Hin sat across from the strange man who was pulling a hand in his direction. At a glance, you could tell he was out of place, if from this world at all. The stranger was dressed in a strange-looking jacket and blue trousers, made of a material he didn't recognise. The visitor himself was noticeably different, both from Hin himself and from all the locals in general. With different facial features and wide eyes, his appearance reminded Hin much more of the diplomats from the continent of Migard.
While Hin subdued the stranger with a look the man obediently waited, continuing to reach out to him, Hin didn't fully understand what the man wanted from him but decided to extend his hand in return. The brief handshake was interrupted by Hin himself, the man noticed a mark on the guy's hand, the abbot in a burst of emotion pulled the guy closer to him and tilted his head, looking intently at the familiar symbol.
'It's him, there's no doubt about it.' - Hin thought, raising his gaze to the guy's face. The latter looked at him with a meaning of categorical incomprehension, having ascertained his theory the abbot released the lad and addressed him.
"Greetings, messenger, what is your name?"
"Dima." hesitantly said the boy, squinting warily at his hand.
"My name is Hin, I understand that you have a lot of questions now, but I ask you to temporarily temper your curiosity and come with me." The Abbot excitedly informed him.
"Do I have a choice?" The boy asked with some confusion in his eyes.
"No." was his unequivocal answer.
...
Dima was waiting in some house, as the men said "Hin, they would have to wait until the cavalry returned, 'but maybe it's for the best, at least I'll finally have a proper meal" Dima looked at his plate and continued the thought. 'Well almost.' The plate was filled with rice, mixed with some seaweed.
"It's not much, but it's good for nothing." The guy pounced on the food, and in five minutes finished his lunch, licking the plate the guy leaned back on the stool, resting his back against the wall and began to think.
'Well, what we have, soon I will be taken to some monastery, and what awaits me there is known only to Horu, hmm ... can get away,' - The guy looked at the door, he had already learnt the tart taste of this world, and something good was not expected, but he clearly remembered it could always be worse, remembering his yesterday's adventure Dima gave up the idea of escape, the chance of survival in this world without outside help, tended to zero.
Dima decided to stretch his legs a little and went out into the courtyard, there Dima met the only familiar face Hin, talking to some old man, both of them were in good spirits.
"I'm glad we were able to help you," the old man said loudly, smiling wryly.
"And we appreciate it, don't worry, everything will be paid for as agreed, and more." Hin, took out a small pouch from behind his back and handed it to the old man.
"It's not much, but it's enough for a day out in the small village."
"Thank you for your generosity, Prior." The old man deftly grabbed the pouch and hid it in the inner pocket of his dressing gown. Then he bowed and left. Hin noticed Dima sitting on a bench near the house, the guy leaned back and looked at the sky.
"Am I interrupting," Hin asked, pointing to the bench.
"No, sit down." Dima pointed to the seat next to him, briefly shifting his gaze to his interlocutor. Hin carefully adjusted his dressing gown and sat down next to him. Dima once again looked at him with an evaluating glance. He was dressed modestly enough: a white kimono with a hood and a half-mask, with a lamellar armour on top of it, in general everything looked modest but tasteful.
"Would you mind answering a few questions?" The abbot suddenly asked him.
"Why not?" Dima, who had eaten and rested a little, was no longer afraid, 'there is no turning back.
"You will not tell me how you came to be in front of me, but to be honest, your sudden appearance was very timely." The abbot, took out a small pipe and lit it in a single movement of the cross.
"Yes, there's not much to tell, I died in my world and woke up in a clear field, I didn't have time to come to my senses as the Choir contacted me, at first I thought that I was completely drunk and out of my mind, but there was nothing to do and I went following his instructions." Dima made a small pause collecting his thoughts, further on the chronology was the meeting with Min, and how to tell the interlocutor about its consequences the guy did not know.
The abbot, meanwhile, seemed not to notice the pause in the boy's story, and gazed thoughtfully at the sky, sipping bitter smoke from his pipe.
"Did you meet people on your way?" Hin asked casually.
"Yes..." - Dima mumbled reluctantly and continued his story.
"I walked for quite a long time, and not finding any traces of a man I decided to make a camp for the night, and people found me by themselves, a strange type came at me from the darkness of the night," the guy moved his gaze to the cleaver that still adorned his belt.
