Descendants of the Scythians - Страница 28

The old soothsayer made an expressive gesture, symbolically removing the strangers from Skolot’s side and handing them over to the crowd. Then he pointed no less expressively to the ominous cloud straight overhead. His hands were in constant motion, as though he were tearing something that hindered and resisted him, apart; his every movement drew a clamorous response from the frantic, overwrought crowd.

Skolot shook his head, stretching out his arms as though in defense of the strangers. But the soothsayer made another step forward, yelling a long imprecation. Whether he had finished speaking or stopped at the right moment was impossible to say, but the blinding lightning lit up the scene, putting a frightening emphasis on his last words. The crowd was scared into immediate silence, and this unnatural, terrifying silence was filled with an ear-shredding clap of thunder, rolling from one end of the sky to the other.

Artem saw the dismayed, shocked faces of the Scythians. He saw the gray old men tremble with fear, scared out of their wits by the lightning, the thunder and soothsayer’s malediction. There was only one thing missing to complete the picture — rocks raining from the sky as Varkan said they would… There was little doubt that such powerful bolts could, in fact, dislodge large rocks from their places higher up in the surrounding mountains and send them rolling down. This thought made Artem look up, but he saw only the seething cloud that seemed almost to be touching his head. The old soothsayer could not have chosen a better moment to get hold of the strangers.

Meanwhile the old man began speaking again, his voice even more menacing. He moved toward the strangers, flailing his arms. He walked straight ahead, ignoring both the chieftain and the warriors around. The frantic crowd followed him. Lida shuddered and grabbed Artem’s hand — it was a terribly frightening picture indeed.

Skolot made a move to protect his guests. As he began pulling his sword out of the scabbard, Varkan and some other warriors leaned forward to him, begging him to stop, pointing to the mass of frenzied people. The misshapen Scythian was observing all this with a detached curiosity as though he were watching a play.

“There’s nothing left for us to do but defend ourselves,” Dmitro Borisovich cried out in desperation, swinging his pickaxe at the approaching Scythians. But in a moment dozens of hands wrenched the pickaxes from them and took hold of the explorers themselves. Artem was heaved into the very thick of the crowd. Then he acted from desperation: there was only one recourse left him.

“Diana! Come here! Quick!” he cried out, wriggling like an eel in the hands of the strong Scythians who were holding him.

The big, tawny body of the dog zoomed through the air in the dusk. Growling fiercely, the dog leaped over the heads of the Scythians. Landing with all her weight on the two men standing closest to Artem, she knocked them to the ground. The next moment she had sunk her sharp teeth into the hand of the Scythian who was holding Artem. From all sides came the frightened cries:

“Poskina!… Poskina,!… Poskina!…”

Diana was running in circles around Artem, baring her fangs, and darting at this or that Scythian. Some free space was cleared around Artem, who became the center of a magic circle into which the Scythians were loath to step for fear of the terrible creature, the poskina, that darted back and forth intrepidly within it. Diana struck such fear into the Scythians that none of them thought of using arms against her. The one who had been bitten ran away, and the rest began retreating little by little, close to panic. The soothsayer had apparently overlooked the fact that the Scythians feared poskina more than the thunder and lightning.

“Aha, that’s good,” Artem said contentedly, “that’s good. Now, let’s move over to the rest of our company. Diana, my dear poskina, let’s go!”

The dog was all too eager to rush to the rescue of the others. A shrewd and intrepid fighter, the dog either bared her fangs to scare somebody away or leaped forward, scattering those who tried to block their passage, or dashed back to check for a possible attack from behind, or stayed at Artem’s side to let him keep pace with her. None of the Scythians so much as tried to do anything to put the dog out of action, overwhelmed as they were with fear and awe. Some of the Scythians thought it wise to be as far as possible from the dread beast, and they retreated hurriedly.

“Diana!” Lida called in her ringing, cheerful voice.

“Here we are, Lida,” Artem called back.

All four explorers were again reunited, four surrounded unarmed people, facing a continuous human wall of infuriated Scythians armed with bows, spears and swords. The explorers had only a dog to defend them, and yet the Scythians did not attack. But if they were afraid to come close to the beast, why didn’t they shoot the strangers and their dog with their arrows? It could be done so easily!

