The Way of the Clan 9

by Dem Mikhaylov

  “You amaze me, Ros,” said the Baroness, remaining equally serious. “True. The gift was too generous and too abnormal. Too good to be true. Two jumps — you could still sell for a generous reward. But the explanation here is simple and unpleasant for you — if you believe the scraps of strange writing etched into that malachite tile, then the magic of direct divine teleportation would not be given to you for the sake of earning even more money. No. These are your twelve chances of avoiding death. I heard a saying that if a mountain goat is shot in the heart, he jumps a dozen more times, and only after falls dead.”

  “There is no such saying. But thank you very much for the comparison with the mountain goat.”

  “No,” said the head of Sleepless. “But the essence of it is something like this. We are still racking our brains. As soon as you use the ancient powerful magic and remove the seal from Zar’Graad — you will call some terrible trouble on your head. Someone would want to kill you for such fun with ancient seals. Some kind of nightmarish evil would aim for killing you. An evil so terrible that you would have to run away from him, instead of trying to kill him! We look for new information frantically. Well … do you like what I said? This is my product. Let us take a look at your … log sheet, please.”

  “But what is it?”

  “I have no idea. Maybe It is just a fairy tale — a beautiful legend that justifies such an incredibly generous gift. The Amreetas must understand that the heads of the old clans cannot stay in power always. On Zar’Graad there must be a couple of ways to get home early. Do not worry too much. The sheet of parchment, please.” She stretched out her palm, moved her fingers impatiently.

  “Hold on,” I sighed, giving her the sheet of the magazine containing the information about the huge fish and sea urchins.

  “Thank you,” The Baroness scanned the sheet on both sides, gave it to Klest, and nodded with satisfaction. “Very interesting! The second sheet … you will give it at once? What time is there to lose? I will tell you something interesting — give me your palm, I will read the lines of your future life and … death ...”

  “Wait,” I said again. I could not help it.

  “And this is from the one who woke up the ancient sleeping god for us yesterday.”

  “This was for your brother,” I corrected. “I acted as a tool resistant to any damage — something like a stylus poked in red-hot lava. So do not slander me, go and talk with your beloved cousin. He is several decks below, red and bald, and a huge, green, hairy man is yelling at him.

  “It is true,” the Baroness admitted the error. “And why did he wake Anrull? Do you know, by any chance?”

  “Ask him.”

  “And you blindly fulfilled his request ...”

  “Blindly. He is my friend. And rescued me many times. If he asks me to go to hell with him— I will go.”

  “And with me? Will you go with me?”

  “No … Look, Busya ...”

  “Did not make me angry…”

  “The Baroness, oh the great and many-faced head of the Sleepless Clan. Admit it — it was a joke for you to ask Malice to help pump my mana.”

  “No. Ros, think for yourself — you, once and for all, will remove the seal from the lost continent. And at that point, some well thought out game legend would begin. The ancient legend of Valdira about the no less ancient “race of the Greats,” which sealed Zar’Graad with powerful magic centuries ago. You just did one, did not you? Not so fun, is it. Had you seen at least one film where the brave hero breaks the old brickwork in the Egyptian pyramid with a hammer? And how, then, all sorts of “horrors” begin…?”

  “I understand you. It could be that the magic seal will be removed without any problems, and the players would get, in return, a huge untouched continent — to take and use.”

  “Why? This is part of the world of Valdira. And we would have to master Zar’Graad, to populate it, find out all its secrets, learn about the monsters and explore mysterious dungeons. But it will be necessary to deal with something awful. For example, defenders of the continent. Or certain aggressors. A couple of our people suggested that Zar’Graad was a populated part of Valdira centuries ago, but then a great evil arose which could not be defeated. And in order not to let the evil spread further, they sealed the whole continent, using magic demanding huge sacrifices — and this supposedly caused the disappearance of the mysterious race of the Greats. Greats — the heroes who sacrificed themselves for the sake of the life of the world. And if we believe this version, we are like stupid kids going forth to poke a stick into an overhanging wasps nest. And if the nest is broken… you know what happens then. They could fly to the old continent … and if this happens, all the previous wars would seem like nonsense.”

  “And the rest of the players would cut out the Sleepless,” I continued the gloomy hypothesis. “If you were the one who stirs up the hornet’s nest… you would not be forgiven.”

  “Not just us — also others, Ros! Look back — many foreign ships are following us, and they all yearn for the laurels of the first discovery! I feared the words of the influential “locals” from the old continent. Not all of them welcomed our trip. And none of them would forgive us if some new, alien evil invaded their land.”

  “I cannot even think about it …”

  “We have many versions of the further development of events. There are about five dozen of our invented legends which could coincide with the true events in Zar’Graad. Every action has consequences. This is the famous truth that I repeat to myself every day. I do not want the consequences — give up the spell, stay VIP on the flagship with your daughter and friends. I give you my word that I will send you to the old continent at the first opportunity. And that’s all. Do not break your head, did not worry. Ros, this was already hinted at you once or twice. I will tell you straight out — you are in too deep for a single player.”

