Hair of Gold: Just Right (Urban Fairytales Book 6) (4 page)

Later that day, I learned that my new brothers were triplets, though not identical. After the death of their mother, they had left Russia to find their fortunes when they had become adults. They wound up on the borderlands, where their skill as woodsmen kept them fed, and they had a comfortable life.

I wanted to make sure I made myself useful, to earn my keep, or I feared that I would end up in the back alleys of Chernivtsi as I had envisioned. So I put to use the chores mother had always made sure I did. I went about washing all of the discarded clothing and folding and stacking it after it had dried. I made the men's beds and went about organizing the little household, to their vocal complaints.

More than once I had to chastise the men, they seemed quite amused when I did. They were no better than the boys I knew in my old village, messy and unkempt. But they were my saviors.

I had just brought in another bucket of water from the well out back and started scrubbing the cobblestone floor when Pavel said, “Little kitten, you do not need to do so much. We like how we live.”

I remembered something mother had caught father with once and smiled to myself then said, “You are right Little Bear. There are two scrub brushes, make yourself useful.”

He just blinked at me a couple times as his brother's laughter boomed out. He sheepishly took the other scrub brush and started helping. I hid a satisfied grin. I would teach my new brothers not to be lazy. He cursed softly under his breath though he had a bemused smile on his face.

I paused to look at the two other men just snickering as they watched their brother clean. I pointed at them and said, “It isn't polite to mock others.”

They hid their smiles behind their hands, and I pointed at the wrought iron firewood rack. “Make yourself useful and chop some more firewood, we are almost out.”

That quelled their smiles. They sighed as their shoulders slumped and they trudged to the door, Vladimir grumbling, “She is worse than mother was.”

Andrei chuckled and clapped his shoulder, giving me a little wink as they headed outside.

I turned back to my work to see Pavel just grinning after his brothers. I tapped his scrub brush with an expectant look, and he saluted me and said with enthusiasm, “Da, little kitten.”

As we worked, I had a sense of satisfaction that I was able to get these big men to take more pride in their dwelling.

We stopped for lunch, and I took inventory of their larder, it was a mess too and had meager offerings, though they had a few months supply of salted or smoked meats. I shooed the men out of the way. I had always been mother's helper in the kitchen, so I was able to put decent fare together, and we ate sandwiches and a venison soup I made with some smoked meat and dried vegetables. I was determined to pay my way.

After lunch I had asked where the outhouse was, I had not seen one behind the cottage, only the well.

Andrei shrugged and asked, “Why do we need an outhouse? We have an entire forest of trees out there.”

Eww. I was starting to think that maybe they were truly bears who could become men. I shuddered and headed to the forest, grabbing handfuls of leaves as I went.

Before long, we had the cottage looking more like a home than a battlefield. I was exhausted, and the men looked to be worn out as well.

Vladimir looked around, rubbing his hand on his chin that had a day's growth of whiskers. He mused out loud, “I do not believe the place has looked this tidy since the day we moved in.”

I beamed with pride.

After I had made dinner, accidentally overcooking the flatbread, we ate. They said nothing about the crispy bread. I sat on a little barrel since they only had three chairs. They told me of the wonders of the land and the freedom they had, traveling the forest and harvesting wood for the nearby villages.

That is when I looked around again and asked, “I saw no cellar, where do you hide on the Wolf Moons?”

This just got me boisterous laughter, then Andrei sobered suddenly and said in a dangerous tone, “I pity the wolves who try to take us. You saw our bears. Wolves are stupid animals, they have only three thought in their heads, hunt, kill, mate. But they are not so stupid that they don't know when they are outmatched.”

Vladimir grinned. “We chase them off every month. Sending them running with their tails tucked between their legs to find easier prey.”

They grinned at each other. Oh. I looked around and hugged my arms across my chest. Pavel stopped smiling, and his brow furrowed when he looked at me. He said softly like father did when he spoke to me, “Fear not tiny kotenok, we will not let them get to you.” The brothers all looked at each other and seemed to nod in agreement to some unspoken agreement.

When it was time for bed, I stared at the three beds. Where was I to sleep? Little Bear saw me looking and said, “Use my bed. The floor is fine for a bear.” And he went behind the changing screen and came lumbering out a few seconds later in his Kodiak form. I wrapped my arms around his neck the best I could and said, “Thank you Little Bear, I don't want to be a burden on you.”

He snuffled and grinned, then laid down beside the farthest bed. I got into it and pulled the covers around me and drifted off as fast as my head could sink into the feather stuffed pillow. I was beyond exhausted.

