I nodded.
- How astonishing! And it's very comfortable.
- Yeah, stable interlacing is pretty active.
- Are there any unstable interlaces?
- There are... They're also called floating. You can enter them without a key, but it's very dangerous to do that.
- Well, why is that?
- Because there's no telling where they'll open up. Maybe to the outer circle of Chaos, or to the Devil, or even to the Abyss itself... Such overlaps appear by themselves and also disappear, where they lead - it is unknown... In the Empire there is a small circle of magicians, which is responsible for such floating overlaps. Magicians track and block their appearance, if they can not block, just fence. So that none of the inhabitants accidentally enter the point.
I thought about what I heard. Wow... Still, how different life in the underworld is from what I'm used to... For example, in my former life it would be impossible to imagine a long journey on deserted roads in the company of men, without an escort... And in this one - I'm eating quietly and even enjoy myself!
- There will be one more crossroads behind the wolf's trail, we will get out of it and on it we will reach the Eternal Forest.
He frowned a little, thinking about something. I thought he said something, but maybe it's just my mistrustfulness.
- How do you tell the difference between him and the overlapping? - I was thinking, it's just a cliff and a cliff, no identification marks...
- You just didn't know what to look for," said Lord Darrell softly, "and there are always signs. Above the intersection, the power thickens into a tight knot, as if many threads were tangled together. Above the stable - this ball is flat and almost does not move, over the floating it trembles, rushes, and the uneven itself, torn and pale, you can not notice. Well, there are usual signs, human signs. On trees and stones - brown mold, at the point of entry the vegetation is always stunted, even if everything is in lush color nearby.
- It's true! - I remembered," the rock was all red, and I was surprised... And the aspen was twisted and conquered...
He kept quiet, thinking, and yet he said.
- Vetriana, I wanted to thank you. For that day. You saved my life, I think... And I also realized...
- Shaider, you saved our lives, too, by putting a shield under the rockfall. Everyone just did what they could, that's all," I said quickly and pulled the reins, "and I'll tell you about the overlap between Xen and Daniel! I'm sure they're interested, too!
Lord Darrell gave me a glimpse.
We circled the arc of the field and drove into the hay of the forest. I was already reaching out to him, listening to him. There's a little fox asleep in the hole. He supports me with his black legs, pulls the air as if he were sniffing. She dreams of a night race on dry leaves, the smell of the forest and wet snow, her nose tickling.
A little to the side, thoughtfully swaying the old lime branches. Its current flows slowly, heavily, and the tree squeaks a little squeaky of dried up bark like an old lady grumbles, and sighs a little, looking at the young green growth.
And there, the cold eyes of the predator escort uninvited travelers with a careful look. The grey beast does not lurk, stands calmly and confidently, studying the smells of saddies and horses. It remembers. Soon he will pass the scents to the Leader to decide what to do with the guests. In the meantime, you just have to keep an eye on...
I turned my head surprisingly, looking into the forest. The wolf wasn't lurking, but I couldn't see it anyway. However, I didn't feel any particular threat from the beast, either, only calm attentiveness. And this strange calm surprised me.
* * *
The forest finished quickly and in half an hour we were driving along the forest path, climbing further into the thicket. The trees became taller and darker, standing tightly around the forest path. By evening we got out on a dry glade, where we decided to make a halt.
Hospitable dwarves provided us not only with a bag of food, but also a large wineskin of ale, which was found tied to the saddle of Danila. As well as warm blankets rolled up with a tourniquet, so that even in the woods you could spend the night without being afraid to freeze.
Such nights quickly became commonplace and usual for everyone, and I still had a lot of fun. It's so wonderful to fall asleep, breathing in the sharp smell of the forest, watching the sun fall above the tops of the trees and lazy stars flare up. How the forest is filled with night sounds, rustling paws and whispering trees, and smiling, feeling free...
We argue and do not conspire to redo all the things: dragged deadwood for the fire, picked up dryness and fir paws for the night, drunk and felled horses.
