Shaman 3. THE ROAD BACK (full text)

My dear readers! Thank you for being with me all this time. So the Chapter  "The road back" of my book is finished. For your and my convenience, I combined it into one blog. So in the future we will have fewer links :)

   

       Chapter 2. THE ROAD BACK

  Part 1.

     It was an ordinary day. I just got a haircut with my old master, whom I've known for twenty years, and decided to take a walk through the recently renovated Elizabeth Square. In this part of Budapest there are always a lot of young smiling passers-by, which, in combination with the beautiful sunset and the top of Gellért Hill, gilded by it, gives a special state of mind.

    Somewhere behind me I heard a familiar voice and I automatically looked around. What I saw made me quickly get together and turn on my brain. They switched with apparent delay for which there was a strong reason.

    I suddenly found myself between two realities, events in which unfolded in parallel. Moreover, the rapidity of events in the first contrasted sharply with the slow pace of the second.

    Turning my whole body to an avalanche of growing sounds, I saw my old comrade Andrew gallops in my direction on his faithful Whirlwind. At full speed, turning back, he sent an arrow after an arrow in the pursuing him some riders. We were separated by a distance of not more than one hundred meters.

    I looked where the entrance to the Deák Ferenc tér was supposed to be. The passers-by continued to walk leisurely, while on both sides they were picked up by the advancing forward detachment of Dengezik, the eldest son of Attila. I recognized them by the color of their leather hauberks.

    A second later the chain of horsemen closed and now inexorably rolled on me while I lay on my back, crushed by my horse, from the neck of which four arrows protruded. "Kata! Kata!" - a cry of despair and pain escaped from my throat.

    Andrew noticed my fall and my dropped bow. He pulled out his blade and threw it to me with one precise movement. While he continued to throw the enemy with his pointed arrows.

    I was attacked immediately by two warriors from the tumen of Denga. They obviously interfered with each other, which allowed me to stick a blade in the neck to one of them. Fleeing from the another, I had to make a somersault ahead, otherwise the ax of the thug would have cut me in half. With a habitual movement, I thrust Andrew's sword into the full-height assailant. The warrior remained standing with a blade protruding from his chest. And again my Kipchak friend saved me: a rider, shot by Andrew, fell back, while his horse continued to run towards me. I mechanically grabbed her on the bridle, threw my leg up and in a second I was in the saddle, slippery with sweat and blood.
    "What the hell is this? Why were we attacked by warriors from the neighboring tumen?" - rushed in my head.

    The stallion added speed and we began to catch up with Andrew. My bow and quiver with arrows remained under Kata, and without them  I was almost useless. I directed the horse to the side, deciding to cover the footmen retreating. To clarify the situation, I climbed a small hill and looked around ... the square with passers-by walking peacefully. Sounds of battle and the voices of passers-by merged together ... I had to sit on the nearest bench to take a breath.

    Breathing became more regular, but every second I was more and more angry for "leaving the battlefield." I should have calmed down and sorted out myself. What was it?
  

  Part 2.

    From the chronicles of Barakka, I know that the conflict between Attila's warriors was provoked by the sudden death of the Dynast.

  Attila's sons Ellak and Dengezik decided to take away the father's throne from the successor and united for this purpose. Each of them had a tumen of warriors. Thus, against the legitimate candidate for the leaders of the Union, there was a twenty thousand strong army.

  In accordance with the age-old tradition, next to Attila, his successor, was the leader of the youth. It was Aladar, the son of the chief shaman Buda. So, Andrew and I are warriors of the Aladar's tumen…
   This makes me happy. I always preferred to defend justice. It's good that Attila's lagitimate wife Rieka from the Pechenegs' tribe persuaded his youngerst son Chaba not to help the brothers.

  That fight ended with the death of half the warriors from the both sides. Dissension was stopped by Attila's cousin - the legendary Deish - a "golden woman" and one of the best warriors in the entire army of the Union.

  Learning about the conflict inside the Union, the best Amazon of all time, authoritative Deish drove four horses, until she reached the place of battle. Three of her husband, two of whom, Morosh and Esek, were governors of the tumens, and the third, Nekeshe - the chief shaman, also arrived to the place of tragedy.

