Immortals. Alma and Scythe of Death

© Sergey Solovyov, 2026

ISBN 978-5-0069-7093-9

Created with Ridero smart publishing system

When they want to make all people kind, wise, free, abstinent, magnificent, they inevitably come to the desire to kill them all

Anatole France

Prologue. Mortal horror

Three hundred dead walked in measured steps along forest paths, not knowing fatigue. With perseverance and indomitable ants, they seemed to have flown over fallen trees, bypassed hills and swamps, which had already begun to freeze, covered with a thin crust of pure ice. No complaints of fatigue or cries of joy were heard from these creatures. They did not make a sound, only rustling and cracking of branches and cones were heard in the morning forest. Quietly go, and they did not need to bypass simple obstacles, and it does not matter. And seeing and sensing these creatures, the forest dwellers hid in their holes, who had, or at least some shelters. Wild fear, or rather horror, grabbed all these places into his arms. The trees seemed to be frightened too, and rustled with still uninvited leaves much quieter, and as if they raised the branches higher, allowing uninvited guests to pass faster.

In the hands of these guests there were only bitch clubs, the dead could not manage other weapons. Neither sleep, nor water, nor food were needed by these terrible creatures, this unspoken horror of Priob and all of Siberia. And not only Siberia, but also the White Sea, and all places up to the distant mountains of the Hindu Kush.

It was Siberia, for even then, in those ancient times, this land was called by the name of one of the tribes of the Gantov-Savirs or northerners, here someone heard and pronounced. Nearby were the Sayan Mountains, where the Sayan people, who were part of the Ghants, lived. And now, this small army was going through these places, to the borders of the steppe that were already close. The time was still closer to winter, although it was far from cracking frosts.

Several paths led this horde to the creatures of strangers in order to take revenge and calm down their hatred. The dead did not care, but their mistress was waiting for revenge.

Away from these roads, nevertheless fearing the dead, they walked, finding salvation and refuge here, hares, fallow deer, and even deer. The whole animal knew that no one would touch them here, although the smell of the dead from those walking was frightening, and even very much. And every creature longed to touch the mistress of this army. Even a simple touch cured all ailments, and the animals knew it.

But, wolves did not come close to the dead, they only sank their song, and hid in the thickets.

There was a huge elk, spreading the branches with horns wide, like harrow arable land. True, there was a thick bone plate between his lips, with two straps. And, this harness was controlled by a saddle, because the moose does not need a fur blanket and a belt. Of course, after all, the lord of the forest was not alone here, on his back, in the saddle, a tall girl was sitting.

The individuals walking through the forest were her, obedient only to her will by a terrible army. She kept behind this creepy crowd, those who have long left the world of people.

Still, the girl was very good-looking, but she looked absolutely incredible. The leader was very young, but this did not bother anyone, at least of those who could be embarrassed here. Really. there were other people nearby, but apparently submissive to any Will of the Princess.

Apparently, she was not even seventeen veins. But she was different from the other seven men and women who rode with her, the fact that her face was dazzling white, her eyes were black, and her lips were blue. Ashen hair completed this incredible look. A warrior riding a moose corrected the band with a huge scythe with a silver metal blade. The sword of excellent bronze hung on the left side, without interfering with the rider. The bandage with severed heads and smiling others after death did not bother her at all, even the dull knock of their blows against each other.

In the girl’s retinue, Seven people followed her, no more and no less, as it followed according to ancient customs.

— Atey, Jaromir. Kurei, Salit, “she shouted,” are you not tired? We’ve been going for three days. You should rest.

“Your deck can endure, Princess. It remains very close, — answered the eldest of them, Atey.

Large snowflakes began to fall, some fell on the hair and face of the mistress. Only something they did not melt, as if there was no human warmth in the beauty. She just blinked, dropping stuck snowflakes from her white eyelashes.

The expression of the marble face did not even change, the girl corrected the sable of the sheepskin coat gate. and a huge triangular snake head suddenly leaned out of the gate of her knitted shirt. The motionless eyes of the monster looked around all the companions, then the reptile’s body curled around the mistress’s neck, but so gently that it did not prevent her from driving. The girl stroked the snake’s head, in response the forked tongue touched her cheek. So a monstrous guard and froze without fear of a cold day.

Kurei looked at it calmly, Jaromir turned away while it was hard for him to look at such things.

“Nothing guy, get used to it,” said Atey quietly, “and we didn’t get used to it right away

— It doesn’t work. It’s not human.

