At that moment, a fish leapt out of the water and lunged toward his hand. The triumvir didn't falter. Unlike Yevgeny, who preferred to spend his time in the office, the young man didn't forget about physical exercise and was often seen at the training grounds honing his combat skills. The river predator didn't manage to seize its prey and was caught firmly by the gills. In the vampire's hand thrashed a fish about a meter long, with a mouth displaying two rows of sharp teeth.
"Quite a catch," Gennady said, somewhat taken aback by the unexpected interruption of the peaceful night and the entire journey.
"Yeah," Konstantin managed to say, stunning the fish with the paddle before calmly tossing it into the boat.
"Big one," Sergey, looking back, assessed the size of the catch.
"Yeah," the fisherman repeated, but quickly came out of his stupor after the surprise attack from below the water. "Let's head to the shore."
"I'll find a spot and dock soon!"
A suitable place was found about seven minutes later. A low shore with a few coniferous trees pushing out any shrubs created ideal conditions for landing. As soon as the vampires were on solid ground, two of them carefully began to pull the boat out of the water, while Gennady examined the trees with interest.
"Help out; why are you just standing there?" Sergey said angrily, still concerned about the boat's condition and insisting that it always be carried by three, even though one vampire could handle the weight.
Instead of answering, the man approached one of the trees, drew his sword, and took a swing. Then, apparently changing his mind, he sheathed the sword and struck the tree trunk hard with his open palm. The tree began to topple, exposing a perfectly cut surface on the trunk, which quickly turned black and charred.
"Black cedar," he announced to his astonished companions.
Not stopping at the effect achieved, he walked about ten steps into the forest and, grasping one of the ferns by the base, pulled it upward.
"Winter fern root," the man pointed to a small bulb near the base of the trunk that had been underground before.
"This is all very well, but could you help us get the boat out?" Gennady, abandoning the precious plant, ran to the shore, and together they pulled the boat onto the land and carefully placed it between the trees. Sergey immediately took out the tent, while Konstantin stared at his catch. The fish was unfamiliar. Although he had never been a fisherman and usually saw marine and river creatures only in their final form, i.e., on the table.
"Who's into fishing? Who wanted to snack on me?"
His companions also couldn't provide answers to these questions. The river predator that leapt out of the water at the gleaming metal was completely unknown.
"Then let's drink its blood. Maybe it's one of the inhabitants of the Cursed Forest."
"You think the river lives up to its name?" Sergey asked sarcastically, looking at the triumvir. "The locals don't have any hints about monsters living in the rivers. And this fish doesn't look like a monster. Just an unfamiliar predatory fish."
"Well, now we'll find out."
But even the blood gave no answers. The vampires, of course, saw the creature's entire life, as they always did, but they simply didn't know what the natives were so afraid of in the forest. The fish's blood held no clues about this. To an outside observer, everything seemed quite ordinary, except for the underwater life.
Throwing the fish's carcass back into the river, Konstantin looked down and picked up a pine cone from the ground, then extracted a small nut from it.
"I'm guessing these are the ones? The 'golden' youth's drug?"
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