  The sight was depressing. The place of the battle was covered with the bodies of the best warriors of the army, who died from the hands of their brethren.

  The Council of the Elders was assembled in an emergency order. Its decision was strict. For participation in the internal bloody conflict with the aim of seizing power, all the participants of the conflict were exiled.

  Dengezik with the remnants of his warriors was sent to a permanent place of deployment in the fortress of Asur (Zaporozhye) and was to supervise the territory from Tenish-ur (Dnieper) to Itil (Volga) and the city of Madyarka (Buynaksk, Dagestan, Russia).
 Ellak was to be responsible for the land from the foothills of the Carpathians to Tenish-ur (Dnepr) with the center in the Crimea.

  Aladar with his warriors settled at the Turgai gates (the Ural Mountains and the Caspian Sea) and before Baikal through Alma-Ata had to protect the Union lands. The younger son of Atilla Chaba was appointed the Dynast of the Union with the center in Transylvania. Deish was supposed to help the young Chaba and eventually replace him.

  Surprisingly, I knew that after that conflict I went with Aladar to the Urals, and my friend Andrew settled in the Crimea. He will return to the Danube when the prince of the Kipchaks tries to save them all from the western campaign of Batu Khan. However, the prince of the Kipchaks did not manage to save himself and his army.

    Part 3.

    The train took me further and further away towards the border with Ukraine. Usually, sitting in the train car, I immediately fall asleep, but today was a special day and thoughts about the upcoming meeting in Kiev did not let me sleep.

  It was about historical find on Poshtova Square in Kiev, which, according to all scientific canons, should have been of interest of the world community, but events in the east of Ukraine seem to cover everything that is not connected with the Russian-Ukrainian war with an impenetrable blanket.

  Not such an important event! Only that the builders, when digging a pit for the construction of another shopping center, dug up fragments of the fencing of an ancient city, built of a large timber. According to the archaeologists, thе cultural level of this structure corresponds to the VIII-ХІХ centuries.

  For any capital of the world this is a sensation of the century. But Kiev, on a habit, agrees all the issues with Moscow. For the northern capital, this age level is "on the border of time" and it is possible that the found artifacts can fit into the canons accepted by the Academy of Sciences. After all, according to cronicler Nikon there must be finds not earlier than Х-XI centuries, then they could be attributed to the ancient Orthodox era of Russia, covered with a glass cap and showed to the tourists. According to the latest information, obtained by sly journalists, on the place of excavations often come across objects with inscriptions that are clearly not of Orthodox content, completely unlike the Slavic ones. It was this news that stirred my soul.

  It seems that we arrived to Lviv, where the train was scheduled to stand for about half an hour. Tired of my own thoughts, in anticipation of the miracle of Kiev, I lay down on a pre-made bed. In the corridor of the train car the footsteps and indecipherable voices of new passengers were heard. The door in the compartment opened and someone entered. That it was a woman, I rather felt than saw. She touched my shoulder and began to shake. I heard everything, but I wanted to sleep: "Suprun, wake up! Mstislav calls you! - her loud voice echoed across the hall. I jumped up, straightening my sword. It was the wife of a Russian prince, the daughter of a Polovtsian khan, whom I accompanied. It is likely that the last events have so exhausted me that I have been able to catch any moment for restoring my strength.

  On this road, I was not for the first time. Somehow, at the request of my Kipchak friend, who served in the guard of Kotyan, the governor of the Kuns, I had to accompany his wife from Saksin to Galich. He said that it would be useful to get such acquaintance. So I met the Russian prince. I spoke to them in their own language which I knew since childhood, and I knew the way well, because already about ten years I have been accompanying the royal mail on the route Buda-Iasi-Saksin-Madyarka. This mail, following the example of the so-called "flying" Mongolian, was created by a descendant of Attila Fonod. He studied in the Karakorum. And from the Karakorum to Madyarka Mongolian messengers came once a week. Further to the Buda Mountains the fate of confidential letters was my responsibility. Galich fortress is very close to Iasi and, as usual, I meet my detachment when there is an assignment on the Scythian territory.

