by Jane Godman
“I wish I could come with you. But—” Andrei indicated his wheelchair.
Ged caught Lidi’s eye. He knew they were both thinking the same thing. The journey across the mountain border into Callistoya would be arduous for them. For Andrei, it would be almost impossible. But he had found his brother. Even though Andrei had no memory of their homeland, he was a prince of Callistoya. He deserved his place at Ged’s side when the resistance overthrew the man who had murdered their father.
“I cannot enter Callistoya until I break the charm Vasily has cast. It is one that bars me from entering my own country. That’s why we are flying from Frankfurt to Alaska. There is someone there who may be able to break the spell.” He didn’t want to build up Andrei’s hopes unnecessarily, but he also wanted his brother with him for the final fight. “She is a powerful healer and there is a chance she may be able to restore your ability to walk.”
Sasha shook her head. “Our mother was a sorceress. If anyone could help Andrei, she would have done it.”
“My friend is very unusual.” Ged held Andrei’s gaze. “I’m not going to make you any promises. The decision must be yours.”
“I don’t want to slow you down,” Andrei said. “But I do want to see my homeland.”
Lidi cut through his indecision. “Come to Alaska. If Ged’s friend can’t help, you can always come back here. If she can...”
“If she can?” Andrei’s eyes sparkled as he clasped Ged’s hand. “Then I will be right with you, my brother.”
“I have to pack.” Sasha jumped up from her seat. “I’ve never been in a fight in my life, but you don’t think I’m going to miss this adventure, do you?”
Ged laughed. So much for being a loner. “Welcome to the resistance. We need all the help we can get.”
* * *
Ged had always liked Alaska. He loved the crisp, clear air, the wide, open spaces and the stunning scenery. They all reminded him of home. Although, after a journey of over twenty-four hours, he was almost too tired to notice.
Once they left Branheim, Ged’s organizational skills had kicked into overdrive. Using a combination of his network of connections, persuasiveness, authority and vast amounts of money, he had a private plane waiting for them on the tarmac when they reached Frankfurt.
Since Andrei and Sasha both had passports confirming their status as German mortals, the biggest problem was Bruno. After trying out various schemes, the simplest solution had been for Andrei to hide the little dog under the blanket that covered his legs.
“Can he be trusted to remain still and quiet while the customs checks are carried out, both here in Germany and once we land in America?” Andrei asked.
“In my experience, Bruno can only be trusted to do the exact opposite of what I want him to,” Ged said, ignoring Lidi’s look of reproach.
On this occasion, Bruno curled up in Andrei’s lap and slept through the official checks. No one in Germany suspected a dog was departing on the plane, the pilot remained unaware of his presence and they were able to leave the airport at Anchorage without anyone having noticed he was there.
“You are a very clever boy,” Lidi told him once they were safely in the rental car that was specially adapted to meet Andrei’s needs. She spoke as though Bruno had used some canine magic to sneak past the officials who had conducted the checks. When Bruno barked delightedly and wagged his tail, Ged began to wonder if she might be right.
“And we are all criminals.” Ged maneuvered the vehicle into the traffic as he spoke. “Although I think smuggling livestock into the United States may turn out to be the least of our problems.”
As they left the town, the roads became quieter and he followed a route toward the mountains. Pine-covered hillsides flashed by as he took the twisting bends and narrow passes that stirred memories of his early days in the mortal realm.
“How do you know this sorceress?” Lidi’s words, together with her eyes on his profile, told him she had picked up on his tension.
Ged examined his reluctance to speak of it. It was part of a time in his life that was filled with pain and humiliation, when he had been fighting to cope with what had had happened to him. His lips quirked into a half smile. Who was he kidding? Thirteen years later, he was still struggling to come to terms with it.
But this was Lidi. He could tell her anything. At least he thought he could. Now was a good time to put that belief to the test.
