He shook his head.
- We need to get back to Chaos as soon as possible. Alira needs to be stopped before she does anything wrong. Alas, we led her across the line ourselves... I did. Another inexcusable mistake on my part.
- You couldn't have known she was coming after us," I objected.
- I need to get back to Chaos," repeated Archarrion, "I need the power of a demon. The acanarians will not help against the renegades. It's not a good time!
I kept silent, thinking.
- At night you turned," I said without looking at him, "why? You said it was impossible without your source, didn't you?
- Yes, it's impossible... Except in rare cases..." He got up, threw a sheath on his back, "but it won't help. I had no control over the treatment at night. We go to Chaos.
- We? - I froze looking at him, - I go to look for Xenia. And the others. And then to Mayira, asking to let me in. Even if she doesn't, I'll jump on my own! - With anger, I added.
- You won't last a dozen moments in the fog yourself. You're completely defenseless," he said quietly.
- I'll think of something," I turned away, unwilling to show my tears. I was so hoping that the mermaid's lake would help! That it would give them an answer to help Xena! And that's what I'm going to do? Where do we go?
I remembered a friend's look when she saw me on the shore with Shider and ate her lip, trying not to cry.
- Don't cry," said Archharrion behind my back and turned me towards him. I was a little surprised to see a finger on my lip, where there was a swelling and a mark from his bite. He was darkened.
- Take the hides, the air still cool," he said, "from your pretty dress ... only unnecessary thoughts. Come, it's already light.
- I'm not going anywhere with you," I said obstinately.
He shook his head tired once.
- Chickenpox, let's go. Let's find Mayira. They won't be told, but the Lake Mistress knows a lot. Coming?
I shuddered, doubtfully looking at his calm face. But in the end... He won't drag me into Chaos by throwing me over his shoulder? He won't, will he?
The Archarrion raised his eyebrow and smiled.
I turned around, gathered my hides, put them on me, and followed him.
* * *
Above the horizon, a strip of light slowly flared up. We walked along the shore of the lake, and I tried not to pine, stepping barefoot on sharp stones. I couldn't walk fast.
Besides, I constantly looked into the water, hoping to see Solmeya there. But the mermaid did not appear.
But in a couple of hours, we'd be out of shape. The archpriest stopped looking at them carefully, and smiled.
- Who's that? - I asked anxiously, because my eyes could only tell the silhouettes.
- Shaider and Danila.
- And Xenia? Is Xenya with them?
He had a slight frown.
- Yes. With them.
I don't know, why didn't I like that answer?
I speeded up the move, no longer paying attention to the sharp stones. And when the distance between us shortened and I finally saw my friends, I knew why the Archarrion frowned.
Xenia was tied up and seemed to be unconscious. Danila was sitting next to a very gloomy and sorrowful view, and Schader had a bruise on his cheekbone.
They jumped up when we got there.
- Chickenpox! Are you all right? - Lord Darrell exclaimed and gave me a quick look. Apparently, the examination satisfied him. Danila moved a little, closing Xenia away from me.
- And we've been looking for you! - He was too happy to say. I took a hard look at him and ran to my friend.
- Ksenia! What's wrong with her? Why is she tied up?
- Well, you know... it just so happens, uh...
- What happened? - I asked angrily.
- Xenia tried to kill me," Shaider said, "and I had to tie her up.
I sat down on the sand, confused, turning my gaze from one to the other.
- Or rather, she tried to kiss me first," Shaider said, confused, and when I tried to explain that, uh, I couldn't respond to her feelings... She bladed me. I don't know how I got away with it. I just saw her eyes the moment before I hit her.
- But why is she unconscious?
- We don't know," Danila said sadly, "after we managed to, er... tie her up, which wasn't easy... She suddenly doubted, that's all. She never came to her senses again. There seems to be something wrong with her...
I was frightened to see Xenina's aura. Not a single bright spot, all black.
- We're too late," Shider said quietly. "Xenia is still alive, but it won't be long. Her soul has already completely gone beyond the Fringe.