  Mstislav the Daring greeted me cordially, but the conversation did not develop at first. The prince was nervous. And only after my words "I listen to you", Mstislav spoke directly. "Suprun, I've known you for years. You travel ofren and hear a lot, you know about the affairs in the east. The earth is full of rumors that a great misfortune is coming upon us. My wife also brought me a message from her father, where he applies to me." Then the prince took a long pause. "What do you know about the plans of the Mongols if you generally know anything?" He said quietly.

  Mstislav knew my habit of not answering at once. In this we similar. I perfectly understood what exactly the Russian prince wanted to know, and therefore I weighed the consequences of my answer. Yes, I received certain information on my service, but, naturally, I did not know the content of the mail. The answer surfaced in my head all at once. "If you are worried about the fate of the Kipchaks, then I will say directly, there are reasons for this. The danger to Russian lands is unknown to me. I think that you have already been informed about the defeat of Alans and Polovtsians in the Caucasus. The same forces will necessarily come here in the footsteps of the Polovtsians."

    Again a long pause followed. "How fast can they be here?". Surprisingly to myself, I answered almost immediately: "In a month they will be in Saksin." This time the pause lasted longer than usual. "Why did the Tatars attack Alans?" Asked the prince himself. I was already ready to voice my point of view, but did not have time: "Apparently, because of the alliance with the kuns." And then he added: "So, either we them, or they us." Then he quickly thanked me and threw to the man who appeared at the entrance: "Provide Suprun with everything necessary and accompany him to the border" ...

    I quickly left the room and almost fell on the incoming spouse of the prince. I heard her quiet voice: ... "Sorry, I accidentally." Opening my eyes, I saw a passenger who had entered the dark compartment and fell on my legs from the sharp movement of the train. Fortunately, the girl was the worst guy with a girl's voice. "What is your name?". "Michael". "Well, Misha, feel yourself at home, when you come late from a disco. You can even rustle on the table if you're hungry. " I turned away and forced myself to fall asleep again, looking for the dream. But is it a dream?

  Part 4

    The train arrived in Kiev in time. My beloved wife phoned me and said that there are traffic jams in the city in the morning, so she will be a bit late. So I have time to have a coffee somewhere in the cafe. I was ready to go immediately to the archaeological site to see for myself the veracity of the news, but I have some duties at home and in a half an hour together with my wife we were going by car towards our village.

    Every time after my business trip while we go home, I learn from my wife all the most impressive details about our pets. Usually Olya joyfully and in details talks about each and every one of our thirteen dogs and nine storks living in our house, not forgetting about everyone else. I paid attention to her spiritualized and such a dear face when she speaks about our darlings. I myself could not wait to see them. We turned to Bucha. Despite the fact that there is traffic light at every step, I liked this small town. I looked in the side window and listen to my wife. Tidy houses and a forest passed by ...

    An age-old forest and a road along which we hasten to the city on my new "Pobeda" with the professor of archeology Armatov. I specially drove after him to his country house, where his family was going to celebrate the birthday of the scientist. In the morning one of his groups, which "rummages" for already more than two months on the Ugra tract, discovered, or rather, fell into the old underground city, where a cache with ancient leather parchments was found in the destroyed wall of the dungeon. According to the professor's assistant, to which the head of the group from the archaeological site had phoned, each fragment was densely covered with text in some ancient language. Following the instructions, the scientist's assistant first of all dialed the number of the operational duty of the State Security Committee, after what he phoned me, the senior officer of the Directorate of the regime at the Academy  of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR. Because of Saturday I was at home.

    The phone call caught me reading a manuscript copy of "Satan" or "Master and Margarita" by Bulgakov. Just recently I was brought it from Moscow by my colleague. I had no desire "to rise anchor", but an inner sense of alarm pushed me out of the house. And here we are on the road. The academician is deep in his thoughts, but I do not want to ask him questions for the time being. It usually takes about an hour to reach the archaeological site from Bucha, which is near Kiev, but this time within forty minutes I stopped the car at Askold's grave. Previously, I ordered the duty officer to contact the Internal troops regiment department and to set a cordon within a radius of 250-500 meters from the place of the works. The cordon officer was already there and reported on the form, after which we began descending the stairs.

