Under the cover of darkness

Chapter 1

The crimson disk of the sun touched the sunset sea and azure spread over rare clouds.

Giza brushed away the tears from his eyes.

He looking at his last sunset.

The place where he admired the sunset was called the glade of the last sunset. A stone pillar, a platform that covered with tiles green from moisture.

Giza sat on his jerkins and watched the sunset.

When the sun completely drowns in the sea and the breeze blows, the bells on the guard posts will begin their night song. This will be the beginning of the night and the end of his life ....

The Helvenian Republic was located on the Helvenian Peninsula, Encircled on three sides by terrible sea waters. Republic was flourished. Only Helvenians could fish from dawn and sunset, catch pearls and crabs. Only they from all the peoples of the continent could enjoy swimming on the hot days of summer. Sea demons observed the ancient contract. They came only at night.

Safety pillars with bells in the night reminded unreasonable travelers about the dangers of night walks. In the afternoon, the shores of the Helvenian Republic were safe. The sea brought decent income to the patricians of the republic, the hereditary owners of all the lands and wastelands of the peninsula. In other countries that had the misfortune to be located near the sea, the demons were treated differently. The Kingdom of Samui built walls in front of the sea. The Kingdom of Linnaeus prohibited settling by the sea on pain of death. In other places, the coasts were deserted and abandoned.

This went on for centuries. In the republic hasn't criminals and troublemakers, as there were no prisons and executioners. All criminals were brought here to the last sunset, they were chained with a copper chain to a pillar by the leg. At dawn the chain turned out to be empty. No blood, no trace ... The demons took the victim carefully.

When republic not enough criminals, they were bought from neighbors. Or sometime they simply to cast lots among commoners. According to the old tradition, only among women.

Giza sighed quietly.

He, a hereditary patrician and landowner, has now turned into a criminal and a victim ....

It all began before his birth.

Patrician Roll, his father was very jealous and expose his second wife to a test of fidelity - he left her tied at the edge of the surf at sunset. There was such an ancient custom - to give the unfaithful wife to the demons of the sea. If the wife is honest and will survive the night, then all the charges were considered dropped. Rarely, but it happened. If, after nine months, a child was born, he was also left to demons. Child was considered a demon spawn.

It so happened that Giza mother survived at night. She turned gray at dawn, but never told what had happened. Giza was born nine months later, but fortunately, Patrician Roll died in a duel at this time. Giza was not given to the demons and he inherited the estate father and his place in the house of the patricians. The mother ruled the estate until he came of age and even then when he spent five years traveling around the continent.

Giza smirked. He turned out to be a bad patrician. For six years he fought against the barbaric customs of the republic. He succeeded in replacing victims from the people with criminals bought from neighbors. But he could not achieve equal rights for women. His idea ​​to attract for cast lots among the whole population, including men and even patricians No one liked this idea.

The last straw was his decision to give freedom to all the farmers on the estate. He released the serfs into the wild and gave them land and vineyards for rent.