Rise of the Firebird

by Amy K Kuivalainen

  “Why do I feel like I should be sleeping with one eye open tonight?” Katya said as she pulled off her boots.

  “Because we’ll probably wake up to a hiiisi trying to sit on our heads,” Izrayl said as he stretched out on the mattress beside her.

  “Louhi is vicious, but she wouldn’t stoop so low as to kill visitors under her roof. Besides, if she planned on killing us she’d do it to your face so you knew that she was the one taking your life. She’s old fashioned that way.” Eldon yawned loudly, “The sooner we get to sleep, the sooner we can leave. Take advantage of a warm and comfortable bed. We’ll be safe until morning.”

  Hours later, Anya still couldn’t sleep. Yvan lay near her but made no attempt to hold her. She’d rolled over and put her back to everyone. She wanted desperately to be alone, to be out of Pohjola. In one night, Louhi had put not only doubts in her mind again about Trajan but she’d also taken away any hope of ever finding a clue about the location of the sword. Ilya wouldn’t have left the message if he knew she couldn’t find it. What if it was the wrong sword? Anya knew of no other sword of heaven but the one mentioned in the Kalevala. Where did you hide it Kullervo? Anya thought over and over, fighting the urge to groan aloud in frustration.

  Would you like to know? A voice whispered in her mind. Anya sat up and looked around the dark room.

  Who are you? she asked tentatively.

  Someone who can help.

  Where are you?

  Come find me… Anya climbed from the bed and pulled on her coat and boots. Ignoring Louhi’s warnings, Anya slipped out of the room and into the dark hallway. No hiiisi were on guard but there was a chill of watchfulness in the air.

  I’m coming, Anya sent out. Where are you?

  Down, the voice was fainter now, tired, but insistent. Pain registered through Anya and she saw in her mind, bars, and the faint glow of hiiisi stones.

  You are a prisoner?

  Innocent. Come.

  Anya crept slowly through the corridors, checking for guards and jumping at the smallest of sounds.

  I don’t know where the dungeons are. I’m blind.

  Hall. Throne.

  Louhi will-

  No. Sleeping.

  Cool sweat broke out on Anya’s forehead. Louhi hated her and suspected treachery and now she was proving her right. Something angry and grey rose to the surface, quelling Anya’s misgivings. All the things that Louhi had said flickered through her mind. She’d attacked Anya, Aramis and Mychal. She had betrayed Eldon. Thoughts of honouring the Mistress of Northland blew away from Anya, leaving only rage. Two hiiisi sat in front of the door to the hall, as still as gargoyles.

  There are guards, two others. Is there another door into the hall?

  Magic. Mind. Stop.

  That makes no sense!

  Idiot. Frustration echoed through to her. Hiiisi mind.

  Anya puzzled on what the voice could mean. Very carefully, she reached out to feel magical signatures the way Chayton and Honaw had taught her. Instantly, the auras around their heads flared to life. They were magical creatures but unlike Izrayl who had been born, these hiiisi had been created.

  There was a spark of magic in them, the twisting knot of a spell binding rock and ice together, giving it life. Anya had the life of the forest in her. She could feel it in everything living around her. It made sense now why the hiiisi made her so uncomfortable. They were unnatural puppet soldiers crafted by Louhi.

  Still controlling her magic, Anya began to pick at the bindings that held their bodies together. She focussed on the knot in their mind as the voice had told her to and within moments, she pulled gently on the right string and the hiiisi tumbled into messy piles of rock and ice. Anya stepped over the stones nimbly and pulled the door to the hall open. Her footsteps barely made a sound as she tiptoed to Louhi’s black throne. It was engraved with swirling decorations and designs. Experimentally, Anya began to push and pull on everything she could lay her hands on.

  Arm, the voice said so faint it was barely a whisper. Anya ran her hands down the arms again, bending down to examine them. Barely noticeable was a carved mark like a twisted rune. She pushed on it, her magic sparking against it like static. Stone scraped against stone and the heavy throne slid back to reveal a set of stairs leading underground.

