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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,”
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- Time Of Traitors
Epilogue
Cres rose with an effort. All of his muscles were curled into one tight knot and were reluctantly relaxing now. The wind roared in the head and in the corners of the hut. He raised his head and only then saw the second dog-head dying on the floor in a foul-smelling puddle. And above him, Leshy's eyes burn with primal malice, illuminated from within by some kind of silvery sheen. In the dim light, the herbalist looked less and less human.- What are you standing for? Grab your grandma and tick!He said, turned on his heels and, as if nothing had happened, went to the door, wiping his bloody palms on his trousers.Cres threw off his stupor, felt for the half-dead Ada and climbed out the window. Vassa followed him.“I’m already tired of sharpening laces with you, wanderer! shouted outside. - If you don't want it to be good, we'll be bad!Footsteps thundered. Closer and closer.“Wait, what if he still has my shava?” - whispered somewhere very close. Cres recognized that voice: it was Golg
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- Are you serious?! The messenger is already over a hundred, and I have nine winters and one summer! - Vassa could not stand it and shook all over. - A good defender - he could not even kill that bastard who killed his father in front of everyone. You protected your mother, now you are responsible for her!“Shut up,” said Kres, unwinding the whip in front of Vassa. - You do not understand anything.– I understand everything! Father is gone now, and there is no one to protect mother. You are a coward who only cares about himself!- And this is what the one who climbed into the house with a knife, where the defenseless girl is sleeping, is telling me?“She is not defenseless,” Vassa gritted his teeth in an attempt to hold back tears. - That's all she is. She is to blame! Because of her, Yuvasa died, because of her, rats attack us. She bewitched everyone - Khalsa, father, mother, Messenger, and especially you! You talk about her all the time.- How are you concerned about this? I am sitt
- Time Of Traitors
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Khalsa and Musa were burned after sunset, right on top of the Sacred Tree. Kisha herself brought the torch to the feet of both, loudly and distinctly uttered all the necessary praises and appeals to the d'ahs, and did not leave the raging flame until the bones of the warriors turned to ashes. Her children were surrounded by monotonously howling former Khalsa dog-heads - they crowded in a circle, wiping their tears and shifting from foot to foot, because they had nowhere else to go. Vassa soon disappeared somewhere, and Cres did not see the wolf cub all night, which seemed to him too long.Keisha collected the ashes left from both fallen warriors, without anyone's help she climbed onto a branch of the Sacred Ref and scattered the ashes in the wind.Cres wanted so badly to drop everything and run to the Skin House, where he left Ada in the care of an eccentric he barely knew. What's wrong with her now? Did this Leshy offend her? He sent Ieassa and Shuna to them - to find out what and ho
- Time Of Traitors
92
Vassa screamed terribly, as he had never screamed in his life. But his cry was quickly drowned out by the outburst of indignation that exploded in the audience. The circle of d'ahs has not seen such a disgrace in many winters and years. To the cries of indignation, he, not remembering himself, rushed across the sand to his already dead father.- Fool, come back! - belatedly exclaimed, but it was too late.A blade flashed in Vassa's hand. Baring his teeth, Asa raised his hand with the sword, covered in the blood of his father.It rumbled as if a huge leather string had been torn. The knife fell out of the fingers of the wolf cub, buried in the sand. Vassa ripped open the bloody mass of sand with his face. The crowd sighed in one breath, exhaled, choked on their own cry, when Vassa was abruptly dragged back, away from the blade, which only missed his head by a finger.Going through all the curses with which Senches filled his brain over the past twenty-eight winters, Cres quickly pulled
- Time Of Traitors
91
