All day long this handsome youth delighted all living things around, gave light and warmth to every stunted blade of grass and Bush, warmed sandstones and played with the tinkling waves of the modest river.
People love Surya, because He gives strength to crops to grow, and they, in turn, give strength to fleet-footed horses. Every new day begins with the appearance of Surya in the sky. He drives away the darkness and cold and people thank him with a morning bow.
But it was Surya's turn to leave and the swift-footed Vayu, the God of the wind, burst into the air from the North. And it was cold. Vayu the clouds dispersed and revealed Soma all that was done on earth.
The moon-God, Soma is pale, dominated by the sky at night, surrounded by his twenty-seven wives of the constellations. Until recently, Soma, cursed by his father, was sick and thin and very faintly illuminated the cosmic darkness, but then he became round again and, sparing no effort, illuminated the vast hilly terrain, strewn with small bushes and stones to the horizon.
Beside one of these large stones, still warm from the light of Surya, sat a young man on the ground. He might have been mistaken for a huge wolf curled up for the night, but for the boy's curly head and long blond hair.
Ahani shivered, wrapping his wolf cloak more tightly around him and sinking his nose into its warm fur. The small herd of cows he was guarding had long been sleeping peacefully. Above Ahani's head stretched a vast dome of black sky, studded with countless cold stars.
He knew from fairy tales that his ancestors came from the land of ice, where there is no warm summer, but for some reason he did not like the cold. It was a good night to bask in memories.
He remembered the name-giving ceremony well.
Ahani's father, a tall, bearded and very strong man, nodded encouragingly to his son when elder Vyasa mentioned the young man's name, Ahani. He said, that a boy already grew and him can be help senior.
"So the fiery Agni told me," said Vyasa.
Immediately after the ceremony, the mother of the Vine prepared food for her son, put it in a bag and hugged him goodbye. Ahani was always embarrassed by this, for he was already a full head taller than she, and he considered himself a grown husband, not a baby to be petted by mammies and aunts.
The two older brothers jokingly advised Ahani to put on a pair of pants so as not to freeze himself, but from their tone Ahani knew that Brani and story were also happy for him.
And his little sister Savitri tugged at his sleeve for a long time before leaving.
"Take me with you!" Take me with you! — what is it? " she often repeated, looking up into his eyes pleadingly, jumping up and down with impatience, shaking a thick shock of blond hair, the same as Ahani's, only much longer, to the waist.
"Calm Down, Savitri! vjun's mother frowned sternly and gently pulled The girl away from her son. "Help me!"
So Ahani left the village for his first guard, under the benevolent gaze of his entire family, taking with him his favorite yew bow and a long dagger, strapped in a leather sheath on the left side of his belt.
But already on the outskirts, where the cultivated fields began, a melodious voice called to him.
"Where are you going, Ahani?" Rohini, his girlfriend, asked defiantly.
She stood proudly with her fist on her side and her snub-nosed, freckled nose turned up, as if she were not interested at all, and she asked simply because there was nothing to do. Surya, the sun setting behind the mountains, cast his last glances at the girl's lovely blonde hair, which fell far below the waist, and her slender figure, wrapped in a light ankle-length dress and belted with a red string. Her waist was so thin that Ahani felt as if he could wrap his arms around her if he wanted to.
Ahani and Rohini were of the same age and had played side by side and were friends from an early age, so the young man replied with a smile.
"This is not a woman's business, Rohini.
'I know everything, I can not speak, — the girl came closer and looked seriously into the eyes of the young man. — You're not going to sleep tonight, are you?"
"What are you saying, Heaney? the young man frowned. — I'm not a boy.
Rohini suddenly took hold of his little finger and looked into Ahani's eyes again, but this time with regret.
"Forgive me, may the gods be good to you," she said softly, and then she released Ahani's finger, whirled around so that her thick hair rose in a wave of woodsy fragrance, and disappeared into the gathering gloom between the red sides of the yurts.
Ahani looked at the little finger of his right hand, which Heaney had been clutching a moment before. It was a strange sensation, unfamiliar to him. They had long been friends with the girl and sometimes jostled, but this touch of hers was different.
