Бесплатный фрагмент - The Last Days of Pangea

Foreword

Hello dear friend! Before you get acquainted with the reality of this fantasy world, I would like to share with you my observations that contributed to the creation of this work, fiction or alternative universe — whatever you want to call it. Although some of the research and interpretations below may seem unreliable or dubious, they still inspired me to write a little story with their unusual content. Should we take this story seriously? You decide!

***

A long time ago, our planet looked different than we are used to seeing it today. Two hundred and fifty million years ago, on Earth in the middle of a single World Ocean, instead of the current continents, there was only one supercontinent that united Africa, Eurasia, Antarctica and Australia, North and South America into one whole plateau. This supercontinent is called Pangea by modern scientists.

At the time of Pangea, life was already in full swing on Earth: its expanses were covered with the first coniferous and tropical forests, bennettite fields and other vegetation, very different from what today envelops the earth’s firmament, but it was fully populated by all sorts of insect creatures that were not similar to representatives of insects our time; other microorganisms from the ocean made their way to land and reincarnated as reptiles — the first reptiles, the same reptiles that eventually evolved into dinosaurs. And on the territories of the present continents, researchers and hunters of ancient cultures have found evidence of this in the form of preserved remains of both dinosaurs and their ancestors. And in the middle of the 20th century, during regular archaeological excavations in North and South America, other amazing finds were discovered, which, by their uniqueness, contradicted the scientific idea of the era of the appearance on Earth of the first hominids — anthropoid apes, the predecessors of homo sapiens:

1. In the early 1930s, Dr. Hilbary Greeley Burafs, chair of the Department of Geology at Bern College, discovered ten well-preserved and a few more partially preserved human footprints in sandstone in Kentucky. They were left on the banks of an ancient river about a quarter of a billion years ago! The scientist carefully examined the tracks of a bipedal creature and only in May 1953 told reporters: «Three pairs of tracks look like prints of the left and right legs of a person. The distance from track to track is 45 centimeters. The footprints are parallel to each other, and the distance between the footprints is the same as that of an ordinary person. But man, according to the data of modern science, appeared in these places only one and a half million years ago!»

2. Amateur archaeologist William J. Meister traveled with friends on June 1, 1968 to an excavation site called Antelope Springs, located northwest 70 километрахof Delta, Utah. On the third day, his wife and daughter discovered the fossilized remains of trilobites — ancient mollusks, the first inhabitants of the ocean. They lived during the Cambrian period of the Paleozoic era, that is, 600 million years ago. The maester broke off a piece from the rock, and then split it lengthwise with a hammer, opening it like a book. To his surprise, he found on one side the footprint of a man with a trilobite underneath. The other side of the stone exactly matched the imprint. The size of the imprint was quite consistent with the size of the foot of a modern person. It turns out that the imprints of a humanoid creature were left half a billion years before the appearance of modern man?!

3. Volunteer archaeologists have found numerous traces of ancient man in the bed of the Paluxy River in Texas. In one place, having bulldozed the soil down to a layer of clay, they found five human footprints diagonally crossing fifteen dinosaur footprints! In the article «The Mystery of the Carboniferous» in Scientific America, anthropologist Albert Nigolls admitted that if a human or ape-like ancestor existed in the Carboniferous, the whole of geological science would be fundamentally wrong.

4. In November 1972, English anthropologist Richard Leakey discovered a crushed human jaw near Rudolph Lake in Kenya. The age of the find is about two and a half million years, and this is the oldest find of its kind.

5. In the 60s of the 20th century, strange stones with strange patterns began to appear on the black antique market in Peru. These stones were collected in the vicinity of the Peruvian city of Ica, at least according to those who collected them. Many collectors and hunters of ancient cultures considered these stones to be fakes, despite the fact that the engraving on the stones was not the first freshness and was clearly not made yesterday. No one was able to determine the age of the stones in a scientific way, since there was no organic matter on them, which caused great doubts about their authenticity. Strangely, there were about 50,000 of these stones made of andesite, an igneous volcanic rock, from small to huge, weighing half a ton, and for some unknown reason they were sold to collectors for a penny by local treasure hunters. If it was a whole series of fakes, then it clearly did not pay off. The architect Santiago Agurto Calvo was one of the andesite collectors and personally organized an expedition to excavate in the town of Okukahe before 40 кмIca in 1966 to verify the authenticity of these stones. He eventually discovered two specimens in burials from pre-Hispanic cultures. Professor of Medicine, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Lima Javier Cabrera has identified a pattern in the images on the stones. The images are grouped in series from 6 to 200 stones, creating a coherent library. In each plot, the size of the stones changes, as well as the way the image is applied: from engraving to low relief technique. The images contain erotic scenes that are widespread in the culture of the Andean peoples, plots on organ transplants, observations of celestial bodies, hunting, animal life, including dinosaurs. The appearance of such stones called into question the whole science of human evolution and refuted Darwin’s theory.

***

I was inspired to create the trilogy «The Last Days of Pangea» by the above-described paleontological studies, which, from the point of view of certain sciences, contradict each other and may not coincide with reality or cast doubt on certain theories. And the plot of the first book — «The First Sense» — tells about the fantastic appearance of the first people in the prehistoric world and about the mysterious events that once occurred on the supercontinent Pangea.

Retreat

The dialogues in the novel are the conventional language of the first people — a completely unformed speech, which is partly accompanied by conventional signs and mannered hand movements.

Prologue

The Universe… How many secrets are in Her universe and how little I know about Her… Is there any sense in Her creation? Does She give birth to such worlds? Does life end in Her abode, or She herself does not know the final life, just as I do not know anything about Her beginning?!

The Universe… I feel how Its dense nebulae erupt luminaries, forming innumerable Galaxies. Dispersing them among the streams of chaos and emptiness, filling absolute Nothing, She embodies in reality new dimensions and states, new forms of life and peace… What is the purpose of Her manifestations? What drives her?

I have seen how planets are born. How asteroids collide and phenomena change shapes and structures. How comets break on stable bodies and destroy weak entities, leaving cosmic dust instead… I have found harmony and the will to accomplish. I saw the first life and accepted its sudden death. She created beings of numerous shapes and forms and taught them longevity and creation. And what is her intention? Maybe when the flame of my fire goes out, I will find myself where the fruits of the Universe take their origins, and the meaning of the worlds generated by me will become available.

***

Like all such stars, one day my Star also lit up — a gift to the Universe that created me for free or for a specific purpose, I don’t know. I remember how I felt the first warmth. As the first ray absorbed my unnatural essence. Your first warmth…

Having flared up once, the fiery source of origins blinded the universal desert with its body and awakened the beginnings of lives in it. Attracting with rays everything and everyone whom and what he could touch, he called from the wastelands to the beginnings food for creation, which nurtured the born essences with its warmth. Obviously, he warmed me too. Warmed and nourished long before I had the ability to live. How else? Without his touch, his light, my essence would not have gained consciousness, and my sphere would not have felt the Cosmos…

Do you hear me, my star? Tell me, do I have a name similar to what I called you?! My Fire Star is my Sun, you touched me, and for the first time I was able to breathe in the coolness of flickering lights, trace your creation of the world…

When it happened, there was no one like me and the Sun. But there were other incarnations nearby. Countless multitudes of solitary particles — mindless substances — in a chaotic stream sought shelter in the boundless harmony of the Fiery Star. They united in pleiades and rushed about in the arms of the Sun’s light, just as I was in the rays of its warmth. It happened that larger particles ignited for a moment with a red flame, as if they were beckoning with radiance the smaller forms of natures. Those, in turn, with an unknown force soared to the bewitching glows. Circling in the heat of their orbits, they slowly approached the source of attraction, and when they collided, something mysterious and chilling happened! Consuming the smallest essence, the substances spewed out flames, similar to the ardor of my Sun, and grew into red-hot elementals — another kind of manifestation. Elementals blazed, attracted and absorbed other sophisticated particles, and the consequences of their mergers again became substances.

The rebirths of forms were reversed in an endless circle… I looked at this reality with bated breath. Can a similar stream of perfection still occur in the Universe, incomparable to anything?! Possibly… The countless number of luminaries, so distant and inaccessible, going beyond the limits of the concept of boundaries, around me, my Star and these phenomena, only allowed me to imagine similar worlds.

Sometimes, after a flash of flame, the substances partly rejected the entities and pushed them back in the form of hard and cold comets. This reality seemed to take away a piece of one essence from another, leaving instead of it only an unnecessary residue. The absorbing phenomenon became more perfect, and the rejected comets moved away with incredible swiftness, bequeathing behind them clots of cosmic dust.

Keeping the warmth of the Fire Star, my body was gaining strength every moment. My content was reborn, turning into something more than the original essence. Then I felt how other forms began to reach out to me. Like comets flying nearby rushed towards my flesh, leaving the universe on their prepared path. Other entities emerged from their unstable orbits and strove for my reality. At first I was afraid. I was afraid that they would absorb me, as substances absorb other entities, or destroy my still fragile body. I wanted to free myself from my stay and… rush towards the Sun. But I couldn’t. The pull of my Star kept me from moving. And when the first inside touched me, instead of being lost and oppressed, I felt a familiar warmth. The same warmth that I felt before, as if the Sunlight touched my camp for the first time, freeing my mind from chaos and emptiness! With trepidation, I accepted the previously alien manifestation, allowing it to dissolve in the streams of my prana. The essence gave itself to me without a trace, filling me with a new feeling. I desired!

It happened over and over again! Substances, comets and elementals rushed towards me, and I absorbed them and was imbued with energy. My saturation knew no bounds!

The warmth of the Fiery Star in my body over time enveloped the foundations of the absorbed manifestations, and their shell mixed with mine and grew into an inhomogeneous sphere. I became perfect!

Soon, incarnations similar to me began to take off around me, but their contents were not quite similar to mine. Cold and hard, empty and transparent, they did not retain the warmth of the Fiery Star, and perhaps that is why their reality did not acquire meaning. Absorbing essences in the district, the bodies of the like became soulless planets. Those that were closer to the Sun took only the rest of the natures, spraying the shell into the endless space. Comets of other elementals constantly crashed against their warehouses, leaving giant scars on their folded camps. Others, on the contrary, absorbed everything except the basics. Inflated to exorbitant sizes, the planets made me worry about their sustainable existence.

I tried to talk to them, but they did not hear me, just as my Sun did not hear me… Then I could not understand what was the meaning of my loneliness. Oh, how I longed to see what was going on outside of Firestar Realm! Go out of your mind beyond its borders. To know the Cosmos of other luminaries. Maybe there, in other worlds, there are lives similar to me, capable of listening to me, accepting my existence, telling me the plan of the Universe and leading me to Its origins along the Star Way?

A small core — a tiny essence, like my image on the first day of realizing reality, lost in the arm of the Sun among the inanimate elementals — appeared out of nowhere. It slowly moved towards my habitat, gradually attracting other entities to itself, like a second Self, born long before its appearance. The essence merged with other entities, and with the same desirable feeling inherent in me, dissolved their cosmic flesh. Who are you? A living planet — a gift from the Fire Star or the Universe, born to brighten up my solitude?!

I asked her and received meek outbursts in response. Warm streams of prana excitedly touched my shell. With all the fibers of the absorbed reality, I felt her mutual «Yes». Is she talking to me? Does she really feel the course of my thoughts, the flow of my essence?

My satellite stopped very close. In the world of the Sun, among silent planets, cold comets and gloomy asteroids, he was beautiful and unique! Its fiery core, wrapped in absorbed energy, was like a Star Flower. With every moment, the sphere of cosmic petals of its mixed manifestations blossomed and shimmered with the light of the Universe. The abundance of vital matter of the satellite with constant impulses made me feel the Cosmos again and again! My lover, as if playing with me, absorbed the particles in the area and with each merger with them sent incomparable rays of illumination to my body. I could not restrain my attraction and reciprocated his presence near. My desired planet, my new understanding of the world awakened in me an extraordinary feeling, without which it was impossible to continue my existence!

Since then, I have not been alone. He was with me — my faithful companion! We endlessly danced around ourselves, one of one and the Sun, beating particles of its warmth into our foundations. Reflecting the rays of the Fiery Star, we took turns warming the sides of our forms that were inaccessible to it. We absorbed the remnants of mindless entities and replenished our bodies with their energy. Sometimes our attraction clung to the same reality, and we pulled it to each other. Competing with him in perseverance and gravity, sometimes I conceded essence to him. My blissful source, my vital inspirer of accomplishments, as it turned out later, needed substances more than I did, and his Cosmic touch after that was stronger than any light!

Constantly burning on the scorching rays, the lifeless planets nearby did not stop repeating the meaningless ritual of being around the Sun. The persistent planids healed their former scars long ago, while the transparent giants exhausted the nearest phenomena and remained frozen on the borders of the creation of the Fiery Star.

The eternal time of the Universe continued to surf the infinity of the worlds. Not feeling its duration, limits and variability in space, my satellite and I were transformed again and again! We gradually wrapped the saved warmth of the Fiery Star in solid matter, and our shells became more receptive to other forms. Sometimes stray comets hit them. Before merging with the elementals of the foundations, they were fairly overheated from elemental resistances. Penetrating the spheres, the comets turned into soft structures by the moment of a complete stop and smoothly connected with our bodies. So we ate. Thus, with time passed our careless constancy. Rotating in the streams of heat of mutual energy, we did not notice how almost all non-intelligent particles around disappeared. Once again, sparking with the force of gravity in the game «Absorbers of Substances», I saw how my blessed one moved. Its orbit again rushed to my location. I felt it and could not agree with the fate of the universe! My satellite, having released the invisible shackles and overflowing with prana flows, was confidently approaching. I tried to stop him, talked to him, rejected him with cold impulses and currents of the spheres. I started spinning faster and created a cosmic dust storm around me to express my denial. But he didn’t listen! My patron of harmony and prosperity accelerated under my attraction, and nothing could stop him…

I knew what would happen to us… I knew what would happen to him!

The torture of hopelessness completely permeated my body. Resisting to the last, I accepted his invasion. My spheres mingled with the petals of the Star Flower, currents and compounds boiled in the flames of fused essences! His energy penetrated to the very foundation. I felt the Cosmos and blazing pain at the same time!

And in one moment our camps touched. The shiver of collision and cosmic vibrations splashed out beyond our habitation. The waves of concussions spread over the abode of the Fiery Star and stirred up even the soulless planets… I accepted a part of his essence and, concentrating all the life streams, made an attempt to repel the disturber. The satellite succumbed to power and left my flesh, leaving a share of the inside in my depths.

Everything is mixed up! Many elements intersected in the spheres, blinding flashes, thundering in a mixed avalanche of two entities, shook my consciousness. I paused for a moment to take in what had happened. The soulless body of my companion headed for the expanses of the Fire Star. It gained momentum, moving away faster and faster, but my pain did not allow me to let it go into the abyss of countless luminaries, and I, not wanting to look at how it would become a comet, overtook the lifeless remnant with my attraction.

The extinguished satellite stopped opposite and silently froze… He never spoke to me again. His camp — colorless, dumb and cold — remained forever near, revolving in the bonds of my gravity. Only the Sun’s light was reflected in the mirror body of the now soulless planet and reminded of its once vital stay, constantly warming and pouring rays on my dark side of existence…

* dbaya — taking in.

***

The mirage of memories was filled with green beams of light. Glows emanated directly from the canvases of the walls of the building — from the inscribed drawings and carved symbols. The play of lights completely clouded the Tent of Unity, and in the center of it, through a thick haze, a mysterious stone was visible, wrapped in equally mysterious luminous shoots of plants unseen in Her abode. Suddenly, somewhere very close, muffled children’s laughter and echoes of the conversation were heard:

— Who? Who remains…

«Ar… Wa… and Iri…» came another unintelligible echo.

— I’m here! — I heard a girl’s voice. — I sing…

The child’s speech was interrupted by the displeased order of one of the adults:

«What are you doing here?! Well, run from here! This is no place for Seekers!

BONFIRE — the first night

A warm wind touched the foot of the Great Volcano*. With a light impulse, he stirred the tops of the araucaria and froze. The elements were replaced by cool air. Drawing it in deeply with his nostrils and enjoying the freshness of coniferous incense, Roshan fixed his eyes on the infinity of the night sky. The full moon rose over the valley. She illuminated the silhouette of Roshan — a hunter, shaman, husband and first leader of the first people. He stood on a viewing platform, dressed in everyday garb made from the skins of herbivorous reptiles. The tall, full of strength and self-confident leader thoughtfully rubbed the bone beads. The incisors of small predators were woven into his black strands, collected in a braid. The scythe hung gracefully just below the man’s waist and displayed his position in the tribe. Why, everyone knew Roshan! Only a child less than a hundred moons old could confuse Roshan with an ordinary hunter. The dark thick beard of the leader was also braided. It stretched to the very stomach, and its ending, pulled together by the claw of the Vulture, forked into thin pigtails. Despite the thousands of moons lived, the shaman’s blue eyes still glowed with determination. But his tanned and middle-aged face had long ago worn furrows that hid the scars that were once obtained on the hunt, already forgotten under what circumstances. Only a deep scar from Ostrothorn’s thorn on the scaly cheekbone on the right was reminiscent of the restless camp near the liana forests.

Scratching his hooked nose, the leader focused his gaze on the stars: an infinite number of heavenly stones illuminated the vault as never before; they shimmered with colorful lights, and it seemed that all the colors of the rainbow shone in the crystal clear sky. Roshan saw such a phenomenon for the first time! He furrowed his jet-black brows and thought.

— Roshan! A woman’s voice interrupted his thoughts. «Varn and future hunters are waiting for you. You did not forget?

The shaman pricked up his ears. Behind, in the settlement, through the splashing of a nearby brook, the voices of his young tribesmen were barely audible.

Ana stepped closer and draped the cloak over the leader’s shoulders.

«Everyone is already here,» she added.

The chief adjusted his blue robe of Longneck’s hide.

«Thank you, Ana. Look at those stars!

The woman carefully squeezed under Roshan’s arm, pressed her back against him and looked at the sky. A stream of moonlight touched Ana’s pale, scarless face — the spirits of Zavrin protected the fair-haired huntress from encounters with the claws of reptiles, and the Great Fire did not darken her skin. She was not tall, just below the leader’s shoulders. Her curls protruded carelessly from the pile of hair collected on her head so that her hair, fastened with a bone hairpin, resembled the fruit of a palm tree. The small rough nose of the huntress modestly stood out between the large cheekbones, and dark thick eyebrows emphasized large gray eyes. The woman’s ears were adorned with Lazunov’s fangs, and on her slender neck Ana wore beads made from the teeth of herbivorous lizards — an exquisite gift from Roshan.

— They are beautiful! Very bright, don’t you think? the huntress asked defiantly. Do they bother you? Changing tone, she immediately asked.

«Yes, they are beautiful,» the shaman replied. — Worried? I don’t know yet… I’ll go around the watchtowers. Wait for me at the Fireplace. The leader carefully turned the huntress around and pressed her to him. Smelling the familiar scent, Roshan cautiously inhaled the scent of her hair. — Oh no! You smell like fried meat! he growled playfully. — How I want to eat!

Ana smiled and slid out of the leader’s arms, heading towards the Pavilion of Flame. The shaman looked after the huntress. Her green robe of Longneck’s skin gleamed in the moonlight. The torso was tightly tightened with flaps from the shoulders and almost to the waist. A bandage sat on her hips, decorated with the colored wings of swamp dragonflies. She skillfully covered the bosom. On her feet, Ana wore sandals made from the rough hide of Tailtail, and on her forearms were bracers made from the same reptile. The woman’s hands were smeared with soot in places, which, under the glow of the moon, was visible on pale skin. Judging by the stains, Ana helped the youths build the Fireplace.

As soon as the hunter disappeared among the huts, Roshan descended the wooden platform and moved towards the southeastern watchtower. Silently stepping along the fences, the leader attentively listened to the slightest rustle on the other side of the fence. Night cicadas, crackling beetles, crickets and other insects chirped and chirped uncontrollably in the area. But even amid this rumble, Roshan could make out the bustle of small lizards, which, in search of food in the dark, came too close to the village.

A whistle sounded from fifty paces before the guardhouse. Roshan stopped. Everything was OK. The sentinel confidently stood at his post and watched what was happening not only on the other side of the fence. Answering him with the same whistle, the leader turned around and wandered to the western outpost.

The path between the outposts passed through many huts. Structures made of tree branches and trunks, covered with reptile skin, decorated with the bones of herbivorous lizards and painted with symbols of the first people, were erected along the entire border from the western to eastern loophole — the entrances to the camp. All these huts belonged to the House of Hunters. And for good reason! Fences were not always safe from carnivores, and if any predator or pack tried to get into the settlement, then the first to get in their way were hunting parties: skilled traps, shamans, beaters and trackers. They already knew how to deal with uninvited guests and could always protect the village! Fortunately, for all the time in the new place, not a single large lizard has come close to the camp. Only tiny Lazoons and Squeakers occasionally flitted around, but they did not pose any threat to the tribe.

Each hut and the small territory adjacent to it were fenced with goads — sharpened stakes. Lights or bonfires were usually lit near the huts. Someone was constantly roasting meat. Hunters from different squads arranged nightly gatherings by the fire: they shared their experiences, told exciting stories, or just played dice. During the day, children ran here, chasing the Hunters, and youngsters and maidens came to train in archery or throw a spear. Here they made and tested weapons, studied engraving, craft and hunting art. This part of the village has always been noisy and lively, but now these buildings are deserted: the days of the Great Hunt have come, hunting parties went in search of prey. The camp became perceptibly deserted and vulnerable. Young growth and women with their children temporarily moved to the araucaria close to the foot — in huts. Some of the youths, whose relatives had gone hunting, were not afraid to remain in solitary dwellings, but that night they all went up to the Pavilion of Flame. Peace reigned in the House of Hunters.

Before reaching the western gatehouse, Roshan himself gave a prearranged signal to the sentinel. To which he received an immediate response. The leader’s anxiety subsided a little, and he, thinking about the stars, went to the Fireplace.

Weaving along the path, the shaman came to the well. Here the sounds of a mountain stream blended well with the chirping of nocturnal living creatures. Simultaneous crackling and murmuring created in this place a feeling of true unity with nature. With every part of the body, the leader felt Her near presence. And if not for the hubbub of the tribesmen, which came from the Pavilion of Flame, then the unity would instantly overtake Roshan.

Scooping water from the vat with his palm, the shaman drew attention to the strange reflection of the stars in the well, and then looked at the sky. The bright lights were no longer full of rainbow colors. Their glow became normal. But overnight, in the middle of the sky, among the many luminaries, a barely noticeable measured shining colo formed. The stars in it seemed to have started to each other, creating a shimmering nebula. And the closer they spread to the center of manifestation, the brighter they radiated light. This unusual phenomenon fascinated! Where the Great Fire was incinerated and the cold Moon hid, something unknown was happening, visible and at the same time inaccessible…

Roshan contemplated the mysterious night sky for some time, trying to understand the reason for the mysterious radiance, but nothing intelligible came to mind. And suddenly it seemed to the leader that the Zavrinis themselves whispered to him: «Run!..»

The shaman shuddered in surprise and froze, listening carefully and striving to catch the inner call again. But nothing but the chirping of insects, the murmur of the stream and the voices of relatives bothered Roshan anymore. He looked back at the glowing stake. The leader’s heart was overwhelmed with anxiety, and in his thoughts, the thought flashed that when he and Varn would set fire to the Fireplace, and in the morning everyone would fall into a dream, he could go up to the caves in the Temple of the Creator and, indulging in unity, find out the reason for the strange appearance — to see Her eyes that are inaccessible to humans.

*volcano — in the language of the first people means «mountain»; Great Volcano — Great Mountain.

***

At the Pavilion of Flame, Roshan was met by an experienced hunter Khord.

— Oh, leader! You’ve all been waiting for! he greeted. — Do you look at the stars?

The spiky bald head and the old man’s small brown eyes gleamed in the moonlight, and when speaking, the crooked and long nose moved slightly, and it seemed that Hord was constantly recognizing smells around him. Hord was the only hunter of the tribe’s ancestors who survived to this day, the other old hunters were younger, much younger. And the sixth thousand moons shone for him!

His long, unkempt gray beard, which hung down almost to his knees, was slightly greasy and indicated that the old man had just had supper. The leader noticed this and smiled.

«You see everything, hunter,» Roshan replied and held out his hand to the old man as a sign of honor.

— Many people asked me about the stars… but I did not know what to answer them. Do you hear Roshan? For the first time in thousands of moons, I didn’t know what to say!

The shaman frowned.

«Yes, Hord, I see it too. They shimmered like a rainbow, and now this strange phenomenon… Have you ever noticed this?

— No… for all my moons — for the first time.

The leader nodded approvingly.

— And what do you think? asked the seasoned hunter.

«I can hardly imagine, Hord. In our world, everything happens in harmony, and in the world of heavenly fires there are many inexplicable things… Do you remember how our ancestors taught: «If the soul leaves the abode of Pangea, then a new star lights up in the sky»? But what does their bizarre glow and this mean? The leader pointed to the shining stake. — I don’t know…

«Yes…» the old man said in a barely audible voice, looking at what was happening in the sky.

«Maybe the elements have raged somewhere, and reptiles are dying in its captivity?.. And the spirits of Zavrini warn us with this sign? the shaman suggested.

«Perhaps… But even before the elements were rampant, and the stars did not warn us.

«And that is true, my friend. What if this is an unusual element that has never been before? Maybe you should ask her? — spreading his arms, suggested the leader.

Hord looked at the shaman in bewilderment.

Do you want to ascend to the stars in unity? the old man asked.

— Yes. With her eyes to see the radiance…

The experienced hunter thought for a moment and again fixed his eyes on the night sky.

«You know, Roshan, no one has looked at the stars with Her eyes before. And no one thought of it! I can’t even imagine what’s there — in infinity of luminaries, — Hord said puzzled. — And how long will you stay in unity, wandering among the stars?.. And in…

«They whispered to me, „Run!“,» the shaman interrupted excitedly.

The old man frowned:

When did you hear the call?

Just before our meeting.

— This is impossible! exclaimed the old man.

— Why? the leader was surprised.

I heard the same…

Are you sure Hord?

— Yes! I felt it when I left the Flame Tent before you came. I thought I felt it. But now I am sure that I heard the call just as I hear you now, Roshan.

The shaman considered.

«Zavrini’s premonition has always been a personal feeling of every hunter, but we both heard it overnight! the leader reasoned. «This has never happened before, Hord?»

— No, Roshan, this has definitely never happened!

«It is the glow and the spirits of Zavrini that disturb me, my friend. We must go to the Temple!

The experienced hunter was embarrassed, but immediately gathered his thoughts:

«Wait, leader, don’t rush. Wait for the hunting parties to return. The Zavrini are warning us of something, but they can be wrong too,» Hord pointed to the scar on the chieftain’s cheek.

«It’s been quiet here since we settled.

«What if the Rasaurs come?» Do not risk! I understand you, Roshan. Her eyes reveal to us the secrets of the created world, and the determination to learn something new is stronger than the most persistent will. But thousands of moons, the traces of Zavrini led our ancestors to the Great Volcano, and the spirits pointed the way for a reason! Definitely not to be overtaken by some kind of element or even worse — in your absence, the settlement was attacked by lizards. Do not risk! You learn from Her what kind of radiance it is. Find out what disturbs the spirits and tell people, but first wait for the hunting parties. And remember, Roshan, no one has looked at the stars with Her eyes before!

— I understood you. Ask which of the old shamans heard Zavrini and tell me, the leader urged convincingly.

— All right, chief, — Khord, encouragingly, patted Roshan on the shoulder and added: — Ignite the Fireplace. I will call the elders. Let’s see what Varn promised, and what will come of it. Let’s make a fire at the tent — we will teach the young!

***

The Pavilion of Flame was in disarray. Children ran everywhere with training weapons. Depicting a hunt to the joyful cries, the young descendants attacked the erected totem. Some were shooting at him with bows, others were beating him with sticks, others were arguing about the Great Hunt or about which of them was more agile and faster. There was a hum. In the midst of this bustle, women and elderly men sat in small groups near the refectory fires on the mats. Every now and then they shouted remarks about bad behavior to their offspring and immediately switched back to adult conversations.

Varnus noticed the leader who had just arrived. A short, thin craftsman — the offspring of a seasoned hunter Hord — in a hurry gathered his short dark hair, secured it with a bone hairpin and headed towards Roshan. On his right eye, the artisan wore a bandage — it was said that Varn, when he was very young (the eighth dozen moons of his age), flopped with araucaria by accident, so much so that he ran into a bough with his eye!

— Ah, Varn! I have no doubts about your work! exclaimed the leader, and, raising his hands, he pointed to the open spaces of the tent.

Hello, Roshan! Today, our troops will see the light of the Bonfire, and no hunter will be lost in the lands of Pangea!

The single brown eye of the resourceful Varn shone with anticipation. Varnus had no doubt that the Flame Totem would work.

— Of course they will! Thanks to you, we built this tent,» the shaman proclaimed, giving even more confidence to his fellow tribesman. — Well, then. Let’s see how your Fireplace works?

The one-eyed man nodded approvingly and went to his hearth for a torch, while the leader briefly examined those sitting in the tent and immediately noticed Anu. She settled down by the fire with the women at the other end of the building and squeezed her blue-eyed child. The child accidentally caught the gaze of his patron and, escaping from his mother’s arms, ran towards him.

— Dad!

Roshan smiled. The bustle in the tent subsided for a moment. Kindred paid attention to the child, and then to the leader.

The leader has arrived! someone shouted. — Set fire to the totem!

The first humans greeted Roshan by whistling and drumming their feet and clubs on the ground. The bongos and congos played. There was a joyful uproar!

The fair-haired girl ran to her father, and he picked her up in his arms.

«Pa, where were you?» We already want the Fireplace! she spoke loudly. — Come on, set it on fire!