I sat on the sand, clutching my teeth and stroking pale Xenya's palm. And I refused to believe.
- We have to find Mayira," she said firmly and stood up.
- She won't help," Shaider said, looking at me with pity.
- Xenia is still alive, so there's hope," Danila said suddenly and turned to me, "let's go, Vetriana, find that mermaid and shake everything she knows out of her!
The archpriest, who had been silently watching all this time, grinned. I don't know, maybe we were amusing him.
Now I didn't want to look at him or at Schyder. I nodded to Danila.
- Can you carry her?
- Yeah, sure.
But I didn't have to carry Xenia anywhere, and neither did I go. Because the lake was drilled and the Mistress appeared on the surface, and behind her there were a few arrogant sirens.
- You! - She said angrily, as if she had spit out, Mayira, as soon as her foot stepped on the sand, you brought trouble to our lake! You have brought the renegades to the Eternal Forest with their damned magic! Get off the coast of Im and never come back!
I rushed to her.
- Mayira... Mistress of the lake, please listen to me! We didn't mean to hurt you! Believe me... But my friend really needs help! We didn't know this was gonna happen...
- That's no excuse! - the siren said angrily. - Now get out of here!
- We're not leaving until you answer my question," I said with desperate determination, looking into the insensitive pale face. Not a single spark trembled in the transparent eyes of the Mistress, not a single paint brought her face to life.
- Well, don't you have any feelings? - I begged, - Xenia is dying, and you're ready to just stand there and watch! You claim that the sirens are water, but water gives life, quenches thirst, makes flowers grow, and you... you're just insensitive dry wood, not water!
I suffocated from my angry tirade. The sirens behind the Mistress' back looked over, but I only looked at Mayira.
- I can't help you," she said after a long silence, "I don't know.
- You know, Mayira," said the Archarrion quietly behind my back. The hostess gave him an icy look.
- Your friend is already in Shadow World," she told me.
- Who can open the Boundary? - the demon asked.
For a moment there was indignation on the face of the siren.
- Faceless," Shader said thoughtfully.
- You'll never make it to the Valley of Oblivion! - And even if you do, you won't come back from there!
- We'll try," the Archharrion grinned, "so the Faceless... You don't know.
- You don't understand! - The Mistress almost shouted, "The line can only open one... of the Faceless. But you will never make him do it! No way! Immersed in the darkness for three hundred years no contact with those living on this side of the Fringe!
- We will try," I said quietly, "we will try. There's no other way to do it.
- You'll have to open the overlap, Mayra," said Archarrion.
The hostess suffocated with such impertinence. But she quickly pulled herself together.
- I hope that Chaos and the Empire will remember well the kindness of the sirens," she said arrogantly.
* * *
Along the shore, we reached the place where we left our horses and our belongings. Danila never let Xenia out of his hands an
d carried him, stubbornly clutching his teeth.
I hurriedly took my dress and shoes out of my saddlebag and went into the woods and dressed up. It was worth taking the flower off my wrist, and a lively dress came off me like an unwanted skin.
Xenya was wrapped in a blanket. The girlfriend did not react to our actions, not even her eyelashes trembled. She was lying completely motionless and without signs of life, and it filled me with deaf despair. Even the blood flow and heartbeat was barely felt in her thin body. And it was only in the aura that the spark of life still trembled, and I clung to that spark as a guiding star.
Men also dressed up and quickly filled their wines with fresh water. So when the water in them drilled, releasing Solma, we were already completely ready and assembled. I rushed towards the mermaid.
- You must hurry, Vetrjana," she said, nodding to my greeting, "let's go and open the overlap.
- Where does it lead?
- To the Valley of Oblivion. It is the only way there...
- Do you know who the Faceless are? - I was worried to ask, what's waiting for us there?