— The princess is above all, she is not a person for a long time. Yes, and we too. Remember how it is said:

“He who tasted them cannot live among mortals”

— Who knew that it would be so. Unusual, now in the dark, as an owl see. I can stay up for a whole week.

“You swore allegiance to her, and she saved you from death,” Atey recalled.

— Everything is so, foreman, everything is so…

Jaromir stroked the big head of his elk, the animal slightly turned his head to him and the rider put a cracker with salt in the big mouth of his favorite. He began to crisp quite. The young man decided to call his horse Horn. It seemed so quite funny.

All seven were on moose — the whole deck, four men and three women. A couple of draggers also moved behind them, they were already dragged by deer. Basically, there was honey, the food of the Princess, while the companions ate on the campaign with one fish.

— That’s it, the day will be. You need to eat, — said the Princess, and raised her hand.

The dead on command just sat down and did not move. They were not disturbed by a weak snowball, but they did not please either. They just didn’t feel anything. The princess deftly climbed the branches and settled in a huge hollow in the tree. Atey and Kurei stretched out the tent, Jaromir was handed the prison. Salit collected branches for the fire, all in business.

— Yes, I didn’t catch her with this, — the young man didn’t understand, — it never worked out. A wise thing. Let’s weave baskets, catch them in traps.

“You can do it now. In the meantime, we will start the fire, but we will put the boiler to the fire. Don’t forget the loot basket.

Jaromir approached the bank of the river. It was a long time before the ice, the water did not catch on with weak frost. Reeds on the shore grew densely, but only remained of it. tough thickets, and it was uncomfortable to go there. Finally, the fisherman saw a stone that had completely grown into the river sand, so that it was almost flush with the water in the river.

The young man looked carefully into the water, and he himself did not believe in what he saw — fish in the water column. Lazily moving huge pike. One blow is sharp — and the fish weighing in the pud fluttered on the tip of the tackle. Another shock, and now the perch was caught halfway. Soon the basket was full, but Jaromir doubted whether he would lift this load! Almost half his weight! But the power became really heroic, so it easily brought to the fire. and didn’t even sweat.

Atey looked at him and smiled, Kurei just grinned, adjusted his hat and turned away, moved the burning firewood in the fire with a wand. Salit said nothing, just looked at the catch and appreciated the prey of the new one.

“Put the fish down. Now we will clean it, — said Tiya, with an elusive movement taking the knife out of her sleeve.

— Well done, earner, Sana added as she crouched down nearby.

“Great catch,” Ana agreed.

Virgin warriors got down to business. All of them were also young, the eldest was no more than twenty veins.

The smell from the boiler was amazing, Atey gently touched the pieces with a spoon. I tried the food, and nodded my head approvingly. He began to lay out the long-awaited dinner on wooden plates.

— Good fish, — praised Kurei, — eat more, in reserve. Three more days to go. There will be no more halts.

“That’s for sure,” Atey agreed, biting bitterly into the fish’s tail.

Jaromir believed new friends, and was able to eat twice as much as usual. Sana curiously watched the efforts of the young man, pushing Tia with her elbow, so that she would also see such a sight.

Now they had to sleep off, for a whole week of wakefulness. Everyone wrapped up to protect the heat. We fell asleep almost instantly. The Princess’s terrible cry snatched them out of their sleep:

— Get up! We have to go!

Jaromir did not hear anything like that, only on the day when he died and was born again. The deck woke immediately, as if no one had slept. The tent was assembled, the blankets were tied to the backs of the dry, the cauldron was clean, and the Tsarevna’s army moved on. The taiga was ending, and now the broad steppe extended in front of them. According to the sign of the Princess, a couple of dozen dead ran ahead of the detachment, deep into the lands of strangers.

— Atey, — the young man asked, — they don’t speak? Which ones are sentinels? The living dead have nothing to say!

“They’ll just come back if they find strangers. We’ll understand.

But it all started just rapidly, so that no one expected.

The battle began suddenly, at the forest edge, arrows whistled, sometimes clay balls fell apart with a crash, fired from slings when they fell into the ground in front of the detachment.

The princess already smelled the smell of enemies, strangers, who were again there, who came to Her land. A scythe, known to everyone in Siberia, was already spinning in the hand of the beauty — from Gandvik to Oum and the steppes of Semirechye, behind which were the steppes and deserts of eternally hungry strangers. This weapon drove even notorious villains from the Eastern Deserts into awe. There were no people who saw that blade and they weren’t scared.

“Athey! she shouted to the brave warrior, who had already delivered the bow and arrow, — strangers should not go around the hill! Let everyone come with you, except for Kurei! But do not go to the trouble, do not bring the fight to swords! Look, don’t lose your head! — and she threatened him with an oblique Death.

