The Dead Princess and the Seven Dreams. Immortals

Houses at Winter

— So a dear house appeared, — Alenka exclaimed, and ran to the gate with the dogs together, but Cereal and Zubok came running first, and went to sniff the yard, were there any strangers? Calmed down, and returned to the hostess, showing, isn’t it time to feed them?

— Yes, I see, now I will bring you a stew, — said the woman, battering the wool on the scruff of both. Snow looked at one of the dogs, he began to hold his right front paw in weight, Zubok limped a little.

— What’s wrong with him? ’the guest pointed at the dog.

— It will heal quickly, pricked to see, paw in a clearing.

The guest sighed, pulled Zubka to her, Zima took the dog by the scruff of the neck, you never know what, but the dog behaved calmly, which was surprising — the girl was completely unfamiliar to him, and the dog only poked his nose into her hand. The woman looked at Snow, she took the dog’s paw, ran her fingers over it, and jerked the sliver out of her paw, then the girl froze, turned a little pale, and the blood stopped oozing from the wound on her paw. And after a second, Zubok was already stepping on the girl’s thigh, and tried to lick her face, she dodged and laughed. She got up and staggered a little, smiling weakly and helplessly, grabbed the wall of the house, but after a moment she came to her senses.

Winter opened the door, lit a fire from an oil lamp in a bronze basin of water, so that there would be no fire in the house. The woman rose, holding a burning lamp in her left hand, and her children and guest followed her. The woman opened the door, bending down habitually, and the door, covered with felt, let everyone home. The mother of the family kindled the hearth, the smoke pulled into the hole under the roof, it became warmer, but it was still cold.

— Sit down Snow. I even have smoked meat — and she moved a bowl of aromatic meat and a knife to the girl.

— No, I won’t, — the girl moved away from the plate in fright, — maybe there are fish or mushrooms?

— Well, look, — the woman took out a pot with a cooled stew from the underbelly, took out spoons and four wooden bowls, poured a boiled ear.

The children looked at the food, took off their hats and pulled off their fur coats, Snoya also took off her scarf from her head, a fox fur coat, remaining in a knitted dress with unfamiliar patterns and a fur sleeveless jacket. Children and Zima herself dressed the same sleeveless clothes.

— Eat for health, — the mistress of the house solemnly said, and everyone earned concentrated spoons. When they finished their meal, the woman took out the honey, poured it into small dishes, Alena and Wang smiled, pulled a treat to themselves.

— You eat, I will tell you a fairy tale about Purusha.

Children, already almost adults, looked up at their grandmother, but they did not let go of honey, they were already concentrating on licking spoons.

— Purusha was destined to create a new life on earth, and Ilios and Lada decided to give him a wife. And the apple tree grows there, but not simple, but the apples on it are gold, and Purusha stood under the apple tree, and the girl came to him in different guises. At first Krasa- girl came with a rod of power, promising great power, but the young man did not want such a fate. Krasa came to him, a girl with a weapon-rich expletive, promising that he would defeat everyone, and this was not what he was seduced by. And a girl came in all the brilliance of her beauty, promising him endless Love, and tore off an apple for Purush, divided it, and descended to the earth in human form with beauty-girl, Love, and all people are now their descendants. So Love has given rise to all life on earth.

I listened to snow attentively, did not interrupt, finished honey, washed down with herbal infusion.

— Thanks for the dog, Snows. How did you treat her? Zima asked with hidden concern, putting the spoon on the table.

— I don’t know, — the girl didn’t understand, — and you don’t have anything?

— Seven on Alatyr, and Pryakhi, probably can only be treated this way. They say that Elga, the Ice Princess, could have done this, and Winter said so, and out of the corner of her eye she noticed how Snow shuddered.

