Sivana

– Yes, of course, a girlfriend. What do you want to know? she looked at me with a cold look over the top of her glasses, although a minute ago she seemed friendly.

I showed her the postcard I received today. As it seemed to me, Mary was not surprised. She quietly led me through the rows of books to the far section of the library, where the oldest publications were stored. The dusty air with the smell of old books and secrets now seemed to me frightening, and not attractive as before.

– Be careful, visitors are not allowed here. If my superiors find out, I'll be in trouble. Look at the Celtic regiment –this is section 31, " she said very quietly and quickly left.

After leafing through several dusty books, in which I could not read a single line, since I do not know the language of the ancient Celts, I still hoped to find the solution to the message and gift this time. And in one of the manuscripts I found an engraving with a similar image of a deer. Kernun-read the inscription, which I understood. I entered this name into the browser search engine on the computer that stood on the reader's desk and the browser gave out a lot of links.

So, I learned: The

God Kernunn has deer horns; the god is often accompanied by a deer – his cult animal par excellence. He often wears a torc around his neck – a sacred neck ornament, a chain with a medallion in the form of a deer's head, and sometimes holds it in his hands.

For me, this knowledge was a revelation!

The torc of the Celtic god is described as a chain that is around my neck…

In the postcard, they address me by the name of Siwa, the Celtic goddess…And my name is Sivana.

Today is October 31, according to Celtic mythology, the holiday of spirits, the day of Samhain…Today is my birthday.

Another ragged ringing in my head…What is this supposed to mean?

But I had no time to think about strange things, I had to go back to the office, where the next patient was waiting for me with his urgent questions.

At the end of the day, I stopped by the store to buy cat food and food for an impromptu festive dinner. And when I got home after dark, I found something strange on the porch. It was an arrow, lined with chains such as are usually tied to dogs to a kennel. But none of the neighbors had dogs in the vicinity, since the area in which I live is a district of cat lovers. Therefore, it is not clear where this chain came from.

The arrow from the chain pointed to the alley …a shiver of fear ran through my body, but I went towards the trees. As I approached the alley, I could hear the rattle of chains more and more clearly. On one of the trees there was a swing on chains tied to a branch. I loved to swing on them and reflect, here once the only one I loved confessed to me in love.

Now someone was swinging on this very swing in the dark, and the clang of chains rusted from the rains inspired fear. I came closer.

I felt that the figure on the swing was glaring at me, but curiosity overcame me and I took a step closer.

The figure jumped down from the swing and darted towards me. At that moment, I was numb with horror.

Big strong hands grabbed me and spun me around in an embrace. I felt a kiss on my lips and the familiar scent of Clive Christian C. The fragrance, like its owner, I was never destined to forget.

– Did you like my gift? a familiar voice said

"Yes," I answered, barely holding back tears of joy.

–I'm back.

Chapter 2. The first memory

A wild rage seized me. I was clenching the fist of my left hand. Blood was oozing from a wound on my wrist and dripping onto the hem of my dress. I had a big stick in my right hand, I was going to attack a huge wolf.

The beast stared at me, its snarl and the snarl of its sharp fangs betrayed its readiness to attack at any moment. From the mouth of the beast, equal to me in size, but not in strength, saliva flowed, mixed with my blood.

I didn't feel afraid. I wanted to protect Arthur. The boy behind me was almost torn apart by a wolf, blood was oozing from his wounds. He couldn't get up from the ground. I heard his muffled voice: "Sivana, run, save yourself!".

I went on the offensive, I was indignant, I was furious…

And then I heard the barking of dogs approaching. Instinctively, I turned, just for a moment in the direction of the sound. I saw the terriers approaching, and a man running after them. They were approaching me along the pine alley, in which it turns out I was now.

And there was no one else around. There was no boy behind my back. There was no attacking wolf. They were gone.

And I was standing in the middle of a pine tree on the withered, damp grass and did not understand what was happening.

Two terriers ran up to me, sniffed and wagged their little tails. A couple of minutes later, the owner caught up with them. He was a stocky man, with a curly head of black hair, a neat beard and an aristocratically straight nose. He looked to be in his early forties. He was wearing a tweed blue suit and did not look at all like a man who had just gone out for a dog walk. He looked more like a serious professor.

When he came up to me, I caught the excitement and joy in his brown eyes, framed by thick eyelashes. This made his gaze seem friendly and warm to me.

– Girl, how did you get here? Are you lost? Where are your parents? – the man bombarded me with questions.

–I don't know…Have you seen a wolf? – the first thing I said.

– What's your name? There was alarm in his voice.

"Sivana," I said.

"Come with me, Sivana. You need help, you're cold.

And then I felt very cold and weak. Everything swam before my eyes and I fell into a dream. As I later found out, it was a faint from the loss of blood that flowed from the wound on my arm.

This was my earliest childhood memory. I was 7 years old. It was the middle of autumn. I remembered my name only because Arthur called me Sivana. I remembered that the boy's name was Arthur. I remembered my yellow dress and ribbons in my braid, brown leather pants and boots in color on a yellow lace-up. I was dressed like this. I remembered the feeling of rage and the wolf. And that's all.

No matter how hard I tried to rewind my memory a little more, I couldn't remember anything else. I didn't know how I ended up in that forest. I didn't know where I was from. I didn't know where my parents were. I didn't know how I lived the first seven years of my life.