– Whatever, – the merchant was upset, – it will be necessary to find out more precisely whether the wine remained in the warehouse, or Aristarchus sold everything. Wine is a running product, and you think that it is, but it has not been for a long time. You know, a guest from the North, my clerk is a real sneaker, I suffer with him so much, but I can’t drive him away because of a good heart.

Sinas made a misunderstood face, but comparing the simple face of the clerk and the roguish Pelagia, especially how diligently the merchant now hid his fingers behind his back, he did not strongly believe the words of the romance. But, as agreed, several people followed Aristarchus. Actually, only two northerners remained in the tavern.

Sinas and Asan sat at an almost clean table, which a peddler smoothed with a knife right in front of them, and then raked shavings from the floor. Then they brought them a jug of wine and cups of green glass.

«Should I drink three jugs?» Asan inquired of a companion.

– No less… To remove suspicions from the locals.

«Who are we going to beat?» ’he asked frowningly.

– And here, these – and Sinas nodded at the six Romanesque merchants – and it is possible to others. I don’t care.

They were stocky, bearded men dining on bread with soft sheep’s cheese. There was also a dish with dried fish, a jug of wine. The merchants also had considerable knives on their belts, and they looked detailed and bold to the sailors.

«No murder, Asan. And so there are many corpses behind us.

– And I don’t want to start a matchmaker, twin. So you have to fight!

But everything was decided not to say what was for the best for the Romans. But not so hard for the northerners, after the incident, their conscience calmed down. A peddler, a young girl, while walking slipped on a defended fish head, and poured wine on a dark felt cloak of one of the romance merchants, who picked up the floor of his clothes with annoyance and hit his strong girl’s ass with his palm. The girl, unaccustomed to such treatment, covering her face with her sleeve, cried and ran away.

– Why so, kind man? – Asan gladly intervened, – or is it customary for you, in Trebizond?

– Are you, Dylda, her guardian, or maybe the groom or husband? asked the angry merchant.

– You are a dishonest man! – was his answer.

Romaeus immediately grabbed a heavy stool and threw it at Asan. He did not dodge, and having caught the seat and leg, he threw the offender in the stomach, and he just gasped, fell on the dirty floor of the tavern and scraped his thick fingers on the boards. The rest, five, with their fists at the ready, rushed at two northerners. It wasn’t an equal scrum. Sinas immediately knocked down one, meeting with a punch in the hypochondrium, Asan sent the other to unconsciousness with two blows.

Three merchants, seeing the fiasco of their comrades, exposed daggers and tried to use them. But they could not even scratch the Romans of the northerners. However, the knights gave time for the Romans to get tired well, so that sweat was already pouring with hail.

Finally, three guards simply flew into the tavern, with sticks and axes.

– Drop the knives, stop the rampage! – shouted, you can see the eldest of the guards, – otherwise it will be bad!

Romei threw daggers, and bent down, tried to lift their friends from the floor. Lying only grunting and moaning, got up, leaning on their hands, wiped blood from broken faces. The guards looked at both tall guests, and the elder called the northerners to the tavern door with a sign. Asan put two coins, payment for the treat, and without hesitation went to the courtyard of the tavern.

– Sit down… – the guard pointed to the bench with a sign, – I am Vanir, the foreman of the city guard. Why are you starting a matchmaker?

– I am Asan. They were the first to attack, in truth there is no guilt on us.

– Yes. And from them I will take five coins in your favor. But merchants are dear to us, and we have no trace of daring them.

– And we are trading people, Vanir. They came to sell goods from the Studded Sea.

«It doesn’t hurt you like merchants. These, with daggers, could not even cut your clothes, they could not hurt anything, but people, they are not weak, and have been in alterations more than once or twice.

«Every merchant, he’s a warrior. You know, Vanir.

Desyatnik looked at tall guys, no longer young men, but they were far from a man’s article. But even now they were extremely strong and fast.

– Just don’t come here with a week until these Romans leave on a merchant ship to their Sinop.

– Let’s wait for friends, and leave, – Asan agreed, – we will finish the wine only…

– Who did your friends leave with?»

