Читать бесплатно онлайн книгу автора  Immortalls. Princess Swan from the Golden Mountain

Sergey Solovyov

Contents

Smile goodbye

Prologue

A huge elk carried its mistress through the forest, stepping over fallen trees, squeezing a powerful body through the branches of a windbreak. Branched horns helped to spread the dense branches of often standing trees in the forest. Ilda stroked the head of a dry, her tireless horse, which has now become so strong. But when she received a very small calf as a gift from the son of a fisherman she had cured, she did not think that in a few years he would become a real lord of the forest. Karia, as she called the dry, then only fed on milk from her nipple, everywhere ran after her on her funny twig legs. The girl straightened her disheveled hair under a felt hat, and pinned her naughty silver curls with a hairpin, thoughtfully going over the end of the longest braid. She was not gray, no, but she was not from these edges, distant and dense forests next to Oum. Her mother, as she herself said, was then visiting raw Gandvik…

Mika worked as a paddle, which was strength, trying to leave the hated Varta as quickly as possible. She sometimes turned around, looking sadly at the sandy line, where the parents’ old house was still nearby. Her leather shuttle was strong, her knees rested on a bag of hair thrown by the Magi Hind, and his evil words rang in the woman’s ears:

“Get out, and don’t you dare come back!

Mika only swallowed bitter tears that all rolled from her eyes. I should have been angrier, she said everything to herself. For some reason, she tried to save the woman in labor, who had already suffered for two days. I saw, after all, that she was no longer a tenant, but took up, did not burn herself. Although at first she drove this stupid husband out of her house with a long pole.

— Fail, would immediately call, now everything will die! He was afraid of me, so why did he come? she shouted to him.

— You can help, witch, you honor the Testaments! Here, this is all for you! — and he dumped a pile of beaver skins on the grass of the yard.

— Yes, — the woman sighed hard, I can do a lot, but not everything, — Mika said deafly, raising her red face with anger to the man, — I’ll try…

She examined the vapor-covered face of the woman, whom her husband put on the bench, and everything stood nearby, clenching his fists in impotence.

— Go to your relatives in the yard, you are only hindering me, she said, taking out her tools from the best bronze, lying in a leather bag.

The witch palm felt the heat of the woman in labor, touching her forehead, and only in despair squeezed her lips.

“You fool, you wretched coward,” she whispered as she removed the woman’s clothes.

I felt my stomach, and almost screamed with rage, things were very bad… In thoughtfulness, she stared at the blade of a bronze knife, trying to come to terms with the inevitable…

— Maybe I’ll save the child…

Much later, she went out into the yard with a child washed and wrapped in felt. The kid turned out to be strong, survived this, and now he did not even scream. The witch in the crowd of relatives saw her husband, and he immediately approached her.

— Take it, did what she could, — she said deafly, handing him a child, — and take the body of his wife. She could not survive.

The child’s father just nodded to her, and shouted:

— Father, mother! Gotta take Dana home!

Not two, but four strong men from the relatives of the supplicant, taking a stretcher, went up to her in the upper room, and put the body on felt and carried it away. No one said a word to her. No gratitude for the living baby, no reproach for the deceased woman. The witch lit the herbs in the tripod, driving away the filth of death from the house. The room began to fill with the aroma of smoldering ephedra leaves, so that the air in the house became very thick, only the fire of the lamps hardly made its way through the bluish smoke. She thoughtfully washed the knives in the hot water of the trough, swiping her finger on the blade, and again feeling the horn handle of her faithful assistant. And again in front of her was this picture of lying dying, and blood, a lot of blood on the tanned skin of the shop…

And the next morning…

The next morning came the magician of the tribe, Hind, tapping a staff on the floorboards of her house. He looked at her for a long time and sighed. Then he quietly said:

— Get ready witch, but don’t forget your things.

Mika’s heart just shrank… What about? Why?

— Hind, I saved many people here… — the woman tried to explain, — I did what I could, and the child is alive!

— It was impossible to cut the womb of the mother, — the magician said harshly, storming her with his prickly eyes, — it was necessary to let both die… Ella, queen of the kingdom of the dead, what will she do now? I still pity you, — he sniffed under his bushy eyebrows, — the staff remains with you.

— She won’t punish for good, — the witch answered confidently, — the husband is to blame for everything, before he would have brought his wife to me, everything would have worked out.

“They were afraid of you. And on you, it turns out, the blood of the woman in labor. Get away from trouble in Gandwick, the refuge of sorcerers, until everything settles down. And the point here is the madness of the elderly father, Mick.

The witch grabbed her head, bent low-low and sobbed with despair.

Hind stood up, took his staff, and in a voice as hard as bronze said:

— Tomorrow you leave, my people will bring you a shuttle. Be ready to sail at dawn, and then the trouble will leave the village, drown in the river when it chases after you.

Refuge at Gandwick

Mika rowed and rowed. Nothing, my hands are strong, I’m sticking out, she thought holding on to Obi’s rod. Her like lay at the bottom of the boat, resting her head on her paws without interfering with the hostess and not attracting her attention. Soon she was trying to work with a paddle easier, which would have enough strength before noon.

— Yes, only you stayed with me, — the exiled woman said, looking at the dog, — now we’ll dock, we’ll eat.