The woman was seriously scared. Suddenly a girl from ice giants. Everyone milked, Van licked a spoon, and Alena had already put hers on the table. And there was only one way to check, Winter sighed, took a bronze knife. Snow’s hair was cast in silver, and she was not gray, and her hair color was so extraordinary, ashy. The braid was draped behind her back, adorned with a double-helix hairpin, and hanging from a ribbon tied around her forehead were temporal rings. Winter approached her from behind, jerked out a bronze knife, threw it up to strike, then seemed to flinch, and dropped the blade on the floor, Snoya heard, quickly turned around, but did not understand anything, quickly bent down, and unsuccessfully, or vice versa successfully, grabbing the blade with her fingers, cut them.

The woman watched fascinated as small wounds swell with drops of blood, scarlet pearls drip to the floor, and Snows tries to lick them from the palm of her hand.

Winter sighed with relief, her heart stopped shaking, but her legs became as if stone, she breathed often, often, leaned on the table. It was as if something was pressing on my heart, not letting me breathe.

— What’s wrong with you, grandmother, — Alena ran up to her, hugging.

— All is well, granddaughter,» the woman replied happily.

Everything was really good, because the blood was all red, it was not their ice people.

Snow Maiden learns

The children finally finished everything too, ran to wash, and Alena then decorously brought washed and cleaned dishes.

— Go to sleep, and to you Snow, here on the bench to bed, it is wide with us.

Winter brought wolf furs from the chest to the basement, climbed the steps hard, grabbed the door jamb, trying to catch her breath, went to the bench, laid furs, and a good bed turned out. She put a sheet knitted from thin linen on top. The woman corrected everything, got up, again trying to breathe, but there was not enough air, finally put it down, examined everything again, beautifully, which means that the guest will like it. Now Snoya looked at the hostess with concern, without asking, grabbed her wrist, listened to her heart beating.

— So, — only she said, and her face became preoccupied and anxious, — sit down nearby and do not think about anything now.

Winter sat next to the bench, the girl touched only two places on her body and the woman fell into oblivion, only felt the heat inside herself, and that her heart no longer hurts when she woke up, opening her eyes, she shuddered with fear.

In the twilight of the room, illuminated by one oil lamp, stood an unfamiliar girl with a white face, not shaded by either a smile or a small wrinkle. She had black, invisible eyes and moved in small steps, groping the wall. Hearing that Winter was up, she turned to her voice, putting her hands with spread fingers in front of her.

— What did you do, I helped, but I did not save myself, — said Winter and cried, grabbing Snow’s hand, sitting on her bed.

— Do not be afraid, Winter, — the girl said in a whisper, — this will pass soon, — you just be silent, do not tell anyone.

— Where did you get that?» the woman continued with tears in her voice.

— My heart doesn’t hurt, does it?» — said Snow in a whisper, — and you don’t need to know the rest,

— You need to go to Alatyr, to Pryakh. They will teach everything, and how to avoid troubles.

— What I didn’t see there, in this grief sit? Lock up, but not let out. I want to learn from Ora. Herbs, decoctions, flowers, berries, birds sing… I have never seen them…

The next morning, when everyone woke up, Winter looked anxiously at Snow, she had everything, as before, a cute freckled face, blue eyes, she nodded to the woman, removing the sheet from her shop.

— Good morning, grandmother, — Alena ran up to her, — what are you looking like on the Snow?

— I went to drown the bath, — said Zima, turning to her granddaughter, — first we, and you Van, will wash after us. Bring water from the well, prepare five buckets, and twenty logs of firewood, in reserve.

Grandma prepared a bath, it was heated hot when everyone was undressed and Snega’s body was covered with tattoos, like a witch who had gone through the worst dedication — snakes covered her arms and legs, and her back was decorated too.

— What is it with you, granddaughter, — asked Zima, — everything is decorated, and the drawings are completely Vedic.

— I don’t remember, grandmother, only ice and stones I remember.

— You, Alena, do not even tell your brother about it, — the grandmother ordered her.

— Come on, wash. Lie down, Snow, now I’ll take you with a broom.

The woman washed one granddaughter for a long time, and then the other, washed herself, and wrapped the children in sheepskin coats, brought them home.

— Granddaughter, and you run to wash. It’s hot and hot water is waiting for you.

