Текст книги "Eric (СИ)"

Автор книги: Марина Шпак

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Текущая страница: 9 (всего у книги 21 страниц)

Ok. Now we sat on the ass near the statue. Legs stretch forward. Okay. If anyone decides to fidget and check that Perseus's blood does not flow in his veins, then I do so – first I cut down her head, and then I start to mock the self-assured corpse that I decided to hold back. Oh! How nice! You all grasp on the fly!

After waiting until they finish, he lifted the girl from her knees by the hair and turned her face to him. His lips were white and shaking, there was hatred in his eyes, his face was in tears.

" Well, you are beautiful! "You would see yourself now. Oh well, the question that I asked your brothers, you heard. So I'm all in the spotlight.

– How do you allow yourself to lead me? I'm the high priestess of Artemis!

Eric bent her head back so that she screamed, and his face hovered over her face.

" You're a fool, if you think I'll let you talk to yourself like that. "Or have you forgotten how literally half an hour ago you lost face with fear? You are my terrible. Answer the questions and maybe I'll keep all of you alive for a while.

– Butcher! I will not answer you, I will not succumb! You broke me and humiliated me, but not until the end, I still have a drop of pride!

" Do you suggest that I humiliate you to the end? "In front of your brothers? – He said and a little squeezed the hand holding the squall, her ass. It was uncomfortable, because the guard was interfering. But the girl understood everything and clearly reacted.

No. Don't you dare!

"You have a choice dear, or we talk relatively politely, or " He winked at her.

Ok. I I will not carry to the extreme. My name is Demeter, my father's name was Evrymakh, we are from the class of merchants. His father had ten ships, on which he drove goods between Venice and Athens. We are the last generation in Kerkyra, who worshiped Artemis and supported her temple. After the death of my parents, I hired the manager of his trading house and assumed the title of High Priestess. Our affairs are now very modest, because of the storms, we lost many ships, now we have only three left. I know and I can do quite a few things. As a child, my parents could make me do a little bit, then I learned to write, read and understand the starry sky. You see for yourself – the priestess from me turned out to be bad, I led everyone who followed me to the threshold of death – she lowered her eyes and was completely saddened by her face.

" You just have to sit in a corner and wipe the snot with a handkerchief. "Do not cry, powerful priestess, I do not always bring death. How old are you?

– Sixteen. Sir, please tell us from whose hand we are humiliated and can die at any moment. Regret. Ignorance of such things is intolerable.

" Um do you really want to know my name? "You will not be frightened? Or did you decide to petty revenge today, referring to some incontinence? She completely blushed and looked down.

– Forgive me, I showed weakness. I will try to prevent this from happening again.

Ok. I was called by different names, in ancient times on this earth I was called Ares. The girl's eyes widened, her face was white and, starting a couple of times, she lost consciousness again. He already thought that the script would repeat itself and wanted to swear and jump aside, but this time everything turned out. The guys who sat at the statue of Artemis were slightly better than the girl. They shook, like this – they shook absolutely naturally with white faces, like a canvas. You dear reader, ask why he was so unscrupulously deceived by these already not very strong spirit guys? But do not be surprised. After all, our hero needed people, and loyal people. And who, if not the ancient god, will these people be faithful to, that from generation to generation the traditions of the fathers were preserved? On Artemis he did not fit at all in any way, even if he shaved off a small stubble that had already appeared on his cheeks. Therefore, using the method of "Caesarian Caesarian", he simply offered them what they dreamed of. God, that came to earth in hard times. Well and so on – there were a lot of such legends. But back to the cave. Eric, shaking the little girl, talked to her a little more, then put her on her shoulder and, bringing her to the brothers, fell straight at them. And he, put the blade back in its sheath and went back to the fire, which was already keenly demanding his attention. When the fire was still in order, Demetra approached him timidly and asked to sit beside him.

"Are you really God? "

– What a tricky question. Tell me, what do you know about the gods?

"A little, my lord, I said that I did not care about studying.

