About the book: year / “...On the road coming from the Ilmen Sea and from the coastal wooded shore it was crowded and noisy. Somewhere in the forest horses neighed, although there were few horses here, mostly riding ones. More moose were working here. The moose were dragging long pine trunks, devoid of branches. The trunks were dragged out of the forest, but not immediately pulled into the city. Or rather, not what’s left of the city. The logs were stored on the bank of the Volkhov, although some were dragged across the river on ice to be stacked on the other bank. And there, in the storage areas, the pine trunks immediately fell into the hands of people with axes, who without delay began to sand the trunks. There were a lot of people with and without axes. It seemed that everyone wanted to contribute their strength to the common cause. But even more people were in the ashes. There they cleared areas under burnt houses and dug holes for dugouts. Men, women, and even children worked and were able to prove useful. Where the soil was clayey, it was not taken out, but collected in large heaps or simply in pits. Clay was supposed to be needed when they started making “black ovens” in dugouts. Usually the Slavs built formwork from boards, then kneaded clay until it became thick cream, poured it into the formwork, and waited for the clay to dry. After this, the outer formwork could be removed. And the lower, inner one, then burned itself in the oven. The method is old, convenient, and hassle-free. Voivode Pervoneg, accompanied by two howls, one of whom was the black-mustachioed Belous, who did not abandon the wounded voivode during the capture of Slaven by the Varangians, rode along the shore, often glancing at the sun, which was barely visible through the clouds. I checked how people were working, then slowly drove through the ashes of the city to the bridge over the Volkhov, without giving any advice to the people digging holes for dugouts, without urging anyone on. Pervoneg felt the cool attitude of the Slovenians towards him. Many believed that he was responsible for the fact that the city was burned, that they lost their property, that many warriors of the city squad laid down their lives defending their own and their neighbors’ houses. And the governor himself sometimes blamed only himself, who succumbed to the simple trick of the governor of the Bjarma Varangians Slaver…»