by K. Panikian
I curled up under the blanket and when Owen slipped in beside me, I asked softly, “Do you want to talk about it? You don’t have to. I won’t push.”
“Yes,” he answered, just as softly and grabbed my hand. “I want to talk, but I’m not sure how to explain.”
I draped my arm over his chest and my leg over his, and tucked my head into his neck. “Just start and I’ll try and fill in the pieces.”
“I remember clearly getting ready to fight the bauk,” he said. “It’d just run past me and I wounded it. Then, it stopped focusing on me and saw you. As soon as I sensed that you were in danger, I lost it. I was flooded with rage. No, flooded is too small a word,” he paused. “I was engulfed; I was overrun.” He paused again.
“My vision went black and then red. Like actually red. All I felt was fury.” He stopped. “And that’s it. When I could think again, I was in a hospital bed and my nurse was wearing fatigues and speaking Russian. And you were nowhere in sight.
“I was really afraid I hurt you, and you were in the hospital too somewhere. No one would answer my questions. When they let me up and I saw you outside, I felt—” he paused for a long moment. “I felt really happy to see you,” he finally finished.
I stroked his chest. “You killed the bauk; it was pretty messy. You mostly bit it and then you snapped its neck.” I paused. “Then you started toward me.” Owen stiffened.
“I didn’t know what you were going to do, but I was worried, so I whistled you to sleep. You dropped your sword and you changed back. You were passed out. Dmitri and I got you dressed and then dragged you out of the ravine. The Russian guys picked us up in a helicopter and you know the rest.”
Owen was silent. I could feel his tension. I nuzzled even closer, forcing him to hold me.
“I’m a liability without magic, and with it, I’m too dangerous,” he said finally.
“You’re not a liability and I’m not afraid of you. You responded to my magic even though you were overwhelmed by the berserker rage. We handled it. We can handle it again,” I answered.
I could tell he wasn’t convinced. “It was your first time transforming in an actual battle. Of course, there’s going to be a learning curve. You’ll figure it out,” I said firmly. I believed it too.
“Yeah, maybe,” he agreed. He was silent for a little while and I started to drift off. Then he shook me little bit and said, “If I’m out of control again, and I’m about to hurt someone, I need you to promise that you won’t let me. Whatever you have to do, don’t let me.”
“I promise,” I sleepily agreed.
He jiggled me again. “Very? Are you still awake? I have some unresolved tension here.”
I giggled softly and felt his warm breath against my cheek as his hands drifted south, and then I was definitely still awake.
IN the morning, we collapsed the tents and packed them up. I had a granola bar and tried to imagine it was a pile of warm, buttery pancakes. It didn’t work. We started hiking along the ridgeline, heading northeast per Dmitri’s instructions. We went single file and took turns being point; it was tough work breaking through the snow and the rear people had the easiest path to follow.
It was a cloudy day again and there were flurries in the air. They drifted softly on our heads and I worried that if the snow picked up, we’d lose the trail. I was trudging along, uphill again, when we finally intercepted the bes trail. It was still heading north. I examined the trail closely and then told Owen that I didn’t think Theo and Julian had passed by yet.
We decided to wait for them. We sat on a log by the trail and started munching on more granola bars. A few feet away, Bard and Cato talked. Then, Bard walked over, pointed to the bes trail, and then motioned like he was shooing us along.
I pointed back the way the trail originated and held up two fingers. I pointed at myself and Owen and then made my two fingers again, and then at Cato and Bard, again making two fingers. Then I repeated the gesture back down the trail.
Bard nodded and then held up his own two fingers, pointing northwest.
“The rest of your group?” I asked.
He shrugged at me but nodded.
“Are you sticking with us?” I motioned to myself and Owen, “Or are you going that way?” I pointed northwest and did my own shrug.
Bard looked torn. Cato said something behind him and Bard answered. Then he looked at me, pointed to the northwest, and shook his head. I offered him a granola bar. He took a bite, smiled, and then broke it in half to give to Cato.
