The Dragon's Vow or the Stubborn Bride
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– So, you’re not an old lady! – the northern woman was sincerely surprised.
She even straightened up, but immediately bent over again, wincing in pain.
I smiled welcomingly, looking at my new acquaintance, and answered:
– No. I am just a future adept at the Academy of Wind and Storms. So that's where you're headed?
Chapter 3
The girl Batmore and I picked off along the way was called Adalbjorg Hedvin. She was the only daughter of the northern jarl of the Coast of Iron Blades.
“I know our names sound unusual in these lands, but you can call me Ada.” I am in your debt, Mirre.
– Stop doing that. Any person would try to help in my place,” I was embarrassed.
The new acquaintance sat unevenly, leaning on one side, as if she could not fully straighten her back. She winced every now and then, clearly in pain, and I tried to turn the conversation to what was really important now: “No, Mirre!” Not just anyone. Only a very brave person with a caring heart would risk speaking out against six elemental magicians who are not burdened with either reason or conscience,” the northern woman objected, which embarrassed me.
– Did they hurt you?
– Nonsense! “It’s been worse,” the northern woman shrugged it off, but I didn’t believe her.
– Not at all! You should see a healer. Let's go to the station, there is a 24-hour first aid station.
– Perhaps you're right. That’s what I’ll do, only… Only now I have nothing to pay for their services,” she frowned sadly.
– Don’t worry about it, I won’t leave you in trouble.
– Mirre, I…
– No objections, Ada! You almost got killed! And then, when your things return, you can pay me back,” I reassured her.
– Thank you!
The Northern woman touched her forehead with two fingers and, with an unexpectedly graceful gesture, extended her open palm to me. A small ball flashed gold above her. He swam up to me and hovered, and suddenly pleasant shivers ran down my back, like when trying on a tailor.
– What is this? – I asked quietly.
– Oath of purity of intentions. If you accept it, just touch it.
“Ada… Really, it’s not worth it…” I stopped short, catching the northern woman’s gaze, and realized that if I refused, I would offend her to the core.
Sighing, she dipped her finger into the golden light, and her chest felt hot, as if she had sipped the cinnamon wine that we were treated to at the boarding house on New Year’s Eve.
“We are now more connected than sisters.” “You are my kyari, my savior,” Ada explained.
Her face suddenly blurred, and then I blinked, and two tears rolled down my cheeks.
–What are you doing? Are you crying, or what? – The northern woman frowned.
– No no! It's just… Everything is so unexpected. I lived alone for a long time, and just recently met my older sister. And now I have another sister.
The northern woman burst into a smile and hugged me by the shoulders in a familiar way, but immediately shuddered and again took the “hook” pose.
– Hurts?
“Stronger than we would like,” Adalbjorg answered with a dark smile.
Hearing her, Bathmore reined in his horse and began to choose a level road. We were just driving past the giant gas holder, and ahead there was already a station glowing with lights, where life was in full swing day and night.
– Ada, forgive me for the indiscreet question, but why did you need to get involved with this dubious company? Where did you actually come across them? – Unable to bear it, I asked.
– I arrived in Verlor this morning and decided to take a walk around the city. I haven’t been to the capital of Onyx Rocks before. Everything here is structured differently than here. And I accidentally encountered these children of a sick walrus on the street. They stuck to the sole worse than dog shit. No matter how many, it still stinks and stinks. I usually don’t let anyone off the hook, but here I endured it until the last moment. I didn't want any trouble with the locals. “I tried to be taller,” as my mentor punished me.
Ada nodded and continued. “We were taught the same thing at the boarding school,” I interjected into her story.
“By that time it was getting close to dinner, and I was pretty hungry. But in the center they didn’t let me into a single establishment, can you imagine? They said I looked inappropriate. I assured that I had something to pay, but they still did not agree! And those petrified mammoth feces kept trailing behind me. They neighed like sick horses at my shame. And then, as if on purpose, my stomach began to growl…
The northern woman sighed heavily and, wincing, looked at me meaningfully.
– Yeah. I can imagine what kind of food for ridicule this gave to the presumptuous idiots.
– Right! Then I simply caught a cab and asked him to take me to some decent establishment not far from the South Station. The kind where you can eat delicious food and the prices aren’t too bad.
“And he brought you to Rabochiy Gorodok,” Bathmore unexpectedly butted into the conversation.
“I don’t know, but the food here really turned out to be good.” I like it. Everything was fine until Mikael’s company entered the same tavern. These degenerates of the rickety sperm whale began to mock me again. They laughed at me for being so tall. They made fun of my clothes, and then they stole my bag and began demanding insulting things from me for returning it. I am the daughter of Earl Hedwin and I couldn’t let them down! – The northern woman flashed with rage in her eyes.
–Did you get into a fight?
– No. She insulted them back, and they rushed into the fight. They turned out to be not as patient as me. “She grinned almost cheerfully.
– Mother of All That Is! But these are the children of the capital's aristocrats. All elemental magicians…” I grimaced. – What a disgrace! What were they thinking, chasing a foreigner throughout the capital?
“It’s a pack of mad dogs, not children.” People like them ought to have their teeth pulled out before they bite someone to death,” Bathmore opined, stopping the gig next to a large black stagecoach that bore the Wind and Storm Academy emblem on its side.