Chapter twelve. White mountain hike

The following week, the senior students, and those who wanted to start with the younger ones, gathered in a small expedition towards the white mountain, to collect herbs, minerals and all sorts of flying-creeping animals for medicines. From the first year there were not so many applicants, among them was naturally Ira, Kolya, Sasha mainly because there was Vasilisa, to whom he had a love experience, several people from light and dark, including Arina.
It was a Sunny day, although frost formed on the grass in the morning, but the clothes that Ignat had bought in the Witch's cul-de-SAC really warmed perfectly, and it felt like it was the middle of July.
They went on foot, as Zinaida Tikhonovna decided to show them all the sights of the local forests.
Indeed, there was a startling beauty all around, the bright sun catching here and there the last autumn flowers that waved in the wind, plump bumblebees darting around them like Quidditch players, pirouetting all sorts of things, the leaves of the trees rustling softly, and no sound but their swaying disturbed the silence.
Gradually they went deeper into the forest, and under its gloomy canopy they moved on to their goal. The colors faded, and the whole world turned white and gray. The farther they went, the more often they came across snow that had probably fallen during the night and had not yet melted. By midday, the company approached white mountain, where it was decided to establish a rest camp.
After all the things had been carefully laid out and the tents pitched, the young travelers began to prepare a meal from the food they had previously saved, and when it was ready, they began to eat with great appetite.
After dinner, everyone wandered around the neighborhood and began searching for medicinal ingredients for potions. Kolya went for a couple with Ira, Sasha with Vasilisa, for the day collected a lot of different herbs, roots, insects and other things necessary in the manufacture of medicines, they returned to the camp.
When the others returned towards sunset, Arina's absence was noticed.
"Where are they?"- complained Zinaida Tikhonovna, let's break up into groups and go to look for her, and then soon it will be dark, and the search will be much more difficult, and so we did....

After dinner, when everyone had gone to collect the ingredients of the potions, Arina stepped aside, looked for someone following her, and set off along a barely discernible path toward the white mountain. Long ago, in the legends told to her by her mother, it was described that in the depths of this mountain there is a cave where a very valuable treasure is stored, and it should not be allowed to fall into the wrong hands. Arina didn't know if her mother had just mentioned it, or if it was a call to action, but since she had suddenly disappeared, the idea of getting the artifact her mother had described had taken over her mind. That's why she was looking for approaches to the white mountain, and even once came across the Forester, who actually told her about the cave and the path leading to it.
The girl walked faster and faster until she found the wide cleft she needed in the line of sight.
She looked around again, and seeing no sign of pursuit, she ducked into the shadow of the archway.
When she was deep in the darkness she said to the wand:
"Light up," and at the same moment the whole cave was illuminated with a bright light. Arina began to search the space with her eyes, looking for something that looked like an altar, and finally, at the far end of the cave, she found something that reminded her of her mother's stories. Not far from it, on the walls covered with frost, was a heart burned into the stone and two similar coats of arms, one she had never seen, but the other was perfectly familiar to her-it was the hereditary coat of arms of her mother's family and her ancestors, obsessed with purity of blood. The girl ran her fingers over it and screamed, pulling her finger away, cutting herself on something sharp, and in the same second everyone was spinning around and she was in the same cave, but as if she was watching it from the side.
Next to the wall stood a young girl and a guy, looking closely Arina guessed her mother, in the face of the guy read elusively familiar features and the girl could not understand where she had seen them before.
"Inga," the boy was saying, " we need to hide both great artifacts until the rightful owners are able to own them!"
- I fully agree with you Mitrofan, the prophecy says that one day two children will gain power over the gifts, and that both will come from great families, and they will have one father and different mothers, one great light sorceress, and the second great dark, and only together they will be able to use the gifts for good.
After saying these words her mother kissed the guy on the lips and said: "I have to tell you something, I'm pregnant..."
- I know, - said Mitrofan, - we will have a wonderful daughter, you will call her Arina, she will be very talented, and you will bring her up with dignity ....
"And you?" Aren't we going to be together?
-Due to circumstances, we are not meant to be together, you remember the prophecy, I will have to complete the journey....
"I understand," Inga said sadly, and tears rolled from her eyes.
-Don't cry, the time will come and we will be together, although we will never be husband and wife, but the child will always bind us ...
Inga smiled through her tears ...
They took off their pendant and ring, and placing them in a hollow in the stone, covered them with earth, and went out of the cave.
Arina stared after them for a long time, afraid to move. She realized who the guy was -it was her father, whom she never knew...
When consciousness returned to her, she was sitting on the cave floor in an uncomfortable position, his head ached, the girl slowly rose to his feet, approached the place where roseline the altar in the vision she saw objects buried her parents, and began to rake the earth in a minute the ring and the medal was in her hands, and she, as if fearing that someone will see them, put them in the bag.
Behind her, she heard a crunching sound, as if someone had stepped on something fragile ...
In the blink of an eye, she turned to face the danger and froze in horror, a huge, four meters, white something stood a couple of steps away from her. The creature stood on two legs, its half-meter-long claws stained with dried blood, its mouth bared, and its sharp yellow teeth clenched convulsively.
Arina could not breathe for fear, her lungs refused to obey her. My eyes went dark, my heart was pounding madly in my chest like a hunted animal, drumming in my temples, and cold sweat broke out on my forehead...
Run! Run as fast as you can without looking back.... Only where?! Passage peregarazhival beast, Yes and its feet not obeyed it, and not wanted move with seats.
The creature raised a paw and hit Arina in the chest with a monstrous force, as if weightless, she flew off like a rag doll and hit the wall.
It was a good thing that the clothes didn't allow me to pierce through her-otherwise I would already be dead, she thought, but it wouldn't help for a long time, her consciousness was narrowing, and Arina was fighting with the last of her strength not to faint...
The beast was getting closer....
Suddenly, several flashes hit him from the back of the cave entrance, and Arina could make out several silhouettes ...