Chapter 10 Breathless #2
With Jaga’s limp body in my arms, I oversee the emptying of the hall, sending my shadows ahead to check if any souls were left behind.
When I am certain they’re gone, I cast a long, heavy spell onto the oaks.
Fire is not my element, but I can rule it if I must. With the dregs of my magic, I send hot sparks of wrath onto the trees until they catch.
I leave the hall and close the doors, and Nyja casts a barrier spell around it to keep the purging fire from spreading.
We stand together, young soldiers, Nyja, a couple of souls who were inside when it happened.
Those who can breathe, breathe hard. The birds are silent, perching on arches and benches around the arena as they watch the hall smolder, windows shattering until thick clouds of smoke escape.
My fire is quick. The building will collapse within half an hour.
Jaga is still in my arms, and I finally look at her, half expecting to see something monstrous, something beyond dark. But she’s herself: pale, freckled, and bloodied.
Her nostrils don’t move.
“Love?” I ask, stepping away from the building. “Jaga?”
I shake her, but she doesn’t react, her head lolling heavily. I curse under my breath and lay her down on the ground. Nyja hovers by my side, quiet and shaken.
“Love, here. You just need to swallow. Just like before, remember? You couldn’t breathe but you swallowed just fine.”
Even as I say it, I know it’s not “like before”. When I dug Jaga out of her grave, she moved weakly, and I could tell at a glance she was alive despite the plants growing out of her body, her skin hanging in tatters over raw muscles. This is different.
I open my wrist, dripping blood into her open mouth while my magic combs through the fibers of her being, looking for damage. She has only shallow wounds, nothing serious.
Only, her heart won’t beat, and her breath won’t come.
“Jaga!” I urge, panic clawing at my throat. “Swallow! Come on, just once! You’re still there, I know you are. You’re immortal, remember?”
I’m sure she is. She can’t die unless I will it. Maybe only Perun can bypass my spell work, but it would take him much longer than he had in the hall, if it’s possible at all.
Blood drips out of Jaga’s still mouth, flowing down her cheek. I seal the wound in my wrist and bring her up, cradling her to me. Cold, cold terror seeps into my soul. Did she somehow break my spells herself? She kept saying she wanted to die.
“Jaga, come back,” I grit out, shaking her.
Even as I do it, I check. I can’t help it. If she died by some freak accident, her soul will be here, in Nawie. Maybe I can fix it. If only I have her soul.
I sweep my consciousness through my kingdom, searching for the familiar shape and taste, but she’s nowhere to be found.
“You’re not dead!” I bark. “Come on! Stop pretending!”
“Weles, she’s… She’s hollow,” Nyja whispers, sadness and dread in her voice. “There’s nothing there. Can’t you tell?”
“Then where is she?” I roar, cradling Jaga to my chest. “Find her! Now!”
Nyja closes her eyes, searching obediently, and I shake Jaga until her head rolls from side to side, her neck loose. It doesn’t make sense. She’s not dead—she’s still here. All she needs is her breath.
I lay her down and tilt her face up, pressing my lips to hers.
I breathe right into her mouth, pinching her nose closed, until her chest lifts.
I pull away, licking away my own blood that clung to her lips.
Nothing happens. I shake my head, my hands trembling from fear, and do it again.
My breath fills Jaga’s body, and I sense something, the faintest current, a reddish glow just visible when my eyes go out of focus.
“Yes,” I whisper, cradling her face in my bloodied palm. “Breathe. Yes.”
I give her another breath, and Jaga awakens with a violent gulp of air.
Her hands grip the back of my head, and she presses me close, breathing in, and in, and in.
I give her as much air as I can, and the red glow brightens and fills her body.
She shakes, but she’s alive, she’s here, she’s not dead.
“Weles, this isn’t possible,” Nyja whispers above me, and I know, I agree, but it’s happening, and it’s all I care about.
When Jaga’s hold on me slackens, I pull away, my lips hovering above hers, her frantic breaths mingling with mine.
“You’re fine,” I promise, reassuring myself more than her. “Yes? See? All is good. You’re here.”
She closes her eyes and shakes her head, her face crumpling in misery.
“So stupid,” she whispers through a sob. “I thought I could… But it wasn’t… Still so weak…”
She cries, and I gather her in my arms, taking in the trembling in her limbs, the rapid, shaky breaths, the fast, frantic heartbeat. She’s here, she’s alive, she can speak.
I don’t understand what happened.
“Where did you go?” I ask, shaking right with her. “You weren’t in your body, and you weren’t in the Well of Souls. Where were you, Jaga? Please, this can never happen again.”
She doesn’t reply, her sobs quieting even as tears flow down her cheeks. Nyja kneels by my side and puts her warm hand on my shoulder.
“You’ll figure it out,” she says quietly. “We defeated Perun. That’s what counts. He must have snuck the upierzycas in during the soul threshing. I let through a nawka that felt odd, but I thought nothing of it. There were so many.”
I nod, swallowing a growl of fury. I’m so angry with myself. “I felt that, too,” I admit, my heart heavy with guilt. “But I ignored it. Like you—I was overwhelmed. It was clearly their goal. Nyja, when did they grow so clever?”
She scoffs. “When you let the whole of Slawa know that there is a way to defeat Perun,” she says bitterly.
“They never tried hard before, Weles. Perun was happy with you trapped here and never felt truly threatened before. He does now. What’s worse, he knows she’s with you—not with Woland.
He’ll focus everything on us. And after what he saw today… ”
She breaks off, and I close my eyes, loathing myself so deeply, my anger burns me from within.
“He’ll do anything to hunt down Jaga after what she did.”
Jaga sighs, gripping the fabric of my shirt in her fist. “I did wrong. I was… so arrogant. I never thought it would just… run out.”
“What, love?” I ask. “What ran out?”
But she shakes her head, pressing her face into my chest. I sigh and hold her closer, exchanging a heavy look with Nyja over Jaga’s head.
With so many clues, I have no choice but to work it out.