6

Finish it!" His dull voice made me hang my head on my chest. "Finish it!" he repeated.

"I didn't want this at all..." I moaned.

"What didn't you want? Didn't you want to break away? From those restrictions? From their rules and commandments? Didn't you want to escape? Didn't you want to gallop through the fields where the sun is born and dies?" You didn't want to again...

"Stop! Stop!" I clutched my head in a desperate gesture. "Stop... Stop!

" "Lewuda," he whispered. "Forgive me... This is happening too fast... too fast..."

He hugged me even tighter. He felt me ​​trembling, racked by spasms of sobbing. He sat down in the grass again and placed me on his lap. The sound of wind and water brought me back to life, to normality... my hazy thoughts gradually cleared... very slowly, consciousness returned... And he did nothing. He closed his eyes, lifting his head toward the blue sky, and gently stroked my hair. With my forehead resting on his chest, I sat like that for a long time. Locked in emptiness and darkness. Where there were no thoughts, where there was nothing. The clatter of horses' hooves broke us from the silence. A black horse with a mane braided into tiny braids stood right next to us, still panting from its long gallop.

"We've already set out, my Lord. The wagons are heading west." A clear female voice pierced the darkness. I shuddered and looked at the warrior with the narrow scar on her cheek.

"Riona..." I whispered, running to my horse. "Riona...! I remember... I remember...!"

The girl smiled at me, jumping to the ground. For a moment, she cradled me in her arms.

"I didn't remember... There's still a lot I don't remember... my friend..."

"Shh," she whispered in my ear. "The memories will return in our city. We're going back there now. You'll be home soon.

" "Riona... forgive me..." I sobbed, sinking helplessly to my knees. "I didn't want all this... I really didn't..."

The warrior in black armor watched silently as I knelt at her feet. Her face darkened. Her eyes grew sad. After a moment, she mounted her horse and galloped across the meadow. Only the rustle of the wind accompanied it. Qajin knelt beside me and cupped my face in both hands. I looked at him uncertainly.

"You must be strong, Lewuda," he whispered. "We need you in the city. I need you. You can't close your soul to me. You can't run. You can't...

" "Qajin," I clung to him. "Help me... help me, please...

" "I'm here. We'll both get through this."

We rode for a long time, galloping through the meadows. We passed groves and small streams carving their way through the tall grass. Gigantic white clouds drifted overhead in the blue sky. It was already getting dark when we finally spotted clouds of dust on the horizon, kicked up by huge two-wheeled carts loaded with gold, hides, vessels, and other treasures. The warriors either rode in horse-drawn carts or marched in ranks, spears and swords in hand. Ready for battle at any moment. We still had a long way to go before we reached the beginning of the procession. There were so many of them, almost all men, with sun-tanned faces, strong bodies, and light, black armor. The armor I had come to know so well in my dreams. And above them fluttered banners—their emblem was a black wolf. The earth trembled under their footsteps, and we slowly moved westward. The sun was sinking into the trees ahead of us. The sky glowed a mixture of purple and red. I couldn't see Riona anywhere. I'd lost her in the crowd. I didn't know... I'd forgotten so much. And yet, I apologized to her for something that filled my heart with sadness. How long had we been traveling? All night, until dawn. My body, numb from the cold, refused to obey me. Tired and aching, I sat down by the fire the warriors had lit. They watched me with curiosity. The diadem on my forehead told me who I was. I stared blankly at the fire, which played with the shadows on the faces of my companions, making them even more grotesque.

"Gracious One!" A sudden cry made everyone turn their heads towards the man running towards us. "Most Gracious One!" He fell at my feet. "Please help...

" "It's Brictius. His son was wounded in the last battle."

