Aleksandr led Sanzher to the kraal to inspect the scene but he couldn't restrain himself after what Sanzher had just shared with him.
''I can't believe you saw her in the woods, brother!''
''It happened so fast, Aleks. You were on the ground, wrestling that wolf, Artem was yelping like a child in the night!''
''And you saw her again in your dream? Is she as beautiful as legend says?'' Aleksandr implored with the enthusiasm of a little girl who had just been given a porcelain doll.
''She IS beautiful. It was her voice, Aleks, like fresh kumis on a hot Summer's day!''
''Tell me more!'' Aleks exclaimed with great fervour.
''She beckoned me closer to her. She wore a sparkling white cape and her mane was just as incandescent,''
''She sounds majestic,''
''She was, Aleks. I love Diana. I love her with all my heart but I was enchanted by her. She called me 'her love',''
''And then you woke up! It was all a dream, brother! Your mind, it bamboozles you in your slumber!'' Aleksandr joked.
The large group of elders had begun to clear when the young men entered the kraal to inspect the siphoned lamb. Sanzher knelt next to its carcass and grappled one of its hind legs and noticed that rigor motis had already set in.
''This lamb has been dead for over twelve hours. Feel it Aleks,''
Aleksandr knelt next to his best friend and conducted the same experiment, lifting its hind leg, trying to manipulate the joint to bend but it was too stiff. The young men were perplexed by all this just as much as the elders were. Struggling to find an answer to this mystery, they left the kraal in search of Sanzher's father, Great Kirill.
Great Kirill was in the church lighting several sticks of incence when he turned to see the Sanzher and Aleksandr walk toward him through the centre aisle of the old church. Great Kirill wore a look of worry which seemed to wear itself on his face in the form of several wrinkles above his brow. The pepper in his beard was soon losing the battle against the salt that seemed to dominate his thick and earnest beard.
''My sons, I'm sure you've seen what has happened to the lamb?''
''Yes, father,'' Sanzher said as his best friend stood beside him.
''What worries me more is the broken branch,'' Great Kirill said plainly.
''Father, aren't we over-reacting? It's an old tree and -''
''Sanzher, that tree is what provided shelter for our ancestors when the were crossing that mountain,'' Great Kirill interjected. ''It is the symbol of our people. Even if it no longer bears fruit, its very presence is testament to the struggle, the victory and the decision of our people to settle here, at the foot of the mountain. It is what connects us to our ancestors, sons.''
Sanzher bowed his head in acknowledgement, taking in his father's wise words. At first, the duo had gone into the church with the purpose of sharing Sanzher's encounter with the Snow Queen but after his brief conversation with his conservative father, Sanzher opted to keep it to himself, in order to find an alternative solution to the burgeoning situation.
Catch the continuation next Thursday for the next installment
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