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FOREWORD

The book offered to you, dear reader, is an attempt to show the female part of the world in which the heroes of the books "The Boy" live. Prior to this, in all the books of the cycle, it was the male world and the male view of it that dominated. It could not be otherwise - a man wrote a book about men, that inhabiting the world. However, without women, the world of the Boy, like any other, could not exist, and women certainly were present in it, but they are shown precisely through the eyes of a man. Their true feelings, desires and aspirations involuntarily remained behind the scenes, especially since then women knew their place, but did not claim to be a man.

We ask feminists and fighters for equality to hold off throwing slippers and shoes at us, and secret misogynists not to rush to enroll us in their friendly ranks. First, let's try to figure out whether it was so bad - this place.

It so happened that we now live in a man's world. You can argue and protest with this, but so far the fact is obvious - our world is precisely male. Those women who become ministers-officers-presidents in it, in order to succeed in their chosen field, are forced to accept precisely the male rules of the game. And they accept, and sometimes surpass men in some ways, but, alas, in many respects at the cost of leaving their female destiny. However, our usual system of gender relations did not always exist, and this is not at all about matriarchy, but we do not mean the complete lack of rights and downtroddenness of a woman, which also took place in the past. Rather, in one of the periods of the past of our country.

Each historical epoch of the existence of our state - from Rus' to Russia - corresponded to its own special system of relationships between a man and a woman, its own degree of participation of a woman in public life, her role in the family and society. It is not always possible to unambiguously evaluate changes in this system. For example, the lawlessness of the times of Domostroy simultaneously freed a woman from many responsibilities and made a man responsible for EVERYTHING, and equality constitutionally enshrined in the 20th century brought to life such, let's not be afraid of this word, perversions, like a sleeper.

However, despite all the perturbations and perversions, the female world continued to exist alongside the male, often invisibly or completely incomprehensibly to the strong half of the human race, obeying its own internal laws, with its own concepts of benefit and harm, joys and sorrows, conflicts and even wars. It existed, preserving and protecting what the male world either imperceptibly lost or deliberately rejected. Existed, influencing the male world constantly and inevitably.

The female world was not without losses either, together with the male world, experiencing all the past troubles and invasions, famines and epidemics, revolutions and regressions, ideological and religious upheavals. And women, for the most part, have been the main sufferer throughout history, but not only the sufferer! It just so happened that great deeds and feats, with rare exceptions, were performed by men (or they were attributed to them), but women quietly and imperceptibly performed the main thing - they kept the soul of their people. Morality, customs, continuity of generations, the concepts of Good and Evil in their daily, everyday, and therefore inconspicuous hypostasis. And they have always been the rear - hope and salvation. They accepted husbands tired of battles and accomplishments, treated their wounds - bodily and spiritual, softened anger and hatred, not allowing the world to slide into the abyss of wars and self-destruction. And gave hope for the future.

What is it - the female world? It so happened (again historically) that the vast majority of protagonists in literature are men. No, there are, of course, also female characters: Vera Pavlovna, Anna Karenina, Natasha Rostova, Katya and Dasha Bulavina, Madame Bovary, Scarlett O'Hara or Miss Marple ... - the list is extensive, but in most cases all the heroines either act in the "male world", or become victims of the laws of this world. And we tried to talk about the female world itself - not at war and not opposing itself to the male, but harmoniously complementing it. The authors cherish the hope that this book will make readers take a closer look at the surrounding reality and feel that the female world, in spite of everything, is still alive and in many cases can give answers that seem impossible to find in what is now commonly called "realities of life."

Well, for male readers, perhaps, it will seem interesting and even useful to travel through the terra incognita of the female world.

To achieve their goals, the authors found it useful to look at the world of "Otrok" through female eyes. This is not a retelling in a different manner of the events already described in The Boy, but an addition - something that, for various reasons, remained outside the scope of the narrative, but, in our opinion, is important and interesting: the view of female characters on facts, events and circumstances, as a rule revered by men as petty or insignificant, often invisible to the male eye, and sometimes even called “women's nonsense”. However, these “little things” or “nonsense” have a very, very significant impact on the general life of both men and women.

This is how the book “Otrok. Women's weapon.

Therefore, we remain in anticipation of the favorable opinion of readers.

Evgeny Krasnitsky, Elena Kuznetsova, Irina Grad.

PROLOGUE

July 1125. The right bank of the Goryn tributary - the Sluch River

Dubravnoe turned out to be a large passerby, and therefore by no means a poor village. An important component of the overall well-being of the entire settlement was the inn - solid, surrounded by numerous outbuildings. Apparently, earlier it regularly provided the residents of Dubravna with additional income at the expense of the guests, but now, engulfed in flames, it has turned into a very serious, almost mortal danger.

