Ashes of the Firebird (The Firebird Fairytales Book 2) Read online

  “Yanka is alive,” he whispered to her, “You aren’t the only one left of your family anymore shalosť.” He didn’t say that he wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or not. He recalled getting drunk with Ilya once. Ilya had a serious disposition. Only occasionally did he have enough vodka in him to drop his defences. It had been the only time he had ever mentioned his mother.

  “She never wanted me, Yvan, not even from the start. She left me alone for hours, sometimes days,” Ilya had said as he poured another drink. “I followed her into the forest one day. She was cutting herself and chanting. I can’t remember what she said. I remember how I felt. I was so scared of the shadows that moved around her. She was evil. I was glad when she left my father and me alone. She did something to him and he mourned her until the day he put a knife in his throat.”

  Yvan had never told Anya about that and wouldn’t if he could avoid it. He would let her make her own mind up about Yanka. And he would be there if it all went wrong.

  ***

  Katya crept into the huge kitchen and opened the liquor cabinet. Silvian had every type of alcohol you could want. What she wanted now was tequila and lots of it.

  “I thought I heard someone raiding my kitchen.” Silvian was sitting at the bench. He wasn’t human and he wasn’t forth coming with any information about himself. Aramis trusted him and that had been enough.

  “Guilty as charged, do you want some?” She held up the bottle of pale amber liquid invitingly.

  “Of course, I was heading down here to find something strong. Aramis is melting my brain over this Yanka business. At times, I regret agreeing to find information for him at all.” Katya filled two shot glasses and they downed them.

  “You shouldn’t think like that. When Anya wakes, she will be glad to know that she isn’t the last of her family alive,” Katya said as she topped them up once more. “Anyone would be happy to know that they have someone with the same blood out there.”

  “But how will she react when she learns how they have treated her illustrious ancestor?” Katya pulled up a stool and sat opposite him, the bottle between them for easy reach.

  “She will be pissed. Not having full knowledge of her power will probably be a good thing. She would rip the building up by its foundations and kill anyone who would try to stop her.”

  “Interesting. Do you think having someone alive and as powerful as her is a good thing? There will be two to contend with once we get Yanka back. Yanka wasn’t a forgive and forget type of woman. If she goes after the Illumination, we will very quickly have a full scale war on our hands.” Katya poured them both more tequila and nursed hers thoughtfully.

  “I want to know how they managed to get hold of her to begin with. You think someone that powerful would have been able to keep from getting kidnapped.”

  “I would say other parties were involved in that particular betrayal,” Silvian said as he drank more slowly. “And a hell of a lot of magic.”

  “Aramis?” Katya asked. Silvian shook his head.

  “No, he would rather die than betray her. He will probably die trying to get her back.”

  “It’s a crazy plan! Anya won’t sit back and let this kind of torture continue. She will go along with it without question.”

  “Aramis won’t be able to do it without her, so you had best get to work in getting sweet Anya back into her body.” He patted her hand and the warmth of his skin shot goose bumps up her arm and deep into her body. She could taste his brown skin and the promise of what they could do if she gave herself up to him. She felt the scorching heat of the desert and smelt exotic fruit blossoms. She pulled her hand out from under his quickly and gave herself a little shake. He was smiling subtly, as if he read everything that went through her head at that moment.

  “I’m going take this tequila upstairs and get hold of my sister,” Katya said as she grabbed the bottle with shaking hands.

  “Good luck, Yakaterina,” Silvian called as she made her way out. Katya hurried to get out of the warm kitchen and away from the spicy scent of his cologne.

  She found the Twins in their room talking softly. Chayton looked up and smiled as she entered, “Hey ciquala, you’re looking a little bit anxious there. You okay?”

  “You guys feel like having a few drinks?” They smiled identical white smiles, before pulling the cushions off the couches and sitting on the floor.

  “Are you using alcohol to link with Aleksandra again?” Honaw asked after she had a swig and passed him the bottle.

  “I can link with her anytime. I need alcohol to put up with her.”

