The wind threw a fine drizzle in my face, and I had to pull my hat tighter over my eyes - a wide-brimmed leather one. An invariable attribute of the local inhabitants, which to me personally always seemed like a stupid foolishness. However, now there was no choice: the rain could well be radioactive. It will not hurt much - the doses in thin gray-yellow clouds have long been different, but still little pleasant. So I had to borrow a hat from Jet. Moreover, it will no longer be useful to him ...
Today I was awakened in the middle of the night by a shrill young patrolman and demanded to drive with him to sector eleven, where his colleagues found the body of Jet Reed, a tobacco dealer. I, of course, put forward a counter-offer - get to hell. At least until the morning. Because when the patient is already dumbfounded, the doctor may not be in a hurry. The patrolman whined that the authorities would skin him off, cut his salary, or maybe even send him out of the perimeter. And damn it, I was not sorry for him - what kind of humanity for the devil in the third hour ?! - but try to fall asleep with such accompaniment.
So it turned out that in the morning I was completely exhausted by work - by the way, not mine, because I did not sign up to cut corpses - and I was stuck in three sectors from the house. The police did not offer to give me a lift: they invite me to the car only when they need something from me. Well, why surprise, in our entire Hole, four cars are a valuable piece. So now I cannot avoid treating clothes with a decontamination solution. The trouble is still the same.
Do not think that I am being dragged out of bed because of every corpse. I wouldn't sleep that way. The hole is still a remote place, the territory is small, there are not many people, but at the same time, in any of the outer sectors, not a single night is complete without stabbing, or even shooting. From the muddy river strewn with gasoline blobs, flowing beyond the perimeter, every now and then they will catch someone. The usual thing, Hole ...
But this time all of our police (though not numerous: four people) were on their ears. Firstly, the deceased was an important bigwig by local standards, and secondly, he died very strangely. It seemed that old Jet went to bed and soon lost his own heart and several liters of blood. Broken ribs were attached. Well, that's okay, anything can happen with us. Maybe competitors have appeared in the tobacco business? .. Another surprise was: the bed and body were generously strewn with white petals. Well, once white - now mostly dirty brown. Even living in Central Base, where the last rogue has three times more income than the local barons, I have never seen real flowers so close, let alone seen in such incredible numbers. I admit that the combination turned out to be something else: the delicate, aroma exuded by the petals, mixed with the heavy metallic smell of blood; their beauty - with an ugly grimace that distorted the face of the dead. No one has yet had time to open his mouth, but I already understood where this was going.
- These ... Those killed him! ..
Well, now that our captain had stopped vomiting and he could say it out loud, there was no way back. The news that "these" had killed the tobacco dealer spread with some absolutely incredible speed.
In fact, they are called in different ways: spirits, creatures, creatures ... Depends on the place. Here, every second person here considers himself a descendant of the Irish, so another name stuck - the faerie. Some say that they are the result of mutations that happened many hundreds of years ago, when the amount of poisons and radioactive substances in the atmosphere was at its peak. Others - that the latest nuclear war has thinned the line between our world and the other world. What, in essence, is the difference? The main thing is that creatures incomprehensible to us live very close to us - most of the time invisible and intangible, but sometimes they become quite real. Some say that they even talked with them, for example, Ben from the Eighth Brothel (by the way, the only one, I don't know where this name comes from) claims to have slept with a fiery maiden. Surely lying, but many have seen the fiery faeries. And not only them. I saw it myself - from afar, really.
In fact, today's incident is by no means the first time when “these” were accused, but personally, I usually looked skeptical at such versions. Someone in the greenhouse has bent all the tobacco - no, it's not competitors who poisoned it, it's faeries. They strangled someone - also a faerie, and not at all the wife's lover. Convenient, damn it! Recently, however, these moods have been growing, if earlier everything ended in chatter over a drink and drunken bravado that disappeared along with the hops, now they began to set traps. They say even one of the faeries was killed. I don't know if Jet Reed's death was the work of a mythical fairy people, or if someone just decided to take over his business. But if it did, then no matter how it turned out to be the answer to those same traps ... Some influential people in the Hole have long called for decisive action - in other words, for war. It will be lousy if they get their way. Personally, I'm always against the war: I'm not a workaholic and I don't want to work overtime.
Lost in these disturbing thoughts, I missed the moment when it was necessary to turn. When I came to my senses, on the left a line of dilapidated buildings had already begun - mostly warehouses; ruins stretched right up to the horizon. Darkened concrete, crumbled in places, from which bundles of shiny nitinol reinforcement stick out here and there, blind holes of windows. For half a year I almost got used to such a landscape. No, do not think that I have ever seen another - nothing else has remained on the planet for many centuries - and maybe it never was. It's just that you can't see it on Central. Everything there is hidden by an ultra-strong plasticon dome, so instead of a gray sky and ruins, you see the sparkling gloss of the coating.