Cheln buried himself in the shore, the dog jumped out first, and the owner followed her to the ground. She pulled out a load, four bales, and for protection the leather shuttle also left to dry on land. She cleared the place for fire with a wooden spatula so as not to let her fall on the forest, and not to burn herself at night. The pot, tied with a vine, stored the seeds of home fire. Mika grabbed a hot flaming corner with small bronze ticks, inflated it and put it in the prepared dry branches of the fire. The fire took up quickly, giving the long-awaited warmth to the wanderer. Mosquitoes have already begun to curl over her, bringing out their mournful songs, feeling an ambulance. It was evening, and the river was getting cooler, a woman fur sleeveless on her back. Birds they chattered in the trees, as if greeting her, discussing their own bird affairs. She took smoked fish out of the bag and honestly shared it with the dog. The dog was not sad, and cheerfully overwhelmed with his share, rejoicing in the past day. Vedunya looked at her comrade, and felt that she was very tired, decided to rest, that there would be strength to get to Lukomorye. She drank grass infusion from fur, extinguished the fire, buried a pot of coals in the sand, and wrapped in a felt cloak, lay down on thin branches of trees and bushes collected nearby. Tyapa, her dog, lay down next to her, warming her back. Sleep was heavy, accumulated and pain and fatigue, not even letting sleep. I also got up with a heavy head, and after eating a little, I pulled out a shuttle to the water, putting both belongings and a dog in it. Mika went further down the river, and even the bizarre shore did not brighten her bitterness. One hope was for Nayda, her friend, with whom she was tested on Alatyr, preparing to become the Chosen One. In the morning she sailed in the shuttle, in the afternoon and in the evening she tried to catch fish, this was her daily routine.

Sometimes her fishing happiness varied — on one day several fish, on the other — not a single one. But loneliness did not bother her, on the contrary, the witch felt his charm. She used to live far from the village, from the giant shaft of Oum. There was always something to do — to help one or the other, they came to her, and it happened, and she herself was taken on red tape home to the suffering person. The water was clean in the Ob, mountain oil did not spill into the river. This happened when she once sailed on a large boat past Warta. The river became, as it were, milky, and the banks were viscous, like jelly, only it was impossible to drink this milk, and jelly should be drunk too.

In the evening, she admired the starry sky, putting her bronze map of the sky next to her and remembering the lessons of her mentor on Alatyr Island. The witch measured the height of the star Losihi (polar star) above the horizon. The star rose higher and higher, Mika understood that she was gradually approaching Gandvik. The journey took twice as long as she first thought, twelve days had passed. The weather was good these days, which is rare here in Lukomorye.

Finally, after a dozen paddles, Gandwick opened, lying near the turn of the channel, not far from the sea. Mika has already seen houses standing along the river in the gray haze. The same as everywhere else, only here they stood on pillars, because the ice in the ground melted in the summer, it happened deeply. So the piles of houses were taken to the icy ground, and from above the earth was poured with river pebbles and sand, and only then they made it up, and from above they built a house with residential cells, usually two or three, no more. Although there were Huns and large houses, for several families. Mika swam to the pier, hooked a rope to a pole, and pulling the boat to the shore, stepped on the halves of the pier logs. The woman removed the cargo from the shuttle, turned, and saw two fishermen carrying baskets of catch from their boat.

“Hello, dear,” she said first, and bowed, “can you tell me where Naida lives?”

— Hello and you, venerable woman, — the eldest of the fishermen answered her with a bow, — will you be from Warta yourself? My name is Und and I have Ikrat and Hodota with me. We’ll see you off. Take some red tape for scarba. Ikrat, — he turned to the youngest fisherman, — take another one from the warehouse for the guest.

“All right,” the young man replied.

— My name is Mika, I was with Naida on Alatyr, — the exile called herself, — we have known her for a long time.

“We will help you get to her house, you can see, tired, witch,” Und said, approaching the woman and taking scarb from her hands.

Ikrat returned with a sled, and Mika was laid down on them, tied with belts. Tyapa sat nearby, looking at the fishermen. Und took up the hair straps of the witch, and Ikrat and Khodota dragged the fish to their village, to their homes. The runners of the sled glided along the path, very trampled, apparently, as Mika understood, those who suffered from the whole village often came to her friend.

The woman became uncomfortable, because she did not even have time to wash properly after a long road. I looked at my hands, clean, rubbed with coastal sand today. Fishermen in front of her dragged a skid with her belongings, she was walking behind, lonely, not knowing the road. How unusual it was! After all, she always walked ahead, both at the festivities and at the funeral in her village.

“Well, nothing, soon they will ask me to return, but I will not be in any”

She calmed herself with such thoughts, and almost fell into a cow cake. A cart drove past them, which was dragged by a huge elk with branched horns. There were four children in the carriage, one of whom was controlled by a dry man. Then they came across a small herd of cows, which the shepherd drove back, giving the nurses to the owners. They passed the village, and moved into the forest thicket.

“Far?” the woman asked Unda, who was dragging her belongings.

— No, already nearby, — answered Und cheerfully, who so far has only his face painted from work, — do not worry, I remember the road.

Indeed, it was as if the house behind the wattle had emerged from behind the trees.

rainy here, there were few clear days in Gandvik.

