Immortalls. Princess Swan from the Golden Mountain

Magus and Elder sat at the table, satisfied and cheerful…

— Rann, what do you say? Let’s let Mika and Ilda go? They did everything as it was agreed, “Skir asked, thoughtfully rubbing his finger on the countertop without raising his eyes.

— I probably decided everything myself… The house was set up for her, according to custom, not in the village, — said the Magi, — The old house of the deceased witch, Kraki, we burned from sin. So everything is done. And the tower is nearby, for the unwell, too.

— Well, you have to thank… And how is she here alone? — the elder echoed him, — It would be necessary to find which old woman, who would help with the housework, but watched her daughter.

“You have to give a cow, a couple of deer, if you have to drag drags or sledges,” Rann added, “jade, furs, grains, everything that would be according to custom.”

— Let’s go then to her, or maybe the knots are already tied, I got ready for my Gandvik, — Skir grinned, — I made a staff for her.

***

It was twenty steps to walk to the tower of the Magi, so soon Rann was already knocking lightly on the door of the witch’s abode.

“Who’s here?” Ilda rang out.

— Rann is, Magi, — the man called himself, — they came with Skir, an elder.

“Come in,” the girl answered, unlocking the door creaking on the willow hinges, “Mom is upstairs in the upper room.

They went upstairs, treading the creaking steps of the stairs. And right, the witch collected baskets standing on the floor, and next to the bench stood two bales, and lari with the lids thrown back, where the hostess put the goodness.

— Hello to you, hostess — Skir greeted you first, — we came here with the hotel, — he continued, putting the casket on the table, and laying out gifts — this is jade, this is sable to you, — he said, shaking a dozen skins, inflating a beautiful undercoat, — sheepskin sheepskin coats to you and your daughter. And so, the most important thing, — he said, removing the mattress from the carved staff, — this is for you, Light Mick, and we ask you to be a witch in Oum. Stay here, why should you go back to Gandwick? No winter, no summer. And here — and apple trees grow, it’s warm in the summer, mountain oil does not spill, it’s very good with us, — the elder praised his native places, — they put you a house, okay, with windows.

— Great honor, Light Rann, and Light Skir is grateful to you, for kindness and for affection. If you call, then I will stay, but give forward a firm word that do not drive away the evil libel, but that no one will wish Ilda bad. And if not, then I will go to Gandwick, Gemini are witnesses. In Lukomorye, sorcerers are granted.

Rann and Skir exchanged glances, whispered for a short time, and they hit the floor of the upper room with staffs, so the shops trembled:

— To be according to this, — the Magi said loudly, — and I will not give news about Ilda to Alatyr that they would not take your daughter away from you.

— I agree with Rann, — approved Skir, — everything will be persuaded. Let’s go and show you your new home.

He harnessed Him, the novice of the magician, deer in drag, put all the good of the witch, and the sons of Skir took the cow to Mika’s house. The witch and her daughter followed, and their dog ran after them. The house stood not far from Oum, in a sparse forest, it was necessary to walk somewhere with two thousand steps. Indeed, the house is beautiful and cool, there was a small tower nearby, and three sheds surrounded by a high wattle, with a gate and a strong gate. Mika and Ilda went around the house, and the windows, tightened with a bull bubble, the doors were covered with felt from the inside for warmth. In the basement and the glacier was, and supplies in the stalls.

“See, Mom, how good,” said the girl, going around the house.

— So it is so.. — the witch agreed, all waiting for some trick.

We returned to Oum, to his ramparts, to thank Skir. Near the fortress, on the blockage near the old house, an elderly woman was sitting, nannying the doll. The doll was in a felt jacket, embroidered with a dress, and a handkerchief, and as expected by custom, without a face, but only a knitted canvas instead.

“Who is this?” asked Micah, the woman walking past her.

“This, madam,” said a passer-by respectfully, “unfortunate Digna, everyone died in the wind, and the last little Asna. So Digna entered the Kingdom of the gods after her, without dying, she became a fool. We bring her food, they don’t cook food for themselves, they just sit here, and nurse the doll, “the woman said, brushing away a tear, and went on.

“I didn’t help everyone,” said Ilda, grabbing her mother’s hand, “I didn’t have time,” and burst into tears.