"His name was Min, he said he was lost, but I didn't believe him, I don't know about you, but in my world you don't go out for alcohol with a gun, so I had to be sceptical. And my scepticism was justified, when Min fell asleep, I found his accomplice, the asshole was hiding in the water thickets. And then the fight started, and I-I killed them both." Min shifted his gaze to the guy in surprise, his dead pale face saying more eloquently than any words that he wasn't lying.
'Good, at least the kid's not a coward, that's good to know.' Seeing the approval in the eyes of his interlocutor, Dima continued.
"And then I came to this village, there's nothing more to tell." Dima did not think it necessary to tell about his talents in tunnelling and decided to keep silent.
"Dima, you came from the north, so can you tell me how you got past my people?" Hin was very curious how a simple boy could get past his search teams. So Dima briefly recounted to him the essence of his nocturnal adventures.
"Hahaha," Hin couldn't contain his laughter any longer, the man was literally twisted and wouldn't let go for about five minutes. Having laughed enough, the man wiped the flow of accumulated tears from his eyes and exhaled.
"Uhhh... Idiots, but you are resourceful, I praise you, who would have thought that a man could fit in a fox hole, heh... heh..." the man smiled cheerfully.
"Fear has great eyes," Dima answered him embarrassed.
"You've heard everything you want, now it's my turn to ask questions. Firstly, I want to know..." Dima had no time to finish, as Hin covered his mouth with his hand and whispered.
"I'll give you the answers, but not here," the man looked round nervously. "Walls and windows have ears too." Dima didn't understand his concern, the village was almost completely empty, children, a couple of women and slumbering old men.
'Bitch where did I get to?'
The flow of the guy's angry thoughts was interrupted by the noise of dozens of hooves, and five minutes later more than a dozen riders stood in front of them, the expression on everyone's faces expressed pure misery, and considering that these people hadn't slept for more than twenty-four hours their discontent was understandable. Dima understood it too, and the boy also realised that if Hin hadn't stood between them and him, he would surely have been finished.
Hin rescued the boy, - Drink the horses, we are going back to the monastery, catching the questioning looks of his subordinates, the abbot added.
"Yes, this is the man we were looking for and we didn't find him, luckily he found us". The abbot pointed at Dima with his hand, which caused him a real sense of panic, after all, no one wants to be in front of a crowd of tired, angry and armed men. Hin shook the ash out of his pipe and rising from the bench walked towards one of the monks.
Dima clearly caught the angry glances of the monks, the guy was torn from psychological pressure, Dima simultaneously wanted to run, to beg for help from Hin, and to bare his cleaver. Having brought his thoughts to normal, the guy stopped on the last variant, Dima put his hand on the handle of the cleaver, and leaning his face to the ground, pretended to think about something.
Hin who had moved away from his ward smirked, 'Interesting choice of behaviour'. Hin had moved away on purpose, of course, Dima was in no danger, his presence was guaranteed, he could have called the leader of the mounted group, but that would not have been interesting.
Dima again thought about the whole situation, 'Glee, bandits, monks, apocalypse, and I am in the centre of all this chaos,' - a feeling of apathy and anxiety came over the guy again. That's how he spent almost half an hour.
Dima looked up and saw a young monk standing in front of him. Dima didn't know much about the aging process of Asians, but by the appearance of his interlocutor he could guess that he was his age. He was dressed like Hin, only a little poorer.
"We are going to the monastery, you will ride with me in one saddle, we have no extra horses." the monk told him with a distinct note of squeamishness.
"I'm a young lady to you, but I'm sick of being stuck here." Dima stood up and followed his interlocutor, his interlocutor sped up and approached his horse, the monk turned to Dima and asked.
"Boy are you stupid?" Dima listened and not without difficulty climbed on the four-legged animal, all the attention of all present was riveted on the stranger and his ridiculous attempts to get into the saddle.
When the lad's agony was over, the young monk sat forward.
"What's your name, man?" Dima asked the boy.
"Min." The monk said dryly, turning his head back.
I'm Dima, nice to meet you. At the same time, the guy thought, 'I fuck coincidences like that'.
In the next few minutes Dima was on his way to meet his destiny as part of a mounted troop.