Leaning against the trunk of a strange tree, Hadjar turned to the sorcerer. The man had a wide, smug grin on his face, one that was almost as unpleasant as Sankesh’s had been. Well, the latter had possessed truly monstrous power and hadn’t relied on talismans created by someone else, which still made him far scarier. Damn, Hadjar wouldn’t have been surprised to learn that Sankesh had forged his halberd himself.
“We aren’t slaves, huh?” Hadjar muttered.
An unkind gleam appeared in his blue eyes. The pain intensified. Ramukhan’s grin widened.
“When our goals align, you’re not,” the sorcerer nodded. “Now, if you don’t want to test the limits of your pain threshold, answer my question. How do you know where the entrance to Mage City is?”
Hadjar gritted his teeth. Waves of pain surged through him. They almost made him pass out. His vision blurred... If he’d fought Olgerd at least a week ago, then, no doubt, Hadjar would’ve really tried to find the limit of his endurance.
“I don’t know where the entrance is,” Hadjar answered.
“Ha!” Glen exclaimed. “I knew it! The barbarian has completely lost his mind from all the sun. Ramukhan, with all due respect, Paris sent us to find a needle in a haystack, one that is also sought by monsters like Sunshine Sankesh. We must go to-”
“But I know what to look for,” Hadjar interrupted him. He recalled his dream, in which he’d sat near a lake that he’d never seen before. He’d never had the time to just sit at a lake, and the Moon Army had usually washed themselves and their clothes in rivers. “We need to find the lake that gets foggy at night.”
“Do you believe that the entrance to Mage City is hidden in that lake?” Karissa joined the conversation. “Sorry, Hadjar, but even I think that sounds silly.”
“I don’t know, by the demons, I don’t know. Maybe it’s in the water. Maybe it’s somewhere nearby. Maybe it’s in the fog. I have no idea. I only know that we need to find this lake.”
“There are so many lakes here that we’ll need at least a century to check them all.”
This time, Ramukhan’s words were quite reasonable. Hadjar didn’t know what to say, and then he realized a truth that was so simple he smiled when it came to him.
“I’ll know it when I see it. But we need to search for it at night.”
Noticing that everyone seemed skeptical, even Einen, Hadjar drew Mountain Wind halfway. He ran his palm along its edge and said:
“I swear that I believe in what I’m saying.”
His blood glowed, then pulled back into his wound. The edges of the cut flesh came together again, leaving behind another thin, barely noticeable scar. A second passed. Then two, three… and Hadjar still didn’t turn into a living torch.
“Demons take me now,” Glen slapped himself, “my mother told me: ‘Stay in your father’s house, son. Don’t go beyond that gate, don’t look for trouble.’ I disobeyed my mother and this is what I get...”
“We should always listen to women,” Salif nodded, starting to pack up his belongings. “Men speak of clever deeds, women speak of wise ones. By the Evening Stars, the wise always get to live longer than those who are just clever.”
“You’ll see,” Tilis began to gather her things as well, “he’ll lead us into a trap. We’ll all die in this damned oasis.”
The pain receded, and Hadjar swayed with relief and almost fell again. Einen caught him in time.
“I believe you, my friend,” he whispered, “but I don’t understand how you found out about this.”
“My brother told me,” Hadjar answered, feeling like he was plunging into the void again.
“I thought he died long ago.”
Hadjar didn’t answer. Even after his death, Nero had managed to help him and take care of his brother. Even though Hadjar hadn’t been able to save him...
Something invisible, but rather strong, nudged Hadjar’s shoulder. He mistakenly turned toward the jungle. The answer to his unspoken question was the silence and the rustling of the wind that greeted him.
“Don’t forget that.” Einen nodded toward the wallet lying on the ground. It had fallen from Hadjar’s belt. One of the bracelets had almost fallen out of it, too.
“Thank you,” Hadjar mouthed and, after bending down painfully to pick it up, tied the wallet back onto his belt.
“Come, my friend,” Einen dragged him back to his camel, “Because of you, we now have a long way to go.”
The islander helped Hadjar climb onto the animal’s back. He clutched the camel’s hump and tried to stay conscious.
“By the gods, Einen,” Hadjar muttered, “you’ll regret staying by my side.”
“We all end up regretting something,” Einen shrugged. He tied Hadjar to his mount with wide straps. “The important thing is not what we regret, but what we desire. My father taught me that. May the forefathers be merciful to him and his rebirth be a happy one.”
Before the darkness claimed Hadjar again, he managed to notice a slight expression of grief on his friend’s face. Einen almost never spoke about his past. All that Hadjar knew was that the islander’s father was a rather successful slave trader, and his mother was a dancer. Only now, after this revelation, did it become clear why he’d rarely talked about them. His reason had been the same as Hadjar’s...
Darkness cut off Hadjar’s thoughts. He plunged into it, falling from the edge of reality. The flight was short and ended in the already familiar meadow. Fluffy clouds floated in the clear, blue sky. The wind created the illusion that the grass was an emerald-colored sea.
Hadjar stood on a low hill, without any bandages or pain, breathing freely and with his sword sheathed at his belt, wearing his old, simple clothes.
“You are progressing faster than I thought you would, disciple.”
Without hesitation, Hadjar knelt down and placed his forehead against the cold earth.
“Hello, Master.”
A tall, stately man was sitting on a stone wet with dew. His silk robes and long hair fluttered in the wind. The only thing that revealed his inhuman nature were the long horns on his head.
“Only two years have passed since we last met,” Traves continued. “And now you’ve come to see me once again.”
Chapter 376
“I have so many questions for you, Master.” Hadjar didn’t stop bowing. With every day he’d spent on the path of cultivation, he’d felt his respect for the ancient dragon increasing. What a strong will a person had to have to walk the same path Traves had taken! “Do you know anything about the true path of cultivation? What levels of sword mastery are there after the Wielder level? Can a person achieve true immortality? What is the essence of rebirth? Have you heard about Mage City, which once stood where the Sea of Sand is located now? How can I defeat a Spirit Knight? What can you tell me about the gods and the Seventh Hea-”
“Shut up, Hadjar.” Traves’ tone was so harsh that it could’ve split the stone he was sitting on in half. “I understand that each of our meetings doubles the number of questions that bother you. But you have to realize something: I’m not even a proper Shadow, just a tiny fragment of my consciousness left behind to tell you what your part of our deal is.”