Спасти Кощея

The girl started putting the paint in sure brush strokes when suddenly the painted forest turned covered with mist. She stepped away, blinked a few times, as she thought her eyes were just playing tricks on her, and started working again. But the forest turned misty once more. It seemed that nothing worked, and the painted trees sprawled out into different directions, completely disobeying the brush in the hand of the young artist.

– What a fuss! – the girl shouted. The hard work had lasted for several hours, and the wood on the canvas was still «unsettling» naughtily.

Eventually, she got angry and threw the canvas on the floor.

– There’s no such thing as magic! – the girl muttered angrily. – Then what should I draw?!

She was going to stamp the canvas with a blurring forest on it, when suddenly… she fell in. Yes, that’s right, in the truest sense of the word she fell in her own canvas and ended up in the forest. But this forest wasn’t familiar to her.  

 

Chapter 2

– What a miracle! – the girl resented and laughed, realizing what she had said. – I guess I was just very tired and fell asleep. I'll try to wake up.

She stretched out, blinked and rubbed her eyes with her hands. But the dream did not disappear anywhere. The girl frowned.

– But this can’t be happening! – she stubbornly stuck her chin out with her habitual gesture and looked around. –  Mo-om ... – the girl moaned diffidently, - Da-ad…

But there was no response. Close enough came a heavy sound:

– Hoo… – scared, the girl shuddered unwittingly.

– Bear? – she asked somebody and looked about again. – Well, it would be wonderful to draw a bear from life… – the girl was trying to put on a brave face hoping it was just a dream and nothing bad could happen to her.

But she heard the same dreaded «hoo» again and it seemed even closer. Then, something heavy fell to the ground with such a loud sound that the earth began to tremble.

«What if that beast is injured and needs help?» – the girl thought and made a step forward timidly, running back in her mind over all the mother’s lessons about which herb to use for different maladies. Whenever they went with mom and dad for mushrooms, mom took her daughter to the forest, showing different herbs and telling about the diseases they treat. She was telling about how rich nature is with healing medicines. After all, the forest is a real first aid kit for its inhabitants.

Meanwhile, the girl got close enough and looked out from behind the trees.