Crimson Dawn=-
Through the midnight fog, chopping the sea surface,
Our Drakkar rushes briskly, we must repay fear.
The city will drown in fire, and the blood of the king
To wash the swords carries us on the sails of the boat.
There is work to be done for the axes today.
Swords from scabbards are torn, the last ale is finished.
The jarl will bleed the slave, the wrath of the Gods will subside
And we will be blessed by this blood!
So sing the song of the skalds
Pour beer into mugs
And if you die
It's beautiful to die!
Chorus:
Your city is doomed.
We don't believe in tears, don't expect mercy
Forgiveness has nothing to do with it!
"A city on the horizon" - there was a cry from the mast,
So very soon the holy moment will come.
Of those who rule the world, only One is our judge.
And in our song of death the boat shuddered!
We made our way through the city guards.
We are Vikings, which means there is no turning back!
And then the gate fell. Under the trill of a bowstring,
and the clang of hot steel, we took the victory!
So celebrate with us the skald,
Pour beer into mugs
And if you die
It's beautiful to die!
Chorus:
The time has come, run in fear
Your city is doomed.
Forgiveness has nothing to do with it!
Fortune smiled on the wolves, the sky will be painted with a crimson dawn.
Today we have become richer, and our enemies are no more!
But not many are destined to celebrate the victory.
Now friends who died in heaven drink wine.
Sons will learn about valor and strength,
What worthy husbands mother Earth gives birth to!
We lead the last of our relatives on the road,
Having laid down a sacred fire to purify them.
Let Odin receive sons in heaven.
Take them Valhalla, open the gates soon!
Grieve with us skald,
Let the strings of the harp cry
And if you die
Beautiful, nothing else!
Chorus:
The time has come, run in fear
Your city is doomed.
We do not believe in tears, do not expect mercy.
Forgiveness has nothing to do with it!
Fortune smiled on the wolves, the sky will be painted with a crimson dawn.
Today we have become richer, and our enemies are no more! -=Crimson Dawn=-
Through the mist of midnight, chopping sea surface,
Drakkar our frisky rushes fear we must give .
In the fire drowned the city, and blood king
Wash swords carries us to sail boat.
For axes will work today .
Swords from the scabbard torn, last el dopit .
Jarl bleed slave, anger subsides Gods
And we will produce this blessing blood!
So sing the same song scald,
Pour beer mugs,
And if you die
Then die beautifully!
chorus:
Your city is doomed long.
We do not believe in tears, no mercy wait
Forgiveness is not being!
"On the horizon, the city" - came from the mast cry
So very soon there will be a holy moment.
Of those who rule the world, only one judge us.
And in our song of death the rook!
Custody through the city we punched way.
We are Vikings, and thus do not turn back!
And the gate fell. Under trills bowstring
and the clang of hot steel, we took the victory!
So celebrate with us scald,
Pour beer mugs,
And if you die
Then die beautifully!
chorus:
The time has come, run in fear
Your city is doomed long.
Forgiveness is not being!
Wolves lucky, the sky turned purple dawn.
Today we have become richer, and our enemies no more!
But do not celebrate many destined.
Now friends perished in the sky to drink wine.
About valor and strength learn sons
Which creates decent husbands mother Earth!
Spend in the way of his last relatives,
Adding the sacred fire to clear them.
Let One takes in heaven sons.
Take them as Valhalla , open the gates quickly!
Sadness as the world scald,
Let harp cry
And if you die
beautiful, nothing else!
chorus:
The time has come, run in fear
Your city is doomed long.
We do not believe in tears, do not expect mercy.
Forgiveness is not being!
Wolves lucky, the sky turned purple dawn.
Today we have become richer, and our enemies no more!
The heat was driving me crazy, and the hot yellow ball of the sun, as if in agreement with the clouds, shone unbearably in the cloudless midday sky. The lieutenant Vovka Shcherbakov wiped his wet face with the sleeve of a worn camouflage jacket, tried to carefully roll over to the other side and immediately hissed like an egg in a frying pan. The dusty, scorched earth around it seemed to have become hot, like that same frying pan, only instead of eggs, it was fried with grass whitened from the heat and thorns dried to yellowness mixed with thick ragweed stalks, and a couple of border guards of the Tmutarakan army burned as yolks.
Vovka hopefully looked around the calm and glassy surface of the sea, on which golden reflections played. sun rays enjoying the absence of waves. A breeze that would have dispelled the viscous heat, unfortunately, was not foreseen. And from the cloudless light blue skies, the motionless sparks of imperial satellites and the orbital platform looked down at his suffering, without blinking. The Gulf Empire was the only ally of the island Republic, and even then only because it was more profitable for her to support them than to try to negotiate with the Black Caliphate. Among the imperials, the western borders of the northern Mediterranean were considered calm - almost a resort. Not like the nuclear frontier with the Middle Kingdom, which arose at the very beginning of this madness after the occupation Far East Han Chinese. Now, along the cordon line east of Novosibirsk, there are vast nuclear wastelands that cut off the occupied territories from the imperial metropolis. Neither one nor the other go there unnecessarily. They say that the Celestial Empire did not have time to capture Kamchatka, which also became another island - they were able to agree and come under the arm of the British-American Federation. And to overestimate their capabilities, surrounding themselves on all sides with enemies, in the next reincarnation of the Celestial Empire, apparently, they did not strive and lowered the loss of a tidbit, pulled straight out of their mouths, on the brakes - for the time being, they concluded peace treaties with the arrogant northern Yankees. And so they grabbed a decent piece - including flooded territories.
