Through the White Wood

by Jessica Leake

  “Only what?” I asked, my stomach once again in knots. In the short time I’d known Kharan, I hadn’t seen her look unsure, but she did now.

  “It’s very rare to find a direct descendent,” Sasha said, his expression contemplative. “I’ve spent two years searching for elemental users, and I’ve never heard even a whisper of a direct descendent. I didn’t know they existed anymore.”

  “Most of us have diluted abilities,” Kharan added, and now even she was staring at me.

  The way they watched me, like they’d suddenly discovered I had two heads instead of one, made my skin erupt in cold. “But surely there must have been others with an affinity for ice?”

  Sasha shook his head. “I’ve never heard of someone who could do such a thing besides Winter herself. I never truly believed the rumors from your village until I heard from Kharan and the others what you did to the raiders. I thought I was just saving you from the cruelty of people who would chain you and trade you to a prince many of them thought would only kill you.”

  To hear that I wasn’t so similar to the others with abilities as I’d always thought, that in fact my power was unusual and frightening, after I’d already learned so much about myself that my mind could hardly absorb it all, was like the final snowflake that brought on the avalanche. I sat back on my hip bones hard, and Zonsara obediently came to a halt.

  “Are you all right, Katya?” Kharan asked, bringing Daichin to a stop next to me.

  “You are more powerful than I’d ever guessed,” Sasha said, his tone taking on that of the prince instead of the Sasha I knew as my friend, “and we cannot risk you falling into the wrong hands.”

  Anger, bright and cold and terrible, crashed over me. Zonsara threw her head in the air, her nostrils flaring.

  “For the last time, Sasha,” I said with no little amount of contempt, “I am not a weapon for you to control.”

  Sasha looked at me sharply. “I don’t understand your anger, and I certainly don’t think of you as a weapon. That’s the whole point—I don’t, but the Drevlian and Novgorodian princes would.” His whole body tensed, and his horse tossed its head. “If they should learn that you have such abilities, they will stop at nothing to capture you. And they would force you to use your power through torture.”

  I flinched at the bluntness of his words, but I saw Kharan nod once, grimly.

  “It wasn’t a lie when I told you that I care about you. I might have thought of your ability as a weapon before I knew you, but it wasn’t long until I saw that you are so much more. Someone who deserves to make her own choices. I offer you my sincerest apologies for thinking of you so wrongly, but I assure you, I don’t think of you that way still.” He bowed low from atop his horse. “Forgive me.”

  I could feel my heart want to harden against him. I was afraid to trust; afraid to allow myself to believe him. But then I looked at him—at a prince’s low bow to a peasant girl—and I knew he hadn’t meant to offend me. Was it the hunter’s merciful side of me that thawed the ice of my heart? Whatever it was, my anger evaporated, leaving me exhausted beyond measure. “I forgive you,” I said, and his shoulders dropped as if he’d been afraid I’d say otherwise.

  “Then let us find the way out of these accursed woods and seek out our tents,” Kharan said, pointing Daichin back the way we’d come.

  Sasha urged his horse on, and then we wearily followed Kharan.

  “It will be dawn soon,” I said, glancing toward the sky already lightening in the east. “We will have little time for sleep.”

  “Have no worries about that,” Sasha said. “We’ve made good time so far, so I don’t think even Ivan will protest if I demand an extra day of rest.”

  I glanced back at him with a smile playing at my lips. How good a bed would feel after all we’d endured this day.

  “Now I forgive you,” I said, and the three of us laughed the laugh of those who have had too little sleep and far too much emotion.

  But even as the laughter faded, unease still gripped me.

  For this newfound power was a treacherous thing. Only time would tell how much it would cost me, but I knew it had already cost my freedom.

  Chapter Nineteen

  SASHA WAS TRUE TO HIS WORD and gave us a full day and another night to rest before we left again in the morning for Constantinople. Everyone must have needed the time to recuperate, because once we were back on the road, even the horses had far greater energy. Our pace was better than it had been in the beginning. Refreshed as I was, my mind was racing along, for I’d had far too much time to think.