Omi’s curly hair was braided into many braids, and her features were similar to Ana’s. And only huge blue eyes and scales on the cheekbones indicated a resemblance to the head of the clan. In the child’s right ear was an earring made of Lazun’s claw, on the bone of which a red field butterfly impregnated with the same resin was glued with the help of the resin of coniferous trees. The baby’s loincloth, like many girlish attire, was decorated with green dragonfly wings. More than seventy moons from birth, the chief’s daughter already looked like a young maiden and was a little taller than her parent’s knees, but her childlike voice and behavior still betrayed such a young age.

«Why aren’t you in the hut yet?!» Roshan asked playfully. «You should be dreaming by now!»

I don’t want dreams! Ma gave me permission. Permission to burn the Bonfire! she answered, laughing, and with her small hands clutched at the scythe protruding from the leader’s chin.

Roshan laughed. Suddenly he was surrounded by children:

— Roshan, tell us about the spirits!

«Chief, when will Zavrin’s eyes appear to us?!

— Why do we…

Many questions poured in from all sides.

«Not all at once, young hunters! Roshan exclaimed.

Immediately Varnus arrived and held out a light to the leader. The shaman softly whispered something in his daughter’s ear and, having received a portion of tickling in pursuit, the child, laughing loudly, rushed to his mother, and the leader took the torch and raised his fist. Silence reigned in the Pavilion of Flame. Everyone froze in anticipation of the speeches of the leader.

«The Four Great Fires have circled the sky since our hunters set off in search of prey!» Roshan said. «Varnus promised us that thanks to this pavilion, our rangers and stalkers would see the light of the Flame Totem!» And now we will set fire to the creation of Varn, so that the troops can see the way home — to the Great Volcano!

— Wu-u-u, Wa-a-arn! — there was an approving rumble of fellow tribesmen. — Set it on fire!

— May the glow of the Great Fire abide in their hearts! And their hearts will not go out with his departure, neither during the Great Hunt today, nor with the dawns of the coming Great Fires! the shaman growled as he approached the Fireplace. — May the spirits of Zavrini protect their bodies and souls. May the flames of Pangea give them strength!

«The spirits of Zavrini will protect their bodies and souls, may the flames of Pangea give them strength!» the others picked up.

Roshan brought the torch to the totem, and the Fireplace blazed with a white rage!

***

The Pavilion of Flame was the largest structure in the settlement. People covered the wooden structure of support posts and beams twice with dense reptile skin, and from the inside the leather cloth and wood were carefully smeared with limestone, which prevented accidental sparks and tongues of fire from burning through the skin and igniting the building. Outside, the tent, like ordinary huts, was decorated with bones, symbols and other drawings of life. The rounded shapes of the walls of the building gave the roof a peculiar look. Closer to the center of the tent, it was significantly extended upwards and looked like a bottomless quiver. Giant bottomless quiver! This part of the structure Varnus forced the tribesmen to re-tighten several times until they achieved the necessary elasticity and stability: sharp gusts of wind should not have shaken an important part of the structure. The elongated roof served as both a chimney and a source of light for the Flame Totem — the Fireplace. The entrance to the tent appeared overnight and blew.

The Fireplace itself was erected inside, right under the chimney, from large logs, branches and pieces of hardened resin of liana trees. The Flame Totem was almost as tall as an adult Thickskin! The erected idol was poured with thick reptile fat, the stocks of which the tribe had plenty of. According to Varna’s calculations, the fat had to ignite first. Then — the wood will burn out and the resin will melt. And so it happened. When the heat reached its limit, it became unbearable to be in the Tent of Flame: white particles of hot resin rose into the air and gradually filled the space of the structure; getting on the skin, they burned unpleasantly and left traces of soot.

«Let’s go faster, youngsters,» Varnus urged. «Otherwise, charred bones will go hunting instead of you!»

Teenagers, noisy and giggling, hurried to the exit. As soon as everyone left the building, Varnus tightly tightened the entrance with liana twine. It remains to wait until the resin completely burns out, and release the red-hot grains into the chimney.

A fire has already been lit in the clearing in front of the Pavilion of Flame. Watchmen sat around him, women, elders, whom Khord had called, and youngsters — restless descendants fooled around every now and then: they jumped from one bedding to another, pushed and squeezed each other.

When everyone was seated, one of the youths — Ronin, the son of the shaman Vall, the leader of one of the detachments of the Great Hunt — pointed to the sky with his hand and turned to the leader:

«Chief, the hunter Hord does not know why the stars were full of colors and what kind of rounded glow in the sky is!» Wasn’t he there before?

Everyone raised their heads and gasped in surprise, and whispering began among the elders. Roshan noticed the fuss of the old people and immediately replied:

«And you are observant, young man. Today is indeed an extraordinary night,» the shaman looked up at the luminous stake. «Look at the glow,» he turned to his fellow tribesmen. — The stars in it clung to each other and shine like never before!

The Kindred, who were in the Pavilion of Flame and helped build the Fireplace, did not see the shining stake at the moment when it was noticed by Roshan and Hord. Therefore, most of those sitting by the fire did not even suspect that it had managed to transform: the ring of light became much brighter, and the cluster of lights in its middle merged almost into a complete ball, as if a new luminary was born in the heights! Roshan did not show that he was surprised by the celestial manifestation, and while the juveniles, women and sentinel hunters, opening their mouths, looked at the glow in amazement, the leader glanced at the elders. Hord and a few old trackers caught the leader’s gaze. Shrugging their shoulders and shaking their heads in bewilderment, they made it clear that the wisest men of the tribe were also confused and did not know what this phenomenon was.

Roshan did not want to stir up confusion among his relatives, so he deliberately withheld the warning message whispered by the spirits.

«Zavrinis are asked to learn the secret of the radiance of heavenly fires. And when the hunters return, I will definitely do it! Have you heard the spirits of Zavrini yet? the chieftain asked Ronin, trying to distract the young from the strange appearance.

The green-eyed fellow was confused:

— No, chief. I didn’t hear… I…

«Tell us about the spirits, chief!» a black-haired girl sitting next to him interrupted the teenager.

— Yes, yes, leader, tell me about Zavrin! roared the rest of the children, immediately forgetting about the bizarre glow.

Some of the boys have already heard the story of the origin of Zavrini from the lips of relatives, but the young descendants really wanted the leader himself to tell the truth.

Roshan looked around at his Clanmates. The adults nodded approvingly, and the young froze in anticipation of the leader’s tale.

— Well… Listen carefully, future hunters, and remember my every word in order to retell to your sons, as my ancestors retelled to me! Roshan exclaimed. «Once Pangea, the giver of life, whose name means everything around that does not carry a soul in itself, created Zavrini in her own image — to think and create in the likeness! Razavr became the womb of Zavrini’s life, because She wanted Her intelligent children to be both fast and strong! So that they could survive and protect themselves in Her abode,» the leader spread his hands. «The reptile hatched eight eggs, and they hatched into creatures different from their parent. These creatures were like you and me. Four Zavrinis were larger than the rest. Two of them wore dark scales, almost black as night. Others in red skins were born — the color of their body was like the Great Fire at sunset. And those Zavrinis, which are smaller, had skin similar to the skin of sandy Rasaurs!..

«Roshan, were they reptiles or humans?» Ronin asked.

«Neither one nor the other,» the leader replied, frowning. — Their heads were human, but a little elongated, and their eyes* were like those of reptiles, yes! — at this tale, Roshan instantly embodied his vision in the eyes of a hunter — the whites of his eyes turned yellow, and the pupils narrowed and became one in one like a lizard. The young gasped in surprise, and the adults laughed. Returning his eyes to his ordinary appearance, Roshan continued: «Zavrini’s hind legs were similar to ours, but with large claws and strong, like those of their ancestors, the Rasaurs. Forelimbs — hands, only instead of five fingers sticking out three!

Suddenly, Roshan waved his hands and put his palms forward. With a brisk movement, he spread his fingers, so much so that the ring fingers pressed against the little fingers, and the middle ones pressed against the index fingers. In the semi-darkness, it seemed to the teenagers that the leader really had three fingers, and they groaned at the unexpected display.

«Climbing trees like we do is dexterous, they didn’t know how, but they ran faster than any carnivore. Not even the Vultures could catch up! Roshan exclaimed. — Other lizards in the flock did not recognize the offspring and tried to eat the ugly cubs, but the female stood up for her children. She could not resist for a long time, and the stupid Razaurs tore her apart!

The chief threw his arms up again, as if tearing a piece of leather in two. His story was so exciting that the future hunters were imbued in earnest. And the leader’s daughter was completely frightened. Covering her face with her hands, she pressed herself against her mother. There was a sob.

«Omi, Omi…» Ana tried to calm the child.

Roshan waved his hand to the fair-haired huntress, and she, wrapping the child in a leather blanket, went to the araucaria.

«Tell them, Hord,» the leader of the old man asked. — I’ll be right back.

The leader followed Ana, and the teenagers sitting by the fire instantly stared at the old man. Hord scratched his beard with a bone comb and picked up the story:

«Zavrini’s skin wasn’t all scaly. Once, at the Bolshoi Okhota, near the lime swamps, I found their petrified trace. How many moons does he have? I don’t know. But the footprint is larger than the human one. And it became clear from him that the skin of Zavrini on the feet was smooth, like mine.

Khord deftly threw off his sandal and put his foot in front of the seated ones. The bare heel of the old man shone from the glow of the fire. The tribesmen laughed in unison.

«So,» Hord continued, «the Rasaurs tried to eat the little Zavrinis, but they, frightened, rushed to their heels. They managed to hide among the roots and thickets of the liana forest. What happened next — we do not know, but we know for sure that two fair-skinned cubs survived.

«Hord, how do you know about light-skinned cubs?» the black-haired girl asked.

«My ancestor, Alak, told me, as his ancestor told him, and his ancestor, great-grandfather, that our tribe once stood near the banks of raging waters at a time when the last white-skinned Zavrini was alive,» the elder replied. — And that the first people appeared in the monastery of Pangea from the first feeling of Zavrin — not from an egg, like reptiles, but from a womb, like you, Elna! Hord added.

Sighs and gasps of surprise were again heard among the young listeners.

«And what is that feeling?» Elna asked timidly.

«Love, my child!

The teens giggled softly.

«So there are other tribes, right? Ronin asked. — After all, Zavrini was eight!

«That we do not know, young man. We can only guess…

«Can’t you ask Pangea?» Ronin spread his hands.

«Unfortunately, Pangea does not see through the past like shamans do the path of herbivores,» Hord replied sadly. — And her real eyes…

«Look, the lights are rising above the tent!» one of the teenagers suddenly shouted.

Everyone jumped! A small clot of grains of hot tar escaped from the building’s chimney. Circling like field butterflies, the luminous particles began to rotate randomly, striving upwards.

«Calm, my friends! — Varnus pacified his relatives and rushed to the building at a run.

One-eyed loosened the strings that tied the entrance and stared intently at his fellow tribesmen.

— Well? Should we wait for the leader or start without him? the craftsman asked smiling.

«I’m here, Varn!» Roshan exclaimed as he descended the path. — Come on already! Show us the totem in action!

One-Eyed finally loosened the liana ropes and lifted the canopy. Heat surged from the tent in an instant, and Varnus barely had time to jump back. Everyone gasped at what was happening: on the other side of the entrance, something that looked like a fiery cloud of an infinite number of burning particles tried to escape from the building, but a through stream of air, rushing to the chimney, prevented this from happening.

Varnus lifted the veil of the entrance even more. The red-hot club leaned back. It was so dense that neither the Fireplace itself nor the slightest space inside the building could be seen behind it. The craftsman lowered the canopy and secured it almost to the very ground, leaving a small gap for traction. Under a light stream of blowing wind, the shining particles began to slowly exit through the chimney.

Women, elders, teenagers — everyone froze, watching what was happening. Rising to the sky, many lights created a continuous flow of light, a luminous whirlpool formed above the roof of the Flame Tent, and the higher the whirlwind rose, the wider its edge became. It seemed that the red-hot resin would not cease to go out and the whirlwind of glow would reach the stars. But already somewhere there, high up, the coals turned into ashes and dissolved into the night heights…

— Here it is, yes!

— Look, look! They fly to the stars!

The juveniles made a delighted noise, emotions overwhelmed the future hunters. Children enthusiastically looked at the circulation of shining grains, and their amazement and joy knew no bounds!

A light breeze blew. The pillar of the fiery vortex twisted slightly, but did not lose its shape. Only now the leader noticed that the edge of the luminous whirlpool looked like the glow of a stake in the sky, which, like particles of hot resin, flickered white. Roshan was struck by this incomparable resemblance. But suddenly the center of the stake lit up, so brightly that for a moment it blinded the first people: teenagers, women, old people — everyone who admired the fiery whirlwind at that moment — saw lightning. Covering their eyes and faces with their hands, the tribesmen groaned and groaned in shock, but immediately the dazzling glare in the gaze of each subsided, and fuss began among the relatives.

— Have you seen the light?

— What was it?

— Flash!

Teenagers began to fill up the elders with questions, trying to find out about what had happened. The adults tried to calm down the growing farce, but the juveniles, not responding to the calls, unrestrainedly asked everyone in a row who and what they saw and whether they saw something, until one of the youngsters cried out:

— Look!

Everyone looked up at the sky again. The accumulation of light in the middle of the star ring was gradually fading away, and it was noticeable how the glow measuredly moved away from the center of the circle. Soon it completely dissolved, and in place of the once shining stake, a bright, bizarre star lit up. Blazing with a red flame, it clearly stood out among other stars. An incomparable luminary, unseen before, as if alive, shimmering with shades of scarlet light, adorned the night sky.

Young people, women and sentinel hunters began to vigorously discuss the strange star, and only the leader and the elders thoughtfully exchanged glances.

Where the Great Fire was incinerated and the cold Moon hid, something unknown, visible and at the same time inaccessible, happened. And the spirits of Zavrini themselves warned the first people about this!

* eye — in the language of the first people means «eyes».

***

When the future hunters were sent to the huts, the elders and shamans made a decision: Roshan will go to the caves in the Temple of the Creator in the morning and, indulging in unity, will rise to the stars to learn the secret of the newborn manifestation. Through Her eyes to see what is inaccessible to humans. Something that no one has ever seen before…

Shelter of the first people

The Great Volcano — a mighty mountain, towering above the universe, proudly propped up the sky. A considerable part of it sometimes hid among the clouds passing by, and from below, at the pedestal, it seemed that the edges of the peaks did not exist at all. From the north, the volcano was surrounded by ridges covered with coniferous vegetation. They pierced the cloudy sky with their ends, but their greatness did not look as irresistible as that of the creation under heaven. An immense grove of araucaria stretched in a dense cover from the southeast to the foot of the mountain. She then rose to the heights, then fell deep into the ravines, creating an amazing variety of terrain. In the distance, the grove bordered only on the horizon, and closer to the Great Volcano it grew to its first cliffs, and only huge boulders, tens of thousands of moons lying at the base, in places interrupted the green cover of the creator. From all the western slopes of the mountain there was a plain. Covered with bennettitic plants, ginkgo trees, and steppe palms, it gradually grew into a liana forest in the southwest, and into a forest in the west. The north-west of the lowlands ended in a valley of wooded ridges and small jungle — the former path of a nomadic tribe.

The village of the first people stood at the southern foot of the mountain, on the lower cliffs of which underground cavities were once formed — caves, and the first people gladly arranged and settled them. Elderly relatives settled in the caves, since it was impossible to be in the camp during the day: there was a rumble of running children everywhere, militant cries of teenagers from the arena of the weapons mansion, motives of drumming, noise and other fuss were constantly heard. And the elders favored peace and quiet. But in times of heavy rains in the grottoes of the old people, it still became livelier: the buildings of the settlement could not withstand the raging elements, and the tribe more than once escaped from the tiring moisture in the dwellings of the ancestors.

From a rocky crevice under one of the high ledges, as a great favor of the creator, a small stream was beating. In some places, his fellow tribesmen directed his modest channel into makeshift canals. The channels filled leather-covered vats, wells built on the slopes. Filled wells from an excess of water through the same channels returned priceless life-giving moisture back to the stream. The channel went just below the settlement into a gorge under the slope, and here, among the vast cliffs and araucaria, the main part of the village was located.

On araucaria, the first people erected huts for juveniles. Small buildings — below a tall fellow tribesman — were given, like most buildings in the settlement, rounded shapes. For very young children, the structures were usually installed on short dense growths sticking out of tree trunks. The branches were crushed and tied with liana twine. So it turned out a stable flooring — a lead on which the frame of the hut was placed. There could be several such tales along the entire length of the trunk. The leafy cover of the flooring did not make it possible to detect buildings from the ground, and the arrangement of the floorings one above the other created shelter on the lower branches from the scorching rays of the sun and annoying rainwater.

For slightly older children, buildings were erected at the ends of large branches, where araucaria shoots gathered in dense clusters. The core of the branches was crushed, and the edges were left as is. The prepared floors for these dwellings resembled the nests of Pterosaurs. The installed frame in the center of the flooring was covered with leather soaked in fat. A layer of fat protected the dwellings from the rains, but, unfortunately, did not save them from powerful downpours. The finished hut from all sides, except for the side of the entrance to it, was enveloped by untouched ramifications of araucaria. To the huts, the hunters raised deep lime vats: in them, women made fires for cooking or heating. Huts, set in places of dense growth, could accommodate no more than four kids, and at the edges of the branches — no more than four teenagers. The children slept on soft, hay-stuffed leather bedding.

Young descendants, by the way, constantly hung their homes with all sorts of decorations and trinkets. They found, caught, begged from adults or exchanged various nonsense among themselves: butterflies, eyes and wings of dragonflies, fangs, claws of reptiles and other nonsense. After meals, they collected the gnawed bones of lizards, dried them, washed them in a stream and dragged them to their huts. Everyone decorated their halabuda with everything that came to hand.

Between the branches of araucaria hunters pulled suspension bridges. Liana twine was fixed everywhere and lowered to the ground so that it was possible to climb onto the branches not only along the trunk. It was the huts that, in the event of a sudden penetration or attack of predators on the settlement, became the most reliable shelter for juveniles. True, Chameleons — the only terrestrial carnivores — could climb trees. But from them, just in case, stretch marks from ropes with bone rattles were always installed around the trunks — ribs, ridges, fangs of small cold-blooded and other remains. The rattles warned of climbers. Fortunately, Chameleons were extremely rarely found in coniferous forests, and they climbed so slowly that it was not difficult to distinguish them from people without looking, by the sound of tinkling streamers: a constant ringing of bones — a relative climbs, a rare — Chameleon. And if the Chameleon managed to rise at least a little, then a hail of stones could always stop him, because there were plenty of cobblestones on the araucaria. But so far, neither the Chameleons nor the attacks of other lizards near the Great Volcano have yet happened.

The foot of the mountain was as if created for a permanent camp. Most of the barriers that reliably protected the settlement from reptiles turned out to be the same boulders sticking out for eternity. And between them, the tribesmen erected high fences from fallen trees on the outskirts of the grove. Horns were attached to the fences. So the hunters secured themselves from land-based predators. Winged predators — Pterosaurs and Sharp-winged birds — never appeared in these places, since the first lived on the crowns of liana forests (the closest one was far in the southwest), and the second settled in the jungle, and the path to the jungle in the north lay in the moon of walking. The small flying Pawwings, which often roamed among the coniferous forest, did not pose a threat. Therefore, Roshan, the elders and other shamans believed that this place was the most reliable in the last thousand moons of nomadism.

The village had two loopholes. One in the southeast, the other in the southwest. Both first people were locked with small barriers. The loopholes were guarded by sentinels on watchtowers, standing two hundred paces apart, between which were the huts of the hunting parties. The relatives called this place the House of Hunters.

These dwellings were rounded structures made of branches, tree trunks and dense skin. Trunks — piles — were sharpened and driven into the ground. Then, with the help of ropes and branches, the piles were tied together in a circle from above and below. The finished structure was covered with a leather cloth and soaked with fat, like huts. The roof of each hut had a hole — a chimney, so it was possible to make a fire in the hut and cook food. Around the buildings, covering a small area, the tribesmen fixed the horns. Thus, each hunter’s house was a kind of defensive outpost. Outside, the walls of the houses were painted with symbols of hunting and tribal life, and from the inside they were plastered with limestone so that the huts would not ignite from random sparks of a fire.

Hunters hung dwellings with the bones of defeated herbivores or predators who attacked during the persecution. Some leaders of the Great Hunt decorated their buildings with the skulls of slain lizards. The largest bone hung over the entrance to the chief’s hut. The head of the Gigantosaurus — a huge and ancient herbivore that the first people saw — proudly adorned the leader’s tent. And the tent itself was located on a ledge, directly above the hunting dwellings, where the base of the cliff turned into a constructed observation platform.

In the center of the House of Hunters was the armory choir. It contained training tools, robes, bone armor and other items for the growing rangers and beaters. The territory adjacent to the mansion — the arena — was much larger than that of the huts of the hunting parties. Stuffed herbivores and a predatory reptile, Razavra, stood in the arena. Similarities of such giants as Long-necked, Tail-tailed and Tolshshkur were built without paws. The shapes of the recreated bodies were sticking straight out of the ground! Hunting skills were trained on smaller stuffed animals: they learned to hit prey or a predator with a bow, club or spear; and on stuffed giants they practiced running and keeping their balance.

Closer to the southeast loophole, behind the watchtower, the first humans built storage tents with timber, selected bones for armor, rare Edgestones, leather, and other necessary supplies. A little higher, on a hill, in the shade under the cliffs, they dug earthen caches for dried meat, medicinal and edible plants and fruits. And nearby they built tents for the same purposes — women always looked for an opportunity to preserve the edibility of the slaughter as long as possible. In the tents, the meat was hung with ropes on the beams, and in the pits it lay wrapped first in burdock, and then in leather patches. In both cases, the food was stored for a relatively long time, but in the pit it was a little juicier and still deteriorated earlier than in the building. In the tent, the slaughter was drier and saved right up to the next Big Hunt!

Between all the components of the settlement — on the slopes, cliffs and unobstructed distances, among araucaria, thickets of ferns, grass and other vegetation — the tribesmen trampled out paths. Every fifteen or twenty steps along the paths, the first people drove in the lights. The craftsman Varn made special lime bowls for the lights. He fixed them in such a way that no obvious flame could be seen from the side of the forest at night. Tongues of fire attracted not only herbivores, but also predatory reptiles, and the bowls hid and reflected sources of light towards the Great Volcano, scattering warm light to the foot of the mountain.

***

«Pa, are you leaving already?» Omi asked, barely opening her eyes.

Roshan went to visit his daughter and was about to leave the halabuda, but the child suddenly woke up.

— Good morning, dear. Yes, Pa must do many good deeds of the leader. How did you sleep? What did you dream?

— Slept well. I don’t remember what I dreamed…» Omi replied. — Where is Ma?

«She’ll be here soon, honey.

The shaman, forgetting that he was in a hut, stretched himself to his full height and hit his head on the transverse base. Omi laughed.

«Chief, you are so big!»

Roshan smiled and, kneeling down, pulled the girl towards him.

«Today the leader will go to meet Pangea,» he spread his hands. «And the chief’s daughter will promise that she won’t play hide-and-seek all over the village and will listen to Ma!»

Omi smiled.

«I promise, chief!»

Suddenly, from the other side of the structure, Ana’s voice was heard:

Roshan, are you still here?

The woman climbed into the building and immediately hugged her husband.

«They are waiting for you at the Temple,» she whispered. — I brought water. Ana held out a leather waterskin. «Drink as much as you can — she will help you.» You will have strength! the huntress assured.

— Inga will prepare a decoction and there will be plenty of it…

Don’t argue with me, chief. Water is the source of life. And I will be calmer. Drink up! Ana insisted.

The shaman clung to the neck of the bag. In a few sips, he emptied the vessel and turned to his daughter:

Don’t forget the promise!

Omi nodded.

«Check the Marines, Ana!» Roshan advised. «I will try to get back as soon as possible. In my absence, Radon will be responsible. Help Varn with the Fireplace.

«Roshan, I’m afraid for you,» the huntress’s voice trembled. «Hord said no one had done this before,» she said in a whisper.

The shaman glanced at Omi: the girl was sitting on the mat and playing with Lazunov’s claws. Making sure that she was not paying attention to the conversation, Roshan replied in a barely audible voice:

Everything will be fine Ana, don’t worry. You check the main sentinels, and let them change more often — they sleep more!

— Is it a star? Why was she on fire? What’s wrong with her?

«I don’t know… That’s why I’m going to Her… The Zavrinis want us to leave this house. They are warning us about something, and this star appeared for a reason. We need to find out what is troubling Zavrini and what we can expect,» said the shaman and hugged Ana.

Ana hugged her husband tightly.

— I’m scared!

«Well, it will be for you,» the leader soothed. — I’ll be back soon!

The huntress freed herself from the embrace and jokingly threatened:

«If my leader doesn’t return, then I won’t hunt with him anymore!»

The shaman broke into a smile and, pushing back the curtain of the hut, began to get out.

So long, Pa! Omi waved.

— Bye, dear! Ana, lookouts! Roshan noted again.

The smell of dew, mixed with the pine scent of araucaria, rose over the settlement. The shaman went to the story and breathed in the freshness of the coming morning. Everywhere there was a drowsy calm, and the barely audible murmur of the stream was dissolved in the streams of the restless breath of the wind. The chirping of nocturnal insects has long ceased, and the chirping of daytime living creatures has not yet rang in succession, as if the primitive townsfolk, replacing each other on patrol, have not had time to take their posts. Among the branches on nearby trees, smoke flickered from the extinguished fires of the huts. The camp and the nature around it were immersed in slumber.

Somewhere beyond the horizon, the light of the Great Fire woke up. The ascending rays gradually awakened the ordinary world, and their enlightenments in the sky looked forward to an unfamiliar day. Roshan glanced around the settlement, and then fixed his gaze on the watchtowers: everything and everything, as before, was in its place. The leader grabbed the vine rope, deftly descended to the ground and headed towards the caves.

Soon the shaman was high above the village and, stopping at the edge of the cliff, once again looked around the monastery, untouched by predators. Deep inside, Roshan was troubled. His premonition — Zavrini’s premonition — for some reason caused excitement and a feeling of something irreparable. The leader took a closer look: several teenagers came out of the huts in the Hunters’ House. Someone made a fire, it was visible how someone’s women drew water from wells, children came out of halabuds on araucaria. Roshan tried to look for his daughter and Ana, but from the heights near the caves of the settlement, the first people looked tiny. It was hard to distinguish anyone by appearance or attire. The leader saw only silhouettes and could assume that there, at the hut he had abandoned, among the undergrowth of the trunk, Omi was playing with the child of a relative, or at the armory mansion, it seemed, the one-eyed Varn was spinning…

The shaman drew attention to the loopholes of the camp. Everything was calm. The cool morning breeze ruffled the leader’s hair with a sharp gust, and distracted by the wind from his thoughts, Roshan headed for the Temple of the Creator.

Before the pass to the entrance to the cave, the shaman was met by an elderly healer. She was dressed in a long hoodie made of the thinnest green leather, tattered in places by everyday life. Over the skin, in the area of the shoulders and the edge of the hoodie, hung decorations in the form of resinous colored leaves of outlandish plants.

Hello, Inga! Roshan greeted.

The old woman, grimacing and straightening her sparse gray hair, showed a toothless, but still fanged smile, and, spreading her arms and quickly moving her legs, went to the leader.

«Roshan, son, you haven’t gone up to the caves of the elders for a long time!» she greeted warmly.

— Inga, you know — the time of the Great Hunt has come. It was necessary to prepare the detachments for departure,» the shaman answered with sadness in his voice. — I hope you missed you?

The woman’s trembling hands touched the leader’s shoulders. Warm hugs followed. After a moment, Inga looked at Roshan’s face and jokingly patted the braid of his beard.

«And you’re already an adult!» the old woman joked, and, groaning, laughed at the top of her voice.

The smile on her face deepened the scaly wrinkles and aged the healer. It seemed that if no one knew her age, then it would be completely impossible to guess her lived moons.

«I have prepared a potion, my boy,» Inga said, laughing, and grabbed the leader by the arm. It will help you calm down and collect your thoughts faster. Hord said that spirits turned to many that night. This hasn’t happened before, has it? Do they want us to leave here? And what is this strange star that Radon told me about in the morning?

— Yes, Inga, it was so, the Zavrinis are warning us about something. And this star is also not without reason. I will definitely find out about everything! Did you hear the call yourself? Have you seen the flash in the night sky?

«No, my dear, I didn’t hear the call. But I saw how the heavenly lights were full of. Watched as the swirl of glow from the Pavilion of Flame rose above the settlement. And Varn is my smart one, right? I just didn’t see the flash… I apparently dozed off at that moment. I didn’t see the star either. Oh, old me, I’m completely blind, — the woman sighed, — and Zavrini’s eyes are no longer subject to me. Old me. I will leave you soon! Quite old…

Stop Inga! You talk more. For eternity, let the moon shine on you! Where are we without you? Who will heal us all?

«Ana will heal, son. She is already ready for the unity of the shaman.

After this conversation, the leader and the healer reached the cave. At the entrance, near the habitable places around the fire, sat Hord, Radon, and several other elders and hunters. The tribesmen were having a meal.

Hello Roshan! Radon greeted. «Would you like to eat with us?»

Radon was one of the few experienced hunters who often stayed in the settlement with his detachment even during the Great Hunt. The watchman’s curly dark hair, gathered in a ponytail, stuck out untidy at the back of his head and lay on his broad back. The fangs of lizards were woven along the entire length of the tail. An earring sat in the humpbacked nose of the hunter. The lower jaw of the man protruded slightly forward, and rough spiked growths flaunted above the eyebrows. On the chest of Radon, a scar from the fin of the Chameleon was visible, and on the right leg two fingers were missing — the tricks of the same predator. The second thousand moons shone on the hunter, and his strength was at its peak. In addition, behind the wide shoulders of the sentinel lay almost three dozen carcasses and trophies from herbivorous and carnivorous reptiles. Radon has more than enough experience in protecting the village! In the previous places of camps on the way to the Great Volcano, hunters from his squad, together with Valla’s squad, drove the Rasaurs away from the fences of the settlement twice! And the young relatives, led by Radon, constantly stood at the posts of watchtowers and bypassed the paths. Of course, Roshan did not doubt the skills and resourcefulness of this hunter, so he decided that he would be able to adequately assume the role of leader temporarily.

