***
After the massacre at the Arcer Clan Manor, Aaron stayed at the entrance to the mansion, waiting for the Special Forces to finish their looting.
— Mister! Orion shouted from the mansion.
— What?! Aaron yelled back.
«There's such a thing... In general, you should see it for yourself, hurry up...»
Sighing, Aaron headed deeper into the mansion, from the hallway straight down the long corridor. There Orion was waiting for him, he pointed to the stairs leading to the basement, which was, apparently, hidden behind a bookcase.
— What did you want? the boy asked in an annoyed tone.
«There's a man and a woman,» Orion hesitated.
— So what? Are they special? Aaron snorted.
«Hmm, I'm not sure...» the leader of the Special Forces Squad replied. — The man is in serious condition, it was not possible to interview him, but the woman's name is allegedly Ilmira ... Ilmira Bach ...
— What did you just say? Aaron's eyes widened, and a vacuum of thoughts instantly formed in his head.
— A woman ... Ilmira ...
Aaron no longer listened, he quickly rushed down the stairs. His heart was beating wildly, his back was instantly covered with sweat, and his eyes turned red ... The boy's mind seemed to be seized by madness.
***
In the basement, in a single cell, there was a man, without his left arm up to the elbow, without his right leg up to the knee, and with bloody scars instead of both eyes. The man had long, matted black hair and a thick, unkempt beard. Of the clothes on him were only shabby dark trousers, and the same shirt. He looked thin and emaciated, breathing heavily...
A woman was sitting next to him, she looked an order of magnitude better, in principle, she was healthy, maybe a little tired. She had shoulder-length blond hair and purple eyes. From clothes on it was only a very simple dress of coarse fabric, brown.
Is your name really Ilmira Bach? asked a young knight named Teryl standing in front of the camera.
«Damn, how much you can repeat, your mother, my name is definitely Ilmira Bach!» the woman shouted rudely, she would have rushed and beat Teril long ago, if not for the collar with the chain, which did not allow her to move more than two meters from the wall.
«Hmm... What's going on?» — a quiet, but very powerful voice was heard from the side of the woman, it was low and very calm.
«Darling, I'm sorry I woke you up...» Ilmira answered meekly, it seemed like a completely different person was shouting a moment ago. «It's just, some guys came here, and it's like, they cut out these freaks of the Arcers...»
«Something I can't believe,» said the blind man.
— It was noisy here some time ago, you just slept and did not hear ...
— Yes? the man said thoughtfully. «Good then, but who exactly attacked the Arcer clan?»
«I'm sorry,» Teryl interrupted. «Since you are awake, could you tell us about your personality?»
«Boy, it's rude to ask such a thing without introducing yourself...» the man said calmly.
Even though he was blind, Teril felt like he was being watched very intently. It was a strange, and somewhat unpleasant feeling.
«Hmm, my name is Teryl, foreman of the Black Falcon Squad,» the guy replied.
«You're not even fifteen yet...» the man drawled thoughtfully, and then he decided to introduce himself: «Well, it's nice to meet Teril, my name is Einar Bach...»
At the same time, a small figure came down the stairs. Aaron was sweaty and breathing heavily. His eyes briefly scanned the knight first, and then stumbled upon a cage in which a man and a woman were sitting ...
They had changed a lot, and they didn't look the best, but Aaron recognized them instantly... Even if a total of about thirty-two years have passed, that's how much he didn't see his parents, if we add the time of his past life...
— Mother?! Father?! shouted Aaron, his eyes too wide open and his head in bedlam.
— Who? — noticing the boy, Ilmira said.
«It's me, Aaron...» he replied, trying to wrap his mind around the fact that his parents were still alive.
— Aaron? Einar spoke up, his quiet voice suddenly becoming much louder.
Yes, it's me, but how did you get here? Haven't you died? What's happening? !
The woman quickly crawled away from the wall to the maximum possible distance and, crying, began to examine her son, whom she could not even recognize right away.
«You've grown so much...» she said. «But why are you here? Where is your grandfather?
