Chapter 4
Several
exhalations of life
Peter Sunshine was standing before the Spring of life where somebody had placed a plate with his name on it. The Spring was gradually running dry.
The
sensation of seeing the inevitability of one’s own death could not be compared
with anything else. Except with death
itself.
However,
since Peter had never died before, he didn’t have a clear idea what exactly
death was. Yet, he felt the ghostly
embrace of something that resembled a try for an icy kiss – he had experienced a similar sensation during his
granny’s funeral – he remembered the open coffin in the church, all the relatives were supposed to walk by the body of
the old woman for a final farewell. Peter had cried
the previous night, he didn’t cry at the funeral, but his eyes were misty and watery, one could see the grief in his eyes. He saw everybody touching the dead woman’s hand, while
walking past the coffin and realized that he was supposed to do the same. “That’s the proper thing to do!” He didn’t have any idea who had made up this rule,
he wondered who could determine what was proper and what wasn’t. He took his
courage though; he stopped by his granny’s body and touched her dead hand with his little palm. The icy taste of death pierced his body, at first he felt as if the dead woman would grasp him
by the hand that very moment, and drag him right into the coffin with her. He
instinctively moved back, he almost toppled down the huge vases full of flowers,
placed near the coffin.
Afterwards,
all night he saw coffins in his dreams; coffins that were opening and closing. All
sorts of dead people were laying in them; people with indistinct faces who were
calling him, trying to reach him with their hands in the dark. He was pulling himself back so desperately, that
at one moment he fell down from his bed.
Peter Sunshine was only ten years old but he realized
he was going to die.
His
Spring of life was running dry and he had nowhere to get life-giving water to
fill the Spring up. He neither had the
strength to do it, nor did he know where to find this life-giving water...
.
* * *
There,
at the foot of the Sunnypeak mountain, Tommy Sunshine didn’t know his brother
was going to die. He had the feeling though, that Peter was in great danger,
and that he had to hurry up and find him before it was too late.
Tommy set off as Peter had directed him in the dream – he had to pass
through nine mountains to reach the tenth one – right at the end of
the world. Jack, the Dalmatian was
dogging his footsteps, so closely tailed after him, that from a distance, the
boy and the dog appeared as one whole.
The
older of Sunshine brothers had undertaken his journey to save Peter, but he didn’t have any idea what to expect. He didn’t know what obstacles and dangers he was about
to go through. He didn’t know that those nine mountains wouldn’t be the
greatest hardship at all. On his way to the
tenth mountain he was going to come across creatures no one else had ever seen
before. No one before had ever dared
to go to the Black Castle
* * *
The, in
the Springs of life Garden, inside the Black Castle
A
beautiful lady dressed in a purple mantle, standing under an arch on the upper
floor, was looking down at Peter who was lying there – unconscious and helpless.
* * *
Wandering
through the trails of Sunnypeak mountain, Tommy didn’t have time to rejoice at the two newborn foxes, that had slept well the previous night and, now, were
playing in the grass. Neither had he time to watch the lonesome doe that had come to the creek, nor to listen to the bird songs. The mother fox took a
careful look at the boy from the
bushes, she was calm – the boy had not caused any harm to her cubs.
Now,
he had to walk all the long way to reach Peter as soon as possible.
* * *
There,
in Sunnytown, a bitter feeling woke Mrs. Sunshine up. She felt as if something pierced her heart, the same sensation
one experiences shortly before he gets stricken by heart attack. Elena had been
up almost all night, not only because
of the black clouds that were threatening the town; Elena just couldn’t accept the fact that another day
had passed and the police could still
not detect any traces of Peter. Nobody had called
or messaged her with a ransom demand; there was no
evidence of a sinister crime in the woods, or in the trunk of a car, abandoned
in the fields, for example... There was…nothing. This lack of information, the fact she didn’t know
what happened to her child was worse than the waiting itself. Nothing terrified her more than the thought that the
worst could have happened to her child... the most
frightening thought for a parent…
Elena Sunshine
quickly washed her face and went to the kitchen. She hadn’t forgotten her daily
duties and care for her husband and Tommy, so she decided to make some crispy
little patties for breakfast. Mr. Sunshine
always got up early in the morning to go to the confectionary first, he came
back home every morning at 7.30 and they always had breakfast together – the
four of them.
The three
of them now… Elena didn’t know
where Peter was, she didn’t have any idea whether he had anything for breakfast
at all.
She
entered the kitchen and took the large glass bowl to whip the eggs in it. She took the bowl with one hand, then she turned to
take the white cotton kitchen towel to mop it and… she dropped the bowl.
The
glass bowl fell and broke into dozens of pieces on the floor.
There
was a note on the table.
“Mom, I’m going out there to save Peter.Don’t you worry, everything is going to be all right. We’ll be back the moment the Sun rises again above
Sunnytown. Wait for us. Tommy”.
