While I was running along a narrow path through a wheat field to a hill, I kept thinking about what I would say to my beloved nanny. She let her go for an hour to see the puppies in the kennel. Those who were born a week ago, and I was lost all morning in the hills.

Well, it will fly to me!

Here already lie do not lie, but do not forgive.

Climbing to a gentle peak, she looked towards the ocean. There, between high impregnable rocks, our castle towered. Three tiers. Four towers with balconies. High stone wall. In the backyard is a playground where warriors honed their combat skills. True, local chickens were walking around there more and more, and if fights were observed, then cockfights.

One of the targets of the archers, the highest one, was chosen by the storks, having built their own nest there. In the same place, on the sidelines, there was a barnyard, barns and sheds. Laundry, lined with smooth stone. There were always puddles around it. Laundresses washed our things every day with soapstones, hung them on long ropes there. Sometimes cows wandered there and, catching sheets and underpants on their horns, dragged them into the barn. And then they even thought of chewing underwear.

I sighed, that's how my favorite nightgown fell to the death of the brave.

She was brazenly chewed by the vicious bull Khrubi. Come on, he would bite on one tooth, so he threw it into the mud and tore it with his hooves.

It was no longer possible to save, but she was so soft, airy. Her nanny took care of her for many years. She kept it for me as a memory of my mother.

And he chewed it up and dipped it in the mud!

Cattle horned and ill-bred!

I ate all the cutlets from it on a holiday out of harm ... I took revenge at least like that.

We also had a kennel and a poultry house.

Near the eastern tower is a dovecote.

And at the northern one there is a small but cozy garden. True, no one planted flowers there on purpose. They grew everywhere, brazenly growing wherever they please. The paths were covered with a layer of earth and disappeared from view, peeping here and there with white stones. Servants trodden new paths, so they did not wind, but always quickly led to the right part of the garden.

In some places, cooks planted spicy herbs and vegetables in the spring. Onions, garlic, peas, beans, sorrel.

This is how the castle of the Matei family lived!

At the central gate today there was a certain revival. Father's warriors bustled about in the courtyard. Realizing that if I find out what the matter is, I can get out in front of the nanny. With that thought, I rushed forward.

He will ask where I was disappearing for so long, and I scouted the news for her.

She loved to listen to what was going on in neighboring fiefs. I’ll chat her up and won’t remember when I was supposed to return to the castle.

Removing a blue flower from her pigtail, so as not to attract the attention of her brother, she squeezed it in her hand and hurried to the crowded peasants.

Men, women, children... Everyone was bustling around the northern wall.

They whispered, looked at each other anxiously.

"Maybe execution," I suggested cowardly.

But raising her head, she saw neither the executioner, nor the condemned, nor the ready noose.

Even the old executed were removed. And usually they forgot, and in the end they fell right to the ground. And it was terrible!

The absence of the executioner was reassuring. Yes, there, as if relieved from the heart. I didn't like watching people get hurt. And even though my brother said that they were criminals, and for their cause they were thrown off the walls with a rope around their necks, but it was all terrible and pitiful.

Making my way through the crowd, I spotted one of my father's warriors. Good-natured! And also a fan with the cooks to wash the bones of the inhabitants of the castle. He was often seen in the kitchen. Until he lays out all the gossip, he will gobble up half a smoked pork leg.

That's what I need.

“Yer Kadifar,” I shouted indecently, and, waiting for him to turn around at me, sat down in a proper bow, straightening the hem of my elegant dress. Why did the people gather? It happened that in our lands, dear?

“War, Lera Alicia!” - he answered in an unusually stern way. - Bad news. Trouble. You should hasten to the castle. Your father is gathering a family.

“Thank you, err,” she mumbled without hesitation and, frozen for a moment, turned to the rocks.

War!

This means Frodi will leave with his family!

Why did I leave so early?

Why did you laugh at him? Offended!

