Chapter 4
THE HORSE OF HOPE MAY GALLOP, BUT THE ASS OF EXPERIENCE WALKS CAUTIOUSLY
Nik was in a near panic as he searched for Veru.
He hadn’t felt as desperate when she’d been lost and trapped in tiger form.
At least then he knew she was unlikely to be mauled by wild beasts.
If she woke up in human form like Stacia, without weapons or armor, she’d need him.
It might even be possible she’d be stuck up in a tree like Iriko—helpless and blind.
She’d need someone to lean on. Someone to be her eyes.
She’d need her friend and longtime companion.
As his feet pounded the ground at blinding speed, his body swaying around obstacles, his eyes searching for something, anything that looked out of place in the trees, his mind stamped out the repeated chant: She needs me, she needs me, she needs me.
The thought of seeing her again in human form, her arms open to embrace him, the tears of gratitude shining on her cheeks, thrust him over mountains and through valleys.
He even ran across a wide lake without stopping or sinking. Such was his drive to find her.
When darkness fell, he ran by the light of the stars and the moon.
Finally, finally, his body gave out. There was nothing left inside him to keep him going.
He was hungry, drained. Even his fierce desire to be the one to save his tsarevna wasn’t enough.
As he slowed, the countryside, which had been nothing more than a blur of color around him, came into focus, and he stopped by a large tree and bent over with his hand against the trunk, trying to catch his breath.
Only then, when his own gasping quieted, did he realize he heard the steady breathing of someone else.
Rounding the large tree trunk, he discovered a tiny man nestled between the great roots of the tree, his little hands pressed together, tucked against his cheek as he snored.
Nik crouched down beside him and saw the man had a knapsack.
He wondered if the man carried any food, and if he might be willing to share it with a stranger.
For a moment, Nik thought it would be smarter if he just left the man alone and kept looking for Veru, or at least began heading back to Zakhar, Stacia, and Iriko.
He had a good sense for magic, and this man had something of magic about him.
Nik was certain of it. He’d escaped death from magical beings enough times to know it was foolish, but his growling stomach told him he needed to press forward regardless.
Clearing his throat loudly, Nikolai Novikov said, “Excuse me, good sir. I was wondering if you might have some food to spare for a stranger. I can pay you back, if you’ll let me.
I have friends close by, and they have various skills in hunting and so forth.
It’s just that I have to find them, you see, and to do that, I need food. ”
The man kicked and groaned, then turned over, waving his hand as if trying to shoo Nik away.
Taking a step closer and speaking a bit louder this time, Nik said, “Hello? Again, I’m sorry to wake you, but I need help.”
There was a loud protest and then a mighty thrust of both feet before the red-faced little man wrenched his body into an upright position. “What do you think you’re doing? Can’t you see the sun has set?”
Nik stepped back, his eyes wide as he stared into the man’s one large eye set in the middle of his forehead.
“What are you staring at? Judging my size, are you? Wondering how someone with such short legs got himself so far out in the forest? Well, shame on you! You ‘normal-sized’ people go around constantly thinking you’re better.
Well, you’re not. Now get out of here. Whatever you’re peddling, I don’t want any. ”
“No. No, you don’t understand, sir. I’m not judging you. And I didn’t want to disturb you,” Nik added, trying desperately not to stare at the man’s one large eye and failing. “I’m merely asking you for help.”
“What? What is it you say? You want my help? My help? Did I hear you correctly?”
“Yes. Yes, you did.”
He sighed and sat up straight, yanking his tunic into place. “Very well. Who do you want me to curse? And keep in mind the quality will depend on how much you can pay. And I charge double at this hour.”
“Curse? Um . . . no one.”
“No one? Son. Don’t you know who I am?”
“Uh . . . no?”
“You’re not a bright one, are you?”
“Well, I’ve always thought that—”
“Let me answer for you: No. You’re not. And just to speed up this conversation so I can go back to sleep, I’m a likho.”
“Oh. Nice to meet you, Likho.”
“No, no, no. My name isn’t Likho. I am a likho, as in the supernatural-creature-you-never-want-to-meet.” He blinked, waiting for a reaction from Nik, and got nothing.
“Seriously? The Bringer of Misery? The Master of Temptation? The One-Eyed Demon of Disaster? The Ghoulish Gnome of Grotesquery?”
“I don’t think grotesquery is a word.”
“Don’t talk back to your elders, son.”
“Look, are you going to help me or not?”
The man pressed his hand over his one eye, then scrubbed his face.
“This is what the younger generation is coming to. They lose all respect for their ancestors. You work and work to maintain a reputation, to develop a sense of fear and foreboding, and then what? They lose all interest. What’s worse .
. . they’ve never even heard of you. What’s the point, I ask you.
Maybe it’s time to retire. They’ve all become desensitized anyway.
Nobody stays long enough to hear the old stories.
Short attention spans, that’s the problem. ”
“Umm, are you just going to sit there talking to yourself?”
“Who said I was talking to myself? Weren’t you listening?” He sighed loudly and got to his feet. “Never mind. What is it you want, kid? Just spit it out and leave,” he said grumpily.
“I just wanted to know if you’d be willing to share some food. That’s it.”
“Share my . . . share my food?” The corners of the likho’s mouth lifted, and then he began to chuckle.