— Yes, Princess! he smiled, putting on a helmet made of wild boar fangs — whatever you want!

The huge Elk Ateya, Sliver, quickly dragged over the hill, and after him they went, the same on elk, and five boys and girls, already with bows at the ready

On the warrior’s chest hung a band with five severed and smiling heads of the leaders of strangers, in good memory of her wars. All around the same neck wriggled, trying to warm up on the cold skin of the Princess, a snake, the well-known viper Skara. She rarely crawled away from the hostess, and now, as if feeling a battle, she opened her mouth wide, exposing her poisonous fangs. The dead Princess tried to calm down. The girl raised her head, and again stubborn imperishable snowflakes fell on her snow-white face.

Here strangers, in their misfortune, ran into her watch from the Dead, two of whom attacked a hundred aliens, and they fired arrows and stones in response. The dead were not afraid of anyone, did not understand or say anything, but they steadily followed all the orders of the Princess, and she instructed the dead servants to attack strangers wherever they were felt.

— You and I will lead the Dead, Kurei, — she called the remaining magician, holding a clove on a long handle in her hands, — But you watch the wagon train so that the Revived do not destroy everything.

“I’ll do anything, Princess. I’ll look after it properly, “nodded Kurei the Magi, putting on leather armor.

Magus put on his helmet and lowered his eyes. He knew what would happen now, and saw this more than once. Her rage, lissa, was always just boundless. Skara simply rose on her tail, and the Princess’s face turned black from anger and hatred of strangers.

The princess made a thunderous cry:

— Forward!

The Princess’s white braids fluttered in the wind. The leader of the Dead sent up her elk, Hot, who only shook his huge horns, obeying the mistress. The dead army did not lag behind, not paying attention to knots, or to fallen trees, bushes, and yes, and pits. The Dead did not even notice such trifles, jumping over them or crossing, sometimes even crawled over.

Satellites beat arrows from the hill, laying enemies, and yet entered into hand-to-hand combat. But, those who followed the Princess possessed inhuman strength, and their opponents flew up almost a fathom from the blows of the tree sticks of the dead. But now, the Princess flew up to the enemies with the Scythe of Death.

Hot burst into their ranks, a terrible blade mowed down strangers, leaving no wounded. Blood flowed like a river, and that was no exaggeration. The Spit of Death, forged by the Magi from gray metal found in Taimyr, chopped up human flesh, as if it were cow oil or salty breasts. The hands, legs, heads of enemies fell on the ground in dozens, because the Princess was many times faster and stronger than an ordinary person. Some tried to fight, throwing in her darts and spears, from which she easily dodged. But here, the tallest and strongest, the leader is visible. rushed forward screaming and tried to hit Goryachy with his club. But the elk, standing on its hind legs, only hit the front legs with its hooves at once, crushing the madman’s head. A dead body, with a limp head hanging off like a sliver from a log with an ax ular. Hands, heads, cut bodies remained behind the passing Princess, and the forked hooves of her elk only drove the bloodless flesh deeper into the ground.

Kurei fought nearby, beating off blows with a shaft, and punching the skulls of strangers with cloves, easily piercing their leather helmets. The matter was familiar to him — he had been fighting in the Deck of the Princess for thirty years. But the Magi came to watch. that the Dead would not dare to call — prey was needed.

The dead raised and lowered their clubs at a terrifying speed, turning strangers simply into howling pieces of meat, driving these remains into snow-covered steppe grass. A terrible army crowded the army of strangers, knocking down the remnants of those who wanted and could fight. The dead, like boiling water against the snow, and their opponents melted, only turned not into water, but into bloody mucus under the feet of the Immortal Army.

The companions fought on the hill, preventing those strangers who hit the run from hiding. Jaromir had not seen before that people could shoot bows like that. The arrows of those who tasted them overtook the enemies and for four hundred fathoms! The figure of a person was seen much less than a children’s toy, but arrows overtook them. The satellites did not spare anyone, this was not sung in the ancient songs of the giants. Sana, without even thinking, shot a whole family, and the corpses were lying near the red tape thrown by strangers.

The battle was terrible, because strangers tried to protect their wagons and tents, a camp where there were women and children. But everything was in vain, and the Tsarevna’s army approached the camp, closed with slingshots and drags.

The princess stopped the Dead and drove out on Hot to the front of her rati. Even looking at the Dead now was scary — everyone was covered from head to toe with the blood of their victims. Their silence was even more monstrous. They did not show themselves without an order.

