The tight collar of the linen shirt pressed against Ardi’s neck, but he endured it. He had already tried to loosen it once, only to tear the seam. His mother hadn’t said anything, but it was clear that she hadn’t been happy about the extra work.
Over the course of those few days that humans called "weekends," the hunter had figured out a few things. First, everyone in Kelly’s house, and indeed in all of Evergale, had something to do. Some were hanging laundry, which was lightly steaming in the cold. Others cleared the streets of snow, brushed it off roofs and awnings, and hauled water from the lake, where young men sometimes helped with the ice harvest.
And it seemed like not everyone had those strange Ley crystals that made the stove and oven work without wood, like in the sheriff’s house. Ardi was constantly seeing people through the window, usually younger folk, carrying bundles of kindling or dismantling piles of wood to then carry heavy armloads of it inside.
Even the little ones had found something to do — throwing crumpled snow at each other and making idols out of snow. Ardi couldn’t understand the reason for such behavior, and he didn’t want to ask. Despite his promise to his brother and his grandfather’s words, he still longed to return to the mountain, afraid that if he left the attic room, he wouldn’t be able to resist and would run away.
But the sixth day had passed, the seventh had slipped by unnoticed, and Shaia was now leading him to the "school" with the sheriff. It was that strange building surrounded by a fence, where black and white-clad, young and old people alike would all be waiting in a line to get in. But Ardi didn’t get to meet any of them — they’d left before dawn. The hunter still couldn’t get used to the fact that he now wore "boots" on his feet, "underwear" under his pants and shirt, and a heavy, fur-lined coat instead of skins across his shoulders.
Ardi had kept trying to argue that he was actually too warm and that the coat was definitely unnecessary. After all, these were the foothills. It didn’t get cold here. But the townspeople, shivering with every passing gust of wind, had refused to accept such reasoning.
At the entrance to the building, they were met by a gray-haired man in his forties. He was missing several teeth, his face was lined with deep and obviously unhealthy wrinkles, and his worn, crumpled, and occasionally torn clothes reeked of vinegar and alcohol. Ardi even sneezed at his scent.
"Everything will be fine, madame Brian," even his voice had a kind of slurping sound to it. "We’ll keep an eye on Ardi and make sure no one bothers him, and that he doesn’t... cause any trouble himself."
"Thank you, Teacher Kolski," Shaia nodded slightly.
Despite the man’s repulsive appearance, his mother spoke to him with clear respect.
"Sheriff," the teacher tipped his hat.
"Kolski," Kelly nodded back.
And while Shaia might not have noticed Kelly handing the drunkard a few rolled-up bills, Ardi even managed to catch their denomination. Two exes. That’s what they called those strange pieces of paper the people of Evergale exchanged for... well, everything.
"Well, let’s go, boy," the teacher patted him on the shoulder, and they turned out to be almost the same height.
Ardi looked at the man and, by the Sleeping Spirits, it took all his strength not to grab him by the wrist and throw him somewhere far away. Guta would have been pleased. Ergar might even have paid him a compliment for doing such a noble deed, but his mother...
Shaia kept twisting her shawl in her hands, and her lips were pressed together so tightly that they’d formed a thin, pale line.
"I order," Ardi smiled at her, making the teacher tremble. "Not worry. Hunter not harm fool youths. Everything order. I will in den when possible."
The teacher turned to the sheriff, oily eyes wide open, but he just shrugged at him.
Shaia smiled tensely and nodded. "I’ll be waiting," was all she said.
As Kelly led his mother away, she kept turning back to look at Ardi, barely hiding her tears. The hunter still wasn’t used to how soft Shaia had become. He remembered her as firm and, in some ways, even stern. The kind of person who could climb up to the high peaks of the Alсade the day after giving birth, braving the fierce wind and cold.
But now she’d simply disappeared around the corner, leaving only a faint scent of blackberries in her wake. But even that was soon overpowered by the stench of alcohol.
"Please, Hector’s son, for the sake of your father’s memory," the teacher hiccupped. "Try not to eat anyone on your first day, okay? Face of Light’s tears, what a way to start the week..."
With that, Kolski led Ardi down a wide corridor. Here, the walls were covered with sheets of yellowed paper that had drawings and pictures on them, a huge map reaching up to the ceiling, and several chalkboards. Someone had carefully written the schedules of several classes on them.
