Rise of the Firebird (34 page)

“You might as well come out, Frankie,” she said, “I know you are here anyways.” The big Haitian was standing in her door way and said nothing. He had a very sharp looking knife in his hands. “Well, they sure gonna make certain that your allegiances lies with them, aren’t they? Lorraine put you up to it?” His black eyes flashed. “Yep, thought so.”

“Madame Lya, you’ve been charged with treason by the Conseil Neutres,” he said.

“Treason, you say? If it’s treasonous to want to protect the innocent from the likes of the whore spawns that you’re associating with, then I’m guilty as charged.” She poured some more rum, spilling a little as if she was already drunk.

“I tried to speak for you, Lya, but Harley pushed them when she drew blood.”

“Oh yes, and I suppose Pierre wasn’t about to slap a curse on her when he reached for her?” Mama Lya drew idly with the spilt rum while Francois looked at the floor. The veve was all but invisible in the fading light outside. Be damned if she was going to let this upstart steal her power when he killed her.

“It’s irrelevant. You will die.”

“Very well. Suppose you can let me finish this drink and say my prayers before you do it.”

Mama Lya shut her eyes, sipping her drink while she whispered a prayer to the Almighty. She believed in God, make no mistake, but she knew God was going to want some harsh words with her very soon. Mama Lya didn’t even feel the edge of the knife as it slid across her wrinkled neck. Warmth rushed out of her and onto her white cotton dress. As quick as a whip, she grabbed Francois’s hand smearing it with her blood. His eyes were as big as saucers.

“Too slow, Frankie,” she choked and she cursed him with all the power she had in her. Francois screamed as he dropped his knife and fled the house clutching his head. With shaking hands, Mama Lya scribbled one last veve in her blood and died.

Across town, the beer bottle fell from Harley’s hands as a ball of invisible power thumped her hard in the chest. She fell to her knees screaming in horrified sobs.

“Harley! Harley! What’s wrong? What’s happened?” Fox grabbed her face to lift it.

“They killed her! They killed her!” screamed Harley as she pulled at her hair. Pushing Fox out of the way, she ran into the house, grabbing Cerise’s keys off the coffee table before anyone could stop her. Isabelle tackled her on the front lawn and held her down.

“You aren’t driving over there drunk!” Isabelle shouted taking the keys from her. “Get in and I’ll drive.”

“Belle, here!” Hamish tossed her holsters. Isabelle caught them and helped Harley into the Porsche. She sped through the streets as fast as she could. Abélard’s Chrysler was out front and Harley charged into the house. Abélard was on the floor of the kitchen weeping as he rocked the red stained body, “I was too late. I was too late.”

Anya woke with the sun despite her exhaustion. Unlike every other night, they had slept in Skazki, she refused to sleep near Yvan. Katya had been right, after everything that Tuoni had said to her, all she wanted to do was to talk to Yvan. However,
because
of what he said, she felt she couldn’t. Yvan calmed her and at the moment, she was churning inside.

She’d dreamed of her parent’s car crash again. The wolves, her mother’s screams, the dull
thunk
of her father’s head smashing into the windscreen. Only this time, Anya had also floated out of the car to the top of a small hill in the forest where Baba Yaga calmly watched, smoking a yellow pipe made of old bone. Thinking back to the morning she’d met Tuoni, Anya realised she had dreamed of the crash then too. Even with her magic so terribly underdeveloped, it had been trying to tell her something. She hadn’t known enough to link it all together. Tuoni had been used too, but Anya was having a difficult time feeling sorry for him.

As quietly as she could, Anya got out of her bedroll and took the micro fibre towel from her pack. It was another of Cerise’s touches. The towel was the kind back packers use. They folded down to nothing and dried quickly. She’d given Anya a tiny pouch of travel size toiletries as well, and even though Anya had teased her at the time, she was grateful. After walking through Tuonela, all Anya wanted was a bath, no matter how cold it was going to be.

In Skazki, it had been the middle of winter, but in Karelia, it seemed only to be autumn. Anya had no doubt that as they headed north to Pohjola that the winter would find them again. Careful not to step on any sticks that could make noise, Anya crept from the camp as the sky started to turn pink. It didn’t take Anya long to find the washed up log from the night before. Anya quickly shed her clothes and boots, the prude in her forcing her to leave on her bra and underwear, before heading to where the water was lapping against the black and grey stones. Leaving her towel, soap and shampoo on the water’s edge, she stepped out into the water. It was cold but not cold enough to force her to reconsider. Anya pulled out her hair tie, shook her ashy hair free and dived. Her body screamed in shock, but as she swam, it stopped complaining. She broke the surface gasping for air.