    The picture of the archaeological looked depressing. We stood in the place of the hollow, which resembled the entrance to the underworld. Armatov asked the Head of the laboratory at the Scientific-research institute of archeology, whose employees were engaged in archaeological works, a middle-aged woman, to tell about the latest events in more detail. It turned out that a group of young and inexperienced students rushed to the place of discovery because of the discovered minor artifact, from which the old vault of the dungeon collapsed under the weight of the group. One student was injured and taken to the hospital.

    The Head of the archaeological works and the Head of the laboratory descended into the opening. They switched on the light from the battery. It became clear that the collapse of the arch caused the destruction of the supporting wall, among the wreckage of which were found ancient writings in wooden boxes. I was shown some of them. My first question to the academician of archeology was the question of the approximate age of the parchments. Armatov was silent for almost five minutes. Then we separated from the others and he uttered a phrase that made me uncomfortable. "The age of these finds is clearly up to Russian, that is, much earlier than the X century. About the writings itself I can not say for sure, but they are runic. "

    I ordered to call here the Chief architect of the city with a detailed dungeon plan, and immediately replace the entire group of archaeologists with more experienced and reliable ones. The group of cordons should be strengthened and the perimeter of the cordon should be clearly defined. The hollow had to be urgently covered with waterproof material and light construction should be put. The immediate location of the find was to be additionally illuminated with searchlights for the night and the guard was necessary.

    After a short meeting with the Chief architect and academician, I asked them until tomorrow morning to prepare a list of members of the special commission from specialists and arrive with to the Second secretary of the city party committee to whom I had already phoned. After that, we said goodbye and I was again in my "Pobeda", leaving on Prospekt of Victory, in the direction of my house ...

  "Alex, do you listen to me or you remember your first love?" - half-jokingly my wife asked me when we drove into the territory of our village. I blinked stupidly, not knowing what to say, since I really was not here. But the question of where I was really troubled me more ...

  Part 5

    At home, during the breakfast, the thought of "seeing" did not leave me for a minute. I have already started to get used to my spatio-temporal blanks, but I did not tell my wife about them. What for? She will begin to worry, check the pockets for drugs or head temperature to compare with the warmth of her palm. And even in general, with the black sense of humor will offer one of two universal methods: either bloodletting or enema. Or worse, start to lock the fridge for night it to save me from nightmares. I will not survive! J

  With Kotyan it's simple: my friend Andrew "passed the news" from Budapest. Soon he has a birthday and I will call him. And where did Armatov come from? I never knew that name before. Although I do not exclude that the vision could be connected with my constant thoughts about the archaeological find in Poshtova Square in Kiev, where I was going to go straight after a short rest at home. Do these fragments of the ancient fence form a single complex with the once existing Ugric tribal site in the tract of Askold's grave? I decided at first to review the latest news on various Internet resources, and then immediately go.

  The palms of the hands on the steering wheel sweated with nervous tension. With great impatience, I was waiting for a personal meeting with the era that arose in my mind on the way home from the station. Imperceptibly for myself, I increased the speed of the car to dangerous and so I decided to switch my thoughts and turned to the gas station. I slowly drank my coffee with walnut croissant on WOG when my thoughts returned to Pochtovaya Square. But for some reason in the head several times flashed another name - Desyatinnaya church. After another "flash" I decided to go there. I chew on the go and sat into the car.

  Strangeness began already at the entrance to the city, which "stood" almost in all directions to the center. I drove to the Prospekt of Victory, turned to Leontovich Street, then to Bogdan Khmelnitsky Street and from there to turn to Vladimirskaya   Street. Ups…it's seems we have arrived - the traffic jam. We've been standing for 20 minutes. This street almost always causes me an emotional upsurge and I decided to walk. The most difficult was to find a place for parking. There was a free space near the Golden Gate, where my Tyson squeezed back to back ... How many pedestrians! I got out of the car.