Even after the railroad had brought in new settlers, Evergale had remained a small town, so there weren’t many students at the school. For example, Ardi, being twelve years old, was starting in the sixth grade, where there were fourteen others besides him. But they were probably just now waking up and washing, getting ready for the new day.
Kolski interrupted Ardi’s musings. He suddenly stopped and yanked on a door handle, almost tearing it from its hinges.
"Get in," he said curtly. "I warned Teacher Tenebry. She teaches arithmetic. She won’t be too hard on you at first. Though you can’t string two words together, so who knows who will be tormenting whom."
Ardi didn’t understand why words had to be strung together, but he went inside and immediately sniffed the air, as his forest friends had taught him. It smelled of chalk, flour, flowers, and fear. Looking around, the hunter couldn’t fathom what could’ve possibly frightened the locals. Surely it wasn’t the wide, somewhat worn desks, the round stools, or the two boards. One hung right by the entrance, still bearing the marks of past lessons. The other, at the back of the classroom, doubled as the doors to a rather spacious cabinet.
There was nothing else here but the clock and the chandelier.
Still sniffing and looking around, Ardi found an empty spot. In the far corner, by the window, one of the desks looked less worn, and the scent coming from the seat was less powerful than the others.
People sat here much less often, and apparently it had something to do with the hole in the wall through which a playful wind was coming in. Ardi was only too happy about that.
"Well," Kolski scratched his head, "have a nice day."
He turned and left, the sound of his footsteps fading toward the stairs, along with his grumbling:
"Animals don’t belong in school... Fucking Sheriff..."
Ardi wasn’t offended by the words. He didn’t understand the townspeople, and they didn’t understand him. It was just like the first few months of Ardi’s life in the Alсade. It would’ve been foolish to expect anything different when one finds themselves on unfamiliar trails...
Ardi shook his head.
He had to get used to it.
At least for the sake of his brother and his mother.
He was no longer on the trails. This was an unfamiliar s-i-t-u-a-t-i-o-n. That seemed to be the word his grandfather had used.
Ardi sighed and struggled with the clasp on the bag Shaia had sewn for him. It was made of sturdy brown cloth, lined with leather strips in places for durability, and decorated with symbols that could only be found in the sacred lands of the Matabar. Ardi hadn’t known their meaning before, but looking at them now brought warmth and a touch of sadness to his heart.
He pulled out a thick book with large, golden letters on the cover that read: "Arithmetic Textbook, 6th Grade, General Education Course." Next to it, he placed a notebook and a jar of thick, black water ink. You had to dip a pen with an iron nib into it, then turn a small gear to draw the ink in. Then you could write, adjusting the thickness of the letters through the pressure you applied.
In theory, it was not complicated at all. But in practice, Ardi had smeared ink all over his hands and face during his days in the attic, and he still hadn’t managed to write anything decent. And he loved to write. Atta’nha had often asked him to copy something from the Fae’s scrolls and books for her. The she-wolf had assured him that it would help him learn better, because not only his eyes but also his hands would then remember the letters and words. But back then, Ardi had used to write with a clever stick that left barely visible, gray threads on any surface. Even on water.
It had resembled the pencil that Shaia had carefully sharpened and placed next to his pen, only it was more convenient and durable. At least it hadn’t broken when Ardi had squeezed it too hard.
Satisfied that all his supplies were in place, Ardi blinked and adjusted the coat lying next to him on the desk. He couldn’t figure out where to put it, and eventually decided that the situation would resolve itself somehow.
Minutes passed, and Ardi watched them through the slow movements of the clock’s hands. Soon, a warm sunrise blazed across the prairies and steppes to the east, filling the sky with the colors of spring flowers and promising the townspeople that winter would eventually end. Sunbeams danced carelessly along the glass, slipping into the classroom and twirling with dust motes that were clearly visible.
Ardi sniffed the air and then turned sharply to the window beside him.
"Oh," a familiar voice could be heard, followed by the sound of a fall, the crunch of snow, and some hurried voices.
"Neviy! Maybe you should stop sneaking buns from your mother!"
"And maybe try to eat something else for a change!"
"Kevin is just as big!"
"But at least he never suggests trying out stupid ideas!"