There was nothing to even think about extinguishing the main two-story building, all that remained was to pour water on neighboring houses, demolish and pull apart extensions so that the fire would not go further, and Mishka, as they say, “with a sense of deep satisfaction” watched how quickly and accurately they acted on a fire youths of the merchant department of the Academy of the Archangel Michael. The constant trainings that he included in the training program with the blessing of the voivode Korney and with the support of mentors had an effect - the population of the wooden Kievan Rus took the fires very seriously. The sergeant of the ten, cousin Peter, was also pleased: he disposed of confidently and skillfully, infecting with the conviction of his right to command even the inhabitants of the village who were pulling up to help.

Evgeny Krasnitsky, Elena Kuznetsova, Irina Grad

Women's weapons

Cover design by Vladimir Gurkov

Foreword

The book offered to you, dear reader, is an attempt to show the female part of the world in which the heroes of the books "Young Man" live. Before that, in all the books in the series, it was the male world and the male look at it that dominated. It could not be otherwise - a man wrote a book about men, that inhabiting the world. However, without women, the world of the Boy, like any other, could not exist, and women certainly were present in it, but they are shown precisely through the eyes of a man. Their true feelings, desires and aspirations involuntarily remained behind the scenes, especially since then women knew their place and did not claim to be masculine.

It so happened that we now live in a man's world. You can argue and protest with this, but so far the fact is obvious - our world is precisely male. Those women who become ministers-officers-presidents in it, in order to succeed in their chosen field, are forced to accept precisely the male rules of the game. And they accept, and sometimes surpass men in some ways, but, alas, in many respects at the cost of leaving their female destiny. However, the system of gender relations familiar to us did not always exist, and this is not at all about matriarchy, but we do not mean the complete lack of rights and downtroddenness of a woman, which also took place in the past. Rather, in one of the periods of the past of our country.

Each historical epoch of more than eleven centuries of the history of the Russian state corresponded to its own, special system of relationships between a man and a woman, its own degree of participation of a woman in public life, as well as the role of a woman in the family and society. It is not always possible to unambiguously evaluate changes in this system. For example, the lawlessness of the times of Domostroy at the same time freed a woman from many duties and made a man responsible for EVERYTHING, and equality constitutionally enshrined in the 20th century brought to life such, let's not be afraid of this word, perversions, like a sleeper.

However, despite all the perturbations and perversions, the female world continued to exist alongside the male, often invisibly or completely incomprehensibly to the strong half of the human race, obeying its own internal laws, with its own concepts of benefit and harm, joys and sorrows, conflicts and even wars. Existed, preserving and protecting what the male world either imperceptibly lost or deliberately rejected; influencing the male world constantly and inevitably.

The women's world was not without losses either. Troubles and invasions, famines and epidemics, revolutions and regressions, ideological and religious upheavals... - more than a thousand years of history turned out to be by no means kind to our people. Women, for the most part, were the main suffering party, but not only suffering! It just so happened that great deeds and feats, with the rarest exceptions, were performed by men (or they were attributed to them), but women, quietly and imperceptibly, performed the main thing - they kept the soul of their people. Morality, customs, continuity of generations, the concepts of Good and Evil in their daily, everyday, and therefore inconspicuous hypostasis. And they have always been the rear - hope and salvation. They accepted husbands tired of battles and accomplishments, treated their wounds - bodily and spiritual, softened anger and hatred, not allowing the world to slide into the abyss of wars and self-destruction. And gave hope for the future.

What is it - the female world? It so happened (again historically) that the vast majority of protagonists in literature are men. No, there are, of course, female characters: Anna Karenina, Katya and Dasha Bulavina, Madame Bovary, Scarlett O'Hara or Miss Marple ... - the list is extensive, but in most cases all the heroines either act in the "male world" or turn out to be victims the laws of this world. And we tried to talk about the female world itself - not at war and not opposing itself to the male, but harmoniously complementing it. The authors cherish the hope that this book will make readers take a closer look at the surrounding reality and feel that the female world, in spite of everything, is still alive and in many cases can provide answers that seem impossible to find in what is now accepted. called "realities of life".

Well, for male readers, perhaps, it will seem interesting, if not useful, a journey through the terra incognita of the female world.

This is how the book “Otrok. Women's weapon. In time, the events described occur approximately between what was told in the fourth book of the series - “Youth. Inner Circle” and the fifth one – “Otrok. Path and place.

