The flying light quickly disappeared behind the roof of another house, but the officer couldn't turn his head away, he didn't understand why. But his instincts and experience were screaming about the danger, sweat was pouring from his face, and his heart was about to jump out of his chest.
BAM!!! - The explosions came in a cascade, overtaking and reinforcing each other, raising pillars of dust almost to the clouds. They went in a chain and did not even think to stop, covering more and more area. The officer was literally knocked down and knocked into the wall of the house, and after lying there for some time he got to his feet with ringing in his ears, looking round.
Everything was on fire, whole neighbourhoods had been vaporised, leaving nothing but blazing ruins. The man turned his head in the direction of finding the enemy, the situation there was similar. 'Both their own and strangers, bloody lunatics.' He thought to himself, shuffling his feet with difficulty.
He was lucky, he was wounded, but alive and conscious, the blow was almost fatal, and no one had cancelled the contusion. The man's eyes were double, and he leaned on the blade of his palash and walked, not knowing where he was going.
When he came to the street, which had been torn up by the explosions, with the remnants of former beauty and grandeur, wandering through the alleys like a madman, he met his eyes with a swarthy man in a burnt kimono. Both of them looked at each other like old wolves: they did not want to fight, but the statute obliged them.
Wobbling as if they had both drained a keg of wine, the men strode towards each other with metal in their hands. A blow, another blow, and the fight looked more like a theatrical production. Both duelists moved deliberately slowly and uncertainly, the officer struggling to fend off the sprawling blows of his opponent, unable to counterattack.
The burning hulks of buildings drowned out the fighters' intermittent breathing with their crackling, yet illuminated their duel. Deflecting another blow, the officer fell to his knee, unable to stand any longer. His whole body was just pain, the blast wave had done its work.
With hatred in his eyes he looked at the same poor man as him. With tired and shaking hands he raised his sword above his head for the final blow. The officer remembered little of what happened next, the last thing he saw before he blacked out was the faces of his compatriots slowly fading into darkness.
And there on the water from the top of one of the masts stood a young man with an empty signal pistol in his hands. That man was Hito and he was pleased. Even if his plan hadn't gone the way he wanted, but a victory was a victory, and only an idiot would doubt that it was a victory.
The city and its troops had literally vanished, the invading fleet was either captured or scattered, and most importantly, the people he didn't need were gone, saving him a whole host of problems.
Hito looked down, one of his men was shouting on the deck, waving his arms vigorously. Guy quickly went downstairs and asked neutrally.
"What do you want?"
"The ten ships of the Webies are gone, what do you want to do?"
"Leave them, you won't find them at night anyway, let them run if they dare to show themselves off our shores, you know what to do."
"Shall we sweep the city?" The assassin's voice trembled slightly, his master looked more than menacing - his entire body was covered in blood from head to toe, but he didn't seem the least bit embarrassed by it.
"Are you an idiot?" Hito asked in surprise with a smile on his face. The man silently shook his head.
"Look over there," Hito pointed his hand towards the city, where a real fire storm was already blazing, illuminating the whole area as well as a star.
"If you want to go there, I won't stop you." The assassin took the hint and bowed as he was about to leave when he was called out.
"And also clean up the mess in the captain's quarters on my new flagship." The assassin nodded and left, leaving Hito alone with his thoughts against the backdrop of the burning city.
Which he wasn't the only one watching, far to the west on the very same hill a girl with grey hair and an open mouth stood with a stunned face.
The next day...
A huge multi-leveled castle stood on the mountain like a giant from fairy tales, showing its splendour and grandeur to one and all. Decorated with hundreds of exquisite flags and carved statues, it impressed and surprised at the same time.
'How could such a thing even be built?' Dima asked himself these questions, he and his escort stood at the first entrance, his surprise was so great that he even forgot about the constant aching pain in his body.
He had been riding a horse for over a week, without any skill, much less the right one. At first it wasn't bad, on the second day he even started to get good at it, but a week's horseback riding is not a languid romantic ride shot on an old film.