– Someone thinks that somewhere there, above the cracked vault of this cave, there lives a certain perfect being, which is absolutely and omnipotently. He vigilantly watch over you – mortal people, to guide them on the path of humility and obedience. It loves you, loves you so much that it only punishes you for disobedience, and, in general, for prevention. This creature has its ministers on earth who, although they serve an omnipotent being, but do not receive any help from him, and therefore shake you, ordinary mortals, in order to receive money, lands and power. . Does it sound familiar?

– Reminds, but very vaguely. But is this God?

Right? It's not him, it's the church that is using the darkness right here. "He jabbed her finger in the forehead," fools people to live well, eat well, and sleep sweetly. "

– But what, then God?

– God For you this thing will be very difficult to understand. You are used to the fact that God is expressed materially – a statue there or another image, and, of course, this expression will be the human face or its variation. Original narcissism, desire, no – just an unbearable thirst to feel like a belly-button of the universe. Would you be surprised if you knew that God does not have a visual image?

Of course. How can he pray then? After all, if you do not know his face, it becomes very difficult to turn to him their prayers and requests.

" Why should he pray to you? "You did not think about it? What will he do with them? Eat? Add to the piggy bank? And requests. It's just hilarious. Why did you surrender to him to help? Who are you at all so that he spends his time and energy on you? Why help you, not, say, grasshoppers or woodpeckers? What exactly are you, for example, better than a monkey?

– And who is it?

Well, let there be a bunny. Than you are better than a bunny?

– I am endowed with soul and mind.

– Let's admit. Why do you think that it will be interesting for God to give you out of the general mass of animals, only because you think you are endowed with soul and mind? Well, you are endowed with soul, and then what? The fish under the water swim well, and the nightingale, for example, chirps much more pleasantly than a drunken song in a tavern.

"I do not know. Maybe he loves us?

" But then I do not know, I do not understand. "Everything was completely confused in the head. I I'm completely confused.

– Here I am about the same. Do not understand, but how to ask leading questions, so your whole picture of the world and showered with dust. In this case, this problem is not just for you. They thought up all sorts of magic fairytales, and then they let each other out of their intestines because of their own sick imagination. Remember – God does not need anything from you, nothing at all. No prayers, no sacrifices. He does not care about your requests, that is, in general. He can not ask anything, because he just does not give anything. It is also pointless for him to offer something as a gift or a sacrifice, because he has everything he needs.

– But why do they need people if they live in their own world?

That's it. Clever. The right questions, finally, start asking. The fact is that any God resembles a huge sea of energy, elements. The sea does not take offense at you, when you take water from him for your purposes? More precisely, he does not care. But the Gods are spiritual, energy seas and oceans, communication with which is carried out through your spirit, your spirit. Remember the situation of our acquaintance. How quickly you broke down. But you are faced with a small drop of that ocean, which is called Ares. And if you fall on a little wave?

– Let's do without such experiments! I feel sorry for myself under such terrible blows.

– And all because you can not oppose it. You're almost a faithful Christian, who draws your spirit from the God of humble slaves with all your spirit. You said that the high priestess of Artemis. And why it did not show?

"I do not know how to show it. "

" You do not even know what it is. "You do not feel its energy, you do not know its taste and characteristics.

" According to your words, my brothers and I are brave children! "But But what about you? You're sitting next to me, not some abstract spirit.

Well done,Again the correct question. If to be brief, then I turn out to be a local expression of the energy field of God – the earthly, the material shell of its particles with all the ensuing limitations.

– The energy field?

– Hmm let's simplify – imagine the ocean and the force that is located in its waters. Remember the storm and the way this force awakens and begins to destroy everything in the district. Presented?

Yes!

– Now imagine the size of this titanic layer of water and then, how many times more strength in it than you see during a storm. This reserve of force can be provisionally called energy. So it turns out – the ocean of power – it's about the same as the energy field of God. Only the scale is somewhat different, with God it is larger. Approximately understood?

"Well if only. "

"It's already something. " He smiled. "Have you heard much about the ancient gods and heroes? "

– To be honest, not very much.

– To put it briefly, the hero is an elite man with outstanding abilities, a unique leader of his congeners, which allowed them to achieve some impressive success. Those heroes that lived in ancient times became fairy-tale characters, and those that not so long ago still retained the traits of people in the memory of generations. So, the ancient Gods are the same heroes, only strengthened at the expense of divine energies, that is, they were particles of this or that God. It is impossible to fully transfer all the power and immensity of a complex and self-sufficient divine essence to a small and fragile human body. Alas, it can only be strengthened. And then not much. Well, by itself – to give knowledge. So this body is just a miserable parody of me. Which eventually dies releasing a part of me that is in this body.