- No, I'm sorry," the siren shook its head, "Those immersed in the Dark no longer communicate with the living, they say, and they themselves have already crossed the Fringe, and in the Valley of Oblivion live only their shadows..." She looked at me with sympathy, "I would like to go with you, Vetriana, to help you and your friends, but I can not. Mayira has gone into a whirlpool and doesn't want to talk to anyone, she's angry with them, and I need to clean up and calm down the sirens. The defense is destroyed, it needs to be rebuilt before other uninvited guests come to us.
I thank her for smiling.
- Solmeius, you have done so much for us, thank you. Tell me, do you know where the renegades have gone? And the women who were with them?
- No," she answered, and lowered her voice a little, "not even water knows. The magic of strangers has frightened us, Vetriana. There are too many Abysses in it. Be careful. Here, take this.
She reached out with her hand. A silver spark shone on her white palm.
- What's that? Oh! Isn't that... flake? - I was surprised. Solmeya smiled.
- Many people are looking for sirens, thinking our scales have special power and magic. But they do not know that it is true only in one case: if the scales were given to the siren voluntarily, it touched the spark and the spark broke out. And then it stretched out into a small drop and soaked into my skin.
- Don't be afraid, it will appear when you need it," said Solmea, seeing my surprise, "and now hurry.
I nodded and turned to the men. Danila picked up Xenia again, Lord Darrell and Archarrion fenced the horses. We decided to leave the horses here under the supervision of the sirens. And now Lord Darrell was sighing sorrowfully, stroking his Kairos.
Solmeya came to the edge of the shore, where the sharp rocks were dark under water. She scooped the water with her palm. Transparent drops of glass between her fingers and a white shell remained in the palm of her hand. The straw took a deep breath.
- I've never opened the overlap," she said, blaming it on the hostess, "but Mayira didn't want to see you again... I hope I can do it.
- Don't worry," Shyder smiled encouragingly at her, "you've got the key, and he knows how to open the door. You just have to let him do it.
Solmey nodded and looked carefully at the shell. Above the shore, a ball of strength was spinning.
- May Eternity be good to you..." whispered the siren goodbye, and we entered the overlapping.
* * *
And got caught in the night.
It took me a few moments for my eyes to get used to the darkness and see something.
The first impression is the field. A huge field, where the grass is shaking and the flowers are whitening. It stretched as far as the eye could see and there were no living creatures or buildings. Stars shone dimly in the sky and the moon brightly. Under its blue light, long shadows were shaking in the field as if they were living...
But where did the shadows come from? What throws them away???
A quiet rustle behind my back and when I turned around, the Archarrion was already holding his blades. The men were wary of the serene field where the shadows rolled gently.
- Are we in the Valley of Oblivion? - I whispered as if I were afraid to be heard by others' ears. The Archarrion nodded.
- Can you hear anybody? - He asked.
I understood what he meant by my inner ears and I listened.
- No," I answered still quietly, "only the noise, as if from water...
- It's a shield," Shider said, "I don't like it here. The Archarrion smiled.
- We've got to find these Faceless," I said, "if you know what direction to go.
- Let's get somewhere," Danila said, anxiously looking at Xenya's frozen face. I was amazed to see the gentle steam coming from her mouth as Danila spoke.
- It's cold," I whispered.
It's true that the waves of grass have frosted and frosted before our eyes, and the thick cold air has enveloped us. The wind came, piercing to the bones with icy gusts.
- What's going on? - knocking his teeth, Daniel asked.
The frozen grass was sprinkled with white ice floes, and on the ground whitish earth grits, surrounding us with rings. The air cooled down even more, I was already shaking from the cold, and my feet in my boots became two ice cubes. In a few moments, the field turned into an invisible snow-covered wasteland, where the wind was whistling. And it was getting colder...
- We're gonna bust out here..." Daniel stretched out, holding Ksenka with his frozen hands.
- It's all an illusion," said Archarrion suddenly. Shaider nodded.
- How is it an illusion? - I was amazed," he said, "but we are freezing! It's quite real!
- No. It seems to you. But if you believe it, if you freeze to death, Lord Darrell answered and knelt down, and put his hand to the ground.