Vovka looked again at the desert waters in front of him. Near the shore, the water seemed especially dark from the abundance of overgrown in Lately algae, which occupied vast areas. It was said that in many places near the coast they created a carpet that absorbs sunlight. Because of this, the fish almost disappeared, and it became quite problematic to go to the sea on propellers. Recently, everything has become problematic, what can you do - three decades ago, during the Flood, civilization collapsed to its knees, and now, it seems, it finally falls into a half-flooded grave. There was not enough of everything: starting with medicines and ending with water, food. Yes, but the other life of the cadet, to be honest, he didn’t even remember. He, like many, from childhood had to fight to survive.
Still, plucking up courage, Vovka carefully rolled onto his side and looked around, not hiding his irritation, at the scorched yellow steppe that began behind their positions. It stretched out to the horizon - melting in a viscous stuffy fog, like a mirage, littered with openwork, rusty power poles and a pair of windmills with motionless blades, densely cut by fragments. Everything stood in its place. Only one thing was missing - the most important thing. For the fifth day now, Shcherbakov and his partner Sashka were sunbathing on this shore, and according to the plan, they were supposed to be replaced yesterday before noon. However, the BMP with changers did not appear. Licking his chapped lips, he carefully tugged at the flask strapped to his belt. She gurgled weakly - dispelling his naive dreams of an extra sip of water. The water was left at the very bottom, just a couple of sips, and they would have to be saved - it was still possible to get more only at the base. Although, it would seem, the sea is nearby - the waters are heaped, but desalination tablets are expensive, and digging a well is useless - there are only salt marshes around. Therefore, no one settles up to the very mountains - the desert.
Vovka sighed heavily and again stared towards the sea. It was just unbearably hot, boring, and brutally wanted to smoke. Only tobacco was banned more than a year ago... The head office of the next hetman went crazy - issuing idiotic orders one after another. So this time too - smoking was declared unfashionable, worsening an already flimsy ecosystem, a vice that exacerbates emissions carbon dioxide Greenhouse effect and melting the remnants of glaciers. Like they were still somewhere in this heat. Moreover, he got a partner ... Vovka looked wryly at his neighbor in misfortune and felt even more acutely the injustice of life, which simply screeched somewhere inside him from the heat scorching from all sides. The partner was sniffing sweetly five meters away under dystrophically wrinkled yellow bushes, arranging his head on the tube of the Shmel infantry flamethrower.
They were completely different in appearance, thin and fast, tanned black, sociable Sashka and tall, muscular and brown-eyed Vovka, got along well and understood each other perfectly.
“After all, these people are from the mainland, indifferent,” thought the cadet. “He sleeps without hind legs, and he doesn’t care about the missing shift and the remaining couple of sips of water.” He himself was born on the Island and was a local, which, in principle, did not play any role in the Army, but he still had some special sense of pride in his unconquered land.
He took another deep breath, swallowing the injustice. He thought and smiled tiredly. I also have a problem and a problem. True, if you think about it, it was difficult to call it a problem - just minor troubles. Many years have passed since everything collapsed, and over the ruins of what was called civilization, salty waves closed - indifferently beating against new shores that have become even tighter for many. After the glaciers melted, the sea level rose, and it flooded half of the cities, and the mouth of the Dnieper to the Dneproges became almost a sea bay. Disappeared, or rather, sank to the bottom of the Black and Azov Seas, the former Kherson, Zaporozhye and Nikolaev regions, part of the Donetsk and Odessa regions. New Odessa was reborn on a renewed coast, but the transfer could not help her revive a free and rich port city. And now it lies in ruins after a series of landings and alternate capture by warring states. The island also lost some of its lowland territories: the lowlands to the north sank to the bottom, the Kuban that lay beyond the Kerch Strait disappeared, Rostov sank to the bottom as if it had never existed, and the mouth of the Don, spilling over, merged with the Caspian Sea, which doubled in size and spread like greedy hands, newly formed bays, which were not so long ago the channels of large rivers. Yes, who else remembers such cities as London and Venice, as well as the completely disappeared Denmark and Holland? All these titles and to him, for the incomplete three decades of the past, said almost nothing - only indifferent lines in tattered textbooks, twice or even three times older than himself, and indistinct and disturbing childhood memories. The old world is no more, but you need to live now ... Or at least try to live on, as they have been trying here on the Island for decades. True, who will give them peace and tranquility to live on?! In a crazy and bloodthirsty world?!
