Trilogy of Dhana and the Earth. Book two. War with reptilians

“But how is this possible? We can’t fly like aliens through the sky and visit the remote villages of the wild.”

“There is a little hope for people now. In one empire of Khem, which is under the complete control of aliens, there are now more people than on the rest of the Earth. But not only people think. You have legends about the flying ‘little folk.’ They can also be persuaded to join an alliance against aliens. If Bess tries, she can also find many other thinkers, sometimes completely unlike humans, but nevertheless born on Earth, and therefore having the same rights, to choose a ruler. If they recognize Bess, that will be enough.”

“Are ordinary trees considered to be thinking?” Asked Terra. “For example, my sister and I greeted them all the time, and they answered us.”

“No, nothing will come with trees. They will not be able to understand what we want from them, nor what aliens are, nor what the ruler of the Earth is. And without understanding, their consent means nothing.”

“Is it true,” Rin asked, “that for every alien generator they take a man and turn him into an alien?”

“Partially true. They don’t turn him, but send it to a device for exchanging souls. The human body receives the soul of an alien from a distant star system, and the human soul flies to those distant lands and since then lives on a foreign planet.”

Kum

At night, the air is clear and the stars hang very low above the head. But now the sky begins to brighten, and small droplets of precious moisture rise as the mist from the river, covering me from all sides. I swim in this fog, I drink it with all my pores. The first ray of the sun breaks out from behind the trees, the fog, thinning, rises higher, disappearing into the blue of the sky. The first tail splash is a fish in the water, the first slap to the shore is a frog. She warms her green back, preparing for the morning concert. The translucent bubbles behind her ears puffed out, and the first “cua-cheche-cheche-cheche” spread over the river.

During the night in the sand by the river, a track of dug sand appeared again, as if someone was making his way directly beneath its surface. This time I decided to find out everything thoroughly. I came closer and felt with a thin root the course of an unknown creature. According to the stroke width, it was no more than a centimeter in thickness. Continued the study – the course goes along the river, then turns onto a grassy slope. Lengthened the spine, here the course went steeply down. You’ll have to dig a bit to see this mysterious night visitor… Oh – I had to dig a hole half a meter deep among the plexus of roots. But I found him, no matter how he tried to get away from me. Amazing creature! A soft satin abdomen with two tails on the end, and a chest protected by chitin armor in front, a small head with antennae and large serrated paws with a turn outward. Perfect for digging. Release the creature onto the sand of the beach. Now it runs along the water, turned a little higher, groped a hole with its antennae and began to dig. A minute – and it disappeared from sight, only the soil is cracking from above, showing the direction of travel. But then the cracks disappeared, the creature went digging deeper. So I met another miracle on this amazing planet.

“Look! Look! This is it! The same as in the legends!” the mental voices of unknown creatures came very close. Looking closer, I seem to have seen or felt. They were here, and like not here. Quite transparent, but still quite real.

“It sees us! It hears us! It will play with us!” Squealed thin voices.

“Who are you?”

“It can talk! We are what we are, we do not call ourselves! We exist, and we play. People call us elves, forest spirits, little people. But people are all deaf and heavy, how can we play with them? It used to be, during the time of the magic Fox, there were light people who played and lived with us. And now there are no such…”

“How do you fly? I don’t even see wings like other flying creatures have.”

“We do not need wings! After all, we live on a magical planet. Here everything happens at will, just ask, and you will be lighter than fluffs. Our planet is so kind! Try it yourself!”

I did not understand how this is possible. I expanded my thoughts so that they cover the entire planet as a whole, with all its creatures – large and small. The many-voiced chorus of other people’s thoughts seemed to tear me apart. But then I felt some kind of melody in this choir, like an unknown conductor managing it. I was delighted with his art!

“Yes! Yes! It’s like that!” Squeaked voices nearby. “Now just ask.”

“How?” And then I felt an amazing ease. Only the roots kept me in place, and I took them out. My body easily soared into the air and flew after a light breeze.

“You did it! You did it!” Squealed the voices around me. “Now fly with us!”

