20 20 Amber Blood

It was finally dawn, I managed to survive, and I didn't make Captain America out of myself. I did a quick diagonist of my body, hands ok, legs ok ... Kaho Shibuya, that works too. Everything essential worked.

I melted the pieces of lard on fire and drank to keep warm, and checked the horse as well, but he seemed to endure the night better than I did... I went to the settlement, I was hoping that the head of the village was back, or that he would be back soon.

I had to wait two more hours before he came back ... I asked him about this small fishing village, if he knew the legend of Jurata, if he had ever heard the name Kastytis. He knew the legend, but it has been known in this area for generations.

The fishing village and name was a good starting point, the head of the village knew that name, and not only from legend... Kastytis was a Lithuanian fisherman and during a storm the wind blew his boat towards this area, and he lived here until his death. One time, when he was about to go out in sea, a great storm broke out and he was struck by lightning, but that was three hundred years ago. I didn't quite know what to do, three hundred years was a long time, the legend and real events might have faded and mixed up in people's memories ... even though I was in the right place, I couldn't search the entire Hel Peninsula.

I asked him where the fisherman was buried and whether there were any relatives or descendants of his still alive, but without success, two more dead ends... a task that seemed easy at first gave me a headache now.

My last resort was asking about amber.

"Tell me more about amber. I know there's a lot of it around here, and have you seen any ... strange or unusual pieces of amber ... the size of a fist, maybe two." (MC)

"Lord, strange?" (Village Head)

"Shape, color ... different from typical amber." (MC)

"Lord, I don't know if that's what you mean, but my grandfather told me that when he was young, his father found a black stone on the beach, but then misfortune fell on their house. My grandfather's sister drowned, all the animals on the farm died, the fish catches were meager ... " (Village Head)

"I understand, your family has been through a lot ... where is that stone now?" (MC)

"... My great-grandmother believed that the stone was some kind of impure force and had it buried in the cemetery, by the chapel." (Village Head)

I did not know if the stone that Jurata's heart is talking about, but it does not hurt to check ... although digging in the ground in winter is not a pleasure. I left him a few thalers as payment for the information, then I visited a blacksmith and bought two shovels, an ax and a hammer, unfortunately he had no pickaxes... and I went to the cemetery. Finding the chapel was not difficult, it was a hollow in the tree with a statue of Pensive Jesus ... I didn't know which side to start looking from, so I would have to dig around the whole tree.

I shoved away the snow, grabbed the ax and hit the ground ... after three strikes my hands were numb, but I wasn't going to give up. It took me four hours to dig the west and north sides to a depth of 2 meters and I found nothing. I decided to take a break and think about it again.

The stone could be on the south or east side, or where I was digging just deeper ... or the old man mixed up something ... any of these possibilities could be true. Half an hour later I went back to digging.

It was slowly getting dark, I was finishing digging on the south side, I had no more than half a meter of soil left to move when the shovel hit something hard ... I thought it was another false alarm, whenever I hit something hard it was just a rock, or root. But this time it was something else ... it looked almost like an ordinary stone, but when I cleared it of the dirt it started to glow. I grabbed the water bag, washed the dirt off it and started rubbing it on my clothes ... it was black amber, when I looked at it against the light, its color turned dark red.

"You found a heart, congratulations." (Weles)

It was close and I would have to wash my pants ... alone in the cemetery, with a strange stone in my hand, it is slowly falling dark and I hear a voice behind my back.

"If you want to kill me, there are simple ways ... is it really Jurata's heart?" (MC)

"Yes, three hundred years ago ... I remember it as it would be today ..." (Weles)

"I don't want to interrupt you, but it's cold, I'm tired and it's getting dark ... where's my reward?" (MC)

"How rude ... Don't you want to know the whole story?" (Weles)

"No, we'll make an appointment sometime, talk about the good old days ... my people will call yours." (MC)

"You think this is the right way to treat God? One word of mine and you will turn into a pile of ash or I can fill your lungs and mouth with excrement." (Weles)

"Sorry, but I'm at the graveyard with a shovel ... and I look like a necrophile on a date. So I'm not in the mood for talks ... give me a reward or leave me alone." (MC)

"Fine, I promised and as a God of oaths I will not break my word, you can even choose a reward or even two ... Strength, Health, Love, Wealth, Beauty, Charm." (Weles)

"How about some details?" (MC)

"You said you are not in the mood to talk ... choose I don't have all eternity for you" (Weles)

I didn't know the Gods could have PMS ... or as they say, mad cow disease.