In the evening there was a small picnic in the mountains, Eric decided to remember his forever lost world, and therefore prepared a little shish kebab. He still picked it up from last night in Kerkyra and in this form and drove all the way. There was no press, so I had to use the skin, in which everything was laid and tightened to a good fit. For the marinade he used red wine, salt and onions. Pepper, unfortunately, was not, as spices in Europe are worth their weight in gold and only very few kings can afford them. In general, we sat well. They ate, drank a little, and he began to talk about the ancient world, about the great empires and mighty heroes. She fell asleep much earlier than he stopped telling, noticing her sleepy snuff. And he still sat - eating up the remaining meat and sighing about how he misses at his dinner tomatoes with potatoes. In the morning they gathered unhurriedly and decided to move back, as the relaxed state of our baron began to depress. Already before they left, they saw a small, barely noticeable path leading somewhere to the mountains. Well, for the unknown - a path in the mountains? But his curiosity attracted to see where the path leads high in the mountains and away from people. He left the Morrigan to pack things, and, having adjusted his armor, went to explore what was there and what. After a couple of miles of an improvised game in a mountain goat, he stumbled upon a neat entrance to the cave. He opened his sword and went in. Strange place - like, a cave is wild at all, and there are traces of people - there, on the walls, torches that were extinct not so long ago. After a couple of hundred steps along the winding canal, he went into the great hall, where a small temple was built. Something in the spirit of the ancient Greek cults. There were values, but heavy. So he turned and quickly went back. To return him, the girl has almost prepared everything.
" Listen, download now to Corfu, take Rudolph with the guys, pair a clockwork horse for each and drive here. "Antonio leave in the city, he has not woken up from his wounds, let the property guard.
"I do not like all this. "
It does not matter! Now the main thing is to act quickly. Oh, yes, I'll take some food, because you'll have to sit here for two days. Do you understand everything?
- Yes, I understood everything clearly.
"Fine, now drive, do not waste precious time. "
The girl reluctantly finished assembling, mounted, he hooked her to her and the horses, and then she turned around and began to slowly retire, descending the mountain road. And the baron himself, collecting a little brushwood and taking the provisions, went back to the cave - it had to be inspected.
First you had to solve the problem with lighting, it's completely inconvenient to walk in the shadows, when you see only silhouettes. The fact is that the inner main hall was with a huge vault, which at the very top cut through cracks, in places through. Through them, and then came the crumbs of light, and there was little ventilation. The airing of the room, he realized, was organized so that through a slightly cracked arch the air went out, and through the entrance to the cave - came in. That is, if you build a fire inside the hall, it will speed up the passage of airflow, due to the accelerated rise of heated air and improve the ventilation of the room. After figuring out what was happening in that room, he collected some brushwood in the vicinity of the cave and prepared a bonfire, which he could only light. Nearby, he neatly folded more fuel, which should be enough for a couple of days of maintaining the fire. After that, I borrowed a couple of torches in the aisle and began to inspect the whole complex. It turned out that in addition to the hall, in the center of which stood a large marble statue of Artemis about 4 meters high, there are about ten more carved in the rock rooms, in which various property was stored. Basically, of course, household items and food stocks in the form of grain, olive oil and wine. Of the valuable things - only antique handicrafts, mostly marble and bronze. Now they are not at all in price, but then - they will be completely. The most interesting place was the last room, which was located just behind the grandiose statue. It was much more spacious than the others. In this small hall a kind of non-static pantry of a completely unique kind was made-the marble and bronze statues of the various gods of the ancient Olympus stood mixed with various household things and military gear of different eras. A lot of equipment lay in bulk and badly deteriorated from time to time, coming to a completely unconditioned state, but part was in deep oil preservation. For example, perfectly preserved Lorica segmentals from the heyday of the Roman Empire were exactly the same and preserved. The most wounded were chain mail. Especially it should be mentioned about a certain amount of bronze armor in a completely tolerable condition. For him, as an experienced historian, all these things were like balm to the soul, and indeed the whole of this era: he studied for so many years, and then everything can be touched alive. So he wandered, examined and evaluated everything that is valuable and where it can be applied. The day passed imperceptibly, and it began to get dark. He had to light a fire and begin to prepare for bed. There was only one question - the question of unexpected guests, since here, obviously, one of the people regularly put his hand, watching as the preservation of the armor, and for everything else. We needed an alarm system. There were no other entrances to the underground temple, so at some distance from each other he made stretches of woolen thread, on which hung a small bundle of pieces of iron. It was not very strong, but if you sleep sensitively, you can notice.
He lay down to sleep, not taking off his armor, as one could expect anything. In a strong and deep sleep, he was prevented from falling through the feeling of tension that had seized him since the moment Morrigan left. And so, closer to the morning, one of the long stretch marks worked. He woke up instantly, but did not flinch and listened. A couple of minutes later the next stretch worked and a hushed whisper was heard, apparently uninvited guests remembered not the most courtly words in their language. He rose as quietly and neatly as possible, took the sciavon out of its scabbard and walked away from the burning fire to the nearest room so as to be out of sight and have, in case of anything, the opportunity to rush to the aisle and break out at the shortest distance. Five entered the room. Ahead was a slender but strong girl, behind her four men, a column in twos. All are armed with short spears. Behind the men are some stuffed bags. The body of the whole company covers only simple woolen clothes. Eric almost howled because he forgot to hurry in a hurry with a crossbow, which now lay in the bag next to the fire. Well at least it was not loaded, and the bolts lay separately in the bag. He terribly spoiled the situation, as he was the only weapon for the next few kilometers, which could easily finish him off. The guests stopped near the fire. The men immediately turned their backs on her and, with their spears in front of him, became an improvised semicircle, protecting her back and sides. The girl slowly slowed the tip of the spear and began to look around and listen. For some reason, she did not pay attention to the crossbow. Minutes of silence stretched slowly, so slowly and tensely that the men accompanying her all over the body sweated profusely, and her fingers a little whitened from the strength with which they squeezed the shaft. But in the eighth minute the girl could not stand it and loudly cried in Byzantine:
- Who are you? - And silence. The Baron was not going to be so easy on her trick. He, of course, is in fine armor and in good shape, but there are five of them and it is still unknown how many of them are outside.
