Deja should have died. But instead, she fell into the clutches of her enemies. Ruthless and bloody killers. Werewolves. How can she live among them? How to be saved? She can't give what they want, but she'll never be let go. They do not need a ransom, neither in gold, nor in earth, nor in magic. She is their property.
Lihat lebih banyakLight aspen leaves whispered drowsily overhead, and through them a piercing autumn sky could be seen. Light cirrus clouds froze in height. It was quiet, no birds were heard. The air was filled with the spicy smell of leaves, moss, earth and blood.
The girl turned back. Everywhere broken, spattered with scarlet and brown spots of the body. Light chain mail, shining in the sun. Deadly white faces. Eyes wide in horror, completely blind. Everyone has frighteningly white hair. An overturned wagon a little further. Several female bodies nearby. The girl staggered, turned away sharply, which made everything dark and swam before her eyes for a moment.
Step, one more.
Farther and farther away from that glade saturated with the smell of death. Sharp pain. The girl took a deep breath, pressing her hands to her stomach. Scarlet spots were slowly spreading across the light blue dress. Step, one more. A stubborn breath.
"Not today. I won't die today."
Pain. Step, one more. Bloody path on the leaves. Heart beat. Calm. "I will not die". Quiet whisper of aspens. There is almost no wind. Silence. Only short breath. Step. One more... Break. An icy, crystal clear stream below.
A sudden thought: "I will cross the water and I will live." Step. There are no forces at all. She can't go down that slope. Cold. The pain is almost gone. Strange calmness. Movement on the other side. People. Where are people from? Sun in the eyes. Only two silhouettes are visible. Exclamation. Surprised. Noticed?
Legs buckled - no more strength. The pain returned. The soft rustle of leaves behind you. Strange whistling breathing. She already heard him. A quiet, vile scream, penetrating to the very bones. She came for her. She is her prey. Do not cross the water, did not have time. "Let. Let him take it. I can not anymore…"
A cry from the other side. Death is very close. Bad breath nearby. No courage to open your eyes. Let. Someone's voice. What he says?
Sharp light, whistle, wind. Squeal. Chilling squeal, scream, hiss. Emptiness. Silence. Cold. Steps. Hot touch to the face. Strange voices.
The girl hardly opened her eyes. Two men. Reddish hair. Both have green eyes. "Brothers? Similar". One said something, the other looked at him. A strange reflection of the eyes in the sun. The quiet sigh of a girl. Last thought: “Markat. And the second one too. I can't live."
A soft veil of darkness gently covered her. "It's over."
“We need to get back before dark,” Aznar said, climbing a small slope already covered with pale yellow leaves. Autumn came too early this year. The breath of winter has not yet been felt, but nature has already begun to slowly fade. -Something is wrong in this forest.
- Did you feel it too? Beria stopped. - It's too quiet in here.
- Smells like a threat. From there, - Aznar waved his hand forward.
Farther on, the air was colder and damper, there must be water nearby. The men went ahead and soon came to the bank of the cliff. Below, a slow, icy stream flowed. The forest on the other side changed dramatically. Here - pines and firs, a thick smell of pine needles, a few birches. In the same place - a solid cold silvery aspen forest.
-There's definitely something wrong. - Aznar intensely peered at that shore. -There is such a danger that it hurts teeth. No wonder we decided to check the border.
-What do you think it is? - Beria stood next to his older brother.
-Quiet! Aznar suddenly commanded, fading.
Slow footsteps were heard on the other side. A girl walked slowly to the edge of the cliff. White-white face, lips bitten to the blood. Blood stains on the dress and on the arms. Long ashy hair, also covered in blood. She was clearly dying.
The brothers didn't move, looking at her intensely. The danger was getting stronger. But it wasn't the girl. She reached the edge and fell.
- We need to help her. - Hesitantly began Beria.
“Stop,” Aznar growled, not taking his eyes off the other bank. - She's an anmark. The Anmars are our enemies. And behind this cliff is their land.
But she will die. - objected Beria.
- Will die. - Exactly said brother.
Bery again looked at the other bank and shuddered all over, alert.
From the forest appeared something that carried danger. Huge, dark carcass. Small silver eye beads. Bloodied mouth. Silent ugly screech. Undead. Fat, beefy undead. Right on the border. She cannot cross pure flowing water, but she did not come for this. She came for the girl.
A cool wind blew from the other side, indifferently and thoughtfully rustling the leaves, dropping them into the water. Aznar suddenly inhaled sharply and exhaled with a strange half-groan-half-groan. His pupils dilated, chained to the figure on the other side. Bery turned around in astonishment, and his brother was already removing the family amulet from his neck. He aimed it at the creature and began to cast an ancient spell of banishment. Bery stepped back a little, giving him more space. The ground underfoot began to tremble, the air thickened around Aznar, hummed dully, the amulet slowly flared up, brighter and brighter. Then a blinding ray of light shot out of it, hitting the undead on the other side, causing the creature to squeal. She moved her paws, trying to block out the light, but she couldn't. The sharp smell of singed wool and flesh hit his nostrils. Beri winced. The creature moved farther away - in here - rushed to the leak, with a disgusting screech. Aznar slowly lowered the red-hot amulet. He was breathing heavily, wasting his strength.