I woke up, extremely warm, I cuddled into the thick blankets. My eyes fluttered open when I realized the blanket was breathing. I found myself sleeping on Little Bear. I must have rolled off the bed in my sleep.

I wiped the sleep from my eyes and looked into the bear's eyes. Andrei called out from where he sat at the table, arm wrestling Vladimir, “He hasn't moved since you fell on him last night, he is scared of breaking you.” He turned back to his other brother and with a decisive thud, slammed his arm to the table.

I looked back at Pavel and whispered, “I'm sorry Little Bear.” I slid off of him and back onto the bed where I sat and stretched. He stood on all fours and ruffled his fur and shook. Then he shot me a bear grin and lumbered back behind the screen. A moment later he was saying, “It is alright, little kitten.”

The men took turns getting ready for a hard day's work in the forest as I made a light breakfast with the last of their goose eggs and some smoked meat. I scowled at Vladimir and Andrei. “You are going out without shaving? Don't you have pride in yourselves?”

Andrei said, “But we are just going to the forest to chop wood and...” He trailed off when I crossed my arms expectantly like mother had done so many times with me when I was misbehaving. Honestly, how had these men survived before I came along?

He lowered his head in resignation and the two men took a straight razor and trudged off toward the well, Vladimir complaining, “We should have let the wolves eat her.”

I grinned in triumph at a thoroughly entertained looking Pavel, who said, “I fear we saved the wolves from you, not the other way around.” I gave him a toothy grin.

Then I cocked my head at him as I watched his brothers through the newly cleaned windows. “Just how is it that you brothers can change into bears anyway?”

I asked more to keep my mind off of mother and father than curiosity. I didn't need to be breaking down in grief just then. I'd wait until I was alone. Well, da, I was curious too.

He glanced out at his brothers as he furrowed his brow and thought a moment like he was deciding something. Then he nodded once and said, “Ok little Kat. I will tell you a story that you can choose to believe or not.”

I giggled at the man. “I have seen you turn into a bear, I'm pretty sure I will believe just about anything you tell me.” He smiled crookedly as he nodded and he began to tell me about how he and his brothers came to be.

Pavel picked me up by my britches like I weighed nothing, and sat me on the edge of the table and he sat in a chair in front of me.

He clasped his hands together as he rested his elbows on his knees. “Let me tell you of a woodsman and his bride, on the western forests of Moscow. Our mother, Niska had become pregnant a year after she wed our father, Iosif. She had been weak before, and the pregnancy had made her even weaker and sickly. The midwives had told Iosif that they feared for her life and the lives of the children in her womb.”

He shifted in his seat. “Father went to seek out the best healers of the land, but all said the same. It was likely that the birth would kill us all including his fair bride. Time after time they all said the same. So father went in search of the magic users said to inhabit the lands of Romania. He trekked to the mountains there and found a vrajitoare there who said she could tell him how to save us all, Narcisa. But there was a price. Father agreed without hearing her price.”

He narrowed his eyes. “So it was that she sent him deep into the wilderness to get an item infused with the power of life. He knew it was most likely to his death, but he had to try. She told him that he needed to get a single white feather from the nature goddess of the lands, Perchta. It was a fool's errand because all knew that Perchta was also the leader of the Wild Hunt. It was said that Perchta had abandoned the lands and roamed the world half mad. The ancients and druids said that she had changed in some inexplicable way, long ago.”

He straightened a little and unclasped his hands. “He traveled the deepest and darkest parts of the forest calling out the goddess' name until his legs were weak and his throat raw and bleeding. He could go no farther and dropped to the ground, trying to regain some strength. He coughed up blood that spattered the bed of moss he found himself on.”

Then his eyes twinkled, and he said the next with reverence, “Then a voice behind father made him sit up and turn. There she was in all of her terrible beauty, a woman like no other. In a cloak of white feathers, the white rack of antlers of a great elk growing from her head and an unnatural white light that made him cry to be in its shadow, was Perchta. 'Who dares call upon... me?' she asked him, almost in confusion.”

Pavel looked up, deep in the retelling of the tale. “Father groveled at her feet and said, 'I am but a humble woodsman, Iosif Inanov. I seek your help.' The goddess crouched and touched the blood on the moss and watched as it seemingly absorb into it. She scowled at father and said, 'You have paid the sacrifice of blood to nourish my lands. Speak Iosif Inanov, why have you chanced my wrath?'”

He lowered his head, and I shifted a little on the table, as he continued, “Father plead his case to her, telling her that to save the love of his life and his unborn children he needed but a single feather from the goddess. The living incarnation of nature was swayed by his words. She narrowed her eyes and said, 'If I am to gift you in this way, you must bind yourself to your word that you will destroy the feather in flame once you have done as you need. A single feather can be used as a great and terrible weapon in mortal hands. If you do not do as you pledge, I will know and will send my Hunt after you and all those you hold dear. A curse upon your line.'”