On one of these good and clear days, Mika walked along the seashore with her dog. I haven’t started a team of deer yet, and who can follow them? Heavy alone, she sighed to herself. With the staff given to her by Cord, she moved the branches carried by the waves to the ground, and next to her she saw a log in the water near the shore. Then again the celestial body looked out from behind the clouds, and the golden ray of the sun hit directly into the shadow cast by the trunk of a tree in sea water. And only then did I notice the leather rook, and as it seemed to her, with white felt inside. Tyapa rushed to the find, wagging his tail, and began to sniff it, and barked, calling the hostess.

“What is there?” the woman muttered.

But still went to see. In the shuttle, she saw a bundle, thought it was just gray felt, but blue eyes flashed in the gap, and Mika stopped in anxiety.

— Enough with me, — she said evil, — Hey, there is someone here! Whose child? she shouted, and looked around, waiting to see the parents of the child.

She stood for a long time, looking around when they would come for the child, but there was no one to take the child.

— Why should I again, — Mika muttered through tears, pulling a light shuttle out of the water.

She bent down, took the child in her arms, he did not shout, only looked at her. Mika did not scatter the foundling, and took a quick step to her home, the dog ran ahead of her along the path, but did not miss a single bush, sniffing everything, wanting to find a living.

I quickly went into the upper room, fortunately it was warm, put water in a still hot stove to warm up, and prepared a wooden trough. When the water warmed up, she removed both the felt blanket and the knitted linen diaper. It was a girl, about one and a half years old, but seeing the color of her hair, Mika was scared. The child’s hair was ashen.

— And that’s all for me… And right away, — the witch sentenced, washing the girl with warm water.

She dressed the child, wrapped in furs. Not Oum is here, and not Varta, and it’s cool in summer, Mika thought. The witch hurried to Naida, she looks and tells you how best to do it. She put on a raincoat, took the child in her arms, shook him, and put him in the basket. I also called the dog, we need a guide on the way. She slammed the door, and so let her friend along the path to the house that the dog could hardly keep up. So the cherished gate into the yard, the witch just flew inside, and Tyapa slipped after her, however, immediately tied to the fence. Mika tried to catch her breath, looked in the mirror, which she took out of her bag, straightened her hair, and a necklace that got lost from a quick walk. Knocked. Naida shouted from above

— Come on in!

The woman instantly climbed the stairs, anxiously looked around, seeing only Naida and Winda with their children.

— Hi Naida. It is necessary to consult, — said the witch, breathing heavily, quietly.

— What happened? — the hostess was alarmed, nodding at the basket on the table.

“Look what you’ve found by the sea.

Naida slowly approached the table, seeing a smiling child in the basket. She took him in her arms, looked at her hair, and her face immediately darkened like the sky in a thunderstorm.

“Winda! Go for Cord, you say, it’s important. Faster, don’t hesitate anywhere.

— Well, — she answered, and went down to the basement, going on the road.

Naida took out a couple of clay vessels from the casket, and a leather bag, from which she took out two nipples from the washed sheep udder. One of the vessels filled with milk, and began to feed the girl. She ate voraciously, then screwed up, calmed down.

— Hungry was, — explained the hostess, — and not ours, from distant places. Ashen hair… I accepted the children of all, read, into the world. Did not have this girl, she was not born here, — she said and quickly looked up at Mika, — Found, you say?

— So it is, in the shuttle, on the shore. And in the basket the felt in which it was wrapped.

Mika showed a thin soft felt, good work, although not dyed. The mistress of the house picked up this kind, not prickly, wool, pursed her lips, looking for the pattern, and so on. Naida put the girl’s belongings, and began to walk around the table, thinking. Then the hostess took a knife, and the guest jumped up, almost dropping the shop.

— What are you? — Mika said quietly, getting colder, but preparing to fight to the death for the girl’s life.

— So, you will prick it in the finger… — said the hostess and put the handle in her hand, — what did you think? — Naida amused, — we will wait for Korda, with him we must do so that he sees everything himself, with his own eyes, otherwise he will not believe. And then she will be scared, they say, suddenly she is from the yotuns, ice giants, from the Icy northern lands.

There is nothing more languishing than waiting. Mika rocked a basket with a sleeping girl, who, in her happiness, did not understand what was happening. The witch looked at the door, and at the small windows, trying on how to crawl more easily.

“You really go too far so that your blood is red,” she thought about the girl, — Naida is not a master in throws… I carefully her, so, on the floor, and herself — once, and out the window. Nothing, let’s figure it out. I’ll go to the wends,” she reassured herself.

There was noise and laughter in the basement, but then Cord, inflated with importance, entered. The elder’s staff tapped the floorboards, and the wait dragged on. The first elder greeted:

— Be healthy Light Naida and you Light Mika, our magicians. Heard a lot of good things about you. With what they called, what happened?

“Drink honey out of the way, Cord,” Naid brought him a treat, “with a matter of importance,” she added, “your word is essential here. Take a look.

The elder finished his honey, set up a bowl, and without feeling a catch, went to the table and saw the child.

— The child, I see, — and turned to the wolves, — what have I not seen the children? — and smiled slyly.

— Why are you… Naida got up and went to the table with the basket standing on it, — more attentively…

The elder’s face was made first surprised, then anxious and angry.

— Mika in the shuttle found a child, a girl, — said the Volkhovitsa slowly, — and her hair was ashy. I did not accept her in our village…

— Maybe burn the foundling from trouble? — and the elder looked at both women with hope, looking from one to the other.

