Читать книгу Rescue of Araklia - Игорь Владимирович Княгницкий - Страница 6

Alice woke up because of terrible cold piercing her bones. When she opened her eyes, she expected to see herself at the table and a nice old man somewhere nearby, but the reality was completely different. She was sitting alone, on a wet rotten stump, her hands was on the small tree trunk, which was broken at the base. It was deep at the night. The wonderful warm weather suddenly changed to terrible cold of the deep night with a bone-chilling north wind. It was look like no house and old man had ever been in this place. Strange noises came from all directions. Crackles, groans, howls. Alice was afraid. And even before the thought had come to mind, her hands were already convulsively searching her pockets. “The box! Oh, my God, where is it?” After searching herself from head to toe, she realized the box was missing. Then she fell to her knees and started look for it on the ground, trying to find the box in the darkness of a cold night. But soon, after replaying all the recent events in her head and realizing what had happened, Alice sat down under the tree hugged her knees with her hands and began to cry bitterly.

– Oh, what a bastard you are… damn little thief… d-d-drugged me and robbed me… Oh, my God! – She sobbed – Grandmother, forgive me for being a fool… I failed you… If you can hear me, I'm so sorry… I'm so sorry…

Perhaps Alice would have sit here all night, grieving and blaming herself for everything, but after a while she began to hear more and more clearly the crunching of dry branches and someone's unkind growl. Whatever it was, or whoever it was, she didn't want to meet him. Alice looked out from the tree. A few pairs of small points of light were a little way away from her. “Wolves!” – The first thought flashed – Are they going to eat me? No way, bastards! Ok, so catch me up first. I'll run until I die! And if I`ll live, I'll find that damned grandfather and strangle him with my own hands! – whispered Alice, and ran as fast as she could. She could barely to see the trunks of the trees in the pitch-blackness, and almost at the last moment she was run around them. She knew if she face into something, tripped and fell down, it will be her last race. The chase was right behind her. Alice knew that she would not be able to run indefinitely in this pace and shortly will run out of breath. The thought flashed in her mind, “What if I climb up some tree, climb higher”, but almost immediately she dismissed it, because in such darkness it would take a lot of time to find a tree like that, and she didn`t have even five seconds.

Just as Alice began to choke, she heard someone else was running on her left side. In the beginning she couldn't figure out who it was by the sound. But the sound very quickly approached and intensified. “Oh my God! It's a horse! Maybe a rider? Can I get some help?” When the rider was almost at the same level with Alice, she heard:

– Kalan tol ana anim!!

A bright white light flashed in the rider's right hand and Alice could see that the rider was a graceful young elf with long golden hair and bright blue eyes. With a quick movement, the elf placed a bright glowing ball in a transparent flask, which was woven into the mane of his horse, then held out his hand to Alice and shouted:

– Give me your hand! Quickly!

As soon as the girl reached her hand, the elf threw her into the saddle in front of him with a slight tug, as if she weighed nothing at all. Then he tore off the flask with the shining light in it, whispered something into its base, turned around and sharply threw it back. A loud bang, and then a bright flash light up the dark forest. The chase fell behind.

***

They rode in silence for a while. Alice turned back from time to time, to make sure that there was no pursuit. But in reality, she just looked into the elf`s face who had saved her life. He had proper facial features, deep blue eyes and golden hair falling to his shoulders… For the first time in her life, Alice saw a live elf in front of her. She had never thought that a person could be so beautiful. Those guys she'd met in her life were nothing to compare with this Elven beauty. His flamboyant appearance, his knowledge of magic, and the fact that he saved her life played a key role – she liked him madly.

– Don't worry, they haven't been following us for a long time.

Alice just took a deep breath in response.

– Are you okay?"

– Well… – the girl said slowly – I scratched my face by some shrubs while I was running and tore my jacket. The rest… yeah, I`m okay. Thank you so much for saving me from them! I'm not going to be anyone's dinner tonight.

– Hmm. That's for sure. What's your name?

– Alice. And you?

– Enilice. And how did you appear in Izemburn? Where are you from?

– Izemburn? – Alice re-asked.

– Yes. Izemburn is the name of this forest.

Without directly answering the question, Alice asked:

– If we're no longer being chased by those beasts, can you make a stop for a while? I'm not comfortable to talk while we are gallop and I'd like to inspect my face, I think I'm bleeding from my cheek.

Enilice stopped his horse and dismounted.

– Actually, we shouldn't stop. Night in Izemburn is not a good time to rest. We need to leave it as soon as possible and go out into the Plains.

Without saying anything in response, Alice took out a small makeup bag from the inside pocket of her jacket. She wiped her cheek with a napkin and taped it up with a band-aid, keep looking to the Enilice from time to time, who was standing in front of her. As she put her makeup bag back in her inside pocket, she threw her view at the old pepper spray in it and thought: “Maybe I'll need it again”, and said:

– You know Enilice, it doesn't really matter how I got here. What's more important now is to find that sneaky old scoundrel and take back the thing he stole from me!