He smiled at me and tilted his eyes to the left and said plainly, “Father accepted. She reached out to him, her great cloak of white feathers stretching with her arm, and he realized it was no cloak at all but great wings. The goddess had wings like no other. She gave him a reassuring smile and nudged her chin toward her wing. He timidly touched the wing, a feeling of great warmth and calm flowing into him from the contact.”

He smiled then as he recalled the tale. “He shared with mother that it was like basking in the sunshine on a summer day, feeling one with nature, but also being aware of the terrible destruction that same nature was capable of. But it comforted him to know that at the moment, it chose to gift him with the serenity he desperately needed.”

I shifted on the table, leaning on the heels of my hands, eager to hear the rest as he continued, “He pulled a single feather from her wing and she disappeared in a whirlwind of feathers. When he looked for her, all he saw was a great white crow winging toward the heavens. He could hear her voice calling out in warning, 'Remember your vow Iosif Inanov.' He looked upon the white feather that seemed to glow in an unnatural light, and his heart dared to feel hope for his family.”

He straightened in his chair. I glanced over to see his brothers standing in the doorway with loads of kindling and wood. They seemed to be listening in rapt attention just as I was. They all exchanged sad smiles as the two walked in to fill the wood rack.

Pavel smiled back at me and said with renewed vigor, “So father located Narcisa with his prize in hand. He said that her eyes gleamed with something disturbing as she looked upon the feather with longing. She told him how to use the feather to infuse the strength of nature into his unborn children and reminded him that he agreed to any price. She would be there with her son, Baird, to collect when father had done as she told him.”

Now Little Bear's eyes narrowed as he seemed to regard something distasteful. “Father trekked back across the lands to his bride, Niska, she was close to giving birth and looked even more sickly than when he began his quest. He invoked the ritual that Narcisa had instructed him to perform, speaking the words and brushing the shining feather across mother's belly.”

He exhaled heavily, “Mother says a summer wind blew through our home even though the doors and windows were all shut. With that unnatural wind, it brought power. The power of nature. And it enveloped her and seemed to infuse itself into her womb, where a great warmth spread. With that warmth, it brought something strong, something wild and primal. Then it was gone, leaving father standing there looking at a healthier looking woman as he stared between her and the feather.”

He smiled fondly and said with pride, “Father, being a man of his word, immediately stepped to one of the oil lamps and burned the feather, destroying it in flame as he had pledged. Mother swears she heard a woman's sigh on the wind when he fulfilled his word.”

Then his voice became heavy. “They talked throughout the night and the next week about his quest and all that had happened in his crusade to save us. Then the day came when we were born. Mother said she had never known such joy holding us as father watched on in pride. But it was short lived when Narcisa came knocking at their door with her son.”

I saw his eyes narrow dangerously as his tone became colder. “She demanded Perchta's feather in payment for her telling father how to save us so that she could give her son power, such as was unknown in the modern world. When father shared that he had burned the feather to fulfill his pledge to the nature goddess, the vrajitoare became enraged, ranting that he had first vowed to her, and that was her price.”

He swallowed. “She struck out with her magics saying, 'You shall pay the ultimate price for not giving my due.' Father fell lifelessly beside mother's bed. The vrajitoare stepped toward her but hesitated and backed off when mother swears we glowed in that same light which the feather had posessed, and turned into bear cubs. The gift of nature from Perchat's feather. Narcisa and her young son covered their eyes and backed off, and she hissed, 'Know this wife of Iosif, who could not honor his word. I will collect that debt from you and your kin. My son will not be cheated of his due!' Then she stormed off with her young son in tow.”

He smiled a sad smile, “Mother said that we stayed cubs for hours before our bodies remembered how we had started this life, and became her boys again.”

He shrugged and rubbed his beard. “So, that is how we grew up, thinking it normal to turn into bears on a whim and mother loved us as if we were just normal children. Narcisa never made good on her threat, and we used our abilities to keep the people of our village safe on Wolf Moons until mother died of the plague and we moved on to make our mark in the world.”

I pondered his story then nodded with a smile. He nodded once at me and grinned his lopsided grin as he stood. The three men grabbed some ungodly huge axes tapped their heavy leather boots with them then headed toward the door. Andrei turned back to say, “We will be back before dusk, do not fear the Wolf Moon little kitten, we will protect you.”

I nodded, wanting to earn my keep and said, “I will have supper prepared when you return.” This just got me some soft smiles from the men as they went off to a hard day's work.