Mika jumped up from the bench, and stood next to the basket, preparing for the fight.

“You can’t, Cord, not by the Law.

“And if she’s an ice giant?” the man shook his head, and pursed his lips as he prepared to argue.

— Ice people do not have red blood flowing, but ihor, now we will check, — said Naida quietly.

— I myself, — approved Mick’s decision, taking out a knife from a belt and playing them with fingers. She has already decided how she will leave if the baby is threatened with death… Nothing, let’s manage…

The woman took the girl in her arms, she pulled her hands to her, she carefully grabbed her left with two fingers, and remembering Gemini, especially Ella, the Ellu guard, pricked the child’s finger with a knife. The baby screamed offended, then roared. Mika did not breathe, lowering her eyes from the cut on her finger…

Here, swollen… AND… Red!

“Red!” Micah shouted.

— That’s good, — Cord calmed down, — do you keep the girl, or should I find her mother?

“I’ll have it,” the witch nodded, trying to calm her adopted daughter.

— Name her, what would the Gemini hear and the Spirit-Patroness, — added Naida, — and I’ll bring honey now.

The hostess returned with a small pot and a wooden spoon. Mika ate a little honey in a spoon, dripped into the girl’s mouth, and said:

“You’ll be called Ilda. Remember all! ‘she told both of those who stood nearby, all four who were here.

And they remembered everything, and could not forget, although they wanted later.

From Gandvik to Oum

Ilda stayed with Mika, often Naida came to them with her son Lyy and daughter Iskra. Many were helped by friends, many were cured. And the sailors, frostbitten at sea, were helped, they managed to warm up the sick.

The children played in the yard, the eldest, Lai, concentrated on building a dugout from twigs, and Iskra played with a doll, and Ilda diligently repeated everything after her. Tyap the dog lay nearby, picking up in the sun, sometimes checking if the little mistress was in place. Then he raised his ears, and sometimes opened his eyes, however, making sure that everything was fine, he immediately closed it.

The women were sitting on a bench near the house, looking at the children.

“Nobody wooed you, Mika?” Naida asked deliberately.

“Everyone is afraid. Well, not young already, twenty-five years old. You can’t complain, here’s a beautiful daughter, she’s growing up, “she smiled.

“Not so bad,” agreed her friend.

Then there was a knock on the gate, and the women heard Cord’s grumpy voice:

— Open, Mika, important things!

The woman opened, and three entered the courtyard. Cord. Elder Gandvik, their magi, Aragan and a man, rather a young man, with a shaved head and a clump of hair on the back of his head. The young man was wearing ordinary clothes, but Naida did not see him in the village, but she knew, read, everyone.

— Good afternoon, Traveler. What did you come with? — she asked with a half-smile.

“That’s it, Cord,” Aragan laughed, “you’ve got fox skin.” He said that Naida would immediately guess.

“All right, your skin.” the elder replied. “It’s up to you, Mika. This, he nodded at the guest, is the Herald from Oum. Their trouble — and he mysteriously fell silent.

Mika looked at the young man’s outfit, he was like an ordinary hunter or fisherman in Gandvik. And the Messenger, she herself knew, was dressed in a special dress, so that everyone who saw him. helped, as it should and did not offend anything.

“I burned his clothes, and he sat in the bathhouse all day, washed off the filth,” Aragan said sternly, “His name is Kalya, from Oum. Trouble with them, the pestilence has begun, they are asking for help. Yes, and the Magi and three Magi disappeared in one day. You’re not going to an empty place, Mika. The leader has already ordered the house to be cut down, all honor by honor, in the forest near the village.

Mika watched, and did not know what to say. All this curse drove from corner to corner, from Warta to Gandvik, from Gandvik to Oum. And you will not complain — after all, on Alatyr she swore that she would serve and help people.

— It is necessary to gather, and how to reach Oum?

— Und will go with his waddle. On his boat along the Ob, you will approach Oum. Cord said, Will you gather in a day? The day after tomorrow Und will come to you to help the belongings deliver to the river.

Mika just nodded her head, What do you say? That’s right, alien, so they drive.

— Okay, we will go, why not stand above the soul, — added Agaran.

The guests left, and the witch fell into serious thoughts, swinging forward — back on the bench, looking at the carefree playing Ilda. The dog went up to the hostess, and put his head on her knee. The woman stroked everything understanding Tyapa.

“We’re leaving again… As soon as everything worked out, — she muttered, — and how can Ilda… There is pestilence… Take it to death there.

— Do not twist your friend, — Naida said carefully, — Ilda will stay with me, and there, in two years, you will take your daughter to Oum.

— Ilda! — she called the girl.

She came up and climbed onto the bench under her mother’s side, Tyap pushed his nose into her leg, checking whether she was or not.

— Ilda, — mother asked the girl, will you stay here, with Naida, with Lai and Iskra will you play, or will you go with me to the South to Oum?

“With you,” Ilda said only, and grabbed her mother’s hand tightly.

— Let’s get ready. Micah added, cradling her daughter.

Naida remained to help her friend tie up the belongings, the children managed not to run, quietly playing in a small cell. It turned out three boxes, two baskets, and three bales.

— The main thing is that the boat would not sink, — Mika tried to joke.

“You can handle things, come back,” Naida said quietly, “I’ll look after the house.” Tomorrow I will bring the whole thistle, but plantain, and dried rose hips. There are two bales.

