We rushed, ducking to the necks of the horses, knowing that there was nowhere to turn, and that we could not make it, for we were too late, and the avalanche would cover us in a moment, and swing us over the cliff, or just collapse!
- Dagamar! Help! - Lord Darrell screamed behind my back. I looked up and charmed because the rolling rocks froze on the slope, trembling and vibrating, and the small stones just hung in the air. The dwarf laid siege to the horse and threw his hands up, repeating Shader's pose.
- Quickly," he wheezed, "go away! We can't hold it much longer!
Xenia, Danila, and the dwarves passed by, and I froze, looking at the slope.
- Get out of here! - The Archharrion rudely shouted at me, without moving himself. I understood why he was hesitating. When Shader and Dagamar loosened the shield and the rocks would fall on them... At such a speed that the horses wouldn't be able to get them to safety. And now the Archharrion couldn't leave them and didn't know how to save them.
- Chickenpox!!!
Echo poked a question in the palm of his hand. I shook my head: "No, my beast of air, you can't help, too small..." And the beast woke up, went down the slope, knocking down the rocks...
I was thinking. So few memories... So few memories... And all the wrong ones... And that's how you need one. The one that will help.
I closed my eyes. Just for a moment. But when I opened my eyes, I was already shaking the wings of the wind, torn from my fingers. I didn't know how strong it was, I just held it as hard as I could, feeling the swirls wrapping around me. And I prayed to the Most Pure Mother to be strong enough.
And immediately my palms seemed to be filled with warmth and light, and I was surprised to turn my head. Standing behind the rockfall, Danila whispered something, filling me with her power.
The archpriest understood everything without words.
- Dagamar, Shaider! - ...on the count of three, let go!
The dwarf looked hopelessly back and clenched his teeth, so the red beard moved. The archpriest threw me into his saddle in one movement and pinned me down, hugging me.
- One! Two! Three! He shouted.
And at once Lord Darrell and Dagamar let go of the shield, and I opened my palms, letting out the wind! A mad whirlwind rushed through the gorge, uprooting trees and crushing rocks, and like cannons, picked up everyone on the trail, ripped them off their horses, dragged them two miles, and only here did he calm down a little and threw us to the ground angrily. And we fell down on the stony ground, greedily grabbing the air with our mouths and not believing that we are alive!
- The Great Mountain Spirit of Aalok! - screamed Dagamar as he came to his senses and looked around. - What about it? How can it be?
I raised my head and looked into the face of the Archharrion. During our flight, he never let me out of his arms and at the ground itself he turned over and crashed his back into rocks. But I fell from above. On top of him. I clumsily slipped from his chest, on which I lay, and sat next to him on the ground. My head was noisy, and inside was empty. And joyful!
- It worked," I whispered. And happily she threw her palms up, looking at them, "I did it!!!!
The archpriest turned over, pulled me towards him with one movement, and into his lips. I didn't even have time to breathe, but it didn't seem necessary, as if his breath was enough for two...
And immediately he let go, got up, looked around.
- Your whole back is torn," I said, looking up at him from the bottom. He smiled as if I had said something funny.
There was a whistling sound upstairs, and we followed in astonishment the flight of the battle axe. Turning upside down a couple of times in the air, he stuck right at the feet of the astonished Dagamar.
I finally got up and looked around, too. And I was scared.
- And where is Lord Darrell?
I found Lord Darrell behind a row of rocks, his trunk pressed across the tree, and he couldn't get out from under him. A pale pallor poured on a man's face and his forehead was covered in vapour, and I was afraid again.
- Shyder! - I exclaimed as I knelt down next to him, - be patient, we're going to get you out! - I looked back, wanting to hurry up the satellites that were stuck somewhere.
- Chickenpox! He smiled gladly at me, and I grabbed his hand, calming him down and slowly giving the Force.
- Will you teach me how to make such a shield? - I asked, just to say something. And I took a close look at his aura. That's how... you can't see under the barrel, but it looks like a broken leg and a backbone, too...
