The boy and the horse walked side by side for a while. Ahani stroked the horse and talked to him, told him everything that had happened in the last two days, and it became easier to walk and breathe, the weight that weighed on his shoulders, disappeared.
Daev was a good listener. He listened attentively to the excited voice of the man, sometimes snoring in response to his evil words or shaking his neck so that his thick, black as night, mane flew around.
Time passed and Ahani tried to climb on the back of the horse, and he let him. The young man carefully took hold of the mane and gently guided the steed in the right direction.
Thus, on horseback, Ahani found himself in a long winding valley, in the middle of which flowed a rapid river. Its water was cold to the point of aching teeth. When he had drunk enough and filled his skin, he mounted Daeva again and rode his horse along the river Bank.
Soon it began to get dark and Ahani built a fire to fry a small partridge, shot on the way. Later, when the young man was eating hot steaming meat near the glowing embers of an extinct fire, he took from his waist bag two small pieces of tortilla that his mother had prepared and carefully took a small bite, carefully and slowly he enjoyed its taste, and what was left he hid back.
When he was satisfied, the boy wrapped himself in the wolf's cloak, which he had wiped from the blood, and went to sleep, warming himself near the warm coals.
Sleep did not come. Ahani thought of his loved ones, their smiling images flickering in his mind, then remembered the faces of the stern mother and the bewildered sister, smeared with soot and streaked with tears, and his heart filled with a dull anger. He wanted to get to Martan, imagined how he would grab him by the throat and gnaw it with his teeth.
Still Ahani not understood, why they have made all of this? What is the purpose of all these villainies? What were the conversations of Martan with elder Vyasa and the hints of Anhra. And what about his older brother Manu, who has been lost for ten years behind the mountains in the South.
Half the night passed behind these thoughts and memories. Her silence was not complete. The dying red-black coals crackled, the cries of birds, the hooting of owls were often heard in the night, the small inhabitants of the bowels of the earth screamed, occasionally the wings of invisible bats flapped and the icy water murmured very close in the river.
Suddenly, nearby rang out a long angry howl, and at once all nature around was quiet. Ahani, just dozing off and falling asleep, immediately roused himself and listened warily to his surroundings. His hand found the hilt of the long dagger that slumbered in the scabbard at his belt.
Time passed, but nothing happened. The wind rustled the leaves of the sparse surrounding bushes and whistled between the stones. Hundreds of bright stars twinkled and a few Curling clouds drifted slowly by.
Daev, who had been grazing among the rocks beside Ahani, came close to the young man and listened with him. The horse was calm outwardly, only occasionally a large tremor ran through his body and his tail beat on his sides a little more often than usual.
Ahani was about to loosen his grip on the dagger when suddenly, close by, ten paces away, the branches of a Bush rustled and there was a low guttural growl. He saw only as viciously flared red pupils and here same vanished.
Ahani leaped to one knee, laid down his blade, and with lightning speed he drew an arrow to the string. Squinting, he loosed the deadly bone-tipped shaft at the spot where the wild animal's eyes had glittered.
The bowstring, released by his strong fingers, breathed a sigh of relief and tossed his blond hair in the usual way. The arrow touched Ahani's cheekbone with its white plumage, whistled through the cool air, and disappeared into the darkness.
There was no reaction. Ahani secretly hoped for a plaintive whine, or at least an angry growl, but the answer was silence. All around, too, seemed frozen, watching the outcome of the hunt or just hid in their burrows and cowardly shivered there, waiting for the fierce predator will leave their cozy valley.
Ahani laid another arrow and, pulling the string, got to his feet. Daev covered his back, sniffing softly. The full-faced Catfish floated high in the black sky, illuminating the area.
Again there was a rustle of branches, but much to the left of the previous place. A large shadow flickered between the boulders, beyond which the rippling waters of the cold river gleamed. Ahani fired again, aiming for her , but she was very quick, and before he could hit her, she was gone.
Ahani was calm. He took out a third arrow, drew the string again, and waited. The young man knew that sometimes to win in battle, you need to be patient. And be calm and hard as a rock. The plumage of the arrow, swaying under the occasional gusts of warm wind, tickled the young man's right cheekbone amusingly, as if trying to support him in a dangerous situation.
Again there was a rustle, but now he was two dozen paces to the right of the young man, and against the dark slope of the hill almost nothing was visible but a pile of boulders. Suddenly, bright red lights flickered on top of them, reflecting the moonlight.
Ahani instantly released the arrow, darting precisely between the lights. But again the black shadow was quicker and the arrow went nowhere.
Behind him, Daev whinnied softly, as if to warn Ahani of danger. The guy crouched down under the horse's neck and saw another big wolf shadow. The wild beast, not particularly hiding, bared his teeth and growled viciously between the stones a dozen paces from the man. Seeing the arrow aimed at him, the wolf immediately disappeared, but Ahani had time to see him and understand that the beast circling around them with Daev was not alone.
It was a large black-and-gray wolf. Ahani once saw similar predators, when they with the father went to the next big village that was three days from their village, where he left the sun — Surya. But then the predators did not even dare to attack them.
And father then said, that wolves usually lack moreover of multiple small animals, that live around and even on village herd cows they attack very rarely, but apparently this night was unfortunate for wolf of hunting.
"Come, Daev," Ahani said calmly, and backed slowly toward the river, remembering to pick up his dagger and sheathe it. He hoped the pack would not encircle him and his horse on the Bank, for there was no telling how many other beasts lurked in the darkness. He did not lower his bow, but used it for every rustle.
Suddenly a huge wolf, as tall as Ahani, leaped up on a high boulder to the right of the young man, snarling angrily. Without hesitation, he howled, rushed at the man, gaping big mouth, crammed with snow-white curved fangs. Ahani fired at the flying wolf. The arrow whistled briefly and sank into his chest. The beast yelped angrily, its body spun slightly at the impact of the wooden shaft, but still the arrow did not stop its flight.
The falling wolf threw its weight on Ahani and knocked him to the ground. The young man's bow flew away. Ahani unconsciously put his right hand in front of his face and the wolf's jaws closed on his wrist.
The boy hissed in pain. The wolf's hot saliva dripped onto his face as he scratched the man's chest with his sharp-clawed forepaws, growling furiously.
Then Daev whirled and kicked the raging predator, knocking him back a couple of paces. At the moment of impact, Ahani heard a slap and a crunch, and a warm, sticky liquid splashed across his face.
Before he could even get up from the ground, Ahani heard the angry growl again, but from the direction of the river, and out of the crevice between the rocks flew another shaggy, swift animal with a snarling mouth and burning eyes. The wild wolf dodged Daev's snapping teeth and ran into Ahani, who had dropped to one knee.
The young man almost nothing not saw around, all his vision was narrowed until blurred spots from-for zalivshey face blood, but all same he managed, focusing on breath running predator, field the dagger in ensured side, firmly compress the hilt two palms and that there is forces strain muscle hands, to stop flight muscular predator. With a wild howl, the wolf came at Ahani at breakneck speed, snapping its jaws and knocking him to the ground again, no matter how hard he tried to keep his balance.
The animal fell silent at once and went limp on the young man, twitching a little. The tip of Ahani's dagger was protruding from his back, for the wolf, in his rage, had thrown all his weight against the exposed blade and the dagger had pierced him through.
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