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8

They made it. And there they waited, in a drowse, for the evening. That night they made quite a big transition, and by morning came upon a giant boulder, which served well as a shelter. At twilight, droplets of water appeared on it.

We are lucky! But we can’t always be so fortunate… or can we? Maybe my prayers have been heard? In any case, thank you, my starry patrons!

9

About seven days passed. Jumanna couldn’t say for sure. She had lost count because she wasn’t thinking about that. Rather, she dwelled on how to survive and how to save the lives of the students. The map of the starry sky changed and she knew they had definitely walked north. But it was difficult to say how far.

One night they once again slept on the sand. In the morning, they noticed new lifesaving stones, or something similar to them, on the horizon. At first, Jumanna decided to go to them in the afternoon, but her mind resisted. Her inner voice, which she had learned to trust without hesitation, said that it was necessary to advance right this second!

The start was cheerful and the goal was clear. But after about an hour the enthusiasm faded. The daytime sun incandesced the air and the sand, but cooled the travelers’ enthusiasm.

Jumanna, with jaws set hard, continued to hurry her students. Sometimes with cheers, sometimes with gentle persuasions, and sometimes resorting to scolding similar to what rude caravanners used towards their most stupid camels. Jumanna herself was surprised that she knew so many curses. She never imagined she would ever use them, especially addressing children.

The most important thing is that they don’t use them in Konolwar’s school and don’t tell anyone who taught them. Or whatever. Is it really all that important? No! The primary goal now is to get to Konolwar! The most important thing now is to stay alive!

The new ridge was already close, but it did look really strange. A confident voice inside grew quiet, and the bad premonition returned. Jumanna took a step forward, but her foot immediately fell knee-deep into the sand. The young woman felt herself start to sink underground. She squealed from the suddenness. It was clear that it was a burrow of a sand dragon!

The ridge, as it turns out, had covered this burrow.

How could I have been so mistaken! What kind of delusion dragged me forward?

Several hands caught her from behind and managed to keep hold of her. Calif arrived almost immediately and pulled the caretaker out of the deadly funnel.

Jumanna looked around. Two hundred steps away was a high barchan, ahead – a treacherous ridge. The sand finally fell into a black abyss and the huge predatory face of a dragon appeared from the sandy depths.

“Take the children away!” she managed to shout to Lamis as she pointed to the barchan.

She pulled Khallan’s blade out from her belt and thrust it forward. She did everything the way Khasim instructed her to before leaving, in case the caravan was attacked by a dragon. But Jumanna couldn’t have ever imagined that she would actually have to encounter it like this, face to face. The dragon was already hovering over her. It was enormous! One and a half times the size of its relatives.

An outcast!

In a way, this could be considered luck. Dragon-outcasts always lived alone, outside the pack. However, they were the most cunning, the strongest, the most insidious representatives of the dragon family.

Suddenly, Calif and Makacash appeared on either side of Jumanna, and took up a similar fighting stance, swords forward.

Jumanna turned around. The others, even the girls, stood behind, with Lamis spreading her hands, if only to say, “What could I do?”

“What?” Jumanna literally yelled at them. “To face a dragon without weapons? To the barchan, immediately!” This had an effect. They obeyed, turning and running away immediately.

“And you,” Jumanna quickly glanced at Calif and Makacash. “Move closer to me! Bring your swords to my saber! As a triangle! And aim for the dragon’s throat!”

But the outcast was even more cunning than Jumanna had imagined. Instead of attacking them with his jaws, his tail swept the feet of the trinity, scattering Jumanna, Calif, and Makacash in different directions.

Jumanna fell on her back, and the dragon rose above her, opened its jaws and plunged down sharply. The only thing that Jumanna thought at that instance was, “Forgive me, Father! Forgive me, beloved brother! Forgive me, my dear Mother!”