The boy quickly ran to the bathhouse until he cooled down, and Zima took out clean shirts, changed clothes herself and dressed the girls.

— Everything is fine, granddaughter, come here, I will comb your hair, — and she sat the girl down, and Alenina began to comb her blond hair with a frequent comb.

He managed to wash himself and Van, approached them, looked at them like that, and said:

— And mine, grandma?» Also combed.

— And you are childish, and there is nothing to comb, — the grandmother smiled, looking at the rare curls of her grandson on a shaved head. As the test passes in four years, he will have a mop of hair on the back of his head, and will become a leader — he will not cut his hair at all.

She looked at them, laughed, took her silver mirror, and began to comb her ashen hair with a comb with two geese carved on it. Having finished, both girls, younger and older, went to Ore to adopt wisdom that is not known to everyone. Wang sighed, felt his almost shaved head, and dressed, went to the mentors.

They began to teach not only Snow, but also Alena, who asked for it, and Van was taken away by the mentors of the clan, to teach all sorts of tricks, but wisdom, which are already necessary for shepherds and hunters to warriors. How in the forest it will not get lost, where to find food, they also did not forget about military affairs, and about medicinal secrets — an understanding of herbs, mushrooms, and how to look for the way through the stars.

Van began to teach Liszt, not only to shoot from a bow, but also to handle a club, an ax, a dagger and weapons of a few — a long bronze sword. Together with him, his friend Vett was engaged, the boy met other otrokami Respa, Gard and Gast and Safrak. The sun rose, and obedience began, future soldiers in the morning ran, jumped, threw a dart and learned to keep fire, which is also important, because it was a matter of life and death on a campaign in winter. The leaf showed how to set traps, and read the traces of animals in the forest, and how to confuse hunters and warriors, and to build a shelter in the forest both from the cold and from the rain. He taught and read generic embroideries on shirts to read, and how to communicate with strangers and not offend your own in conversation. He also showed the usual signs of writing for all relatives, so that they could send a message on a birch bark or a wooden board or read a message. The mentor and teacher of all the young men Zigi put Glom, an experienced warrior and one of the elders.

Snow’s classes were not easy either. Ora told and showed her herbs, and how to handle them, taught both secret runes and ordinary writing, how to guess how to throw lamb bones with secret signs. She began to go with the girl to the forest, showing herbs and flowers, mushrooms, and what bark, what trees are suitable for treatment. Dubrava and Podaga also worked with them, they also looked after the mentors’ children. Alena also remembered everything, and helped both, but she was also busy with household chores — helping her grandmother to watch the cattle, and the housework too.

Boat from Alatyr

Three days passed quickly, and the best hunters walked through the village, showed the skin of the bear and its head, and loudly glorified the owner of the forest, the ancestor of people. Ahead was Bor, the magician of the tribe, tapping a staff, with a clubfoot skin draped over his head. The hostesses began to prepare a treat, because spring was approaching, the cold was leaving, the cattle were giving offspring, and everyone was happy with a new life.

The Huns poured out into the street, dressed in masks, no matter what their bear recognized, danced, presented the hunters with pies, and finally the Purans went into the forest to cook ritual food from boiled bear meat. In the evening, the whole tribe, dressed in masks, sat down at the bowls with boiled meat, eating sacred food, and then, according to ritual, came to the Bor tables.

— Who eats bear meat? asked the Magi in a menacing voice, and shook him with a staff.

— Not us,“ people answered in unison, „they eat crows, bite meat, swallow veins, eat skin.

— Well, I’ll show them, — and Bor ran away from the forest clearing.

People milked the meat, sitting still in the cold forest, so that there was not a piece left, and silently, necessarily silently, went home, and between the houses Bor walked and growled all night, depicting the beast eaten. The next morning, the whole village, people dressed up in mourning clothes, and carried the bones of the beast, on a stretcher, into the forest to bury. The bones of the bear were lined with birch bark, decorated with spruce branches, and solemnly laid in a hole under a tree.

Finally, everything was over, the Huns-Hans stood in festive clothes by the river, and then a hunter rushed in on a deer, all out of breath, and approached Zigi and Bor standing nearby.

