Methodius Buslaev. Third Horseman Of Gloom. Дмитрий ЕмецЧитать онлайн книгу.
never recover. Two of my essences – the swan and the wolf – have already perished. Now death is getting closer to the last…”
Irka crawled up to the valkyrie. She hardly believed in the reality of the situation and continually glanced down to where her bitten nails were scratching the linoleum. This was the logic: the fingernails were real, the linoleum with onion skin was also more than real. The onion skin and Granny’s eyeglass case lying under the table were too detailed for a dream. But the special liberty and creative fluency, skipping insignificant details, that most daring fluency which always accompanies dreams, did not disappear, confusing Irka.
“Who wounded you?” she asked, putting aside, for the time being, the thought of whether what she was seeing was real or a hallucination caused by the new prescription from the day before.
The valkyrie looked at her sternly. In her tired eyes, continually changing colours, was something poignant, otherworldly. A strange power, authority, and wisdom. On the wall behind the swan maiden, it vaguely seemed to Irka, was a shadow of enormous heft. The worlds opened wide. The worlds were created from dust. Fates intertwined and untwined just like golden hair in a braid.
Finally, the valkyrie looked away. The shadow of heft disappeared. The wall of patterned tiles appeared before Irka in all its dreary banality, flickering beet, carrot, and other idiotic greens.
“Don’t try to find out. Until you’re ready. Your time will yet come!” The maiden coughed. Blood came out of the corners of her lips. “In the pattern of runes of the Sinister Gates there was a single error. One of the runes was not finished, and he knew how, after completing it, to convert it into its own opposite… It was impossible to flee, but he sent his breath out. I stood outside, but saw nothing. It was my fault, since I was his guardian in this century. His breath moved into the messenger’s body, and he wounded me with a sword, which strikes even an immortal. Once this was a sword of Light, and even now, after passing through many rebirths, it has retained its power over us, its creations. I didn’t have time to parry the blow. It was too unexpected to receive it from the one who inflicted it.”
“Whose body did he move into?” Irka quickly asked. For some reason, this seemed important to her, though she did not even know who he was.
“You have asked good questions. Your mind is inquisitive and restless. You’re not one of those living dead, whose heads are empty and whose eyes fade before death. I think I did the right thing choosing you…”
The valkyrie’s voice weakened. Her pupils were losing colour, becoming almost transparent. Irka suddenly realized that the swan maiden’s life was departing together with the colour of her pupils.
“What if we bandage you? Granny has a first-aid kit there…” she said helplessly.
The valkyrie looked at her fragmented collarbone and smiled weakly. “The wounds inflicted by this sword don’t close. Even if it scratched my finger, I would be doomed. Remember the main thing about whom you must stop! You have to come in contact not even with him, but only with his breath. However, there’s also enough force in it to put an end to you. He doesn’t have his own flesh, since it has long become dust, and the wind has scattered it. His spirit is capable of moving into any of the few suitable bodies, crowding its owner. However, while he is in a stranger’s body, his potentials won’t be greater than those of that body. In order to attack in earnest, in full force, he will leave it, and only then will you be able to battle with him. But if he doesn’t leave the body, you’re powerless. Your spear will pierce only the human flesh and its true owner, but not affect the one hiding inside. However, the sin of murdering the guiltless will make you weak, and you no longer will know how to do anything.”
“And how do I recognize him?”
“Don’t worry. It’s impossible not to recognize him. When his breath leaves a body, it’ll become visible even at noon. It’s a spectre of a rider on a red horse. Fight him like you would fight a normal rider. The spectre will be vulnerable to your weapon. But fear his magic: it presents a threat to you, just as the sword that struck me.”
“And if he doesn’t want to leave the body?” Irka asked reasonably.
“Antigonus will help you if he accepts you as his mistress,” the valkyrie replied. A shadow of sadness passed over her pale face. “Perhaps the sword’s blow wouldn’t have caught me unawares had Antigonus been nearby. He’s endowed with the gifts of foresight, expulsion, insight into true essence, and many other abilities.”
“Who’s this Antigonus?” asked Irka. The valkyrie unexpectedly smiled, warmed by some quiet, pleasant thought.
“It’s a most delicate topic. Better not to touch it again. Once a house-spirit fell in love with a kikimora! Love, love! Only whom don’t you catch in your net! True, this wasn’t an entirely pure kikimora! Her maternal grandpa was a vampire, her paternal grandma a mermaid, and paternal grandpa a wood-goblin! Besides, there was even talk of dwarves and Snow White, but that’s doubtful…” she said.
“And?” Irka prompted cautiously.
“Antigonus will become your servant, ally, and adviser. In a favourable situation. True, it’s difficult with Antigonus. Sometimes it’s much simpler without him than with him,” the valkyrie admitted. Cheerfulness went out of her together with life. Her eyes already saw eternity.
“Will I be able to summon him?” Irka asked.
“It’s unnecessary to summon Antigonus. In any case, doing it aloud. At times, it’s sufficient to think of him properly,” the valkyrie replied.
“And how do I think of Antigonus properly?”
The valkyrie shook her head. “I can’t tell you. You must find out by yourself. Otherwise, you’ll never find a common language with Antigonus. Indeed, he’s a terribly strange creature… Now let’s talk about the enemy. About how you’ll find the body which he has moved into…”
The valkyrie’s voice was barely audible. The pauses between the words were increasing. Irka had to keep crawling nearer, straining her ears.
“Not all bodies suit him. There are only four bodies in this world that can accept his essence. One of the four he doesn’t dare touch for the time being… But only for the time being… So, must search among the remaining three…” the valkyrie said. Blood was now barely flowing from the wound. Her face was becoming grey.
“She’s dying!” Irka realized with sudden clarity.
“Don’t be alarmed! Demigods don’t depart without a trace. They can’t leave this world without passing on immortality and gift,” the valkyrie said, after reading her thoughts. “Take my winged helmet!”
“Helmet?” Irka repeated, looking around. She did not see a helmet.
The swan maiden coughed. The blood, which earlier bubbled in the corners of her lips, ran down her cheek. Irka crawled up to the valkyrie. The swan maiden, quite weakened, carefully lay down on her back, helping herself with her good hand. Her long bright hair sprawled over the linoleum. Irka involuntarily thought how strange they both looked. Two half-beings – one dying and one crippled – in the kitchen of the most ordinary home, on the floor flooded with blood, were discussing the fate of the world and the escape of an unknown essence from the Sinister Gates.
“When you need to, you’ll see it and take my place! Stop the messenger, before he acquires power… Don’t let him catch you unawares. Don’t repeat my mistake!” The valkyrie spoke each new word with difficulty; blood pushed out of her throat together with the sounds. “There is little time… Swear on your eidos to Light that you’ll assume my gift and carry it to eternity, until your breath disappears. Without this the helmet won’t become yours.”
“But what’s this eidos?” Irka asked carefully. To swear on something she did not know existed seemed to her unreasonable. Something stirred imperceptibly in her chest, prompting the answer. “I swear!” Irka said, obeying the prompt, but immediately added dubiously, “But how can I stop someone… In this idiotic wheelchair I can’t even go down the steps without Granny’s help.”
The valkyrie’s