— Thank you, — the witch answered from the heart, — I would not have managed without you.

So the hard day has come, the day of parting. Und tied the load with his rowers, and the river boat was ready to fall off the pier. Ob was calm today, only light waves beat the shore. A bright sun shone, and only a few clouds, white as snow, only shaded the piercing blue of a clear sky. Miku and her daughter came to spend, honor all the people of the village, and joyful that they did not have lots to help the southerners, and sad, because many thought that a good witch was going to death. Cord and Aragan came along, and with him went the Herald, Kaley, he had a new cloak, with sacred signs, so that everyone who sees them would help them along the way.

— Good way to you, Light Mika, and to you, Light Ilda, because they decided to help people. — Prinno broadcast Aragan, — come back soon.

“And this is for you, Mick’s Light,” Cord said, bowing and holding out a small leather pouch.

The witch took it, and her hand almost came off, and in a misunderstanding she turned her eyes to the elder.

— What is it?

“You’re a witch. You know everything, ‘Cord smiled rather,’ didn’t you understand?”

The woman just looked at the elder with rounded eyes, and he nodded.

“So much???” she wondered.

“It’s not easy. Happy road, and here, pies for Ilda. The wife baked, and the elder gave the basket to the woman, and put one pie in the girl’s palm, and she began to eat treats with pleasure.

“Thanks Cord. — For once, a woman smiled, — Otherwise, I’m not a craftswoman in pies.

“Off we go!” shouted Und, the feeder, loudly.

Mika climbed the boat with Ilda, and Kord’s gifts, followed by the dog. Und pushed the pole away from the pier, and the rowers, leaning on the oars, directed the ship upstream of the Ob. Lodya shook a little, Tyapa climbed under the bench, in the middle of which Mika was sitting. and the edges on each side are rowers. So the Herald and the Volkhovitsa family settled down comfortably, on bags of wool. The woman threw a felt blanket over the girl’s shoulders, all fearing that she would catch a cold. Kalei, carefully stepping over the bench, went to the witch.

— Hello to you Light Mika, live for many years!

— And to you, Light Kaley! — she looked at the young man, smiling, — Do you want to know if I am strong in medicine?

— So it is, but you studied as the chosen one.

— And you and on Alatyr sent?

Kalei only nodded back, and fell silent for a long time. He just threw up his hands and shook his head.

— Spread the bones, Mara laughed, and Pryakhi gave a dark answer: “Ask for help in Gandvik, she is growing up. Soon it will be easier for everyone, but also harder.” How can help grow? So he came to Aragan, he decided that since the witches had died in our country, he would ask one of his own. And who is your husband, the venerable Volkhovitsa?

— He died, the long-learned woman repeated.

— And then the girl is not very similar to you, — Kalya said doubtfully, — just like a foreign one.

Ilda, without taking out another pie from her mouth, tried to hit the messenger with a small cam, but her mother grabbed her shoulders tightly.

— Enough, — said the mother of the daughter sternly, — she looks like a father. He was not local. Accepted was an elder, they say, from the Northern Isles.

“I see,” said the young man, looking warily at the girl sitting on the bench, chatting her feet carelessly.

By evening, the boat stuck to the ground. Und chose a place with a sandy shore, and Vataga pulled the ship out of the water. The rowers set up two tents — one for Mika and Ilda, the other for the rest.

Ilda sat on the felt, and enthusiastically checked the strong fabric of their small dwelling with her finger.

“Not tired?” Mika asked anxiously.

— Why did that Herald say that I don’t look like you? — the girl asked, furrowing her brows, — I have hair of a different color…

— Don’t listen, he’s a stranger. You look like a father, — I didn’t even lie to the medicine. — go to bed, get up early tomorrow.

Everyone went to bed, and stood up in the light, washed and quickly ate, and again the boat went along the river.

Ilda did not sit with her mother, but in a barrel, and found herself in the stern, next to Und. The feeder peered into the distance, and with a paddle directed the run of the ship.

“Hello, Ilda,” he smiled.

“And to you, the feeder,” the girl replied, lisping, holding on to the skin of the ship’s skin, “did you know your mother until I was born?”

— Yes.

— Have you seen my father?

— No, Ilda, I haven’t. I brought your mother from Warta a long time ago, a few years ago. Stand by, look at the river. Didn’t you go anywhere on the boat? And our noble boat, called “Fast.”

The girl only shook her head in response. Everything in the estate was spent days by the mother and with other children, except for the found ones, she was not allowed to play. But I started to deal with herbs, at first I showed what berries and mushrooms you don’t need to eat, where you can’t go, where the earth lights up by itself. Little Ilda returned to her mother’s bench.

The journey to Warta lasted a week, Und wanted to relax in the village, go to the bathhouse, and stay with his acquaintances. Mika, without saying a word, began to prepare a tent for rest, hammering pegs, and stretching the ropes.

“Come with us, healer. And Ilda will spend the night in warmth, but she will wash in the bathhouse.

Mika sank from tension, she looked at her daughter, the woman’s lips twitched.

“I’ve been banished, Und. I can’t go back.

“It’s been four years, witch. The house of my acquaintances, whom I drove in the Studenoy Sea, is not in the village, not in Varta. Behind the grove, through the ravines.