  “I am not alone.”

  “But you’re not in the clan. None of “your” fighters are around you, you know that? Who would stand up for you when you were actually overtaken by the evil of Zar’Graad? Hm? How many hundreds of fighters could you put against the mythical monster? Even hundreds would not be enough. And you do not even have a dozen? And how many of them are soldiers? Six? Seven? And what are their levels? Have they not grown yet to the two hundredth? And what is their experience? Their tactics? How many analysts would whisper to you? This is your trouble, Ros — you learned to look a couple of moves forward, but the fact is that, in this situation, you need to look at least forty moves ahead! And at the same time, you must have enormous resources and manpower. But you resist, grab to your spell just as firmly as Tom Sawyer holds a rope tied to the tail of a dead rat. And do not want to let it go! This mission is for clan players!”

  “Hmm … I broke through to you ...”

  “Yes! Ros, I should not think about you and your future, but only about his clan. Not even about myself — but only about the Sleepless. So do not be offended when you see that we did not prioritize your personal interests. You were a specialist hired by us. And we were generously paying you. And I will be ready to pay you further, for example, for the dozen teleporters, which could transfer us from one continent to another. But do not expect me to empathize with your difficulties and future challenges. The Sleepless Clan do not live by Rosgard alone! If I had to sacrifice you for the Sleepless — I would do it, Ros. This also applies to your daughter Roska! You saw — I threw two hundred players of the Sleepless overboard. If anything, I will throw you away too. Without wanting to, but I will throw you away. You do understand this, Do not you?”

  “Cool conversation,” I sighed. “But yes. It is clear. All for the sake of the clan.”

  “All for the sake of the clan. And for us, it is not just empty words. This is the only guide to action. So what’s with the second sheet? What did you want to know in exchange for it?”

  “You mentioned something about the defenders of the lost continent.”

  “Well?
”

  “Read here,” I held out the second sheet, pointing to where it described the strange “winged” ships literally flying over the waves.

  Her eyes swept over the text — and then the Baroness glared at the last paragraph. She read it several times, moving her lips. She let out a wheezing command:

  “Organized reasonable opponent. Unknown ships, weapons, tactics of action. Very bad … this is the worst of the versions we were considering about the frontiers of Zar’Graad. Your daughter did not catch anything else? She fishes well…”

  “You owe me information,” I reminded her.

  “Yes,” nodded the girl. “I do. So what about a couple more leaves from the ship’s log?”

  “There was only this one other one. But the leaf is crumpled, the text is washed out, and there is no mention of new monsters or enemy ships.”

  “Will you show it?

  “I wanted to save it for myself — there is only a catalogue, a couple of the captain’s sayings, and several names and addresses.”

  “But this is, perhaps, the most valuable, Ros,” said the Baroness in a strained voice. “Show me!”

  “Why is it the most valuable?” I was amazed. “I already gave you the most valuable! The ship capsized.”

  “And if the ship did not?” The Baroness’s finger was buried in my chest. “Was that what you thought? If the captain managed to leave? And the ship’s log was washed away by a wave. And if the captain and his team returned to their home port? Maybe they wrote memoirs with a list of the dangers encountered. Maybe they communicated with those mysterious ships, learned something important. Why did you think I decided that Thanollah died in the abyss? Just because I saw some wet sheets of paper? And if I rip out a few pages from our ship’s catalogue now, rinse them in salted water, crumple them up, and shove the lump into the mouth of the fish and give it to you — you will decide that the flagship the Black Queen sank?”

  “Uh-uh ...”

  “This is Valdira, Ros. Delight in it, live in it, but do not believe it. She is cunning and multifaceted.”

  “Everything is upside down again.”

  “Give me the piece of paper ...”

  “And I so wanted to figure it out…”

  “Well, give me the piece of paper then...”

  “And what do I get?”

  “More information?” She said.

  “Agreed,” I surrendered, snatching the last sheet of paper out of my pocket. “Here, you blackmailer. But to be honest— I did not even consider the option that Thanollah could survive.”

  “This is the most obvious conclusion when you see the ragged pages of a ship’s catalogue in the water,” the Baroness agreed, carefully reading … So … Akelrome … And here and here, if you use magic, you could restore a lot of text. Like on the previous pages. Excellent! Crossbill! Restore the text, send copies to analysts, immediately send a dozen of our people to the port of Akelrome. Let them sit there and wait for directions.”

  “Yes ma’am.”

  “Well? Ask me, Ros. What did he want to know? By the way — do you have any more information?”

  “You took everything ...”

  “Then I am waiting for questions. Hurry up.”

