Дмитрий Мансуров - Invasion

A delicious smell from the pot gathered a lot of cunning faces around the clearing. They had all overcome their fear of the unknown and were peeking out from behind the leaves. The princes heard the noise and looked around in amazement. Everywhere they looked, those cunning faces peered out. Bushes and tree branches were almost breaking under their weight. And all the faces stared exactly at the pot with boiling soup.

The small clearing was completely surrounded and looked like a wide well. It was like the most cunning of cunning cunningness was sitting around them. The faces were all identical. And everyone was smiling from ear to ear, or whatever they might have had in place of ears! The faces were simultaneously licking their lips, sniffing, and licking their lips again.

Hunter bristled in response.

“What do they want?”

“I think they want to join us.”

“Or for us to join them,” Yaroslav muttered. “As dinner.”

He put down his sword and removed the pot from the fire. The faces shifted.

“Are you sure they’ll let us eat in peace?”

“Not at all. Get the spoons.”

Yaroslav lowered the spoon into the pot, ignoring the noisy exhalation of the licking faces, stirred the soup and began to eat. Artem sat nearby.

“I can’t eat like this,” he said with his mouth full. “They stare in such a way…”

Hunter calmly began to consume his meal, without waiting for it to get cooler.

“The dog is wary of the competitors,” Yaroslav noted. “Let’s not waste our time either.”

The faces became agitated, seeing how quickly the soup was decreasing. Artem ate another spoonful when suddenly…

The flight, oddly enough, was rather calm. No one tried to catch up with him, grab him, or eat him. The sparrow guessed that Kashchey’s castle wasn’t far, which meant his journey would be over soon.

“What’s that?” The sparrow saw a noisy bunch of cunning faces that surrounded some clearing and closely watched something happening there. It was obvious that they couldn’t wait to rush forward, but they didn’t dare and were only shifting their feet. The sparrow giggled, flew up to one of the faces, and pecked its tail with all his strength. The face jumped, mostly from surprise than from pain, but the deed was done. All the other faces followed the first one and in an instant, they attacked the princes. A big bunch of fighting faces surrounded them. But oddly enough, their expressions remained just as cunning.

Yaroslav cried out loudly, trying to scare off the attackers, but the faces only smiled slyly and licked their lips carnivorously. A bad premonition rose inside him. The roar was incredibly loud. Those standing at the back were pushing those who managed to reach the pot. The loud slurping drowned out all other sounds. But when the suspicious sounds of metal scratching came, the crowd disappeared and fled in different directions. The silence seemed grave.

Artem opened his eyes, exhaled and muttered, “What a blue sky! But the clouds are so heavy… It’s going to rain.”

He found the crumpled cauldron that was gnawed into pieces, and without looking, he ran his finger over the teeth marks. Then his eyes widened. He stood up and brought the cauldron closer to his face.

Through the holes, he looked at Yaroslav and expressed the general opinion, “Let’s get out of here! It’s dinner time soon.”

The princes mounted their horses. The leaky cauldron remained hanging on a tree branch. The sparrow flew up to it, intending to profit from the leftovers only to realize the faces had consumed everything.

“Gluttons!” the sparrow muttered and flew after the princes. They must have some food. And if they rushed to the castle, it would be excellent. Maybe they’d kill Kashchey and then the Bully would live there forever, without having to fear the jokes of that Villain. But here was the question, what would he eat there? The sparrow suddenly felt a sharp longing for home.

‘Why did I listen to the fox? ’ he thought. ‘ No one saw my face, nobody knows I scared other sparrows, so why have I left? Home! I want to go home!.. Oh, fox! Your jokes are completely idiotic! That’s it.’

He turned around abruptly and flew back to his native forest.

About midnight, there was a knock on the castle gates.

“Are you expecting guests?” Kashchey asked.

“I am,” Maria said confidently and looked at him suspiciously. “Aren’t you?”

“I am,” Kashchey agreed. “But it’s not them. It’s someone else. You stay here. I’ll check what kind of reckless fool decided to show up. Interesting that he didn’t get scared of his mirror reflection.”

“And you said all the travelers would have a heart attack!”

“Exceptions confirm the rules.”

“Hah, and what if the exceptions prevail?”

“Then this is the real rule that everyone likes to break!”

The knocking resumed, getting harder. The thunder broke the sky apart. The lightning flashed through the window, and another rumble shook everything.

“Don’t like to get wet, do we?” Kashchey grinned. “You won’t melt, whoever you are.”

Kashchey met the traveler with flowers in his hands. As soon as the gates opened, the flowers flew back at the guest along with the pot. The person made an uncertain sound and sneezed from the pollen. Kashchey studied him curiously and realized that now he may die in peace. There was nothing more amazing he’d ever witnessed in his life.

The stranger had a huge head. His wings were folded behind his back, canines were protruding from his mouth, and his fingers had giant claws.

The guest stopped sneezing. He looked at Kashchey and growled, “This castle is mine!”

“You wish, scarecrow!” Kashchey answered. “You belong in the garden, scaring the crows.”

“Do you have any idea who I am?”

“I already told you who you are,” Kashchey shrugged. “And if you disagree, then give me your version.”

“I’m the Lord of Vampires!”

“Cool,” Kashchey agreed. “But what does it mean?”

“I…”

“Yes, you! Calm down already and say something actually relevant.”

The vampire swung and struck him in the solar plexus with his mighty fist. The rumble caught the sound of the blow, carrying it across the surroundings. Kashchey didn’t even shift. The vampire’s face contorted.

“Ahhh!” he yelled. His mouth fell wide open, exposing his terrible fangs. The vampire pressed his fist to his stomach and temporarily disconnected from reality.

“What ill-mannered nervous wrecks of guests!” Kashchey was indignant. “The Lord of Vampires… What kind of vampires? Vampires… vampires… Ah! Vampires! The family of blood-sucking bats! Wow, that bat has certainly gotten huge! Hey, bat, what were you feeding on? I want that, too!”

“Ahhh!” the vampire yelled again, feeling that the hand he’d used to punch Kashchey was about to lose all sensations in it. If not forever, then for ten years for sure. Kashchey shook his head. From the darkness, an approaching crowd emerged. Kashchey narrowed his eyes. At first glance, these were ordinary people… but not really. At second glance, it became clear that they were like their leader, who was still screaming his boring “ahhh”. The crowd began to move faster, and Kashchey realized that if he didn’t close the gates now, he wouldn’t close them ever again.

“Wow!” he muttered. “They don’t know who I am! This is better than putting all the palace guests to sleep! What backwoods did they even come from?”

The gates slammed shut in front of their noses, so the vampires pounded against the doors, roaring and hissing.