9. Luck Rarely Appears without Misfortune’s Help
9
LUCK RARELY APPEARS WITHOUT MISFORTUNE’S HELP
“Snap out of it, you fool!” Water was thrown on his face, and Nik struggled to rise from the nightmare, knowing the moment he opened his eyes, he’d be facing a worse one. A rough hand shook his shoulder. “Come on, durak! Hurry. The tsarevnas need you.”
“Wh... what?” That did it. For a moment he’d been back in the barn with his old horse, him covered in his own vomit, his father waiting for him to wake up for another beating. Now he remembered: he was in the capital, and he’d made a terrible mistake. “Where’s Veru?”
“She’s here. She needs your help.” The hussar trying to wake him shook his head in disgust, yanked off his own cloak, and tossed it to Nik. “Here. Clean your own sick off yourself and get up.” When Nik didn’t immediately move, the older man took hold of his arm and yanked him to his feet. “We need to get them out of here before he comes back. They managed to chase the sorcerer off for the moment, but he’s powerful, and the others have sighted his army.”
“His army? His undead army?” Nik paused in his wiping. “They’re coming? We’ve got to hide. They’ll kill everyone!”
“I know, boy. What were you thinking leading a wurdulac to our tsarevnas? He could have destroyed them. He still might.”
“What do we do? He’s too powerful. There’s no way to stop him.”
“We must preserve the tsarevnas at all costs. Despite what you’ve done, they seem to trust you. The question is, can I?”
Nik nodded furiously. “I’ll do anything to protect them. I swear it. I’ll even fight the beasts if I have to.”
The older man gave Nik a strange look, then shook his head. “Very well. Do you know any hidden ways out of the palace and into the woods?”
“Yes. Give me your sword. I’ll lead them out. I can protect them.”
The man grunted. “I think they’re fairly capable of protecting themselves. They’ll just need a little help with the doors.”
Nik grimaced. “Right. They’re fighters. Better than myself. We’ll head to the stables, get horses.”
“No. You’ll go on foot.”
“On foot? Why? Riding is faster.”
That’s when Nik heard the clicking of claws behind him. His heart leapt in his chest. Patting his vest and reaching at his hip for a sword that wasn’t there, he cried out and spun, hands out. He couldn’t help the scream that leaked from his mouth when he saw them, the two huge beasts from his nightmare. They were real. And almost more frightening than the undead, with huge fangs protruding from their jaws and powerful striped bodies. They paced back and forth, watching him carefully.
One sat and began licking its paw but kept a close eye on him like a large cat teasing a mouse. He darted behind the older man and trembled, placing his hands on the man’s shoulders, saying in a whisper, “If we back up very slowly, we can find the twins and escape. Maybe we can seal these two... whatever they are, in the room so they can’t follow, and then let them deal with the undead army when they arrive, yes?”
“I don’t think so,” the older soldier replied, shrugging off Nik’s hands and turning his back to the beasts.
Gaping at his nonchalance, Nik slid one foot and then a second one slowly behind him, thinking that at least the soldier would be likely to lose his life first. It didn’t make sense. His demeanor was as calm as if he were simply having a meeting. Nikolai thought him crazed.
“I’m afraid you don’t understand,” the older soldier said, gesturing to the large animals behind him. “These two beasts, as you call them, are the tsarevnas. They are not, in fact, monsters, or nightmares, but in this form, they are the bol’shoy kot, or tigers . Have you never heard of them?”
Nik swallowed. “They... they are much bigger than wolves.”
“Yes. Of course they are.”
“And you’re sure the tsarevnas are in there somewhere?”
“I am. I watched them change myself. I’ve heard stories of such a thing happening from my mother’s people. That’s where you need to take them. My mother’s clan can help.”
“Your mother’s people? But I don’t understand. If they’re in there, can’t they change back?”
“Perhaps, but perhaps not. I would think if they could, they would have already. My mother’s people, the Evenki, will know what to do. They live on the other side of the great mountains. The tsarina established several laws protecting them, and free trade has been the policy for some years now. My father was stationed at one of the highland outposts as a young man. That’s where he met my mother. Her people are reindeer herders. They migrate in the hinterland, so you’ll have to find them, but if you head to one of the outposts at the borders of the taiga lands, they’ll direct you to the nearest settlement. Tell them you need to speak directly with a shaman. Hunt before you arrive and offer them meat or pelts in exchange for their help.”
“But I don’t understand. How did this happen? Was it the monk’s black magic?”
