The Shining Falcon

Chapter XVIII At Court

«I repeat," said Semyon wearily to the earnest faces staring at him, «Prince Finist told me, and I can only believe him, that he's well and unhurt, and will be returning to us in a few days.»

There was a rumble of confused conversation from the other counselors: «But where — "

«Why — "

«Safe? Is he really — "

«Yes!» exploded Semyon. «The only thing wrong with him, as far as I could tell, was a touch of the sort of fever — "

«Fever!» That triggered a whole new eruption of alarm, and Semyon sighed and shouted, in his most officious voice:

«Order! Boyars, order! Prince Finist is not, definitely not, seriously ill! He assured me of that himself, and I, for one, have no reason to believe he was lying!»

«Yes, but are you sure he wasn't under duress?» came the anxious cry. «How do you know our prince isn't a prisoner somewhere, and — "

«He's not a prisoner!» shouted Semyon. «If he were, we'd have had some sort of ransom demand by now, wouldn't we? I saw him, I tell you, I saw him surrounded by free and open forest, and we all know our prince has nothing to fear from the forest. So enough of this hysteria. Let us take Prince Finist at his word, and get down to business so he'll have a neatly running land to which to return!»

«… to which to return!» The words echoed faintly in Ljuba's ears, as though they'd come from even further away than the royal palace, as she stared intently into her mirror, watching the boyars as fiercely as ever hawk watched prey.

Finist spoke to Semyon, not to me. He never even thought of me. The insulted little thought raced through her mind, but the young woman angrily shut it away. Of course he had sent his image to Semyon! Who else would he trust to take charge? Ljuba could only hope, with the boyars, that the prince really was alive and soon to return. But what if I tried to take power now, came the seductive little thought, now, while he's away? She gave a short, humorless laugh at that, only too well aware of her limitations. Oh, Ljuba supposed she might, with care and a judicious use of potions, control Semyon's will. But control the entire council? Impossible.

All she could do was watch, and wait, and‑interfering forest demons or no—try to find Finist. She'd see for herself that all was well.

The city of Stargorod was buzzing with excited curiosity. «Did you see them return?»

«Did you see the terror in their eyes?»

«They came out of the forest, didn't they? What did the forest do to them?»

Prince Svyatoslav was wondering the same thing. These were hardly the elegant, well‑disciplined soldiers he'd sent to hunt for Danilo. And their captain! Svyatoslav had expected some fear to be in the man's eyes. After all, he'd blatantly failed to find the boyar, and he couldn't have forgotten his prince's threat of death. But the captain's eyes reflected more than a simple fear of execution.

«What is this?» asked the prince, straightening regally on his throne. «Why do you come before me in such a sorry state? And where is Danilo?»

«Dead, my Prince.» The captain's voice was flat. «Almost certainly dead.»

«How do you know?»

«My Prince, my investigations proved that he could only have escaped into the forest. He wouldn't have had time to reach anywhere else.»

«Agreed!» said Svyatoslav impatiently.

«So we went after him. We went into the forest, into that—that forest…»

«Go on, man!»

«I never believed the old stories, I always thought them for children and fools. And I am no fool, my Prince, you know I am no fool. But when we entered that forest, it was as though we'd entered a sea, a pathless green sea.»

«Nonsense, there are roads!»

«You misunderstand, my Prince. There may be roads, but—we couldn't find them. Whenever we didn't actually watch it, the path beneath our feet would somehow… vanish. Whenever we'd managed to pick up another, it would simply… end, usually right in the middle of a swamp, or a thicket of thorns so fierce I swear only our swords let us cut our way free.»

Svyatoslav shook his head angrily. «Grown men, getting themselves lost and frightened!»

«No, it was more than that! I tell you, there were strange demons in that forest, green, capering things that mocked us, and vanished before we could attack them, things that jested at the very name of God! My Prince, the—the very trees were moving in that forest, blocking our way—oh, Heaven, if we hadn't turned to flee at last, I swear they would have crushed the life from us all!» The captain shuddered, eyes wild with memory. «I'm sorry, my Prince. I have always been loyal to you. But now… Do what you will with me, but I am not going back into that forest. Condemn me to death if you must. A clean death at the hand of the executioner would be far, far better than dying in that sorcerous place.»

Svyatoslav stirred uneasily, wondering if this whole thing were some drunken fancy. But the man had never been given to drinking, and his fear did seem to be shared by his men. «What's that?» the prince asked belatedly. «Oh, no, no, of course I'm not going to have you put to death. Go, man, get yourself something to eat and drink.»

But the prince hardly noted the relieved guard's grateful bow. The forest has never been anything but a forest till now. Sorcery… Dear Heaven. Dear Heaven, what if Danilo really is alive in there? What if he's formed some sort of unholy alliance with the forest demons? And what if he's seeking… revenge?

And in Danilo's estate, Alexei waited and waited for the men he'd sent to find the boyar to return from the forest. But return they never did.