  “You are lying. Aleki is not that bad. You’re worried about other things.” Chayton shook his head at her and drank from the bottle. They were silently waiting for her to tell them what was wrong. Two full-grown men in identical black singlets and identical jeans stared at her. She couldn’t hold their glances so she caved.

  “I can’t sleep because of the Darkness. It has made me so mad I can barely breathe. I want to kill them all over again. They must be recruiting but for what? They are insane to think that they could break the treaty after all these years.”

  “Let the rage go. It is over. You have stopped them doing those terrible things. Those ördög monsters can hurt no more people. Only you are letting it hurt you. As for what their plans are, who can know? They are evil bastards but even they aren’t stupid enough to start another war,” Honaw said as he tucked her under his arm, hugging her to him. “Now, let’s wake your sister.”

  Through the veils that separated the worlds, Aleksandra was tossing and turning. Giving up on sleep, she climbed out of her narrow wooden bed. She had been having powerful visions in the past weeks with no rejuvenating sleep to refresh her. Wrapping a heavy red woollen shawl around her shoulders, she put water onto boil and spooned dried camomile leaves in her cup. She wished that Katya had left her sleeping tablets, but for now, herbal tea had to do. Aleksandra pulled her rosary out of her nightdress and squeezed the cross tightly in her hand, reassuring her.

  She had been dreaming of a scarred man, killing terrible bloody creatures. She had been dreaming of him every night for six weeks. Flashes of him were coming more frequently and it troubled her. She would only see incomplete pieces of the vision though; tattoos on his chest, a glimpse of dark eyes, bloodied steel and she felt the ferocity when he hunted. Nothing was complete and she couldn’t put the fragments together. Every time her eyes closed, the images would fly at her like vengeful birds.

  Little pig, little pig, let me in, Katya’s voice gave her a mental knock, causing her to spill her tea.

  I am here, little brat. Is everything well over there?

  Aleki? Aleki? Testing one two. Honaw and Chayton reporting for duty! The Twins’ laughter danced across the link. Aleksandra gave a frustrated groan.

  You’ve been drinking. Katya’s influence I am sure.

  Stop preaching, big sister, we need your help, Katya urged. We’ve lost Anya and we need you to find her.

  What do you mean lost? She isn’t loose change, Katya.

  She closed the gate, Ladislav attacked her and we think her spirit is wandering the dream world. We have her body but she’s not in it. Aleksandra swore, something she rarely did and never in front of people. She should have seen something about that! The scarred man had been the only thing she had seen for weeks.

  We need you to pinpoint her spirit so we can gallop in on noble steeds and rescue her! Honaw said dramatically. He was usually so serious that Aleksandra smiled despite how annoying they all became when they were drunk.

  You do remember that the dream world changes very rapidly so even if I find her you might not get to her in time.

  Yeah, we know. We have a lovesick Thanatos on our hands and he is becoming too hard to handle, Katya interrupted loudly.

  We need her to wake so that she can help the Álfr save the great witch, Chayton slurred. Whatever they were drinking, it had to be strong. They were making up fairy tales… Álfr indeed!

>   I will do my very best, brave knight. Now go and sleep it off, all of you.

  We will be in contact, fairest Aleksandra. All three connections snapped off, leaving Aleksandra dizzy and gripping the edge of the table. She didn’t know what games they were playing while Anya was in trouble. It was up to her to lead the drunken idiots to Anya and hope that they didn’t get lost in the process.

  Aleksandra placed the tea back on her little kitchen table before digging around in the back of her food cupboard. She brought out a small painted box that she had hidden in there. Opening the box, she took out her hand rolled cigarettes and lit one. No one knew about her occasional guilty habit. Katya had no idea how to cook so she never went searching through the kitchen.

  Drawing the sweet tobacco in her lungs, she found her bag of divination bones. Scrying the dream world was obscure at best and the bones would be more open to interpretation than runes. Clearing her mind, she focused on Anya; how her magic had felt, the way she had looked, the way her aura was shaped. Aleksandra tipped the bones in her hand, shut her eyes and threw.

