One creature pointed its palms at the center of the pit, and flames erupted along the carved channels. The other creature raised its hands, then slammed them to its sides. The flames froze in place, cracking and shattering into tiny fragments.
“Let’s get out of here.” Pavel dragged Theo by the sleeve away from the boulders.
“Okay,” Theo said, still mesmerized by the activities of the creatures, not daring to turn away.
A large, furry paw grasped the back of his collar and pulled him upward. Theo’s stomach lurched. Too scared to scream, he stared at Pavel, whose legs also dangled a couple of feet above the ground in the creature’s other paw.
A deep voice spoke as it carried them toward the fire. “Look what we have. Uninvited guests in time for dinner.”
The black-furred creature tossed Theo and Pavel by the fire. The other two, whom Theo dubbed Fire and Ice because of their earlier magical feats, ceased jumping around the flames and hemmed them in. All three creatures remained silent, even their bells had stopped ringing. Three sets of blood-red eyes glared downward. Heat from the fire scorched Theo’s legs through his pants, but he didn’t dare move to rub them.
“Why are you hiding here?” the man-creature asked. “Who sent you? Are you spies?”
“Nobody sent us. Pavel and I were looking for a place to sleep tonight. We’re afraid of the Harpies.” The shrieks of the half-woman, half-bird creature that had grabbed him at the Samodivi fortress still haunted Theo.
“If you’re not a spy, then why do you have such a grand weapon?” Ice reached for the black bow. “This isn’t a toy for a child.”
The bow hissed, and a snake head emerged, striking Ice’s hand.
Ice stumbled back. “It’s bewitched!”
Theo took a couple of quick breaths. “It’s a gift from Kosara.”
“You lie.” The man-creature growled. “Why would our priestess give you this? You’re Lamia’s spies.”
Pavel whimpered. “No, we were traveling with Diva, a Samodiva, and—”
“Now I know you’re lying,” the man-creature roared at them. “Lamia captured all the Samodivi.” He turned to Fire and Ice. “Tie them up.”
“Drop the bow,” Ice told Theo.
Theo obeyed, and Ice bound his hands and feet with rope while Fire tied up Pavel. The two captors dragged Theo and Pavel toward a tree, hanging them upside down over a branch.
What would these creatures do to them? Yet another bad situation he’d put his friend in. Theo jerked like a fish on a hook, straining to break free. The dragon scale fell out of his pocket.
The man-creature snatched it. “This comes from Lamia. You are her spies.”
“No!” Pavel screamed. “We’ve come to kill her.”
“Quiet,” Theo whispered through clenched teeth.
Pavel clamped his mouth shut.
The man-creature laughed as he swung Pavel’s rope. “Think you’re the hero? By now, Lamia’s already captured the child she was looking for.” He gestured to Fire. “Jega, put him over the flames until he tells the truth.”
Fire lowered the rope and untied Pavel’s feet, then dragged him by the shirt collar to the pit.
“Leave him alone,” Theo yelled. “I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”
The man-creature held his hand out for Jega to stop. “You’d better not lie.”
“I won’t.” Theo shook his head vigorously.
“Zima, release this one.”
Ice slit the rope with a knife, and Theo collapsed onto the stones. He held out his hands and turned his head away as Zima sliced through the rope binding him.
The man-creature tossed the dragon scale at Theo’s feet. “Where’d you get that?”
Theo looked up as he rubbed his ankles. Firelight illuminated the monster. Long white hair poked out the side of his face.
“Lamia lost it in Selo when she kidnapped my sister.”
“Your sister, huh?” The man-creature kneeled beside Theo and peered at him with a questioning look. “Start talking.”
Could Theo trust these creatures? He had no other choice. “I want to defeat Lamia. I’ve already destroyed one soul.”
Theo kept his gaze locked on the man-creature. Perhaps if confidence worked with Baba Yaga, it would succeed with these beasts as well.
“Impossible. We’ve been trying to kill Lamia for years.” Ice turned toward Fire. “Jega, roast the one he calls Pavel.”
“No!” Theo struggled to rise, but the man-creature held him down. “I’m not lying. My mother is ... was a Samodiva. I met her in the Forest of Souls.”