Chapter 7. Amorous affairs

Bess

I am the only one who can save this miserable world. So Mute says. Yes, and he also asks to call himself by his real name – Radogast. I’ll try, but it’s hard to relearn, he’s still Mute-Radogast. So, I have to organize here a completely new business, called the “connection of four.” Radogast says that this is an effective weapon against the forces of evil. First we need to find four people with good mental ability, and Radogast himself will hide us all from the platers, so that they don’t know ahead of time what we are doing here. I found three of them at once – me, Terra and Rin, but who will be fourth? In the village everyone is busy, it’s not easy to get them to do something completely unusual…

Then Terra brought Fedka:

“Here! Look how cute he is”

I look, what an absurd guy, mentally asked him: “Do you want to work?” He just smiles and stares at me.

“Who did you bring, sister, he cannot hear anything at all?!”

“Well … You try, maybe that will turn out, he is so funny, so cute.”

“Okay, as my grandmother said any port in a storm. Sit in a circle.” Terra, of course, strives to put Fedka next to her. “It will not work, he will sit opposite, otherwise, you will hug each other instead of work.”

“But, Bess!” cries Terra…

“Later, later! After work, I will fulfill any of your requests, but for now, close your eyes and focus. We begin, some kind of a silent song and we will sing it in chorus. I will control you as a conductor, Terra, you sing a melody of love – this is closer to you. Rin, you pick up her melody and direct, like an arrow from a bow, in an expanding spiral around us. Fedya, what is there to come up with for you? Suppose you don’t hear anything, but you can mentally help us all. Imagine that you are a bonfire that warms us all.

“It is possible,” Fedya agreed, “I always loved to imagine, because of this I often got into situations…”

So we had our first connection of four. It seems that everything worked out. Even Fedya was all glowing – he tried so hard to help us all. We woke up in the evening. There are screams on the street – our rural drunkard and the bully Grisha is running. He screams that he has been bewitched, his head is cracking. I don’t feel sorry for him – you need to drink and curse less.

“And now,” Terra says, “you must fulfill your promise.”

“What, sister?” I completely forgot that I promised something to her.

“You said that you would fulfill any my request.”

“Okay,” I remembered, “what do you want?”

“I want you to put on my dress and go outside for a walk.”

“Why, sister?”

“There Petrya is waiting for me, and I want to walk with Fedka. After all, you look like me, in the dark Petrya will think that you are me.”

“And what will he do to me?” I continued.

“Well … It’s okay,” Terra draws, “if you do, then you’ll find out. You want to know everything. So go, experiment…”

“Okay,” I say, “it is fine for me.”

I change clothes and think it’s really interesting to be in the place of my sister and find out why all the guys in the village chase her.

I went out into the street cautiously. Strong hands gently pick me up and carry me, carry me somewhere into the forest. Good! I wish my beloved would carry me like that and then kiss me…

The bristly face tickles my lips. Alas, this is not my dear.

“You’re not Terra, who are you?”

“I am Bess, and I also want to kiss … But not like that!”

“Of course not,” answered Petrya, “Kiss the Terra – the head burns and goes round, and you? I don’t understand anything, because you are also a woman. How many women I kissed, but I didn’t have that, so that’s nothing at all, as if I was drunk and kissed a birch.”

Petrya laughed – he remembered, since he had been drunk – he took a birch for a woman … Well … and kissed. Petrya was still hugging me, but somehow already detached. Then the moon came out from behind the clouds.

“Yes …” said Petrya. “Or maybe you’ll throw off your dress, let’s look, maybe you’re not a woman at all.”

I took off my dress and Petrya stared at my body, and then gently ran a hand over my chest, lower, lower…

“And nothing,” he pronounced the final verdict, “you look like a woman, but there is nothing truly woman in you. So I touch you and nothing, I don’t want anything at all … So I didn’t feel it before… Okay, get dressed, let’s go for a walk.”

“Let’s go, we’ll talk at the same time,” I answered.

We moved through the bushes to the path, then along the path to the river.

“Aren’t you cold?” Petrya took off his jacket.

“No,” I replied, “I never feel cold, even in winter I can walk in one dress.”

