He realized she was going to burn everyone. He stabbed her arm desperately, but she moved it away. However, the fire went out; indicating that she needed to concentrate. He stabbed her again and again, and each time she walked away with effortless grace. She glared at him, her intense gaze burning his skin.
But his attacks began to force her back. Again and again she tried to start a fire, but each time he thrust his spear at her, forcing her to duck. She jumped back and screamed at him, her mouth impossibly wide, revealing rows of wolf-like fangs. Then she turned around and disappeared completely, leaving no trace.
Androchus' murderous intent finally ran out, extinguished like a candle. He dropped to his knees, panting, sweat dripping onto the shards of the table. For a moment, the whole room was silent. After the wind passed, the people at the door began to walk out and left quietly without saying a word. After a while, Androx stood up, walked to the sofa, and collapsed on the seat tiredly.
He picked up the wine and took a long swig as the others left, then reached into his robes and pulled out Wolf Scar. The little fairy's cheeks were wet with tears, and he was speechless. He was shaking like a leaf blown by the wind, his eyes tightly closed. A
d
Okles gently placed him on his chest and held him in place with one hand.
He ate some of the food on the plate and it tasted good. The feeling penetrated a strange numbness in his mind and brought him to consciousness. Some in the crowd glanced back at him as they walked out, their expressions unreadable. He wondered if they would return with stones and spears to drive him out of town. After what he saw, he doubted their courage.
After a while, the wolf screeched
It calmed down a bit; but instead of jumping down, he leaned deeper inside and fell silent.
"Are you okay, little one?"A
d
okles asked.
The fairy moved, and then said in a hoarse voice: "Yes."
"Very good," he said.
After a while, the fairy sat up and said, "Can we go see Gabby?"
"Would you like to see her?"
"Yeah, that's what I mean. Check her out." Wolf screeched
explain. Then he climbed up Ankerex's chest and slipped into the collar of his robe. The fairy sat down and put his little head under Androx's chin, so that he could see it. The fairy behaved a bit like a kicked puppy, which Androx found a little funny.
Gotzo
e is sitting on the stairs, his hands are still and his skin is pale. Seeing Andrels, she stood up and straightened her clothes, but she could not regain her usual composure. When she saw the fairy's little head rising from A
d
When Okles's robe came out, she sighed sympathetically and said, "Oh, you look scared!"
"She ate fairies. I remember." Wolf Sca
explain. "I don't want to see her again."
Gotzo
e nodded sympathetically. Compassion for this little thing seemed to give her strength. She said, "Let me take you to your room, Master Androx. The last time I checked, Gabby was in bed."
The servant screamed and jumped when Androx opened the door, but when she saw it was him she let out a loud breath of relief. "How...how..." she said. Then she took a deep breath and said, surprisingly politely: "Mr. Androcks, the girl was sleeping downstairs during the entire incident. She was not injured. We can take you and your Can I take off my fairy clothes and let you rest at night?"
He saw Gotzo
e looked at her servant with a proud smile, her eyes quickly becoming moist, and rightfully so.
"Wait a minute," he said. He quietly walked over to the sleeping Gabby, peaceful and innocent, just like his sons. Her loose hair spread out in every direction, covering the pillow and dragging onto the bed. He brushed the hair off her forehead with his thumb, then pressed his palm against her cheek for a moment. She stirred but did not wake.
"I have to take her with me, don't I?" he said, almost to himself. "I can't give her to Kelso now."
Gotzo
E's voice was calm and wise, and she said: "The goddess will come to save her, and no one will resist the wild mother." There was no one alive anywhere. I believe this. "
"The kids will be sorry, too," he said sincerely. However, they were no longer in his care, despite how sad he was to think of them being eaten. It really hurt him. As he remembered that he still had options, a struggle began to play out in his mind. He said: "Did you know she was a human sacrificer?"
"I've known it for a long time. I mentioned before that I refused to worship her and this is why. My father made sure I understood the curse," she said. "My family and I will never respect a god who drinks human blood."
"Then what god do you worship?"
"No one deserves respect. She has driven everyone else out, and no other god hears his prayers, and no other god accepts sacrifices. Traveling priestesses from the Kingdom of Glory and many other countries live in my No one under the roof can talk to their god here.”
"This is ridiculous. The sun is still in the sky, isn't it? Where is the moon? Pray to them!" said Androx. Still, there was something in her voice that frightened him, both gentle and deep. Could he really Was he outside the jurisdiction of the Father's court? Could no other god see him but Mary? Which would be worse? To know that he had lost the gods of his ancestors and their help, or to know that that he had escaped their greed and discontent, and that his misfortunes were but the empty chaos of the world?
If Gotzo
e noticed his philosophizing, but she didn't hint at it. She sat on the chair, elegantly folding her legs and placing her arms on the armrests, making the chair look like a throne.
"Master Androcles, your arrival makes me suspect that you were sent by the gods to weaken her. Tartarus was the hammer with which she shaped people, and he is broken. You pass through the basket and go south. You must have seen their harvest. They bore her a child in the spring, and she blessed them. But this child was chosen because he was sick, and he died before the ceremony could begin. The other was not found in time .The hideous Tartalo has been eating peasants and woodcutters ever since. Her priests say she will accept no more sacrifices until the first snow falls.”
"To be honest, I got lucky when I killed that guy, but I'm sure it only took two hundred men with fire and arrows to bring him down. Are everyone here cowards?"
"The truth is scarier than cowardice. Many people here sincerely worship her. She is generous and generous when she pleases. I'm told she has looked after this nation for a hundred generations. Those who don't worship her are usually treated with scorn."