  All my life I’d thought that my mother—perhaps even my parents—had abandoned me to die. That they’d touched their infant baby and felt my ice-cold skin, hardening before them like marble, and recoiled in horror. I’d imagined they took me out to the woods because they could not bear to do the deed themselves. I’d always believed it was by the grace of God that Babushka had found me. But now I saw that it was more than that. Winter had wanted me to be discovered, though this only led to more questions. How had she known my grandparents would find me? Had she sent word to them? And where was my father when Winter brought me to my grandparents’ village?

  Elation swooped lower from the sky, one golden eye on me. She was part of this, too, but I wasn’t sure how. Was she the animal familiar Winter had chosen to keep watch over me? Golden eagles nested far to the north, so it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility. She was intelligent enough to understand me, I was sure, but I wished she could communicate back.

  The thoughts circled round and round in my head, distracting me completely. So it wasn’t until long after we’d stopped in the middle of the day for a brief meal that I realized the landscape had changed. Everything around us was green and in bloom. Not only that, but it was warm—warm enough that even I could feel the difference in temperature. We approached a settlement in the distance, but it wasn’t large enough to be Constantinople.

  It was the tang of the salt in the air and the calls of birds I was unfamiliar with that hinted as to where we were before we ever crested the hills.

  The sea.

  And as the horses and wagons finally made it to the top of the highest hill, I saw the sea spread out before us. Endless water, waves crashing on the shore, a bright blue sky stretching above the midnight blue.

  And ships. Everywhere, ships. There were several different types, but the most prevalent among them had square sails and hung low in the water.

  Sasha rode his horse over to mine, a relaxed smile on his face.

  “Where are we?” I asked, taking in the ships with wide eyes. I remembered a story Dedushka had told me about the first grand prince of Kievan Rus’—a Varangian, one of the men others called Northmen. They were strong fighters and expert tradesmen, and Dedushka had said they traveled as far as their ships could carry them.

  Amusement danced in his silver eyes as he looked at me. “You didn’t think we’d ride all the way to Constantinople, did you?”

  I had, actually. I’d never learned the geography of the land beyond the woods of our village, so to me, the location of Constantinople might as well have been across a desert instead of a sea.

  “We will sail across the Black Sea,” he said.

  A ripple of cold unease spread over my skin at the thought of sailing across such a vast body of water.

  Elation flew past us, aiming for the sea as though wanting to look for herself at the water we would soon sail across. Seabirds fled the moment they saw her, screeching terribly in their fear.

  “I have never been on a ship,” I said, my hands tight on the reins.

  “You will be safe, Katya,” he said. “I have arranged for the greatest Varangian navigator to give us safe passage. I think you will find his wife and you have much in common.”

  My brows drew together at this pronouncement as I couldn’t imagine what I would have in common with a Varangian sailor’s wife, but I kept silent. I would soon see for myself, I was sure.

 
Sasha urged his horse on, and we followed. We wound slowly down the hills to the port town, and the closer we got to the ships, the more details I noticed. Carved runes, colorful shields over the sides, and dragon-headed prows. The most distinctive ship among all the others was one with a red skeletal dragon on its sail. It was the type of sailing vessel that instantly filled people with trepidation just laying eyes on it. This was the ship that Sasha led us to.

  Sasha, flanked by Ivan and Boris, rode to where the ship was docked, just beyond the wooden pier. Waiting there was a tall, broad-chested man, his hair long and golden. He wore a black-and-silver tunic, but his arms were bare. His pants and boots seemed to be of the highest quality, and the claymore he wore by his side had a beautifully ornate hilt. It was clear he was no ordinary Varangian sailor.