He swore, climbed for cigarettes - an expensive thing nowadays, but you need to spend money on something ... Many postpone in the hope that they will be able to save up for moving to one of the bases. They can be understood, there is no acid precipitation on your head, and the composition of the air under the domes is carefully regulated. Well, what am I saving for? I am a dead person in those places. Here radiation and heavy metals will kill me in a few years (if I'm lucky), and there ... I won't even have a couple of days there.
I caught some movement at the wall of the nearest house, my palm itself fell on the handle of the revolver. At one time I gave an exorbitant sum for this contraption, but I had no regrets. It was she who gave me the chance to get out of Centralnaya alive, and here, in the Hole, she was completely irreplaceable.
However, a creepy-looking guy who emerged from the opening hastily lowered the knife, recognizing me.
- Good morning, doc! Didn't expect to see you here.
Relieved, I removed my finger from the trigger. Well, being the only decent physician in the area has decidedly advantages. In any case, even such scumbags as this one try not to touch me. When not drunk and drugged. It’s funny: if you want to be respected, throw yourself into such a Hole.
In general, I am often asked why I moved here. I make an unbreakable face and lie, as if I'm tired of living in a plastic jar. I wanted fresh air, I say. And what, even if he is poisoned by God knows what, but here he really breathes more freely. There is even a wind here. You can also see the sky.
In fact, everything is much simpler, of course. The head of one of the major sections of the Central Base got rid of his predecessor and wanted me to rewrite the medical report. But I haven't rewritten it. I was offered money, then a position. When I sent him for the third time, he calmed down, smiled - they say, we are civilized people, no way, no one insists. And then I realized that he had already decided my future fate. Finally, he told me that my adherence to principles would kill me one day ... Well, something will kill us all. And let it be better adherence to principles.
I emerged from the memory and, nodding in response to the greeting, quickened my pace. I really wanted to come home and go to sleep. A few raindrops fell on the cigarette, and the taste of the already bad tobacco just got worse. I stopped, wanted to break off the wet section: it was a pity to throw it away entirely, but to smoke such rubbish - thank you. And only because of this I heard a rustle and, it seems, a quiet groan, coming from the direction of one of the warehouses.
Again the fingers groped for the weapon. True, at first they still walked over the belt of the medical bag. Damn reflex that I just can't get rid of. Actually, to see behind the door - which, by the way, turned out to be ajar - I could do anything, perhaps I shouldn’t have gone alone. But in the dim room littered with boxes, I could see nothing that could pose a threat. Emboldened by this, I lit the lantern from the cigarette and moved inland.
Maybe I would have walked by without seeing him among the pile of construction debris, but the man groaned again. I approached with one hand in the inside pocket of my cloak. A kerosene lantern somehow illuminated a man's face distorted by pain. Well, how male? .. About fifteen years old was its owner, maybe a little more. I slid my gaze over his figure, trying to understand what had happened, and cursed in surprise when I saw on the guy's leg something resembling a metal brace with teeth that broke through the shaft of a thin suede boot and bit deep into the flesh. His shoes, by the way, looked very strange, and the rest of his outfit too, but I was not up to it. What really struck me was the crude trap that the stranger fell into. Moreover, it is by no means the very fact that someone installed it, but the boy was foolish enough to fall into it - to hell with him, it happens that we have people with imagination. Another thing struck: the structure was full of characteristic reddish-brown spots of rust. Damn it, I couldn't be wrong, this thing was made of iron. Real! Things are so expensive and rare nowadays that it's cheaper to use titanium alloys with rare earth elements!
Earlier, they say, iron was like mud, and the devil will figure out where it later went, but even before the fourth nuclear one, it was almost gone on Earth. No, they sometimes find old products or even pieces of ore - but in such a small amount! I have armor-piercing bullets in the drum, with a steel core. They were even more expensive than the revolver itself: it was made of zirconium, which, by the way, brutally affects the wear of the barrel. It's good that I fired from him once ... And he - into the air. So, it was difficult to imagine that someone would make this ridiculous trap from an iron-containing alloy.
However, I didn't rack my brains over this and, making sure that the guy himself was not a bait for mugs like me, reached into my bag.
- Hey how are you? Do you hear me? It's okay, I'm a doctor.
He said nothing. He just looked at me for some reason with a sort of melancholy hopelessness.
- I haven't seen you before, what sector are you from? How did you get here? Okay, at least tell me your name! - I was not interested, I just tried to distract.
