The Shining Falcon

Chapter XXXVII The Pact

Maria paused to impatiently braid her wild hair, wishing for perhaps the hundredth time that during her frantic, hurried preparations she had remembered to pack a comb.

By the time I reach Kirtesk—she glanced down at her ragged, scratched, unkempt self‑it'll be a marvel if the guards let me enter the city.

No wonder that she didn't look the elegant boyarevna: All too soon she had discovered that not even farm work had prepared her for a wilderness trek. And there was more than physical strain: Even with the leshy's grudging cooperation, Maria was only protected from the forest. But she could sense other beings watching her from the shadows, softly following her. So far, they had seemed harmless enough, merely curious—attracted, perhaps, by the silver chain's aura of magic. But Maria could remember all too well Finist telling her that each leshy ruled only a portion of the great forest. Who knew whether one leshy's protection held true beyond his domain. And Finist had told her that the force which was forest magic, Old Magic, grew stronger the further east one went…

It all seemed far too much. Footsore, aching, more alone than she'd ever been in her life, Maria cried out:

«I can't do anymore!»

If only she could find the road! Even though she'd been travelling for nearly half a month, if her reckonings were still accurate, the soldiers must surely still be patrolling it; her father and Svyatoslav were not men to give up easily. The soldiers would take her home, and all this would be over. Maria glanced wildly about and saw nothing tat forest—unbroken, untouched forest, gloomy beneath the canopy of leaves. All around her a hundred little chirping, rustling lives went on their way, not caring whether she lived or died, and the young woman bit back a despairing sob.

Finist, oh, Finist…

Falling to her knees amid the litter of ancient fallen leaves, she clutched the silver chain to her, feeling its warmth stealing into her chilly hands, wonderfully comforting, reminding her that human love still lived, even in this nonhuman place. Hugging the chain to her, Maria determinedly remembered Finist as she'd first seen him as Finn, remembered how she had warily begun to love him even then. And when he had first, nervously, come to her as Finist… Maria smiled wanly at the thought of those magical nights.

For an instant she could have sworn Finist was then with her, soothing her fears. When she looked up, wondering, Maria found herself alone; yet somehow she did feel comforted.

Akh, Finist, 1 can't abandon you. Come what may, I love you.

She let out a long, shaken sigh, then scrambled to her feet, brushing off leafy skeletons as best she could. Now that she was determined to go on, there was no need for hysteria. The forest wouldn't hurt her; she would just on believing that. As for food… Well, as long as kept her head, that wouldn't be too much of a problem either.

The scanty provisions she had been able to carry with her—the cheese and bread and dried meat she'd stolen from the kitchen back home—had soon begun to run dangerously low. But during her farm days, Maria had talked to peasants and hunters, and had learned a good deal about foraging. There were berries aplenty now, in the heart of summer, and edible roots; frogs were easy to catch bare-handed, and quite tasty if one didn't think about it toomuch. There were fish to be seined from streams with her shawl. She had already swiped a rabbit from some hunter's snare, and might be able to do it again. And since she and the forest seemed to have come to a sort of truce about the lighting of fires—small, well-tended fires—she could cook whatever she found. Maybe it wasn't a luxurious life, but… Maria gave a chuckle, rather surprised to feel her spirits rising once more.

«I refuse to worry about What Might Be," she said aloud. «I've managed to survive so far, and I firmly intend to go right on surviving!»

With that, she shifted her pack to a more secure position, took a deep breath, and started forward.

Alexei had built himself a shelter there in the meadow, a rickety hut contrived from fallen branches and bits of bark. He'd kept himself fed on whatever he could find, and refused to consider that someday the summer would end, and the winter come on. But—he was a prisoner, as surely as though walls penned him in, for the moment he entered too deeply into the forest, Alexei knew with dreadful certainty, the forest would take him.

There must be a way out of this, a way back to civilized lands… But so far he had not found it. No matter how hard he tried to hold to dreams of power, wealth, revenge, his will kept slipping away. And right now, Alexei simply lay in the warm meadow sunlight, as empty of thought as any of the small animal lives about him. But—there was a flicker of movement, there at the far end of the meadow. Alexei came bolt upright, staring, thinking, God, oh God! That was a human form—a girl form!

Overwhelmed by shock, his muscles wouldn't move; he could only sit and stare. But if he didn't do something, she'd get away, and he'd be alone again. Struggling frantically to his feet, Alexei shouted in a voice grown harsh with disuse: «Wait! Stop!»

Aie, he'd been too slow to react. All unaware of his presence, the girl had already scampered from one end of the meadow to the other—almost as though she was afraid to be caught out in the open—and vanished into the forest at its far side. Alexei let out a little moan. She hadn't heard him, and now it was too late. Desperate, he began to lunge after her—

No, he dared not. Enter that forest, and he was lost, he knew it.