Slightly straightening up and pushing his chest forward the elf asked in surprise:

– Who are you talking about? Did you meet someone here?

– Yes, damn it, I did! – She answered angrily – He drugged me with sleeping drink and robbed me. And then he left me alone in the middle of the night, in this dark forest!

– Hmm… Interesting… What is the old man? Can you describe it to me?

– Well… Quite small in stature… At my five-foot-six, he was about chest-high. He had a long gray beard which is almost reached his knees. Big hat. He also smoked a long pipe all the time.

– Did he say his name?

– Yes, he said his name is Oks.

Enilice`s eyes become widened. He was one of the three trackers lord Tonnord had ordered to sent out to find the location of Oks.

– There's something wrong. I don't understand. That's crazy.

– What are you talking about? You don't believe me?

– A few hours ago, we received an order from Afleeakwein from our commander in chief. The essence of the order was to find the location of this particular old man Oks. I don't know why. I'm a good tracker and I know Izemburn good enough, so they chose me. We have a small outpost in the Plains, not so far from here. It`s about a couple of hours away. From there I moved to Izemburn and started to look for him in places where he was most often. He constantly moves around the forest, checking it. Putting things in order. Heals sick trees, helps to grow the young one. But I didn't find Oks. More precisely, the noise of the chase distracted me. So I found a girl escaping from a pack of hungry Wargs. Enilice smiled.

– Pack of hungry what? Wargs? So they weren't wolves?

– They were wolves once. But because of the effects of dark magic on them, they mutated. They are much larger, hardier, and stronger than normal wolves. We call them Wargs.

– I see. I'm sorry for interrupt.

– So, Oks is the guardian of the Ont forest. He is a very good old man, never offends anyone. Well, unless only those who “offend” his forest. And it's difficult to imagine he could steal something from someone! He doesn't need anything. Trees, shrubs, flowers, grass – this is his treasure. He doesn't care about people's trinkets.

– That's exactly what he said: “It's either just a trinket or it might be sell dearly!” Damn him!

– Sell??? What exactly did he steal from you?

Alice was afraid to tell the truth, but she decided to tell it, because she thought it wouldn`t make it worse. The elf saved her life and maybe he will help her find the thief and the stolen item. She understood in this completely new world for her, she won`t be able to handle anything without help. Trying to be not a verbose, but at the same time to convey the essence, Alice told Enilice about her grandmother, her fairy tales about Arakel when she was a child, and hopelessly lost, as it seemed to her now, the box with the key.

– In the name of the Creator! You're the new Keeper – Enilice said, thought for a moment, and then suddenly continued – We urgently need to leave Izemburn! I have to report everything to Afleeakwein, but I can't do that in this forest, because there is a very ancient and powerful magic in it. It silences the elven telepathy. And one more thing. It wasn't Oks!

–So, who was that??? – Alice asked, surprised.

– Doppelganger. Doppelgangers are the result of magical experiments with the trolls by Dark Magicians. As a result, they received magical creatures that can take on any appearance, people or animals, and they are also able to cast illusory magic on their enemies. But as a result of the same dark magic, they became stupid. But they weren't very smart, anyway. Everything what they want from life is money and pleasure. They exist only for the sake of it. So when you mentioned he said “to sell it dearly”, I knew that right away. And I know where he's going.

– Where?

– In Pleepmorr. This is a very bad place. But we`ll talk about it later. And by the way, everything you saw – a house in the woods, a table, chairs, candles, delicious tea – it was an illusion. The map was probably real. All over Araklia you can buy the map like that. The drink was real, too. But it wasn't tea, it was “mune”. A good sleeping drink. Don't worry, it's really herb-based, harmless. But the taste and smell of the fragrant flowers were an illusion.

– It's crazy – Alice drawled – Enilice, I'm sorry. I don't want to ask you too many questions because I don't wanna look like a fool, but I'm completely confused. Tell me, do you know what that key was for?

– Yes, I know.

– For what?

