Chilled exorcist - страница 20

Finally, I was able to catch my breath and looked around. There was a beautiful girl next to me with no clothes on. I froze in surprise. She was sitting right in front of me with her hands on my chest. When she saw that I came to my senses, she smiled. I even stopped coughing, "Am I dead or still alive? Who is it then?" An unusual feeling of euphoria spread throughout my body.

"Shade, stop it, there's no need to try to eat him. He's our guest," a woman's voice came from behind me. I couldn't turn around and look back, staring ahead mesmerized. The next moment, when I blinked, the obsession stopped. In front of me was a huge predator – a cat. It was blue-boned. Her soft paw pads rested on my chest, and her released claws left marks on my cloak. With a growl, the beast gracefully retracted its daggers into its pads, stood up, and walked to where the order had come from.

A demanding female voice sounded, "Are you going to sit like that, hunter?"

I cautiously got up – all my legs and arms seemed to be intact. Only my whole body ached from the recent impact with the water. The cloak seemed to have saved my life by blocking the blow, and it had completely discharged, losing two charges at once. Its green, rune stones were slowly being infused with new life energy.

Then I turned around and saw one of the forest sisters. She was wearing savage clothes, a crude garment sewn from leather. I wrinkled my nose, but the girl smiled as she noticed my reaction. Oh, I knew the witches of this forest well!

Back on the wall, where I'd served my five years, we'd had a witch from the Dark Forest come to visit us. She helped us against some kind of contagion that was spreading rapidly through the camp. Her potions and herbs were the only thing that saved us. But I remember the sensation for a long time. The hallucinations were such that it was the first time I was out of the control of the fortress keeper. I remembered it very well. Too well, in fact.

"Catch up or stay! And then you'll be eaten by an owl bear for sure," she giggled, reminding me of my pursuer, and strode forward, pushing the leaves of a tall fern. What was left for me to do? Only to follow her.

The fallen and browned leaves with their carpet of moss sprung softly under my feet. Around me, in the crowns of the giant trees, there was a white haze. I gradually came to my senses, taking note of my surroundings. It was eerily cold. "A little longer and I won't be able to get a tooth on a tooth," I thought. But still I found strength in myself and caught up with the girl. She turned to me and asked, "Man, what brings you here?" The witch asked it so sharply and strictly, as if she had just seen me for the first time.

"Hunting," I answered briefly.

"Hunting," the girl emphasized the word, and then bent like her cat to pass under a large branch, "and what do you hunt?

"Anything larger and more dangerous than a perootle," I grinned. "Count Feanor wants to take the boundary road to Kostegrad, and he doesn't want dangerous neighbors on the road."

"And how much did he pay for it?"

"Nothing. I have one contract with the Order, and I'm serving it," I answered, and the girl stopped.

"An Order hunter, then? Why did you come to the villagers and not to us?" She met my gaze.

"I don't know how to find you," I fought the urge to throw up my hands.