Chapter 22

"What's the matter," shouted one of the merchants sitting on a sand lizard.

But no one answered him.

The mercenaries gathered in front of the caravan all stared ahead as one.

"This is the first time I've seen this in my life.

- All this is strange.

- Some bullshit.

The five men who had gathered in a semicircle were vigorously discussing a spectacle they had never seen before in the village. A huge carcass of a carnivorous worm that partially ejected to the surface, died.

"What if this worm's death is related to that earthquake last night.

"Exactly, these creatures are sensitive to vibrations, by the way, have there ever been earthquakes in this desert?"

"I haven't heard that, my grandfather drove caravans here for a good fifty years, and my father too, but what about earthquakes? It never happened.

- Before the shocks, I heard a strong bang or even rather the sound of an explosion, maybe a meteorite fell?

"Well, some kind of nonsense, we would have seen a meteorite in the night sky, our merchants, don't fuck with them, they stare at the sky through their pipe all night long, as if they were peeping into a women's bath. Do you think they would have missed it?

- And that's right.

- Okay, it's time to go, why stand something.

***

The city of the state of Tai-Lon, at this time prospered.

And the key to this prosperity was, as it sounds strange, alchemy.

Like their distant ancestors who lived in Alcholion, the locals mostly knew alchemy, and naturally practiced it, both privately and on a public scale.

Of course, little was left of their former great knowledge, all the great minds, masters of alchemical thought and stone magic, remained in the second Alcholion, where they worked on the army of retribution until their last breath, not wanting to forget the pain that dark humanity caused them.

By the way, the founders of the city of Tai-Lon decided that it was not at all necessary, and even harmful, for their descendants to know about their past. And even more so about what happened to their hometown of Alcholion, and how the best minds of the alchemical nobility remained to create an army of golems, deep under the mountain range, in order to recapture this very city.

All this seemed to them superfluous and harmful for the minds of the younger generation.

Therefore, with the help of propaganda and censorship, for several hundred years they have almost completely eradicated from the memory of people, knowledge of their roots. And those who still remembered something, safely forgot about it, under the yoke of time and because of their small number.

And this was not surprising, because in order to forget the memory of their own people, the top of society almost completely either destroyed all the works written by their ancestors, or rewrote them beyond recognition. And later, after many generations, this very top itself lost most of the memories of the past, including the knowledge of the ancient alchemists.

But, this did not particularly depress anyone, since the majority of the people lived in clover.

Thanks to the knowledge of alchemy and stone magic that survived among people, people learned how to make wonderful fertilizers, after which crops of various colors grew by leaps and bounds, completely covering the food demand of the population.

Numerous private workshops and alchemical laboratories easily coped with providing the people with medicines and household items, and the knitting factory dressed the whole city.

And after the ingenious Plonville family rediscovered the long-forgotten recipe for healing powder, the city began to live to its fullest.

By the way, the recipe for the healing powder was kept in the strictest confidence, and he was released only in a special state pharmacy. Which was understandable, because the recipe was a state secret.

By the way, it was this powder that was the most popular and expensive commodity exported through caravans.

And of course, it was exported to the city of the state of Hordnock, which, unlike Tai-Lon and the Secret Gardens, was connected with the continent, albeit bad, but still expensive.

And yes, the same caravan that had been coming here for more than a month was carrying goods for exchange for the same miracle powder, which then the state of Hordnock sold at exorbitant prices on the continent.

Naturally, the alchemists were not fools and the sale price, even to first-time buyers like Hordnock, was high, but the powder was too popular among the continental inhabitants, which did not stop him from winding up a huge price on it.

***

— When should the caravan arrive? asked an older man dressed in an expensive but rather plain-looking robe, somewhat like a cassock with a robe.

"In a week they should come to the appointed meeting place," the young man, standing at the office door, reported.

- Okay, you can go.

- That's right, - the young man, who was already intending to leave, turned around again, - Head, can I ask you a question.

- And what, - asked already bald from the top of his head, Bolin.

"Is it true that a few dead worms were found in the desert last night, thrown up into the hills?"

"Yes, it is," said the head of the city, smiling a little at such a lively interest.

- Incredible, but what are the reasons for this?

"We don't know this, and we'll probably never know," Bolin, getting up from the table, looked out the open window, "probably very many on the continent would wish all these worms dead, even among the locals there are plenty of those who think the same way, but you know, I think otherwise.

The guy looked with surprise at the person he respected so much.

- Otherwise?

- Yes. I do not want these worms to die out at all, for this will be the end for our city.

"Do you think many will leave for the continent when they can move freely in the desert?" In vain you are the head, our residents love our city very much, I'm sure many will stay here until the very end.

- I'm not talking about that, the point is not that someone will leave, but who will arrive. Do you really think that the people from the mainland, who have huge armies, will stand on ceremony with us when they know that they can capture and enslave those who produce the healing powder?

"But, after all, we also have an army, and we can ask for help from the secret garden," his assistant said with a confused look.

"Our army is nothing more than zilch. Yes, we have several dozen strong warriors and magicians, and they will be able to repel the invasion of small groups, but if there are no worms, then it will be possible to lead a whole army through the desert, which will wipe us and the town of forest dwellers from the face of the earth. These worms, which many consider to be a problem, are actually our most loyal allies, they are the ones who protect our prosperous town from being eaten by these capitalist rats, mired in wars and genocides of entire nations.

- In my opinion, you exaggerate the head, we know very little about the mainland, in view of isolation. All we can do is get information from the caravaners. So I think it can't be that bad.

Bolin took a deep breath:

- You are free, go already from here.

Bowing, he left, closing the door behind him.

"How naive people can be when everything is going well in their lives. And how dangerous this naivete can be…"