“No. It couldn’t be. This is very powerful magic, but it isn’t black. It’s a different sort. Do you understand? Tell me you understand.”
Nik looked at the beasts seated near him and at the hussar speaking earnestly about the magic of his people. If there was anyone who understood magic, it was Nik. “Yes,” he said. “I understand. It’s special to your people.”
“Good.” The older man looked relieved. “Once you arrive, you can talk with them openly about the tsarevnas and the tigers. They’ll believe you and the tigers will be protected once they’re on Evenki lands. But don’t mention anything about what happened to others in the empire. They’ll kill the tsarevnas on sight and likely string you up for heresy or lock you away. According to the law, farmers are still allowed to trap and kill wolves, bears, lynx, and tigers whether they’re threatening herds or not, so long as they use the skins or meat. Now, do you understand my instructions?”
Nik nodded, still wary but less nervous, having watched the large creatures and seeing that not only had they not attacked but that some of their mannerisms were indeed similar to the twin tsarevnas he’d come to know. “I do,” he said.
“Good. Then take my knife and sword. I’ll grab others from the armory. There isn’t much time. Out with you now.” He crouched down to the large cats and patted each of them cautiously on the shoulder. “Goodbye and good luck to both of you. May the souls of your good parents watch over us all. I promise we’ll do our best to guard your empire until your return.”
With that, he slipped out the door and was gone.
A bit awkwardly, Nik murmured, “Well then, now that it’s just the three of us, I wanted to take a moment to apologize for the display from before. Obviously, that man is not my father. And I?—”
The larger red tiger with black stripes growled softly, cutting off Nik’s words.
“Right. Let’s be off, then, shall we? Apologies can wait for a better time.” He leapt up to the dais, circled the thrones, and found a dropped knife. Quickly he pocketed it and discovered the hidden panel that allowed them to exit through the back of the room. Checking for passersby and finding none, he gestured to the cats, who padded quietly behind him, stopping to sniff the air. They clearly wanted to head to the left, but he hissed that they should follow him to the right instead, and reluctantly, they did.
That way led to the kitchen. There was the sound of items breaking outside, coupled with screams and shouting. Pots were left boiling over with no one watching, and bread was burning in a hot oven. Nik quickly grabbed a sack and stuffed it full of anything he could find—bags of preserved apples, a half-burned loaf of bread, some goat cheese, and strips of dried meat—and then he took two bladders from a hook and dipped each into a large barrel of water, filling it to the brim and capping it off, slinging both over his shoulder, before checking the door that led outside.
Servants and soldiers ran in every direction. There would be no easy means of escape from that exit. He turned back and went down one hall and another until he came up to a wall and felt along the top until he heard a click. A pocket opened, and he pushed, revealing a black opening that descended down a staircase into darkness. He was about to turn to the tigers and beckon them forward when the large red one pushed past him. He figured that one was Stacia.
As for him, he was nearly blind in the dark passageway and had to hold his hands out to feel along the sides as he walked down step by careful step, but the large cats bounced quickly down and were soon so far ahead of him he could no longer hear them. He cried out softly, “Stacia? Veru? Wait for me.” Soon he bumped into a soft tiger body. “Er... sorry,” he said awkwardly. “Can you just move over a bit? I need to find the latch.”
When he did and the door opened, he had to push hard against the wind to get it open. He hadn’t used that particular passage in too long a time, and outside of the palace too much debris had built up against the door. Once outside, they were protected by bushes since the opening led to the garden.
“Stay here for just a moment,” he said in a whisper. “Let me make sure the way out is clear.” Within a few minutes, he was back and gave them a signal. They followed him to the garden gate and only paused a moment at their mother’s grave, sniffing at the dying gardenias they’d left outside her crypt, remembering their promise to plant living blooms when the season was right, before trotting quickly out and into the woods after Nik.
Both tigers lifted their heads, turning to look at the palace when the fire started. They growled softly and almost whined. Nik glanced back and reached out a hand as if to touch them in consolation like he would have with a horse or a dog, but then quickly pulled his hand back. What am I doing? They were royalty. Not dogs for him to pet as he willed.
Pressing on, he only wavered for a moment before revealing his hiding place. They watched in curiosity as he dug beneath the trunk of an old tree and pulled out a large wooden chest. From inside it, he gathered a bag of rubles, several changes of clothing, including his magical tunic and boots, and book of spells, a flint and fire striker, and some other items they might need on a long trip, including snowshoes.