— The boat is going along the Ob, from Alatyr, the sail is red,“ he said, interrupting to catch his breath, „last year they came on a sleigh…

— As they can, so they pass, — Zigi stood up for the envoys, — everything is better on the boat. In the lower reaches of the Ob, they walked on a sleigh, and the boat, it was light, also put it on a sleigh, and so they hurried.

— Yes, the servants bring a new fire from Alatyr. Zigi, lime the hostesses, let them blow out the old fire, Novy came from Alatyr.

— Well, Magi, — Zigi nodded his head, called the boy, and he sent turquoise, who began to walk, screaming, past the courtyards, so that they would extinguish the fire in the foci.

At the pier, a crowd of people met, and men, women, children, and already ropes pull the boat to the pier, and first they demolish the novice from Alatyr in their arms, and behind her two soldiers carry a stretcher with a sacred clay vessel braided with a vine. Hundreds of eyes looked at this, because under the clay cover was stored the New Fire, obtained by the Spikes, and no one knew how they did it. The stretcher did not stand for long, they were picked up by Lind and Zigi, the leaders of the Huns and Mans, the important Bor was ahead, tapping his staff, followed by the selected Veduns of the Huns and Mans, and the other five tribes, with the same vessels, but empty. So they came to the sanctuary, surrounded by tyn, knocked on it three times.

— Who are you? — the servants shouted, without opening the gate, — and with what came to us?

— New fire is granted to us, open.

— Will always be open to those who ask, — said the ritual words of the ministers, and the carved gates were wide open, and bowed low to the new fire.

Zigi and Lind carried the sacred burden behind the fence, leaving a stretcher on the threshold of the temple, and left the land of the sacred place. Bor himself brought the pot storing the fire inside the carved temple, with wooden carved columns painted ochre scarlet. Many artists worked for many weeks to create such beauty. White smoke rose above the roof of the temple, a sign that a fire of sacred coals from Alatyr had flared up. The magi of the union of tribes passed inside, filling their vessels, also braided with ivy, with the fiery embers of newborn fire, and going, accompanied by enthusiastic youths, to their villages. After that, Bor came out with a large vessel filled to the brim with burning coals, and the servants went with this burden to the houses of the Hun village, endowing people only with the born Fire, cleansing the souls and hearts of people. In other villages, Bor also sent youths with coals from the sacred fire, so that no one would feel deprived. New smoke was already rising above the houses from the hearths, ignited by hostesses from the coals of Bora, and preparing a festive meal on a new flame.

Zigi invited the envoys from Alatyr, two soldiers from the mouth of the Ob. The novice girl, adjusting the hem of the dress, dusted him off from dust and litter, and wrapped herself in a fur coat, looked at the greeters, and could not take her eyes off the three youths, two girls and a young man. She looked painfully into the face of the tallest and most beautiful girl, and now she herself went to her, the same familiar floating gait. The novice’s eyes opened, and the pink mouth was ready to pronounce the name, she recognized her…

«Be quiet,» the acquaintance hissed rather than said.

— Ella, are you here? We thought you drowned, everyone was so sad… Mara only talked about you, and so did Pryakhi… After all, you already went to the cherished cave, passed the initiation, — and she looked at Ella’s wrists, — and you do not wear bracelets…

— Don’t tell anyone, Tara, you have to… Spinners will be forced to return, and there it is not far from trouble… Swear you won’t reveal me… I helped you… I have never seen all this beauty — and she looked around the Ob coast, — Trees, flowers, grass, butterflies… I haven’t seen it yet, but they say it’s very, very, beautiful.

— Then you saved all of us in the boat, we didn’t breathe anymore… pulled out of the sea of drowned… But… — and Tara thought, and grinned, — you, Ella, give yourself out. Like you, how will you hide? You can’t run away from yourself.

— Thank you, — the Snow Maiden blossomed — Ella, — not a word to anyone, Tara.

Zima and Alena approached them, Van went on business with Respe and Vett to help spread new fire to their homes.

