The Labyrinth of Inter-Time

«It’s as if someone is watching every step,» Esmeralda looked around.

– Don’t be afraid, Esme! – Eleon hugged her.

«You really shouldn’t be afraid when I’m around!» – Sienna smiled for the first time.

They went on like this for several hours. Siena knew her way around the maze of thickets well.

– I was born and raised here.

– Sylvia is your mother? – Herold suggested.

– We are children of the forest. The Mistress gave birth to me, but that doesn’t matter. And here is the line of the forest. I can’t go any further. I would advise you to go around these mountains. You will lose a few days, but you will avoid many dangers.

– We have no time! – said Eleon.

– Your business. Farewell!

– Thanks for all! If we meet again, you can count on us! – Herold extended his hand.

– I hope we never meet again! – Sienna shook hands. – You’re nothing but trouble!

***

When they reached the foot of the mountain, the Sun managed to reach the western shelter, and now painted the heavenly blanket in all the colors of the rainbow.

«Today we will not go further,» said Eleon. – The morning is wiser than the evening.

The travelers took out rich supplies, with which their bags were filled to capacity. These include excellent sausages, cheeses, and berry jam. The forest people did not skimp!

This time the travelers were not afraid to light a fire.

«And in my world we light the lights with electricity,» Dorian increasingly fell into melancholy in the evenings, remembering with sadness his home. Sometimes it seemed to him that the city was lost to him forever.

– And what is it? – Esmeralda asked.

– Electricity? This is a thunderstorm that has become subject to man.

– And you said that people completely exchanged magic for machines!

– My world is the magic of machines. People there have no weight or importance at all. Indifferent, loving mechanisms and money more than each other.

– And why go back there?

– This is my home.

The herald took out a bag of tobacco, and the travelers lit a pipe. Then the clerk sang one of the old songs of his people:

Here the spirits of ancestors will captivate you with their spell,

Alley of rubies over the sunset mountain,

The mountain turns blue among the Snowy Plains,

Forest fairies and the Creator, my Master.

The sunset will come – the last war will follow,

The price is big – the whole country.

My last measles leads me to battle.

Nobody knows what’s coming next.

***

– Be careful, my student! – Ilan said to Eleon.

– Teacher! You are with me again!

– The connection between teacher and student is much stronger than death! I will appear in your dreams as long as you need me.

– My strength is already running out.

– There’s not much left at all. But you don’t have much time either. So hurry up. And remember – greed is not the best trait in these mountains.

– What does it mean? I do not understand anything.

– Wake up. Do you understand? When the time comes.

***

As soon as the first ray of sun touched the horizon, Eleon stood up and woke up the travelers.

– We’ll have breakfast and hit the road.

***

The mountain seemed infinitely high in its grandeur. The mountains have never loved the weak, and they instinctively, like dogs, felt fear in the soul of the conqueror of the peak; he must be a trainer, dictating the rules, and only then the stubborn and proud rocks will obey, placing their ledges under the traveler’s feet.

The first steps were difficult, but the higher they rose, the easier each subsequent step became. But then one of the stones under Eleon rolled down, and then the pilgrim almost fell down. He kept trying to find a new ledge, but his foot only groped for a sheer rock. Then the elements came to the rescue: Eleon created steps for himself from the intertwined threads of Light and Darkness and walked along them upward, towards his cherished goal.

Dorian was in the mountains for the first time, so it was not so easy, but step by step the mountain remained below.

Not once did I have to stop to help Esmeralda. And finally they reached the treasured mountain path.

Herold felt the most confident of all.

«Then it should be easier,» said the clerk. – Sylvia said that once the path began from the very foot, but time is merciless, even the mountains are not able to cope with it.

– What is this? – Esmeralda bent down to the stone and picked up a gold coin sparkling in the morning sun.

– Someone walked along this path recently. After all, the coin is completely new, as if someone polished it to a shine!

A bearded dwarf suddenly appeared in front of them. He clapped his hands – and the ground under Dorian suddenly disappeared. He flew down somewhere.

