Rise of the Firebird (35 page)

“No futures are certain, and neither are prophecies, even ones as accurate as Ilya’s.”

“What Tuoni said was informative but it really changes nothing,” said Anya.

“Maybe not for you,” he said softly. “The firebird and I were quite surprised.”

“At least you weren’t the one the Lord of the Dead was eyeing up for a bride,” Anya tried to say light-heartedly.

“He said some terrible things to you, especially about Trajan…I don’t think that was the only reason you felt for him the way you did. Don’t take to heart what any of the Powers say. He was annoyed that Baba Yaga duped him.”

“Do you…what Tuoni said about…you know? Do you want to talk about it yet?” Anya managed to mumble. He deserved that conversation; she knew he did.

“You told me what I needed to know. Everything else can wait until you want to talk about it and I know you well enough to know you aren’t in the mood to talk about it now. Although if you keep acting so strangely I will
make
you talk about it.”

“I am not acting strangely! I don’t know how you feel about it.”

“About what? I thought you said we weren’t talking about it,” he said as he ate.

“I knew you’d be mad,” Anya said and got up, the uneasy feeling back inside of her. “I have to wash up.” She headed down to a small over flow stream and put the cups in the water to soak.

“You idiot,” she muttered to herself. She rolled up her sleeves and started to scrub. Tuoni hadn’t
really
even said anything. Everyone had assumed and so it left her in a position with Yvan that she didn’t even know she was ready to be in. She started to think about everything they’d been through, wincing at all the times she had been drunk or acted like a fool, and smiling at all the times where they had chatted and teased.

Looking back on it, he had really been there with her every step of the way, so infinitely calm and patient. He’d accepted her choice with Trajan and had defended her when Trajan had hurt her. Really, he had only yelled in frustration a few times and she’d definitely deserved it. He had saved her from the forest spirit trying to swallow her whole and had brought her back to the living when no one else could. The cup she had been washing fell from her hands.

“Idiot! You really do love him,” she said, staring blankly at the trees across the bank. She started smiling and it was full, genuine, and filled her up.

The moment passed when she realised that having a huge revelation on her feelings didn’t mean he felt the same or that she was ready to tell him about them. He’d asked if what Tuoni had said was true but he didn’t say he reciprocated. He’d always been there for her but that could be as a sibling type bond not that he felt anything more and even if he did how would it work with the firebird inside of him…

“Stop thinking so hard.” Yvan appeared beside her, holding out his dirty cup. She took it without looking up at him, too embarrassed to speak. “I’m not angry either, just so you know. I’m actually relieved.”

“Relieved!” Anya scoffed as she washed vigorously, “I needed the God of Death to point out something that I’m too emotionally stunted to figure out on my own. I murdered Veruschka for touching you. You were always my favourite and look how I have treated you!” She was babbling but now that she started, she found that she couldn’t stop.

“I’ve made such a terrible mess of things and treated you like you belonged to me because I couldn’t handle the thought of anyone else having you or hurting you. Then I hurt you all the time, don’t I? You’ve had to pull me out of so much trouble and heartache and bullshit that you should never have had to deal with. I’m
sorry,
Yvan. You are a prince and a king and have been the best friend I’ve ever had and I treat you like shit. I am
selfish,
Yvan. I am the most selfish person who ever walked the earth.”

“Are you going to let me say something or are you going to keep on talking about yourself and trying to talk me out of any opinion or feeling I may have?”

“It doesn’t matter. We have to get going. They would’ve had their swims now,” Anya got to her feet the wet cup handles looped in her fingers. Yvan grabbed her by the shoulders.

“It
does
matter, Anya.
Ostanovit’ pozhaluysta …
just
stop
.” Her heart was in her throat as he lifted her chin to force her to look at him. “Yes, we have been through some awful things since I woke. We will probably go through many more. I’ve cared for you, dried your tears, taken your vodka when you needed to sober up, and stopped you from doing silly things as much as I could. I’m the Hero, so I’m meant to take care of you, protect you from your enemies even when that enemy is you. I was shocked in Tuonela, but I’m relieved more than anything.”

“Relieved someone else pointed out how oblivious I am?” she interrupted him.