As soon as he hurried, the archpriest slipped a shadow under the shade of the trees and disappeared, and when he returned, silently began to make fire. Nothing could be read on his calm face, as always, but he seemed pleased.
Sitting on the smelling of pine needles, I dozed off a little, lulled by a whisper of talking elderberry. But they wouldn't let me sleep.
- Show me, will you?
- Leave me alone.
- Show me. You're sorry.
- Leave me alone, I said! Here's a bur!
Silence. And with new strength.
- Ksenka, show me!
- Ugh, Sol mon cher! Here, you curious cat!
Danila was offended by the sopal compared to the obscurantist animal, but curiosity won. And again with the heat, he stared at the white braid of the dagger.
- Show me!
Xenia crooked, but took the scabbard off her waist and carefully pulled out the blade, admiring the matte edges.
Danila whistled admirably.
- Wow! Why do you need a dagger? You're a girl, aren't you?
- I'll cut your ears off, you'll know why! - Xenia's frowned.
- No, really? - You don't know how to hold him or throw him, either! What, you're gonna drag him around like a turquoise?
The girlfriend's frowned even more.
- There's more! I'll fight them! I'll also throw them at enemies!
- Fi... Girls can't get into a barn from three steps!
The girl jumped up, there were evil stains on her cheeks.
- You... you... she screamed evil, I'm gonna... here!
She turned around and threw a blade into a dried up tree thirty steps from the parking lot. Akanar flew past and with a quiet whistling flew into the elderberry thickets.
- I told you..." Daniel stretched out.
And then a white bird swung a blade over his head and slowly returned to the girl's palm. Xenia, dumbfounded, raised her hand looking at the steel.
- Oh, what's that? - completely girlishly, she siphoned off.
- Akanar acknowledged you, so he will return from any place, no matter how far you have thrown him," said Archarrion, raising his eyes, looking at the fire. "Didn't Dagamar tell you?
- No..." Xenia whispered. Bliss was slowly pouring on her face.
- And you're holding your hand in the wrong way," said the demon indifferently, "you're breaking your wrist too much, your knees bent, your elbow... there's no force in the blow, no precision.
- And how do you do it? - Xenia raised her begging eyes and even ate her lip.
The Archarrion came up, and without looking, threw his knife. The blade stuck exactly in the center of the dry trunk. Xenia smiled as if she had seen a sweet bun.
- Bend your hand in front of your chest. Relax your palm. Stop at the front of the standing leg. The blade is your extension, part of you...
He turned Xenya around, stood in the back, pointing her hand.
- Don't clench the handle. Spread your legs, there's no stopping... And on the exhalation... throw it.
Akanar took off again, chirping his blade through the wood, hiding in the bushes. And he returned to the palm of his hand.
Xenia looked at him again unbelieving, then resolutely spread her legs and bent her hand, as Archarrion taught.
- You're tense. Don't think about anything. Just a
blade and a target to be struck...
And again, the flight of the steel bird. The blade gently entered the barrel, shuddered, liberated, and returned. The archpriest held Xenya's hand, ready to swing again.
- Try to throw it by holding the blade. With your stand, it might be more comfortable.
Xenya put the acanar steel in her hand, exhaled and threw her palm forward. The white braid shuddered in the center of the barrel, almost next to the Archarrion's knife still sticking out there.
- All right," he said calmly, "let's do it again.
The white steel bird took off again and again above the meadow, hitting the target more and more often, and Ksenka squealed, no longer hiding her delight. I smiled too, I was happy to see her happy. Only Danila frowned, and then went into the forest and sat there until everyone calmed down and went to sleep.
* * *
I woke up to the same sound as I'd fallen asleep: the soft knock of the blade entering the tree. The sunbeam tickled my lips and climbed hard under my eyelashes as it penetrated through the branches of the trees, so I turned over and opened my eyes. Xenia still stood in the clearing and threw the acanar at the target. The dry trunk was already full of thin notches, and I was glad that the tree was long dead.
