by K. Panikian
She agreed and added, “Your berserker is welcome too.”
I waved everyone over and told them we were going to rest here tonight and head back tomorrow. We followed the woman, Manya, through the gate and down a snowy lane. She led us to her barn and pointed out the spare fuel, and then we went up to the house.
The house was an old-style farmhouse, two-stories, with a large front porch. We took off our boots in the entry way and then she pointed up the stairs and said there were two spare bedrooms, and also a foldout couch in the living room. I asked her if one of us could go lie down right away and she agreed to show us the rooms first. We followed her up the stairs and when she stopped at the first door, she gestured us in.
The others waited in the hall and Owen laid back on the bed. It was large and had a pretty white and blue quilt on top. He looked strange in the bed, with his hulking gray form and his lupine head. He let go of his sword and I caught it by the grip, placing it gently on the floor. I tucked him in under the blankets and then picked up his clothes out of Julian’s backpack so he’d be able to get dressed when he woke up. I left a small light burning in case he woke up groggy.
The room was warm and I was tempted to curl up next to him.
Back in the hallway, Manya showed us the other spare room and then took us back down the stairs into the kitchen. It was pretty and clean, with a large white sink and all modern appliances. The walls were covered in floral wallpaper and she had a large, round table in the center of the space. We sat at her table and drank water while she bustled around. She made us tea and then sandwiches. I was so hungry for fresh food that I devoured mine in three bites, it felt like. Julian did the same, while Astrid ate daintily, looking all around the kitchen with round eyes.
Manya said she would make solyanka for dinner and I remembered this was the stew with potatoes that Zasha made too. My mouth watered, despite the sandwich I just ate.
After I finished my tea, I told Julian and Astrid I needed to go burn the todorat bodies. Julian volunteered to help me, and Astrid said she would stay and help Manya with the dinner preparations.
I pulled her aside and asked her not to reveal anything else about what was going on, including the fact that she was not from this world. “Magic and monsters are just stories here. If you tell her too much, she’ll be frightened and might call the authorities on us.”
Astrid agreed and I left them chatting happily in the kitchen, chopping vegetables and grinding spices with an old-fashioned mortar and pestle. Astrid was admiring the fact that the vegetables were fresh, even in the winter time.
It was hard to force myself to put my winter gear back on. I made a face at Julian when I pulled on my wet boots.
“Just think about Theo and the others out there in the snow still. They won’t have beds and stew tonight.”
Right, good reminder.
We grabbed the gas container and a shovel from the barn and hiked back along the road to the field. It looked like Manya had a large farm spread; I couldn’t see any other houses nearby. I hoped she would manage in the spring without her sheep.
The day was still cloudy and I felt weary to my bones suddenly. Whistling that deep into the earth had been exhausting. It was worth it though, to kill three todorats. Three! I still couldn’t believe it. Uncle Alex would be very impressed.
I wasn’t sure if the bes cohort had anymore todorats with it, but still, in the interest of learning all I could about them, I poked and prodded the bodies for a while. The lower bodies were skinny and bony but definitely shaped like a horse. The hooves appeared normal; the hair was shaggy and mottled in different pale colors, like a roan.
“Ready?” I asked Julian and then ripped the cloak from the biggest one. Ugh. The human torso and head were skeletal, with the skin stretched tightly over its bones in some places and sagging loosely in others. The stomach bulged, bloated, and its chest was sunken. It appeared to have some extra ribs, probably to support its tall height above its elongated body. The face had one large eye in the brow area and then a giant mouth. I pulled back the thin, purple lips and saw the teeth inside, long and sharp.
“No nose,” I noted to Julian. “So probably they can’t smell anything.”
He nodded and then pointed to its hands. “Only four fingers, no thumbs. That’ll limit its ability to manipulate objects, maybe.”
“At least one of them had energy magic,” I said.
