Part 2. - Chapter VIII. Traveling Companion

Nea was sitting under a sprawling briar Bush, on a light fragment of rock that had collapsed a long time ago, and had even managed to acquire vegetation. The girl slowly chewed the dried berries that Bagarat had gathered for Her. Nea wondered if everything was all right with him. He was alive, of course, because the marriage contract made them both immortal for a while.

Nea did not know that almost the entire male half of the tribe responded to Bagarat's call. Nor did Nea know that they were all dead, and that Bagarat himself was badly injured and mistaken for dead. Nea did not see that the leader of the Kamarian was a tall man with huge wings, with one wing made of white feathers, and the other wing was webbed like a bat's. His appearance was as if divided in two: the left eye was bright blue, the right dark green, the hair on the left side of the head was silver-white, and on the right - dark brown. This was a terrible man, a strong warrior, a cunning opponent, a ruthless fighter, a loyal subject of the Great Emperor and a companion of the Dark Queen. He had killed most of the forest people himself, and their blood was still dripping from his sword as he stepped over the corpses and searched for survivors. Anna didn't know any of this. She munched her berries and wished she hadn't gone through the Veil.

"Don't sit under the briers, there may be a Boogeyant hiding there," - boy's voice suddenly rang out. – "He'll jump out and eat you!"

Nea jumped up abruptly and turned to see a boy a little older than her standing on a ledge of rock directly above her, kneeling on one knee. The boy was wearing high leather boots with some kind of family coat of arms, black trousers, a white shirt, and above it a black tunic that also had the family coat of arms embroidered on it. The boy's face was pleasant and friendly. He had fine, aristocratic features. Her hair was bright red, and her eyes were bright green, with a mischievous twinkle in them. Nea noticed something familiar in the General features of the face, something subtle in the shape of the nose and lips. She could not figure out what it was, but it was this "recognition" that endeared her to the boy.

"What? The Boogeyant does not exist. They're children's stories," - Nea said.

"And in what country did Boogeyant suddenly become a fairy tale?" - the boy's eyes narrowed.

Nea bit her tongue, knowing how dangerous it was to blurt out who she was and where she came from. She tried to think of something, but nothing came to mind, so she blurted it out:

"In mine. I don't think there are any Boogeyant, because I've never met them. When I meet you, I'll believe you!"

"If you meet Boogeyant. Then you will not have time to believe in its existence, it will kill you before," - the guy said mockingly.

"What are you saying? I don't believe you. I don't know if you're making it up on purpose, " - Nea said, crossing her arms stubbornly.

"Why would I lie to you?" - the guy laughed. – "You are a descendant of Damir."

"That's why. You want to lure me in and kill me."

"Why?"

"Why are they killing us now? Is Kamarian are not only catching and killing the king's descendants Damir?"

The word "Kamarian" the guy stopped smiling. He didn't argue with the girl, because she was right.

"Yes, you're right. You can't trust the first person you meet. Let's get acquainted, for starters. I Am Lamp Everness. And you?"

"Nea Kupeena," - the girl said. – "You're from the Kingdom of the Birches, aren't you? Yes?"

Lamp shrugged vaguely and changed the subject.

"So where are you going?"

"And you?" - Nea answered the question with a question.

Lamp laughed.

"You're clever! I have, on the other side of Alatyrka. But we'll see. What about you?"

"And I'm going in the same direction!"

Lamp rolled his eyes.

"So you don't trust me?"

"Oh, what's that got to do with it? Now I really have a goal to cross the river, and then I will move to my Kingdom. I'm from the tribe of Damirian. Where else can I go?"

"How did you get here?"

"Foolishly," - Nea said. – "Probably wrong rune of transition drew, because I was in the mountains Igirmah, not in the Kingdom of Shadows."

"A-a-a-a... So you're a runaway... Just as I am."

"Really? - Nea asked. – Who are you running from?"

"From my father," - said Lamp calmly, - "We don't get along at all. I want to live on my own."

"Can you do it?" - Nea asked doubtfully.

"You can do it."