He remained silent, and I spat and focused on the trap. It was not so difficult to have a bite with her with medical scissors, but the sensations from this procedure were probably unforgettable. And when I pulled out the teeth stuck in my body with a jerk - so in general. The stranger sobbed stiflingly, and then suddenly something happened ...
At first I didn't even understand the devil! There was a guy like a guy, cute only hurt, but nothing special. And now his features began to change rapidly. Seriously, that's how they started! That is, he changed all, it was as if ripples passed through the boy's body, something flared up, I blinked ... And a moment later, in front of me sat ... sat ... a creature. Translucent, like a thick fog or cigarette smoke, bluish and as if glowing from the inside - dim and, damn me, bewitching. I should grab the revolver, scream, raise the alarm ... And I stood and stared like a fool. On a sparkling human silhouette. On a face that has become impossible from pleasant, incredibly beautiful. And he - yes, after all, he, and not that, the face had changed, but still belonged to the young guy - he sat and did not move. Didn't even blink.
- Well, what are you waiting for, man?
This is the first thing I heard from him. The creature's voice was clear and youthful, there was something enchanting, hypnotic in it.
- Waiting? .. - I asked stupidly. It sounded so pathetic that I finally got angry. - Damn it, you are a faerie!
Wow, then, all these stories weren’t lying ?! Just think, they really are just like people! .. And they are really afraid of iron. And I thought it was nonsense ...
- What a smart, - he muttered in a very human way. - Are you going to shoot once you caught it? Come on, I see that this rubbish of yours is spitting iron.
Ah, that's it, reflexes still took their toll, and all this time I kept the revolver aimed at his chest ...
And then they kicked me like a sack on the head. Damn it, what am I waiting for ?! These are damn fairies! The creature that killed Jet and, who knows, may soon take over me!
I shook my head. Only hysteria was not enough for me.
- So, now you will go with me to the headman! - he said and realized himself how this idea was a failure. Then it's really better to shoot here and not mess around. Our headman was one of the first to start shouting that the damned fairies should be killed. Probably, and this trap was set with his knowledge. He, the Sheriff (this is not a position, but a nickname, if anyone is interested), Tessa ... Yes, almost all of the local "elite".
And I, remember, want war the least. Probably, I'm a shitty doctor and don't like my work. In any case, I do not love enough ...
- Why didn't you try to escape? - I sank exhaustedly onto some box.
- Very funny! As if you do not know that the door is lined with iron.
There is also a door ... Lord, how much did it all cost ?!
- I do not know. I didn’t set traps on you, I wouldn’t see you like that, and everyone wins.
- And then what did they lure? - it was strange to hear in the voice of this impossible, perfect creature a usual, almost childish resentment. “They spread the gold, left the door open, and then…” He waved his hand towards the trap lying on the floor.
- What do you really like gold?
- Aha! Shines beautifully! - he perked up, and, looking closely, I saw on the floor a decent size gold bar, and next to it a little smaller. - So you really didn't set a trap?
I didn’t answer, but instead asked head-on.
- Did you kill the merchant?
- What ?!
Why, in the depths of my soul, did I not allow even the shadow of the thought that he was fooling me? ..
- The merchant. Human. Two sectors from here. They killed him, took out his heart and bled his body. And there was no blood on the floor, so many of our people think that the fairies drank it!
The beautiful face of the interlocutor was distorted by a squeamish grimace.
- Lost, huh? Does this assumption seem strange to you?
Actually, everything that was happening seemed strange to me, and so what?
- And he said that the doctor ... Is that considered normal for you, or are you the only one so stupid? There is iron in human blood! You may not have noticed, but we do not really like him! - he nodded towards the removed trap. - No, the concentration there is not the same, it is not dangerous for life ... But it’s unpleasant all the same! I would drink it!
Damn it, it sounded so smooth that I swallowed even a "stupid" one out of confusion. I was going to say something else, maybe something clever for a change - I don't know. But I distinctly heard the approaching voices. An unexpectedly large number of voices.
Damn me! I suddenly realized that the last thing I want is for this crazy conversation to end now. It was stupid, strange, but among the dirty gray walls of the warehouse my interlocutor - bewitchingly beautiful, dazzling - seemed like something magical. You can laugh at the sentimental old fool if you like. Yes, I myself find it funny. But try to think sensibly when a miracle happens in the middle of a gray-yellow life!
Yes, I knew about the existence of faeries before, but what was happening now is completely different. And the last thing I wanted was that my strange interlocutor was now riddled to hell.
And we did not have time to leave.
- So so! .. You looked like a man ... Can you do that again?
- What is this for? - he was alert, prepared.
- Do you want to live? Then don't argue.
And he probably saw something in my face ... In general, he did not dare to ask again. A moment later, I again looked at an ordinary boy with a mobile smiling face and hair of a light red shade, which is unusual for these places. If the first time he seemed attractive to me, now, after I saw the real appearance of a faerie, this impression has disappeared. Human features seemed harsh, rough.
