Читать книгу Element. Flame of Elisar онлайн

The tame Sun was sending its rays down bringing some dim light to the mountains whose snowcaps created the feeling of a surreal picture once painted by an unknown artist and stuck to the horizon…

I was sitting there admiring the landscape and listening to the mountain river roaring nearby. That was a place I often stopped at since it was one of the most beautiful places in the area, offering a perfect view of the entire Falls Valley. And that fresh mountain air… I filled my lungs with it and smiled thus enjoying the chill and the view of the reluctantly setting sun.

But in a couple of moments I got some completely different feeling, something strange and uncomfortable. As if feeling somebody’s gaze, I jumped up to look around and find the source of that discomfort. What was it?

The strange feeling was growing, and then, out of sudden, I realized it was perfect silence around, as if all sounds of this world had been turned off at a clap. I could hear neither the sound of grasshoppers jumping all over the grass nor the chirping of birds that were arguing furiously a moment ago about whose song was better…

Then I decided it was time to go on, put quickly all the remaining food into my bag, and rose up about to move… And there I froze, with my heart sinking into my boots.

There, right in front of me, was standing a creature looking at me point-blank. It didn’t take more than an instant to become aware I could expect nothing good from it. It was all black as ink, quite tall – the size of a decent horse, with a long muzzle resembling that of a horse, too; its entire body was covered with a strange pattern, as if carved with some sharp tool. Two large burning eyes, huge nostrils gulping air in, fangs the size of my index, and some strange long shoots looking like a lion’s mane, which were moving in the air as though trying to feel something invisible and intangible…

I backed away, thinking frantically what I could do, and seeing more and more clearly that I was in a trap. The ugly monster cut me off from the only escape way… the only way, to be exact… Now in front of myself I could see a path, with the monster standing on it; a rock to the right of it, and an abyss to the left, while the way back was shut with impenetrable bushes…