"Idiot, have you been caught again?" That was the first thing Rahul heard when he woke up. Etele stood in front of him with his hands on his hips and looked at him like when he was only five or six years old and broke something.
"Seems." Rahul looked around the small camp, which actually consisted of a couple of carts. The chüvigh boy's hands and feet were tied and he was also sitting on such a cart. Next to him are four more unconscious boys. "Do you know where I am, grandpa?" Rahul asked in a whisper.
"No, but based on the clothes of those degenerates, I think they are from the south." He nudged towards the center of the camp, then waved. Rahul just nodded at his words before closing his eyes again, not needing his captors to realize he was awake.
That is why even though he felt the chart move under him, he didn't even move. The people around him were still lying still, so he had better do the same. With his eyes closed and relatively calm, he listened closely to everything around him.
He heard how the strangers were talking and although he didn't fully understand everything they said to each other, he still understood a few things, it was as if he already knew the language, but his knowledge had worn off a little. He understood the words, even if their meaning did not always reach his consciousness.
One such word, the meaning of which did not reach his mind, was 'öbcscerdin'. Even if he had been paid, Rahul couldn't have said why he suddenly remembered the team's long-distance communication system, but then, exceptionally, he initiated a conversation with the Athamanas.
It's true that after he got the answer to his question, he barely heard the others, and then the voices in his head stopped, causing Rahul's jaw to tighten. He knew something was wrong, just not what that something might be.
"We left Madüjawr." He heard Etele's voice, as if the ghost was only talking about the weather. His statement, on the other hand, surprised Rahul in such a way that it took great effort for the boy not to move.
The hours passed silently and slowly in the carriage. Until evening, when the strangers set up camp, they woke up the prisoners, including Rahul, and gave them food, then sent them to sleep in the company of a guard, so that they could continue their journey early in the morning. And these little things became routine in the days to come.
Then on the evening of the fourth day, Rahul had another waking dream. By this time he was used to Uncle Laik, as he called the hegin, appearing in his dreams every now and then and teaching him this and that, but these dreams took place in a place like a yurt village. Today, however, Rahul found himself in a clearing. Green grass everywhere as far as the eye can see.
"It's been a long time since we met, wonder boy." Rahul heard the voice behind him and he frowned.
"What the hell are you doing here?" He looked angrily over his shoulder only to see the daimon king dressed in green clothes and a mask.
"Oh wonder boy, is this how you should greet your servant?" The question came, during which the daimon raised his right hand and stroked Rahul's face with the palm of his hand, that is, he would have stroked if the boy had not stepped away from him and turned to face him.
"I talk to you the way I want! We're in my dream, bastard!" Growled Rahul, looking at the daimon with a burning gaze, who, on the other hand, was in front of him in the blink of an eye and hugged the boy with a wide smile.
"You're beautiful when you're angry, wonder boy." Whispered the daimon.
"I'll give you beautiful!" Rahul raised his leg and cut his heel into the others foot, but it was as if he didn't feel it. "Get off!" He tried to push the daimon away from him.
"If you want that." The daimon king sighed and let Rahul go, before the ground disappeared from under the chüvigh boy's feet and he began to fall.
"No!* He screamed, when he felt a hand on his waist and the pulling passed, he was on solid ground again.
"Oh, wonder boy, I'm here to protect you." Whispered the daimon and began to lean towards Rahul.
"Fuck your throne!" The boy snapped as he raised his fisted hand to punch the daimon in the nose. However, the blow missed, as the daimon caught his wrist.
"Hey, wonder boy, Xinxi offered you his services, and this is how you thank him for his actions?" The daimon shook his head. "I can help you get rid of your captors." He said with a faint smile. "All you have to do is summon me, my wonder boy." He whispered, running the index finger of his free hand along Rahul's face, before the boy pulled his hand out of the daimon's grip and snarled at the creature from beyond the earth.
"I don't need your help!* He spat the words at him.
"Don't you want to be free, wonder boy?" The question came and the daimon came close to him again, only to grab Rahul's face with one hand. "Don't you want to get back to your little friends? Don't you want to be around them again?"
"I..." Rahul began with his tongue sticking out and his hands clenched into fists.
"I can help you with this, my wonder boy. Just summon me and you will get everything you want." The daimon whispered, and the chüvigh boy narrowed his eyes and turned up his nose.
"Months have already passed since our contract was concluded. You've never visited me before and you're just now finding me. You are suspicious to me. No one does this out of sheer kindness. What do you want from me?!" Rahul hissed the angry words.
"Nothing, just to help. Summon me, wonder boy!" The daimon king put his arm around Rahul with his free hand.
"No!" The boy growled and tried to take a step back, but the daimon followed his movements.
"You made an alliance with me, wonder boy, use my abilities. Summon me!" He looked deeply into Rahul's eyes, before the boy grabbed the creature's neck with both hands and began to squeeze it.
"I didn't want to make an alliance with you! I don't need your help, Razvan and the others will come for me anyway! Or I'll run away alone! I don't need your help!" He yelled in the daimon's face, whereupon he just smiled widely and took Rahul's face between his two hands and pressed a quick kiss on his lips, but before the chüvigh could react, his figure turned into a mist and reappeared a few steps away.
"This was not the last time you saw me, my wonder boy. You're going to summon me one day anyway and if you do..." Here he giggled and then licked his lips. "There will be no creature on earth who can take you from me." The ominous promise come.
"Fuck you!" Rahul yelled before he woke up.
"Did you have a bad dream?" He heard Etele's voice.
"Can the other half of the contract be excluded from one's dreams?" Rahul asked without any explanation, pointing to his forehead so that Etele could understand who he was referring to.
"Normally, my answer would be yes, but we are talking about him, he is a daimon, not a simple ghost. I don't know if you can rule him out." Etele shook his head regretfully.
"To the damn life." Rahul grumbled under his breath.
"I'm sorry I can't help, I can tell you what could be done anyway, but I don't think it would help much." The ghost relative sighed.
"It's more than nothing." Rahul nodded, then turned to the ghost sitting next to him. "Grandpa, can you show me how far the others are?" Rahul asked curiously.
"I'll go and tell them you're fine and I'll be back." The relative nodded and stood up. "Try to sleep Rahul, there is very little chance of him appearing in your dream again." He said before his figure faded.
"The next time he appears, I will nail Ghost Bell to his throat." Rahul grumbled to himself, where he slowly closed his eyes to try to sleep.