approached the tree and tore a fruit himself. He brought it to his nose, sniffed. Bit it slightly.
“Edible” he announced, smiling for the first time (what an unusual sight indeed!), and plunged his teeth into the juicy fruit.
The whole group rushed to the tree and subjected it to intense shaking. Do’Ayve was eating sweet juicy fruit until he realized that he simply couldn’t take in any more. And after a while, his stomach contracted with a sharp pain. Almost everybody’s did at the same time except for E’Do, who announced that henceforth everyone would know their limits and not overeat wild fruit.
With each passing day, the Itoshins observed more and more landscapes. The scenery changed, the colors changed. Each day was interesting in its own way – you could see something new and unusual. Simple, genuine joy came into the troop. Do’Ayve hadn’t felt it in the north, and he couldn’t understand the meaning of the words said by Goro, who preferred life in the north to the life in the Valley.
At the same time, Do’Ayve’s people remained in the cold, raw north and incomprehensible feelings of shame washed over him as he walked through flowering plains, eating juicy fruit, basking in the warm sun. The eternal struggle with the demons remained.
Suddenly quite rebellious thoughts began to visit his head, which the young man himself was frightened of.
What prevents all the Itoshins from moving here? Why does the Emperor prefer to stay in that harsh and unfriendly land? After all, we can build our fortresses here, on the borders, to keep the defenses from the demons in them! Here it is a free, uninhabited land!
But Do’Ayve quickly dismissed these thoughts. Who was he to doubt the wisdom of the Emperor? If a great ruler founded an Empire in the north, then it was necessary!
E’Do was happy, too. He tried not to show this, but his hidden joy could be read in small things: gestures, words, deeds. At the same time, the udoğan continued to warn about possible danger. After all, the Itoshins still hadn’t met any people. And at present, the detachment still didn’t know what exactly had come to pass in the Valley.
7
The Itoshins came to a huge river that E’Do called Kawa. Now the path was straightforward – go along the shore. Todo suggested building rafts and going downstream, but the udoğan refused this idea.
“We can fight on land. We were taught that from early childhood,” he said. “But to learn how to run the ships as well, even if just a raft, on the river, requires skills. We can learn this, but later. Now we need to get to the Valley of the Ancestors. This is most important!”
In the evening, a beautiful falcon started dancing in the wind above the camp. Dissecting the air with his wings, he sank lower and lower until he came up to E’Do’s head. The udoğan recognized Hash, the Emperor’s favorite bird! A parchment with a message was attached to the foot of the falcon.
Do’Ayve knew about the Emperor’s falcons, which could overcome the veil of fog and maintain a connection between the ruler and other people, but now he saw the postal bird of the ruler with his own eyes for the first time.
E’Do carefully read the message, and then announced:
“The Emperor welcomes his valiant warriors and blesses the detachment to continue the journey!”
“Hail the Emperor!” the detachment shouted as a chorus.
“The Emperor commands us to pass the city of Kawa, which stands on this river, and go straight to Eavette, one of the four Great Cities of the Valley. For those who don’t know, Eavette is the homeland of our Emperor! The city from where he came to the north! The city from which the Ito Empire originated! The Emperor hopes that we will enter the city earlier than other nations whose caravans are already certain to be heading to the Valley!
The Itoshins were inspired by the Emperor’s message and promised E’Do that at the next crossing they would go faster than they could.
“And what about the ruler?” Do’Ayve asked, only then realizing that perhaps this question shouldn’t be asked at all, but it was too late. “Was the Emperor able to convince the other nations? Will the Valley have a single ruler?”
“It will,” E’Do nodded dryly.
8
Do’Ayve was the third one on watch. He slept until early dawn, and then took the post from Leerie, who was initiated last night and became a full-fledged warrior. The young girl-warrior was still over the moon with happiness and seemed ready to remain on duty for the whole night, and even the next.
But emotions are emotions, and a rest was a necessity. This lifestyle hardened the Itoshins, as it was quite common to rush into battle half-asleep, which is why E’Do adhered to a strict schedule of shifts.
Do’Ayve began his watch by throwing firewood into the fire, and bathing in the invigorating water of Kawa. He put a pot of water with some herbs on the fire, then went to the trees to pick fruit for himself and his comrades. He stood in wide black robes, without armor. Only his sword hung from his waist.
As Do’Ayve used the tail of his shirt to collect and carry more fresh fruit, a shadow suddenly darted toward him from the bush. The fruits scattered as the warrior jumped back to defend. The predawn twilight helped outline a human silhouette.
“Who are you?” Do’Ayve asked in a menacing voice. In response, there was an inarticulate sound, more like a roar.
Daemon! A demon who took on a human form!
“Stand by for action!” he yelled at the top of his lungs as he simultaneously drew his sword and knocked off the strange creature’s head. The body fell back into the bushes as more figures began to appear from the predawn gloom, and Do’Ayve continued his attack. By this time E’Do ran in to help, followed by Todo and Ğan-Iolai, and then the rest.
A frenzied cry was heard: it became clear that an a’jo’ğan was running into the battle. Warriors parted in different directions, and Joe crashed into the dark silhouettes, sweeping bodies in different directions.
There were a lot of demons, but they were all so slow and sluggish that the Itoshins quickly finished them off. And as the first rays of sun sprang from behind the hill, illuminating the recent battlefield, surprise engulfed the soldiers when they saw who they had been fighting.
“These are people!” exclaimed Biu.
E’Do bent over one of the corpses and examined it carefully.
“The dead!” said the detachment commander.
“Dead, obviously. After all, we’ve just killed them!” Do’Ayve didn’t understand at first what E’Do was trying to tell them.
“No!” the udoğan turned to his soldiers. His severe, pale face expressed anxiety. “Come here!” He waved Do’Ayve over.
The young man also bent over the corpse. Once, what had probably been a middle-aged man was now a swollen body with pale skin of a greenish hue, a battered face, and whitish eye sockets without pupils. An Itoshinian sword cut the defeated in half almost around the belt. And seeping from the huge wound was not blood, but a viscous black slime flowed out into puddles.
“They all died long ago!” E’Do stated.
“The dead came alive?” someone whispered uncertainly.
Everyone could see everything perfectly. It was simply that no one understood how this could be possible.
Here’s your carefree life in the Valley!
A chill ran across the skin of the fearless Do’Ayve.
CHAPTER 3. FROM THE WILDernesS TO THE LIGHT
A moose moves in a straight line, stepping from cell to cell,
In any