First tattoo

- Stop! Amba is near!
- I can not see anything!
- Shut up!
This dialogue, which the heroes of our story conducted in a whisper, has long been lost in time and space.
That was a long time ago, over a hundred years ago.
Chinese Chen and a white boy - Nikolenka, whom the Chinese saved, accidentally stumbled upon a tiger. It was spring, more like summer. Everything around sang, chirped, grew up and in breadth. If Kolenka had walked through the taiga alone, he would definitely have come to dinner with the tiger. Then the boy was still bad at reading footprints. He wandered through the taiga with the Chinese Chen for only a year and a half. Having frozen like idols, the Chinese and the boy sat in the bushes for a very long time. On reflection, the Chinese realized that his fight with a starving tiger after a long winter and a hungry spring would be unequal and decided to just wait it out. One of Kolya's skills that Chen passed on to him was the ability to wait. The skill did not come immediately. The Chinese patiently trained Kolya, forcing him to sit still for many hours. Once Kolya had to sit still for almost a day. The training was painful, but it paid off. Now the boy understood why Chen trained him. Every day of the Chinese and the white boy was in the struggle with nature, and the boy still had to fight with his habits. Sometimes it seemed to him that his life, his usual life, in the house, with mom and dad, was just a dream, and reality, real life was only here, in the taiga. Chen stirred.
-Amba left, - the whisper of the Chinese was barely distinguishable
- I can't hear anything. Are we going already?
-No. Let him go further.
We waited for about two more hours. Finally, Chen raised his little finger. This gesture meant that you can quietly get up and go.
They walked for a long time, Kolya was silent. It was useless to ask a Chinese while walking, he would not answer. All issues were resolved during the halt. Finally, Chen stopped.
- A big trap. Very big, you have to go around.
It meant a trap for some animal. Kolya shook his head. There were no notches or signs warning of a trap. How did Chen know about the trap?
Kolya opened his mouth to ask, but closed it immediately. The trap was really big and stretched for several kilometers. For what? For whom? Kolya was preparing these questions to himself and was going to ask them in Chinese when there was a halt. But suddenly I realized that the halt was cancelled.
Chen slipped.
The hunter was a dexterous person, but sometimes his leg, broken in several places in a fight with a wild boar and fused incorrectly, let him down. Stepping awkwardly, Chen slipped on last year's foliage and began to fall. It seemed to Kolya that the Chinese was falling for a long time, but in fact everything happened quickly. A moment, and the top of the Chinese disappeared. Chen fell into a trap.
Kolya was left alone. To say that the boy was confused is to say nothing. Forgetting all the instructions of the Chinese, Kolya began to run around the trap and shout Chen's name. Finally, reason prevailed. Carefully parting the foliage, the boy leaned over the edge of the trap and tried to see what was below. Nothing was visible at first. After the bright sun, the bottom of the trap looked like a solid dark spot. Kolya closed his eyes for a few seconds, but when he opened them again, he finally saw everything. The trap was strange. It looked like a funnel, which became narrow at the bottom, moreover, the whole trap was made in a circle like a spiral. This saved Chen. It is not known how, but Chen was able to stay at the third level of the spiral. Kolya counted about eighteen turns of the spiral. These were the spirals that the eye could grasp. Those spirals that were immersed in the dusk could not be counted.
“Chen,” the boy shouted, “what should I do?
- You need a rope! - The voice of the Chinese sounded muffled
-Where is she?
-She's not around.
- So where is she?
- It's in my bag, and the bag is on my side, I can't get it.
-Where can I get another rope?
-Be quiet. I will think.
The Chinese hung, clinging to who knows what, and it was difficult for him to answer.
The Chinese thought for a long time, but Kolya was afraid to move and his head hung over the trap.
-Come back.
-Where?
-Where the deer antlers dropped.
-It's far away. Will you wait?
-Will wait.
-And what's in there?
- A platform for the dead.
-I did not see him.
- You were looking down. We must look up. Go.
-Fine. But, - the boy hesitated a little, - it's a long time, will you wait?
-Yes. Go.
But contrary to the words of the Chinese, the boy did not walk for long, the way here seemed long to him, because they walked hiding and stopping. Now nothing interfered with Kolya, and the boy ran forward. However, sometimes running forward turns out to be running backwards. How long, how short, but the boy ended up where Chen sent him, but he could not immediately remove the rope from the platform for the dead. Near the platform for the dead, people from a nearby village were performing a ritual. Fortunately, the boy heard the sounds of cymbals, a shaman's tambourine and human voices in advance. There was no point in running any further. Outsiders could capture, kill, or do something even worse. Sometimes, in order for the soul of the deceased to feel comfortable in the heavenly kingdom, strangers taken prisoner were tied near the tree on which the platform was located. The captive people could not untie the knots that were tied to the tree, these knots were special, ritual, and strangers became preyand animals. Of course, this time everything could have happened differently, but the boy did not take risks. The ritual lasted a long time, about three hours. Finally, the people left and everything became quiet. Kolya waited for fidelity for some more time, and only then straightened up. Now was the hardest part. It was necessary to cut the ropes on which they usually raised the dead man to the platform. Kolya, of course, did not expect that he would fall into the very midst of the ritual, and therefore he apologized for a long time to the deceased, who was reclining on the platform. Chen taught him to wait for a sign. Finally it was all over, a dry branch fell from a young green tree. The boy decided that this was a sign, took out the sharpest knife from the knapsack, and began to cut the rope.
The knife was sharp, but the rope didn't budge. I had to change knives. After that, things moved faster. Twilight fell suddenly. The boy shivered. He wasn't afraid of the dark, but he didn't like it. The rope was heavy, and Kolya did not run as fast as he wanted. Finally, he reached the place where the trap was. He heard Chen's voice from afar. The always restrained Chinese shouted at the top of his lungs. Kolya was frightened, but nevertheless did not even think of retreating. Leaning over the failure, he called Chen
- I'm here, the rope is with me.
- Hurry, throw it to me.
- But I don't see anything.
- But I see everything, faster!
How will you catch her? Your hands are busy!
- Your mouth says a lot! Throw rope!
By this moment, Kolya began to distinguish something. However, Chen was only able to catch the rope on the fifth try. It seemed to Kolya or it was real, but darkness thickened around Chen's feet. However, as soon as Kolya began to pull the Chinese up, the darkness receded. After the Chinese was rescued, there was still a long way to go. The path ended with the Chinese telling the boy to climb a tree. The Chinese himself is located on a nearby tree.
The trees on which the boy and his teacher spent the night were named Butramouss. At the top of these trees, protection was always waiting for a person. The Chinese believed in it unconditionally!
When morning came, the Chinese lit the fire and built a simple breakfast, Kolya asked only one question
- Why were you screaming?
“There was a demon downstairs,” the Chinese replied.
Chen did not begin to thank his savior, he did something else, and soon the first tattoo flaunted over the boy's eyebrow. Anyone could see this silver dot, but only an initiate could understand what this dot meant.
Soon the fire was extinguished and the travelers moved on.

http://proza.ru/2019/11/25/492