Chapter 4

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***

Darken Rahl.

Bhorash impressed me and quite liked it from many angles. It would be nice to rebuild it as a city or at least a fort, as it is on an important trade route and near the sea. Besides, it would be easier to rebuild the infrastructure of this city than to build a fortress from scratch or houses for craftsmen or citizens. The walls are in worse condition than the former civil and municipal buildings, but they are still half intact and the foundations are almost intact.

In addition, I was interested in the writing in the city, which was in the half-destroyed temple of the Valyrians. Here everything had already been plundered by simple shortsighted people, but they left intact the code of laws of this city, and the legends that were carved on the walls and in the cellars of this building. Thanks to them, I even seem almost certain that the city fell not from nomads or the Doom of Valyria, but because of internal strife. Internecine warfare within the city, which was accompanied by a religious clash with the Cult of the god R'glor, new for those times. In the end, if you skip the high-flown words, it all came down to the extermination of 3/5 of the city's population, and I also think someone at the noise plundered the city's treasury and those simply by the results of all the action came to the only logical conclusion that they had - moved to other colonies of the former Great Valyria. I'll have to take a closer look at this cult, I have a feeling that all this conflict started just because of this "Lord of Light".

And the main value for me - the skull, which was a magical artefact of Valyrians, was just in the far corner of the dungeons of the Temple.

I was in for a surprise.

The chamber, which was round in shape, was covered with drawings that exuded magical power. The young mage, or the unattentive person in general, had fallen for the trap that was hidden behind these undoubtedly beautiful drawings. Though it should be noted that they are primarily designed against the gifted. Because of this, Rhys and my other men were not harmed. If they had taken the skull in their hands, they definitely wouldn't have come out of here alive. But that's not the case with me. I had to rack my brains for two days on how to bypass the defences and runes. Although I was pleased with the trouble. After all, a high level of protection on this artefact means two conditions. The first is the presence of truly powerful mages in the past and most likely a full-fledged magical school in Valyria, which makes me want to visit its ruins even more. And the second is the knowledge that the artefact is really important. Plus there was a third point, specifically that I managed to entertain myself.

On the third day, I still freely entered the room, where a white ordinary seemingly human skull stood on a pedestal. But it was not so. As soon as I came close to it, about two metres away, I immediately felt that it contained about a dozen human souls!

It was a surprise to me. After all, necromancy is a very complex science. One must be skilled in Damage magic and well versed in Incremental magic to make such an artefact. However, I don't understand its purpose yet.

I brought a slave and gave him my word that if he brought me this skull, I would give him his freedom.

The madman was so happy that he didn't even think about the catch... and he paid for it immediately.As soon as he touched the skull with one hand, it froze, then shook and began to be covered with grey growths, which in colour and "cracks" instead of veins reminded me of stone. As soon as this process had completely engulfed the slave, he tried to pounce on me. But my reaction was quicker, and I burnt him to the bone immediately. Although I must admit to myself that at that moment I was even a little afraid of what was happening.

But then I remembered the stories of the sailors and a healer in the Vayserion house, that there was a terrible disease in the world called "grey sickness", and the symptoms and consequences were very similar to what I had just seen.

Could it be that artefacts like this are to blame for this ailment?

It was worth considering, given that there was now one more soul in that skull, according to the echoes.

- Quite curious. - And for the first time in my time in this world, I used an old habit of licking my little finger and running it over my eyebrows and lips. - It looked like I was going to be here a lot longer than I'd originally thought.

That's what happened. The research dragged on for another week. But not just because of the skull.

As soon as I stepped outside, I received new reports from my spies and birdies.

There's still a civil war going on in Westeros.

The rebellious, or rather already rebellious, Dorne and Spaceland are resisting the choice of a new king, Robert Baratheon the First, of their own name. And if they unite, they can really throw off the new king, because in Dorne now there are forty thousand spears, in Spaceland about fifty, besides Tyrells so the richest noble House of Westeros on a par with the Lanisters.

But if you include the Iron Islands on their side, they have a strong fleet with experienced sailors. They still haven't done anything worthwhile in the war, in fact they've been sitting out.

And in principle, I could contribute to that and somehow unite the three regions of the Seven Kingdoms.

But why?

It would be enough for me to have this Baratheon sitting on the Iron Throne. There's no need to change that figure for another king just yet. The other thing is that a dynastic marriage is brewing between him and Cersei Lannister, daughter of the glorious Tywin Lanister Lord Keeper of the Westlands. He is quite a clever husband, even one of the most cunning men in this world and cruel if the circumstances demand it. I believe there is a song, "The Rhines of Castamere", that shone a world-wide spotlight on the suppression, correction the brutal suppression of the insolence of his two vassals the Rhines and the Tarbeks.

Had it not been for this attempt to nail himself to the trough of power with the help of his daughter, I would have brought him closer to me in the future. But it is now clear that he will not be willing to give up the power and influence that he will soon gain. A pity, a great pity.

But maybe someone else in politics will serve me faithfully.

After all, I'm not going to limit myself to Essos, much less the Slaver's Bay. Soon I will finally decide where to build my new capital, and from there I will rule my new empire.

As far as new secrets were concerned, there wasn't much to go on. Except that I could presumably find out my mother's name, Alice Velarion. She is the younger sister of the head of House Velarion, who is now imprisoned in the family castle. For what, the public doesn't know.

