“She is fine. Just stubborn. She doesn’t really care for magic,” Aleksandra said. “She has no wish to learn it either.” They made fresh cups of coffee and sat down at the scrubbed wooden table. Baba Zosia and Cerise had both left them earlier. Cerise had made Anya uneasy. She hoped she wasn’t going to be the cause of conflict between Cerise and Trajan. But why would she be? Anya had trouble believing he was interested in anything more than friendship. As for the kisses, well they had just been the product of a very tense, life threatening situation.
“I have no idea where to begin with this,” Anya said as she pulled the runes and painted drum from her pack. She put them on the table in front of Aleksandra. She didn’t touch the drum as she leant in for a closer look.
“Where did you get this?” she asked curiously.
“Baba Yaga.” Even to Anya it sounded ridiculous but Aleksandra didn’t laugh.
“I don’t know anything about drums so we will have to ask Baba Zosia about it. It’s pulsing with magic though.” She went to touch the leather bag containing the runes but jerked her hand back with a yelp.
“What happened?”
“I am not sure. They zapped me,” Aleksandra said as she cradled her hand to her chest.
“Sorry, I’m not really sure how they work,” Anya said as she tipped them out. They felt warm in her fingers. “They didn’t zap Yvan when he touched them.”
“I can’t explain it either but I will let you handle them from now on.”
Anya turned the runes over so they lay face up, their symbols all showing clearly. Very slowly and with extreme patience Aleksandra began naming them one by one and explaining what each one represented. After the forth rune Aleksandra gave Anya a battered notebook and pencil to make notes.
Aleksandra soon had her repeating them back to her; Fehu, Thurisaz, Ansuz… Anya hadn’t been very good at school but she was good at card games so she tried to look at the confusing stones as different version of “memory.”
After an hour of repeating them back and forth Baba Zosia hobbled in and put more coffee on. Aleksandra spoke quickly with her and Anya heard Baba Yaga’s name mentioned more than once. Baba Zosia replied to her in angry tones. Clearly she didn’t think too much of the Iron Toothed Witch. Anya was just relieved they were taking her seriously.
Baba Zosia sat down next to Aleksandra to look closer at the drum, very careful not to touch it. She started speaking and Aleksandra began to quickly translate.
“She says this drum is magic in many ways. It changes with each user. If I were to possess it the symbols on the skin would change so they are the most…right to me.”
“When I first used it the rune stone landed on this bird, the crosses and this figure here,” Anya said as she touched the skin of the drum, “Could you tell me what that means?” Aleksandra translated and Baba Zosia started cackling before she gave her reply to Aleksandra.
“She said if you can’t figure it out, you are an idiot,” Aleksandra’s cheeks pinked a little with the insult.
“Could you tell me how to use it at least?”
“Only basics. This drum is Sámi and it is not our magic. Eikki tried to teach Baba Zosia once so she can tell you how they work and what the symbols mean but as for actually using it. Well, you will need a proper Shaman for that,” answered Aleksandra.
“I will take anything I can get at this stage,” Anya replied.
“Very well, drums are read in all directions, from the front and from the back. From top to bottom. Your eye should move from the highest 'world' to the lowest one, reading the markings counter-clockwise. This is North, South, East, West,” Aleksandra explained with Baba Zosia prompting her, “This is the Northern Star. The top half of the drum is usually the heavenly realm, especially the north eastern section. This is a church, representing God, this bear too is the god, Ukko. The rune here is Algiz, if you remember.”
“Protection, defence and warding off evil,” Anya interrupted with a glance at her notes.
“That’s right. This bird, I can only assume, is the firebird. Look at its tail, long and beautiful. Firebird’s home is in the sky. This section, north western, is also heavenly things or higher knowledge. You have Yggdrasil, the World’s Tree, from your Northern tales. Also we have Odin’s ravens, Huginn and Munin, Thought and Memory.”
“And that symbol is Ansuz, symbol for Odin, God, insights, truth, vision and the power of words.”Anya looked at it closer, secretly proud that she had remembered it without the notes this time.
