After a meager lunch, the boys, as usual, scattered through their bedrooms. Lessons were over, and everyone was left to themselves. To tell the truth, Andri didn't even know what was worse - boring lessons in classrooms or completely free hours that had nothing to do... Sometimes he wanted to draw, but he was afraid to give himself away with this skill. There were few books in the shelter, and Andri thought it was stupid to be interested in them. Homeless people don't have it in them. In order not to go mad with boredom, he came up with only one entertainment - a kite... The winds in August were strong, Andri climbed on the roof of the outbuilding and stood there for a long time, feeling his palms as a living thread with a wide white sail at the end beats. He made a snake out of heavy paper found in the classroom after class. It was a simple matter to steal it, and Andry had no remorse. He, like all the boys in the shelter, did not like the strict, and sometimes frankly evil mentors.
And the snake turned out to be a good one.
Other boys, looking at Andri, also tried to make their snakes, but they were not as keen on it as, for example, card games or quarrels over magazines with obscene pictures. But at least they did not bother with questions. For a long time standing on the roof, Andri constantly thought only about how to find Alexander and save his family. And he also waited. After all, his father said that people loyal to the Emperor will not allow Arthur Volginn and his gang to hold power for long.
After all, his father never lied!
But the days went by - one by one, windy, frowning, with almost no sun - and the red flags still hung on the streets of the city. And nothing changed. Gradually Andrew's faith began to fade. More and more often he thought that the bloody rags would never disappear, and the old life would always be in the past.
My father and mother will be shot. Lisa will be taken to a shelter and Vlad to a workhouse.
Andri tried to chase these black thoughts, but when in the corridors of the orphanage began to hang on the walls portraits of Volginna and his accomplices, there is almost nothing left of hope. After all, Andri could not think of anything, and Alexander did not return to the city with a winning army...
When the long cold rains began, Andrew did not even notice it - he had long ceased to fly the snake from the roof, and in his spare time just lying on his bunk, turning his back against the wall.
He was waiting for nothing and wanted nothing but one thing - that no one would touch him.
Chapter 2. One.
Alexander sat on a narrow window sill made of unpainted wood, wrapped in a fur blanket, and looked out the small smoked window.
It was raining outside the window. Grey, dull, endless. And apart from these cold streams of water, Alcus could barely see the dark outlines of the trees.
There was absolutely nothing to do in a small and boring hunting lodge, only time after time to plunge into other people's memories, accumulated by an amazing pearl. But Alec felt that this should not be abused - his father did not order, and the dizziness began to spin from too frequent "communication" with a cool blue ball.
Alcus was waiting for Mark to return: he was hungry, frozen, and the loneliness was becoming increasingly unbearable.
After a couple of days in the woods, Alexander realized that being a commoner wasn't really a good thing... There are no exquisite meals, comfortable feather beds and such remarkable inventions of mankind as water cloth or electricity. The forest house was a reliable shelter from enemies, but that's where its merits ended. Life in this wooden shelter did not resemble anything, even those beautiful summer cottages, where Alcus had a chance to visit with the father of various influential gentlemen. There were servants at those summer houses... and large bright rooms. And also delicious dinners on expensive porcelain, beautiful interiors and cozy fireplaces for cool evenings. Here the Emperor's son was warmed only by a coarse fur blanket, which smelled like a dog or a mouse litter... Mark did not even bake the furnace so that there was no smoke, only sometimes he raised a small fire near the house when it was necessary to warm the water. He brought Alka food from somewhere in the neighboring village, where he probably just stole it.
The days dragged on forever, and the worst thing was that nothing happened - nothing happened. From this uncomfortable life, from the impossibility of anything to change the mood of Alec was getting worse. He longed terribly for his father and his old days, and the present days seemed to him to be pointless. Alcus did not understand why he had to sit in this dense forest hole instead of being near his brother and trying to return the throne and order in the Empire. Mark's company did not add much joy either...
Continuation in the next part of 38