Therefore, we remain in anticipation of the favorable opinion of readers,

Evgeny Krasnitsky, Elena Kuznetsova, Irina Grad

July 1125. The right bank of the Goryn tributary - the Sluch River

Dubravnoe turned out to be a large, passable, and therefore by no means a poor village. An important component of the overall well-being of the entire settlement was the inn - solid, surrounded by numerous outbuildings. Apparently, earlier it regularly provided the residents of Dubravna with additional income at the expense of the guests, but now, engulfed in flames, it has turned into a very serious, almost mortal danger.

There was nothing to even think about extinguishing the main two-story building, all that remained was to pour water on neighboring houses, demolish and pull apart extensions so that the fire would not go further, and Mishka, as they say, “with a sense of deep satisfaction” watched how quickly and accurately they acted on a fire youths of the merchant department of the Academy of the Archangel Michael. The constant trainings that he included in the training program with the blessing of the voivode Korney and with the support of mentors had an effect - the population of the wooden Kievan Rus took the fires very seriously. The sergeant of the ten, cousin Peter, was also pleased: he disposed confidently and skillfully, infecting with the conviction of his right to command even the villagers who were pulling up to help.

Cover design by Vladimir Gurkov

Foreword

It so happened that we now live in a man's world. You can argue and protest with this, but so far the fact is obvious - our world is precisely male. Those women who become ministers-officers-presidents in it, in order to succeed in their chosen field, are forced to accept precisely the male rules of the game. And they accept, and sometimes surpass men in some ways, but, alas, in many respects at the cost of leaving their female destiny. However, the system of gender relations familiar to us did not always exist, and this is not at all about matriarchy, but we do not mean the complete lack of rights and downtroddenness of a woman, which also took place in the past. Rather, in one of the periods of the past of our country.

However, despite all the perturbations and perversions, the female world continued to exist alongside the male, often invisibly or completely incomprehensibly to the strong half of the human race, obeying its own internal laws, with its own concepts of benefit and harm, joys and sorrows, conflicts and even wars. Existed, preserving and protecting what the male world either imperceptibly lost or deliberately rejected; influencing the male world constantly and inevitably.

Well, for male readers, perhaps, it will seem interesting, if not useful, a journey through the terra incognita of the female world.

Therefore, we remain in anticipation of the favorable opinion of readers,

Evgeny Krasnitsky, Elena Kuznetsova, Irina Grad

Prologue

July 1125. The right bank of the Goryn tributary - the Sluch River

There was nothing to even think about extinguishing the main two-story building, all that remained was to pour water on neighboring houses, demolish and pull apart extensions so that the fire would not go further, and Mishka, as they say, “with a sense of deep satisfaction” watched how quickly and accurately they acted on a fire youths of the merchant department of the Academy of the Archangel Michael. The constant trainings that he included in the training program with the blessing of the voivode Korney and with the support of mentors had an effect - the population of the wooden Kievan Rus took the fires very seriously. The sergeant of the ten, cousin Peter, was also pleased: he disposed confidently and skillfully, infecting with the conviction of his right to command even the villagers who were pulling up to help.

Gradually it became clear that the fire would not be allowed to spread. The master's house, on which the shingled roof had already gone up in flames, was rolled out on a log and flooded with water from a well located in the corner of the courtyard, and on the other side of the barn or warehouse, they simply failed the roof, cutting down the internal support pillars and rafters.

Among the general bustle and screams, two figures involuntarily caught the eye with their immobility. The lad Gregory froze on his knees near the body of the owner of the estate lying in the middle of the courtyard, and the lad Leonid stood next to him with his head bare and, without noticing it, either crossed himself or wiped the tears pouring from his eyes.

The murdered owner of the inn was the father of Gregory and the brother of Father Leonid, a merchant from Turov, a friend of Mishka's uncle Nikifor. He was the only one of the inhabitants of the estate who managed to arm himself with a sword and shield, and, at the head of four either workers or relatives, also armed, managed to repel the raiders - he exchanged life for life: next to the five bodies of the defenders lay five corpses of robbers. Then, apparently, the defenders were laid down by archers. Vile - in the back. And Grinka's father, wounded by an arrow, was also finished off with a blow of the sword.

Once again, Mishka was convinced how changeable and unpredictable fate was in Rus' in the twelfth century, however, as in any other, probably ... But he didn’t even think that he would have to face something like that when he planned this short trading trip , succumbing to the persuasion of the stubborn Osma. He, after several successful similar voyages along the Pogoryn, nevertheless knocked Mishka on an expedition to the right bank of the Sluch in the vicinity of David-town, referring to the excellent opportunity to check in this way everything that the youths from the merchant department managed to learn in their previous trips with goods, accompanying the clerks of Nicephorus.