Jega stopped dragging Pavel to the fire. “He could be telling the truth, Mraz. Lamia—”
“Don’t say any more,” the man-creature said to Fire. “Bring the other boy back here.”
Ice’s cold eyes stared at Theo. “I still don’t trust either of them.”
Fire released his grasp on Pavel’s shirt and nodded for him to return to Theo’s side.
Mraz sat facing Theo. “Tell me everything from the time you found the scale until you trespassed in our sanctuary.”
Theo looked from Mraz to Fire and Ice, who blocked any chance of escape. He spoke rapidly, repeating everything he’d told Diva, then continuing with his meetings with Kosara, Jabalaka, and Baba Yaga. He pulled out his medallion. “The symbols on this burned into my chest when Kosara touched my hand.”
“Show me the mark.” Ice crouched, putting his face close to Theo’s.
Theo lifted his shirt, revealing the tattoo Kosara had said meant “unborn hero.”
“Fascinating.” Mraz clasped his hands behind him and leaned back. “How did you find and destroy Lamia’s soul?”
“We actually found two—”
Ice pounded the ground. “Another lie!”
“Let the boy continue,” Mraz said.
Theo told them about Lesh and the clue Nature revealed, and how it had led them to the Rusalki and Morunduk. “I haven’t been able to destroy the second soul yet.” Theo cleared his throat several times before he continued, “The Youdi captured Diva, and the key’s missing. We think Diva might have it.”
“Prove it, and show us the box,” Ice said.
Theo stood and took a step away. “It’s in my backpack. I left it by the boulders.”
“I’m going with you,” Ice said, “so you don’t try to escape.”
Theo hurried to the hiding place. Boo lay curled around the backpacks and pouch. Disturbed from his sleep, he fluttered and croaked as if being slaughtered. When he looked at Ice, the magpie disappeared into the darkness.
“Boo, it’s okay.” Theo started after the magpie.
Ice grabbed his shirt. “Leave the bird and get this so-called ‘soul.’ ”
Theo dug to the bottom of his backpack and removed the black box. It hissed.
“Back to Mraz now.” Ice pushed Theo near the fire. “He can tell if it’s real magic or not.”
Theo handed the box to Mraz.
The man-creature closed his eyes and chanted. The box shook in his palms. Mraz shuddered and let the box fall, an angry hiss coming from inside. “It’s real. A powerful magic binds the creature inside to Lamia.”
Fire snatched the box. “We’ll destroy it.”
The box glowed in a fireball in Jega’s hands. The creature inside banged against the sides, but the box remained intact.
“Let me try.” Zima wrapped his hands around the box, enclosing it in a layer of ice. The crust crackled, but the box didn’t shatter.
“Enough, you two. Our magical powers can’t destroy it.” Mraz handed the box back to Theo. “Only the key the boy lost will work.”
“Now do you believe us? Will you let us go so I can find Diva and save my sister?”
“You’re not going anywhere,” Mraz said. “Lamia would pay a ransom to anyone who brought you in.”
“Are you going to betray us to her?” Pavel’s voice quavered.
“No,” Mraz said. “My brothers and I
will help you. Lamia’s killed or imprisoned so many people from Dragon Village. She’s poisoned our land and water. We can’t grow food. Our other nine brothers are in Zandan, Lamia’s prison. I want to defeat her as much as you do.”
Mraz placed his hands on the side of his face. His snarling head moved upward as if his neck were stretching. Another head—a humanlike one—appeared below the first. Mraz set the first head beside him and shook the white hair on the second head.
Theo gaped at him, then at the furry head lying on the ground.
Mraz laughed. “It’s a mask. Haven’t you ever seen one before? We’re Kukeri.”
***
The fire crackled and burned down to coals as the evening lengthened. Smoke and the scent of roasting game clung in the air. Theo was so hungry he wouldn’t care if it was a giant lizard Mraz had dragged back to the campsite.
Pavel reached for a mask. “These are so lifelike and way scarier than the ones the Kukeri who parade in our village wear.”
Zima grunted. “We’re real Kukeri. Humans imitate us badly.”
