- And then, the Empire wouldn't mind taking this land into its own hands. Just underneath the side of the dwarves they hate. - The Archharrion finished gloomyly.
Lord Darrell looked outraged, then lowered his eyes, admitting the demon was right.
- Oh, this is ridiculous! - I exclaimed, a huge forest and its inhabitants are dying here, and the Keepers are only sharing territory? Holy Mother... - I grabbed my head.
- It's only true... in part," Shaider sighed. "The problem isn't just this forest, alas... in the South and the Linden Blossom, where the dryads live, similar situations. And even though those lands are subject to the Empire, the Circle of Light never understood what was going on and could not find a solution. It's just that their Sources began to cool down. We don't know what it has to do with it, how many Sources were not studied, we couldn't figure out their essence. Perhaps the power reserve is not infinite and just runs out one day? We don't know...
- And how fast do they cool down?
- Not fast, for centuries... but still... And for the last hundred years it's been accelerating. The Southern Limits are already moving massively closer to Elloar.
I was horrified to see it from Schader to Archharrion.
- Isn't there anything you can do?
- We don't know," said Lord Darrell, "until the Circle of Light finds a solution... Even the Driads don't understand what's happening to their forest and Source, and their connection is very strong. I told you, it feels like the Sources are just running out of Power.
I closed my eyes with my hands for a moment.
- Even if you'd stayed here, Vetriana," Shyder said quietly, "there's nothing you could have done to help the pack...
- But maybe I could try and... understand...
- No. - Archharrion said coldly, - you will not stay here.
I looked angrily at the nonchalant face. The dark eyes of the demon became even darker, the Abyss was slowly pouring into them... Why is he so angry?
It turned around. Yes, I will not stay. Because right now, there's something much more disturbing to me. Or the one... Xenya.
I felt the urge to be alone again. I wanted everyone to leave so badly that I didn't even have the strength to say it quietly. And I must have said it rudely. But they turned around in silence and hid behind white trunks.
And I stayed to sit on a warm stone, look at the silver leafs and wait. I could hear them while lying there with my eyes closed, and then when the pack was standing here and talking to my friends. All this time they were there, in the woods, the beautiful and wonderful Keepers of the Source.
Unicorns.
There were two of them, two wonderful white beasts, with wild grace and beauty that one cannot take one's eyes away from. I stood up from the stone and bowed to them as I bowed to the king. They froze, looking at me with smart dark eyes. The wind slightly moved the flowing mane, the sun's rays scattered around them with colorful sparks as if they were reflected by crystal.
I stepped forward.
- Can I help? This forest? The pack? Can I? What should I do?
Unicorns were still looking at me. I sighed. Their consciousness was too different, I could hardly even "listen" to them, I only caught strange emotions, scraps of images that I could not understand. But for something, they wanted me to be alone here, didn't they?
I took another step.
- Your Source is cooling down, I said quietly, you understand? I want to help... But I don't know how! If it's even humanly possible...
Unicorns bowed their heads. Then one moved towards me, stepping gently and almost resting with a silver horn in my chest. I retreated at a loss. He took another step. I got backward! And I rushed on a warm stone, hitting the fifth point painfully.
The unicorn hovered over me, long eyes looking straight into my soul...
At the edge of my eye I saw the second one hoofing and silver sparks flying around it, falling asleep in the clearing like a starfall. White trunks were shrouded in sparkling haze, the wall enclosing the field from the rest of the forest ... But I could not enjoy the sight ... I was dragged into the funnel of alien and ancient mind, and the world swam, disappearing ...
* * *
Someone else's mind.
The consciousness is so different from the human one that I did not understand it at all... There were smells and sounds that were inaccessible to me, live colors that sprawled and trembled, changing every moment. Forms from insignificant to infinite... Incredible intersection of space and time, so alien to me that my senses just could not take it, and my mind - to comprehend it...