  ***

  “You look like a glutted pig,” Cerise commented as she blew a silver line of smoke in Trajan’s direction. She had forced him to go on a stroll through Silvian’s wintery gardens. A light dusting of snow covered her black fur coat as she plucked a needle off a small pine tree.

  “You all said I needed to feed,” Trajan answered hollowly.

  “There’s a difference between feeding and torture,” Cerise snapped. She dropped her cigarette butt on the icy pavement and stubbed out the glowing cherry with her boot.

  “I was upset.”

  “We all were, sweetie. Ördögs are fucking barbaric.” She lit another cigarette with cold fingers. She had been chain smoking since they had come back from the restaurant and the evil that had been above it. “My point is, Trajan dear, that you were out of character that night. This girl has royally fucked with your head. Not feed for weeks and then slaughter everyone slowly, that’s not your style.”

  “I apologise if I scared you.”

  “It’s not me that I’m worried about. Did you get rid of them? The souls of those terrible pricks?”

  “I didn’t open the Hell realms again if that is what you mean.” Trajan was looking at his shoes and Cerise suppressed her frustration.

  “Get rid of them, Trajan. That shit is going to poison you. Why am I even arguing with you about this? You know better than anyone.”

  “Cerise, I promise that I will go out of the city and do it in the next few days. I didn’t want to leave Anya again so soon. I certainly don’t want to open the doors to the Underworld anywhere near here. If Anya’s soul is lingering somewhere, it could get sucked down with all the others and I will never get her back.”

  “I will hold you to that promise, brother dearest. I know you have your reasons and I understand your fears. I’m getting too old to deal with this kind of shit. Anya would understand your need to leave her to feed. You have two days and then I will drag you out of the city by your curly hair.”

  “Deal,” Trajan smiled, the first smile she had seen in weeks.

  “We will get her back, Trajan. The Twins and Katya are all over it. Take care of you. That is what Anya would want.”

  “I know it’s…”

  “Hurting. I know. Keep this up and you will start getting…feelings,” Cerise shivered dramatically.

  “It might be too late for that,” Trajan admitted.

  “Then you’re totally screwed, aren’t you?”

  “So it would seem. Come, let’s get back into the warmth. You had best pick up your cigarette butts or Silvian will get upset.”

  “Oh please.” Cerise flicked her long red hair and headed for the door that led back inside. Trajan shook his head at her before stooping to pick up the sodden filters.

  ***

  Katya held her head tightly between the palms of her hands. She had a splitting headache from passing messages through Aleksandra and the Twins for the last two days. They had honed in on Anya’s location while the Twins were using Katya as a medium. Three times, Aleksandra had found her. Three times, Chayton and Honaw had risked themselves and travelled the paths.

  Katya had never walked the dreamlands before and when she questioned the Twins about it, they couldn’t really put it into words. Three times, it had shifted when they were almost close to finding Anya, as if the dream world was working against them, trying to keep her. Aleksandra was becoming as frustrated as the rest of them and Katya had spent a lot of time encouraging her to keep going.

  “For you,” Izrayl presented to her a packet of aspirin and a bottle of Coca-Cola. Katya smiled gratefully as she watched him pop two tablets out of the tin foil and open her soft drink. “Now I know why I love you so much,” she sighed after swallowing the painkillers. Izrayl raised his eyebrows in surprise.

  “You love me?”

  “No,” she answered a little too quickly.

  “You’re a liar,” Izrayl sat down next to her and put a lazy arm around her shoulders. She snuggled into him and rested her aching head on his chest. “When is the big event?”

  “They are going to try to find Anya again tonight. They are going to use peyote, which they rarely do. I think they are worried that their bodies will call them back too quickly.”

  “It’s going to be good having Anya back. Trajan is becoming too much to handle. I have never seen him like this.”

  “He watched over her for so long. He finally got her and her love in return. Now it’s been taken away again. It’s like a junkie not getting drugs.”