Ardi moved closer to the window and saw a group of youngsters scrambling around in the snow below, two of whom he recognized. One was slightly chubby, solidly built, and dressed in baggy clothes. His name was Neviy. And the one standing a little apart from the tangle of arms and legs was slim, with a long braid, bright eyes, and slightly rosy cheeks — that was Anna.
If the hunter had understood things correctly, the second girl trying to free herself from the pile of boys was Olga. A strange name. Ardi had never heard it before. And her hair, the color of autumn leaves, and her eyes, which resembled the summer sky, were even stranger. Taller than Anna, she helped a small, skinny boy to his feet. His skin was the color of wet sandstone and looked oddly dry, his thick hair hung around his head like raven feathers, and his thin lips were pressed together in annoyance. He, like Olga, looked like a stranger to the Alсade, so Ardi identified him as Faruh. He figured it was a safe guess.
Soon, Neviy and, by process of elimination, Kevin, also got up from the snow. Ardi rubbed his eyes in surprise. If not for the scar on his cheek, Kevin would’ve looked exactly like Neviy. The only other difference was that his clothes looked a bit neater — he probably wore them more carefully. Otherwise, except for that scar, they were identical in appearance and build. It was too bad that Ardi couldn’t really take in their scent properly due to the snow and the presence of several other youngsters down below — maybe they even smelled the same.
"Well," the dark-skinned boy finished brushing the snow from his fur and turned to Neviy. "Have you seen-"
"Guys," Anna called to them, nodding toward the window.
She and Ardi had been looking into each other’s eyes for the last few seconds. The school was on a small rise, so the window was about the height of the second floor. And apparently, the boys had to stand on each other’s shoulders to see anything.
"Hm," Neviy scratched his head again. "You’re Ardi, right?"
"I Ardi, yes," the hunter replied calmly.
The group exchanged glances and then Anna pointed upwards.
"We can’t hear you," she explained, then added, "There’s a latch up there; unhook it and lift the window."
They couldn’t hear him? Oh... right... Human hearing.
Ardi examined the window and indeed found a latch in the middle of the frame. Removing the small metal hook from its indent, Ardi pushed the window gently, but it only squeaked mournfully in response. Fortunately, it didn’t break.
"No, no," Anna shook her head. "Grab the frame and pull it up."
She made a few movements that reminded Ardi of his mother hanging laundry up on a line. He frowned and looked at the window again. The frame was divided into two wooden squares, with cloudy glass trapped inside them. The lower square overlapped the upper one slightly, and there were small indentations in the walls. Having apparently understood the mechanism, Ardi pulled on the frame, and it slid up the grooves, rising upwards.
"Wow," Neviy managed to say. "We thought you were completely wild."
The golden-haired girl slapped her friend on the back of the head. He hiccupped a bit in surprise.
"Hello," the dark-skinned boy waved a little shyly. "My name is Faruh. And this is-"
But he was immediately interrupted by the same girl who had just slapped Neviy.
"Olga," she introduced herself, confirming Ardi’s suspicions.
"Neviy," the chubby boy grumbled, then pointed to his silent twin. "The quiet one is my brother."
Brother... Perhaps humans had different kinds of brothers? Erti, for example, looked a bit like Ardi, but he was certainly not an exact copy of him.
"Anna," the girl with the rouge finished their introductions. He was pretty certain that that was what they called those spots on her cheeks.
The hunter remained silent. He had already introduced himself.
The group wasn’t in a hurry to continue the conversation, either, obviously feeling uncomfortable. Well, at least they didn’t smell of fear, and that was good.
"Sorry if we distracted you," Anna continued, not breaking eye contact. Among animals, this was considered a challenge, but among humans, it was a sign of good manners. It was one of those many differences between two worlds... "We were told you were coming today. We wanted to go to class, but the Sheriff and your mother met us along the way. They warned us that the school is locked from the inside and no one can get in until classes start."
"Not the best idea, by the way," Faruh grumbled, shifting from foot to foot. "It’s not summer. For the whole school to be stuck outside..."
The hunter let his words slide by.
"You say little truth," Ardi narrowed his eyes slightly. "You say something lie."
The group exchanged glances, and then Faruh whispered, thinking he was unheard:
"Even my grandfather speaks Galessian better, and he spent his whole life in Al’Zafir!"
"Shh," Neviy hissed at him. "See how closely he’s watching you... he can probably hear us."
Seeing this, Anna rolled her eyes for some reason, then smiled lightly and sincerely.