  A warrior in a Scythian caftan passed by me: "Where are they all hurrying?" I asked him. Scythian looked at me appraisingly, then looked at my horse, walking near me. "You have a great horse, warrior," he said affably and smiled. "I am also glad to see you and yet ...". "Did you fall from the sky?" The other day the Varangian merchants were caught on two rooks. They say, they tried to capture with swords the Upper city at night. Of the two hundred warriors only their leader survived. Now this Viking will be tortured in public and most probably executed on the square that is near the church  of Elijah. The people just like to gawk "- he laughed for some reason.

  "I just returned from the south, so I do not know" - I thanked and said goodbye to the Scythian. Everything is clear. There was nowhere to hurry. To torture the Vikings will definitely be long"- I jumped on my horse and slightly pulled the reins. My Faithful quietly, but confidently joined the crowd of people. Near the main gates of the Upper City the crowd was particularly dense, but the riders behind me with the standard of the Governor Lybid did not pay attention to the crowd, because of what the people tried to get out of the way.

  I had to take my friend Larma with me. He loves such shows. But I myself was ordered to arrive at Grey Arpad immediately after returning from the campaign. It seems there is a decision regarding the Ecclesiastical School in Iasi. If the decision is positive, then I will go to the second step to become shaman. I asked for such an opportunity for a long time, but the Khazars continued to muddy the water, so I had to fight in the steppes.

    I spent the night in the house of my comrade-in-arms. His solid house stands next to the South Gate with a view of the tributary of Tenishur. Last night we swam in its clean and cool water and ate fish, which his son caught in a day. He lost his wife at the birth of the second child, so we were both preparing the fish ... Larma, Larma. It seems that I have known him for ages. During the battle we understand each other without words. Anything happened, but never that one of us went out of the battle alone. Even when there are several warriors in front of me, I try to follow him with my side vision. I'm sure he does the same.

  It's strange that at night there was no alarm. Two hundred scouts - it's a lot. Who let them come into the Upper Town? Most likely, intelligence from the very beginning suspected something and was followed them. From the side of the main river stretches a high wall of timber and a security town near the North Gate. By the coastal equestrian patrol even the mouse can not slip through, not that two hundred people. The whole city is guarded by Neume's tuman, and these are warriors with whom I would not want to deal in battle. If the aliens landed openly at the North Gate (they could not do it in another place, since the South Bridge with the shipping canal is closed to foreign ships), then most likely they planned to get to the reception to the Supreme Ruler.

    The Almosh Palace stands over the river just between the North and South Gates, because of what the Eastern Gate is not provided at all. Neik's warriors in the hundreds are distributed in the Lower City, and their elite protects the Ruler on the perimeter of the castle. Perhaps for this reason, the enemy intended to take the inner Upper city, close the Golden  Gate and destroy the Ruler's guard, taking him hostage. However, they still did not have a chance to go away alive. Almosh can independently defeat up to two dozen warriors, and then leave through the underground city..

  If I were the enemy, I would be looking for an entrance to the underground city. But there is no person who knows all of his entrances and exits, which means that it is extremely difficult for the enemy to find them out. Just a few people know that the Upper City has one single open entrance - it's the Golden Gate, but there are dozens of hidden underground entrances. All of them have exits as separately to all the lower gates and even beyond the city borders. Therefore, to seize a fortress is possible only if the Ruler himself becomes a traitor. But this is impossible.

    To become the Ruler of the Union, one must go through a rigorous selection from early childhood. Candidates are tracked by foremen, centurions, thousandaires which responsible for each selected candidate. Then the candidates once in 20 years pass the last public nine-day competitions of the Big Shuang. And only the winner becomes the Ruler, who is recognized by all and everybody...

    These thoughts overwhelmed me, while my faithful horse drove me in the direction of the place of execution of the Viking. From there, the hubbub of the crowd was already heard, more and more resembling the roar of the sea.

  It's strange, but when I was almost there, many people went the other direction. What does it mean?. "Morva, this is you?" - from surprise my horse winced. In the crowd I saw the face of my centurion. It turned out that we were late, but there was no execution. " Neik's Daughter, a young Ilmerka, immediately stepped onto the platform and laid her hand on the shoulderof convicted. You know what that means. " Yes, I knew. This means one thing: Ilmerka will have to marry the enemy. But does she know what the consequences of her actions might be? The price is the life of the whole nation! ...

