Diamond sword, wooden sword. book 1

Chronicles of the Rift...

  In the world of Melin, two forces that have the appearance of Swords have collided: one is Diamond, the other is Wooden. To prevent them from destroying the world, the magician Fess takes them outside his universe. Together with myself. And he finds himself in the Evial world, over which the Western Darkness has been hanging for a long time. Per Fess fighting the good and evil forces, but he continues to go hard, sacrificial by the Black magician, spit on all. As a result, his fate will intersect more than once with the fate of Emperor Melin, as well as with a very strange man named Kitsum, the necromancer Belt and his daughter, who save the world, as well as an archmage who seeks to hasten the end of the world... Will Fess stand?

  Content:

  1. Diamond Sword, Wooden Sword (Volume 1)

  2. Diamond sword, wooden sword. Volume 2

  3. The Keeper of Swords. The Birth of a Magician

  4. The Keeper of Swords. The wanderings of a magician. Volume 1

  5. The Keeper of Swords. The wanderings of a magician. Volume 2

  6. The Keeper of Swords. The loneliness of the magician. Volume 1

  7. Keeper of Swords. The loneliness of the magician. Volume 2

  8. The Magician's War. Volume 1. The debut

  9. Keeper of Swords. The magician's war. Volume 2. Middlegame

  10. Keeper of Swords. The magician's war. Volume 3. Endgame

  11. The Keeper of Swords. The War of the magician. Volume 4.

  The end of the game. Part 1

  12. The Keeper of Swords. The War of the magician. Volume 4.

  The end of the game. Part 2

  13. The Necromancer's daughter

  14. Return the staff

  15. The Elven Guards

Nick PERUMOV

DIAMOND SWORD, WOODEN SWORD

THE FIRST BOOK

  Dedicated to my friends, old and new, fidoshnik networkers and others.

THE PROLOGUE

  THE PROPHECIES

  "When Two Brothers gain freedom, the end of time will come"

  "The people of Danu will be driven to despair. And when there are fewer of them left than a handful of river pebbles, their revenge will take place."

  Iaiaenne the Wise, the Seer of the Danu people

  PRAYER FOR THE CHALICE, THE SAVIOR'S SYMBOL OF FAITH

  "Truly, I tell you, it happens that a small sin turns a whole righteous life into nothing, and everyone suffers for one sin. Take heed! Live righteously and modestly, for the sins of the world are accumulating, and the day will come when they will be weighed and measured, and no one will know which of the minor sins will shake the Cup of His Patience.

  And again, and also, truly, I say to you, tremble! For the Three Sleeping Beasts must be freed, but they will not be given the power to harm living creatures immediately, but only after three days. And until all Three are free, the Cup will not spill. So let us pray that He may avert this fate from us! Amen to that."

Chapter 1.1 Agatha in the van

  "I would like to get to Khvalin before the Downpour caught up..."

  She woke up, snapping out of a shaky, chilly sleep. The chilly October wind seeped through the cracks and gaps of the wagon canopy. The old and short blanket did not save her, if it were not for mortal fatigue, she would not have closed her eyes until morning. The old scar on his neck was very painful — for the rain. An old and terrible scar... very scary...

  The road again. Damn her. And the eternal "... until the Rain caught up...", repeated in various variations by the entire troupe without exception.

  Yes, the Downpour here could really be called that, with a capital letter. Indeed, he was supposed not to "charge", but to catch up — gloomy and dark, the heavenly host came from the east, the horizon was swirling black, as if unprecedented fires were burning there in the distance — but people tried to talk about everything that concerned Mortal Rains in the most ordinary words, as if this could protect them from pouring from The firmament of death!

  This time, these words were spoken by Kitsum, an old clown who never parted from a bottle. His hands were already shaking badly, and his breath smelled of some kind of alchemical filth, even when he was a rare occurrence! — I happened to be sober. He only went to the stage after "a small sip for good luck." The volume of the "sip" varied from a two-cup mug to a whole bottle of intense dwarf "Stone Heat".

  She shivered, trying in vain to conserve the last remnants of warmth. That's it, they're lifting her up now. The van would stop for a few minutes at most, collect water from a roadside well, and then trudge on, through the forested, windfall wilderness, across the Sub-Glacial Wasteland that separated the glorious city of Khvalin from the equally glorious city of Ostrag.

  "... If only we could make it before the downpour catches up..."

  They did not stop for the night. They did not light a fire at camp sites. The food was somehow cooked on an iron stove, dangerously carried overboard of the van.