— Greetings to all! — honored the leader and answered the senior sentinel: — Thank you, my friend, I’m full. And I ask you to be careful. Ana, Varn and Hord will help you.

Hord nodded affirmatively.

«Yes, sir, everything will be all right!» — chewing, mumbled the hunter. Don’t worry about the village! As long as I live, not a single lizard will set foot in our abode.

«May the spirits of Zavrini help you,» the leader patted the senior watchman on the shoulder and immediately headed towards the entrance to the cave. Hord and Inga followed him.

— Roshan! — turned after the hunter. «I’m very worried about the hunting parties, Roshan. And Salas is there. Do you think what happened last night did not disturb the reptiles?

«Hmm…» the leader hesitated. «I didn’t even think about it, Radon. But I really hope that the units are all right. Has your young man grown up? Did Zavrini’s eyes appear to him? Roshan asked without remembering.

Not yet, but I’m sure it will happen soon. This is his first hunt.

«I believe, my friend, everything is fine with them!» — encouraged the leader. «Pangea and the spirits will help them!»

«Yes, chief, I hope so too. May Pangea help your soul in unity! — the sentinel blessed and immediately turned to the young hunters: — Barda, Veles, you will stay here at night, with the elders. Wisdom exercise, maybe they will tell you something interesting. And you will guard the entrance to the cave like your younger brothers! Few things can happen…

***

The road to the Temple of the Creator — to the Abode of Unity — lay through a long underground corridor. In the middle of the path, the corridor branched into a labyrinth of three channels, one of which — the one to the left — was the longest, a hundred paces. The channel led to the edge of the ledge to the abyss, and after another ten steps along it along a narrow cliff, the road again deepened into the sleeve of the dungeon. The first people once wanted to explore the abyss, but the stones and torches thrown into it were lost in the ravine, leaving neither sounds nor reflections of light. Therefore, everyone refused to descend blindly, even the most daring pathfinders. The dangerous gap along the cliff did not inspire confidence even in the most dexterous tribesmen, so this branch of the labyrinth remained in total darkness and was not used.

The approach to the Temple from the right side also turned out to be extremely inconvenient. In some places, it narrowed into narrow corridors, which either crushed from above, up to crawling, or forced to crowd between the walls, scratching on the sharp contours of the relief.

The relatives fenced off these two dubious moves. But the path that passed in the middle led along a moderate tunnel without any obstacles and slopes, straight into a huge underground grotto — the Temple of the Creator, and the tunnel was equipped only in this sleeve: the road was illuminated by lights driven into the walls along its entire length.

After some time, Roshan and his companions arrived at the place. There was light in the vast cave. A dozen torches illuminated the grotto, and coniferous incense created by Inga created a feeling of comfort and peace. Somewhere under the grotto, in the inaccessible warehouses of the dungeon, a stream splashed — the same one that was in full swing in the settlement. The barely audible murmur of the brook broke the silence of the Abode of Unity and gave the cave a mood of mystery and captivity.

On the walls of the Temple of the Creator, in addition to the knowledge that the elders-wise men and experienced pathfinders left to their descendants in the form of rock carvings and drawings of life, mystical ornaments were imprinted everywhere — symbols of the first people. Sacred symbols that were carved by hunters and shamans on fishing tools carried a special human design that influenced the spirit, capable of awakening the mysterious element of flame, which the leader Roshan once knew in unity with Pangea. He knew and taught other relatives to know. And to those who were able to master the flame and suddenly realized the carved message of the symbol, the elements gave incredible ardor, and the plan instantly became feasible!

On one of the ledges, where the stone relief was flatter and smoother, the leaders of the hunting parties drew a path to the Great Volcano, and each time after the Great Hunt they drew new explored areas. After many moons, a small sketch turned into a real map of hunting trails. It depicted detours of wooded ridges — former roads traveled, former pastures of herbivores, beds of small streams in a grove of araucaria and other landmarks. On the walls, the relatives denoted all kinds of reptiles that they met in the lands of Pangea. With the help of drawings, the tribesmen described their habits — warnings of danger and dispositions for friendliness. And on one ledge, a whole story of Zavrini was carved, which the day before was told to teenagers at the fire by Roshan and Khord. The Temple also kept relics of ancestors (including those discovered during nomadism): colorful fancy shells, which, according to the sages, were once found by the great-grandfathers of the ancestors near the northern shores of raging waters, petrified traces that an experienced hunter once noticed, broken weapons and various bone remains. True, the identity of the latter has not been established exactly.

Pointed formations — stalactites — hung everywhere from the tops of the grotto. For those who visited the Abode of Unity for the first time, the menacing stalactites aroused eerie distrust, and it seemed that the stone gouges were about to collapse on their heads. But since the founding of the Temple of the Creator, not one of the stalactites has even moved. Shamans and elders eventually got used to ugly warehouses and stopped paying attention to them long ago.

In the middle of the dungeon, the rocky terrain underfoot smoothly turned into a small island of earthen soil with a thick moss cover. A lone piece of land stood out noticeably among the stone forms of the cave and seemed to have been equipped by Pangea itself for the ritual of unity. Inga had put a leather bedding on the islet in advance, and next to the fire, the broth was cooling in a vat.

«I will inspect the fences, Roshan,» Hord warned and headed towards the dark niche of the Temple of the Shaper.

«I’m sure they haven’t moved,» the chief replied. «But still look around, I’ll be calmer.»

The dungeon labyrinth didn’t end at Unity Hall. Within the grotto, on its other side, there was another passage that led to a similar cave, but much larger than the Temple. Dozens of tunnels were located in this cave, and the path through them was not explored. The first people were afraid of underground creatures that live and weave webs deep in the depths of the Great Volcano — gigantic creatures, continuations of the original lives. They appeared in the light of the Great Fire, but over time they did not like its rays, and they went underground, where darkness and dampness reigned. In order to protect themselves from this living creature, which the shamans saw near the tunnels inadvertently, and then briefly, the tribesmen decided to erect barriers at the entrance to the labyrinths. And on the barriers of these fixed horns. Staring into the impenetrable darkness, the goats guarded the rest of the first people from insects of creatures, and the high grotto before entering the kingdom of creatures was declared the Abode of Unity — the Temple of the Creator. A place where elders and leaders gathered to discuss real difficulties and future affairs, hunters and shamans — to know the flame of Pangea and the secrets of the unknown.

The leader took off his outer garment, beads, and, cross-legged, sat down on the mat. Inga placed small vats around him and placed resin candles in them. Then the healer gave Roshan a potion.

— Are you worried? the old woman asked.

— Yes a little…

When was the last time you were in unity with Her? I have already forgotten that past day when I gave you this potion to drink…

— In the camp near the liana forests. We went to a ravine in new lands, I was looking for a way, as it turned out — here, to the Great Volcano, — the shaman reminded.

The old woman smiled.

«And now the Zavrinis are driving us out. That’s the way things are… I hope you can figure it out! I like it here, and I don’t have the strength to wander anymore, Roshan. When will we find shelter for our descendants?

— Don’t worry, Inga, we’ve already found him. He’s here at the Great Volcano! the leader exclaimed.

The sorceress smiled. «We will stay where we are,» Roshan said. «At least now we have no reason to leave the camp.

Here the shaman sniffed the broth and looked inquiringly at the old woman.

«Come on, drink, my boy,» she said. — I added something there. Don’t worry, have a drink! As soon as you feel warm, tell me — I will light the candles.

The red flowers of the swamp fern were the strongest poison, but they tasted and smelled quite sweet. Roshan immediately smelled the familiar captivating aroma, so he hesitated. The fruits of plants could send anyone to eternal sleep, but with other healing herbs, the names and recipes of which only Inga understood, they were only supposed to accelerate the relaxation of the mind and body. The sorceress was certain of this!

As soon as the bowl was empty, the woman sat closer to Roshan and hugged him. The shaman responded by gently stroking the old woman’s back.

— Be careful with the stars! They are beautiful, but we know nothing about them,» the old woman whispered.

«Everything will be fine, Inga,» Roshan answered. «And the potion is fast-acting!»

— What? Already? the healer asked in surprise and stared with her green eyes at the leader’s eyeballs. — I added quite a bit of red flower. Didn’t think so…

— Set it on fire! Roshan interrupted her.

The shaman’s gaze slowly swam.

— Yes, I see. May Pangea keep your soul in unity,» Inga admonished.

The leader lowered his eyelids, nodding. The sorceress took a torch and lit the candles, and then carefully placed the dried roots of a bundle leaf on each candle. The roots began to smolder little by little, spreading a pleasant smelling aroma throughout the expanses of the Temple.

— Hord, old, where are you? It is time! What are you stuck in there? Inga said.

— I’m coming! — Returning from the passage with the barriers, the old man answered. — Checked the horns. Roshan, everything is whole, like…

«Shh, shut up, old man!» the woman interrupted. — Let’s go outside. We don’t belong here anymore.

An experienced hunter helped the old woman to her feet.

— So soon? he whispered, looking at Roshan.

«A red flower…» Inga whispered thoughtfully. I’ll dilute it more next time…

«May Pangea help your soul in unity!» — the elder barely audibly blessed the leader and, together with Inga, left the cave.

***

Silence reigned in the Temple of the Creator. Under the influence of the healer’s decoction, Roshan fell into a dream, but thoughts in a dream remained subject to him. Focusing his thoughts on the stars, the shaman embodied before him the events of the past night, and in the realm of oblivion, the radiance of the heavenly bodies appeared before the gaze of the leader. Penetrating deeper and deeper into the world of dreams, Roshan was able to see every moment in the night sky, which disturbed him the day before. He again saw the glow of heavenly fires and their crowding, a strange nebula, a flash of the skies and a red star. And in order to be among the stars during the time of unity, Roshan needed to keep the manifestation of memories as long as possible. The shaman recreated passages of the previous night over and over again, going over the details of what he had seen in his mind.

Meanwhile, smoldering herbs filled the grotto with aromas, and the distant bursts of an underground source and the crackle of blazing lights in immaculate silence gradually became more expressive. The peaceful atmosphere of the Temple seemed to revive and, having overcome the limits of the possible, slowly approached the dream of the leader. It squeezed in a thin mist through the nostrils and auricles straight into Roshan’s mind, and in his dream he felt the smell of incense and the murmur of the stream. The sound and flavor of reality mingled in oblivion with the embodiment of what was presented, blurring the line between the recreated past and present. Thus, in a stream of perfect harmony, reality penetrated into the manifestation of the past and awakened the flow of prana in the Temple of the Creator.

The leader felt how She quiveringly touched his bare feet with her fibers. Then Her touch rose a little higher and embraced the ankles. Life threads in the form of thin stems of plants unseen in Her abode, breaking through from the ground cover of the Temple, began to envelop the body of the leader in numerous beginnings. Squeezing through the cut of the robe on the hips, they were already crawling along the naked torso and, branching into dozens of processes, continued to excite a surge of energy in the camp of the man. A moment later, the same fibers, escaping from the ground nearby, touched the tips of the fingers. First, they clasped the phalanxes, and then, confidently moving to the palms and not slowing down for a moment, reached out to the shaman’s shoulders.

The leader raised his eyelids. The irises of his eyes turned black like night and merged with the pupils, and the whites filled with a scarlet glow!

On the reliefs of the grotto, the shadows from the light of the flame of candles and torches have disappeared. The surroundings of the Temple faded, and a red nebula formed everywhere. Suddenly around, at a distance of the shaman’s outstretched hand, sources of glow flared up. Bright multi-colored tiny lights, now connecting with each other, then avoiding collisions, with incredible swiftness began to randomly circle around. Those that merged together, pushed out one by one into the expanses of the cave in the form of extinguished particles. The remnants of the lights slowly settled on the rock paintings and in the cavities of the carved symbols of the first people throughout the Temple of the Creator, and those sources of glow that never touched, like swamp mosquitoes, divided into small flocks and hung in the space of the grotto.

Meanwhile, the fibers of life reached the head of the leader, and a radiance radiated from the stems of the creator. It covered the entire cave, engravings and paintings on the walls of the Temple of the Creator blazed with green flames. Roshan was overtaken by unity with Pangea — his soul left the flesh and turned into an essence…

Primal hunt

The rays of the Great Fire illuminated the hunting trails of the first people. The Giver of Warmth rose high into the sky and hovered over the Bennettite field, breathing new day into the endless expanse of a recently created world. From mountain ranges to dense palm-like plains, from swamps and arid steppes to coniferous and liana forests, from deep lakes and fast-flowing rivers to impenetrable jungles and thickets of araucaria — Fire embraced everything, and only the raging waters washing the shores of Her creations remained on the dark side light alone with the cold stars and the moon. In the midst of the abundance of impregnable and unexplored nature, in every inspiration of its creator, the life of the then inhabitants, from young to old, was in full swing: huge dragonflies, horned beetles, colorful butterflies and other marvelous living creatures buzzed everywhere in flocks; buzzing, chirping and chirping, they created a universal rumble that carried to the most secluded corners of the mysterious, sometimes dangerous and unknown abode of all living things. Even the cave creatures that had abandoned the Great Fire heard the alluring singing of their relatives, but hostility to the rays of the luminary left the once reigning species in the dark labyrinths of rocky volcanoes.

Somewhere in the fields near the boulders, jumping out of the grass after low-flying butterflies, from time to time the heads of small cold-blooded ones showed up. Expecting easy prey, bipedal carnivores, squeaking, hid among the young shoots of the cycad and occasionally climbed small hills to catch the smells of something edible brought by the wind. Larger lizards tried not to give themselves away, and only by swaying grass or bushes could one understand that they were somewhere out there — hunting down their own kind in order to feed their offspring, or hiding so as not to become prey for others.

On this most ordinary day, from the outskirts of the liana forest into the bennettite field, the most ordinary inhabitant of this world came out to graze — a dark blue herbivorous Longneck. But he didn’t leave of his own accord. Hunters contributed to this. Noisy and occasionally appearing before the giant’s eyes, they deliberately forced the creature to leave the thickets. Huge, fifteen or twenty paces from head to tail and almost ten in height considering the length of the neck, Long Neck felt the presence of people. But the good-natured reptile did not suspect why they had come. She nibbled on the grass and leaves of the ginkgo trees, sometimes stopping and warily looking at the thickets around her.

If this herbivore were Tailtail or Razorthorn, he would have long ago made those who disturbed his peace flee, but Longneck’s temperament, unusually for a lizard, was too soft and affable. Taking advantage of this, the beaters-pathfinders lured him into the field with hunting tricks, since the dense vine forest was not the best place for the Big Hunt: huge boulders lay everywhere, mighty trees with trunks, vines and roots tearing the soil created countless obstacles, preventing archery or throwing a spear. And the frequent fern thickets were fraught with dangers: small and large predators were regulars in the cool forests, and they would certainly take the opportunity to hunt along with people, and at the same time on them! For these reasons, the lizard ended up here alone, in full view, and the same beaters were furtively following him.

A teenager and an adult man were dressed in vestments made of thin reptile skins — windings that covered the genitals and some parts of the body: the hands to the elbows and the legs from the ankles to the very knees. Above the robes, except for the area of the hips and torso, were green-painted protective shells — hunting armor made from the bones of various, mostly herbivorous lizards. The shells protected vulnerable places, and in the event of an attack by predators, at least they did not allow their powerful jaws to close.

The tall, broad-shouldered hunter was much older than his compatriot. His fiery curls, collected in an armful at the top of his head, were held by a hairpin made from the tooth of a small lizard. Her hair gradually grew into a curly beard, from which, like a vine, a neatly braided pigtail hung down. The beater’s once broken nose resembled a Raptor’s claw. This disadvantage, obtained by negligence, did not disfigure the appearance at all, but only emphasized the pointed features of the face. In the man’s right ear hung an earring made from the fangs of various reptiles. The spike of the Sharpthorn protruded from the left, and beads made from the teeth of herbivorous lizards adorned the neck. The ranger’s large brown eyes blended with the tinge of scaly skin. And if it were not for the whites of the eyes, then on the swarthy face the eyes would have remained completely inconspicuous. The whole body of the hunter from birth was covered with small clay-colored specks. The shamans of the first people believed that these spots were a talisman of the Great Fire, and judging by the barely noticeable scars on the areas of the legs and arms of the red-haired man that were not protected by shells, this superstition was quite justified: the one who bore the name Taro on free hunting fell into the abode of carnivores more than once, and although inattention cost many lives, he got only small bites and cuts.

The second beater was very young, but this did not prevent him from getting on the Big Hunt. The narrowed blue eyes of a teenager were separated by a wide bridge of nose, a narrow forehead smoothly turned into small spiked growths, and between them stretched light, combed back hair that barely reached the neck. The pale skin tone of the youngster did not succumb to the rays of the Great Fire, and the bright drawings on the bare parts of the body and face harmoniously merged with the painted armor. Unlike the usual daub on the protective shells of Taro, the work of the young Salas on his own body and armor bore a mysterious design that generates the element of flame. But despite the similarity with the engraving of shamans and hunters, skillfully applied symbols and silhouettes of lizards served only as decoration and disguise and did not affect the teenager’s human ardor in any way.

Armed with bows and spears, with leather bags and quivers over their shoulders, the first men cautiously crept up to Longneck. Suddenly, Salas stumbled and almost fell to the ground.

— Hush hush! Look under your feet. He already knows that we are watching him. You’ll scare me, and you’ll have to drive on a new one! — Taro warned the young man and climbed onto the giant cycad.

The immense trunks of cycads, by the way, were slightly taller than adults, and the branches growing along the edges at the end of the trunk, densely strewn with large yellow-green leaves, fanned out towards the Great Fire and created shelter. Towering above the grass, cycads in the field served as excellent observation points, thereby allowing them to inspect the surroundings without falling into the eyes of reptiles.

«Maybe I want to scare him!» Salas was outraged. How can we hunt them? Look, this giant won’t hurt a beetle. Old man Hord recently told at the fire how the same lizard allowed himself to be stroked…

The soul of young Salas was tormented by dislike for predators and pity for herbivores. Why the will of Pangea and the instructions of the ancestors instructed to arrange crafts only for harmless creatures — a question that haunted him. In addition, this was his first hunt, and Salas did not yet understand hunting matters at all.

Radon, the senior watchman and relative of Salas, understood that the time had come for the offspring to test himself on the hunter’s path as a beater. The youngster was shining with the third hundred moons, and he was about to recognize in himself the feelings of Zavrin — the eyes and premonition that the first people got from rational ancestors. Shaman Vall approved the request and took the youth to the squad under the supervision of Taro. Vall, of course, was aware of Salas’ prejudice against herbivorous lizards, but he was sure that the Great Hunt would make a real man out of him! If he copes with the corral, then next time be his assistant on patrol. And then — a free hunter. If he wants to, he will be able to leave the settlement without the knowledge of the leaders, and there, on a free hunt, he will mature and learn premonition and the ability to see. See through the eyes of reptiles.

For four days, the shaman’s squad scoured the unfamiliar paths of the liana forest in search of prey and constantly went out to the Vultures, then to small predators. But the first people avoided both of them. Today, Longneck was tracked down, and Salas was upset about it. He really liked these creatures, and the exciting stories of the seasoned hunter Hord about herbivorous giants did cause strange feelings of attachment to such reptiles. But the youth understood that there was going to be a Great Hunt. And the young trackers from the detachment, in the event of a failure with the corral, will simply laugh at him. Or even worse — Vall or the leader, in front of everyone around the fire, will begin their tales about the unsuccessful hunt of one of the beaters. And Salas wanted that least of all.

Taro, an experienced hunter who drove more than one giant, was cold-blooded and unshakable. He tried to ignore the youngster’s impulses and not be distracted. Moreover, he was responsible for the child, which Taro considered Salas, and at the same time all those who, instead of scars on their bodies and faces, had useless drawings of being and far-fetched victories over lizards. Yes, carnivores often attacked fickle camps, but since ancient times, shamans and those who have lived for thousands of moons have been repeating: «To live in harmony is the plan of Pangea! Herbivores are a gift to us in the womb to exist in this world. Predators and Vultures are the eternal keepers of the balance of Her abode. And our first ancestors, the Razaurs, who did not accept Zavrin, who did not succumb to the will of the creator and were doomed to be soulless, are a reminder to the first people of who they are now and who they were. Killing the carnivores and the doomed for the sake of saving human life is a good deed! And for the sake of food or self-interest — it is tantamount to killing one’s own kind! And the Tarot unquestioningly honored the instructions and precepts of the wise.

«We can hunt Rasaurs, or at least Raptors, can we?» — the teenager was indignant.

«You know, Salas, that we can’t,» Taro replied. «And Her will is not the only reasonable reason. Poisoning a large lizard is much more practical than catching dozens of small Raptors, especially since these scoundrels are too fast. No one will run after the Raptors! I will deliberately keep silent about the Rasaurs… Oi! — the hunter did not restrain himself. «I’m even afraid to imagine how you are going to hunt them!» I wonder who will track down whom faster — Razavr you or you him?

Do you think I’m that stupid? Of course he me. But when Zavrini’s eyes appear to me, everything will be different! I will not hunt harmless creatures,“ Salas protested. „Squads have always defended and driven the Rasaur away from the camp. Why not start hunting for them?

«Do you seriously think that driving a pack of Rasaurs away from a camp is tantamount to hunting?» Have you really thought to yourself, youngster, that you are the smartest? Even if their blood were alien to us, none of the leaders under any pretext would risk their relatives! Hungry Razaurs for our carcasses are not ready to die, therefore, when they feel a mortal threat, they retreat from the settlements. If you start hunting for lizards, you will put them at a crossroads: which of you should be prey! That’s when you will know the real fury of the reptiles,» Taro chuckled.

«I’m not afraid of the Razaurs!» AND…

While the young beater was talking about the injustices of hunting, the giant snorted and, stretching his neck, began to sniff and look around excitedly, gradually moving away from the prepared ambush. The lizard sensed something was wrong, and Taro drew attention to it. With a conventional gesture, the man stopped another chatter of a teenager and instantly embodied his gaze. Salas froze, watching his relative.

The whites of Taro’s eyes were filled with yellow, and the pupils narrowed. The bright colors of the real world — the sky, grass, shrubs and other vegetation — dissolved in the hunter’s gaze and acquired cold gray hues. Perception in the eyes of the hunter weakened the light of the Great Fire, everything around turned pale, and only some details of the environment, to which Taro paid special attention, concentrating his eye on them, kept the color of reality. The rustling of grass, the rustling of leaves from gusts of wind, the rumble of insects — everything around calmed down, resounding with a barely audible echo in the subconscious of a man. And only the deep rhythmic beats of Longneck’s heart in the ears of the red-haired hunter broke the muffled sounds of reality.

Taro looked around carefully. The eyes of Zavrini — the eyes of a hunter — made it possible to see, hear and distinguish all living things around. Penetrating the distance with his eyes, Taro could see in the distance what the human gaze was beyond the power of. All those who were endowed by the creator with a heart, which of the reptiles could hide nearby in the grass or thickets, did not go unnoticed! And today the Great Fire itself favored the Great Hunt. Apart from the huge red relief of muscles, veins, and the flawless skeleton of Longneck, from which people would later make protective shells, there was no one nearby. With the gaze of a hunter, Taro saw the smallest detail that was hidden by the dense skin of a lizard. Huge muscles, every vein, down to the bones — everything was before the eyes of the beater. Like a web that cave creatures weave, the giant’s crimson heart was wrapped in many blood vessels. The source of life contracted quiveringly and uneasily, betraying the excitement of the reptile with tactless, momentarily fading blows.

— Taro? What’s there? Salas asked, pulling himself up to the trunk.

The man took another look at the area.

«I don’t know what came over him… Everything seems to be quiet. It is time! he commanded and jumped to the ground. «We need to get around and launch the arrow.

Taro’s eyes returned to their former human form, and the beaters rushed around Longneck, and the giant wandered lazily, moving away from the planned ambush.

Running, hiding among the vegetation, the tribesmen reached a convenient position and began to prepare.

Come on Salas! He must be returned to the detachment, otherwise we will remain hungry!

The teen sighed deeply as he unslung his double bow from his shoulder and took out an arrow from his quiver.

«Come on, come on, Salas!» You have the blood of real hunters! — Taro encouraged, pulling out the remains of silicon from the bag. «Zavrini’s presentiment promised me that today there would be a successful hunt!»

«But they haven’t told me anything yet!» the young man balked.

On the third attempt, the stones sparked. The reptilian-greased wrapping of thin, dry, loose branches of the liana tree at the end of the arrow ignited. The teenager looked sadly at Long-necked and, raising his bow to the sky, he pulled the bowstring with all his strength. Having gained maximum height, the arrow hung in the air for a moment and, leaving a dark plume of soot, headed towards the ground. Valla’s squad received the signal.

***

On the other side of the field, behind a small rocky hillock, sticking out alone on the outskirts of the liana forest, was the main party of hunters. Lying on ledges, smeared with the juice of ground coniferous leaves, which interrupted the smell of human presence, dressed in leather vestments, in bone armor and armed to the teeth, two dozen rangers, and with them the shaman Vall himself, were already waiting for prey. Powerful bows, wooden spears and clubs with carved stone tips and Edge stones — all this, engraved and painted with symbols from hilts and blades to shock parts, today will break another giant so that the tribe of the first people would not remain hungry and continue their race.

The hunters had gone too far from explored lands, and in all the days only Raptors, Lazoons, and scavengers Vultures had been encountered on the fishing trail. Honoring the will of Pangea, the precepts and instructions of ancestors and sages, nosy Raptors and small scoundrels, people shunned, and the meat of scavengers was nasty and smelly. Like all herbivores, the Vultures ate vegetation, but they did not refuse any dead or half-eaten flesh: because of the disgusting diet, the fried meat of the Vulture tasted like rotten meat, and the smell even gave off droppings. Eating these reptiles was not possible! And since the stocks in the village were coming to an end and it was completely unknown how the other hunting parties were doing, the Great Longneck Hunt today became significant. The carcass of the lizard would have been enough for the tribe for several moons!

Vall, the black-haired leader of the Great Hunt, donned a Rasaur skull helmet. The inner part of the bone, lined with thick leather, sat tightly on the long curls of the shaman, hiding his face to the chin. Through the bored holes that once served as the eyeballs of a reptile, the bright green eyes of the leader shone. Pulling on his helmet, Val took over the responsibility of the huntsman. While the others distract their prey by hitting it with spears and archery, Vall will try to climb onto the lizard’s back in order to stick a powerful knife made of Edgestone into the victim’s neck more than once before the reptile falls dead.

Yesterday, the Zavrinis themselves whispered to the shaman about the glorious hunt, but tonight the heavens cast a strange sign. Val looked at the rest of the hunters and thought.

On the eve of the sunset of the Great Fire, the detachment set up camp on a liana tree, almost at its very top. When it got dark, Wall replaced Taro on patrol. And when the first rays of moonlight began to break through the foliage, the leader of the Great Hunt climbed to the other side of the crown, under the starry sky, where mighty Pterosaurs reigned. Val knew that today, at the foot of the Great Volcano, his tribesmen would set fire to the creation of Varna.

The path of the detachment lay through the liana forest, and they wandered through it for four days. But during the day, climbing the crowns and following the path back to the camp was tantamount to death! The lords of the skies, the giant Pterosaurs, sensed the human spirit from thousands of paces away. Once the shaman had already seen such a predator… Only the light of the Fireplace, promised by Varn, could show the path through the forest, and only at night did the winged lizards become inactive. Despite the danger and risk, Wall climbed to the top of a liana tree and saw an unusual phenomenon there — a bright luminous circle formed in the middle of the sky. The stars in it seemed to cling to each other, and it seemed that another moon was born in the sky.

The shaman peered into the heavenly miracle for a long time, trying to unravel the cause of the mysterious radiance, but inadvertently he was attracted by another unfamiliar glow — far on the horizon, Val saw a stream of light. Bright and mobile, as if alive, a thin flickering beam clearly stood out among the darkness. Closer to the sky, it was a little wider than at the source. The glow swayed randomly to the left, then to the right, like nothing else, never seen before! And the leader guessed that they were particles of hot tar — the light of the Campfire. This is how the one-eyed man described his manifestation.

«Good job Varn!» thought the shaman and took out a parchment. Wall marked the end of the liana forest and marked on the map the path to the Great Volcano. After that, the leader contemplated a mysterious luminous circle in the sky for some more time in order to understand what kind of manifestation it was, but nothing sensible came to mind — the shaman saw such a phenomenon for the first time. And when he was about to return to the camp, the mysterious stake suddenly flared up, as if lightning flashed in the valley.

Val shuddered in shock. Soon the dazzling glare in his eyes weakened, and the leader saw how the glow of a strange phenomenon hastily disappeared, and in its place a bright bizarre star was born. It shimmered with shades of scarlet and was more expressive and larger than other stars. Amazed by the appearance of the red luminary, Wall admired his stay for a long time. And when the shaman went down to the camp, anxiety suddenly flooded over him. Zavrini’s foreboding made the leader feel something was wrong. It seemed to him that a star born in the sky brought death!..

Wall did not tell his fellow tribesmen about what he had seen at night. Didn’t want to disturb the hunting mood. The leader wanted to quickly hunt down any giant that came across and return to the Great Volcano to report the vision to the leader Roshan.

Val, are you sure? — the young tribesman disturbed the leader.

The shaman frowned.

What are you, Arwen? You think I’m too old for the Big Hunt?! Watch and learn, son, while I move my feet! Forgot where I got this helmet from? Vall was indignant and tapped his fist on the top of the skull.

The rest of the hunters chuckled softly. Arwen also smiled, not at all doubting his leader. After all, every young ranger heard this story, and experienced ones saw with their own eyes the fierce battle of the brave Wall with an underdeveloped ancestor.