“We have more!” I exclaimed and got Cato his own.
We chewed the bars in silence. We’d been in Russia for more than two weeks now and I wondered if anyone missed me, or if Uncle David succeeded in fogging the memories of my friends and professors.
We didn’t sit for too long before up the trail came Julian and Theo. They both broke into huge grins at the sight of us. Julian was the first to notice the two Varangians, who had backed partway into the woods, and he turned questioning eyes to me.
“Making friends?”
I quickly updated the two of them on everything that happened, glossing over the part with Owen losing control over the bauk. I got skeptical expressions over the Dmitri being a helpful god part, but I ignored them.
“And the military commander just waved you off? Yes, exit our secret mountain base with no repercussions and, oh, take your sharp weapons too!” Theo asked, waving his arm in a beneficent gesture. And then he added, “How many Slavic gods are there?”
I shrugged. I didn’t know the answer. I’d only been studying Russian Lit, not the country’s pagan traditions.
I introduced Bard and Cato and the men all nodded at each other. Cato was very admiring of Theo’s sovnya and Theo let him swing it a little. Bard was more taciturn. He waited by the side of the trail patiently and only stepped back slightly when Cato hefted the spear near his face.
I asked the guys if they’d noticed any more besy splitting off from the main trail and they said no.
I hoisted my backpack and said, “Okay, then the plan remains. We keep tracking this troop.”
As we marched along, I wondered to myself if the besy had a destination in mind, or if they were just trying to leave the area where they’d been wounded previously. I didn’t know anything about Chernobog, the Black God, to think of what could be motivating his minions.
We’d been on their trail for two days now. If they didn’t stop soon, we’d need to turn back and think of a different plan to catch up. Maybe horses?
We reached a crest in the trail and the trees opened up. I could see down the slope into an open valley. There was a river, and on the banks of the river, there was a tent encampment.
Chapter 25
I immediately moved off the trail and into the woods. I didn’t know how visible we were to the camp below, high on the ridge, but if I could see them, it would be foolish to think they could not also see us.
Everyone else scattered with me and in seconds we were under cover. I ducked behind a large tree trunk and then peered down into the valley again. I pulled the binoculars out of my pack and scanned more closely.
I counted at least ten large tents. There were two azhdaya tied up near one, and one, two, three balachko standing by the river. I didn’t see the leader anywhere, the tall one with the straight horns. There were a couple of bauks standing over something bloody in the snow and I crossed my fingers it was a cow or a sheep. I didn’t know how far we were from the nearest town.
“We’re too close,” I whispered to Julian, who was behind the tree closest to mine. “They might have scouts. We need to get back more.”
Julian passed the message to Owen and Theo, crouching nearby behind their own trees, and I looked for Bard and Cato. I finally saw Bard; he was in the branches of his tree. I crept over to him and waved him down. He knelt next to me in the snow and I mimed going back the way we came. He nodded and whispered Cato’s name. Cato materialized next to me and I fell back in the snow. He’d u
sed his illusion magic to turn invisible! I didn’t know he could do that. He grinned at me.
The six of us snuck through the trees, staying low, until we were out of sight of the valley. We stayed in the forest though, not on the trail, and formed a circle to talk.
“We need to split up,” I said first. “We need to keep an eye on this camp and we need to set up our own camp, nearby but out of sight, sound, and smell.” I turned to Bard and Cato and imitated two people walking back to the valley and then waved my hand at the rest of us and made a tent out of my hands. I felt like a mime. I thought they understand what I was saying though.
I continued. “We need to split up the dream team here,” I gestured to the two Varangians. “They can’t spy together because we won’t be able to understand their reports back.” This time I actually formed three groups of people, moving bodies around. I put Cato and Theo together, I stood next to Owen, and then gestured Bard and Julian together. Everyone seemed fine with that set up.