- Put it on. Quickly, - I threw my cloak at him: a guy can't appear on the street like this, in a soft blue suit made of thin fabric, unfamiliar to me, trimmed with silver. - And the hat too. Not so, push down below! Come on.
We were on the street a little earlier than a few dozen people, led by the Sheriff, appeared because of the turn. They couldn't see where we came from. I greeted, but I didn’t seem to be heard: the nascent crowd was gurgling animatedly. Several phrases that reached me cut my nerves.
To kill these creatures ... Our land ... Will answer for Jet ...
So, the whole settlement hated Jet Reed, but now look! .. It's a common thing. Intergroup aggression is very easy to control.
I took the faeries by the elbow and pulled them away. I thought to bring him to my place, but did not dare, moved towards the ruins.
- And my name is Orifil. Incidentally, I am not a "damned faerie", I ... well, consider that the spirit of the wind, I will not explain more precisely.
“Henry,” I said. - And yes, if you try to be odd, I'll shoot you to the devil.
He snorted.
- More polite! I may look like a boy by your standards, but I am over a hundred years old! I danced with hurricanes, I know the song of the storm, I ...
- And I have a revolver, - I interrupted this stream of self-promotion.
He seems to have smiled.
***
I still didn't understand how it all turned out, but after a couple of hours we sat on the concrete floor covered with my raincoat and talked. Orifil no longer turned into a shimmering spirit. He said that the touch of iron makes him, against his will, take a human form and become vulnerable, but if he wants to, he can take it himself - as now. And I suddenly realized with surprise that in this way he was expressing his confidence in me. And - stupid, I admit - made a return gesture - put the revolver in his pocket.
- Listen, why do we so rarely see one of yours?
He became sad. He became sad and embarrassed. On the face of the faeries, any emotion was read very clearly. Probably, it is only people who are used to hiding their thoughts and feelings from each other ...
- It's forbidden here. You say parallel dimension ... Not quite so, but if you simplify it a lot, then yes, something like. And we cannot meddle in yours. I'll go back to my own, I'll snatch it out so that this thing of yours - he nodded at his disfigured leg - will seem nonsense. And many people cannot penetrate here ... Only a few succeed in this.
- So you are so unique?
The faerie laughed mirthlessly.
- For us it is rather a flaw. In general, they say, I hurt like a person. And our people don't like you.
- Oh, thanks.
- And what? He bristled. - Why love you? Who deprived us of everything, who to hell ruined everything that was our home ?! Look around, it's a damn concrete desert! And before there were forests, rivers, even seas! Can you imagine ?!
“Vaguely,” I admitted. - And you? You said you were over a hundred ... How much is that? One hundred fifty, two hundred? .. And there are no seas, no forests, or anything else on Earth for much longer!
This time Orifil was silent for a long time.
- One hundred and eight. But the brothers sang to me about it.
- Well, if they sang ... - I muttered skeptically. - You know, maybe there was no all this, maybe it's all stories?
- It was. Do not believe?
He suddenly thrust his hand into his bosom - I repeated the movement almost in a mirror-like manner, grabbed the ribbed handle. But they didn't have to shoot: Orifil pulled out an ordinary flute - I saw similar ones at concerts in Central, - raised it to his lips.
And something happened to the world around. Or not with him, but with me? .. The gray walls of the dilapidated building trembled, the low faded sky rippled. The music hit me in the chest with an armor-piercing bullet and hit me in the head with strong alcohol. It led, spun ... Never in my life will I forget the strange iridescent melody that pulled me out of the muddy, dead reality into a blindingly bright whirlpool of the impossible.
I heard the wind, I felt it. I myself was the wind ... Incredible, gusty, clean. I was striving somewhere beyond the dazzling blue-green horizon, where the crowns of trees merged together with the heavenly heights. I read about this, I saw this in old, almost decayed photographs, which, of course, did not convey colors. I have never seen and will never see this with my own eyes. But contrary to logic, in spite of everything in the world, the intoxicating smell of herbs tore my soul. I was blinded to hell by the heavenly blue and sun glare, deafened by the cries of birds - not the cloned ugliness that is grown in Central for restaurants, but real ones - living, free ... But what struck me most of all was not even the colors, many of which I and the names I didn't know, didn't smell. The most incredible thing was that there was life everywhere. What are birds? Everything was alive here: the sky, trees, strange creatures jumping and crawling in the grass ...
A little further the field was lined in two by a wide gray strip, and cars rushed along it in a continuous stream - they were not much different from ours, except that they were not made of plastic and drove much faster. The roar of the motors intertwined alien, disturbing notes into the flute's melody, but I was still ready to writhe with an unbearable, unbearable delight, which a person simply could not bear - it would break.