This thought was on the minds of the four explorers. Then Dmitro Borisovich spoke, as though in response to the general anxiety:

“The old soothsayer seems to have ordered them to capture us alive…”

Ivan Semenovich nodded his head in agreement. And then he took a decision that had been unwittingly suggested by the archeologist.

“We must surrender, no more resistance,” he said in a voice of authority that precluded any arguments. “The soothsayer could easily change his mind and command the Scythians to use their spears and arrows. In that case, Diana won’t be of any help to us.”

“You mean we should give ourselves up?”

“Cool down, Artem. I know what I’m talking about. I’m quite sure the old soothsayer does not intend to kill us now. He has some other plans for us at the moment. Otherwise we wouldn’t be standing here quietly, discussing all this. Do you agree?”

Artem did not argue: Ivan Semenovich was right.

“So, we must use this opportune moment while he is in his present frame of mind. We’ll wait and see what happens next. No resistance now! That especially goes for you, Artem, though you, Dmitro Borisovich, must keep it in mind, too. Now, be quiet and stand still!”

Another clap of thunder was heard, but this time it was much less powerful than the previous one. The Scythians were standing around the explorers in a tight circle, neither retreating nor approaching. Diana kept turning her head, looking around, ready to spring at her enemies.

“All right, if we surrender now,” Lida said in a low voice, “what’ll happen to us afterwards?”

As though in reply to her question, the soothsayer’s voice could be heard again, a voice that could be recognized among hundreds of other voices, hoarse and imperative. But the soothsayer was not to be seen behind the circle of the Scythian warriors.

“I remind you — stand still now,” Ivan Semenovich said emphatically.

The Scythians on one side of the circle stepped forward, holding their spears in front of them. Diana rushed at them, but the spears stopped her. The Scythians advanced, the sharp points of some spears were already touching the explorers. Diana made short jumps in all directions, but everywhere she was stopped by the spears. It was easy to see now that as the spears on one side were steadily advancing toward the explorers, while on the opposite side they were retreating, making way for the explorers to pass.

The intention of the Scythians — or rather that of the soothsayer who issued the commands — was all too apparent. They were maneuvering to make the explorers move in the desired direction.

“We must do what they want us to,” the geologist said. “Let’s go.”

As they began moving, the circle of the Scythians around them expanded, and the spears stopped prodding them, since the Scythians had realized that the strangers would not try to resist. Diana also obeyed the geologist’s commands, all the more so since the explorers were trotting quietly along, and their apparent calm meant there was no immediate danger. The dog was now walking peacefully by their side. If not for the circle of silent, hostile men all around holding spears and other weapons in combat readiness, the explorers might have been walking in a procession reminiscent of the one earlier in the day when they followed Skolot to his tent.

“How come Skolot gave in so easily to the soothsayer’s demands?” Artem suddenly spat out angrily. “Didn’t he say just a while ago that we were under his protection? This is downright treachery!”

“What else was there for him to do?” Lida replied. “You saw for yourself how the old bastard had incited the crowd. You saw what fear he had put into them, didn’t you?”

“All the same, Skolot should have defended us to the end,” Artem insisted stubbornly.

“Nothing would have come of it. It would only have resulted in bloodshed, and in the end the soothsayer would have us captured anyway,” the girl said. “Didn’t you see that even Varkan was begging Skolot not to interfere?”

“Ah. you and your Varkan!…” Artem said contemptuously. Now the young man regarded <every Scythian as an enemy.

“You shouldn’t, really, speak like that,” Lida said heatedly. “Varkan seems to be very sympathetic to us.”

“Is he really?” Artem said, his lips twisted ironically.

“Stop grumbling, Artem. You’re just peeved. And Lida is right on every point,” Ivan Semenovich broke in. The young man fell silent discontentedly: what could he say more if everybody was against him? Lida was right as far as Varkan was concerned; Varkan did seem to be a very likeable person, but all the same, why should she be speaking so ardently in his favor?