Turning around, I hurried back to our small clearing in the gorge, but was immediately caught by the hand. Someone squeezed my forearm painfully.

Where are you going, Alicia? I've been looking for you for an hour already, - Krites hissed angrily, looking at me from the bottom up. “Father ordered me to come to the great hall.

"But I need...

Are you deaf, sister? His thin fingers dug into my skin, hurting me. “The word of the lord is law!”

“Let go,” I hissed, but he, ignoring my resistance and not opening his claws, hastily dragged me to the big porch.

Wow, evil crab!

Seeing us, the peasants parted. All I saw on their faces was confusion and fear.

And these feelings were transmitted to me in a strange way.

***

The great hall was unusually quiet. Seeing me, the nanny jumped up and, pulling away from Krites, took me to the far armchairs, where Yuola and Safira, my younger sisters, were already sitting.

Their nurse gave me a stern look and lifted her chin.

I didn't really love her. But she was my mother's friend and breast sister, so after her death she took care of the little orphans.

Well, that's what she called them. For me, the twin sisters were just monstrously spoiled and capricious.

Unbearable bullies and bastards.

- Where were you? Nanny Valencia asked softly.

- I found out the news, - a little hesitant, I still lied.

“Oh, I didn’t see you in the yard, little Lera. But do you deceive your nanny for an hour?

Rolling my eyes, I licked my lips.

“No, mother, I saw Leru Alicia with my own eyes at the southern gate, where the messenger rode,” my dairy sister Talya unexpectedly came to my rescue. - What are you, mother. Where else can our Lera run, no matter how we look at puppies or collect news?

“Aren’t you fooling me by conspiring?” The nanny took turns looking sternly, first at her own daughter, then at me. - I was looking for you, Alicia, I lost my feet. In the kennel I checked every nook and cranny, but they tell me: so young Lera is not a goer to us. And she hasn't had any puppies yet.

- Well, what are you, mama, - Talya threw up her hands. Alicia didn't run there. We will go with her tomorrow. We've already talked about it. Don't be mad at us, we were at the gate.

“Yeah,” I nodded and smiled gratefully at Talya.

Not that she was a faithful friend to me, but they did not quarrel. And she always got out more dexterously than me. Here, after all, it’s like: either, as a well-educated daughter of a lerd, sit within four walls and pierce the fabric with a needle for days, without straightening your back, until the chest with the dowry stops closing, or learn to compose and what really - to deceive. Of course, the girl did not like it. And I was ashamed at such moments, but to sit all day in a closed room, when the sun warms the street, the birds sing, it smells of sea freshness, there is no strength.

- Okay, I'll believe it. So, Alicia, do you already know what news the messenger brought to your father? - the nanny gave up, although it was clear - she suspects something.

- War! - I sighed doomedly, remembering Frodi. “The dragons will fly to the capital, and the other side of the river will be empty…”

“You don’t think about that, young lady!” the nanny cut me off sternly. “War is always scary, but this one has been brewing for so long that I feel it won’t end with three battles.

I glanced at the huge chair of the lord standing in the center of the hall. My dad sat in it, importantly looking at the warriors that were bowing around. They told something with inspiration, laughed and looked like a flock of cocky roosters with fluffed tails.

Probably, they imagine how the dragons will run away from them, dropping their scales. Only now I remembered the words of a friend and now they did not seem to me boasting. You can’t take dragons with beautiful hairstyles and fragrant water, and we didn’t have anything more in our arsenal.

- Will your father leave? - I turned to the nanny, she also carefully examined the men.

There was a heavy crease between her thick black brows. She crumpled a snow-white apron, catching the fabric of a dark brown dress. Coming to her senses, the nanny smoothed the fabric with her palm, but the apron still remained crumpled. This seemed strange to me. I looked at the crumpled folds and realized - trouble. Since the nanny allowed herself such emotions, it means that everything is really very bad.

Talya sniffled and took her mother by the hand.