The melody changed, and instead of greenery, a different landscape surrounded me. As far as the eye could see, there was a blue of the most incredible shades. From pale blue in the sky to dark, rich lapis lazuli below, where the water sparkled. She then walked in small ripples, then billowed in waves and oozed fluffy white foam, diluting the blue range. And then the flute changed the tune again, and I was carried away somewhere.
The melody kept growing, growing ... The picture was changing faster and faster. I laughed as if possessed, feeling the smell of flowers unknown to me and the taste of unfamiliar berries. I was dumbfounded with delight, watching the sky turn from blue to deep red and gold, and then black, covered with a scattering of lights, folding into bizarre patterns. I saw people - almost the same as us, only who still do not know what it means to survive on concrete ashes. I saw amazing cars, some of them rose into the sky and hid above the clouds. I was hopelessly drunk with what was happening and recklessly happy.
And then it was over - instantly and irreparably. The last notes died down, and at once a gray-yellow silence came from everywhere. I took it into the environment, closed my throat ... I looked in front of me unseen and for a long time could not understand why my face was so strangely cold - the rain had ended, where did the water come from on my long-unshaven cheeks? .. And then I raised my eyes to Orifil, and my hands were clenched into fists.
- Oh, you bitch! .. - I whispered helplessly. He looked at the dilapidated concrete around and fell silent, choked with horror. Everything has already happened, and now it will never be corrected, never erased from memory ... - A creature. Why didn't I shoot you right away? ..
He blinked in confusion, did not understand. Lord, he did not understand ...
- But you were happy! You liked my song!
- Did you like it ?! You fell into hell with your song! You will leave, but how am I now ?! Come on, tell me Orifil, the wind spirit that danced with the hurricanes! How can you, after seeing what you showed me, live ... here ?! - the anger suddenly subsided at once, leaving behind only a dull hopeless doom. - Your song is beautiful, Orifil. But it would be better if you really ripped out people's hearts ...
And now I almost understood the rabble hanging out in the Sheriff's drug den. Maybe there, in the consciousness poisoned by opiates, they are also carried away somewhere, where the green-blue horizon dazzles the eyes. After that, who will find the strength to return to the dead world of concrete and titanium reinforcement? .. I remembered the disfigured face of a girl with an overdose, whom I had recently tried to pump out. Lord, how sickening ... Is this really my future?
- You are strange ... Or is it just you alone? You were happy! For real, until the end! Do you know how much I would give to do this? ..
I didn't understand what he meant, and I was not interested. But I still asked again, unable to bear the silence that fell. Lord, can I even bear her now? ..
- How "so"?
“You’re good,” said the faerie out of place. - You are free. You can love, hate, suffer, rejoice - with all your soul! We don't know how, we don't even have a soul. I can play beautiful music, but I cannot love it as you do, I cannot dissolve in it. Our feelings, in comparison with yours, it is ... The ember of your cigarette against a supernova explosion. And those are not really ours, they do not belong to us. We don't belong to ourselves! Here I am sitting now, and you are pleasant to me. But the Lady of the Seven Winds will command me to hate you - I will. He will order to kill, and I ... well, you understand. And I will not just kill, but I will wish you death.
I laughed - bitter and evil.
- Are you free? We? Free in what, Orifil ?! - before my inner gaze floated the face of a woman who remained on Central. It is unlikely that we would be able to leave together, and what would she do here, in the Hole, among the rabble, which she did not even consider as people? And how could I watch the acid rain in a matter of months disfigure and age her well-groomed narrow palms? .. - Feelings? Found something to envy! And what kind of freedom do they have? Here comes our Sheriff, shouting that you, freaks, need to be interrupted by the devil. That you have finished off Jet, that you will soon kill the others ... Lying, bitch, for sure lying! I’m ready to swear that he himself kicked this trader, and specifically to raise people against you. I don’t know yet why he needs it, but it’s not the point ... After all, he raised it! Did you see the crowd outside the warehouse? If you had caught them, they would have lynched! They don't know a damn about you, but they hate - sincerely and with all, as you put it, soul! On your own, do you think? You call this freedom to feel ?!
He stubbornly lifted his sharp chin, removed the light red strands from his forehead.
- Does not matter. To become a dumb doll in someone's hands is also a personal choice.
- You say, lucid?
- It doesn't matter which one! We don't have that either! You have one expression - "free as the wind." And we say: "free as a soul."
Probably, this argument could have been continued for a long time, but there was no point in that: we both did not know what we were talking about. How can two beings from different worlds explain to each other something that they themselves do not fully understand? ..