I finished up. “Owen and I will take first watch on the bes camp. The rest of you set up our camp in those trees over there,” I gestured west. “Make sure you’re far enough off the trail that no one can see your campfire, and keep the fire small. We need at least two tents set up too.” I handed over mine from my backpack. “Use the modern ones, not the Varangian version. Ours are warmer, I think.”
“Then decide which guys are on guard duty first for tonight, and which are eating and sleeping.” I paused. “Anything I missed? Any questions?”
No one said anything so I turned to Owen. “Ready, partner?”
We trekked back through the trees and then settled into the snow on the ridgeline. I made a nest of fir tree boughs so we weren’t sitting directly in the snow, but it’s hard to say if it helped. My rear was very quickly freezing cold.
We took turns using the binoculars and tried to keep a running count of what besy we saw. I scanned the edges of the valley too, trying to determine if there were scouts keeping watch. I couldn’t see directly below us though; the trees were too thick.
Mostly I tried to think of why they were down there. Owen suggested they were doing some kind of training exercise – survive undetected in the human world for a week and then return to the portal world. That was plausible.
Or, the scarier possibility was this was the vanguard of a larger force. They came through first to find a spot to build a camp, but more would be following. If that were the case, we’d left the portal unguarded. We would have no idea if more besy came through. I wished we had more people, so some could head back and guard the gate.
The cohort below appeared too large for us to engage directly. But if we could get rid of them, then we could all head back to the portal. We needed to come up with a way to destroy this camp.
The combination of todorats, giants, ogres, and dragons would be difficult. At least some of them would be magic users as well. We had no more Greek fire. We had a berserker who could definitely take out a chunk of the bauks and other non-magic-wielding besy, especially if he had Julian fighting with him. Bard’s energy bolts would be needed for any of the besy with magic, however. Theo and, presumably, Cato had sword skills; maybe they could take out some of the psoglavs and azhdaya? That was a tall order though. If I fought with Theo and Cato, that would help. But that left the todorats and the balachko. Just one of those besy would be a fight to the death, and I’d seen at least three of each.
I hadn’t done nearly enough experimenting with my nightingale power. Could I control more than one bes at once? I hadn’t tried it seriously on any of the other elements either, though my fire control was very strong.
My thoughts churned. We watched the monsters until the sun started to go down. They didn’t light any fires. No need to cook their meat, I guessed. And no need to light fires to see by.
I second-guessed the decision to keep watch on them during the night. We couldn’t see anything in the camp and any bes coming up the trail would see us and smell us long before we saw them.
I talked to Owen and he agreed. We stood and crept back up the ridge, through the woods. I knew generally where our camp would be, but without that help, I wouldn’t have found it. The guys created a deep pit in the snow and the fire was small inside of it. We were probably a mile away from the enemy camp back here in the trees. Hopefully that was far enough they wouldn’t smell the smoke.
I told the others that the camp had gone dark when the sun went down and we couldn’t see anything, but a pair would need to be up at first light to resume the watch. If we took turns every six hours or so, Owen and I would be up again for that watch.
I mimed to Cato and Bard that there were no fires below, nothing to see, and they seemed fine with the decision to leave the lookout spot. They were cooking another pouch over the fire and I opened another MRE.
When I was done eating, I felt tired but full of anxiety. I wasn’t sure if I could sleep. The bes camp was overwhelming my thoughts.
Bard said something to Cato and the younger man rose to his feet in front of the fire. He made a pulling gesture and the smoke drifted toward him. His fingers danced and, in the smoke appeared a large stone fort. It was the citadel from the portal world I’d seen in Grandpa Basil’s hands. Cato’s view expanded and we looked down on the towers from a great height, then the view expanded further and we saw the army that encircled the citadel.
It was a bes army. The creatures bellowed and roared and the ground shook. They were ranged in rows. Some wore armor and carried swords. They flashed their fangs at the fortress and stomped their hooves and giant feet.