Petrya thoughtfully put on his jacket back.

“Petrya,” I asked, “and why are all the women in your house so rude? Terra said that they immediately began to push each other.”

“So that’s why she left, and I thought she didn’t like me,” Petrya was delighted.

“Well, how we cannot like you,” I answered, “but Terra likes other guys, many of them younger than you, not so skilled, but for some reason Terra likes them more.”

“Really?” Petrya became sad. “Ah, these wives!!! Well, I’ll teach them!”

“Or maybe they are right in something?” I asked at random. “So father told you something about this…”

“And father … He said that the three wives in the house are too many, and I will not be able to feed four, and they will fight each other because of the housework.”

“Perhaps he is right?”

“Yes, right, right! I know it myself! But Terra is so cute; she hugged me as gullibly as I carried her in my arms! I always wanted to be with her!”

“Probably, bad luck!” I added. “I also want to be loved, hugged, kissed like Terra, but nothing works!”

“So no one wants to kiss you?” surprised Petra.

“No,” I said sadly. “Only Mute still supports me, says that my dear will come. And I believe! Will come! But when?!”

“It’s ok,” Petrya gently stroked my back, “there is your dear, I also believe in it! And what have you been doing all day?”

“They trained in thought transmission,” I answered him silently, with the help of thought.

“What are you doing! What are you doing!” He waved his hands at me. “Is that possible?! Platers will come and take you away!”

“Don’t be afraid,” I answered, “now Mute covers us. And when we accumulate strength, we will show these platers!”

“Not only the platers,” Petrya spoke excitedly, “the scouts report that we will be attacked by the meridichi squad from day to day, and we will have to guard around the village every night.”

“There is no need for a guard, because now Mute can help us, by the way, in fact his name is Radogast. In case of danger, he will wake me up.”

“Well wake up, then what? What will you do against these reivers?”

“And I will wake all of you, well, those who can hear thoughts. Are there many of them?”

“Yes, almost half of the village. I wonder how all the platers didn’t reach us…”

“This is clear, Radogast covered you all! Tomorrow you should gather those whom you can rely on, I will show how you can defend the village without any fights.”

So, talking about everything, we walked with Petrya all night.

Saying goodbye to him in the morning, I said:

“But you’d better stop watching Terra. She doesn’t really love anyone yet. Let her choose whom she needs.”

“So she will foolishly go to this muff Fedka!”

“Or maybe she needs this one? Don’t bother her! Perhaps Fedka will become less foolish with her.”

“Well, you know!” Petrya thought. Then he waved his hand and, striding quickly, disappeared around the bend of the street.

I opened the door to my hut.

“So how it was?” Terra rushed to me. “You liked him? Did you kiss him?”

“We kissed, but I didn’t like it,” I answered, “I am not his type too.”

“And what did you do in the forest until the morning? His wife came to us, she wanted to quarrel with me, but she saw Fedka here with me and ran away.”

“Well, walked, talked … And what about you and Fedya?”

“Oh, Bess, he knows how to kiss! As Petrya’s wife ran away, we also went for a walk. You know, there, on the landing by the big long house, there were dances today. I have never danced in my life, so Fedka taught me. He crushed my foot a couple of times, painfully, to a bruise. But it is so cool! Not bruises, of course, but dancing! You must try too! You’ll like it!”

The next day I met with Petrya and showed him how to make a connection of four. He easily understood everything and promised to teach it three of his friends. And then I had to fight off one of his wives. She tracked us down. However, I didn’t really try, because it hurts ordinary people when they beat each other, but I don’t. The poor wife injured all her hands beating my body. Well, rightly so.

And after a couple of days at night, we repelled the attack of the reivers – meridichi. At the command of Radogast, in different parts of the village we started two concerts of a connection of four. The result was astounding. The entire army of attackers was fallen down in pain. They rolled on the grass and howled. They shouted that they would never go our way again. And the one who persuaded them to this deal will be caught and beaten so that he wouldn’t do it again.

Yes, Fedka was also impudent and under the pretext of connecting four completely settled in our house. Granddad even gave him a separate room, for an extra man is always needed in the house, even if he is so foolish.

