The Girl Who Speaks Bear

by Sophie Anderson

  “The Giant Deathless hid his soul,” said the Yaga, “so he could live forever. But without his soul he can’t understand the feelings of others, so he’s become selfish and cruel. He’ll not find peace until he reunites with his soul and moves on to the stars. But his soul is trapped inside an egg that’s inside a duck, who is inside a hare, locked in an iron chest and buried deep under the Great Oak on the Isle of Buyan. And that can only be reached by sailing off the end of the world and through the North Star.”

  Nastasya then knew that to free the giant’s soul, she’d need help. She asked the Bear Tsarina, the strongest creature in the forest, to join her. And she asked the gray wolf who could run the fastest, the golden eagle who could fly the highest, and the thick-clawed crayfish who could dive the deepest.

  On the shores of the Green Bay they met a fisherman willing to help, and they sailed in his ship off the end of the world, through the North Star, and to the Isle of Buyan. There, with her immense strength, the Bear Tsarina pulled up the Great Oak and lifted the iron chest from deep underground. She broke the lock and out ran the hare, as fast as the wind.

  But the gray wolf ran faster and bit the hare in two. Out flew the duck, up into the clouds. But the golden eagle flew higher and caught the duck in her talons. Out dropped the egg and it fell deep into the ocean. But the crayfish dived after it and brought the egg up in his thick claws.

  The fisherman sailed them home and Nastasya tied the egg to an arrow. As soon as the Giant Deathless was in sight, she lifted her bow, pulled back the string, aimed, and fired. The arrow flew straight and true, and the egg smashed into the giant’s forehead. His soul poured into his eyes and he collapsed to his knees, overwhelmed with the feelings it brought him.

  In the darkest part of the forest, the Yaga and her house heard the Giant Deathless fall, and the house ran to him. The Yaga stepped out and took the giant by the hand. She gave him food and drink and listened to his stories and danced him all the way to the stars. And there the giant found peace, and he never bothered the creatures of the Snow Forest again.

  We walk north for hours, until night fades away and the dawn chorus blooms. Sparrows chatter in low shrubs, a kingfisher whistles from the river, and chaffinches shake the treetops with their twittering. Usually their music would fill me with happiness, but this morning, all I can think about is Sasha.

  I wonder where he is in the forest, and how close to life or death he lies. Elena said the house was going to walk closer to the village, then Valentyna was going to sled Sasha the rest of the way. Their journey could be over by now. Sasha could be waking up, wrapped in healing compresses. Or he could still be unconscious, frostbite creeping over him like a shadow, his ghost drifting in and out of his body.

  My legs buckle and I stumble into a gorse bush.

  “Are you all right, human girl?” Mousetrap uncurls from my ear and peers over my face.

  “I’m just tired, and worried about Sasha.” I look up, hoping to see smoke from the Fiery Volcano in the distance, but a mosaic of tall birches blocks my view. “How far away is the Lime Tree?”

  “Two or three days’ walk,” Ivan replies.

  “Days?” The forest seems to spin around me. “But Sasha is in danger now. What if I’m too late to save him? What if he …” My eyes well with tears.

  “Focus!” Ivan barks. “We’re going to fight a fire dragon. Worries will distract you.”

  I nod and walk faster. Ivan is right. I need to focus and make a plan to get past Smey and reach the Lime Tree. Sasha is as safe as he can be for now, with Valentyna and Mamoch—. I frown as I try to remember her name. “Mamoch …” I say out loud, hoping the word will complete itself, but it doesn’t. I growl in frustration.

  “What’s wrong?” Yuri asks.

  “I can’t remember her name … The lady I live with.” I try to picture her, but my head only fills with a thick, dark fog.

  “Your mamochka?” Mousetrap squeaks, and with that she’s there, back in my thoughts, clear and bright. Her strong, fussing fingers, her matter-of-fact voice, her lime-blossom smell.

  “Yes, Mamochka.” I sigh with relief, but there’s a heaviness in the pit of my stomach. How could I forget Mamochka?

  “You must be tired.” Mousetrap peers into my left eye with a look of concern. “When was the last time you slept? Or ate?”