"You are very quick-witted. Just like Erti! When Mama and I go to madame Brian for clothes, I always leave puzzles for Erti. Sometimes, he manages to solve them even though he doesn’t go to school yet!"
Ardi nodded. This time, she was telling the truth... or so it seemed. Even though Ergar had left him with the full power of a Matabar — at least as much as his half-blood nature allowed him to have — it had always felt as if the earth of the Alсade itself had been helping him. So, when it came to Okta, he’d always been able to tell when she was lying, but now...
"Your mother asked us to take care of you," Olga said distantly, even coldly.
And that was true. If Ardi wasn’t already an independent hunter, he would have been offended by such disregard for his abilities, but humans had their own rules. In their eyes, he was still a youth. And he would remain one for the next four winters. And so, Shaia was simply taking care of him. In her own way.
"And we were really curious," Neviy’s eyes sparkled as he put his fists on his hips. "And you’re not as scary as the stories say. Your pupils aren’t vertical, you don’t look like a beast, and your fangs..."
Ardi grinned broadly.
"...aren’t very big," Neviy finished the sentence without his former enthusiasm. "Well, at least they’re not huge."
"’Not huge fangs’ are the fangs of us normal humans," Faruh whispered to him. "But his... Those are real fangs."
The friends exchanged glances, then looked back at Ardi. He, in turn, was calmly studying the group of youngsters below. His sharp gaze didn’t miss the fact that under their black jackets, they wore wool vests, not counting their linen shirts and, obviously, at least two layers of underwear. It seemed to him like people liked to wear so many layers of clothing that they could be peeled like onions.
"School will be opening soon," Anna was either the bravest or the most responsible of them, because she spoke up again. "We’ll try to get to the classroom first, but if someone beats us to it and says something unpleasant to you, please don’t pay attention to them, okay?"
"Yeah," Neviy chimed in. "Everyone in town knows that the school would’ve been half empty if not for your father. And when they built this building, they even thought of naming it after him."
Only then did Ardi remember that, six years ago, when he had seen that raid go down through Ergar’s eyes, the Evergale school hadn’t been here on the outskirts of town, but among the other buildings, right across from the sheriff’s office and, incidentally, the local jail.
"All right," Ardi nodded briefly.
His future classmates waved at him — except for Olga — and ran through the snow toward the porch, grabbing their strange, brown leather bags as they did so. Ardi lowered the window and looked at the clock. If he was remembering the meaning of the numbers and hands correctly, there were only five minutes left until seven o’clock, when classes would begin.
Soon, his suspicions were confirmed by the voices of adults reminding the children of the rules of conduct in the building, telling them about lunch and classes. But their words were drowned out by the ringing laughter, the stomping of feet, and the buzz of older students discussing everything from their part-time jobs to matters of the heart.
Ardi’s breathing quickened and he covered his ears with his hands. His head was spinning and everything was blurring before his eyes.
Never before had he been in the middle of such a riot of sounds, smells and new sensations. The forest, even in the busiest of areas, had never been so loud and vibrant. Maybe only anthills could compare, but Ardi had never been in one until today.
Trying to calm his pounding heart and the goosebumps marching down his neck, he did as Skusty had taught him, gradually cutting the threads of new smells, muffling the sounds of unfamiliar voices, and pushing deep into the recesses of his mind the images that his senses had conjured up.
There was no game here that needed to be tracked, so noticing every little detail and picking up even the faintest notes of scents in the rare gusts of wind would do him no good. And there were no hunters whose trails he had to avoid.
This was a different world.
And Ardi was slowly immersing himself in it.
He had no idea how long he had been sitting like this, but at some point, someone tapped him gently on the shoulder.
Ardi opened his eyes and realized that he was sitting in the company of about fifteen humans. There was one adult and fourteen children. The latter sat at desks already surrounded by textbooks and notebooks. The writing on the blackboard had been replaced by other words, and a tall, stately woman with a stern gaze and strange, iron-framed glasses perched on her nose, was looking directly at him.
"You’ve been sitting like that for half the lesson," whispered Anna, who, it turned out, was sitting next to him.
"Half a lesson..." What did that mean?
"Student Egobar," the woman in black and white school clothes addressed him. "If you refuse to pay attention in my class, you might as well go for a walk and not incite the other children."