Chapter 8. Winter worries

Kum

Air games with a flying folk did not deviate me from the main course, which always led me to the one that was destined for me. After several days, I felt that she was very close. I was drawn to this settlement of people in the middle of the forest. But I could not find my beloved among the trees surrounding the village. In the village itself there were only people, and one of the girls for some reason was especially interesting for me. This unnatural craving for a human being should be dealt with. But how? At least I could try to copy one of the small human beings running around the village, my weight allowed me to do this. The only difficulty was the clothes, but similar clothes were hanging on the ropes near the houses, and it was not difficult to get them.

So imperceptibly another child appeared in the village, running with the other kids. I passionately wanted to be next to the girl I liked, I wanted to quietly touch her. Everything turned out as I intended. Running along her I stopped and touched her hand at the moment when she turned away. It seems that lightning has slipped between us, we both startled. I immediately ran away, and she frantically turned her head in different directions, trying to understand what happened.

It was she, my betrothed! She, like me, only pretended to be a person. But it was too early to meet her. We were too different, even in size. I should have approached her as an equal, and not as a small child. I must run before she finds me. The latter is quite probable – I immediately noted her powerful mental field, which means, respectively, no less ability to search for thoughts. Drowning out all my thoughts, I took off into the air. A flock of small folk immediately surrounded me and began to twitter:

“Fly! Fly! To the South! South! Winter will come soon, it will be cold and uncomfortable here!”

And we flew.

“I want to go there where good people live and where there are a lot of trees,” I said.

“We know such a place! We know! There are nice people, funny, always dancing! And there are a lot of trees! And it’s hot there, even in winter!”

“And I don’t want any scientists studying trees!”

“Do not worry, only good people live there!”

Forests flashed beneath us, then they were replaced by solid grasses. Then blue ribbons of rivers appeared. Then was the endless blue of the sea, over which we flew during day and night. And down below, several times I saw the ships on which people sailed across the sea. Then there were gray sands and mountains, and finally, the green square of the forest where we landed.

On the shore of the lake, I released my roots. The ground was warm and tasty, and a stream of life-giving moisture rose from the depths. I completely surrendered to the ecstasy of food absorption and growth. Everything else has disappeared from my perception for many months of life in the form of a simple tree.

Bess

The autumn time has come. Everybody was busy with harvesting vegetables for the winter. Men were digging potatoes, carrying huge pumpkins, zucchini, cabbage, carrots. Women carried baskets of mushrooms from the forest. Late apples were picked. With the first frosts, it will be possible to collect viburnum and ashberry.

I worked with everyone, and at night I tried to reach out with my thoughts to those thinking ones in the nearest forests that were unknown to me. Lately, it seemed to me all the time that someone was carefully looking at me. But not with my eyes, but somehow differently, as if I see him somewhere nearby: in a flock of kids playing on the street, in the autumn wind blowing along the street, in the first drops of autumn rain… Every day this feeling became stronger, and once someone touched my hand. This touch was thunderous throughout my body. For a moment I lost myself, stopped seeing and hearing. Moment – and it’s over. I looked around. Everything was as usual, no one noticed anything. The sun was going over the edge of the forest, and only the belated kid was running around the corner to his mother. But I knew that it happened! The main event of my life has happened! But how? What? Who? I didn’t understand anything.

“Over time, you will understand! It really was a sign for you!” I heard the calm voice of Radogast in my head. “He will come to you when he is ready! In the meantime, do not get distracted, my daughter, you have a lot to do. Which thinking ones do you feel near the village?”

“You know, recently there were a lot of them in the clear sky above our heads. It seemed to me that they were twittering like birds, but about what – I just cannot understand. And now there are none.”

“Ah … little folk,” replied Radogast, “it could only be them. They are really here, and not quite here. Not everyone can see them. Only one thing I’m afraid of is that there is no use of them. This little folk is very unpredictable. And who else do you feel?”

“Yes, I feel all kinds of animals, among them there is still someone, it seems, is very large, with shaggy thoughts, I cannot say more precisely. It seems to me that his appearance is a match, I imagine him big and shaggy.”