  I think back to when I last woke, as a bear, at the bear cave. I can’t believe that was only yesterday. So much has happened; it feels like a lifetime ago. A chill creeps through my fur as I remember my grandmother telling me that as a bear, my human memories would fade. But I’ve only been a bear for less than a day. I can’t be forgetting my human life already. Can I?

  “We should stop and rest.” Mousetrap nods decisively. “I could catch you a mouse. Or a rabbit.”

  “I’m fine. Let’s keep going.” I pick up speed, wanting to get to the Lime Tree as quickly as possible. I picture Sasha, long and leggy, his feathery hair sticking up at all angles, and I try to burn his image permanently into my mind. It’s essential I remember him, all the way to the Fiery Volcano, so that I can ask the tree to save him. And maybe, once I’ve saved him, I can ask the tree to save me too.

  The sun rises over the forest. Surrounded by trees, unable to glimpse the horizon, I lose all sense of how far we’ve traveled. Thoughts of Sasha swim in and out of my mind and I’m so tired I almost fall asleep while walking.

  “Yaga house!” three bullfinches bellow in unison and flutter off into a pine thicket. The pounding of giant chicken feet shakes the earth, and the shadow of the house falls over us. A fear that it might be carrying bad news about Sasha tears through me like a storm.

  One of the house’s chicken feet rises high, its claws splay open, and before my mind has registered what’s about to happen, the foot darts down, grabs me, and flings me onto the house’s porch.

  I struggle to my feet as Ivan is deposited to my left, growling, and Yuri to my right, squealing. Blakiston lands gracefully on the roof, and Mousetrap flows along the balustrades, chittering away to the house so fast I can’t make out his words.

  “Hello, Yanka, Yuri.” Elena waves from the other end of the porch.

  “How’s Sasha?” My question rushes out before I remember Elena can’t understand me as a bear.

  “Are you asking about Sasha?” Elena edges closer to me while glancing nervously at Ivan. “The house and I left my mother sledding him to the village. He’s …” Elena’s voice wavers. “His breathing is irregular, and the frostbite is darkening despite the rabbit-fat rub my mother used. It’s not looking good. I’m sorry, Yanka.” She rests a hand on my back. “Perhaps your mamochka will be able to help.” But she doesn’t sound convinced by her words.

  Guilt and despair close around me, but the urgent need to help Sasha burns hotter inside me. “House?” I turn to the front door. “Could you take us to the Fiery Volcano, so I can find the Lime Tree and save my friend?” I hold my breath as I wait for an answer. The house could run to the mountain so much faster than I could travel on foot. And the sooner I get there, the better my chance of saving Sasha.

  The house nods, throwing everyone into the balustrades, then surges up and walks along the riverbank, gathering speed with each step. “Thank you!” I roar to the wide-open windows and somehow-smiling door. I’d hug the house if I could.

  “Where are you rushing off to?” Elena shouts at the roof in confusion.

  The house’s legs extend, lifting us high above the treetops, revealing a distant orange glow beneath a dark cloud in the northeast.

  “Is that where we’re going?” Elena asks. “The Fiery Volcano?”

  The house breaks into a sprint, sending Yuri skidding along the porch.

  “Why do you want to go to the— Oh!” Elena exclaims, her eyes widening. She turns to me. “Are you going to find the Lime Tree? That’s on the Fiery Volcano, isn’t it? I’ve heard so many stories about it—that it can grow birds like leaves and grant wishes. Do you want to wish f
or something?” Elena looks into my eyes. “Sasha!” She claps her hands together. “You’re going to ask the tree to save Sasha!”

  I nod, and Elena throws her arms around my neck. “What a brilliant idea! I’m sure the tree can help. I’ve heard it has more magic in one of its buds than there is in a thousand Yaga houses.”

  The house bounds into the river and kicks a spray of icy water up and over Elena. She gasps in shock, then laughs, wringing out her shawl. “It wasn’t an insult.” She looks up at the roof and shakes her head. “That’s what it says in The Book of Yaga. In fact, it says the very first Yaga house grew from a wandering root of the Lime Tree. So that would make the tree your great-great-grand-ancestor or something, wouldn’t it? You’d be made of the same magic.”

  The house shrugs its eaves in an apology, then its front door opens wide so the warmth of the fire in the hearth drifts out to dry Elena.

