Читать книгу Immortals. Alma and Scythe of Death - Сергей Соловьёв, Ар'лан ис'Дрекхэм - Страница 6

They lived near a fortified village, and there their family had its own corner. But rarely did anyone stay in the fortress house for a long time, everyone tried to live on their estates, where it was possible to freely keep cows, deer and elk. So Res’s house was a large estate, with sheds and a stable, and now he brought a new wife into the house, but not just a wife, but the widow of a deceased friend with two daughters. The woman’s name was Iya and the girls were Fita and Vita. Both were the same age as Alma, and she thought at first that they would become friends.

But, somehow it didn’t work out very much yet. The girl kept thinking that if she were a boy, it would be easier, now she would live in a squad house. But she also studied, with Agna — a witch, with the terrible Agna-herbalist.

The girl was now walking along the forest path, brushing off mosquitoes and gadflies with a twig, stepped over a log, and now she was pushing through the bushes, wincing from injections. She made a small hook to bypass a fallen huge tree, and accidentally fell into a forest clearing. She often went to the forest for mushrooms and berries, and was not afraid to get lost. All forest dwellers loved the forest, and the forest loved them. Alma knew how to walk in among the trees very quietly and carefully, moved the twig away from her face. And then something happened that was impossible to expect.

The girl saw a black court, about which she had heard a lot before, and considered it a fairy tale. In the clearing, the crows stood in a semicircle, like warriors at a gathering, in the middle sat a hoarse crow, hanging its beak to the ground itself, three raven guards stood nearby. But, karkala and karkala, it just flooded in its own way, like a crow. When the first finished, the second began, and then the third. Then they croaked in turn, and stepped aside, and the hardest thing began… The crows began to approach the convict and began to beat the crow with their beaks on the head in turn.

The girl could not look at it, and just ran away, and did not look back. Not once. She was breathing heavily, and finally returned to the path leading to the house of the healer

Alma was now walking back through the forest, when suddenly a crow flew after her, as if to a friend, croaked, attracting attention, trying to say visibly, curled over the bush, and still led to a wrecked bird. The crow bounced, and seemed to point to the sore wing. The messenger bird sat down nearby, looking after the girl. Alma did not know what to do, looked at one, then another bird, wide open beaks. The crows only sparkled with their eyes, and suddenly the one that led Alma carefully took the witch’s student by the hand and pulled her to the sick crow.

— Stroke? she asked doubtfully, bringing her fingers gently to the grey feathers.

— Carr! — the answer could only be that. The crows could not speak humanly.

The girl stroked the crow on the head, then on the injured wing. She got a little bit into her head, but then the pain passed, and she looked at the bird, the wing was already in order. Two crows now croaked endlessly, then rose into the sky, and made a circle over the surprised Alma.

It was not far from Agna’s estate, and the girl saw a familiar wattle tree surrounding the buildings. The herder’s dog, Serko, was already rushing to her, wanting to say hello, and he would be fashionable to play. She patted the shaggy dog’s head, and the dog poked into her hand, remembering the smell of the guest.

— Hello, Alma! — a witch came out on the porch, with her head wrapped in a scarf, in spite of the heat. He was dressed in a regular linen knitted dress, with an apron tied around his belt.

Agna widowed for a long time, her husband died in battle, with strangers, three years ago. But she coped, although there were enough cases.

Next, a flock of the hostess’s daughters fell out, and hung on Alma’s neck. Skara, like a curious creature, stuck her head out of the bag and hid back.

— Leave the guest alone! Gela, Zia and Mila! Play in the yard! And Serco will look after you!

“All right, mommy! — Mila answered for all, and dragged the sisters to the lawn, and after them, waving his tail, went to do the dog business.

Alma smiled as she looked on. They live well, peacefully and pleasantly, always doing without screams in this estate.

She even envied a little, everything is completely wrong with Fita and Vita and their mother Iya. I remembered the usual cry of my stepmother:

“The witch is damned, the snake is under the blood!

They sat down on a bench next to the house. Wonderful witch flowers also grew nearby, with a slight breeze, the flowers began to dance, bent and unbend the stems, tilted the inflorescences, and seemed to hug each other with green leaves.

“And the flowers are alive,” Agna said quietly, “don’t doubt it, Alma.

— Can the crows speak?

— Everyone knows how, every living creature. Well, we start working with herbs.

The lesson lasted a long time, and the mentor studied with a diligent student for a long time and persistently. The girl was intelligent, and she was interested in everything. Alma now cut the grass with a flint knife.

— Remember — a flint knife is better than a copper one, the grass remains stronger. Look, and she showed a copper blade with oxides.

— Well, — the girl seriously nodded to the mentor in response, continuing to work. Skara wrapped herself around the wrist of her left hand, not interfering with the hard work. Agna just shook her head at it.

The sun began to decline, and I had to go home. Alma gathered, and slowly moved along the forest path.