And the girl? She was lost, too. The forest would never let her go. The forest would keep her, forever and ever.

«A pity. What a pity. She was so young. Young and warm, and soft…»

Head all at once full of dim memories, of private rooms and woman-scent and secret, midnight games, Alexai sank back to the grass and vagueness once more.

Ljuba bit back a frustrated curse. What good old Semyon deigning to allow her a mirror once more if she couldn't keep her emotions under control long enough to bend its image to her will? But‑Maria! The forest's hostility had allowed Ljuba only tantalizing bits of vision, but she had seen that—that‑Maria—had somehow managed to charm it into letting her pass. Bah, more than merely let her pass.

The girl had already gotten surprisingly far, quite unscathed.

«I don't believe it!»

That sheer, quiet persistence was maddening. And it certainly wasn't helping to have to listen to Finist's incessant calling for his love. Particularly since she suspected he wasn't so far from lucidity that he couldn't taunt his cousin.

«Oh‑dammit!» Ljuba exploded.

She must be rid of that girl. She hadn't a chance of controlling Finist completely till that—that gadfly was crushed!

Raging, Ljuba turned her full attention to her mirror. There must be someone human in that forest, a hunter, a bandit, someone she could contact, someone quite without scruples…

Yes… There was a meadow, clear enough without the forest's magic-haze to fog it, though it did seem to have its own magical aura, and a figure within that meadow— a man, or what passed for one. Ljuba curled a fastidious lip in disgust at his raggedness.

Yes, but she didn't care if the man wasn't a vision of masculine beauty! He need only have two things: greed, and a certain ruthlessness. And a man in such sorry condition was almost certain to be greedy, and eager enough for any reward she might offer to be ruthless.

Ljuba's smile was thin and cold.

At first, he thought the woman only a part of his fantasies, this radiant golden creature whose image seemed to waver ever so slightly, a vision, a lovely, sensual dream of pleasure…

«Have you finished staring?» the vision asked him. «Come, fool! Answer me!»

The startled Alexei sat sharply up. Pleasure‑dreams didn't scold! Was she a… hallucination? Alexei looked at the beautiful creature, and shook his head. He doubted his madness could ever be that artistic!

«All right, you're real. Who are you?» That strangely wavering image made him add warily, «And, for that matter where are you?»

«Who and where I am doesn't concern you.»

«Why, you're a magician!» Delighted to realize he wasn't that far gone into madness, Alexei managed to summon up an echo of his former charm, his former cunning, enough to make him ask urbanely, «But, dear lady, why bother sending your image to me? What could you possibly want from such as myself?»

«An errand.» If the woman was surprised by his sudden courtliness, she didn't show it. «The removal of… a nuisance.»

«Ah.» Alexei's voice was bland. «A living nuisance, I take it?»

«Why, the man has some wit about him after all!» Her smile was humorless. «I shall be blunt. There is a girl somewhere in the forest near you.» Alexai tensed. «The—forest…»

«Yes, of course! You may even have seen her pass.» The lovely eyes had gone quite cold. «I wish her to disappear.»

«But… to go into the forest… I don't dare — "

«What nonsense is this? I didn't think you were a complete fool—ahh, I see what it is! You're trying to bargain with me, aren't you? Very well, man, what do you wish? Come, name your price!»

«You‑don't understand. I can't enter the forest. The— the demon will seize me again.»

He saw a flicker of unease cross her face. She knows, Alexei thought wildly. She knows about the demon! She knows I'm telling the truth! And he wondered nervously if she was simply going to abandon him.

But the woman said sharply, «No demon will touch you, not if you obey me. My magic will shield you. And the girl, Maria Danilovna — "

«Danilovna!» Alexei shot to his feet, grabbing for the woman's shoulders. But of course, his hands merely passed through the wavering image, and fighting fiercely for self‑control, Alexei stepped back. «Maria Danilovna," lies he repeated savagely. «Are you sure?»

«So-o! You have no love for the slut, either!»

«I have no love for the whole damned family!» Too tense to remain still, Alexei began pacing nervously in a tight circle. «To have her in my hands, to start my revenge… And with magic to shield me…» He stopped, looked up. «Your magic will shield me?»

«Why, of course," the woman said smoothly. «You'll do it, then? I have your word on it?»

«Not—not so fast. I—want more. I—I was a boyar once.»

«And you wish a return to power, do you? Why, man! In a few short days, I shall rule a realm! Serve me well now, and you shall have a place of honor at my court.»

To be a boyar again! Oh, no doubt this woman, whomever, whatever she was, would try to trick him, to be rid of him, but he'd outwit her, magic or no, he'd outwit her and survive. And he would triumph!

«Done!» shouted Alexei in savage joy. «Oh, done, done!»