Chapter 2

His fingers slid over the page of the book. My head threatened to collapse and greet the tabletop with my forehead. Under the bubbling coming from the pot, I would have already fallen asleep.

A moment — and Daria is behind my shoulders. She grabbed my book, which practically fell out of my hands and, trying not to do her best, cracked me on the back of the head.

I shuddered, the desire to sleep went away and I angrily lost the back of my head. He was pinching, apparently there were traces of blood, since Daria yelled.

"I'm sorry, I accidentally" , - she ran for a napkin.

She could be heard taking out a first aid kit. I snorted. I hardly want to sleep now, but I wanted to go for a walk more and more.

I took my hand away from my head and looked at my hand. There was only something blurry on the fingers and barely cast a scarlet shade.

There was blood on the corner of the book. Apparently Daria did not calculate and the book hurt me. I looked at its cover.

"Hand-to-hand combat techniques. V. N. Lavrov " (such a book really exists. Approx. author)

"And who gave it to me?!" - I shouted to my sister.

Daria had already soaked cotton wool in water and was now putting the first aid kit on the table. She flinched at my scream and almost missed, putting a bottle of liquid on the table.

"So you took it yourself", - she squinted at me.

I slammed the book down on the table. Apparently, there were such boring descriptions of fights and techniques that I even yawned while reading.

Daria carefully treated my wound and, still embarrassed by her act, put cotton wool on the back of my head, telling me to keep it until she told me to clean up.

Something was still bubbling in the cauldron. Either another sister's brew, or she's cooking dinner.

I inhaled a pleasant aroma, judging by the smell — soup. Daria had already taken the first aid kit back and now began to take the book away from me. I gripped it with my fingers.

"Vlada, give it back! You said yourself that you didn't like her!"

I let go of the cotton wool and now I was trying to take the book away from my sister with both hands.

She squeaked indignantly, but gave the book back.

"Well, put the cotton wool back quickly!"

She looked at me menacingly. I waved it away, the back of my head didn't hurt anymore. I was looking at the book.

"I didn't say I didn't like her. I'm just surprised by my choice."

Daria put a cup of tea in front of me. He smelled strange and I looked at my sister incredulously.

"And why would I drink it?"

It looks like there was not soup in the cauldron, but another Dasha potion.

"From a cold," - she smiled.

"Then you need it, you're always catching a cold,"- I grinned back.

"Actually, I'm healthy now!"

"Your brain is frozen, as if you have a cold."

Dasha laughed, and I pushed the cup towards her and decided to read (or at least look through) the book again.

There was nothing interesting there. Movements, points of vulnerability, and everything that my brain had to drag itself to for another twenty years until I understood at least the first couple of sentences...

"Get ready!"

That was the last thing I heard from my sister before they grabbed me and put me on a horse. I didn't understand what was going on. Where am I being taken, why and what is going on in general.

Two soldiers rode next to me. My eyebrows went up in surprise when I noticed the sign of the kingdom on their cloaks.

The royal guards.

What do they want from me? I don't know that I try to just hold on to the reins and look at the horse. It is strange, not a natural color, black as coal. And the mane is black. He's like a horseman of the apocalypse. Only two green eyes were not black. It's like I've seen this horse once before, but I can't remember where. And how can I remember? This is a royal horse, where can I get to the king and queen?

I can't get a word out of myself, not a sound. The soldiers sit and talk too gloomily. Or is it just my imagination…

I try to reassure myself that as soon as I arrive at the palace (I really hope that we are going there) I can tell the king that I don't know why I'm here and calmly go back. The thought warms me up, but

I'm still shaking nervously. The horse gallops, pleased that I'm not resisting.

My senses are dulled and I even switch off for a while. I don't think I'm even breathing. Only fragments of the book scroll in my head. Daria probably misses me there. I still didn't understand what was going on and where I was being taken, but judging by Dasha's look, this place doesn't bode well for me.

"To a halt!", - One of the soldiers shouts ahead and all the horses stop.

I barely have time to pull on the reins so as not to crash right into the horse of one of the guards.

I get off the saddle as if if I get off, everyone will immediately pounce on me.

But no one leans forward or even looks back, and I step onto the snow with relief. The coal horse, which was standing in the middle of the snow-white cover, let out a neigh and rubbed its cheek against my cheek. Her eyes seemed to smile at me. I gently stroke her mane and take the reins.

The soldier ties her to a tree and leads me to a fire that has already been lit.

Now I see that there were more than twenty soldiers. Thirty or forty for sure, maybe plus or minus five or ten.

The fire had to be lit so huge that it seemed that we would dance around next to it, and not warm up.

I sat down next to a tree. I didn't particularly want to be in the company of the guards, and even in such a large number with weapons.

Tucking their legs under them, they tried to keep warm by collecting branches lying nearby and building something like a bonfire.

Stone on stone was a very controversial method, I had been trying to do this for twenty minutes to light a fire.

I heard the crunch of snow, but I thought it was a soldier who decided to throw branches into a large fire pit until two stones were taken from my hands. I looked up.

The fire flared up and a small light burned in the blue eyes that stared at me intently.

Her light hair barely reached the end of her neck. The hands have already thrown out two burnt stones and the guy sat down opposite me, bringing his hands to the fire.

I already thought it was polite to ask him to leave, although I understood that I would have acted rudely after the help I received.

"I'm Oleg", - a pleasant velvety voice hit my ears.

I nodded, taking note. Since I'm a stranger here anyway, I'll be silent as a partisan — not a word, not a sound, not even a squeak.

"And you?"

I didn't say anything, just stared at the fire. Smooth, even, it brought some strange peace, which was not even in a warm house next to the fireplace.

The guy put his hands in gloves. Apparently he didn't like that I didn't say anything.

"I'll repeat myself: who are you?"

I realized that a little more of my ignoring and I would be suspended from the same tree head down.

"What exactly do you want to know?" - I try to make my voice sound confident.

"Your name first," - he chuckled.

Name?

"As long as I can remember - I always liked to call myself Yara", - I said it before I had time to think.

Oleg nodded.

"Glad to meet you, Yara."

He stood up and dusted off his cloak. Before leaving, Oleg turned to me.

"I'm Oleg", - I tried to restrain my irritation: his whole appearance already said that he was Oleg.

"I'm a prince", - he adds quietly and leaves.

I freeze.

Prince…

Prince.

I was just talking to the prince. Just now I was angry at him and could barely contain my indignation.

It seems I'm really immortal, since even such treatment of a prince is nothing to me.

The floor is a quiet crackling of the fire, I close my eyes. Maybe tomorrow I will be able to somehow understand what is going on at all? I really want it all to seem like a dream and I woke up in my room at home. And Daria would be lying next to me, sleepily muttering something.