The Last Queen of Lemuria Read Free Page A

the river on all sides, carefully embracing it with large stone hands, covered with pine trees. And all around, the protected land bloomed. Just as it's always been here.  Be it one hundred, one thousand or ten thousand years ago... That thought is breathtaking on its own, and for any person who's coming here for the first time, it feels that you are blending with  Time itself.
    11*     
    12*   A small camp stretched out on one of the banks. Four tents stood in a circle. Not so far away, on the sand, lay an inflatable boat, covered in huge drops of morning dew. Life-jackets and helmets had been dumped nearby. By an old, crooked pine, there was an extinguished fire smoldering, with a tea kettle hanging over it. There were two large boxes piled beside it, covered with foil.  The tents, and the trees shined trough the white fog of the river, and it was all covered by the pink-gold morning. The night, not yet having succeeded in obscuring the Moon and a few stars, hurried to run away from the unbearable light. Morning spilled its fantastic color on the earth, and released the music of birdsong.
     
    13*   One of the tents came to life, and a moment later, a young woman's face appeared in the door. Rubbing her eyes, Nastia stopped, struck by the beauty of the morning. For several seconds she looked from side to side, and afterwards, turned to the tent:
    -         “Margo! Margo! Wake up! Come look at the beautiful sunrise!"
    -         "Uhhh," came her discontented answer.
    -         “Margo! Have you seen the sunrise in the mountains?”
    The sleeping bag next to her growled a negative.
    -         "Then wake up right away! This beauty is why we live on earth!"
    -         "I want to sleep!"
    -         "Come on, we'll go skinny dipping. While everyone else is still asleep, huh?"
    -         "Give up."
    -         “Margo, come on! Margie! Time to get up!”
    The bag took a heavy sigh, stirred a bit, and sat up. A disheveled head with closed eyes appeared:
    -         "Nastia, you could wake the dead."
    -         "Well, did you come here to sleep?"
    -         "With you, I can only nap." Margo slowly unstuck her eyelids and crawled out of the tent.  "I can't believe you!"
    -         "What did I say? Let's go!"
     
    Hiding in the bushes, they  quickly undressed and got into the water. Their skin burned with the cold. The girls let out twin "ah"s in chorus. They quickly dunked their heads under the water and raced to the shore.
    -         "Nice!" – laughed Margo, flicking droplets of water from her body.
    -         "Cool! It's like swimming in living water!  My whole body is burning," confirmed Nastia. And added, looking at Margo, "you're such a knockout, Rita!"
    Sympathy stirred in Margo's eyes. Casting her gaze on the thin, almost child-like silhouette of her friend, she said,
    - "If only you'd listen to me, we could make a perfect ten out of you.. Look, you've got great skin and hair.. A bit of makeup, some shopping..."
    Nastia blushed at Margo's stare:
    - "Stop it! You know I'm not into that stuff."
    Suddenly, they heard footsteps. The friends weren't quite able to get covered up. Andrei came out of the bushes with his camera around his neck. Seeing the naked girls, he was thunderstruck. Nastia threw on a towel. Her face became covered in purple spots.
    - "So, what? Are you feeling this?” – asked the nude Margo.
    Andrei muttered something, averting his gaze.  He turned in place, and rushed headlong back into the bushes.
    -         "Where are you going, Andrei!" – screamed Margo, "don't you want to take a picture?"
    -     "Margo! Don't!" - pleaded Nastia.
    -         "He was quite embarrassed!" Margo grinned.
    -         "He's a decent person, that's all!" - growled Nastia. Her eyes became a very dark blue. – "He saw us naked and got embarrassed! It's normal! Get it? It's a nor-mal