"That's not true," - Nea said sadly. – "I get help all the time. If I had to do everything myself, I wouldn't have survived. There's so much I don't know yet. And now that I am so far away from my family, I understand that I feel very bad without them."

"So you have a loving family, but I don't. My mother died when I was little, and I stayed with my father. And he's ... he's not a good person. Evil... I haven't had a single happy day with him."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know," - Nea said.

"And then. I'm 16 years old. I'm an adult and I can live as I want," - he said grimly, and it was clear that he had said this to himself many times before.

"Then, of course, there's nothing to stop you from starting out on your own anywhere. But let's go part of the way together? I'm not as independent as you are. I will only be 14 in a few days.

"Come on," - smiled Lamp.

Together they started down the rocky ledges, heading toward the river on the horizon. It seemed that the river was very close, but the distance can be deceptive, and there is no short path to the goal. Lamp and Nea walked along the rocks, near the cliffs for a long time looking for a descent down, then looking for a way up to pass another ridge, which was cut by gullies, crevasses and rocky precipices. They soon realized that they would never make it all the way to the river alone. They are often slipped on the rocks, stumbled, ran across the landslides. Every minute they were backing each other up, sometimes picking each other up at the last moment, and sometimes helping each other up a steep incline. The boys did not stop for the night until the sun had completely disappeared below the horizon. It was dangerous to walk in the dark, so Lamp found a dry shelter under a stone awning. It wasn't a cave, just a cozy hollow in the rock. Ben's survival skills were much better than Nea's, who couldn't even make a fire herself and didn't know that the grass didn't burn, but only smoked a lot. Lamp looked at her with surprise, because in the Midlands, children from the age of 7 could build a fire and knew the minimum ways to survive in the wild. It seemed that Nea was from somewhere else, but not from the Midlands.

Meanwhile, his fire was blazing with a cheerful flame. He took a mysterious package from his leather bag. He unfolded the thick beige paper and took out the raw meat, chopped into chunks.

"I shot a quail this morning."

"With what?" - Nea asked. "I don't see any weapons on you."

"I am a weapon myself," - said Lamp. He picked up a stone and held it out, opening the palm with the stone. He had only been looking at it for a second when the stone suddenly flew up faster than an arrow and knocked down a pine cone. Lamp caught the lump and tossed it to Anna. – "I can accelerate anything. And I don't just speed them up, I can set them the right direction, and even in flight, I can adjust the target. So my arrows can shoot straight and I don't need a bow."

"Wow! Wow! Nea clapped her hands."

"What kind of magic talent do you have?"

Nea smiled tightly and scratched behind her ear. She always did this when she needed to admit something shameful and didn't really want to.

"I don't have any magic talent," she said at last.

"It can't be! All descendants of Damir are wizards! My father told me! It can't be that you're different!" - the boy exclaimed. "Unless..."

"Unless what?" - Nea asked, looking directly into the Lamp's eyes.

"You may need to undergo a special power-awakening rite. I've heard of it. Sometimes a truly magical talent is not discovered for a long time. Then at the age of 18, they perform a special rite of Awakening," - said Ben, who was pleased to know what the others didn't. – "This is the rite described in our legends. It's okay, Nea. Don't worry! If nothing changes, you will awaken your talent and that's it."

Lamp smiled encouragingly and cut off a forked branch with an invisible knife, using acceleration magic. Lamp set up two forked sticks on the sides of the fire and began to cut a branch for meat with a knife. After he had prepared the branch, he put the meat on it and put the skewer on the fire, placing it on thick forked branches. While the meat was cooking, he took out the potato tubers and threw them into the ashes of the fire, where there was no longer an open fire. Nea also took out her supplies: 2 handfuls of dried berries, yellow cheese, bread, lard, salt, onion feathers and well water in a birch-bark flask. Only now did Nea notice that the birch bark flask was made with special grace and it was engraved with B. A. G. A. R. A. T. Only the letters were ornate and patterned, even it was difficult to make out the inscription.