I was pressed and destroyed by this strange consciousness, because I could not understand it, and only fell deeper and deeper into the vortex, helpless in the whirlpool of perception that enveloped me! How could one suddenly realize the infinity? To learn to distinguish an inconceivable number of colors, smells, sounds, sensations? How not to lose yourself in this chaos, which came upon me, breaking my mind??
And fear... A terrible fear to dissolve, to get lost in this wild vortex, to disappear...
Chaos...
With the despair of the drowning I torn the wall inside me, freeing the fire of Chaos that burned in me. His flame swept so strongly within me that there was no fear left, only a calm confidence.
And I calmed down. And only now I felt the anxiety of this stranger's mind into which I was drawn, the unicorn. He was afraid to hurt me, but even more afraid that I would not see what he wanted to show me.
I focused. The fire of Chaos is all superfluous, a wall enclosing my mind. And memories floated before my inner eyes. Invisible paintings, images of memory, preserved in the unicorn consciousness: a misty something, in which there was nothing, even time... The infinity of the Abyss, its indestructible peace... The black earth and the tree that spreads the silver crown... The warrior demons that came out of the Darkness. Druids and elves endowed with light magic... Wolf men who guard the forests. Dwarves who protect the land and the mountains. Sirens, whose essence is water. Vampires are the children of the night. Humans who can feel. And there are many other creatures that have inhabited the earth... Each of them has its own essence and purpose...
A fragile life... An unreliable balance...
I'm falling into the infinity of the Abyss, and more and more... There's something important in its timelessness, something I haven't seen... I just need to look deeper. It's not scary anymore. Deeper, deeper, a little closer to the Abyss and I'll understand...
An unbending and fierce will pulls me from the very edge, pushes my mind out, breaking my unity with the unicorn.
For the second time in a day I come to my senses on this rock, only now my whole body hurts, my head hurts and my nose bleeds with a thin stream. I'm wiping it with my palm and I look at it without understanding.
The unicorns are retreating. They bend their heads... and leave the clearing, merging with the thicket. And I feel terribly stupid because I couldn't understand what and why they wanted to show me.
* * *
My companions were sitting behind white trunks. Shyder on a fallen tree, demon on the ground. Xenia was looking at her dagger, Danila was chewing grass. I went up and sat down next to her.
- Thank you," I whispered to Archarrion with my lips alone, "did you see?
He shook his head. An unhealthy pallor spilled over his swarthy face, and it must have been difficult for him to reconcile with someone else's mind.
- Almost not. More trying to keep you on the edge of the abyss. What did they want?
I tried to be as accurate as possible.
- Well, what does that mean? - I asked Xenya dissatisfiedly.
- It's a simple story of creation," Shaider said thoughtfully, "I don't know why you were shown it. Every child at Eloar knows it.
- Maybe I didn't see it all. - Did I say sadly," or did I misunderstand something?
Everyone kept silent, thinking, but there were no versions. And the silence hanged something... heavy.
- An
d I can't think on an empty stomach at all," Daniel said, "wolves and unicorns... it was calmer in the Wastelands somehow!
- I would sit in my Wastelands! - Ksenia answered.
- But I forgot to ask you where to sit!
They used to argue, and I looked at Daniela gratefully. He winked invisibly.
And when we returned to the parking lot, where our things and horses were left, I remembered that the unicorn hadn't shown someone else... I didn't see any sketches in his mind...
Chapter 19
We set off right after breakfast. I could feel with my gut the wolves around us, even though not a single gray shadow behind the trees. And the rest of us were somehow embarrassed, we wanted to leave such a friendly forest yesterday. So, we had a quick bite to eat meat and bread and, having jumped into the saddles, we let the horses along the path. Today I tried to "not listen" to the forest, it was kind of embarrassing... And there was something to think about. Archharrion said that we will get to the overlapping only tomorrow, tonight we have to spend again on the lands of wolves. As I understand it, neither he nor Shyder were going to sleep tonight.
