3

The hard face, overgrown with prickly bristles, was devoid of any expression, and in the eyes ... in the eyes of the dead wasteland. Lesana had never seen such a heavy look before. It did not reflect any feelings, no spark of fun, no curiosity, no fatigue. Nothing. And there were eyes, expressionless looking from under black straight eyebrows, as gray as a cloudy winter sky. And just as cold. And the right cheek of the kref was disfigured by a white welt of an uneven scar.

The gaze of the guard glided over the faces of those who entered, and suddenly stopped at Lesan. In the reverent silence, a low voice sounded:

- Come on.

The girl was numb with horror. It seemed to her at that moment that the kref could read minds and would now shame her in front of everyone that she dared to think about the expression of his eyes and the ugliness of his face.

- How many springs do you have?

The unfortunate woman was silent, unable to squeeze out a sound.

- Are you mute?

Lesana shook her head in fear.

“Sir, she has become timid,” said the father.

The guard didn't even look at him.

– So, one more time. How many springs are you? Conspired?

Swallowing the lump in her throat, she finally answered:

- Seventeen. No. Not spoken.

- I asked you to come.

Ouch! She stepped forward. But it was as if an invisible elastic wall had grown between her and the kref. Lesana gathered all her will into a fist, pushing through an outlandish barrier.

Satisfaction flickered in his gray eyes.

- Have you ever fought? – followed by an unexpected question. 

The girl nodded again, unable to speak.

The gaze of indifferent eyes turned to the father.

Yourdon blinked, not understanding why such questions were asked, and repentantly replied:

- Sir, she is a calm girl, but it happened a couple of times.

Lesana looked down guiltily. Is she - short, soft, like a shanezhka, with a gentle blush on her face and white clean skin - famous for being a bully? It is more appropriate for such people to sit at the window with embroidery and squeal until their ears ring at the sight of a mouse. But it’s true, once at a fair in a neighboring village she got into a fight with an unfamiliar peasant who was trying to cut her mother’s wallet. Who would have thought, but the skinny girl-flight had the strength not only to throw the thief to the ground, but also to hit so hard that she collapsed and came to her senses only after a bucket of water poured on a bad head.

And the second time ... The second time she taught Miruta a lesson, when he, a bear, climbed into the evenings to cuddle her. And what? Growth is small, but the women's article came out. It was then that Lesan laid siege to the future groom, hitting him in the face with his fist. As soon as the teeth are intact. On that memorable day, for the first time, the young blacksmith looked at her with admiration.

Meanwhile, kref looked at the embarrassed girl and said:

- This.

The words fell like a stone into the silence of the upper room. Lesana's heart sank into her stomach, and then jumped up her throat. Like this"? Why? She has an agreement soon, she is waiting for matchmakers!

We leave tomorrow at dawn.

Parents and sisters stared at the future student of the Citadel in dumb amazement. And she stood and felt the wooden floor swaying under her feet.

The girl came out of the headman's house, as if in a dream. She woke up only in her native hut, when her mother, lamenting, began to collect things in a birch bark box. Only then did the daughter weep bitterly, falling on the bench. The parent immediately began to wail, and then the young ones responded in discord.

“Stop killing yourself like a dead woman!” his father barked, trying to hide his confusion behind sternness. - We do not give for death, for teaching. Comes back better than it was. Do not Cry. You will eat and sleep on gold, fool. You have been given such an honor.

Alas! The daughter did not hear these wise admonitions. Burying her face in her hands, she continued to sob, but she was crying not because she would have to go far from home, to strangers, but for several springs. And because she had Miruta, parting with which seemed not even torture - death. How did it happen that the usual measured life suddenly fell apart?

Why didn't this kref show up a year earlier?! Lesana at that time would have burst with pride that he had chosen her! So no, the hard one brought him today, on the eve of the matchmaking. And you can't go. The word of the Osenenny is the law. If you refuse, not a single guardian, for any money, will come to the aid of the weight, even shower him with gold. Therefore, Lesana could not resist. All that was left was to cry and collect things in the back that would be the only ones in a foreign land that would remind of home.