Lamp was glad of the pinch of salt he had forgotten to take, and unsalted meat would have been unbearably tasteless. So together they had a very satisfying meal. The bacon and onion went well with the potatoes, and the bread, cheese, and salt made the quail meat taste great. Lamp took a warm blanket from his rucksack and covered himself with Nea. They slept sitting, leaning against the stone wall of the shelter.

Early in the morning, Nea awoke as if someone had shouted in her ear. She opened her eyes with a start and saw a vague shadow. A mustache hung over them. Nea rubbed her eyes and her vision focused on the huge head of some creepy insect that was staring intently at the sleeping children. Nea screamed in horror, tried to jump up, but Lamp jumped first, afraid of her cry, from his leather bag tied to his belt, some white powder spilled out, which got into Nea's eyes, ears, mouth and generally showered her from head to toe. Lamp still didn't understand and was looking around dumbfounded, when suddenly the jaws closed around his neck. He screamed and pointed at the monster's eye. It howled and opened its mandibles reflexively.

- "Run, Nea! it's Boogeyant!"

The children ran deep into the forest, but when they turned around they did not see the chase, and thought that the danger was over.

"Is that Boogeyant?" Nea asked, trying to catch her breath after running. – You know, it looks like a giant ant.

"We can't relax. We need to keep running. Boogeyant is where the scouting squad roams..."

But he didn't finish the sentence. Something gigantic fell on top of them. Nea's shoulder burned, a sticky orange liquid. The girl fell and screamed, because her shoulder was burning unbearably, and it was covered with burn blisters.Meanwhile, another terrible black creature, like a black ant with jaws, red legs, a black shiny body and a sting, bent over the boy! Burning acid dripped from the ant's mandibles.

Burning acid dripped from the ant's mandibles. The beast pinned the boy down and opened its mandibles to sink them into his neck. Nea forgot about the burned shoulder, and she grabbed a stick and began to hit the nasty black body of the beast. Boogeyant did not react, just stuck out a deadly sting, intending to kill her. But strangely, Nea suddenly saw clearly that a strange pale yellow spot was shining between the ant's legs, right on its belly. The world did not seem to have changed, but the ant itself had changed, now it looked like an armored tank of black color, and therefore a strange illumination, like a flickering flashlight, flickered between the legs of the monster and attracted attention. This stain was not present at the first attack. Nea, suddenly, completely unaware of what she was doing, plunged the stick right into this bright spot. Babai squeaked, as if a hundred monsters were hiding in it. But after a moment, Nea realized that it wasn't just the Boogeyant that was screeching, but also someone behind the ridge, to the left and to the right... The screeching seemed to come from all sides.

The Boogeyant abruptly stopped screeching and fell like a dead weight on Lamp. Nea helped her friend out, and they ran toward the river. They ran for 20 minutes, but there was no pursuit. They looked at the treetops and all the bushes around them. There was no one there. The children were exhausted, they needed to lie low and rest, and here was a decent boulder to hide behind. Lamp and Nea hid behind a rock. They stared for a long time into the forest and listened to the silence around them. The boys had moved considerably to the South, and the snow was no longer there. It was a warm spring day. The girl took off her warm jacket and threw it on the ground. The jacket was damaged by acid, and it was already hot. Lamp took out cotton wool and moistened it with some orange oil:

"Is sea buckthorn oil with extract of Healsgrass. Instantly heals small wounds and relieves pain from burns," - he explained.

Sure enough, as soon as Lamp smeared the wounds, the small scratches healed as if they had never existed, and the burn on his shoulder stopped hurting and became covered with a protective crust. Then Lamp smeared his own wounds, among which the most serious was a severe bite on the neck.

"Nea, we are just lucky to survive now, but Boogeyant is much more than one. They have a single mind, so when you killed one, everyone else felt it. Now they will attack us in a mass. And I'm afraid they won't be alone. The people that Boogeyant accompany will also want to know who killed their "pet". I am delighted to say that no one has ever been able to kill this monster before. You found their weak spot."

"How do you know all this?"

Lamp lowered his head.

