It was coming down the stairs. The stairs creaked. Steps. Richard's knees began to tremble, as if he were drowning in cold gelatinous mud. His breath is entangled in the throat in a trap of ashy smog of despair. And fear clawed convulsively through his veins. The exit eluded him. He was having a fit.
"I can't believe–", for the first time in many years full of dangers, Richard "Bird Hound" Crow felt this feeling. Real fear. It was eating him to the bone.
Neither the formidable generals of the Manafacture, nor the holy inquisitors of Great Tolkien, nor the meeting with the Adept of Constant Transformation, he did not feel such a thick and deep fear.
The brave sir Crow didn't scream just because the leekies turned to stone and the air turned to sulfur.
And now it's already on the first floor. It slowly descended with unshakable confidence, like a guillotine.
Richard tried to summon his magic. Unfortunately, his emotions froze. Any effort stretched and weakened, as if he was trying to lift a stone that was continuously growing and threatening to crush him.
"In the name of the Eye of Emptiness! What is it?! Did Kalem mention this? Does the keeper of the forest really have an ace up his sleeve? Or was the legendary owner of the Fear System sent for me and Kalem?"
Whatever Richard did, he could only stand and wait for his fate. Seconds creaked, frayed, turned into millennia.
A shadow appeared. Knock-knock. The little boots jumped three steps at a time. Richard couldn't hear his own heart.
"No! No! No! Damn Kalem! How do you manage to fall into a nest of Handlongs and drag me away with you?! I can't even move my eyelid!"
A dense aroma of ash and sulfur, mud and rot filled his nostrils, as if a burning swamp had opened his arms.
Knock-knock. She came down. And she noticed the stranger. The little girl blinked in surprise.
Richard blinked with equal surprise. "What–".
The little girl had a really curious glaze. Her vivid smile was framed by the perfect face and was shining, like the power of the death himself. A tiny dress made a beautiful doll of her. like these dolls of girls from rich families.
The wizard would have confused she with these toys if she didn't blink and breathe. Richard didn't believer that so child could be.
"This is my Artoris, my beautiful daughter!" Joan pushed Richard, seeing that he had fallen into a stupor. For a moment, the woman's face turned gray when she misinterpreted the guest's condition. "I shouldn't leave this guy alone with Artoris. I'm going to grow up! Fortunately, Mord, Pose, Lily are not so beautiful. I won't have to worry so much about them."
"Artoris?" The associative word "Bloody" popped up in Richard's mind. He still felt dense fear, but now he was able to adapt to it at least a little. Just enough to move.
"You're pale. Are you my mom's patient? Or are you shy and were going to confess your love to my mom?"
"Artoris! You're such a prankster!" Joan laughed out loud.
There's something wrong with this seven-year-old kid, Richard thought. "This ominous aura, like that of the damned or the doomed. The same as the fool Kalem, but tens of thousands of times scarier. Don't tell me that I met the child of one of the Six Demons that are at enmity with Artor."
"No– I'm a traveler: I came to your house for the night."
"Mom says that Dad of Mord, Rose, Lily and Tulip said the same thing."
"Artoris has a good memory," Joan bit her tongue.
"I am disembodied," Richard did not know whether to rejoice or cry on his knees with lamentations. He had absolutely no idea what was going on.
Joan's face became wild surprise at what she heard. "Really? Probably, this guy has broken many girl's hearts and will break more in the future."
"Mom, can you cure infertility? I want one more–" Joan picked up Artoris in her arms with the determination to stop the escalation of this awkward situation.
Artoris pouted. She wanted more brothers and sisters. The girl wanted to play funny wars, where she alone fights with everyone. Mord and Rose weren't enough. And Lily and Tulip always refused.
"Artoris, Mr. Crow only wants to wait out the bad weather– If he asks for healing, I'll try, but it's incredibly difficult to cure infertility, baby. Do you want a tiger berry salad?"
"Yes!" Artoris nodded. Tiger berries were the best sweet in all of Merlin.
Artoris looked at Richard very intently, as if trying to read his thoughts. The wizard turned pale. Richard's instincts writhed in agony, begging the stupid the wizard to leave the house.
After she noticed Richard's pale skin, Artoris bowed her head. Joan snorted. "So handsome, and shyness is enough for ten girls. I knew that someday men would start running after Artoris, but seven years?!! I'll need to train Artoris in self-defense in case some brave handsome fool tries to do something stupid.
Otherwise, by the Empty Eye, my collection of medical skeletons will be replenished with a new expansion!"
