Rise of the Firebird (42 page)

Tapio stopped next to a large sculpture made of rocks. Above them, the trees thinned enough to give them a clear view of the night sky. “I want to show you how to use your power to hear the trees, communicate with the animals. The gift is already there, but you wouldn’t have recognised the voices when you heard them.”

They sat down on a flat rock and Tapio took her hand. “I want you to close your eyes, know that you are safe and nothing will harm you.”

“I need to know something first,” Anya said firmly. “Please don’t take offence to what I’m about to say, but I need to know
why
are you doing this? Why are you being so kind and helping me? Everyone I’ve met that has power like you has shown me a hand of kindness while the other goes for a knife to gut me with. What’s the catch? What am I agreeing to in accepting your help?”

“You’ve been treated poorly, Anyanka, by nearly everyone you have ever met. I wouldn’t expect you to trust that I don’t want anything in return. The only thing I want is for you to stop the wars. I want you to stop the destruction. Any war in the Otherworlds will spread. They’ll destroy this world and the real world too. I’ve seen the destruction by iron machines and bloody minded men destroy life and land in the real world. Our land in the real world now belongs to Yanka and her followers. We lost it in the last war and might never get it back. I don’t want to lose any more of it. By helping you, there could be much pain prevented. We want the same things. Kokko trusts you. He’s a creature that brings destruction but fire can cleanse, rejuvenate, and bring life. The seeds you carry will help bring new life to places destroyed. You and the firebird are hope, Anya. That is why I help you.”

“I believe you,” she admitted finally. “I’ll do my best to honour your hope and trust in me.”

“I know you will. Now, shut your eyes. I want you to listen to the night around you. It is not only connecting with the forest through an earth level, but an air level as well.”

Anya closed her eyes and tried to calm her nerves. She listened to the wind and the animals scuffling about nearby. She let down her shields and the night flooded in.

Baba Yaga stood in the study of her penthouse apartment. She sipped on whiskey as she watched the fire and ambulance workers try to salvage what was left of the Illumination building. It was crawling with staff to make sure the human teams didn’t uncover anything that they shouldn’t be exposed to.

Baba Yaga hated the politics of the real world, hated their lack of belief. Yanka was right in that regard. The real world had lost its magic and forgotten the truth behind the stories. Yanka sought to bring magic back. Baba Yaga thought it was a stupid idea. She wanted to control how much magic there was in their real world. Supernatural beings need to be monitored. Too much exposure of their kind would not be a good thing for the real worlders. They were greedy and had no knowledge of true belief or true power. Expose them to the real this, and they would either exploit it or declare war on it.

“I have a message for you, madam.” a young man in a neat tweed suit entered, an envelope in his hand. It bore the seal of Ruthann. No one could break it but her. At least she could count on Ruthann’s discretion. She broke the seal on the heavy paper and scanned the contents. Her hands turned to old bony claws as she crumpled the letter in fury. He had reneged on their alliance because of information shared by Anya. She had talked to Tuoni.

“That fucking interfering, girl!” she spat.

“Orders?” he asked, saying nothing about her hands and she quickly shook the glamour back over them. She picked up her fountain pen and scratched a message on a pile of notepaper.

“I want a squad sent to these co-ordinates. Pull all of our freelancers in the area. I want this off books, understand? I want it done to tonight.”

“As you command,” he replied before hurrying out the door. Baba Yaga momentarily wondered if she had been too hasty. She lit a cigarette and decided she didn’t care.

A heavy knock on Søren’s door pulled him out of sleep. He was up instantly, tense as a bowstring. An Álfr woman jumped as he yanked his door open, “Lord Ruthann asks for you,
Dauđi Dómr
.”

Søren pulled on a shirt and hurried to Ruthann’s chambers. When he got there, he noticed tables were knocked over and there was the sound of sobbing coming from the bedroom.

“Ruthann?” he tapped politely on the door before letting himself in. Their mighty leader was lying on the floor crying. “What has happened?”

“The death, Søren! The death! I saw it. I saw three armies stretch out on a field…” Ruthann choked. Søren took the water from the bedside table and gave it to him.

“You had a dream?”

“It was much, much more than that. It’s going to happen,” he said and took the glass.