As the dragon nose-dived at Jumanna, something powerful and heavy struck, pushing it away, allowing her time to jump to her feet. She couldn’t believe her eyes! Next to the dragon stood an enormous lion, baring its teeth. It appeared out of nowhere and knocked down the winged creature in one leap!

“Sandy Lion,” whispered Jumanna.

The dragon rose from the ground and tried to fly up. But Jumanna, driven by instinct (she wasn’t the sister of Khasim Amatt, a skillful dragon hunter, for nothing) rushed towards the monster and slashed its throat with the saber. She couldn’t have thought the dragon’s head would fly off so easily. The body collapsed to the ground, having never fully risen into the air, conjuring a great pillar of dust around it.

The lion looked Jumanna in the eye. She had never met an animal with such a piercing stare! No, there could be no coincidence. That night she had appealed to the constellation of the Lion, the ancient hero and the star of the same name… and the Marawie Sand Lion himself had come to her aid!

It was he who ordered me to advance immediately this morning!

And how after this could one refuse to believe that the Chekatta could speak to the dead, and that Vedichs turned into animals?

The lion let out a growl, not an angry one but rather a calling one, and rushed off to the north, making several mighty jumps. After a while he stopped and turned back to look at Jumanna.

“He’s calling me to go with him,” she said out loud and turned to the barchan. “Hey you! C’mon! Follow me!” Jumanna lifted her saber again as if she was leading her pupils to battle.

Calif and Makacash had already caught up to her.

Jumanna just ran. She ran after the lion until he disappeared on the horizon. With her last ounce of strength, she screamed, turning to the children behind her, screaming only one word, “Faster!” She shrieked until dryness finally scorched her throat into silence.

The lion disappeared, but she kept running after him. The lion left no marks on the sand, but Jumanna knew exactly where he had run to. Sometimes she wondered if she made it all up. But then who, if not the lion, had saved her from the dragon?

Due to dehydration, perspiration no longer dripped down her face; her feet were petrified, but continued to mechanically measure the footsteps; her swollen tongue had stopped obeying. Jumanna didn’t turn around; she just knew the students must be following. Lagging behind, but following. They had to believe in her! After all, she believed!

She began to climb up the hill. Scattering sand entangled her legs. But Jumanna didn’t give up. She climbed.

What kind of power led her? It was impossible to understand. Perhaps it was The Power, the nature of which could not be explained.

As the sun was rolling towards sunset, another night in the open sand meant death! But Jumanna didn’t think about it. She climbed to the top of the hill, and there the beautiful green valley unraveled before her gaze! It was not an oasis! Not a mirage. The desert just ended abruptly. The blue river, beginning to glisten with reddish shades, separating life from death. Death in the guise of golden sand lost its power where the river bank began.

And only now, understanding that she had won, Jumanna gleefully turned around. Makacash had already crawled up to her. Much further, Moualdar, Astramed and a few more boys began to climb the hill. Slightly lower than them, the other brisk boys could be seen. Lamis followed, holding the hands of the two girls, while the lazy Mulaf and others followed. And quite a bit further in the distance waddled Calif with small Munu and her herdmate, Inaya, in his arms.

“Faster! Faster!” cried Jumanna, no longer strictly, but joyfully. “We made it!”

Even from afar Calif accurately grasped the change in her mood and quickened his pace.

Everyone literally rolled head over heels down the slope, dipped their heads into the river and drank like animals.

In the last rays of the sunset, they crossed the river and fell into the canopy of green trees, rare, but with thick buxom crowns.

Jumanna leaned her elbows on the tree trunk. Lamis sat down beside her.

“Thank you,” she said in a weak voice. “You’ve saved us all! You brought us to the Valley!”

“It’s all thanks to the lion,” Jumanna sighed.

“What lion?” Lamis asked in an amazed tone, but immediately drifted off.

10

Jumanna opened her eyes and looked at the sun. Noon had long since been and gone. Yesterday she used up too much of her strength. When she got up, she realized that the students had long since woken. The caretaker had no time to wipe her eyes when twenty-two students, led by Calif, approached her, each one dropping to one knee. Lamis joined in.

