Virusomahia

Road to the Mongolian border

When Perun awoke, he realized that he was driving at high speed in the back of the truck among the plastic. He turned on the notebook and found his location. The drivers were really in a hurry, and a third part of the way was already behind them. A message came from Tang that she had successfully crossed the border and was now moving cautiously through Mongolia towards the Altai. The Mongolian steppes are full of free-grazing horses. Tang managed to negotiate with the shepherd, and he saddled a good horse for her, with the agreement that when she finished her journey, she would let her go home. The shepherd helped the Tang to get on a horse and waved to the wanderer by the hand. "It is strange," she wrote to Per, "that this shepherd is not at all inclined to violence, as if the voluptuous wind does not get him". Per read the news from Tang and thought: he had already met the innkeeper, the elder Savva, grandfather Afanas and aunt Vera herself, who were not harmed by the psychovirus. Now there's this shepherd. What unites them all and allows them to resist evil? But after all, he, Perun, was subjected to an influx of anger on the night of the strike in the skete. This was his first experience of fighting with passions, and fortunately for him, he won this fight. But how much more acid wind the future will blow, and whether he will be able to withstand further. Hours passed in thinking about this, and straight roads gave way to winding roads with serpentines, and the truck sped along the mountain Altai.

"Hello, Hello, Ochumai, we're almost there, meet us", one of the truck drivers shouted into the phone.

To avoid conflict, Perun made his way to the exit and began to wait for the car to stop to jump out. At that moment the car stopped abruptly: a black car blocked the path. The cries of a showdown between drivers grew, and Perun ran off the road into the bushes.

"This is my territory, pay your fare", the owner of a black foreign car shouted at the drivers.

It would have come to a fight, but then a gray-haired old man with a long beard and strange clothes sewn with ribbons rode up on a black stallion.

"Who dares to put up an obstacle?" He said loudly.

The owner of the foreign car bowed to the old man at the feet.

"I wouldn't have dared, Shaman, if I'd known they were your people."

The truck drivers came to greet the old man.

Perun was going to leave there, but the loud Shaman’s voice called out to him:

"And the young man who rode with you, where is he?"

The drivers looked at each other. Perun's heart sank for a second, but then the fear receded and he was sure that this acquaintance would be good for him. With a firm step, Perun came out of the bushes and approached the old shaman.

Introduction to the shaman

"I'm a shaman", introduced Ochumai.

"I don't believe in shamanism", Perun wanted to say, but instead held out his hand: "and I am Perun".

"The God of the ancient Slavs?" Said in surprise Ochumai.

"Well, my mother liked the name," Perun shrugged.

"Help us unload the bottles, lad, and I'll help you on your journey," said the man.

While they were unloading plastic on the side of the road, the shaman said that he had invent a way to protect their loved ones from the psychovirus: cut out protection from the plastic bottle on nose and mouth, and put inside the healing and aromatic herbs of Altai, so that they drowned out the psychotropic smell of the virus.

"Does it help?" Thrilled with the idea asked the Perun.

"Here, my drivers thanks to this masks were able to get to the capital and return without hindrance".

"Aren't there any bottles nearer than that?" The young man asked.

"Our relatives are all over Russia and abroad. Well, any person is close to someone, at least to his parents, whether they are on earth or already in heaven. They bring protective masks, and on the way back take more bottles for new masks.

The car was unloaded, and the drivers went to rest, as Ochumai phoned for help and masked men from the nearest village came to take the bottles. They filled sacks with bottles and loaded them onto horses. One horse Ochumai brought to Perun.

"Well, boy, ride this way", he said, pointing South. "You'll probably make it to Mongolia before nightfall. Take some aromatic herbs with you, if there is any danger from the possessed, scatter these herbs around you. And you'll be safe yourself also.

Perun thanked the shaman for his help and rode South, then Southeast, to the border with Mongolia.