by Taki Drake
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Dascha sent a mental purr to her witch, happily convinced that she had succeeded in motivating Zhanna to do exactly what was needed for the drama that was about it to be enacted. She was very careful not to let that thought go over their bond. Zhanna could be so picky about being nudged for her own good.
Grumbling to herself, Zhanna walked over to one of the longer ranges that were set up for her to practice some of the spells she had learned while away. Centering herself and drawing the power that she needed up through the soles of her feet, she started her magical katas. This was going to be fun. No one shooting at her, no one trying to dissolve her with acid, just a chance to blow things up.
Shaking her arms and hands to loosen them up, Zhanna took one more quick breath. Then she spoke the word of power that started the stored spell. Bam! Eight targets popped up from behind the rocks. Each of them holding a sparkler that was burning down. She was supposed to destroy all of them before the sparklers ran out.
Pivoting on the balls of her feet she rapidly slammed what look like small lightning bolts into the center of each of the targets. One, two, three, four. Turn to the other side. Five, six, seven. Where was the eighth?!
She saw out of the corner of her eye a little bit of a sparkler that was almost down to the end. Spinning in a 270° arc, she got the last one just before the sparkler ran out. She had gotten them all. Hopefully, the drill instructor would be proud. She knew Agatha would be.
The next exercise was starting already. It was timed to begin at some unknown interval after the first one completed. In this exercise, her power and agility were being tested. A series of little holes opened up scattered around the practice yard. As the holes opened up, a little furry head would pop out, stare for a split-second and then disappear back into the hole. Shortly after that, the hole would close.
If she couldn’t get directly over the hole to zap the creature, she would lose it. It would show up again and again until she finally managed to kill it. She was ready.
A hole opened up. Zhanna took off at a flat-out run, jumping over a ditch to get there and fired a small bolt down the hole before it closed. Quick, turn to the left there was another one opening, so she ran back that way, jumping up on top of a small boulder. Bam! Another one bit the dust. Now two more. Almost directly behind her. Spin! Bam! Bam! Missed, dammit! Bam! Got it now! Those were dead too. One more in the round, one more to go. Where was this one? They always had to be one sneaky one, so she looked back to the area that she had already blown up and, sure enough, it was there. Damned drill instructors. They always tried to make you confused. Run over there, slam another one down, and YES! 100%!! This was great.
The sound of clapping made her start and look around. It was Stefan and Mikail, with a group of four other mercenaries. Mikail came over grinning broadly and said, “Nice show, Lady. I think you got a little bit sloppy there at the end, but I won’t rat you out to the DI.”
Zhanna made an annoyed face at him, responding, “We will see who rats who out when we get to your part of the practice, boy.”
The four strange mercenaries were standing open-mouthed. Stefan was grinning so hard it looked like his head was going to fall off. The young witch was a bit annoyed at being set up. She had this bad feeling that the two mercenaries and her always loving familiar had colluded on this. Perhaps there would be a few words with them later on. However, she was also sure that there was a reason for it, Zhanna would wait to see what the reason was before she got annoyed.
Oh Lord, she thought to herself, I am becoming an adult.
Zhanna was rudely yanked back to the current reality when one of the strange mercenaries turned to Stefan and said audibly, “She’s just a woman! I see that she can run and jump, but we need power. And you know that no woman has any sort of power. Their minds and bodies are just not set up to handle that.”
They were now dealing with an infuriated witch. Stalking over to where the men were all standing, she walked over to the one who was haranguing Stefan. The man was so busy arguing with the older Merc that he didn’t realize his danger until it was too late. Zhanna started out by saying, “I suppose that you think that all males are more powerful than all females. And I further suppose that you’re worried about my holding up under pressure. Is that correct?”
The man was taken aback at her confrontational manner. Stammering out a response, he admitted to believing that all women were less powerful than all men. He also truly believed that women could not handle the pressure.
All the other mercenaries stepped back from him, creating an invisible zone of emptiness around him. They were far smarter than he was because at this point Zhanna was just furious. Examining the now silent man, sweeping his figure from head to toe and back up again, Zhanna said, “Then I suppose I should show you my power levels and you can decide if I can hold up my end. And if you decide that I can hold up my end, I expect you to demonstrate how you’re going to hold your end up.”
Without waiting for the stunned man to respond, Zhanna turned and walked confidently back to the practice yard. Waiting to allow calming energy to enter her and balance her rage out, it was ninety seconds before she was ready to continue. So great was the tension, that no one moved, no one talked.
