Forge and Fire

by Ripley Proserpina

  “Should I not have touched you?”

  Eek! She wasn’t prepared for his directness, and she stuttered. “I—” She liked his touch. But she also liked Grisha and Fedir’s. “I’m not sure. I think I may have feelings for my other friends.”

  “I think they have feelings for you,” he answered. “But that doesn’t mean you can’t have feelings for me. If you do.”

  “I don’t know.” She sounded so wishy-washy. She hated it. “Where I come from, we don’t just meet someone and feel something for them.”

  “We do here,” Shubin told her. He crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe. For a long time, he studied their surroundings: the dusty roads, the high rises in the distance. “And you’re from here.”

  Tatiana’s face heated, and she bit her lip but nodded. “That’s true.”

  “So—”

  The wind suddenly picked up, blowing a cloud of dust straight at her face. Grisha appeared a second later. “I lost Fedir,” he said.

  Tatiana’s stomach dropped, and she clutched her hands in front of her body. “What do you mean?”

  Grisha ran his hands through the strands of his knotted, wild hair. “We were flying when out of nowhere, rocks began pelting us. It went right through me, but one caught Fedir. He went spinning toward the ground, and when I landed, I couldn’t find him.”

  Tatiana slid the knife in its sheath and put it in her pocket. Grisha watched her, eyes darting between her and Shubin. “I’ll come with you. We’ll look together.”

  “It’s not safe,” Grisha said. “Nothing’s changed.”

  “Shubin said I’m part of this place. You’ve told me the same thing. It’s time I stop hiding and start embracing it.”

  Grisha didn’t say no, but he shifted his weight nervously. Finally, he straightened. “I won’t stop you.”

  “Good.”

  She hurried down the steps. Shubin’s footsteps sounded behind her, and she glanced over her shoulder. “You’ll help?”

  “Of course,” he answered, reaching for her hand, but Grisha stepped between them.

  “I’ll fly her,” he said.

  Dropping his hand, Shubin nodded. “Okay.”

  Before she could soften the other man’s declaration, Shubin took off. He ran back toward the taller buildings.

  “Come on.” Grisha’s arms went around her waist, and they flew.

  14

  Fedir/Fenik

  Fenik’s wing ached and he was certain he dripped blood with every step. He’d stopped inside one of the buildings, sitting on the tiled floor to catch his breath before he got the overwhelming urge to move on. It happened like that sometimes. The creatures who lived in one place would nudge someone who didn’t belong there until they got the hint.

  And Fenik definitely didn’t belong inside the concrete stacks of Korolevstvo. Just sitting on the floor, beneath the tons of rock and glass, made him claustrophobic.

  After pushing himself to stand, he stretched his wings. “Fuck!” That hurt. Though his wings were undeniably strong, he could lift his weight with one thrust, they weren’t as as hearty as the rest of him.

  He couldn’t stay here. Already, he knew he was being hunted. Hit by a rock… it was embarrassing. To think that one, albeit large, rock could do this much damage.

  He’d had to run as soon as he hit the ground, and he’d come here. To this concrete tomb.

  Image after image bombarded him of his family. He could almost feel the flames that destroyed them on his face and taste their ash in his mouth. Unless he wanted to die too, he needed to get going.

  “Move.” He said it out loud and made himself step outside. The wind had picked up, blowing dust directly into his face. He coughed as the grit caught in his throat. There was something different in the air. Something poisonous making him tired and slow.

  He stumbled down the steps and into the road. Automatically, he checked behind him. His footsteps had made rust-colored smudges on the concrete. Hands on his hips, he stared at the prints. Those things were bright, flashing arrows, guiding anyone who might be searching for a fight. Right here! Wounded! Grab a tail feather!

  Shifting was his best chance of flying away. As a bird he could make himself small and compact. In this form, he was a huge target.

  This was going to hurt.

  Closing his eyes, he let the shift overtake him. One blinding moment of pain later, he was feathered and flopping around on the ground. It took him a moment to right himself and see through the haze of red that covered his vision. Something was broken, but the question was, could he still fly?

