Ahani awoke from the heart-rending screams of birds . He was lying on his back on the grass, pressed against a warm black stone. The stone quivered, was not hard, and seemed to be covered with coal-colored velvet.
Opening his eyelids with difficulty, the young man saw before him a bright azure sky and large gulls, often scurrying before his eyes in rapid squawking lumps.
The sky swirled before my eyes. There was a sharp pain in his stomach and he coughed. Then the contents of his stomach spilled out onto the grass and became lighter.
The fair-haired Surya, high in the sky, lavished warmth and light on the earth. Birds flew swiftly over the mirror-like surface of the great lake, searching for unwary fish that swam close to the surface of the water, and their heart-rending cries woke Ahani.
He could feel the coolness of the river and hear the soothing lapping of the calm waves. This sound was much more pleasant to the ear, in contrast to the night noisy rumble of rapid streams that carried him with them and beat on passing boulders. It seems that the river, having played enough, threw him on a gentle grassy Bank.
Ahani winced in pain. His whole body ached, especially his left shoulder. He unhooked his right hand from the strange, warm stone and gently touched his shoulder.
The stone sensed the young man's movement and snorted happily. It turned out to be a Daeva. He was able to catch up with Ahani in a fast stream, and with his unconscious friend he climbed out to the shore and spent the rest of the night warming the young man with his warmth, clinging to him.
"Daev, good morning, Daev," Ahani said, and stroked the horse's withers and thick mane.
The horse whinnied happily in response and shook his head, breathing hot breath directly into his friend's face.
Ahani's wolf cloak was frayed and wet. The young man finally unzipped it and took it off and threw it on the sun-warmed grass. He was left in a long shirt woven by his mother. His shirt was wet, too, and clung to his slender body.
Ahani looked around, and Daev rose to his feet and, with a sense of accomplishment, began to nibble at the lush coastal grass.
The air battle of gulls in the sky has acquired not a joking character. When one of the birds picked up a small fish from the waves of a small dam, the others rushed after it, hoping to take away the fluttering silver scales prey. Gulls loudly squeaked and roared, rapid movements tried to catch up with a more successful bird, but all was in vain and she managed to dive into a hole on the far Bank and it seems to quickly eat there prey. The other birds began to fly low again over the waves of the small lake, searching for food.
Ahani stood up and leaned over the water, hoping to see his reflection. A tall, thin young man looked up at him from the fluttering surface of the waves. There was a small bruise under his right eye, and two new long scratches appeared on his left cheek. It seems that a violent stream fairly shook the unconscious body of the young man at night.
With a crash of snapping threads, the guy tore the right sleeve from his shirt, revealing a tanned embossed arm and tried to tie his left shoulder as tightly as possible. The blood from the wolf's fangs had long since stopped bleeding, but every movement brought a sharp pain and threatened to reopen the lingering scars. There were also small wounds on the young man's right wrist, but they didn't seem to be dangerous.
Ahani's hands scooped up clean and cool water, startling a flock of gray fry, and the young man drank enough. The water was delicious and not cold, but already warmed by the sun.
Now he could see a small waterfall in the mist on his right hand. A small rainbow played in the rushing water. The water fell with a dull roar from the highlands at a height of about two men's height and then spread out into a large lake. It seems that from there and brought the flow of Ahani at night, and then the waves and the faithful Daev pulled him to the shore.
The young man finally got out of the water and stepped on a hard Bank with sparse tufts of grass and many stones and boulders. His belly begged for food. Then he threw off his wet shirt and trousers and spread them out on the sun — warmed boulders, taking particular care of the sparkling stones-Ahani took them out of his waist bag and put them under the sun's rays. Then he took two arrows from his quiver and went into the lake. When he reached the depth of the water above his waist, he stopped and froze.
The young man held his breath and stared down at his feet. The water was clear and the bottom was clearly visible underfoot. It was all littered with stones of various sizes, shapes, and colors. Flocks of small fish maneuvered between them and sometimes skittishly hid in the sparse low algae when they saw other fish slightly larger.