  The air grew colder and with each hesitant step, Anya felt the darkness swallow up over her like thick tar. She focussed on the firebird, how hot it burned and lit up the sky, the heat of Yvan’s kiss in the forest. Small flames licked up from her hand, scattering the shadows and the choking thickness of the air. There was a tunnel at the bottom of the stairs and four doors built of iron.

  “Hello?” she whispered.

  “Behind you,” wheezed a cracked voice.

  Anya held up the fire in her hand to try to get a better look at the inmate. Iron chains an inch thick were bolted to the walls and disappeared into a mound of matted hair and material. It moved and two pale blue eyes shone out of a dirty face. The door and walls of the cell were laced with iron, every inch of it layered with magic. Louhi must’ve been very afraid of the prisoner to go to such extreme lengths. Anya peeped through the holes in the ironwork.

  “Why has she locked you up like this?” she asked.

  “I have knowledge and magic, and I don’t wish to share either. I have heard whispers of you even from all the way down here, Shamanitsa,” the prisoner said. “I’m happy that it was you who found me. I’ve not seen another face but Louhi’s in nearly five hundred years.”

  “That sounds like torture enough.” There came a hacking choking sound from the cell and Anya realised he was laughing. “You know of Kullervo’s sword?”

  “I do. I know more about it than anyone living or dead. I know more about it than anyone in all of the history of the worlds.”

  “How?” Anya moved to a larger hold so she could see him better. “Who are you?”

  “Can you not guess?” The face was too dirty to make out any true features, all except the pale eyes burning with blue fire and madness.

  Anya felt something move through her and she shivered, “Kullervo.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight - The Cursed One

  “Hyvä arvaus, Anyanka,” Kullervo chuckled. “Now why don’t you open that door so we can have a real conversation like civilised people?” Anya stepped back and tried to study the spell that kept the cell locked. “Knowing Louhi, it won’t be too difficult to find the answer to unlock it.”

  “If it was so easy, then how come you haven’t done it already?”

  “She used my blood in the spell so I can’t touch the bars without some kind of torture. I would have to break out of these spelled chains of iron and blankets soaked in salt first.”

  “It’s a wonder why she didn’t kill you and be done with it. An eternity in a prison seems so boring. Did you tell her she looked fat or something?”

  “No, I refused to die. She wasn’t the first to try to kill me, but she’s certainly been the most creative.”

  “You’re certainly more alive than I expected.”

  Anya blocked out his laughter and placed her hand on the lock of the door. She couldn’t move the spell but perhaps she could override it with one of her own. She had melted iron before and she could do it again. She closed her eyes and felt the words rise out of her.

  “Brother Iron

  feel fires bite!

  Unruly kinsman snapping

  at Irons heels.

  Heat to tame you

  Heat to break you

  Heat to unmake you.

  Brother Iron flee

  back to dark swaps

  back to wolf’s prints

  and bear’s footsteps.

  To hide, to keep safe

  from that harsh fires hands

  from the mouth of furious flame.”

  The door wobbled once before collapsing in a molten puddle. Anya’s feet and legs broke into flames and the hissing iron moved away from her before sinking between the stone
paving and back into the dirt. Anya stepped over it and into Kullervo’s cell.

  “If I could use my hands I’d be applauding your effort. Hyvä ilta little cousin, it is so nice to see you.”

  “That’s debatable,” Eldon said behind her. “What the hell are you thinking, Anyanka?” She turned to confront him but balked when she saw his furious face.

  “Louhi lied, she had Kullervo all along,” she said defensively.

  “So you believe releasing him is wise? Don’t you remember the stories about him?”

  “I haven’t read them,” Kullervo said from the floor. “Sounds like they made me the villain though.”

  “Don’t worry, they blamed it all on your bad upbringing,” said Anya.

  Kullervo chuckled huskily, “Of course they did.”

  “We can’t leave him like this, Eldon,” Anya placed a hand on his arm. “He’s our only chance to find the sword. Louhi has been trying to kill him. You know her capacity for cruelty better than anyone.”

  “The skinning was interesting,” Kullervo muttered.

  “And what will stop him from betraying you, Anya?”