He placed all the items in a sturdy waxed leather rucksack to keep everything as dry as possible. Then he took a change of clothes and headed into the woods, using a nearby icy stream to wash as much of the sick off himself as was possible. After slipping into his own clothes, he tossed the others aside, knowing he’d never again don the clothing the undead had acquired for him, and headed back to the twins.
Hoisting the bag and centering it across his shoulders, he took a long drink of water and told them they could drink at the nearby stream if they wished before starting out. They glanced at each other and headed toward the water. He followed and wondered if they could communicate with each other or not and if they still thought like humans or if they were ruled by tiger instincts. Then he supposed he already knew the answer to that question. They wouldn’t be following him if they didn’t have their minds intact. How must it feel to be trapped inside those cat bodies? Powerful was the first word that came to mind.
Ready, they left the sounds of battle and the screams of the dying and the undead behind them, heading in an easterly direction, hoping that once the tsarevnas and the charms were gone, the monk would have no reason to stay and terrorize the palace or the Guardsmen. They knew the territory well enough to realize that traveling on foot to the great mountains would take more than a month. Winter would be upon them before they arrived, which may not affect the tsarevnas in their current form, but Nik wasn’t prepared for a brutal winter outdoors. Still, he thought it best not to think of that at present and only consider their escape.
He’d donned his special boots and tunic so he could walk without leaving tracks. Not that it would matter too much. It was certain the tsarevnas in their current form would be leaving obvious pugmarks for the undead to follow, but after a certain distance, he found the two large cats lifting their noses and turning toward the creek again. It was moving much faster than it was near the palace.
Leaping into the water, they strode along in the icy-cold rushing stream, leaping over fallen trees and around rocks and other barriers, always careful to stay in the water to cover their tracks. For an entire day, they marched upstream, staying in the water and catching their own dinner, a large wriggling fish for each of them. With their kill hanging from their jaws, they crouched low and launched their huge bodies up onto tree limbs that trembled with their weight but held, and there they ate, swallowing big chunks of their food until it was gone, then proceeded to bathe themselves with rasping tongues on fur as the sun sunk in the west.
Nik built himself a small fire near the large tree, ate a bit of his own hastily collected food for dinner, refilled his water bladders from the stream, and slept with his back to the tree. Once, when he woke at the sound of a branch cracking, he stared up into the dark canopy and saw a striped tail twitching in the shadows. The eyes glowed eerily in the night, and he shuddered. That night he dreamed the soul of the girl he’d loved had been replaced by a demon, and it was stalking him, a punishment for his many sins.
* * *
The next day Nik decided to try to communicate with the tsarevnas. First, he studied the tigers, much as he did when the twins fought one another in the practice field near the soldier barracks. The larger, red cat was bold, brash, quick to snarl a warning at the other for getting too close, and its vivid green eyes were a match to the redheaded twin.
By comparison, the other creature was smaller, sleeker, golden, but he could see clearly just how dangerous it was. In fact, it frightened him more than the larger cat for some reason. It seemed more unpredictable. Almost as if you could be petting it one moment, enjoying hearing it purr, and then it would just as happily run a sharp claw down your center, flaying you alive, and it would still be purring while it ate you. Nikolai had no doubt such a predator wouldn’t hesitate to hunt and kill for sport.
That such a monster could be his sweet Veru shocked him. What was even more surprising for him was that he often found himself keeping the red tiger between them as if he didn’t trust the tsarevna he proclaimed to love. It was so strange to see her in that way. Then again, he supposed he could be entirely wrong. Even if the golden tiger with the dark gray eyes who watched him in a strange way, as if she wanted to devour him or at least gnaw on his arm for a bit, looked like his Veru, it didn’t necessarily mean she was his tsarevna. The coloring could mean nothing.
When they stopped for a midday meal, he decided to find out. Holding out a piece of dried meat to the red cat, he asked, “Are you Tsarevna Stacia, then?”
The cat took the stick of beef, chewed it awkwardly, fangs protruding as she rolled it around and around in her mouth and then just ended up swallowing it whole. Looking up at him then, she simply huffed at him, blowing out a hot breath in his face that smelled like beef and raw fish.
“Is... is that a yes?” he ventured.
Another huff, this one nearly making him gag. It was then he realized he’d been bent over, looking down the huge cat’s throat. Probably not a good idea. He straightened abruptly and jumped to the side with a yelp when he saw the golden tiger had padded up just behind him and sat down with her jaws wide open.
“Oh. Ha. Ha,” he forced an uneasy laugh. “I... I didn’t see you there. Bet you’d like a snack too, then, eh?” Quickly he fished in his sack and came up with another stick of beef and gingerly placed it in the cat’s open jaws, then yanked his hand away and scrabbled backward so fast he fell.