Ardi didn’t understand some of those words, but he got the general meaning.
"I sorry," he apologized sincerely, remembering how much his back had ached after Ergar’s tail lashes, which he’d given him whenever he’d noticed that his student was distracted and not paying attention. "I was-"
"Excuses don’t do a man any good, student Egobar," the teacher interrupted him, then took a long, thin wooden stick from her desk and pointed it at the blackboard. "What do you see here, student?"
Ardi almost blurted out "a stick," but his quick thinking told him the woman was pointing at something. But what? His hunter’s knowledge was only good enough for him to make out a string of numbers mixed with some dashes, dots, question marks, and other symbols.
"Digits," Ardi replied after a moment. "And formulas. I no more knowledge."
The teacher’s eyebrows rose slightly. As did Anna’s.
"Well," she cleared her throat. "That’s better than I expected... What you see before you is a fractional equation with one unknown, student Egobar. It’s a new topic we just started today."
"What unknown?" Ardi asked.
One of the boys in the class let out a short, barely audible laugh, but his neighbors immediately silenced him.
"This symbol," the teacher pointed to some lines resembling a letter, "indicates the presence of an unknown in the equation. It must be calculated."
To be calculated. A symbol. Within the digits and formulas...
Were these people sure they hadn’t been cursed by the Ley and lost their minds? Why else would they add letters to numbers?
The teacher tapped the board with her stick, then sighed slightly.
Poems? They wrote those here? Ardi frowned. He wasn’t even ready to write a stanza, let alone a whole passage! He had read a few of those, as the she-wolf had called them, songs without melody. He hadn’t been particularly moved, but Atta’nha had said that every educated Sidhe, even if they were human, should know a few. Of course, he hadn’t managed to memorize them completely, but he remembered the general idea. That had been enough for the she-wolf and-
"Don’t worry," Anna whispered to him. "You only need to memorize a small part."
Ardi jumped.
Could she read his mind, too? No, that was silly, of course.
Just like during the previous lessons, Anna raised her hand and was immediately given the floor.
"This is the introduction to ’A Poem of Wizards and Stars’ by N.K." she stated, then closed her eyes and began to recite from memory:
Once upon a time, in the mountains high
Whisperers of the past did roam and fly
Through forests deep, and valleys wide
With magic right by their side
They walked the path less traveled
With spells and incantations, they did unravel
The laws of nature and bend the rules
With ancient wisdom, they were still the fools
They were the guardians of the land
And protectors of the wild strand
With their magic staves in hand
They kept the balance undisturbed and bland
But as time passed and the world moved on
Their magic faded and their kind was gone
But the stories of their deeds live on
In the whispers of the wind, in the mountains and beyond.
"Excellent, student Polskih, sit down. Anyone else?" The teacher praised her in that same blank voice, then put on his glasses, as they were called, and opened the register. "Well, if there are no volunteers, we’ll go down the list."
For the rest of the class, the teacher tested the students. Ardi thought that everyone would recite the passages as easily and beautifully as Anna had, but besides her, only the red-haired Kenbish managed it. The others were not so great: some forgot their lines, some got confused, some recited only half of it, and some even tried to read from textbooks or notes written on the palms of their hands.
Those last two — Neviy and Faruh — were hit by Kolski with a ruler and sent to the bathroom to wash off the ink.
Then came the writing lesson, where Kolski, occasionally hiccupping, and sometimes opening his flask and sipping something colorless — but with a distinctly unpleasant odor — from it, lectured them on the rules of writing roots. At first, Ardi didn’t understand what kind of roots were being discussed, but Anna helped him understand that people divided their words into components. In short, arithmetic seemed a little easier now...
With that, the school day was over, and the students began packing to go home.
Ardi, drenched in sweat, with a buzzing head and blurry vision, somehow managed to put on his coat and pack his school supplies into his bag. Sitting in the attic, he had thought that school was something of a necessity to be endured for the sake of Erti and Shaia. After all, what could humans teach an adult hunter? But... As his grandfather had put it, Ardi was once again a newborn.
Again, just like six winters ago, he knew nothing, understood nothing, and seemed silly and ridiculous. It was frightening to imagine how today’s first day would have gone if Atta’nha hadn’t taught him a few sciences.
As he was mulling all of this over, Ardi didn’t even notice that he’d ended up outside in the company of Anna. Everything around him was already veiled in the gray film of the evening twilight and the sun was sinking behind the high peaks of the Alсade, preparing for a well-deserved rest.