I looked at the man, whose hair was already white with age. I rose from the fire and followed him. For a moment the man said nothing, but then a steady stream of words burst from his throat. He told me what a brave boy his son was, how distinguished he had been in battle, and how proud he was of him. He praised him for his perseverance and the care he gave his siblings. By the time we reached the black tent pitched somewhere on the edge of the gigantic camp, the boy had risen to the rank of a demigod in my eyes. We entered. A short, plump woman dressed in monk's robes knelt over the boy, whose body was burning, sweat streaming down his body. He writhed in convulsive pain, clutching an old bearskin in his sword-hardened hands. The woman quickly moved away from the sick man and, hood pulled low over his face, left the tent. For a moment, I moved my hand over the boy's body. The wound on his shoulder was deeply red and already fading to black. I closed my eyes, praying to the Spirits to help me save this young man's life. Almost at that same moment, a violent spasm ripped through my body. Cold seeped into my mouth, ears, and nostrils. I stepped away from the sick man's bed. The wounded man's father stared at me, eyes wide with fear. He saw me enveloped in black mist. The billowing smoke crackled and hissed like burning tar, and amidst the turmoil, red eyes gleamed. Eyes full of anger, hatred, and a thirst for revenge. I tried to rise, but my body fell limply to the ground. I was sinking into darkness. I wandered through a dark valley, where the dry skeletons of trees tore at the cloudy sky. I was alone, surrounded by white mist that snaked between the individual tufts of grass. I was cold. So terribly cold. I took my next steps uncertainly. Around me, only silence. So deafening, I could hear my own heart beating rapidly. Suddenly, the bright moonlight revealed a hill covered with withered wild rose bushes. At its summit, I saw a boy suspended from a wooden X-shaped structure. He was suffering, and his desperate cry echoed throughout the desolate valley. Black flames of fire swirled around him. I heard their soft hiss. As if in a delirium, I ran toward the hill. At the last moment, I stopped before the tall rose bushes. There was no way up. There was no path, and strangely, I guessed I wouldn't find any either, that the only way to save his life was... Slowly, I began to squeeze through the thorny branches. They tore at my arms, my neck, my stomach... they tore at my black armor, my hair... I felt warm blood trickling down my thighs... With each passing moment, the pain became more and more unbearable, but just when I thought I would lose consciousness, the boy's piercing screams spurred me to take another step. My journey seemed endless.When I finally fell to my knees with a soft groan in the small clearing where the cross stood, every inch of my body was already riddled with sharp thorns. Black flames hung motionless in the air. They surrounded me on all sides. I felt their searing heat on my face. They were everywhere. They clung to my body, drinking my blood. I waved my hand to ward them off, but that only encouraged them. I coughed, spitting blood from my mouth. A violent wave of weakness washed over me, causing me to fall limply to the ground. I struggled to breathe through lungs that were constricted by pain.

"Lewuda...!" a powerful voice echoed in my head. "I'm here.

Qajin... it was Qajin..." Dazed by pain, I tried to gather my thoughts. But my body wouldn't listen. And the black flames continued to greedily suck my blood. With each swallow, they grew more powerful. I couldn't allow them to grow stronger...

"Rise," I heard Qajin's voice again. "You must touch him. Do you hear?

I heard, but how could I? I was so weak. My body was no longer mine.

" "You must rise! You can't stay there! They will devour your soul, along with your blood! Lewuda...! They are uniting with you...

" "Qajin..." I whispered with the last of my strength.

He was right. They were now permeating not only my body, but my soul as well. They were staining it with their hatred. They polluted my thoughts and forced me to submit to their will, to stay in this place and let them feed on my blood.

"Rise, Lewuda! Rise!" Qajin's voice tore me from the darkness of their bodies.

They poured through me like water through a riverbed. They made my body numb and then relax in convulsive spasms. Pain sapped the last of my strength.

"Return to me! Return to me! You must return... do you hear me? You must return!"

A terrifying scream tore from my throat as, with the last of my strength, I rose to my feet, then, taking slow steps, approached the boy. I felt the black flames tearing into my body. They wanted to hold me, but it was too late. I drew a pentagram in blood on the unconscious man's forehead.

"May the pentagram surround you..." I whispered, trembling and reeling from my feet. "With its protection day and night... and the wrong hands... it will burn and shrink in agony..."

The blinding white light that enveloped his body pierced the darkness of this desolate land. A terrifying, animalistic shriek and the shrieks of the fires rose in the silence. The white glow tore them from my body. It tore even more into my already scarred skin. It was driving me unconscious, when suddenly... suddenly everything stopped. In the white light, I fell into peace. I had torn his soul from the spirits of sickness... they had succeeded! Qajin's warm voice brought me to my senses in Brictius's tent. The boy was now sleeping peacefully. I smiled at his father. Then I shifted my eyes to Qajin.

"I helped him..." But blood clotted my mouth. I looked at my hands. They were covered in blood. Covered in my blood...

Terrified, I looked at Qajin. I wanted to say something, but I couldn't. Blood trickled from my mouth in a thin stream.

"Don't be afraid," Qajin's voice reached me as if through a fog. "I'll take care of you..."