"When you asked me yesterday if I was from the Kingdom of the Birches, I didn't answer you. I didn't answer because I'm not from there. I look like a descendant of Ibralim, but I'm not him. I can't lie to you anymore, Nea. We've been through a terrible thing, and we may have to die together. Because I want you to know the whole truth about me!"

"What do you mean?" - Nea frowned.

"I've never been to the Kingdom of the Birches. My mother is indeed from the tribe Ibralim, but not my father. My father Kamarian who has learned to hide signs of kind. Because I look like Ibralimian."

"You Kamarian?!" - Nea exclaimed.

"Yes..." - And Ben lowered his head. - "But I hate that part of me. I hate them all and most of all, I hate my father!"

Lamp looked at Nea, who didn't know what to say. She just listened to his confession.

"I ran away from him yesterday. I've been dreaming about this since I learned to talk and understand what's going on. He held my mother by force and performed hundreds of experiments on her, from which she eventually died. He and I experimented, because I look like Ibralimian, but I want them to be! I'm not Kamarian!"

"Lamp, blood doesn't define who we are," - Nea said slowly. – "We're not our parents. You're not your father. If you want to be different, be different!"

"You won't be afraid of me?" - Lamp asked hopefully.

"Why should I be afraid of you?"

"Because of who I am..."

Lamp, if you were a real Kamarian, you would long ago have betrayed me. I think you're a real descendant Ibralim, and my faithful friend.

Lamp smiled.

"Thank you! You know, you're my first friend. No one wants to be friends with me because I'm the son of a Black Emissary."

"The Black Emissary?" - Nea asked.

"Nea, everyone knows who he is. How come you don't know?"

"Well... Frankness for frankness, right?" - the girl smiled hopefully.- "I don't know who your father is, because even though I belong to this world, I was not born here, but behind the Veil."

"You are the granddaughter of king Gaar!" - Lamp exclaimed.

"Well, Yes, if it means anything to you," - Nea said shyly.

"Of course! You and your family are the only ray of hope in my world!" - and then Lamp was afraid. - "Nea, you must take care of yourself! If you end up in the hands of Kamarian, we all die. And I will die! God, why are we sitting here? Get up! Run to the river immediately! My father is somewhere close!"

Lamp grabbed Nea's arm and pulled her toward the river.

"Lamp, why is everyone afraid of your father?"

"You shouldn't think blood doesn't matter, Nea.It matters," - sadly said Lamp, reducing the pace. – "Blood flows in me not only Kamarian and Ibralimian, but the blood of the dark Nephilim in the entire history of the world."

"Nefilim?"

"Every word in the question! Nea, has no one prepared you for the fact that one day you will need to fulfill a Prophecy?"

"Why not? My grandfather cooked, but there was no talk of emissaries or nefilim. Explain," - Nea said.

"The Black Emissary is the most fearsome and cruel of the nefilim. It is so terrible that it was even banished by its own kind. Nephilim akin to the Seraphim. They are a flying people, only the Seraphim have feathered wings, and the nefilim have webbed wings like a bat. Nephilim are evil in this world and lead the eternal war against their ancient enemies – the Seraphim. Nephilim is a fallen creature, succumbed to evil. Their magic is black and their hearts are dry. The black Emissary is a vassal of the Great Emperor and a confidant of the Dark Queen. He's a terrible man. Not a day goes by without killing. And I only survived because of my friend-he is Garuda."

"But..." - but Ney did not have time to ask the question of the Lamps ahead of her.

