what I’m saying. You must be insane! That distresses me!”
“And yet I understand “most kindly would you be,” our discontented ‘Philosopher’ sarcastically replied.
“All right, guys, don’t quarrel,” said Tatyana. “You should better advise me how to convince my parents to let me go to this training.”
“How?” answered Andrew. “Like in this joke, ’A daughter came back home late and her father asks her, What would you call that? The girl replies, I don’t know what it’s called, but from now on, it will be my favorite hobby.”
Everybody laughed. Having agreed upon a new meeting, we went home.
9
We waited impatiently for that day. Finally, on Thursday our company arrived in full in a good mood at the destination point. Arriving at the stop, we discerned two men silhouetted in the dark.
“Oh, there is Eugene over there,” said Andrew merrily.
As it turned out, Eugene was with his friend Stas. Having greeted each other, we moved into the unknown, or to be more exact, pitch-dark direction.
“They should’ve at least hung lamps here,” remarked Tatyana, once again stumbling over something.
“Aha,” agreed Kostya, “it’s not a residential area but a real steeplechase zone.”
“Why should they waste the government’s money for electricity?” grinned Eugene. “Besides, we already know everything around here perfectly by touch. Moreover, it’s unlikely that strangers would like to come to this area, especially by their own will.”
“And why is it so?” asked Slava anxiously.
“This place is unusual, remote. Not every beast will run over here, not to mention people. And dogs, do you hear how they howl?”
And really, somewhere close by in the village, a couple of dogs were drawlingly howling.
Tatyana slightly shivered, grabbing my hand.
“And dogs feel danger well,” he continued.
“Come on, stop scaring people with fairy tales!” said Andrew, trying to make a joke.
“They aren't fairy tales at all. Try to live here for some time, and you’ll find out what sort of devilry is going on here… if you survive, of course.”
After that statement, our good mood quickly disappeared. For some time we walked silently looking around. But no matter how much we tried to peer into the pitch darkness, nothing could be seen. Only dim silhouettes of old houses. And what was strange, there was no light there. Dogs alone with their mournful howls showed at least some signs of life in this Godforsaken place.
“Where are we going?” panicked Kostya.
“Where?” mimicked Eugene. “Right where you’ve ordered… to the black glade.”
“Where?!” we exclaimed, horrified, almost at once.
“Gosh, don’t yell like that” said Eugene, rubbing his ear deafened by our wild outcry. “I told you, we are going to the black glade.”
And stumbling over another pothole, he slightly cursed, “What the hell?! Evil forces try to set a trap everywhere. It’s very likely that they will drag away those who remain behind.”
Tatyana, who was holding my hand just to be safe, grabbed Kostya’s hand with her other hand. I felt how she started to tremble all over. Slava, slightly lagging behind after those words, quickly moved ahead of us. Andrew was walking silently and looked around.
“Where have you seen evil forces and a black glade?” Kostya uttered with fear. “Why should they be here? Absolute nonsense…”
“Where? Over there!” Eugene confidently waved his hand somewhere to the side.
“Why have we come here?” mumbled Tatyana with fear and trembling. “We could have been at home, without caring about anything.”
“But you wanted to learn black magic. And now you say ‘Why have we come?’” Eugene answered, shrugging his shoulders.
“To learn what?” we asked again all together in amazement.
“I can’t believe it!” Eugene made a surprised face. “Didn’t you know that Sensei is the most powerful wizard, so to say, the right hand of Lucifer?”
Now it was our turn to stare wide-eyed.
“Who? What? And who is Lucifer?” An avalanche of questions rushed on Eugene.
“All right,” our guide grandly stopped the torrent of our questions. “I will explain everything to you now. ’Lucifer’ means an angel of light, the right side of God. For the majority of people, he is known under different names. For example, Satan or Devil, whatever you prefer. He is a ruler of the Earth. Second, I emphasize once again that Sensei is his right hand. And his power doesn’t have boundaries. For him to bend spoons, it’s nothing. He is able to do such things that you can’t imagine even in your most dreadful dream! And third, you are very lucky that you can master what you want. You can get extraordinary abilities almost for nothing. Just for a soul about which you don’t know anything and you don’t even feel. But why am I telling you all this? You will see it now yourselves.”
“There you are! I think we got into trouble,” Tatyana really got scared.
“That’s it!” cried Kostya in a low voice. “And what did I tell you? We shouldn’t have come, but you didn’t listen. I told you something’s fishy here. But I was also stupid, a dummy, I dragged myself with you. What should we do now?”
The panicy fear of Kostya spread to Slava, and he whispered to us, “I think it’s high time to run away from here.”
“Where?” hissed Kostya. “Do you remember how many times we turned, going in different directions?”
“I don’t care!” declared Andrew. “Let’s assume that Sensei is a wizard; that’s his personal problem. What’s important is that he knows much more than me. I won’t miss an opportunity to learn that.”
“Me either,” I responded. I thought to myself, “I shouldn’t care at all because this is my chance to survive. And if not, then I have nothing to lose anyway. But maybe it will help…”
We came out on a curved path along a long, lonely fence. At that moment moonlight shone through the clouds. Suddenly, right before us a big black cat jumped on the fence, his eyes burning like yellow-green lights. Caught by surprise, Tatyana and I screamed and hid behind the guys’ backs. However, our defenders also froze, rooted to the ground. Only our guides alone continued calmly on their way. Eugene, having seen our stupor, mysteriously whispered, “It’s just the beginning.”
The cat, without paying any attention to us, grandly kept walking along the lone fence, and as if on purpose, in the same way they were guiding us.
“Fie, fie, fie,” spit Slava over his left shoulder.
“You should have made the sign of the cross,” Andrew said sarcastically.
“Sounds