They were silent. Maybe I'm crazy after all? Or, without remembering that, he threw himself some rubbish? How else to explain the fact that I am sitting dangerously close to the perimeter, smoking and conducting pointless polemics with a real faerie?
- So you could have finished me all this time? I finally asked.
- Why do you think so?
- He said himself that if this lady of yours orders ...
Orifil shook his head.
- Only if he orders. Then it will be her powers - not mine. I have few of my own. And after you got me, even less is left. It hurts, by the way!
I believe. I worked the guy's leg, but still there should be little pleasant.
- Will she give orders?
Orifil just waved it off:
- I doubt it. She does not interfere in human affairs. Unless you really start a war.
My head was spinning, as if after a good drink, dozens of questions were spinning on my tongue. I knew nothing about that other world and, damn it, really wanted to know! But instead of that, over and over again something came off the tongue ... He spoke nonsense, argued, asked the wrong thing ...
- And I won’t understand everything: if you didn’t decide Jet, where are these petals from?
- Petals? What are you talking about?! - it seemed, or did his lips even turn white? Scared? And he said, almost nothing can feel ... - What petals, Henry ?!
- How do I know which ones, I'm not a nerd. White. Well, maybe pinkish ...
He jumped up.
I had nothing to lose, and without asking questions, I followed him. If a dazzling faerie wants to trap me and kill me, to hell with him. And he looked at me and nodded - not to me, but rather to his own thoughts.
- Do you remember what I said about parallel worlds and the worn-out border? So, this war of yours, it touched us too. And such a thing has appeared in places ... we call it islands. This is when a piece of the world fell out of your dimension. And now it hangs somewhere separately, outside of time and space - between our world and yours. I've heard a lot about them, but I've only seen one myself. Where the border is thinner, you can go - even from us, even from you. That's why I'm here nearby and spinning. I like it there, I went there several times.
I listened on the run. Orifil again took on his real appearance: otherwise he simply could not run, he would be very limp. We moved into the ruins. I stumbled on the debris, choked on concrete dust, my companion easily glided through the air without touching the surface. He froze so abruptly that I would have crashed into him, if only he was tangible. And so the bluish sparks only scorched the face with a piercing cold.
“I'm sorry,” I said awkwardly.
Oriphil did not hear. He stood and looked at the foundation of a structure, worn out almost to the ground. I caught his eye and whistled.
Next to the only wall that was almost intact, there was a descent into what must have been a basement. Now it's just a narrow rectangular dip. A wire was stretched along the perimeter, I didn’t have time to look closely, but from the wary, disgusted look, the faeries already understood that it was iron. And I also saw how very thin, not thicker than a fishing line, the wire stretches to the side, where it hides in a heap of debris.
Well, clearly, it means they also mined.
“They got here too,” the faerie whispered hopelessly.
I silently began to pick out the wire - careful not to touch the wire. It didn’t smile at me at all - it’s better to let my adherence to principles, and not explosives, really kill me.
- Well? Lead! Just don't touch this rubbish.
Faery hesitated for a few more moments, then looked me in the eye and crawled through the opening. I followed him.
Most of the brackets had long ago been turned out of the crumbled wall, and it was difficult and dangerous to go down them. One of them broke off right under my foot, and I fell down, peeling myself against the metal. I thought the landing would finish me off, but my expectations were not met: I fell not on a pile of reinforcement, but on something soft and now almost familiar.
Grass. Dense, real, almost nothing like the lawn recreated from the photograph at the Central Base. Through her palms felt the earth, wet and slightly warm, and not the one that can be found outside the perimeter: cracked and lifeless, not much different from the concrete pavement.
Lord, how scared I was to look up. I've never been so scared! What if I'm wrong, what if I don't see? ..
I was not mistaken. Heavenly blue fell from above, and for a while I could not even breathe. Then he turned a dazed gaze on Orifil. He stood near a plant and sadly fingered the branches.
“From here, these creatures cut them off,” he showed me the naked, tattered centers, around which in some places those same petals were still preserved. - Why are they like this, Henry? Explain, you're human, you should know!
He looked with such a desperate reliable ... He really expected that now I will explain everything. That all this is logical and correct. Wow, a hundred and eight years old guy, and so naive.
I averted my eyes. What could I say? I myself have not yet understood why someone should unleash this damn war, but I knew one thing - humanity is not peculiar to people, no matter how strange it may sound. If a person wants war, then not in order to protect someone and save something. All this is dictated by personal motives and greed.
I looked around. In addition to these flowering plants, there were others here, hung no longer with flowers, but with berries, the names of which I did not know - dark red, large, like a cartridge from my revolver.
- What is it?
Orifil shrugged.
- I don’t know what it’s called. Try it, they are delicious.