Elena Sunshine
realized that only two people had remained in the house for breakfast. Eating was the last thing though, that would interest
her and Mr. Sunshine - that and the
following mornings.
Both
their sons had taken the roads of destiny. Nobody knew where these roads would
lead them, nobody knew how long one should follow these roads to find salvation. If salvation were to be found at all…
* * *
Peter
who had collapsed near the Spring of life, was still lying there lifeless. Being only 10, he was a brave boy. He knew how to fight and not to surrender.
The
elegant lady, dressed in a crimson mantle,
who
had been watching him from the second floor of the castle, pushed a brick in the wall and entered in a dark room
which in reality wasn’t so dark. There was no light
there at all, but all the objects could be
clearly seen, because of the thousands of
monitors that made the darkness visible.
There,
on these huge monitors the woman was watching the life of different people – men, women and children, various people who were at their work place, at their homes, at the
supermarket, at the cinema hall, visiting their
neighbors’, at the hospital, in the maternity
ward, or sitting on a bench at a
bus stop...
The
woman was examining their lives. Some of the
monitors died out occasionally, never to start again...
* * *
Tommy
had easily got over Sunnypeak and was climbing up the second mountain now. He wasn’t feeling any fatigue, Jack was full of energy
too, which made the boy hurry along. He had no time to
waste.
The
second mountain was a woody one – three different
woods covered its slopes – The Orange wood, the Sheet Iron wood and the Silver wood. These three areas were clearly outlined, as if they
had no common ground – they seemed to
exist essentially. Tommy wondered for
a moment – which of the three was the most frightful one... He didn’t really know what sort of sensation fear was. A coward would not start looking for his brother, who had been kidnapped by a magic black chest. Jack found all of the three forests equally exiting - he would sink into the fallen leaves and play with them,
he would find a stick and gnaw it for fun on their way through the forest. The Dalmation didn’t know that tin and silver are no
good for gnawing at all. He didn’t have the
slightest idea who was lurking behind those trees.
* * *
There,
in the Hall of Life, the woman was holding something that looked like a remote
control – it was, though, larger and
pliable – a sponge-like object. With this remote control the woman managed to control
all the cameras that showed the lives of thousands of people. She was able to
have a look at all the objects around those people, as well as the other
people. She would draw the lens to certain faces so close that you could see
the pores of their skins. Then she would blur the images, twisting the cameras, choosing some sudden standpoints towards the Living
World.
* * *
Tommy
and Jack passed the Orange wood and made their
way into the Tin wood. The boy told himself he had to look out for dry sticks
or weeds that could cut him. The dog sniffed
around, and not detecting any tasteful smells, lost interest in the wood and
just kept on following Tommy – they were like two silhouettes, merging in one
image.
They
were approaching the Silver wood.
Tommy had read piles of books and lots of films about vampires. He knew
vampires could be killed only by a silver bullet. And in this forest you could find silver for a load of silver bullets! He only hoped he wouldn’t have to use the silver
for this purpose. Moreover, vampires
ruled at night, and it was a day in the Silver wood.
The
farther they walked from Sunnytown, the clearer they could see the black,
cloudy shield that was hanging over the town. With each pace it became lighter and sunnier. Oddly, the clouds had seemingly marked the exact
borders of the town and looked like an ugly lid. Only, there was no one there
to roll this lid out of the town...
The
sky was sunny above the Silver wood, the trees reflected the sunny rays like
mirrors – now and then, and all that light was dazzling the boy and his
loyal friend – the Dalmatian Jack. The rays were
tickling the dog’s nose, making him sneeze.
The black spots on his fur didn’t look so black under the sunny rays. Those silvery reflections dazzled Tommy as well,
he wasn’t quite sure they were walking in the right direction but ever since
they had set out, he had the feeling that he didn’t need to think where he was
going. Somebody or something was just guiding them. He just had to confide in his
feet – they knew where they were going.
The
silver arms of the trees resembled frail and fragile icicles. Nevertheless, the
wind scampered among them, making a weird whizz that sounded a bit scary, but
Tommy had promised himself that he wouldn’t be afraid of anything.
Jack
suddenly stopped and started choking.
Tommy
turned round, squatted for a moment and patted the dog’s back.
He
drew back immediately, as he felt as if an invisible, ice-cold hand was holding
the dog’s throat. Jack couldn’t
breathe. Then, in the silvery
reflections of the nearby trees, he saw clearly the dog’s breath as it was
floating out of the dog’s mouth. The dog’s breath curved up in the air like a
cuckoo clock spring that was about to break any moment...
Something
was sucking the dog’s breath away.
Tommy
had no idea what to do. He started waving
his hands around to chase away the invisible assailant, but his arms swung around
without direction, making him look like a broken windmill.
