Volodimir Vladko - Descendants of the Scythians

Dorbatay had hardly had time to finish when Hartak obediently said:

“Yes, I agree!”

“But let us not forget that they are still your guests of honor,” Dorbatay continued, an implacable smile playing on his lips. “In accordance with our sacred customs we must be hospitable to our guests as long as they are our guests. We shall not deviate from this tradition. Not a single hair of their heads will be touched as long as they remain our guests. But on the other hand we cannot let them go free as they, magicians that they are, can envoke help of their gods and do us harm. So, they must be bound hand and foot and put in a safe place! And tomorrow, when they will not be considered your guests any longer, o Hartak — since they are your guests only for tonight — we shall decide their fate. Do you, warriors and hunters, give your approval of this?”

Loud and chaotic approval was instantaneously given; the voices of the nobles were the loudest.

“Yes, yes, that’s what should be done, Dorbatay!”

The soothsayer turned to his henchmen:

“Bind them!”

The henchmen, evidently still in great fear of the strangers, stepped forward reluctantly, watching for any suspicious movement: didn’t the strangers have the power to cause fire and thunder to leap from the ground and strike any offender down? And didn’t they have the dreaded poskina hidden somewhere to come to their aid at any moment?

But unfortunately Diana could not come to the explorers’ aid, as Artem had tied her to the kibitka even before they had gone on their tour of the Scythian camp in the morning, deciding that the dog would cause unnecessary complications, and then they had had no time to go back to the kibitka and fetch her along when they went to the feast.

The soothsayer’s henchmen were slowly but inexorably closing in on the strangers, encouraged by the cheering of the elders; they held the ropes ready, the points of their swords and daggers forward.

The strangers huddled closer together; they were quite defenseless.

Artem looked at Dorbatay to see a malicious smile playing on his wicked face.

The soothsayer could celebrate a victory!

Varkan disappears at a very crucial moment, the explorers walk through a corridor of spears, Artem leaps onto a horse and is ordered to make an escape; he and Dmitro Borisovich ride off at break-neck speed and are almost overtaken by their pursuers; Artem remembers an unusual weapon in the nick of time .

The soothsayer’s henchmen raised their weapons, apparently ready to use them against the explorers if need be. Lida, who found herself standing closest to their tightening circle, stepped back. But there was not much space left for retreating, as the wall of gleaming daggers and swords drew steadily forward on all sides.

“Oh, what’s to be done? What’s to be done?” Lida said, looking around desperately.

One of the younger priests tried to grab Lida’s hand but she recoiled sharply, avoiding the grasp. Artem leaped forward placing himself between the priest and the girl. A moment later he felt someone join him. It was the archeologist, trembling with the eagerness to do battle that had suddenly flared up in him. Artem heard his strained voice:

“We’ll defend ourselves to the end! I’m with you, Artem!”

But no resistance was really possible: what, in fact, could three unarmed men and a girl do in the face of dozens of well-armed enemies?

The priests stopped nevertheless, evidently taken aback by the strangers’ obvious readiness to resist. Some of them looked back at Dorbatay, waiting for further instructions, and Artem used the moment to put two fingers to his mouth and whistle as loud as he could. Artem realized that whistling for the dog that was tied up to the pole by the kibitka from such a distance was futile, but there was no harm in trying.

Dorbatay said something sharp and imperative. He must have given the order to seize the strangers no matter what. The swords were again raised in the air, this time poised to strike if any further resistance was encountered. There seemed to be only one thing left: give themselves up. Any further resistance might prove fatal.

Now two more Scythians appeared on the scene, carrying no arms but equipped with lassos. Any moment now the explorers would be ignominiously bound… It was then that Artem heard a familiar sound, distant but approaching quickly. It was she, it was she, Diana with her unmistakable barking!

“Ivan Semenovich, it’s Diana! She’s broken loose!”

The barking drew nearer; there could be no mistake — it was Diana! Artem shouted at the top of his voice:

“Diana! Gome here! Diana! Come here! Poskina, poskina! Come here!”

The swords were’ lowered — poskina again? The dreaded yellow poskina?

“Come here! Diana! Poskina! Diana! Poskina!” Artem kept yelling. The barking stopped abruptly, but the crowd gave a collective groan of fear as the Scythians scattered in all directions, making way for Diana without even trying to use weapons against her. The big fawn dog dashed through the crowd like a ball of fire. She had stopped barking because she had seen her masters, and now she flashed past the dumbfounded priests in a giant leap, landing at the Artem’s feet. It took the dog no time to assess the situation as dangerous for her masters, and she rushed at the priests, growling fiercely. The dog, ignoring the swords timidly displayed by the priests, kept charging at them, and they did not even dare to raise their weapons but retreated in terror, exclaiming in tremulous voices: uPoskina! Poskina!”

Ivan Semenovich said to Artem:

“So, she must have broken loose when she heard your whistle. That was an excellent idea, Artem!”

A piece of rope was still hanging from the dog’s neck.

“Our dear Diana!” Lida even clapped her hands in exultation. “She’ll save us!”

Ivan Semenovich did not say anything but shrugged his shoulders as if to say: Fm not so sure she can .

There was, in fact, little to exult over. Dorbatay, who must have foreseen the possibility of the dreaded poskina’s appearing on the scene, issued a new command; it seemed nothing could catch him unawares. The situation changed abruptly, and again, a familiar maneuver was employed: spears were lowered and thrust forward. Now Diana could not charge the Scythians who were safe behind the forest of spears. There was no alternative but for the explorers to fall back.

Artem took a quick look around. Strange, but they were no longer surrounded on all sides: a passage had opened in the wall of swords and spears, and it led to the camp. Dorbatay’s plan was clear now: to force the strangers to go down this corridor of bristling swords and spears. But what trap did he expect them to fall into at the end of it?

The spearheads moved forward, almost touching the strangers’ breasts, and step by step they began retreating along the passage. The brave dog was bringing up the rear; every few paces she stopped and growled.

It had grown quite dark, and there was no way of telling what awaited the explorers at the end of the dark passage of swords and spears.

Dorbatay commanded something in a peremptory voice; but what had he said? It was important to know, even if it was the worst possible news. Why didn’t Varkan translate the soothsayer’s commands? Where was Varkan, anyway?

Artem looked around in alarm. Varkan was not to be seen anywhere!