Strigorov’s Forest

Chapter 1 The Sorceress and the Gunslinger

Three people have disappeared in Central Park for the past two weeks, without a trace. They left no message . One of them is 36-year-old Elizabeth Johnson, a prosecutor by profession. One fine morning she went jogging in the park and that was the last time her husband saw her. The last person to see her was a tourist, who was walking with his wife and children and saw him crossing the overpass around 7 in the morning. She was the second person to go missing that week. The first was a certain Billy Timothy, a 62-year-old retired postman who went to visit a friend who works at the Natural History Museum. One of the members of the cavalry police, a certain Tommy Johansson, saw him around 9 in the morning near the lake, and that was the last time he was seen. It happened six days before Elizabeth's disappearance. The third missing person is 39-year-old taxi driver Drake Jensen. He disappeared without a trace three days ago.
These thoughts went through the head of 29-year- old policeman Tomo Mihajlović, who worked on Elizabeth's case. As he questioned her husband, friends, and relatives, he realized she knew neither Bill nor Drake.
He had been a police officer for five years and had seen everything and anything, but this case was the most complicated. He had no clues, Elizabeth had no enemy, anyone who would want to harm her or kill her, despite the fact that he was the prosecutor. Colleagues were no luckier either - the other two lived honestly, did not hang out with suspicious people. They did not go to the same restaurants, libraries and cinemas. Elizabeth, for example, loved epic fiction, Billy and Drake did not go to the cinema. Drake had a home theater, he mostly watched westerns and adventure movies, while Billy watched crime and detective movies on a video recorder. They weren't even of the same faith: Drake was a Catholic, Elizabeth was a Mormon, Billy was a Protestant. The tourist didn't help much either, because it was all new to him and all the bridges looked the same to him. Not knowing what to do next, Toma sat on a bench and fed the pigeons. He decided to go home, as he doubted he would find out anything. He got up slowly and headed for the hot dog booth. Someone suddenly hooked him with his elbow; he turned to apologize, but no one was there. He would go on, but out of the corner of his eye he noticed the grass bending strangely along the path, as if someone were walking on it. He thought he was having a vision, so he pinched himself to see if he was dreaming. He remembered a small camera in his pocket that had infrared mode, turned it on and started filming around, trying to spot something. He saw someone walking slowly towards the forest, with his back turned, about ten meters from him. He decided to follow that person and, after zooming in and moving, he realized that it was a female person wearing a dress. She had a backpack on her back, a stick in her right hand and a hat with a large brim on her head.
" Oh my God, what's going on?" Tom muttered to himself. He dropped his camera and looked in the direction of the person he had just seen. He saw, just some twigs jerking.If he didn’t run into the it,it make it through the whole park unnoticeble. Suddenly it took something this from the backpack. Holding it for a while, returned it back and continued in the same direction. Slowly, he continued to follow it, not knowing they both fall into an ambush.
Two bandits were sitting hidden in the treetops.
" Ragni, prepare an arrow with stunning poison." Remember, we agreed to catch her alive. Wait for her to find what we need, and then we'll catch her. Aim at the shoulder or arm; if you accidentally kill her, I will personally skin you alive, "said the bandit with the black hood and metal mask.
" Urgan, callm down ' l, have only one eye, but I'm very precise. How are you going to stop her from attacking us with magic if she accidentally frees herself when the effects of the poison pass? , a lower bandit will do, with a gray hood and a bandage over his left eye.
Urgan, instead of answering, pulled out a leather necklace with a metal clasp with a large number of multicolored crystals on it. Ragni started laughing and asked him:
" What are you planning to do with it, to win her heart?"
" No, fool, this is a special necklace that blocks any magic when you put it around someone's neck, regardless of whether it is a druid, a witch, a wizard, an elf or a warlock. There are only a few of them in the world and it was very difficult to get hold of these. "
" How do you know it works?" Ragni asked.
" Do you remember that I wandered almost two weeks before we came here?"
" Yes, what about that?"
" I tried them on witches, wizards, and an elf. Of course, after that I killed them all, so that it would not be known that I had a necklace. It's a real blessing that I managed to get it.
" Where do you find it?" " I asked him Ragni.
" In a little town on the coast. There we met some weirdo; It turned out that he was from a noble family and had an interesting collection. "
" How come I didn't see that collection?" “
" You went straight to a brothel drunk as soil, and I met youl tomorrow morning. Did you at least have fun? “
Suddenly Ragni interrupts him, pointing at someone. They saw a man following their target from a distance of about ten meters.
" What are we going to do with him?" Ragni asked.
" Kill him , but first let's get to it," Hesaid and patted his pocket where there was a necklace. Then Ragni grins and asks him:
" How many gold coins do we both geet from that Jerapi?" Five hundred or six hundred? "
" Seven hundred " .
" Don't worry about that idiot in blue pants, we'll kill him before he realizes what happened to him." “
‘’Finaly I found IT," said the young sorceress. She stopped in front of a large rock, which in no way stood out from the surroundings.
The witch's name is Erena de Luine Geneza. She is the youngest of three daughters of Linera de Luine Genesis, the most famous sorceress from the area. Erena is 19 years old, has green eyes and blonde hair. She is still a student, she has about half a year of magic school left. She is very smart and brave, but above all she longed to return home, to her dear Aaron. They promised each other that they would get married as soon as she finished school. Erena slowly pointed the stick at the rock, on which appeared a magical symbol that her ancestor had left there 400 years ago, when her ancestor left a coffin here.

It began to shine brighter, and the rock crack and open like a huge egg. Tom watched and filmed all this, trying to understand what was happening. After the rock was fully opened, Erena pointed her left hand at some kind of wooden box, which began to float to descend in front of her feet.
" Jesus, what twilight zone did I fall into ?! " Wondered Toma. The rock closed, and the symbol disappeared from the crack as if it wasn't even there…
As he was thinking about what to do, Toma felt a strong blow to the chest, as a result of which he rolled into a small ditch behind him. Erena heard something happening, but before she could do anything - an arrow hit her in the shoulder! In an instant, she felt her arms and legs tingle and she collapsed , unable to move anything but her head. She didn't realize what had happened until she saw an arrow sticking out of her shoulder and two approaching her. One had a small crossbow in his hand. He was dressed in black, had a hood and a wrought iron mask, with purple lenses. She realized that it is a special alchemical glass, which allows anyone to see magical beings or people even when they are invisible. " How many gold coins did he spend or kill people to get hold of those lenses?" She wondered.