– Oh, yes, what’s there! – Virita shook her head, closed her eyes for a moment, deciding to do the unheard of. She took a pouch with wild wheat grains from her purse, shook half of it into her palm and, swinging it wide, threw it to the side of the path. – Accept the gift, Oleniy Log!

Following this, half a flask of wine was donated to the forest. And finally, the most difficult thing – closing her eyes again, the girl slashed her palm with a dagger. Large drops stained the grass.

– Accept the gift, Deer Log, show the way to the Altar! – Wrapping her hand in a handkerchief, Virita touched the horse.

Without a path, at random, but the forest really led me where I asked. The sunset glow gave way to deep twilight, and the light birch and thick hazel trees gave way to gloomy centuries-old spruce trees, when Chestnut, snoring and spinning his ears, stepped into a perfectly round clearing, in the center of which stood a white stone… pedestal untouched by time? Table? Or just a stove? For some reason, the longer Virita looked, the less she understood what exactly she was seeing. A white stone in the purple twilight of the night – there is nothing more to say.

But, since she has already come, since she has been shown the way, it is stupid to hesitate and hesitate. Jumping off the saddle, Virita shook out the remaining wheat at her feet:

– Thank you for the journey, Oleniy Log! – and went forward. A step, two, three… a dozen… My heart was fluttering in my chest, about to burst from horror, my fingers were frozen, and my cheeks and ears were glowing with heat. Approaching the stone almost closely, she splashed the rest of the wine onto the ground: “Accept the offering, Ancient One!”

The earth did not open up under our feet, thunder did not burst from the heavens. Either they didn’t hear her, or they accepted the offering—go figure! But don't retreat? Virita, with a convulsive sigh, took the last step, tore the bandage from her palm and pressed her blood-smeared palm to the white stone.

– Hear, Ancient One! Fulfill the request, set the price, accept the promise!

The noise of the forest became distant, the silence rang in my ears, for a moment it seemed that the Ancient One had not come, as the old books promised, but that she herself had fallen into another world, where forgotten gods and demons live. But suddenly the silence was broken by a laugh. Completely human, so ordinary that Virita decided it was her imagination. Or did someone sneak in here after her?

Startled by this terrifying thought, the girl turned around. Although would you really see who might be hiding among the trees in the thick twilight? For some reason, the fact that they could follow her, spy on her, was more frightening than the meeting with the Ancient One. But then a human silhouette appeared on the white slab. First – a ghostly figure, as if molded from the gray pre-dawn fog, then the fog acquired colors and a face. The green hunting suit, broad shoulders and a powerful torso, a reddish-blond beard and shoulder-length hair, desperately blue eyes became denser and became real… Virita looked at the man – there are no words, very attractive, but a very ordinary person, not some kind of demon. If you meet someone like this at a fair, on the streets of the capital, or even in a royal palace, you can look at him, but you won’t suspect anything is wrong.

He also looked at her, carefully, appraisingly, but his gaze did not frighten her. Other suitors looked at it much worse – as if they were prey, some kind of game: either shoot it, or let it fly for now, fatten up the meat for next time…