  Jumping, wings outstretched and then pushing against the air, Fenik took flight. Each downward thrust of his wings felt like someone was holding a lit match to an open wound, but he was flying.

  He had to get above the buildings. Whoever had hit him had launched the projectile from above him, but the dust clouds were denser the higher he got.

  The same thought he’d had earlier hit him again: something was happening in Korolevstvo. In this form, he couldn’t cough, couldn’t see, but his hearing was better. He heard the rushing water of the river and the blast of the wind. He went in the direction of the river, hoping the open space would have clearer air.

  But no matter which way he flew, the wind was against him, pushing him back and changing the air currents so he couldn’t sail along them.

  Somewhere below him, he heard someone yell. “Fedir!”

  Elation filled him, and then anger. What was she doing out here? She’d been safe with the miner in his hovel. Out here, he couldn’t protect her. Not like this: wounded and tired.

  “Fedir!” Tatiana’s voice had a note of urgency and fear. He glided for a moment to pinpoint where she was.

  The wind blew again, knocking him back, and he shrieked in pain. It came out in his animal’s voice, but she must have heard him because she called out again, “Land! Fedir, land!”

  The cognizant part of him, the one that made decisions based on logic and experience, argued against doing what she said, but the other part of him, the bird, wanted to dive bomb to her feet.

  Strange. And disconcerting.

  The moment he allowed himself to think was the moment his bird took over. It landed at her feet, tucked itself away, and let Fenik have form. He cried out at the pain of it.

  Tatiana knelt next to him, her hands cupping his shoulders and pushing against him to see his injuries. “Where are you hurt?” she asked.

  He couldn’t speak without groaning so he clenched his teeth together.

  “You’re bleeding, Fedir.” Her fingers were like a balm over his body. “Ow,” she said suddenly as her fingers traced his long flight feathers. The thought that she’d somehow injured herself on him passed through his mind, but then he felt it, too. A tiny sharp blow against his back.

  “Is that hail?” she asked and then something crashed next to them. It hit the building, knocking off a huge chunk of the corner before rolling across the road.

  “We’re too exposed.” It was the miner.

  “What are you doing here?” Fedir asked.

  “Rude.” Tatiana had said that to him before, and he couldn’t help smiling a little at her tone. She never backed down from him, no matter how black the look he gave her.

  “He’s helping us look for you.” Grisha appeared out of a dust cloud, his hair whipping around his head. “And he’s right. Where do you want to go? Can you fly?”

  He could. Instead of answering, he shifted. Oh hell, that hurt. The wind roared, but it was helping him this time. Rather than pushing against him, it lifted him, allowing him to glide along the currents. Beneath him, Shubin stared while he held onto Tatiana’s hand.

  What was that garbage?

  With a shriek, he tried to dive at the miner, but Grisha wouldn’t let him. “Leave it alone,” the roamer told him.

  Leave it alone? Who’d brought Tatiana to Korolevstvo? Who’d protected her when she’d offended the place that gave them life? Who
’d risked his life—and not to be over-dramatic, but there was only one of him in the universe—to make sure things were safe before they tried to bring her to the rusalka?

  Who’d done all that? Oh yeah. It was him. So they could kiss his feathered ass, Shubin and Tatiana, and Grisha for good measure.

  She was replacing him? Fine. Good riddance.

  Anger made his vision tunnel, and he took off. The burn and pain that had harnessed his speed urged him on now. He preferred it to the hurt in his chest, the feeling of being not good enough or not interesting enough.

  “Fedir!” Tatiana yelled, and he circled back, just because he was curious. Shouldn’t have, though, because she still held the miner’s dark hand in hers. And Shubin, who’d given the exchanged girl his real name like a fool—watched him like he knew what was going on in Fenik’s head.

  He dove, talons extended, ready to rip into Shubin’s face, and maybe blind him for good measure, when the wind blew so strong it lifted him into the sky, tossing him like a leaf on the river.