He grinned and shook his head. “No, relieved that I could finally,
finally
do this.” And he kissed her.

The metal cups clattered to the ground, as Anya was overwhelmed with heat, desire, and love. She dug her fingers into his black hair and deepened it. Yvan’s arms were about her waist, lifting her off her feet. Magic burst out of her and his grip tightened as the firebird’s rose to meet it. She hung onto him in the storm of magic and emotions, like she always had.

Flames erupted out over them, but it didn’t burn them and didn’t make her want to stop. Every thought and worry in her mind had gone, replaced with the overwhelming silence of an all-consuming moment. A baffled little laugh escaped Anya’s lips as they pulled apart. He hadn’t put her down and she had no intention of letting him go.

“You strange, beautiful, difficult girl,” Yvan said affectionately. “You were always going to be worth waiting for and I’d do it again. Ever since I saw you, I knew I’d love you, fight with you, protect you, and want to kiss you every single day of my existence.”

“I’m sorry it took me so long to realise it for myself.”

“I was content to wait and watch you come to see it for yourself.”

“And you were so sure I would?”

“I knew that you were my true love, not just someone I would love. I knew you’d realise it eventually, because you wouldn’t have been my true love otherwise. I wasn’t going to go anywhere and I still won’t. Nothing has changed. It only means I might actually be able to kiss you occasionally.”

“Only occasionally? Don’t hold back now, Yvan Tsaravech,” Anya teased before kissing him again, magic and love thrumming between them.

“Will you two cut it out before you set the forest on fire?” Eldon called. Startled, Yvan almost dropped her.

Aleksandra, Mychal, Katya, Izrayl, Aramis and Eldon were all standing there watching them as flames crackled from them, singeing the grass at their feet. Izrayl started clapping and soon they all were smiling and cheering.

Mortified, Anya let Yvan go and the flames vanished. They were both bright red and shame faced, but Anya couldn’t help but grin as she scooped up the cups.

“Don’t you have anything better to do than perve on other people?” she said as she handed the owners back their cups.

“Not when it’s you two,” Katya poked her tongue out cheekily. “Seriously, I have hardly any magic at all and even I felt it when you two kissed.”

“All we had to do was follow the magical sonar,” teased Eldon as he leant down on his walking stick. “It’s powerful when your magic joins.”

“I will take your word for it,” Anya said as she grabbed her pack that Katya had been carrying. “So where to now?”

“North,” answered Aleksandra, noticing Anya’s flashing DROP IT signal.

“I really do wish that Tuoni had advised us to go in the opposite direction of Pohjola,” sighed Eldon as they started to walk. “Louhi is temperamental and she’s no great fan of mine.”

“Did you sleep with her or something?” Izrayl asked.

“Lord no. You wouldn’t even joke about it if you met her. She wanted my help with some business she felt she had with Ilmarinen and I refused her. I’m sure she has forgotten it by now anyway.”

“I wouldn’t count on it,” said Aramis as he fell into step beside the Bard. “The few Powers I’ve met don’t let a grudge go quickly. Look at Yanka and Baba Yaga. Which reminds me, Søren contacted me last night.”

“Really?” Anya asked and moved to the other side of him. She had made sure that she was at her now usual position beside Eldon to learn from anything he wished to impart. Aramis would join them to listen to Eldon and add anything he could as did Aleksandra. She was curious about the Bard’s seemingly endless store of herb lore and other knowledge.

Yvan was ahead of her walking with Mychal. They both were serious and enjoyed silence, but they seemed to be talking more often. Izrayl and Katya walked ahead to try to pick up any dangers.

“Søren wouldn’t have dream walked if it wasn’t serious. He had a message from Silvian that it’s Baba Yaga who is masquerading as Vasya Melenko,” Aramis said, a slight hitch in his voice.

“
Hjarta bróđr
,” Anya took his hand, “why didn’t you tell me?”

“It has been a busy morning,” Aramis said simply, “and I’m extremely embarrassed. I worked for the Illumination for such a long time. I had no idea that I was really working for Baba Yaga.”