“Thank you, our caretaker and teacher, Jumanna Inaiya Khaniya Amatt!” the eldest boy began. “Yesterday we were too tired and couldn’t tell you this! Forgive us! We must thank you endlessly! You saved us many times! And now you have brought us to the Valley.”

“Thank you!”

Sincerely and fervently, the phrase “Thank you” was repeated by the childish voices.

Jumanna only smiled in return.

She bathed her face in the water, and then realized that it was worth swimming. Stepping aside, she got undressed, and with obvious pleasure entered the cool waters of the river. After spending almost half an hour there, she went back to the camp and began to collect fruit from the trees. The juicy peaches and oranges became a wonderful breakfast.

Jumanna announced that they would spend the day in the fruit grove to restore their strength.

In his ear, Calif was instructed to take all the boys to the river and properly wash them. Lamis was already going to the other side to bathe the girls. Jumanna halted her friend.

“Did you really not see the lion?” she asked, looking into Lamis’s eyes.

“What lion? Please explain!” She was obviously surprised.

“Who killed the dragon?”

“You!” Lamis said, even more surprised.

“And no one helped me?”

“Calif and Makacash,” The tone of her younger friend filled with bewilderment. “But the dragon quickly scattered them in different directions. And you rushed straight at him and blew his head, and then rushed forward and led us, running like an antelope! I was afraid we would collapse, but you… you instilled confidence in us! And we reached the Valley! Do you not remember?

“I remember,” said Jumanna, “It just seemed to me that I saw a lion… do not pay attention to me! It’s the emotions.”

“Thanks again!” Lamis enveloped Jumanna in her arms.

11

The day was calm. Evening came, then the night. Jumanna did not want to sleep. She sat and thought. There were so many questions…

Was the lion a phantom? Or not?

And how did we come to the Valley in just a few treks? We should have walked for at least fifteen days. Did the astronomer Al-Dassay lead the caravan so far to the northeast? Or was it that after the caravan’s death I lost count?

She decided she didn’t want to think on it further, instead allowing joyous emotions to overwhelm her. After all, the students had survived the ruthless desert! She, Jumanna Amatt, had succeeded in leading them to the borders of the Valley!

Everyone would’ve been proud of me! Father… Brother. I must write to him! He will be bug-eyed with surprise! And my mother will be proud… but my mother shouldn’t know about our adventures!

And then Jumanna felt a hunch.

The diary!

Of course, it was necessary to add new records to it. In the desert, there had been no time for it, and now it was worth making a few notes while their recent experiences were still ripe. But the impulse quickly dried up. Jumanna remembered she had no ink.

She dug into her hiking bag to make sure of this, and along with the diary, she took out the “Journey to Sky.”

Volume One – The Ito Empire…

Once again, her memory filled with images – Father, the Universe, a starry sky, the Lion constellation and the ghost of a lion in the desert, the Star of the Marawie, the scorpio-angler, the dragon, the experienced astronomer who had lost his way, as well as those strange voices, forebodings, visions and dreams and… this book.

All the incredible events that had taken place in the last few days in no way looked like a series of accidents. On the contrary, they were more like parts of one chain.

Strange, very strange…” Be afraid of your desires,” the wise say. I wanted my journey to be Great, and the stars, as if they had heard me, had reshaped themselves, plotting my route.

Jumanna took the book and opened it. In the bright light, all the symbols and sentences were perfectly readable. And now, it seemed a sort of magic arose from the moonlit glow of the ink-filled pages! Again, Jumanna felt something. Yes, yes, something related to that special energy. Nothing like this had happened before.

Maybe this is really due to emotions?

