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The bloom turned out well - the first month of summer! Amazingly good. Warm, nice. Rainy days can be counted on the fingers. The current one was completely feast for the eyes. It has been pouring rain since morning. He beat down the dust, blackened out the mighty logs of the tyna and the hewn roofs of the huts, left shining puddles along the paths. And then the sun came out. Grace!

Silence still reigned in the yards of the village, but the smoke of the hearths was already stretching over the settlement - soon the hunters would return from fishing, the youth would come from the reeds, the children from the forest. Then the village will come to life: silence will crumble into voices, laughter, squeals, screams and joyful barking of dogs.

Summer days are long and bright. Night barely steps on the threshold, barely spreads its black wings over the world, and the morning dawn is already breathing down her neck. It would always be like this...

Grandfather Vron, leaning on a strong stick, descended from the porch and hobbled to a bench, specially arranged for him in the shade of an old apple tree. Here the old man sat down heavily, closed his inflamed eyes, and exposed his wrinkled face to the generous sun.

The hut door slammed. A girl ran out into the yard at eight springs. Entangled in the hem of her shirt, she flew up to the blissful old man and, trying to look like an adult, grumbled:

- You, grandfather, do not sit for a long time! And then it will get dark soon, - she threw a warm jacket over her bent shoulders and flew back into the house.

“Egoza,” Vron whispered after his granddaughter with hidden tenderness and sighed when he thought that he would never see how the matchmakers would come for Zoryanka. Don't live.

The wind caressed her gray hair. A bird whistled in the apple branches, a rooster crowed hoarsely. Good...

The gate creaked. Grandfather woke up from a slumber and opened watery eyes. A neighbor's guy came into the yard from the street. Young. Yes, he barely moved his legs. The once-straight back was hunched, gray hair was silver in the pitch hair, and the eyes were extinct.

“Peace in the house, Ostrikovich...” the newcomer said in a low voice.

“Mira, Kared,” the old man replied and moved up on the bench. - Sit down. What? Is it okay for you?

The guest sat down on the bench and nodded.

Ron looked at him with pity.

Half a year has already passed since Kared got lost while hunting in the forest and could not return to the village before dark. How then his mother wailed, how she fought in the hut, how she lamented! The only son was taken by the cursed night, the only man was stolen from the house.

As soon as it dawned, the whole village went in search, although they knew that they would not be able to find it. And so it happened - the guy did not spend the night at the hunting lodge. And where did it go, I didn’t even want to guess. But a week later Kared returned. If he came at night, they would not let him in, but the young hunter appeared in broad daylight.

The children were the first to notice the tired traveler and with a screech rushed through the yards to bury themselves. Only the mother was not afraid, ran out to meet, hung on her neck, sobbing and wailing.

It's just like the dead son was. He didn't say anything, stared into the void and stood with his hands along his body with whips. They invited him to the house of the sorceress. She looked at the unfortunate man, but did not find a single wound on a white body, not a single bruise ... Only a wooden amulet, hanging under a shirt on a string, was as if gnawed by someone's sharp teeth.

No matter how much they asked the guy, he did not say a word. The poor mother was dissuaded from letting him into the house, but she became stubborn, saying that it would be better for the whole family to die than to leave my own blood outside the threshold at night!

Fortunately, the family did not die. Little by little Kared entered the mind. But what happened to him in the night forest - he did not tell anyone. However, since that time, as if the fire of life went out in a young, strong and formerly laughable guy - the first fiance of the village. He walked now, barely dragging his feet, and was not capable of any work - he did not hold the once strong hands, neither an ax, nor a plow, nor a horn.

It was said that the said Kared, they say, enchanted his bloodsucker, and now the unfortunate hunter will not have either life or joy until he throws off evil witchcraft from himself or until the Night Walker takes a new victim for himself ... Oh, how I was afraid all. As soon as the sun began to sink towards the horizon, everyone was buried in the huts!

But six months have already passed, and the people in the village, praise the Guardians, did not disappear. Karedu got better, sometimes worse, but he didn’t become the same, all the same.

“It’s a chore for me, grandfather,” the guy finally said, with difficulty pushing out words. - Scary...

Vron paused, thinking about something of his own, and then remarked:

“You weren’t a coward before.

“He wasn’t…” the interlocutor said softly. “But before that I wasn’t so afraid. Until then, I knew how to overcome fear. And now I have forgotten. Weak became.

Raven smiled.

- Ty! If fear were an easy adversary, not a single coward would be left in the world. Duc, after all, only fear, Kared, is not just given to a person. The Keepers warned not in vain that any living creature should be afraid. To the benefit. But there is shameful fear, and there is forgiveness.

- Like this? – without any interest asked guy.

- And so. Is it embarrassing to be afraid of the undead at night? No. How can one not be afraid of it if a person does not know how to cope with it? Is it shameful to be afraid of bad deeds? Neither, because what kind of fear is that? It is our conscience that worries. And to pass by the weak, being afraid to protect him? Ashamed? Still would! How about showing weakness? That's it. Do you see how many of them are different fears? And all with meaning. So not everyone needs to be overwhelmed, but only the one that makes a person disgusting.

The bent young man smiled sadly and said:

- It's just you, grandfather. But it's not that easy to overcome.

The old man nodded.

– What did you think? Winning is always difficult. That takes courage. And courage comes only from love. Love is a powerful force. For her sake, only fears are forgotten. She heals the soul too... That's right.

Kared listened to the old man and looked into the void. What was he ranting about? Come on, guess. But by nightfall, the guy had disappeared without a trace. They did not find him either the next day or a week later. Only mother lamented bitterly and cried Zoryanka, to whom he promised to make a straw doll ...