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
