Immortalls. Princess Swan from the Golden Mountain

— Okay, we will go, why not stand above the soul, — added Agaran.

The guests left, and the witch fell into serious thoughts, swinging forward — back on the bench, looking at the carefree playing Ilda. The dog went up to the hostess, and put his head on her knee. The woman stroked everything understanding Tyapa.

“We’re leaving again… As soon as everything worked out, — she muttered, — and how can Ilda… There is pestilence… Take it to death there.

— Do not twist your friend, — Naida said carefully, — Ilda will stay with me, and there, in two years, you will take your daughter to Oum.

— Ilda! — she called the girl.

She came up and climbed onto the bench under her mother’s side, Tyap pushed his nose into her leg, checking whether she was or not.

— Ilda, — mother asked the girl, will you stay here, with Naida, with Lai and Iskra will you play, or will you go with me to the South to Oum?

“With you,” Ilda said only, and grabbed her mother’s hand tightly.

— Let’s get ready. Micah added, cradling her daughter.

Naida remained to help her friend tie up the belongings, the children managed not to run, quietly playing in a small cell. It turned out three boxes, two baskets, and three bales.

— The main thing is that the boat would not sink, — Mika tried to joke.

“You can handle things, come back,” Naida said quietly, “I’ll look after the house.” Tomorrow I will bring the whole thistle, but plantain, and dried rose hips. There are two bales.

— Thank you, — the witch answered from the heart, — I would not have managed without you.

So the hard day has come, the day of parting. Und tied the load with his rowers, and the river boat was ready to fall off the pier. Ob was calm today, only light waves beat the shore. A bright sun shone, and only a few clouds, white as snow, only shaded the piercing blue of a clear sky. Miku and her daughter came to spend, honor all the people of the village, and joyful that they did not have lots to help the southerners, and sad, because many thought that a good witch was going to death. Cord and Aragan came along, and with him went the Herald, Kaley, he had a new cloak, with sacred signs, so that everyone who sees them would help them along the way.

— Good way to you, Light Mika, and to you, Light Ilda, because they decided to help people. — Prinno broadcast Aragan, — come back soon.

“And this is for you, Mick’s Light,” Cord said, bowing and holding out a small leather pouch.

The witch took it, and her hand almost came off, and in a misunderstanding she turned her eyes to the elder.

— What is it?

“You’re a witch. You know everything, ‘Cord smiled rather,’ didn’t you understand?”

The woman just looked at the elder with rounded eyes, and he nodded.

“So much???” she wondered.

“It’s not easy. Happy road, and here, pies for Ilda. The wife baked, and the elder gave the basket to the woman, and put one pie in the girl’s palm, and she began to eat treats with pleasure.

“Thanks Cord. — For once, a woman smiled, — Otherwise, I’m not a craftswoman in pies.

“Off we go!” shouted Und, the feeder, loudly.

Mika climbed the boat with Ilda, and Kord’s gifts, followed by the dog. Und pushed the pole away from the pier, and the rowers, leaning on the oars, directed the ship upstream of the Ob. Lodya shook a little, Tyapa climbed under the bench, in the middle of which Mika was sitting. and the edges on each side are rowers. So the Herald and the Volkhovitsa family settled down comfortably, on bags of wool. The woman threw a felt blanket over the girl’s shoulders, all fearing that she would catch a cold. Kalei, carefully stepping over the bench, went to the witch.

— Hello to you Light Mika, live for many years!

— And to you, Light Kaley! — she looked at the young man, smiling, — Do you want to know if I am strong in medicine?

— So it is, but you studied as the chosen one.

— And you and on Alatyr sent?

Kalei only nodded back, and fell silent for a long time. He just threw up his hands and shook his head.

— Spread the bones, Mara laughed, and Pryakhi gave a dark answer: “Ask for help in Gandvik, she is growing up. Soon it will be easier for everyone, but also harder.” How can help grow? So he came to Aragan, he decided that since the witches had died in our country, he would ask one of his own. And who is your husband, the venerable Volkhovitsa?

— He died, the long-learned woman repeated.

— And then the girl is not very similar to you, — Kalya said doubtfully, — just like a foreign one.

Ilda, without taking out another pie from her mouth, tried to hit the messenger with a small cam, but her mother grabbed her shoulders tightly.