He sighed, keeping an eye on me and smiling. The pallor had already poured all over his face and he was breathing heavily, with wheezing...
- I will. Just for a while. I'm "empty" again, I think...
I nodded, pulled the threads of the Force upon myself, weaving them with my fingers and plotting on his aura. Then I hurriedly pushed my life into the gaps, and more. She stretched and smoothed out, feeling the healing and the restored aura poured my Power.
The Lord looked me in the face without blinking and knew exactly what I was doing.
- Chickenpox..." he called and I jumped up, afraid of what he might say.
- Dagamar! Rion! Help! We've got to get the tree out of here...
- Wow! That flew in! - shouted a dwarf and grabbed the barrel, - oh, mountain spirit!
The Archarrion fell on the other side, and the huge oak tree trunk rolled back, freeing up Shider's body. He lay down, then somehow blinked and sat down, looking at his legs. And he looked at me.
- And where are our horses? - I exclaimed, turned around and walked, feeling three pairs of eyes burning through my back.
* * *
Hiding from their eyes, I fell to the ground. I sat down a little. The body was shaking, like after a long race on a hungry stomach. I wanted to lie on the ground and get some sleep, but I knew I couldn't. I shaken my head, spreading the diaper before my eyes. Thoroughly checked the wall inside me... I didn't want the Archarrion to find me now.
I could barely reach the pine, almost crawled, and fell down with my cheek in the trunk, wrapped my arms around me... The mountain pine rustled with its crown, gently chewed me for giving so much Power, cried with tar... and filled me with live currents. Its needles were woven into a lace by the Power of Air, its roots pulled the Power of the Earth and intertwined with the roots of other trees. There were so many of them! Strong, beautiful, mighty! My mountain saviors, I drank their current like nectar and thanked...
I woke up, looked around. And then she went looking for our horses!
As it turned out, clever Kairos not only found himself, but also brought the other trotters. They sobbed frightenedly, punched their tails and hooves, not understanding with their horse mind what had happened to them. But the horses rusted joyfully when they saw their saddles, and almost calmed down. They were all safe and sound, and even the saddlebags were in place, which made me very happy.
I looked around.
The four of us stood on a mountain plateau overgrown with short and hard evergreen grass with rare flashes of red flowers. The trail we were walking was left at the bottom and back, and the wind was a buoy, dragging us a couple of miles through the air, shortening our route considerably. Now all we had to do was find the rest of our satellites, and we could move on.
It was true that Dagamar, stroking his horse, was still shaking his head, remembering the Great Mountain Spirit, squinting at me with his pinched eye and muttering at his beard. Our flight made such an indelible impression on the mountain son that I slowly examined his purple aura, looking for damage. But no, that's all right. It's just that an inhabitant of an underground town is struck to the core of his dwarf soul.
Lord Darrell, too, was silent and distracted by something inside him, so I was even angry.
The Archarrion looked at them gloomy, but said nothing. And then he just jumped into the saddle, ordering us to stay where we are, and ran away. I turned to the pus.
- Come to your senses! - I exc
laimed, with my hands on my side, - Dagamar soil, what are you mumbling about? We have to find the others and get on the road as soon as possible!
The dwarf is staring at me in astonishment.
- So I'm myself, airy, very myself! I can't have the son of a mountain people flying around like a fucking elf!
- Next time, I'll leave you under the rockfall, Dagamar soil! Wake you to rest under the rock and listen to the stones, just like an honest son of the mountain people!
- Uh," the dwarf confused himself, "fair one..." Sorry, that's not what I meant, old fool... He suddenly gave me a ceremonial bow, "Thank you, white-haired one! - and put his fist to his chest, Dagamar will remember!
I snorted and left to look at the red flowers.
The Archarrion returned when I had already smelled all the red flowers in the clearing. Over the saddle of his stallion Daniel was thrown, his arms and legs hanging like a rag doll. In a hurry, the Archarrion sloppyly threw Danila on the grass.
- What about him? - I was scared. Xenia wince.
- So he doubted," she said, "stood there, muttering, and then, bang, and fell down.
