Wandering Spark - Part 33
He seemed older than earlier in the bottomlands. He didn’t just stand with dignity, he was the embodiment of greatness. Even the eyes, colorless under the gray sky of the off-season now turned out to be blue-shaded. They were a perfect match to his cold voice.
"This is an amazing region, Round Fang," the magician said as if reflecting. "Even illiterate jerks are able to forge imperial money here..."
"I'm not a jerk," Varan said grimly. "I'm literate."
And he was amazed by his own impudence. No wonder they say that the Prison Gut changes a person...
The magician grinned. He folded his arms over his chest; folds of light mantle, covering it from neck to toe, changed the pattern. A red stone gleamed in the ring - on the index finger of his right hand.
"Your greatness," Slug said slowly, perfectly catching the mockery. "This pod is just an accomplice." He is the only thread between justice and criminals...
The magician nodded. How old is he after all, Varan thought. Then it seemed to me that eighteen or something like that... And now I'm afraid, not all thirty... Maybe it's not him at all?
At that moment, the magician looked sharply at Varan, and immediately it became clear: he. Maybe he's a hundred years old or two hundred. He is a magician... Whence does Varan, a small pod, know?..
The magician looked at Varan. It is better to sit in the Prison Gut all season, than to stand this look for a minute.
"I would have met him then," said the magician, suddenly winking. "I would not look like a wolf, I did not want to get stuck in Shuu's ass... Who knows how it would turn out?"
End, Varan thought. And he closed his eyes; and immediately opened them only because he was frightened - they would consider it a coward...
"Well," the magician rose. Light mantle fell along the body, lower edge touching the wood mosaic on the floor. "Well, now... I'll bring the accomplice to the Emperor." The magician looked at Slizniak, and Varan saw the investigator himself, the first, looking away:
"That's the will of your power."
The Emperor will get a frightened boy, to all the questions he responds: "Found at sea"...
"I'm not frightened," Varan said hoarsely.
The magician approached him closely. Varan's nostrils twitched - passing by, the owner of the tower left a particle of his smell, and it was the smell of wood smoke. Light, barely perceptible.
"We know," the magician pierced his companion with a look, like a needle pillow. "We know that he picked up what seemed to him very valuable in the sea ... Have you ever been honored to equip a search team to inspect the underwater caves in the place where he dived?"
"Of course," Slug said, still as deaf. "But some cavities are only available in the off-season ... When the water drops."
"What the pandeliers hoped for, setting up a hiding place," the mage said wearily. "Well, what else can I give to the Emperor?"
"Round Fang is not dangerous to the Empire's monetary system," Slug said gloomily.
"How dangerous is the barrel of gunpowder, until a spark falls by," muttered the magician.
"The end of the season is coming. When the water descends, we will track down a person or people who will try to open the hiding place."
"You do not know where he is, do you? In this stone, Shuu knows how many holes and tunnels..."
"The security service has detailed maps," Slug did not give up. "In the end, this is our business, his Excellency the prince was still satisfied with his guards..."
"Missed the time," the mage muttered.
"What?"
"It was necessary to forbid anyone to leave the island from the very moment when a fake haystack was discovered..."
They forgot about Varan. He stood very close to the wooden wall and fought the urge to pass a finger across the vein.
All the talk about the Emperor, about the money, about the fate of the Round Fang slid down from him, like rainwater from the skin of the ashes.
"Such a ban means the collapse of the season," Slug said after a short silence. "I'm scared to imagine the consequences..."
"And imagine a box of false banknotes, which can swim in circulation in any corner of the Empire?"
"The empire is great," said Slug again after a pause. The magician nodded.
"Well, yes, yes, if only our season went smoothly, and even though the sea is dry... Yes, touch this wall, boy. The unfortunate children of water and stone - every piece of wood makes them tremble..."
Then Varan firmly, with all the strength of despair, pressed his hands to the warm wood.
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