Читать книгу Cat Marquis De Richelieu - Vyacheslav Miroshnikov - Страница 7

They crossed a small field, and when they ran into a pine forest, Marquis saw a small hut beside the stones.

“Here!” said a wet, but pleased black cat stopping. He listened up. “Do you hear voices? It seems that these are the hunters waiting for bad weather to go away. If we are lucky, we will have some food!”

They jumped under a canopy and had some trouble crawling under the straw into their new shelter. Bad weather remained outside, and they were embraced by the warmth and smell of fried meat. Having lounged in the hay, the cats felt so tired that they didn’t even have the strength to see who was cooking so deliciously down there and what was spinning on a turnspit.

“My name is Angie,” the black cat said in a whisper. “You know, but I’ve already run away from Maga four times, but I returned every time I did it. I want to leave forever, but I can’t. Maybe she did something to me and now I can’t be long without her?”

“Maybe you just can’t live all alone? Maybe you have a fear that you are lonely and nobody needs you and everyone avoids you? Or maybe you’re just not ready yet?” Marquis cautiously crawled to the edge of the attic room and looked down. “Or maybe you were waiting for someone to help you decide to make this move?”

“I do not know,” answered Angie.

11

“My name is Marquis de Richelieu. I’m an uncommon cat who always wants to have friends, a home full of love and respect, but so far I haven’t succeeded either, and that is why I am alone. And yet, my dream is sure to someday become a reality. Recently I met Bogdan and Lisa, the horse. They need help now and I believe that I can become part of their family. And now, Angie, creep up to me and look down. Some pleasant minutes are waiting for us.”

Three hunters sat downstairs, and a huge piece of meat was roasting on a spit. One of the hunters was bringing a bottle of some muddy liquid to his mouth time after time and kept silent, not forgetting to turn the meat and keep the fire burning. The other two talked quite loudly to each other, eagerly waiting for the food to be prepared.

“Listen,” said an aged man with a long beard. “I do not believe anyone! I believe only in what I see. We do not know where all the animals went. They are not in this forest, and I can see it and I believe my own eyes. And what they say about some black eagle called Zaldan, as for me, it is all just a fairy tale. There is no Zaldan!”

“I also don’t really believe in it, but my brother says that he saw him and that the bird almost grabbed him. He barely escaped, it was truly a miraculous escape, and he still cannot forget the fear that he felt! Now it’s very difficult to even hear a word out of his mouth!”

“Maybe it’s because of the horse? After all, he should return it!”

“No! I believe its that bird Zaldan scared him so much. Do you really think that he is lying when he says that Zaldan carried the horse away? And talking about that horse, we will surely work this out somehow. We will find a place where a whole herd of nobody’s horses is walking. Or, on the way to the Gorge of the Black Peaks, we will definitely meet someone with a horse and take it. We will also make a big hunt and bring a lot of meat for sale. I mean wild boar, deer, hares and bear. Yes, we’ll gather everything we meet on our way!”

“So be it!” the bearded man agreed with him and patted his rifle with his hand. “If we are lucky, and we find a horse, then we will go on a big hunt…”

Hearing those words Marquis immediately remembered about Bogdan and Lisa and got so excited that he did not even notice how he got up on his paws and practically got out of the attic in order to hear the conversation of the hunters as best as possible. Angie peered out next to him.

“Look!” the bearded hunter pointed up. “Two hungry cats! They are waiting for meat, just like we do!”

The hunters laughed out loud, and the one who was twisting the spit cut off two large pieces of already fried meat from the edge and threw them to the attic.

“Eat, you, hungry devils!” he said affably, “If necessary, I will throw you more. I love cats!”

12

“Hey,” the bearded man called him, “give me a bottle, and cut off a lump of good, fried meat for me. Or else your lovely pets will devour everything!” he finished jokingly.

And not even trying to hide from each other their good mood, the hunters continued their meal. The cats also demonstrated excellent appetite. De Richelieu ate his piece very quickly and Angie was almost as quick. And then both of them got sleepy.

“Angie”, asked Marquis, already falling asleep, “and where did the black eagle Zaldan come from? Maybe you know?”

“Yes, I know,” the black cat answered. “I lived with Zaldan for two days. It was a beautiful and kind young deer brought to Maga by some man. Maga turned him into Zaldan and since then I have not seen him again. If I could talk, I would tell this to people, but I cannot do it. Now Zaldan is a terrible and cruel black eagle, which you should better stay as far away from as you can. He can lift anyone he wants under the very clouds, and then throw him down. He is Maga’s servant now. They rarely see each other, so that only few people could see him and everyone thought that a flying black eagle of enormous sizes is just a fairy tale.”

“The young deer Zaldan…,” Marquis spoke barely audibly and fell asleep.