  Grisha.

  It took him longer than he liked to right himself. The roamer had thrown him much farther than he realized. The river was right below him, the rapids white tipped in the waning daylight.

  Fenik drove his wings toward the earth, lasering in on the place where he’d left the others. He’d gone from angry to enraged. Like a human child, he’d been put in time-out and given space to cool down.

  Just showed how little they knew him. He hadn’t cooled down, but he’d gone icy inside. A flash of color in the air caught his attention, and he swept toward it. It took him a moment to make out that the crimson he saw was Tatiana.

  How had Grisha brought both him and Tatiana here? The roamer could spread out his power, but he couldn’t be in two places at once.

  Maybe it wasn’t Grisha who had—the breath was suddenly knocked out of him. Below him, he heard Tatiana scream, but he didn’t process it.

  Pain.

  His lungs wouldn’t work right. Body seizing, he death-spiraled toward the rapids.

  This is it.

  The waves closed over his head and water filled his mouth as he sunk beneath the surface.

  15

  Tatiana

  In her whole life, Tatiana had never been as scared as she was now. Naked ladies appearing in her bathroom, fine. This?

  She didn’t even think, she just ran. The wind pushed her back, but she was too fast and too strong.

  Ha—first time that’s happened.

  She dove into the river, the water so cold it took her breath away. Eyes open, she tried to find a spot of white in the darkness. Her lungs ached for her to take a breath, but she had to find Fedir.

  I did this.

  It was hard to swim in her clothes. Her sweater billowed around her and her water-logged boots dragged her deeper.

  That was okay, though, because she needed to dive down deep to find Fedir. There! A small white blob. Like a frog, she pulled in her legs and extended them, swimming hard toward the spot.

  It was him.

  God, she had to breathe! She reached for him, fingers grazing his feathers while she kicked as hard as she could to get closer. Just as her hand wrapped around his leg, something grabbed her foot and yanked her.

  But she held on. His talons cut into her palm and it felt like her arm would rip out of her socket, but she held on as tight as she could.

  They broke the surface, and she gasped before a wave covered her head and brought her back under the water. She felt someone grab her again, this time around her waist. Bubbles exploded around her, and then she was on the ground, choking and gasping. But she kept her hand around Fedir’s leg.

  Crawling toward him, she watched in disbelief as he shifted. A haze surrounded him, like Christmas lights and fog, and then there he was. Motionless. Not breathing.

  Tatiana positioned herself over him, hands against his chest and began to push. Whether you’re a brother, or whether you’re a mother, you’re stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive. The song popped into her head, a holdover from the last CPR class she’d taken. Thirty chest compressions. But she couldn’t count and sing at the same time!

  If she ever went back to the human world, she would share this little nugget of info.

  Two breaths.

  Nothing.

  She started again, pushing as hard as she could, so hard she was afraid she’d break his sternum. His body made awful sounds, cracking and sucking, but she kept on.

  “What are you doing?” The voice had a melodic quality, and she glanced up. A stranger crouched next to her. A stranger covered in scales who had webbed hands.

  No time to process the scales. Or the webbed-ness.

  Two breaths.

  Fedir suddenly choked, coughing up brown water. She tried to push him onto his side, but he weighed a fucking ton, and his wings were wet and that probably made him even heavier. The stranger moved beside her, and then Shubin and Grisha were there, lifting him and positioning him as he puked out a gallon of water.

  Shoulders heaving, Fedir coughed and rolled to his knees. He braced himself against the ground, knuckles white. His wings hung limp over him, and Tatiana’s heart ached.

  On her hands and knees, she crawled around to face him. “You could have died!” That wasn’t what she meant to say.

  Fedir sucked in breath after breath, but he lifted his golden eyes to hers.

  “Diving at me? Taking off? I thought you were my friend!”

  He nodded and seemed to be trying to stand, but she got in his face and clutched his upper arms. She held him tight, so tight she was afraid she’d give him bruises, and shook him a little. “You scared me to death!”