Such a “check” turned out to be a more or less acceptable version for the governor Korney, for Alexei and Anna, and for everyone else. However, Korney, with his sophisticated mind, could perhaps decide that for such a person as Osma, peddling through the Pogoryn settlements of the Dregovichi is too small an occupation, and an experienced merchant who turned over considerable affairs in the past seeks to increase the coverage of the nascent enterprise, which , in general, one could only welcome.

Mishka, on the other hand, saw in Osma's desire to advance to the local trade (and, therefore, information) center - David-Gorodok - something completely different. While the matter was limited to Pogoryn, it remained practically in the full will of Nicephorus. Only his goods were traded in the Ratnin shop, only his goods were transported to the Dregovo settlements, and only the fruits of this trade went into his hands. In this case, Osma remained a clerk - just a clerk! But this figure was not of that scale. An entrepreneur of such qualifications as Osma could not but try to include Pogorynya in the regional trade turnover. And in David-gorodok you can get useful information, make the necessary contacts, and start your own business, in addition to Nikifor. Mishka had no doubt that Osma would definitely have such intentions.

I had to go with the expedition myself - it seems to be like evaluating the results of the "check" with my own eyes - Mishka was not going to let this matter take its course. Well, since he went, then, of course, the Mute also went. And so it happened that a rather impressive detachment gathered on the road: a dozen Luke, fifteen youths of the merchant department, a dozen wagons with wagonmen led by Ilya and Mishka with Mute. And so - they took a walk, they say ... The check unexpectedly turned out to be more thorough than planned, and instead of a trading trip, it turned out to be almost a military campaign, and even with the “merchants”, whom it was not supposed to endanger in any way - not for that guys to study have taken.

It all started with the fact that on the road there were traces of four loaded wagons and the riders accompanying them. Under the supervision of a tracker from a dozen Luka, Petka Skladnya, the youths tried to determine the number of riders. More for study than out of caution - at first, no one even had a bad thought in their thoughts. They hustled for a long time, argued, recalling the lessons with the mentor Bitch, and, finally, came to the conclusion: there were at least a dozen horsemen. Skladen specified: eleven. But even then they were not particularly worried. It seems to be nothing strange - a convoy and a convoy, and that accompanied by a dozen, it means that the merchant is cautious, he does not skimp on paying for the guards. Anxiety appeared when they found a place for their overnight stay. And it was not that they were worried that the travelers stopped not by the road, but in a clearing in the depths of the forest (they decided that the merchant was cautious), but that there were about three dozen sleeping places. It turned out that the carts were not with goods, but with people! But where and why is it possible to lead a convoy under the protection of about two dozen people, if it goes not to David-town, but from it?

Osma and Luka consulted whether to send a patrol after the strange convoy, but decided not to torment the horses in vain - an incomprehensible caravan was ahead for about a day's journey. This decision, however, had to be changed, because towards evening they stumbled upon a place heavily trampled by people and horses, from which the trail of not four, but five carts left. Here it was no longer the training of the youths, but serious work. Petka Skladen almost dug the road dust with his nose and finally announced that the fifth cart had first been going towards the convoy, and after the trampled place turned around and went along with it. In addition, drops of blood dried on the grass were found on the side of the road.

- Look here! - Skladen pointed out a place on the road. - They tried so hard to go to the oncoming trail to trample!

- Ilya! commanded the foreman. “Give your guards, we need to comb the forest.” Peter, hasten the youths, go to the right of them in order to capture more widely. Don't go far - no further than a hundred paces. If you don't find anything on this side, then comb through the other side. Folder, you're the eldest! Move, move!

Mishka tried to go with the youths, but Nemoy held him back, shaking his head in the direction of Luka and Osma, who were left to wait on the road - which means that Mishka, as a foreman, should be here with the command staff.

It didn’t take long to comb the forest - Ilya jumped out of the underbrush and said in a gloomy tone:

- Baba and the lad ... both killed. They didn’t even cover it with branches, so they left it ... thirty steps from here.

Contrary to Mishka's expectations, Luka did not go to see the find, but somehow he got up all over, hardened his face and again began to give orders:

- Child Gregory to me! Fast! Tikhon, take four, go forward on patrol. Ilya, collect food for two days for all the horsemen, and distribute all the arrows and bolts that you have in the wagon train. We will go forward, catch up with ... these, and you with the convoy - behind us, and with caution. Understood?

“Not the first time,” Ilya nodded his head in understanding. - Only this ... the children should not be shown the dead. The boy's head, read, is completely cut off, and the woman's ears are torn and her fingers are chopped, you see, rings and earrings were torn from her. Yes, and the beast has already reached the bodies ... it’s creepy to look ...