  “To close the question once and for all, tell me what you know about what I would get after reading the incantation spell. And the good, and the bad. I did not mess with you, I gave you all three pages, I and I expect the same from you.”

  “What is your price for the second sheet?”

  “Yes. I would not ask for gold. Only answers.”

  “Information is more precious to me than gold. And for most other serious clans and players. So you better ask for gold.”

  “Answers.”

  “About the Navigator’s awards and penalties. Fine … you will need to look at the contract. But we have nothing concrete. We think that, after reading the spell, you would create such a wave of recoil that you would be killed. And not just one stroke — but also two quick slaps with a difference between them in half a second. The first blow would remove ninety percent of life, or a little less. The second would finish you. And all this would be accompanied by dramatic special effects. In addition to you, the players nearest to you would suffer — and, in general, everything material, including the flagship. A raging ocean, the birds dropping dead, an earthquake, a maelstrom, the awakening of volcanoes in a zone of five kilometers.”

  “I will survive it.”

  “As we will. You will also receive an achievement. This is the only accurate info — but this could be guessed by any player. Valdira likes to give achievements.”

  “It is not that important.”

  “It is very important. You will probably get some kind of statuette. And it will always be in the singular. A collector’s item related to Zar’Graad. The first. You could consider the statuette the pension of the Great Navigator, and its volume would depend on your trading opportunities. You give it to Bom, and you promise him three percent of the sale amount and you can relax — he will ruin someone without your help, and bring you a mountain of gold coins. Bom ...”

  “What about him?”

  “Did you meet him in the Karst Caves? When your company first came together?”

  “You know yourself. And what?”

  “His trade knowledge was simply monstrous. It is monstrous! He is like a young rebirth of the fallen god of trade, if it were possible. He knows by heart the prices of most goods, he knows which elite items are sold at auctions and for what sum, he casually corrects my storekeepers when they are wrong and he so amazed my buyers that now Bom simply calls the amount and they obediently write it down, and then give out the money. Then they check— and it turns out that the amount, albeit brazenly predatory, Is close to the top bar of value. And he knows the amount from memory, not from the notebook. Bom cannot be a newcomer. He was reborn. I guess that earlier he must have held a really high position in one of the biggest and most powerful trading clans of Valdira.”

  “This is a revelation …”

  “There are no ordinary people around you, Ros. One is addicted to adrenaline and gossip, another suffers, the third thinks only about money, the fourth could not live without eroticism, the fifth was obsessed with protecting everyone around her, although now this seems to have changed. And she, too, was reborn. She was the coolest paladin, and she became a novice… Was it worth it? You yourself are reborn … and as for Orbit I can say nothing. In your group, four of you decided to start a new life in Valdira. Interesting, huh?”

  “I always liked how much you know. So what else would they give me for my efforts to get into Zar’Graad?”

  “Efforts? You did not pull the flagship, Ros — you sit in your chair and sip champagne.”

  “Well, if you do not praise me, I will praise myself. So what else would they give me?”

  “I already said about the spells of teleportation. The statuette — I also mentioned. It could be part of a very large collection set. Then you will be contacted.”

  “Oh… this scares me already. Contacts are of different kinds, you know. I hope It is only verbal we are talking about? And still, there are a lot of variants, and some really terrible ones… I am somehow against it…”

  “Verbal contact.”

  “And from who?”

  “No one knows. A ghost? Someone alive, but insane? I really do not know.”

  “Ah. Hell no. We do not need this. We will manage without such contacts.”

  “Yeah. I understand, I do — you like the contact of Lizanna the Luxurious more. With her crowned bust.”

  “Crowned bust? You are better at joking than me … and do not need to speak about Lizanna in vain.”

  “Why? She is only four ships behind us in the fleet. But she quickly gains traction. Reduces the distance. Soon she will overtake us.”

  “Huh?!”

  “Shoot the next blockbuster,” shrugged the BB, giggling. “Erotic thriller with pirates and a certain noble captain.
They planned to shoot first the film in the dungeons with the evil sorcerer, they even conducted a full-scale shooting, and filmed a couple of erotic scenes. But beyond this, for some reason, it did not work. Now they catch up. They are flying along the waves towards the lost continent — a film about the arrival of the luxurious queen in the abandoned land? … So if you see behind us the schooner of the Fatal Passion — this is she. I could take her aboard the flagship as an honored guest. Walking along the bridge, drinking tea with us … the extra advertising does not hurt, and Lizanna is an extremely popular media person.”

  “She is not real!”

  “We are all fictional here.”

  “When she arrives, I will leave the watch. Temporarily. And I will start cleaning the deepest and darkest hold.”

  “Oh ... are you still deciding to continue shooting about the evil sorcerer in the dungeon? I understand … should I put a bed there? Or are you just that villainous? Without amenities and comfort ...”

  “Ugh! What else will the Great Navigator get? Please, BB, be generous, look how generous I was.”