– And what do you need it for?

– And again the right question. The gods do not possess all-powerfulness and do not know everything that is going on around them. They are just very sophisticated and very curious creatures. Why – I can not answer you, just do not convey the meaning through the language. If you want, consider it all a game.

– The game ? !

– Yes, by playing and playing. I am so amused. All this gives me pleasure and new information.

"Well, you have games! "

"Great talents give big flaws," he said, and winked.

– And where did you get this unusual armor?

– I made it myself, me those that you did not like at all. In them, this fragile human shell can easily collapse, and this is not part of my plans.

"Do you need priestesses? "

– Well, well! What an arrogance!

" I'm serious. "You can always guide me, but she still does not say anything. It is not with the priests to talk about what I'm all sinful and in general an abomination in a skirt.

– Do not you consider yourself as such?

Of course. Where did this stupidity come from with original sin. Why do I need to feel guilty all the time? I did not do anything wrong! It's not fair! Not fair!

"Hush, do not shout, I can hear you well. "

– Sorry.

" To become my priestess you must prove that you deserve it. "I do not need random people, because in this world I have quite ambitious plans.

– What you need to do, say. I'm ready for anything!

" For everything? "How reckless! And if I want to test the firmness of your will and ask you to sleep with all the porters of Athens port in turn?

bu

" That's it, that's" but ". Think first and calculate your own and other people's moves. Speaking now, you must clearly assume that it will be tomorrow. And what do you need from this "tomorrow"? And then they will destroy you as a child and you will work hard on your enemies for one meal. And it's good if you lose yourself, or even those entrusted to you. Did you hear me clearly?

Yes, sir.

Ok. Do you want to pass the priestess's test?

"Of course, sir. "

Ok. Here is your sword, go – kill your brothers. With these words, he took the shiavon out of its sheath and laid it on the stone in front of it. His face was calm. Cold, hard eyes looked at her slightly relaxed. Eric's whole body showed perfect calm and equanimity. Her face, on the other hand, was distorted and all was white. After staying in the stupor for about five seconds, she came to herself and, taking her sword, held it back.

– I can not do it!

"Do you understand that if you start a test and fail it, then I will have to kill you? "

"I do not care, sir, I'm ready to accept death if this protects my brothers. "

" It will not protect them. "After that I will kill them as unnecessary witnesses.

" Then, then I'll fight! " – She intercepted the sword and sent him a blade in the direction of our hero. Her frantic eyes were full of horror and fear, but she was willing to at least try to fight with the one who in her opinion was God. The Baron only smiled, reached out his hand, squeezed the blade tightly and gently pulled himself and sideways. She leaned behind the blade and, almost stumbling, dropped it from her hands. And Eric, slowly hid him in the sheath.

Well done,You passed the test. You could overcome fear. Sit down.