  “All the same, if this doesn’t work—”

  “It will work.” The conviction in her voice surprised even her.

  ***

  “Can I ask you something?” Anya poked a stick in the fireplace. She was becoming colder and colder inside as the days wore on. She wondered if she was dying.

  “If you must,” Yanka sighed. Anya didn’t know if she was naturally blunt but Yanka was one of the most frustrating people she had ever met. Getting words out of her was like trying to get blood from a stone.

  “Did you get kidnapped by a Skazki Tsar when you were younger?”

  “How did you know that?” Yanka demanded angrily.

  “Helvetti, I only asked,” Anya muttered.

  “Don’t speak that pathetic language here.”

  “What? Finnish?”

  “Yes. Speak your true language. You are Russian.”

  “That is very elitist of you. Besides, my mother was Finnish, so technically it’s only one of my true languages,” Anya replied sarcastically. Yanka’s face flushed, from embarrassment or anger Anya couldn’t guess.

  “How did you know I was kidnapped?” Yanka demanded.

  “I dreamt of it if you really want to know. I saw the morning before a battle. You sacrificed a goat and read its entrails. You didn’t tell the Tsar he would die.”

  “You would’ve done the same to get your freedom.”

  “I would’ve killed him myself.” Yanka opened her mouth to reply when a clunk on the boards outside silenced her.

  “I haven’t ever had visitors here besides you,” Yanka whispered. They got to their feet simultaneously and headed for the front door. Anya grabbed the poker from the fireplace. Yanka went into her room and come out with her sword. There was a knock at the door as they reached it. Yanka held the sword high as Anya opened it cautiously.

  “Thank God,” she whispered when she saw who was outside. She dropped the poker and flew into Chayton and Honaw’s arms.

  “Sweet little, Anyanka. You have no idea how glad I’m to see you,” Honaw said with relief as he kissed her forehead.

  “You know these men?” Yanka said suspiciously, as she lowered her sword.

  “This is Chayton and Honaw, the Twins I mentioned,” Anya introduced them as she clung to their hands, afraid that they would disappear.

  “You must be Yanka. We are honoured to meet you,” Chayton sai
d and they both bowed. “Aramis knew we would find her with you.”

  “I bet he did,” Yanka muttered.

  “What’s happening? Why am I stuck here and unable to wake up?” Anya questioned, doing her best not to cry with relief. She had been starting to believe that she would be trapped there forever, or until she went mad enough wander into the forest at nightfall.

  “Ladislav hit you so hard that your spirit got knocked from your body and into the dream world.”

  “This is the Land of the Dead,” Yanka said firmly, “She is dead.”

  “With respect, she is not. This is the Land of Dreaming,” Honaw stated.

  “Then why am I stuck here? This has to be the Underworld! I am dead!” Yanka demanded. The Twins looked uncomfortable.

  “You’re not dead either,” said Chayton slowly. Anya caught Yanka as the air was knocked out of her. Honaw took the sword from her and propped it against the wall of the cabin.

  “How is that possible? I have been here for lifetimes.”

  “The Illumination have kept you in a…special kind of sleep. Aramis never knew. They told him you were dead. He is now Rogue and is planning to break you out of your prison.”

  “They have been keeping her alive and in a prison this whole time?” Anya was conscious of Yanka’s fragile state and didn’t want to frighten her more by showing how furious she was.

  “Medically induced coma,” Chayton explained. The words wouldn’t mean anything to Yanka but Anya knew and it fuelled an already angry fire. “Anya, we need to take you now. Our bodies are calling us back.” Anya nodded and knelt down next to where Yanka had sunk to the ground.

  “Yanka, I’m going to go with the Twins. We are going to set you free. You’ll not be stuck in this place for much longer, I promise. I will rip the building that’s keeping you apart if I have to.”

  “Go now,” Yanka said dismissively, her eyes going blank.

  “Thank you for your help,” Anya said before following the Twins out of the cottage and back into the forest. “How did you find me here?” she asked as she took Chayton’s hand.