Mistress of the Solstice (22 page)

It made sense.

He turned back to the cliff.

But why had he come here in the first place? If only he could remember
what had possessed him to look for water up here, on the hilltop,
when there was so much water down below.

Was there something else he needed?

He thought of the old woman from the tale. She’d used
water to bring a man back to life. At least he could remember that
much. He couldn’t escape the thought that there was
something important in that tale. Something he was missing.

He couldn’t jump off the cliff…yet.

“You’re wasting time,
boy,” the cat said irritably. “One
more step.”

Ivan reached inside his shirt, searching. There was something he had
to remember.

His searching fingers came across something tucked deep into the shirt,
and emerged holding a flower. A crumpled plant, withered almost beyond
recognition. Two flowers on one stem, purple and yellow.

He held it out to the cat.

“Ivan-and-Marya?” the cat asked.
“Why are you giving me that?”

Ivan-and-Marya.

Ivan
—

—
and Marya.

And then he remembered.

 

Marya

I
t was pitch-dark in the woods. The night air enfolded me in cold waves,
carrying the fresh smell of wet earth and the distant wails of a night
bird. In my dove shape I was not fit to fly in the dark. I narrowly
avoided being skewered on several wickedly protruding branches and was
beginning to think of turning back into my human form when Raven called
out for me.

“Stay on that branch, Marya. I am flying
over.”

Wind ruffled my feathers as he settled beside me, digging his claws into
the smooth, paper-white bark of the birch branch.

I hoped he’d say something, but he just sat there in
silence.

“So,” I began after a long pause.
“I thought you were friends with my father. How could
you tell this boy, this fool, about my father’s
death?”

To my surprise I sensed a smile in his voice as he replied:
“There are things you don’t
understand, Marya.”

“Then maybe you could try and explain it to
me.” Why did I feel wrong? What had disturbed me so
deeply? As if it were I who had to answer for my deeds to Raven, and
not the other way around.

Raven didn’t reply immediately, but when he did, his
voice didn’t waver. “He is not an
ordinary boy, Marya. And he is certainly not a fool. You felt that
too.”

“You know not to talk about my feelings, Raven. I have
none.”

“You are in worse danger than you realize, Marya. And
that puts all of us into danger as well.”

Now I caught it. He wasn’t smiling at all. The thing I
sensed in his voice was the strain of keeping his voice level. But I
was too angry to care.

“I suppose this is why you helped the boy
along?” I snapped.

“I had no choice, Marya. He captured me and forced me
bargain for my life.”

I stared. Raven was an Immortal, nearly invincible.
No one
could capture
Raven, or force him to do anything.

“He
captured
you?”

Raven’s expression was unreadable. “I
told you, he is not an ordinary boy, Marya. He had me in his
power.”

I opened my mouth, but no sound came. Dove throat was
much too weak to express the entire richness of human emotions.

“How did he do it?” I finally
managed.

“He had the Net.”

“You don’t
mean—the
Net
?”
My voice faltered again.

Raven only shrugged.

I still couldn’t believe it. This
boy
? How could he
possibly get Raven’s Bane? How could he possibly know
about its existence and whereabouts when even I,
Raven’s closest companion, had no idea about it? A
chill ran down my spine that had nothing to do with the cool night
air.

I felt the need to speak to talk it through with Raven, as if talking
could help. “How could he possibly find it? Who could
have told him?”

Raven shrugged again. “Only the
Immortals know about my Bane. I had entrusted it to
Leshy
, the trickiest of
them all. He swore an unbreakable oath to keep it safe. It is the only
thing in the world that is able to render me
helpless.”

I opened and closed my beak, struggling to find my
voice.
Leshy.
“How could the old Forest Man give it
up?” I shivered.
No
one
could hoax things from the old creature. Not
even my father.

Raven cocked his head and looked at me sideways.
“There is the riddle game.”

I scoffed, an uncomfortable sound through a bird’s
throat. “You cannot seriously think the boy
challenged Leshy and won the riddle game. I’ve talked
to him. He seemed…simple-minded. Daft.” And so
warm, vigorous, kind…The memory of the tenderness in his eyes, the
warmth of his hand on mine, made me ache.