Then he talked with her about what she had to do next, already in the role of his priestess. The key issue was the issue of transport. Since our lady had her ships, it was a sin not to use them. She equipped all three ships that were to come from Venice one of these days, for a trip to Athens and carried out the transfer of his people and a significant part of the property there. First of all, the most valuable statues were sailing, which had to be hidden on the Templar courtyard for a fee. The next issue was the question of building relationships with the sullen manager. It was necessary to tone the whole trading company, as it could be very useful in the future. In addition, the three older brothers had to make every effort to learn the letter and the account as soon as possible, and to maximally adopt the experience of doing business with the manager. Need for a couple of years to prepare them for independent business management, and leave the manager only for the sake of ties. There must be three of them, because they need to deploy three permanent missions in Venice, Corfu and Athens with a single command center and a unified budget. The elder brother sits in the parents' house, the two younger ones are dotted. At each metochion it is necessary to collect in the future a small guard from 5-10 persons and normally to train / arm them. The third issue was an important, but difficult, task of forming an armed detachment. Eric will need loyal and adequately armed forces in two to three years to take the prize, so that such things can and should be taken care of right now. To clarify this issue, it was necessary to solve two problems: about the equipment and about the organization. To find out information about the quality and quantity of equipment available in the temple, Eric picked up the already frustrated brothers of the girl and made him work a little. And though the rumbling of their awkward activity shook the whole cave, but after three hours it was clearly visible – what and how much they have. The situation turned out to be not so rosy as he thought at first – from more than a hundred sets of armor to use, of course after the arrangement, only 23 Segmentals could be preserved, which were preserved, and therefore preserved perfectly. All the rest turned out to be either generally substandard, like, for example, seventy-two iron chain mails rusted to the perfect extremity, or sets of sewn scales whose base completely rotted, and the scales themselves lay loose. There were twelve such "collect yourself" sets. Also, there were eight anatomical bronzes in bronze in quite a good condition, but, alas, they were not used reasonably, since they were technologically very outdated. In addition to the elements of the protection of the hull in the room, there were still about a hundred kilograms of rusted iron, which was once helmets, and about five hundred copies of cold weapons: swords, axes, spears. As a result, they got a huge pile of iron, weighing about three hundred kilograms. It could have been very profitable to sell for processing to blacksmiths. Decided to do so – all the equipment, except lorik and scales, sell by the forces of our trading company, including bronze. Scale to restore on the basis of aketon, in lorikah to replace the leather elements and clean. Having solved this problem, they moved on to organize the detachment. Based on the available armor, it was decided to establish its strength of 35 people. Each fighter should be equipped with a well-quilted aketon, and on top of it – an ancient armor. In addition to this property, each soldier was put a simple spangelhelm with a sinker. If the means allow, it was necessary to further strengthen each helmet with headphones. Of the weapons needed to purchase 35 swords of type XII, the same number of simple approximately the same arrows cocked "goat leg". With him was supposed to carry 30 bolts. In addition, each fighter was equipped with a large rectangular shield, designed so that they could be hidden behind when reloading a crossbow, and a horse for transport. Command over the detachment receives a younger brother, who was to choose two assistants – sergeants, thereby dividing the squad into two equal-sized units. On it was the general training of the guys. The training should include the ability to keep the formation when attacking the enemy, either by the entire detachment or by the detachment; shooting fugitive volleys; fight on swords individually and in formation. After recruiting, manning and training, the detachment must go to Constantinople, where to stay for a while and, after registering with the Templar Bank, wait for his arrival, giving all the time to training. To reach the final point of the route was not later than mid-summer next year. Demeter – personally was responsible for everything and had to make every effort to achieve positive results.

Having set goals and distributed tasks, they, all together, engaged in the preparation of temple property for evacuation from the cave. Basically, it was reduced to traversing the entire territory, sorting out for removal and deciding what would go into preserving, and what to sell by the forces of the trading company. So the day passed unnoticed, Morrigan returned with the people of Eric. In total they drove twenty-four horses, four each. Irlandka showed ingenuity and took on her own initiative quite a few bags and ropes. The next three days was a slow and careful evacuation of things from the cave. The young baron with his people moved from the rented house to the farmstead of Demeter, where they collected for the first time the entire exported cargo. Noteworthy was the meeting of our hero with the manager. Since the sight of him was dashing and silly, it turned out to be not at all surprising that he, after a pair of fingers bitten off with a blacksmith's clipper, admitted to all the theft and sale of the company's ships, writing off them for loss from the storm. Prior to direct self-mutilation, he was beaten for a long time and with pleasure, trying to inflict maximum pain and humiliation, but not severely injuring his body. By the end of this petting, all his relatives were gathered, that they lived in Kerkir, that is, about one hundred and forty people. The guests were pleased with the elegant work of the wire cutters and his sincere, public repentance. Then, at their full meeting, they loudly and clearly announced that they would make an osmosis to him and all his male relatives to the third tribe in case he at least once lied to someone from the family of Demeter or their trusted people. It was also promised to cut out all of his relatives, without understanding their field and age, until the seventh tribe, if he does not return the cost of all the stolen property, including ships, plus half more from above, in order to compensate for moral damage. The time for a refund was put him in three hundred and twenty-four hours. They also discussed the conditions of flight and sudden death. If he makes his legs, then after a fixed time his relatives are cut out. If he suddenly dies, then the debt goes to his relatives. True, the amount will already be not one and a half of the stolen, but two parts. And if he decides to run away with his relatives, they will still be found and killed by all, and very painfully. In short – intimidated under the full program. Having endorsed this all, in the end, for the sake of memory, another one slowly biting off his finger, the boys all dismissed their business. That is – to seek them money. The sum, by the way, was very impressive and amounted to about two hundred Vienna marks in silver. All his six years of selfless and brazen theft at once auknulis in the form of one and absolutely immense genitalia. A week after the conversation with the manager came two ships Demeter, and our guys finally went to Athens.

