Wandering Spark - Part 26
"Where were you?" The master pounced him, when he returned, gasping for breath, pressing a linen bag to his chest. "I wanted to send you with the guests, I had to send Nila... Where have you been?"
"Nila with the guests?" Varan asked, still pressing the bag to his chest. "And when ... When will she return?"
"Hey, you're quite crazy, pal," said the owner, attentively looking at him. Before Varan wasn’t seen in neglect of his duties. "What's wrong with you today?"
Varan smiled happily.
"May I wait for her?"
"You may," said the host, completely puzzled. "You think I can forbid you from that, or what?"
Varan went to the grotto where the serpanters were usually kept, and lay down in a hammock, without taking the load from his chest.
He will say: "This is for you." No, he will say: "This is my wedding gift for you." No, he will not say anything, will not say anything ... Just dismiss the lace on the bag, and then she will see for herself.
Maybe it's too dark in the grotto? Ask her to go on the light? No, she does not like the sun... Here in the caves, her eyes are most comfortable... And the sparkles in the depths of the stones burn so brightly that they glow even in total darkness... So the jeweler said...
Varan closed his eyes for a minute. Immediately Nila appeared and stood next to the hammock. He tightened his grip on the linen bag and prepared to say long-thought-out words, but his lips didn’t open in a dream. Nila, not wanting to wait, took him by the shoulders and shook him strongly.
Varan opened his eyes.
The evening light of the sun was dying from under the water. The grotto was lit by torches. An unfamiliar man in the silver-black jacket of the guard shook Varan by the shoulders, behind him stood a pale master and the jeweler.
"Get up," the guard said, almost good-naturedly. Varan blinked, not understanding - his dream ended or just beginning?
"I'm nothing ..." he began and hesitated. The guard turned to the jeweler.
"He?"
The jeweler, an old tanned Gorni with faded eyebrows and bald patches on his forehead - made a gesture of a bird clinging to the grain:
"Yes, he."
"Let's go to the judge," said the guard to Varan.
"For what?!"
"You don’t know?"
Water in the grotto began to boil. First appeared the horned head of Kruchina, and then Nila with her wet hair spread over the shoulders.
She looked around, not understanding anything and turned pale. It was visible even in the torchlight. She tightly grabbed the bridle; she wanted to say something, but the master quickly waved to her, and the words remained in Nila's throat.
"You do not know?" repeated the guard and took from the dead hands of Varan a canvas bag. He loosened his shoelace and took the necklace; the blue and white stones shimmered in the semi-darkness.
Kruchina sighed noisily. Nila did not make a sound, she sat motionless in the saddle, looking at Varan, then at the necklace, then at the guard. Water ran down her shoulders.
"I bought it." Power returned to Varan. "I did not steal it. I have paid."
"The money is false," the jeweler said dully. "Forged one hundred krones, pal."
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10
Part 11
Part 12
Part 13
Part 14
Part 15
Part 16
Part 17
Part 18
Part 19
Part 20
Part 21
Part 22
Part 23
Part 24
Part 25
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