Chapter 8 8. Vodka

I was once a stranger in a strange land. —— At the moment of Baruch's death, Balthamos had already felt it.With a yell, he rushed into the night sky above the tundra, flapping his wings, telling his pain through the clouds; it took him a while to get himself back to Will.Will was wide awake, knife in hand, staring out at the dank, cold skin-black night sky.They have returned to Laila's world. "What's the matter?" Will asked when the angel appeared beside him trembling. "Is there any danger? Get behind me—" "Baruch is dead," cried Balthamus, "my dear Baruch is dead—"

"When? Where?" But Balthamus could not tell, he only knew that half his heart was dead.He couldn't calm down: he flew up again, shouting, shouting, calling, darting through the air, as if finding Baruch in a patch of cloud; He hid himself silently, and promised to take care of him uncomplainingly; then the pain took possession of him again, and he thought of every deed of love and courage of Baruch, so many that he could not count them, and he did not forget any of them; he wailed Such a generous disposition should not be destroyed; once more he burst into the sky, and flung himself in every direction, reckless, mad, and scarred, cursing the air, the clouds, and the stars.

Finally Will said, "Balthamos, come here." The angel obediently complied with his request and came to him.In the freezing cold night of the tundra, the little boy shivered in his cloak and said, "Now you must find a way to be quiet. You know there are threats over there. If you hear any sound, they will attack you. If you are by my side , I can protect you with a knife, but if they attack you up there, I can't help you. If you die too, I'm finished. Balthamos, I need you to help me find Lyra, Please don't forget this. Baruch was tough—you gotta be tough too. Be like him for me."

At first Balthamos said nothing, but then he said, "Yes, yes, of course I must. Sleep now, Will, and I'll stand guard, and I won't let you down." Will trusted him; he could only trust him.After a while he fell asleep again. When he woke up, his whole body was drenched in dew, the coldness seeped into his bones, and Tian Shi stood beside him.The sun had just risen, and the reeds and the vegetation in the swamp were all gilded with gold. Before Will had risen, Balthamos said, "I have decided what I shall do. I will be with you day and night for Baruch's sake, and I will be happy and willing. I will lead you to see Lyra, if I can do it, then I will take you both to Lord Asriel. I have lived tens of thousands of years, and I will live tens of thousands more unless someone kills me, but I never I have never met a man who made me so sincere and zealous for goodness as Baruch. I have failed many times, but his virtue always saved me. Now that he is gone, I have to work alone. Maybe I'll fail every now and then, but I'll keep trying."

"In that case, Baruch will be proud of you." Will said with a shiver. "Now can I fly ahead and see where we are?" "Okay," Will said, "fly high and tell me what terrain is in front of me. I can't get out of this swamp for the rest of my life." Balthamos flew into the air, and he didn't tell Will all that was worrying him because he tried not to, but he knew that the angel they had narrowly escaped, Metatron the Doge, would put Will's The face was imprinted on his mind; not only his face, but everything about him that the angels could see, including things Will didn't realize, like his temperament—what Lyra called his elf.

Now Will was in great danger from Metatron, and Balthamos would have to tell him then, but not now.This is too difficult. Will figured it would be quicker to warm up by walking than gathering fuel to build a fire, so he slung his rucksack over his shoulder, wrapped everything in his cloak, and headed south.Ahead was a muddy path with ruts and potholes. It seemed that this path was often traveled by people, but the flat horizon around him was so far away that he couldn't feel that he was moving forward. After a while, when the light was brighter, Balthamos' voice sounded beside him. "Half a day's journey ahead in August, there was a big river, and a town with a dock for barges, and I flew high enough to see the river go straight north and south for a long way, If you can take a boat, you can go much faster."

"Fine," Will said excitedly, "does this road lead to that town? He went through a village with a church, a farm and an orchard, and then went straight to the town. " "Don't know what language they speak, hope they don't lock me up because I can't speak their language. " "As your elf," said Balthamos, "I will translate for you. I have learned many of the languages ​​of Men, and I am sure I can speak the language of this country." Will kept walking, the trek tedious and mechanical, but at least he was moving, at least he was getting closer to Lyla with each step.