I did not understand what was happening around, I felt the alarm of the faeries, but, Lord, what an amazing feeling it is to squeeze a large red berry in my palm, to feel its bittersweet smell, which I had nothing to compare with. I licked the juice that had come out and closed my eyes.
And at that moment, from somewhere behind the green living wall, a crash came.
- Come on! There are people, I feel! The faeries whispered, and I regretfully threw the berry into my pocket. - There is not as much space as it seems, it is very close!
He moved between the plants, and I, foolish from their smell, followed him. And then the greenery parted sharply, and I saw ...
The grass was dug up, the torn branches and torn out trunks were strewn away from the decent-sized pit in which ten people worked. The Sheriff stood there, leaning his elbows on the torn edge of the pit, watching as others were digging and dragging something. It looks like they haven't seen us yet.
I took a few unsteady steps, looked inside, very afraid that the first impression was correct.
It was. The pit turned out to be completely filled with garbage, it seems that the Sheriff and his assistants dug up an old dump here. My God ... Is it possible that once the treasures lying here were considered rubbish ?! Rusty car bodies on all sides, covered with peeling paint, dishes, old tools, cans with strange jagged edges. Iron. Dozens, maybe hundreds of tons of iron!
I turned around, looking for Orifil, and did not see him.
- Ah, doctor ... - with laziness, in a stretch. The sheriff always says that. I was ready to swear that he was surprised to see me here, but he hid it admirably. This is not a faerie boy with all his feelings written on his forehead. “Glad that it was you, and not someone else, who stumbled upon this place. I would have to kill another, but I will gladly take you as a share.
I recognized these intonations. The head of the section at the Central Base said the same. We are civilized people, no way, no one insists ... I wonder what he is waiting for, why not shoot right away? Afraid I'll be the first to make it? Well, the ability to tailor the muzzle more closely saved more than one life, so the Sheriff believed that I was not afraid. And meanwhile, where was I to learn to shoot decently, and even offhand, without aiming ?!
- In what business? - I myself was surprised at how calm the voice sounds.
One after another, options for further events emerged in my head. Quite disappointing. So, while Orifil came here to admire the flowers, a man standing in front of me in an expensive synthetic leather jacket, having opened this place, first of all came here with a metal detector. And he could already be fabulously, impossibly rich, but this was not enough for him - he dragged in the fairies, planned something else ...
- Don't you understand? - He raised wide eyebrows mockingly. “I thought you were smarter. There will be war, doctor. War with the creatures. And they can be killed only with the help of iron, which people almost do not have. It will only be with us, only we can give others protection from the enemy! Money is wonderful, but human lives are absolutely priceless, and they will be in our hands.
He did not grimace, did not laugh like a villain from a cheap operetta. He was just explaining to the foolish doctor the plan for the development of his new business, he was just a business man. He was a man ...
“Nice idea, Sheriff,” I nodded, trying very hard not to betray the incipient rage in my soul.
Freedom means yes, Orifil? The ability to love with all your soul? So much for freedom, love, and soul ... Oh, fairies, you don't know anything about people!
I took a step back, desperately hoping to hide behind the bushes faster than he would fire. There was no time to think, we need to decide now. Get out to the surface, and then ... The explosives were installed quite far from the entrance, the calculation was that only the uninvited guest would be hit by the fragments. If I can manage to drag it closer and explode, it may block the entrance.
The thought that I was seriously going to put a dozen people to rest at once should have been terrifying, but my feelings did not keep pace with my thoughts, they were hopelessly and irreparably late. I will probably start to be afraid of myself, but it will be later ...
Only I had no time to do anything: neither hide, nor blow up. Orifil appeared about ten meters from me - just a moment ago he was not there, and now, please, he stands with his arms outstretched wide. I felt the wind tore at the sides of my cloak. Before, there was such an incredible silence that it was impossible to believe in it, and now, after a few seconds, powerful gusts began to lash on the cheeks, stirring up lumps of black moist soil.
I was instantly blinded by the grains of sand in my eyes. With difficulty he could make out through the roar of the hurricane that beat on his ears, how one of the workers screamed, how iron struck iron. The storm raged and howled, ripping off the plants. In the darkened air, through the dullness in my eyes, I managed to make out leaves, petals, berries ... Alive and beautiful before, this place turned into a solid mess of blood, earth and iron.
I tried to move towards the exit, but every now and then I was thrown back on the ground, it was impossible to stay on my feet. And when another attempt to get up failed, I stopped twitching. He remained lying on the tattered grass, which now exuded an unusual and sharp, but in its own way wonderful smell. He closed his watery eyes ... And suddenly I felt a melody emerging from the general roar - solemn and terrible, not at all similar to the one Orifil played for me in an abandoned building, but beautiful, Lord, how beautiful she was! I seemed to distinguish a melodic female voice.