The people still rejoiced, but somehow out of tune. Certainly not such a reception was expected by the newly-minted d'aher.“Before you name him d'ahger,” a small old man in a flowery robe kept shouting from the crowd. – Is there anyone among you who dares to challenge the right of Asa?!"The D'ahs have spoken," Asa declared, not looking at anyone. Then he dropped his shield and suddenly met the eyes of the Messenger, who was trying to put his foot on the sacred sand. It felt like a fire was going to ignite between them. The old man finally twitched his cheek, looked away and took a deep breath.- Of course have! - sounded over Vassa's ear. Too close, and the wolf cub turned its head in disbelief, not believing its ears. The crowd seemed to rush to the side. She darted in one impulse, trying to find out who dared to challenge the one who had just killed Khalsa himself.Musa stepped out of the crowd and froze with his arms outstretched.- Here I am, Musa, the son of Barik, I want to ch
- Time Of Traitors
90
The sun was looming in the pre-morning haze and slightly outlined the black refs, slightly powdered with snow, and people were already flocking to the top of the Heart-House, heading straight for the temple, where preparations for the sacred duel were already in full swing. The people lined up along the edges of the sand circle, right under the wooden faces of the d'ahs, carefully watching each villager. When Vassa and his family climbed to the upper platform and stood directly under a huge statue with a bear's head, snowflakes were flying in the air, it was fresh and quiet. The cub shuddered and began to rub his palms. The day promised clear and frosty.My father closed his eyes and whispered something silently. Prayed, I guess. Noticing the attentive look of his son, Musa smiled and tousled his hair. The mother whispered something to the father, and the smile instantly faded from his face.“I told him not to twist the tail,” muttered Musa. “But he never leaves the d'hanka.It only m
- Time Of Traitors
89
The pebble rolled across her palm like an apple on a saucer. His eye beckoned and frightened at the same time. A light yellowish glow emanated from it, and if it becomes even brighter, then you can naturally fall into it and get stuck there forever.Give him blood to drink and urgently! If they don't hurry, then Sareth's torment in Barandarud will go down the drain.“Mine was better,” Vikta said, handing it back to her brother. She grimaced and said it more out of spite. Her ears were stuffed and for a moment the light faded in her eyes, as soon as the little thing fell into her hands. It was just breathtaking. Brother's Philosopher's Stone was strong. Very strong.Sareth didn't answer, didn't even raise his head, didn't make a single move to take his jewel."He's yours," he replied, poking his wand at the fire.Victa thought she had misheard.“Take it,” she said, handing him the stone.Is he yours, deaf or what? he muttered.- Like this? she couldn't believe her ears. - I already loo
- Time Of Traitors
88
“I remember the darkness,” Sareth was saying. “And some prickly creatures. I remember how they purred contentedly and pinched me painfully, as if I were a calf that they go to slaughter. Abomination - I do not want to remember! I know you might think I'm crazy..."No, I don't think so," she cut him off. - This is true. The Khamer saved you."Saved" and "Khamers" in one sentence. She couldn't help but smile bitterly.- The ones that Ryzhek spoke about ? Looks like Les is really a wonderful place.“I'm already fed up with these miracles of his,” Vikta turned away. “We were supposed to spend a week here at the most and return home, and everything stretched out almost ... Senches knows how long! And the end of all this promises to be not at all happy, as in your stupid fairy tales. Well, that's why, it happened to you? Where did you go, fool? What have you achieved?“I don’t know,” Sareth grimaced, as if from a headache. - I haven't checked yet.– Yes, what are you talking about? Vikta ex
- Time Of Traitors
87
Akai left them almost at the exit. Victa hooted as the weight of a heavy body rested on her frail shoulders. She clenched her teeth and tried to take a step, and flopped to the ground.“What a clumsy you are, Vikta. - Complained her escort. “Better drag him by the armpits.” It's too heavy for you to carry in your arms.Vikta, puffing from the effort, did as the underground inhabitant advised. In the same way, she once dragged the dead Apol out of the cave in order to give the Khamer for the profit. There was still nothing to be seen around, but she felt that gradually her eyes began to pick out separate outlines from the environment. Akai was here too, although she couldn't see anything clear beyond a vague black spot. And only once in the emerging light two menacing eyes seemed to flash."Don't get distracted and don't look at me," he advised her. Vikta immediately lowered her eyes to the ground, and continued to drag the man to the surface. Akai didn't say another word, didn't even
