8

After closing the door of the dead, Mairiko and Kleskh went to the upper tiers of the Citadel.

They walked in silence, each thinking about his own and not hearing the ghostly echo of steps hovering under the high dark vaults. What were they thinking? About those distant days when you yourself found yourself in the walls of a stone stronghold - frightened and miserable? They hardly remember them. After all, from a half-wild boy who grew up in a fishing shack, and from a girl from a remote forest village, there was nothing left, except for the names once given by their parents. The past is hazy. It became a stranger. Fake.

There were drafts on the upper tier, but it was not as damp as on the lower ones. The mentors and the head of the Citadel lived here. Kleskh stopped when he heard a short chuckle behind him. He turned around, looking inquiringly at his companion, and she suddenly said something that he himself had briefly thought about as he walked along the worn steps.

– Do you re