Jumanna began to slowly turn over the pages, briefly re-reading the paragraphs that she knew almost by heart:

THE TRAVEL TO THE SKIES

Volume One – The Ito Empire

Sixth edition. A summary of the Grand Book

Author: Azir Amunjadee

Azir Amunjadee, also known as Azir the Wanderer, is a member of the Old Pages Clan and descendant of Demar Amunjadee, creator of the famous Adventure Book. Azir is the author of a number of works in which he describes in detail the history of the northern people. He is the only stranger who managed to see the closed lands of the Ulutau and visit the mysterious Tau schools. The manuscripts of Azir help to form a notion of the amazing northern philosophy. They have been translated into various languages and are part of a series of books describing all the people of Elinor.

The Ito Empire – General Information

In the north, is the Dead Land. Here everything is shrouded in a dense veil of fog. Not a single ray of sun penetrates it. From the fog emerge demons, the most dreadful creatures, and only one nation can resist them – the Itoshins. The main settlements of these amazing people are located on a plateau called the Life Border Plateau. It is a ridge of stony hills, covered with eternal mist and fog. Nothing grows here, except for dry thorns of different forms, and only yauls can eat them – these animals truly have iron stomachs. The cities of the Itoshins are united into an empire ruled by the immortal emperor Tosho and his eternally young daughter Tsvetsho. All the people of Elinor are surprised at how the Itoshins can live in such inhuman conditions. I, Azir Aniluir Anevandi Anademar Amunjadee, travelled from the city of Eavette up the Huma River until Kawa, then continued further along the misty hills to Moon Lake, saw the emperor Tosho and the portraits of his beautiful daughter, and fought with the demons of the Dead Lands. I’m the only Djunit who walked the Path of Horror to the Celestial Plateau and survived. I have traveled this way so that you, my dear reader, can learn more about the amazing northern people and love them, as I do.

The Ruler of the City of Eavette

Dear curious reader, before telling you about the northern people, I would like to share a story about how their formation began.

To tell you the truth, it’s difficult to reliably explain what happened during the Great Exodus of the people from the Valley of the Ancestors, as it was so long ago. I studied myths and legends of local residents, wrote down old songs, and visited ancient libraries. Based on this knowledge, I can roughly restore the events of those old years.

The Itoshinian ancestors lived in the heart of Elinor – the Valley of the Ancestors – in the city of Eavette and its suburbs. When the lands in the Valley became scarce, tribes from other cities began to wander in search of better lands, and as you, of course, know, wise reader, this was how the Great Exodus began. Yes, it was also then that our great people emerged, when Marawie the Sand Lion, our father and leader, led experienced farmers to the south, into an endless desert.

About the formation of our people, you, my deeply versed reader, of course, know. However, about the formation of other nations, you, most likely, do not.

The inhabitants of the city of Eavette occupied the fertile northern part of the Valley, and did not intend to leave it.

But one day Tosho, the ruler of the city of Eavette, had a traveler for a visitor, a traveler who had returned from the wild northern lands. Unfortunately, dear reader, I could not find out the name of this traveler. This is a great pity, as only thanks to this man was the terrible north uncovered. It was he who sold to the ruler Tosho ancient tomes, which he had found in the northern ruins. According to legends, these were the books of the Second Epoch. But no one will ever find out what was in them, since these tomes were later destroyed by Tosho himself.

After studying these books, the ruler gathered the most devoted comrades-in-arms, as well as six noble families, and set off on a journey to the north, thereby continuing the Exodus from the Valley of the Ancestors.

The Journey of the Seven Families to the North

It’s hard to say for sure what exactly Tosho went to look for in the northern lands, but I guess there were some incredibly important artifacts left from the Second, and even from the First Race.

Initially, the way to the north did not cause any trouble, as evidenced by the ancient legends of the Itoshins. On the road, Tosho had a daughter, Tsvetsho. She was destined to play an important role in the emergence of the people of Ulutau, but I will tell you about it later, dear reader. When Tosho and the six families reached the Life Border Plateau, the first problems began. The plateau met them with dank dampness and thick fogs. For about five years, the ancestors of the Itoshins wandered this labyrinth of hills and bare rocks. It was there they first encountered the procreations of Dead Earth – wicked creatures, unlike any animal of Elinor.

