Chapter Nine: The voice

The Sun had already risen above the horizon and the mountains. The golden morning light illuminated the beautiful forest and the magnificent lake once again. The weather was a little warmer than the day before, so some of the snow melted, making it possible to see some trees with their bare branches and many others that still had their reddish leaves remaining from autumn.
Aliosha had finally fallen asleep, after that long night that had left his head spinning, battling against a sea of feelings and scrambled thoughts.
"Good morning, warriors!," Malaika said with a smile on her youthful, freckled face, holding her sword in hand as she prowled through the makeshift beds and tents of her fellow travelers.
Dylara managed to open her eyes after stretching herself a little. Listening to Malaika gave her a boost of enthusiasm, which made her get up quickly to start the day. The girl took off the blankets, tidied her hair to put on the hat, and stretched its veil. In a jiffy she was already with her sword tied around her waist, looking at her instructor excitedly. Next to her, the outlaws were lined up, also excited.
Aliosha, on the other hand, had to be forcibly awakened, but he was still sleepy. It seemed that the boy who was known for his responsibility, his punctuality, and for getting up early; was no longer able to have everything under his control.
"You have already learned basic moves, and we'll continue to practice them. But let me be clear about this," said the young redhead, looking up and down at her students and playing with her weapon. "Many of your enemies will be magical creatures and you must be careful with them. Especially with demons. They feed off fear. Do not be afraid!"
"She's saying it like if it was easy!" Evgen said with a laugh, glancing at his teammates before starting to practice with them and Dylara. Sergei, meanwhile, raised his eyes upward.
"I don't know if I feel well enough to train today," Aliosha said to Vladimir, sitting on the log next to the extinguished fire and running his green eyes over a page of the book that the witch had given the group for days. before. This page featured an illustration of what appeared to be an owl with a human face painted in beautiful colors and various annotations written in gold ink and intricate calligraphy similar to that used in religious or highly important texts.
"Don't worry, if you want you can accompany me to look for supplies in the nearest community," Vladimir answered, ruffling the boy's hair with his hand.
He looked at the child and noticed some tension in the look at him. The emotionally busy night before had turned its head upside-down.
"It will be like a little walk," he added.
Aliosha continued reading the page she was on, raised her gaze to Vladimir, and nodded. Maybe spending a little time with him could distract him.
"Are there people living here?" The twelve-year-old boy asked the pale young man.
"Yes, Megrez told me about an Evsk tribe that lives near the lake. They will surely help us. ” Vladimir replied.
Aliosha closed the book, got up from the log, and decided to follow Vladimir.
"Follow me, I'll show you the way," a beautiful, calm, and strong voice came from a few meters behind the boy, "and don't leave my sight."
The boy turned around and saw Megrez, who apparently didn't need to sleep for her body to function decently because after all, she was a magical creature. Aliosha's heart began to beat faster when he saw the tiger, but he gulped and decided to walk beside the animal and Vladimir.
"We'll go find supplies." Behave during our absence!" exclaimed the tiger and they three left, walking through the forest.
The metallic sound of the clashing swords was blended with that of the small waves that furrowed the surface of the lake harmoniously. The bright rays of the sun reflected off the blades of these weapons, painting a luminous piece of art in the clear forest air.
"Ha!" Do you think you will be able to defeat me? ”Said the brown Evgen to the dark Taras while both clashed their edges and Ivan let out a nasal laugh from behind, waiting his turn to face Taras, As for Sergei, he was collecting cold water with his glass on the shore of the lake
"Very good!" Malaika exclaimed in a cheerful and firm tone, dodging the blade of Dylara's saber, and then attacking the girl with hers, who managed to block the blow in a reflex "Way to go, girl! Woohoo!"
The teenager was having a lot of fun with the sword fighting classes. Everything was new, but at the same time, she felt it flowing naturally. Malaika's great work was making her rescue from the depths of her head what her people had taught her as a child and perfecting it. She felt that this was the place that she belonged to and where she wanted to be. Besides, it was a good way to entertain her mind after the fateful and bitter nightmare she had the night before. A dream that she surprisingly felt very real and she feared with all her strength that it was real.There was something inside her mind telling her that such bad dream about the Dark Army capturing her family was a true event, but the enjoyable activity in which she was involved prevented her from starting to cry in the middle of the forest.
The training continued as usual. The group had not even noticed the absence of Vladimir, Aliosha, and Megrez; until a melodic and beautiful song broke through the wind and the tinkling of the brass. It was a very beautiful, soft, and hypnotic female voice, similar to that of those shepherds of the northern tribes who herd their reindeer by singing. The mysterious voice multiplied and now seemed to be a small chorus.
"What's that?" Dylara asked, stopping what she was doing like everyone else in the group did. The answer to her question wasn’t going to take long ; but it would not come as words, but rather in a graphical way.
The duo of Taras and Evgen had suddenly stopped their fight, and both men's eyes had turned white as the beautiful chant entered through their ears. This effect would be replicated a couple of seconds later on Ivan and Sergei. Then they started behaving strangely; staggering, babbling nonsense, and trying to climb trees. It looked like all the men had gone crazy!