The head of the reptile had fallen to the shaman almost two hundred moons ago, during the last carnivore attack on the temporary camp. Stopped by fire arrows and spears, the pack of Razaurs retreated, but one of the lizards managed to get through the fence on the other side of the village. He almost tore apart a child hiding in the hut. The shaman, by chance, was nearby and was able to attract the attention of the cold-blooded one in time. The frightened girl ran away, and the hungry predator accepted the challenge. Despite the mortal danger and the superiority of the reptile, the hunter did not flinch and, drawing his knife, attacked first. The huge lizard was faster and grabbed the shaman’s hand. Sharpthorn bone armor on the forearm withstood the pressure of the carnivore’s jaw, and while the reptile was dragging Vall along the ground, trying to bite through the bone protection, he stabbed the predator many times with a knife in the neck. The lizard fell. From the skull of Razavr the shaman made a helmet and called it his amulet. Wall believed that the amulet would intimidate other reptiles, especially carnivores.

«Tristail nearly broke Tris’s head last time!» Val continued to be indignant. — It was necessary to think of it, being a dexterous one, to jump from the side of the tail to the Tailbone. You’re lucky Tris that Razorthorn has a tough skull. Together with a helmet and your head would split!

The hunters giggled again, and Tris blushed uncomfortably.

— Yes, Rylan, Arwen! Find something to laugh about. Quiet everyone! Val ordered angrily.

Teenagers and men grimaced seriously and, barely suppressing smiles, began to wink at the embarrassed Tris. In order not to watch the teasing antics, the fair-haired tracker averted his timid gaze from his fellow tribesmen and directed his gaze to the bennettite field.

«From now on, no youngsters in the hunters!» Enough already, got it! Wall snapped. «Only die-hard hunters!»

— Wu-u-u-u! — among the young relatives there was a rumble of discontent.

— I don’t want to hear anything! the leader insisted.

Being a hunter is a dangerous business in the fishery! Despite this, young men were always eager to ride a reptile to demonstrate their skills. True, the youngsters did not have that skill at all. But everyone was ready to jump on the herbivore. And then, returning to the House of Hunters, tell women, children or fellow tribesmen from other hunting parties about their courage and dexterity. But lately too many young hunters have failed. And in Akira’s detachment at the last Great Hunt, Sharpthorn even ripped open the belly of one of these onlookers. The gutted hunter died on the spot, and his body was not returned to his relatives. Alas, walking the trails with bloodied human flesh is like throwing yourself naked at a pack of Raptors. The one who was killed after the end of the persecution by the element of fire was led to the stars — they burned it, erecting a fire and pounding drums, and sang songs on a good journey, so that one day a kinsman would descend from heaven and be able to accept his genuine death from the moons of the new lived…

So Tris’s mistake was another example of the fact that the young are not ready! Tris learned his lesson: during an attempt to jump on a reptile, he received a powerful tail blow and lost consciousness. The teenager almost died, but they managed to drag him away from the angry lizard, and as Wall said, Tris was lucky! And such youths as Arwen, Tyrant, Rylan and other young hunters who had recently been beaters did not even suspect how dangerous it was to be a hunter! Any experienced person has experienced this sudden attack of indecision more than once, when you need to act right now and not a moment later! When everything constricts in the chest and a taste of strange bitterness comes to the throat, when a surge of emotions muffles the mind, when the heart begins to beat as if it is about to burst out. In this state, it is very difficult to properly assess what is happening, and even more so to control your actions. Already then you stand over the killed lizard and partly do not remember what happened. Only pain and abrasions all over your body make it clear that the victim has thrown you off your back or neck more than once, trying to trample on you.

Those who have never been dexterous seriously think that riding a giant is as easy as shelling pears. But it’s not!

By the way, the death of any tracker from the Great Hunt squad has always become a real tragedy not only for the tribe as a whole, but also for the squad itself, to which the tracker was assigned. After all, each leader had his own peculiar ways of hunting, and it took a lot of time for a fellow tribesman from another detachment, for example, or a completely newcomer, to get used to the manners and conventional signs of already close-knit hunters.

— Arrow! Tris said almost in a whisper and pointed to the sky with his hand.

The Kindred raised their heads.

Val, did you see? Rylan asked.

«I see everything,» the shaman replied calmly. «What they were doing with him is incomprehensible!» I suppose Salas thought for a long time… about what he would have in his stomach in the coming days!

The first people removed the leather covers from their spears and clubs, prepared arrows, twine from loose vines, and, waiting for a command, stared at the leader of the Great Hunt. Vall, meanwhile, latched the lower part of the helmet — the jaw of the Rasaur, covering the chin and neck — and tightened the armor with a leather yoke through the nostrils of the skull. His head was completely protected. Behind, coming out of the back of the head of the helmet and hanging almost to the very waist of the shaman, was attached the backbone of the lizard. Wall decided that the vertebrae of Rasaurus could also serve as a barrier to the teeth of reptiles.

The elongated shape of the cranial bone of the cold-blooded one only in their appearance resembled the former owner, the first ancestor of the first people — the most dangerous predator that could move on earth! Sitting harmoniously on its new owner, the Rasaur’s skull blended perfectly with the Razorthorn’s carapace on its chest, giving its wearer a flawless and intimidating appearance.

Val raised his head and squinted at the Great Fire.

— May the glow of the Great Fire abide in our hearts! And our hearts will not go out with his departure either during the Great Hunt today or tomorrow! — admonished the shaman. «May the spirits of Zavrini protect our bodies and souls!» May the flames of Pangea give us strength!

«May the spirits of Zavrini protect our bodies and souls!» May the flames of Pangea give us strength! the others whispered.

There was a roar from Longneck.

— In places! Wall ordered.

Tris and Rylan rushed to their prepared positions. The second climbed to the top of the hill and hid in the thickets. Rylan saw the dark blue giant approaching the ambush, followed by Salas and Taro, spears brandishing at his heels. Tris went down along the ledge and hid among the moss-covered stones. Young hunters will be on patrol today. Through the eyes of Zavrini, they will see to it that no carnivorous reptile can interfere with the persecution. As soon as the heart of a predator beats nearby, the rest will be warned and will instantly drive away the intruder!

Vall pulled a huge, intricately engraved knife of Verge stone from a leather sheath and stalked up the edge of a small ledge. His cheekbones slowly tightened and his eyes turned reptilian. Longneck’s increasing heartbeat flooded the shaman’s ears. The vibrations from the clatter of the giant’s powerful limbs increased with each approaching step. The earth underfoot seemed to come to life: small pebbles, particles of sand, small twigs and dried leaves with light gusts, trembling, for a moment broke away from the surface of the rock. The herbivore lizard was already very close.

The shaman scooped up a small handful of dust from the surface of a nearby boulder. Slowly rubbing it in his palms and not making the slightest noise, the leader jumped up from the ledge above the reptile. For a moment, Vall hung in the air and, like a Pterosaur, swiftly, under the weight of bone armor and Her attraction, fell on the neck of the victim. The humility of the spirit and the strength of the shaman merged into one. The element of the creator’s prana filled the engraving on the edge of the knife to the limit, and the symbol of the cutting blade in the embodied gaze of the leader lit up with a green flame! Going beyond the limits of his body, the shaman plunged the weapon into the hard skin of the reptile with a force inaccessible in everyday life.

The lizard roared in pain and began to shudder, trying to throw off the offender. The leader dug his claws into the neck of the victim with all his might and delivered a few more blows. The flames of Pangea blazed in the cavities of the engraving and gave the shaman’s onslaught incredible power! Through the eyes of his ancestors, Wall saw how with each subsequent blow the tip came closer and closer to the vital organ, how the vessels enveloping the flesh of the reptile expanded either from an overabundance of fear, or from hatred for the one who caused the pain. Being agile many times, it always seemed to Val that the blood threads of the next prey were about to be torn apart!

Longneck quickened his pace and, without abandoning his attempt to throw off the rider, rushed into the infinity of the Bennettite field. The rest of the hunters ran behind, readying their bows and spears.

The distance between the detachment and the herbivore increased, and the lizard did not allow the shaman to hit himself with a knife. It was then that I had to jump off the giant, otherwise he would have gone too far from the hunters and eventually dropped and trampled the leader. So Wall loosened his grip and deftly rolled over the reptile’s neck onto its back; immediately pushed off his back and landed somersault on the grass.

Arrows immediately rained down on Longneck! The volleys of young rangers did not inflict significant injuries — they only distracted the lizard. But the powerful shots of persistent hunters, the arrowheads of which were made of the Edge stone and concealed the mysticism of the flame in the engraving, dug deep into the body of the cold-blooded. It was they who angered the giant even more and forced him to stop in order to fight back. Waving his tail and rearing up, Long-necked began to furiously rush at the offenders. But the first people deftly dodged: they jumped and rolled under the lizard, hitting it with sharp spears, and hitting the limbs with clubs, trying to damage the joints.

— Tarot, lasso! roared the shaman to the beater who came to the rescue.

With a deft movement, Taro removed the skein from his shoulder and threw it to the leader. Wall picked up the liana rope in mid-air and jumped on the lizard again. In an instant, the shaman ran along the sinewy back of the reptile and tried to throw a lasso around the giant’s neck. But the loop did not reach the goal and tightened on the muzzle, and the lizard bent and trembled with muscles. Vall lost his balance and, grabbing onto the taut lasso, flew over the ground, crashing into the bushes right in front of the enraged herbivore. A blow to the ground stunned the leader of the Great Hunt, and the shaman lost the incarnation of the eyes.

The huge paws of the giant flew a stone’s throw from Val — Arwen, the Tyrant and a dozen other hunters managed to pull the lasso in time — and the ground shook so that the leader was thrown aside!

Salas, help us! — Arwen yelled at the teenager who arrived at the place of persecution.

But seeing what was happening, Salas was stunned. The roar of a bloody lizard trying to escape from the lasso, and the shouting of the hunters filled the youth’s ears. Everything blurred before my eyes. Salas felt his eyeballs heat up, as if a flame of fire touched his eyes. A shiver ran through my entire body. The young beater’s legs became weak, and, unable to stand any longer, he fell to his knees. Meanwhile, the reptile rushed once again. The hunters could not hold her, and, releasing a lasso, fell to the ground, and the giant turned and rushed towards Salas.

— Watch out! shouted one of the tribesmen.

The young beater raised his head with difficulty and stared at the reptile.

But what is it? Instead of a reptile, he saw bloody flesh hurtling straight at him. Bloodied flesh without skin! A living carcass of meat and bones with eyes filled with madness rushed at the youngster! Salas tried to get up, but found that his hands and feet were entangled in the roots of unseen plants.

— Aaa! yelled a stunned Salas.

He tried to free himself, but the plants, suddenly rapidly making their way out of the ground, began to envelop his limbs. Seeing this, Salas was completely shocked. Everything went dark in his eyes and, losing consciousness, he fell to the ground.

— I-i-ha! I-i-hu-hu! Taro’s battle cry rang out loudly.

The reptile slowed down and paid attention to the human scream, and Taro rolled under its belly with lightning speed and, jumping to the side, aimed the spear at the bleeding wound on the neck. The bright green light of the Tarot engraving flared on the edge of the Edge in a blinding flame. The spear pierced the flesh and half came out the other side. A deafening roar swept over the Bennettite field. The lizard’s body bowed to the ground. Letting out a heavy sigh, the reptile finally fell off its feet, raising a huge column of dust around it.

***

Val walked towards Longneck. Approaching the body of the lizard, the shaman took off his helmet. His tangled black hair, freed from bone armor, casually lay on his broad shoulders. The scaly nose of the leader was sweaty from the fight with the giant and gleamed under the rays of the Great Fire. His beard, through which prickly growths were visible, was fastened with a hairpin in a small ponytail. In the right ear of the shaman hung an earring of several Rasaur fangs, and above the ear there was a huge scar that diagonally reached the left side of the chin. The scar also fell on the upper and lower lip, and he got the leader during the rescue from the claws of a heavenly predator. The scar, painted green as usual, did not disfigure Vall’s face, but only gave it a defiant look.

The shaman looked at the body of the mortally wounded lizard. Then, coming closer to the head of the reptile, he stared into its still not cooled eye. The cheekbones of the leader of the Great Hunt tightened, and the human eyes again embodied in reptilian ones, and Long Neck immediately caught the hunter’s gaze and froze. Val opened his eyelids wide. The yellowed whites of his eyes shone as if a tear had poured into them, and his gaze was frozen in the gaze of a lizard. The leader reunited with the fading mind of the herbivore and transferred his vision to his peaceful past. As heaven and earth are reflected from the surface of an undisturbed water surface, so the vision of shamans in unity with reptiles in shining eyes reflected fragments of the past, and a liana forest appeared in the eyes of the leader…

Arrived in time relatives began to closely examine their leader, watching his harmony with the Long-necked. Zavrini’s eyes in Vall’s gaze have always fascinated his fellow tribesmen. His pupils were similar to the color of the flame that was hidden in the engraving of tenacious hunters. No one had such bright green eyes! And watching Vall traverse the giant’s recent path, trying to find similar herbivores, was always mesmerizing.

In front of the shaman, a small pond appeared, surrounded by vegetation and mighty liana trees. Thin rays of the Great Fire, with difficulty passing through the crowns of trees, playfully rotated particles of moss and wood dust in the air, scattering light over a muddy lake in the middle of a dense forest. Flocks of multi-colored dragonflies were circling near the shores of the reservoir, above the thickets of horsetail and fern, and behind it, among the young shoots of ginkgo, the shaman inadvertently spotted fallen dead wood — a dilapidated snag seemed to the leader to have met before. Then Vall heard a horned beetle flying by somewhere very close, followed by another.

Immediately, the mirage of memories began to quickly move the vision closer to the water, constantly clinging to and breaking off the dry shoots of the vine — apparently, the reptile wanted to quench its thirst. Several Pawwings jumped from a dangling vine to another. The giant followed them with his eyes, and Wall noticed how one of these crumbs deftly grabbed a large red dragonfly in the air. Suddenly, Longneck’s eyes focused on the trembling bushes on the other side of the lake, moving a fragment of the past almost close to the vegetation: circles on the water in front of the bushes broke the serene surface, and the shaman managed to make out the silhouette of a Sharptooth diving under the water. The body of the reptile vanished into the depths of the pool, as did the vision of the lizard, and a fragment of memories transported the leader of the Great Hunt through the pouring rain into the bennettite field.

In front of the shaman’s gaze, a flock of dark blue giants gracefully walked towards the liana forest under the pressure of a powerful downpour, and Long Neck, who was killed in the near future, dutifully followed them. The downpour was so heavy that Wall noticed how the heavenly water on the backs of the reptiles turned into small streams. Playing and seething between the folds of the skin, flowing around the bends of the muscles, the streams gathered into whole currents and fell on the soil and vegetation under the paws of the lizards.

The vision stopped and turned in the opposite direction. Behind the giants were three still very young reptiles — a brood, and far beyond the veil of rain was a forest of araucaria. Wall recognized the area — the southwestern border of the slave lands, the detachment at this edge left the grove, leaving the familiar paths. Longneck’s gaze fussily scanned the surroundings on both sides of the cubs. Somewhere in the distance, a roar sounded like a lizard’s call, and the vision of the past dissolved, returning the leader of the hunters to reality. The shaman’s eyes took on a human form, and Long Neck sighed heavily, and his eyelids closed.

Wall crouched beside the dead reptile. Silence reigned. The hum and chirping of insects ceased. Everything around seemed to freeze, only a free wind, sorting through the leaves of the cycads, allowed itself to break the strange calm. This sometimes happened during the Great Hunt: as if she had led one of Her great creations to the heavenly stars, Silence reminded the first people that the life of the creature She created was firmly connected with other inhabitants of the world. The hunters pricked up their ears, and soon the silence was filled with the singing of the mundanes — reality began to surge again.

— The first people are grateful to the Great Fire for the warm light of the Great Hunt. The soul of Her creation will adorn the night sky, and the flesh will prolong our lives,» Vall whispered.

«The soul of Her creation will forever adorn the night sky, and the flesh will prolong our lives,» the tribesmen repeated.

«Let’s set up camp in that clearing over there!» Bring Tris and Rylan here and put him on patrol here! the shaman commanded. — Taro, thank you, my friend, you are on time as always! And now be kind — take the people and return to the rock. Get supplies and wood!

Yes, Wall! The redhead replied.

Taro approached the dead Longneck, pulled out his spear and, having called several hunters with a whistle, rushed off to carry out the assignment.

— Wall! Val, come here quickly! shouted the Tyrant.

The shaman turned around and saw the Tyrant and several other tribesmen surround the groaning Salas.

«Ahh, Salas! Good job, youngster! Radon will be pleased! — Coming closer, the shaman praised. «Don’t forget to thank Taro for saving you this one… In the name of Pangea!» What about him?

When the Tyrant brought the teenager to his senses, he immediately began to back away from his relatives. Taking out a knife, Salas began to threaten his fellow tribesman. And the young man’s eyes were embodied in the strange appearance of Zavrin’s eyes: the whites were filled with a crimson hue, and the irises became black, like night, and merged with the pupils.

— Don’t come near me! Salas shouted.

— Hey, what are you doing? It’s me, the Tyrant!

But the tomboy continued to back away, brandishing a knife.

— Don’t come!

Other hunters also noticed what was happening, and began to converge around the youth.

«Wall, what’s wrong with his eyes?» Why are they red and irises turned black?! asked Kun, a shaggy kinsman with a scar across his forehead.

— Yes indeed!

— What’s wrong with your eyes?

— Why?..

The rest of the hunters also began to mutter and whisper.

— Who you are? Ahh, my eyes! Salas continued to yell. — Don’t come!

Wall was at a loss from what was happening, but tried to calm the young beater.

«Hush, hush, Salas, hush. Let me help you. Give me the knife,» said the shaman.

But Salas did not listen and continued to brandish the hunting weapon.

«What’s wrong with my eyes?!» Who you are? he yelled.

Suddenly, one of the tribesmen pounced on the youth and grabbed his hand. Just then, the second one arrived. And now they have already piled on him in a crowd. Salas began to shriek convulsively.

— Son, chill! It’s me, Wall! the shaman reassured, holding Salas. Relax, we’ll heal your eyes. Everything will be OK!

As soon as Wall approached the face of a teenager to examine his eyes, he immediately lost consciousness. The shaman immediately slapped the young man’s cheeks with his palm a couple of times — to shake him up for sure. Did not help. Then Wall opened his eyelids, and it was incredible! The incarnation of the eyes of Salas did not leave even in an insensible state!

— He always had blue eyes… I remember exactly. Even the irises have been reincarnated! Or is it the pupils that have become so large?! I don’t understand, Val, what happened? And why can’t he understand who we are? the Tyrant began to inquire.

«I don’t know… I see this for the first time!» the shaman answered in confusion. «He got Zavrin’s eyes, but…»

«He woke up in oblivion, Vall,» said Kuhn. The boy didn’t recognize anyone. He was in unity, and he was violated…

— In unity? the relatives asked in unison.

The shaggy hunter leaned towards Salas and examined his hands and feet.

«Look at your wrists, Wall. There are traces left.

Everyone began to examine the limbs of Salas. Indeed, there were abrasions on the forearms and ankles, as if something had just recently held the youngster and did not allow him to free himself. But for what reason the unity happened during the hunt, no one could understand.

«You’re right, Kun,» Val agreed, looking around. — Everywhere grass and ivy… Ivy and grass will not leave such traces. But how?.. Embodiment of eyes and unity overnight?

«I don’t know what kind of incarnation it is, Vall,» Kun replied and rolled his eyes. «The eyes of Zavrini look different,» the hunter pointed with his hand at the inverted gaze.

Wall frowned and looked thoughtfully at Kuhn. Then the leader again sat down next to the unconscious Salas and once again lifted his eyelids. The youngster’s eyes were still transformed: the whites shimmered with shades of scarlet, and the shaman’s bizarre black irises, inexplicably merged with the pupils. Zavrini’s presentiment inspired the leader of the Great Hunt with thoughts about a newborn star, and he plunged into thought.

— Wall, Wa-a-all! the grey-haired ranger nudged the leader on the shoulder.

We need to set up camp before dark! Wall suddenly commanded. — And skin the carcass. All for business! the leader hurried. «Tyrant, you look after Salas for now. In the morning we move forward to the camp! The sooner we get back, the better it will be. And horns! Drive more goons around the camp!

Unity

Embodied in the essence, but not losing the bodily connection, Roshan’s consciousness left the body and began to slowly rotate around the abandoned flesh. And everything that happened beyond the bounds of human vision appeared before the gaze of the leader. This time, the manifestation of unity was not like the previous units with Pangea, and Roshan immediately felt it.

For the first time in all times, through Her eyes, the leader saw his camp! The shaman saw his appearance like the appearance of reptiles through the eyes of Zavrini: the soulless shell appeared in unity as a body without skin, and everything inside disfigured the Temple of the Creator with a disgusting phenomenon. Mixing with the glow of prana, the lilac gleam of the leader’s combinations flooded the expanses of the dungeon with warm light. From the streams of glow, the symbols on the walls of the cave took on the color of the aura of the shaman’s body, and the lights of candles and lights became similar to the glow of night stars. The bursts of an underground stream and the crackling of blazing torches filled the manifestation of the vision, and the grotto with Her eyes came to life in a new decoration.

After examining the Abode of Unity, Roshan once again turned his attention to his own camp. Human flesh — joints of bones, plexuses of muscles, a web of veins and vessels — was enveloped in luminous fibers from all sides. And in the chest area, a vital source stood out noticeably — shimmering with a scarlet flame, the shaman’s heart throbbed quiveringly and measuredly, and it was clear how blood was circulating in the center of longevity. Despite the horror and unprecedentedness of what was presented, Roshan remained humble. Humble and ready for new ideas.

The vision did not linger in the grotto and, for some unknown reason, instead of heading towards the stars, rushed down to the base of the mountain. With a roar and crackle piercing the warehouses of the stone walls of the cave, the red-hot essence of the soul became more animated with every moment. It gained momentum and, passing through the strongholds, tore apart the particles of the coordinated forms of the Great Volcano, like an arrow cutting through the harmony of living flesh. The red-hot essence, burning the compositions of stones, penetrated deep into the mountains, and the leader felt the heat of the burning fossils with his face and body, as if he was penetrating the thickness of the volcano with his camp.

In a fleeting vision fell into the labyrinths of tunnels. In unexplored corridors, it slowed down for a moment, making it possible to consider the moves. And in one grotto, it completely hung over extraordinary creatures. «Continuations of the original lives — underground creatures!» thought the leader. They had no bones, no heart, no bloody flesh, but their bodies and paws, with eight limbs for each creature, looked like giant spiders and glowed with prana in Roshan’s gaze, as if creations were composed from the flames of Pangea. The essence circled over the creatures and rushed down again.

«Why did She direct me to the foundations of the Earth? the shaman thought, gradually getting used to what was happening. «After all, the manifestation of memories was about the stars, about their mysterious glow and a newborn star…»

At some point, Roshan’s gaze found itself in a vast cave. Having lowered their ardor, the essence of the soul and mind hung in the expanses of the dungeon, and in the vision of the shaman through the veil of nebula, the realm of the original essences appeared. The immense grotto with many niches, interweaving of ledges and passages was teeming with insect giants from top to bottom! Underground inhabitants swarmed absolutely everywhere: they clung to the sheer walls of the cave, cliffs and stalactites sticking out everywhere! And each of the creatures in the vision of the leader radiated the radiance of prana.

The light emanating from the creatures spread throughout the grotto and illuminated the most secluded corners of the vast lair, and giant insects fussily crawled along the slopes and planes, making unpleasant chirring sounds. Caught on the way one by one, the creatures probed each other with their endings — apparently, in this way they determined their own kind. Some of the creatures had elongated bodies and an abundance of limbs, others had pointed, spiked tails. Others were similar to those that Roshan saw, plunging deep into the mountain. Sometimes some creatures attacked creatures of another stock, but soon after the skirmishes they dispersed to their needs. Others were completely immobile.

The narrowed niches of the grotto were in places smeared with luminous slime, in which lay either giant larvae (Roshan could not see), or eggs. Larger species of creatures, similar in appearance to horned beetles, crowded among the rudiments and disgusting secretions. These creatures, apparently, gave birth to larval eggs, or maybe they simply protected them from other creatures.

Many passages approached the cave from all sides. The tunnels were located along the entire length of the dungeon — both above and below. And from the channels he saw on the way to the lair, the shaman realized that most of the passages intersected, creating a huge labyrinth in the heart of the Great Volcano. Stalactites, entwined everywhere with a web in which the remains of the limbs of creatures dangled, a strange interweaving of stone origins, many creatures and their disgusting chirping and clatter filled the atmosphere of the underworld with danger and anxiety. Even in unity with Pangea, being in the abode of creatures became uneasy for the leader. For a moment he imagined being here in reality — in a bodily shell in absolute darkness. Roshan had no idea what kind of mentality the insect creatures had, but Zavrini’s premonition told him that these creatures were very unfriendly.

«It was not for nothing that the tribesmen built barriers in the Temple of the Creator,» thought the shaman, and immediately decided, after unity, to fix the horns on the barriers in both the right and left sleeves of the passage.

Meanwhile, the essence rose to the center of the cave and began to absorb the particles of light that the underground creatures emitted nearby. Giant insects in the area started up! They chirped and fussily ran along the ledges of the dungeon, abruptly rushing from side to side, and sometimes at each other. Vital fibers of the fiery element rushed from everywhere from the creatures to the leader’s gaze with a visible haze, and Roshan noticed how this phenomenon began to extinguish the glow of the prana of the creatures closest to the vision. They slowed down, shrank and froze, as if their lives were cut short at that moment. Absorbing the prana of the underground inhabitants, the essence of the leader itself was filled with energy. And at one moment, having filled to the limit, she shuddered and swiftly soared up — away from the underworld.

***

When the reincarnation of the soul escaped from the thickness of the mountain, the Great Fire was already at its zenith, and the bright rays of the luminary immediately shook the shaman’s eyes — for the first time in history, Roshan returned the human vision in unity! The leader involuntarily lowered his head, hiding his face from the dazzling glare, and the animated essence turned the movement into action in an instant — bowing her gaze, she directed her vision downward, and Roshan saw the abode of Pangea in a guise never seen before: from the height of heaven! Forests and ravines, mountains and plains, fields and steppes that surrounded the Great Volcano — everything was in full view here! The shaman looked around Her expanses with amazement and once again became convinced that this unity was not similar to any other units before.

The immense grove of araucaria that spread near the camp and beyond which the first people had not yet gone, still hid behind the horizon, and its edges could not be seen. The scope of the coniferous forest turned out to be much wider than its visible outlines from the ledges of the caves — the dwellings of the elders. And this could not but comfort Roshan. The green cover of araucaria was a real boon of Pangea, since predatory reptiles larger than Raptors were not noticed in these parts. And despite the fact that both Raptors and Vultures have bred in the forest, and the herbivorous Stripers have recently begun to leave these places, the rangers, guessing the lucky lot of the Great Hunt, have always rejoiced in the grove, like small children with the colored wings of swamp dragonflies. Harassing the Stripers among ravines and araucaria-tree-covered hills, even among Raptors, was much safer than stalking giants in liana forests or bennettite plains. And the lot, as was customary, made it possible for the leaders of the hunting parties to choose the side of the world of fishing first.

Directing his gaze to the southwest, the shaman focused his vision on the liana forest. The dense crowns of giant liana trees, like elevated hills, protruded above the surroundings. The tops of the leafy cover swayed fairly from the breath of the wind, and from the sky it seemed that the blowing gusts created abundant disturbances of the vegetative plateau, like wavy ripples on the water surface appear after strong flows of the windy element. Long contemplation of the peaks caused an illusion in Roshan’s gaze. The leader for a moment succumbed to the monotonous variability of the crowns, and it began to seem to him that the deciduous cover of the trees was hovering above the ground. Feeling the deceit in the vision, the shaman released his vision and looked again at the liana forest. He immediately noticed that above the crowns near the edges the lords of the heavens were swarming — powerful and ardent predators of Pterosaurs. But from the height of the flight of the incarnation of the soul, the heavenly hunters looked tiny. And all the greatness of the Pterosaurs became at that moment insignificant in comparison with the greatness of what was seen around.

The leader looked at the borders of the forest and the previous path traveled. The leader recognized the hunting trails and the last resting place in the wooded ridge. The memories of the lands along which the footprints of ancestors and Pangea itself led to the Great Volcano inspired Roshan with worries about the past…

The constant rise of soul essence opened up views of unfamiliar lands to the south, west, and east. The edge of the liana forest on the southwestern side grew scarcely into a plateau of bennettite fields. The fields mingled either with strings of conifers, or with lush cycads, or maybe even with palm trees — everything became similar from a height. The limits of the plateau approached the wooded hills, and behind the hills a wide river meandered in a dark blue stripe, like a lasso thrown by chance. In some places it broke off into ravines, and in these places its sharp and seething declines were visible. The winding shores of the water element abundantly enveloped the jungle, liana giants and other trees.

Bor in the west rested on a hill. But the gaze had already risen so high that the vegetation on these hills had also become illegible. But in the southeast, the edge of the araucaria grove suddenly appeared, and the soils that arose there clearly conveyed the fiery shades of the half-dead steppes. Crimson arid lands in some areas of unfamiliar distances were strewn with verdant tones of vegetation, and it seemed to Roshan that there, among the greenery, lonely hollows of lakes gleamed.

In the north-west, in the led regions behind the wooded ridges, a swamp valley was already visible. But if the shaman did not know about its existence, then it is unlikely that from such a height he could make out what kind of area it was.

The essence hastily rose up, and with every moment the creator’s abode moved away from the shaman’s gaze, hiding the details of the camp and growing in grandeur at the same time. Very soon She was so far away that it became impossible to see even the highest hills and trees in Her. The lands of Pangea now differed only in the pale hues of the colors of the vegetation that covered them, and the features of the areas growing into each other were not visible at all. Yes, and the Great Volcano from the height of heaven no longer seemed so majestic. But at its summit, the silhouettes of the undergrowth could still be seen: lone ginkgo trees, yucca trees, fern thickets, grass cover and hill borders — rocky ledges and sharp slopes.