And so, on the morning of May 15, 1199, our hero descended to the shore of ancient Attica. On its expanses, once in ancient times, great philosophers, sculptors, architects worked. Sorry, very sorry that their descendants do not remember about such wonderful things. However, digging into memory, he grinned – the guys and could not remember such things, because they were not descendants of the ancient Greeks. The fact is that in the 5th-7th centuries AD the Slavs came to these lands and, having mastered the new territory, interrupted the local ones. True, in the process, they have undergone a strong assimilation, but this does not change the essence of the matter. Genocide? Yes, it is he, since it is a traditional and natural form of interaction between ethnic groups – the strong destroys the weak, in order to liberate territory for himself. Do you think this is all a fiction? Look how the Peloponnesian peninsula called Morea began to be called after such an incident, which meant "Marine" in the southern outcrops of the Proto-Slavic language. A statue is generally a beauty. You put a modern Greek next to the antique statue. Are they full of surprise? That's the same thing. With the modern, even worse, as they were subjected to a strong cultural and genetic assimilation by the Turks, that is why they are generally quite something Eastern. Well, it's little things, let's get to the point. Immediately upon his arrival at the port, he sent Morrigan and Rudolph to search for their lodging, and, taking with him his brother Demeter Zinon, that he would develop a permanent trade and transportation point, he went to the Templar courtyard. Claude d'Amboise, the local commander, met our guys rather wary, but having checked his credentials, he left and became literally the soul of the campaign. So the three of them spent the evening until the evening in a pleasant, confidential conversation, however, quite efficient. The issues of security of financial operations of the trading company Demetra, local difficulties, market needs, the Templars' own needs were discussed. A special issue was the question of antiquities, which were to be stored in the courtyard from three to five years. When it was already dark, they returned to the port, where they were met by Antonio and led to the house chosen by the girl, who, by the way, had already been washed. You get used to a good business quickly, and therefore the entire staff of his small detachment was pleased to wash in. And now – in one of the rooms of the house they made an impromptu bathroom and in the order of their turn were washed after a heavy sea crossing. After washing, they sat down to supper, where Eric outlined a range of tasks for everyone. Morrigan was to collect information on the area of Antioch and Constantinople. Antonio had the task of establishing working relations and contacts with criminal gangs of the city. The task of these groups is to hold an impromptu "open day" in the future. Our hero was concerned with the preservation of the ancient values, which were represented by sculptures and various handicrafts. Before Rudolph was set no less difficult task – to drive all the children's free time in the tail and in the mane and prepare them for serious hostilities. The next stop place will imply active and combat operations of the detachment. The main areas of training: shooting from a crossbow and chopping. The shooting had to be learned both on foot and on horseback, including training a volatile volley to accumulate targets. Work with the sword was understood both in the ranks and with the horse. Simple things, but the unit must achieve coherence and adequacy in interaction. The educational process was aggravated by the fact that in the first days of October it will be necessary to depart for Antioch. Before Eric himself there was a whole range of tasks. Firstly, it is the production of new helmets for all of its soldiers, bringing their armor equipment to uniformity and solving the problem with increasing frontal reservation. As a basic helmet, he chose pothelm. As a supporting set of armor was chosen a full housekeeper complete with an aketon and a quilted helmet. With weapons, and so it was almost complete order – the basic set consisted of a sword type XII, a large triangular curved shield and a crossbow, which was cocked "goat's leg. " Nothing particularly outstanding, but quite functional. The question of strengthening armor was opened, but he was inclined to order six mirrors, which on leather straps would be attached to the chest over the chain mail. Secondly, to make military equipment for the girl, since she expressed a desire to follow him everywhere, even if it will cost her life. It will not be possible to get rid of it, but to lose by mistake is stupid. So it was decided to make her his personal standard-bearer. The main problem was that it is rather miniature and does not have a special power. After a moment's thought, they decided to stop at the chain-mail half-way from riveted rings, half from wide, carved rings, which was worn on a rigidly quilted aketon. Dimensions of armored armor were far from full body covering, and therefore she covered only the body to the middle of the thigh and arms to the elbow. The weight of such equipment was about five kilograms, which was tolerable for the girl. Yes, and protection, somehow, but it worked. The helmet was chosen as a "pilot", equipped with such a barmitsey, which left only the eyes open. From the weapon they chose a neat, almost miniature saber weighing not more than eight hundred grams. The main task of our neophyte-standard-bearer was to follow Eric everywhere and carry his standard. The question of the standard was decided especially long. The fact is that I did not want to use the standard coat of arms of the Lenzburg background, and to use something as trite as a cross was too ordinary. It was necessary to stand out from the general crowd of crusaders and bring into battle their own, unique coat of arms, the standard and the colors of the cottages. Hardly, but that same night he decided what exactly his personal coat of arms would be – the field of the triangular Norman shield was divided vertically in half. The left part was black, right – scarlet. In the center of the shield was an attacking silver lion. The standard was decided to be made rectangular, and the cats that put all of its fighters on top of the armor will be white and red to the waist, and red and white below the waistband, on their chests and backs they will have a sewn coat of arms, and in the upper right corner – a small cross Red. In general, they discussed the technical issues of the latest preparations and distributed them almost until midnight, then, having cleared the table, went to rest. Tomorrow they were waited by a whole shaft of work.