“Let me help you,” Søren said and lifted him back onto his bed.

“There was so much blood and screaming. Aramis was there.”

Søren’s hand stilled on the bed covers. “What do mean Aramis was there?”

“He was in the battle covered in blood. Anyanka was there standing with Yvan. He had changed into this strange firebird man, a terrifying hybrid. There was so much magic. Their power was linked. There was white light and screams, Mychal was laughing in the slaughter. Baba Yaga and Yanka were there, Vasilli had an army. It is going to happen, Søren.”

“Do you see when?” he asked. He never should have let Aramis and Anya leave without him.

“A few months, not more. I would ask Baba Yaga, but I wrote to her.”

“When?”

“This morning. I told her that our friendship will remain cordial but she cannot expect the Álfr to give her any aid in her plots against Yanka.”

“I wish you would’ve told me this earlier. Baba Yaga is ruthless. She will not take it well.”

“Baba Yaga has no quarrel with us. She wouldn’t dare try to harm any of the Álfr.”

“She promised to give Anya to a Death God to get him to help her. You’ve no idea what she is capable of. She hasn’t had a reason to start a fight with the Álfr and now you have just given her one,” Søren said coldly. “Rest, Ruthann. I need to go and get ready.”

“For what?”

“For the men she is going to send,” he snapped. “I don’t know if your dream was prophetic or not but I’ll be going to find Aramis when they cross back over. With or without your permission.”

“You would abandon us like Aramis did?” Ruthann flushed angrily. “To choose to be an outcast from your people?”

“If you force me to. I’ll always put Aramis and Anya first. If there’s going to be a battle as you claim, then I want to be there to protect them.”

“That is madness. You could die, Søren…”

“So be it.”

Ruthann opened his mouth to speak when they were interrupted. A huge Álfr filled the doorway. He bowed low, “
Dauđi Dómr
, the wards have been tripped. Someone is trying to find a way in.”

Søren looked at Ruthann who flinched, “I hate being right sometimes. Call the men together, Halvor, and meet me in the front courtyard.”

Søren hurried down the halls back to his room. They hadn’t had anyone stupid enough to try to find the compound in years. He strapped on his leather and steel breastplate and made sure his shoulder guards and vembraces weren’t going to slip before picking up his sword.

Outside, the night was cool and black. Clouds blocked the light from the stars and the moon and Søren could feel the magic of a clocking spell. Seven men, looking alert and tense, were waiting for him. They had all been trained personally by Søren and were the only ones he could trust. He’d kept the existence of the
Sjau
quiet from Anya and her group under Ruthann’s orders. There were a few secrets that the Álfr demanded of him and his group of handpicked killers was one of them. If war came to their gates, it would be these men that would lead the Álfr warriors into battle. Søren hoped that it would never come to that.

“Tell me,” he commanded.

“Four black vans are on our borders, estimated eight men in each,” Agmund reported. “They seem confused.”

“The wards are holding then?”

“I checked them and the glamour seems to be confusing them,” said Lif. He was the only magic user of the group and when he chose to fight without it, he was as lethal with long knives.

“Good. I want you to send a message to the
Groenn Skaer
. We will need the forest to help us tonight with the clean up. You are certain that they’re the Illumination?”

“I heard them talking,” said Brede. He had a voice that was uncommonly deep and he carried two large battle-axes. “I got so close to them I could hear them breathing. These humans are so blind.”

“They are humans?”

Brede shrugged, “Not all of them.”

“Then you’ll need to watch yourselves. Baba Yaga is clever enough to send people that could have a running chance against the Álfr.”

“Why has she sent so few?” Kari asked. He was the youngest of the group, a slight willow wand of a youth. He was quiet but a keen intellect was behind his brown eyes that Søren liked.

“I don’t know,” replied Søren. “They might be here to stir up trouble, maybe kill a few of us for revenge for the slight she believes to have suffered.”

“It doesn’t matter what the reason is. They’re here to do us harm and we will respond against it as an act of war,” Esbjörn growled.

“I agree. We use stealth as always. The last thing we need is for one of them to get away and report that we slaughtered everyone. It’ll give Baba Yaga more of a motive to try to start a war with us. I want their last report to say they couldn’t find us. We leave no proof that they ever did,” Søren instructed before giving each of them their separate orders. They melted into the forest without argument.

