Chapter 30: Chapter 30. The Rings of Babylon

I was curious to know what manipulations Granid was doing while we were sleeping under the transparent warm dome that night. I only saw the old man’s back, and in front of him a bright light that shimmered with different colors of the rainbow. It was as if I was watching the silent welding process while my eyes were protected by the body of this same welder. I saw multi-colored lines appear out of nowhere, gathering into strange balls and flashing in front of the old magician's face. It was quite interesting and very entertaining to watch these strange manipulations.

This process took quite a long time, and I was gradually starting to fall asleep, tired of watching while I lay sideways on my sleeping bag. Turning in the opposite direction, I noticed that it seemed that I was not the only one watching Granid’s witchcraft, but also the fugitive natives, whom Granid nicknamed Hippolytes, as well as Fred, clearly trying to understand whether he was imagining all this.

In the meantime, I didn’t think about anything else and simply fell into a deep sleep and had a good sleep until the bright rays of the morning sun hit my eyes, filtering between the trunks of trees and bushes. By this moment, everyone was already starting to wake up, some of the fighters were having breakfast sitting on the cobblestones, and some were collecting things for the further journey, accompanied by Granid and his, so to speak, retinue.

The old man himself slept sitting up, with his head down and his back against a tree, and on his lap lay his student Incartia, or, to be more precise, only her snuffling head. Now they looked like a grandfather and granddaughter who had gone through a difficult journey, and this may well be true. We don’t know if they are really related, but it seems they are very valuable and irreplaceable to each other.

Watching this couple, a very wild thought suddenly came to mind. It seemed like now was an excellent opportunity to eliminate the potential threat in the form of magicians threatening our lives, but I decided not to risk it and simply threw this nonsense aside.

«Thanks to them, we will be able to quickly establish a dialogue with the native population. Even if they have so-called “magic”, then why should I harm them? We must continue to improve our relationship... even if it comes at a special price they demand.»

The war of the native states is the last thing that should interest us and yet we were forced to join it. According to Granid, our help to them will help us too. Unfortunately, I can’t imagine how, but I hope that there will be significantly fewer adventures on our heads and we can calmly return to the rest of the army in a familiar environment after we protect these lands from the troops of the Empire.

After lying there for some time, I also began to get up, twisting my sleeping bag and checking all the platoon soldiers by counting them. Everyone was there, both the natives and my soldiers, no one was missing, there was at least some joy that day. The natives themselves continued to sleep, or rather, only those whom we had tied up yesterday were sleeping, but the fugitive natives and Lecite had already risen to their feet and had also begun collecting their supplies.

While I was struggling to chew the disgusting taste of dried meat in my mouth and while the other fighters were finishing their rations or eating dried meat with sweeteners, I noticed something incredible: Stern, who should have been immobilized under the supervision of junior doctors, was now walking around the grove without his exoskeleton.

"Stern?"

I turned to the droid operator while widening my eyes in surprise.

"You are healthy?"

Stern, having heard my words, came up to me and, apparently not believing what was happening, barely answered me:

“I don’t know how it happened, but yes, I’m healthy. Looks like this girl did the same thing to me as she did to you.”

"When?"

“Probably this night. I woke up with a normal healthy body without any damage."

Stern said, squeezing and unclenching his fingers, simultaneously moving the limbs of his arms and legs to check the integrity of his healthy state.

“And how are you feeling?”

“It couldn’t be better. It’s like I was born again.”

Stern finally grinned.

“Now it’s so unusual to walk with your own legs and wave your arms. I’ll probably be able to eat normally.”

“Then don’t waste time and go have breakfast. We'll be leaving soon."

"Yes, sir."

Stern said and ran to Fred to beg for rations, and meanwhile I became thoughtful.

«If Incartia said that it does not know how to heal someone, then most likely Granid healed Stern. He was clearly somehow able to find out that without the exoskeleton he could not walk and apparently used his magic on him.»

The old man behaves too kindly, helping strangers from outer space. This seems overly suspicious, or maybe I’m making this up, and the old man just wanted us all to be on our feet by this morning and not delay each other on the way, but I don’t know that for sure. At least it was good that one of the platoon members was now on his feet.