“Forest man. He is a loner, he is unlikely to contact you.”

“Can there be thinking ones underground?”

“I feel distant and very sharp thoughts of others that come from somewhere below,” I replied. – “It’s as if someone lives deep down too.”

“Wow, what did you feel!” answered Radogast. “I don’t even know whether we should contact them. These are our enemies, the enemies of all mankind, but they are also enemies to aliens. Yes, perhaps, in the fight against aliens, they can help with their voices. But then … do not expect mercy from them! They don’t need us either!”

“Who are they?”

“The ancient masters of the Earth, gone underground during the disaster. Then the forests burned, and the earth melted and flowed in lava flows. And then solid ice covered the Earth for millennia. Now they would like to come to the surface, but they are afraid of us – people. And not without a reason! Human has an inborn aversion even to the appearance of these creatures. I see that their thoughts prick you like needles. Alas, people are incompatible with them. They can help, but only for their own benefit. Try, contact them – it won’t be any worse! Do not even think about asking them for something! If they need anything, they will ask themselves!”

After a couple of days, I still managed to contact them. The sizzling guest crawled right into my thoughts – slippery, rummaging around … I accepted him and showed him all our plans. He returned a week later and hissed:

“We agree.”

“How many of you?”

“They know! And you don’t need to know that!”

I was glad when he disappeared from my thoughts.

Meanwhile, real winter has come. Time to sour cabbage and play snowballs. Terra and I first saw skiing and ice skating. We had nothing like this on a farm in childhood. Soon I mastered both of these devices. But Terra didn’t want to. In general, lately she has somehow become sad, and her character deteriorated right at once. Every now and then her demanding voice was heard:

“Fedka – there! Fedka – here! Bring that! I want this!”

Fedka ran like crazy. And I looked and was surprised. I never knew that my sister has such habits. And no one stopped her, neither the lathered Fedka, nor Rin. And granddad – so he also smiled!

This winter, I became very close with Rin. He was the one who taught me to ski and skate. He and I took a long ski trip to that shaggy one. I warned Rin in advance where we were going so that he would not be scared. And not in vain! The view of the forest monster was really creepy! But the thoughts were calm. I heard them like this:

“Well, why are you coming to me?”

I tried to explain our problems to him, but he closed his thoughts and quietly disappeared behind the trees. As Radogast warned, I did not succeed with him.

A couple of months passed, and finally something wonderful happened – a quiet, gentle voice found me:

“Good business, girl! We are all with you!”

“Who are you and how many are you?”

“There are three hundred and seventy-seven of us, not counting the children.” We are near you, but not quite here. And our village is called Kitezh grad. And there are seventy-seven of such secret settlements on the Earth. We will let everyone know the news, and all of them will support you on the day of voting!”

Rin

All the same, what scoffers are girls in our village! While we were children, it was so good to play together. And then as if something had happened to them – and you won’t go outside without hearing teasers from your former friends. You can’t just approach them, everyone has become just impregnable. When Bess has come to us, my life changed for the better. Together with her, I went to Mute and listened to the amazing stories through her. And once, going out into the street, I heard another teaser, sung in a sweet girlish voice:

Rinchik walked with Bess,

Rinchik kissed with Bess!

And then I thought – why not, because I like Bess. And she treats me completely differently from the rest of the guys in the village, and by age we are about the same. And the girls will stop teasing me if Bess and I have everything for real. One evening I went to Bess and laid out to her all my boyish thoughts. She laughed.

“Nothing will come of it! Do you even know how to check whether a girl suits you or not?”

“No, I don’t know, and how?”

“Very simple. Take my hand and say what you feel.”

I took Bess’s hand. It was very cold.

“Are you cold?”

“No,” said Bess, “I just don’t want to work as a stove.”

“I cannot do that. My hands are always warm.”

“Don’t get distracted,” Bess reminded, “tell me what you feel now?”

“Nothing special … I feel your chilling hands … And what should I feel?”

“If I were your girlfriend, you would definitely feel something.”