"Watch out!"

There was a scream.

Then came a loud thump on the deck.

A few days before the expedition left for the unknown regions of the River Valley, an accident occurred on board the main ship.

Camil, the son of one of the warriors of Silben, died in an accident. The boy fell off the ship's mast and hit his head on the ship's broadside.

People could say, accidents happen all the time, especially on moorings and ships, so what? Why is this accident so uncommon?

However, death is an out of the ordinary event, especially when it is the death of a child.

It's a bad omen, any sailors you meet in the tavern will tell you this.

As soon as Phelan's people informed him of what had happened, he immediately rushed off to the pier, having ordered the doctor to be sent there.

Upon his arrival, Phelan saw that the boy had not breathed for a long time. Whatever the physician did, he couldn't bring him back to life.

Only members of her family and crew could board the ship belonging to the Silben's family. On this day's shift was Yaet, one of Silben's brothers, who commanded the loading of cargo in the lower hold. To avoid the lurch of the ship, evenly distributed over the lower hold load was necessary.

Yaet had no idea how the boy got into the ship, but the first mate swears that he didn't see how Camil got on board. The boy was eight years old; he wasn't tall. People might not have noticed him in the bustle. Some people believed that the boy was stupid because he had no idea about the danger that awaits people if they do not keep the eyes open or take the wrong step.

Someone found a bundle with his things nearby on the deck; it was clear that he wanted to get on the ship to sail away with them. Starag, a long-time supporter of Phelan, who appeared on the boat later, told how the boy asked him to take him to the ship in the morning. Starag, of course, refused, citing his age and the fact that his father would not let him go on a long voyage. The boy's father served as a warrior on this ship for a while, until he saved enough money to buy a small boat.

In the chaos that came after the death of the boy, several hours passed.

Phelan's people transferred the body to the physician's house, situated quite close to the port.

Rumours are one of the most dangerous weapons of people.

As soon as someone tells something to another person, whether it is true or not, it becomes people's tool - a rumour. It will be challenging to convince people that this is not as they say.

At this point, several onlookers had gathered outside. People craved for gossip and tried to find out the details in every possible way. They didn't care about the death of the boy, but someone tried to make the water turbid and blame Raden for everything. Well, Raden, of course, began to spar with locals vehemently. Attyon knew that this would do more harm than good but didn't intervene. Raden better let steam off.

Of all Camil's troubles, this was the worst.

The noise subsided in the morning. Near the house of the physician of Stais, there were no onlookers left. The physician went about his business and waited for people to come to pick up the boy's body to transfer it back to Odiern.

Nialeeka and Zira were already here. They waited for Raden and Attyon along with the people who were supposed to send them back.

They watched people rush past them. Gershy came up and with a local physician began their talks about patients and herbs. Outside the blacksmith loudly cursed because the ore wasn't brought to his forge shop. Children ran past with loaves of bread.

Stais lived its life, and it seemed like yesterday's tragedy hadn't happened at all.

Nialeeka absentmindedly went into the house. There, in the backroom, Camil's body was laid. It was still difficult for the girl to believe in the reality of what had happened.

Camil was such an active child. He was not a bad boy. He didn't know how to approach people, how to attract their attention, how to make friends.

All his attempts were crushed against a wall of rejection. His relationship with Raden and Attyon is the best proof of this.

Thinking back, Nialeeka could recall how Camil ran after the brothers. They smiled and went about their business, and Camil ran after them and tried to follow their footsteps. Or when the boys ran to a stream to the north of the fields...

Nialeeka realized that tears were flowing down her face and quickly wiped them off with her sleeve.

She went to that backroom and stopped in front of the body of the boy on the bed. The body was covered with a facecloth, and the outlines of it appeared under the fabric.

Nialeeka didn't know why she was standing here. Was she waiting for something? Unlikely. Did she want to honour the memory of the boy with her silent vigil? Maybe.

She came closer and timidly extended a hand to remove the facecloth from his face. Even now, she was almost sure that if she threw back the facecloth and it turned out that he was sleeping. Camil's face was serene. Nialeeka touched it slightly when she removed the cover and immediately pulled her hand away as if it had been burned.

However, something seemed strange to her. Camille's body wasn't as cold as she expected. She touched his forehead, hesitated slightly, but jumped up and ran out of the room.

"Gershy! Gershy-y-y!"

Zira came to the noise from the street and saw how Nialeeka was talking to Gershy confusedly. He listened to her but soon went to look at the boy himself. A few minutes later, Gershy asked the local doctor to come to the backroom.

Well, then the curious girls were just kicked out of the house.