"And where-"
"We tried to talk to you, but you just followed us mutely," the girl said, looking obviously worried. "We even thought you were enchanted. Well, not all of us — Neviy and Faruh did. The only thing that can distract them from talking about guns is Star Magic. And so they decided that you were under a spell."
Not many who knew the art knew Ardi’s true name, so enchanting him would be difficult. And what Anna had described had sometimes happened to him after Skusty’s lessons, when he’d been able to get lost in the stories of the forest and the rivers, and spend most of the day like that, but he had never been lost in his own thoughts before. Although, to be honest, they hadn’t been so abundant before.
Maybe it was time to remember Ergar’s lessons and admit that some of them were thoughts for tomorrow.
Ardi sighed, shook his head, and looked around. They were walking along a narrow path through snow-covered fields. The only source of light here were the occasional poles with those same strange glass candles like in Kelly’s house.
They stood ten meters apart, connected by black wires that were shimmering and emitting a steady, blue glow.
"I go to den. I promise mother and-"
"We stopped by your house," Anna slowly relaxed. Wrapped in her clothes, the collar of her coat pulled up and a knitted hat pulled over her hair, she shifted from foot to foot, crunching the snow. "Madame Brian was putting Erti to bed, so we spoke to the Sheriff. He asked me to tell you not to return alone in the evening and to wait for him at our farm — you’ll meet my father and he’ll decide what work he can give you."
Ardi frowned slightly, but then quickly reminded himself that people had different rules, and it was common for them to make decisions for their children.
Ardi sniffed the air and closed his eyes. In the distance, he could smell people, horses, domestic animals, and cattle. It was nothing unusual, but something in his hunter’s instincts made him tense.
Anna grabbed her briefcase and continued down the path.
"Shall we go?" She called out.
Ardi followed her silently, walking a few steps behind his guide as he looked at the lamps on the poles. They weren’t fueled by oil or kindling, but still bright enough to dispel the twilight that was descending on the plains.
"What this light?"
"Light? Oh, you mean the lanterns?" Anna paused for a moment, looked up, then smiled at him, just like she had in class. His heart skipped a beat again. "Those are Ley-lanterns. They work with Ley energy. It’s transmitted through wires and powers special crystal springs. I think I remembered all of it correctly... My brother told me about it. He’s the chief apprentice of a mage-engineer in Delpas."
At first, Ardi thought Anna was teasing him. Ley Lines, as he knew from Atta’nha’s texts, were invisible magical currents hidden deep underground. They pierced the earth like rivers, carrying pure magic with them. Thanks to their existence, all beings retained the ability to remember their True Names, and an Aean’Hane was even able to speak with them.
But no matter how hard you dug — dwarves and goblins had tried — you would never find the Ley Lines. However, sometimes, the lines crossed, their currents swirled into whirlpools, and there was so much energy that it "m-a-t-e-r-i-a-l-i-z-e-d" and turned into ore or crystals. Animals that lived near such ore or inhaled that crystal dust would be infected with a dangerous disease, gaining immense strength but losing their minds.
But everything Anna had just said...
"Don’t ask me how it works. When my brother and his family come to visit, you can pester him..." Pester? Ardi didn’t want to bother anyone and... Oh, right... human figurative language. Anna added, "He was one of the people who laid the cables here when they opened the new mine a few years ago. They say not even all of Metropolis has Ley cables yet, but we do."
They walked through the snow in silence for a while, and Ardi kept looking at the lanterns. Ley cables, crystal springs, the Metropolis, mage-engineers... There were so many new words that his head was spinning. And above all else, nothing made sense.
"Why don’t you have an analyzer?" Anna asked suddenly.
"Ana... what?"
The girl stopped and turned to him. She shifted her briefcase to her free hand and rolled up her right sleeve, revealing that same plate secured with several straps under her clothing that he’d seen on others.
"I know most adults don’t wear it," Anna continued in a calm, measured tone. "But by law, all minors must wear an analyzer when they leave the house."
Ardi just shrugged. He didn’t even bother to answer her because he didn’t understand the point of the question. He just pointed at the plate and asked briefly:
"What this?"