“I talked to him too, Marya. And yes, he could be all
these things, but there’s something in him that escapes
common logic. Such—”

“—innocence,” I said.

“—willpower.”

We stopped and looked at each other.

I had never remembered before feeling so vulnerable. Frightened. What
doom were we headed to?

Raven’s voice sank to a half-whisper.
“When he captured me, he knew exactly what to ask me
for. Believe me, I didn’t make it easy for him to learn
the truth. And yet, he got exactly what he came for. And used
it.”

“How?” I insisted.
“How did he know he must question you, and no one
else? It would have been so much easier for him to approach, say,
Praskovia.”

“If he did, he would be dead by
now.”

“Yes.” I shivered at the thought.
Praskovia. Her motherly looks were often deceiving, I knew that of her.
She had always been kind to me, but deep inside she could be sterner
than my father.

Raven shuffled on the branch, turning to face me.
“None of us can imagine how much the boy must have
gone through to catch me. He knew who I was. He knew I was the one he
needed, at any cost. Granted, he was a bit rusty on the questioning
bit, but in the end he figured out what questions to ask to get what he
wants. Do you understand, Marya?”

I didn’t understand.
I
was daft,
I
was the fool.
“So, what does he want now?”

“Didn’t he tell
you?”

“He asked for my hand.”

Raven’s eyes widened in astonishment.
“He did?”

“Yes.”

“What a fool!”

“Yes. Just like his
nickname.”

Raven shook his head. “Nicknames are such a burden at
times.”

“Why, Raven? Why would he escape so many traps, do so
many impossible things only to put himself in my
power?”

“Perhaps his downfall was your
beauty?”

I shrugged.
“Perhaps.” I
didn’t believe it any more than Raven did. I
wasn’t even sure who was in whose power. There was a
bond between me and this boy, linking us like the flower he had tried
to offer me back in my tower.
Ivan-and-Marya.

I longed to change back into human shape. I longed to get away, to the
safety of my chamber, and to hide my face in
Praskovia’s large bosom as I used to do in days gone
forever.

I didn’t want to face this.

“I didn’t tell the boy about the
Needle, Marya. I would have, if he’d asked me, because
I was bound by the Net. But he didn’t ask. He already
knew where it was.”

I became aware of the silence, disturbed only by the distant noises of
the night forest. I stirred, trying to silence the maddening questions
endlessly circling in my head.

Who
was
this boy?

How could he know so much?

Who was helping him?

And, why?

“All he wanted to know was how to get into your tower
without running into your traps. I told him everything, Marya. I had no
choice.”

“My father mentioned a prophecy.”

“Oh, yes. The prophecy.” Again I
heard a smile in his voice, and wondered what true emotion it hid.

“I didn’t know there was one. I was
taught by you and my father not to believe in
them.”

Raven chuckled. “A wise teaching. Prophecies are
nonsense; no more than rhymes that people make up to amuse themselves.
It is the words that make prophecies that are to be
feared.”

“How so?”

“People are foolish. They believe in words. They
repeat those silly rhymes, carry them from village to village, until
everyone recites them with reverence and stores them away at the backs
of their minds. And then the evil comes. Those hungry for power find
out prophecies and make them come true. It does not take much for
common villagers to believe.”

“But how could one make a rhyme come
true?”

“Say, there is a rhyme that tells of a true king who
would come dressed as a beggar in the dead of winter, produce the Sword
of Doom and cut down the old tree by the well to open the way for a new
spring.”

“And?”

“And then, somebody decides to win
this kingdom over. All they have to do is find a handsome woodcutter,
dress him in rags, give him a sword strong enough to chop wood,
and—there you have it. All he has to do is show up. The people will
do the rest for him. They
want to
believe.”

“There is still the matter of a new
spring.”

“You’d be amazed what people would be
willing to believe for a true king.”

“So, what does our prophecy say?”

The Raven recited, in a deep solemn voice:

“
The
power of Kupalo goeth forth into ages,

Yet rule of immortal doth carry its doom.

On the night of the Solstice, a hero of legend,

Cometh marked by an arrow through turmoil and gloom.

 

His guides are the creatures of magic and wisdom,

His strength is no weapon, but fire in his eyes.

He carrieth death for the rule of the kingdom,

He bringeth new life for the new
sacrifice.
”