Dima was breathing heavily, and his heart was literally ready to burst out of his chest, he had just almost been caught, and it was almost impossible to breathe in the cramped hole. But he was in no hurry to get out, the voices could still be heard, and he decided to wait a little longer.
'Things are bad for me, if they sent so many people after me, they need me for something, and considering that I killed two people a couple of hours ago, a meeting with the locals doesn't bode well for me.'
The guy continued to ponder, bad thoughts were climbing into his head, and unable to suppress them any longer, Dima passed out and fell into a restful sleep.
...
Hin sat on the lawn in front of the village headman's house, the man had been calling out to Chorus for more than eight hours, praying that he would give them at least some clue, he was brought out of another monotonous mantra by someone's hand. Which was rubbing him on the shoulder in an extremely insistent manner. Hin opened his eyes and the same young monk he had sent as part of the mounted troop came into view.
"We've been riding along the shore for over four hours, and finally we've had some luck,' the monk smiled, as if expecting praise from his superior."
"Don't be long, tell me." Hin answered him, still slightly disoriented by the sudden interruption of his meditation.
"Come with me," said the monk, helping the abbot to rise, and they both walked towards the barn where the captive robber lay. The men entered the room, inside which two stout monks were already standing, the robber was chained in the same position, and was trying to prove something, but the tired and angry monks were inexorable and kicked him on the kidneys at times.
At the sight of the abbot they quickly turned round and bowed to each other. And then the cause of the terrible stench, which he had smelled on the street, became clear to Hin. Two corpses lay piled one on top of the other in front of the robber's nose.
"What did you find out?" Hin asked, covering his nose with his hand as his mask was failing.
"This scum confirmed that these are his accomplices, he doesn't answer other questions, he says he knows nothing." One of the monks reported back.
"Hey man, why are you asking these boneheads, they can't tell the difference between a dick and an apple, ask me, I'll tell you everything I know." In hope begged the already pretty worn out bandit. Hin shifted his gaze to the monk and continued his questioning.
"Why weren't they taken alive?" The situation was heating up, and Hin had no right to make a mistake, so his voice was full of irritation.
"They were dead when we found them, the first one died on the river bank, the second one was literally roasted on the fire," the monk pointed at the man with a burnt face.
"No one else could be found. The man walked to the wall of the barn and struck it with his fist, and as the barn was literally made of clay and rotted sticks, his hand went through."
"Saddle your horses and widen the search, keep the locals at home, send messengers to the neighbouring villages to join the search, and send a message to the monastery to gather everyone they can and come here." The abbot spoke in a cold, clear voice that gave everyone in the room goosebumps.
"Abbot, the men are tired, the horses are on their last breath, we all need rest." The young monk blurted out in one breath, and stared warily at Hin, waiting for a response.
"So take the elixirs from the inviolable stockpile, distribute what you have to the locals and give them to the horses, is that clear?" Hin turned towards the young monk with an expression that made it clear to everyone in the room. Right now, questions were an unnecessary luxury they could not afford. But the monk couldn't withstand the general pressure, through gritted teeth he asked.
"Mr Abbot, the elixirs of 'second breath' are very valuable, would it not be more prudent to..." before the boy could finish, Hin came close to him and grabbed him by the neck with a barely perceptible movement.
"What is your name, son?" The abbot asked coldly.
"M... Min, - the boy wheezed with great difficulty, trying with his hands to get out of the abbot's steel grip."
"Remember, Min, you may not understand the meaning of my actions now, but believe me, when I was young and bold, I, too, challenged all the instructions of my elders. But as I grew older I began to understand the meaning of their words, if I had listened to them then perhaps my fate would have turned out differently, and I would have had many more bones intact. Is the hint clear?" Hin looked into the boy's eyes, the same rebellious nature that he had in his youth was evident in them.
Min nodded frantically, and the abbot let the lad go, turning his attention to the outlaw lying there.
"You go, and I will speak to this character privately." The three monks hurried out of the barn; as soon as the last one was out of sight behind the door, Hin turned to the brigand.
"Now come on, spill it out."
...
Birdsong, woke up the sleeping guy, he tried to get up and immediately bumped on the earthen ceiling of the hole, 'Ah... I'm still lying in some hole.
"Only now the question is how to get out of here," Dima didn't suffer from claustrophobia, but being in a hole smaller than a dog box would make anyone nervous.