It was a run-down village: wooden houses, paddocks for deer, and dogs that barked when he approached. Smoke from tin chimneys hovered low over the shingled roof.The road was muddy and sticky, evident from a recent flood: the walls were covered with mud up to half the height of the door, broken wooden beams and sagging corrugated iron were exposed where the sheds, balconies and housekeeping had been washed away. But those aren't the strangest features of the place.At first he thought he had lost his balance, and even staggered a few times; it turned out that the buildings were not vertical and were tilted two or three degrees in one direction, and the dome of the chapel was severely cracked.Was there an earthquake here?

Several dogs were barking hysterically, but they dared not approach.Balthamus, who was an elf, turned into a big snow-white dog with black eyes, thick fur, and a tightly curled tail.He barked so fiercely that the real dogs backed away.They were thin and dirty, and the few reindeer in front of them were mangy and listless. Will stopped in the middle of the small village and looked around, not knowing where to go.Just then two or three men appeared ahead and stood staring at him, the first people he had seen in Lyra's world.They don't look very friendly in their heavy felt coats, muddy boots, and fur hats.

The white dog turned into a sparrow and flew onto Will's shoulder.None of them batted an eye at this: Will saw that each of them had an elf, mostly dogs, and that's the way things are in this world.Whispering over his shoulder, Balthamos said, "Keep walking, don't just look up their eyes, don't look up, it's respectful." Will kept going, he could make himself inconspicuous, which was what he was good at.By the time he got to the men they had lost interest in him, but then the door of the biggest house on the road opened and a voice shouted something. Balthamos said softly, "He is a priest. You have to be polite to him, turn around and bow."