So she went, stumbling and smearing tears, to the woman, holding out her hands to the unfortunate. The girl went up to the woman, took her hand, and said:

“Forgive me,” she said, sniffing, “I didn’t have time… A long way from Gandvik…

— Asna? — first asked the foolish raising her cloudy eyes to the girl, — Did Ella let you see me? Girl, why are you crying? she asked clearly, and looked in surprise at the doll lying on her lap.

— Ilda. Ya — Ilda, — the young witch called herself, — here is my mother, — and she pointed to the approaching Mika, — forgive me that I did not have time to help your family. If you are alone, maybe you will live with us? Everything is more fun than one in an empty house.

— You are not local, — said Digna, — that means, they came from afar. Know, so destined for me, but thank you, glory, that the mind returned to me. I’ll go wash my face.

Mick and Ilda thanked Rann and Skir, but got ready to go home, Nimes and the sons of Skir went to see them off. At the path stood Digna, with a bag behind her back, and skids with a simple belongings. Seeing the witch, the woman bowed to her.

“I am going to see you. What is one to do in four walls and sit?

“We are glad for you,” Mika said she hugged and kissed the woman, “but you must promise us, Digna, that whatever you see and hear, you will not tell strangers.”

“No one will know anything about you, witch,” the woman bowed low.

So Digna began to live with them. Mika did not know how to manage her house. A cow, a farm, and unworthy people come, or more often they bring relatives on skids, they would not have had time everywhere. She helped many herself, treated with herbs, and conspiracies, sometimes behind the fence Ilda cured the worst.

***

Digna was spinning with the cow, something was wrong with the nurse.

— Ilda! — the woman called, wiping her hands with hay, and then pouring water from an old jug, — Ilda! Come! she repeated again.

The girl came, with her beloved doll in her arms.

“Yes, Digna, here I am,” she replied, approaching the woman.

— Look, be kind, what with our drill.

She just nodded, went into the barn and was already stroking the face of a cocky cow, stroking her right side.

“It’s all right now. She said it in time. I’ll go, now the mother will teach herbs to disassemble, — and the girl ran to the house.

Digna laid bast buckets for milk, put leather buckets for deer nearby, which the shepherd took early in the morning for long-distance grazing. The woman looked at the sky, covering her eyes with her palm, but she thought:

“Soon to cook lunch, the oven is already hot.”

But then they knocked on the gate, their dog barked for order, and the woman went to open. Four people removed a stretcher with a sick person from the skid. The woman, adjusting her handkerchief, looked strictly at those who were asking, and looked carefully again at the one who was lying. The man bent down to the patient, adjusting the blanket on his chest, and looked inquisitively at the key holder. Digna sighed, looking away, took out a simple wooden mirror with a bronze polished plate from a bag on her belt, a gift from Mika. She turned it over with the reflective side towards her, rubbed it with an apron and brought it to the lips lying on a stretcher. Digna held the mirror to her eyes, checking to see if the surface was cloudy, and only sighed wearily.

“Mika won’t help here. He died, your comrade, — she said firmly, but lowered her eyes, feeling someone else’s grief.

— Can the Light of Mick look at our friend? — the young man asked with hope, — she saved me, after all.

— You were still breathing, you were alive, — the key holder added harshly, — and your friend died. Or do you want Mike’s Guardians of Peace to burn out the mind? She cannot resurrect the Dead, not according to the Law.

— We have a lot of sables, jade and hot gold, all of it will be. ‘and said another quietly.

“Go away. She’s not one of the gods, “said the key keeper, slamming the gate in front of the supplicants.

Digna tiredly sat on the blockage, catching her breath, looked at the gate again, and the door of the house.

“It’s not easy living here, oh it’s not easy. But before I thought — see how well the doctors and the witch live — treat yourself and treat yourself, but only gifts are brought to you. And Ilda, as she gets it, was taken to the bathhouse twice with her mother, soaked in a trough with herbs and honey, barely moved away, angry..”

I just thought, and then Ilda came running, all with her doll.

“What is wrong with you,” the girl frowned, “sit still,” and took the woman by the hand, and her hand seemed to burn, so Digna closed her eyes. “That’s all right now,” said Ilda in a deaf voice.