“This whole middle section is Earthly realms. You have a warrior, or hunter, right here, a forest, salmon. Here is Uruz, physical strength, speed, courage and sex. Here is its female counterpart, Pertho, which is a symbol of women, as well as mysteries and fertility. This is a male shaman with his drum with a female shamanitsa on the opposite side. Now this last end of the drum is the Underworld, especially this south eastern section. These crosses are a graveyard or Death. We have Fenrir or Cerberus, hell hounds of the Underworld. This is Thurisaz, but it is merkstave, backwards, so the meaning is opposite. Here it represents evil, hate, lies, rape and torment. It is all bad.”
“What is this one? It looks like a funny little house.”
“That is a winter storage hut but in this case I believe it is Baba Yaga.”
“Great. I really can’t escape her can I?”
“No. She watch you,” Baba Zosia said.
Hours later Anya’s head was pounding. She stumbled out of Aleksandra’s caravan and into the cool misty rain. Her mind was buzzing and they had barely scraped the surface. Her muscles still ached but at least they were working.
“Hale and whole I see,” said Yvan. He was standing under the awning of a caravan. He’d pulled the collar on his jacket up high to keep the rain out but his black hair was wet and glossy.
“Thanks to you and my other helpers I am doing okay,” she said as she joined him. “Have you been standing here long?”
“A while. I was hoping your body guards would have freed you by now.”
“They have been teaching me the ways of the great shamanitsa’s!” she mocked playfully.
“I am happy to hear it,” he smiled. “Are you learning anything useful?”
“Bits and pieces. They are going to teach me how to link with Katya’s mind this afternoon. Baba Zosia seems to think I have the capabilities.”
“Even a blind man can see your potential, shalosť.” His own eyes were a very deep blue today and Anya felt the weight of them when he looked at her.
“Where is everyone else?”
“They are around. Trajan and Izrayl went on a scouting trip. Cerise I have no idea. I saw her a little while ago. Katya disappeared at dawn with her bow. I get the feeling being in the tribe and around so many people makes her uncomfortable.”
“It’s certainly a change for me. Our little group is growing.”
“Katya told me her intentions of joining with us. I don’t see the harm in that. She can take care of any threat that comes against her. I have never seen a woman warrior like her.” Anya felt a pinch of jealousy but she buried it.
“Cerise tells me you were lighting yourself on fire last night, how is that going for you?”
“Fine, now I know that you are well.”
“You were that worried?”
“Are you surprised that I would worry about you?”
“I am surprised when anyone gives a damn. It is a new experience for me.” He pulled her close, her arms sliding under the warmth of his jacket.
“I give a damn. More than you know. If you would have died yesterday I never could have forgiven myself,” he said softly.
“I think you carry too much guilt as it is, Yvan. Don’t shoulder the burden of me as well.”
“You are a burden I don’t mind shouldering.”
“Just don’t let it become so heavy that you can’t carry it, so you leave.”
“I am not going anywhere.”
“I should get back,” Anya said moving out of the
embrace, “otherwise Baba Zosia will be after me.”
Chapter Sixteen- Plans
Trajan was pacing across the forest floor. Izrayl sat on a rock not far from him with an amused expression on his face. Cerise appeared through the trees, her hair standing out brightly against the greens and browns of the forest.
“Relax Trajan; she is fine though I am not. Whoever thought camping was a good idea needs to have their brain examined,” she said as she joined them. “Baba Zosia and Aleksandra are training our girl as we speak.”
“I am such an imbecile,” Trajan muttered. “Eikki used to speak about her. He called her Zosi. He never even told me Anya’s real name is Anyanka.”
“Anya is taking it fine so there is no reason for you to get all antsy about it. For goodness sake, between you and Yvan there is enough worry to smother the poor girl to death,” said Cerise exasperated. Trajan continued to pace.
“It’s not like she hasn’t been through enough already! She could have died yesterday.”
“But she didn’t so get over it,” Izrayl replied before adding slyly, “She is rather extraordinary, although you already know that, don’t you Trajan?”