A little later, after about half an hour, we started waking up the Lakuusians: Granid, Incartia, Camellia, Furgur and Ashwani. Even though we understood that they were tired from working all night, our supplies were running low and now we were losing precious time. I saw how the old man opened his eyes uncomfortably and hummed in discomfort, and then he, sleepily and casually asked:

"The sun rose?"

"Yes."

I answered, standing over him with a weapon in my hands.

“It’s time for us to go. Lead us."

“And you Boris, you don’t respect your elders.”

Granid groaned as he rose to his feet along with the yawning Incartia.

“Age is not a reason for respect.”

“Older people retain more experience in the world than young people, so I think that you are wrong.”

«We have different views on such things, old man.»

I thought to myself and decided to express my point of view:

“On our planet, most wars were started by old people, sending all young people to certain death. I’m sure the experience of “wise” older people says this: kill as many youngsters as possible so as not to waste your time on them. That’s why I believe that people should respect not a person’s age, but himself, for his personal qualities, which can manifest themselves not only in old age, but also in youth.”

“Oh, here it is.”

Granid grinned, putting his hands into his sleeves like some mountain monk.

“In your world, elders go crazy with age. These diseases exist here too, but you also know that the elders in this world never go crazy and they are respected here precisely for their seniority over the younger ones.”

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"I'll take that into account."

I answered in a serious tone and immediately decided to ask the old man about what he did at night.

“So what about the rings you were talking about yesterday? Did you create them last night?”

"Yes."

Granid said wearily.

“Creating the rings of Babylon is a difficult task and requires attention to every detail. One mistake and I have one foot at the arch leading into Sod’s garden.”

After these words, Granid took out a pouch from his sleeve and handed it to me. Opening it up, I saw the contents and couldn't help but wonder:

“Are these the rings?”

"Right."

Granid nodded.

“The spell will take effect as soon as you put them on your middle finger. Magic will instantly spread throughout your body and envelop your soul.”

What I saw didn’t look much like rings, but rather stems rolled into circles that seemed very fragile and were ready to simply come undone or break at any moment. I carefully took one ring out of the bag and put it on my middle finger, but I still didn’t feel anything that would tell me about the effect of the spell.

“Hmm~...nothing happens.”

I said, but at that moment I heard Will’s voice full of surprise behind me.

“Boris? What did you just say?”

"Do you understand me?"

Will’s reaction was incomprehensible to me, but after my new words he was more surprised than before, attracting the attention of the entire platoon.

“Holy shit! You speak a different language.”

I, a little not understanding what was happening, turned towards Granid and asked him:

“Why don’t they understand me? I speak English."

“Your soul attracts the singing of all souls that your ears relish. The ring makes you understand the singing of souls in the language of Lakuusa and in the same language your lips can only interpret words, and your soul orders you to hear the melody that is familiar to you, that is familiar to your spirit. This is how the rings of Babylon work, but do not use them so often, because the magical power in them will dry up over time.”

I took off the ring and turning to Will asked a new question:

“Do you understand me now?”

"O! Now yes. What was it?"

"Magic."

I explained to the entire platoon how the rings work, as I understood it from Granid's words, and shared the rings with each of them. Granid tried to make rings for each of us and not only for strangers from outer space, but also for the fugitive natives. The last people I shared rings with were Hippolytes. I showed them that they need to put the ring on the middle finger of the hand, which they eventually repeated, and after they did this I asked them a question:

"Do you understand me?"

"Yes."

Ripun answered me by widening his orange-red eyes.

“Oh great mother! Now we understand each other. We have been waiting for this day for so long when we can finally talk. There is so much I want to ask and find out..."

"Shut up, Ripun."

Dark-haired Niana responded sternly and displeasedly.

“Don’t forget that I’m in charge here.”

"Forgive me, princess,"

Ripun bowed slightly guiltily before her.

“But I just couldn’t help but be happy about it. I’ve wanted to talk to our saviors for so long, to find out who they are... this... this is so exciting.”

"Princess?"

I asked and Niana turned in my direction, not forgetting to introduce herself.

“You certainly don’t know anything about us other than our names, then we will introduce ourselves: my name is Niana Ilti, I am the crown princess of the kingdom of Hippolyta.”