The vast expanses of Pangea were enveloped on all sides by a continuous horizon, and the leader was struck by what he saw! For the first time he saw how the horizon closed in a ring, bordering only on the firmament. The rounded forms of the horizon became more expressive with every moment of distance and made it clear that the coherence of the world, like the Great Fire, like the Moon and stars, are similar in outline. And this idea destroyed a lot of conjectures and thoughts about the creator’s warehouse in the shaman’s head.

Higher and higher the leader rose to the sky, and Pangea became more and more immense and immeasurable. Her scope was so great that she lacked the ability to see to see the manifested distances at the edges of Her form. The appearance of the creator was gradually embodied in a rounded giant Earth. And the Earth was already so far from Roshan that the gaze was enough to cover its facets with a glance!

Suddenly, the shaman noticed how the heights of the firmament began to change color. Their visible features were gradually surrounded by a mysterious black haze, and a thick white veil formed over Pangea. And through it, covering the edges of the majestic plateau, raging waters began to be seen. The heavenly color of the water, from the northern shores of which, according to the legends of the ancestors, the light-skinned Zavrini took the first step towards the Great Volcano.

An unexpectedly powerful blast of the elements stirred up the essence of the soul. Roshan felt the breath of cold currents on his face and shuddered. It seemed to him that the elements had broken the flight. The essence seemed to have overcome an invisible line and, having weakened the impulses of aspiration, stopped. With his body, the shaman perceived a previously unknown lightness, as if his camp had lost its attraction. After a moment, the heights of the heavens, which a moment ago were shrouded in darkness, completely dissolved, and around the outlines of the creator, the starry abode of the night appeared.

***

Bright stars engulfed Roshan’s vision. The cold radiance of countless luminaries — both small and great — littered the valley of darkness. And that valley had neither borders nor horizons.

The shaman was stunned by what he saw — even at night, so many stars could not be seen from the ledges of the Great Volcano! And their leader was amazed at their multitude and open spaces, that they had no edges, not only from above, as usual, but also from below, where the warehouse of Her monastery allowed walking along the paths, and from all over the world, where the horizon bordered on something!

And then, at a distance from the camp of Pangea, the Great Fire rushed into the eyes of Roshan.

Like a lonely fire in the midnight wasteland, the Great Fire blazed in the endless desert of darkness. And there was no one around except the Earth and the dark stars. And the fiery shone that warmed each new day, which foreshadowed twilight by sunset, at that moment no longer blinded the shaman’s gaze. Her eyes returned to the leader and softened the brightness of the dazzling rays, allowing you to consider the coherence of the red-hot body.

The fiery mixture of glow and heat aroused clumps of fiery elements in the camp of the Great Fire! The warehouse of the Great Fire was seething like boiling water in a vat, and the seething streams seemed about to spill into the abode of the night. The leader, fascinated by the reality of what he saw, held his breath and again felt how anxiously the heart of his flesh was beating in the Temple of the Creator.

«Who is the creator of this world? Who is the true builder of the primordial life? And are these stars really souls? And who created them, and why are they still so far away? — Unrestrained thoughts disturbed the mind of the shaman, and at that hour he inadvertently noticed how the Great Fire began to slowly circle the western edges of Pangea, and darkness began to fog its eastern halls.

And immediately after the darkness, serenely bending around the Earth, as if deliberately hiding behind its coherence, a pale silhouette appeared. He slowly walked around Her camp, brightening with its essence the darkness of the eastern lands of the human world. «The moon that illuminates the hunting trails in the night!» the leader agreed.

The Warehouse of the Moon shone dazzlingly from the radiance of the Great Fire. And the shaman for all the lived moons of the moon has not seen such a guise! The dark side of her gray camp, which was not touched at that hour by the rays of the fiery luminary, was cut by high rounded ridges. They appeared to Roshan as giant scars and inspired thoughts that something was disturbing the Moon for thousands of moons…

Seeing all this, the shaman realized one consideration that worried him and other shamans: the Great Fire and the Moon, as relatives of Pangea, were and circled around Her in the night abode and succeeded each other day and night. But the sages bequeathed other knowledge to their descendants: the ancestors repeated that the children of Alak knew them, as Zavrin saw the Great Fire go into the water. As if Pangea was creating a fiery luminary at the horizons of raging water elements on the other side of the world. It was as if She was escorting him along the vault above Her abode to the northern shores of the fair-skinned ancestors to the same restless waters, so that the perfect lands would not be incinerated by the heat of the Great Fire. So that the Great Fire cools down by dawn and warms the expanses again. And in his absence, She lifted the Moon from the same water, so that Her creations could rest from fishing and see dreams, and in order to calculate — to become wiser and gain strength. Those observations turned out to be inaccurate, but the sages were only right in that they noticed variability in the Moon and in the fiery star and in the sky of stars the movement with time.

Reality was moving farther and faster away from the gaze, but at the same time, Roshan stopped feeling the movement of the essence of the soul — as if Pangea herself rushed away from the reincarnated essence of the shaman…

Soon the Moon and the Great Fire noticeably circled the Earth. The fiery become clung to the other side of the human world and no longer cast any light on Her warehouse visible to Roshan. And the pale luminary shrouded the lands of Pangea with a shadow, and the leader realized that there — on Earth — in the expanses of Her abode, night had come. Roshan watched the mesmerizing performance one more time, and his thoughts about the idea of unity returned to him. The shaman strained his gaze and turned the essence of the spectacle back. And not far away, a fiery mixture of newly appeared elements appeared before him…

***

Fiery fragments filled the stellar abode, and at that moment it seemed to the leader as if he had fallen under a fiery rain of blazing stones. Boulders flying towards them left behind clots of white smoke and shining dust, and Roshan’s gaze, darting from side to side, avoided collisions with boulders and gradually approached the newborn star. Sometimes the essence of the soul did not keep up with the frequent stumbling of stones and cut through their red-hot barriers. Permeating the vision of stone warehouses, the shaman felt the malleability and incredible ardor of their red-hot body. And it seemed to the leader at that hour that they were not stones at all, but something else and completely unfamiliar. Roshan has not seen such stones either in the abode of Pangea or in Her unities!

The closer the incarnation of the soul approached the manifestation, the hotter the night became. Very soon, the course of the essence turned out to be close to the fiery nature, and the shaman was able to discern the essence of the mysterious manifestation.

The confluence of flame and blackness, having filled the vision with its grandeur, seethed in front of Roshan. The leader saw how clots of fiery elements rushed about in the coherence of the stars. And they were similar to the elements of the Great Fire, but the essence that was hiding under the flaming exterior was unlike anything seen before. The black, in some places with blue insides constantly changed its restless shape — it became elongated, then more rounded, as if something alive was hiding under a fire-breathing cover.

At times, with a roar and crackle, the star spewed ardent fragments into the abode of stars. Not soon cooling down, its fruits turned into those very alien stones. And the stones scattered across the expanses of the night, and some followed their offspring, as if they were kept nearby by an unknown force.

Soon the shaman drew attention to the fact that the star itself gradually approached the gaze. The leader was momentarily filled with confusion, and the essence involuntarily rushed to the side so as not to collide with the fiery element. The essence of Roshan at that hour resigned itself to the heat of the fiery appearance and began to soar nearby, as if seeing off the course of the newborn manifestation. Behind the star, like a tail, continuing its warehouse, a long train of fire, smoke and red-hot boulders stretched. And the tail stretched far into the abode of the night and dissolved there.

The shaman contemplated this obscure phenomenon for some time, and then realized what was happening, but suddenly the vision began to shake. Roshan began to hear disturbing voices, and the red star that was blazing in front of his eyes suddenly shattered into fragments. The leader focused his gaze more strongly, and human silhouettes appeared in front of his vision without skin and hair…

Bonfire — second night

The whole day in the village there was only talk about a flash in the night sky and a star being born. Both old and young discussed the newly appeared sign. Kindred eagerly awaited news from the Temple of the Shaper. Most of all, young descendants chatted about what had happened. They expressed their assumptions about the manifestation to every adult and elder who passed by. A lot of chatter went to Varna. He spent the whole day with teenagers in the training arena, and the young constantly asked the craftsman various stupid questions: «Why did the star light up?», «And when will it go out?», «Will there be more?”… As if Varn lit the heavenly stars and deliberately did not say anything about them!

There were also those in the settlement who had not even heard of the heavenly miracle. They were sentinels who changed their posts in the first half of the night. But the children immediately broadcast about the mysterious glow to their ignorant fellow tribesmen, and by the onset of twilight there was not a single relative left in the camp who did not know about the revealed star.

As soon as the rumble of daytime living creatures ceased, the women led their children on araucaria to huts. All the boys were told to get ready for bed, even though they asked them to stay at night with the elders to fuss with the Totem of Flame and at the same time look at the bizarre particles of hot resin and the glow of the red star. Only future hunters remained to help build the Fireplace — those who were admonished by the second hundred moons.

With the advent of dusk, the first stars lit up. The cloudless sky adorned the night luminary, and next to the Moon, turning the gaze of the sentinels on itself, a mysterious phenomenon also shone… The first people lit the lights. Some of the elders, at the call of Hord, descended from the caves. Night has come.

In the Pavilion of Flame, as usual, there was a noise-din. The tribesmen gathered in crowds around the refectory bonfires: women cooked meat dishes and treated them to young and old people, youths, led by Ana and Varna, erected a fire totem. The fry were in a great hurry with the construction of the Fireplace, despite the fact that it would be set on fire when the Moon reached the middle of the sky. The young hunters were eager to see the fiery whirlwinds, and they believed that the sooner the Totem of Flame was erected, the faster the tedious waiting would fly by, so the turmoil in the tent was still so.

The enthusiasm and restlessness of the young tribesmen gradually cheered up Anya, and she was very worried about the leader. Roshan has been in unity so far. The huntress knew that no one had tried to comprehend the abode of the stars before, and this alarmed her. But the fun of the young gradually distracted the woman from her anxious thoughts, and sometimes she even smiled and laughed at all the stupidity and clumsiness of future hunters.

Soon Inga and several elders entered the tent. The sorceress immediately spotted the fair-haired huntress and slowly walked towards her.

— Hello, my child!

— Inga-ah! Hello Inga! Ana happily hugged the old woman. — You haven’t been down to the camp for a long time! Did you bring us your new potions?

The sorceress laughed, snuggling back.

— No, honey. Didn’t bring. The last thing I made from the tricky drink I gave to Roshan.

Did you add a red flower? the huntress asked excitedly. — And how is he? Tell. Was unity quickly overtaken him?

Yes, I added. Yes, yes, very quickly!.. Don’t worry, Ana, everything is fine with Roshan. He’s strong, he can handle it! I think if you cook meat broth from this muck, then you can poison the lizards, — changing the subject of the conversation in a different way, Inga spoke. «Razaurs and all sorts of Raptors. I heard that the toothy little ones completely filled the grove.

Yes, Inga, yes! All the Polosuns were exhausted… Good idea! Do you think these creatures can’t smell the red flower? Prepare this potion for me too. Roshan will return — I will go hunting, I will test it.

— I’ll cook, I’ll cook. How is Omi? Is she in a hut? Learned to shoot a bow?

Yes, I hope she’s asleep. Shooting, shooting! So far, only for butterflies,» Ana answered fervently.

— Ma! — Varnus threw the firewood to the ground and rushed at the healer.

— Hello, my good! the old woman hugged the craftsman. «They say in the caves that you built this tent. Well done son! Elders and shamans are proud of you. And the leader too!

— Thank you, Ma! What did you bring us this time? Elixir of the Great Hunt? Will one of the trackers now become more agile and faster?

The old woman broke into a smile.

— Oh, and you’re a joker, Varn! Maybe I’ll bring it tomorrow. You can check with Ana whether he is good for the Great Hunt or not at all, «she answered, laughing.

After talking with her relatives about this and that, about the events of the previous night, Inga undertook to help Anya and Varna with the Fireplace. And soon the fire totem was erected. When the moon reached its peak, Radon, Hord and several sentinels arrived in the tent. Under gracious speeches and parting words to the detachments of the Great Hunt, Radon set fire to the Fireplace. And when it became very hot in the Pavilion of Flame, the tribesmen left the building. Like last night, they settled side by side, in a clearing near the fire.

A warm monsoon descended to the foot of the Great Volcano. The wind, with a sudden gust, stirred up the lights of the lanterns that illuminated the bypass paths, posts and huts of the settlement. From the breaths of the winds, the silhouettes of the shadows of the way of the village danced on the hills and sheer ledges of the mountain pedestal. The flickering of light under the power of the windy element seized the midnight spirit of the camp with mystery, and the newborn star on the eastern side of the sky assured this mystery with its bizarre scarlet radiance. She riveted the attention of the first people. Kindred, while eating half-eaten dinner in the Pavilion of Flame, stared intently at the night sky. And not everyone noticed at that hour that the star changed its stay among other luminaries and became a little more than its manifestation last night. And those who noticed thought they thought it was. Everyone thought so, but not Hord.

When the heat reached its limit, Varnus released particles of hot tar into the chimney, and the Totem of Flame with its glow touched the sky. In anticipation of another miracle, the tribesmen, sitting by the fire, looked either at the fiery swirls or at the red star, but nothing surprising happened in the night sky. For some time, the elders-shamans listened intently to their inner urges in order to catch the voices of their ancestors again. Each time, shuddering from the sudden crackle of a fire or gusts of wind, the relatives perked up their ears even more, but the spirits were silent… Very soon the elders calmed down, and the wonder of the manifested star and the light of the incandescent particles became commonplace for the gaze — and then the time for cognitive stories came.

***

Amidst the booth of juveniles and the dialect of adult tribesmen, Unga, the younger relative of Taro, turned to the senior sentinel. The future hunter or shaman, the smart youngster has not yet decided what path he will take, but his interest in the unity of the leader drew attention to the conversation with Radon and other relatives.

— Radon, when will the leader return? Why has he been in unity for so long?

— Yes! Yes! When? the youngsters cried out.

— Why is it so long? Not long at all,» the watchman replied. «I’m sure Roshan will come down from the caves in the morning,» Radon said convincingly, looking at his older fellow tribesmen.

The teenagers nodded in agreement.

— And what is there, in the unity of the leader, Radon? Unga continued to pry.

«Ask the sage Valan, my friend,» Radon waved his hand towards the seated elders. «He was most united. I chose a different element. I like hunting.

The young descendants immediately turned their eyes to the elderly relatives, located opposite. The youth tried to look out who Radon called Valan, but the light from the flame of the fire was too dim, and it was impossible to see who among the elders was the sage of unity. Besides, teenagers might not have seen Valan before. Few people met him in the settlement — the old shaman preferred to spend his moons in caves. And even during heavy rains, he retired to the Temple of the Creator. But the building of Varna and its Fireplace aroused curiosity in the ancestor last night, and he and other elders went down here — to the Pavilion of Flame.

Khord and several of his relatives sitting in front turned towards his tribesman — his dark silhouette in a hoodie. Puffing, the mysterious old man reluctantly got up from his seat and, barely moving his legs, moved closer to the fire. Teenagers closely watched the stranger. His green robe dangled to the very ground, and the hood of his hoodie was fairly pulled over his head and hid the face of the old shaman. The ancestor, while walking around his fellow tribesmen, accidentally caught on his own cape and almost collapsed to the ground — he was held by other elders. Having got out of the crowd into the front rows of gatherings, Valan sat down on his cloak and, slightly raising his headband, turned his gaze to Unga. The light of the fire touched the dark face of the shaman and revealed his appearance: long gray hairs protruded from under the hood of the old man, into which the fangs of lizards were woven, the shadows in the pits of the wrinkles of his face in the dim glow of the fire sharpened the features and darkened the skin even more, and the hooked spiked nose and brown eyes shone from the radiance of the flame.

«No one knows, my young friend,» began Valan. «No one has seen the stars with Her eyes before. Now, if Roshan of the earth knew the far-lying diseases of our flesh and poisonous or life-giving streams, then unity could be assumed. Any vision through Her eyes, even the first unity of the hunter, is similar to one another.

The youths tensed, trying to understand the meaning of what they heard, and for a moment silence reigned around the fire. Ronin broke the silence.

— And what is there, in the first unity of the hunter?

— Yes! Yes! What? The other children immediately murmured.

Haven’t you been taught yet? Valan was surprised.

— Yes, where are they going, — Varnus entered into the conversation. It’s too early for them to think about it.

— It’s not too early! Let them listen to the wise man while his head is reasonable! — the old shaman exclaimed and turned to the young relatives: — In the first unity — in the unity of the hunter — the prana of Pangea is known, which is called a flame on a carved engraving and that gives unprecedented strength, — Valan began teaching. — Until you know prana, you will be beaters on the Great Hunt or lookouts until the end of the moons allotted to you. You can hunt. You will go to the freestyle — to drive all sorts of trifles, Piskunov, for example, which is faster than smart ones, which is one tooth, and then it will get stuck — until you get some Chameleon for dinner. And in order to ignite a flame on a carved engraving and strike a steadfast giant with a flame, you will have, at the very least, to walk the path through Her eyes in unity.

Adult relatives roared*, supporting the tale of the old shaman.

— In any unity, whether it be the first or the other, Pangea grants her eyes so that you can see with the gaze of Her expanses created by Her! exclaimed the old man, spreading his arms. — And She leads through Her expanses every hunter who wishes to know unity. And among these expanses, particles of light of primordial life dwell. And each of Her creations consists of these particles. From one particle, a seed grows into a tree, from another, the element of wind incarnates into a storm. In the third, an unprecedented disease lives, and in the tenth, a reptile is formed from a reptile’s egg. And many such particles are contained in unity. It is from them that prana must be withdrawn and turned into a flame!

The young were fascinated by Valan’s story and, opening their mouths, heeded every word.

«Each hunter has his own path in unity,» continued the sage. — As Azis said, the starry sky is his soul, unity is in our heads and in our thoughts. What you imagine in oblivion, you will see with Her eyes. And the path through Her abode and the elements presented and creations will appear before the eyes … — Valan thought for a moment, and the sentinels, having heard speeches about Azis, stared inquiringly at the old man, expecting that he would tell something else about the old shaman, but Valan continued to broadcast about unity. «As I said, Her creations are made up of particles of light. And the particles of some creations are different from others, and they keep in themselves the prana of the original life — the flame. And in order for the prana of the particles to turn into a flame, it is necessary in the unity of each particle of the incarnation of the one who looks closely, whether it be a blade of grass or a whole bush, or maybe a flower or a primitive creature, a dragonfly, for example, remove prana. Remove from all the particles of the incarnation, to the last! Don’t leave a single grain! And so the element of flame will gather from them into one whole — into the flame. And the one who knows the flame in unity and called it with an impressive engraving, will see the flame through the eyes of Zavrini. And all the steadfast trackers,» the elder waved towards Khord and some experienced ones sitting at a distance, «who once seized prana, can see one flame alone! The unity sage raised his index finger to signify the importance of the next clarification. — But if the engraving does not belong to you, but to another hunter, then in order to embody the flame in it, you need to perceive the message carved and important of that hunter with both mind and spirit! Valan finished his explanations, and the fry immediately began to whisper, trying to catch the truth from all this string of ambiguities said by the sage.

«And why is it possible to see the flame only through the eyes of Zavrini, but not through human eyes?» asked Renri, the offspring of one of the leaders of the Great Hunt.

The old shaman’s cheekbones stretched into a barely perceptible smile, and he replied:

«Because Pangea created Zavrini in her own image, to think and create in her image. And in order to think and create, She imprinted her element of primordial life into the belly of a lizard — the soulless Razaurus. And she didn’t just capture it, but lived in her eye, so that Zavrinis were connected with Her by Her eyes, so that they were reasonable and saw the truth, and could create life. So you can see the flame that your leader Roshan obtained with her gaze, with the hunter’s vision — the incarnation of Zavrini! — explained the old sage. — So our ancestors knew our ancestors, and I’m telling you now, so that the truth does not go away — it does not dissolve in being.

The children understood little of what they heard, but their faces showed delight.

— What do her eyes look like? one of the youths shouted, and grins were heard among the older relatives.

You can’t see her eyes! Valan responded promptly. «It’s only given to look at them…» Valan thought for a moment. — And remember! he immediately added. «When you undertake to withdraw prana in your first unity and incarnate it into a flame, the main thing is not to confuse the particles with the transformations of other particles that are alien to them!»

— What happens if you mess up? Unga asked casually.

Yes, yes, but what will happen? — shouted the young descendants.

Valan frowned.

«Otherwise, the prana of alien incarnations will mix and dissolve in the wastelands of the presented. And you will have to collect new particles and withdraw prana from them. AND…

— And if you can’t collect it at all? interrupted Ronin.

— What do you mean — at all? the old shaman frowned even more. — There has never been a hunter who, having surrendered to the first unity, could not turn prana into a flame. Is it really a matter of repeating this flame on a carved engraving in reality, and making the symbol incarnate into the true element…

«It’s too early for you, Valan, to know about it,» Radon interrupted. — First, let them learn how to hold hunting tools correctly.

«Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuum,» the children hummed, disapproving of the head watchman’s talk.

Radon smiled.

— It’s not too early! the old shaman continued to insist. — Let them know! What is there. Who else can teach them? Varna will not teach unity! Taught already — now he walks without an eye!

Varnus looked at the old shaman in bewilderment, while adults and juveniles looked at each other.

— Well, you will, Valan! — Hord stood up for the offspring. — An old grumbler. Look, your tongue will dry up!

— All right, all right, — the shaman calmed down and turned to Unge: — Here you are, young man, which path did you choose? Shaman or hunter?

«Um…» Unga thought.

— Here! the sage hastily exclaimed. — To become a shaman, you need to understand what you want. What do you want to know from Pangea? What do you want to see? And it’s not so easy, my young friend,» said the old man. — The time will come — be a hunter and do not be afraid. Accept the first unity and remember what I said that night. You look — you will get stronger, and you will be a shaman.

The teenagers whispered among themselves, discussing the parting words of the old sage.

«Why didn’t you go to the Temple to look at the stars?» Unga suddenly asked.

Valan frowned and looked at the other elders.

«I have not been young for a long time, my boy, and unity takes a lot of strength. And what is going on among the stars? No one knows… I’m afraid if I look there, my consciousness will not come back, and I will become a burden for the tribe…

*shuffled — made a noise.

***

«Valan, tell me,» Elna timidly sat down closer to the sage, «why?.. Why don’t we have Zavrini’s eyes,» the girl pointed to herself and other children, «do adults have them?»

— Yes, Valan, why is that?

«We also want to see with the eyes of the hunters!»

The youngsters and maidens made an offended noise, and the adult relatives laughed in unison. The genuine feeling of annoyance of young people due to the inability to embody the eyes of Zavrin could not but cause a smile among experienced tribesmen. But this shortcoming had its beginning, and many remembered this beginning.

«It was in ancient times, when my and your ancestor, Alak, the last one, who adopted the eyes of reptiles by his kind, by origin, could still hunt and admire the Moons,» the old shaman suddenly began to say. «The eyes of Zavrini were passed on to Alak and his relatives by blood from the ancestors, and to the ancestors from the great-grandfathers, and to the great-grandfathers from Zavrini, and relatives and Alak could embody the eyes of reptiles from birth. But our blood and flesh change with the lived moons, like the stars in the skies. In some ways we become better and stronger, but in some ways we become weaker. So then blind hunters were born from the descendants of Alak, and I am among them. And the eyes of our ancestors were unknown to us.

You didn’t see anything at all, did you? Ronin asked, confused.

— No! Blind means we never had Zavrini’s eyes. So we saw, as you see now, young man, and the rest.

Ronin nodded.

«And no one then knew why this happened,» Valan continued. — And our relatives thought that we had an unprecedented disease, and old Alak went to Pangea to look for answers. For a long time he was in unity with Her, and when he came out, he weakened greatly and plunged into weakness from a slender month to the full moon. Then everyone was upset about it. They thought it would die. And in those days, only the children of Alak and his brothers hunted, who ran with the eyes of Zavrini from birth, and some relatives who did not lose their strength for the moons lived. Youths, boys, and I was among them, were sitting in the settlement. And young hunters, too — with a stern human look guarded the camp from lizards. Yes, Hord? — the sage turned to the experienced hunter.

«Yes, I remember that time,» Hord confirmed. — Then the relatives were afraid to go fishing without eyes. Any lizard far away from the ravines was noticed by people, herbivores did not let them near at all, and predators and Rasaurs with open mouths in those days lurked everywhere in the thickets — crawl in, do not be afraid!

— Where do you crawl? Unga asked.

The elders could hardly contain their smiles, and the young watchmen burst into laughter.

— Where where? Into the mouth of the Chameleon! Hord exclaimed. — I tell you — without the eyes of a hunter it was dangerous to leave the camp!

The children giggled and made noise.

«It was hard to feed our tribe in those moons,» Valan continued his tale. «The first people did not yet know that the flame of Pangea was created from prana, and there was no Great Hunt at all. And it was then that my relative — Lasso, very young, who invented the lasso for baiting — for the first time on a hunt and knew the eyes of his ancestors. He then became bolder, did not want to put up with blindness and went alone to free trade! It means that he followed the Polosuns, and they are smart and sighted scoundrels. They see Lasso from afar, but they know his every step in advance. And at Lasso, nothing can be seen through the thickets until it comes close to the lizards. The lizards would wait until he discovered them, and immediately ran away — a hundred paces. And so the whole day — back and forth. Lasso realized that the reptiles were leading him by the nose, but he could not do anything to them with his nose. This made Lasso sad. No matter how hard he tried, no matter how he squinted, he could not see the sly one first.

«Uuuuuuuh,» boomed the fry condoling with their congener.

It was already getting dark, but Lasso did not give up. Decided to get around Polosunov at dusk! He peered, peered, and suddenly everything turned pale in front of him and his eyes appeared to him. And that evening he brought different carcasses, and told about his insight, but he thought that the twilight of the eye had awakened — he still did not know how to master concentration to perfection — at this tale, Valan turned his eyes into the eyes of a hunter, and the children gasped and began to stare consider the reptilian incarnation of the sage. — And after the epiphany, Lasso went hunting and took the young with him another moon at dusk, and then went alone into the night. And after that night he did not return. They found his body in a ravine gnawed to the bone…

The old shaman returned his human gaze and fell silent, remembering the past, while the children and older relatives groaned sympathetically.

— And when Alak gained strength, he told us about the eye. As if he understood in unity that the eyes of Zavrini with us and our descendants will now appear with the moons, as if Pangea itself is so re…

Suddenly, a bugle sounded from the direction of the southeast watchtower, a simple melody of several beeps.

The tribesmen involuntarily jumped up.

Brun is back! Radon exclaimed. «Brun’s squad has returned from the Great Hunt!

— So fast?! Hord was surprised.

— Let’s meet! shouted one of the teenagers.

A farce began, and the relatives, leaving the fire, advanced to the eastern loophole to greet the hunters.

***

— Elna, shh! Elna! Ronin whispered.

The blue-eyed girl followed her Clanmates down the path to the Hunter’s House. Hearing the call, Elna turned around warily.

Ronin, is that you? Why are you sitting there? she asked in bewilderment.

The youth hid in the fern thickets along the path. His face was smeared with a green infusion of cycad and looked like a camouflage color of a hunter.

— Shh, hush! Go with us?

— Where? Are you going to leave the camp again?

No, to the caves!

What caves? Elna asked already in a whisper, looking around and not understanding the mystery of what was happening.

— To the Temple of the Creator! Let’s look at the unity of the leader.

Immediately, Unga’s head appeared from the booth, and his face was also painted.

Elna, come with us!

— Are you seriously? The girl walked closer to the bushes.

Rhonin came out of hiding a little and held out his hand to her. Elna timidly looked at the youth. In the darkness, she could see his green eyes glittering. Peering into the features of a teenager, she thought for a moment about something of her own and froze.

— Do you trust me? Ronin suddenly blurted out.

— I? Umm…» Elna hesitated, and the young man immediately grabbed her by the arm and dragged her into the thickets.

Unga chuckled.

— Can we go to the Temple of the Creator? the girl asked, frowning.

— Well, you already! They say you can’t, but we’ll go quietly and no one will know,» suggested Ronin. «Aren’t you interested in yourself?»

Interesting, but I’m afraid.

— We are not afraid! Let’s go see the leader! — Unga’s eyes burned with anticipation of a trip to the caves.

«And if one of the elders notices us?» Elna hesitated.

— They won’t notice. Most of the elders are in the Hunters’ House, and those left by the caves are most likely asleep, Ronin assured. «We’ll just see what the chief is doing there and then we’ll go back.» Nobody will notice!

«But what about the watchmen?»

We are future hunters! Unga exclaimed. «Let’s imagine that the sentinels are reptiles, and go around them!»

Elna asked a dozen more questions, but the young men had answers for all occasions, and they still persuaded the girl to go to the Temple.

The teenagers, making their way through the paths and vegetation, returned to the Pavilion of Flame, and soon came to the araucaria.

— Shh! Ronin hissed, crouching behind a rock. — Look — the lights are on the wires. Maybe there are some adults there?

Unga and Elna hid nearby, examining the branches of coniferous trees.

«Yes, everything seems to be quiet,» Unga said. — There is no one there. Everyone heard the horn. Just went to the House of Hunters.

«Then the main thing is not to wake the kids,» Elna whispered. Otherwise, they will get scared and start calling for help. Don’t get stretch marks!

«Let’s follow me,» commanded Ronin, resolutely jumped over the boulders, passed on tiptoe under the araucaria, deftly bending between the stretched rattles, and again jumped into the thicket.

The youths followed him.

The quieter the children tried to walk, the louder, it seemed, was the crackling of dry leaves, twigs, stones and the rustle of grass under their feet. Even the chirping and clatter of nocturnal cicadas and other living creatures was not as audible at that hour as the crunch of vegetation under the sandals of future hunters, as if the night itself listened and followed every step of the young relatives, illuminating the untouched by torches surroundings with the moon.