I lowered my eyes and darted quietly. My friend's beautiful dark green dress had the hem ruthlessly cut to her knees, opening the shins of her high boots. Not even cut off, but pulled off an uneven piece, so that the right side hung longer than the left.
Standing with her back to me and with her legs wide open, Xenia threw her acanar into the trunk, time after time, as if she were aiming at a mortal enemy.
- Ksenia," I called quietly.
She turned around abruptly, and I was disturbed by the dark anger in her friend's face. My eyes were pinched, my lips clenched in one thin line... At some point I even thought that a moment, and the blade would fly at me...
But no. Xenia exhaled and even smiled, becoming herself again, not a terrible stranger.
- Were you even asleep? - I asked when I got up, what did you do with the dress?
- I felt uncomfortable in the long one," the girl wincered, "dragging on the ground, hindering... That's right, it was deliberately thought up, to dress women in such dresses that it would be easier to catch us!
I hummed. I never thought about it once. Yes, you should have seen our prioresses now, Xenya... It's not like that, with a stick on your fingers, and it's scary to approach!
I looked around. Lord Darrell and Danila are still asleep, wrapped in capes and blankets, no Archarrion.
- I go to the spring and wash myself," I reached out to stretch my arms, kneading the heavy body after sleep.
Xenia nodded and turned again to the dry trunk. Akanar cut the air. I stood still for a moment, looking at the thin, tense back, wrapped in a green cloth. And I went slowly into the forest, biting my lips and swallowing a lump in my throat.
Echo hit me with a gust, shredded my hair and swept the hem. And then he rushed back to the thicket. I scattered my hand over my head. My unhappy air beast pulled a rope out of the braid and threw it back into the thicket. I'll have to cut a piece of Xenin's hem into ribbons, or I'll walk around in a rasp.
The sun just got up and didn't warm yet, it was chilly in the forest. I reached the spring and hurriedly sprinkled ice water in my face, then got drunk, feeling my teeth coming down. Insidious Echo sneaked up to the very gentleman and made his favorite: hit the student water with his air paw, making a sounding "plump!" and dazzling me with drops! I laughed, and the mood immediately improved.
- Ugly! - I exclaimed and spit up the water too. But what is my leprosy for the wind? Fuck, and there's no wind! It's already on top of the trees, throwing dry leaves on my head from there!
Ah, yes!
I pulled an invisible noose, drawing Echo to me. He pulled up, swirled a vortex around a birch. I pulled harder... Echo surrendered, the stretched loop curled up, the air beast came over me with all its paws and I couldn't resist, plunged into the water!
Fuck! Echo ran away again. And I'm sitting in a spring and laughing, trying not to claw my teeth from the cold! No, is that how you fight him? I get out of the water and I think. The dress is wet and cold, and Echo, who has found it, has lurked somewhere in the woods and never comes out. I sighed, looked around, and pulled the dress off me. I tried to dry it with magic, but the fabric was dangerously smoky, and I poured water on it, frightened. Now it's wet, at least squeeze it out. I squeezed it out, then hung it up on a twig and sat on a rock, pulling down my shirt.
I'll wait till my beast of air gets back, it's getting better at drying!
Hard-working beetles were hustling near "my" stone, dragging a dry branch somewhere, and I watched them hustle interestingly. And I used to listen to the forest. And I was surprised, again stumbling upon the calm attentiveness with which the grey beast looked at... me!
I threw my head in, trying to determine the direction. And this time, I still saw the beast with my eyes, not with my inner gaze.
It wasn't hiding much. He was lying behind the bushes of hazel, quietly putting down his powerful black and gray paws and a long face on them. Yellow eyes did not blink, but for some reason I did not feel the threat. More like... curiosity?
I got up and confidently pulled on my dress. Then I thought and left it hanging in place. And then I looked at the wolf again. He still looked at me without getting up or even raising his head. He just drove with his ears like a huge gray and black dog.
I sat back on the pebble in disarray. Well, what do we do now? I thought I listened, so I started watching the bugs go up again.