Anna looked from him to the plate, then back to the hunter, and finally understood. For the umpteenth time that day, she smiled at him... Suddenly, Ardi realized that it was the same kind of smile Shali would give him when she knew something very common and ordinary for hunters that Ardi didn’t know.
"Look," Anna held out her hand with the plate angled toward the lantern, then pressed something on the leather strap.
Nothing happened at first, but then red symbols flashed on the plate, forming words:
<Street Lantern made by the Bri-&-Man Company.
Ley Concentration: less than one unit.
Voltage: constant.>
The message remained on the metal plate for a few seconds, then disappeared. Anna rolled up her sleeve and looked away.
"My brother tried to explain how it works, but I couldn’t remember," she said somewhat reluctantly. "So, I won’t be able to answer your questions."
Ardi tilted his head to the side, then smiled, then couldn’t help but laugh.
"Forgive me," he said, pulling himself together. "You very kind human."
"Um," Anna replied. "Thanks... I think..."
Ardi smiled again, but quickly hid his teeth and tensed.
"I’m not afraid," she shook her head. "I grew up on a farm, and if I was afraid of fangs, claws, hooves, or even horns, I wouldn’t leave the house. By the way, I’m curious, how do you clean your-"
Ardi twitched his ear, then quickly jumped forward, scooped Anna into his arms, and hopped to the side. She didn’t even have time to scream, she just went pale. And a moment later, a rock fell where she had just been standing.
"Are you out of your damn mind?" Someone shouted from the darkness, hiding behind the light of the lanterns. "What if you had hit her?"
"I was aiming for the non-human!"
"Then aim better!"
Ardi set Anna back down on the snow, then straightened up and focused. As he concentrated, he could make out the faint outlines of several boys in the darkness, one of whom he recognized.
By the Sleeping Spirits, they were even upwind and didn’t know the ways of the hunters at all! He could smell their scent, hear how fast their hearts were beating, and how two of the five now reeked of fear. But he hadn’t noticed them until it was too late. He had been too wrapped up in his own thoughts. A mistake unworthy of a grown hunter. If Ergar ever found out, Ardi would be licking his wounds from tail strikes for a long time.
"Percy Kenbish?" Anna peeked out from behind his back.
"Anna, go home before you get hurt."
And the redheaded boy stepped into the light. He was still wearing his school clothes, but didn’t have his briefcase with him. He held a bottle in his right hand and a rock in his left. It wasn’t the most formidable weapon, but still dangerous. Especially when accompanied by four other boys. Two of them resembled Kenbish — their features and hair especially, only they were bigger, taller, and broader in the shoulders. And much older. The other pair... Ardi thought he had seen them during his first day as well. They went to his school too, but were in the upper grades.
"You better go home yourself before you do something stupid!" Anna shouted. "You know he’s the Sheriff’s wife’s son. Do you think Mr. Brian will let that slide? And your brothers? They’re of age. If they harm a child, they’ll be hanged!"
"If I harmed a human child, sure," one of the redheads corrected her. "But this is a non-human. They won’t even put me on trial. I’ll just get a fine."
Something clicked, and in the light of the lamps, a broad blade appeared.
"Have you lost your mind? His father-"
"In Delpas, we deal with his sort quickly," the third redhead hissed, also brandishing a knife. "Forgotten your place, have you? Learning with humans in the same school? Get back to your mountains, non-human, or to the reservation up north!"
Ardi squinted. Of the five, only two made him cautious — the Kenbish brothers. Percy and the other schoolboys would flee as soon as he dealt with the two adults. But right now, he was wearing several layers of clothing that restricted his movements. His claws had been left behind in the mountains, and while his fangs and the fighting skills Guta had taught him would allow him to handle any of them, it would only be possible if he fought them one at a time. And the other brother surely wouldn’t just stand by while he wrestled with one of them in the snow.
And that wasn’t even counting their knives.
Ardi wasn’t wounded, these weren’t his hunting paths, and there were vast fields behind him. He could easily outrun them, and that was exactly what the lessons of his forest friends had taught him to do. There was no point in fighting here. Except...
Thin fingers in mittens gripped the edge of his cloak. Anna trembled slightly, hiding behind him. Sleeping Spirits, only now did he realize that he really was different from the human children. He was bigger than Anna and bigger than Percy. He was only slightly, maybe a few centimeters, shorter than the older Kenbish brothers.
"Go away," Ardi hissed, turning back to the five. "I not want hurt you."