So — from one tree to another, from ledges to thickets, from huts to huts — the children made their way through the village. Miraculously, they bypassed two sentinel detachments, and this was a real test! After all, no one has yet managed to sneak past the sentinels unnoticed! True, no one has ever tried to do this before…

Elna was very frightened when the hunters met on the way. She had no idea what would happen if they were discovered, and a premonition, which adults called the feeling of Zavrini, at that hour seemed to speak to her for the first time. As if an inner voice whispered to the young maiden that all this was not good. But Unga and Ronin constantly encouraged her and assured her that there was nothing shameful in their journey.

Soon a cheerful mood picked up Elna. Teenagers thought up a game of hunters and imagined that someone was following them. Children were fooling around, giggling softly, pretending to be reptiles and trackers, hiding among boulders and thickets. The youths pursued each other, hiding in the bushes and setting up the expected ambushes. And after a while, the young relatives reached the very path at which the ledges and the ascent to the caves of the elders began. The path uphill was illuminated by hammered torches, and it seemed impossible to go unnoticed.

The young hid in the thickets.

— And how next? What we shall do? Elna wondered.

«Hmm… If we crawl through the bushes along the path near the cliff, then we won’t be particularly noticeable,» Ronin realized.

What if someone falls?

— Come on, Elna! See how much space. Let’s crawl carefully. If so, let’s help each other. Let’s go, — Ronin answered confidently and took Elna by the hand.

Suddenly there was a rustle behind the children. The teenagers jumped in surprise! Terribly frightened, they slowly turned around.

The Watchmen was the first thing that flashed through Ronin’s mind. And Unga even thought it was a reptile. But from the thickets of ferns, shaking off the clinging twigs and leaves, a little girl looked out.

Elna, take me with you! I want with you! — the leader’s daughter looked plaintively at her older relatives.

— Omi? In the name of Pangea, how did you end up here? The young girl ran up to the child and hugged him.

Ronin and Unga looked at each other and breathed a sigh of relief.

«In the name of Pangea, I was so scared!» Unga breathed, and his eyes nearly filled with tears.

«Omi, why aren’t you in the hut?» How did you get here? Ronin asked.

«I had a terrible dream, and then I started thinking about Pa. And then I heard someone walking downstairs, and I saw you. I was scared to call you in the dark, and I just followed you,» Omi rattled, almost crying.

— What a news! Ronin was delighted. — You came from the most araucaria? Omi, you are a real hunter!

«It’s good that it happened and we didn’t reach the caves,» Elna said, looking at the youths. — It is not known how it would all end. Need to come back!

«Hey, what about the Temple of the Maker?» How is the leader? Ronin was outraged.

— I want to go to Pa, let’s go to the leader! the girl exclaimed.

«Hush, hush, Omi, don’t scream!» Ronin, don’t tell me we’ll take her with us.» Elna stared at the teenager, waiting for a clear answer.

— Why not? She is already an adult. She followed us from the very araucaria, bypassed the sentinels. Nobody heard her, not even us! Let her go, especially since her leader, her father, is there. We’ll take a look at the leader and we’ll be right back!

«Yes, yes, I want to go with you,» Omi rejoiced.

«Yes, yes, Omi will come with us!» Unga picked it up.

Elna frowned and reluctantly agreed:

— Well, okay… But only there and back. Promise, Ronin? She looked humbly at the teenager.

— I promise! Roundtrip!

***

A refectory fire was burning in a niche near the entrance to the cave. The fading tongues of flame sometimes shuddered from sharp gusts of wind, and the crunch of charred wood after sudden breaths dragged out the crackling melody of the fiery element. Either igniting the fire, or suppressing it altogether, the eastern monsoon caught in the haze of smoldering logs the aromas of recently eaten meat and carried them along the paths of the Great Volcano. Not far from the fire, along the sharp-angled walls, the elders slept on the bedding. Their snores echoed across the cliffs of the mighty mountain. From time to time, the echoes of deep dreams of elderly tribesmen merged into a monotonous thundering rumble, as if somewhere among the rocks an ancient Gigantosaurus had taken refuge for the night.

On the instructions of Radon, young hunters — Barda and Veles — guarded the passage to the Temple of the Creator that night. When the elders, after dinner and informative conversations, fell into a dream, the sentinels left the grotto and settled down in the open air on a ledge at the very edge.

— Amazing, right? Veles pointed to the pillar of fire. And how did he come up with this? I can’t imagine…

The stream of incandescent particles of the Flame Totem swayed from the gusts of wind and at the same time held back its integrity, as if an unknown force forced the flames to cling to each other. A strange phenomenon — an original element, not similar to any other element — stretched out from the chimney of the tent, barely visible from the height of the caves. The dim glow of the fiery column barely illuminated the way of the settlement and the sloping slopes of the Great Volcano, as if the hot particles held back the streams of light in themselves, not releasing them beyond the whirlwind. But in the center, the glow was bright and blinding. From the hill, it seemed that the whirlwind, shrouded on all sides by the darkness of the night, arose from the void — from the blackness of the night. Only the lights of the camp in places illuminated the omnipresent darkness.

Well done Varn! exclaimed Barda. «Now hunting parties can easily find their way home.

— That’s for sure! — picked up a relative.

«Veles, did you happen to hear the bugle while we were having dinner?» I thought it was a signal that the rangers had returned from the Great Hunt.

«No, brother, I haven’t heard,» Veles answered puzzled. — Yes, it was hardly a horn. Sixth night in total. So quickly no one could return. There is such a wind here — anything can seem.

«Hmm… it must have seemed…» Barda hesitated and flattened himself on the ledge.

The cliffs of the Great Volcano revealed a marvelous view of the southeastern lands. In the daytime, one could see hills and lowlands from here, on which there was a coniferous forest, edges and conditional paths. Rocky boulders covered with moss and fern thickets could be seen in places among the trees, dilapidated dead wood flashed among the thick of araucaria, and even stunted ginkgo trees were visible. But at night the view from the caves of the elders was especially attractive. Here, as if two worlds merged together — the world of Pangea and the abode of the stars.

Below, from the pedestal of the mountain and to the infinity of the grove, the silhouettes of Her expanse were buried in darkness. Even the glow of the moon made it impossible to see the details of the distance. Only a black haze, diluted with the lights of the camp, stretched from the foot of the volcano to the horizon. And where the horizon merged with the skies, the star harmony began. An infinity of luminaries hung right over the forest, and it seemed that if you get to the limits of the araucaria, you can find yourself at the edge of the earth — step into the starry sky. And once every ten moons, when under the cover of night more stars lit up than usual, an indescribable sight took place in the firmament: night luminaries descended from heaven!

Once every ten moons — between two full moons — every night the tribe gathered on the ledges of the Great Volcano to watch the starfall. The elders and sages-shamans believed that the souls of hunters who left this world not by their repose, but from the paws of reptiles or by chance, at night these returned back to Her abode and took on new guises in their descendants or those that Pangea would accomplish, live a new life until real death. And it was gracious and wise on such nights for men to decide to continue their kind!

Do you see this, Veles? Don’t you think it has grown?

Veles, dangling his legs over the abyss, was sitting next to him. Kindred raised his head and looked up:

«I don’t know, brother. That’s what she was…

— Strange… What do you think this sign is?

— When the soul leaves the abode of Pangea, a new star lights up in the sky — so the elders and shamans say, — answered Veles.

«Yes, I remember… But last night there was too much light for one soul,» Barda doubted the sign of the sages. «First multicolored aurora… flash… now this red star. Maybe the soul of some extraordinary reptile left our world? Maybe we haven’t seen any lizards yet?

«Maybe it’s Zavrini’s soul?» Welles suggested. — The leader said that the spirits of Zavrini ask him for something… to find out what kind of radiance it is or… I don’t remember exactly. Hord found traces of ancestors. Maybe the last Zavrini died somewhere?

«Didn’t the Zavrini leave this world tens of thousands of moons ago?»

«I don’t know… Maybe they didn’t leave, or maybe the soul isn’t Zavrini at all. Roshan will return — he will tell.

— Yes… Don’t you think that he has been gone for too long? There are underground creatures living in the tunnels. Maybe go check? Bard suggested.

— Check? I wouldn’t do it, brother. Valan taught that unity must not be interrupted. He said that once someone, being a child, interrupted the unity of one of the shamans. Having made his way into the tent, the kid, without realizing it, touched the vital threads of Pangea with his hands. Azis — that was how that shaman was called — went crazy from unconsciousness, and after a few moons he died altogether. What if we interfere with an alarming sound or our appearance? And the creatures… Barriers have been standing in the Temple for more than a dozen days. Strongly stand, and to this day have been motionless.

«Then you just have to wait. I wonder who this kid who broke the unity? Did he live to see our moons?

— No one knows. Some elders did, but no one ever talked about it… Better show your symbol, brother. Are you done with the engraving? Welles asked.

«Oh right, how did I forget?! — exclaimed Barda, in two jumps he reached the leather bag that lay near the smoldering fire, and instantly returned back. From the bag he took out the tip of the Verge.

Stone of the Edge — this is how the first people called a very rare and resistant to Her flame stone. The forms of the stone, whatever it was and wherever the hunters found it, were always composed of many regular measured faces, as if the stones were created and carved intentionally by Pangea herself and scattered in all corners of Her abode. It even happened that when butchering herbivorous giants in the hunt, the rangers found the Edge in their stomachs. How they got there, at first no one knew. But Viksha, the old shaman of the tribe, when the hunters found the Facets several times in the stomachs of reptiles, in unity he knew that the lizards had swallowed them on purpose, and suggested that they needed it so that it was easier to digest the tree bark!

For thousands of moons of nomadism, on the way to the Great Volcano, hunters encountered stones of the Verge of various sizes. And from the palm came across, and those that could not be carried away. And it hardly seemed possible to carve a stone of the Edge into the desired shape for a weapon! Therefore, if there was a stone with more rounded warehouses, then they adapted it for a club, and if with sharp ones, then for a cutting or piercing tool. It was possible to carve a symbol on the weapon of the Edge only with the same edge of the Edge. None of the people imagined what could be stronger than this stone!

The stones of the Edge were used mainly only by staunch trackers, and there were enough points and shock parts for many hunts. Unlike ordinary stone or bone fishing tips that crumbled into dust from the first manifestation of the creator’s flame, the stones of the Edge withstood hundreds of flames, so the hunters used mystical symbols only on these stones — there was no point in others. But the Edges were not eternal. Over time, they split from the flame, and these fragments were used for arrows. Such points served the first people for a very long time, until they turned into powder.

Do you see this ornament? It means «Split the Skull»! said Barda. «Glyph of Crushing Skulls!»

Veles took the workpiece Facets and began to examine the carved drawing. A skillfully engraved symbol of a flying spear was in contact with an equally finely carved rounded skull of a reptile — rounded forms of engraving of various limbs of lizards in the symbols and sketches of the first people always indicated the creature’s herbivory, and predators were indicated by pointed drawings.

— Well done! Welles praised. «And when will the flame ignite in it?»

«I figured it would exude prana after sticking my spear to death in two dozen herbivore heads in a row without a single miss!» Barda confidently hit himself in the chest with his fist, showing his younger brother the mood and seriousness of his intentions.

«That is an imposing symbol, brother!» Welles said in amazement. You are a worthy hunter!

Thank you, Veles. Someday the symbol will awaken the flame, and this ornament will be carved on the tablets of the Temple of the Creator.

— If a flame is born in your gaze in the engraving, then it will definitely be carved, and more than once! All hunters will walk with such an engraving,» Veles declared convincingly.

«You know,» Barda thought for a moment, «I want to be a leader one day.

The young hunter looked proudly at his elder brother.

«It’s a difficult path, Barda… probably. Although, how would I know? Veles patted Barda on the shoulder and smiled. «You’ll have to grow a braid longer than Roshan’s and bring back just a little — two heads of a Gigantosaurus!» The watchman laughed. — Do you remember? When we were very young, did Roshan return from hunting with the head of a giant?

Barda broke into a smile.

— Yes Yes! Then everyone in the tribe only talked about it.

«And Hord that evening at the fire told us that Roshan the night before, for the first time in unity, turned the prana of Pangea into flame, and then he carved the first symbol of the first people on the tip of his spear.

— Aha! Bard confirmed. — And when he knew the flame, he promised his relatives that he would defeat the indestructible lizard and the carved symbol would reveal prana. And that this prana will unite the strength and spirit of every hunter and shaman.

The watchmen were silent for a moment.

«The Gigantosaurus was defeated, and at the moment of the fatal blow, people saw through the eyes of their ancestors how Roshan’s body acquired incredible power, and the tip of the spear blazed with a green glow,» with solemn faces in one voice, the brothers retold the story of Hord, who every three or four hundred moons to youngsters the fire broadcast the same story about the feat of the leader. — That’s how Roshan became the first leader of the first people! — the brothers again immediately blurted out the words of an experienced huntsman, imitating his own manner of speaking, and burst out laughing in unison.

Raising their spirits and laughing enough, the relatives fell silent for a moment. Everyone thought about something of their own.

Suddenly, something rustled behind a ledge at the path that led down to other caves. The watchmen pricked up their ears.

«Someone can’t sleep…» whispered Barda, listening.

«Yeah… Stop!» Who goes? Veles jokingly ordered in a voice.

But in response, apart from gusts of wind and the snoring of the elders, nothing followed.

— Hey! Who’s there? asked Barda louder.

The answer is nothing. The brothers looked at each other. A sound was heard again. As if something heavy hit the ground. Then there was a distinct crackling of the bushes.

«I’ll go and see who it got in the middle of the night.» Barda jumped off the ledge and headed down the path. Soon his call was heard: — Veles, come here!

— What else is there? — Veles lazily wandered to the request.

Barda turned to his younger brother. Barda’s eyeballs were turned into reptilian ones, and he held a spear at the ready.

— What happened, brother? Veles took out a huge knife from his belt.

— There’s no one here! No one answers the call and the call, but some noise was again at the lower cliffs.

— Raise the alarm? — With these words, the sentinel took the bugle out of the bag.

— No, Veles, wait. We’ll handle it ourselves! The Lazoons must have sneaked into the village again to feed on supplies. Lead me!

And the relatives began to descend down the illuminated path, peering into every bush, checking every rocky nook.

Having outwitted the sentinels, in the meantime, the young, having passed the sleeping elders, slipped into the cave leading to the Temple of the Creator. In the middle of the way, in the place where the corridor forked into three channels, the teenagers and the leader’s daughter stopped. In a dispute about whether it is worth going along the illuminated path or is it better to climb over the barriers and go through the dark corridors, where the likelihood of running into the next sentinels was reduced to a small one, Ronin won. As if he once heard from the hunters that all three moves lead to the Temple. The teenager pulled out a blazing light from the wall and led the young relatives along the narrowed tunnel to the right channel.

***

As soon as the detachment returned to the camp, the sentinels immediately informed Brun about the events of the previous night: about the flash and the newborn star, about the leader’s campaign to the Temple of the Creator, about what the tribesmen had heard, how the elders had spoken about the premonition of Zavrini. As if the spirits of the ancestors suddenly turned to the elders and shamans.

The news of the star did not surprise Brun. He and the hunters also spotted a star and lightning. But the rumor about the mysterious urge was very strange. What the spirits were talking about, none of the sentinels knew. The watchmen only heard out of the corner of their ear how the elders talked about the spirits. In addition, something strange happened to Illy, the young beater, during the persecution of the Polosuns: she was suddenly overtaken by unity and insight at the same time. At least that’s how Brun and the other hunters in the squad took it.

How are you, Illy? — the leader ran his hand through the strands of the maiden, straightening the tangled black curls. — Are you not hungry?

She was lying on the bed. Her eyes were still transformed into the strange appearance of Zavrini’s eyes: the squirrels shimmered with shades of scarlet, and the black irises seemed to merge with the pupils and gave the pale face of the mature huntress an eerie and at the same time captivating charm. The sight of the young maiden, like a predatory gaze piercing with determination, froze Brun’s soul, and with a long contemplation of her gaze, a chilling shiver ran through the body of the leader of the Great Hunt.

It’s all right, Brun. Until you’re hungry. But you look terrible,» Illy answered with a grin. «If it wasn’t for your voice, I wouldn’t have believed it was you.» Her cheekbones and the scaly lines under her eyes puckered up in a smile. — This is so strange. The eyes of the ancestors are not what I imagined,» the maiden spread her hands. Everything is so pale in here. Everything but you.» She gently touched the leader’s cheek. «You are completely different, Brun… Your flesh… And those sounds in my ears. I can hear your heart beating. I can hear you, Brun. And what is happening outside I hear… And the fire, Brun! Fire — it is very strange, as if it was created from luminous dust.

«Don’t worry, Illy, I sent for Inga. She will cure your eyes,» the kinsman assured.

The young lady nodded.

«Will you tell everyone how good I was at tracking down the reptiles?»

«Of course I will!» You’re doing great, Illy! Now rest. Try to sleep,» Brun answered and hugged the beater.

Having risen to the House of Hunters, Brun’s detachment lit fires and lamps. Trouble immediately began in the settlement. The Pathfinders went to the wells for water, the rest bustled about in the huts. In the clearing in front of the tents, the hunters piled up the Polosuns, who had fallen in the grove. This time there was plenty of prey, and the sentinels were very surprised.

For six nights, the detachment hunted down two dozen lizards, and these reptiles were dexterous rogues: striped herbivores, slightly larger than the knees of adults, knew how to hide in time from an alien gaze and always moved silently. Inhabited in small flocks of five to ten lizards, the Stripers were careful to ensure that no one approached them. And if suddenly the flock was in danger, then there were always reptiles in it, which, risking for the sake of the family, deliberately attracted an unfriendly gaze and led the persecutors away from their relatives. In addition, the Polosuns began to leave the grove. Whether roaming behind heavy rains, or because of the numerical reproduction of the Raptors, or for some other unknown reason, the smart reptiles have long ceased to be seen. Therefore, the sentinels could not even imagine how the tribesmen managed to drive so many lizards for such a short absence. Apparently, the flames of Pangea and the benevolent light of the Great Fire bestowed impeccable agility and luck on the squad.

Having kindled the fires, some hunters began to skin their catch. Separating the skin from the flesh, they immediately cut off the tidbits and roasted them at the stake. Quite tired and hungry, the rangers ate juicy cuts of tenderloin, treated them to the lookouts and heatedly discussed the hunt, the mysterious unity, Illy’s epiphany and the flash last night.

Brun left the hut. His robe, bone armor and body were heavily stained with the blood of the slain lizards. And even on the head, among the braided blond braids, one could see bloody curls. Fresh bruises oozed on the leader’s pale face. Around his narrowed gray eyeballs and on his scaly cheekbones, there were traces of martial color. The blurred juice of the cycad on Brun’s face was mixed with the blood of reptiles during the persecution, and now only worn, filthy remnants remain of the skillfully drawn sketches.

Throwing off his bulky armor, Brun looked around. In the House of Hunters, juveniles were already running everywhere. Women met their men, gave them jewelry and attention. On the fires, vats were boiling with might and main, and dishes were being prepared from fresh pulp. The camp has become quite lively. The leader turned and looked at the glow of the whirlwind that blazed over the settlement, and then fixed his eyes on the sky — at the twinkling red star. It seemed to the hunter that she had become a little larger, and her radiance intensified. Brown thought…

Brun, my friend! Radon greeted. You came back so fast! How was the hunt? Hope all is well? — the senior watchman hugged his fellow tribesman.

— Oh, Radon! The hunter patted the watchman on the shoulder. — Greetings, Radon! Everyone is alive, yes, but Illy’s hunting… I don’t know where to start.

Next came Hord, Varn and Valan.

— Good catch, Brun! Where are you after such a flock … — the experienced hunter wanted to take an interest in fishing, but Radon interrupted him:

— Wait, Hord! What’s up with Illy?

«Let’s go to the hut,» Brun called. — You need to see this.

The tribesmen entered the tent. Illy was already asleep, and Brun carefully lifted her eyelids so as not to wake her up.

In the name of Pangea! Valan whispered. — My child… What’s wrong with her?

«That’s what I wanted to ask you, Valan,» Brun answered.

Kindred began to consider the embodiment of the eyes of a young maiden, which did not subside even in a dream.

«The eyes are as black as night, and the pupils seem to have merged with the irises,» Valan remarked. And the squirrels are red…

The elders thought.

***

Darkness shrouded the vision of Varnus, and suddenly children’s voices were heard in the darkness:

— Where is he?

— Don’t know…

He’s the last one, right?

«Taro, if we don’t catch him before it gets dark, then tomorrow you will be the Hunter again!» — With difficulty restraining laughter, said a young man.

— We’ll catch it. Check each bush. He is cunning! Couldn’t he have escaped from the camp?! His sentinels would be under…

The childish voice faded into silence.

Immediately, right in front of the vision of the one-eyed, fiery eyes flared up, and in them the pupils were blacker than night, and overnight Varnus thought a familiar voice:

Do you hear what I’m telling you, Varn?

***

— What are you standing for? Find, I say, Inga. She and Ana are somewhere here in the Hunter’s House. Let Bruna come to the hut, and Ana too! Valan exclaimed.

— Oh yes. Fine! the one-eyed one caught on.

Confused Varn went to carry out the assignment, and the rest looked after him in bewilderment and continued to discuss Illy’s gaze.

— I don’t know what it is, Valan. Maybe it’s some kind of disease? How many diseases have we cured? Hord turned to the sage. «This is the first time I see this and I don’t remember this in any of my ancestors until Alak himself.

Valan didn’t answer. He peered into the eyes of the beater for a long time, and suddenly exclaimed:

«Her eyes — the whites of her eyes — are like starlight!» With a newborn star! Everyone looked at the old man in surprise. — They shimmer with scarlet, as if a star burns in her eyes! Valan continued to admire.

Brun looked inquiringly at Radon, and the rest of the relatives began to look closely and really noticed the resemblance to the red luminary, only blackening irises interfered with the incomparable community.

«And the blackness points to the night!» Valan exclaimed again.

— Yah! Do you really think, Valan, that a born star and her eyes are united?! Radon immediately hesitated.

«Hmm…» thought the old shaman. Roshan will tell us about it.

— Wait, wait, Valan, Radon! Are you talking about the red star that lit up last night? Brun didn’t understand.

— Exactly! Valan exclaimed.

And the relatives told the leader of the Great Hunt about the past events. And they told about the foreboding of Zavrini.

— Here is the news! — the leader was amazed. «We saw both the lightning and the star. And how the luminaries dazzled and the colo shone — they did not notice. There was no time to look at the sky in the fishery. And we didn’t hear spirits. What does «run» mean?

— That’s what it means! The spirits want us to leave the Great Volcano, Brun. Me, Valan, Viksha, Hann and the leader heard the call at the same time! Hord exclaimed. «This has never happened before!

«Warn us about something,» Valan added. — And we have to wait for Roshan.

«And how long will he have to wait?» I was told that he went to the caves in the morning,» Brun asked.

«We’ll wait as long as it takes,» said Hord. — When our ancestor Alak was looking for a cure for diseases, he was in unity for two nights and found it. Therefore, we are waiting for the leader. There is no other!

«And if he doesn’t come back the second night?» Radon suggested.

«He will come back,» the experienced hunter confidently answered. — Will be back!

***

«There were still two days left before the alien paths,» Brun began the tale. — We got only something to the second ravine and decided to make a halt. Many of you know Illy. She cannot live without trees. A little something — immediately on araucaria. Well, she climbed from one tree to another to see what was going on behind the ravine. We didn’t worry about her at all. Her dexterity — everyone can envy. And now, she comes back to us and breathes so heavily, as if she was in a hurry. She returns and says that she has tracked down the flock — there are fifteen Polosunov. Many laughed, and I, along with them. Where is it seen that the beater without the embodiment of the hunter Polosun tracked down?! Brun was indignant, pointing at his eyes with his hand.

The elders and sentinels nodded approvingly, agreeing with the reasoning of the leader.

— Well, who will believe? the leader of the Great Hunt continued to escalate. — She’s serious! We went there — to convince the young maiden that it seemed to her. But it was not there! Brun waved his hand. «The beneficent light of the Great Fire really spotted a couple of Stripers for us exactly where Illy led us.

From this news, the relatives groaned with surprise, and the rangers who arrived from the Great Hunt, praising the young beater, stomped.

«It became clear that a flock was grazing nearby,» Brun said. «In two days, apart from the Vultures and those rabid Raptors, not a single lizard was seen. Well, I look — there are only two striped ones, which means that the rogues have already discovered us and are taking us away from the herd. But no! exclaimed the hunter. «The reptiles didn’t notice us at all, as if we didn’t surrender to them. So I sent Illi and Ramir as beaters, — the leader of the hunting parties pointed towards Ramir, who was sitting among his relatives, — around the right slopes, assuming that the pack was there.

Ramir nodded, confirming Brun’s words.

We’ve gone to the left. We climbed to the other side of the ravine and we hear — vanity at the edge! The eyes of the incarnation came closer *, — at this place of the tale, the leader turned his eyes into reptilian ones, — and through the thickets I see Polosunov — a dozen or two of them huddle there. We have prepared the guns and are waiting for Ramir and Illy to frighten off the flock and bring them to us. We wait and wait, but they still don’t exist. That’s what we decided for ourselves. Bows, spears at the ready took and sneaking closer. We sneak, and I see that there is no gap behind the flock, as if it does not end. The whole clearing is strewn with flesh, and there is a hum in the ears. Hearts are beating — they are not afraid of us, or even they do not hear at all and do not smell, as if the lizards have lost their abilities. With the flame of your engraving with the truth, brothers and sisters, wither my tongue — there are about four dozen of them, or even more! I freed the eye in order to see with my own eyes whether I was imagining it, — Brun returned his eyes to their former human appearance. — Do not imagine! he continued. — And suddenly this herd began to fuss and began to slowly go deep into the grove. I could not restrain myself, whistled, and we attacked. That’s how they raised the guns, so everyone managed to stab Polosun, and I — two. The rest of the reptiles pulled east in fear, and there were a lot of them, brothers, a lot!

— Wu-u-u! The tribesmen clapped their hands enthusiastically.

«Where did Illy and Ramir get lost?» Hord asked.

— But let Ramir tell you. What should I tell you, Brun answered.

The tribesmen stared at Ramir. The experienced hunter got up from his bedding and sat down closer to the fire. His beard and hair were neatly woven and suspiciously clean. And judging by the fresh camouflage color on the face and in those places where the bone armor did not cover the limbs and body, it became completely clear to everyone that Ramir did not take part in the persecution of the Polosunov. The paint applied by the cycad juice on the kinsman’s skin was so fresh and untouched that if no one knew that Ramir was on the Great Hunt, everyone would think that he was just about to go for it. And, of course, many fellow tribesmen had questions, but Ramir, without waiting for judgments, began to open the eyes of the ignorant with his tale:

«Illie and I went around the right slopes,» the hunter immediately began. — I examined the area — everything is clean, not a single predator in the area, only striped ones. And the flock is big! I confirm Brun’s words — he did not imagine! I myself went ahead a little, but Illi and I agreed on a signal to start. I’m sneaking around, that means, make my eye come true, and it seems to me that Illy is calling me, but somehow strangely — her voice broke off. So, I decided that I heard. I got to the thicket and I give a whistle, but I myself do not climb towards the flock. Waiting for Illy It’s interesting! This is her first hunt. How will she behave, what will she do?

The tribesmen murmured their approval, supporting Ramir’s decision.

«But she seemed to have fallen through the ground,» the hunter continued to tell. — There is none and no… Then I look — there is a commotion in a flock of lizards! I understood that Brun gave the command to poison the prey. I wanted to help, but Zavrini Illi’s foreboding directed her to search. I returned to the place where we parted ways, and she was lying unconscious there. Let me bring her to her senses. She opened her eyes and how she jumped away from me! I have never seen such a jump,» Ramir said admiringly. She jumped back and looks like she doesn’t recognize her. And her irises are black as night, and there are no pupils at all! And the squirrels shimmered red, as if the flame had mixed with blood!

At this tale, the relatives groaned in surprise, and the hunters from Brun’s detachment again rustled and stamped, confirming the words of the hunter.

«I understood that the maiden recognized Zavrini’s eyes, but the eyes are somehow wrong,» Ramir explained. — And she says to me: «Do not come near, monster!». I was in a hurry. «Illy! I calm her down. «It’s me, Ramir!» And she looks and understands nothing — she does not recognize me! I am closer to her, and she screams and collapses to the ground unconscious. I took her in my arms and carried her to the detachment…

The tribesmen opened their mouths.

— Upon returning to the camp, Illi told me that when she parted ways with Ramir, the roots of unprecedented plants entwined her legs, and then got to her hands. And she doesn’t remember anything else. She doesn’t even remember how Ramir brought her to her senses,» Brun concluded. — She has known unity, people! And her unity was broken. I tell you exactly! Did you forget Azis? He, too, lost his memory when they violated him.

The elders and experienced rangers nodded, and the sentinels, once again hearing the mention of the old shaman, again froze in anticipation of some details, but Brun continued to explain what had happened to his beater:

«Illy hears our voices as we, the hunters, hear with the vision of incarnation. And what about her eyes is not at all clear. You say, Valan, they look like a star? — he pointed with his hand at the manifestation, and all those sitting by the fire immediately raised their eyes to the sky. «Perhaps they are similar,» the leader continued to argue. «But what do I know for sure, and Illie herself told me that she saw with her eyes the twilight in the middle of the night, as if it were not night at all, although then it was well after midnight. And all living creatures that chirp and clatter, she saw luminous lights, and she sees us all relatives in a different guise, like our eyes are embodied lizards! He says — carcasses we are in armor! She herself knew that her bones stick out everywhere and meat with blood — there is no skin! Neither she has, nor we, nor anyone! Only bare flesh!

* incarnate the eye — in the language of the first people means «with the eyes of a hunter.»