– Yes, a new acquaintance, Aristarchus, promised to show them the city…

The guards laughed, Vanir’s face also lit up with a wide smile, the foreman only looked at each other with his comrades. Well, that was understandable… The guys are young, only from the campaign, so the girls went…

– No, then of course, it’s important, wait… There is something to see in Kerch. That’s why he is Tsargrad.

***

Leonty came running quickly, finding a warrior sitting on the bench at the gatehouse, with an ax in his belt, with a bow and a quiver full of arrows on his side.

– Boyko, hello! – the young man greeted, – so Anastasius calls Vanir with his warriors.

«The ten will be back soon. You want to sit here, wait here.

– Okay, – the boy was not very upset, and began to draw letters on the sand.

The boy taught a little writing to the empire of an intelligent guard. There was such an agreement between them. The Romance letter was not easy for the servant of the law. And, he repeated after Leonty, bringing out letters with a stick, in the sand, pronouncing words to himself. Everything did not work out right away, and it was hard to get used to other people’s letters. The lad drew words and Boyko read:

– Stratiot, warrior for us.

– Here, you see, it turns out at me.

And the restless teenager wrote another word, or rather, two more:

«Mega Igemon, the Great Lord,» the guard read, «it’s a little.

– Well done, – there was a strong voice, – Boyko, soon you will learn to read Roman, not only our letter you will know! Leonty, what happened?

– Hello, decarch, – the boy began ceremoniously, – my father asks you to come to our inn with your soldiers. You said that you should report all suspicious foreigners.

«What’s wrong with them?»

– Yes, they themselves… Everything, as if from one egg hatched – each seven feet tall, hair very light, blue eyes. Everyone knows how sailors behave after a hike – they are looking for a tavern with wine, but accommodating women. These are decorously sitting in their dormitories and waiting for dinner.

– And how many are there?

– Thirty people, just like in the tales of savirs about heroes.

«Thank you, lad,» Vanir added, tapping the messenger on the shoulder. «Now we will come.» And you run to your father, behave as usual, do not bully guests. Wait.

Desyatnik, or decarch in Romanesque, because there were many Romans living in Kerch, almost more than northerners, or wends who had recently come in large numbers with Oleg. Yes, the felling then was between the northerners and the Wends, although short, but terrible. Oleg, calling himself a guest, entered the harbor on three ships, and first captured and killed Dar, and then, with his banners, entered the fortress and hacked Oskol there. Part of the detachments of the northerners, together with the saras, locked themselves in Surozh and cut with the Wends, and Oleg could not take the city.

Oleg announced that he had taken power on behalf of Igor, also by blood from the Veles clan, accused Oskol and Dar that they had tortured the fugitives from the Elbe who had gone to the Dnieper from the evil Karla. Yes, Oskol sent magyars to the Wends, to take tribute, because the newcomers sat down on his land, the land of the northerners and Saras. Magyars burned Vendian towns on Volkhov and Dnieper. The Wends from despair tearfully asked the Velesovichi on the Varangian Sea to give them a prince, and Rurik came from the Western Wends.

Then the news came to the White Kings that the Saxons and Franks were attacking the encouraged and Lyutichi, and, throwing lots, they decided that the Magyars would go on a campaign. So the forces of the Kings became impoverished, and Rurik began a rebellion. White kings died, and the Siberian princes, Northern and Ural did not recognize the authorities of Rurik… And, now the warriors of the Wends feared the revenge of the northerners, and were always at the ready. Vanir, who already knew what the northerners looked like, therefore remembered what had happened and prepared for the worst.

– Put on your armor, and quickly go to Anastasia’s inn, – commanded the decarch to his people.

The warriors began to quickly put themselves in order, helping each other. However, Zhnyr, differed, as always:

«What are the reservations to take?» It’s very hot… Merchants came, it’s usual. We will make sense, if necessary, put it in the underground.

– Faster… Let’s go in order, – said Vanir harshly, looking at the troublemaker badly, – a weapon to be ready!