He remembered childhood and the stories of those who lived through the nightmare of the Flood and decades of ongoing wars to this day. Life on the Island is often short and reckless. People, having managed to survive another skirmish, of which there have always been quite a few, became from childhood like beings of a special breed - getting used to not being afraid of either God or the Devil and living only for today. If the arms and legs are intact, and the head is still on the shoulders - what can you dream about ?! Something to change in tomorrow still not meant to be. Many tried to change something, but at the same time they simply forgot to live and went into oblivion. The island has turned into one monolithic clan - a military brotherhood, subject to only one rule in relation to those who come from outside: if there is doubt, it should be destroyed. You yourself will set goals, and only then were you right or not - they will sort it out in heaven.
Crimson Dawn
Niiva stood on the crest of the hill between her husband and son, a strong cold wind blew, goosebumps running down their naked bodies. They looked into the distance, past the dry lake, where the first rays of the morning sun had just appeared over the rugged ledges of distant mountains.
We celebrate the return of the crimson sun,” said Kelum.
The three people of Athas raised their hands above their heads. They opened their palms and turned them towards the rising sun, and only Kelum kept his hand with a strange mouth clenched into a fist. Although both her husband and her son looked directly into the radiant disk, Niiva gazed fixedly at the pink rays reflecting off the salty surface of the dry lake. Unlike the two sun priests, she didn't have their fiery red eyes. If she dared to look directly at the magnificent radiance of the rising star, she would simply go blind.
We salute the fire that illuminates the world, the mighty one that burns the cold of the night, the punishing one that drives the evil creatures into the lair,” said Rkard.
We have a special request for this sunrise,” Niiva added. “We ask that you shine as brightly as possible and keep the dark fog from obscuring your light, so that we can see clearly and choose the best path from those that lie before us.
Rkard looked at her in surprise. - What are the roads, mom? Jo'orsh and Sa'ram said what to do.
Not now, Rkard," Caelum said softly. - Wait for the ceremony to end.
The young mule came to his senses and looked again at the distant eastern horizon. All together they stood in solemn silence until the rays of the sun warmed their skin, strengthening their spirits before a difficult day. The sun marks on Kelum and Rkard's foreheads glowed red, getting brighter and brighter as the light of the sun poured into them. Niiva suddenly noticed that her fingers hurt as she gripped her son's hand so tightly, both in fear for the future that awaited him and in relief that he had survived the fight against the giants that night.
Finally, the lower edge of the crimson sun rose completely above the ledges of the mountains. Flickering red flames suddenly burst from the sun marks on Rkard and Kelum's foreheads, then disappeared. The tags returned to their usual red light.
We are alive by the power of the crimson sun,” said Kelum slowly and solemnly.
The hottest of fires, the brightest of rays, the most powerful of the four elements,” Rkard finished.
When the three returned to their clothes, Niiva's son asked, "Which roads should we take today, Mom?"
This is exactly what we need to decide,” Niiwa replied as she put on her loincloth. - Kara is broken, Sadira hasn't woken up yet. Perhaps it is not yet the time to fulfill your destiny.
But we have to! Rkard insisted. - Sa "ram and Joe" orsh said ...
You already told me what they said,” Niiva cut him off. - I don't want to hear it again.
The boy flinched, frightened by his mother's harsh tone. He bit his lip and rubbed the back of his wrist under his eye, then silently began to fasten his loincloth.
Kelum raised an eyebrow. "Rkard is not the cause of our problems," he said, placing a hand on his son's shoulder. - In fact, I would say he acted just amazing. Not every six-year-old boy will be able to chase away a giant.
Of course not,” Niiva replied. She knelt down and hugged her son tightly. “I know better than anyone how special he is. That's why I don't want to risk his life if we have no chance of success. We need both Kara and Sadira.
Joe "orsh and Sa" ram will protect me, - Rkard answered, also hugging his mother tightly. - Just like they helped me with the giant.
I wish I could hear it from them,” Niiva grumbled.
Why? her son asked. - Don't you believe me?
Of course I believe you,” Niiva replied. She looked at Caelum, then looked back into her son's red eyes. “But once we attack, we must fight to the end. We can't stop and try again later.
I know,” Rkard replied calmly. - The dragon will try to kill me, just as I will try to kill him. So what?
Niiva smiled at her son's courage. - And the fact that we can not make a mistake and attack too soon. If we don't have everything we need, he wins and you don't, she said. - Let's see what's up with our friends, and let's hope that the sun will be kind to us today.
She put a bandage on her lush breasts, then went along the path leading from the crest of the hill down into the shady valley. The surviving companies of Kled's militia were already there, ready to march, and Tyr's legion, which had arrived late at night, had just begun to stir.
Niiva approached the small camp at the foot of the hill. Shadows early morning still enveloped him, but the sun's rays, though slowly, approached him along the bottom of the plain. Soon the camp will sparkle in the crimson sun.