— Enough, — said the mother of the daughter sternly, — she looks like a father. He was not local. Accepted was an elder, they say, from the Northern Isles.

“I see,” said the young man, looking warily at the girl sitting on the bench, chatting her feet carelessly.

By evening, the boat stuck to the ground. Und chose a place with a sandy shore, and Vataga pulled the ship out of the water. The rowers set up two tents — one for Mika and Ilda, the other for the rest.

Ilda sat on the felt, and enthusiastically checked the strong fabric of their small dwelling with her finger.

“Not tired?” Mika asked anxiously.

— Why did that Herald say that I don’t look like you? — the girl asked, furrowing her brows, — I have hair of a different color…

— Don’t listen, he’s a stranger. You look like a father, — I didn’t even lie to the medicine. — go to bed, get up early tomorrow.

Everyone went to bed, and stood up in the light, washed and quickly ate, and again the boat went along the river.

Ilda did not sit with her mother, but in a barrel, and found herself in the stern, next to Und. The feeder peered into the distance, and with a paddle directed the run of the ship.

“Hello, Ilda,” he smiled.

“And to you, the feeder,” the girl replied, lisping, holding on to the skin of the ship’s skin, “did you know your mother until I was born?”

— Yes.

— Have you seen my father?

— No, Ilda, I haven’t. I brought your mother from Warta a long time ago, a few years ago. Stand by, look at the river. Didn’t you go anywhere on the boat? And our noble boat, called “Fast.”

The girl only shook her head in response. Everything in the estate was spent days by the mother and with other children, except for the found ones, she was not allowed to play. But I started to deal with herbs, at first I showed what berries and mushrooms you don’t need to eat, where you can’t go, where the earth lights up by itself. Little Ilda returned to her mother’s bench.

The journey to Warta lasted a week, Und wanted to relax in the village, go to the bathhouse, and stay with his acquaintances. Mika, without saying a word, began to prepare a tent for rest, hammering pegs, and stretching the ropes.

“Come with us, healer. And Ilda will spend the night in warmth, but she will wash in the bathhouse.

Mika sank from tension, she looked at her daughter, the woman’s lips twitched.

“I’ve been banished, Und. I can’t go back.

“It’s been four years, witch. The house of my acquaintances, whom I drove in the Studenoy Sea, is not in the village, not in Varta. Behind the grove, through the ravines.

Und expected a lot, but not this. Mika laughed wildly, and sat right on the ground, so Tyapa barked, and Ilda grabbed her mother by the hand in fright.

“My house, my house,” the woman whispered through tears.

— Let’s go, and here two rowers will stay, in the evening they will be replaced, — the forager said wearily. — while the fish are caught.

So ten people went to the old house of the Volkhovitsa. Little Ilda looked at the bushes covered with flowers, brushed off mosquitoes and horseflies with a twig, Tyapa ran after her, not allowing her to go far from the path. Mika watched everything, stepping on the fallen needles with leather boots, she waited for the fence of her house to appear. She walked another twenty steps, and noticed how the familiar painted roofs flashed.

“Come!” she shouted to the others.

Und went forward, went to the gate and knocked.

There was a barking of dogs, and the owner’s steps were heard, and his voice:

— Who’s there?

— I, Und, with the merriers. Open up, Goud.

— Ah, buddy, and you are merrymakers, come in, — and the owner, a tall hun, with a shaved head and a scythe on the back of his head, visible from under a felt hat, opened the gate for them. — Let’s go to the bathhouse from the road, — he saw a woman with a girl, — but first guests, — he smiled, — he added.

The bath was new, and was good, as Mika saw it, sitting next to the steamed Ilda. The daughter was completely happy, and her mother was glad that she obeyed the admonitions of the feeder. The hostess was called Rex, and her blonde daughter Satoy. Next to the bench was a jug of kvass and dry fish, to eat if anyone wants. Sata poured hot water from the badeyka, walked along the wet floor, squelching her legs, and poured kvass into a wooden plate.

— Ilda, will you? — she asked, pointing to the zhban.

“Yes,” the witch’s daughter smiled and held out her hands behind the bowl.

