With each passing day, the Itoshins observed more and more landscapes. The scenery changed, the colors changed. Each day was interesting in its own way you could see something new and unusual. Simple, genuine joy came into the troop. DoAyve hadnt felt it in the north, and he couldnt understand the meaning of the words said by Goro, who preferred life in the north to the life in the Valley.
At the same time, DoAyves people remained in the cold, raw north and incomprehensible feelings of shame washed over him as he walked through flowering plains, eating juicy fruit, basking in the warm sun. The eternal struggle with the demons remained.
Suddenly quite rebellious thoughts began to visit his head, which the young man himself was frightened of.
What prevents all the Itoshins from moving here? Why does the Emperor prefer to stay in that harsh and unfriendly land? After all, we can build our fortresses here, on the borders, to keep the defenses from the demons in them! Here it is a free, uninhabited land!
But DoAyve quickly dismissed these thoughts. Who was he to doubt the wisdom of the Emperor? If a great ruler founded an Empire in the north, then it was necessary!
EDo was happy, too. He tried not to show this, but his hidden joy could be read in small things: gestures, words, deeds. At the same time, the udoğan continued to warn about possible danger. After all, the Itoshins still hadnt met any people. And at present, the detachment still didnt know what exactly had come to pass in the Valley.
7
The Itoshins came to a huge river that EDo called Kawa. Now the path was straightforward go along the shore. Todo suggested building rafts and going downstream, but the udoğan refused this idea.
We can fight on land. We were taught that from early childhood, he said. But to learn how to run the ships as well, even if just a raft, on the river, requires skills. We can learn this, but later. Now we need to get to the Valley of the Ancestors. This is most important!
In the evening, a beautiful falcon started dancing in the wind above the camp. Dissecting the air with his wings, he sank lower and lower until he came up to EDos head. The udoğan recognized Hash, the Emperors favorite bird! A parchment with a message was attached to the foot of the falcon.
DoAyve knew about the Emperors falcons, which could overcome the veil of fog and maintain a connection between the ruler and other people, but now he saw the postal bird of the ruler with his own eyes for the first time.
EDo carefully read the message, and then announced:
The Emperor welcomes his valiant warriors and blesses the detachment to continue the journey!
Hail the Emperor! the detachment shouted as a chorus.
The Emperor commands us to pass the city of Kawa, which stands on this river, and go straight to Eavette, one of the four Great Cities of the Valley. For those who dont know, Eavette is the homeland of our Emperor! The city from where he came to the north! The city from which the Ito Empire originated! The Emperor hopes that we will enter the city earlier than other nations whose caravans are already certain to be heading to the Valley!
The Itoshins were inspired by the Emperors message and promised EDo that at the next crossing they would go faster than they could.
And what about the ruler? DoAyve asked, only then realizing that perhaps this question shouldnt be asked at all, but it was too late. Was the Emperor able to convince the other nations? Will the Valley have a single ruler?
It will, EDo nodded dryly.
8
DoAyve was the third one on watch. He slept until early dawn, and then took the post from Leerie, who was initiated last night and became a full-fledged warrior. The young girl-warrior was still over the moon with happiness and seemed ready to remain on duty for the whole night, and even the next.
But emotions are emotions, and a rest was a necessity. This lifestyle hardened the Itoshins, as it was quite common to rush into battle half-asleep, which is why EDo adhered to a strict schedule of shifts.
DoAyve began his watch by throwing firewood into the fire, and bathing in the invigorating water of Kawa. He put a pot of water with some herbs on the fire, then went to the trees to pick fruit for himself and his comrades. He stood in wide black robes, without armor. Only his sword hung from his waist.
As DoAyve used the tail of his shirt to collect and carry more fresh fruit, a shadow suddenly darted toward him from the bush. The fruits scattered as the warrior jumped back to defend. The predawn twilight helped outline a human silhouette.
Who are you? DoAyve asked in a menacing voice. In response, there was an inarticulate sound, more like a roar.
Daemon! A demon who took on a human form!
Stand by for action! he yelled at the top of his lungs as he simultaneously drew his sword and knocked off the strange creatures head. The body fell back into the bushes as more figures began to appear from the predawn gloom, and DoAyve continued his attack. By this time EDo ran in to help, followed by Todo and Ğan-Iolai, and then the rest.
A frenzied cry was heard: it became clear that an ajoğan was running into the battle. Warriors parted in different directions, and Joe crashed into the dark silhouettes, sweeping bodies in different directions.
There were a lot of demons, but they were all so slow and sluggish that the Itoshins quickly finished them off. And as the first rays of sun sprang from behind the hill, illuminating the recent battlefield, surprise engulfed the soldiers when they saw who they had been fighting.
These are people! exclaimed Biu.
EDo bent over one of the corpses and examined it carefully.
The dead! said the detachment commander.
Dead, obviously. After all, weve just killed them! DoAyve didnt understand at first what EDo was trying to tell them.
No! the udoğan turned to his soldiers. His severe, pale face expressed anxiety. Come here! He waved DoAyve over.
The young man also bent over the corpse. Once, what had probably been a middle-aged man was now a swollen body with pale skin of a greenish hue, a battered face, and whitish eye sockets without pupils. An Itoshinian sword cut the defeated in half almost around the belt. And seeping from the huge wound was not blood, but a viscous black slime flowed out into puddles.
They all died long ago! EDo stated.
The dead came alive? someone whispered uncertainly.
Everyone could see everything perfectly. It was simply that no one understood how this could be possible.
Heres your carefree life in the Valley!
A chill ran across the skin of the fearless DoAyve.
CHAPTER 3. FROM THE WILDernesS TO THE LIGHT
A moose moves in a straight line, stepping from cell to cell,
In any direction for any number of steps.
He stops in the cell where he ate the figurine.
The moose is the only one who cant eat a pike.
From the rules of the popular Vedich game Hurra1
A bright red semicircle of the morning sun appeared above the impenetrable wall of trees. Its rays instantly painted the dark green tops of sharp centuries old fir trees a fiery color. The fire also ran along the small forest streams and the blooming meadows. It became lighter even in the darkest thickets where the mighty coniferous crowns formed a heavy dome under the sky, covering their secret dark kingdom. But the bright rays of dawn now penetrated these too! They found small squirrels among dense foliage and needles, and flew inward, making life in the gloomy wilderness a little cheerier.