  As Sasha dismounted and clasped hands with the Varangian man, a woman came forth from the ship, dark in every way the Varangian was golden. Her hair was as black as night, and even from the little distance I was away, I could see that her eyes were dark as crow’s feathers. She, too, was dressed in finery that suggested she was also not a simple sailor. She wore a dark-blue gown, heavily embroidered with silver threads, but it was unusually fashioned. There were no sleeves, and it was cut open at the skirt to reveal leather leggings and tall black boots. She also carried a sword, the hilt and pommel as black as her hair.

  She clasped hands with Sasha, her gaze traveling to Elation flying overhead. She said something to Sasha then, and he gestured for me to join them.

  I dismounted hesitantly, uncomfortable under the scrutiny of the two strangers.

  “Katya,” Sasha said when I approached, “this is Ciara, queen of Mide and Dubhlinn, and Leif Olafsson, king consort of Mide and Dubhlinn, and jarl of Bymbil and Skien.”

  A king and queen. If I could blush, I knew my face would be bright red. My body turned cold instead. I curtsied as best I could.

  “Did I say all your titles correctly?” Sasha asked.

  King Leif grinned. “You left out a few of our accomplishments—destroyer of giants, savior of worlds—but I suppose it’s enough for now.”

  Queen Ciara glanced at her husband with what looked like exasperated amusement before turning those dark eyes back to me. “I asked about your eagle,” she said, and I noticed that though she spoke the same language as I did, it was accented differently than the king’s.

  “Her name is Elation,” I said, unsure again.

  “And she is yours?”

  My gaze slid to Sasha for just a moment. “She has accompanied me since I was a child.”

  “At least it’s not a crow,” King Leif said, and a smile played at Queen Ciara’s lips. I could see it was a joke of some kind between the two of them, but it meant nothing to me.

  “I know something of animal familiars,” she said to me. “There is just something in her . . . eyes that caught my attention. She is highly intelligent, yes?”

  For a moment, I considered lying, but I felt Sasha watching me too, so I dared not. “She is.”

  “Very interesting,” Queen Ciara said, almost to herself. To me, she added, “She is beautiful and will be welcome aboard our ships should she need a place to rest.”

  “Thank you, highness,” I said, relieved that Elation would be allowed on the ship with us—something I hadn’t even considered when we first embarked on the journey.

  “Your horses and supplies will go on the knarr,” King Leif said, pointing at a ship with a much wider and deeper hull than the one with the skeletal dragon sail. “Everyone else will ride on my own ship.”

  “How long will it take us to arrive in Constantinople?” Sasha asked.

  “A full day and night and the morning besides,” King Leif said. “If the winds are favorable.”

  “It won’t be a comfortable trip,” Queen Ciara said, “but it will at least be quick.”

  King Leif shook his head. “After all I do to make sure you’re comfortable, my queen, this is what you tell our passengers?” To Sasha and me, he added, “She has never liked to sail, so her opinion cannot be trusted.”

  “A Varangian who doesn’t like to sail?” I asked, and then was horrified when I realized I’d spoken out loud.

  King Leif laughed heartily, the sound ringing out across the shore. “Ciara, my love, what would you have done five years ago if someone had accused you of being a Northman?”

  Queen Ciara only smiled and turned to me. “That is because I am not a Northman—a Varangian as you call them—at all. I am a Celt.”

  “The only beautiful Celt in all the world,” King Leif added, and her eyes narrowed at him.

  “My sisters are beautiful,” she said.

  The king made a noise of exasperation. “Yes, fine, your sisters are beautiful as well.”

  A Celt and a Varangian—I found myself fascinated because I had always heard they were bitter enemies. But as I watched them together, I wondered if the rumors had only been exaggerated, much as they were with the prince.

  Lost in my own thoughts, I didn’t hear the remainder of the king and queen’s conversation with Sasha, but soon they finished and turned back to their ship. The breeze blew warm, salty air as Sasha came to my side.

  “I chose them because no one will be able to guard us better,” he said, his eyes narrowed against the glare of the sun. “And now that I know the truth of your abilities, I’m glad I chose two of the most powerful warriors the world has ever known.”

