swifts. The whole cliff full of deep holes hiding the nests of birds. The cliff so large that it was impossible not to notice it. And by our standards it was a real skyscraper. That’s where we were going. Orbit insisted on taking the mammoth — though I warned him there would be a lot of mountain climbing involved. Orbit was not impressed — and the mammoth went with us. The snake, too. Tyrant stayed with Roska. The wolf, though legendary, did not know how to climb vertical cliff …
In addition to the wolf, we also left Cray, who had decided to stay near Kaylen — she was surrounded by five smiling, beautiful elves who were eager to treat the dear journalist to a couple of glasses of wine and tell her about some of their secrets and virtues. The gnome heart of Cray could not stand it and collapsed into the abyss of jealousy …
Bom also suffered. His powerful, orcish heart could not stand the realization of a terrible fact - clans were ready to pay lots of money for almost any rubbish lying right under their feet. And the clans were ready to buy this stuff in such quantities that their demand simply could not be satisfied. Bom’s heart was beating so loudly that I heard it for a long time after his two-wheeled cart disappeared into the distance …
We remained a compromised team. Doc, Orbit, mammoth and snake, and me. No one else.
The territory here was unknown, but I did not worry about it - while I was thinking, we managed to get through the teleporter and found ourselves on the left wing. Next we rushed along the familiar shell road, and we were not alone in this – a thin but lively stream of players was moving on both sides, eager for adventure and rewards. And almost all of them were above our levels. They moved in dense groups of ten or more players. Eager for adrenaline, the players destroyed every sign of life near the road.
Doc tore himself away from his book for the first time since we managed to climb onto the mammoth’s back half an hour ago. “Is that it?”
“Yes,” I answered, jumping to the ground and looking at the most monotonous cliff we could have found.
We stood at a distance from the road, forty or so meters from the edge of the shore. The precipice went down about five meters, then a narrow strip of rubble-strewn and algae-covered beach, and Tidal Death began there. The name of the cliff was not invented by me. Nor by the man who had given Roska the directions. The name was such because several dozen ships found themselves drawn here by the riptides. The ships crashed into the cliff and capsized. The lives of many seamen were ended. Hence, Tidal Death.
‘Will you be waiting here?” I asked the elf, adjusting the strap of the backpack. “Or are you coming with us? Leave the mammoth to graze. He cannot climb.”
“We have our ways, …” the elf shook his head. “I will follow you.”
“Fine…”
One by one, we jumped down, landing on the crushed stone under the feet. Strange creatures ran out of the algae. A long segmented tail dragged along the ground, a dangerously looking sharp spike growing out of its end. They did not show us aggression, preferring to return to the sea. I managed to read their names - Suicelli. After a dozen more steps, we rested on a cliff that rose upward. We had almost gotten to the goal …
“H-here,” said Orbit, handing me a thick tangle of rope with a lot of threads sticking out of it.
Each cobweb was translucent and thin, but sturdy. This was not an elf rope and not a gnome chain, but the sensation was exactly this - every spider web was very strong. Still, it could not stand too much weight. The skinny elf would surely survive. Me - maybe. Bom - certainly not. The mammoth - absolutely not.
“Al-l-right …” Said he, and the tangle was placed on my chest like a small backpack I was wearing backwards.
Not wanting to waste time on questions, I nodded, exchanged glances with Doc, grabbed hold of a protruding stone, and began to climb. I overcame the first ten meters easily. Then I looked down and saw Doc, who had made no move to follow me.
“What are you doing?”
“We are right behind you, boss,” the doctor assured me, demonstratively stretching his shoulders.
“Whatever…”
After another twenty meters of climbing, I took a rest by trying to hold on to a rock so polished by digital winds it was almost impossible to hold on to. I had to use the spell “vines” to hold on to it. But I had mana enough to hold on for a while. The spider web given to me by the elf helped, too, but soon I began to be thrown from side to side like a pendulum, hitting against a cliff every now and then. The damn winds … it was just the beginning. Every once in a while I became detached from the cliff, and only the thin vegetative whip held me to the Cliffside. I prayed that it would not tear and break from the rock - each similar spell had its own limit of strength. After another ten meters, I had to use two “vines.” I looked just like the famous superhero in a red and blue leotard, jumping from skyscrapers and bridges via a spider web. Only I was a very awkward copy of the celebrity, and swore so loud at every turn that it would have been impossible for children to listen to such indecent things.