The woman looked at the child, and she was stunned — again she was with a white face, black eyes and blue lips, and was laughing.

“Now it’s good,” she said, groping for a shop, “I’ll sit here until it passes, otherwise my mother will scream. The heart beats smoothly, — she said to the housekeeper.

Digna felt, again as before, and did not choke anymore.

“It’s hard here,” the girl said, looking away with blind eyes, “they brought the dying man?”

— Dead.

“I can’t look them in the eye. Brotherhood. — Ilda added, wiping away tears — thanks for helping…

— Don’t twist… Your mother will send you to Alatyr, rest from someone else’s pain, gain intelligence…

— No, mother said, won’t send me there, is afraid that will lock me in grief forever. Pryakh is afraid. — and she raised her fingers to her eyes, — like I see, let’s go eat? — and she smiled at the housekeeper.

— Oh, baby, — and Digna kissed the girl on the still hard cheek, — wait, everything will be ready soon. And now drink some honey.

The woman poured honey into a wooden cup for the girl, she got drunk, and returned to her mother’s room to remember her instructions. The lesson lasted a long time — Ilda remembered the herbs, the names, how to brew correctly and in what dishes to keep — where wooden, linden, where made of clay, and where bronze was good.

***

And so eight years passed. Ilda became adept at medicinal secrets, became knowledgeable in herbs, and knew the way through the stars, and she was a craftswoman in the household, but, as before, she cured like a witch only by touching her hand. The neighbors are already used to the fact that neither Digna nor Mika are old at all, and a cow has been living in the house of sorcerers for two centuries in cow years. And the dog is not a hindrance, he is healthy, but he runs around the yard like a puppy.

One day, after curing a hunter crushed by a wild boar, there was a knock on the gate. Digna went to see, distracted from chores.

“Who is there?” she asked harshly, for the sake of the ostrum.

— Pirga I, son of Knuv, the hunter yesterday cured Mick and Ild, I am his son.

— Come in, once on business, loach, — the key keeper opened the gate.

A boy entered, with protruding, almost shoulder-length curls on his shaved head, breaking out from under his hat. He was wearing a felt jacket, still cold, belted with a wicker elegant strap, simple gray pants on his feet, and soft boots. The lad, like a lad, is young and handsome, and led about a small calf, on funny twig legs, and put a big basket on the ground and took off the bag from behind.

— Sit down, tired, I suppose, — the smiling woman invited him, adjusting his apron and not crumpled skirt. — Now I’ll call Ilda.

“The groom is at least where for our beauty, otherwise she does not see anyone but the sick. What a joy, some unkind…”

A satisfied Digna walked and thought, treating Ilda, if not as a daughter, then as a granddaughter for sure. She entered the upper room, and Ilda is all in tears, stands in front of her mother, and she says to her:

— Do not think, daughter, that people are kind, evil and envious. We will not hide and drive away, or even our house will be burned, and we will be together with the house. I know for myself. They don’t know how you use them — it’s good for them and for you. They will find out, they will be afraid, they will want to kill you, there is no other way. Or they will be sent to Alatyr forever.

— Spinners, from Alatyr, they are kind, they say, they ask if I want to stay with them, — the girl muttered with her nose.

— Kind… If so… They always do as they should. And one of the three — and she poked her finger in the girl’s chest — is like you… I went through an art with her… Cried, girl, but stayed there… Just, one of the Recluses went along the ice path, lay down in the Ice Grave, and Tira remained instead of her, even her name was taken away…

— Mika, there is the son of Knuv, yesterday’s good son, came to thank, Ilda calls.

— OK, “Mika said, but didn’t chuckle well,” go girl. Just wipe your tears, and gave her a scarf.

Ilda wiped away her tears, looked into a donated bronze mirror, perfectly polished, with a handle in the form of two moose with branched horns.

“Beautiful,” my mother said kindly, and kissed me on the cheek.

The young witch, slowly, as it should, walked down, and saw a young man sitting on the bench. She fastidiously appreciated, without saying a word, and coughed to turn around. The boy jumped up, stood in front of the girl, and blushed. Mika’s daughter was beautiful, and she differed from the inhabitants of Oum in ashen hair, but she was just as tall.

