The First Dance of Rapsamash

— Mama! Mama! Raps has returned! Raps! Raps! — the restless blue-eyed girl pounced on Rapsamash, who entered the hovel, clasping her legs. Not very pleased with such a greeting, the girl tried to push her sister, who barely reached her waist, away from her. She, without much resistance, ran back deep into the room, barely lit by the stub of a candle, happily wagging her tail. Her black ears went from side to side, listening with curiosity to every rustle.

Their mother — once magnificent, graceful, smart, and beautiful — had told them that they were descendants of a great lineage — Ba Mora Ammadithra. Black hair and blue eyes - like the night sky and bright moons, passing from generation to generation. Among the Taulars, they were always treated with respect. Then came the Great Storm, followed by famine, and then Eklat. The weakened Taulars, derogatorily called cat-people by the invaders, and many other peoples from the Far Lands were unable to repulse the armies of the “First Kingdom”. They all became its slaves. But even then, their lineage was still respected. And now... If it weren’t for Arti...

— Arti! Don’t pounce on your sister like that. You know she doesn’t like it, — Raps heard her mother’s soft, slightly hoarse voice.

Her magnificence and grace had faded when Arti came along. Or perhaps even earlier. When their father was no more. And their mother was made, as their kin said, the “first concubine”. Then Arti appeared. Half-human, half-Taular. And their mother fell ill. And they were thrown here, with the rest, into the mines. Their mother said they were lucky: they could have executed all three of them, but the Vizier was merciful... Merciful... If it weren’t for Arti...

— Rapsi, you’re late today. Did something happen? Did anyone hurt y... — her mother’s voice trailed off into a fit of coughing.

Raps dropped her bag of meager belongings on the floor and rushed deeper into the hovel, where behind a tattered curtain lay her mother’s bed. Arti was already there, standing by the bed, stroking their mother’s head with her small hairless hand. Raps was infuriated by this. She had taken everything from them. She had taken everything from her. Her mother. She was always with her mother. She had taken her health from her. She had taken her beauty from her. And even the eyes, even the blue eyes had gone to her. To her! The half-breed. The furless one. And not to Rapsamash. Why? If it weren’t for Arti...

— Rapsamash, don’t be angry with her. She’s your sister, — their mother always understood when her daughters’ moods changed, and at such moments her voice became a touch stricter.

— When I’m gone, who else but her will be your family? — Their mother propped herself up and beckoned Raps with her hand. The girl obediently approached and sat next to the bed, taking her mother’s weak hand in hers. With her free hand, their mother embraced them both.

— Perhaps you don’t love her, but she loves you very much, Raps, — she stroked their heads and gently tugged at their ears, — Look at how she looks at you, how she waits for you every day. When I’m gone, she will take care of you, right, Arti?

— Yes! I will! Raps is good! Raps brings fruits! — the little girl rattled off.

Their mother quietly smiled. Other Taulars, after Arti’s birth, began to treat their family with disdain, considering their bloodline tarnished. Only a few showed them some sympathy, knowing that, in the end, they were all in the same boat. And also knowing what fate awaited both sisters. Sooner or later.

— Mama, why do you always say, ‘when you’re gone’? — Raps looked straight into her mother’s blue eyes. They weren’t always so sad and tired. After a few moments of silence, the girl muttered in an agitated whisper, — I found something. We’ll get out of here. We’ll all get out! Up there! And you’ll see the sun again! And everything will be fine, you’ll get better, mama! Uncle Sangar and the Lustari brothers, they have a plan! We’ll escape! And we’ll be free!

— What is it... Oh, sweetheart, I’m afraid it’s better for me not to know. Don’t worry about me. Your eyes remind me of my sun.

— May I? May I know? — Arti stared at her sister with curiosity.

A shadow passed over Rapsamash’s face. She again. She wants to ruin everything again

— Arti, your sister says that when you both grow up, she’ll show you a magnificent city by the Bay. There are lots of fruits and water there. Remember, I told you about the sea?

Raps laid her head on the bed, her mother’s soothing strokes lulling her.

— There, in that city, everyone lives peacefully, laughs and rejoices, everyone has their own big house and a garden where beautiful flowers and fruit trees grow.

— And will we all live together? And will uncle Sangar come to us and eat fruits with us?

— Yes, he will...

— No, I don’t want him to come! He’ll eat all the fruits! — Arti tilted her head in offense and crossed her arms over her chest.

— Arti, there are so many fruits there that even uncle Sangar won’t be able to finish them all!

— Really? That many?

— Yes, lots and lots! Hush, darling, it seems Raps is very tired today.

— Raps is good when she sleeps…

***

Rapsamash had never seen this place before. Everything was... too green. She had heard from her mother’s stories that there were places with so many trees, but stories were just stories... She stood under their canopies, watching a long-eared furless creature feeding a strange-looking dog. The furless one had long, light hair, and his dog was completely white, with a large fluffy tail. Raps wanted to hide so they wouldn’t notice her, but she couldn’t move. It felt that the long-eared one would turn around, notice her, and set his tall, long-faced dog on her, but for some reason, it didn’t happen. They seemed to be communicating — he and his dog — not noticing anything around them. Suddenly they jerked up, directing their gazes somewhere between the numerous trees on the opposite side from Raps. The long-eared one grabbed a spear from the ground and they, rushing somewhere into the distance, quickly disappeared from her field of vision. Something about that spear seemed very familiar to the girl...