Sata poured still cool kvass into the wooden dishes, and gave it to a small guest, and she herself began to dry fish. She cleaned her dexterously, began to eat, but suddenly coughed, tried to breathe, but could not. The girl reddened even more, and fell to the floor. The women pulled her into the dressing room, Mika’s hands shook, and Rexha knocked on her daughter’s back, trying to help. The witch sighed heavily, took a piece of bast, opened Sata’s mouth wider, pulled out her tongue, and took out a bone with two fingers from her larynx. But the girl was not breathing. The crying Ilda came up, began to slow down the suffocated hand, and finally put the fingers of both hands on her forehead. Baby closed her eyes, and Mika only opened her eyes in surprise. Just red, steamed, my daughter’s face turned pale to pure white, and her lips turned blue. Volkhovitsa rushed to her, but then Sata sighed, and Rex pressed her daughter to her.

Ilda opened her eyes, the women looked at them, and did not believe their hearths — they were blacker than night. And then the baby cried, wailing at the top of her voice:

— Mom, I don’t see, — she said, choking with tears, and tried to rub her eyes with her fists, and then extended her arms, and her mother grabbed her, pressing her to herself.

— Do not be afraid, — she said, herself trembling with fear, despite the fact that only came out of the steam room, — will pass soon… You were just scared for Satu…

And the old lessons of Mary from Alatyr came to mind:

“It is rare that a true Witch will be born among people… Much is available to her, and even from the gates of Death she is able to return anyone. You will find out such a simple thing — how she will perform the action, heal, she turns pale, her lips turn blue, and fade for a while, her eyes turn black. Each Chosen One cherishes the hope of finding one, and growing a witch of the Great Power. But this is against the Covenant — it should immediately carry such a thing to Alatyr, so that evil does not do it out of ignorance and without a guess.”

— Don’t tell anyone, Rexha, and you’re Sata, about what happened. Otherwise, neither I nor Ilda will have a life. Everywhere evil people will get us.

“We will not say a word,” the hostess nodded, “and Sata will not say,” she said, looking her daughter in the eyes, “Thank you and your daughter.

“Come on, let’s get home,” Mika suggested, calming down the sobbing Ilda, stroking her back.

Sata sat gloomily on the bench, all staring with fright at the baby’s face. Ilda sat on her mother’s lap for a long time, and soon her eyes began to glow, and she shouted joyfully:

— I see, I see! — I brought my palms to my eyes, wiggling my fingers, and smiled joyfully with blue lips.

— Well, we went to dress, otherwise the merrymakers are waiting for their turn, — the hostess was delighted that everything worked out with the baby.

They left the bathhouse, and again the cheerful Sata followed her mother, and the women went to the house to comb their hair and cook a meal. Under the canopy, next to the house stood three tall moose, and busily crushed with twigs and grass. The daughter of the Volkhovitsa pulled her mother by the sleeve, pointing her finger at the dry ones with happiness on her face.

“They ride, my beauty,” said Mika, “it’s not easy to tame them, you have to feed the newborns, but then he is obedient, and the deer will be stronger. Let’s go, we are waiting for us already.

Lunch was a success, everyone ate and praised. Ilda also ate, and as if nothing had happened, she chatted with her feet. Rex and Sata ate, rather pushed food into themselves with difficulty, they joked hard, but both could not look away from a little guest. Mika looked around the house, her former. But there was no anger at Gouda in his heart, or maybe it was she herself who jinxed poor Sata?

The next morning, sleeping in warmth, Vataga went on. Mika and her daughter sat in their place, Kaley stood next to Unda, listening to the stories of an experienced sailor, and learned to distinguish between waves and how to rule a boat both in calm and in strong winds.

Day after day, and when there was half the way to Oum, the merrymakers, as always, pulled the boat ashore in the evening and set up a small camp. A fire was burning, crackling with damp wood, mosquitoes buzzed around, which were driven away by spruce branches. Everyone ate caught and then baked fish. The day before, they caught a lot of crucian carp, got fat and big, with a palm the size of. The merrymakers all encouraged each other by drinking warm herbal infusion, and then asked:

— Uncle Und! Tell us what — not be for the night. Entertaining!

— What can I tell you? — the feeder scratched his chin, — I don’t even know… — and spread his hands.