Orion ran down the stairs into the basement, thoughtfulness and doubt were visible on his face.
— Mister...
«Release them quickly...» Aaron ordered sternly.
«But there is some strange castle here...» the leader of the special forces detachment began to explain.
«These are magical shackles that drain magical energy when activated,» the boy said, pointing his finger at the wall. «Bring Larey's hand here and put it on the sphere in the wall.
Is Laray dead? Einar asked.
«Yes, I personally finished off this freak by sticking a dagger in his eye socket,» Aaron said confidently.
Orion soon returned with a severed limb and attached it to a sphere that was built into the wall. At the same moment, the shackles tied to the activation of Larey's blood fell from Einar and Ilmira.
The chamber was unlocked with a key found earlier in the office of the head of the Arcer clan, and then the family was finally reunited after a long, and for some very, very long, separation. Aaron asked all the knights to leave him alone with his parents, after which they talked for a long time.
Einar and Ilmira told about what really happened...
It turned out that the Arcer clan, together with the Moizer clan, attacked them, and very vilely and surreptitiously. It was a real trap, neither Einar nor Ilmira expected that they would be unexpectedly attacked at a meeting, therefore they did not have time to take any measures to protect themselves.
The goal of the Arcer clan was not murder at all, it was a real kidnapping ... Only at first it was not clear for what purpose. After all, you can expect anything from such scum ...
Surprisingly, they did not even try to touch Ilmira, Larey strictly forbade harming her in any way, especially his son, who hated her because she refused him and preferred Einar.
Apparently, the Arcer clan, and possibly the Moizer clan, wanted to blackmail Bradomir, only not now, but when they need it... Having learned about this, Aaron immediately remembered what happened in his past life. When he had already fled from the clan, his grandfather for some reason took and killed the three demigods of the Whis clan, which had a rather strong impact on the outcome of the war...
It was a real betrayal, the character of Bradomir did not fit in with such baseness at all ... Having killed three demigods, the old man himself went to another world after them, unable to withstand the injuries received in the battle. Then Aaron thought that in this way his grandfather avenged Balthazar, who died in the war, according to rumors, due to the incompetence of the commander from the Vis clan. And also for Jane, who went missing shortly before.
However, now we can safely assume that he was simply blackmailed into doing such an act. Jane most likely did not disappear, Bradomir specially hid her so that at least she would not be harmed. Aaron, at that time, was unknown where, and his beloved daughter was held hostage by the Arser clan...
Einar, most likely, could not live up to this moment, because Aaron saw that his father was already in a very bad condition. He was tortured by Larey's son, as he was forbidden to touch Ilmira. Because of the magic shackles, Einar could not do anything, because of which he lost his eyes, as well as his arms and legs ...
— Orion! shouted Aaron, beckoning the commander of the Black Falcon Squad into the room.
— What do you order? he said, opening the door.
«Find the corpse of a man and a woman urgently,» Aaron said. "Some of the servants will come along, whose bodies are not badly damaged.
Aaron was well aware that his parents could not yet be alive, and it would be better for them to remain, albeit fictitiously, in the grave. It will be easier this way, otherwise, if they return to the family now, it will immediately become clear to everyone who eliminated the Arcer clan. Yes, and those who arranged this whole conspiracy can derail many plans ...
Therefore, the best solution was to stage the death of the parents, if someone comes here knowing that they are alive, then he will be misinformed ...
Aaron even knew the identity of who was most likely involved in this whole conspiracy...
Using the bodies of the servants, the knights disguised them as Einar and Ilmira, and then destroyed the mansion and collapsed the basement so that the bodies were in very poor condition. If anyone finds them, he will be able to determine at most that there were two people in the basement, a man without an arm and a leg, and a woman whose bodies were mutilated beyond recognition.
Having finished covering his tracks, Aaron and his parents got into the carriage and went to the mountains of Uldar, in the lands belonging to the Bakh clan. It was the best place to hide them, and besides, he was going there anyway ...