***

— Aaa! Unga yelled, and an eight-legged shadow appeared on the illuminated wall to his side.

— What? What’s happened? — frightened by the cry of a fellow tribesman, the already excited children began to wail.

— She’s on me! Sitting on me!

— Who is sitting? How is he sitting? Ronin immediately brought the torch closer to his kinsman.

— Creature!

A barely visible shiny cobweb stretched down from Unga’s chin, and at its end, at the chest level of the future hunter, a tiny furry creature hung.

«In the name of Pangea, Unga!» Elna exclaimed. — It’s Yellowbelly!

Omi giggled, and the black-haired girl picked up the web with her finger and held it up to her to see the insect. The spider, meanwhile, chaotically waved its paws, trying to cling to at least something.

«They live in rocks, remember? Elna added. — He himself slipped them dragonfly larvae!

— Unga, it’s already so creepy here, and you’re still with your creatures! Ronin growled angrily.

The gloomy tunnel gave off dampness and coolness. Its narrow and winding corridors were so monotonous that it sometimes seemed to young explorers that they were walking along the same nooks and crannies. In places, the pointed reliefs of the walls and the shadows falling on them resembled the silhouettes of lizards, and sometimes it seemed to the children that the stone forms were moving at all. This made it scary. But despite the terrible decoration of the underground passage, the desire for adventure did not leave the brave hearts, because the mysterious and unknown path inspired young relatives not only with anxiety, but also with the anticipation of seeing something unusual and unseen before.

Making their way along the narrow corridor, the future hunters barely spoke. They were seriously afraid to break the enchanting silence of an unfamiliar dungeon. Therefore, the road to the Temple of the Creator passed without chatter and tomfoolery. And only distant bursts of an underground stream measuredly disturbed the silence of the walls.

Ronin and Unga were constantly helping the girls up the awkward slopes and ledges. And Unga also marked the walls of the tunnel with his small bone knife. From time to time, carving arrows on the walls and asking him to wait, the boy delayed the move, to which his fellow tribesmen were indignant, since the tunnel did not branch out and it was impossible to get lost in it with all the desire. But Unga insisted, justifying his actions with the words: «Just in case.»

Often, children hit and scratched on the sharp edges of the reliefs, while receiving unpleasant burning abrasions. But the youth endured and moved forward. After several too narrow corridors, Elna guessed why the adults did not go to the Temple of the Shaper this way. In this sleeve, even small offspring sometimes had to crawl on all fours, which was a very unpleasant act: sharp warehouses of caves dug into their knees, leaving behind a strong desire to return to the camp and, having collapsed on a soft bedding, plunge into the carefree world of dreams, but curiosity took its toll..

It seemed that the tunnel would never end! The children walked and walked, but soon the corridor began to expand significantly, which could not but please the young adventurers.

«I think we’re almost there,» whispered Ronin in a barely audible voice.

«It’s getting warmer in here,» Elna said.

Will we see the leader soon? Omi exclaimed at the top of her voice.

— Shh! Omi, what are you talking about, Ronin whispered. «Do you want the watchmen to hear us?» I beg you — let’s whisper!

«Sorry, Ronin, I just missed Pa,» the girl pouted, pouting.

«Soon you will see the leader, soon,» said Ronin. — Be patient. The main thing is not to meet anyone.

«Stop it, Ronin!» It’s creepy to the bone in here. Who else should we meet? Unga got excited. And to be honest, I’m already tired. I am sleepy.

— Well, you will, Unga, — Elna muttered. «You yourself wanted to go to the caves, more than anyone!»

«I wanted it, I wanted it, I didn’t want it,» the youth grumbled offendedly, remembering the yellow-bellied who attacked him.

The underground passage became wider and more spacious, and the glow of the torch covered its length less and less. And if before, in the narrow corridors, the flame of fire scattered the light far ahead, allowing you to walk more confidently along the rocky terrain, now the vast structure of the tunnel noticeably absorbed the glow. The wider the grotto became, the closer to the juveniles, devouring the limits of visibility with black, pitch darkness crept up. Sometimes children are completely lost in the expanses of the dungeon. The outlines of the walls either appeared very close, or disappeared into the darkness for a dozen steps.

This pretty much scared future hunters. Their progress has obviously slowed down. And after several such sweeping transitions, in order not to get lost by chance, Elna offered to join hands and step along the left wall of the corridor.

Soon, a barely visible green light appeared in the distance.

— Look! Unga was the first to notice. Is there something glowing?

The fry stopped and tried to see what the youth was pointing to, but the flickering of the torch did not allow them to focus their eyes.

«Ronin,» Elna said. — Well, put away the torch.

Ronin moved his hand to the side. The radiance of the torch receded, and not far away in the darkness, fifty paces from the young relatives, greenish silhouettes of stone walls appeared.

— Yes, I see! There is something there. It seems that we have come, — Elna was delighted.

We have come, we have come! Omi spoke up again. — Run quickly!

— Omi, shh!!! Hush, dear, — Ronin warned the girl.

— Oh, sorry, sorry. Let’s go quickly,» the leader’s daughter hurried in a whisper.

The children rushed towards the light. And very soon the tunnel led the young tribesmen to the source of a mysterious glow — to the Abode of Unity.

— Wow! Just look how they glow! Ronin wondered as he entered the vast grotto. — These are the symbols of hunters and shamans!

The Temple of the Creator, shrouded in a green haze from top to bottom, shimmered with iridescent green streams of light. Everywhere on the walls, on the ledges and planes, exuding a bright glow, the rock paintings and engravings of the first people shone. Radiance, like rare rays of the Great Fire, cutting through the thickness of the clouds on a cloudy day, emanated from the cavities and inscriptions of ornaments, spraying warm light over the expanses of the Temple. The children were fascinated by what they saw! For all the Moons and Great Fires they have not seen anything more bizarre and unusual. Opening their mouths, the fry slowly stepped along the walls of the dungeon and examined the luminous symbols on the tablets.

— Ah! Omi admired. — How beautiful it is here!

— Yeah… And one of the hunters said that the Temple was dark and damp, — Ronin remembered the gossip of the sentinels and put out the torch. — And it’s very warm here, even hot somehow…

— It’s a glow! It warms the Temple, — Elna guessed, and cautiously extended her hand almost close to the glowing symbol. — Ai! — immediately pulled back. — Hot!

«I think it’s the flames of Pangea that Valan was talking about!» Green fire that gives strength to tenacious hunters and shamans! Unga exclaimed. — Or prana, which must be withdrawn!

— Exactly! Elna picked up. — It can only be so hot from the flame!

Suddenly and briskly Unga held his hand at a distance from the symbol. The kid touched the green rays for a moment and, not feeling the warmth, realized that they were scalding only at the source. Unga once again, but slowly, brought his hand to the stream of light and froze. The youth gasped in surprise: a mysterious green beam, touching the palm, illuminated Unga’s hand and came out through the other side; the youth’s hand was filled with a glow to the very forearm, and through the radiant skin the silhouettes of bones and joints became visible, and Unga bulged his eyes in amazement.

— Wow! the children were delighted.

— Wow! Elna gasped. — Aren’t you in pain? Not hot?

Unga shook his head.

«He… He’s not hot. It’s not even warm!

Immediately, the young adventurers repeated after their relative — they touched the rays. And indeed — at a short distance from the luminous ornaments, warmth was not felt at all. The hands of the brave men were filled with green light, while Elna carefully brought her palm close to the symbol.

«Look.» She touched the engraving. — Try it. No longer burns.

The others followed the girl’s advice. Slowly bringing their hands to the springs, the children nodded approvingly. Elna was right.

Ronin also completely removed his hand from the symbol, but his brush continued to radiate radiance, gradually losing the power of the glow.

— Wow! — the relatives groaned and groaned again, and Ronin began to smoothly move his hand in front of him. His movements mysteriously left behind a plume of green radiant dust. The remnants of the radiance of light retained the silhouette of the hand for a moment, and then disappeared into the air without a trace.

— Wow! the children were delighted again and repeated after the youth.

They did this over and over again, admiring the luminous outlines.

Soon, Ronin’s hand completely stopped glowing, and he once again touched the symbol, but immediately pulled his hand away.

— Ai! Hot! the youth exclaimed.

— Aha! Elna smiled. — From afar it is necessary.

The girl did the same thing that Unga did the first time, and then touched the engraving. She managed not to get burned, and she quietly clapped her hands:

— How wonderful, how wonderful!

Young tribesmen followed the example of Elna. Having done the cunning trick many more times, they, satisfied with the solution of the shining rays, ran up to the next ledge with symbols.

«Look, these are all the reptiles that the hunting parties defeated! Unga thought.

The rest, assenting, confirmed the words of a relative.

«It’s Longneck,» Omi pointed to the symbol.

«You know everything, baby,» Ronin praised.

— Aha! And these are Lazuny, Unga noted. «They hang around the camp all the time.

«Tail… Tails…» the leader’s daughter hesitated.

— Tail — Leech! Elna suggested.

— Exactly, exactly! Tailtail,» Omi rejoiced at her quick wits and hugged her older tribeswoman.

— And what is it? The dark-haired maiden turned her attention to the next tablet. What is this, the Great Fire?

To the right, on the ledge, ancient wisdom was carved — an inscription about a fiery luminary, which illuminated the abode of Pangea and helped hunters in the hunt, and about the Moon, which calculated time and with its presence granted rest and dreams. And everyone from young to old knew that wisdom!

«And Pangea created the Great Fire in the raging waters,» Ronin began to broadcast. So that hunters can see their prey.

— Yes! The children supported the story.

«And so that the fire would not incinerate the created lands, Pangea returned it back to the water element and raised the Moon into the sky in its place so that Her creations could gain wisdom!»

Elna stared at the young man with admiration.

«You did well, Ronin, you memorized the tales of Varn,» she praised.

The youth smiled and, grimacing abstrusely, continued to examine the symbols on the ledge with an important face. The girls and Unga noticed their kinsman’s imaginativeness and giggled softly. And Ronin, unable to restrain himself, giggled with everyone.

For a long time, the young looked at the luminous inscriptions with reptiles and the history of the heavenly bodies and imagined all sorts of adventures with them, until little Omi discovered nearby a niche with some bones, a broken bow, a spear and colorful intricate pebbles.

— Look! she called. — Here is a decrepit bow and some kind of gnawed bones. Fi… And colored pebbles! They shine! Elna, can I take these stones for myself?

The black-haired maiden and the youths immediately jumped up to the leader’s daughter and began to examine her find, and Ronin, seeing the bizarre luminous likeness of stones, remembered the teachings of Varna and explained:

«These are ancestral relics, Omi. Not stones at all. These are the shells that the great-great-grandfathers of the ancestors once found off the coast of raging waters! And here is the footprint of Zavrini, about which Hord spoke, — the young man lifted a petrified stub of earth.

— I don’t want a trace! Can I have shells? At least one?

«No, no, dear,» Elna objected tremulously. — You can’t take relics. We can be scolded for it.

— Well, uh … — the baby immediately pouted her lips, and Unga began to calm her down:

«You will, Omi. We really will be reprimanded for shells. And by the way, have you forgotten why we came here?

— Exactly! said Ronin. — Look at the leader!

— Where is the leader? Where is Pa? Omi immediately began to look around.

«Indeed,» the dark-haired maiden picked up. — Where is the leader?

The relatives looked around. A little further from the shining symbols, closer to the center of the cave, the rays, coming from the mass of rock paintings, intersected each other and formed clusters of dense nebula and dust clouds in the Abode of Unity. Through this bizarre curtain that enveloped almost the entire space of the grotto, the children noticed a small luminous boulder.

— What is it there? Unga asked. — Let’s go see.

And the future hunters rushed to the mysterious stone.

While passing through the nebula, Ronin, who stepped in front of everyone, inadvertently entered the dust cloud. Suddenly, the cloud broke into many tiny particles. The particles shot up and hovered over the youth.

— Oh! The young man stopped and, cautiously raising his head, stared at the dust particles.

Unga and the girls also noticed what was happening.

— Wow! Have you seen? Unga exclaimed, opening his mouth in surprise.

«Yes-ah-ah,» the young compatriots picked up in unison.

Meanwhile, the luminous particles, trembling slightly, continued to float in the air, as if they were waiting for the disturber of the peace to leave their place of residence. The teen slowly and cautiously took a step forward. At that moment, the grains that were farthest from the young man smoothly descended a little lower and hung again.

Elna, Unga and Omi groaned with delight, and Ronin realized what was happening and took a few more steps — away from the bizarre dust particles. And then all as one tiny particles of light rushed back to their original location. They clung to each other measuredly, re-creating a cloud of light dust.

— Ah! Omi exclaimed and, without thinking twice, briskly jumped into the same dust curtain.

Grains of light scattered again and hung in the sky! As soon as the daughter of the leader moved away from their former place of accumulation, the particles again gathered into a single whole.

— How wonderful it is here! Elna rejoiced and also jumped into the dust cloud.

The children, rejoicing and admiring the fun of the mysterious dungeon, began to rush from one cloud to another, dispersing the particles of light across the Abode of Unity. And when the young relatives were tired of the unrestrained running around the Temple, Ronin called his fellow tribesmen to him, and, having caught their breath, the future hunters finally approached the mysterious stone.

«Interesting, what is it?» Unga asked thoughtfully.

The strange and slightly ugly miracle stone was covered with equally strange shining tangles of roots that resembled shoots of a liana tree. The plexus emanated directly from the grassy island under the stone, and their glow was like the glow of the symbols of the first people on the walls of the cave.

Ronin, bypassing the boulder, touched the top of the miracle stone and immediately noticed standing near the bowl and a huge vat.

«Someone here would…» the youngster did not have time to finish, when suddenly, combined with a dull crack, the processes on the bizarre stone began to move and, losing their glow, began to slowly slide down.

The children groaned in surprise and jumped away. A moment later, the rays of light emanating from the cave paintings and symbols of the first people began to fade throughout the Temple of the Creator — the luminous dust clouds and nebula faded away. The cave quickly began to envelop the darkness!

The young relatives panicked.

«Ronin, what have you done?» Elna exclaimed, looking around, frightened.

«Ronin, what’s going on?» Unga asked confused.

I don’t know, I didn’t do anything. Nothing at all,» the equally frightened youth justified himself.

Elna, I’m scared! Elna!.. — Omi hugged the black-haired maiden.

«Hush, honey, everything will be fine!» Elna hugged the baby.

«Ro-ro… i-nin, Ro-o-ni-i-n, what is this?» Unga said in a trembling voice.

The pale young man pointed to the boulder and tried to say something, but the words no longer came out of his mouth. The teenager seemed to be speechless. Opening his mouth and silently moving his lips, Unga plopped down on his back and was dumbfounded. The bandage around his thighs got wet, and a puddle formed under the youth.

— Aaa! yelled little Omi and clung to Elna so that she felt the sharp claws of the little girl pierce the skin to the blood.

As soon as the luminous stems exposed the top of the boulder, the young relatives saw someone’s face in the stone forms. And the young realized at that hour that the mysterious stone was not a stone at all! The children recognized the human body between the plexuses, and it was enclosed in plexuses, clothed from head to toe, as if in captivity. And between the disgusting shoots, the gray and, it seemed, petrified face of a stranger was serenely visible. His eyelids were lowered, as if he were in a dream, but in the semi-darkness it was seen by the young relatives that his eyes were restless. And this vision inspired confusion and fear!

Ronin was taken aback. Unga crawled away from the tangles in fear. And Elna’s legs shook from excitement, and, hugging the baby even more tightly, the dark-haired maiden fell to her knees on the sharp outlines of the relief.

The emerald streams of light and luminous dust clouds in the Temple of the Shaper faded completely. The abode of Unity was enveloped in darkness, and everything in the cave seemed to freeze at that hour. In the impenetrable darkness, the children could no longer distinguish one from the other — it was impossible to see anything at arm’s length. Only Omi and Elna were together, in each other’s arms. The girls hid. They did not speak or even move, for they were afraid to break the silence of the grotto and awaken the stranger imprisoned in the roots. From left and right, they sometimes caught the tremulous breathing and sniffling of Unga and Ronin, and a barely audible stream flowing in the warehouses of the dungeon broke the eerie calm.

And suddenly, in the midst of the dark blackness, right in front of the young, red eyes lit up, and huge pupils appeared in them blacker than night: the stranger’s gaze suddenly quickened, and fiery eyes, closing their eyelids over and over again, began to look first at Ronin, then at Unga, then at Elna and Omi, then somewhere in the distance.

Ronin collapsed unconscious. Omi, seeing the luminous ghost, turned away and screamed with all her might, her screech echoing through the Temple of the Shaper. Clinging even closer to the black-haired maiden, the baby began to roar excitedly. Ungi was not audible at all, and the pale Elna, at that moment shaking with fear and not feeling her legs, inadvertently caught a captivating and terrifying look.

And that gaze was alive and intelligent! And there was no light in the Abode of Unity, except for the light of fiery eyes. The reflections of the radiance of a terrible look dimly illuminated the outlines of the petrified face, and the black-haired maiden recognized the features of her leader in those outlines. And it seemed to Elna at that hour, as if the leader’s lips were moving, trying to say something, but the gloomy stems held back the cheekbones, as if suppressing the voice…

Midnight procession

By dusk, Valla’s squad had skinned Longneck. The relatives cut off as much meat as they could easily deliver to the camp, and a third of the carcass had to be left to be torn to pieces by carnivores.

Bags were made from the skin of a defeated reptile. They were stuffed with slaughter. And the hunters also profited handsomely from the bones: each time, any defeated giant replenished stocks of equipment with their remains — at least two bone equipment. There was also an increase in production for other accessories useful in everyday life, not to mention trophies in the form of teeth and a skull. Part of the ridge at the end of the tail was one of the components of the bone bow. Another such tail, and a full-fledged powerful small-arms gun to replace a wood one, would have been picked up by some ranger.

More than a hundred steps from the remnants of the lizard, the detachment set up a tent for the night, and already in the dark, to the chirping and clatter of nocturnal living creatures, the relatives finished off the last goats around the building. It was then that the hunters noticed a strange luminary in the sky not far from the moon.

— Hey! Look! What is this star? Arwen pointed to the vault.

Rylan, Iris, Kun, Taro and the others raised their heads and began to look at the mysterious phenomenon with curiosity.

«I see it for the first time,» said Kuhn, puzzled.

«Yes… I’ve never seen such a star either,» Rylan said.

The tribesmen were distracted from the gouges and began to discuss the unfamiliar phenomenon in a lively manner.

«We should call Valla,» Taro suggested. Maybe he saw?

Wall at that moment left the tent to hurry his relatives:

— What are you doing there? Do you want a wild night?

Val, look! Some strange star near the moon,» said Kuhn.

The shaman anxiously looked at the sky and at the star discovered by the hunters, which was born last night. The star still shimmered with shades of scarlet, and it seemed to the leader that it approached the Moon and increased — became larger than its yesterday’s appearance. Wall frowned.

— Yes, I saw it. Finish off the goats and into the tent until the reptiles go hunting! We will refresh ourselves, and I will tell you about the star and about harmony with the Long-necked, and about the Fireplace.

The Kindred looked at each other and, intrigued by the shaman’s call, hurried to deliver the remaining stakes.

The portable camp tent was similar to the usual tents that were built in the camp in the Hunters’ House: the same chimney, the same rounded walls and the same coverage on the ground. Only now this building was covered with skin twice so that the light from the flame of the fire did not shine through, and its walls were not coated with lime, and the piles were not so powerful and were not driven in tightly, and the beams — thinner — and were not tied at all. The tent was collapsible! And every hunting detachment that went to the Great Hunt always had one. If you had to stop in a field, as this night, or in swamps, or in some coniferous forest, like an araucaria grove near the current settlement, or in another place where there is no liana tree, then they put this building on the ground and ten steps along goads were driven in a circle. And if the tent in the House of Hunters was designed for a close family — four or five relatives, among whom there were children — then in the portable tent the hunters slept crowded one to one. Twenty tribesmen — exactly a hunting detachment — fit close to each other in a lying position, and not one more!

After the meal, Vall lit two torches and tied them to a beam under the chimney to better illuminate the sleeping area. The shaman extinguished the fire and stirred up the fire, making room for gatherings. The relatives settled in a tighter circle, and the leader took out a parchment from his bosom and threw it on the ground in front of the tribesmen.

«This is our shortest route to the Great Volcano,» Vall pointed with the tip of his arrow at the marked path. «Last night I climbed the crowns and saw the light of the Bonfire.

«Risky,» Kun scolded, and took the card.

«It’s better at night than during the day,» the shaman objected, and pointed to his scar on his face. The hunters nodded in agreement.

Having studied the path, the shaggy kinsman handed the parchment to Arwen, who was sitting next to him. Taking turns examining the inscriptions made by Wall, and passing the painted patch to each other, the tribesmen got acquainted with the upcoming road.

«What do you think, Val, will we get there in three Fires?» Taro asked.

«Let’s try,» the leader replied. — If no adventures come along the way.

What about Salas? Is he even alive? Did you come to your senses? Taro turned to the Tyrant.

Breathing, alive. I never woke up,» the thin youth reported. «Maybe you should try to shake him up?» Or splash with water?

— No! Val objected. — Let him. Only Pangea and the spirits of Zavrini know what’s wrong with him. Let’s start to disturb, and then he, like Azis, will end up… What will I say to Radon?

The steadfast trackers murmured, supporting the leader’s decision.

«Vall, do you even know who violated the unity of Azis?» No one knows…» Without finishing, Arwen caught the frown of not only the leader, but also other experienced hunters.

— Don’t know! The shaman answered, raising his voice. And I don’t want to know! Who ever violated something there… Found something to think about on the Big Hunt — about the tales of the sentinels!

The senior rangers grumbled grumblingly, supporting the indignation of the leader, and the young ones, annoyed, looked at Arwen — they were very curious to know who it was that once entered the Tent of Unity.

Everyone in the tribe, by the way, being a beater heard, and more than once, instructions about unity around the fire. Whether those instructions were from an old man or a healer, from an experienced hunter or the leader himself — it doesn’t matter, but every beater learned that unity, whether it was the first or any other, should occur in peace, and it must not be violated! And many youths and maidens listened to those instructions about the mysterious unity of Azis, an old shaman who lived in those times when the current elders and wise men were not yet elders and wise men. It was as if someone interrupted Azis harmony, and who exactly — the mentors never said. And few of the young knew what really happened that night. And time after time, when the teachings around the fire about the first unity began, not only the beaters became curious to know who the violator was, but also the young sentinel who had grown up with the moons. But the wise tribesmen cherished the secret like the apple of their eye, tried in every possible way to avoid questions and quickly changed the subject of the conversation.

«What about the herbivore, Val? asked Iris, a black-haired hunter with a burn on his right cheek.

«Yes, unity with a lizard…» Vall scratched his beard. «In harmony with the reptile, I saw other Longnecks,» the shaman began to broadcast. «Eight or ten — I didn’t have time to count.

— Wow! What’s the output? Kuhn was surprised.

— And the brood too. There was a flock of them! exclaimed the leader.

— A flock? the relatives asked in unison.

Longnecks were by nature loners. And usually, not counting the male during the laying period, only her cubs were near the female. When the cubs grew up, the female drove them to an independent flock. And of course, the rangers, hearing about the brood and the pack of Longnecks at the same time, were very surprised.

«I’ve never seen giants gather in packs,» said Iris.

«Yes, yes, that’s the whole point — there was a flock of them, and they walked across the field, which is between our lands and the liana forest, along with this lizard,» Val pointed to the sacks with slaughter. — And recently they passed there — about five days ago. Then the downpour was heavy, remember? The relatives nodded. «In the vision, I heard the roar of another brat at the edge of the grove,» Vall continued to broadcast. «Maybe the Raptors or some other lizards attacked the cub, and this Long-necked one, having fought off the pack, went after him.

«But the cub was torn apart,» Arwen suggested.

«Yes,» Wall agreed. «So it is, since we tracked down a lone lizard. But! We tracked him down in the liana forest. And in the direction of the forest in the vision, other Longnecks were also heading!

«That is, this reptile followed the flock,» Kun concluded.

«You think right, old one,» the shaman nodded.

«And Longneck went out into the Bennettite field too,» Taro picked up, «and we didn’t lure him out. The flock went west across this field!

Yes, Taro. I think so too, — approved the leader of the Great Hunt, and the hunters roared together, gossip about the pack and its nomadism. «By the way, there is a lake in the wilds of the liana forest,» the leader remembered. «And it seemed to me that we were passing not far from him. On the way back we will look for a reservoir.

— And what about the Fireplace? Kuhn asked. — What does it look like?

«Just like the one-eyed guy said. On the horizon, I found a beam of light, and it was still moving so strangely, now to the left, then to the right — Varnus did not warn about this, but it was definitely the Totem of Flame. I give you the fang of Razavra! the shaman fiddled with the earring. — But this star that you noticed is not simple … — And Vall told the detachment about what he saw on the crowns last night: about the strange crowding of the stars, about the flash in the sky, about the birth of the phenomenon, and about his disturbing foreboding. «I didn’t tell you, so that your spirit would not be inclined to evil thoughts, and the hunt would be completed calmly,» the shaman concluded.

The tribesmen were silent for a while, and then they whispered, talking about the sign of the red star.

«Ah, here’s something else!» Val said. «Maybe I’m imagining all this, but what’s with Salas’s eyes… And his unity in such turmoil… Also, these Longnecks are in harmony… All this happened after the flash and the appearance of the star. What do you think? the shaman turned to the hunters. — Kuhn?

Kindred nodded, supporting the leader’s reasoning.

You are correct, Val. The long-necked ones walk alone — everyone knows, — the shaggy man confirmed. — And unity has never happened without silence and peace. And the eye of the boy is definitely not the eye of Zavrini! Kuhn thought for a moment. — With a star, you say, is this all connected? How only?.. — the elderly tracker turned in the direction of Salas. — Tyrant, come on, lift his eyelids!

Salas, covered with the skin of a reptile, lay on a bedding near the wall of the tent near the sacks of fresh meat, and the Tyrant, leaning on a pile, sat beside the teenager. As soon as the thin youth reached for the face of Salas, he instantly woke up.

«Ah,» moaned the beater, barely opening his eyes.

The tribesmen were alarmed, and the young man leaned back and wanted to scream, but the Tyrant managed to cover his mouth.

Salas’s eyes were still in a strange incarnation. The youngster still did not understand what was happening to him, and the same vision appeared in his eyes as on the day after the persecution of the Long-necked: all the relatives he saw then, again appeared before the ghost without skin — with bare flesh, with with bloody skulls and bulging eyes, in robes and armor, staring at him as if they wanted to eat — such a terrible look they had. And in the youth’s head, the beating of human hearts sounded with dull blows. He could hear indistinct tapping, like the deep, distorted sounds of a bongo. Now simultaneous, now out of place, they either accelerated, or pounded measuredly. Overnight, over the ugly silhouettes, Salas noticed strange torches tied to the chimney: the lights of the lanterns brightly illuminated the building, and the elements of the flame that blazed at the ends of the handles looked like clots of rotating and luminous particles. To all this spectacle, suddenly, through the rumble of heartbeats, a strange distant chirping of nocturnal insects and a rustle, similar to wind gusts, began to seem. From such a performance at once, the teenager was stunned again!

«Hush, hush,» the Tyrant said and removed his hand from the lips of his relative. «You want the lizards to come for our souls?»

The Tyrant’s voice echoed in Salas’s ears, and the young beater stared at his Clanmate in bewilderment.

Tyrant, is that you? What happened to you? What’s happening?

«Ahhh, I found out! The Tyrant smiled. — I am good. But what happened to you is not entirely clear…

«Hey, screamer, are you okay?» Wall said. We thought you’d never wake up! Do your eyes hurt? Well, look at me!

— Wall? Salas stared in disbelief at the silhouette of the leader of the Great Hunt.

«Wall, Wall,» the shaman confirmed. «It’s like you’re seeing me for the first time,» the leader grinned and reached out to the beater to examine his eyes closer. — You, my young friend, have almost no pupils. Yes, you can’t do without the elders and Inga…

The hunters surrounded Salas — some sat down, some stood behind — and all as one began to look at the strange embodiment of eyes. They stared intently at the youngster, and this alarmed him. Someone standing behind him waved his hand to the young man, and if the skull with a bloody mouth and yellow fangs had not begun to spew speech, then Salas would never have understood who it was that greeted him.

«Do you even recognize me, herbivore lover?» After these words, all the tribesmen quietly giggled.

— Taro? Yes, I know. Only now you all look terrible and your voices seem to be heard from a cave, «Salas said slowly and cautiously. «Varnus taught that such visions…» the teenager did not have time to explain himself, when suddenly something plopped onto the tent outside — a small, but obviously weighty, stirred up the leather fabric of the building.

Then an incomprehensible rustle was heard both behind the tent and to the right of the entrance to it. The tribesmen were worried.

«I hear…» Salas was about to say something again, but Vall stopped him:

— Shh!

The strange rustle continued, and its repetitions began to appear around the halabud from all sides. The relatives looked at each other and froze.

«Weapons at the ready now!» Wall whispered. — No noise. No sound.

The hunters grabbed spears, knives, clubs and bows, and those who had bone helmets began to put them on.

— Let’s make a circle! Salas, hide among the bags. Fast! the shaman continued to whisper commands, pulling a helmet from the skull of Razavr over his head. «Rylan, cover him with skin and needles!»

Salas nodded and immediately buried himself among the slaughter, and the young hunter threw a bedding and stocked branches of odorous trees on him.

— Rustle of wings, Val! one of the trackers whispered. — Pterosaurs?!

— Yah! They sleep at night! the leader objected. Razorwings, maybe?

«Yes, it looks like it, Val,» Iris agreed. — There are palm trees everywhere and ferns — almost a jungle. Razorwings, apparently, flocked.

Suddenly, the curtain at the entrance to the tent moved, and from below the head of a flying lizard appeared from under the curtain. The relatives started up, and the reptile, frightened by the people, made a disgusting squeak and disappeared on the other side of the lodging for the night. The tribesmen breathed a sigh of relief and lowered their guns.