— Hello girl, — Winter bowed to Tara, — stop with us before you go back. The bath is heated, you will wash from the road.

— Thank you, I will be glad, — the girl nodded back, and raised her travel tusk from the ground. They all walked together from the pier, treading carefully on the melting snow, trying not to soak their feet at this time, the time of thaw. Winter and Tara walked ahead, and Snow lagged behind, and Alena with her.

«So your name is Ella,» the girl whispered, «and you are already a dedicated witch, at fourteen?» And are you from Alatyr? — and her big mouth was preparing to speak incessantly, and her eyes betrayed the girl’s extreme amazement.

«Don’t give me away, Alenka! I didn’t do anything bad to anyone, I don’t want to eyelids in a mountain cave! Pryakhi would not have let me out with good from Alatyr, I had to run. I hid in a boat that brought supplies to the Vedunas. So I got there. And my name is here Snow, so you call…

— Good, because that’s the name… — the girl just said, — They don’t call anyone… Ella is the guardian of the kingdom of the dead.

The Mystery of Ella

«You promised,» the girl said imperiously, taking Alena’s hand in her own, «swear that you will not tell anyone, not even your brother and grandmother about me.»

— Well, — Alena said sadly, looking at Ella from under the edges, — then will you tell me how it is on the Island? And why didn’t they let you out to people?

— They were afraid for me, — and she led with her shoulder, — and all this is not so good, Alena. You will follow that path, you will not stop, you will learn from Ora, you will get used to treating people, and you will not be able to refuse help to anyone. And then, — and she lowered her eyes into the melting snow, — you will feel everyone’s pain, and so on without end, — and she turned her gaze to the trees in the forest, — And then you can see something else…

— What is it?»

— Their… One of the Twins, — Ella had already fallen into half-asleep, and clung to Alena’s hand, her eyes did not see her, they were pulled by a haze, — in a dream… They only come in a dream, whom they want to experience… You can’t go wrong… The white marble face is like inanimate, then the head burns with fire… So, noticed… If the brother came, then nothing, then he must change something in the world of people… But if the sister… Then you will not live long, and you will do something for people, you will save or protect, but soon the Sister will take to her.

Alena looked at the named sister without stopping, and even in such cold weather she soaked up, even in a warm sheepskin coat, and listened and listened to what the girl who had fallen into unconsciousness was saying. I only swallowed convulsively, afraid to miss even a word, listened to everything and remembered what such a young, but already great witch says. And she began to understand what her grandmother told her about the knowledge of knowledge — that it was not easy, and hard work, not everyone could handle, and in strength. They approached the house, and the girl shook Snow by the shoulder.

— Wake up the Snow, they will notice that you are not in yourself.

— What? Did I fall asleep? — the girl asked, pulling her palm out of Alenina’s hands.

— For a second, see, tired of the road too.

— Well, thank you for not letting fall into the snow, or even into a cow cake, that would be funny to everyone, — and she smiled, — and you, Alenka, remember the oath. And I will help you in everything, do not doubt.

— All right.

They all entered the house together, Van sat at the hearth, followed the young Fire, putting dry branches, Winter battered his curls on his head, and went down to the basement, for smoked fish. She returned and took a guest from Alatyr to the bathhouse. The novice washed quickly, Winter spent her, and met, gave a clean, and sat at the table, in an honorable place. My grandmother laid out dishes on the table, bowls and spoons, drinking vessels, everything was made of wood, and lit two more lamps. She put the fish in bowls, pushed Tara’s food, put it both for the children and for herself. Poured on buckets and honey, instead of the usual herbal infusion, for the sake of the holiday, and dear guest.

«All with great triumph,» and she lifted the wooden bucket up, «and for all of us sitting together at the same table.

Finally they ate, and then Winter bedded the guest on a free shop, putting wolf warm furs, and Tara went to bed. Only a small lamp remained burning in the upper room, reflecting the light with a bronze mirror, and everyone had dreams, but only Alena could not sleep, after what she heard, and at night Tara coughed a lot, but then fell asleep again.