  “I’ve always wanted to see the Lime Tree.” Elena’s eyes sparkle. “I asked my mother if we could visit it once, after I read one of the stories, but she said it’s too dangerous because of the fire dragon guarding it.” Her eyebrows draw together. “Do you have a plan for getting past Smey?”

  I shift uncomfortably, because I don’t have a plan at all. I look from Mousetrap to Yuri to Blakiston. Fears sprout and wriggle inside me. Then my gaze lands on Ivan, huge and powerful. “Once we reach the Fiery Volcano, I think Ivan and I should face Smey, and the rest of you should stay safe in the house.”

  “That’s a terrible plan.” Mousetrap shakes his head.

  “But facing Smey will be dangerous, and Ivan and I are the strongest.”

  “You need to stop thinking strength is about the size of your muscles or the length of your fangs. True strength is something far more delicate. Like spider silk. And you’ll need a web of it to defeat Smey. We”—Mousetrap spins around—“are your web.”

  “I wish I could understand you all.” Elena glances at each of us. “I’ve no idea what your plan is, but maybe I can help? And the house too? It’s young, but it’s not foolish. It will keep us safe all the way to the Fiery Volcano and back. Won’t you, House?”

  The house leaps into the air, lands in the river with a splash, and races through it, kicking up so much spray that a rainbow appears ahead of us.

  Elena claps her hands together and smiles. “Isn’t that beautiful!”

  “What do you say, human girl?” Mousetrap trills. “Will you accept all of our help with good manners? A nod will suffice.”

  I want to say yes, but worries buzz around me, as relentless as a swarm of mosquitoes. “What if one of you gets hurt?” I whisper. “It would be my fault. Like with Sasha.”

  Mousetrap nips my ear. “We’ll be hurt if you don’t let us help.”

  The house tilts and I sway, inside and out. Mousetrap is right. Not accepting help from Mamochka and Sasha hurt them and made everything worse. This time I need to make the right choice.

  “All right.” My head feels heavy as a mountain, but slowly I lift it an inch. “We’ll do this together.” As soon as my head drops down in a nod, I feel a million times lighter.

  A smile tugs at the corners of my mouth. The house is speeding us toward the Fiery Volcano, where, with the help of my herd, I’ll find a way past Smey and ask the Lime Tree to save Sasha—and afterward perhaps me too. And then I’ll be able to return home, to the family I never should have left behind.

  The house settles into a steady gallop, and my eyelids droop with tiredness. I straighten my back, take a deep breath of cold air, and shake my head to stay awake.

  “I need to make a plan.” I look along the porch to where Ivan sits, staring toward the Fiery Volcano with a look of fierce determination. “Will you tell me everything you know about Smey?”

  Ivan yawns. “Rest first. Then plan.”

  Elena bustles through the door, holding a tray loaded with food. “Hungry?” she asks, and my stomach rumbles so loud that Mousetrap jumps from my head in fright. “I also found this.” Elena holds out a pot of something that smells like Mamochka’s beeswax and sandalwood balsam. “For your injuries.” She nods to the claw and bite marks on my neck, back, and legs, made by the white wolf and his pack. I smile at her kindness. It reminds me of Sasha and Mamochka. My family. Now that I know that’s what they are, all I want to do is make things right and go home to them.

  Elena sets down a bowl of greens for Yuri, plates of smoked salmon for Mousetrap and Blakiston, and a dish of stewed meat for Ivan. Ivan turns away from it in disgust, snarling something about how he catches his own prey. Elena dabs my wounds with the balsam, then goes back into the house and returns with two huge bowls of soup. She sits next to me, spooning hers into her mouth, and I stare at mine, wondering how to eat it politely. But my snout twitches at the scent, and soon my tongue is lapping it up with a life of its own. The soup splashes over my fur and I spill the last bit while trying to hold the bowl with my paw. I lean back, lick my snout clean, and flush with embarrassment under my fur.

  When everyone—apart from Ivan, who refuses to even look at the stewed meat—has eaten, we sit quietly, watching the land sail past. Spring fades as we travel north. There’s more snow on the trees, and the air grows colder. Elena brings out a blanket, leans against my back, and dozes off. Blakiston snores quietly on the roof, Mousetrap burrows into the fur behind my ear, and Yuri snuffles in his dreams next to me. Ivan continues staring at the horizon, but his eyes are half-closed and his head keeps dropping.