Und expected a lot, but not this. Mika laughed wildly, and sat right on the ground, so Tyapa barked, and Ilda grabbed her mother by the hand in fright.

“My house, my house,” the woman whispered through tears.

— Let’s go, and here two rowers will stay, in the evening they will be replaced, — the forager said wearily. — while the fish are caught.

So ten people went to the old house of the Volkhovitsa. Little Ilda looked at the bushes covered with flowers, brushed off mosquitoes and horseflies with a twig, Tyapa ran after her, not allowing her to go far from the path. Mika watched everything, stepping on the fallen needles with leather boots, she waited for the fence of her house to appear. She walked another twenty steps, and noticed how the familiar painted roofs flashed.

“Come!” she shouted to the others.

Und went forward, went to the gate and knocked.

There was a barking of dogs, and the owner’s steps were heard, and his voice:

— Who’s there?

— I, Und, with the merriers. Open up, Goud.

— Ah, buddy, and you are merrymakers, come in, — and the owner, a tall hun, with a shaved head and a scythe on the back of his head, visible from under a felt hat, opened the gate for them. — Let’s go to the bathhouse from the road, — he saw a woman with a girl, — but first guests, — he smiled, — he added.

The bath was new, and was good, as Mika saw it, sitting next to the steamed Ilda. The daughter was completely happy, and her mother was glad that she obeyed the admonitions of the feeder. The hostess was called Rex, and her blonde daughter Satoy. Next to the bench was a jug of kvass and dry fish, to eat if anyone wants. Sata poured hot water from the badeyka, walked along the wet floor, squelching her legs, and poured kvass into a wooden plate.

— Ilda, will you? — she asked, pointing to the zhban.

“Yes,” the witch’s daughter smiled and held out her hands behind the bowl.

Sata poured still cool kvass into the wooden dishes, and gave it to a small guest, and she herself began to dry fish. She cleaned her dexterously, began to eat, but suddenly coughed, tried to breathe, but could not. The girl reddened even more, and fell to the floor. The women pulled her into the dressing room, Mika’s hands shook, and Rexha knocked on her daughter’s back, trying to help. The witch sighed heavily, took a piece of bast, opened Sata’s mouth wider, pulled out her tongue, and took out a bone with two fingers from her larynx. But the girl was not breathing. The crying Ilda came up, began to slow down the suffocated hand, and finally put the fingers of both hands on her forehead. Baby closed her eyes, and Mika only opened her eyes in surprise. Just red, steamed, my daughter’s face turned pale to pure white, and her lips turned blue. Volkhovitsa rushed to her, but then Sata sighed, and Rex pressed her daughter to her.

Ilda opened her eyes, the women looked at them, and did not believe their hearths — they were blacker than night. And then the baby cried, wailing at the top of her voice:

— Mom, I don’t see, — she said, choking with tears, and tried to rub her eyes with her fists, and then extended her arms, and her mother grabbed her, pressing her to herself.

— Do not be afraid, — she said, herself trembling with fear, despite the fact that only came out of the steam room, — will pass soon… You were just scared for Satu…

And the old lessons of Mary from Alatyr came to mind:

“It is rare that a true Witch will be born among people… Much is available to her, and even from the gates of Death she is able to return anyone. You will find out such a simple thing — how she will perform the action, heal, she turns pale, her lips turn blue, and fade for a while, her eyes turn black. Each Chosen One cherishes the hope of finding one, and growing a witch of the Great Power. But this is against the Covenant — it should immediately carry such a thing to Alatyr, so that evil does not do it out of ignorance and without a guess.”

— Don’t tell anyone, Rexha, and you’re Sata, about what happened. Otherwise, neither I nor Ilda will have a life. Everywhere evil people will get us.

“We will not say a word,” the hostess nodded, “and Sata will not say,” she said, looking her daughter in the eyes, “Thank you and your daughter.

“Come on, let’s get home,” Mika suggested, calming down the sobbing Ilda, stroking her back.

Sata sat gloomily on the bench, all staring with fright at the baby’s face. Ilda sat on her mother’s lap for a long time, and soon her eyes began to glow, and she shouted joyfully:

— I see, I see! — I brought my palms to my eyes, wiggling my fingers, and smiled joyfully with blue lips.

— Well, we went to dress, otherwise the merrymakers are waiting for their turn, — the hostess was delighted that everything worked out with the baby.

They left the bathhouse, and again the cheerful Sata followed her mother, and the women went to the house to comb their hair and cook a meal. Under the canopy, next to the house stood three tall moose, and busily crushed with twigs and grass. The daughter of the Volkhovitsa pulled her mother by the sleeve, pointing her finger at the dry ones with happiness on her face.

“They ride, my beauty,” said Mika, “it’s not easy to tame them, you have to feed the newborns, but then he is obedient, and the deer will be stronger. Let’s go, we are waiting for us already.

Lunch was a success, everyone ate and praised. Ilda also ate, and as if nothing had happened, she chatted with her feet. Rex and Sata ate, rather pushed food into themselves with difficulty, they joked hard, but both could not look away from a little guest. Mika looked around the house, her former. But there was no anger at Gouda in his heart, or maybe it was she herself who jinxed poor Sata?

The next morning, sleeping in warmth, Vataga went on. Mika and her daughter sat in their place, Kaley stood next to Unda, listening to the stories of an experienced sailor, and learned to distinguish between waves and how to rule a boat both in calm and in strong winds.