On the citadel walls, five figures stood. In the bailey behind them, five giant cauldrons of Greek fire sat. Beside the cauldrons, a girl stood. Her long red hair was tied back in a braid and her face was pale but determined. She raised her hands in the air and the cauldrons rose too. She sent them, spinning without spilling a drop, up, and over the citadel walls. Once they were over the walls, she hurled them in five different directions at the army that surrounded the fortress. Just before impact, the five mages on the walls raised their fists and the cauldrons exploded.
The Greek fire spread in a black and red all-consuming wave through the bes ranks, incinerating the creatures where they stood. The air turned gray with smoke. There were inhuman screams. When the fire and smoke finally dissipated, fully two-thirds of the army was gone, ashes in the battlefield.
A tall, armored bes with the face of bull and a huge, hulking body bellowed with rage from the rear ranks of creatures that were still standing. Cato said, pointing at the minotaur, “Abaddon.”
Cato’s illusions vanished. He made eye contact with me and then pointed in the direction of the valley where the besy camped.
I felt my eyes widen. “They’re part of that minotaur’s army?” Cato nodded.
My heart sank. If that was so, we needed to get rid of this vanguard as soon as we could and get back to destroy the portal. Though the bes, Abaddon, lost the majority of its troops, the remains were still formidable, especially if they invaded a world without magic to stop them.
Theo said he and Cato would take first watch, so Owen and I snagged our blue tent and we left Julian and Bard the other. Once inside, I whispered with Owen for a long time until I felt calm enough for sleep.
Later, when I woke in the night afraid again, his warm body beside me, cradling mine, soothed me back to sleep.
Chapter 26
In the morning, we had guests.
I was still sleeping when Julian whisper-shouted outside our tent, “Very!” When I crawled out a minute later, two more Varangians were standing in our campsite. A tall man and a tall girl were talking in low voices to Bard and Cato. The dawning light painted them in shades of pale yellow.
The man was older, with a trim beard and long blond-gray hair tied back in a braid. He had a sword on each hip, chain mail over his tunic, and a pack on his back. The girl was probably around Theo’s age, with red hair and a pinched expression on her face.
She looked around at our camp dismissively and turned her back to me when I met her eyes. I recognized her then – she was the girl in Cato’s images last night, the girl that sent the cauldrons over the wall. An air elemental.
Bard was talking and pointing north in the direction of the bes camp, then gesturing around at our camp. He waved me over and introduced me to the man and girl. The man smiled kindly at me and said, “Rurik,” when he gestured to himself, and “Astrid,” when he gestured to the girl. The girl did not smile back at me. She had a bow over her shoulder and a quiver on her back.
I introduced Julian, Theo, and Owen and then said, “Welcome.” I felt frustrated. We had two more fighters now, but no way to communicate battle plans. “I wish we could understand each other,” I said unhappily.
“Me me me!” a voice trilled from the trees above our group. A little cuckoo dropped out of the branches and landed on the snow in front of us. She had a long tail, with black and white feathers. “Cold cold cold,” she warbled.
We stared at the bird, mystified. She hopped from one foot to the other in the snow. “Secret secret secret,” she said next and then flew to my shoulder. I flinched away from her sharp little beak near my eye, and she trilled directly into my ear.
“Gift gift gift,” she sang and then “secret secret secret,” again. Then she stuck her tongue in my ear. I shrieked and batted her away, but she was already gone. She flew to Rurik next and unlike me, he stood calmly while she cleaned his ear. Then she waited on his shoulder.
Rurik said to me, “It’s Ozwiena. She has a gift from Veles.” I stared at him, shocked I could understand what he said. “But you must not tell Chernobog, or she will get in trouble.”
I nodded slowly and then turned to Owen, Julian, and Theo. “I understand what he’s saying now. I think you should let the bird stick her tongue in your ear.”
Theo was the first to step forward and soon, we were all communicating. The cuckoo flew away, calling out about secrets once again.