“Tell me about the Five Princesses who are sleeping now!” asked Kalei.

— Maybe it’s not worth it for the night? — the sailor doubted.

— Tell me, one of the merriers asked, adjusting the felt hat on his head.

“Okay, you asked for it,” Und began.

— It was a long time ago, when no one remembers. The first Princess was left to the Huns in consolation when the Twins retired to Mir Horny. People asked, and it was given to them, so much so that many tears were shed endlessly, as the First Dead Princess appeared. They do not come, but they are, and why — no one knows. Nobody remembers the names of the past Overlords, only, I suppose, Pryakhi on Alatyr knows all their names. And, now, She began to observe the order, but to heal people. And when they attacked us, she raised the squad of the Dead. And at least there were a few of them, only three hundred, but she beat the thieves. And so it continued, one replaced the other, until our Ulna fell asleep, but it was, read, eighty years ago. The princesses ruled for a long time each, who were two hundred years old and who were five hundred, but the end was one — they fell asleep in an unknown place, covered with ice like a blanket. And they say that there was a vision of Mare that there would be Seven Princesses in total, no more, no less, and there are madmen who believe that as the last fall asleep, the Gemini themselves will appear in the World of People, he finished, and drank honey from the ladle. — Let’s sleep, the morning of the evening is wiser.

Mika put her daughter on a felt next to her, and covered her with a cloak, and lay down next to herself. Suddenly, grumbling, crawled into Tyap’s tent. In the wrong light of the oil lamp, the witch saw that the dog had damaged his paw.

— Tyapa… my daughter smiled, give me a paw.

The dog, which Mick had not seen before, sat down and stretched out his right bleeding paw to Ilda. She just stroked her, and the blood stopped. The witch just swallowed, and sighed heavily. The dog in response licked the girl’s face several times, and she laughed, obscuring her palms. Mika escorted the dog, and sat down next to her daughter.

— Ilda, — and she kissed the girl’s freckled cheek, — I ask you, do not do this in front of strangers, otherwise be in trouble.

— Well, mom, — and she nodded her head in a completely adult way, — you will tell me how it will be better.

And Mika nodded to her daughter, hugged her tightly, gently stroking her hair.

***

Further, the path continued without incident, Kaley hurried Und and his merrymakers, wanting to be in Oum faster.

— I see the pier! — shouted Und, — and the ramparts of the city!

Kaley stood on the bow of the ship, looking impatiently at the long-awaited native land approaching with each wave of oar. There were few people on the pier, and the feeder, deciding to take care, dropped off the Messenger and the Volkhovitsa with the cargo before reaching the pier.

— Good luck! — shouted the feeder, and the ship slipped back into the lower Ob.

Healer of Oum

Kaley put the luggage in the sled, and dragged it to the pier, and Mika and Ilda went after him. The dog ran around them, walking along the path, sniffing around an unfamiliar place, raising his ears alarmingly and not far from the hostess. Only they met a couple of people, one hastily turned away and walked away, and the other went to say hello to the Herald.

— Glad you’re back, — grinned wryly, — Hello, madam, — greeted the magician with respect, — My name is Agn.

— I am Mika, and this is my daughter Ilda, — the healer called herself.

— Our magician, many people know about him, maybe you have in Gandvik, his name is Rann. — said the dear resident of Oum, — a serious misfortune has come, many people have died, and our healers too. Another magician remained, a pupil of Rann, Nimes. Now he is lying exhausted, but survived after an illness. He looked after many, but he also became infected. And all our healers were buried, so it’s a disaster, — he told everything, — It’s good that you wasn’t scared. Here is the house of the magician, — the guide pointed to two houses behind the wattle, a little more than usual.

Agn knocked on the gate, but it was not locked, and he entered the courtyard. The master dog barked, ran up to the guests, but only noticed a little girl, twisted his tail, and went to get acquainted, and sniffed his hands. Ilda could not stand it, first pulling her palms away, and then stroking someone else’s dog.

Agn stared at it in disbelief, only shaking his head.

— The master’s dog is not very… Well, yes, healers, because, — he muttered, — Let’s go to the upper room.