Ahani stood motionless for a long time, so Surya began to warm his bare shoulders. One of the arrows was clenched between the young man's teeth, and the other was held tightly in his right hand.
A large silver dragonfly buzzed down on his wounded shoulder, wrapped in beige linen, and Ahani winced. The insect was the size of a young man's hand, and with huge mirror-like balls of eyes it regarded the strange creature on which it sat.
The dragonfly was in no hurry to fly away. It bounced up and down often, flew around Ahani's head with a crackling sound, and then sat down again on the favorite fabric, straightening its long transparent wings with white veins.
The young man had to endure. It was impossible to move, because it would frighten away the big fish for which he had started this whole water hunt. He was also very hungry. There was almost no pain from the dragonfly, more anxiety and annoyance.
Sparse fluffy clouds floated across the bright azure sky. And when one of them briefly covered the face of Surya with its loose, whitish body, Ahani sighed with relief and his shoulders cooled a little.
As time went on. Daev had already stopped nibbling at the grass on the Bank, having had enough. A faint steam rose from the clothing spread out on the coastal boulders.
The lake, surrounded on all sides except the South by gently sloping, mottled hills, was gradually warming. On the South side of it hung an impenetrable curtain of thick milky clouds. But Ahani knew that behind this veil the stone cliffs were already beginning. And then the mountains.
A warm wind blew in occasional gusts and rippled the sparkling water. Sometimes strange water — skimmer insects that could run on the water, busily scurried past the frozen young man, from their small paws on the water diverged the same small circles.
At last the fish that Ahani had been waiting for for so long appeared. She carefully poked her pointed snout out of the seaweed and swam close to the young man's feet. It was light gray in color and about the size of a lamb. Its large scales glittered in the sunlight, and the movements of its large fins were smooth and sure.
The corners of Ahani's lips curled up in satisfaction, and his right hand, with the arrow clenched, moved very slowly in the same direction.
The young man already felt in his mouth juicy taste of fish meat, fried on coals and thought how many days of travel this big fish will last, if it is salted in the sun and how it will have to be dragged with him. Cut and tie the pieces of her meat and carry it on your back, or still somehow tie them to your belt, or still throw the meat on Daeva?
The fish swam very close to Ahani, so that it almost touched his knee. The young man brought down his right hand with an arrow with all his strength.
Splashes of water sprang up. A bone point impaled on a shaft ripped through the water. Knocked out a couple of scales on the side of the fish. But she deftly dodged and ran away. Ahani screamed in frustration and dived after her, holding the arrow in front of him.
But again only scratched a few scales on her side. The fish recoiled and swam away, twisting its lithe, well-fed body triumphantly and mockingly.
Ahani surfaced. The bandage on his shoulder was wet and there was a speck of blood on it. Shaking his head in frustration, he walked back to the beach. Daev met him with a whinny and an impatient clatter of hooves.
Ahani looked like a water God now. Wet and covered with dark green seaweed, the young man was all glistening with water. Warm plentiful streams trickled down from his long hair, leaving wet footprints on the stones behind him.
Quickly seizing the bow, Ahani laid a wet, ill-fated arrow on it. Stretching out his battered bowstring, he waited for a moment, watching the sky and stepping cautiously away from the water. Then he squinted and fired. A gull squeaked piteously in the sky and fell like a stone. Ahani walked behind her.
The bowstring sent out the last arrow and snapped. The double-curved yew shaft arched and straightened, and the young man sighed miserably and gently lowered the sodden bow to the ground.
Later, when the coals of the small fire were burning low and the young man had gnawed the last of the bird's bones, he wiped his fingers contentedly on the grass. Although the meat was tasteless and tough, it filled his stomach.
"Come, Daev," Ahani said to the horse, pulling on his clothes and boots. — We still have a long way to go.
The horse whinnied approvingly in response. And they went on southward, skirting the lake along the rocky shore toward the thick white clouds.