Day after day, and when there was half the way to Oum, the merrymakers, as always, pulled the boat ashore in the evening and set up a small camp. A fire was burning, crackling with damp wood, mosquitoes buzzed around, which were driven away by spruce branches. Everyone ate caught and then baked fish. The day before, they caught a lot of crucian carp, got fat and big, with a palm the size of. The merrymakers all encouraged each other by drinking warm herbal infusion, and then asked:

— Uncle Und! Tell us what — not be for the night. Entertaining!

— What can I tell you? — the feeder scratched his chin, — I don’t even know… — and spread his hands.

“Tell me about the Five Princesses who are sleeping now!” asked Kalei.

— Maybe it’s not worth it for the night? — the sailor doubted.

— Tell me, one of the merriers asked, adjusting the felt hat on his head.

“Okay, you asked for it,” Und began.

— It was a long time ago, when no one remembers. The first Princess was left to the Huns in consolation when the Twins retired to Mir Horny. People asked, and it was given to them, so much so that many tears were shed endlessly, as the First Dead Princess appeared. They do not come, but they are, and why — no one knows. Nobody remembers the names of the past Overlords, only, I suppose, Pryakhi on Alatyr knows all their names. And, now, She began to observe the order, but to heal people. And when they attacked us, she raised the squad of the Dead. And at least there were a few of them, only three hundred, but she beat the thieves. And so it continued, one replaced the other, until our Ulna fell asleep, but it was, read, eighty years ago. The princesses ruled for a long time each, who were two hundred years old and who were five hundred, but the end was one — they fell asleep in an unknown place, covered with ice like a blanket. And they say that there was a vision of Mare that there would be Seven Princesses in total, no more, no less, and there are madmen who believe that as the last fall asleep, the Gemini themselves will appear in the World of People, he finished, and drank honey from the ladle. — Let’s sleep, the morning of the evening is wiser.

Mika put her daughter on a felt next to her, and covered her with a cloak, and lay down next to herself. Suddenly, grumbling, crawled into Tyap’s tent. In the wrong light of the oil lamp, the witch saw that the dog had damaged his paw.

— Tyapa… my daughter smiled, give me a paw.

The dog, which Mick had not seen before, sat down and stretched out his right bleeding paw to Ilda. She just stroked her, and the blood stopped. The witch just swallowed, and sighed heavily. The dog in response licked the girl’s face several times, and she laughed, obscuring her palms. Mika escorted the dog, and sat down next to her daughter.

— Ilda, — and she kissed the girl’s freckled cheek, — I ask you, do not do this in front of strangers, otherwise be in trouble.

— Well, mom, — and she nodded her head in a completely adult way, — you will tell me how it will be better.

And Mika nodded to her daughter, hugged her tightly, gently stroking her hair.

***

Further, the path continued without incident, Kaley hurried Und and his merrymakers, wanting to be in Oum faster.

— I see the pier! — shouted Und, — and the ramparts of the city!

Kaley stood on the bow of the ship, looking impatiently at the long-awaited native land approaching with each wave of oar. There were few people on the pier, and the feeder, deciding to take care, dropped off the Messenger and the Volkhovitsa with the cargo before reaching the pier.

— Good luck! — shouted the feeder, and the ship slipped back into the lower Ob.

Healer of Oum

Kaley put the luggage in the sled, and dragged it to the pier, and Mika and Ilda went after him. The dog ran around them, walking along the path, sniffing around an unfamiliar place, raising his ears alarmingly and not far from the hostess. Only they met a couple of people, one hastily turned away and walked away, and the other went to say hello to the Herald.

— Glad you’re back, — grinned wryly, — Hello, madam, — greeted the magician with respect, — My name is Agn.

— I am Mika, and this is my daughter Ilda, — the healer called herself.

— Our magician, many people know about him, maybe you have in Gandvik, his name is Rann. — said the dear resident of Oum, — a serious misfortune has come, many people have died, and our healers too. Another magician remained, a pupil of Rann, Nimes. Now he is lying exhausted, but survived after an illness. He looked after many, but he also became infected. And all our healers were buried, so it’s a disaster, — he told everything, — It’s good that you wasn’t scared. Here is the house of the magician, — the guide pointed to two houses behind the wattle, a little more than usual.

Agn knocked on the gate, but it was not locked, and he entered the courtyard. The master dog barked, ran up to the guests, but only noticed a little girl, twisted his tail, and went to get acquainted, and sniffed his hands. Ilda could not stand it, first pulling her palms away, and then stroking someone else’s dog.

Agn stared at it in disbelief, only shaking his head.

— The master’s dog is not very… Well, yes, healers, because, — he muttered, — Let’s go to the upper room.

Mika tied Tyapa, and everyone climbed the stairs to the residential place of the house. The woman saw two men sitting at the table, one of whom, judging by his clothes, was the Magi Rann, a carved staff stood next to him by the wall. A woman was also sitting at the table, with her hair covered in a cape. The owners got up first, bowed.

— Be healthy, dear guests. Sit at the table, — suggested the Magi, — my name is Rann, Magi, — this is my wife, Alta.

— Ya-Skeer elder, ‘said another,” thank you for coming to us.