Mika tied Tyapa, and everyone climbed the stairs to the residential place of the house. The woman saw two men sitting at the table, one of whom, judging by his clothes, was the Magi Rann, a carved staff stood next to him by the wall. A woman was also sitting at the table, with her hair covered in a cape. The owners got up first, bowed.

— Be healthy, dear guests. Sit at the table, — suggested the Magi, — my name is Rann, Magi, — this is my wife, Alta.

— Ya-Skeer elder, ‘said another,” thank you for coming to us.

— My name is Mika, I am a witch from the Chosen. This is my daughter Ilda, and the woman pointed to the girl. — What happened, Magi Rann, what kind of brushwood came to the city, — she said, sitting the girl, and sitting next to her on the bench.

— It became bad without Ulna, as the old people say, but nothing can be done… And Skir forced people to sit at home, but it doesn’t help, they began to die less… And herbs too…

— And what kind of famously piled on? — asked Mika

— Bellies suffer…

— Make everyone drink only water boiled in boilers… And where did the disease begin, in which villages, is it far from the city?

— First… and he thought, but began to tap the staff, remembering — yes, in the villages, closer to the steppe, then we continued.

— Herbs sick need to cook, more hot drink. Brew rosehips and thistles, I brought two bales with me. All this will help the unwell liver to survive the disease. If the liver is weak, then the unwell will die, and that will survive.

Suddenly, the girl began to pull her mother’s sleeve, and Mika leaned over to listen to her daughter. Ilda whispered in her mother’s ear

— Skir is sick…

“How do you know?” she replied.

— I see… the strip is black.

— Will you treat?

Ilda nodded, and sat down at attention next to her mother, clasping her fingers in the castle. Mika sighed, looked at the girl again.

— Skir, you’re sick, — the witch said quietly

The elder just grinned into a thick beard, looked at Rann, only he did not smile.

“What herbs can you order to drink?” he asked.

— Everything will be different, — Mika smiled with one lips, — swear that do no harm to me or my daughter, — she looked strictly at everyone.

— We swear, both Rann and Skeer repeated, and Alta held her fist to her forehead.

— Look, — the witch said very quietly, — Ilda, come on, do what you should.

The three adults were dumbfounded to see the little girl sit next to Skir and place her palms on his forehead. Rann and Alta did not believe their eyes, and Skeer simply closed them. You could hear how in the cell it was burning and slightly crackling the wick of the oil lamp on the table, and as if the shadows ran along the upper room. They noticed how the girl’s face turned white, she exhaled air, and like a leech pumping blood, fell off the elder, picked up by Mika. Ilda hid her face, poking her nose into her mother’s shoulder. Skir got up, and not believing himself, ran his fingers across his chest.

“It’s easy to breathe,” said the elder, smiling, “thank you, girl. But everyone does not need to see this, — he said confidently. — that the unkind, or rather, their loved ones, did not see this. Take the canvas. Alta, bring it! Here after him and heal that the temptation would not arise from people that from all Ilda will cure.

— Of course, Skir, — Rann began importantly, — I will walk with them, I will not give offense to the girl.

***

And so the cure began. Three came to the unwell house, Rann immediately lit incense, went around the whole house, expelling the filth. Mika checked the sick, hung the canvas so that the healthy would not see anything that she was doing there, and the cunning magician so skillfully let the fog in, not sparing the burnt incense, so that no one paid attention to the little girl healing everyone, even the dying. Suffering people thought that the Mighty Witch was carrying a funny, freckled girl with her, so that she would gain medicine skills, and maybe the sorceress from distant Gandvik had no one to leave the child with. Then the skillful Volkhovitsa removed the fabric, blocking her girl, and happy households saw cured loved ones. And Mika and Ilda quickly disappeared, Rann remained, warmly accepting the gratitude of the healed.

But Mika did not go to more than two houses on the same day, not wanting her daughter to get so tired. The girl’s strength grew, and by the end of the week she was no longer blind, only she turned very pale every time, giving her strength to people. A month later, the evil Likhomanka began to weaken, and a month later the people of the village recovered.

Rann and Skeer could not get enough of the visiting witch. No one could help them, or did not want to, and here such happiness. The mother and daughter lived in the guest house of the Magi, Tyapa was always tied to his booth, so as not to fight with the owner’s dog, who was also sitting on a leash.