Once upon a time, – the elf began – the Creator sent seven Angels and said to them: “Create beautiful worlds, populate them with different races and all kinds of animals, plants and flowers, reservoirs and fields, keep them and protect them so that they flourish…” That`s the way how our world was created – Araclia. One of the seven. And the angel Eraqel was its creator. For many centuries we have lived and prospered. Humans, elves, dwarfs, trolls, orks… Our world was perfect. There were no wars, no diseases, no pestilence, no envy, no greed… Everyone was equal and friendly with each other. But one day an ancient and powerful evil has invaded to us from the outworld. Neither living nor dead, bodiless shadows with great magical power and the ability to suck the life from other creatures. We call them Naabs. Naabs couldn't directly invade in our world while Eraqel was alive and protected us. To do this, they had to destroy him. They found a loophole through the thin magical channels which connecting our world with six others, and sent a squad of their minions endowed with dark magic. They began to bribe people, because they were the weakest and most easily succumb to the temptation. Naabs gave them great magical powers and promised them eternal power in all seven worlds. So the race of people was divided into "two camps". Those who accepted the dark power and went against their creator, and those who rejected their offer and opposed them. Eraqel`s Throne is in heaven. That's where his power is concentrated. Eraqel never came down to us, avoid to put himself and us in danger. Because if he descends from the Throne, he will become vulnerable. The Naabs had to find a way how to get him down. They sent a plague on our world. A terrible disease that only children were exposed to. They became seriously ill and then died. Parents are greatly grieved and begged Eraqel to help. At first, there were a few cases. But later, when the disease got all the children, our world began to pray Eraqel about help. Millions of fathers and mothers prayed to him day and night to come down to them and save their innocent kids.

– So, he came down?

– Of course. Children are innocent, they can't suffer like this. Many saw him high in the heaven that day. He made a few flaps of his snow-white wings, and myriads of shining particles, like small stars, began to fall from the sky. All the children were cured in the same hour. But he could not return back to the Throne. With the most powerful spell of the Naabs, the people captured him and imprisoned him in a dungeon. It was a small matter, to hand over the key of the dungeon to the Naabs and our world would be plunged into darkness forever. But still it didn't happen… Shortly before this event, the elves found out about the plans of the people. The Seer of our nation, Ikru, had a vision. Of course, the elves could not resist the human magicians, who were endowed with incredible power, but at the very last moment, when the magicians wanted to give the key to the Naabs, they stole it. It was clear that the dark magicians would find the key sooner or later. And doesn`t matter how many lives they had to take. All the races of Araclia fought for their lives, because they knew if the key fell into the hands of evil from the outworld, Eraqel will be destroyed, and we will cease to exist forever. The key was given to Lisa, a girl who grew up in Afleeakwein. Her appearance was slightly changed to make her look more like a human and with powerful spell she has been sent to ANOTHER world. The place where no one can find her. Into your world. Of course, we all survived, but the dark magicians turned the life of entire world into a nightmare. For about ten years there were bloody wars. In search of the key, the dark mages and their armies swept away everything in their path. A human, elves, dwarfs, orks, trolls. They destroyed everyone who opposed them. The ground was flooded with the blood of the innocent. After a while, when they realized the key is not in our world, they calmed down and began to look for it in other worlds. And we began to live relatively calmly. Everyone by itself, in our own kingdoms, behind huge walls with high towers. Every day in expectation of a new war.

Alice listened to the elf like she was in a trance, not looking away for a second and even didn`t notice how it began to sunrise. All the fairy tales that her grandmother had told her in the childhood weren`t fairy tales at all. Her heart has cramp because of resentment. She got a huge responsibility, and she almost at the first moment lost the most precious thing which was entrusted to her. Enilice certainly noticed that.

– I was only seven years old when my grandmother died. Apart from her fairy tales and the box which my mother gave me only for my eighteenth birthday, I had nothing else. Only some of my thoughts, guesses. I was thinking…

– Don't be sad, and don't blame yourself. You didn't know. And no one could have prepared you for this – Enilice tried to console her, and climbed into the saddle. – We will return the key. We have to! As soon as possible! So hold on tight, we need to hurry up before the Doppelganger thief goes too far.

Enilice put spurs to his horse and they quickly ride to the edge of the forest.

– How do we find him, if he can transform into anyone and create illusions?

– Doppelgangers have their own “magical smell”. So, we will follow this “magical traces”. I was taught by search skill when I was in the Academy of Afleeakwein. But I don't feel it here. The ancient magic of Izemburn mutes Elven telepathy, as well as magical sense of smell.

– So you're also a mage?

– No, I'm not a mage. I'm a tracker. But I know the basic spells which are known for almost all the elves, who do service in Elven army. We are all taught those spells in Academy. You saw one of them.

– Oh, yeah! That was awesome! Teach me! Please.

– Well, I think in Afleeakwein you will have a much better teacher than me. More experienced, true elven mage who knows a lot of different spells. Maybe you will be taught by Ikru, the Seer of our people.

– A seer? How is that? – Alice asked.

– Well, for example, she can see you and me. Where we are and what we are doing, no matter how far away we are from her. She's also a very powerful mage.

– I see – Alice answered indistinctly and realized that her eyes were starting to close. The long walks in the woods, the chase and the horse racing had worn her out. She wanted to go to her own bed with a duvet and soft pillows, but all she could do now was doze off as she sat on a galloping horse. After some time, Alice and Enilice left Izemburn.