Sadira lay next to a small fire in which the foul-smelling branches of the cat's claw were burning, still unconscious and pale as moonlight. Magnus sat beside her, singing a gentle healing song. Windsinger himself didn't look much healthier than the sorceress, his bumpy skin streaked with dried blood and large black scars.
Rikus stood between two boulders at the end of the camp. In one hand he held Vian, and in the other his sword. The klinik was still broken, ending in a jagged fragment two feet from the handle. But the gray stains that had tarnished him so much yesterday were gone from the silvery steel, and he sparkled as brightly as before the ghosts tried to revive him.
You arrived on time. The mule gestured for Niiva and her family to join him. - I'm just going to check on Kara. Vian says the blade may not have been completely destroyed.
That would be great news,” Niiva said.
I only said that in healing the blade, Kelum, May be, saved him, - the mule's head corrected, slowly circling around Niiva's head. - But I did not offer this hefty bummer to cut stones, for a test.
I don't see what we're missing," Rikus said. He placed Vian on top of the boulder. "It doesn't sharpen my hearing anymore, so the magic seems to be gone." But the only way to be sure is to see if his magic can cut through the stone.
Are you sure it's wise? asked Kelum. - As far as I remember, it was the stone that broke the sword, wasn't it?
Only because the ghosts tarnished it,” Rikus replied. - Before that, I used it to cut things harder than stone.
Niiva moved her hand, agreeing to the test. - Let's!
The mule glanced at the second boulder. A ray of sunlight had just touched the stone, illuminating its brown surface with pink light. He swung his hand, and his shortened blade struck the stone with a displeased ring, so that Magnus missed two notes of his song. Fearing that the weapon would break into pieces, Niiva shielded her son with herself, but the blade sank deep into the stone, exhaling a puff of black mist. The blade did not stop cutting until it cut through half of the stone.
Rikus frowned in displeasure. "He doesn't cut like he used to," he said, planting his foot on the rock and freeing his sword. - But he will.
He sheathed his sword, where he also kept the broken tip of the blade.
Okay, said Rkard. He turned to his mother and asked, - Well, are we going to Samara?
We'll see. Niiva looked at Sadira. The rays of the crimson sun crawled up to the sorceress's feet, returning them to the black color that they usually had in the light of day. “First we must wait to see if Sadira wakes up.
But we must go! Rcard objected. - If we do not do this, I will turn into a banshee, like Sa "ram and Joe" orsh.
Niiva frowned. - Why do you think so? she asked. crouching down to look his son in the eye. - Mules are not dwarves, they don't choose the purpose of life.
But your son is no ordinary mule,” Vian interrupted her. The head fixed its yellow eyes on the boy's face. - Rkard has a special fate, and who can say what will happen to him if he does not fulfill his destiny now?
Caelum grabbed his head by the tuft of hair. "Don't say such things about my son," he threatened. - You don't know anything about its purpose.
I knew there was still magic left in Kara,” Vian protested. “Perhaps I know something else.
Then tell us,” Niiva commanded as she drew her dagger.
Vian's cracked lips twisted into a sarcastic grin. "You know the answer," he said. - That's why you're afraid.
Rkard slid forward and stood in front of her head, looking straight into her eyes. - Don't scare my mother!
You're wrong, bro, - the head laughed. Your mother is paralyzed with fear. If she allows you to attack Bors, you will be killed. If he doesn’t let you fight, you will become a banshee, even more terrible than Saram and Joe Orsh. Vian showed his gray teeth, baring his teeth in a grin. - What's a mother to do?
Rkard took Niiva's hand. "I'm not afraid of the Dragon," he said. - I'll kill him.
Of course you will, but only when the time comes. Niiva gently pushed her son away from Vian. "Let's go to Sadira and see if the sun has awakened her." And we can use the good news well.
They found the sorceress in Magnus's arms. Sunlight bathed her entire body, and her skin turned black as usual. The bruises and bruises that had adorned her body the previous evening were gone, and there were no other marks or injuries from her battle with the ghosts. However, her amber eyes did not yet burn with their usual strength, her body lay motionless, and between her thumb and forefinger she firmly held the ring of Asticles.
With a gesture for Rkard to wait with his father, Niiva approached the sorceress. - Are you okay?
There was a flash in Sadira's eyes as she came back to life. Agis's ring slid back onto her finger, she tried to stand up and grabbed Neewa's hand. - I'll be fine. She got to her feet, holding on to Niiwa. “I wish I could say that about Agis—and the rest of Tyre.
What do you mean?
Sadira took a deep breath, then said with difficulty, "Agis is dead."
It can't be! It suddenly became difficult for Niiva to breathe. - How do you know?
I know,” Sadira replied. “I had to fight to get out of the Grey, and the ghosts tried to force me to stay, using his spirit as a hostage. Tiny wisps of black mist rose from the corners of the sorceress's eyes. - I destroyed them all.