The archpriest slipped a shadow out of the forest and stopped, watching the trees, bushes, spring... I was pulling on my dress, wrinkling with the unpleasant wet cloth at the same time. At least Echo regained his mind, came back, circled in the warm wind, asking for forgiveness. The dress dried up and warmed up, and I smiled.
- What's the habit of wandering around the woods alone? - He frowned and asked without looking at me.
- I don't wobble," I said, surprised at his discontented tone, "and went to wash. Has something happened?
He looked at me and turned away again. Only the darkness flashed in his eyes.
- You're not in the Northern Kingdom any more, Vetriana," he said quietly, "here...everything is different. And the forest is different.
- I don't know... The forest is like a forest... Different, yes. But it's not hostile.
And she sagged on the bushes of woods. But the grey beast was no longer there. And I was relieved. Somehow it seemed like the demon wouldn't like the presence of a wolf. However, I was more interested in other questions now. I wrinkled looking at its rigid profile, but still, I needed to know.
- Rion... The night we arrived in Graham... You were going back on the cliff, weren't you? To the point of interlacing?
The demon didn't like my insights like that, too obviously let's see how strong the blood connection is. Inside me, for a moment there was anger and a strange confusion. And again, it was all quiet. It seems that a wall was built inside the Archharrion even stronger than mine.
But he still nodded.
- Yes. Dagamar and I were looking for traces of the attackers.
- Did you find anything?
- Everything, too: The Hiding Souty Canopy, the threads of power and... everything!
- That's... Villages?
The Archharrion nodded again.
- And she's not alone. Did you see the arrows flying? There were at least four shooters. With blades against invisible archers, there's not much to fight. We were lucky to get into the overlap and everyone was alive... The Cover-up canopy was too far away, only it didn't hit us. They can't get into the intersection without a key, and where Alira is now... one Abyss knows.
- Or maybe her shooters weren't too skilled. - Four shooters... That's odd. Riverstein's got her student, Rogneda, missing from Village. And our old gatekeeper disappeared too, they never
found him... Why the priestess, though? Even if they were, who's the fourth? Why is she coming after us? Does she want revenge for ruining her plans?
He shrugged his shoulders looking at me. I was thinking hard, trying to understand...
- You have leaves in your hair," said Archarrion indifferently.
- What? Ah... yes... - I shook my head, a couple of leaves fell to the ground.
- There's also...
He went around me, stood behind my back. He pulled me by the strands, pulling dry twigs and leaves. Hot fingers hit my cheek. Neck... Wow, he's so hot... Maybe it's because he was born with the fire of chaos inside. And it doesn't look like it's freezing at all. What warm palms... careful... almost gentle... Can a demon be... gentle?
It bent over, so its lips were almost at my ear.
- Chickenpox, - and even the voice...is hot. And hoarse, - sometimes you think so loudly... that it drives me crazy.
I froze, breathing as if I hadn't left. I was afraid to turn around and look at him... But he made up his mind, as always. He backed away, turned around.
- Go to your friends," the demon commanded without looking. And I left.
While I was away, everyone in the camp woke up and even started a fire to heat the water for the herbalist. Xenia wove her hair in a few plaits and intertwined with each other, roughly pulling ropes. It seems that the external beauty of the girlfriend has ceased to worry, now she was only thinking about convenience. Danila, strangely enough, did not react to her transformation. He packed his things silently, bit the grass in his mouth and didn't even look at the girl. Lord Darrell was in a bad mood again, and when I came out of the woods, he looked at me in a way that made me feel guilty. I just don't know what it was.
I sighed. It's so... complicated!
I rolled up my blanket and cape too, the sun was already up, and it was warm enough in one dress.
The archpriest came back with wet hair, which was dripping from his shirt collar, but he didn't seem to notice. Looking at no one, he threw his things at the stallion, jumped into the saddle, and touched the reins. And he didn't even look back to see if we had moved on.
The Wind of the North Page 42