— My name is Mika, I am a witch from the Chosen. This is my daughter Ilda, and the woman pointed to the girl. — What happened, Magi Rann, what kind of brushwood came to the city, — she said, sitting the girl, and sitting next to her on the bench.

— It became bad without Ulna, as the old people say, but nothing can be done… And Skir forced people to sit at home, but it doesn’t help, they began to die less… And herbs too…

— And what kind of famously piled on? — asked Mika

— Bellies suffer…

— Make everyone drink only water boiled in boilers… And where did the disease begin, in which villages, is it far from the city?

— First… and he thought, but began to tap the staff, remembering — yes, in the villages, closer to the steppe, then we continued.

— Herbs sick need to cook, more hot drink. Brew rosehips and thistles, I brought two bales with me. All this will help the unwell liver to survive the disease. If the liver is weak, then the unwell will die, and that will survive.

Suddenly, the girl began to pull her mother’s sleeve, and Mika leaned over to listen to her daughter. Ilda whispered in her mother’s ear

— Skir is sick…

“How do you know?” she replied.

— I see… the strip is black.

— Will you treat?

Ilda nodded, and sat down at attention next to her mother, clasping her fingers in the castle. Mika sighed, looked at the girl again.

— Skir, you’re sick, — the witch said quietly

The elder just grinned into a thick beard, looked at Rann, only he did not smile.

“What herbs can you order to drink?” he asked.

— Everything will be different, — Mika smiled with one lips, — swear that do no harm to me or my daughter, — she looked strictly at everyone.

— We swear, both Rann and Skeer repeated, and Alta held her fist to her forehead.

— Look, — the witch said very quietly, — Ilda, come on, do what you should.

The three adults were dumbfounded to see the little girl sit next to Skir and place her palms on his forehead. Rann and Alta did not believe their eyes, and Skeer simply closed them. You could hear how in the cell it was burning and slightly crackling the wick of the oil lamp on the table, and as if the shadows ran along the upper room. They noticed how the girl’s face turned white, she exhaled air, and like a leech pumping blood, fell off the elder, picked up by Mika. Ilda hid her face, poking her nose into her mother’s shoulder. Skir got up, and not believing himself, ran his fingers across his chest.

“It’s easy to breathe,” said the elder, smiling, “thank you, girl. But everyone does not need to see this, — he said confidently. — that the unkind, or rather, their loved ones, did not see this. Take the canvas. Alta, bring it! Here after him and heal that the temptation would not arise from people that from all Ilda will cure.

— Of course, Skir, — Rann began importantly, — I will walk with them, I will not give offense to the girl.

***

And so the cure began. Three came to the unwell house, Rann immediately lit incense, went around the whole house, expelling the filth. Mika checked the sick, hung the canvas so that the healthy would not see anything that she was doing there, and the cunning magician so skillfully let the fog in, not sparing the burnt incense, so that no one paid attention to the little girl healing everyone, even the dying. Suffering people thought that the Mighty Witch was carrying a funny, freckled girl with her, so that she would gain medicine skills, and maybe the sorceress from distant Gandvik had no one to leave the child with. Then the skillful Volkhovitsa removed the fabric, blocking her girl, and happy households saw cured loved ones. And Mika and Ilda quickly disappeared, Rann remained, warmly accepting the gratitude of the healed.

But Mika did not go to more than two houses on the same day, not wanting her daughter to get so tired. The girl’s strength grew, and by the end of the week she was no longer blind, only she turned very pale every time, giving her strength to people. A month later, the evil Likhomanka began to weaken, and a month later the people of the village recovered.

Rann and Skeer could not get enough of the visiting witch. No one could help them, or did not want to, and here such happiness. The mother and daughter lived in the guest house of the Magi, Tyapa was always tied to his booth, so as not to fight with the owner’s dog, who was also sitting on a leash.

Magus and Elder sat at the table, satisfied and cheerful…

— Rann, what do you say? Let’s let Mika and Ilda go? They did everything as it was agreed, “Skir asked, thoughtfully rubbing his finger on the countertop without raising his eyes.

— I probably decided everything myself… The house was set up for her, according to custom, not in the village, — said the Magi, — The old house of the deceased witch, Kraki, we burned from sin. So everything is done. And the tower is nearby, for the unwell, too.

— Well, you have to thank… And how is she here alone? — the elder echoed him, — It would be necessary to find which old woman, who would help with the housework, but watched her daughter.

“You have to give a cow, a couple of deer, if you have to drag drags or sledges,” Rann added, “jade, furs, grains, everything that would be according to custom.”

— Let’s go then to her, or maybe the knots are already tied, I got ready for my Gandvik, — Skir grinned, — I made a staff for her.

***

It was twenty steps to walk to the tower of the Magi, so soon Rann was already knocking lightly on the door of the witch’s abode.

“Who’s here?” Ilda rang out.

— Rann is, Magi, — the man called himself, — they came with Skir, an elder.

“Come in,” the girl answered, unlocking the door creaking on the willow hinges, “Mom is upstairs in the upper room.

They went upstairs, treading the creaking steps of the stairs. And right, the witch collected baskets standing on the floor, and next to the bench stood two bales, and lari with the lids thrown back, where the hostess put the goodness.

— Hello to you, hostess — Skir greeted you first, — we came here with the hotel, — he continued, putting the casket on the table, and laying out gifts — this is jade, this is sable to you, — he said, shaking a dozen skins, inflatin