A strange radiant star crossed the night sky and crashed into the side of the nearest cliff. A Golden-red glow lit up everything for a moment. Could be seen as a strong blow in the air shot up dozens of large, pointed boulders. Rock dust rose, and the rock, which in the gloom of the night seemed to be a black immutable bulk, changed its shape. A large crater formed on its side.
Chunks of the stone monolith tumbled down the slope, Bouncing, hitting each other and breaking into small pieces. And then came the low rumble of the blow. The ground shook.
The boy Hadi, who had been watching the fall in surprise, clung to the sharpened logs to steady himself. A moment before, his attention had been drawn to this strange star that was falling from the heavens to the earth. Hadi had seen shooting stars before, but it was the first time he had seen one so large and so close.
It seemed to the boy that the star was alive. Its center pulsed with a bright silver light, and a dozen pointed beams with shining facets protruded from it. As it fell, it left a pale yellow-purple trail that faded quickly as it hit the rock.
Hadi gasped and shook his head. Will that tomorrow to tell friends. They'll be surprised. And even envy him for sure. The boy smiled, imagining everyone gaping at his story in the morning.
The night guard was coming to an end and the morning was already very close. And there's a new day. And new labors and cares and amusements, of which there are not many in his native village in the valley of the Sunset rocks. But so far, all of Hadi's kin were asleep, except for him and two other boys who guarded the peace of the village far away on the other side.
The stillness of the night and the hundreds of stars twinkling in the black sky were mesmerizing. The boy leaned on a wooden pole that served as a fence on the protective wooden wall of the village, on which he stood and, throwing back his head, tried to find his beloved Ushas among them. Because he was a bit surprised when the air around him was filled with the hiss of a dozen flying as if from the sky the hot lights.
One of the burning arrows flew close to Hadi's head. It passed with the hum of a great wild bee, and bathed the boy's face in a wave of searing heat. His long hair hissed and his nose smelled the burning.
As they fell, the arrows struck the ground and the roofs of the great round yurts in which his kinsmen slept. Hadi shouted with all his might. Many of his family jumped out of sleep and tried to put out the fire, which with a crash devoured their cozy homes. Became as bright as day and the air around was shrouded in grey smoke.
"Fire! Carcasses! excited shouts rang out over the village. But the fire was rapidly gaining strength and devouring everything in its path.
From the entrance gate came the booming and powerful sound of blows. Outside, someone was breaking them down, furiously inflicting heavy damage over and over. The sturdy logs cracked and splintered. Soon they broke down and crashed to the ground. Fierce warriors armed with curved, dull-gleaming scimitars burst through the open doorway, whistling and shouting.
Hadi's kin, half-naked, some holding spears and some swords, ran to meet the enemy and entered into a frenzied cabin. The silence of the night was replaced by screeching, clanking steel, and angry shouts.
Hadi watched from the height of the wall as his friend Martan pulled his sister Anhra out of his flaming Yurt by the hand and dragged her away from the fiercely fighting warriors. The fire, meanwhile, rose to the heavens. The air was filled with the many-voiced cries of women trying to extinguish the raging flames and the war cries of men.
Hadi immediately rolled down the stairs and, taking a deep breath, ran screaming to the gate, near which his father and brothers were fighting furiously. As he walked, he drew a dagger to help his family and cover their backs.
Meanwhile, Martan, one year old Hadi, tightly squeezing the little hand of his sister, continued to drag her, restless and sleepy, for the outskirts.
"Let Go, Martin!" Where's mom? the girl whimpered and looked around fearfully, big tears streaming down her cheeks. Black hair, tousled after sleep, shone with the glow of the conflagration.
"Run, Anhra, run!" Mommy will be right back! the boy repeated quickly, without stopping. They were at the security wall, where the local boys had hidden a secret hole and Martan forced his sister into it, and then dived into a dark hole himself.
It was dark and cool outside. The children, smeared with soot and earth, looked around fearfully and waited for their eyes to adjust to the predawn gloom after the bright fire. From beyond the wall came the eerie rumble and crackle of wood being consumed by fire, the clash of blades, the angry cries and cries of women, but the human voices grew fewer.