"Okay, let's go," the guy put his hands on the opposite wall of the hole from the exit and pushed off, having travelled a little on the ground, repeating this trick a couple of times, the guy's feet finally saw the light. Dima couldn't reach the saving wall and clinging to the ground with his feet and the walls of the cave with his hands, he slowly moved to freedom.
After 5 minutes of suffering the guy was finally at liberty, Dima opened his eyes and ...
Immediately closed them back, it was morning outside, and the sun ignoring the guy's need for a plan to increase the level of brightness, with all its might was hitting him in the eyes, the guy blinking sat down on a stump, and looked around, 'no one, never thought I would say that, but I'm very happy to you sun'. The boy looked round his hiding place and was surprised, 'How did I fit in there? It's true what they say, fear is a great fear, but the hands to dig must be even greater.' His stomach rumbled disgustingly, but Dima, suppressing the violent protests of his stomach, went in the direction indicated by Chorus.
"Chorus, if you have thrown me, and I will be captured and burnt on the nearest fire, I will not leave you alone, I will find you, and all your thousands of personalities too." Growling another threat the lad moved on his way.
...
Dima walked for about an hour, but there were still no signs of civilisation, that pissed the guy off, the sun was still quite high and scorched the guy's head mercilessly, the liquid forest only partially levelled the situation, and Dima walked and walked.
Sweat was pouring down from the guy, his legs seemed to be made of an alloy of unknown metal, though they were bendable, but they were so heavy, almost unbearable, the situation was additionally marred by a rough and rather heavy cleaver hanging on his belt, which was trying to pull the guy to the right, to meet another tree trunk. He wanted to drop everything and sit down to rest, or better to sleep, at least a little bit, of course he fell asleep in the burrow, but such a pastime could be called a quality rest with a very big stretch.
Dima walked a little more, and then he was darkened by one more news, the flask he took from the bandits was empty, the stuff stored in it could hardly be called something useful, but they had what they had, and now they didn't have it, the guy in fury raised his head to the sky and found that the forest became much more liquid, and also he found for the first time traces of a man - stumps.
Dima approached one of them, "It looks quite fresh," the guy ran his hand over it, the wood was slightly damp, but the most important thing was the resin on its surface.
"Yes, the tree had been felled recently, which meant that people were close by." Encouraged by this thought, he continued his journey.
...
"People, there are people there," the guy saw thatched roofs of houses, but Dima did not hurry to go there, the guy sat down in the nearest bushes and watched carefully, ten minutes later he summarised.
"It seems to me or there is nobody there at all, for ten minutes I did not see any person at all, nobody at all, yes, of course, there is a variant, that all have left to look for him, but Dima did not want to believe in it. Having decided that it was pointless to wait any longer he, overcoming his fear, moved forward towards civilisation."
Having quickly jumped over such a fence, Dima found himself in an empty yard, everything around was very modest, and if to tell more honestly poor, having found no one the guy checked the neighbouring yard, and there was nothing, Dima decided to try his luck again and having jumped over the fence found himself on a small lawn, and he finally smiled at luck, a man was sitting on the grass in the lotus posture.
Dima squatted closer, the stranger was wrapped in a white short kimono, and a strange half-mask-half scarf, it was impossible to see his face, having searched him visually and having found no weapons, Dima decided to go to the bank.
...
Hin was meditating on the lawn, no one bothered him, only a few women and old men were left in the village to look after the children and property. The rest had not yet returned from their search. And what was even more frustrating was that the Chorus had never answered his mantras, it was as if he were knocking against a stone wall, but the man never gave up trying.
"Chorus, give us your followers a clue, explain your great will." And then the space around him faded, even considering that he was meditating with his eyes closed, the change became noticeable at once.
"What do you want?" Hundreds of voices of all kinds rang out.
"Chorus, give us a clue as to where to find your messenger?" Hin rarely spoke to Chorus, and every such encounter was a real test for him, but the man held himself with dignity.
"He is much closer than you think." was his answer, the voices informed him with a touch of sarcasm.
"Chorus explain further, we have searched for a long time, but we have not been able to find him."
"He's very close," the voices told him again.
"Master I don't understand," Hin deliberately prolonged the conversation, intending to extract the exact location of the messenger from Chorus.
"Open your eyes moron!!!" The voices bellowed as one and disappeared. It was as if Hin had been doused with cold water, and the man opened his eyes. He saw a guy in strange clothes, trying to keep his distance, 'He must have been afraid of my sudden awakening.
"Hi," the guest interrupted the awkward silence and held out his hand.