The chorus of songs grew closer and closer. A choked "Oh no" came out of Malaika's throat, who ran to find the book that Aliosha had left on the side of the trunk he was sitting at before leaving. Malaika opened the book to the last page he read before leaving, showing the colorful illustration.
Both girls turned on their backs when they noticed that the mysterious singers were getting closer. They saw three creatures that had the body of a bird and the head of a woman, perched among the branches of the trees. They all had long blond hair, delicate facial features, and colorful plumage.
"Oh, beautiful maiden!" Said Evgen and Ivan in unison, perched on a branch with a bad modulation and a tone similar to that of drunkenness. As they got closer and closer to the edge of the branch that surely would not hold their weight longer, they chanted " I love you and long for your beautiful voice and red soft lips!"
"Ugh, Sirins," said the little redhead when she saw the drawing and then made a face of disgust at the mellow of what she had just heard, with a hand on her forehead. She remembered reading about those dangerous beings days ago in Nodvragoda. “They are definitely under a spell."
"Thanks to the Stars in the sky, we are immune to their magic." We'll have to control them by ourselves, " replied the older redhead." If not, they'll die in the stupidest ways."
Dylara grabbed some of the saucepans that had been used the night before to make dinner and began pounding them to scare the Sirin away with the noise.
"I hope this doesn't attract more wild animals," Dylara thought worried as she hit one of the metal containers with her sword.
Malaika started to climb the tree and yelled at Evgen:
"What the hell are you doing there? Get down right now!"
The creature chuckled as she moved back and forth on the branch as if she was enjoying the scene. Dylara, meanwhile, approached the tree, hitting the pots with all her might to make the bird flee.The bird flew off the branch and the mesmerized youngsters fell stunned among some berry bushes that still kept their leaves in the winter. Malaika came down from the tree grumbling in frustration and found that Sergei was walking over the boulders on the shore, very close to the edge following another of the Sirins. Meanwhile, Taras had climbed another tree and was hanging headfirst, trying to catch the bird. Dylara went back hitting the pans, stunning the guys.
Malaika took the carpet that was next to the once bright campfire. She and the teen held it under the tree, to soften the fall of the robust man, who was headfirst on the branch. Dylara and Malaika hardly dragged the carpet to where the other two victims of the magical creatures. They were both tired of running from one place to another, but they continued their efforts so that no one in the group was injured. The Kozzakhi ran towards the camp to look for some element that could help.
"This could work!" Dylara thought after finding a long rope among the things that were inside the wagon located in the makeshift camp.
Malaika ran towards the rocks and then pulled the arm of the blond boy who was about to fall on some pointed stones that were in the lake and then dragged him towards the camp, locating him near the bush where his companions had fallen.They both grabbed one end of the rope and tied the four charmed like a bundle of bags on the back of a camel, to prevent them from escaping and doing some other stupid thing again. The Sirins meanwhile, kept hovering around the scene, laughing and singing.
"Now we must reverse the spell before they lose their memory... and the creatures eat them," said the young woman, holding back the laugh that the hilarious situation provoked and distilling a feeling of embarrassment in her eyes, observing the men who were tied with the rope Dylara and Malaika frightened the birds with the pans and tried to undo the magic in all the ways they knew. Not a bucket of lake water, a slap in their faces , or all the noise they made seemed to be enough for the stowaways to stop saying romantic nonsense to the magical birds. Finally, they both gave up exhaustion and sat down next to the bundled ones, watching the sirens with contempt.
"I hate you," Malaika said to the red-plumed Sirin which was trying to claw off her boot as Dylara giggled, and she grappled with her remaining strength against another one that was wanting to take away her Stellar Saber.
"Give me that! It's mine!”, the Kozzakhi girl snarled, pulling the saber towards herself.
Suddenly, a thunderous roar sounded through the trees, startling the pesky creatures. The girls looked up to see Megrez approaching, alongside Aliosha and Vladimir. They looked tired, while the humans' hair and clothes looked dirty and untidy, as if they had tried to run away from some sort of disaster.
"I left for just an hour and we almost ended up with half a crew in the afterlife. They're lucky they weren't Rusalki, otherwise, we'd have to search for them on the bottom of the lake," Megrez said, annoyed, watching all the fuss." Good work, ladies. Now, please rest."
The tiger positioned itself in front of the bundle of bondaged travelers and roared again. Their eyes slowly returned to normal, losing the white tint that characterized them during the last hour. Furthermore,their previously chatty mouths fell silent. The spell disappeared.
"What is this? What happened?" Aliosha asked, confused.
"We'd better not talk about that," Dylara chuckled, lying on the cold ground. It surely was a strange thing: she used to be the troublemaker one, but this time, she had to be the responsible one.
"I agree," Malaika replied, exhausted.
"And what happened to you, guys?", asked Taras.
"Hmm, I think we won't talk about it either", responded Vladimir.
Although the Sirin attack thankfully came to an end, Dylara was still able to hear a heavenly song inside her head. A song that came from the North and that apparently called her. Her curiosity was increased when she saw that the other people who were with her seemed not to perceive it, but Aliosha was watching her silently as if he, too, was being intrigued by the same sound.
"Is someone else able to hear it?" Could it be the Firebird? " The girl wondered, looking towards the immensity of the forest and then towards the blade of her saber that gleamed in the sun, while a cold wind blew through her red hair.

