Anya's birthday dawned with much celebration, the entire kingdom coming out into the streets. Dmitri threw a festival in her honor, replete with the finest caviar and buttery champagne and parades through the streets. The only one who seemed to not enjoy it was Morozko, who insisted he was sick and skipped out on the festivities. Anya was quite irritated that her guardian had skipped out on the grand festivities.
Their family gathered that morning in the rose garden outside the ramshackle library’s bay window to bless Anya. They passed around a horn of vodka and poured it onto the ground, praising the gods one by one and asking for their gifts to be bestowed upon Dmitri’s precious Anya. The carved hollow ram horn came to Anya at last.
She looked to the rising sun, held the horn high, and said a prayer.
“Mother Mokosh, Father Perun, Uncle Veles, let my dreams know fruition. Let my wanderings be true. Let
Anya's alarm sounded bright and early. She awoke, groggy, and yawned, wiping away the sleep-sand that had accumulated in her eyes.“Wha?” she said, feeling a body against her. She looked down to see Morozko asleep beside her, his arms wrapped round her waist. “Huh? What in thrice nine kingdoms?”Morozko stirred. “Go back to sleep.” He grunted.“Why are you in my bed?”Morozko looked at her with cut-glass eyes. “Don’t you remember last night?” he said.“Of course I do. We argued over the dance and... oh. Right.” Anya blushed. “You kissed me?”“Absolutely.” Morozko grinned like the Devil. “And I will do it again, to remind you that you liked it.”“No! Do not even lay a finger on me. Kolya, please, just give me a min
Morozko nodded. “So you are paying the First Throne a visit, eh?” Baba Yaga clucked. She took a jar of poison dart frog legs swirling in preservative and plopped them into her stew. The hag sampled the concoction and smiled in approval. “That is the idea, yes.” Morozko helped himself to the refrigerator, pulling out a bottle of vodka. He popped the cork off with his fangs and poured himself a glass. “Can we go to Sparrow Hills?” Anya referenced the steep hill above the Moskava River immortalized by so many Russian poets. “Of course, mooncalf.” Morozko tossed back a shot. The vodka warmed his belly as the liquid found its way to the furnace of his stomach. “Well then, get a move on.” Baba Yaga chuckled, making a dismissive gesture. “Do not keep my witch daughter waiting, soap brains.” She ushered them out onto the porch. “Little hut, little hut, turn your back to Buyan and your f
“You must summon a cherti to defend yourself. These are dangerous times.” Baba Yaga finished chalking a summoning circle onto the floor of her hut. “They are tricksy creatures. Worse than the Devil himself. Your will must be iron. It is much like fishing: you cast your will out into Hell like a lure, and the cherti are drawn to your witch fire. Then you reel your will in and catch them in your own skin as a net. Can you do that, little bird?”Anya nodded. She sat cross-legged in the middle of the pentagram Baba Yaga had chalked on the floor, her hair fishtail-braided over one shoulder. “I think so, babushka.”Baba Yaga lit four tapers for the four directions and set them at the corners of the summoning circle. She handed Anya a bundle of raskovnik plants, rare greens shaped like four leaf clovers - the keys to unlocking the spiritual world. “Now, calm your
“I absolutely will not tolerate Chort’s hairball in my banya.” Morozko uttered a string of curses, peeling his shirt off as he changed into pajama pants. Anya sat on her bed, petting Aym, her eyebrows raised.“He is my familiar, and his name is Aym,” Anya said. “And it is not just your banya, I live here too. And now, so does Aym. Is that right, little beast?” Anya scritched Aym’s pert ears.Aym purred with laughter. “Bannik, surely there is room in your dive for a dapper cat like me?”Morozko narrowed his eyes. “The schmoozing cat sleeps outside the door. I will not have a cherti spying on us in our sleep, waiting to eat you,” he said through gritted teeth.Aym grinned. “Let's put my bruised past behind us, eh? I'm now the faithful servant of my witch mistress. And I'm sure we can agree that her so
“Who is there?” Anya called. Her voice echoed in the wind.The music stopped. “A wanderer,” came a voice like a waterfall.Anya squared her shoulders. “That is not a name.”“You may call me Kosti,” he replied. “I see that you are armed. What a pity. Fair things like you should not live in fear.”“I am not afraid.”“That, my girl, is a lie. My music tends to stir up… rather unsettling emotions. But I beg you relax. You are safe.”“Am I?” Anya said. “The anglerfish's lure gives comfort before its bite.”Kosti laughed. He stepped from the pine's shadow. “I am far from a fish.”Anya caught sight of him in the morning light. He was slender and tall, dressed in furs and a white kaftan, a violin at hand. His skin was pale and h
“I do not trust Kosti,” Morozko hissed, looking at Anya. “I do not like how he danced with you. I do not like how that blasted koldun even looked at you.”“You know that he is a koldun too?” Anya asked.“Of course he is.” Morozko wiped dust from his jacket. “A powerful one.”Anya shivered. “He creeps me out.” Anya did not want to admit that she was also intrigued by Kosti, albeit in a sickening way.Later that night, as Anya slaved over homework at her rickety desk in the kitchen, Iosif came in, his fur bristling as he swept. He moved about frantically.“Whatever is wrong, Osya?” Anya asked.Iosif let out a low moan. “Something is amiss. I have seen something horrible in my kasha. There is a dark presence in this inn, only I cannot place the face. I fear it is your cherti.”
Anya woke early the next morning, restless. She dressed in jeans and a pale sweater, then went to fix herself a bowl of Cheerios. Morozko slept all the while. Pouring over the cereal, Anya stirred the milk idly. There was a scratch at the door.“Mistress, you seem unhappy,” purred Aym. He slinked in on jazzy feet, bending his ears as if tipping his hat to her.“No. I am just tired. That is all. I cannot for the life of me sleep.” Anya took a bite of cereal.Aym leapt onto the table and settled beside her, his tail twitching. “And what has you blue, damselfly? Is it a man?”“What?” Anya echoed.“You look frazzled, that is all. Bags under your eyes, hair askew.” Aym licked his paw. “Usually the signs of love troubles.”Anya was amused. “And what does a cherti know of
Outside was madness. A fire had been set, and enemies ran mad-dash between the tongues of flame. The inn’s guests fought for their lives. Cherti and witches swarmed the field. Guts spilled onto the snowy ground; vampir went for necks and vodyanoi summoned water from the mill pond to drown opponents. Vila and leshy battled above.The kolduny and witches that had been staying at the inn formed a circle, casting spells to turn the tide of the battle. They summoned a storm, directing lightning to strike the swarms of vila above. The vila’s lightning-charred bodies fell from the sky.As the sky darkened and storm winds picked up, the flames grew higher, setting fire to the inn. Aym ravaged the enemy, ripping out their throats, his iron hide impenetrable to arrow and sword. Anya punched bolts of golden flame at her opponents, letting her rage manifest as magic. Morozko struggled to defend her