Many songs and legends are composed about the first meetings of the Itoshins with the demons. It all started when the people began to see shadows in the fog. Eerie visions haunted the travelers for months. They talked about nightmarish creatures, darting about in the fog, but no one could see them. Then people began to disappear. At first, they were either those who got separated from the main cart or hunters, but later the disappearances continued among the main detachment. No one knew where these people disappeared to. This led to the pathfinders’ growing fear of hunting. They began to stay together as a dense group, and the expedition was on the verge of failure.

It was then there occurred a split. Two families – Maca and Yugie – decided to stop the search and leave Tosho. No persuasion could convince them to stay. The ruler cursed these families. Their representatives left Tosho, carrying away his curse. The further fate of the Maca and Yugie families is quite tragic. None of them came down from the plateau. They got lost in the eternal fogs, and one can only guess what their deaths were like. The Itoshins told me that sometimes they meet their wayward souls, mutely wandering in the darkness in their eternal search. This vision is called the curse of the Maca-Yugie, and to see it is considered a malicious sign.

The remaining four families – Unu, Wari, Saku, and Taki – and Tosho with his daughter, continued their journey. On the road, they lost another family – all the Wari went missing. Tosho’s wife also died tragically; she fell off a slippery path and plummeted into a bottomless crevice.

But mighty was the will of Tosho, and the desire to find what he was looking for was great. To inspire his people, he took his sword and went alone, straight into the thickness of the fog. After a while he returned, dragging the body of an unknown creature. The sight of the monster was terrible – its jaws held huge, sharp teeth; five ridiculous extremities ended with razor sharp claws; the creature lacked eyes and ears. To the question regarding how Tosho had overcome this beast, he replied that he had not felt fear, only anger, and that the creature itself had rushed at his sword. This event is depicted on the frescoes covering the walls in the Emperor Tosho’s palace. The carcass of the first murdered demon was turned into a scarecrow, which to this day adorns the throne of the Emperor. I happened to visit the throne room of Tosho, and the muzzle of the beast shocked me. Even now, after many centuries, it is terrifying. Tosho’s heroic feat became the first stone in the foundation of the philosophy of the future Ito Empire.

Inspired by the example of their leader, the people moved on. Now that they knew they were being confronted by beings of flesh and blood, fear had left them. The expedition continued its journey.

Moon Lake and the Demons of the Misty Hills

Once, the travelers ascended a high hill, and from the summit they saw the sky for the first time in many years. It was late in the evening, and the full moon was shining. It was brightly reflected in the surface of a small lake. Strongly impressed by such a beautiful view, the newcomers called it Moon Lake. As it turned out, the fog never rose to such a height, and the sky above Moon Lake was always clear. Wearied by long wanderings, the travelers decided to establish their first settlement. They erected a city-fortress, Shohan, which later became the capital of the empire. Amazing animals lived in the vicinity of Moon Lake such as the yauls, who eventually were domesticated by the Itoshins. Moon Lake itself was filled with beautiful fish and other animals. This islet of light in the endless fogs was not the only one, and gradually the Itoshins settled all over the plateau. As it turned out, the demons of the fog did not like the light and in the daytime, life in the settlements was relatively calm. At night, houses were locked with tight shutters, and anyone who could hold a weapon led an endless defense against terrible enemies.

The Immortal Emperor

Here, my dear reader, I should share my reflections with you. I was not able to find out if the other families knew what Tosho was looking for, and if they didn’t know, then what else could have made them embark on such a dangerous path? To this day, we foreigners don’t know whether the ancestors of the Itoshins found anything on the plateau. I have an assumption that this is somehow connected with the immortality of Emperor Tosho and his daughter. But I have no evidence to support this conjecture, and scientists like me cannot rely solely on assumptions. I leave this unsolved mystery to you, my inquisitive reader. Perhaps you will be able to solve it.

