Дмитрий Мансуров - Invasion

“Children’s tales!” someone scoffed.

“Yeah?” Babak entered into the dispute. “You go to my house and look at the hole in the wall. The monsters made it. And the noise that you took for the merrymaking of the goblins? It was Prince Artem fighting them!”

“Where’s the convincing evidence?” the grim bearded man stepped forward. “Every fool can break a wall. In fact, this is what fools do.”

“Do you even hear yourself?” Babak interrupted him, but the man didn’t notice it.

“I think there was a storm. A hurricane. A blizzard. So who knows what happened? Don’t go around telling us these tales!” the bearded man raised his voice. “This is just outrageous! There are no monsters! Got it? And this,” he pointed at the bats, “is not proof.”

Yaroslav stepped forward.

“I don’t know what will happen tonight,” he said. “Maybe nothing. Maybe they were the only living monsters. It’s possible. But just in case, I suggest you fortify your homes.”

“It won’t hurt anyway. The robbers pay us a visit sometimes, don’t they?” the woman added.

The peasants began talking all at once, shouting and interrupting each other. The general opinion was not in favor of the speakers.

“By the way,” Babak said, “we have an outside witness. Early in the morning, the miller came to me and told me some interesting things. The day before yesterday, his mill was attacked by two vampires. They were foreigners.”

“And what, did they manage to break in? Did they get into the mill?”

“They’ve dismantled it log by log.”

“And where was the miller last night?”

“He was badly hurt by the explosion.”

“He came to warn you, you stupid idiots, about what’s coming! And you…”

The peasants stared at the prince. There was a tense silence.

“Flour doesn’t explode,” the bearded man said stubbornly. “It’s a fairy tale, all of it.”

Yaroslav waved his hand.

“To hell with you,” he uttered. “Ignore us if you want. But don’t complain later. I wish you all the best! Dig your graves and wait for the enemies to come! I don’t wish to remain in this society of voluntary corpses.”

“It’s all because of you!” an old woman shouted. “Before you came here, we all lived quietly and peacefully! Then you showed up and the troubles started! Get out of here!”

Yaroslav turned away.

“Of course,” he said quietly. “I’ll leave as I arrived. I wish you a pleasant and painless death.”

“Wait!” Babak called him. “I’m going with you. Disperse, dead, I have to leave!”

“So it’s true, then?” someone asked timidly.

Babak let out a strange sound.

“Is it true what?”

“My God,” Babak looked up at the sky, “close your ears, I have to say some very unsavory things!” The sky rumbled.

“You want to talk, too?” Babak asked. “I understand.”

“How do I protect people now?” Yaga asked Artem. “As you see, these vampires are quite wicked!”

“I understand perfectly, but I can’t help you. I promised to return Ivan,” Artem said. “And I think this plan of turning people into animals won’t have much success.”

“Beggars can’t be choosers,” Yaga replied. “And the vampires have their own set of rules. They don’t drink animal blood. It either causes their allergies to act up or it’s poisonous, I don’t remember. But they start feeling tremendously bad, foaming at the mouth, bleeding from the ears, stuff like that. So it’s either experiment with one boy or a sea of blood and mountains of corpses.”

“We’ll figure it out,” Artem said. “Did I understand it correctly that the chief vampire has a grudge against you?”

“Two grudges,” Yaga confirmed.

“So they’ll attack again?”

“Definitely!”

“So they’re here to stay?” Artem clutched at his head. “They’ll wipe everyone out! I have to get back to Slavnograd and tell everyone about the impending disaster. How many vampires will there be?”

“I don’t know,” Yaga said honestly. “A lot, I guess.”

Cat Bayun was quietly having breakfast in the corner of the hut, together with Ivan. When he heard the question, he replied, “Several thousand. Or dozens. They’re coming from all sides and I don’t know how many states they’ve already destroyed. The trouble is that the person bitten by a vampire often becomes a vampire themselves. I know one thing for sure, though. All vampires obey their leader. If he commands it, they’ll appear all at once and destroy the enemies.”

Ivan, currently in his human form, was listening to the talking cat with his mouth agape. The boy had felt amazed when the cat poured his own milk and put food on his plates, and now it turned out that he also knew how to talk!

“We have a good weapon against them!” Artem pointed at the spear.

The cat snorted contemptuously.

“How many of them will you have time to stab before you’re caught, slashed, and left to bleed out? One will die, ten will follow. By the way, Yaga, the vampires today aren’t like they were before. If they used to drink only people’s blood, now there are just too many of them. Not the best breakfast conversation but they gut everything they see. I thought the idea with the potion would work, but now I understand we were wrong.”

Yaga slammed her fists against the table.

“I have nothing else to use against them. One hut cannot deal with hordes of vampires. I don’t even have that many shells!”

“I think they won’t touch you,” Artem noted. “Since the leader needs you, the others won’t dare spoil his revenge.”

“It’s a small comfort,” Yaga smiled sourly. “After his death, there will be no one to hold them off.”

“We’ve got to go.” Artem stood up. “We should warn the villagers.”

“All right, all right,” Yaga sighed. “I’ll make a path for you. Don’t fear the animals. I will tell the goblin to see you off. Besides, someone killed all the wolves in the woods, so there’s no one left to be afraid of.”

“And what about this ‘someone’?” Artem asked. “Isn’t he dangerous himself?”

Yaga hesitated for a moment.

“He’s disappeared. Without a trace.”

Ivan stroked the cat one final time. The cat melted into a ball of purring.

There was a soft click.

“What was it?” the prince went on the alert, clutching his sword.

“It’s our people. They’re with us!” Yaga waved her hands. “The goblin has come. He’ll take you to the village.”

“I should take them to the village?” the invisible goblin asked. Artem nodded and tried to see the interlocutor, but there was nothing among the branches. The goblin laughed good-naturedly at his naive attempts, coughed and said, “Follow the tracks!”

“Whose tracks?” Artem was surprised.

“Here!” Ivan pointed at the ground.

There were clearly visible traces of small feet. The unknown creature was trampling the path with obvious pleasure. Ivan ran after the mysterious animal first. The prince thanked the goblin.

“Don’t mention it!” the goblin told him. The prince still didn’t see him. The travelers walked over half a mile and looked back. Yaga’s house disappeared behind the trees, and the distinct footprints melted like the snow in the sun along with a narrow path.

The animal chirped, dragging the people forward, and in an hour’s walk, he never lost his pace. He led Artem and Ivan to the clearing before the village, stopped, said something unintelligible, and disappeared completely. The travelers didn’t believe their eyes. The village was abandoned! The windows and the doors were boarded up, and there were no living beings except some dogs and chickens.