****

The cold wind blew softly, and the stones on the ground creaked under the footsteps of Megrez, Aliosha, and Vladimir. After walking for almost half an hour among firs, pines and larches, their destination could be seen in the distance.

The settlement was made up of numerous conical leather and wood tents, decorated with beautiful geometric designs woven with colored threads. The tents emitted white smoke from the holes in their ceilings. They were arranged in a circle, around a fire that was off. Next to the tents there were cultivated plots. Also, it was possible to see people walking alongside furry horses and near the big fire there was a kind of open-air market.
When they got closer, some villagers were on alert, ready to defend themselves in case the visitors tried to attack. But when they saw and heard the tiger, they lowered their weapons and let the trio get into the village. They showed a lot of respect towards magical creatures, so the company of a dæmom meant that the trio did not represent a significant danger.
Aliosha watched with fascination everything around him, which was very different from what he used to see in his city. One of the things that he discovered about himself throughout the trip was the curiosity that he generated when faced with cultures and places different from his own. Everything was new to him, and at the same time, interesting. He felt that he had to learn more and more about the world around him and furthermore, he had noticed that diving into books not only fueled his curiosity, but also drowned out his anxiety.

"We will look for food, medicine and ... whatever it takes," Vladimir said, taking out some coins from the bag that he was carrying, which he got from his brother days ago at Nodvragoda. The other members of the group nodded silently.
The three foreigners were kindly received by a man who guided them to the small market and pointed out where to find what they were looking for, while other people watched the group as they carried musical instruments and murmured among themselves.
"How do they know you?" Aliosha asked Megrez without looking at him, while the group walked between the tables that were arranged with various types of products on them, among which there were quite peculiar elements such as dolls that contained infinite copies of themselves or jugs full of eyes that moved to observe passersby "And how is it that they have so much contact with magic?" Since we met Shirkania I have had these doubts."
"Living closer to Nature can open your mind more to magic, dear," Megrez replied, directing his gaze to the teenager.
"I hadn't thought about it before, but it's very true," Vladimir said, looking at the sky and then staring at the pretty ritual flute their guide was carrying in his hands, which seemed to be made of deer bones.
The boy was silent as he walked, but a strange sound began to bother his ear, a faint sound that seemed like a distant angelic song. He pressed his ears like when he tried to wash the water out of the lake the night before, with the intention that it would stop, but it did not work. However, he decided that he would not care, because apparently no one else seemed to hear it.
After a while, Vladimir had managed to get hold of various useful items for the rest of the trip, such as some vegetables, horse feed, and a jar of the prized lyubitel jelly, a blueberry from a vine that only grew on the larch trees from the Western Forest and had healing properties, often making it illegally traded.