The lake was huge, surrounded by mountains and trimmed in forest. With the sunrise, it was impossibly beautiful. Quite unexpectedly, Anya laughed at the stolen moment. It was places like this that was the reason she would stop Yanka and Baba Yaga’s plans of world domination. Finding her footing on the stony bottom, Anya retrieved her soap and tiny shampoo bottle, scrubbing herself vigorously. It was not until she was about to dip her head back to rinse it that she spotted Yvan sitting on the log watching her. She let out a startled yelp and slipped, going backwards into the water. She scrambled to the surface in a cloud of hair and bubbles. Yvan was nearly doubled over with laughter.

“You asshole!” she said and threw a rock at him, hitting him in the chest.

“I’m sorry,
shalosť
, really. I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

“So, what, you woke up and decided to be creepy and watch me bathe?” Anya demanded.

“You still have your clothes on, so I don’t know if I could really be called creepy,” he said in self-defence.

“Well, we can’t all be so flippant with our naked bodies like you and Izrayl,” Anya swam out a little deeper, self-conscious despite the fact she was still technically clothed. “What are you doing here anyway?”

“I woke up and you were gone. In my natural response of panic, I came to make sure you hadn’t been kidnapped or had run away or if you were hurt somewhere.”

“You worry too much, Vanya.”

“You’re always in some kind of trouble, so worrying is natural like I said.”

“As you can see, I’m perfectly fine.”

“Yes, you only took off alone in an unknown land so you could go frolic in the water.”

“I needed a wash. Besides, this place is so lovely.” Anya looked around again, “It reminds me of a story.”

“Tell it to me,” Yvan watched her, smiling. She flushed a little though she would blame the chill water if he teased her about it.

“It’s from the Kalevala. Don’t worry I will tell you the abbreviated version. There was a guy called Joukahainen who was young, silly, and full of himself. He challenged Väinämöinen, the greatest shaman and rune singer to a singing contest. Of course, Väinämöinen wiped the floor with him.”

“Naturally,” said Yvan.

“So because Joukahainen lost so badly he has to give his really hot sister to Väinämöinen to have as a wife. But Aino is grossed out and whiney about having to marry an old man even though he’s a magical bad ass. So Aino has a massive tantrum and jumps into a lake to drown herself. Poor Väinämöinen took it pretty badly. If I was he, I would’ve been annoyed too. To have someone rather kill themselves, rather than marry you would be a massive blow to your self-esteem.”

“Then what happened?” asked Yvan.

“She turned into a mermaid, though sometimes people say a fish, and because she’s a huge bitch, she found where Väinämöinen was fishing and mocked him…”

“Anya look!” interrupted Yvan and pointed. The head and shoulders of the woman had lifted out of the surface of the water. She looked at them with startled blue eyes before ducking back under. A tail shone and Yvan hurried quickly to the water’s edge. The tail flicked up again, splashing a wave of water all over him. Anya laughed hysterically as Yvan swore in fierce Russian. Aino popped up next to Anya smirking. Yvan watched as Anya ran a hand through Aino’s head, dissolving the illusion in front of him.

“You little brat! You have to come out of that water sometime and when you do…” he threatened and stopped, as Eldon Blaise appeared clapping loudly.

“Well done, Anyanka! On the story and the illusion. Excellent work.”

“Don’t encourage her.”

“I most certainly will!” Eldon grinned, “She got you good, my boy, and you have the right idea about a swim, Anya. I don’t know about you, but I can taste death in my mouth.” Yvan picked up Anya’s towel for her, discreetly looking away so she wouldn’t be embarrassed as she climbed out. He wrapped it around her and pulled the tip of her dripping hair.

“Don’t think that this means I’ve forgiven you,” he said.

“Yeah, you have, you can’t help it,” she teased. “Whoa, Eldon, cool tattoos.” The Bard had taken his shirt off to reveal a lean body covered in dark blue Celtic spirals and Anya spotted some Latin and a runic script in places.

“Thank you, Anyanka. They all have meanings that I will perhaps tell you about one day.” There was a tree in the centre of his back, the branches dipping down to tangle in knot patterns, and the more Anya looked at it the more she got lost in the pattern. She could see the magic moving in it but couldn’t pinpoint how it was trapped.