"Ahem, ahem," Joan coughed. A vein bulged on her forehead, but the old woman did not want to drive Richard out into the rain. "In the end, I myself felt what kind of "gentle caresses" the rain has."
"Mr. Crow, I hope you're not going to wait out in the hallway all night. So you're making an evil witch out of me! Let's go to the dining room and have dinner. You must be hungry from the road, mister?"
Richard nodded weakly. And all they went to the dining room. Joan opened the door, there was a fuss and a delicious smell danced in the air.
A girl was standing on a stand by the stove. Her short hair stood out in different directions. They were black, either from dirt, or because of nature. She was stirring the soup with her right hand, slicing mushrooms with her left. Richard raised an eyebrow: the girl looked about five years old. "Is it really a child?"
The girl heard the door opening and turned around. Richard almost winced. She looked worse from the front than from the back.
"Mord! We have a guest!"
"Mr. Crow, this is my second daughter."
Richard was surprised. "Artoris and Mord obviously had different fathers. And moreover, Mord did not take an ounce of her mother's beauty." Richard felt sick for a moment. "Damn evening. But I can't deny the truth. This is the ugliest kid I've ever seen. She's a real ugly caterpillar.
Rat teeth stick out like saws. The frog's eyes look like they're about to roll out and fall to the floor. Thick eyebrows could cause Kalem to have a tantrum: he is terribly afraid of caterpillar after the incident with Inquisitor Miratriss Insecto.
The idiot demon was very surprised when a pretty blonde with green eyes turned into a ten-meter-long ogre caterpillar! Especially when he and she were already "hugging" and getting ready to play games.
If I had stayed with Miss "Sweet Horn" for a second longer, this goose would have eaten the lower half of the Kalem, and stolen the upper half for interrogation. Her drugs could keep the bodies of her crippled victims alive long enough, damn it! That stupid demon will never forget this terrible trap!
How I hate Inquisitors! How I hate Transformation Magicians! You can never be sure what kind of monster they will reincarnate into. Or what is their true form–
Could the eldest daughter be a monster? That time with Miratriss and Miss "Sweet Horn" I felt something, but then I was careless and provost ignored my super senses."
Richard thought about what he should have done. He could have left this strange house, or he could have stayed and found out what was going on here. "I haven't felt any signs of aggression so far." Richard was used to fear, but he had doubts whether to stay or leave. As the wizard, he met everything, fought with not weak magicians.
"Maybe it's just dust in the eyes? An aura of fear and mediocre strength. But why does such a little thing have such a thing?"
The wizard decided to stick to the original plan: to wait out the night, exploring everything, and after meet with Kalem.
"Dinner's ready, Mom!" Mord nodded with a horse smile. Oddly enough, her smile was warm. "I'll go get Junior and Rina with Mr. Jones."
Joan nodded. Mord left and returned with the children, a lame old man and a thin woman. At first, Richard noticed that she looked like Kalem if he caught a cold six times and aged ten years (which he, as a demon, could not do).
Mord led the old man under the arm, seating him at the table. "Please, sit down, Mister Jones."
"I didn't think that the healers of Ruel would have such a warm hospitality. Thank you."
"You're welcome," Mord smiled.
The sister behind her winced. And noticing the look of the old man, she sat down further away, turned away, covered her face with her white hair. "Old. Scary."
"This girl is still afraid of me. Is it really written on my face that I am a former Inquisitor? Or is she afraid of all the old people?" Mr. Jones sighed.
"Rose, don't be afraid."
"Old. Creepy!"
Mord hugged her younger sister, the baby calmed down. Mord herself took a spoon and brought it to the Rose. "The soup keeper is bringing soup for the princess, he asks to open the gate! Open your mouth, Rose!"
Rose laughed and washed her mouth so that Mord could give Rose a taste of the soup.
After Rose scooped herself. "The keeper of the soup–". The girl brought the spoon to the girl, who was even smaller. "Lily– open the gates of the mouth."
Lilia opened her mouth and tasted the soup. After that, Lilia "handed the spoon" to the boy, the smallest in the family. The ceremony did not take much time.
Richard sat with a stony face. "Is it just that there was a demonic rite of the Circle's Bloody Meal?! Do they worship the forces of the Predatory?!! I wouldn't be surprised if they turn out to be all Supreme Adepts of Life and Death!!! Don't tell me they're all demons?"
On the opposite side, old Mr. Jones didn't sweat– under the table, his legs were shaking wildly and wrapped twice as much sweat as they could. "Holy Monolith! Artor's Last Supper? Who taught these children the service of balance keepers? I thought they were destroyed? I must definitely report this–"