“So, it looks like they ran into a gang. If the horsemen accompanied the carts full, then some of the prisoners would definitely go on foot - their property would take their place in the carts. So, a gang, about thirty snouts - a dozen on horseback and two dozen in carts. People who meet are killed by… unnecessary witnesses? Crap! And the road leads to Grishkin's village! He painted: the village is large, there is an inn, you can relax and trade ... "

- Mister ten's manager, lad Gregory...

“Wait a minute, Grin,” Luka bent down from the saddle to the boy on foot. What will happen next along this road?

- Four versts ... maybe five, and there will be a fork. If on the left road, then to my village ... oh!

- Tikhon! Ready? Luke turned to his nephew. - Then quickly to the fork! You will figure out where the tati have turned, and send a messenger to us! All. Go, go!

- Follow me, trot!

How far is it from your village? Luka turned again to Gregory.

- Two days ... how to go, if you hurry, you can do it faster ...

- Don't be afraid, we'll catch up with you! Let's leave the convoy and ride! We'll make it!

Luka Govorun made a mistake - they did not have time. Quite a bit, but they did not have time, but with all the more bitterness they attacked the raiders.

Tati, carried away by robbery, were completely unprepared for the swift and ruthless attack of a regular military unit. By that time, the village had already been ruined quite thoroughly, but the invaders were clearly not going to wrap up. The “fun” was in full swing when a dozen of Luka Govorun’s cavalry fell on the heads of the robbers, insolent from impunity, with the support of Petka’s youths with crossbows, who proved that at the academy they hadn’t been chased in vain for two months in the tail and in the mane. So we dealt with the thieves quickly, quite professionally and not at all tormented by questions about exceeding the measure of necessary self-defense. The villagers, who did not have time to run away and hide in the forest, met the Ratninists with restrained enthusiasm befitting the occasion.

The estate and the inn of Grinka's father, Ignat Grigorievich, were attacked in the first place: they probably planned to take the main booty from him, but, apparently, they received a worthy rebuff there. Ignat was a strong man, perhaps he was worth a different warrior, for nothing that he was a merchant. But he didn’t save his wife: Grinka’s mother was lying in the back of the yard, near the gate in the fence - bare-haired, obviously hastily dressed, with an arrow in her back - they apparently got a woman when she tried to escape. From the half-burned house they carried out the corpse of an old housekeeper with a broken head, and between the fence and the shed they found an old man, though wounded, but alive. Grinka rushed to him with hope:

- Grandfather Semyon! ..

- Grinka, you? .. - he stammered when he saw the guy, and, sighing heavily, looked away. It was from him that we learned the details of the raid.

They were attacked at the very end of the night, when the village was still asleep, so that they were taken by surprise. Ignat with the workers, however, managed to jump out to meet the bandits - the dogs preempted, but, despite this, not all the women managed to escape - the housekeeper Parasha was weak in her legs due to old age, and they were beaten with arrows while they ran to the forest. Where did the master's daughters - no one knows, God willing - managed to hide in the forest.

- Let's find it, Grin! Mishka said sympathetically. We don't leave ours.

He deliberately did not interrupt the guy when he spoke at length about his dead family members - he should have let Grinka speak out.

- How many sisters do you have?

- Three. The eldest - Arinka ... Arina, she is already quite an adult, a widow, returned ... they returned her after the death of her husband, and two younger ones. Steshka is seven years old, Fenka is six...

Mishka nodded, listening as Grinka spoke with hope in his voice about his sister's marriage and widowhood, about her beauty, and about how funny his younger ones were ...

- Well, if they are adults, they will not disappear, and then we will find them in the forest.

- And you should look for her in a hunting hut by the lake, - the grandfather, who was noticeably recovering, gave a voice. - I think she will go there with the girls. She herself would have stayed somewhere in the forest nearby, she would have waited until the tatis left the village. And with the little ones, she will not take risks, she will take them away. What-no there, and housing.

- Exactly, in the hut it should be! Grinka perked up. - He and his father, yes, with grandfather Semyon, used to live there for ten days during the hunting season - then, it happened, they could only take out prey on horses. For the whole winter they stocked up with a bird bat, and in winter - with meat and skins. Father Arinka was distracted by hunting from longing for her dead husband - she was very much killed for him ...

- Mikhaila! - the warrior Sofron called out to Mishka, bending over the body of one of the killed taty. - Come here!

- What is it, Uncle Sofron?

“Yes, there’s something wrong here: the other tati are dressed in everything, and this one is in full armor. We put another armored one there, - Sofron waved his hand somewhere to the side. - And there are eleven combat horses. Where did nine more warriors go?