The redheads exchanged glances and laughed.
"Did you hear that, Yegor? The beast can talk!"
"You call that talking, brother? Kolski makes more sense when he’s drunk!"
"Ardi," Anna whispered, trembling with fear. "When I give the signal, you run. They won’t hurt me, and I’ll hold them off for a while."
And then, suddenly, he understood. He understood that the girl was not afraid for herself, but for him. A small, fragile, human girl was afraid for an adult Matabar hunter.
"Hold my neck," he whispered to Anna. "My hands not very strong. I not want drop you."
Then he quickly turned, scooped the girl up again, and, exhaling, listened. He listened to the beating of five foolish hearts, to the howl of the wind that made the joyful snowstorm chime like crystal. In all of this, he felt the stories. Stories of paths that were not visible to the naked eye.
"Hold," Ardi repeated.
"Hey!"
"What’s happening?"
"What’s wrong with the light?"
"It’s the beast’s doing! Get him!"
But it was too late. The wind swirled around the hunter, and Ardi tried to hold onto the images that formed in his mind. The last time he had taken Okta, it had been much easier. His heart hadn’t remembered human life, and the ground beneath his feet had been familiar, always ready to help him and lead the way.
Ardi didn’t know if he would be able to find the path to the Land of the Fae this time, so when the snowy whirlwind finally settled and they found themselves standing in the middle of a blooming field with colorful birds flying high above, the hunter sighed in relief.
"Ardi... where are we?" Anna whispered, looking around. "And what’s that... ahead?"
"Don’t look at that," Ardi turned away from the outline of the beautiful city on the high hill. "Or we won’t get out."
"You can talk-"
"It’s a long story," Ardi cut her off. "And we don’t have much time. I’ve come here twice now without an invitation, and if I was considered a child the first time, I have to take responsibility for my actions now. And showing up in the Fae Lands without an invitation is a serious offense. If we are noticed, it will be bad."
Anna just nodded slowly, and Ardi started running. He ran as fast as he could. With each step, the world around them changed. Fields turned into mountains, forests into volcanic craters that suddenly became cumulus clouds. They skimmed over the surface of lakes, where stars swam instead of fish; they leaped over stones that tried to hold them back with their grand speeches.
And so it went, until Ardi finally heard the whisper he needed in the wind. Then he stopped, turned around, and took a step back. When he opened his eyes again, they were standing on the snowy path. Above them, a lantern shimmered. And a little ahead of them, about twenty meters away, was a wide gate with an awning. The paint on the letters had long since flaked off, but they were still legible: "Polskih’ Farm." And a small fence of meter-high posts and wire stretched from the gate in both directions.
Ardi set Anna down on the ground and paused to catch his breath. He would need to remember that he was only half as strong as a proper Matabar, and that such adventures were costly for him.
"Ardi, I-"
"A big favor, Anna," Ardi said, still struggling to catch his breath, his words interspersed with deep inhales and sharp exhales. "Not speak anyone what happen. Not about way Fae Land, not about brothers with fiery hair."
"But Ardi!" The girl protested. "If it hadn’t been for... what happened, they would have hurt you! We must tell the Sheriff!"
Ardi shook his head stubbornly.
"Mother worry in future. She afraid in future. I not want that... for her. A strong request, Anna. Keep secret."
The girl lifted her head and met his eyes.
"Why did you speak clearly back there, but now you’re back to... this?"
"Many stories. Hard find... the right words."
Anna blinked.
"If I agree to keep it a secret, will you tell me?"
Ardi nodded. Atta’nha had never forbidden him from sharing stories about the Fae and hadn’t instructed him to keep them secret from the human tribe. After all, human mages could never enter the land protected by the Aean’Hanes’ art.
"Then let’s go quickly," Anna grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the gate. "It’s almost evening, and now we have not only arithmetic and writing to get through, but also your story! And you still have to talk to my father about work. Lots to do! And I promised my mother..."
Anna kept on talking, and Ardi walked beside her, thinking about how he had already broken the laws of the Fae twice. And something told him that the third time would not go unpunished, so maybe it would be best to avoid visiting the Fae for at least... ten years. Maybe twenty.
If there was one thing Ardi had learned from the she-wolf’s stories and books, it was that the last thing he needed was to make enemies among the Sidhe and the Aean’Hanes.