After the group split Rahul, Citar and Wandi continued their journey west towards the chüvigh boy's home. Everything went perfectly fine for a while. They walked during the day and stopped to rest at night, this routine was no different from what they had been doing until now. Except that there were only three of them to be on guard, so they had to get up more often at night, but then, necessity breaks the law.
Today was no different from the others, the trio spent the whole day walking and by the time they set up camp in the evening, they were all quite exhausted. That's why they decided that first Wandi will be on guard, then Citar and finally Rahul, and then they will change twice more until morning. Although it was very difficult to convince Wandi not to stay up in Citar's cycle, but the other two weren't surprised by this anymore. In the past few days, it was difficult just to get the danovus to close his eyes even for a moment, and he only did so when Citar was in his arms.
After they had agreed and eaten their dinner, the two members of the small company went to sleep. The moon calmly crept up into the sky and when the time came, reluctantly, Wandi woke up Citar and after the hegin settling in his arms, the danovus also went to sleep. Tonight started out as uneventful as any other. Citar single-mindedly poked the fire with a wooden stick and gazing at sometimes the red flames or at the clear sky.
They didn't sleep in a yurt, there weren't enough people to varant making one every night, so they agreed that they would only deal with it if it looked like it would rain at night, which was unlikely at this time, based on the observations of the hegins. Although such nights are usually quiet, the nocturnal animals were quite active that day.
Citar knew Madüjawr's animals and their sounds well, so he knew exactly that the softly crunching branch was the fault of a deer, and the animal moving the dry leaves must have been a hedgehog. The Bolacsuk boy seemed calm even in the bustle of the night forest. So he thought he could finish his guard with a smile on his face.
At first he didn't notice the change, nor could he when he was sitting by the fire. He only realized something was wrong when he started blinking longer than he should have. But before he could shake his friends to signal that something was wrong, the all-consuming darkness closed in on him.
"Look there, three hegins." A voice chuckled as he stepped out into the clearing. "We will surely get a reward for this, boys." He put his hands on his hips and looked over his shoulder, from where several figures in black clothes appeared. When he heard approving voices, he walked closer to Citar and Wandi, who was holding him. And he stretched out his hand to pull the two boys apart.
"Don't!" One of his companions caught his wrist and squeezed him.
"Why?" He snorted, with which he only managed to get a neck soup.
"That is a dima, you bastard! The smoke has a weaker effect on him..." The one who held him down began to explain, when Wandi started to squirm. "Get the smoke!" He gave the order, and black smoke appeared around one of the figures standing back, which lightning quickly surrounded Citar and Wandi. "Let's take the one that's separate, then let's get out of here. I don't want to be around when the dima comes to! And believe me, you don't want to be here either." He said as he walked next to Rahul and took him on his shoulder as if the boy was not weighing anything. The foreign team then retreated back to where they came from, constantly watching behind them. And when they were far enough back to their horses. They continued their journey with them, far south.
Citar woke up to the worst morning of his life the next day. His head was buzzing, he had a strange taste in his mouth, like the one people have after vomiting, and even his eyes didn't want to focus properly, no matter how hard he squeezed them or blinked. He still felt Wandi's arms around him, but other than that he couldn't grasp anything properly for a while.
The first thing that came to his mind was that their campfire had gone out. The boy frowned at this discovery, then slowly raised his hand to press down on his head before opening his eyes again, which then widened. Because he did not see Rahul anywhere. It was agreed that none of them would go to pick wood until they were all up. So Citar immediately knew something was wrong. Accordingly, he immediately began to wake up Wandi, who also woke up moaning.
"Good morning Citar." The danovus whispered before he fully recovered, but his eyes immediately widened and he scanned the clearing. "The boss will kill us." He swallowed as he let go of the boy in his arms.
"Do you know where he went? We agreed not to go anywhere alone." Citar bit his lips.
"Well, he's not alone." Wandi snarled.
"What? Are the others back?" The worry disappeared from Citar's features, but his relief was short-lived when Wandi saw him looking sour facial expression. The danovus finally shook his head before looking at his friend and speaking softly.
"It seems we ran into a group of ötandis." Said the Vojk boy in a measured voice, which caused Citar to swear and slam his fist into the ground.
"In the name of Athira, they must appear at this time. So far we have always avoided th..." The Bolacsuk boy's eyes suddenly widened. "em." He swallowed a big one. "They took Rahul. He was entrusted to us, he was taken by the ötandis." He closed his eyes and leaned against Wandi's chest. "The boss will flay us." He moaned.
"You won't have any problems, Citar." Wandi put his hand on the boy's head. "I hear he's fine for now, but we're too few to go after him." He sighed, then closed his eyes and put his hand on his temple, but before he could speak, in the common communication system of the Athamanas, a voice that was particularly calm compared to his situation rang out.
"Hey guys, does anyone know what a pain in the ass is that öbcserdin?" Hearing Rahul's voice, a huge stone fell from Citar's heart.
"If I'm not mistaken it's the name of one of the ötandi's stations near Madüjawr. Why?" Razvan's voice rang through the system.
"Oh..." They heard the surprised voice. "Gosh." There was another sound. "Here." Here comes the next one. "Ouch!" Then nothing for long minutes.
"Citar, Wandi? Can you hear me? What the fene is going on there? Rahul is out of bounds!" Razvan spoke in an eerily calm voice. The two friends looked at each other worriedly before Wandi spoke.
"We have a bit of a problem boss. Rahul has been taken by the ötandis." At the danovus' answer, the leader of the Athamanas fell silent and did not speak again. The communication system was silent, causing Citar to swallow.
"We are fucked." He finally moaned in a desperate voice.