“I told you I woke up in a ravine here in the mortal realm two days after the massacre?” The road was quiet and he risked a glance in her direction. Lidi nodded. “Pauwau was the person who found me.”
“Found you?”
“Like Andrei, I’d been badly beaten.” He grimaced at the memory. “Unlike him, I could still walk. Just. Pauwau took me to her home and nursed me back to health. If it wasn’t for her, I probably wouldn’t have survived.”
“I don’t understand any of this.” He heard the hint of tears in Lidi’s voice. Tears for him. The thought caused a corresponding tightening in his own throat. When had anyone in his life cared enough to cry because he’d been hurt? He was a bear. The answer was never. “Why did someone take the trouble to rescue the two of you from the massacre, only to have you beaten before they dumped you here in the human world?”
“If we knew that, we might have a clue about who it was,” Ged said. He didn’t want to sound dismissive. Feelings, piled on top of exhaustion...he just couldn’t do it. Lidi placed her hand on his knee and he took the gesture to be a signal that she understood.
He was driving along the track that led to Pauwau’s cabin now. As they approached the ridge on which the tiny log structure stood, he heard Lidi draw in an appreciative breath. Even though the light was fading, the views were spectacular. In the far distance, the hazy outline of far peaks could just be seen in the golden sunset. Closer to the cabin, a swooping valley led the eyes down to a silver lake. Its silver waters were a mirror for the whole scene. The cabin was the ideal vantage point from which to enjoy the tundra in its late-evening perfection.
By the time Ged had helped Andrei from the vehicle and into his wheelchair, Pauwau had come out onto the porch and was watching them. When Ged first met her, she had been dressed in traditional Inuit clothing, a hood lined with fur pulled up over her long black hair. Now she wore jeans and a hand-knitted sweater. Her two Siberian huskies, Jet and Sable, sat like statues on either side of her.
Ged could never see her without being reminded of two things. The first was that he owed her his life. The second was that he was in the presence of the strongest magic he had ever known. Pauwau’s name meant witch, but her powers went far beyond any earthly understanding. Hers was a sacred, age-old link to the very fabric of the universe.
As she gazed his way, a smile as wide as the Alaskan mountain range split her broad face in two, and, holding out her hands in greeting, she descended the porch steps.
“You have stayed away too long, my friend.”
Ged took her hands in his, feeling, as always, the slight electric charge of her touch. He bent to kiss her cheek. “I know.”
“I forgive you.” Her smile encompassed the others. “Especially as you have brought new friends to my home.”
Ged introduced Lidi, Andrei and Sasha. He looked around for Bruno and discovered him cowering behind Lidi. “I think he may be intimidated by your dogs.”
Pauwau squatted and placed her hand on Bruno’s head. When she looked up at Ged, he was surprised to see tears in her eyes. “This little guy reminds me of a dog I had many years ago. She died giving birth to her first litter.”
“What happened to the puppies?” Lidi asked.
“Sadly, none of them survived.” Pauwau gave Bruno a pat before straightening. “I feel this is a very special animal, one with an enchantment that goes beyond what any of us understand.”
For once, Ged couldn’t find anyth
ing sarcastic to say. Instead, he picked Bruno up and stroked his ears. “You could be right.” His voice was unexpectedly gruff and, sensing a momentary weakness, Bruno took the opportunity to give him a quick lick on the chin.
Ged’s shout of surprise broke the ice, and, laughing, the whole group went into the cabin. The visitors sat around Pauwau’s kitchen table while she brewed a pot of strong herbal tea and took a large pie from her freezer.
“I know you are bears.” Although the aroma coming from her cooker as she heated the food was delicious, her voice was apologetic. “But I don’t eat meat.”
“Did you know we were coming?” Lidi regarded the feast that was being laid out in front of them with an expression of wonderment.
“I may have had a suspicion.” Pauwau’s eyes crinkled into a smile. She flapped a hand. “Eat. Then we can talk about how we are going to get you home.”
Home. Ged was finally starting to feel like they might really be able to make it happen.