But she didn’t have time to figure out what exactly. Before her eyes was a battlefield. Humans clashed with green-skinned, flat-eared beings, like her acquaintance from another mine — the half-orc Tadum — and they were cutting each other down left and right. There were many dead bodies around, and with each moment more and more of them fell to the ground. Raps wanted to scream in horror, but she couldn’t, just as she couldn’t close her eyes. Eklat? Did her people have to go through this too? No, wait, the coat of arms is different from Eklat’s, this is not the Great Kingdom... A man suddenly appeared in front of her, shouting loudly to the others. The girl couldn’t make out what exactly he was telling them, but then she noticed that he was holding a sword in both hands. Almost the same one that her kin found there, in the mine. And she understood what made the spear seem familiar — on its tip, like on this sword, were the same runes, slightly glowing with blue light, as on the dagger-sword she had hidden under her burlap shirt.

Suddenly she was in complete darkness. Nothing could be seen. At all. Like in the mine when the light goes out completely. And silence. What... what’s happening? She can’t move...

A sharp light hit her eyes. She saw mountains with white peaks, a desert, and black rocks between which fire seemed to flow. And there, even further, a huge hole gaped in the ground. Black, seemingly bottomless, terrifying just by its appearance. What is this? Could this be... the Breach? As if confirming her thoughts, the ground under her feet began to sway, and a large crack started from the edge of the hole, from which red-skinned monsters with long horns and membranous wings immediately began to emerge. Knights clad in armor, riding white-maned winged beasts, rushed towards them. In the hands of one of them, Raps saw the familiar sword with the familiar runes again.

In an instant, she found herself in another place. A spacious round room, lit by lanters, with an extraordinarily high ceiling. And right in the middle — some kind of huge door or arch made of black stone, with tightly closed doors. Why is there such a big arch right in the middle of this enormous room? But her attention quickly switched to two people grappling right on the steps of this door. One of them looked strange — his eyes seemed to have turned black, and through the skin in places, purple spots were showing. Both men were fighting with swords. Those same swords. When they clashed, the swords emitted a bright light...

As soon as the flash of light faded — before the girl was a landscape that was chilling to the bone. Lands she had never seen, and never wanted to see. From horizon to horizon there was practically nothing but gray scorched hills, ruins, and numerous, eerie-looking cracks, harboring living darkness. The entire sky was covered with almost black heavy clouds, and Raps was surprised that she could see anything without a single ray of sun or fire. The darkness from the cracks suddenly began to splash out in all directions, as if absorbing all the space around itself. With monstrous speed, this darkness approached from all sides. And even from the sky: like long, thin arms, offshoots of darkness literally tore the clouds apart, grabbing and carrying them somewhere away, somewhere even higher — where behind these clouds the darkness itself was hidden. But the clouds quickly bored them, and finally they turned their attention to a lone, terrified girl standing on a gray, lifeless hill. And myriads of them rushed straight at her. Raps couldn’t even move, when suddenly she felt something hard and cold in her right hand. Suiravka. The sword of its own accord began to change, rushing towards the offshoots. They began to wrap around the blade, burning with the light of the runes and writhing in silent agony, but there were more and more of them. And when the bright blue light finally faded in the black swirling darkness — it swallowed Raps.

***

She finally woke up.

Opening her eyes sharply, right in front of her Rapsamash saw her sister’s face. She, smiling with all her teeth, immediately jumped up and ran somewhere. The girl, frowning, rubbed her temples with her hands. Her head hurt a lot. In this state, practicing the dance will be hard, let alone practicing with the new weapon... After a few seconds, Arti returned. In her hands was half a fruit, stolen by Raps a couple of days ago. Mother asked to steal it for Arti.

— Hush, Raps, Mama is sleeping! — the girl loudly whispered, putting a finger to her lips, — Here, eat quickly, this is a tasty fruit!

— I don’t want to, leave it for Mama.

— Mama doesn’t eat these...

— Then you eat it!

— I ate it. Half of it. The second is yours, — Arti proudly handed her sister the sweet treat.

Rapsamash, pretending that she didn’t want to do this at all, took the withered remains of the orange fruit and sent a small slice of it straight into her mouth. The sour, but still sweet and refreshing juice felt like divine nectar. Raps sometimes barely restrained herself from eating the stolen fruits herself, by lying to her mother that she couldn’t steal anything. But mother would be very upset, knowing that her daughter lies to the family and kin. And Raps held back, not giving in to temptation, even though the gruel she cooked for her kin was simply disgusting compared to the fruits. It seemed that Eklat even feeds pigs better than those who take care of these pigs. But that is okay, soon this will come to an end...

— Let’s, when Mama can walk again, go to that city together. Let’s, Raps, let’s? There we will have a whole mountain of fruits! Our own!

— Quiet, you little one! — Raps shushed her sister, — There, you woke Mama up!

— Mama, let’s? I will behave!

— Of course, Arti, we will definitely go there. We will definitely go there...