"I think we have everything," said Vladimir, trying to carry several objects in his arms, while Aliosha approached him and tried to help him at putting them inside a cloth bag.

"One more thing is missing." Follow me, please, "Megrez suggested to his companions, looking at the man who was guiding the group through the village, who made some indications with his hand. The tiger continued its march, and the two humans obeyed.

Megrez, Aliosha and Vladimir, arrived at a dark purple tent that was next to a table full of jars. The aesthetic of this tent differed from the rest of the settlement, since the embroidered designs on its fabric were gold, which indicated that whoever who lived in it was someone very important.

"Come in, travelers," a deep and mysterious voice called them.

The three travelers entered the tent, and within it, there was a small central fire pit and numerous elaborately designed decorations and various musical instruments. Next to the fire was the village's shaman, who was an elderly man with long hair. He was dressed in a tunic of colorful geometric designs and wore a silver headdress on his head.

"So you come with company, messenger ..." said the shaman.

"Tell us, what do you see in the fire?" What luck will the trip bring us?", Megrez asked the mystic.

The shaman fanned the small fire in front of him and dumped some ceremonial pigment powder on it, spread his arms in his direction; and he watched the flame attentively, as did the three travelers.

"Child, come closer," he said to Alyosha in a serious, dark tone.

"What? Me?", Aliosha answered, distracted and with some fear due to the change in the man's voice, and he approached the magician, showing him his hands.

"Little one, I know you are on a journey and you are discovering many exciting things, but you must keep in mind that danger still lurks. I'm sorry to tell you, but you and your friend are not safe yet. You are surrounded by the right people, but your path will try to be diverted by a powerful darkness that you may have already heard of, but it is stronger than you think. Follow your messenger, child, ”, said the mystic, staring into the teenager's eyes and holding his hands.

***

At the Royal Palace, things were hectic. The preparations for the party and the increasing number of captured prisoners were two of the matters that most occupied the guards, servants and other personnel of the place.

Ivar was in the Mirror Chamber, sitting in a chair, with one hand on his forehead and staring at the great sapphire hanging from his necklace, which was the source of most of his magic.

He had set out to get rid of the children before they reached Alioth. He'd tried his fearsome pack, playing on his emotional stability, hoping the forest's own dangers would get their way, but those choices hadn't worked. The sapphire glowed the closer they got to the star, and he tried to quell that glow, to use his power.
Suddenly, he came up with another dirty trick.

"They are not indestructible," he said, rising from his chair and holding the jewel in his hand, as beautiful as it was dangerous. "There are still other ways." If my dogs couldn't, then let the Earth itself crush them.

"Please, stop. What are you doing with my power? I can't stand this anymore. I need to escape, I'm getting weaker" a soft voice sobbed inside his head. He didn't care.

The monarch held the shining stone in his hands next to the mirror, which showed the silhouette of a child next to a tiger, and spoke his spell, while his amber eyes were shining like the full moon,"Gde by vy ni byli, Zemlya dolzhna sodrognut'sya. Gde by vy ni byli, vy uvidite konets (*) "
The necklace lit up again, but with a dark light, like every time he used its magic.

And where the child and the tiger were, and only there, the earth shook.

---

━━━━━•❅•°•❈•°•❅•━━━━━

(*) Gde by vy ni byli, Zemlya dolzhna sodrognut'sya. Gde by vy ni byli, vy uvidite konets: Wherever you are, the Earth must shake. Wherever you are, you will see the end.