Two weeks passed. Life boiled like a steep boiling water. The guys slept for 3-4 hours a day, devoting all their time to achieving the set goal – preparing for a big campaign in the Holy Land. Eric spent a lot of time in the smithy, which he rented from a local blacksmith, and in the evenings he listened to reports and drew a coat of arms. The main problem was that the local children drew in some kind of children's styles, when all the animals turned out to be funny rather than formidable, and he himself was not an artist. He painted with coal powder on the egg base on a white lime primer that was applied to a small wooden shield. The colors, for starters, had to withstand unimportantly, since the right silhouette of the lion was needed. In general, by the beginning of the third week, he, with grief in half and his obscene songs, mastered the coat of arms, and therefore the problem of his qualitative copying to shields and cloth was acute. To solve this rather nontrivial task, he left for a day work in the smithy and went for a walk around the city's workshops. But everything went as usual – with a lot of surprises. Literally near the main frontal place, he met his old acquaintance – Ulrich, who was an apprentice to the Viennese forge of Gottfried, who stood near two guys in the shoes and talked to them about something. He looked sad and worried. Eric went up to him, put his hand on his shoulder and whispered in his ear – go, have a bite, at the same time tell everything. And then, without turning around, he went ahead to the nearest tavern, where he sat down in a corner and ordered a meal for two. The guy did not keep you waiting. For dinner he threw himself greedily, as it later became clear, he had not eaten anything for three days. After an hour and a half conversation, it turned out that after returning home from school, our German found only the ashes. He walked around the surrounding lands and found four relatives, two brothers and two cousins. I learned from them that the elder of the village did not share something with a passing nobleman. A month later he returned, and only they could be saved. Even the name of the killer could not be found out. Well, what was I to do? No cola, no yard. Yes, in the pockets of the wind walking. They made fun of their truncheons and went to the big road, looking for food. And we got to the environs of Athens. And then there was no luck – the detachment of the stratigraph of the Peloponnesian meme caught them. Ulf managed to escape, and his associates, won – on the square in the pads keep. Yes, hang one by one each morning, so that those two do not stay long. Next, Eric probed the soil under the desire of our blacksmith and his relatives to serve him. It proved to be very solid, you can say – stony, and in general, it turned out that he was their last hope. So they decided to beat the captives, so that the three of them entered his service, taking the oath of loyalty. The operation for pulling out of captivity their new people, our hero appointed at midnight. In the meantime, he led a grief-robber to his house and returned to his occupation to find an adequate artist, more precisely two, because one had to draw, and the second – to embroider the picture on the fabric. He sought in a specific way – all those who took up the proposed work, he asked on the ground with a twig to draw a lion, which he was depicted on the shield. Unfortunately, most of the great artists who lived in Athens of that time perfectly suited the phrase of Ostap Bender: "Kisa, I want to ask you how an artist artist – you can paint? ". And now, already completely despaired, he finally decided to turn not to masters in the market, but to ask poor people whether they know little. Those for the silver obol told a lot of different information, most of which was completely useless, but the rest helped, and very solid. It turns out that in the port area lived poor fisherman Makarios with his wife Marina. They were quite young – only about twenty years old, but among the poor they were respected, since Marina always helped with embroidery on clothes, and Makariy with drawing. Sometimes, and a cheap jug so