12

Linael crouched in the dense bushes about thirty meters from the trail. He watched a group of men closely from his ambush.

The five Humans were dressed in gray prisoner robes. Numbers were written on their chests in white paint. The one at the back held a Kalashnikov assault rifle.

It was crystal clear to Dmitri: This is not the Forest Inspectorate. Far from it. It was hard not to recognize the fugitive prisoners. One had to be at least blind to do so. Their intentions were hardly benign.

Angry and sullen faces, weary gait, emaciated figures. Their robes were dirty and torn in places. There were scratches on their hands from branches. The cons' bodies were decorated with blue tattoos. Even to Karpov's stakeout, the unpleasant smell of unwashed bodies wafted in with gusts of wind.

He wondered how to deal with fugitive criminals. If to act according to the law, he should immediately go to the village and call the police. If the right thing to do, then the convicts should be captured, escorted to the village and again call the police, in order to eliminate the option of fleeing criminals. If you want to get the most out of them, you should use them for the ritual.

Not all magic requires mana. Furthermore, not all magic requires you to be a mage. Some rituals and almost all spells can work with life force. Only almost no one will use prana to activate spells. A simple spell will kill a human, and an elf will take a couple of months of lying down and coming to his senses. So it's not worth it if you don't use someone else's power. But even among the firstborn, it's not encouraged, though it's learned as a last resort.

At the sight of the uninvited guests, Linael was at once tempted to do what was right for himself, not wrong. He knew many rituals, but in his case the best one was to create a "battery". For this purpose, the tree is sacrificed to creatures of the same species as the one who will use the "battery" of prana. Part of the life force goes to activate the ritual, but most of it merges with the prana of the tree. After that the plant starts a rapid growth, but this is more of a side effect. The main thing is that the tree mutates. It turns into a likeness of Melorn, but not itself.

Melorn not only accumulates life force and mana, but also produces these energies in large quantities itself. The mutant tree becomes an accumulator of prana after a sacrifice ritual for a time, which even a non-mage can use. You can draw much more power from such a tree without harming it. Drawing power is many times easier. But most importantly, the tree serves as a mediator and limiter. The user won't burn out as if he were, for example, pumping power directly to himself with a similar ritual.

The disadvantages are the terrible losses. About twenty percent of the prana is used to activate the ritual. Another sixty percent is spent on the growth of the tree and holding the remaining prana. That leaves you with a maximum of twenty percent. Plus, over time, the ritual loses its power and the prana in the trunk gradually dissipates.

Five hoomans is ideal. The power of one of them might be enough to heal completely, or to activate the true vision to look at your soul and poke around in it a bit. Naturally, Linael leaned toward the latter. He wouldn't dare kill ordinary people, and he didn't feel sorry for criminals.

- 'Horse', don't be so fast," said the runaway prisoner, who was walking in the middle of it hoarsely.

- 'Weed', food," said the prisoner, with a fanatical look in his eye, as he led the party. - We have had nothing to eat for two days, and this hunter must have plenty of meat! Look how deep the furrows are from the dragger.

- Meat's all right," said Weed, panting, "but I'll die if we hurry. The devil's got a drag, he won't get far.

- Shut up, both of you! - The man at the back with the gun shouted angrily. - Everybody's hungry. The quicker we catch up with this sucker, the quicker we fill ours belly!

- Skipper, that sucker must have a gun," said Weed cautiously.

- We've got a machine gun," Skipper adjusted the gun hanging on his belt from his right shoulder. - We'll take that devil down in a jiffy!

Had he known that at this very moment the "devil" was sitting nearby in the bushes, deciding their fate... After hearing the conversation, Linael was firmly convinced that criminals should be let to benefit their recovery. The only point he pondered was how to disarm the group? Shooting them all with a bow could be done, but then the wounded would have to be dragged to the nearest oak tree. There's a chance some of them might not survive the ritual. And lightly wounding them so that the hoomans can move on their own is to put themselves at risk. Five men against one lame half elf is overkill, and you can't keep track of them all.

Eventually he decided to follow the group and wait for the best moment to attack. He silently followed the men all the way to the camp, keeping a short distance away from them and out of sight.