Читать книгу Elinor. The Deserted Valley. Book 1 - Mikhail Shelkov - Страница 38

The next day, the forest began to thin out. With each step, the trees parted as more and more and openings began to appear all around, leading to a solar kingdom! Such a huge clearing in the world could not exist.

Fao guessed that they finally reached the great river Kawa.

First, they walked smoothly, holding their breath. They were whispering about what awaited them when the trees finally parted. They could distinguish a huge blue sky with white clouds, a powerful water barrier, and beyond it – an endless green glade.

“A field!” explained Wey-Leya. “Not a glade, but a field!”

Gradually, curiosity completely took over the most troublesome ones – Nome, Ina, Swaol-Ney, and, of course, Fao.

Laughing and shouting excitedly, they rushed forward. While on the move, they agreed to run a race. Whoever reached the river first wouldn’t need to do anything at the break. Nome broke forward, with Swaol-Ney not far behind. Fao rushed along with Ina, and then made a sharp jerk, leaving Nome behind.

She jumped out into the open space, and stopped dead.

In front of her stood a group of people lined up in black robes. They were dressed in absurd sleeveless jackets with an incomprehensible symbol at the center – a lizard with wings. Fao looked at the faces of the men, women, and even several children standing there.

In the middle stood a very lean man of short stature. Muscles showed through his clothes. The man’s hair was cut short in a strange ornament. Such patterns were also drawn with dark paint on his hands. He shifted his thick black eyebrows and looked threateningly at Fao. She tried to turn around and run back into the forest, but the terrible man extended his arm forward, and Fao stopped abruptly. She did not understand what kind of power was holding her, only that she could no longer move. She was frozen like a stone!