  “Honour of course,” claimed Kullervo. Eldon snorted in disbelief. “I always keep my vows and my promises, even the bad ones that I should never make. Free me from this place, get me out of Pohjola, and I’ll give you the sword. Freedom for Ukko’s Sword is a bargain.”

  Anya squatted down next to him so she could look him in the eyes.

  “What’s the matter? Are you worried I’ll try to go back to my evil ways?” Kullervo mocked. “It was all how I was raised, don’t you know?”

  “You cannot blame your upbringing for turning you into an asshole. Just so we are clear, if you decide to betray me, misbehave, or back out of our bargain, I will be the one that kills you.”

  Kullervo’s broken face managed a smile, “I’m going to enjoy our partnership, little cousin. I swear on the blood and memory of my clan that I’ll take you to the Sword of Heaven. I’ll place it in your hands if you free me from this place.”

  “That’ll be easier said than done,” groaned Eldon.

  “Just shut up and help me, Blaise, unless you can think of a better plan.”

  “So much for making peace with Louhi,” he said as he leant down to examine the chains that bound Kullervo.

  “Louhi would get what she needed from you then betray you. There can be no such thing as peace with Louhi, because it’s as strange a concept to her as flying is to an earth worm,” Kullervo said.

  “When we get out of here we are going to have a very long talk about why and how you came to be here,” Eldon stated. “In the meantime, shut up and let me concentrate.”

  Kullervo smiled up at him innocently, “As you wish, Bard. Little cousin, can you get these blankets off me? They have been woven with iron and soaked in salt. They dampen my magic and make me terribly itchy.” Anya lifted the layers off him, stiff and crackly with age. Underneath, he was dressed in a raggedy tunic that came to his knees. He sighed as he stretched out his arms and legs, his joints snapping and cracking. A small burst of power rippled from him.

  “Put your shields up, you amateur,” snapped Eldon. “If you don’t want Louhi to wake up you’ll refrain from flashing your power. Anya, try to get a message to Aleki, Katya, or the firebird. Wake them up. We’ll need to get out of here as soon as he is free.” He went back to the chains, twisting them over in his hands. Anya tried to connect with Aleksandra and Katya but they were too deeply asleep.

  Kokko Lintu? Are you there?

  Where are you? Asked the firebird.

  Doesn’t matter. Wake Yvan and the others, we need to leave now.

  Betrayal?

  Yes, but not Louhi. Wake them and have them meet us in the hall.

  The guards?

  Killed. Just do it! Anya snapped the connection off.

  Eldon had his knife out, scratching something into where the chains were bolted on the wall. He said a word that Anya’s mind scrambled in a series of sounds that wouldn’t retain in her memory. The chains turned to ash and crumbled onto the ground.

  “Help me get him up,” Anya said as she hooked her arm underneath Kullervo’s shoulders.

  “Slowly, sweet cousin, I haven’t stood in a few years and I don’t want to scream.”

  “Bite down on your tongue then. I’m sure it will grow back,” Eldon suggested unsympathetically as he reached down and put Kullervo’s arm about his shoulder. Despite his gruffness, they lifted Kullervo very slowly. He groaned but managed to keep his mouth shut. They were half way up the narrow stalls when there was a shuffling of feet above them and a familiar face appeared, wreathed in fire.

  “Anya, is that you?”

  “Yvan, thank God,” Anya exclaimed. “Quick, get down here and help us.” With Yvan’s help, Kullervo was up and out of the hole in moments.

  “Where is everyone?” Eldon whispered.

  “They’ve gone to find a stable to get us some horses. Should I ask how you convinced Anya to help you steal one of Louhi’s prisoners?”

  “Me! It’s your lady love that’s breaking people out in the middle of the night!” Eldon picked up his pack that Yvan had brought with him. Kullervo flopped down onto Louhi’s throne.

  “No time to argue, Vanya,” Anya said, “we need to move.”

  “Are you even going to tell me who this is?”

  “It might be better if that was saved for later. Trust me. Eldon, you know your way around, lead us to the stables.”

  “Gladly,” he hefted Kullervo up again and Yvan took the other side. “You can deal with the hiisi if they find us.”

  “But Anya can’t -” Yvan stopped and stared from her to the rubble at the doors.