  An audible wave struck the open window with a sharp signal from the ambulance, which approached my parking place. I roused myself. It seemed that I still saw the face of my centurion in the rear view mirror, but after looking closely, I found only a parking man with a red armband on his hand ...

  The archeological site was closed. Nearby there was an ad with a photograph of the sculpture that would stand "over the history". In the photo there are three boys, brothers Kiy, Shchek and Khoryv and their sister Lybid. They will have to symbolize the birth of Kiev Rus ... "Here is the price of a maiden prank," I thought.

  Part 6

  A phone call from Andrew found me in the farmyard. I drove wooden stakes along the perimeter of an artificial lake for storks. My Hungarian friend spoke in detail about the result of his meeting in Budapest with Monush, the world record holder in shooting from the traditional bow. He was still under the impression and his voice trembled slightly. I know this his emotionality when he talks to people spiritually close to him.

  "White Wolf", as they call the Hungarian champion in the Far East. He's an amazing person. Medium height and lean physique, he shoots from bow which he made himself. Only very few people can stretched this bow. To understand what kind of archer I am talking about, I will only say that in 2012 White Wolf sent an arrow 653 meters away, thus breaking the record stated 784 years ago, which was 496 meters. In Mongolia, in honor of their hero, even erected a pillar of stone, which still shows the date and the result of a record flight of the arrow. Today, standing above a cliff on the wall of a 120-meter-high castle, Monush can hit a target the size of a sheet of A-4 paper from the distance of 350 meters. At the same time he says that it is not he who shoots, but his ancient spirit of a warrior.

    Andrew told me about the White Wolf 's request to meet me and, although we had never met before, I somehow hastily began to get ready for the journey.

  The route was unchanged and rolled up over many years. From Kiev to Transcarpathia I'm going by train. This gives me the opportunity to meet with relatives. Further - by taxi across the border and to Nyredgyhaza, then by Intercity - to the capital of Hungary.

  Andrew meets me at the station and we rush to the Duna Plaza, where we'll meet with Monush. Why am I so worried? We go up to the cafe and while I choose a table, my friend makes an order at the bar. We sit drinking coffee in anticipation of a guest. Andrew monotonously informs me about the latest Hungarian news ... But I'm trying not to miss a single word of the head of the Council of Elders, who urgently summoned us all ...

    "Increasing earthquakes force us to leave the capital of Ordos and go to the west. The new capital of the Hun Union will be the city of Bakat on Sevan. The relocation will be led by Bendeguz, the new Ruler of the Union. The entire gold reserve is also transferred to the new capital, and to two tribes of the Pechenegs, whose Rulers refuses to go, we leave all the immovable and the movable property. Representatives of all Hunnic peoples sit here. Who wants to speak out?".

    "I require our part of the gold reserve to be left in Ordos" - the chief Pecheneg stood up. Bendeguz stood up also. "If we leave gold to you, our eternal enemies of the Chinese will attack Ordos tomorrow and take it away from you, killing your families at the same time."

  The Pechenegs continued to resent, turning to shouting. I got up: "If the Pechenegs remain, let them conclude alliances with the Chinese, including family ones. Unite with your neighbors and live in peace. Before Bendeguz there is an unknown road and Rome, greedy for gold, but, unlike you, the main army is with him and they will be able to defend themselves. In case of special danger, the Pechenegs will have the opportunity to join us in the new lands ... This is my last word. "

  People began to disperse. The Pechenegs muttered discontentedly. Bendeguz came up to me. "My dear shaman, get ready. Tomorrow, early in the morning, you leave at the head of the first detachment. Without you, warriors along the way will get involved in unnecessary conflicts, you will be able to calm them, and in case of anything, reconcile. Take care of yourself. I will miss you. Maybe we will see each other again. " We exchanged a long look and hugged ...

    "Alex, let me introduce you to Joseph Monush" - I heard the solemn voice of Andrew. I turn in the direction of the guest. Our views met ... "My Ruler!" - I whispered involuntarily. "My dear shaman," said Monush quietly in my ear as we embraced ...

 Shaman 1. A real story from my life. 

 Shaman 2. A real story from my life.