I caught her confused look. All the same fear settled there.

“Nanny,” I called softly to the nurse.

"No, Alicia," she shook her head. - Not yet. The lord will guard the northern borders with his army. In fact, we are like the last frontier. Northern Shield. And may the gods have mercy on us, and the dragons will indeed go along the southern roads. Then the real war will come to us very soon, or it will completely choke along the way.

At that moment, the men crowding around the lord's chair burst into loud, obscene laughter.

Anxious whispers went through the hall.

Unlike their husbands, women were not enthusiastic. In addition to us, about a dozen more children were present in the large room - all from families of warriors. They clung to their mothers and looked like hunted rabbits.

No one made noise, no one ran, no one laughed.

Nobody... except my brother.

Krites did not hide his enthusiasm. Running up to his father, he whispered something to him and, waiting for the nod from the lerd, jumped out into the street, with difficulty opening the thick castle doors.

No wonder Frodi called him a squishy.

Although... Krites was a year younger than me.

Perhaps it will grow and mature.

I turned my head and stared out the window.

***

The sun was slowly creeping towards the horizon. And we all sat and wondered what we were waiting for.

I wanted to eat.

Juola and Safira's nanny somehow managed to smuggle buns from the kitchen into the hall.

Swallowing my saliva, I glared at Talya.

She's on me.

- Nanny, my dear, maybe we can have something to eat? I started and winked at my sister.

“Yes, and I would not refuse a lush muffin,” she did not let me down again.

“It is not proper for young ladies to chew in the parlour, like peasant women. Where to kill rolls at night ?! Do you want to have to tie up your cheeks by the time you grow up? And then they will drag along the floor like hamsters! Lera should be restrained in food. Be able to overpower your appetites for the sake of your health and beauty. You will always have time to grow a belly and sides!

She said she cut it off.

“Ma, well, I’m not a lady,” Talya pleaded.

“And from this it follows that you have something to strive for, my daughter,” the nanny snorted, closing the topic.

There will be no bun! My stomach started trilling plaintively, not agreeing with this state of affairs.

And nearby, listening to our conversation, these two vermin revived.

Twins!

Safira, waiting for me to look at her, began to twist the roll in her hands, scattering poppy seeds on the hem of her dress. Juola did not lag behind her sister and, teasingly, licked the sweet topping from the golden crust.

“Here are the snakes,” I hissed.

— Alicia! Don't you dare talk like that," the nanny growled at me.

Squeezing my head into my shoulders, I glanced at the buns again. Belly growled.

It was already unbearable to sit. I didn't understand what we were doing here?

Why keep us in the hall?

Men whisper, go back and forth. Brazen chicken legs eat what they brought from the kitchen. Bread with cheese, apples...

And we are hungry!

“Valencia,” the manager approached us. - Send the girls to the room. There is nothing for them to do here.

“But the lord ordered...

“Lard has already forgotten about his daughters. Children need to eat and rest. Go to rooms.

Nodding to the kind elderly man, the nanny lifted us up and led us towards the stairs.

She did this with caution, not taking her eyes off my daddy. But he really was not up to us. He was importantly running his finger over the map that had been laid out in front of him a few minutes ago. All the warriors, standing in a semicircle on either side of him, constantly nodded with intelligent faces, not forgetting, however, about the contents of flat wooden plates.

Passing by the table, I looked into these very cards, but did not understand anything there. With a grunt, she quietly pulled off two fried legs and thrust one of them to Talya in gratitude for helping me get out.

She jumped for joy. Having settled down behind the broad back of the nanny, we quickly ate what was stolen.

Having gnawed the bone, I contrived to throw it out the narrow window. The ocean was raging down there, so this was the place to wipe out the traces of the crime.

Another chicken bone followed.

The first thing I did when I got up into the room was to open the window and stare at the rocks. Sunset. Usually, if Frodi was waiting for me, he kindled a fire.

But he wasn't.