You can't be sure you've been in the Grey,” said Kelum, standing next to Niiva. Maybe it was an illusion...
Sadira was in the Grey, otherwise it wouldn't have taken me so long to get her out of there.” Magnus struggled to get his huge body to his feet. “And the ghosts are gone, otherwise they would still be attacking us. The only way she could destroy them was to fight them in the Grey.
Agis is dead,” Sadira said. This time she couldn't help but scream.
I'm afraid so," Magnus agreed. "Otherwise you wouldn't be able to see him there."
Sadira sobbed, a wave of black mist pouring from her blue lips.
Niiva wiped her cheeks, which were running streams of tears, surprised that she had not forgotten how to cry at all. During her days in the arena, she saw many friends dead - and some of them she killed herself when the game stewards were particularly cruel - and she thought she had shed her tears. The warrior was even glad that there was little left for Agis, the only aristocrat whom she called a friend. She touched her hand to his heart, the traditional gladiatorial farewell gesture, then held it up to the east where he died.
When Niiva glanced at Rikus, she found him standing, staring at the ground, his eyes glazed over. His lips twitched and he shook his head as if he couldn't believe Sadira's words.
Rikus," Sadira said softly.
The Mule looked at her. "I thought Agis was too smart to die," he said. - I didn't believe what Pach said.
Me too,” Niiva said. - But we didn't even have a chance to think about it.
Agis held everything: the council, the creation of new farms, our home. The Mule walked over to Sadira and gently took her hand. - What are we going to do now?
The sorceress pushed him away. - How do I know? she shouted. - After the death of Agis, what do I care about everything else.
Kelum quickly slipped between Sadira and Rikus. “Agis was a friend to us all and we will all miss him,” he said. But he wouldn't want us to give up. We must think about what to do next.
Sadira shook her head angrily. - You didn't hear? she asked. - Agis is dead and the only thing that awaits us now is the destruction of Tyr.
You're exaggerating, Sadira," Magnus said. “I don't understand how the death of one man can bring about the fall of a city that has stood for thousands of years.
You do not understand? - sarcastically asked the sorceress. - The dragon knows we're coming. That's why he sent ghosts to kill me.
And if Bors killed Agis, then you're afraid he also stole the Black Lens," Caelum concluded.
Niiva's stomach clenched, twisted, and then pain shot through him. She couldn't believe that Agis was dead, that they'd lost the Black Lens before they even saw her, and something inside her told her that it wasn't true, that it wasn't true. Then she remembered what Pach had said: Agis had died in the Bay of Woe - whatever it was - and Tychian had stolen the Black Lens.
I don't think Bors killed Agis." Niiva said. She walked over to Vian and removed her head from the boulder. - Where did Agis die? What happened to Black Lens?
Agis was killed on the islands of the giants, the head replied, trembling in Niiva's hand. - He and Tychian stole the lens together, but only the king escaped alive from the revenge of the terrible freaks. He sent me here.
Where did you get Agis' ring from? Sadira demanded. She snatched Vian from Niiva's hand and brought the signet of Agis to the nose of her head.
Tikhian gave it to me,” Vian explained. “He didn't think you would answer his call, so he thought it best for you to think that Agis sent me. The King is waiting for you in Samarakh - with the Black Lens.
Sadira's blue eyes blazed with fire. She stared at the head without saying a word. After an agonizing pause, she asked, - How did Agis die?
Vian's long tongue licked cracked lips. "The giants are chasing the lens," he said. - Agis fell in the last battle.
With Tythian's dagger in my back, no doubt," Sadira hissed.
The sorceress snatched Kara from Rickus's scabbard and cut Vian in half in one swift motion. The head fell to the stony ground, a stinking brown liquid flowing from the two halves of the skull.
Rikus stomped on the yellow bones with pleasure, turning them into dust. "He shouldn't have used Agis's ring to deceive us," the mule grumbled. “And when we capture Tithian, we will do to him the same thing he did to Agis.
Sadira didn't answer, she stared in horror at the broken sword blade, her jaw dropped. At first, Niiva didn't understand the sorceress's surprise, but then she realized that her friend was unconscious when the mule tested Kara's magic.
Sadira finally gave Rikus an accusing look. "It's broken," she said through clenched teeth. - How did you do it?
It's my fault." Niiva hastily intervened. “When the ghosts attacked us, I tried to fight them and they stained it with their magic. The blade broke later, when Rikus had to parry the huge boulder, otherwise we would all die.
Black liquid? Sadira asked.
Yes, it oozed from the broken blade,” said Kelum, extending his hand towards the sorceress. - And that's what happened when I touched her. We hope you know something about this.
The dwarf opened his hand so that Sadira could see strange scars along the edges of his arm, and a bared mouth in the center of the palm. Red lips immediately began to work, each time taking on a new and new form, and a forked tongue appeared from a black throat.
Release me,” the mouth hissed, puffs of black smoke rising from under the white fangs. - Come and free me.
