didn’t notice anything: neither what do we do when we walk in the forest, nor what do we eat. For the sake of sight, I took for a walk a bottle of diluted goat milk for a little one and a piece of bread for me and Lyubochka. In the forest, we ate everything that caught our eye, however, Lyubochka forbade us to eat some mushrooms and berries. I once ate a beautiful red mushroom, and I felt bad. Since then, he has not violated the advice of our little fellow traveler.
So thirty happy days of complete freedom passed – and here we are again in the city. Again my demoness goes to “work.”
Chapter 5. 28 – 26years uew
Radek, the son of Raa
From the notes of Radek Reksovich about his childhood
Today I received a passport; I had to come up with a middle name. I couldn’t say the true name of my father! I told them to write Reksovich, because really the dog Rex was in my childhood instead of my father… This can be said to everyone. But the fact that it was my father – no one is supposed to know.
I decided to write down everything that happened to me in those years, especially since the fabulous events of my childhood are more and more covered with a veil of unreality, so soon I myself will stop believing in them… And one more thing: Valya’s mother gave me a present for my maturity – a crumpled student’s notebook where my father’s story is written in the clumsy handwriting. For many years this notebook was kept secretly from everyone… So, it’s time to put these notes in order!
Readers have already read Raa’s notes in previous chapters of the novel. Next are the diary entries of his son.
Our life in the city went according in the usual track: my mother left for work in the morning, my father was concerned with me. He told me about his homeland Dhana, and not with words, but directly with pictures through the mental channel. In addition, he read me fairy tales, which my mother bought for us. But he did not like to do this, because he did not understand how the plot of fairy tales is connected with his system of four TRUTHS. And we were happy, but our mother wasn’t…
Father thought that she would be pleased with his zeal in studying all, as he said, demonic secrets. He even found the technology for making pencils and paper in the encyclopedia, but he did not please my mom with it. Often she scolded him, as it seemed to me, for no reason. Father began to go on night walks so that mom could get enough sleep and rest from abuse.
Ra fell in love with the city at night, its deserted dark streets, bridges over a dirty black river, mysterious dead ends and stone stairs, still keeping the warmth of the day… He got acquainted with vagabonds, spending the night in the street, beggars – so he knew the life of the city.
Mom cried at night, hugged me tightly and it disturbed my sleep. The reasons for my mother’s insults were different, but, in my opinion, they were not worth her worries. One such case remained in my memory, as it led to tragic consequences.
Once, my mother reproached my father that he did not make money, like other husbands do. She said that he could have gotten the documents and some job, and that I could already be sent to the nursery. My father was very afraid that they would give me to a day nursery and make me a real demon there, so he decided to get money in the evenings when my mother came home from work. Once he even brought the money, and his mother was very pleased, kissed him and slept calmly that night. She would not be so calm if she knew how he got this money. The next night, my father returned home wounded…
For many days he laid sick, his mother looked after him and felt sorry for him. Then he told me what happened to him:
“I already knew what money looked like and why demons use it; from beggars and vagabonds I knew where to find it.” It was not difficult to get it with my abilities to transform my body! The source of the money was not far away, in a public building called a “store.” It is enough to stand on the side of the house where the young demoness was sitting and where the money was stored in a wooden box, and then, imperceptibly extending the hand, put it into the slot… and… you can safely take money when the demoness turns away to talk with the demons who approached her. I was sure that I did not offend the young demoness with my act, since I noticed that she did not need the money at all, she gave them to other demons before leaving her “work”. I was proud and hurried home to once again demonstrate to Alexandra my money, – my father told me.”
Bandits chase Ra.
And suddenly I noticed three demons who were following me. I involuntarily became interested in their thoughts. They talked about me:
“Dexterously stole!”
“He does not work on his territory!”
“Will we cut him in?”
“Too deft and too stupid. So dangerous!”
“So we’ll waste him?!”
“Yes, now he will turn to a wasteland. We’ll bury him there.”
I did not understand anything from their conversation. What kind of wastewere they talking about and why bury me? One thing I realized was that I had violated some demonic laws on hiring, unknown to me, but no one had explained them to me. Apparently, if I had been correctly hired, they would have determined the right territory for me, but I violated some territorial rights. By analogy, I remembered the battle of ants from different anthills for the territory, and I was scared. I ran.
Three of them rushed to catch me, but they have no chance. I was able to overtake even the ant! Then one of them took out a small object and, with it, made a small hole in the center of my body. At first I didn’t even understand why he did this, but then suddenly I felt that I could no longer run at the same speed. The hole in the body required me to concentrate on changing the blood flow through the vessels: some I had to squeeze, others, on the contrary, to expand. And when he made a second hole in me, I was no longer able to stay on my feet – this concentration required me to work on transforming my body. They came very close, began to inspect my clothes and took all the money I had earned. I held my breath.
“Well, dead?”
“Does not breathe.”
“Put him here – to the pit.”
Some rubbish was thrown over me. This, as I understand it, was a burial rite adopted for those who work in the foreign territory.
Only in the morning I got out of the pit and hardly stumbled to the house. Alexandra met me with a curse. I explained to her that I went to earn money, but unsuccessfully, and showed two holes in the middle of my body. She gasped and started processing these holes. Then I felt that I was dying – and died. So the malediction of Radogast happened for the third time.
I was again a spirit and soared over my dead body. But now I was not afraid to stay dead, because I knew the power of the magic of my demoness and believed that she would definitely bring me back to life. In addition, it was only the third attempt to kill me, and I knew that it would be truly deadly – the fourth.
This time I was not a spirit for long. The very next day, I noticed that my body relaxed unacceptably and that a thin stream of blood flows over the bandages with which Alexandra wrapped me. What will happen when all the blood flows out? Despite the pain, I had to crawl back into my body and put it in order. So, flying out of the body, and then coming back, I laid for about a month.
A month later, I got up. But then a new attack fell upon me. Alexandra brought a paper in which a face similar to mine was painted. She said that she could no longer protect me, since everyone was looking for me, and if they found her at home, she and her son would appearin a very bad situation. I realized that I needed to go somewhere, but I did not know where.
“It