It was hell, everything from the bloody four-legged wayward animal, to the roughness of the road and the pouring rain - which happily made the road even worse, everything wanted him to suffer - but he endured, not without tears and screams, but he made it.
It seemed such an achievement, but for a modern man who had last seen a horse in deep childhood - it was quite a feat.
The carved wooden gates began to open with a creak and a crack, they did it leisurely, giving Dima the opportunity to examine the carved paintings depicted on them.
If they were on the ground, these gates would be recognised as a cultural treasure of the country.
On the surface of the wood were painstakingly carved various military scenes, in one picture the crowd poking spears at the dragon, in another the riders fighting each other - and all this was done with meticulousness and elegance, in the centre and on the edges of the composition was embossed unknown to him coat of arms.
It wasn't the crest of the Mena clan, which Dima had seen enough of during their journey. The group rode slowly into the courtyard, and then climbed up two more levels, arriving at a spacious plateau with a large house in the centre.
Ason silently got off his horse, Dima followed his example - they were already waiting for them, at the head of the welcoming procession stood a beautiful blonde with short hair gathered in a short ponytail.
Behind her stood other girls, but she stood out against their background, literally overshadowing their pretty faces with her beauty. Dima paid attention to her at once, and he could not help noticing a huge figure, far over two metres tall, in luxuriously trimmed armour with a spear.
If Dima didn't know who the head of the Mena clan was, he would have thought that this big man was the local commander. Ason interrupted the awkward silence by pushing Dima's shoulder and saying quietly.
"Relax, we're home!" Ason accelerated his step, the procession made a bow to him, but the man didn't seem to notice it, he came close to the girl and hugged her tightly, lifting her body like a fluffy ball.
"Well granddaughter, missed your grandfather!" The man shouted loudly, ignoring the girl's weak kicks on his back.
"Grandpa, we have guests..." she tried to parry, but Ason didn't hear her and didn't even think of loosening his grip. Dima looked at this situation and silently freaked out, looking at the girl, who, judging by the bluish expression on her face, was already short of oxygen.
Bam. - The girl finished fooling around, and with an unnoticeable blow she raked the old man's skull with a loud sound. Ason didn't even turn a deaf ear, but let the girl go and then turned round and called the confused guy to him.
"Dima, meet my granddaughter Kiechi: she is beautiful, a skilful warrior and a good cook." Dima, who had received such valuable information, slowly turned his head to Ason, raised his eyebrows upwards and said.
"If we were not in the current situation, I would think that you are trying to marry her off to me."
"All in good time kid, all in good time." Ason said with a smile.
"Grandpa!!!" Kyechi shouted angrily, looking at Dima, her face was slowly turning red, she was ashamed.
Ason ignored her protest, and led the boy over to the bulky man, he didn't even bat an eye at his approach.
"This is Kang, my deputy, and the first of the seven spears of the Mena clan, a fine man." Ason continued to introduce the people, giving personal comments to each introduction. When he finished, he turned to the big man.
"Well, feed the guest, wash him, put him to bed in his best room. You and I will go for a walk, and I'm sure you'll have something to tell me." Kang nodded silently.
"Ason, I'll come with you, it would be good for me to listen." Suddenly Dima said to the crowd, and Ason answered without turning round.
"Dima, we will have time to discuss everything, now rest, that's an order." The last two words he said in raised tones, hinting to the guy that he would not change his opinion. Dima was a little upset, but obeyed, he did not want to make a scandal in front of everyone.
Ason left, and he went to the dining room in the company of lovely maids and Kiechi. He liked the local environment very much, there was plenty of space around, and everything from buildings to fences was decorated with first class, exquisite carvings and gilding.
Kiechi walked in silence, Dima could see that she was a little ashamed of her grandfather's willfulness, but Dima didn't care, for a week of travelling he had already got used to the peculiar manner of conversation of the head of the Mena clan.
In the meantime the group entered the building and walked along a long corridor, a couple of times turning round they came out into a large hall covered with blue cushions, on small tables next to which freshly cooked dishes were smouldering.
"Today I'm definitely going to get drunk." Dima said unashamedly and ignoring the embarrassed looks of the servants, took the nearest seat with a brisk gait.