The girl bowed slightly, maintaining a stern expression on her face.

“Thank you for saving us. If it weren’t for you, the damned imperials would have overtaken us and the spirits only know what they could do to us.”

I am still surprised by the fact that we spent almost a whole month hanging around with a princess, and not a simple native. Apparently this was the reason for their persecution, she is the heiress of a country hostile to the Empire and therefore is a priority target, for the sake of which lives and thousands of soldiers are not spared.

While I was thinking about this, another person introduced himself at that moment, more excited than the girl in front of me:

“My name is Ripun, thank you for saving me, I... uh~... I’m the crown princess’s adviser, I help her in any way I can.”

"Huh?"

Niana turned towards Ripun with her mouth open.

“When did I manage to make you my adviser? But you…"

“Ahem-ahem~!”

A bald native named Zaden interrupted the girl, crawling out from behind the couple.

“A warrior greets a warrior. My name is Zaden, a foreman from the royal army of Hippolyta. On my own behalf, I thank you for saving us.”

Zaden also bent over a little and looked sternly at Niana. I don’t know what differences exist between them, but they seem to understand each other perfectly without any unnecessary words. Having examined the trio, I drew attention to the last one, who was hiding behind the backs of everyone else, to Alza, who was afraid to insert a word, but when Zaden finished introducing himself and when I turned my attention, Alza, albeit a little shyly, also introduced herself:

“My name is Alza, I am a simple servant, thank you for saving us.”

She said and droplets of tears appeared in her eyes. She tried not to look me in the eyes, but lowered her head down, clearly not wanting me to see her like that.

“Forgive us, Boris, we have nothing to repay you for your help. We have nothing, no house, no gold, nothing. The Empire has taken everything from us, but I promise with all my heart that I will help you in any way I can. I am very, very grateful to you, Boris, you gave us all a second wind of life, I will never forget this, neither I nor my child either.”

"Child?"

I was surprised when I looked at the girl’s slightly swollen belly, which she gently stroked with her palm, and then I called the senior medic.

"Fred!!!"

The senior medic ran up quite quickly and, seeing my stern look, said in a muffled voice:

"I'm here."

“WHAT THE HELL DOES THIS MEAN?!”

Shouting, I pointed my hand at Alza.

“We dragged a pregnant woman along with us all the way, and you didn’t bother to tell me about it?!”

"I... I didn't know."

"What?"

I didn’t believe his words and demanded the following from Fred:

"Give me your scanner."

Reluctantly, Fred took out a medical scanner and handed it to me, and I began looking at information about Alza in the database. Even though I simply didn’t understand a lot of things, I could clearly see the words among the clouds of text about the general state of the body«pregnancy in the second week» when he first scanned her three weeks ago. He knew she was pregnant and didn't bother to tell me.

"Fred,"

I said in a calmer voice, but with the same amount of sternness.

“Why did you keep silent about this?”

“Tch!”

The senior medic tsked, snatching the scanner from my hands.

“Then the situation was critical and it was not about it. It was not enough for us to be distracted after the battle with the natives by treating her alone. I had to protect people, our regiment, and not some aliens. You know very well that Uwon would not have wasted time on her then and would have shot her right away, and you most likely would have protected her. I didn't want us to kill each other over some native girl. Hiding it from others... it was the only thing I could do to prevent conflict."

My fists clenched with rage, but I could not take out my anger on him. I remembered very well the moment when Fred blamed himself for not being able to save everyone, and now it turns out that for him not all lives are equal and he chose to sacrifice the lives of the natives because of priority. If you think logically, then he did the right thing, but how can anyone trust him after that?

Turning towards Alza, I saw the girl’s worried face. She couldn't help but wonder as she watched:

"Boris, what's going on?"

"It's not that important anymore."

I said sternly, and then asked a question to all the natives.

"You are all right?"

The Hippolytes nodded in agreement and said that they were completely healed thanks to our care and Fred's treatment, but their green spots on their skin never went away. After that, I introduced myself to them and asked a question:

“Will you tell us what happened on the day we met you?”

"Yes."

Ripun responded.

"We'll tell you everything."

After this, Ripun began to tell the story of how the Antigone Empire invaded the kingdom of Hippolyta. This story was long, but also entertaining.