- He's alive," the demon said calmly, "but it's hard to share his power. Let it lie down, let it come to its senses.
- Let him also be glad that I caught him! - Ksenia twisted," she said, "or he'd have put his head all over the rock! And so, knocked...
I smiled at my girlfriend, she scattered her shoe toe.
- You... you... knocked... - there was a weak voice from the ground and we laughed.
* * *
While Danila was recovering, everyone had time to eat and get the horses drunk. I caught the Archharrion's gaze with which he examined the surroundings and felt the cold and collected tension in him. No one asked exactly what had happened there, on the slope. And who had set up the Hidden Souty Canopy to go unnoticed. I didn't want to talk about it out loud.
But the men got close, they were wary. Their hands were ready at any moment to grab their weapons and engage in battle. But it was quiet around them.
I listened carefully to the surroundings and did not notice anything frightening or anyone else. And I didn't find any terrible "hollow spaces" either.
- I have to make it to the dawn of the evening," said Dagamar, looking up at the sky, "hey, Ogrion! Gram! Gather round! Stop sitting on your asses!
Hurriedly gathered, we jumped up on the horses and set off again.
A few hours later, the mountain plateau ended in a cliff. We froze at the edge of a stunted aspen, looking at the stormy water below.
- Did we get off the road? - I asked.
- Now to drive back..." Danila sighed.
The dwarves smiled slyly.
- No, we've come to the right place," said Dagamar and winked, "that's the overlap!
- It's a cliff!
The dwarf got off his horse and pulled a round shiny medallion out of the gate. He drew a semicircle near the cliff with an axe. The small stones rustled under his feet and fell down, knocking on the slope.
- Well, who's first? - He squinted and threw his huge axe on his shoulder.
Xenia and I had a frightened look around.
- I'm not jumping on a cliff! - She made a strong statement. Danila nodded. - So did I! We found some suckers...
- Go on," said Lord Darrell, "it's a glum overlapping. It's stable.
- We don't know what the overlapping is, but it's not...
A thin arrow whistled past my ear and stuck itself in a wasp. I was surprised to stare at the shivering black plumage of wood.
- In a circle! Come on, now! - Dagamar screamed. The dwarves instantly pinned the horses, flew all the way up the cliff and... disappeared. The Archarrion and Lord Darrell had already turned their stallions, closing us, the blue blades in the demon's hand ripping the air so fast that the black arrows flew away like knocked down blades.
Xenia turned pale, clenched her teeth, grabbed the lead of a horse standing next to him with her right hand, and galloped. And she's gone too.
Dagamar swung an axe, a yellow medallion on his chest sparkled in the light of the setting sun, blinding me. So I flew into the cliff with my eyes closed. And I opened them only when I realized that the filly and I had not fallen into the void, and all the same jumped on a flat surface.
I was surprised to look around.
The bluff with the stunted aspen is gone. Everything is gone: the stormy river, the hard grass, and even the sky with the setting sun. We stood in a cave so huge that its vaults were lost somewhere above, at an immeasurable height. And downstairs, there was the underground city of Graham dwarves.
But I'll look at its beauty later...
The sound of hooves came out of the silence behind him and Lord Darrell flew right out of the cliff in Kairos. And then, at the same time, Dagamar and Archharrion. I clenched the reins, looking at the arrow sticking out of the demon's shoulder. But he just wincered and pulled it out with his other hand.
- Is everyone okay? - He asked. I nodded slowly. The dwarf spit on a broken arrow.
- It wasn't poisoned? He wondered about it.
- Ordinary," said Archarrion. The dwarf squinted and smiled.
- Well, then, the world has come to Graham," he said. And cheerfully whistling, he touched the reins, heading down to the underground city.
* * *
Graham has made a strange impression on me. There was undoubtedly beauty in it: in strong houses as if they had grown out of rock; in gilded roofs and shiny details that adorned the city in abundance; in the smell of rocks and iron that reigned here; in stone trees and flowers so skillfully made that they could easily be mistaken for real; and in the lively voices of the locals. But still, every time I raised my head, I felt sad and perplexed, staring at the rock and the stone icicles hanging from above. I missed the sky and the sun and the living trees.