-Why did you do that? - Beria looked at his brother. “You were going to let her die.
"Yes," Aznar replied. - But something has changed.
In one big leap, Aznar ended up on the other side, in a foreign land. Beria hesitated and followed him. No man could so easily jump over this cliff, and even land so softly. But the Markats were not people.
As soon as Beria touched the ground with his feet, he took a deep breath. Smell is one of the most important senses of the Markats, no less important than sight. From the smell they could count a lot. Bery felt the disgusting smell of burnt flesh and wool, the smell of forest and aspens, the smell of blood and ... the man froze, unable to move. For he smelled the most incredible fragrance. Thin and sweet, intoxicating, desirable. Unique. The smell of the one that was intended only for him. He approached the motionless female body, next to which Aznar was already standing. He slowly touched the cold white face, smooth and delicate skin, inhaling more and more of this amazing aroma.
- Felt it? Aznar asked in a kind of tense tone.
“Yes…” Beria whispered softly. - But how is this possible? She's an Anmark!
At that moment, the girl abruptly opened her eyes. They were clean, blue, with small silvery patches. Bery and Aznar looked at her at the same time. The girl exhaled quietly, and the men managed to see fear, doom and disgust in her eyes. Then the girl lost consciousness.
“She is Lanaren—destined,” Aznar said quietly.
"It's impossible," repeated Beria, looking at the bloodless face. - Lanaren can be only one for one man. But I see that you feel the same as me!
Beria almost growled the last words.
“Instincts cannot be deceived by sorcery or anything else,” Aznar said thoughtfully, ignoring his brother's reaction. - She is Lanaren for me and Lanaren for you. The Blessed One chose her for us.
-But that's a joke! Bery tore at the bloody dress, revealing a horrifying laceration on the girl's stomach. Four deep claw marks. Even if she survives, she won't be able to have children anymore. Do you think the Goddess wants the ruling family of the Markats to be left without heirs?
“I don’t know what the Fair One wants,” Aznar’s voice sounded cold. But her gifts are not rejected. He bent down and easily picked up the bloodied female body. - It's time for us to go back. It will soon start to get dark.
Three more months later...- Deya ... - male fingers, lightly tickling, ran along the bare back. - Deya-ya-ya ... - Beria whispered in the ear of his wife, who was sleeping sweetly, hugging the pillow touchingly. Pillow, not his, legal spouse.- Mmm… what? the girl sighed, eyes closed as her hot breath touched her neck.- It's time to feed the children, - said Beria, carefully brushing aside his silky hair and kissing the soft skin on his neck.-Yeah...His fingers traced wavy patterns between his shoulder blades, moving down and up his spine.Dea, are you sleeping? the man asked ingratiatingly.- Get away from her, - Aznar's displeased voice was heard. Bery tried to get it in the dark with his foot so as not to interfere, but instead he heard a dull sound of a blow and a quiet hiss.-For what? Beria groaned. - Deya!“Your children, you feed…” the princess muttered unintelligibly.“Yes, I would love to,” Bery quipped, rubbing his cheekbone.- Shh, - Aznar hissed at him, - let him slee
Finding a much-needed vampire was not so easy. His office, with its shiny brass sign, was locked. And where does he hide on weekends?I hope the professor didn't leave the academy and head into town to have a couple of drinks with friends, or, well, dine with an unfortunate townswoman.Thinking, I walked over to the silent armor in the corner. These were very old, the feather was faded, thick cobwebs twined around the helmet. Perhaps no one has asked for directions here for a very long time."Honorable sir," I said slowly, imitating Fiona. “Can you tell me where I can find Professor Valentine?”The armor was silent for a while, either surprised by the question, or trying to find what they were looking for. With a terrible clang, the rusted spear hit the stone floor, and a thin, shining line snaked into the corridor.- Thanks! - I threw on the run, following the prompt.She led me lower and lower, first to the first floor, and then past the utility rooms and the kitchen straight to the
In the morning, Borch woke up everyone who managed to tame animals, as soon as the red disk of the sun appeared above the horizon. The rest, less fortunate, had another day of hunting ahead of them.Sleepy and yawning freshmen climbed out of the tents. Then they brought their companions out of the stalls.Smoke hopefully sniffed my pockets, snorting and hot breathing, but found no food and out of spite tried to bite me on the shoulder.“We’ll have to be patient,” I patted the horse’s withers. - I'm hungry too.August failed his griffin. He stubbornly glared angrily at the hunter with orange eyes. The front bird's paws plowed the ground with their claws. The lion's tail twitched nervously from side to side. I looked at the griffin in fascination. And she shuddered when Thunder snapped his powerful beak right next to August's face.With persuasion, and even shouting, we, along with other students, pulled our companions into the luminous circle of the portal. The animals were stubborn, r