* * *
After they had eaten, Pauwau listened carefully to everything they told her. Lidi thought she had never seen anyone so still. It was as if the other woman had the ability to blend into her surroundings. Perhaps that was the essence of her magic. Whether she was dealing with the mountain birds, the trees surrounding her cabin or a group of bear shifters on a dangerous mission, she would afford them all the same courtesy.
“Can you help us?” Lidi finally broke the lengthy silence that followed the end of their story.
Pauwau turned ageless dark eyes in her direction. “I cannot do anything.” She softened the impact of her words with a gentle smile. “But I will seek guidance from the spirits.”
She began to make preparations, murmuring softly to herself as she lit aromatic candles and placed them on a low table on the porch.
When she was ready, Pauwau invited Ged, Lidi and Sasha to join her on cushions placed around the table. Andrei remained in his wheelchair. Pauwau commenced a ritual of deep breathing and incantations. Lidi could feel the temperature dropping even further. A breeze came from nowhere, stirring the trees and sending the leaves flurrying across the ground.
Pauwau’s dogs lay at the top of the porch steps as though guarding the house. Bruno, having inspected them and decided they were of no threat, sniffed the air suspiciously before settling between the larger canines. He had clearly decided to give them the honor of being his guardians.
Lidi wondered if it was a trick of the light, but Pauwau appeared to grow in stature. And then—could she be imagining the change in the air blowing around them?—she could see vague shapes moving in and out of the fluttering light cast by the candles.
Pauwau drew in a deep breath. “They are here.”
Silence resumed, during which Pauwau sat with her eyes closed. Occasionally she tilted her head, as though listening to a voice the others couldn’t hear. Now and then, she nodded. Once, she smiled and clasped her hands beneath her chin. Finally, she turned to Ged with shining eyes.
“The spirits have spoken to me of your problems.”
Ged reached for Lidi’s hand, his grip just the right side of painful. Although his face was partly turned away from her, she could see tension quilting the muscles of his jaw. “Do they see any solutions?”
Although Pauwau’s face was serene, Lidi caught glimpses of other expressions flitting across her features. It was a like a pond rippling in sunlight. Now and then, it was possible to see what lay beneath the surface.
“Your stepbrother fears you.” Pauwau’s voice was soft, her gaze fixed on the candles. “The enchantment he used against you is a simple barrier spell, easily cast and just as easily broken. If you open your mind.” She lifted her eyes to Ged’s face. “The hardest part will be overcoming your own fears—I think you have always known that.”
“I guess that’s why I stayed away. The fear that I won’t ever cross that border, that I won’t be able to defeat Vasily, that I won’t be strong enough to avenge my father...” He sucked in a breath. “Do you know if Vasily was responsible for the murders?”
Pauwau bent her head. “You don’t need the spirits to confirm what your heart already tells you.”
Ged clenched a fist on his thigh. “He did it.” He kept his gaze on the distant mountains for long, silent moments.
“What about our rescuer?” Andrei asked at last. “Who got Ged and me out of the palace on the night of the massacre and brought us to the mortal realm? And what was the motive for doing that if he, or she, then had us beaten until we were close to death?”
“She. It was a woman.”
Pauwau’s answer startled Lidi, and she automatically glanced over her shoulder. She? Allie? Was she seeking a connection where none existed? Ever since she had discovered that Allie matched the description of Ged’s murdered fiancée, Alyona had occupied a place at the back of her mind.
“The person who got you out of the palace that night was conflicted, but she wanted to help you. It was never her intention to cause you harm.” Pauwau turned her head as though listening to an invisible speaker. “Her identity is unclear to me.”
“No harm?” Andrei indicated his legs. “Are you sure?”
“I only know what the spirits tell me,” Pauwau said. “I’m sorry.”
Ged leaned across and placed a hand on his brother’s arm. “The most important question is whether anything can be done to help Andrei.”
