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The Legend of Peresvet/Chapter Five: Unusual Power

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Chapter Five:
Unusual Power

If Light shines in the soul,

darkness is powerless!

Soon, Yegor shared his experiences and new successes with Peresvet:

“I started to look at the candle from my heart in the evenings, as you taught me. And it is so blissful! It is as if that candle is lit in my spiritual heart, as if the light of love burns for God there! And the silence comes by itself…

“I told hegumen Sergius about it in confession. I was afraid that he would scold me. But he even praised me! And I showed him drawings of various birds and flowers that I made on small planks, and he praised me for that too! He blessed me to keep on learning to draw. He even said that when you finish teaching me how to read and write, I will be allowed to copy the Holy Gospels and decorate their pages with patterns.”

Peresvet had already been teaching Yegor for some time. And in these studies, much like in his other studies, Yegor showed great diligence. At this point in time, the boy had already mastered a little and could read and write by syllables.

* * *

On that day, Peresvet and Yegor collected various herbs for brews, and after that they began preparing some medicinal remedies.

Peresvet was very knowledgeable in this — hegumen Sergius entrusted him with this job completely.

Yegor was diligently learning the skill, and he tried to memorize everything he could about the herbs and their medicinal properties!

And Peresvet told him to take notes also so that he could both better remember everything and practice his writing.

They were grinding the herbs in mortars and mixing in a special proportion of the medicinal mix when Yegor asked:

“Tell me more about the Elder, about how he taught. He taught you how to distinguish between herbs, didn’t he?”

“Yes and no. It was my wife who taught me the most about herbs. But that was later, much later…

“And there are more interesting things to tell you about the Elder than this. I’ve been thinking a lot about these events, but I don’t even know how to begin…

“Let us consider the life of an ordinary warrior, one who serves his prince faithfully, dreams of heroic deeds, and kills others in battles — those whom his prince considers enemies. Where is the line: what is military duty, and what is a terrible sin? Many of Rodion’s and my dreams and aspirations in our youth were to become brave soldiers — strong, successful, and invincible ones — to gain the glory of heroes in many battles.

“The Elder did not approve of our striving for military heroism at all. And we could imagine no other future for ourselves than serving with the prince’s squad. We dreamed of battles, of heroic deeds…

“I think that is why our training with the Elder ended so soon, almost without having started…

“And the external reason for this was one occasion.

“A rich and noble-looking man came to the Elder’s house. Six armed servants were with him.

“The bear was ready to pounce on that man and not let him come near. He could feel the malice in this man immediately.

“But the Elder told the bear sternly:

‘Sit still! Until I give you a sign — do not interfere!’

“The unexpected guest came into the upper room and spoke to the Elder alone for a very long time.

“After, he came out very unhappy, as if he was torn with indignation and anger that the Elder had refused to fulfill his wishes.

“He went to the edge of the glade to the path where the servants were waiting for him, but suddenly he turned around and, drawing his sword, headed back to the Elder with a clear threat, and not as a petitioner. He shouted at the Elder:

‘I told you in kindness, but you still didn’t understand! So now I will force you to come with us! You’ll do what I want! In this case, I will keep you alive and reward you! And if you don’t do it, then your death will be your fault!’

“The Elder, who came out to escort the uninvited guest, stood quietly in the middle of the clearing.

“The angry visitor with his sword unsheathed came up to the Elder and said:

‘Listen you, old man, come with us — or I’ll cut you down right now! In this very place, you will die!’

“The Elder just grinned and said:

‘You’re stupid, it turns out…’

“This broke the uninvited visitor’s remaining patience. He swung his sword.

“Everything else happened in an instant.

Rodion and I rushed to the rescue, grabbing the first thing that was at hand — a pole and an oven fork…

“The bear got up on his hind legs and went in the direction of the servants who had already unsheathed their weapons.

“The Elder himself stood quietly and did not move. He only put his open palm towards the sword — and the blade stopped in the air without touching his hand, as if it crashed into an invisible wall.

“The Elder said softly, but in such a way that even we had goosebumps on our backs:

‘That’s enough! Get out of here! Now!’

“The attackers were as if shackled by a special fear. They obediently left the clearing and raced away, showing no more aggression.

“… We were shocked by what had happened, and, most of all, by the special invisible power of the Elder, with which he stopped the attacker’s sword with his bare hand.

“The Elder said:

‘Evil has no power over good, darkness has no power over Light — didn’t you know that? Sometimes, when words alone are not enough to help someone to learn the wrongness of evil will, it becomes necessary to teach through more direct means.’

“Of course, we began to ask to be taught this power.

“The Elder, at first, just kept silent, but then he explained:

‘Power must correspond to human understanding, not surpass it. For you now, a pole and a shank are just right for your minds!’

‘But we wanted to protect you, we had no time to run to get weapons!’ — I said with some offense.

‘That’s what I’m talking about! It’s good that everything turned out that way!

‘What’s the use of explaining it to you now?… This power is directly connected with the Power of the Universal Divine One. It is not only for becoming invincible warriors, as you both want right now! Those who want to fight enemies do not need this skill yet!

‘Now it’s time for you to go home! Don’t say too much about me! Your fathers will be back tomorrow. And it’s time for you to go home, because your mothers have already buried you in their minds! And the servants haven’t been able to find you for two weeks!’

‘Can we come back later, so that you can teach us such things?’

‘No, your reasons for wanting power are not right yet! It’s too early for you to learn from me!’

“It was unthinkable not to obey the Elder. And so, we left that same day.

Yegor asked Peresvet:

“So you never met the Elder again?”

“We did, but it was much, much later…

“Of course, we went to his forest house about a month later. We thought of begging him to teach us…

“But when we approached, we saw that only ashes remained of his house! Only the well was intact in the middle of the clearing!

“We guessed that those bad people had done it on behalf of the man who hated the Elder.

“We did not know then whether the Elder was alive or was killed in the fire. We hoped that he had left before what had happened, knowing, as usual, everything that was coming beforehand.

“We drew water from the well and filled our canteens, as if trying to keep the memory in that water.

“And then, I found and picked up from the ground a plank that had been lying beside the well. There was an inscription carved on it:

‘If Light shines in the soul, darkness is powerless!’

“It seemed to us that it was a message from the Elder for us… It was as if he knew that we would come to him, and that we would find this tablet, and that we would read it…

“We believed that the Elder was saved then. But our next meeting with him did not happen until fifteen years later.”