“But that’s right – where to? It seems that ordinary bandits rode in carts, and they were accompanied by a dozen warriors. Quite a strange combination, don't you think, Sir Michael? However, most likely, those warriors were recruited from the same bandits, perhaps with a higher rank - only their military skills were enough to correctly assess the situation and run not to the horses, but to the forest. However, why should those tatis help them - their head is more expensive, and they didn’t want to shine. Most likely, from some boyar squad, the good fellows sang with the robbers. However, this should not be left unattended."

- It is necessary to tell Luka, let him ask around the prisoners; and it is true - something is unclean here.

Behind the outskirts of the village, Luka, not spoiled by liberal nonsense like the humane treatment of criminals or universal values, busily supervised the torture of prisoners and their subsequent hanging on all suitable trees in the district.

The torture was not educational, but exclusively utilitarian in nature: Luka and Osma wanted to find out everything about the caches and stash of the bandits, which could well be searched for indemnity, and about the accomplices of the gang in the surrounding villages, and possibly in David-town itself. Such a large shopping center simply could not help attracting the close attention of the local criminal world. And it is natural that every self-respecting gang should have had its own eyes and ears in such a wonderful place.

Luka reacted very carefully to the message of Mishka and Sofron.

- In! That's what I look at: the horses are combatant, but there are no warriors.

“There are two,” said Sofron. “Ours put one of them, but the one at the inn, someone managed to shoot a hunting arrow, but right in the eye!”

- Look you! Luka was delighted. - Who is so clever here? Okay, with that later ... Well, wait a minute to hang them, let's go back!

Two prisoners, who seemed to have already said goodbye to life, were dragged back, from the tree to Luka, who was sitting in the saddle.

- So, so ... I want to ask you something else ...

Mishka did not hear the question itself, because the Mute drove up, holding by the collar of some small peasant from the locals, his attention was attracted. As it turned out, he needed the little man as a "loudspeaker". Shaken by Andrey's iron hand, he voiced the following message:

- This is the most ... your guys ran into the forest. There one wanted to keep them, so they didn’t listen ... and then this one, - the peasant glanced warily at the Mute, - grab me - and dragged me here to inform, mean.

“Damn, probably, the brothers after the sisters rushed, and the rest with them, and Petka tried to keep them, but could not.”

Andrei, as if reading Mishka's thoughts, shook his head demandingly towards the forest.

“It’s true, you yourself need to catch up, otherwise Luke will then plague you with arguments about the arbitrariness of the youths.”

Mishka and Mute managed to catch up with the guys already in the depths of the forest, about a verst from the edge of the forest. They were trampling on the edge of a small ravine and discussing something heatedly.

- ... So she missed the chase through herself! Grishka explained. - Sit out in a ravine with the girls, but how! They covered themselves with leaves and branches, waited until they went ahead, and then they themselves quietly leaned in the other direction. Lyonka told the truth: as if her mentor Bitch taught ... And she walked through the forest well, correctly, if it weren’t for the little ones with her - I probably wouldn’t have found it, and then completely - they left along the stream. But the tatis did not look for them - they themselves were saved: they abandoned their horses, went on foot into the forest. So it follows the trail. Arinka, you see, took the girls to the hunting hut ... No matter how the tati stumbled upon them ... We must go to the rescue.

Mishka looked back at the Mute, who bowed his head in agreement, but pointed his finger over his shoulder - back, towards the village.

- Superintendent Peter! Misha commanded. “Send one person back, inform the foreman Luka that we have gone to the hunting hut. Grigory, will we have time to turn around before the evening?

- No, I'll probably have to spend the night. We will only get there in the evening. There is a short way for a hiker, but we are on horseback.

- So, and report to Mr. foreman: "We'll be back tomorrow."

The road turned out to be long, and indeed, only in the evening they finally got there. The winter hut stood in such a remote and wild place - if Grinka had not brought them, it would never have occurred to them that there was housing here.

The approaches to the hut were cluttered with an almost impassable windbreak, so we had to dismount and, leaving the horses with the constable Peter and a dozen youths in place, carefully make our way forward in a small group. Having made their way through the thicket, they saw a solid hunting lodge located in a small clearing. Nearby stood a squat shed, behind it a stack of hay was visible, under the wall of the shed stood a neat woodpile, a little way out of the ground was a well log cabin.

The mute signaled "to stand" and began to carefully examine the opened picture. Mishka also tried to make out signs of the presence of people in the winter hut. If Gregory's older sister got here with the girls, then, apparently, she did it very carefully, leaving no noticeable traces. The only thing that Mishka noted for himself was the door not supported by a stake - evidence that someone had entered the hut.

“There is no path, the grass is not crushed ... Maybe they came up from behind?”

The mute, apparently, also came to the same conclusion and, without going out into the clearing, began to carefully shift to the left, intending to go around the winter hut without revealing himself. As soon as Mishka was about to ask Grigory if there could be some traps for intruders here, Andrei abruptly leaned back, dodging an incomprehensible object that had fallen from a nearby tree.