Bacha! Dokhtarak! a tall, dark-faced warrior, who had climbed the guard wall and seen the children below, shouted angrily. In his right hand he clutched a scimitar, the blade of which was covered with a dark liquid.
Come On, Angra! Martan pulled his sister back by the arm toward the low rock that was not far away. The girl who was not resisting and smearing dirty tears on his cheeks, tottered behind him. Her long black hair blew in the cool wind.
Brother and sister ran along the gentle slope of the hill, covered with dried grass, often skirting the boulders and boulders standing everywhere. Behind them they could hear the sound of horses ' hooves. Looking back, Martan saw two riders galloping after them. His chest went cold, but he tightened his grip on his sister's hand and ran as fast as he could toward the darkening bulk of the cliff, hoping to hide there.
The edge of the sky to the right of the children was reddened by the dawn rays, illuminating the pale beige mounds of large boulders, which were becoming more and more near the highest rock in the district. Suddenly seeing a small cleft under one of the boulders, the boy instantly made up his mind and turned toward it.
Martan pushed the whimpering little sister into the black gloom and dived after her. There he put his hand over her mouth and shushed her. The horse's footsteps came nearer and seemed like thunder from heaven, but Martan's heart was pounding even louder and the boy was trying to breathe more steadily to calm him.
The two horses slackened their speed and the two alien warriors leaped from their wolf-skinned backs.
- Bacha! - plaintive shouted one of the soldiers who are relatives of Martin called anayami. - Harob!
He tried not to breathe. The evil dark warriors were very close and the children saw them. They were dressed in dirty linen trousers, soft short boots, and leather jackets with steel plates sewn on them. Both had curved scimitars.
Anarie was slowly approaching the rock, under which hid the children on the move looking around.
- Bacha! again and again one of the warriors called, coming closer.
Martan saw the big black eyes of his sister gazing in amazement now at his brother, now at the strange warriors, and continued to press his right hand firmly to her lips. He put his left arm around her and pulled her to him.
Suddenly the view before the eyes of the children with a Bang closed two huge hairy paws. The unknown beast, covered with black fur, jumped off the boulder and fell to the ground, vzmahnuv clouds of dust, right in front of yaremi. They froze in surprise.
The beast roared and turned out to be a huge shaggy bear. His roar echoed over the surrounding rocks. He stood free on his hind legs, and his belly, chest and shoulders were covered with black steel armor. The bear was as tall as the horses on which the anarii had ridden, but the horses, seeing the terrible beast, whinnied in alarm and galloped off.
The bear breathed noisily from his chest, which blew out of his nostrils in clouds of steam, and the next moment waved his long legs, at the ends of which gleamed black curved claws. The anarii screamed wildly in pain as the claws dug into their bellies and the bear lifted them snarling into the air.
The powerful beast threw out its paws with force, and the screaming warriors flew a good dozen paces and crashed into a large boulder with a grating sound. The bodies of the enemy slid down it and lay still on the ground. Then the beast turned to the rock under which the children were hiding and stepped closer to them.
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The bear's small black eyes were staring into the crevice where his brother and sister crouched, its nostrils sniffing the air. Then he snorted, leaned close to the crevice, and thrust his right paw into it. The bear hooked a claw over the edge of his shirt and pulled Anhra out as easily as if he had caught a fish on a hook.
Martin covered his ears with his hands in horror, expecting a terrible cry, but it was quiet. Numb with fear, the boy watched the terrible beast with round eyes. But he only cautiously sniffed at the girl, holding her at the height of his height right in front of the terrible, overgrown with black hair muzzle. From its mouth protruded sharp white fangs, from which rarely dripped saliva.
Anhra was not afraid of the bear. She reached out with interest and stroked the animal's long, furry nose with a small hand. The beast seemed to smile a little with thin black lips and drew the girl to him, hugging her with his huge left paw.
So they stood in the pre-dawn silence, illuminated by the first rosy rays of the sun. The bear's figure began to tremble. Long hair and dull armor slowly lost shape and dissolved in the air, turning into black smoke. The wisps of smoke were sucked into anhra's nostrils as She slowly sank to the ground.
Soon the terrible bear disappeared, melted into thin air and the emboldened Martin got out of his hiding place.
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continued soon
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