“Okay, I’m done. Maybe we should dissect them too, but I’m no anatomy expert. I don’t know if I could tell the difference between normal organs and monster ones.”
Julian agreed and then used his superior strength to dig a hole in the field and push the todorat bodies inside. I dumped a small amount of gasoline on top and then lit it. I whistled the blaze extra hot and still, it took about an hour for the bodies to turn to ash. Julian piled the dirt back on top at the end.
Back at the farmhouse, we found Owen still sleeping and Astrid and Manya still in the kitchen. The solyanka was cooking, but it would need to simmer for a long time. I could smell the tomato broth. When Manya asked if we wanted to do a load of laundry and take showers too, I couldn’t restrain myself from hugging her. She reminded me of Julian’s mom, Aunt Sophia, who responded to every crisis with calm fortitude and practical suggestions.
She handed out some spare clothes from her two sons who lived in the town now and then showed us where she had some towels. I took the hottest, shortest shower of my life. It felt incredible, but I didn’t want to steal all the hot water. I brushed my teeth after with my finger and then I couldn’t decide which activity made me happier.
I pulled Astrid aside next and showed her how to use the toilet and the shower dials. She was very impressed and excited. I helped Manya clean up our lunch dishes while she showered and then it was Julian’s turn.
When we were all clean and dressed in the spare clothes, I snuck upstairs and snagged Owen’s dirty clothes, and then I started the washing machine.
I’d thought of a reasonable explanation for the todorats and our presence in her fields, so while we sat in the living room drinking more tea, I told Manya that the todorats escaped from a rogue scientist group deep in the Urals. They’d been splicing animal and human DNA. We were contractors hired by the Russian government to shut down the facility and track down any beasts that escaped. Owen’s wolf-form was a costume only.
I was pretty impressed with my spiel and at the end, Manya patted my hand. “Okay, dear. We’ll go with that.” She didn’t ask any questions about it, instead turning to Astrid and asking her if she was enjoying her tea.
The room was cozy; there was a fire going in a little pot-bellied stove and it sent a steady blast of heat out. The air smelled like cinnamon and pine. The walls were polished wood, like the inside of a log cabin, and there were a lot of framed photographs. The red and blue rug on the wood floor looked hand-knotted.
I asked Manya if she had a computer with internet access and she pulled a laptop from the shelf. I logged into my email and sent a quick message to my parents, letting them know that we were all fine and that we’d likely be out of contact for a little while longer. I told Manya that Julian and Owen might want to use it later too, and she said that was fine.
“Really. Anything you need. I know that I owe you my life, and probably the lives of everyone in town, including my sons and their families. Whatever you need, is yours.” Her eyes shone for a moment with tears before she shook her head and blinked them away.
I heard a noise upstairs and went to check on Owen. He was stirring under the covers. I sat next to him and called his name softly. When he opened his eyes and saw me, he smiled sweetly and dragged me down next to him.
Then he groaned, “Why do you smell so nice?”
“I showered!” I exclaimed happily. “You can shower too!”
“Oh, thank God,” was his muffled response. I helped him find a towel and then handed him Manya’s son’s sweatpants and t-shirt to change into after. I told him we were all
downstairs when he was done.
He backed me into the wall and kissed me lingeringly, and then ducked into the bathroom.
I switched our clothes to the dryer and then checked the sky. It was turning to twilight. I hoped that everyone was okay at the base camp in the mountains.
When Owen came downstairs, his hair clean and wet, his chin dark with stubble, and the sweatpants tight on his muscular thighs, I caught my breath. He grinned at me. Manya, standing next to me, poked me in the side, laughing.
We settled around the kitchen table again and Manya served the solyanka. The sweet and sour tanginess, the potatoes, and the sausage combined to a perfect whole. I actually saw Julian’s eyes roll back a little in his head after his first bite. There was crusty black bread too, and softened butter.