In a very clear and calm voice, one that was easily heard by even the group of mercenaries to the side, Zhanna said of word of power and opened the palms of her hands while raising them waist-high in front of her. She spoke another word and raised her cupped hands up even further.
The sunny day was overrun. Scuttling across the sky like a herd of the ethereal sheep, huge storm clouds scrambled to do her bidding. Shades of gray to almost black, they clustered around her presence, bringing the smell of ozone and water to everyone’s nose.
The group waited for something to happen for one second, two seconds, and then three. At the end of the third second, the sky split open, and bolts of lightning slammed all around Zhanna. Splashes of water froze as falling clouds and St. Elmo’s fire crawled into the grasses. Zhanna stood in the middle of her own personal storm, waiting for completion.
The crawling lightning sped up as it got closer to Zhanna. Like puppies running to their mother, the lightning sped toward the young witch, circling her before slithering up her legs and pooling into her hands. She stood motionless while this happened, just waiting.
When all lightning had been collected, she spun on the balls of her feet and fired off a series of incandescent beams of destruction. Using both hands, she fired alternate bolts, 1 – 2 – 3 – 4. Left, right, left, right. The snapping of the bolts and the eye-searing light were intense. But they were dwarfed by the sheer destructive effect of her bolts as they hit the boulders. House-sized boulders were reduced to small pebbles. A new valley was carved into a nearby hill.
Zhanna looked at what she had done. Turning, she stared at the group of men that stood frozen on the other side of the practice yard. Stabbing with her eyes the man that had complained that women had no power, she said, “That is the introduction. Now that I have shown you mine, it’s time for you to show me yours.”
Chapter 19
Bolormaa had taken off for the elder meeting. The unknown reasons for the disappearances were bringing the business the village almost to a halt. With over 95% of the men gone on assignment, the village is very vulnerable. If it was something that needed to be fought, there were fewer than 30 able-bodied men currently in residence. Something
needed to be done, but what? Hopefully, the meeting would produce a workable plan.
Zhanna was doing odds and ends. The meeting with the four mercenaries had actually gone pretty well. Once they got over the shock created by Zhanna’s power, all four of them were actually pretty understanding and accepting. It would take a while to understand that Zhanna did things differently. Without that understanding, there is absolutely no way that they could work together.
Zhanna understood enough about herself that she knew that having someone trying to order her around all the time was not going to work. It was as if all of the stubbornness in both her family lines had distilled down to her. Lord knows that her loving and wonderful brother had none of that. It was up to Zhanna to carry out the tradition of stubbornness to an ideal.
It was a very efficient evening. She completed various household tasks and had run through the practice sets that the magic instructor provided by Mazza had assigned her. She was even ahead on most of those. Thinking about doing some drills of her own, she had heated up some wine in anticipation of her grandmother’s return.
The night had proved to be dark and a little dreary. Misting rain and a loud wind made it worse than the temperature alone would cause. Not the sort of thing that she wanted to be out in, but sometimes choices were not available for what she really wanted to do.
In that sort of dozing, fuzzy introspective she was very startled when someone knocked on her door. Opening the door against the gusty wind, she was automatically saying, “Come in please, it’s crazy to be out in the in this storm!” when she realized it was Krava. Damn! He was the one person that she had never wanted to invite into her home.
Donning his trademark evil smirk, the huge man said, “Thank you. I’ve been waiting for you to invite me in for a long time.”
“I would suggest that you ask what you came to ask and then get out of here, Krava.”
“That’s not a very nice welcome, Zhanna. You should at least wait to hear what I’m going to say to you.”
“Well then say it and get out.”
Krava looked at her, really looked at her, for a few seconds. He said, “It’s nice to see you looking so well. Something must agree with you because the last time I saw you, you didn’t look half as good.”
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The cat sauntered into the room, making an extravagant point of its presence by stretching and hopping up next to Zhanna. Purring briefly at her, the cat fixed its bright green eyes on Krava and watched him with the unwavering glare of a predator.
The forceful glare prompted the mercenary mage to comment, “Cats! I really detest the evil little creatures. You have to get rid of that when we get married.”
“Excuse me?”
“Of course, you’re going to marry me. You really don’t have very many other choices. You are too old for most of the young men and too strange for most of the ones that need a new mother for their children. The only ones that would take you are really poor or crazy. So I’ve always known that you’re going to have to marry me and you might as well just accept it.”
Zhanna couldn’t help herself. She laughed. Immediately, she knew it was the wrong thing to do. She knew that it would infuriate him. But she couldn’t help herself. The blind assumption that she would bow to that sort of pressure was more than she could understand. If he would’ve done any research or spent any time understanding the people in her family, he would’ve known that kind of marriage was not an option. But in his hubris, it had never occurred to him that anyone would turn him down.