  And then she kissed him. She couldn’t say what came over her. But all she could picture was Fedir’s beautiful form disappearing forever and it shook her to her core.

  It didn’t take him long to kiss her back. His lips were soft beneath hers, and open, as if he was surprised. Gripping the back of her head tightly in his hand, he kept her against him. Her wet hair was tangled, and his fingers dug in painfully, but she didn’t care. Between kisses, she felt his warm breath against her face, and she held onto him harder. She wound her arms around his neck and lifted herself until she could sit on his lap, and then she kissed him and kissed him and kissed him.

  Until someone cleared their throat.

  She jerked back immediately, but Fedir stopped her. His fingers pulled her hair, keeping her an inch from his face as his gaze roamed over her.

  “Do you mean this?” he whispered.

  She understood him. Had she meant to kiss him, or was she just glad he was alive? She could have blamed her fright, but that wasn’t the truth, and she wasn’t a liar. “Yes.”

  His eyes seemed to burn as bright as the sun. “Good.” He let her go and the sudden loss of his heat and weight threw her off balance. She slid off his lap—how had she gotten into his lap—and onto the ground. Someone touched her back, steadying her, and she turned around to thank Grisha or Shubin.

  It wasn’t them.

  They stood, off to the side, clothes wet and clinging to their bodies as they stared at her. The person who touched her was—different.

  He blinked bright blue, curious eyes at her and then pushed his dark hair out of his face with his webbed fingers.

  “Hello,” she said, when nothing else came to her mind.

  “Hello,” he said. His voice was deep but soothing, and she wanted to sway toward it. He didn’t move away from her, and so she sat, sandwiched between Fedir and this stranger.

  Dark blue scales covered his neck and shoulders. Her gaze followed their path, down his arms and across his torso.

  “You’re a replacement,” the man said and leaned closer. He studied her, like he was as curious about her as she was about him.

  Fedir’s arms wrapped around her waist, and he dragged her back into his lap. The other man’s eyes flicked toward him, and he frowned before gazing back at Tatiana. “You’re his?�
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  “Yes,’ Fedir answered at the same time Tatiana answered, “It’s complicated.”

  She winced, and Fedir drew her closer to his body. “Yes, it is,” he affirmed, which she didn’t expect.

  “This place isn’t safe,” the man said. “There are worse creatures than me in the river.” He smiled, like he’d made a joke, and showed off a pair of gleaming fangs.

  “Dangerous creatures are everywhere,” Tatiana said. She hadn’t forgotten about whatever it was trying to kill Fedir.

  It struck her right then: they’d made it to the river and she shot up, right out of Fedir’s arms. “The river!” She peered into the water. This was the river?

  It moved fast, churning against rocks. The waves were white tipped, but the rest of it? Tatiana lifted her sleeve to her nose and sniffed her sweater. Gross. It was full of debris. She couldn’t identify half of it, and every so often, what could only be described as sludge, drifted by.

  She glanced at the man. “The river looks polluted.” As soon as the words left her mouth she braced herself. It was hard to remember a place could be aware and take offense at her words. But nothing happened, except for the man nodding.

  “It is. I spend as much time out of it as in,” he said. “Many of us have left it. We can’t breathe.”

  Tatiana turned to find Fedir watching her. Over his shoulder, Grisha and Shubin came closer. “The rusalka?” Shubin asked.

  The man stood as well, his form unfolding from the ground. He was tall, as tall as the others, and they seemed to form a circle around her like a wall of protection.

  “Why would you want to find them?” he asked. He studied the other three, ignoring her, so she raised her hand to get his attention.

  “Because they made me,” she said when he glanced at her. “And the real Tatiana, the human one, she might be with them.”

  Fedir blasted out a frustrated sigh. “You can’t go around telling everyone your name.”

  “Tatiana is your true name?” The man’s eyes widened and the blue began to glow. He stepped back and then leaned toward her. “Never. Never tell a stranger your real name.” Straightening, he glared at the others. “You’re all very stupid.”