Surely, you will immediately remember our founding father and want to compare him with Tosho. Both took away their people during the Exodus – one to the north, the other to the south. Both were charismatic and strong-willed leaders. Both are supposedly immortal. But here, my probably erring reader, I’ll argue with you. Nothing is known about the life of the Marawie Sand Lion before the Exodus. Instead, since the journey to the south, there have been many chronicles and much documented evidence. Our ancestor truly did live a long life, and slowly grew old. He came out of the Forest, while the Vedichs and Taurs, as is known, live lives that are many times longer than those of other people. Therefore, the longevity of the Great Marawie’s life is quite explainable. Moreover, there is evidence that over the years, he did grow old, slowly, dying at a fairly venerable age. The Emperor, on the contrary, grew old only up to a certain age, and after gaining immortality, retained his look for centuries. The same is true for his daughter, who is forever young and beautiful. I did not see her myself, as law prohibits it, but I saw her portrait. I would give about twenty years to this girl. From that, I can conclude that up to a certain age, the beautiful and unequivocally incredible Tsvetsho did grow, changing in appearance. So, as the north and south differ from each other, so do the people who inhabit them.

The Itoshinian Language

The language of the Itoshins is simple and understandable. It took after the Old Language of the Great Cities, which remotely resembles the language of the modern Chekatta. But the language of the empire has largely undergone phonetic changes. It has no cases and conjugations. Nouns, verbs, and adjectives are written and pronounced identically. The main words of the Itoshins contain short sounds. For example: In – the people, To – the father, Vet – mother, Ve – life, Do – sword, La – fog, Tsu – courage. Such brevity of language helps the Itoshins in battle. It’s easier to give commands and explain the current situation. Rarely used words can consist of two syllables, quite rarely of three.

The Dotsu Code

Life in an eternal struggle dictates its own rules, which affect the whole culture and daily routine of the Itoshins. But it is not chaotic. All the inhabitants of the Ito Empire live by the code of Dotsu, written by Emperor Tosho himself. This is not just a tabula of laws or regulations. This is the philosophy of being. In the code, every Itoshin can find not only how he should live, but also what he must feel. Don’t rush to wonder at the morals of the empire, nor judge them. As an outsider who understands the essence of Dotsu philosophy, I can say that this code is simply a necessity. After all, it gives the Itoshins not only a way of life mapped out as in a textbook, but also fearlessness and immortality. Immortality that is different from that of the Emperor – an immortality of the spirit! With their contempt for fear, the Itoshins reveal the true power and greatness of their people.

The Path of Horror

The most eerie place in all of Elinor!

Jumanna quickly put down the book.

The Path of Horror… of horror!

The desire to read further had disappeared. Suddenly she was revisited by the very same prophetic fear! That familiar fear! The fear that had tormented her before receiving news from the Valley; the fear that had tortured her before the misadventures in the desert

It was as though this book now dragged her away from the present, from the southern deserts to the north, to the Path of Horror, as though something inevitable was going to happen there… something that would change the destiny of mankind forever. And somehow, she, Jumanna Amatt, was involved.

She remembered perfectly by heart what was described further in the book of Azir. The beauty of the Emperor’s daughter Tsvetsho, the way Azir walked along the Path of Horror, how he found himself in the beautiful mountainous country of the Ulutau, how he followed the teachings of the mountain people. Azir described this nation in bright colors; he admired its way of living.

A voice, Jumanna’s inner voice, woke up again and seemed to hint that her fate was closely intertwined with the fate of the representatives of the people of the north. But the main event would take place there, on the Path.

It was only a premonition. But how, after all that had passed, could she not trust it?

Jumanna raised her head, looking at the constellation of the Lion.

“I’ll ask for your help again, great hero,” she whispered.

12.

The next day, Jumanna and her students entered the town of Muo.