60. At the border of the fene
"Hmm... Why didn't you stop?" Rahul suddenly stopped about ten steps in front of the team. Not so long ago, the Athamana came through a small pass and descended from the mountains. Here they were no longer protected by the mountains of Karrabata, and officially left Madüjawr. According to their calculations, they had to reach the Fene soon.
"Something is not right." Razvan muttered as he hurried to Rahul's side with clenched fists.
"What could be the problem? I don't think anything has changed." Rahul looked around. Although the landscape beyond the Karrabata looked a bit drier and deader, the trees looked like it had been winter, but that didn't mean there was anything wrong.
"It's like someone is watching us." The other members of the team gathered around the pair.
"The transparent is gone." Suk noted.
"And grandpa too." Teveli added with a serious look.
"Boss, be careful!" Achilleus shouted, but he had already moved and his drawn sword cut a pale figure in two. "Ghost." The boy growled between his teeth.
"Ghosts!" Teveli swallowed as he drew his sword.
"In arms! Stand around! Don't let them get to you!" Razvan gave the order, and all the members of the team took up their weapons. Even Rahul, though he was looking around a little worried. "Tev, where are they?" The Zaukán boy asked the question.
"I do not know." Came the answer, then a bit of silence. "Everywhere." The boy frowned.
"How the fene can they be everywhere?" Benkó growled.
"There are so many of them that I don't know where they are exactly!" Teveli grumbled.
"Twelve in front of Teveli and Suk, ten in front of Benkó and Achilleus, about fifteen from Citar's side. Here are twenty... Not twenty-five and more and more are coming." Said Rahul with narrowed eyes.
"How do you know that?" Teveli turned his head in the boy's direction.
"I see them." Announced Rahul who actually saw something. Which were probably the ghosts. In any case, the faintly vibrating shapes weren't usually that noticeable, even if he saw them every day. "They are attacking." The boy's eyes widened and he moved without thinking to ward off an attack he didn't know what kind of attack, but a greenish shower of snow remained in the wake of his sword, so his defense proved to be successful.
"Fight!" Razvan shouted, and so the team started the attack. The Athamanas didn't need to be told that they had to rely on their kí to fight, and Rahul, unlike the team, could see his opponents, so Razvan didn't need to give any more instructions.
The Athamanas covered the area with a greenish snow shower for long minutes, but the attack of the ghosts did not want to weaken. A few of the team had already received small wounds that looked as if they had hit themselves. In fact, the fingers on one of Citar's hands were slowly turning blue and it looked like they were covered in ice.
"Benkó, stop the ice for the love of the ancestors'!" Citar roared, but did not turn to his friend.
"I'm not doing it, Bolacsuk!" Came the roared answer.
"If we keep going like this, we won't last long!" Teveli hissed. "Unlike them, we will be exhausted." He slashed another ghost with his sword.
"Razvan!" Rahul's eyes widened when he noticed that a ghost was attacking the team leader from behind. It only took one move to get between the attacker and his victim and, dropping Spirit Bell, his sword, which clattered heavily on the ground, he grabbed the ghost's neck with both hands.
In front of Rahul's eyes, the ghost now appeared properly, like the ghost of Etele or Teveli's Kele does. The chüvigh boy did not let go of the ghost's neck, even when its icy hands grabbed his wrists and began to stretch them. The wind picked up then, the ghosts seemed to stop for a moment. In the distance, only the dead could hear an angry cry.
"Leave them alone! They are mine!" The voice rang out, but only the ghosts noticed it and quickly began to retreat at its command. The spirit in Rahul's grip also seemed to have changed tactics and no longer wanted to attack, but it could not break free from its grip. The Athamanas slowly lowered their weapons and blinked around confused that they were no longer being attacked.
Then the eyes fell on the chüvigh boy, whose hands were almost black, and the blueness had risen higher over his armguards as well. And the ghost, who was already visible to the team, desperately tried to escape from the iron fists. It hit one, gouging Rahul's face, but to everyone's surprise, it didn't leave a wound.
"Die." Hissed Rahul and another voice at the same time, before the ghost's eyes widened and it turned into a snowstorm in the chüvigh boy's hands.
"Are you okay kid?" Etele suddenly appeared in front of Rahul and took the boy's head between his hands to look him around properly. "You idiot, never touch an attacking ghost with your bare hands! It could have easily kill you!" He scolded his relative.
"I'm fine!" Rahul grunted and started shaking his hands. "What the hell is this?" Raised raised his hand when the ghost relative released him.
"Nothing I can't cure." Suk broke the tense silence. "As a matter of fact, we could all use a little healing." He looked over the team.
"Yes, but if you listen to me, you go in to the Fene before that." Etele noted.
"How far are we?" Razvan asked.
"There is not much left. Beyond the forest, the sea of stones is already starting." The ghost shrugged.
"But isn't it more dangerous in the Fene?" Citar asked. "All demons come from there." The boy shivered.
"Maybe, but there are fewer demons than ghosts. If you don't start murdering them on their land, the demons will not give a shit about you being there. Anyway, since the daimon king has been in power, demons cannot cross over from the Shadow World unless they are summoned." Etele explained.
"We better get going. We will be safer there. Come on boys, just a little more and then we'll rest." Razvan sighed, then started towards the forest, and the team hurried after him.
They really didn't have to go far to get through the forest. On the other side, the Athamanas were indeed greeted by a sea of stones. The landscape was decorated only with a few trees and two silvery rivers that flowed into a huge sea in the distance. The group walked away from the forest to the third tree where they turned left and then walked to the nearest river.
"We are here. Children, I welcome you to the Fene." Etele folded his arms in front of him. "You can rest here and the Zovárd boy can heal everyone." He smiled kindly at the team.
"Okay, we'll stop here now. We all need a break." Razvan sat down on a higher stone.
"Grandpa, do you think the demons will be angry if I light a fire." Suk looked around with a worried look, but all his movements apart from his eyes showed that he was not very affected by the situation.
"Even if they had a problem with him. They can't touch you here." Etele pulled his lips into a half smile.
"How come?" Rahul blinked confusedly at the ghost relative.
"This is my grave, I'm the boss here." Etele pointed at the rushing river behind him, but with his words he managed to make the team open their mouths.
"As a matter of fact, we are completely safe here between the two rivers." Razvan remarked, attracting everyone's attention.
"What?" Came the question from several Athamanas at the same time, but Etele just smiled widely.
"This is his grave." Razvan gestured towards the river next to them, then towards the tree standing in the middle of the headland, on the other side of which another river rippled. "That's mine."