Cerise hit Izrayl across the back of the head. “Take your mind out of the gutter. Trajan damn well knows better than to think about going there with a mortal. Right Trajan?” She raised a perfect red eyebrow at him. Trajan didn’t reply but he stopped pacing and became very interested in cleaning the water droplets off his glasses.
“I think we should go to Paris and come up with some sort of plan to protect Anya,” Cerise changed the subject. “I ran the idea past her and Katya and they agree with me. Katya has back-up there we can call on and knows some people who can teach Anya how to use her magic better. We need to keep Anya out of Vasilli’s clutches and away from those bastards who work for the Darkness. With any luck Vasilli won’t find out that his stunt with the thorns hasn’t worked until we are all long gone from here.”
“I don’t know if taking her back to the real world is such a good idea,” said Trajan hesitantly. “Vasilli has many allies, in Europe especially.”
“At least she won’t be trailing magic all over the place,” Izrayl said as he picked leaves out of his long hair. “You can guarantee the Powers in Skazki will know about her by now. Baba Yaga already wants her. We can’t take her back to Russia. Everybody will be looking for her. We already have enough heat on us when we go back there from rescuing her the first time. Paris is a good idea considering all we have is rubbish options.”
“Katya has agreed to come with us and teach Anya how to defend herself.”
“Katya had better not teach her any of her bad manners,” grunted Izrayl. “That girl has some serious issues against volk krovi.”
“Sounds to me like someone is sulking,” Cerise teased.
“I’m not interested in her”
“Really?”
“Yes…why?”
“Nothing, it’s because I know she is interested in you.”
“Really?”
“Nope,” Cerise said seriously before she burst out laughing.
“You’re such a bitch.”
“It sounds to me like you are interested.”
“If you two would get back to the problem at hand,” interrupted Trajan.
“Yes, I want to go Paris,” said Cerise as she lit a cigarette. “Katya can help. She knows what we are up against better than we do. Your house will be able to hold us all. It is a veritable fortress with all the security you have. We have somewhere safe to take Anya so she can learn her magic and get ready for when they come after her. The gates aren’t going to hold forever either. We are going to need to smuggle her back into Russia as it is. At least if she has a few months to explore her talent she may be able to do it.”
“I want to go back too. Tasty French women are just what I need,” Izrayl said as he stretched his back.
“Paris will be about as safe as we will get. We will follow our instincts, hide somewhere secure and pick our battle. Yvan cares for Anya so I am sure he won’t object. We need to be gone from here by tomorrow night. The longer we stay here the longer we are putting these people and ourselves at risk. Vasilli won’t be fooled for long and I would hate for innocents to be killed because of us.” Trajan looked through the trees at the brightly painted caravans. It wouldn’t take the people of the tribe long to get suspicious about them.
“It is good that we are going. I don’t think I could handle much more of this trudging through mud and lack of hot showers,” Cerise said, “Also my supplies are running low. I only have three vials of dead man’s blood left. We all know that you will be okay for weeks thanks to that unfortunate incident with Vasilli’s pet.”
“Let it go Cerise,” Izrayl warned. Trajan knew she was right to be angry. Exposing what he could to do to Anya was risky but she hadn’t said a word to him about it.
They hadn’t even left the forest before they heard Anya’s laughter. He smiled and hurried to find her. Anya was sitting on a wooden stump with some of the tribe’s children teaching them scissors, paper, rock. Yvan stood with them laughing at their games and arguments. Trajan frowned.
“She is very patient with them.” He turned and saw Katya leaning against the side of a caravan.
“Yes, she has a kind heart even though she hides it,” he told her as he turned back to watch Anya.
“I am not an idiot. I know you are falling in love with her. It’s written all over you. If you hurt her, I will kill you,” Katya said evenly. She hadn’t even bothered to mask the threat.
“If I hurt her you will have to get in line to kill me. But I will do everything I can to make sure nothing harms her. Even myself. Nothing has changed about me protecting her.”