“I fail to see what is so hilarious.”
“I have to admit that is a somewhat novel approach. It certainly is different than the other proposals of marriage that I’ve received.”
“The fact that you have not accepted any of them tells me that they weren’t as good of a catch as I am. I’m a good provider, and I’m not bad looking if I say so myself. Anyone else would be worse, and since I’m willing to take you despite your baggage, we should just get it over with.”
At this point, Zhanna was laughing so hard that tears were running down her face and she was getting hiccups. The man had no clue.
Despite the faint smell of rotting meat that seemed to follow him everywhere, Zhanna had to admit that he was not an ill-favored man. But she found his meanness of spirit and an undefinable sense of slimy evil that she couldn’t shake made him unacceptable as a riding partner let alone a life partner.
Trying desperately to control yourself, Zhanna managed to stifle the giggles that threatened to break through her control. She tried once more, saying, “Thank you very much for the offer, Krava. Unfortunately, I do not believe we will suit. I am sure that there are other women who would satisfy you far better and make you a better wife. I wish you the best, but you had better leave.”
Shooting her an incredulous look, the large mage stood and loomed over her. “You’re making a really bad mistake by turning me down. Your grandmother will be homeless, and you’ll end up as a prostitute on the streets of St. Petersburg if you don’t start using your head.”
Zhanna had started to get angry now instead of amused. Her response was heated, “My options are not that limited. And they are my options, not yours. My choices fit my worldview and do not have to match anyone else’s viewpoint. So I say to you again, thank you for the offer, but I am turning you down.”
Krava crowded over Zhanna using his height and bulk to try to intimidate her. He sneered down at her, saying, “And who would want you even as much as they don’t now if you were raped. You and your grandmother are out here all by yourself and vulnerable. It would not take much to turn that haughty attitude into one of abject apology. Especially since you foolishly care for the gullible woman who raised you.”
He was not done talking, continuing with, “I could even rape you and say that you invited it. Now you are trying to complain about it. I can ruin your reputation and get you and your grandmother thrown out of town. It would be your fault that she was bereft of all the friends and comfort that she developed over the years.”
“I refuse to accept that as legitimate!”
“That is just the way things are done, Zhanna.”
“You have no honor! Your actions are those of an unthinking and brainless idiot. How can you look at yourself in the mirror in the morning and not want to shun your own behavior?”
“You know damn well that we have kept our families fed and the village maintained. There is no way of making money here, and it is every man for himself.”
“So you prostitute yourself, act like a shlyukha, and try to make it seemed like you have to do it for your family.”
“We do the best we can. Would you have my parents starve? Would you have Igor’s children go without clothing?”
“Krava, I am telling you that there is a different way. There has to be a different way. Our history, our traditions, go beyond what we are doing now. It is like we have lost our way.”
The tall witch grimaced and answered sarcastically, “Until something miraculous happens, Zhanna, we will just have to continue our mercenary ways. I am sorry that you do not approve, but that is the harsh reality. Even now your grandmother has repairs on her home that need to be done. How are you going to pay for that? Your brother is now dead, there is no more money for you or her.”
“I’m certainly not going to be forced into marrying you! That would be a different type of selling, and one that neither of us would enjoy. I would make certain of that.”
<> added a deadly-sounding voice in both witches’ head.
Krava snorted in annoyance. “Of all the witches in our village that it could have gotten a familiar, it had to be you, Zhanna. You have no mercenary skills, and we would not allow you to work outside the village anyway. What good is a familiar if you can’t work your magic?”
&nb
sp; “Understand me clearly, Krava. I will work where I choose to work, I will do what I choose to do. No one else will tell me what I am allowed or not allowed to do, especially you.”
Infuriated, the bulky man in mercenary garb raised his arm and stepped toward the defiant small woman. Unseen by Krava, the palm of Zhanna’s right hand began to glow a peculiar dull red. She was fully prepared to fight the man who had just proposed to her.
His overbearing and bullying ways had bothered her since they were both small children. His attitude and the sense of personal danger she felt when he was around had been the impetus for her immediate and untactful refusal. If she had thought about it, she would’ve known that he would not have taken any refusal well.
Despite how horrible he had been as a snarky little boy, as a man he had gotten worse. Much worse. Every time he had gone away for a job, he came back more like a dictator, like someone who would demand that others perform as he chose. Zhanna knew that even his parents dreaded their son’s homecoming.