Soon the chuckle turned into a full belly laugh that caused actual tears to leak from the man’s very large single eye.
He wiped them away with both hands, as there seemed to be a tear duct on either side.
Stepping forward, the man clapped Nik on his arm, which appeared to be as high as he could reach, and said, “Thanks for the laugh, kid. Just for that, I won’t curse you for waking me.
Just see to it that you don’t do it again. I don’t do favors twice.”
Reaching down, he picked up his sack and flipped it over his shoulder, then rounded the tree.
“Wait!” Nik called out and attempted to follow, but when he stepped around the tree, the likho had vanished.
Stomach rumbling, Nik wandered through the forest for an hour, hearing nothing but the sound of hooting owls and the rustling in the underbrush of small things being hunted by larger things.
He cursed himself for a fool. Why had he run off by himself and taken no note of where he was going and how far?
Now he was no good to anyone. How could he save Veru when he wasn’t even capable of saving himself?
Soon a thick mist covered the ground, and his feet began sinking in the mud.
He’d come across a boggy area of the forest. The air stunk with rot and putrefaction, and instead of the rustling in the underbrush, he heard the sound of splashing and the guttural groaning of large creatures rattling the water as they called and moved.
He felt the prickle of tiny things crawling on his neck, and he brushed furiously at his arms and face.
Sometimes it was sweat. Occasionally, it was something else.
Fortunately, nothing bit or stung him as he made his way through the muck, praying for it to end and hoping he could find a scrap of food and not end up being food for something else.
When the moon sank, so did his hopes. Why, oh why, didn’t he stay with Stacia and Iriko?
At least then he’d have a tiger on his side.
What an idiot he’d been. He was so weak with hunger that his vision blurred.
His thirst was a powerful thing, but he dared not drink the water he found pooled between the trees lest it make him sicker than he already felt.
His father was right about him. He was a durak.
A nikudyshnyi. A useless, good-for-nothing boy trying to pretend he was a man.
To his shame, tears formed in his eyes, both of them, and cascaded down his hot cheeks.
He was without a friend, without a home, without a family.
Perhaps it would be better if he ended up food for something in a swamp.
His head felt as thick and foggy as the air.
Then, despite his sobs, he thought he heard something.
“Pst!”
Nik wiped his eyes and nose on his sleeve and peered into the dark, trying to locate the source of the sound.
“Hey, kid. Up here!” the voice beckoned again.
He could just make out the figure of the same small man with the one large eye that he’d run into before. “What are you doing up there?” Nik asked.
The man managed to roll his one eye all the way around in its socket.
“Not that it’s any of your business, kid, but I was attempting to take a romantic moonlit stroll in a fetid swamp with my ladylove, who apparently feels I’ve been ignoring her far too much.
Despite my skillful efforts at amour, it seems the lady in question still believes our courtship has taken a turn for the worst, and as vengeance for my poor treatment, she secured me to a tree, where I’m meant to be an offering to the local bolotnik. ”
Nik sucked in a breath. “Sorry about that. Sounds brutal.”
“Brutal. Yes,” he agreed flatly.
“So . . . he’s going to kill you?”
“One would hope. I suppose it depends on if the bolotnik is a male or a female. For my sake, I hope it’s a male.”
Swallowing, Nik asked, “What—what would a female bolotnik do to you?”
The man shuddered. “You really don’t want to know the answer to that question.”
There was a loud sucking sound in the nearby swamp, followed by a guttural thumping noise that made all the other sounds in the forest go quiet.
“Is that it? I mean . . . her?” Nik asked in a hiss.
“Probably,” the man said. “Look, kid. I think we got off to a bad start. What do you say? How about you help me, and I help you?”
“That’s what I was asking you before,” Nik replied.
“Yeah, yeah. No time for quibbling. You going to let me down or what?”
“Okay, fine. But I don’t have a knife.”
The man sighed with frustration. “You don’t need a knife, son. Just use your magic.”
“Magic? What magic?”
“Your boots.”
“What? How? How do you know about that, anyway?”
“No time! Just do it. Tell your boots to get me down. They’ll know what to do.”
“I don’t trust you.”
“You don’t trust anyone. But you’ve got to start somewhere, kid. Besides, it’s not like you have a choice. Without me, you’ll just keep running around aimlessly for the next decade, not using your magic to its full potential, assuming you even have what it takes in the first place.”
Nik hesitated.
“Come on, boy. You know you want to. Curious minds. Killing cats and all that.”
“Killing cats?”
Another scream shook the leaves on the tree.
“Tell you later. Just hurry!”
Nik sprang into action. “Fine!”
Nik told his boots to help him free the man.
His stomach wrenched painfully in protest, but at least he wasn’t running.
It took a minute, but the laces responded to his command.
They stretched upward and wrapped around the vines holding the man to the tree, then tightened until the vines broke as if they’d been cut.
Next, the laces wrapped around the man and gently lowered him to the ground.
Once down, the man rubbed his wrists and twisted his neck until Nik heard the sound of popping. “Ah, much better,” the man said.
Just then the trees near them parted, and Nik saw a swamp monster more terrifying than a leshi, more dangerous than a kikimora. Suddenly, he understood why the small man with powers of his own had been so very afraid. The two of them stared up into the gleaming yellow eyes of a female bolotnik.