  “No time for that either, Vanya,” Kullervo said in a perfect mimicry of Anya’s voice.

  “Shut up,” Anya and Eldon said together and Kullervo smiled infuriatingly.

  Eldon cast a silence spell around them as they shuffled a slow moving Kullervo. Yvan groaned with frustration before slinging him over a shoulder like a sack and carrying him.

  Outside, cold snow and ice hit them like a wet sucker punch. “Anya, what the hell is going on?” Izrayl asked nervously.

  “Doesn’t matter. Did you find any horses?”

  “Argh…sort of?”

  “You have got to be kidding me,” Anya said when she saw what was behind him. They had hitched a black and silver sleigh to four black reindeer. It was Louhi’s own personal transport that they’d be stealing to add insult to injury. They seated Kullervo down in the back of it and covered him with blankets. Katya sat perched on the side of the sleigh, next to where a grey Aramis sat in his blue coat. Mychal was at the reins with Aleksandra sitting beside him.

  “I’m going to morph and run,” Izrayl said. “I’m looking forward to stretching my legs and maybe killing a few things.”

  “Yvan?”

  “The firebird wants to fly and I’m going to allow it. Louhi’s creatures fear fire.” Anya didn’t argue but she wasn’t comfortable with the idea.

  “I’m staying with you, Anya, in case you decide to do anything else ridiculous,” Eldon said sitting down beside her. “You’ll need help protecting our guest anyway.” Izrayl and Yvan stripped out of their clothes, the firebird launching itself into the sky with a wave of heat and scorching ozone.

  “That was unexpected,” Kullervo said, his eyes watching the bird fly about them.

  “Get used to it hitch hiker,” Katya said as she strung her bow. “Let’s go, Mychal!”

  “You don’t want to know who I am?” Kullervo asked.

  “I don’t really give a shit. Anya has risked starting another war for you so you must be important to her. Keep your head down and stay out of my way.”

  Mychal got the reindeer into a quick canter over the fresh snow. Izrayl ran in a lopping pace beside the sled as it headed across the plain between Pohjola and the forest.

  “Hiisi are coming!” Kullervo shouted and pointed
. Tall figures could be made out in the faint light of the dawn. A hunting horn sounded over the ice.

  “Louhi is awake,” Eldon shouted. Black winged creatures were rising into the sky and heading for them. Anya moved close to Eldon at the back of the sleigh. “Any ideas?” he said through the cloud of raven hair that flew about his face.

  “I have a few,” Anya said as she felt anger welling up inside of her. The firebird screeched over head as the black creatures caught up to them.

  “They are hags, leave them to the firebird,” Eldon said. Anya tore her eyes away from the fight overhead to the hiisi that were barely a hundred metres behind them. Anya shut down the distractions and her emotions. She saw the light glowing in them and she dropped her shields. Hot power lashed out of her and she ripped out the knots of their spells with one hand and raised a wall of ice with the other, trapping the unmade hiisi pieces inside of it.

  “Well done, little cousin!” Kullervo cheered. Aramis was looking at Anya in surprise and horror.

  “I can sense a door out of Pohjola not too far ahead,” Aleksandra shouted.

  A screaming cry sounded above as a hag larger than the others joined the battle. It had a large wingspan, long curving claws, and streaks of white hair.

  “Louhi,” said Eldon. “Anya you need to call Yvan back now! He isn’t strong enough to take her on. We need to cross over and he must be with us!” Anya relayed the message to Yvan and tried to keep the anxiety for him out of her voice. The firebird exploded into flames and dove back towards the earth amid the cries of agony and frustration from his attackers.

  “Your bow! Quickly!” Kullervo demanded. Katya handed it to him without argument. Kullervo ran his hands over the arrow whispering to it. Anya jolted backwards into Eldon as Kullervo crackled with power and energy. He notched the shining arrow and sent it flying before sending another after it.

  The head of the first arrow hit Louhi’s wing, blowing it in half with a spray of blood and feathers. The second found her other wing and she screamed in pain as she fell in a downward spiral. Her hags gave up on chasing the firebird and plummeted after their Mistress, catching her in their claws before she was dashed to pieces on the ice.