Well, that's different, he thought; what would he do if his father's patron saint was Mary instead of the Father? Even if she was the curser, would it be appropriate for anyone to go against such a long tradition?
He said, "Well, then maybe I shouldn't interfere. I'm just here because I want to keep my oath." As soon as the words came out of his mouth, he could see how ashamed he was. He lowered his head.
"Perhaps you were indeed lucky in your battle with Tartalo. But it seems to me that the best the gods could send was a man taller, stronger, stronger and more dignified than anyone else?" A man who defeats his enemies with a spear in one hand and a rescued child in the other? You are a man who risks your life to save a child, Master Androx. You are gentle and strong. You can save many more. people."
Androx gave her a hard look. "I'm not that kind of person, it's so rude of you to say something like that. I'm the one who kills parents, not the one who saves children. I'm just here to get my stuff back. That's all."
"No, Master Androx, that's what you think you are. When no one is around to boss you around, that's what you do."
"Listen, Master, I saved these kids because I swore to help some orphans before I found them. They delayed me for a week before I sent them somewhere. I saved that Girl because I got caught and she happened to be in the pit with me. I'm here now because she made me swear. I'm a man who kills for his city and that's all I have. This is Me, Gotzo
Master e, I lost this before I found my silverware. To be honest, I think this all happened only because Della made a sacrifice to the magician or road clearer and he agreed to stand in my way while she ran away. ” He noticed that his frustration and discomfort with the situation was showing. He spoke a little louder than he needed to, and he could feel his frustration with Gotzo.
How deeply e frowns when he is angry. Maybe she didn't deserve the scolding, but she brought it up.
"May I ask, which boys are you referring to?" "The goddess mentioned them too," she said politely. She handles his anger with grace and aplomb, which annoys him a little.
"I found some skinny, starving Skytha on the road
de
Kit, a few hours' drive from Crossroads south of Basket. They begged me to save them, and I did. I left them in the basket and gave them to a woman named Aguna, who was your exact opposite in every way, just because she promised to take care of them. "
"What about the robbers? Were you attacked?"
"Not really. They wanted the kids and wouldn't take no for an answer, so I had to kill six of them." This was getting annoying.
"Why don't you hand them over?"
"Robber?" he said sarcastically.
"Yes, to the robbers. Why don't you hand them over? Will the six robbers take the bag away?"
"Oh, I'm sure they'll try. But I don't deal with bandits."
"You mentioned that you were delayed for a week or more. However, the journey from the basket to the crossing was less than two days. What happened?"
"I had to sit there and nurse them back to health. They were all starving, and each had one foot on the moldy doorstep of the corpse-eater. Pepper's whole foot was sideways," Patos said. Lean in that direction.”
Gotzo
e looked at him calmly and waited for a long time before speaking. "You're trying to tell me," she said with a tone of naked sarcasm and suspicion, "that you rescued two children from starvation, killed six bandits to protect them, and spent a week acting like a maid Nurse them back to health, find them a home, and then you do the same thing to the little Galbi there, only this time it's not a bandit, but a Tatar with a human leg hanging from his teeth, and you're not Someone who protects children?”
Androx roared in frustration. "Listen, even if that's the case, that's not the case."
"Master Androx," she said with great dignity, "do you like those boys? Tell me the truth."
He looked at her and then lowered his head, unable to resist her gaze. If he lied now, this whole unpleasant conversation would be over and he could move on with his life tomorrow. But he knew he couldn't. An honest man never lies to his friends. "I do like them. What I do."
"Do you love them?"
After a pause, he looked at the ground and said calmly: "It's me."
"You don't know yourself, Andrew. You take such good care of them because no matter what you think, you have a tender heart. Don't deny it. How would you feel about yourself and your honor if you let Mary eat it? You save The boy you lived and loved? Haven’t you lost enough?”
Her words hit me where it hurts. There was a lump in his throat, a big lump. He didn't answer, worried that his voice would be heard.
She just waited. She said nothing and remained motionless in a regal posture. The silence grew longer and more intense. He knew he lost. Finally he gave in and said: "I have lost something that I cannot bear. This... tortures me. All I have left is..." He was about to say, but his words were choked and he could not continue.
Gotzo
e didn't speak.
"All I have left," he said at last, "is my honor, my oath, and a small, fading hope that one day I will get something I can keep."
"Master Androx," Gotzo
e said calmly but forcefully, "You want to keep those children, and Gabby and Wolf Sca
Really? In your soul?”
He opened his mouth to explain that even if he wanted to, he couldn't do it. Then he changed his mind and was about to say it would be safer for them to stay there. Then he changed his mind a few more times, trying to think of something to say that would make her understand so she wouldn't bother him anymore. But he couldn't say anything. He didn't answer.
"Yes. He finally admitted it.
Gotzo
e nodded thoughtfully, then stood gracefully, as she did everything else. She turned to the young woman who had been hiding in the corner and said: "Please help Wolfsca
Get ready for bed. I will send another servant immediately to find Master Androx. Then she nodded politely and left.
One of the young men came in, helped Androcles take off his robe and put on a nightgown. The maid gave the wolf a scare.
Take off your clothes and cover him with a quilt. No one spoke. As soon as the room went dark, he realized how much energy he had lost from his encounter with Mary. What he thought was inner torture was actually extreme exhaustion disguised; he was so tired that once he lay down, he couldn't even bring himself to turn over. He had just taken five breaths when he began to drift away, but before he fell asleep, he heard Galbi say: "If you have a boy, does that mean anything but wolfsca
, I will still have brothers?"
"Yes, Gabby, girl. Now go back to bed."