Outside the borders of the compound, vans were driving slowly along the road, trying to search out a gate or entry. Søren watched them stop again, a short stocky man climbing out.

“These are the co-ordinates we were given,” he said into a radio, “let’s get out and look around. Release the dogs and see what they can sniff out.”

“Yes, do that,” whispered Søren as he pulled out his sword. The back doors of the vans opened and men in swat gear climbed out. There were twelve of them in each van and four German shepherd dogs. Søren wasn’t concerned. Animals loved the Álfr.

Forty- eight men against seven. Søren smiled and stepped out of the shadows, appearing suddenly and maliciously in front of their commander. “You should’ve brought more men,” Søren said as his sword slid silently into his thick fleshy neck.

Chaos erupted around them as Søren’s seven warriors descended. Arrows from Ivar’s bow whistled through the air as men with guns fired wildly around them. Søren’s sword moved with life, adrenaline washing through him. He hadn’t had a descent fight in years. He ducked as Esbjörn swung his war hammer, pulverising the rib cage of a man who had come up behind him.

Halvor bellowed as a magic user blasted him with a bolt of lightning. Lif appeared from the trees. Power sliced through the air, severing the magic user’s arms and torso, so he collapsed into pieces.

“Check on Halvor,” Søren commanded Brede. He fought his way to Kari and together they finished off the remaining men. Ivar picked off those trying to flee into the forest with his deadly arrows. The ambush had barely lasted ten minutes. Søren had a bullet in his shoulder but he ignored the pain.

“Search the cars and their bodies. I want any information they might have,” he said as he opened the driver’s door of the nearest van. He popped the glove box and pulled out all the papers and photos that were inside. Searching under the seats produced some flares and first aid kits.

Walking back through the carnage, he searched the commander’s body. In his breast pocket, he found notes and put them in with the other items. As he stood up, something fluttered from the pile. Søren stilled as he picked up the photo. Anya and Aramis were smiling as they walked the streets in New Orleans. He hesitated for a moment before he folded the photo and tucked it into his pocket.

“Søren, the
Groenn Skaer
is here,” Lif said beside him. The Elemental stood on the tree line, a magnificent spread of antlers extending from his black hair. Søren tried not to picture Anya covered in blood and wrapped in fur like she was the last time he saw the
Groenn Skaer.

He bowed politely, “Thank you for coming.”

“What is it that you need
Dauđi Dómr
?” the
Groenn Skaer
asked, as he looked unmoving at the vans and the broken bodies.

“These men came here tonight to attack the Álfr. They were threatening us. I asked only for your help to get rid of the evidence.”

The
Groenn Skaer’s
frown deepened, “It would be a privilege.” The Elemental slammed his fists onto the ground and it opened in great fissures. In seconds, the earth swallowed up the vans and corpses.

“Søren, we need to get Halvor to the healers. He’s burned badly,” Esbjörn said.

“Get Brede to help you carry him.” Søren waited until all traces of the Illumination were gone before bowing again to the
Groenn Skaer.
“Many thanks,” he said politely.

“Have you had word from the fair one?”

“Anya is doing well on her quest,” Søren answered, no doubt in his mind who the fair one was. “Her guardian is watching over her.”

“This is good and right. The forest has not been this full of life in a century. She has brought vitality to it.”

Søren nodded but didn’t dare open his mouth to answer. Whether Anya saw it as rape or not, the
Groenn Skaer
had intoxicated her with his powers, clouding all of her decisions.

“Give my regards to her
Dauđi Dómr
.” The
Groenn Skaer
transformed effortlessly into a stag and disappeared into the forest, leaving Søren burning with anger and covered in blood.

The next morning, they woke to the sound of the birds. Anya stretched lazily, not remembering how she had gotten home the previous night. She was buried in furs next to a cold fireplace. Light was streaming through the open shutters at the top of the hall. There was a rustle and Anya shut her eyes again. Standing in the hearth was a small
kotihaltija
wearing a peaked red cap smeared in ash. It blurred as it rebuilt the fire with a miraculous speed, cleaning ash away in a flurry.