The taiga was getting ready for the night. Gradually the sounds of the day subsided. Animals and birds, leading an active life during the day, were preparing for rest. The night dwellers, on the contrary, woke up and asked the day dwellers what interesting things happened during the day.
We (myself and a worker, a former hunter, with his dog), having finished our route, headed for camp. Night was rapidly gaining its rights. The last rays of sunlight had already disappeared and a velvet veil of darkness enveloped the dusk. The moon had risen in the sky, and stars were scattered. It illuminated everything around with its mysterious light, bringing magic and changing the surrounding nature. On a night like that, it felt like you were in a fairy tale.
The worker walked ahead, and I followed him. After five hundred meters, it seemed to me from the side that someone was walking in parallel, a meter away, now and then showing himself, now and then hiding behind bushes and trees.
Without stopping, I turned my head in that direction to be sure. And immediately stumbled and fell over. The hunter stopped and turned around. Trying to get up, she felt a pain in her leg. I involuntarily groaned, took off my backpack and equipment and began to feel the sore spot. I was relieved that there was no open fracture.
The worker came up to me. He found a suitable stick for me to lean on while walking. He took my backpack and the equipment from me (despite my objections) and helped me to get up. He walked loaded: two backpacks, the gear, a rifle and an axe. I waddled lightly behind, leaning on a makeshift crutch. The dog ran ahead, occasionally running toward us.
The pain increased with each step. After walking three hundred meters, she stopped and sat down on the ground. Pulling up my pant leg, I asked him to shine a light on my leg. My leg was swollen where it hurt badly. Hunter pulled iodine and bandage from his backpack. Applying the netting, she re-bandaged it.
"Can you walk?" - he asked. "Where am I going to go? You're as loaded as a donkey as it is. Just let's move even slower," I replied.
With great difficulty, clenching my teeth so as not to groan, with his help and leaning on a stick, I got up, and we walked: he in front, looking back at me every now and then.
At first it was bearable. But the longer we walked, the pain became unbearable with each step. I walked with clenched teeth. My forehead was evidently covered in sweat from the pain.
I was just about to say that I needed to take a break, when I felt someone supporting me, slightly lifting me off the ground, so that I did not put all my weight on my painful leg. It was a strange sensation! I did not feel as if someone was supporting me.
When I looked to my left (I was walking with my head down, looking only under my feet), I saw someone beside me. Surprisingly, our dog reacted calmly to him.
At this time, we had just stepped out into an open patch of moonlight. It was a translucent Entity, human-like in outline, taller than me by about a head or a little more. It had an almost overgrown (either wool or hair) face with a beard and bushy eyebrows. His eyes glowed a greenish-blue from beneath them. He was dressed in a large pair of pants, like pants, and either a kaftan or a loose-cut, long-sleeved robe.
He held me by the waist with both hands. But I didn't feel his touch as if it were human hands. It just made it easier for me to walk, not as painful. There was no aggression or anger coming from him. When I looked up at his face, he smiled and nodded. "Thank you," I whispered.
At that moment the hunter stopped and turned around to make sure once again that I was following him. His eyes widened for a fraction of a second, but then returned to normal, and he turned away and continued walking.
At last we approached the camp, where a fire was burning and around which were sitting ours, who had also returned from the trails. Before I reached a bit, I felt a gentle release, meaning that I was firmly planted with my feet on the ground. The pain in my leg increased sharply.
Turning my head, I saw that the creature was a meter away from me. "Thank you very much," I said with difficulty, unclenching my teeth. The hunter stopped and turned to us, bowing low to him, said: "Thank you, Master of the Taiga, for your help!" The entity, smiling at us, retreated behind the trees and seemed to vanish as if it had never existed.
As we approached the fire, we joined those who were sitting there. After we ate, over a mug of tea, we talked about what had happened, about the unexpected help.
If not for the Master of Taiga, who helped me to go (I do not know why: maybe he just took pity), most likely, the hunter would have had to go after help, leaving me alone.
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