- Stan Anna Hong! - he shouted out. The light from his palm spread all around, and the ice wasteland was gone, revealing the same calm field with the grass.
- Wow! - Danila exhaled in astonishment.
- Don't believe what you see! - Spider exhaled.
And in the same moment, birds came at us. Black, like a raven, only with red burning eyes and shiny steel beaks. They flew in the clouds, circling us lower and lower. I screamed as one of them rushed towards me, aiming his beak at my eyes. The Archarrion hit her with a blade. And then these creepy monsters threw themselves at us like rocks, falling from the sky. I cried out in fright, but immediately I came to my senses.
- Echo!
The air beast swung up, scattering the creepy birds. But there were too many of them, they came from different directions, flew over Echo and threw themselves at us again. Archharrion's blue blades instantly turned red, and the broken bird's remains fell to our feet. The stench of decay hit the nose.
- Don't believe it! - Shyder shouted, scattering the birds with force. A magic cocoon was spinning on his arm, an illusion! It's not real!
I was horrified to see one of the black bastards spiking, and there was a deep bloody groove on Lord Darrell's cheek. Danila fell to the ground, closing herself to Xenia, and there was blood on his back too.
- Don't believe it! - The Archharrion roared. His blue blades flashed lightning in the air. The rattle of the crow was ringing in his ears.
I covered my head with my hands, suppressing my wild desire to run, hide, escape from these monstrous birds.
- Don't believe me, Vetriana! - The Archpriest pulled my hand and looked me in the eyes for a moment, - while some of us believe that the birds are real, they can kill us! You feed them! Everything you believe in is real!
A few more chopped stinking carcasses fell at my feet. Even when they were dying, the birds scraped the ground with their clawed paws, snapped their paws trying to get to us. Red eyes burned with inexhaustible anger and bloodlust...
I was horrified to see those evil, deadly creatures. How can I belie
ve that's just an illusion? How, when the eyes see them so close, when steel beaks leave bloody wounds on the skin and the stench hits the nose?
I'm out of breath. I forced myself to straighten up and look firmly into the eyes of my fear. "It's not true, it's not true, it's not there... it just seems..."
- Danila! - I threw myself at a guy. He was sheltering Xenya and at the same time trying to put a shield over us. There were several bloody furrows on his back, his hair was shaken, and the expression of horror froze on his face, mixed with stubbornness. I fell to my knees in front of him.
- Danila! It's a mess, you know? Do you hear me?
- I hate ravens!!! - the guy's groaning, they're filthy!
- They're gone! - I shaken him over my shoulders. Echo was circling us in a continuous, warm whirlwind. The hoarse crow's cries made my ears ring. A few black birds fell from above and screamed, burnt by Shader's fireball and Archharrion's blades.
- Danila, you have to believe that there are no birds!
He sighed convulsively. A nasty smell and a few carcasses fell beside us again, splashing our clothes. Danila looked at me with round eyes.
- I have to believe they're gone! - I exhaled, it's a mess! It's like a siren lake, remember?
But the guy didn't believe it. It was too real. Another bird snapped its beak over my head and fell with a wheezing.
- Danila! For Xenia's sake! Believe it! - in despair, I said. Danila looked upstairs. A flock of birds became so big that it almost closed the sky. The stinking corpses of ravens were already filling up all the grass around us, with the smell of blood and death.
I took Danila by the hand, giving my warmth and strength. He closed his eyes.
- It's just... dark," he said slowly.
A huge cloud of birds shuddered and rushed at us. All together. At once. Thousands of rustling wings, sharp beaks, and burning eyes went down for one purpose: to kill.
And they were gone.
Just disappeared, every last one of them, even the bodies. A lifeless field spread out before us again.
I sat down on the ground, feeling everything inside trembling with fear.
- Missing! - Danila marveled, - phooh...
- You believed in time," I patted him on the hand and looked back. Lord Darrell was grimly wiping blood from his face, and Archarrion was examining the field, taking his time to clean the acanara in the sheath.
The Wind of the North Page 52