Still holding Rikus' broken sword, the sorceress leaned over and carefully examined every scar on Caelum's hand. “It reminds me of what happens to those who get hurt near the Landing Tower.
What does it mean? Niiva asked in bewilderment, seriously worried about her husband's hand.
The sorceress carefully looked at the warrior with her amber eyes. - This is the magic of Rajaat.
Niiva's stomach sucked. So you can't cure it?
It's not about the treatment," Sadira said. - But return your hand to normal condition simple enough.
Niiva breathed a sigh of relief, although her husband seemed to be interested in anything but how to get rid of the face on his arm. - Why does he keep asking us to release him? asked Kelum.
If I was trapped inside a blade for a thousand years, I would want to be free too,” Rikus said.
Sadira shook her head. "Magic is not a spirit," she said. And she can't talk.
Then who is asking us to release him? Magnus asked.
I don't know, said Sadira. - Possibly Rajaat.
Niiva felt her stomach knot with fear. “But the Valiant Warriors killed him a thousand years ago!”
The sorceress shrugged. "We don't know that," she said. - Book of Kings of Kemalok says they rebelled. We thought they killed him since the Valiant Warriors survived and became Wizard Kings. It may very well be that we were wrong.
Then it's a pity that we finished with Vian, - said Kelum. - I suspect that he must have known the fate of Rajaat.
We haven't heard anything from him other than lies and half-truths," Niiva said.
And in general, I do not understand why we should worry about the fate of Rajaat. Even if he is alive, the sorcerer-kings have locked him up somewhere,” Rikus said. At the same time, he knelt down and scooped up a hand full of dirt, scraping the brown goo that was Vian's brains from his blade. Bors is our problem. It's pretty clear that the ghosts attacked us because they knew we were after his soul.
And where are we going, - said Sadira. “The ghosts knew enough about our plans, since they said they had summoned the spirit of Agis from Samarakh. I fear that Bors may already have killed Tythian and possessed the Black Lens.
The dragon may know where we're going, but he doesn't have the Black Lens,” Rikus said. “Otherwise he would not have sent assassins to us. He would attack us himself and it would all be over.
But if he knows where we're going, how can it be that he doesn't have the lens yet? asked Kelum.
The message said that the meeting was scheduled in Samarakh, but it did not say that the lens was already there,” Niiva said. “Perhaps Tikhian is waiting somewhere else.
What I am sure of is that there are few who can compare with him in cunning, - said Rikus. - We have no choice - we must go and see. If we sit here and wait, the Dragon will try to stop us again.
Niiva nodded. - The battle has begun. If we want to win, we need the Black Lens - even if it was Tychian who sent for us. The warrior turned to her militia and waved her hand towards the devastated farm behind the Mazda Wall. "Fill your waterskins," she ordered. - We have a long road to Samarakh.
| |
Vitaly Winter
Crimson Dawn
The heat was driving me crazy, and the hot yellow ball of the sun, as if in agreement with the clouds, shone unbearably in the cloudless midday sky. The lieutenant Vovka Shcherbakov wiped his wet face with the sleeve of a worn camouflage jacket, tried to carefully roll over to the other side and immediately hissed like an egg in a frying pan. The dusty, scorched earth around it seemed to have become hot, like that same frying pan, only instead of eggs, it was fried with grass whitened from the heat and thorns dried to yellowness mixed with thick ragweed stalks, and a couple of border guards of the Tmutarakan army burned as yolks.
Vovka hopefully looked around the calm and glassy surface of the sea, on which the golden glare of the sun's rays played, enjoying the absence of waves. A breeze that would have dispelled the viscous heat, unfortunately, was not foreseen. And from the cloudless light blue skies, the motionless sparks of imperial satellites and the orbital platform looked down at his suffering, without blinking. The Gulf Empire was the only ally of the island Republic, and even then only because it was more profitable for her to support them than to try to negotiate with the Black Caliphate. Among the imperials, the western borders of the northern Mediterranean were considered calm - almost a resort. Not like the nuclear frontier with the Middle Kingdom, which arose at the very beginning of this madness after the occupation of the Far East by the Han. Now, along the cordon line east of Novosibirsk, there are vast nuclear wastelands that cut off the occupied territories from the imperial metropolis. Neither one nor the other go there unnecessarily. They say that the Celestial Empire did not have time to capture Kamchatka, which also became another island - they were able to agree and come under the arm of the British-American Federation. And to overestimate their capabilities, surrounding themselves on all sides with enemies, in the next reincarnation of the Celestial Empire, apparently, they did not strive and lowered the loss of a tidbit, pulled straight out of their mouths, on the brakes - for the time being, they concluded peace treaties with the arrogant northern Yankees. And so they grabbed a decent piece - including flooded territories.