But Miruta didn't come. When he found out that his beloved was being taken to the Citadel, it was already dark outside...

* * *

They left early in the morning. A man on a gray horse and a girl on a piebald filly, which the headman sold to the kreffu for two silver kunas.

The sun shone brightly. Spring, it seems, has established itself, has taken possession of the world, and soon the moon will be replaced by green and green - with the first tender, sticky leaves and grass breaking through the greasy black earth.

Lesana looked at the crowd of mourners through tears. The whole village poured out into the street! Many glanced at the older Yurdonovna with surprise, but envy was read in the views of the majority.

Yes, what is there to envy something! As soon as the future guard disappears around the corner, everyone will return to their usual worries, to their native huts, they will sit down to dine in the same circle as always, and they will settle down to sleep where they are used to. And what awaits her? Where will he lay his head? What will satisfy hunger? Where will he find solace? And will he find it? From longing and acute resentment that nothing in life will be the same as before, I wanted to cry, but there was a hard lump in my throat - you won’t breathe.

Miruta came up. Embarrassed by the pandemonium, awkwardly, somehow hastily, he hugged and pulled away. Lesana felt offended, but he did not have time to send matchmakers, therefore, probably, he was ashamed to kiss in front of everyone.

Kref patiently waited for the compatriots to say goodbye to the girl, but it became clear from the boring face that it was better not to delay the parting.

Mother hugged the longest. She clung to her daughter and cried bitterly, inconsolably, as if for a dead woman ... No matter how Lesana held on, her nose immediately tingled, and her cheeks instantly became wet.

“It's time,” the calm voice of the kref interrupted the stream of sobs.

Somehow, the girl freed herself from the ring of gentle hands and climbed into the saddle. Touched the reins. The filly moved forward obediently. Lesana looked back. The parents, as if in bitter grief, clinging to each other, slowly followed, and behind them, holding the hands of the roaring young ones, the sister walked.

But here the kref lashed his horse on the rump, and he switched to a frisky trot. Native Tyn began to quickly move away, and the last thing the girl saw before the road made a sharp turn was her mother hiding her tear-stained face on her father's chest. And then everything was hidden by bare black trees.

Lesana hardly remembered the long journey. Pine trunks flashed by, there was a smell of earth and moisture, in the gloomy dark spruce forests dirty crusts of stale snow were still visible in some places, but the wind was warm and the sun warmed. The girl rode in silence, her companion was also not going to strike up a conversation. Acutely experiencing separation from home, Lesana was not tormented by either hunger or thirst. My soul was so empty that every thought seemed to generate only a booming echo and nothing more. But the kref restrained his horse. His companion had to do the same.

- A halt? she asked, and only then she saw with horror that the sun was setting on the tops of the trees.

Night is coming soon, and there is an impassable thicket around and no huts, no huts, no dugouts with protective signs!

My stomach crumpled with fear.

The guard, meanwhile, leisurely dismounted and stepped towards a birch forest that sprawled along the road. The girl followed suit. Grabbing the horse by the bridle, she hurried after him.

She was scared. I wanted to become small, small, hide under a bump and hide until the morning, dying with horror. Night! And there is no shelter that will give shelter.

Meanwhile, the kref calmly removed the luggage from the horse: he spread a leather cover and thick felt on the ground, and was preparing to make a fire. Are they camping out in the open?

“Sir,” the companion dared to ask in a voice shaking with reverence and fear, “are we not going to look for where to hide?

He shook his head, not deeming it necessary to answer.

Lesana sucked in the pit of her stomach. She was frightened, felt stupid and pathetic. While the guard was equipping the parking lot, the girl, with unruly hands from excitement, was preparing a bed for herself. Twilight crept slowly, but it already seemed as if the thicket was filled with the sounds of wild life: somewhere there was moaning, growling and hooting.

- Mister...

He interrupted her:

- If you were given food for the journey, take it out and eat. If you need to go into the bushes - go, but quickly.

Lesana blushed, but hastened to heed this more than wise advice. When she returned to the fire, her companion lay stretched out on the felt and rested.

For the first time, Lesana thought that he must have little joy in wandering from village to village. Is this life somehow - shaking day and night in the saddle, going around remote settlements, spending the night each time in an unfamiliar place? She did not imagine such a life and therefore took pity on her silent companion.

Opening a birch bark box with cakes, the girl thought about whether the kref had a house? Wife, mother, children? He seemed to be quite alone. Lesana rose to her feet and walked over to the guardian.

- Help yourself.

As before, he silently sat down, took two cakes, a piece of meat and leisurely began to eat.

The companion watched intently. She had never seen such people - silent and with such a fixed look, by which you would not understand what his owner was thinking about. The girl wanted to make friends with kref. Well, taciturn, so what? You can’t get three words out of her uncle in a week either, but he’s a good person. Just non-verbal. So maybe this one too? Why wouldn't he love her? That's right, for nothing.

When will we arrive at the Citadel? – quietly asked Lesana.

“In six days,” came the indifferent reply.

Six days! So far!

- Are you gorged?

- Yes. Time to sleep.

The half-forgotten horror again twisted in a tight knot in the stomach. Lesana looked around, belatedly realizing that dusk was gathering.

Sir, how...

He got up. Ignoring the miserable babble, he took out a knife with a long sharp blade from his belt and cut his palm.

The girl gasped, hurriedly covering her mouth with her hands. Kreff whispered something silently as he circled the resting place and sprinkled the earth. When the guard approached the reverently frozen companion, it seemed to her that he wanted to cut her too. Lesana crouched on the ground, but held out a trembling palm in front of her, with pink traces of rough calluses. But the sorcerer did not cut the hand, leaned over to the ward and, dipping his finger in blood, drew two cuts under his closed eyes.

- Now dry and you can sleep. 

The girl nodded without asking. And so I understood everything. The guard cast a protective spell so that the inhabitants of the night would not come out to their small overnight stay. But still, Lesana had to work hard to restrain herself and not spew out a recent meal.

“Master, won’t they come for the smell of blood?” - the companion asked timidly.

I wanted to hear a live speech to make sure that there was still a person next to her, and not the damned Stranger, who would be more terrible than those who walk in the night.

“Let them come,” the kref replied indifferently, pulling a clean rag over his palm. “Dar will protect us.

The interlocutor calmed down. The man's voice was unruffled. The Citadel's envoy didn't seem to be mad at the curiosity and awkwardness. Yes, and the remnants of sanity prompted the girl - the guardian knows what he is doing, somehow he got to Ignorance safe and sound. However, all the same, it was scary to sleep under the open sky at night ... Lesana, rather cowardly, lay down, hiding her head under a cape, and closed her eyelids.

Five springs will pass, she will return to her native village ... She will return to Osenennaya, who does not care about werewolves, ghouls and bloodsuckers. How they will envy her! How will they begin to respect! There was only something Lesanka - the daughter of a potter, almost naked, but she will become ... Who will she become? Better, of course, a healer. Here Miruta will be proud!

But then a belated understanding fell like a bucket of icy water: five springs. Five! And the unfortunate woman finally realized that Miruta would not be proud of her. Because the enviable groom does not pass such a period. Silly! Is it possible that a handsome guy will wait year after year for the return of a girl whom he managed to kiss several times?

Not! He's not like that! Of course it will! Lesana tightened her grip on the wooden amulet given to her betrothed. Wait, for sure. But hot tears ran and ran down his face. The girl brushed them off, smeared them with her palms, mercilessly suppressed her sobs.

Tired of painful thoughts, crying and a long ride on horseback, she fell into a dream, even forgetting to be afraid of the darkness that had gathered around her.

I woke up because it was cold. Through my sleep I thought: again the blanket had slipped to the floor. But a cold breeze burned her hot skin, then the girl remembered where she was and with whom, threw her head up in horror and ... was stunned.

Holy Guardians! What's this? Lesana stood at the border of light and darkness, stretching out her hands into the twilight of the forest, from where hungry eyes, burning with greenery, looked at her.