My head was buzzing. Ahani sat up on his elbows and looked around. He was near the same gray granite stone at the top of a gentle hill, where he had begun his guard the night before.
He looked down at his chest and saw that his cloak was torn and covered with dried blood. Lifting his clothes, he saw a small fresh white scar on his left breast and was taken aback.
So everything that had happened to him that night was true! But it was too incredible! This happens only in fairy tales!
Ahani pushed his long hair back from his face to get a better view and noticed the fallen and uprooted grass and a new mound of small stones about ten paces away, as if a small hurricane had passed. But as the young man knew, the reason for this was the magic wind blow of the aged God.
Ahani got to his feet and swayed as his head spun. He was hungry and thirsty. He unhooked the water-skin from his belt and emptied it greedily. Blissful moisture moistened cracked and parched lips and mouth, rolled in reviving waves down the larynx.
The cows which the youth was to guard were nowhere to be seen, except the unfortunate animal, which had fallen ill and had not been able to survive the last night. The ground at the base of the hill on which Ahani stood was trampled by many horse-Shoe tracks, and there were traces of wagon wheels.
Then a painful flash shot through his mind. He remembered the distorted faces of his family. Pain and rage rose in his chest. Ahani picked up his bow and quiver from the ground and ran home as fast as he could in the direction of his native village.
As he ran he thought of the grave faces of his mother and little sister and dear Heaney, which made his breath catch in his throat, but he deliberately increased his speed to give all his strength to the run.
Ahani ran as fast as he could, his chest cutting the air, his heart pounding inside him. A warm headwind lifted his hair, his feet, shod in soft leather boots, raised clouds of sand dust with every step he took.
Still from afar the young man sensed smells burning and, approaching still a bit, saw instead aggregations their home round yurts black scorched conflagration. A little later, when he reached the center of the once-living village, Ahani began to wander through it, peering at his feet and turning his head around, looking for someone or at least something that could survive in the raging fire here at night.
But the flames spared nothing but stones. It seemed to devour everything it could reach, like a fierce, merciless beast.
Only in the center of the village rose a small black-gray mountain of ash and ashes. Occasional gusts of warm wind took from it a little, handfuls, gently lifted and layer by layer carried away towards the mountains.
Caught his breath — not breath, not to exhale. Time stood still and the black earth swirled before his eyes. The world collapsed. All that he knew and loved before ceased to exist-the native Yurt turned to dust, good neighbors disappeared, and relatives disappeared. A groan was born somewhere deep in his chest and escaped through clenched teeth.
Happy and serene childhood burned down together with the native hearth. The fragments of memories — the soft smiles of his mother, the jokes of his strong brothers, the mischief of little Savitri-were all obscured by a haze of oblivion. Vague flashes of joy and sunshine were all that remained in the memory of the shaken youth, as he wandered, without knowing why, as in a dream, over the great scorched field, his head bowed, and carefully examining the ashes under his feet.
Every step he took was careful to keep his feet gently down, from toe to heel, so as not to disturb the black ash. But he still light clouds rose from each movement and painted the brown shoes of the young man in coal color.
"Here is like here was my Yurt," — thought akhani, has stopped for and looked around around. "No, that hill was closer," he said, taking three careful steps to the side. "Yes, that's how I met Surya when He appeared in the sky from that hill. His mother always pulled back the curtains to bow to him."
Ahani remembered the words of Martin and the short time that he has given in order to find and bring his older brother. Only two months. Two months to cross the mountain and find the brother he had never seen in the thick, dangerous woods his father had told him about.
But Ahani had no choice and, leaving the ashes of his native village behind him, he confidently walked South towards the mountains. He thought of the horses as he passed a green, cultivated field on a faint path. He hoped that the herd who always grazed in these fields, scattered from the night of the RAID and not a single horse has not got the meanest soldiers Martan. A herd of cows would be enough.
Ahani crossed the field and climbed a hillock, beyond which lay a rolling plain. The horses were nowhere to be seen. But the sight of his native foothills, covered with yellow-green grass and strewn with many gray-black stones, boulders, boulders and boulders, a little warmed his grieving heart.
Now it was necessary to go to the mountains at the edge of the earth and if on horseback Ahani got there all day, now, on foot, the path was to stretch much more.
The narrow river, winding and bubbling, disappeared behind the hills, all its banks were also strewn with gray boulders and pebbles. The water sang merrily, leaping from rock to rock, skirting it, and flowing swiftly into the valley.
On the horizon same, over hills slowly floated huge and snow-white clouds. They seemed to be crawling along the gentle peaks, leaving wet, dark tracks behind them, like huge snow snails.
The valley continued to live their lives and Ahani it seemed that she did not notice the loss of an entire village. All around continued to breathe and bloom in rhythm wound up from the creation of the world. The emerald waves of grass swayed under the onslaught of wind and very soon she had to hide the site of a terrible fire, he knew the young man.
” It won't be long before my family and the village are forgotten except by me, " he thought.
The boy gritted his teeth, frowned, and strode confidently up the slope. From under the soles of his boots, with a rustle and clatter, flew small rubble and rolled down. As he walked, he often had to go around large boulders, or step over smaller ones, or climb larger ones.
Here is so, in another times perched on greater a boulder, akhani saw the bottom what something movement, between piles of of stones and small shrubs was something alive and it was black color of. But didn't notice the young man see that he couldn't because it was far away. Then Ahani carefully climbed down from the boulder and began to descend towards the unknown creature, trying to make as little noise as possible.
The young man moved slowly, because he tried not to give himself away to the unknown animal. As he walked, he accidentally startled the bird Kaira, which flew high into the sky with a cry. Ahani hissed regretfully and froze. Where the bird had been sitting, three small eggs lay laid on the grass. Without thinking twice, the hungry youth picked them up and, crouching, began to move on, drinking the contents of the eggs.
The animal that lurked behind the low bushes made little noise, only an occasional snort. Ahani drew his bow from behind his back, laid an arrow, and peered cautiously over the side of a large boulder.
It was a Daeva. Ahani smiled when he saw him. Quite still young stallion fully black, coal color of. He was short and thin, but his lack of developed muscles gave him agility and speed.
The horse tore leaves from a Bush, chewed it, in passing driving away midges a long dense tail and sensitively listened to surrounding sounds, moving ears. Ahani put the bow back in its place and cautiously called to his horse.
"Daev," he said softly, melodiously.
The animal shuddered and recoiled, eyeing him incredulously. Then Ahani stepped out from behind the stone behind which he had been hiding and stepped forward, holding out his open hand peaceably to the anxious horse. Daev stared at him for a moment with huge, moist eyes, and then he recognized him. He neighed joyfully and shortly and ran up to the young man, shaking his long mane and dancing on the spot in impatience.
"Good Daev, good Daev," Ahani repeated with a smile, and stroked the horse's withers, between the shoulders, where the animal's luxuriant mane began, until he calmed down a little.
"Come with me, Daev!" he tugged gently at the horse's mane in the right direction, farther South, down the slope into a small valley with a narrow river winding through the bottom.