I regained consciousness feeling the wooden wheels of the wagon I was lying on strike the uneven stones of the road. I groaned softly, touching my bandaged hand to my cold forehead. The sheet that protected me from the rain fluttered above me. Yes... the raindrops were beating so hard that for a moment I thought it was war drums thundering somewhere in the distance... I sat down unsteadily on the bearskin bed.

"I'm glad you've regained consciousness," I turned, hearing a strange, guttural voice right behind me.

"W-who are you?" I moaned, unable to see anything in the darkness but small, round eyes.

"My name is Aodnait. I am one of your Guardians...

" "Please show yourself..."

From the other end of the wagon, I heard the flutter of large wings, and then I saw a large, gray owl perched on the headboard of my bed. It was watching me with its large eyes.

"Greetings, Aodnait." I touched my forehead with my fingertips, then my lips, then my chest.

The owl turned its head slightly to the side and flapped its large wings.

"I remember you," I said, leaning my back against the cold wood of the wagon. "You were with me when I gathered herbs in the forest and when I worked in the fields with the village Guardians . You circled the sky when I performed the Moon and Sun Birth Rites...

" "That's true, Tallija... or should I call you Lewuda?" The owl's rasping voice sent shivers down my spine. "I had to watch you. Qajin and I were waiting for you. For the right time to take you back home...

" "Were you watching me?

" "We were worried about you, but we also knew we had to give you time. It took us many weeks to find..." The wagon stopped abruptly, sending Aodnait flying into the air and flying out. I jumped out of the wagon. We stopped in a dark forest, its mighty trees forming a dense canopy above our heads. Here and there, massive boulders rose from the ground like enormous statues. Green moss cascaded down to the ground, making the entire forest even darker and more depressing.

"What happened?

" "We'll be entering the city soon," one of the warriors replied. "We have a short stop ahead of us. It won't be long now."

I glanced around, searching for Qajin. A distinct relaxation had settled over the warriors. The buzz of conversation echoed through the forest. Indeed, we would soon be entering the city everyone called my home.

"Qajin asked you to change," Riona handed me a heavy bundle. "I'll wait here for you with my horse. The city knows you're returning.

" "I don't understand..."

"Qajin hasn't told you anything yet?" she sighed. "You're a Druid, aren't you?" she pointed at my tiara. "In our city, you're a member of the Council of High Priests. You and Qajin are our King's closest advisors. The city knows you, and the King is waiting impatiently."

Wordlessly, I followed her to a tiny lake hidden among the bushes and moss-covered boulders. When Riona left me alone, I removed my bloody bandages and, with relief, plunged into the cold water. The crack of a twig snapping, tore me from my thoughts. After a moment, Qajin emerged from among the long ropes of green moss hanging from the branches.

"What are you doing here?" I moaned, blushing.

"I wanted to take a ritual bath with you before we enter the city..." He was removing his armor.

I covered my face with my hands. The sight of his bare chest sent a violent wave of desire through me. So wild that I could barely contain it myself. I didn't want to look at him. It had been so long since I'd felt anything like this, nothing that caused me so much pain and pleasure at the same time. He slowly pulled my hands away from my face, sinking into the water. His violet eyes gazed at me with such intensity that a soft sigh escaped my throat. With a large, rough hand, he brushed my hair back from my forehead, then scooped water into both hands and began rubbing it into my hair. He also picked nearby herbs and, dipping them in the water, gently rubbed them into my skin. I felt my strength returning. I slowly relaxed. The pleasant scent of fresh herbs filled my nostrils. He ran his hands along my body, warming them with his warmth. He saw that he was stirring desire in me. He saw my entire body quiver under his touch, but he did nothing to change it. He continued to torment me mercilessly. Finally, it was my turn. I picked the herbs I knew would help him regain his strength and calm him. Qajin sat calmly, breathing deeply with his eyes closed. From afar, I could hear the warriors' conversations. Every now and then, they would burst into loud laughter. When I finished, Qajin turned to me. He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me close. I felt his warmth through my body and wrapped my arms tightly around his neck, wishing he wouldn't let me go again. It all felt so familiar. So close, so longed for, so long awaited... I could hear his heart beating rapidly, and his breathing was no longer so calm and deep.

"Don't let me go," I moaned softly, not even realizing the meaning of those words.

"I've waited so long..." His hand traveled up my back. A delicious shiver made me cling even closer to him.

Qajin shivered. I could feel his excitement, and the realization fueled my desire even more. Suddenly, he lifted me onto his shoulders, stepped out of the water, and set me down. Without a word, he began dressing.