  I try to remember the stories I’ve heard about Smey, hoping they’ll help me come up with a plan. But my mind fills with mist. Scared I’m forgetting my human life again, I try to picture every detail: planting seeds in the garden with Mamochka, her strong, smooth hands tucking my hair behind my ears; Anatoly sitting by the fire, his callused fingers skating over an inky map. I picture Sasha, smiling up at me from beneath his huge furry hat, asking me to race, rolling off his sled laughing.

  And I think about what I’ll say to the Lime Tree. But I’m so tired that all my thoughts swirl together, and soon the gentle snores of my friends, the rhythmic thump of the house’s chicken feet, and the slowly rolling floor rock me into a deep, cave-dark sleep of my own.

  When I wake, all signs of spring are gone. Here the trees are weighed down by snow and the river is thick with ice. The sun is pale and distant, descending slowly though a cold gray sky. It’s afternoon already. The tip of Elena’s nose is blue, and our breath mingles into a big white cloud. I curl around her to keep her warm, like the Bear Tsarina used to do for me. My grandmother.

  Sadness wells inside me at having left my grandmother behind. She’s my family too. But if I’d stayed with her as a bear, I would have lost everything from my human life. Even my memories. And they make me who I am … But my grandmother has made me who I am too. I frown, suddenly confused by everything.

  I push my conflicting thoughts away and focus on what I am sure of. I have to save Sasha. As the day slips away, he could be slipping away too. I stand and search the landscape, trying to work out how much farther we have to go.

  Not far ahead lies the northern edge of the Snow Forest. The Silver Stream ends in a wide crescent-shaped bay, frozen over with thick green ice, and beyond that lies a vast navy ocean splattered with huge patches of bright white ice.

  To the east, on the boundary between land and sea, looms the Fiery Volcano, its peak hidden by thick black smoke. Blazing reds glow beneath the smoke, and orange and yellow lights crackle and spark within it. I glance up at the roof above me and am suddenly aware of how wooden—and flammable—the house is. “How will we get to the mountain safely?” I whisper.

  Elena stirs, stretches, and rubs her eyes, then looks from the house to the ocean ahead. “We’ve reached the Northern Sea already! Just a short distance around the coast, then we’ll be at the Fiery Volcano.” She smiles and rests a hand on my back.

  The house leaps onto the frozen river and skids along so fast I wonder if it’s lost control.
Yuri squeals as he slides along the porch, and Mousetrap’s claws dig into my ear as he’s flung backward.

  With a great swoosh and a frightening jerk, the house regains its balance, then skates smoothly onto the thick green ice of the crescent-shaped bay.

  “What’s that?” Elena peers at a shape in the distance—something large at the far edge of the bay. It grows huge as we approach, and my fur tingles with excitement as it comes into focus, because I think I know how the house plans to take us safely to the Fiery Volcano.

  “Mousetrap.” I wiggle my head to check he hasn’t gone back to sleep. “Look, a ship!”

  “I see it.” Mousetrap leans over my head and grins. “The Yaga girl said the house would keep us safe. What better way to get to the Fiery Volcano than to sail along the coast?”

  I smile, because Mousetrap is right—icy water is the best place to stay safe from a fiery volcano. As we draw closer, I gaze at the ship in awe. It’s enormous, big enough for at least five Yaga houses to sit on its deck. Its tall frost-white masts rise high into the sky, and its long, pointed prow twinkles with snow stars.

  “It’s a frozen ship!” Elena claps her hands together in excitement. “Like the one from Anatoly’s story!” She turns to me, her eyes shining as bright as the ship. “Has he told you that story too?”

  I shake my head, because although I do have memories of the story, it was another of Anatoly’s more fantastical tales that I had trouble believing at the time, and it would be good to hear it again.

  Elena picks up her blanket and wraps it around her shoulders, and as the house skates the last stretch toward the still, white ship, she tells the story, as Anatoly would have told it to her, starting with “Once upon a time …”

  Once upon a time, the world was full of flying ships, powered by the heights of imagination and the depths of belief. The ships sailed through the sky like whales through the sea, fishing for adventures and wonders.