— Be healthy Light Ilda, ya — son of Knuv, you cured him yesterday. My father is already walking, — the boy smiled, — my name is Pirga, and these are your gifts, from our family.

Ilda looked at the young man, was good-looking, tall, like all the Huns, and her hair, not like hers, was ashy, but reddish, getting out of the back of her hat.

— These are gifts to you, — and he opened the bag, laying out rich furs, — that’s more, — and pointed to a funny calf, immediately pulling its muzzle, with such shiny eyes… — and here… — already tentatively put a basket in front of her, and removed the slingshot from above, showing what was inside.

And there was a small wolf cub, still gray, with a small tail, as Pirga opened the basket, immediately began to poke into the bars with a black nose. It seemed to Ilda that she said thank you, but she only squeaked, unable to say anything with delight, turning her eyes from a wolf cub to a calf.

— Rumor goes that the witches love wolves, — the young man said uncertainly, — and the calf itself feed from the nipple, — and he put a nipple made of sheep’s udder in front of it, — he will get used to it, he will run after you like a dog, even when he grows up.

Ilda stroked the calf uncertainly, he immediately began to lick her fingers.

— Now, — take it, — and the young man gave her a nipple, nimbly filled with cow’s milk by the ubiquitous key holder.

The girl brought the nipple to the calf, and he began to nimbly pull milk, choking a little at first.

— Well, that’s great. I’ll go, — Pirga said uncertainly, looking around the girl he liked, — can you come later?

“Come,” the girl smiled, continuing to feed the gluttonous calf.

Digna accompanied the guest, nodded to him goodbye.

“Happy to you, lad,” said the housekeeper, waving her handkerchief.

The woman returned to the girl, and helped take the calf to the barn, where they took him a separate nursery. In the other half there were two deer, which were occasionally harnessed to draggers in summer or sleighs in winter.

A wolf cub lay alone in the basket, occasionally whining. The housekeeper also gave him milk, but poured it into an old wooden plate.

“What will Mom say?” Ilda said, and looked at the woman. — about the wolf cub?

“I don’t know,” Digna shrugged, “as she finds it.

The girl sighed, and went upstairs, to the upper room, with a basket in her hand, in which the wolf cub was sitting. She hardly climbed the stairs, and each next step was harder than the last. Carefully opened the door to the upper room, looking around anxiously.

“Here I am, Ilda. — there was a voice, — I disassemble the chest.

— Come, — asked the girl, — look what the son of the cured gave, — showed the mother’s daughter a gift.

The woman just looked into the basket, and turned pale, staggering. But she quickly came to her senses, pursed her red lips, grabbed a bronze knife, and handed it to Ilda with a hilt.

— Kill him girl, kill with your hand, right now and kill him…

“I can’t… Ilda said hesitantly, moving away from her mother one step, and putting the basket behind her back.

— Kill, please… — Mika was approaching her daughter

She desperately looked at her hand with a dagger, like a mouse on a viper, rested her back against the wall of the house and dropped the basket. The animal’s wicker house fell to the floor, he fell out and boards, hit and turned offended, and went to the girl on his thick paws.

— Kill him… Do you want to kneel… Mika said, dropping to the floor in front of her daughter, so trust me… — lowered her face to the floor, — or then kill me, — she shouted, raising her feverishly shiny eyes to Ilda, finding her daughter’s hands, and put a wooden knife handle in them, so that the blade rested against her mother’s neck, next to a nervously twitching vein.

— No, no, — Ilda moved away from her

— Kill it!!! ‘the daughter’s mother screamed wildly.

Ilda with a white face, helplessly open lips awkwardly tried to move away, but there was very little space, she began to fall, catching her foot on the floor board. So she fell, with a dagger forward, directed directly into her mother’s chest. The wolf cub seemed to be playing with him, and jumped, hitting right with his small heart on a bronze point. It seemed to Ilda as if time had frozen — she saw how a gray fur ball was strung on a knife, and at first, even the blood did not flow, only as if the flesh had just opened. I saw my mother covering her face with her palm from the splashing blood, and the next moment the girl let go of the knife from her hand, and fell on her knees in a big way on the boardwalk of the room. She saw the already punched through immovable body of a wolf cub, and her mother, perplexedly wiping blood from her face.