“We’ve protected this land—and yours—for thousands of years,” Mraz said.
“Not you personally for that long, right?” Pavel gulped. “Zima and Jega are boys like us, aren’t they?”
The Kukeri laughed, but none of them answered.
“Why haven’t you been able to defeat Lamia?” Theo asked. “The Kukeri who parade in Selo say their bells have power to drive out evil. Don’t yours?”
Zima sat up straight. “We are not boys with bells. I wield the winter elements. Snow and ice are my weapons.”
“And I,” Jega said as he stood and bowed, “hold fire’s mighty flame.”
Mraz stretched his legs. “Each one of us has a special magic to keep evil creatures like the Harpies and Lamia’s other minions away from here, but the dragon herself is too powerful for us to defeat.” He paused. “Pazach ... the one you call Jabalaka ... already told you a little about how Lamia got control. She did more than kill her mother. She destroyed her own brother. Do you know that story? You’ll be interested in it, Theo.”
“Diva told me a little, but I’d like to hear more,” he replied. “Anything to help me defeat Lamia is worth listening to.”
Mraz stirred the coals in the pit with a stick. His voice low, he began, “Many years ago, as the dragon Zmey flew over our beautiful land, he spied a Samodiva maiden dancing under the moon. Her name was Zunitza, the kindest and loveliest of all her sisters. Her fiery-red hair flashed like flames, igniting Zmey’s heart.”
Pavel sighed. “Beautiful, just like Diva.”
“Shh.” Theo nudged him.
“Wouldn’t a dragon frighten her?” Pavel asked.
“In dragon form perhaps.” Mraz smiled and continued, “But Zmey changed into a man to woo her. Only the wings tucked beneath his arms indicated he wasn’t human.”
“Wings?” Theo rubbed the sore bumps on his sides. The swelling hadn’t receded since Kosara had touched him.
Pavel laughed and lifted Theo’s shirt. “What’s the matter? Are you growing wings?”
“No!” Theo pulled his shirt down.
“Don’t worry. You’ll be able to fly with new wings I’ll make when we get back to Selo,” Pavel assured Theo.
Mraz cleared his throat. “Being a magical creature himself, Zmey didn’t fall prey to a Samodiva’s enchantments. His love was pure and true. But this enraged Lamia. Her brother no longer paid attention to her or catered to her whims.”
Despite himself, Theo shivered at the mention of Lamia. After all the terrible creatures he’d encountered, he dreaded the thought of meeting the dragon—especially if she was worse than the others. The encounter with her at the vulture’s nest had been terrible enough. He pushed away the thought and turned his attention back to Mraz.
“Zunitza often went to the human world to heal the creatures of the forest,” Mraz said. “She traveled on Shar, the fastest and strongest of the flying stags. Zunitza especially liked to go to Selo and sit by the sea. Zmey stayed by her side and protected the fields from Lamia’s scorching heat. Like fire and water, the two siblings fought each other for control of the land.”
Pavel leaned closer to Mraz. “So that’s why Zmey is our patron.”
“Yes, he loved the land and people as much as he loved Zunitza.” Mraz took a sip of water. “When Lamia learned Zmey and Zunitza were about to become parents, she went on a bloodthirsty rampage. Such a child born of a Samodiva and dragon would be more powerful than her. She pondered about the things written in her magical book—”
“Lamia’s Bible, right?” Pavel tapped his fingers on his leg.
“Yes, that’s the one.” Mraz covered Pavel’s hands with his own large one. “The book had foretold an ‘unborn hero’ who would one day destroy her.”
Theo’s heart sped up.
“Lamia sought to kill the child, but word reached Zunitza and Zmey,” Mraz continued. “He convinced Zunitza to flee to Selo while he confronted Lamia. If it weren’t for the safety of the child she carried, she would have stayed and fought alongside Zmey.”
Theo stood, then sat again. “And ... and she saved the child?”
“Yes, she gave birth to the child in the human world.” Mraz looked at Theo with compassion. “Kissing her son and holding him close one last time, Zunitza laid him on the steps of a home where a human woman had given birth that same night. Zunitza watched until another, older woman took the child inside, knowing the humans would care for him.”
