133. New family

The three Teike siblings listened excitedly as General Csito, the twin brother of the great Athira, introduced them to the daily routine of the camp. After their quick meal, the small group walked around the camp and got to know the whole place from tip to toe, including the yurt that stood in the middle of the camp, next to the yurts of Csito and his táltos and which the brothers had designated as the children's further residence.

"Well, now that you have seen everything worth seeing, there is only one thing left." Csito said thoughtfully, stopping by the fire pit that formed the center of the camp.

"What?" Kele asked curiously, whereupon the man smiled.

"To introduce you to the most important people. I just need to find out where Svihák, the Witch, and Inepta have gone again." He looked around the yurts with narrowed eyes, then sighed. "I have no other choice." He grimaced. "Cover your ears, children." He glanced at the little ones, who all did as they were asked at once. "To arms!" Csito shouted, and after a few moments the children heard running footsteps from three sides of the camp.

"Present, sir!" A man in gray stopped by the fire.

"I'm here, where's the trouble?" A woman in black and red appeared almost out of nowhere next to the man.

"What the Fene? We haven't even run into an enemy boss! What are you yelling about?" A man dressed in blue stepped out of one of the yurts, carrying a young boy in his arms, who could hardly have been four or five years old.

"You know me too well Svihák, I didn't call you here for any trouble." General Csito smiled.

"I knew it was pointless to run." The man dressed in blue sighed.

"I wouldn't say that. I would like to introduce you to the newest members of our camp." He said proudly as he stepped away from the Teike children. "They here are, Kele." He pointed to the smiling twin. "Kamu." The boy nodded at his name, even though he looked at the strangers with concern. "And their sister Keche." The general stroked the girl's head. "Children, and they are my most trusted people. Inepta." He pointed to the one-eyed man in gray. "Victoria the Witch." He gestured towards the lady, who was looking at the children with wide eyes. "And Etele, or Svihák." He also introduced the figure in blue. "And the little boy on Etele's arm is Laik, their son." He pointed first to the Witch, then to the Svihák, who suddenly looked at each other. Etele smiled faintly and closed his eyes before shaking his head.

"Don't give them a heart attack, Witch." Said the táltos, and as a result of his words, the woman immediately hurried to the Teike siblings and spoke with a wide, kind smile on her lips.

"Oh, how cute you are." She said enthusiastically. "Real educated young men and a beautiful young lady." She caressed Keche's face. "Of course, you are." She winked at the little girl. "How long have you been learning to fight?" She looked at the children.

"Since we were four years old." Kele answered, straightening out.

"And how old are the gentlemen now?" The woman asked.

"Ten." Kamu said quickly, looking suspiciously at the lady, who was surrounded by a terribly strange fog, as if mist was constantly leaking from her.

"Six years already, that's nice. Then we won't have much to do." She chuckled, then ruffled the boys' hair. "From now on, you will be our children too." The two little boys' eyes widened at this statement.

"I told you not give them to a heart attack." Etele shook his head again as he walked over to the woman and set Laik down on the ground. "Do you want to see something truly amazing?" He asked, looking at the children.

*Yes?" The two boys asked, looking at each other.

"Then come here." Etele turned his back on them and crouched down on the ground where he began to draw a summoning circle. As he worked, little Laik walked over to Kele and looked curiously at little Keche, who was slowly fidgeting until his brother had to put her down. The two little children immediately started talking in that semi-intelligible way that young children speak.

"Show the young lady your toys, Laik." His mother encouraged the little boy as she held out her bundle towards the child, which little Laik immediately took and, holding Keche's hand, pulled her to the designated spot next to the fire pit, where they sat down facing each other and immediately began to play.

"It's ready." Etele grinned as he lowered his head and then spoke softly, holding his hand on the summoning circle. "Wake up!" As the command left the hegin's mouth, the summoning circle glowed with purple light and a huge cat appeared in it. The two Teike boys opened their mouths and watched the miracle with wide eyes.

"How did you do that?" Kele stepped closer to the summoning circle.

"It's called summoning. You can safely pet it, it's just a harmless ghost guardian cat." Etele explained, which made the two boys immediately start petting the giant cat.

"How nice it would be to do something like this." The words came out of Kamu, and Svihák just laughed and ruffled the boy's hair.

"If you want, I'll teach you how to do it. I don't promise that it will be that easy for you, but you can do it. In fact, if you're good enough and are clever enough, you will know how to do even this." He snapped his fingers, and a smaller blue summoning circle flashed by his feet, in which a translucent ghost figure appeared. "Careful, don't look into its eyes." Elete chuckled, when the two boys looked at the ghost curiously.

"Why?" Kele asked.

"Because if you look into a ghost's eyes, it can possess you more easily. The first rule of summoning is don't look into the ghost's eyes." Inepta also walked up to them. "And as Etele says, if you look into a ghost's eyes, it can force a contract on you that we don't want, believe me." He chuckled. "I tried it, it wasn't good."

"What happened to your eye?" Kamu asked, blinking widely, and the man just looked at him with a smile.

"I was born like this, it means I am a táltos. Like Etele's strangely colored eyes." He gestured towards the one mentioned.

"Okay, boys, you've filled the children's heads with your táltos magic enough today. Leave me something too." Viktoria stepped up to the two táltoses. "You said you've been fighting since you were four years old, what weapon do you use?" The woman asked.

"This." Kele pulled a small dagger from his belt, which made the woman grin enthusiastically.

"Hurray, this is my field. I'll show you how to use them so that no one in the world can touch you and you'll be as fast as lightning." The woman announced.

"Is that really possible?" Kamu's eyes filled with admiration.

"Oh, you have no ide. Our General Csito didn't take me in for nothing, right, General?" The woman turned to the one mentioned, who was playing with little Keche and Laik at this time.

"Your swordsmanship is not the only reason, but it has something to do with it. Everyone is here for a reason and everyone is a big family, we all help each other develop. I hope you will have a good time with us, children." He stroked little Keche's hair.

"Yes!" The little girl said to him with a grin. "You play too!" She pressed the rag doll into the general's hand, thus making the feared leader of the camp play child's play.

"I think father was right, Athira brought us to a good place." Kele nodded . "I can't wait to learn everything."

"Thank you, for everything." Kamu whispered under his breath, looking at his two siblings with a happy smile. He didn't regret the path that led them here, not for a minute, there was only one question that wouldn't let him rest. Where did that know-it-all ghost, Teike, disappear to?