***

Dorian opened his eyes and realized that he was tied up. Herald, Eleon and Esmeralda were sitting nearby.

– You stole my gold! We, the foothill people, love treasures very much!

– Dwarf, but we found a coin! – said the Herald. – We didn’t steal anything!

– Certainly! You red bloods always say that! They also «found a coin»! – the dwarf waved his head at the pile of bones. – But you can’t fool me!

There were legends that dwarves had yellow blood because gold flowed in their veins. There were often stories about the ancient mountain king of the dwarves, who could turn everything he touched into gold.

The dwarf attacked the Wolf with a knife in his hand. But he underestimated the power of the Elemental Caster. The dwarf grabbed his throat, as if invisible bonds were strangling him.

– Let go!

– Why should I do this? You just tried to kill me.

– Dont kill! I didn’t know that gentlemen sorcerers deigned to come to me! I will fulfill any wish!

– Dwarves can do this! – said the Herald.

– This is where we should have started! – Eleon smiled, loosening the bonds of the magic lasso. The dwarf cut the ropes of the former captives.

– What do you want, dear guests?

– Send us to the royal castle!

– To the House of the Sorcerer?! No, if you please, death is better. This is illegal, the League will kill for this! But I am one of the last gnomes.

Once upon a time we were kings of the foothills, gold flowed like a river, dwarven songs flowed in the evenings. But then the red bloods exterminated our people, and I was one of the last.

– Greed destroyed your people! – Herold was indignant.

– So will you fulfill our wish, or will we kill you?

«I can’t make a portal to the Capital, but I can get you there in another way.»

***

They climbed up a long twisted staircase made of stones. Only a small candle helped not to stumble. When they were outside, the dwarf whispered some words, and the huge eagles landed on the top of the mountain after a while. The connection between people and nature has long weakened. And gnomes and elves have always been good spellcasters of plants and animals. People possess only a meager fraction of this knowledge.

Four travelers sat on the noble birds and flew up to the heavens, holding tightly to the feathers.

Oh, this wonderful and unforgettable feeling of flying, this carefree, intoxicating freedom when you defeat the force of gravity.

The dwarf did not deceive. The eagles dropped four travelers near the Capital.

Fragments of a manuscript about Antimonik the Darkest. Deposed ruler

Once upon a time, in the very center of the Beelzuvian kingdom, a city surrounded by an impregnable wall arose, the inhabitants of which refused to pay taxes. It’s not that they refused… It’s just that the tax collectors couldn’t get inside: there were no gates through which they could get inside the new state.

Civil servants, who had already come here more than once, drummed for a long time, when a gate suddenly appeared in the impregnable wall, and a man in a black hood came out of it.

– What do we owe to uninvited guests?

– I am Rondalf, the state tax collector. The king demands payment of taxes and dues for the year.

– Which king?

– Geryon of Belzuvia, who else!

– Is our city now subordinate to Geryon? As far as I know, our only ruler is Count Antimonik, our city-state has its own laws and religion.

The tax collectors left, but after some time the king’s entire army arrived at the city walls. Geryon could not forgive disobedience. The battering rams crashed into the wall, but wood was weaker than stone and magic. Then the king gave orders to the generals to put up ladders, but there was not a single ladder that touched the top of the wall. The city was impregnable.

Geryon returned home for the first time without victory. And even wine could not quench his anger. That night a stranger came to him, if it wasn’t just a dream.

– I ask you, Geryon, give freedom to my state voluntarily. We have our own religion, our own ideas about the structure of the world.

– Some of my servants want to be initiated into your beliefs, Antimonikos, son of Corvell. I knew your father, I knew your grandfather. I want to know you now too. Maybe your views on life are more correct than ours?

Geryon was cunning. He hid his anger to find a way to the heart of the rebellious count. And Antimonik was still too trusting.

– Let curious servants come to visit me. I will personally train them.

***

A month later, Baron Stel, an honored guest of Count Antimonik, reported to Geryon:

– I learned the basics of magic. The Order of Antimonica rules there. And only a member of the order who knows the spell can enter the city.