And Echo was nervous, my beast did not like the vast but still closed space of the cave.
It was also very noisy in Graham. It was so noisy that it reminded me of a huge swarm of bees, where everyone does something, knocks, screams, constantly moving, laughing and drinking ale! While we were riding along the main street, dozens of dwarves were shouting something at us, greeting us, asking questions, shouting at each other, and creating such a crowd that the horses were frightened and nervously pounding their tails. And I wanted to hide somewhere sooner.
So I sighed a sigh of relief when we got to the big round building and hurried.
Inside the building, we split up. The men had gone after Dagamar, and we were led deep down by a smiling dwarf, pink-eyed, and knocked down like a brown loaf. Somehow she elusively reminded me of Avdotya, and that memory filled me with homesickness for a moment.
Xenia and I were given different rooms, even though we were nearby, and we didn't argue. To be honest, I didn't even have the strength to talk at all, and the day was so long and full that I quickly washed away the road dust, stretched out on the bed, and fell asleep.
I'd sooner guessed than seen what the morning was like. Another thing about Graham is that there were no windows in the local houses. Maybe by isolating the room, the dwarves were saved from the deafening noise of their town. Or in a cave with artificial light reflected from countless shiny plates, no windows?
Be that as it may, I woke up rather by habit, feeling in my gut that the sun had risen above the peaks of the Free Mountains.
Dressed hurriedly, I looked out into the corridor. Kseni's sleepy face came out of the next room.
- Good morning," I said in a whisper, "have you seen us?
- Nah... I fell asleep as I crawled to the bed. Did you?
- So did I. Shall we go and look for them?
- Uh-huh. And some food, uh...
But Dagamar intercepted us outside the building.
- Oh! He yelled, the restless ne'er! Why did you jump in so early?
- We're looking for Lord Darrell and Archharrion, the Dagamar soil. Do you know where they are?
- The
Supreme, of course. Only they can't go there, not at all. Not for your tender ears to talk," the dwarf answered, stroking his beard, and winked. "But you're not sad. Old Dagamar wants to give you a present! Follow me.
We left the building and followed the gnome obediently, trying not to stare too hard. Graham was waking up. Hammers were already knocking at the blacksmiths and blazing with the heat of the oven, ruddy dwarfs knocking their shoes, carrying trays of fresh bread, and the residents were loudly sharing the news, shouting right across the street. The main news was the arrival in the city of mysterious strangers, that is us. And as we walked down the street, we were amazed to learn a bunch of details about our appearance, manners and intentions. Noticing us and our astonishedly rounded eyes, the dwarves were not embarrassed in any way, and new, even more colorful information was added to yesterday's information.
So, having dived into a semi-dark room, above which the colorful inscription: "The best Master and Witch of the glorious Graham, the soil of Dagamar, because the best, yes", we sighed with relief.
A dwarf lit a fire, and I covered my eyes, which hurt with the blinding sparks! And it was only a few moments later that I could look back. How many things were there! I don't think any fashionista Starovera has ever seen such abundance! There were glowing matte gold cups and plates, sparkling statuettes, shimmering with the mysterious glitter of tiara and countless rings, sparkling bracelets, and burned polished candlesticks! The sparkle of the many colored stones simply blinded us, the two novices who had never seen anything like it in their lives!
- Choose what you like! - Dagamar's complacency, gladly looking at our astonished and confused faces.
We glanced over and shyly walked down the aisle, daringly touching the jewellery. All this brilliance and luxury blinded me so much that I did not know what to decide and what to take, and most likely would have refused at all, but did not want to offend the hospitable dwarf.
- Can I go in there? - Xenia asked me, looking in the next room with curiosity.
- Oh, there are no objects of any interest to her beauty," the dwarf laughed a little. But Xenia had already moved the light curtain and stepped into the room.
The Wind of the North Page 40