- If you try to get inside my head again and put me to sleep, you'll be very sorry," said Archharrion, glumly leveling with me. And again he drove forward. I looked at his back and ate his lip.
Xenia held the reins and turned to me. I looked attentively and determinedly and came closer.
- Why are you crying? - She didn't like to ask.
- I'm not crying. There was something in my eye... - I sighed, and I looked at her boots, - Good for you without this hem... even if it doesn't confuse your legs...
- You want me to cut yours off, too? You don't even have to get off your horse... I'll be right back!
- Oh, don't! - I drove away a little, scared that the truth is about to cut off, - come on... later!
Ksenka snorted. I took a good look at her aura. The sticky blackness sprayed like a nasty blot of ink. It was as if that same ink had crawled from the girl's body to her soul, and was devouring, leaving behind an ugly ink.
- Xen, are you all right? - I didn't know for sure.
- I'm fine," she cut off and frowned. The hand, it's already habitually reaching for the white braid on her belt. I leaned on her palm, but I didn't say anything. And again it was... scary. Sometimes I didn't recognize my friend in it. It was like someone else with the same face and body, but... a stranger. And it scared me, and it worried me.
Xenia thought, she looked at me a little surprised and sighed. She put her head down.
- I'm okay... - She didn't say it so confidently anymore. And my heart was trapped in pity.
- Everything will be fine, Ksenka. I promise you...
She nodded, smiled. Brown eyes with the redhead again became calm, cold. It was as if some invisible veil had fallen.
- That's what I wanted to ask..." She said without looking at me, "this morning you said you couldn't stay here because you... love someone. Is that true?
And she looked at me. And I had it all squeezed back inside me. Because my Xenia was missing again, and the face that waited so closely for an answer was the face of a stranger. Even though she was smiling just like my friend.
- Ow, girlfriend, stay awake! Tell me about it. So who are we talking about?
I firmly met her gaze and smiled slyly.
- Xen, don't you get it? I lied to them, of course.
- Yes? - One more careful look and I still smile, - Hmm... okay...
And I drove forward.
I felt the breeze cold on my sweaty back. "It wasn't her," I feverishly said to myself, "it wasn't Xenya... It was the darkness... The darkness that settled in her... I couldn't just scare my Xenya to death, could I?"
By nightfall, we had reached a small river dividing the forest into two halves and decided to sleep on the beach. Having reworked all the usual preparations for bed, we settled down on blankets, looking into the fire and the herbalist.
Xenia again went to throw her acanar and, strangely enough, Archarrion also went up and left for her. Sometimes the wind would tell me his voice, explaining to Xenia how to stand and throw, and her laughter when the blade hit the target.
I squeezed myself under the blanket. I wanted to fall asleep, but I wasn't dreaming... I turned around and decided to walk, but Lord Darrell wouldn't let me in.
- Sit by the fire," he said, "who knows them, these wolves...
- They won't do anything to me," I sighed, "but they think I can help them...
- But you can't, Vetriana. And what the wolves think is unknown. And we'd better get off the Wolf Trail before they take it back. Even Rion can hardly stand up to the pack... He sighed and looked sadly at his palm.
- Has the reserve not recovered? - I guessed it. Spider shook his head.
- Only a tenth of it. I waste it too much," he laughed and thought.
- Danila, come here, come here! - He called me.
The guy got a little scared.
- Lord Darrell, I didn't do anything!
- You're about to," Spider calmed him down, "learn how to put up a protective shield. You've passed the dedication, the Force is there, so... go ahead.
- But how?
- I'll tell you. And don't you twitch like that! Why are you so nervous... I'm not hitting you, like... Bye.
Danila shuddered nervously again, mowed down the trees where the white steel bird was flying, and clenched her teeth stubbornly.
- Come on! Teach! What am I, worse than anybody else, or...
I was smiling when I looked at them.