"The Garuda is a unique creature, not found in the Midlands. He's half-vulture, half-human. It has the arms, legs, and body of a human, and the head of a vulture. It also has wings. Actually, Garuda are predators and very dangerous to humans, but I made friends with this Garuda. Garuda can't talk like us, but they can communicate mentally. My friend called Argetlamh and he, too, was an outcast from his people. He didn't want to attack people, he wanted to be friends with them. And I became his friend. He taught me to hunt game, to defend myself, to endure, to pretend – he taught me everything to survive. He protected me, both from his own kind and from mine. If it wasn't for him, I'd probably starve to death. Everything was fine while my father was away on a reconnaissance mission. We stopped seeing each other, and I began to get stronger, my health returned and it was the happiest time in my life. But one day my father came back and set out to make me a spy in the Kingdom of the Birches. I like Argetlamh do not want to fight with Edigarian, Ibralimian and Damirian. I want to be friends with them! And I began to resist, and my father began to mock me. Tried to break my will. And when it didn't work out, he caught my friend and started blackmailing me. My father didn't know that garudas could talk in their minds. Argetlamh told me not to obey her father, because it will still kill. My father has already built a loop on the parade ground of the citadel. And everything my father says is a lie. And I didn't give in to blackmail. My father realized that my will could not be broken, so he made me watch as he personally killed my best friend. The next night I ran away. And here I am."

"Lamp," - Nea said, a lump in her throat.

Nea squeezed her friend's hand. And suddenly she saw from afar that a red snake was approaching them.

"What is it, Lamp?"

"Where?" - the boy was startled.

"Yes, here it is, crawling through the air towards us. The red snake."

"I don't see anything."

"Yes. Here it is..." - Nea pointed between the trees, but Lamp couldn't see anything. – "It's not a snake... It's a red line of air bubbles. It's slowly crawling towards you..."

Suddenly the boy screamed and pulled out a strange medallion: a glowing red stone in a metal frame of silver metal wings.

"This is my mother's magic locket. Vallmatolit – stone of her Royal dynasty. Set in a frame of unearthly metal Beloyar. This magic medallion is called-badb. It helps you find out what is being done against you and what kind of spell is being used. My father has cast "the call of blood" spell, and he will simply call his blood back, and I will not be able to resist it. And, as I understand it, you see the invisible."

"What do you mean?"

"Nea, you saw "the Call of blood". This is magic. This is probably the effect of this spell. Soon my own blood will resist me and take away my will.

"Lamp, let's run! The snake hasn't reached you yet!" - Nea looked at the snake again and saw with horror that it had split into two, and the second snake was crawling towards her. The girl grabbed her friend's arm and they ran as fast as they could. And behind them they heard the sound of chattering. This Boogeyant went on the hunt...

The red snakes were already over their heads. Nea swatted at the second snake as if it were a fly, and it slammed into a tree. Seeing this, Nea was encouraged. The girl also hit the snake with a Lamp, and it crashed into the trunk of a tree with force. The snake tried to pull away from the trunk, but could not. In the same second, the Lamp's medallion went out.

"Nea, how did you do it? How did you neutralize the magic?"

"I don't know," - the girl said, panting from running. – "I don't even know why I started seeing magic."

"I can see the remains of the crystal powder that fell out of my leather bag when the Boogeyant first attacked us on my hair and face. You my powder is of the "Essence of Things". You have absorbed his magic and now you see what others can't. You don't need magic – you are it now. I don't know how long, but it's good for us."

Lamp turned and screamed in horror. A tall man with white-brown hair and a black leather suit flashed through the trees. The man was startled. He felt that the blood magic he had invoked had split, so its power had weakened. The spell didn't know who to choose better and was repelled by someone who was of the same blood as it... But who is it?

"My father caught up with us!" He's furious! Nea run! It's only a short walk to the river, and I'll distract him!" - Lamp pushed Nea forward while he retrieved the most valuable treasure.

Didn't think Lamp would have to use his power so soon. This artifact gave him Argetlamh - the crest of evil fairies Dagda. The boy threw the ridge to the ground and suddenly an earthquake began, a palisade of trees began to grow out of the rocks. Like a living fence, it separated the Black Emissary and his army from the fugitives.

Meanwhile, Nea had reached the Bank, her terror driving her on. She was afraid to turn around, because she could hear the heavy belly of the ant dragging, and she tried to speed up her run. The girl, without looking at the other Bank, ran into the strange-colored water. She didn't hear any screams from the other Bank, and she didn't see anyone there.

Lamp did not follow Nea. He realized that he was putting her in great danger, because if their father caught them today, the whole world would be destroyed. Lamp decided to continue the journey without Nea, and went in the other direction.