He only spread his arms, and no longer argued with the decarch, only threw the shield behind his back. The soldiers walked briskly along the narrow Kerch street, past a solid line of adobe fences that merged into another wall. Even on small plots of land, grapes and peach trees grew, where there were pear trees. True, sometimes there were wastelands, with destroyed houses, fallen roofs. And in such abandoned places only nettles and ivy turned green.

Finally, the wind brought the smell of the edible to the guards, and even the eternally dull Zhnyr, smiled, and loudly pulled the air with his nose:

– Mullet, fried… Moreover, with pepper, garlic and basil… So only Psaki smells…

– It’s close. Shields at the ready! – commanded a foreman.

The detachment quickly approached the open gates of the gate, and quickly, past the silent dogs, moved to the forge. Vanir, without repairing, jerked open the door of the tavern, upholstered in strip iron, and went inside. A dozen guests sat at a wide table, as Leonty said, men, or rather, young men of enormous height, and not at all frightening in appearance. They ate quickly, ate Anastasios’s cooking with pleasure, the peddlers smiled at the prigozhe merchants.

– Vanir? Come in for a snack? – found something to say Anastasius.

– Well, yes, time to eat, – the guard played along, – if I don’t interfere. Will you feed my guys? – and the warrior put the coin in front of the tavern.

– I am glad to the guests, – only the romey answered.

Vanir brought his own, dressed more for sich, and not dinner, so the soldiers had to fold the armor. The ashen-haired merchants were noticeably revived, among them there was laughter, however, they ate treats and drank wine with the same zeal.

Vanir sat down next to Anastasius, with a fish jam in his hand, and looked inquiringly at the tavern.

«These?» – without looking towards the guests, asked the foreman.

Romay just nodded, and drank wine from the cup. I looked at the main of the northerners, and Vanir also looked at the northerner with a golden hryvnia around his neck. The foreman wiped his mustache, got up from the table, stepped over the bench, and ended up next to the guards. He was without a sword, only with a dagger on his belt.

– My name is Viten, – the giant called himself, – the foreman of the merchants, we came from the Jellied Sea.

Vanir calmed down slightly, the man, or rather, the young man, did not look intimidating. The guard looked closely at the embroidery on the sleeves, but he was alerted by the tattoo on his hands. There was no sword on the belt, only a large knife.

– Some of mine went to have a little fun after a long hike, but by night they will return, – explained the foreman, – they are not a hindrance to the city.

The foreman calmed down, or pretended to be calm, put his thumbs in his belt, put his left leg forward.

– Everyone is glad that merchants from distant edges come to Kerch, and you are welcome here.

– We know the laws, guard, and do not bother.

«Let’s not stop you from eating. Anastasia is being fed wonderfully well, you made no mistake about the place, Viten.

Vinar sat down with his friends at the table, ate quickly, and soon his soldiers left the inn.

– Everything worked out? Gunei asked quietly.

– Vinar went to the pit. I hope for Asan and Sinas that everything will end there without a big swara.

– But not without a little? the interlocutor smiled.

Viten swallowed from the cup, and smoothed out a light mustache. Asan and Sinas could be relied upon.

***

But not only the kitchen attracted the inn Anastasia guests from the North. The foreman looked at the black night sky, strewn with stars, and saw a donjon standing on a hill, Oleg’s shelter. It used to be the court of Oskol and Dar. Viten took out a leather pipe from his bag, the creation of the ancient masters of Priobye, pushed it apart, and began to look through it at the castle. Rounded and polished pieces of rock crystal seemed to bring the stone towers closer to Viten’s eyes. The moat, the light bridge, the light burning in the windows of the castle, everything was visible in a wonderful pipe. The palace, as the foreman knew, was guarded by about a hundred of the best vigilantes. Witen just grinned. Another way awaited them, wherever they met the vigilant guards of Oleg’s castle. He returned to his dormitory, where Lute was already waiting for him. There was no fire in the room, these people did not need light.

– Look, Viten, – and the knight unfolded the yellow parchment, – The plan of the underground passage to the castle…

– I see, on your contented grin, you already found and start of move to the castle? – the knight looked at his friend and comrade-in-arms.

