Chapter 6

Having the knife close at hand gave her a strange feeling of peace. She knew she couldn't do much with it, however it was a weapon and she could reach for it. She touched her shoes again, several round shapes were sewn into the upper of the shoe. An old habit to have something with you in case of problems.

Irregular noises started to come from outside, someone was coming by boat she assumed. Nagor, Setia thought. In fact, after a while, she heard the sound of feet rushing, it was the sound of two people. Setia stiffened as she was in a very vulnerable state. The dagger she has hidden in her bed was a weak consolation.

The door opened with a familiar screech, and an unusual human being rolled in with Nagor. Setia watched the newcomer carefully. He was strangely shrunken, with a lump on his back, like a hump. He couldn't be old and his features weren't deformed as far as his face could be seen. His long hair partially covered his face and his disproportionately strong and large arms reached below his knees. His gait was weird, like a rocking boat. He was dressed like a poor servant in a shirt that used to be white, and brown pants tied with a piece of string dangling with every movement. His feet were wrapped in some animal skin and tied with the same string as the short pants.

"I can see that your strength is returning - Nagor smiled - I'm going to make us something to eat."

The freak gave Nagor a large sack without words, and for a moment his eyes flashed between his hair, green as the Perian forest.

"This is Morid." Nagor took the sackcloth and took out the content onto the table. "We live here together. He is shy, rarely sees any strangers, and women, even less often. Well, no wonder who would like to walk in the swamps? Yes, it is so wet here and in the summer it smells badly from rotting plants. If a person lives here longer, rheumatism in the bones begins to break. Yes yes, swamps are no good …" It was hard to say who he was talking to, maybe to himself.

Nagor began to bustle at the table, muttering something to himself about swamps, picking tubers and roots from the find he had brought. Morid silently watched Setia.

"Thank you," her own voice sounded hoarse, she hadn't used it for a long time.

"If it weren't for you, I would have died in these swamps."

"Yeah, times are bad, people are fighting and women are joining the mercenary army." The old man looked at Setia with a sly smile.

She didn't answer anything, apparently Nagor hasn't spent all his life here. He knew the mercenaries' symbol - a snake tangled in an eight on a long dagger, and that was the tattoo she had on her right thigh. His clothes looked more like the habit of the Haleon monks. Long sleeves almost covering the hands, and the tunic at the waist was wrapped with a wide leather belt with a pouch attached to it. It was evident that the clothes had their glory days far behind them, but they were clean and the existing holes were neatly patched. On his legs, unlike Morid, he had solid shoes with soles. .

"You're a mystery to me. Morid looks like part of these swamps, but you are more of a scholar or teacher." Setia decided to learn something more about him.

Nagor smiled as he calmly separated the leaves from the stalk, then tossed them into a copper mortar and began grinding. Morid without a word threw wood into the fire and then crouched back to his corner watching the girl all the time.

"Once upon a time I was an archivist at the court of the Fenigrid kingdom. I took care of books and precious scrolls. Not too much moisture, no access to sunlight, so that the paint would not fade." He sighed thinking back about his past.

"So why are you wasting yourself here?" Setia was leaning against the bed and finally sat up.

"Who said I was wasting my time here? If I wasn't here, you would have died." Nagor replied, grinding the herbs in a mortar. "Yes, old Nagor still has a lot to do."

"Right." In Setia's head an alarm bell was immediately turned on. She knew that sooner or later her savior would demand some favors for saving her life.

"However, that does not explain your presence in this place, you did not live here to save the people who went astray in the swamps."

Nagor poured boiling water over the crushed leaves and sat down at the table.

- Do you know what Korfid is? he asked, his gaze focused on Setia.

"No," Setia replied truthfully.