With my father it was much more difficult. He's like the wind and hard to find. During the time we were in Bhorash, he was on his way to the Dornish Marks, and the "birds" hadn't spotted him yet.

Then came the news that concerned us specifically, or rather the woman who stood not far from me and looked in one direction without interruption.

- Are you looking in the direction where the caravan with that merchant is going? - I asked Miriam.

- Yes," she answered briefly without turning round.

- Do you want to punish those who treated you so badly in slavery?

- Yes. But it's... complicated.

- I don't see the problem, Miriam. - I smiled into the surprised warrior's face, which was already turned towards me. - They are not far away, as well as the two companies of my soldiers that are east of here. Besides, we have a small group of warriors with us. We can make a small sortie, besides I want to see my soldiers not in a direct confrontation, but in a night ambush.

She hesitated at first, trying to find the words, but she was still not fluent in common, and not importantly in Dothraki, even though she had fought them half her life. In the end she simply knelt and lowered her head.

- Please, Master Rahl.

- Stand Miriam, I wish you to look me in the eye and stand straight, to hold your swords for my defence and service to me. I do not wish to make you my slave, you are not fit for that.

- Thank you. - Is it just me, or did I see moisture in the corners of her eyes?

- Get ready, we'll be moving out to the caravan soon. I'll just send a message to the company commanders.

That's exactly what I did.

This "trip" had three main purposes:

1. To get back at Miriam for the trader and those who bullied her there.

2. To see my men in action at night.

3. I needed slaves to seal the skull's power temporarily. To transfer it to Tholos and work on it there. And for that I need human sacrifices.

So two days later we were fifty miles from Bhorash in an ambush with two hundred of my warriors, who would soon make up my first legion, and another four dozen men from the ships, plus me, my "giant" Miriam, who was now thirsty for blood and Rhys.

That said, unlike me, he decided to take part in the battle, I did not forbid it, he is already not much better with weapons than even the same militia that most villages or towns have, and the slingshots are at the same high level as the soldiers of our city. After all, Tolos is famous for its slingers throughout Essos. And there are now eight thousand of these support soldiers present in Tholos, and another thousand as guards. In addition, there are over a thousand serving as mercenaries in the Disputed Lands. So I wasn't worried about him. Besides, he promised me that he wouldn't take any unnecessary risks.

The caravan had grown even larger. Apparently he'd recruited more slaves from the peasants, or they'd bought them off somewhere. The guards, however, were about twenty men less. Perhaps they had run into a small band of Dothraki or mercenaries. It doesn't matter now. It's better for us.

We surrounded their camp, and I used magic to conceal our presence for now. But as soon as half of the time of the second guard of the caravan had passed, I gave the order to attack.

My soldiers moved in three groups.

The first was from the north, where the mountains were, led by Lieutenant Quentin Darstein, a descendant of a Westeros native who had once risen under the Blackfeather banners at the time of their first rebellion and had been in Essos ever since. He first served in the Golden Swords for a time, then left them and travelled further east and served for a time in Quochor. And when I started to form my new kind of troops, he was just in time, for he was familiar with the Dothraki hordes, the blameless, free mercenaries, the Westerosi fighting style, and so on. That's why I appointed him lieutenant, though in the Golden Swords, he was only a sergeant. But so far, he had acquitted himself well as a company commander. His job was to make sure that he and his men would descend the hills and capture the traders and all the treasuries of the caravan without a fuss.

The second group consisted of nearly one hundred and fifty men. It was led by another of my lieutenants named Quordin, a mercenary from Tyrosh. I can't say much for him, but I'm keeping an eye on him. He hasn't shown himself much yet. His task was to get into the main battle and pull the forces a little to the east, and the third group will be led by Miriam and will go from the south and first hit the rear of the main forces of the defenders, and then will take revenge.

It would be possible, of course, to put them all to sleep or quietly slaughter the guards and then kill all the men of the caravan. But that's not interesting. Again, I'm interested in a "night fight", not a simple robbery.

Almost everything worked out just as I had planned. The only hitch was that the defenders of the caravan turned out to be very agile and clever, and in the end Lieutenant Quordin's squad lost almost a third of its personnel, and the lieutenant himself was killed in the battle.

So now Darstein commands both companies, and after the attack was over I gave him the rank of captain and put the third company under him. I don't think I was wrong about him. As for Miriam's "revenge", it didn't go smoothly either. She got her hands on a couple of the merchant's relatives, and also the overseer who was abusing her, but the caravan owner himself at the sight of her... died. Her heart exploded with fear. It happens.

I laughed hard when I saw the look on her face. She stood over the merchant's body for another minute, unable to believe that her victim had walked away from her so easily. Though she really looked scary, and I don't even know what frightened a normal person in her more, the fact that she was covered in the blood of the enemy or her predatory grin that after his death disappeared and there was only a mask of incomprehension and even... resentment.

Anyway, while Miriam dealt with those she had at hand, I looked at the trophies we had got. Among them were gold, silver, precious hides and cloths, and weapons, among which were several ordinary swords and spears, a mace, a good two-metre long axe, two Valyrian daggers, and a sabre that belonged to the owner of the caravan. I decided to forge them into a full sword.

As for the slaves, I decided not to touch them. The defenders who had been captured would be enough for a sacrifice. And their slaves, though now mine, I would set them up in Tolos or other cities as spies. I'll think of that later.

Tomorrow we'll return to Bhorash, I'll take the skull, and we'll head back to Tolos. For now, our cruise is over.

To be continued...