Will does as he says.The priest was a large gray-bearded man wearing a black cassock with a raven sprite on his shoulder.Her restless eyeshadow slid across Will's face and body, seeing it all.He waved. Will walked to the porch and bowed.The priest said something, and Balthamos said in a low voice, "He asked where you came from, and you can say whatever you want." "I speak English," Will said slowly and clearly, "I don't know any other languages." "Ah, English!" said the priest happily in English, too. "Dear young man! Welcome to our village, Korodnoy, our no longer vertical village! What's your name, and where are you going?" "My name is Will. I'm going south. I lost my family. I'm going to get them back." "Then you should have something to eat lately," said the priest, "and dragged Will's shoulders with his heavy arms into the porch. The priest's crow spirit showed great interest in Balthamus, but the angel was not inferior to him: the angel turned into a mouse and crawled into Will's shirt as if shy.The priest took him into a living room filled with a strong smell of tobacco, and a Russian-style iron samovar was quietly steaming on a side table. "What did you say your name was?" said the priest. "Tell me again." "Will Perry. But I don't know what to call you." "Oteyates Semyon," said the priest, guiding Will towards a chair, stroking his arm, "Oteyates means priest, I am a priest of the Holy Church, and my Christian name is Semyon, my father's Christian name is Boris, so I am Semyon Borisovich. What's your father's name?" "John Perry." "John is Ivan, so you are Will Ivanovich and I am Semyon Borisovich. Will Ivanovich, where are you from and where are you going?" " I got lost." Will said, "I was traveling south with my family, and my dad was a soldier, but he was exploring in the North Pole, and then something happened, and we got lost, so I was heading south, Because I know that's where we're going next." The priest spread his hands and said, "A soldier? An explorer from England? No one of such interest has walked the dirty roads of Korodnoy for centuries, but in these troubled times, who knows Will he show up tomorrow? You are a welcome guest, Will Ivanovich. You must spend the night at my house, and we will chat and eat together. Lydia Alexandrova!" he exclaimed road. An elderly woman came in silently, and he spoke to her in Russian, and she nodded and filled a cup with hot tea from the samovar, and offered Will the teacup with a small saucer of jam and a silver spoon. "Thank you," Will said. "This jam is for sweetening the tea," said the priest, "and Lydia Alexandrova makes it from cranberries." The tea turned out to be bitter and unpalatable, but Will sipped it slowly.The priest was always leaning over to look at him carefully, touching his hands to see if he was cold, and stroking his knees.To distract him, Will asks why the houses in the village are all tilted. "There was an earthquake here," said the priest, "which was prophesied in St. John's Apocalypse. , the river has flowed northward from the mountains of Central Asia for thousands of years since the Author of God created the earth, but when the earth shook and fog and floods came, everything changed, and then the river The big river flowed south for a week or more, then turned back to the north, and the World Cup was turned upside down. Where were you when the big earthquake happened? "It's a long way from here," Will said, "and I don't know what happened. I couldn't find my family when the fog cleared, and I don't know where I am now. You told me the name of this place, But where is it? Where are we?" "Bring me the big book on the bottom shelf," said Semyon Borisovitch, "and I'll show you." The priest dragged his chair to the table, licked his fingers, and opened the large atlas. "Here," he said, pointing with his dirty fingernails at the center of Siberia, far east of the Urals.The nearby river flows, as the priest said, from the northern part of the Tibetan mountains to the North Pole.He took a good look at the Himalayas, but he couldn't see that place on the Baruchized map. Semyon Borisovich talks and talks, asking Will about every aspect of his life, his family and his home, and Will, who is good at disguising, gives him the most comprehensive answers.Soon the housewife brought some beetroot soup and black bread.After the priest said a long prayer, they ate. "Well, Will Ivanovitch, what shall we do with the time?" said Semyon Borisovich. "Shall we play cards, or talk?" He poured another cup of tea from the samovar, and Will took it hesitantly. "I can't play cards," said he, "and I'm in a hurry. If I get to the river, do you think I'll get on the steamer going south?" The priest's face became gloomy, and he deftly made a sign of the cross with his wrist. "There's trouble in town," he said. "Lydia Alexandrova has a sister who comes here and says there's a bear boat going up the river. It's armored bears. They come from the North Pole. You're in the north." You never saw a armored bear when you were here?" The priest became suspicious, and Balthamos whispered, "Be careful," in a voice only Will could hear. Will understood immediately why he said this: when Semyon Borisovich mentioned bears, his His heart was already pounding because Lyra had told him about them.He had to find a way to hide his feelings. "We're far away from Svalbard and the males are busy with their own business," he said. "Yes, I heard that's the case." Will was relieved by the priest's words. "But they're leaving home for the south now, and they've got a boat, and the town won't fuel them. They're afraid of bears, and they should be—they're the devil's children. All the things that come from the north are Devils like witches - daughters of evil! The church should have put them all to death years ago. Witches - don't hang out with them, Will Ivanovic, did you hear that? Know you grow up to be What will they do after age? They'll do everything cunning, cunning and deceitful to seduce you with their flesh, soft skin and sweet voice, and they'll take your seed - you know what I mean What does it mean—they'll suck you dry and leave you a shell! They'll take your future, take your children, leave you with nothing. They should be killed and none left." The priest reached out to a side shelf and took down a bottle and two small cups. "Now I'm going to buy you a drink, Will Ivanovic," he said, "You're young, so don't drink too much. But you're growing up, so you need to know things like vodka Taste. Lydia Alexandrova collected a lot of berries last year, and my steamed wine is in this bottle, this is Otjez * Semyon * Boris Ovich and Lydia * The only place where Alexandrova fuses! " He laughed, uncorked the bottle, and filled both glasses to the brim.Will is extremely uncomfortable in this kind of conversation, what should he do? How could he refuse politely? "Otoyets Semyon," he said, standing up, "you have been very kind to me, and I wish I had stayed longer to taste your wine and listen to your conversation, for everything you told me was very Interesting. But you can understand how upset I was because of my family and having found them again, so as much as I'd love to stay, I guess I'll have to keep going." The priest's mouth stuck out from his bushy beard, his brow furrowed, and then he shrugged and said, "Well then, if you must go, you must go, but you must finish your vodka before you go. Now, Stand with me! Pick it up and drink it in one gulp, like me!" She tipped the glass back, gulped it down, and pulled her bulky body up to stand next to Will.His goblet looked small between his fat, filthy fingers, but it was full of clear spirits, and Will could smell the strong liquor, and the sickening defenses and cannibals on the priest's black vestments The taste of it made him feel nauseous before he even started drinking it. "Drink, Will Ivanovich!" cried the priest with threatening enthusiasm.