Дмитрий Мансуров - Invasion

It chuckled and then shouted to the pack, “Hey, sparrows!”

“What?” the sparrows asked shortly, squinting at her with indifferent eyes.

“I know where the skull-head that scared you is hiding!”

“Where?” the sparrows began to fuss, fluttering to the lower branches.

“Not far. But I’ll reveal this place to you in exchange for a favor.”

“No!” the sparrows tweeted together, knowing that the fox would lie as if it was nothing.

“What?! Do you have any idea what you’re giving up?” The Fox was dumbfounded. “What if he comes back and scares you again?”

“He won’t!” The sparrows waved her words away decisively.

“Idiots.”

“We’ll fly above you and drop all over you,” the sparrows threatened.

“You don’t believe me, do you?” the fox asked. “I have proof.”

She spat out the skull. The sparrows gasped in unison. She wasn’t lying!

“Did you eat the villain?” the pack asked.

“No. I stole his mask. You have to take revenge on him yourself. It’s in your best interests, Right?”

“Logical. What do you want in exchange?”

‘Now we’re talking,’ the fox thought with satisfaction, and then explained in detail what the sparrows had to do.

The most important thing remained, which was stealing a couple of chickens.

’You’ll be surprised when you see my counterargument!’ the fox’s thoughts turned to the wolf, and she chuckled.

The village appeared from behind the hill, but for some reason, the people weren’t visible. Just in case, the fox wandered around for a while, then steadied herself and rushed to the chicken coop. The utter desolation provoked vague, uneasy thoughts, but right now, the fox had no time for them.

Most of the chickens were roaming about the garden. The rooster was standing among them like a towering castle. The fox took a big detour and got into the chicken coop from the opposite side. With unfathomable ease, she pushed the horrified meek birds into the sack and prepared to run out when suddenly, the rooster came in, disturbed by the sudden noise and ensuing silence.

“Damn you all to hell!” the fox growled. The rooster took on a fighting stance, ruffled his feathers, straightened his scallop, and crowed menacingly. The fox backed away, not knowing what to expect in the next moment. Motivated by fear rather than by conscious thought, unexpectedly even for herself, the fox spat out the bag she was holding clamped between her teeth, jumped on the rooster, and pinned him with her front paws. The rooster tried to escape but only mussed his feathers. The fox hit him with her paw, scratched his scallop, and pulled out two feathers from his tail. Then she grabbed the bag and leapt out from the coop. The chickens in the yard scattered to the corners with a loud hen-like “SOS”. The dogs in the neighboring yards barked happily, pleased that something was happening.

The fox hid the chickens, covered the place with branches, and went to the Bully to have a soul-saving conversation. The Bully was bravely hiding in a small nest and he was clearly in no hurry to go out into the light. Fox had been waiting for a good half an hour before she realized that the favors from nature weren’t coming. It was better to take them by force or by cunning. Depending on one’s strengths.

“Bully! Bully!” the fox called. “Come out!”

The sparrow looked out of the hollow.

“What do you want?”

“I heard that your brothers want to eat you.”

“What’s it to you?”

“I’d like to see it!” the fox replied joyfully. “This isn’t some common miracle, after all.”

“Forget it, red!” the bully jumped out from the tree. “No one’s going to eat me! I can eat who I want to eat myself!”

The fox laughed.

“I don’t believe you!” she said. “You’ll burst!”

“Well, maybe I can’t,” the Bully agreed reluctantly. “But I can do something even better than that!”

“I bet you can’t do it,” the fox said. “You only know how to brag!”

“I’ll take you on!” the sparrow agreed. “I bet the sparrows will go mad after my trick!”

“And if you lose?”

“Then you’ll eat me!” the sparrow declared bravely.

The surprised fox grunted.

“Fine!” she said and quickly disappeared among the bushes. She didn’t want to wait until the sparrow came up with what she should do if he won the dispute.

The hours passed quickly. The atmosphere was wonderful, but reality reminded Maria about itself by causing an unpleasant grumbling in her stomach.

‘How can I get to the kitchen without running into Kashchey?’ she thought desperately. ‘ I wonder if he already knows I’ve escaped? Or is he still guarding the room?’

The best thing would be if Kashchey was blown outside together with dust, but this was a miracle she shouldn’t hope for. But together with dust, her footprints disappeared, too, so she had to go back based on her beliefs as to the correct direction. Maria had been walking for several hours until she found the entrance to the main hall. She gasped in amazement at the sight of the beauty which the dust-free room presented.

“Impressive, isn’t it?” she heard.

“It’s incredible!” Maria said admiringly before freezing in fear. Slowly, she squinted and saw Kashchey. He was standing nearby and was clearly enjoying the effect he’d produced. Maria woke up from her stupor and immediately broke into a run.

“Stop!” she heard a command, but she only sped up. “Stop, you foolish girl!”

Kashchey caught up with her and grabbed her shoulder. Maria spun around and raised her hand to slap him.

“Bad idea!” he managed to say. There was a loud slap, and Maria gasped. Her hand hurt as though she had slapped a wall, not a face. “I did warn you!”

The princess knew some harsh words not suited for someone in her position, but instead of saying them, she sent Kashchey the most murderous look she was capable of. Her guilty subjects often dropped dead at the sight of such a look and came back to life only after her departure. But Kashchey was one nasty immortal, so he refused to even pretend to die.

It was fortunate for the princess that her eyes weren’t really deadly. Otherwise, she would have remained alone in an empty castle in the middle of nowhere and without any chance of returning to her native land.

“The princes will kill you!” Maria stated, tired of drilling Kashchey with her eyes. “They’ll come and kill you!”

“Perhaps,” Kashchey agreed. “But which ones? Those who have been making strange movements all evening. I believe they’re called dancing mistakenly? The ones who refused to pay the ransom for you and left the kingdom quickly after my departure? Out of the whole crowd, no prince wanted to part with a small… well… all right… with a big sum of money. An indecently big one! None of them!”

Maria’s face turned so upset that Kashchey felt scared for a moment. Did she have a stroke or something? He had to back off, and urgently at that.

“Calm down, calm down!” he said conciliatory. “Two idiots volunteered to save you! I mean, one is saving you and the other one is assisting like a proper brother. They are already galloping here at full speed, probably tearing me apart mentally. But are you sure you’d have picked them out of that crowd of dancers? Think about the vicissitudes of fate at your leisure. And before you do that, explain something to me. How did you manage to do this to my beloved dark castle?”

“Do what?” Maria asked dully, her head in the clouds.

“That general cleaning thing… Oh, forget about those cowards already, or you’ll never lose this dumbfounded, stupid look on your face. They’re trying to save you. Your crazy dance partner… Hey, do you hear me?”