Inquisitor by Dem Mikhaylov Page A

his tricky ideas were challenged – We don’t have a lucky strike every day. So we don’t have to lie!
    The door banged closing in the yard again, it meant that outraged Feklisia – Flatis’s mother – went away. All clear! And the boys hurried to escape.
    They rolled down the hayloft, climbed over the fence – nearly tore their pants mended all over hundreds of times – and found themselves in a dusty village street.
    Crouching, the boys ran fast along the fence and only when Flatis’s house couldn’t be seen anymore, sighed with relief and straightened up. Peasants were waiting in the shade of garden trees until the midday heat was over. Nobody saw the boys’ secret maneuvers.
    The narrow street ended at a steep slope – the Asdora was lazily rolling its waves below it. Holding on bush branches and stones protruding from the ground, the boys descended to the river bank and bended over water to drink well. Their escape was perfect and Flatis was bursting out with pride. He could do it, as it was Flatis who developed all the details of the plan and persuaded Lery, his best friend, to join. It was really perfect – they skipped from the strict parental control and then they had to move on to the second part of the plan.
    Flatis dove into deergrass growing at the bank and soon came back carrying a large bundle. Yesterday he pretended to go fishing, put into a bucket all the necessary things to realize the plan, brought it out and hid in the dense deergrass. Besides he managed to catch fish enough for family dinner. The father praised him grudgingly and the mother exclaimed with delight ‘What a breadwinner!’
    -          I found it – he answered Lery’s dumb question, the boy’s eyes were sparkling with excitement. Nobody had tried to steal the bundle during the previous night and then they had everything required for the plan realization.
    -          Can you imagine how grateful everybody will be! – Flatis whispered for some reason – Even the elder will bow down to us!
    -          Are you sure? – Lery burst out laughing with disbelief. – You must be kidding! I can’t imagine our elder bowing down!
    -          He will, no doubt! – Flatis said persuasively and added seriously – But first we must make the host take the treat and send rain to the village as a token of thanks. – If Father learns that we bring offerings to the host of the deep water, he’ll skin us alive! – Lery added and scratched his back as if he felt the biting of birch rods.
    -          He won’t know about it – Flatis calmed him down – Don’t tell anybody and everything will be fine! Stop being afraid! Are you going with me or not?
    -          I’m going… - Lery signed.
    A happy smile spread on Flatis’s face. He patted his best friend on the shoulder and bended to pick up the bundle lying on the ground at his feet. The content of the bundle played the main part in their plan. Flatis had started careful preparation of the host’s treat several days before their escape. It didn’t take much effort to catch some fat frogs in the pond, to take out small beads of their eggs as well as to steal a dozen of eggs from the hen house. Lery had brought a clay pot of a necessary size and a bunch of small air-dried fish - fishermen caught a lot of it by nets – from his attic.
    The boys mixed all the ingredients of the treat properly to make a homogeneous mess, added some water and exposed it to the scorching sun. In two days the treat went bad enough to start smelling and it was almost impossible to come closer to the pot. Lery made a deep inhale by chance and immediately vomited. Thanks god, Flatis managed to pull the pot aside, otherwise they would have to start all the preparations from the very beginning. At last everything was ready. The boys hurried up to the edge of the river bank and then to the village mill that was situated on the side tributary of the Asdora. They