– In the stable, foreman, – slowly, almost in syllables, Lute broadcast, – we will pass in two hours. Before sunset, you need to go underground in order to be in time.

«Take three more. Five of us will do everything quickly, we will take with us only daggers, ropes. We do not go to fight, we will not give the killer a fair fight, we will only kill Oleg for deception and that’s it. Do not forget the venom box.

«Will he take the corpse with him?» Lute revived.

– No. Let’s throw it in the castle. Everything must be done wisely. Remove suspicions from yourself, but point it at whom…

So another day passed… In the rays of the sunset, unnoticed by the servants of the inn, only five shadows slipped to the stable. The gates creaked and everything died down. On the hayloft, where the lovers rested, they did not even notice the soldiers. Leonty only rustled with straw, shook his head, driving away the hassle, and again hugged his beloved beauty.

***

Nine worn steps led down, however, it was not bad to go, because clay slurry, a frequent companion of such moves, was not here. Just think, nonsense – a dozen hefty rats eating an old cat to the bone, and so, nothing so terrible. But the barn predators were driven away with clever blows of their boots, and here Lute was especially lucky – he hit two at once!

The knights bent almost twice, the course was low, hewn calcareous stones covered with cobwebs and mold threatened to knock down felt caps from tall northerners. Soon the slope of the course began to rise significantly, it became a little harder to go, but these people had no difficulties or fear of darkness, they saw in the darkness no worse than in the light of the sun.

– How, what can be seen ahead?

– For a long time, Jaromir,» the foreman did not console his brother.

– It’s a pity that I’m not a dactyl, – Lute muttered, – they are familiar… Once, once, and there…

– Yeah, dactyl in our squad, – whispered the funny Uslad.

– Quieter you, – Viten muttered, – soon already, here, signs on the wall.

And he showed the well-known sign hidden under the dust – URDHVA-PUNDRA, or Kolyumn. This sign has always been the coat of arms of the Bosporus kings, and they were also from the family of the White Kings. And during the confusion, three hundred years ago, the White Kings settled in Kerch, a convenient place rich in fish and grain from the Kuban. Yes, and trading, but true, it was not very good with water, they only stored rain in huge tanks.

But now, they came to the door. Only it turned out, the door is new, with a noble castle.

– Please, work for you, – the foreman whispered, – not just sins.

– Yes, I’ll try… – the knight answered, taking out a bunch of cunning keys.

For a long time the castle did not resist, did not squeal or creak, clicked the shutter briskly, and the heavy door leaf almost opened itself.

«I’m ahead,» Viten said.

The knights quickly screamed at the door, and again closed the lock from sin. Judging by the low vault, and roughly processed blocks of walls, they were in the basement. There were also very picturesque hooks in the walls.

– That’s right, Oleg here tortures enemies… On the hook, and done.

«No, Uslad,» Jaromir replied, picking up the grease on the wall under the hooks, «it ran from the oil lamps. And soot from torches.

– Maybe. – comrade did not bicker, – we must go upstairs. What is the idea, Viten?

– There are ovens in the undercloths. I took good herbs. Let’s throw it into kindling – and everyone will fall asleep without hind legs, such nightmares will haunt – and Elena the Beautiful will not help them…

«Everything will work out as it should,» agreed Lute.

The stoves were melted, there were no stoves yet, and new ones appeared. Viten put a large piece of grass in each of the four furnaces, and closed the shutters, and opened the door from the basement. Smoke began to fall from the stoves, rising higher and higher, on the floors of the donjon,

It is always hard to wait, time dragged on, as if soaked soaked until all the grass burned out in the firebox.

– Close your mouths with wet rags, and let’s go, – Viten ordered.

Well done, they moistened rags from flasks of water, and tied their faces, looked at each other, and carefully began to understand the stairs…

There were callous bodies lying around. Warriors, servants, boyars, maids, smoke deprived everyone of consciousness and strength. Many had crimson – red faces, distorted, with foam at the mouth. The knights walked quickly, not paying attention to the suffering of others. At the door of the princely chambers lay ten crouched warriors with axes in their hands. Many apparently tried to rise, but nothing came of this venture.