Then the magician of strangers rose to meet, who decided to test his luck. With a rod hung with bells in one hand and a stone ax in the other, an elderly man with a gray beard stepped forward. He squeezed between the drags, and leaning on the staff. quickly approached the warrior, with a blackened face from anger.

“Dead Princess! I ask for mercy for those who survived! The chief, Erlan, was killed by you. It was he who did not obey the covenants and went on a raid. Now he is punished, the soldiers died and we will give any tribute.

— Stop lying, Magi! I was overly patient. You violated my command.

“The First Princess forgave people,” the old man whispered quietly, his head down.

“I’m not Ilse! ‘a loud voice rang out, and Skara hissed and rose above the lady’s head. She opened her mouth, and buried poison from terrible fangs.

“You can’t kill everyone,” the sage tried to reason with the enraged Princess.

— Ten will remain. With you, Magi. That’s my will.

And with these words, the Princess sent the Hot One forward, and he jumped over the weak fence. Jaromir was simply stunned, never seeing such a thing. It can be seen that before the lady fought only a quarter of the strength. The Spit of Death curled as if it were dragonfly wings, but under these swings blood gushed like a spring stream. The massacre did not take much time, and the Princess was not at all tired. Having finished this business, familiar to her, the warrior, with her hands covered in blood to the elbow, pulled out a red tape with deer trying to rest. The startled animals’ futile attempts failed to impress the white-faced witch. She just pulled the lines, so much so that the horned ones fell to the ground. Then, knocking off his hooves. they jumped up, but the Princess, touching their heads, reassured the unfortunate animals with one touch.

Her face from black became already light blue, you can see the rage was leaving. And the mistress dragged seven children, like a mother cat dragging kittens. Her hands held all three or four in each of their small palms. She put them on red tape. The magician Kurei also approached them, but with a bowl of honey in his hands. The last by the legs of the Princess dragged two women, half dead from fear.

— Well. Magi, now you get it? she asked calmly.

— Yes. and so are our people. Here, drink from the road, lady! and he held out the golden cup. And next to it stood a tavern with water.

The princess nodded, thanks to a caring companion, and stretched out her hands. Kurey slowly poured water, and the cool liquid turned red, falling to the ground, washing off the blood that had already begun to stick together. She washed her face, quickly took out a copper mirror, and began to draw an almost human face for herself. True, it turned out even worse. Carmine lips, round blush bright red on cheekbones. On an absolutely white face, it looked just incredible, but, amusingly, the girls and women of the giants began to decorate themselves as well. Magus was now lost sometimes, although Skara always helped out.

— Take a dozen reindeer and leave, Alma ordered. still standing magi.

— I will ask the mistress to have mercy, and melt your frozen heart. Ella will be kind to you! shouted to her the magi of strangers at parting.

All those ten people who remained from a large tribe of strangers, from several clans, with little hope of surviving in the winter steppe, went into the distance.

Kurei, with a bloody clove in his hand, sat astride, inspecting the terrible battlefield. The man carefully hid the golden bowl of the Princess in his sum, removed the korchaga. He, without repairing, stepped over two torn bodies, a skin torn alive by Alma in the fever of battle. and lying now with a stupid tourniquet.

— Well, this… — the magician was upset, looking at the mess — well. I hope she has already forgotten about it.

There were more chopped bodies on the cut field, and they became useless. But those three whom he killed could be used, and the economic man carefully plucked them aside, laid them flat, prepared them for revival. Sensible of weapons, what is better, put in heaps. Kurei, looking around, drove up to the Princess, the carmine lips spread apart, exposing the pearl teeth of the beauty, black eyes looked, almost without blinking.

— Collect all the prey, magi. We need a lot.

Cooray just shrugged. Everything has already been collected, a lot of good, but I was not going to argue with the Lady. There were many things to do, and so was the booty. Satellites laid out bronze, bows with arrows, suitable weapons. Felt, excellent work, was built in perfect order.

They found a lot of furs, took two magnificent yurts for themselves, a whole herd of deer, which was looked after by Sana, Tia and Ana. Animals looked around fearfully, straying away from dead bodies and blood that began to thicken and freeze. The princess dismounted, and wandered around the battlefield, looking for the loss. Finally, there was her loud exclamation, an instant blow with a sword, and a severed head pumped in a thin girl’s hand.

— Kurei, you found a case, — laughed Atey, knocking his elbow to his side.

The wolf just sighed, threw his sum on his chest. Well, no luck… Others will rest, and work was waiting for him — to hang a new head on the belt. It’s good that like last time, at least the scarecrow did not have to be made from the skin.

Snakebite, damned witch