The golden tiger tilted her head, slowly closed her jaws, and sucked down the dried beef with a snick, while the red tiger exhaled and snorted in a way that sounded suspiciously like a tiger version of laughter. With a flick of her red tail, she turned and was gone, disappearing through the brush.
* * *
It was two days later when Nik ran out of food. They’d been sticking close to the water, following it to the source since they knew it eventually led all the way to the mountains. All of them were experienced hunters and trappers, but Nik only had a knife, and they didn’t want to waste time setting traps for game. That left the hunting up to the tsarevnas, and they’d never hunted as cats before.
They’d been lucky with the fish. The huge sturgeon had been spawning very late in the season. But the twins could feel their energy being sapped. Their bodies were much bigger now, and they were traveling constantly, using the reserves they had. Instinct told them they needed to pace themselves, go slower, but they also knew that as humans they could have moved much faster, especially on horseback. They weren’t used to maintaining the mass of muscle, bone, and sinew they carried now.
Stacia caught a small fish that night after Nik fell asleep by the fire. The twins stared down at the bleeding creature, and Veru batted it with a sharp claw to prevent it from bouncing its way back into the water again. Glancing up, they made eye contact with one another, and then Veru picked up the now dead fish in her mouth and padded over to Nik, dropping it near him on a grassy mound, then the two tigers turned and ran north, racing through the rushing creek to the other side, following a scent they didn’t understand.
When they came upon the large musk deer, they crouched low in the grass, watching and waiting for just the right moment to strike. The twins knew the animals were solitary creatures, and this one was busy marking his territory, using his scent gland to try to attract the attention of a wandering female, utterly unaware that not one but two large predators lurked nearby, watching him hungrily.
Though Veru and Stacia were unable to talk with each other as they once had while trapped in their new forms, they knew one another well enough to guess what they were thinking, and each sister could predict the moves of her twin fairly well. Thus, when Stacia dug her paw into the ground on the left, Veru assumed that meant her sister would take the left and she should go right.
The red and gold tigers turned their tails to each other and slunk off, circling the heavy animal. When each sister was in position, they lifted their tails, twitching them in the air just enough to be visible to the other, and then they charged. However, the deer, very used to being on alert for danger, spied a movement in the brush, and bolted.
He bounced over logs and through underbrush, squealing and racing, the blood in his veins running hotter and perfuming the air in a way that made the cats salivate. Neither twin wanted to consider why or how they salivated at blood. They were much too practical for that.
It was Veru who caught up to the deer first, catching his back leg and sinking her jaws in. She took no thought for her sister. Instinct pushing her to kill and driving her muscles, fangs, and claws. But she was clumsy using her new weapons, and he quickly bounced on his front legs and kicked her in her face, and she let go. Then Stacia was on his back, her claws in his shoulders, her teeth in his neck. She bit and hot blood spurted into her mouth. Licking, she tasted salt and warmth and life. It was surprisingly delicious.
But the musk deer wasn’t done yet. That was her mistake. He was also a powerful animal, and he wanted to live. He reared up and Stacia fell off. Tossing his head just when she tried to attach her jaws to him again, his long, protruding fang pierced her side. She let out a roar as he whipped his head back and forth viciously, widening the wound until it seeped blood and her skin flapped loosely around the tear.
Veru rebounded, this time aiding her sister. She knocked him away with her paw, and the deer fell. Before he could scramble to his feet, she jumped on top of his wriggling form, bit his skull, and crushed it, finally killing the animal. When she limped back over to Stacia, she could see the wound was a bad one indeed. They’d have to get Nik to sew it closed and hope infection wouldn’t set in.
As for her, Veru knew it was likely she had a broken ankle, or at least a very bad sprain. She could hardly put any weight on her front leg. Still, at least now they had food. She supposed it would be better for them to rest and eat during the night and then head back to Nik with a chunk of deer meat and, if possible, have him tend to their wounds and see if they could travel.
Huffing softly to her sister, Veru encouraged her to come closer and join her at the deer’s side. Together the tigers ripped into the soft belly of the animal and gorged themselves on the slightly bitter and tangy but rich offal first before ripping off chunks of steaming warm meat.
The gnawing hunger in their bellies turned to a warm sense of fullness, and the sharp ripple of pain began to dull with it. The twins, lulled by their exhaustion, placed their heads on their paws right next to their kill, and faces still bloodied, they slept.