Vovka looked again at the desert waters in front of him. Near the shore, the water seemed especially dark because of the abundance of algae that have grown in recent years, which occupied vast areas. It was said that in many places near the coast they created a carpet that absorbs sunlight. Because of this, the fish almost disappeared, and it became quite problematic to go to the sea on propellers. Recently, everything has become problematic, what can you do - three decades ago, during the Flood, civilization collapsed to its knees, and now, it seems, it finally falls into a half-flooded grave. There was not enough of everything: starting with medicines and ending with water, food. Yes, but the other life of the cadet, to be honest, he didn’t even remember. He, like many, from childhood had to fight to survive.
Still, plucking up courage, Vovka carefully rolled onto his side and looked around, not hiding his irritation, at the scorched yellow steppe that began behind their positions. It stretched out to the horizon - melting in a viscous stuffy fog, like a mirage, littered with openwork, rusty power poles and a pair of windmills with motionless blades, densely cut by fragments. Everything stood in its place. Only one thing was missing - the most important thing. For the fifth day now, Shcherbakov and his partner Sashka were sunbathing on this shore, and according to the plan, they were supposed to be replaced yesterday before noon. However, the BMP with changers did not appear. Licking his chapped lips, he carefully tugged at the flask strapped to his belt. She gurgled weakly - dispelling his naive dreams of an extra sip of water. The water was left at the very bottom, just a couple of sips, and they would have to be saved - it was still possible to get more only at the base. Although, it would seem, the sea is nearby - the waters are heaped, but desalination tablets are expensive, and digging a well is useless - there are only salt marshes around. Therefore, no one settles up to the very mountains - the desert.
Vovka sighed heavily and again stared towards the sea. It was just unbearably hot, boring, and brutally wanted to smoke. Only tobacco was banned more than a year ago... The head office of the next hetman went crazy - issuing idiotic orders one after another. So this time too - smoking was declared out of fashion, worsening an already fragile ecosystem, a vice that exacerbates the greenhouse effect with carbon dioxide emissions and melts the remnants of glaciers. Like they were still somewhere in this heat. Moreover, he got a partner ... Vovka looked wryly at his neighbor in misfortune and felt even more acutely the injustice of life, which simply screeched somewhere inside him from the heat scorching from all sides. The partner was sniffing sweetly five meters away under dystrophically wrinkled yellow bushes, arranging his head on the tube of the Shmel infantry flamethrower.
They were completely different in appearance, thin and fast, tanned black, sociable Sashka and tall, muscular and brown-eyed Vovka, got along well and understood each other perfectly.
“After all, these people are from the mainland, indifferent,” thought the cadet. “He sleeps without hind legs, and he doesn’t care about the missing shift and the remaining couple of sips of water.” He himself was born on the Island and was a local, which, in principle, did not play any role in the Army, but he still had some special sense of pride in his unconquered land.
He took another deep breath, swallowing the injustice. He thought and smiled tiredly. I also have a problem and a problem. True, if you think about it, it was difficult to call it a problem - just minor troubles. Many years have passed since everything collapsed, and over the ruins of what was called civilization, salty waves closed - indifferently beating against new shores that have become even tighter for many. After the glaciers melted, the sea level rose, and it flooded half of the cities, and the mouth of the Dnieper to the Dneproges became almost a sea bay. Disappeared, or rather, sank to the bottom of the Black and Azov Seas, the former Kherson, Zaporozhye and Nikolaev regions, part of the Donetsk and Odessa regions. New Odessa was reborn on a renewed coast, but the transfer could not help her revive a free and rich port city. And now it lies in ruins after a series of landings and alternate capture by warring states. The island also lost some of its lowland territories: the lowlands to the north sank to the bottom, the Kuban that lay beyond the Kerch Strait disappeared, Rostov sank to the bottom as if it had never existed, and the mouth of the Don, spilling over, merged with the Caspian Sea, which doubled in size and spread like greedy hands, newly formed bays, which were not so long ago the channels of large rivers. Yes, who else remembers such cities as London and Venice, as well as the completely disappeared Denmark and Holland? All these titles and to him, for the incomplete three decades of the past, said almost nothing - only indifferent lines in tattered textbooks, twice or even three times older than himself, and indistinct and disturbing childhood memories. The old world is no more, but you need to live now ... Or at least try to live on, as they have been trying here on the Island for decades. True, who will give them peace and tranquility to live on?! In a crazy and bloodthirsty world?!
He remembered childhood and the stories of those who lived through the nightmare of the Flood and decades of ongoing wars to this day. Life on the Island is often short and reckless. People, having managed to survive another skirmish, of which there have always been quite a few, became from childhood like beings of a special breed - getting used to not being afraid of either God or the Devil and living only for today. If the arms and legs are intact, and the head is still on the shoulders - what can you dream about ?! Something to change in tomorrow is still not destined. Many tried to change something, but at the same time they simply forgot to live and went into oblivion. The island has turned into one monolithic clan - a military brotherhood, subject to only one rule in relation to those who come from outside: if there is doubt, it should be destroyed. You yourself will set goals, and only then were you right or not - they will sort it out in heaven.