Nothing dangerous at first happened - under their feet, splitting into two halves, a small clay jug fell on top of a tree with some moving dust inside, capable of inflicting injury only through a pure misunderstanding. But just this misunderstanding in the form of a whole swarm of angry wasps that made a nest in it happened. Roy clearly did not approve of the intervention of the rescue expedition in his personal life and wanted to spit on all the swords and crossbows put together. With a growing rumble, the wasps pounced on the guys, getting to the body and furiously stinging the offenders. With screams, the guys poured out in a crowd into the clearing in front of the house.

- Do not shoot, your ... mother! - Mishka himself did not understand who he was stopping: a young woman with a bow in her hands, who appeared at the door of the house, or her youths, who grabbed crossbows. However, everyone already understood that it was not necessary to shoot, and they were not up to it, to be honest.

- Run through the bushes! - Mishka ordered again: Ratnikov knew in his previous life that he had to escape from bees and wasps, running away so that the branches whipped. The youths rushed as they had never run in the classroom. Either this remedy worked, or the wasps were more interested in their devastated dwelling, but the swarm quickly fell behind.

Then they sat near the hut, and Arina tried to remove swelling from bites from her "saviors" with lotions from plantain and dandelion stems, collected by the younger sisters in the clearing: she ordered the boys to chew them and apply them to the affected places. Mishka and Mute got it the most: Mishka caught a bite in the very eyelid, and with one eye he practically didn’t see anything, and it was completely wrong with Andrey - the first attack of the swarm almost completely hit him in the face. Now the Mute clearly began to have a strong fever, and Mishka listened warily to see if his breathing would become difficult - he did not know the remedy for an allergic reaction to wasp venom. Arina, apparently, also perfectly understood the danger:

- Steshka, take apart the bed and see how we wrap the warrior, we need to warm him. Fenka, take flat stones, you know where, you need to heat them on the fire - we will put them on his feet. Then type more St. John's wort and chamomile until it gets dark, and I have a little dried lime blossom - we'll make a decoction ... Guys, help me get him into the hut!

Here everything seemed to be in order - they would look after the Mute, it was necessary to think about something else.

“Tryphon, you got less than the others, go back to the others,” Mishka began to order, “tell the constable Peter to find a clearing for an overnight stay with horses: we won’t fit in the hut, they’ll spend the night there. Let Peter put up a watch, here, you see for yourself, everyone is bitten, they need to sleep peacefully at night. Two patrols: one will guard the hut, and the second - their camp. Yes, first drag water from the well - to water the horses. And drink with care - in the well, go, the water is icy ...

“What is there to look for there ... Steshka will show how horses can be led to the lower meadow,” Arina suddenly gave a voice and explained, not looking up from her worries about Andrey lying almost unconscious. - There, a horseman can go around the path, the blockages on it are not difficult to pull apart - it seems from the outside that the whole thicket is equally impassable. And right behind the hut under the hillock there is a lake and a clearing, where you can water the horses, and you can fall out - we always did that. A stranger will not find this road in a windbreak, you only then drag the brushwood behind you again, as it was - and you will notice the trail.

At night, Mishka kept waking up, and each time he saw Arina fussing over the Mute, rushing about in the heat. Usually, in this state, a person groans, swears, or mumbles something incoherently, but the Mute did not make a sound, and it looked somehow especially creepy.

At some point, Arina, who was changing the wet rag on Andrei's forehead, saw that Mishka woke up and sympathized in a whisper:

- The guys got much less, and then they groaned, but he, the poor one, has to endure everything in silence: he can’t ask for water, he can’t take his soul away.

At dawn, Mishka was awakened by the youth Kapiton, one of the sentinels. He quietly scratched at the back window of the hut and called:

- Mister Sergeant Major! There is someone in the forest...Hidden for now...

- What do you mean - someone? Where? How many? You saw them?

- I just heard. They, too, like us just now, were breaking through the windbreak, apparently, in our footsteps. And now they are sitting there on the side of the entrance behind the bushes, talking quietly, but so far they haven’t seemed to go around. Muzhi. And a lot of them. Not two or three, for sure. Pankrat escaped to our meadow, and I - to wake you up.

“Assholes… He’s running!” How about an order from me? What will he say to the officer?

“Petka, as soon as he hears, he will trample headlong, with all the ten that he has left. And what will they do against adult husbands, and even warriors? Children, well, children! Unless they will support us from around the corner with crossbows in case something happens ... We can only break through - they will kill us in the hut, however, if we rush ahead - they will also kill us ... And the window is tiny, even we will not squeeze through. Unless the girls…”

- So ... - Mishka leaned out of the window, as far as its size allowed, and whispered almost in Kapiton's ear. - Go to police officer Pyotr, tell them to come here silently, not to reveal themselves and not to interfere in business until I whistle. Repeat!