  Because if the rain catches them on the way, they can all read their departure notes.

  Without waiting for a kick in the side, the girl threw back the blanket and stretched — easily, gracefully, like a wild cat. Which, by the way, wasn't too far from the truth. The pointed ears did indeed give her a certain resemblance to a cat, and a wild one at that.

  Agatha is from the Danu tribes. More precisely, people called her Agatha — for her rare hair, blue-black, blacker than a raven's wing; and no one cared what her real name sounded like. Oh, you've come to your senses... — Kitsum was sitting on his peeling chest and drinking steaming tea from a cracked bone mug. The van was shaking mercilessly, but the old clown somehow managed not to spill a drop.

  Gods! Kitsum drinks tea in the morning!

  Let's get down to business, pointy-eared brat. The boilers have been uncleaned since last night. And Trosha brought water for you, both here and for Mr. Onfim. Would I give it to a guy as a thank you...

  The girl (or rather, a girl; by human standards, she looked about fourteen years old, no older; and no one who believes in the True God would ever wonder how many impious people there are) mockingly curtsied, pulling aside the folds of her wide skirts with her fingers.

  "If you drink tea, does it really mean that the barrel of the gnomeade has shown the bottom, O venerable Kitsum, may the whiteness of the make-up not fall off your cheeks on the platform?" Agatha deftly dodged a torn shoe that was thrown at her head and stuck out her tongue at the old man.

  Kitsum treated her better than anyone in the troupe. Except, of course, for Troshi, a pariah like her.

  The shoe crashed into the canopy and, completing its flight, landed directly on the head of a certain Trocha, a young guy who had been taken into Onfim and Onfim's circus for his rare health, naturally enormous strength and equally enormous stupidity and trustfulness. He worked with heavy steel balls connected by a chain, tossed them, twisted them, causing constant groans, sighs and shawls covering the faces of stupid merchants who, through the folly of their husbands, ended up at the Khvalinskaya, Ostrogskaya or Yezhelinskaya fairs. Almost every performance ended with the fact that the host, Onfim, the first, took Trosha by the hand and led her somewhere, returning each time very pleased. The guy appeared no other than the next morning and answered the eager questions of Tukka and Tokka, the acrobatic brothers, only with a puzzled shrug:

  "She rode on me all night, that damned cow... I wish I'd turned the balls over once more. Enough... of what? I don't know such words, Mr. Tuck, I'm very sorry.... Tired, that's all. And they didn't let me sleep. As always..."

  "Oh," the disciplined Trocha immediately opened his eyes. "Sorry, Mr. Kitsum... I'm getting up, Mr. Kitsum...."

  "Can I help you recover, Mr. Kitsum?" Agatha continued, artfully faking her voice, already bending over the cauldrons.

  "Blockhead.. Ugh, Agatha, you naughty cat, it's you again! I've been caught up in your stupid trick for the umpteenth time!.."

  The Danu girl snorted.

  Until Mr. Onfim, the acrobat brothers, and the other inhabitants of the two circus wagons woke up, she could afford it. Then whips or spells will be used to torment the flesh of the daughter of the Danu tribes. Unless, of course, she obeys.

  Agatha crouched even lower.

  Sand and ice-cold water, and wipe off the congealed fat with scale, as you like. No matter how bad things were going, Mr. Onfim the first and the acrobatic brothers, the headphones and hangers-on of the owner, did not deny themselves food. However, then Mr. Onfim took a whip and personally drove off the excess fat from the squealing brothers.

  "Hello, Trosha."

  "Oh, hello, Agatha..." He blushed, turning dark in an instant, like a sun-baked wild fish-eating southerner from the Islands.

  It's funny — a guy who was given to some merchant's wife every day at the fairs, or even to a bored noble lady, gave in and was incredibly embarrassed in front of Agatha. His guileless heart seems to have been forever captivated by a sharp-eared, black-haired girl, Danu, a disgusting and God-defying Inhuman, according to the authoritative opinion of the gentlemen of theologians of Melin, the southern imperial capital.

  "You brought the water, thank you."

  It's not much fun to start the day with such a nasty procedure, but what can you do? No one knows what can make Mr. Onfim the first lose his temper. Sometimes he does not pay any attention to the cleanliness of the dishes, and sometimes throws outrageous tantrums because of this, ending in beatings and flogging.

  Trocha wanted to answer, but he was even more embarrassed and just waved his hand.