Somehow quickly everything went to the bottom - inevitably and monotonously, like the passage of time itself. After the rapid collapse of the economy and agriculture, unrest began. A series of wars and conflicts between the Novorossiysk Federation and both Ukraine, independent from each other and common sense, carried away much more people than the climate catastrophe itself. Vovkin's partner was from somewhere across the bay. It was not customary in the Island Republic to ask which of the warring parties came from the replenishment. The main thing is that the refugees went willingly to the Army and helped to fight off the endless landings of the Black Caliphate. But even without that it was clear with whom he fought there. Now it seems to have become calmer across the bay, but only after the "blacks" slapped both Western state formations on full program near New Odessa - having melted the remaining fleet and landed troops. In order to dislodge the landing force that had dug in there, it was necessary, reluctantly, to negotiate with each other and - oh, blasphemy! - to ask for help from the evil imperials, and they simply asked their allies - the feds from the east - to help. But nothing good ever came of it. After the help, they immediately began to yell that the imperials and allies only dream of how to grab neighboring problems and territories into their pocket, torn from them. And it all started all over again, although, to tell the truth, it had not stopped for ten years.
Across the strait to the west were the lands, as it was customary to call them on the Island, “failed states”. Which, as his centurion said: "And they are not able to let people live, and they cannot die in any way," - all the time, clinging to the images of various external enemies that do not allow them to exist normally. Sasha's partner was even less verbose, but once briefly told him: "You can't revive something that never happened." The only territories allied to the Island and the imperials lay across the strait in the east, like a buffer between the crown imperial territory and the Western state formations, struck like a mass disease of idiocy and hatred of neighbors and brothers in the past.
Shcherbakov threw aside the thoughts that boiled in his red-hot head and, carefully inhaling the scalding air, lifted the heavy butt of the OSV-96 sniper. He crouched, grimacing, at the sniper scope - the rubber of the eyepiece burned his skin like a red-hot iron. Habitually arranging the butt on his shoulder, he moved a thick barrel topped with a flame arrester, slowly sifting, through the approach of optics, the deserted Black Sea expanse. The calm turned the sea into a kind of huge lens. This lens...
Unfortunately, due to a localization error in the Russian version of Torment: Tides of Numenera, it is impossible to logically solve the puzzle with the pyramid located in the Order of Truth. The fact is that all the shades and colors were simply mixed in it, and therefore it is possible to complete this task only with the help of a random comparison of one element with another.
In this guide, we will introduce the colors of the spheres on English language, because some players probably do not want to spoil their gaming experience, that is, they want to solve this riddle on their own. Below is a combination with the right answers.
Correct color names
In English, the clue that can be found in the memories is as follows: “The crimson dawn greets the seeker. The violet dusk sees the search "s end" .
Original shades and their designations
Front opening:
- Extract the sphere - deep violet
- Return Orb – bright orange
Left hole:
- Extract sphere - lurid red
- Return the sphere - deep violet
Right hole:
- Extract Orb – dull orange
- Return Orb – blazing orange
Rear opening:
- Extract sphere - brilliant blue
- Return Orb - cool green
bottom hole:
- Extract sphere - shinning yellow
- Return the sphere - indigo
With this information, you will not have to mix up the colors and actions, so we still advise you to try solving the puzzle yourself for the first time.
How to solve the pyramid puzzle in the Order of Truth?
To solve this problem, you need to change the colors of the sphere in a certain order from crimson dawn to dark purple sunset, as indicated in the tooltip. To do this, you need to pull out and install the spheres in the correct sequence.
There are two correct combinations of sphere placement. If you want to get both rewards, then you should use them in the same order as in our guide. If you decide to immediately enter the second sequence, the sphere will disappear, and you will not be able to use the first combination, and, therefore, lose a useful item.
First sequence of responses:
As a result, you will receive a cipher called the Dance of Sharp Angles.
Second sequence of responses:
- 2 - remove in the left hole
- 1 - return in the front hole
- 3 - remove in the right hole
- 3 - return in the right hole
- 5 - remove in the bottom hole
- 4 - return in the back hole
- 4 - remove in the rear hole
- 5 - return in the bottom hole
- 1 - remove in the front hole
- 2 - return in the left hole
As a reward, you will receive a powerful artifact Beads of Infinite Time. When you complete this sequence, the orb will disappear and you will no longer be able to interact with it.
Description of the cipher Dance of Sharp Angles
You will receive this cipher when performing the first combination, and the sphere will not disappear anywhere, and you can use it again.
Use this item to summon a humanoid shell that will fight for you for 5 rounds. In addition, the user receives the Phased effect, due to which their evasion parameter is increased by 30 percent and resistance to any damage, except for interdimensional damage, is increased by 3 units - on the contrary, it is reduced by 100 percent.
Artifact Description Booms of Infinite Time
When you complete the second sequence, you will receive this little thing, thanks to which you can use the skill Innervate (nerve). This skill is considered basic for nano heroes. With it, you can restore 6 units of life and remove the negative state.