Lidi could feel the people around her holding their breath as they waited for the answer. Her own heart was thumping out an irregular beat. What if Pauwau gave them a flat-out negative?
“I can try...but I can’t make you any promises.”
Lidi was caught off guard when Sasha collapsed into her arms, her whole body shuddering with sobs. Comforting the other woman gave her an opportunity to hide her own emotions. So much for her upbringing as a hard-hearted noblewoman trained to hide her feelings. Right now, as she patted Sasha’s shoulder with one hand and clung to Ged with the other, she felt incapable of rational thought.
Looking up, she was surprised to find Pauwau’s gaze fixed on her face. “Look inside your own heart.” Although the healer’s lips didn’t move, Lidi heard her voice clearly. “It will give the answers you seek.”
Chapter 15
Before she started the healing ceremony, Ged took Pauwau to one side. “I’d rather not do this at all than build up Andrei’s hopes only to find nothing can be done to help him.”
She turned her serene gaze to him. “There is nothing physically wrong with your brother.”
His brows snapped together. “What do you mean?”
“Often, what I get from the spirits are impression, rather than complete images. Like the story of your rescue from the palace on the night of the murders. I can sense the emotion of the person who saved you. I even know it was a woman, but I can’t see her. I can’t tell you who it was.”
“I understand that,” Ged said. “The spirits guide you. They don’t give you a perfect picture.”
Pauwau nodded. “Except, when it comes to your stepbrother, I have a very strong sense of who he is and what drives him.”
“Vasily?” Ged frowned. “He is an evil cur, driven by greed.”
Pauwau drew him down to sit next to her on a large rock. Ged spared a moment to think about the weather. As a bear shifter, the cold didn’t affect him, but this tiny woman appeared not to notice the biting wind. No matter what her surroundings, she was at one with nature.
“I don’t like the word evil.” She nodded in the direction of the house. The golden glow of the lamps strung along the edge of the porch roof illuminated the ground beyond the house. Bruno, his initial timidity long gone, was trying to tempt Jet and Sable into a chasing game. The other dogs were regarding him with bemused dignity as he charged around them, ears flapping and tongue lolling. Ged was convinced he saw the huskies exchange a canine
eye-roll or two. “An animal is not born bad. If a dog becomes vicious, it is because life has taught it to behave that way. We are animals too. People are shaped by their early experiences.”
“But Vasily was born into a life of wealth and privilege. His mother, Zoya, doted on him. She gave him everything he wanted,” Ged said. “We were young when our parents married, but I remember thinking even then that he was a spoiled brat.”
“And you? What were you like?”
Ged was surprised at the question. “I’m not sure. Although my father was fit and healthy, I was being raised as the future king. I spent a lot of time with my father, but that wasn’t a hardship.” He felt the familiar tightening of his throat. “I loved him.” His glance went back toward the house. “And Andrei, of course. The three of us were a tight group. Beyond that, I was mad about sports and wildly competitive. I had to be the best at everything.” He laughed. “Still do, if I’m being honest.”
Pauwau placed a hand over his. “You have just described the person Vasily wanted to be.”
Ged jerked slightly. “You’re saying this was all about jealousy? Of me?”
“Think about it. Vasily had always been given everything he asked for. Suddenly, he was presented with a stepbrother who was stronger, quicker, better looking and more popular than he would ever be. A stepbrother who had a loving father and a younger sibling who worshiped him. For the first time in his life, Vasily’s mother couldn’t make it all better for him.”
Ged gave a soft whistle. “I knew he never liked me, but I hadn’t thought about it from that perspective.”
“Hatred breeds evil. Vasily couldn’t take away who you were, but he could take what you had...and what you would become.” Pauwau’s voice was gentle.
“You mean my family?” Ged asked.
“And more. Your royal status, your country...those things were your identity. But he was not content to stop there. Vasily vowed to take even more from you.” Pauwau removed her hand and placed it on his shoulder. “He wanted to take your mate.”