  "Because I... I always..."

  "Hey, did you open your eyes, you lazy carcasses?" Nodlik, who had been sitting behind the coachman for the second half of the night, barked from the box. Actually, he and Evelyn were jugglers; they both cuckolded each other, quarreled and fought, but they immediately came to a complete agreement when it came to ridiculing or insulting Agatha.

  "How far have we traveled, Nodlick?.. Come on, throw in the reins, I have tea here", Kitsum responded. "The cold road freezes my chest and soul, it's time to warm up a little!"

  Agatha had never been able to understand how anyone could treat everyone equally-her, Trocha, Nodlick and Evelyn, who found a peculiar pleasure in doing another nasty thing to the Danu girl.

  "Tea? Did you say tea, O greatest of comedians?" Nodlick shouted. "Get that fucking cat over here! Agatha! Come on, move it, or you'll be dead in a heartbeat!"

  "We" was not said for nothing. Evelyn never missed an opportunity to take part in the massacre.

  "Leave her alone, Nodlick. She's scrubbing cauldrons."

  "Ah, that's the place for shit like these Danus. Well, then Trocha'll go here.

  "Yeah, yeah, right away, Mr. Nodlik..." the strong man hurried.

  Nodlick threw the reins at him (deftly hitting Troche in the eye with the end of one of them) and climbed down from the box into the van.

  He was tall, but somehow ungainly, bony, and broken, with a long, sad face that no amount of makeup could enliven. The juggler's forehead was covered with numerous scarlet-cyanotic pimples; his sparse hair, mottled with gray, hung in greasy icicles — and after all, Nodlik was only thirty-five years old!..

  "M... Are we getting up already?.." asked a hoarse voice that seemed to belong to a woman. "Hey, bitch, is my breakfast ready?"

  "Bitch" was Evelyn's most affectionate word for Agatha.

  "She cleans the boilers, my friend," Kitsum saw fit to point out.

  "What an asshole you are... I found something to give her... Let Onfim give her a hard time for that, too — it's all entertainment...."

  Evelyn got out from under a couple of blankets — unlike Agatha, who was content with some rags, everyone else, including Trosha, had normal blankets, and the Onfim gentlemen understood that an artist with a cold was of little use. However, the idea of sharing warmth with the Inhuman Danu did not occur to even the simple-minded Troche. Actually, in this sense, he was no different from the others.

  Agatha twitched her cheek.

  "They're all just dirty pigs. Dirty, drunken, copulating pigs. A pig can throw Dana into the mud, but a true Dana will never turn his anger against her." although, to tell the truth, this maxim, extracted from Atann-eeuy Akhimm, Tan-eu-Achim, if written in primitive human letters, the Royal Six-Book, has recently ceased to comfort Agatha.

  Now all the occupants of the first van were assembled. Kitsum, Nodlik, Evelyn, Agatha and Trosha, sitting on the box.

  Behind them was the second van of their circus, much larger and richer. The canopy above it was new and sturdy, without a single tear. There rode Mr. Onfim the first himself, Yeremey the snake charmer, the acrobatic brothers, and Tansha the Death Maiden, as the fair touts called her. Mr. Onfim himself, as befitted the owner, was engaged in collecting money and distributing salaries. His half-brother, Onfim the second, was sitting in Yezhelin, sending messages to his brother by means of postal spells, where and when it would be most profitable to arrange a performance. Agatha, a maid, a dishwasher, a seamstress, a cook, a dancer, a musician, an acrobat, a live doll that Kitsum beat on the head and other parts of the body with a fake whip for the amusement of the most respectable audience, a live target in the Death of the Virgin attraction, completed the list of Onfim and Onfim artists. Needless to say, she was not entitled to any salary. Dana's slender neck was encircled by a charmed collar made of coarse iron. She was an unpaid slave.

  "Come on, come on, to prayer, quickly," The pious Nodlik hurried the others. "And you, Danka, lower your God-defying zenks, you don't have to stare at how honest people pray to the true God...."

  The true God. Who gave the whole earth into the hands of his chosen people, from end to end, incinerated their enemies, strengthened their strongholds and gave indestructible power to their weapons. And who is constantly, every day, helping him now.

  Everyone in the van, with the exception of Agatha, began to sing a prayer. The Church did not allow Dana to receive communion or baptism. They had the right to exist either as conquered enemies-that is, as slaves; or as enemies who had not yet been conquered, but this, of course, was temporary.