While we ate, Manya talked about her sons. They weren’t farmers, like her. One had a small restaurant and one was a teacher at the town school. She had four grandchildren between them. She pointed to a picture on the wall and I complimented her on her beautiful family, and then again on her wonderful cooking.
I felt a deep admiration for her. She was obviously a hard worker and she was living alone, but she invited us into her home and took care of us. I was grateful for Rurik’s advice on the todorats. Without it, I wouldn’t have known that I could whistle the earth and today’s outcome might have been very different for Manya and her farm.
After dinner, my fatigue hit even harder. I started to help Manya clear the table, but she sent us into the living room with promises of tea and cookies. I didn’t think I could eat another bite, but I did. I ate two honey spice cookies, curled up on the couch, staring at the fire with my feet in Owen’s lap while he checked his email.
We crashed collectively after that. Owen and I stayed in his room and Astrid took the other spare room upstairs. Julian slept on the couch.
I warned everyone as we headed off that we’d be leaving at dawn.
Manya promised to send us off with eggs and coffee and I heard Julian asking her to marry him as she helped him set up his bed. She cackled.
Chapter 28
Theo sat in the snow, looking down at the bes camp, bored. He’d woken up early, cold in the tent he was sharing with Cato, and now he was tired. It was only mid-morning. Cato stretched out in the snow next to him, wrapped in his cloak and supposedly watching too, but Theo was pretty sure his eyes were closed.
Theo used his Sight a couple of times through the night to try and reach Very, but he hadn’t connected. He hoped that meant she was safe and tucked in somewhere. Meanwhile, the besy below continued to build some wood fortifications and fish in the river.
“Why do they chain the azhdaya?” he asked.
Cato rolled over and sat up. “It’s to keep them small and controllable. In the wild, they’re huge. They live deep in the forest, alone, and don’t usually bother people. But Abaddon likes putting them in his armies, so he chains them and they can’t eat and grow.”
Cato went on. “My uncle, a bear berserker, heard about one to the east that was taller than the tower. It actually had three heads; it was so big. He went to go find it and kill it, but he never came back.”
They were silent for a few minutes, watching.
“The bes commanders have the same control problem with the bauks,” Cato continued, pointing. “They’re too wild and solitary. You see the one with the tall horns below, he drills them all day long. That’s so they’re too tired to escape.
“They can’t chain the bauks like the azhdaya; they go mad and kill themselves trying to break free. So, they keep them tired and well-fed and hope not too many escape.” Cato paused and then added, thinking, “In a battle, they have to be on the front line, otherwise they turn and start slaughtering the other bes troops.”
Theo watched the bauks training and saw what Cato meant. One was definitely trying to sneak away.
Theo’s eyes kept straying to the balachko. There were three of them and they shared the biggest tent in the camp. It was on the southern edge, closest to their location on the ridge. Each balachko had three heads and a thick neck supporting them. Their upper arms bulged with muscles and their chests were huge, but then their bodies rounded onto a pot belly and thick, stubby legs. They didn’t have any armor on, but wore kilts around their waists that might be some kind of reinforced leather.
From what he’d noticed, the three heads acted independently of each other, swiveling in different directions. The head in the middle did most of the talking and eating; the other two heads were maybe a little smaller and appeared to mostly doze.
Their skin was bluish gray, darker at their hands and feet, and they carried clubs with studded iron.
Right now, two of the balachko stood at the river’s edge. One pulled a fish from the river and was about to eat it raw with its center head. The other balachko, who was a little shorter, knocked the fish from its hands and tried to grab it. The first punched it in the stomach. The thief responded by charging forward and wrapping its wide arms around the bigger one, knocking it back into the snow in an exploding puff of white. While the fish flopped around on the ice, the giants grappled and swatted at each other.
Theo nudged Cato with his foot. “Watch!” he whispered loudly.
The shorter balachko opened the mouth of its third head and flashed out a jet of fire. The taller giant responded with a blast of ice. The two flares collided in the air and fizzled into vapor. The taller balachko roared.
