Lesana was cleaning the sorrel. The fussy birds flapped their wings, screamed, dropped their feathers. Then they calmed down and sedately sat down on the perches, waiting for food. The girl cleaned the cages, poured water, threw the bones left over from the dinner she had learned into the feeders, sprinkled bread crumbs. Voracious rattlers rushed to the delicacy, cursing and trampling. The novice paid no attention to them, mindlessly doing her work. Her thoughts drifted far, far away. To a memorable and terrible night, when she made a wild, unworthy resident of the Citadel and a warrior fighter. She let go of the walker. Not just a walking one - a bloodsucker with a cub! I saw them as people! Led out of the fortress to freedom. She stunned Tamir, who, keeping a sober mind, was going to stop her. She spoke out against a friend, against a guardian. And for whom? For the undead! These thoughts made me so ashamed and sick that I wanted to howl. But, despite the gnawing feeling of guilt
“Shhh... Quietly...” Febr covered her mouth with his hand, and Lesana silently screamed into his hand, hard as a board. - Well, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't want to hurt you. It was necessary to escape, what are you like dead? She finally sucked in a breath through her nose, dispersing the circles floating in front of her eyes: - Fuck you... And then... through...!!! The guy laughed. Well, let me see what you have... Still grimacing in pain, Lesana pulled up her shirt and turned sideways. There was a huge bruise on the ribs. Febre looked up at the girl with guilty eyes. - I beat half-heartedly ... She crouched and sank down on the wet trunk of a fallen tree. The sagging coarse snow in the clearing where the opponents fought was trampled to the ground. Lesana felt the bruise, breathing through her teeth in a jerky and uneven way. You broke my rib! “I didn’t break it,” the guy argued. - Give. Strong fingers slid unexpectedly softly over the flaming skin. - Maybe it cracked?
Lesana had never felt so good before. The fire burned hot in the hearth. The guys threw fabrics on the floor, old worn skins, dragged in, only Guardians know where. All four of them settled down next to the brightly blazing hearth, dumping the stolen food on a clean canvas. The guys laughed, sorting out the stolen goods. - What a thrifty girl you are, you even stole salted fish ... - Milad laughed. - What are you laughing at? Velesh chided him. - She's delicious, you know. You will eat faster than gingerbread. “I’m not drawn to salty,” Olst’s student laughed again. The guys cleaned the fish, and it was somehow very comfortable for Lesana to sit next to her, talking in an undertone, laughing and feeling equal. Not a stupid worthless girl. Equal. Nobody teased, nobody teased. Wonderfully , but usually gloomy, taciturn Velesh tore off and gave her transparent fat fish backs .- You did not peel off your sides when you climbed? Febru asked. The girl lifted her shirt. Red abrasions
Sweet led the daughters by the hands. Radosh sniffed sweetly, arranged in a piece of canvas tied over his mother's shoulder. They were all together again. And Diven no longer looked dying. They had passed through the thicket and were now walking through a young forest that stretched along a fidgeting river. Peace reigned in my heart. The children no longer appeared translucent to blue. Spring brings back hope. And the wanderers dragged on, trying to cover as much distance as possible during the night. I already vaguely remembered the harsh winter, knee-deep snowdrifts, and how Slada and Diven left the chase. Even the Citadel itself and the outlandish hunter seemed like a dream. But I still remember the second day after the escape, when the wife and husband stopped for the night. Diven cut down a hut in the wild more often, and they buried themselves in it. The woman hoped to rest, but her husband did not immediately allow her to take a nap and fall asleep. Grabbed by the shoulders,
“Whoo! Wow!!!" the wind whistled through the trees "Tsh-sh-sh ..." - powerful crowns responded to his thin howl. Tamir tried to fall asleep, but for some reason sleep escaped his head. And, although for a few days spent in the saddle, the guy was exhausted - even fatigue could not knock him into a slumber. He was still afraid of the forest. Not even so much those who walk, live here, but the thicket itself. With my mind I understood that the forest feeds, waters, gives shelter. Look, take them with Veles - already nine days on the road, and there is nothing to complain about. Sleep on soft, eat hearty. And yet the forest remained a forest. He frightened the novice, who still did not really know how to find his way among the impenetrable thicket, did not know how to remember the path he had traveled. Velesh was from the village, so he willingly told the youngest about everything he knew: he taught him to find streams in the thicket, remember the way and find the way in the sun. But
The rope, thrown over the dryer pole, swayed measuredly. It was hot. The barn smelled of old manure. Shreds of last year's dry hay stuck out of the gaps in the eaves. Skotin had to slaughter greenfields in the middle , when Siyana fell ill, and Volynets was up to nothing. The wife had a hard time giving birth, but the daughter was born strong, pink and noisy. The father and grandmother nursed the child together, because the mother fell ill. Volynets treated his wife with Dar, but even Dar did not help in such rotten weather. A rainy spring turned into a cold and also rainy summer. Water poured down from heaven day after day in unstoppable torrents. The earth became limp, the young grass began to rot, neither mushrooms nor berries grew in the forest, the fields turned into swamps - there was nowhere to sow bread, and no one ... However, little by little, Shiyana stood up, although she was still weak. Volyn breathed a sigh of relief. Therefore, when on a rainy morning of the month of
Kleskh dismounted, threw the reins over the horse's head and handed them over to the jumping servant. - Mentor... Lesana stood a little apart. She looked at the kref with eyes that were dimmed, but filled with hidden relief. - Take him to Nurlisa, then to the soap house, to the doctors and to the refectory. Show the Citadel, explain everything. Then we'll talk. Go with her,” the last kref said, turning to his companion, a strong, broad-shouldered fellow who had just left the saddle and now stood at a respectful distance. The guy tried to look calm, but confusion was reflected in his dark eyes. Lesana gave the newcomer a quick glance and nodded, inviting him to follow. He obediently moved after her, but the girl felt his eyes glowing with curiosity behind her back. Still - a girl in ports and without braids. Or maybe he did not understand that she was a girl? And then Lesana remembered how Febr led her, Eilisha and Tamir in the same echoing corridors of the Citadel to the lower ti
Evening descended on the Citadel. Kleskh returned from Lesana to his unheated dark rest and sank down on the bench, inhaling the smells of the Citadel: dampness, stone, preli. It was necessary to order one of the servants to heat it. And, however, one night and so you can endure. I was too lazy to light the light. And the guard sat in the dark, listening to the silence. Ned, without knowing it, made exactly the decision to which he was diligently pushed by kref - exile. And together with Lesana. The mentor of the warriors chuckled and closed his eyes. To tell the truth, the indignation of Ichthor and those who joined him turned out to be unexpected, which almost ruined everything. Well, at least Rust and Donatos have not changed themselves. Klesh smiled contentedly. At that moment, there was a soft scratch at the door: - Open it. Mairico. The guard hid. Can he believe that he doesn't exist? The light is not on. The hearth is cold. You never know where he goes. - I know you're he