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Time Of Traitors 39
Who will be the first to take a bite of it? - purred from the other side, forcing the heart to skip a beat and stop.“I am,” they squeaked from behind, when everything in Victa shrank in horror. “I didn’t get anything at all!- Yes wait. Seniors first.“The elders have already taken half of that animal for themselves. It must be a shame to eat so much!“Still young,” they all giggled at once. - Does not understand…Vikta sat neither alive nor dead, forgetting how to breathe, forgetting how to speak, feeling her clothes for the tenth time in search of loss. There was no stone anywhere...Then a prickly miniature paw poked her shoulder. Vikta shuddered, covered herself with a whole swarm of goosebumps and instantly lost her mind from fear. And the paw, meanwhile, unceremoniously felt it, moving from the bony to the softest places, as if choosing meat in the market.“Here, here, it’s good,” they breathed rot in her face. - Here it is especially horrroshno, nazhor-r-risto, fleshy.“But he
Time Of Traitors 40
He was roused from his half-asleep by an incomprehensible, but vaguely familiar sound. Maybe heard? The wind blew in the corners of the house, the deadwood crackled in the hearth, the children sniffed, the grandfather moaned to some of his dreams - nothing unusual, like so many nights before.When it happened again, Cres broke out in goosebumps and tried to convince himself for a while that it was just a nightmare. Although it would be naive to hope that they would just leave him alone, wouldn't it?Holding on to the wall, he got to his feet and walked towards the exit. On the way, he stepped on something, and it tipped over with a crash. Kres paid no attention to this unfortunate oversight and climbed out into the air, not forgetting to once again drive his head into the low lintel.Bosorki soared in an almost silent dance against the background of the loose sky. Lots of barefoot. One by one, they fell like a stone to the houses where the village was peacefully dozing.Before Cres co
Time Of Traitors 41
Most of the mushers were still hovering in the air, trying to pick up lone rok'hee who had not yet had time to join the rest, but quickly abandoned this futile activity, preferring to treat dogheads with new bombs. The savages routinely scattered, snarling with steel rain from bridges and branches. Everyone froze in anticipation that the enemy was about to make a new attempt to attack from a swoop, but the last bomb drivers spent on what else could be burned, and drove their pets away - to lick their wounds.Behind them they left columns of black smoke and an explosion of screams, where hatred mixed with jubilation.The defenders, wasting no time, set off to help the defenders of the Heart-House, but already at the foot of the main roar, everyone stopped dead in their tracks to look at the wounded bosorka, which was the only one to get out of the battle. She had about half a dozen arrows sticking out of her chest, and the horseman beat her with a whip and drove spurs into her bleeding
Time Of Traitors 42
The sun was already disappearing from my eyes, and the forest was plunged into an alarming darkness. Midnight birds sang, crickets and other living creatures chirped and rustled. Drums rumbled and voices rang out. Bonfires were lit.Like everything that was done in the community, the ritual burning of the remains foreshadowed the service of the d'ahs. Rok'hee, dressed in colorful robes and painted faces, walked around a huge couch of wooden rods on which rows of dead bodies were spread, and drew complex symbols on their whitish, lifeless foreheads. Who did not have foreheads, painted where necessary. Prayers flew into the black sky, drums beat.The assembled relatives and friends remained silent. They stood about a hundred paces from the sacrament being performed and did not disturb the course of complex and responsible work. Everyone who wanted to say goodbye, said goodbye a long time ago.Finally, everything was ready to escort the men and women to the d'ahs, and the dog-heads, one
Time Of Traitors 43
By the time he dug up the grave, it was well after midnight.His hands were trembling, and his back ached from the unbearable load. But he still had to drag everyone into the pit and cover the dead with earth ...Cres groped for a stump in the darkness and tried to sit up, no longer expecting to get up, let alone continue the overwork, which, nevertheless, he undertook to do in order to do at least something. But he was brazenly pulled out of his thoughts by a sharp gust of wind - the forest spoke, grumbled and moved. It seemed to Kres that even the earth was in motion. Many different rustles, chuckles and whispers reached his ears. He was surprised, but many of them walked from under his feet.- ... so ... so ... so, - the earth rattled, pulsated. Cres stood up and listened, inwardly growing cold and shrinking into a trembling ball from indistinguishable sounds. “…yaso…yaso…yaso…meat…meat…”He squeezed out some kind of doomed, plaintive groan, as if he were a lamb, on the trail of wh
Time Of Traitors 44
Already at home, Kisha, cursing, forcibly pulled off his shirt and began to change the bandages. The thin scar had parted slightly around the edges, blood slowly oozing from it. As if that wasn't enough, they counted half a dozen new cuts and bruises he'd received in the past 24 hours. And the pain slowly but stubbornly returned to the threshold, stretching, as if waking up after a long sleep.Long time no see, dear.Wrapped in new bandages, Kres climbed out into the air and watched the surviving male rok'hi flock to their huts. He also saw Musa. Psoglavets literally ran up the tree and easily climbed onto the platform.“Your father is wounded,” Cres told him.“I heard,” Musa muttered and disappeared into the house. Voices were heard from there, then everything was silent.Musa appeared again and silently disappeared into the night. Keisha followed, but immediately froze in the doorway, not daring to take a step further. Clutching the joint, biting her lips, her eyes followed the invi
Time Of Traitors 45
- Hey, crrrala!Vikta opened her eyes and saw a dozen freaks in front of her. The nightmare continued.She screamed, her talent ignited by itself, ready to burn and break and…- No! No, stop! the freaks shouted, raising their paws up.Still a little bit and two or three freaks would definitely be safely removed from the clearing in the form of a screeching heap of ash. Oh, if her hand trembled...“Why didn’t you just say you were abel?! squealed one of the freaks in a thin, displeased voice. - It's not good! At first you pretend to be a stupid sheep and pleasantly bleed, and then you kill our comrades for nothing, for nothing. That's not how things are done!Vikta trembled all over at the thought that she had simply fallen asleep in this accursed forest. And they crowded around and could do with her everything that was necessary in their ugly, small heads. And nitsiri would simply sleep through her own death.Don't care... don't care at all, was her thought before she fell into a drea
Time Of Traitors 46
Everyone chuckled and began to disperse in different directions.- Stop! Vikta called after them. The couple lingered and looked hopefully at their goat, but most didn't even slow down. “But what if I give you… another horse!”“Where is she?” the freak asked, and when Vikta hesitated, he continued. “We can catch two fatter ones ourselves. Why do we need to take you somewhere for this?With these words, he turned and walked away.“I know where the meat is,” Vikta called out. - Human flesh.Everyone froze at once and slowly turned around.- And where?Vikta opened her mouth, but immediately closed it. For a while, she couldn't get a word out of herself. What she was preparing to offer them was monstrous.“Not far from where you ate my horse,” she finally decided. “There is a lake near here, the water in which comes out with steam.- We don't go there. It's too hot and there are a lot of stones, - one of the freaks waved his paw.- There is a boy. And not alone. I can bring them to you,”