draws, that the eye does not rejoice. They had a talent for art, but, alas, their origin and success did not allow them to realize it. Eric went to them. Do not deceive him poor. Macarius not only was able to copy the drawing very accurately and very quickly, but he made very efficient suggestions on its harmonization. In general – it was decided – they will carry out his order. Leaving them as a sign of a good disposition of denarius, our hero asked to count how much and what they need to perform 10 drawings on the billboards and 60 fabric stripes, and already tomorrow at noon to come to visit him for payment and shields. With that and Closer to the evening of the same day, three men in dark gray, inconspicuous clothes came out of our hero's house and went to a small snack bar that stood a few minutes walk from the square. It waited at midnight for this company quietly and peacefully sitting at a table and eating wine, by itself, creating the appearance of an abundant libation, since drinking them was very undesirable. And so, judging by the state of local alcoholics, it was midnight or something very similar. Quietly leaving, the inconspicuous strangers walked almost silently along the arc along the square, they had an important task – to examine the disposition. Everything was quite trivial – two guards quietly chatted and basked at a small fire, which at the same time served as a lighting function. Next to them in the pads in the half-faint condition were the objects sought, behind which stood a gallows, built, including for them. Also, a small patrol of five people was seen that passed through the square. They decided to wait, as it was necessary to avoid meeting with superfluous witnesses – at all it would not be desirable to arrange mass night slaughter. We had to wait a long time, but closer to dawn, when we wanted to start, a patrol appeared. Having greeted that, the guards, guarding the robbers, went back to sleep, that is, vigilantly to serve. Then everything was fast. Eric and Ostroneg went in each of their own way and chose the guard. Rudolph insured them with a crossbow in his hands, but he was not needed, since a good knife against sleeping guards is much more reliable. Even the prisoners, and they did not wake up in the process of removing the guard. The roles were clearly painted, so that everything went on as smoothly as possible: the prisoners were woken, they took off their pads, gave them dark gray tunics and raincoats, removed purses from their guards, opened their belts and quietly disappeared. In the morning in the city, by itself. there was a noise. To pull out the robbers from the hands of the stratigue is a very big impudence. The governor of the Peloponessus, in a fit of fury because of what happened, personally cut down the head of the chief of city guard, for careless service. His successor, who has an acute desire to keep his own life longer, literally nosed the ground with his nose. All the guards and a significant part of the troops of the meme were raised and involved in the operation to catch the criminals. All the suburbs were combed to the distance to the day's transition, everything was checked from small ditches and bushes to sheds with hay and cellars. In the city of the guard, every house ransacked from the cellar to the attic. Even came to our baron, but the cache with the fugitives was safely hidden, so everything turned out. After everything had settled down, the released comrades Hartwin and Hagan – the brothers Ulrich – were instructed in terms of their future fate, as well as their behavior for the near future. They were strictly forbidden to leave the boundaries of the house, they could only go out into the courtyard for lessons only in armor, and they were given the first two sweats to hide their face. . But they were happy – it happened almost a fairy tale, because instead of the gallows they got a place in the squad of the noble lord. And now they are fed, armed, trained. True, the tale was very exhausting – Rudolf drove the guys especially hard, since the physical state of these was somewhat neglected, and with weapons they generally communicated exclusively to "you. "