— Paw-covered?! Wall was surprised.

What do they need in the field? said the grey-haired hunter. — They are without trees — easy prey for any predator. Really Lazuny exhausted in the liana forests?!

Small lizards — the size of an elbow — instead of forelimbs had paws with wide membranes. Underwings, as the first people called them, allowed Pawwings to cover short distances, flying from branch to branch. Out in the open, Pawwings never showed up unless they intended to be eaten. Flying reptiles hunted mainly on the same small ones as they are — Lazunov, Piskunov and Nyrkov. And the most important thing is that Pawwings ran with difficulty on the ground, and of course, their appearance in the bennettite expanses caused bewilderment among all hunters.

«Very strange, indeed,» agreed Kuhn. «And judging by the rustle, there are dozens of them outside. I suggest you don’t even bother!

«Do you think they’ll attack us?» Iris turned to the shaggy tracker.

— There’s a whole bunch of them! Who knows what’s on their minds? And they are unlikely to climb here, «Kun reasoned.

«You will, don’t panic,» Vall whispered. «It’s just Pawwings. Maybe they decided to fly to the carcass of Long-necked.

— Fly? Taro was surprised. «It’s a few hundred steps to the liana forest!»

Suddenly, a disgusting squeak and wheezing, rustling and squealing began to be heard from all sides. The hunters shuddered and again prepared to fight back. Whoever is there.

«What else is this?» Arwen pricked up his ears.

«Looks like the Lazoons have come,» Tris whispered.

«The Lazoons have come to profit,» said Kuhn.

Lazoons very much looked like Raptors, or rather, their cubs, as if the latter had not grown up and remained to be Lazoons. Noisy and importunate lizards dwelt in every corner of Pangea where hunters had ever set foot. In addition to dragonflies, horned beetles, butterflies and eggs of all sorts of reptiles, Lazoons allowed themselves to live with Pisks, Divers, and the same Pawwings, which occasionally descended to the ground. And it happened that two-legged rogues hung around the camps, striving to find loopholes and feast on dried meat from pantry tents or pits, for which they were always punished by sentinels, that is, they were killed — despite the precepts of the sages about the keepers of balance, the murder of any predator who desired the food of the first people, was considered right and for the good of the tribe.

The tribesmen whispered, agreeing with Tris and Kun’s assumption, and outside the tent a real hunt began! The reptiles could be heard rushing around the building, rumbled and rushed at each other. The rustle of wings, thumps on the ground, the swaying of the walls of the tent, hissing and other fuss completely disturbed the rest of the hunters.

«Listen,» Vall began to be indignant, «this little thing will not let us sleep, and we definitely won’t be able to rest before the road!» Therefore, I propose to light torches and disperse these rogues. If need be, we’ll finish off a couple. Both those and others! The rest will run away.

«What if the larger carnivores notice the flames?» Iris hesitated.

«We’ll disperse the trifle and put it out right there!» — supporting the idea of the leader, said Kun.

The hunters, without hesitation, nodded and approved of the decision of Vall and Kun, and then began to set fire to the lights.

— I, Kun, Iris and Taro — bring the eye to life! the shaman gave the command. The rest are our human eyes! And you, Tyrant, sit here with Salas and don’t go anywhere! Is everything clear to everyone?

«Yes, yes, yes,» the relatives unanimously assured the order of the leader.

— I’m going out first. Tris, you’re my guide, so keep your eyes peeled for me! Vall alerted and, holding the torch in front of him, turned the eyes of the hunter and silently jumped out. Tris, along with the others, followed the leader.

Zavrini’s eyes in the night, in the presence of a fiery element nearby, lost their legible visibility of the surrounding world. Not only did the specter darken the radiance of the Moon and stars and turn the ordinary colors of Her abode into gray shades, but the flames of fire became too bright and did not allow one to focus on the nearby details of the area: it was quite possible for oneself not to notice a stone, a large snag under one’s feet, or some other obstacle, stumble, or worse, fall to the ground. In addition, the reptiles themselves — their flesh — in the dark hours of the day with the eyes of Zavrini were visible and distinguishable only at a distance of twenty or thirty steps, no more! This opposition of the elements — night darkness and fire — and the short-sightedness of the incarnation of the eyes did not allow hunters to confidently go hunting at night. And no one, by the way, in the tribe of the first people since the death of Lasso did not approve of night hunting!

But for the lizards, for some unknown reason, the flame of fire was especially bewitching, but the reptiles were afraid to come close. And since the fire interfered with Zavrini’s eyes and was needed overnight to frighten Lazunov and Lapokrylov, the human eye and the reptilian gaze in the current situation at the tent were needed at the same time in order to see everything that was happening for sure. Therefore, Wall ordered some of the staunch hunters to turn their eyes, and the rest to leave the human ones. And those who embodied the gaze, and those who remained with the ordinary, overnight became each other’s guides. Some could hardly see the reptiles in the darkness, others — obstacles. It was here that the consistency of the hunters and trust were important, so that, at the very least, they would not run into their own gouges, understanding at a glance and instant support, which, of course, could not be taken away from close-knit fellow tribesmen — only the coordinated actions of the entire detachment could justify such here are forced night outings!

The chirping of reptiles came from all directions. There was complete confusion around the camp tent. Pawwings dived from the chimney and the roof of the building to Lazunov. Lazoons bounced and tried to catch the attacking Pawwings. Some flying lizards simply squeaked or rumbled, sitting on the ends of the goads, and Lazoons, who were more cunning, tried to climb onto the goads and pull the winged ones down.

In the gaze of the shaman, like other relatives with embodied eyes, only the glow of torches and a huge amount of small red flesh remained visible. And on hearing the screech, rumble and accelerated heartbeat of more than a dozen lizards were heard with a rumble. Seeing all this, Vall and the staunch hunters, growling and waving torches, began to rush at the reptiles. Nearby, side by side, uttering hunting calls and also dispersing the crumbs, the rest of the trackers were bustling about. The lizards, seeing the people, were alarmed and rushed in all directions. Lazoons took to their heels, making their way through the hammered goads, and Pawwings flew over the stakes and immediately flopped into the tall grass. Very quickly, the camp was cleared of shrill intruders. Even after a little time of cold-blooded and the trace caught a cold even in the district. No squeak or rustle was heard, only the chirping of night cicadas and cracklings trilled everywhere.

Having bypassed the tent and checked the surroundings, the hunters put out the lights.

— OK it’s all over Now! Three breaths of business,» Vall said, and involuntarily raised his gaze to the sky.

The cloudless vault, as always, was strewn with bright stars. The full moon shone on the western side of the sky, and not far from it a red star flickered. The rest of the hunters paid attention to the contemplation of the leader.

«She’s still here,» whispered one of the seasoned trackers.

«Where is she to go?» Val frowned. — It’s a star!

The Kindred again began to discuss the star, and the Longneck pack, and the look, and the unity of the young beater. The eyes of the Clanmates had adjusted to the midnight darkness, and Iris, having removed the helmet from the Sharpthorn, drew attention to the fact that the night was not so dark. The radiance of the moon filled everything in the neighborhood with light, and the black-haired man could see in the twilight the outlines of the vegetation around the goats. Immediately the hunter turned towards the liana forest and managed to spot its edge. «It’s bright, but…» thought the big man Iris and went up to the stakes that guarded the northern side of the camp. In two steps, he climbed onto the goads and fixed his eyes on the bennettite field, and the trackers, chatting stormily at that moment, did not notice that the kinsman had gone away.

A warm wind swayed rare ginkgo trees and steppe palms with light breezes. In addition to the trill of the primitives, the rustle of grass and leaves could be heard everywhere from the gusts of the windy element. Iris pricked up his ears and, for as long as his breath was enough, pulled the northern monsoon with his spiked nose. Not feeling any extra smells, except for the aromas of a vegetable plateau, the man tried, under the glow of the moon, to distinguish the remains of Long-necked, which was poisoned during the day, but tall grass and bushes prevented him from doing this. The steadfast hunter turned his eyes, but the herbivore’s carcass was too far away, and if there were any lizards next to it, it would hardly have been possible to find them. Then Iris pierced the distance with his eyes, but still he could barely make out the silhouettes of vegetation. Despite the bright night, Zavrini’s eyes, like an ordinary gaze, did not see well in the dark. The black-haired hunter returned the human mind and looked at the strange outlines of low hills on the horizon.

Meanwhile, the Tyrant, having opened the curtain of the tent, leaned out halfway and, in a whisper of indignation, called his relatives. Iris paid no attention to the call.

— Hey, where are you? Wall, Arwen, Taro, it’s so creepy for us to be here together,» the young hunter was indignant. — And you are still mumbling — it is not clear what the rumble is.

The tribesmen heard the calls of the Tyrant and, not looking up from the conversation, went to the lodging for the night.

«We’ll discuss everything on the way,» Vall suggested. «We need to get some good sleep now. In the morning there is a long road ahead.

What are we going to do with Salas? Taro asked.

«Let’s not do anything,» Vall replied. — Let him get enough sleep, and if he has already slept, then he will sit on patrol, and in the morning he will be on his way. Let’s get to the Great Volcano, and then let the leader and the elders decide for themselves what to do. Inga will cook something so that his eyes are in love…

— Val, Taro! All! Come here! Iris interrupted the speech of the leader.

The hunters flinched at the unexpected speech of their kinsman. And some erected weapons.

«Why are you so scared!» Arwen was outraged. — Where did you come from, put you in the litter!

— Come here quickly. You need to see it!

The tribesmen went to Iris. And the Tyrant also crawled out of the tent to find out what the staunch hunter saw there.

«Don’t you dare go outside, Salas!» I’ll be right back,» he ordered.

***

The young beater listened to the voices of his fellow tribesmen, trying to make out what the relatives were talking about and what Iris had noticed there, but in addition to the hunters’ muttering, the trill of nocturnal animals rumbled in Salas’s ears. All this rumble was mixed up at the hearing, and it was impossible to distinguish anything. Amidst the confusion of sounds, the teenager casually recognized a strange crackle. Salas pricked up his ears more, trying to catch the source of the sound, and inadvertently drew attention to the bizarre fire of blazing lanterns. The teenager remembered that he noticed this strange phenomenon of the fiery element when he woke up.

Salas threw off his skin and ospreys of odorous branches and, climbing out of a pile of bags, approached the torches. The rustle intensified, and the young man realized that it was they who made the crackling. A bizarre mode of fire, similar to a tiny whirlwind of luminous and swirling dust particles, came from the ends of the torch handles, saturated with particles of light! And these particles, under the draft of air, rose to the chimney, turning into white smoke. As if swirling, they circled, and the bewitching dusty flame, as it seemed to the youth, exuded more luminosity than was seen by the usual eye. The young man looked at the bizarre warehouse of the elements for a long time, and then carefully blew on the streams of particles of one of the lights. The luminous dust particles were alarmed. Some of them remained on the handle, while others spun randomly and, leaving their place of residence for a moment, returned back and lined up in the former whole whirlwind.

— Wow! Salas exclaimed in surprise.

The young man stretched out his hand to the torch, trying to feel the warmth of the flame, but was suddenly horrified at the sight presented. Dodging his own hand, he leaned back and flopped to the ground, and then began to crawl away until he hit his back against the bags of slaughter. There was nowhere to go, and the youth froze, holding his breath. He couldn’t believe his eyes! Realizing that this disgusting limb belongs to him, the teenager slowly and cautiously brought it closer to his gaze, and then began to rotate his brush, examining its disgusting articulation. Salas’s hand — both one and the other — was devoid of skin!

Bare bones of the phalanges of the fingers protruded from the red sinewy palm and from its back side, and their beginnings grew into plexuses of muscles, meat and blood vessels of the hand. Hand combinations were hidden under leather windings up to the elbow. Raising his arm slightly, the beater could see the bone on his elbow. And intricately woven, like a twist of liana twine, the red-blue muscles of the arm above the elbow went under the robe on the torso. All this naked horror shone under the glow of torches! A chill ran through his body and a cold sweat broke out. As soon as Salas realized that there was not a piece of human skin on him, he almost vomited.

The teenager looked at his fingers once more, and then looked at the uncovered leg muscles. A red pile of the same plexuses as on the muscles of the upper limbs, like the fresh flesh of a tenderloin from Polosun’s thigh, shone before his eyes. White bones, similar to lime bowls, which Varnus invented for lights in the camp, stuck out at the knees, and from under the flaps below the shin in sandals one could see white phalanxes with claws.

Salas rose from the ground, and it dawned on him. He touched his face hesitantly. Feeling the presence of the skin on it, the youth breathed a sigh of relief. Then he slowly reached out with his right hand to the palm of his left. Afraid to feel pain due to lack of skin, the teenager, holding his breath and narrowing his eyes, touched the bones of his fingers. Feeling nothing unusual, Salas opened his eyes and, already looking at the action, repeated the movement and was stunned again. He moved his bare hand over the bare places of the other hand, and in his eyes it seemed that his fingers were not touching bare flesh, but were touching an invisible, but tangible emptiness. The teenager, having grown bolder, squeezed the muscle above the elbow on the left limb. The combination of muscles tightened disgustingly and took on a bluish tint where the muscle touched. But even squeezing the limb, Salas could not penetrate the invisible shell, and the young beater realized at that hour that his skin was on him and it had not gone anywhere! It is his eyes that contemplate so! That the eyes of Zavrini appeared to him, which Varn taught and which all the hunters of the tribe knew, but for some reason the wrong eyes turned out to be, and Salas should not have seen human flesh. Realizing all this, the young man closed his eyelids and shook his head, trying to free his eyes, but nothing came of it. He furrowed his brows, trying to master concentration, but again nothing worked. «What to do? How to return human vision? Salas began to think.

Suddenly the canopy of the tent flew open, and an alarmed Tyrant flew into the building. He started rummaging around in his bags and pulling out lights. Gathering them in an armful, the Tyrant removed the burning torches that hung under the chimney and, again ordering Salas to remain in the tent and not stick out anywhere, jumped out.

***

Far away on the outskirts of the Bennettite field, on a sloping hill, the top of which bordered only on the starry sky, the Kindred saw the outlines of reptiles. The dark figures of the lizards were illuminated by the full moon, and the sight that appeared before the hunters was breathtaking. The long-necks humbly walked along the elevated plateau, and in front of them, judging by their excellent size and spiked back and neck, the Gigantosaurus walked majestically. The huge reptile, compared to the good-natured herbivores, was so solid even from a long distance that all the lizards behind it seemed to be its own brood. The hunters watched in amazement. Either five (it was hard to see exactly, since the black silhouettes merged with each other), or six Long-necks dutifully followed the ancient lizard.

On the eastern edge of the same hill, the outlines of the same Long Necks appeared. And with them, smaller individuals, apparently cubs. And even when the silhouette of the Gigantosaurus mingled with the outlines of palm trees, and the mighty reptile disappeared into the night against the background of other hills, the Longnecks did not stop appearing from behind the slope of the hill.

— I can’t believe my eyes! Kuhn was delighted. — Why so many of them? Gigantosaurus ahead?

The hunters stood with their mouths open.

«Yes, Kun, it’s him!» Iris replied.

«I’ve never seen a Gigantosaurus!» Rylan wondered.

«In all my moons I have lived, I have not seen so many giants as I see now,» said Taro.

«That’s what I told you about,» Vall said. — Flock!

— Where did they come from? Tris asked.

«I don’t know, my friend,» the leader replied. «Only Pangea knows. There is no need for unity here.

«It was as if all the giants of all the lands of the Great Volcano were gathered in one place,» Iris introduced. «And I haven’t seen a Gigantosaurus since Roshan was declared chieftain.

«They came from the direction of the liana forest,» said Vall. — But why did they gather in a herd?..

— Val, could you comprehend unity in a tent? Arwen asked.

The tribesmen muttered, disapproving of the young hunter’s idea.

Are you out of your mind, young man? I still lacked unity here! the shaman was outraged. — Salas, there, already visited the unity! We should get to the Great Volcano, but quickly. There have been too many disturbing events lately.

Experienced trackers roared, supporting the leader’s indignation, and then they looked at the outlines of reptiles on the horizon for a long time, suggesting the reasons for the possible accumulation of lizards. And when the last Longneck disappeared from sight on the hill, Taro offered to finally crawl into a lodging for the night and sleep. The hunters were about to go to the tent, but the groaning and roaring near the camp took the relatives by surprise.

— Bring it to life! Wall ordered. The rangers readied their weapons and turned their eyes.

To the right, ten or fifteen paces from the goads, the silhouette of Sharpthorn appeared, followed by several more similar lizards. And then more, and more! A huge flock of herbivores, which were bypassed not only by the Rasaurs, but even the lords of heaven did not dare to disturb, slowly approached the camp.

The tribesmen froze.

— Only Ostroshipov were not enough for us! Taro whispered.

Very unfriendly reptiles, almost up to the hips of an adult and five to seven steps in length, including the tail, lived in small families — seven to eight lizards. They moved, like all herbivores, except for the Thick Skins and Feathered jumpers, on four legs, and Pangea herself created strong growths on the wide backs of the reptiles. Shells — so the hunters called the growths. And these shells were completely strewn with sharp protrusions.

But the lizardmen were not called Razorthorns because of these appendages. At the beginning of the neck, from the shell of any Sharpthorn, even a newly hatched cub, sticking out in both directions — both to the left and to the right — two huge pointed spikes. And the thorns were shunned by every reptile that the Razorthorns had ever encountered along the way! By the way, the detachments of the Great Hunt did not deny themselves the risky business of poisoning these lizards. With hunting tricks, the beaters taunted the Sharpthorns, thereby forcing the herbivores to follow in the right direction and rush at the taunters. And other trackers at that moment were killing one of the lizards that had strayed from the flock. Razorthorn armor and spears were made to perfection not only from bones and spikes, but also from the spiked hide from the back!

— Tyrant? Wall said in a barely audible voice.

— Yes? whispered the Tyrant.

— Slowly and without a single rustle, you go to the tent and bring here all the torches that we have. And those that burn under the chimney, you also take with you.

The tyrant nodded and, backing away, silently moved towards the building.

The razorthorn that had gone ahead of them all stopped near the stakes and stared at the first people, roaring. Other reptiles slowly began to go around the goats. Among the lizards — so the hunters noticed with embodied eyes — there were also their cubs. And Ostroship, of course, when he saw the people, it was not for nothing that he stood on the lookout. Watching the brood and family, he felt threatened and watched the behavior of the pathfinders he met on the way. And the trackers, in turn, knew that if the lizard wanted to get to them, then the horns were unlikely to stop him. And it would be fine if there was one or several Sharpthorns — in the event of an attack on the camp, they could still be driven away or even defeated. But such a number — a whole herd — and would not leave a wet place from the detachment!

«In the name of Pangea, where are there so many of them — can anyone tell me?» Kuhn asked indignantly.

«I have no idea,» Taro replied. «Probably from where the Longnecks come from…»

«Did they also come out of the liana forest?» Tris asked.

«From the woods, apparently,» Vall suggested.

The hunters, standing on edge and looking at the reptiles, began to whisper to each other and discuss the very strange appearance of the Sharpthorns, and as soon as the brood went around the camp, the lizard that was on guard rumbled again and, turning around, went after the cubs. The rest of the Razorthorns walked serenely around the outpost, paying no attention to the first people at all.

«They don’t seem to be afraid of us,» Arwen said in bewilderment. — Where are they going?

«I can’t imagine,» said the shaman. «I’ve seen everything beyond my moons, but this is the first time!

«They’re going west, Vall, the same way the Longnecks were on the hill,» said Kun confidently.

Meanwhile, the Tyrant came out of the tent with torches. The reptiles, seeing the element of flame, stopped for a moment and turned their faces towards the sources of light. After snorting a little, they again moved on to their needs.

Vall returned the eyes of a human being and began to light the lights brought by the Tyrant. The hunters followed the example of the leader, and soon the camp of the first people was lit up with bright lights.

The spiked herbivores no longer reacted to the flames. Then the trackers climbed onto the ends of the goads to highlight what was happening better and take a closer look at the lizards, suspiciously calm that night. And to their surprise, the relatives, at a distance from the Sharpthorns, saw the running Jumpers.

— You just look! — Iris was surprised in a full voice. — And the birds are here!..

— Wall? Tarot? — At that moment, Salas came out of the halabuda and stood at the horns that were directed to the south side of the Bennettite plain. — What’s going on here?!

The light of the moon in the eyes of the young man brightly illuminated the vastness of the distance, as if twilight had just come, but Salas understood that it was long after midnight, and such a light surprised him. In addition, tiny green light sources flickered everywhere among the vegetation. They either were motionless, then flew in the air from place to place, then crawled on the ground, grass and leaves of shrubs. Immediately, about fifty paces from the camp, in a south-westerly direction, naked — without skin — silhouettes of reptiles flashed across the meadow, and the rumble that the youngster heard in the tent instantly turned into dozens of heartbeats. Shocked, Salas looked at what was happening, and at one moment he recognized the Vultures in the coherence of the lizards. A teenager had never seen so many scavengers. Their flesh raced across the field as fast as if they were being chased by hungry Rasaurs! Beyond the Vultures, other reptiles could be seen, huge herbivores treading among the cycads and palm trees. They were Fatskins and Tailtails. And between the thickets, the silhouettes of Piskunov were sometimes visible.

The hunters ran up to the young beater and climbed onto the goads. Illuminating the area with torches, the relatives tried to see what the youth saw there, but there was not a single lizard near the camp.

— What? What’s there? the Tyrant asked.

«Salas, are you imagining things, or what?» What did you see there? Wall turned his eyes. — There’s no one here!

The teen pointed into the distance. Meanwhile, Kun put out the torch and, incarnating the ghost of a hunter, pricked up his ears.

— Shh! — the shaggy man waved his hand to his relatives and froze.

The others also hid, still not understanding what Kun was up to. After a moment, the shaggy man said:

— I hear them! I don’t see it, but I hear it!

— Whom? Lizards? asked the grey-haired tracker.

«Yes, Magnar,» whispered Kun. «They are out there in the thicket. And a lot of them. So many!

The hunters, one and all, turned their eyes and began to listen.

— I can hear it too! Tris screamed.

— Yes Yes! the others chirped.

What do you see, Salas? Well, tell me more! Val began to inquire.

— Vultures in the field. There are dozens of them, and behind them a herd of Tolstoskurs. And over there, a little farther than the ginkgo trees,“ the young man pointed to the southwestern side of the plain, „the tailtails are coming. Why are there so many? Where are they heading?

«Wait, wait, Salas. Are you saying that you can see reptiles out there in the dark? Val said.

— Yes, Val, I see them! And it’s not dark at all. It is light everywhere, as if twilight has come!

After such speeches of the youth, the tribesmen looked at each other in bewilderment.

— And you … — Salas did not have time to finish, when suddenly several Polosuns appeared near the camp. The lizards pretty much frightened the hunters, and the relatives involuntarily grabbed their weapons, and one of the experienced ones even decided to shoot the striped one and pulled the bowstring.

— Stop! Val stopped him. — For what? Meat is enough. We won’t take any more.

— Really. I didn’t think so, he said.

Salas, on the other hand, noticed the silhouettes of the Polosuns far, far from the camp and pointed towards the liana forest.

— There are a lot of them! the teenager exclaimed, covering his ears with his hands. — What a rumble is worth it — it’s simply impossible!

«Be patient, youngster, be patient,» Vall began to soothe. — You got angry. The eyes of Zavrini appeared to you. Some strange, but still. Over time, you will learn to dull the sounds. And you will master concentration — and the human eye will return!

From the glow of the torches, one could see how a flock of multi-colored striped reptiles approached the camp. The lizards, seeing the stakes on the way, divided into two groups and began to go around the parking lot of the first people. Shrieking and growling, the Polosuns did not avoid the hunters at all, but simply glanced at them in passing.

— This is something incredible! the shaman exclaimed. — Stripes see us and do not run!

They are leaving the creeper forest. Maybe they were afraid of something? Taro suggested.

«Maybe the element of flame has woken up somewhere, and the forest is burning on the other side of the outskirts?» Iris suggested.

Kun looked up to the sky and asked a question:

«Then where is the smoke?» A clear vault — not a single cloud, — added the shaggy one and began to sniff.

Other hunters also tried to catch the smell of burning, but there was no stench in the air, except for the smell of reptile droppings and the reptiles themselves.

«Maybe some trouble happened at the Great Volcano?» Maybe the Fireplace Varna is blazing in the camp? thought the Tyrant.

«Totem of Flame?» Wall asked. «Yes, it can’t be that…

Suddenly, the roar of the Raptors was heard. The Polosuns became alarmed and hurriedly passed the camp, and among the fern thickets and tall grass, very close to the goats, silhouettes of predatory lizards appeared — a dozen, or even more. Kindred noticed them and again became alert.

«Here are the Raptors,» whispered Kun, and drew back the string.

«They followed the Stripers,» suggested Iris and raised his spear.

The rest of the hunters also prepared bows, clubs and spears.

Sneaky predators, a bit like striped ones — no more, no less in size, but with short forelimbs and moving only on their hind legs and somewhat reminiscent of overgrown Lazoons — clearly hunted down the strayed from the herd of Polosunov, hoping to profit from easy prey. Noticing the lights, the Raptors stopped near the tent and began to examine the people. Toothy rogues were usually afraid to attack those much larger than themselves, but now the rangers no longer knew what to expect. Too many weird things have happened lately. Too many herbivores passed by the camp. And if the Raptors suddenly stayed nearby in a similar number, then they could attack the first people. At least that’s what the die-hard hunters assumed.

«Salas,» Val nudged the teenager on the shoulder, «why are you silent? Can’t tell a Raptor from Polosun? How many of them are there, well, count.

The young beater was still covering his ears with his hands. And when the leader turned to him, the teenager released them and was about to ask again what his relative was saying, when suddenly piercing and ferocious roars were heard from the outskirts of the liana forest. A moment later, a few more growls were heard from the other side of the edge, and then more. The raptors, sensing the rumble, were alarmed and rushed in all directions.

Fire and fear

Hunters — some with a transformed look, others with a human look — hid at the eastern gouges. The relatives smeared themselves with coniferous mixture, which the old hunter Magnar brought from the halabud, lay down on the ground — some on their backs, some on their stomachs, covered themselves with skins and waited. And Magnar, at the behest of Valla, returned to Salas in the tent to guard the youth.

The rangers did not know if the reptiles had noticed them, but they understood that the Rasaurs could see the flames of the torches and, in addition to the remains of the Longneck, could also smell the presence of people, although the coniferous mixture applied in the morning — before the giant’s corral — did not have time to fade away, but even the newly rubbed infusion has not yet spread the incense as it should. If the reptiles smelled or smelled the same people, then most likely they will come to the camp to sniff every nook and cranny. Fortunately, if the flesh of the Longneck becomes more entertaining for the Razaurs, but the foreboding of Zavrini to experienced hunters inspired completely different events…

Spending the night in a hut was now suicidal. If the Razaurs approach the camp and the rangers will be in the tent in one crowd, then the first people will be easy prey for the lizards. In addition, no one knew how many reptiles came out of the forest. Judging by the roar — five, but focusing only on the roar would be wrong. Especially since whole herds of herbivores passed by the camp just now, and even a flock of Raptors, alarmed and roaming in the thickets from the roar of the Rasaurs, was three times larger than an ordinary flock by the ears of their relatives. All these circumstances greatly disturbed persistent hunters. The young ones — Salas, Arwen, Tyrant, Tris and Rylan — did not understand how dangerous the appearance of the Rasaurs at the camp could be, but they were sure that with experienced trackers they would fight off predators in the event of an attack.

The breaths of a warm wind either barely touched the Bennettite plain, or suddenly fell in long gusts, and the fleeting piercing howl of the windy element made the tribesmen shudder over and over again. Fern leaves rustled somewhere nearby. The rustle of tall grass sometimes rolled from one side of the field to the other, exciting with the consonance of the mood of the hunters, and the lonely palm trees that grew near the camp tent disturbed the eyes with their swaying silhouettes. It seemed like an eternity since the pathfinders heard the terrible roars, and the moon had already circled half the sky, but nothing happened.

«Vall,» Arwen, who was lying next to the shaman, said in a barely audible voice, «where are they?» Do you see anything?

— Shh! Not another word, Vall warned.

Knowing that the Rasaurs were roaming somewhere nearby, the hunters left themselves no choice but to stay up all night, lie in wait and, pricking up their ears, do not move or talk, at best, until the morning.

Arwen lay on his back and peered at the starry heights through the slits of his bone helmet. Not far from the moon, a mysterious phenomenon still flickered, and it seemed to the young hunter that she was moving — slowly moving along the black canvas of the skies. The tracker strained his eyes, trying to see if he was imagining things. Other stars also seemed to float. «Strange…» thought Arwen. Immediately, the young hunter realized that he had never noticed so many flickering lights, and suddenly caught himself thinking that looking at the stars, just looking up at them, was not at all as cool as lying on his back. A sudden feeling of ecstasy cheered up the young man and, completely forgetting about the Rasaurs, he decided that when he returned to the camp to the Great Volcano, in his free time from patrol he would more often contemplate the night luminaries from the ledges of the caves of the elders, where it seemed to be within easy reach of the stars.

Around the outpost, the trill of nocturnal living creatures still flowed like a stream, and the first people believed that nothing would disturb that night, but soon, from the side of the liana forest, relatives with embodied eyes began to feel the fading of primitive and barely audible crackling of bushes. The reptiles have been stolen! The steadfast hunters realized that the Rasaurs were heading towards the camp. The lizards approached the camp of the first people, and the approaching silence of the unpretentious inhabitants of the bennettite field betrayed the approach of predators, no matter how silently they stepped. The closer the Rasaurs got, the quieter the night became.

At one point, everything around me froze. The appeasement for the hunters instantly became painful, and the radiance of the Moon seemed to become brighter on purpose, as if someone from heaven wanted to see what was happening here — in Her abode. It seemed that even the windy element stopped over the camp and turned its invisible gaze on the coming trifle.