Ilda screamed in the womb and terribly, grabbing herself by the hair, and began to beat her head on the floor. Mika rubbed her face with an apron, and grabbed her shoulders, trying to hold her daughter, beating in a fit, but where there! In fear, she screamed strongly as soon as she could:

— Digna, help!

There was a noise on the stairs, and the housekeeper, just glanced at the pool of blood on the floor, quickly grabbed a towel, tying their hands with a growling already completely animal-like Ilda. The mother tried to hold her daughter rolling on the floor and smearing blood on her clothes and face, while Digna tied the girl’s legs, and together they put a young healer smeared in blood on the bench.

— Open her mouth, — said Mika, sticking a wooden plate so that she would not break her teeth.

Digna looked at the trembling witch, with her face in wolf blood. Her hands were shaking herself when she looked at the always so kind Ilda, violently breathing, lying and bound, with bloodshot eyes, vainly trying to break the bond.

— Digna, — Mika croaked, — run after Rann, we will cast Ilda with water. No way without him.

The woman just nodded, because right gold, not a woman — wrapped the wolf calf in a mattress, took it with her. She hurried to the village, away from the terrible house.

Mika took a trough of water, and began to wipe her daughter’s face from blood with a damp rag. Everyone looked at her with her blue eyes white with anger, and her lips began to curl in an unfamiliar grin. A weak piece of wood crumbled under strong teeth, her daughter’s face turned pale, so that it was as if all the blood had been poured to the last drop, and her lips turned blue. Here in a deaf, grave voice, she spoke:

— What do you think it will be, since my servant killed?, — said something with the lips of her daughter, — and she will not serve me, since Gray will not be near? — she laughed terribly, — In vain you are trying, the day will come, she will turn to me.

And only she said it, as Ilda closed her eyes, and as if she had fallen asleep. Mika washed everything from her face, then from her hands, and noticed that her daughter’s face was turning pink, and she sighed convulsively several times, and was already looking at her mother with surprised eyes, not understanding her tied arms and legs.

— Mom, what’s wrong with me? — the girl asked with fear, twitching her hands.

— So, nothing, — answered Mika, thinking what to lie? It’s good that the sensible Digna dragged the wolf calf away, and hid the knife in the blood away. — Wrestling studied how bound will free, and you won, the head hit, I on a bench and put. Does it hurt your head? the mother asked anxiously.

— So, a little… Yes, I got all dirty, — Ilda frowned, looking at her dress in the drips of blood.

“There is more,” Mika waved her hand carelessly, “the bowl of blood was turned over, which was for a stew. Tomorrow we will study the struggle in the yard, it’s not a matter of messing around at home. Yes, how to develop flexibility, twist joints, which no one would tie.

— Exactly… her daughter nodded uncertainly.

The woman went to the stall, took out a new dress, and gave it to Ilda.

— Change clothes, and in this you will feed your calf.

— I am now, — the girl smiled uncertainly, putting on a new dress, — they gave me… A young man came, thanked, — the girl said uncertainly, holding her forehead with her right hand, — Let’s go, I’ll show you, — she adjusted the floor of a simple gray dress, and pulled her mother from the room into the yard.

Mika sighed with relief, hiding her shaking hands from her daughter’s eyes, and smiling strainedly, went after her. She almost fell on the stairs, entangled in her legs, but Ilda, laughing, grabbed her hand and prevented her from twisting her leg.

— You’re like, mom, — the girl asked with concern, touching her wrist, — everything seems to be fine..

They quickly went into the barn, and the calf immediately roared, recognizing the hostess. Ilda came up, stroked the pet, and began to comb the short hair with a brush.

— You yourself will have to feed, no matter what you get used to others… — Mika said with concern, — my father had an elk, and he did not let strangers near him. And come up with a name, not without a name.

— I can handle it, — Ilda smiled, — and I’ll call him Kariy, he has a haircut…

While they were talking, and Mika milked the cow, the girl heard the gate open, Tyap barked habitually, and she heard Rann’s voice and looked out of the barn. Magus did not come alone, an assistant to Him followed him importantly, and Digna looked out from behind, as if expecting something unkind. The young witch doctor, not understanding what was the matter, shouted to the key keeper: