Ahani's breath caught in his throat and his heart pounded with a vengeance, threatening to leap out of his chest as he saw both his mother's stern face and his sister's sad face, and then Heaney, too, flash through his vision, in an instant.
Anhra's tall, slender figure obscured half the sky.
"Ahani! Honey! Ani! like an echo in the boy's head.
A huge, broad-shouldered man obscured the other half of the sky. He was pale and black-eyed, and Ahani recognized Anhra's brother, Martan. Both figures floated and writhed in the eyes of the intoxicated youth. The sounds came as if from a distant fog. Brother and sister exchanged short, barely audible sentences, Martan's brows drew together, and his eyes shone with determination.
The man's hand rested on the silver hilt of his sword and the mirrored steel reached up, rustling softly against the scabbard like a Prairie Viper. Anhra whirled, her long black hair flying in a black cloud, and was gone.
The pale face of the indifferent God Soma-moon was reflected on the smooth blade that shot up in front of the dazed boy.
After a moment's hesitation, hovering in the air against a black sky with many stars, the weapon began to move downward. Ahani stared at the point, fascinated.
It took only a moment for the sword to leap up into the black sky and plunge into Ahani's chest, but for the intoxicated and befuddled youth, the moment stretched out into minutes.
The blade sank easily into the flesh, ripping through his wolf cloak, shirt, and skin, breaking his ribs.
Then came a sharp pain, and Ahani gasped. Small droplets of blood spilled out of his mouth with the air and fell on his ruddy and clean skin. The young man's face was contorted with suffering, and his chest was filled with agonizing heat and unbearable pain.
The boy screamed. Hot tears flowed involuntarily from his eyes.
Instantly a swift black lightning flashed over him. A gnarled stick in unknown skillful hands threw the sword and its owner to a distance of three steps and with such force that the air seemed to groan from this sharp movement.
A short, stern old man, wrapped in dark skins, appeared before Ahani's eyes. He wore a wolf's cap, and his hair was long and gray, and his beard was the same color as his chest. The old man's face, dark as the bark of an oak, was deeply furrowed, his brows were drawn together sternly, and there was a stern fury in his dark pupils.
"Rudra, what do you care about him?" Martin cried, rising from one knee.
Instead of answering, the old man held the crude staff in front of him, gripping it tightly in his right hand. The air swirled around his clenched fist at a furious rate, its jets becoming visible and intertwining like a tangle of snakes.
After a moment, the old man brought his staff down sharply, plunging the end into the ground.Freed from the blow, concentrated into a ball around the old man's fist, the air burst out and rushed in a wave toward the Martan, heaving dust, small stones and grass as it went.
Martan tried to stop the wave with his sword, holding it out in front of him, but it was useless, like trying to stop a river wave with a twig. He was thrown a good five paces again, and this time he lost his balance.
Rising from the ground and spitting sand, Martan swore. Then he whistled to a nearby steed and jumped on its back.
"Bring your brother, Ahani!" "what's that?" he shouted. — If he comes, he'll get his women!" Time you have before Catfish lose weight twice!
Martan pointed to the moon, then spat viciously to the ground, turned his black steed, and disappeared over the crest of the hill. And the girl was gone, as if she had never been. If it hadn't been for the bag of food that lay beside him, Ahani would have thought he'd dreamed it, too.
Tears of pain blurred his eyes and he hissed, biting his lower lip until it bled. The young man still felt suspended and floating in the air, the brightening sky was also spinning before his eyes, but now an unbearable pain in his chest added to his sensations.
Meanwhile, the old man, leaning on his crooked staff, turned to Ahani and bowed his head, looked appraisingly into his eyes. The young man first time saw God before a, if this of course all was not another vision. He realized that the old man who had driven Martan away was Rudra, the God of wild animals, who lived high in the mountains. It was rare for a man to see a living deity in his life.
Stooping to the ground, the God plucked a blade of grass, crumpled it with his fingers, and throwing it into his mouth, began to chew it carefully and thoughtfully, without taking his eyes from the pale young man.
Then he took it out and applied it to the boy's wound. Pain Ahani erupted with a new force that swept in waves throughout the body, but only for a moment, forcing him to cry out. And immediately began to retreat. The old God covered the wound with his hand and the pain subsided.
Ahani came to. He was looking at Rudra's face, framed in white hair. He stared into the boy's blue eyes for a moment, then looked sharply toward the mountains. Ahani looked in the same direction. And the world went out.