Having fallen into a narrow cleft which protected me from the wind, I caught my breath, letting the fatigue scale go pale, waiting until it left the dangerous zone of complete paralysis.
Looking down, I stared at the abyss for a couple of moments — then I smiled broadly and let out an intricate string of swear words.
The mammoth rose slowly under me. He was being lifted by a bundle of cobwebs attached to his thick cargo, a harness that was almost invisible. Kolyvan looked like a flying elephant cartoon. And there was more — he carried two passengers. The wind failed to sway the heavy husk of the mammoth.
“Cool, huh Ros?” Doc shouted, lying on his back and chewing a blade of grass — he was also holding a jar with a drink in his hand and holding a book with its pages rustling in the wind.
“Sure,” I nodded, wiping my f muddy face and pensively pulling off the cobweb attached to it.
“Ros, what are you doing? Keep climbing!”
“Right,” I snorted, again activating the,“vine” and continuing to climb. “And you can continue to sip the blue curacao, crouching on the warm back of the mammoth, in your tropical paradise…”
“Boss, write that in your memoirs! And there is coconut milk in the jar … invigorating!”
Moving higher and higher, I did not forget to look around — I understood that one good blow from some diving reptile could easily throw me into the abyss. And death from a blow against the earth would follow, if I did not have time to get caught by the “vine.” Who knew which way the wind would throw me, though. I could fly somewhere into the open ocean, where the piranhas would get me … and the mammoth would remain hanging out on the wall like a soccer ball ...”
But the local gaming deities were merciful today … everything was quiet. Not a single monster around.
The local deities were gracious … or had they had not woken up yet? … or were they there at all?
Or would “our” gods from the ”old” world reign here?
And if the local deities did exist, then would the war of the gods also begin here?
There were many local people. And there were many other islands scattered here and there, if you believed the stories. There might even have been an entire archipelago. And my Roska? I did not have time to spend time with her — but during short visits and gatherings, I distinctly noticed that around my daughter became more like the natives. During our last conversation, about thirty dark-skinned natives eagerly shifted around us, and Roska herself sported a bright colorful skirt — she had shell and coral necklaces, and her wrists and ankles had bracelets. Around her waist there was an ornate belt. Gifts from the aborigines, as I understood. Roska liked them more and more every day.
And my daughter was fishing incessantly, but did not sell any of her catch. She distributed it immediately after the pulling it out of the water. In a word — Roska generously fed many natives, without asking a penny for it. And they in return gave her clothes, necklaces, and a lot of other beautiful trinkets. And Roska’s hairdo changed — she had flowers and corals in it, and her hair was braided in an intricate way. And her skin had darkened …
Shit … I am crawling like a bug on a steep wall … what a time for unnecessary thinking.
“Ros!” Doc shouted a warning from below. “Left and up! Look to the left and up!”
I looked to the left, for fear of seeing the already diving monster. And there he was … the huge winged beast approaching us, brightly shining in the sun, like a living statue of metal.
A golden dragon was flying towards us. In the world of Valdira, I knew only one such creature.
“Hello, climbers!” the golden knight, sitting on the back of a dragon, greeted us cheerfully. “What are you doing here, huh? With a mammoth — and at such a height ...”
I remained silent. Several good reasons justified this. First, I was hanging off a ledge — and I had no time to talk to him. Secondly, so many thoughts came to my mind immediately that it took time to choose the right answer. Thirdly — why should give an explanation to our rock-climbing? Lastly — the golden dragon continued to hover above us. Not level with us, not below us, but a little higher. And so, we all had to crane our necks up to even get a look at Florian.
The Way of the Clan 9 Page 4