Theo gulped down the lump in his throat.
“Lamia was furious and kidnapped a human child that same night, but it was the wrong one.”
That had to be Old Lady Witch’s daughter.
“Zunitza returned to Dragon Village to help Zmey in the fight against his sister.” Mraz’s voice cracked. “Lamia won. She killed Zunitza and turned Zmey into a stone statue.”
Pavel gasped. “Is that Zmey our Zmey, the statue we have in Selo?”
“Yes, I think so,” Theo whispered. “He’s the one who told me about the magpie.”
Pavel looked around. “Is that why you acted so weird back home? You said birds were talking, and I didn’t believe you. Why doesn’t Boo speak here? All he does is make that awful croaking sound.”
Theo shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe I heard him only because I was light-headed.”
Mraz cleared his throat again. “The story doesn’t end there.” The old man sighed. “Lamia continued to look for the child. For twelve years, she killed or kidnapped children and babies in both Dragon Village and the human world, until one day Pazach wrote where the child was hidden.”
Theo gasped. Jabalaka hadn’t told them that part of the story. He had said Lamia changed him because he had written how to find one of her souls. The dragon came to the human world to get him, but took the wrong child—his sister.
“And the child is ... is ...” Tears filled Theo’s eyes.
“Yes, Theo, you are the child of Zmey and Zunitza. I see your mother’s light and smile in you, and your father’s strength and brave heart. You are a powerful being born of a dragon and Samodiva. Destined to destroy Lamia, who hates—and fears you.”
Pavel became still, and his mouth went slack as he stared at Theo.
Theo put his hands over his face and wept for the parents who loved him, and for the father he was now determined to rescue, along with Nia and Diva. “Why did Jaba— Pazach write in the book where to find me? He knew the dragon would see it.”
Mraz laid a hand on Theo’s shoulder. “He had no choice. The curse forces him to disclose any secrets he discovers.”
Theo glanced up, tears blurring his vision. “All secrets? Then after I left, Jabalaka would have had to mention I was in Dragon Village.”
Mraz nodded.
“H-how do you know all this? I thought Jabalaka couldn’t tell anyone.”
“I know how the curse works.” Mraz stared into the darkness toward where the mountain loome
d. “I am the next to write the secrets if it can’t be broken.”
Theo drew in a breath. “You’re Jabalaka’s eldest son?”
Again, Mraz nodded.
Eerie, muffled screams of wildlife raged around them. So many new secrets revealed, but the one Theo thought about most was that he was Zmey’s son.
Chapter 17
Lightning Light
Stirred by a gentle breeze, ash from the previous night’s fire flitted through the air like white butterflies. Theo stared past a stone outcropping that resembled the profile of a reclining old man. In the distance, the summit of Cherna Mountain lay swathed in a dense purple haze. Theo had talked long into the night with Mraz. The old man had said that Lamia’s castle lay beyond the demon-filled Tililei Forest. Theo could sense the dragon lurking, waiting for him.
Mraz walked up to Theo and laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Go to the well and stock up on water before you leave. We don’t have much to share, but at least we have a fresh supply we’ve been able to protect from the dragon’s poison. It’s more precious than gold these days.”
“Are you sure your brothers want to go with Pavel and me?” Theo walked back to the cave with Mraz. “I know they want to save Dragon Village, but somehow I’ve been assigned this mission.”
“Zima and Jega are good warriors. You saw them practicing their talents. They can help you in your journey, and they want to rescue our other brothers.” Mraz paused, heaving a sigh. “I can’t go. If Lamia caught me, she’d kill Pazach and force me to betray my people by writing in her cursed book.”
Theo kicked at a stone. It collided with boulders and brush as it skidded down the ridge. He was like that stone, his emotions a chaotic mess, bouncing around, uncertain of the outcome of his journey. He didn’t want to endanger any of the Kukeri.
“If only we could destroy the second soul,” he said. “It might give us a clue how to find the final one.”
“Perhaps on the way, you’ll discover answers,” Mraz said. “If not, it’s all the more important to have my brothers with you when you confront Lamia.”
The Unborn Hero of Dragon Village Page 17