Yvan cleared his throat, “You can stop staring now.”

“Oh let her,” Eldon said over one shoulder. “I haven’t had a pretty girl stare at me for a long time.”

“I’ll leave you boys to your bath,” Anya said passing her soap to Yvan.

“I hardly need one, thanks to you,” Yvan huffed.

Anya screwed up her nose, “Yeah, you do.”

“Run, right now, before I throw you back in.” Anya smiled cheekily, before picking up her clothes and making for the woods.

“It still doesn’t mean I’ve forgiven you!” he called behind her. Anya giggled to herself. She loved to tease him, but only because she loved to see his serious face break into that smile. Anya sighed happily, as the scent of clean clothes enveloped her. She wrapped her wet hair up in the towel and headed back to the camp.

Everyone was up and Aleksandra was already handing out cups of hot porridge. She was an expert cook on a campfire. Growing up in gypsy camp had given her the skills for it. She was willing and loved to cook, so everyone benefitted from it.

“Don’t you look fresh as a daisy,” Katya commented handing her some breakfast, “and look at that healthy glow. Where’s Yvan?”

“Him and Eldon are swimming,” Anya said, refusing to bite.

“Sounds like a good idea,” said Aramis. “I don’t know about all of you, but I want to get as much Tuonela off me as possible.” He got up and picked up his pack.

“You and Eldon can compare magical tree tattoos.”

“I’m coming too,” said Mychal and took off his shirt. Anya blinked at the scars and muscles a few times before quickly looking away. Katya smirked and looked into her porridge.

“So where’s Izrayl?” Anya asked her and tried not to look up.

“He has gone for a quick scout ahead and will join the others in the water I would say,” she said trying to keep a straight face. They waited until Mychal had walked out of ear shot before they both started laughing.

“Will you two stop it,” Aleksandra rolled her eyes as she sat down next to them.

“I’m sorry. I can’t help it, Aleki. Really, you need to tell him not to do that if you don’t want us staring,” Anya said as she scooped the milky warm porridge into her mouth.

“I agree with Anya that he needs to keep that shit covered.” Katya nudged her sister, “Really, well done, sis.”

Aleksandra flushed a little before she said, “You should see the rest of it.” When Yvan returned, they were giggling like a bunch of schoolgirls. Anya stopped abruptly as the firebird preened metallic light on his skin. Katya and Aleksandra exchanged glances, which almost set Anya to laughing again.

“What’s wrong with you three this morning?” he asked as he pulled on a dark grey Henley.

“Nothing,” they echoed in unison.

“I’m going to head that way for a swim,” Katya pointed back down stream and away from the direction the others had gone.

“Me too,” Aleksandra said quickly.

“I’ll do the dishes,” said Anya as she finished off her breakfast.

“I don’t want to know what I just walked into,” Yvan commented watching them go. Anya filled up her cup and handed it to him.

“Don’t worry, I’m not about to tell you,” she said. “How’s the firebird today?” Feathers were stretching out from under Yvan’s pushed up shirtsleeves. She stroked them, warm and silky under her fingertips.

“He’s happy to be out of Tuonela and Skazki. Very happy now that you are touching him.”

“I’m glad to see him back.” Anya stepped back and collected the dirty dishes up.

“He says you are not talking to him. I told him you are not talking to either of us, and for him not to take it personally. He liked your story.”

“I’m talking to you right now, aren’t I?” Anya said stubbornly. Yvan’s eyes softened.

“Anya, you know what I mean. Tuoni reveals awful things about you and your family and you don’t swear, get angry, or talk about it.”

“Maybe I’m maturing and learning to keep my feelings to myself.”

“Keeping feelings to yourself isn’t something you need to practice. I don’t care if you don’t want to talk to me about it. Talk to Aramis or Eldon, just talk to someone. Don’t hold it in,
shalosť
.”

“I haven’t said anything because I don’t know how to feel about it,” Anya said as she sat down on the rock next to him, placing the cups on the ground for the moment. “I’m relieved in one way to have some answers. Vasilli was hunting the firebird’s egg to try to kill it to stop one of Ilya’s prophecies. He
killed
Ilya! So much has seemingly been about me, but really, it has nothing to do with me at all. I’m another part of a long fight. It’s a relief to understand more. I haven’t understood so much about any of this. At least we are foiling their plans a little.”