August helped me lead Smoky to the makeshift stalls that had been hastily put together from thin logs. Then the games began: the horse did not want to go into the corral, and completely dodged the rope with amazing dexterity. In three hands, we barely coped with it. Looking into the eyes burning with resentment, I felt guilty.- Do not worry - I stroked the freedom-loving animal on the neck. - It's not for long. Now I'll bring you water and apples if I can find them.There were no problems with water: in a day, freshmen dragged a whole bucket to the stalls. But with apples it turned out to be more difficult. But Eitin unexpectedly came to our aid. The magician left for a short time, agreed with someone, and soon brought three large red apples.You have no idea how you saved me! I said gratefully.-Nonsense. You owe me.- Hey, wait a second! We didn't agree on that.“Okay, okay, I was joking,” the half-elf snorted when he saw my surprised face. - Come on, we're on the same team.It too
Alas, the euphoria from a successful landing quickly evaporated. The sun was slowly going down, and the air was getting colder. Having examined the area, I concluded that we were on a small green plateau, next to the rocks.Fortunately, the elemental was not going to fly away and leave me cuckooing alone. But he didn’t let me approach him either, as soon as I approached, the horse briskly ran off to a safe distance and continued to pluck the grass.- No, I understand everything, such stress: they woke me up, led me by the nose, and also rode without permission, - I could not stand it. “But what am I supposed to do now, huh?”The horse twitched its ears and turned its back to me. The bushy black tail twitched contemptuously.I crossed my arms over my chest and thought as the only chance to get out of here continued to ignore me. If I do not agree with him soon, I will have a hard time. Who knows when they'll find me here? The backpack was left somewhere in the forest, the flask of wate
Immersed in my thoughts, I did not notice at all that I was lagging behind. When I woke up, I realized that the Kertar was not around. All around was only a bright forest, and the chirping of invisible birds.I thoughtfully looked at the squirrel, which enthusiastically gnawed a bump, tightly clasping it with small paws. Yes, it is unlikely that she will be able to suggest the way.Well, at least I'm not in danger of dying from thirst now. The flask is here, full.-August? – just in case, I shouted.Silence was my answer.Okay, don't stand here alone. I'll go ahead - I'll go out somewhere. Maybe I'll find our footprints, which we generously left on the way to the lake.Walking through the forest without a hunter turned out to be not so easy: driftwood constantly fell under his feet, low branches whipped his face, a lone mosquito rang disgustingly above his ear. Soon I wandered into such dense deadwood that I almost got stuck there.Somehow getting out and tearing my hands to blood, I
He got close. Too close for me to be indifferent.Forgetting herself for a moment, she slowly and carefully ran her finger over her parted lips, wiping away the drops of pure water. The hunter froze, almost ceasing to breathe, and his hands gripped my waist tighter.Abyss, why are you so attractive!It was foolish to deceive myself - I was drawn to Augustus from the very beginning. His good-natured smile and a little obsessive concern sunk into my heart from the very first day. And now, biting my lip, I shamelessly admired the bronze skin of the southerner, his clearly defined rough cheekbones and hard jawline, allowing myself not to think about anything else for at least a few agonizing minutes.August reached out to me first. Male lips were unexpectedly hot, greedy. I didn't resist. Nobody had ever kissed me like that before: the kiss was powerful, crushing, disturbing the darkest hidden desires.The partner released me almost immediately, catching my exhalation-groan with his lips,
Waking up before dawn was not the most pleasant: the morning cold insidiously penetrated into the tents and chilled to the bone, so that Fiona and I had a tooth on the tooth. Trembling and wrapping yourself in raincoats, you climbed out, hoping that it would be warmer in the morning sun.The sky on the horizon gradually brightened and filled with a blush, dew glittered on the grass with millions of diamond drops, even if you dive in face and wash yourself.- Are you ready for the second round? - Asked a sleepy August, getting out of his tent, and not even trying to suppress a yawn. - Today I propose to walk through the forest to the lake. In the fields with prey is not dense.-Look forward to!The Larnian and I looked at each other, jumping up and down to keep warm.We set off as soon as it was finally light. Instead of breakfast, we were given a loaf of rye bread with a decent piece of soft cheese. The food was divided equally and had a bite to eat on the way, so as not to waste time
I coughed, trying to unstick my face from something prickly and realize where the top is, and where the bottom is. Fiona moaned softly nearby.Finally, I realized that I was lying on the ground with my face in the grass. But as soon as I raised my head, trying to look around, I was again unceremoniously pressed to the ground. I thrashed about, trying to throw off my heavy body.From above, they cursed in Eitin's voice. I listened with interest - I did not even suspect that one could swear in Elvish.“I'm lucky it wasn't me,” said the cheerful voice of Augustus.Almost immediately they gave me freedom: the hunter helped Eitin up.“Hannah, didn’t you get squashed a lot?”I choked. Here is the concern!- That is, if a little, then it's not scary? I still grabbed the outstretched hand. Don't neglect help.It was necessary to quickly get out of the portal, until someone else arrived heavier.Fiona dusted herself off beside her, all green, as if she was about to vomit.“You know, it’s still
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