Kill. Kill them all, they are unworthy, they should not live! Every single one and those above, too! They are not capable of anything except to destroy everything around them, so let them know destruction! ..
Here it is. This means that the Lady of the Seven Winds has appeared. Well, she's in her own right.
And then in an instant it became very quiet. Or is it just me to hell with deafness? .. When before my eyes even a little cleared up, Orifil stood very close, rage mixed on his beautiful face, either with doubt, or with pity. His ghostly fingers rested on mine, still clenched convulsively on the hilt of the weapon. The revolver somehow ended up in his hands.
I had no time to think about how, being a spirit, he can hold material objects, or about why the devil was going to kill me with my own revolver, if he could do it differently ... Only he suddenly pointed the weapon with the barrel towards him, absurdly twisting his hand.
- No, lady, - quietly, almost silently.
And my meaningless "stop!" merged together with the roar of a shot.
I got up somehow and rushed to him - again an ordinary guy, nothing like a beautiful faerie. He breathed heavily, intermittently, and a stray smile appeared on his bloody lips with inconceivable clarity.
- You have to leave, they will come here ... Not me, so others will try to finish ...
I cut him off with a gesture and reached for the tools in my miraculously survived bag. On Central, I stole some fine, probably the best equipment in the world.
- Shut up, now we will leave together!
He laughed softly, and I suddenly realized that he was scared.
- Henry? .. - Orifil caught my eye as I began to fill the bullet hole with a special gel. This thing was supposed to slow down all the processes, and we will seriously understand it already at the top. - And I will die as a man, can you imagine? .. I will die free!
“Don't dream,” I muttered, not allowing even thoughts in this direction to be allowed to him or myself. - You'll not die.
- You, of course, might not have noticed, but I have a bullet in my chest!
I returned the bag over my shoulder and lifted Orifil with some difficulty. And it will be hard to get out with him to the surface ...
- And I have a medical degree, - I snapped and somehow trudged to the stairs. Sadly, I thought that I would have to blow up the passage anyway, otherwise, sooner or later others would find this place.
***
I stood in the middle of a pile of concrete rubble, looked and could not believe it. More than one month passed, but I remembered those events so clearly, as if they had just happened. I could not be mistaken ... The explosion was such that the entrance was completely filled up, the "island", as Orifil called this place, was irretrievably closed to all of us. Try to forget this ... With your own hands, deprive yourself of the only chance to see live, green grass!
But a tiny green sprout made its way between the wreckage, and it was neither dream nor delirium.
“The seeds must have come from the storm. Maybe the soil has inflicted, - suggested Orifil, enthusiastically looking at the tender young leaves.
I didn't know what to say. In fact, our scientists have tried hundreds of times to plant recreated modified seeds outside the domes, but they have never succeeded. And then suddenly it was so easy ...
I stood and, holding my breath, looked at this incredible miracle - which one has recently been counted? .. I don't even know which was more incredible! That story with the "island", this sprout, or the fact that I managed to save the life of a crazy faerie. Then I did not admit such thoughts, but afterwards, scrolling all this in my head, I perfectly understood that there were almost no chances. A bullet in the chest is still serious, try to extract it without killing the patient! And I got it all the same. Not all, really. A tiny piece of iron, it is not known how broken off (the cartridge was defective, probably), remained between the ribs, I could not do anything with it. Well, nothing, and live with it. Not a hundred years, it is true, and not a hundred and eight - less ... But he is not offended.
- You know, but one day, who knows, maybe it will start to grow. The earth will be restored, the air will begin to clear, ”Orifil noted, and did not dare to touch the thin stalk. - Unless, of course, a new war happens ...
I said nothing, why disappoint this idealist. Why remind you that there are many "islands", even though we do not know where they are. And iron is full on each of them. Actually, because of him, they were thrown into another space - maybe it's a matter of magnetism, maybe in some other properties. But sooner or later someone will surely stumble upon them and will definitely try to do what the Sheriff did not work out.
However ... At that time, by some unknown miracle, two idiots managed to stop the inevitable - who knows, maybe we are not the first and not the last. Maybe time after time there are others all over the world - the same ordinary people who are damn lucky.
I didn’t know how such luck could be enough, but for some reason I really wanted that someday, after hundreds or thousands of years, the Earth would still become the same - the way I saw it when Orifil played his flute. Incidentally, he no longer knows how. This is the irony, while he was not able to fully experience his music - he played, and now he cannot.
And let neither I nor he catch this ... It was still important for us to know that one day those who will come after us will be able to look up and see the dazzling blue sky. And the wind, instead of an acid drizzle, will throw the bittersweet smell of berries in their faces.