The coolness of her fingers sent a small shiver through his body, and his chest felt warm, and the ground swam a little under his feet. Shaking his head, dismissing the strange and new sensations, Ahani turned his back on his native village and confidently walked along the dusty road between cultivated and already sprout fields.
He arrived on the field in time, but the boys he was to relieve shouted impatiently as soon as they saw him:
— What took you so long?" We're tired of waiting!
"It always takes a long time to wait," Ahani said with a smile, knowing they were tired and probably hungry. "Run home now.
The boys sprinted on the way home so that heels sparkled. As soon as he had gone a little way, one of them, the Dikshi, called out to Ahani in a thin voice:
— There's the cow! he pointed to the animal, which had gone to bed before anyone else. "She's sick!" Get her some water!
Ahani raised his right hand to indicate that he understood, and nodded. Going to the sick cow, the young man stroked his hand between her horns, she looked up at him huge wet eyes and short plaintive mumbled. Then he picked up a wooden tub from the dried grass and walked with it to the moonlit river.
The water was very cold. The river took its origin somewhere in the high mountains that covered the entire sky near the village of Ahani, just a day's journey on horseback. Ahani had been there once with his father when they were looking for a stallion that had escaped from their herd. Then they returned the steed, but while they were looking, the boy had seen enough of the majestic gray mountains with white snow caps.
"Your elder brother Manu is out there somewhere —" his father had said bitterly. — He went with his friends to seek fame and fortune.
"What's beyond the mountain?" Ahani had asked with interest.
"There are thick forests filled with evil animals and huge snakes," my father said. "And there are elephants, the largest of the animals. And live there evil black dasa, this their country.
Then Ahani looked anxiously at the mountain, but then he roused himself and asked.
— Will he come back?" My brother.
"This only Varuna the true knows," said the father, knitting his brows, — and we cannot know unless Varuna has mercy on us and gives his answer through the fiery Agni."
Ahani had never seen his elder brother, he had left the clan when the boy was very young, but he had heard glimpses of the older men saying that he was the strongest of the young warriors.
Ahani filled a bucket with cold, bubbling water and dragged it to the sick cow, but she was already asleep, breathing hard and hot. He climbed a small rise and sat down on the stunted grass, his back against a huge warm boulder, watching the herd and the low hills in the moonlight. To be sure, he laid his favorite bow and quiver of arrows on the ground beside him.
The wind was cool. Its gentle but insistent gusts ruffled the brown strands of Ahani's hair, rolled over the waves of sparse and low grass that grew on the slopes of the hills, which could even be called hills, twisted, rustling sand, between scattered here and there huge brown boulders, foamed the waves of a small river and swept away in the direction of the mountains.
For a long time sitting motionless, even in a wolf's cloak, Ahani began to freeze and when his teeth were already beating out a shot from the cold, he abruptly stood up, and began to run quickly around his boulder. As fast as he could, and still changing directions — first in one direction three circles, then a sharp turn on his toes, throwing soft boots handfuls of gravel, then in the opposite direction three circles, and so on until he was warm.
As the night passed, Ahani saw movement on the horizon, at the top of a gentle hill. He stretched out his tall, lean body on the ground and stared at it warily. He hoped he was imagining it, or that it was just the shadow of a lone boulder lying on the ground, but the next moment he saw a silhouette.
The young man, holding his breath, crawled to his quiver, with a slight wooden rustle the arrow said goodbye to its friends and briefly greeted the curved bow. To shoot of course same was still far, Yes and is thus meaningless, and foolish, after all is unknown still who there, suddenly this are a good traveler or stray deer.
"What other good travelers at this time," — immediately corrected himself Ahani.
There was no fear, for the boy was past boyhood, and he had been hunting with his father many times. Soon he could grow a beard. Thinking so, the young man rubbed his covered with a light fuzz on his chin. The bow in his hands, which had beaten the wolves many times, gave him confidence and calm.
Meanwhile, the shadow approached and Ahani saw that it was a lone rider on a white horse. He rode slowly, swaying on his horse's back, half asleep.
At the same time, a wolf howled in the distance. It was a powerful and drawling voice, the voice of a strong and experienced animal, calling to his comrades to unite for the hunt. And it is good that the howl was still far away, otherwise Ahani already would not know what to do with two evils at the same time.
When the rider was close enough, Ahani rose to his full height and drew the string of his favorite bow.