“When we get back to the real world I don’t know what kind of reception we are going to get,” commented Katya. “Probably a bad one knowing the Darkness. If I had known Vasilli was after you I would have thought twice about coming to aid you. This is so much bigger than all of us. The way the Darkness are organised is crazy. I know people who have tried to map their organisation and can’t. He’s a part of it and is ranked highly. He’s got a lot of fingers in a lot of pies.”
“You’re not afraid of a fight are you?” Izrayl had appeared out of nowhere. He and Katya eyed each other up like gunfighters. She hooked her thumbs in her belt, very close to where the sheaths holding her daggers sat.
“I live for it,” Katya tossed her shaggy black hair defiantly. “I’m worried about an old dog like you taking on the big boys that’s all.”
“Settle down, pup. Those teeth aren’t sharp enough to take me on just yet,” Izrayl retorted. “I will fight you one day I promise. Right now we got bigger problems.”
All three of them turned and looked at Anya again. She gave them a puzzled glance but was interrupted by one of the children clamouring for her attention.
“Aleki tells me she learns remarkably fast,” commented Katya. “She thinks it’s too fast but I think Anya is a natural. She certainly has enough power to fly around that’s for sure.”
“Let’s hope it turns out to be a good thing,” said Izrayl.
“She’s more stable than you give her credit for,” Katya said sternly. “She’s smart and she wants to learn. I’m sure Eikki had his reasons for protecting her but she has some talent.”
“The Darkness was after her in Moscow when she went missing. She hadn’t learnt a thing and they were still trying to find her.” Trajan could still feel the rage he had released that night. Izrayl bumped him slightly to bring him back.
“What happened?” Katya asked as she looked at Trajan uneasily. “Anya only told me you both found her in the park.”
“Izrayl and I had been tracking her for days. They had been too.”
“We found them closing in on her,” Izrayl interrupted, his eyes flicking over to Trajan. “He kind of lost it. He raged out and tried to kill all ten of them. I stopped a few from killing him. He almost died bu
t we got her back to Eikki in one piece.”
“They would have found it a hard task to kill me and I heal quicker than Anya,” argued Trajan. That night was still a sore spot between them. Izrayl didn’t like to kill unless he had to but Trajan was his best friend so he had made the exception.
“I won’t say they didn’t deserve it. I know what they do to people who have gifts,” Katya said darkly. “Sounds like it would have been a good fight.”
“The problem is we are now high on their shit list. That’s why we have been keeping away from Russia. I am happy to go back to the real world though. I have missed the girls there for countless reasons,” Izrayl gave Katya a wicked smile. The back of her neck reddened.
“I am sure. Is this little tale about rescuing Anya your way of telling me we could be in for trouble when we head back?”
“I’m sure you can handle some trouble,” said Izrayl suggestively.
“I can handle a lot of trouble,” Katya’s mouth twisted into a provocative grin. “And I can certainly handle you.”
***
Katya didn’t know why she did it. Flirting with a volk krovi was just plain dangerous. It didn’t matter how cute he was, you just didn’t do it. He had a shitty attitude but it kind of heightened his appeal. Katya groaned inwardly at her stupidity.
She killed his kind; she didn’t flirt with them. Maybe Baba Zosia was right…maybe she was turning into a harlot. Or maybe there was a volk krovi walking around with amazing black hair and wicked amber eyes and a killer smile who could turn a seventy-year-old nun into a harlot just by walking past.
Focus! Katya yelled at herself. She decided to blame her lack of sex, the darkness, the gold light of the fires and the vodka singing through her brain. It would be really great if he would stop smiling at her knowingly, then looking away. Bastard men! Katya raved in her head as she took another sip of vodka. She was standing out of the fire circle, leaning against one of the caravans.
Trajan and Anya were sitting next to each other, their sides just touching. They reminded Katya of nervous high school kids who didn’t know whether to hold hands in public. Cute, in a very weird way; a Grecian death spirit in love with a mortal Russian Shamanitsa. That was a world of drama waiting to happen.
Cry of the Firebird (The Firebird Fairytales Book 1) Page 16