“Ruthann…”

“I have Søren investigating how much help Ruthann has given her over the years, don’t worry. Ruthann claims it was only help to capture Yanka but to be honest, I feel like there isn’t anyone I can trust anymore outside of our group. I never had any dealings directly with Vasya Melenko. I didn’t even know there was such a person until Fox made that file on Yanka for us. But she’s been there, moving behind the scenes like a shadow.”

“Looks like our lives have both been screwed by her,” Anya said shaking her head. “I don’t know how much of what Tuoni said was truth and there’s no way to know for sure.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” said Eldon thoughtfully. “There is a way, but we can’t properly explore it until tonight at the earliest and I don’t know if you can cope with any additional excitement or trauma for today.”

“Don’t presume to know about my coping skills, Eldon Blaise,” Anya snapped.

The Bard looked taken aback. “I meant no offence, my lady. I only want you to be sure.”

“While we are on the subject of Baba Yaga, I want to know about this damn game that they were playing. We are out of Skazki and Tuonela, so out with it.”

“My, you’re a pushy child today!”

“You had best get used to it, Eldon,” advised Aramis. Anya squeezed his hand tightly. Their link was still strong and she could feel he was worried about Søren and about what he had told him. It dawned on Anya that Aramis would’ve recognised her feelings for Yvan long before she did. Her own stupidity never ceased to surprise her.

“The game is a very, very old magical…device, I suppose you could call it,” explained Eldon. “Long ago in Albion, Myrddin Wylt, or Merlin as he is known now, had a mighty battle with Morgan. That in itself is a story for another time but Myrddin did defeat her on top of a place now known, at least in the real world, as Glastonbury Tor. The battle that took place in Albion was so great on that place that it created a magical dead zone. This is one of the truly neutral places in all the worlds. This’s the place that you saw them meeting, Anya. It’s often used by the supernatural beings that are trying to broker treaties and such.”

“But the game is magic,” Anya pointed out, “I saw…”

“What you saw was a normal game when they were playing. Even the game has no power in that place, which is why it’s played there. No player can manipulate it or cheat there. It’s when the game is taken out of the null zone that the player’s moves are carried out in the real world and the Otherworld.”

Eldon held up a finger thoughtfully. “There’s only one magical action that can occur on the Tor and that’s if the game gets a new player. This power alone is allowed. It has to do with what Myrddin did when he created the game. It was his magic that destroyed the power in that place and so that one particular aspect had to be placed there in the earth by Myrddin.”

“Why did he create something like this game to begin with? If the moves get played out in both worlds it still inflicts suffering,” commented Aramis.

“It was a stupid bloody idea,” muttered Eldon. “He thought it would help to create a balance, a way to stop what happened with him and Morgan from happening again. It has worked in varying degrees, but it still causes more problems than Myrddin could ever have dreamt about.”

“You say that like you knew him,” Mychal said without turning around. He was metres ahead of them but his ears picked up everything.

Eldon Blaise didn’t answer but started to walk faster.

“No…you
knew
him?” Anya hurried to catch up with him.

“All depends if my answer will raise more questions. You need to be given lessons, not hear my life story.”

“Stop being so dramatic,” she laughed. “Just tell me if it’s true and then we’ll get back to lessons.”

“Fine, yes, I knew him,” Eldon exclaimed. “Happy? Can we move on please?” Anya looked at Katya whose eyes looked like they were going to pop out of her head. Anya bit back at least a hundred more questions and nodded her head.

“And so the game has survived and nobody else has. There has only been a maximum of four players at any one point in history,” Eldon continued. “Baba Yaga’s sat in a position for a very long time. Yanka originally was working with Baba Yaga to take out the other players and then they fell out and Yanka worked to get her place on the board.”

“I’ve never been told what actually happened between them to make them enemies,” said Anya thoughtfully. “And there is no fairy tales or stories that mention Yanka.”

“Really? You have neglected to share with her even that, Aramis?” Eldon questioned harshly.

“I didn’t know the full story myself. Yanka would never talk about it. I didn’t even know how seriously they were rivals until she betrayed me,” answered Aramis.

“How do you know about it?” Anya asked.

“Just because I have been ignoring the world for the last five hundred years doesn’t mean that I don’t know what is happening in it,” said Eldon. “And that kind of news travels through the earth. Yanka wasn’t anything until Baba Yaga found her. The stories say she was a fisherman’s daughter.”