This brought the third balachko over. This one carried a sword at its waist, not a club. It roared at the two, who paused their fight and dropped all of their heads submissively. The new balachko roared again, and then picked up the fish out of the snow and ate it in front of them. The first balachko, who had caught it, moaned a little but didn’t try to get it back.
Theo tried to note any other distinguishing characteristics. Aside from the higher ranking one with the sword, they all looked pretty similar. He pulled out the binoculars and focused. The leader had a beard on its central face, and it had tattoos up and down its arms, black designs that swirled when it flexed.
Next to him, Cato stirred.
“Did you see that fight?” Theo asked.
“Yeah,” Cato answered. “The cold air and fire jets were pretty small. I think you’d have to be right in its faces for it to hit you with them.”
“They seem pretty aggressive,” Theo added. “Their arms are like tree trunks. I think if you were close enough to get blasted, more likely it’s going to just tear you apart.”
“Their chests are so muscled too. I bet it’d be hard work to stick a sword in them.”
“Yeah,” Theo agreed. “Go for the gut area instead.”
“We can talk to my dad,” Cato said. “See how we’ve fought them in the past.”
Theo nodded. He remembered from Uncle Alex that once the balachko exhausted their magic, they were easy to kill.
“I wish we knew how long they can do the fire and cold air trick before they’re depleted and weak. In a fight, we could run circles around them, dodging, then when they’re out of magic, we could engage.”
“Yeah, too bad that fight over the fish didn’t last longer,” Cato agreed. Then he sat up straighter. “I have an idea.”
THIRTY minutes later, Theo watched the balachko part of the camp from the ridgeline by himself. He kept his binoculars trained on the two giants who were now fishing near each other on the riverbank. They had spears in their heavy hands and stabbed at the water, generally unsuccessfully.
While Theo watched, a chunk of ice rose into the air behind one of the balachko. The chunk hovered in the air for a second and then flew at the back of its fire-breathing head, hitting it hard enough to shatter.
The balachko stumbled forward and fell into the river with a large splash. It rose to its feet with furious expressions on each of its three faces, and roared at the other balachko standing near it. The innocent balachko turned to face the angry one, and roared back.
Then, in
a clash of river water and snow, the two began wrestling again. They punched and kicked and blew fire and ice at each other. Every now and then, another ice chunk would rise from the river’s edge and knock one or the other giant in the back of a head.
They didn’t use their spears or their clubs, instead battering with their fists and trying to hold each other under the water.
Theo counted the time in his head, starting from when he saw the first head use its magic. When he reached three minutes, he noticed a definite flagging in the struggle. The balachko stopped jetting fire and cold wind and staggered back and forth, swatting at each other instead.
Finally, one sat down hard in the snow and passed out. The other reeled a few steps, kicked its companion, and then it too collapsed.
Theo smiled to himself. Not only did their magic drain quickly, the depletion caused physical exhaustion as well.
The commander balachko finally emerged from its tent and walked over to the two by the river. It bellowed something at them but neither moved. The balachko kicked one prone body and then the other. Then it stopped. It lifted its three heads high and took deep breaths through its noses.
It spun suddenly and lunged through the air, grabbing at something. Theo held this breath. The balachko staggered when it missed, and then made another lunging snatch. It appeared to miss again. It pulled its sword and began swinging wildly. It took several deeper breaths and started pacing around the space between the river and the tent.
Theo kept a careful watch for the next twenty minutes, worry prickling at him.
Finally, in a scattering of snow, Cato dropped next to him, reappearing out of thin air.
Theo let out a strong exhale and shook the other man’s shoulder. “It smelled you. We can’t do that again.”
Cato nodded, his face pale. “Yeah, that was too close. That first snatch missed my cloak by only a few inches. Good thing I ran out of there before it started swinging the sword. They’re faster than they look. Bigger too. From here, they look like giants, but up close, they’re colossal.”