  I considered his words for a moment and thought about the thrum of power I felt in the air just being near the king and queen. “What elements do they control?”

  “They don’t, as far as I know. But the king is undefeated in battle, and the queen has the ability to overtake a man’s mind and control him.”

  I felt my face pale. “What a terrible power.”

  “She has other abilities, they say, but some are more secretive than others. Perhaps Kharan has heard more. I had hoped that you might find comfort in knowing someone like her—someone with abilities considered frightening.”

  His comment was casual, but as I turned to look at him, really look at him, I could see that he wanted to help me. I couldn’t remember a time someone had considered my feelings in any way, so this moved me.

  “Thank you, Sasha,” I said, and I meant it.

  All this time we’d been together, and I still didn’t know what to think of him. Prince and ruler? Friend and protector? And there was something else, something when he smiled at me or when our skin touched that seemed to thaw some of the ice inside.

  It frightened me more than a queen who could control minds.

  The ship was uncomfortable as promised, but I loved it all the same. There wasn’t much room for us all, but the lilt of the ship and the spray from the sea, the wind in my hair, was all so new and exciting that for the first hour I did nothing but hang my head over the side to stare at the water below. I was on my own in a small space at the bow of the ship, or as alone as I could be in a ship full of people. King Leif had a full set of thirty men to row, and even this number seemed to be half of the ship’s capacity. Sasha and the king and queen had all gone to the stern of the ship and seemed to be deep in conference. Kharan had found a seat near the bow of the ship, too, but she seemed to be as enamored with the water and waves as I was. Nearly all the prince’s other men were on board the knarr, save Ivan and Boris, who stood near Sasha.

  Elation flew above us, keeping pace with the ship, her wide wingspan casting a shadow across the middle of the ship.

  I lost myself to the wind and the waves, images of my mother’s story replaying in my mind, weaving themselves into the unbelievable fairy tale that was my birth story.

  I didn’t hear Sasha approach until his hand touched my shoulder. “Are you ill?” he asked, his voice gentle.

  I glanced up at him with a smile as I realized he thought I was seasick. “No, I just wanted to feel the spray on my face.”

  He smiled back. “I’m glad to hear it because it would
be miserable to spend the journey with a churning stomach.” He gestured to the small bit of room beside me. “May I sit with you?”

  “Of course,” I said, and then almost immediately regretted it when the whole side of him was pressed up against me, blazing hot against my own cold skin. We had shed our heavy coats and were dressed in our lightest-weight tunics, so I could easily feel the hard muscles of his arm.

  “I spoke to the queen about you,” he said after a moment. “She is the one I told you of before—the one who may be able to help you with reaching the full potential of your powers.”

  My whole body tensed. This was what it always came back to with the prince: using my powers. “How kind of you,” I said, and I couldn’t keep the frost from my tone.

  He looked surprised and then wounded, but I refused to thaw. “I wasn’t thinking of what your powers could do for me. I was thinking of how you were almost unable to save yourself from Baba Yaga.”

  “It’s hard for me to believe that, especially when you know now what I can do.”

  He reached for my hand, his warm and strong against my icy one. “I care for you, Katya. Not because of what you can do, but because of who you are. I can’t even explain to you how I felt the moment that door to the bone witch’s hut closed with you still inside.” For a moment, he looked haunted. “I was terrified I’d never see you again. You. Not your power.”

  I glanced down at his hand gripping mine, a lump forming in my throat even as a strange warmth filled my chest. I thought of the fear that had held me in a vise when I’d believed the flaming rider would kill Sasha and Kharan. “I was afraid, too—afraid I wouldn’t be able to stop the rider in time.” Some of the ice coating my skin receded. “If the queen has advice for me, then I will gladly accept it.”

  “I’m sure she can help you,” Sasha said, finally releasing my hand, albeit reluctantly.

  “Your shoulder is better now?” I asked, my voice tight. It had been many days since I’d had to treat the wound; it was healing beautifully.