- Tell the constable Peter: do not reveal yourself and do not get involved in the matter until the whistle.

- Fulfill!

Having released Kapiton, Mishka turned around and caught Arina's questioning glance.

- Arina ... - even though she was a grown woman, a widow, Mishka did not turn her tongue to respectfully refer to her as "aunt Arina": she looked painfully young. - Raise the guys quietly, but don't let them grab their armor and weapons, you can't make noise. They don’t know that we are here, so let them not know. Andrew doesn't need to wake up.

Mishka crept up to the door and tried to see at least something through a narrow crack.

“Yes, how many of them ... And you won’t get out of the hut - everything is in full view. Although ... How many horses were there? Eleven, I think? Two were put in the village, which means no more than nine. It’s not a gift either, but you can handle it, if only the guys don’t make a fool of themselves. How can I lure them out into the open?

Evgeny Krasnitsky, Elena Kuznetsova, Irina Grad

Women's weapons

Foreword

The book offered to you, dear reader, is an attempt to show the female part of the world in which the heroes of the books "Young Man" live. Prior to this, in all the books of the cycle, it was the male world and the male view of it that dominated. It could not be otherwise - a man wrote a book about men, that inhabiting the world. However, without women, the world of the Boy, like any other, could not exist, and women certainly were present in it, but they are shown precisely through the eyes of a man. Their true feelings, desires and aspirations involuntarily remained behind the scenes, especially since then women knew their place, but did not claim to be a man.

Each historical era of the existence of our state - from Rus' to Russia - corresponded to its own special system of relationships between a man and a woman, its own degree of participation of a woman in public life, her role in the family and society. It is not always possible to unambiguously evaluate changes in this system. For example, the lawlessness of the times of Domostroy simultaneously freed a woman from many responsibilities and made a man responsible for EVERYTHING, and equality constitutionally enshrined in the 20th century brought to life such, let's not be afraid of this word, perversions, like a sleeper.

The female world was not without losses either, together with the male world, experiencing all the past troubles and invasions, famines and epidemics, revolutions and regressions, ideological and religious upheavals. And women, for the most part, have been the main sufferer throughout history, but not only the sufferer! It so happened that great deeds and feats, with rare exceptions, were performed by men (or they were attributed to them), but women quietly and imperceptibly performed the main thing - they kept the soul of their people. Morality, customs, continuity of generations, the concepts of Good and Evil in their daily, everyday, and therefore inconspicuous hypostasis. And they have always been the rear - hope and salvation. They accepted husbands tired of battles and accomplishments, treated their wounds - bodily and spiritual, softened anger and hatred, not allowing the world to slide into the abyss of wars and self-destruction. And gave hope for the future.

What is it - the female world? It so happened (again historically) that the vast majority of protagonists in literature are men. No, there are, of course, female characters: Vera Pavlovna, Anna Karenina, Natasha Rostova, Katya and Dasha Bulavina, Madame Bovary, Scarlett O'Hara or Miss Marple ... - the list is extensive, but in most cases all the heroines either act in the "male world", or become victims of the laws of this world. And we tried to talk about the female world itself - not at war and not opposing itself to the male, but harmoniously complementing it. The authors cherish the hope that this book will make readers take a closer look at the surrounding reality and feel that the female world, in spite of everything, is still alive and in many cases can give answers that seem impossible to find in what is now commonly called "realities of life."

Evgeny Krasnitsky, Elena Kuznetsova, Irina Grad

Women's weapons

Cover design by Vladimir Gurkov

Foreword

It so happened that we now live in a man's world. You can argue and protest with this, but so far the fact is obvious - our world is precisely male. Those women who become ministers-officers-presidents in it, in order to succeed in their chosen field, are forced to accept precisely the male rules of the game. And they accept, and sometimes surpass men in some ways, but, alas, in many respects at the cost of leaving their female destiny. However, the system of gender relations familiar to us did not always exist, and this is not at all about matriarchy, but we do not mean the complete lack of rights and downtroddenness of a woman, which also took place in the past. Rather, in one of the periods of the past of our country.

However, despite all the perturbations and perversions, the female world continued to exist alongside the male, often invisibly or completely incomprehensibly to the strong half of the human race, obeying its own internal laws, with its own concepts of benefit and harm, joys and sorrows, conflicts and even wars. Existed, preserving and protecting what the male world either imperceptibly lost or deliberately rejected; influencing the male world constantly and inevitably.