* * *
There,
in the black castle, Peter was still lying near his spring of life, without showing
any signs of being here, within these boundaries, without being aware that his
brother had already set out from Sunnytown to come here.
* * *
Jack’s breath was
coming out of his mouth like a thin thread.
Tommy
couldn’t believe that the dog’s life depended on this thread. He was careful not to make a sudden move, or else, he
thought, the thread would just tear up...
Tommy didn’t
know that the Whispereaters lived in the Silver wood. They were distantly
related to the Shapeshifters and the vampires. They were invisible creatures, therefore they would easily take their
victims by surprise. The Whispereaters
served the Black Man. They had voluntarily offered him to attack the people who
were passing through the Silver wood and thus they took some new breathless
bodies to the Black
Castle
The
Whispereaters were invisible. The elderly people told stories about them – the
Whispereaters usually walked barefoot and left no traces. The only sign of
their presence was the weird whisper that their miserable victims used to hear seconds
before being attacked in the woods. The Whispereaters didn’t smother their victims;
they usually sucked their breath out. A whisper that ate human breath… It
sounded really scary...
But
Tommy was unaware of all these things. He was about to learn the truth in a
very little while.
* * *
The
elegant lady, dressed in a crimson robe, took the remote control that helped
her control the life screens of thousands of people, and left it on a table
that was in the corner of the huge hall, then walked away. She stopped for a
while at the marble terrace, took a brief look at Peter who was lying on the
stones, then walked on, to the right watch tower where the Black man had
already been waiting for her.
* * *
Tommy
turned sharply around; he had heard some noise from the silver bushes. Jack’s throat was wheezing, his was about to lose his
last reserves of breath.
Then,
Mother Fox of Sunnytown jumped out of the silver bushes.
She
was a grateful vixen; she knew how to appreciate a gesture of kindness.
Earlier, while crossing the mountain, Tommy didn’t hurt her children who were
playing jauntily in the grass.
The
Whispereaters in the Silver wood could be defeated only by a Silver Fox. This
one was the right one.
The Fox jumped
upon the invisible assailant who had taken Jack, she bit the Whispereater’s
hand that was holding the dog. Several drops of blood trickled down on the
silver leaves. The creature that
was trying to take away the dog’s life lost its invisibility when it was
wounded.
Suddenly Tommy and the stressed dog saw a crooked, gnomish creature that
had four, instead of two lips. It looked more like an ant-eater if you looked
at his muzzle. The whispereater tried to break free from the fox’s bite, but
the fox was holding him tight.
The
mother of the two fox cubs, who weren’t aware they would become exactly like
her one day, shook the whispereater. It was a little, gnomish creature and she
tossed him towards the nearby silver tree.
A
silver stick stubbed him right in the heart, his body shrunk and he disappeared
for a few seconds. Vampires vanish
exactly the same way when you shoot them with a silver bullet, Tommy recalled.
Not
only was the Silver Fox a grateful animal, but she was well mannered, too. Tommy was not surprised when she spoke to him in
a human language and told him she was sorry she’d come a bit late, because she
couldn’t find anybody to take care of her cubs. The Fox told him what sort of
creatures the whispereaters were and warned him to be careful, because they
never went hunting by themselves. It was quite
possible that other whispereaters were stalking in the bushes at that moment...
Meanwhile,
Jack was still coughing, which was very unusual for a dog. He even took his paw
in front of his mouth, because he too, was a well-mannered dog. The worst had passed though, the Dalmatian was quickly
recovering. The whispereater hadn’t taken his breath away, after all.
The
vixen was surprised that the whispereater had attacked the dog instead of Tommy. When she mentioned the Black man, whom the
whispereaters served, her words convinced the boy they were going in the right
direction. The fox was still at a loss,
why Jack had been chosen for a victim. She suggested that this dog was a very
important dog because these ugly creatures had tried to leave him breathless.
Tommy
realized that someone obviously didn’t want the dog in this rescue trip and at
that instant he realized how fortunate he was to have Jack.
The
vixen escorted them through the Silver wood. They parted and hoped they
wouldn’t need her help again. She showed Tommy a short cut to the third mountain
and warned them to look out for the itching ants. One bite by these ants could
cause a terrible itch on the whole body of the victim.
Then
the silver fox disappeared in the Silver wood, she had to go back to her two
cubs. They were waiting for her to tell them the good night fairytale about the
ugly creatures that sucked human breath...
Tommy
and Jack went on ahead. The dog didn’t look so confident in his walk, but he
was doing his best to follow the boy closely. The elder of the Sunshine
brothers frequently turned back to see if his friend was all right.
* * *
The
Black man was standing there, in the right watch tower of the black castle. He
was waiting for the lady in the crimson robe to come. A little notebook was lying on the table. If one looked carefully, one would notice the drops of
blood on the leather cover of the notebook.
превод: Гергана Бахчисарайцева
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