* * *
But it turns out it's not that simple. Danila's shield wasn't put in any. The guy was quaking, panting, suffering, and even fighting, but all he had achieved was to create a thin, white haze that had dissolved into the air as soon as he put his hands down. I remembered Schader chasing me down the clearing at Riverstein, and I sighed. Yeah, just having the Force isn't enough...
Curiosity and stupid ego were instilling me from the inside, and I secretly tried to put up a shield, too, doing everything as Shyder said. And I laughed. At least Danila's smoke came out, and I just had the wind rushing down the beach, scattering all our stuff.
And immediately I started to look at the bumps on the tree and pretend that I had nothing to do with it!
- Danila, stop being distracted! - Lord Darrell was angry, and stop looking around! Just do as I say! Is that what you're looking at? Are the buns growing on that tree? I'm gonna kill you right now... Cher crowbar san!
There's another nebula near the fire, it's stuttered and gone.
The trees have brought back Xenya and Archarrion. The demon sat by the fire, looking at the tongues of the flame and looking at no one. The girl was smiling, throwing acanar on her palm. She stood there, looking at the red of Danila and the evil Shader. She raised her eyebrows mockingly.
- Is it hard science," she asked Daniela funnyly? Not in your teeth?
The guy looked angry.
- Was it easier to go through the bumps in the Wastes? - Don't worry, you'll come back, you'll try again! What else are you good for?
I was upset to look at smiling Xenya. That's why she's like that?
Danila put his head down, the paint flooded his face again, even his ears became crimson. Then he turned around, spread his arms out, desperately squeezed himself and threw a glowing clot into the air. The clot hung and opened the petals of a beautiful burgundy flower, and then scattered around the meadow with thin threads and disappeared. However, I could clearly see the invisible dome that had enclosed us.
- Wow!" Admired Shaider, Danila! Well done! Well done," he said. "Well done! Reliable.
Danila was looking at the work of his hands, and a blissful smile spilled over his face. He looked victoriously at Xenia. She shrugged her shoulders a little.
- Well, maybe it's not just your roots," she said as she turned around, "that you put up fences as well.
So she went to her blanket without looking back. I patted Danila
on the shoulder.
- You're a smart girl," I said sincerely, "and you're going to be a very strong magician, I'm sure.
The boy nodded glumly and went to bed too. Away from Xenia.
* * *
I woke up again at night. The feeling was familiar, again I woke up like a push, like an obscure call... A wolf call. That's what Jared called me last night, asking me to wake up. I listened. Yeah, the gray beast is sitting there somewhere behind the fence shield, looking at the moon and wanting to howl...
I turned my head and immediately stumbled across the Archharrion's eyes. The moonlight made his face harder, drawing sharp edges and blackening his eyes even more.
- Why aren't you asleep? The shield stands... I asked quietly, and I understood the answer, you don't trust... Tell me, Rion... Do you trust anyone at all?
- I don't.
I answered calmly, I didn't even think about it. I sat down, wrapped in a blanket and looked carefully at his face.
- So how do you live like this? - I sighed - it's so hard... not to trust anyone, not to believe... not to love.
- I'm okay with it.
- What about Dagamar? Aren't you friends?
- I'm not.
- I don't understand you... I couldn't do it...
The demon raised his head, the yellow moon reflected in the darkness of his eyes.
- You won't have to," he said calmly, "come back home and get married. You'll raise the children. You'll have a good life, Vetriana. The life that you deserve.
- Who will you marry? - I don't get it.
- For the one you love," he shrugged his shoulders and smiled. And when he got up, he went into the forest, behind the fence shield.
I sat down for a while, looking intently at the birch behind which his shadow had hidden. Then I got up, put on my cloak and quietly went the other way. The dream had disappeared completely, as if it had never existed... Echo rushed joyfully in front of me, taking away random branches and primitive fallen leaves in front of me. I held him down. Despite its usefulness, the air beast made too much noise.
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