Rise of the Firebird Read online

  “Thank you,” he whispered.

  “Don’t forget that we are in this together, my heart. You don’t have to carry your burdens alone.”

  Chapter Three - Ilya’s Breadcrumbs

  “God, I could murder a cheeseburger right now,” said Fox as she paced.

  “Will you stop talking about cheeseburgers!” snapped Harley, as she scratched at the bandages that covered her wound. “God, this thing is itchy.”

  “I can’t help it. I’m bored. I want a computer. I need distraction or more alcohol.”

  “I’m sure if you asked for a laptop that they would give you one.”

  “I doubt that.”

  “We aren’t prisoners you know. Ask for one or I will ask for you.”

  “How long do you think we need to stay here?”

  “God, Fox, I don’t know. I will go and ask Anya right now.” Harley got off the couch and wandered out into the hallway. She loved Fox with all of her heart but when she was bored, she became intolerable. She found Anya in her chambers dozing on a sun bed, the black circles around her eyes giving her a haunted look that Harley found unnerving.

  “How are you, Harley?” Anya asked as she stretched.

  “My wound is itching, but Fox is driving me crazy.”

  “Why? Is she okay?”

  “There is nothing physically wrong with her, but having no computer is absolutely killing her.”

  “I’m sure that Søren could organise one for her.”

  “That’d be a relief to her and a huge one for me. You wouldn’t happen to know when we are going to leave.”

  “It won’t be very long away if I can help it. Once I get the information I need from Ruthann, I’ll be leaving to hunt Yanka and Vasilli. I did tell you that you are all free to leave whenever you like without me.” Harley waved her comments away with a flick of her brown hand.

  “Fox is in a mood. It will pass once she has something to distract her.”

  “I’ll go and find Søren immediately and get her a laptop. Hopefully she can use it to get us some kind of news on the outside world.”

  Following obscure directions from various helpful Álfr, Anya finally found Søren in a training room. She went in quietly, so not to disturb him and so she could watch him in action.

  Aramis had always hidden his Dauđi Dómr tattoos, but Søren wore his proudly. They stretched in a long wave from the front of his right hip, across his stomach, curved around his back to his shoulders where they splayed out in branches of a tree, and curled down his arms to his hands. It was beautiful and bold against his pearly skin.

  Søren’s fighting style was completely different to Aramis. Aramis fought fluid and cool like a dancer in water. Søren was all fire and heat. He was quick as a flame and just as terrifying, hypnotic, and deadly. All Anya could do was watch with her mouth hanging open. A fine silver knife flew from his fingertips and thunked into the wall beside her ear. Anya stayed perfectly still, too afraid to move.

  “What do you want, Elenya?” he asked as he walked up and pulled the knife from the wood.

  “Um.”

  “Um?” Søren mocked. He was standing extremely close and she wasn’t quite sure where to look. She could smell the heat off his skin and her magic rose to her throat.

  “I would like not to have knives flying toward my head for a start,” she said as she tried to remember what exactly she was there for.

  “If I wanted to kill you, you’d be dead.”

  “That’s not reassuring.”

  “It’s not meant to be.” Anya took a step back from him quickly, bumping into the wall behind her and banging her head. The corners of Søren’s mouth turned up in an almost smile.

  “I wanted to know if I could have a laptop for Fox. She’s bored and giving her one would make her happy. Please.”

  “Why ask me?”

  “Aramis is incapacitated and…”

  “And I am second best?”

  “It’s not like that, I didn’t know who else to ask.” Anya felt surprisingly hurt and more than a little wary. His abnormally green eyes stared her down, so she focussed on the damp black ends of his long hair.

  “I will see that one is sent to her,” he said after an uncomfortable silence.

  “Thank you, I’m sorry to have disturbed you.” His arm shot out against the wall to stop her from leaving.

  “I want to show you something.” Anya caught the look Søren was giving her and she reddened.

  “It’s not what you are thinking.”

  “You don’t know what I am thinking.”

  “I don’t have to be able to read your mind,” Søren moved away from her and pulled a black singlet over his head. “My magic can feel it.”

  “Great,” Anya muttered.

  “Come with me.”

  “Are you going to throw anymore knives at me?”

  “That all depends on if you are going to behave yourself.” He walked out before she could reply, so she hurried after him.

  “Where are we going?”

  “It’s a secret.”

  “You’re really not one to give anything away, are you?” Anya stuffed her hands into her jeans pockets.

  “Can’t you let anything be a surprise?”

  “I’ve had far too many bad surprises lately, so now I am viewing them all with suspicion.”

  “Hmm, so that means you’re going to be extra surprised by what I show you?”

  “You threw a knife at my head, so now I am extra suspicious at what you consider a good surprise.”

  “You really need to get over that,” Søren replied as he pushed open a heavy set of doors. “Don’t be nervous, it’s not like I’m trying to kidnap you. Believe me, if I was going to, you would know about it and there wouldn’t be a thing you could do to stop me.”

  “How odd,” Anya said as she walked toward him.

  “What is?”

  “Aramis said something very similar to me once.”

  “Typical! He was always stealing my best lines.”

  “I am going to kidnap you and you can’t stop me is one of your best lines?”

  “When it is said the right way, they want me to kidnap them.”

  “So you think,” Anya couldn’t resist saying. Søren grinned again and Anya peeked at something that could very well be charm.

  “Stop arguing with me. We are in a library, you are meant to be quiet.” The spots in front of Anya’s eyes cleared and she saw that they were standing in a long hallway. Massive shelves lined the walls and the hallway lead into a massive vaulted room three stories high.

  “Wow,” she said as she stopped to look up at the domed roof.

  “No time to gawk,” he said as he took her hand and kept walking. His hand was warm around hers and when she felt her power reaching for his, she pulled her hand free with a jerk. He gave her an odd look.

  “Anya, I didn’t mean anything…”

  “It’s not that, my magic was trying to touch you and I promised you that I wouldn’t use it until I see Ruthann,” she fumbled. Her odd relationship with Aramis and her magic was complicated enough, but if it started to react to Søren in such a way, it would turn into a very scary nightmare. His magic and personality were the complete opposite to his brother and where she’d been to battle with Aramis, and knew she could trust him. Søren was another matter.

  “Relax, Elenya, I didn’t think it would react like that. I can see by the look of horror on your face that it really bothers you that it did. I promise not to touch you,” he said seriously. “Well, not until you ask.”

  “Thank you, sorry. Hopefully Ruthann can explain why it does it.”

  “I already told you why it does. Your magic is drawn to Aramis and he is my twin,” he said as they kept walking. “It’s not trying to jump into me like it did to him, but it wants to feel me out. It could be an effect of the elvianth.”

  “Did you tell Ruthann about what I did to Aramis?”

  “He knows what happened but I’m going
to let him be the one to drop that particular bomb.”

  “Sounds promising,” she said gloomily, “see? Be glad I’m not letting my magic run into you. I wouldn’t want to hurt you.”

  “Even after I threw a knife at your head?”

  “You were showing off.”

  “Guilty as charged.” He stopped in front of a tall heavily carved cabinet with a large padlock. He brushed his fingers over the lock and it clicked open. “Go ahead,” he said as he stepped back.

  “If something jumps out at me there’s going to be trouble.”

  “Trust me.” Taking a deep breath, she opened the doors. Inside was full to bursting with scrolls, books and random scraps of paper all sitting on small shelves.

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Has anyone told you about how Ilya used to have visions?”

  “Yvan did. He said that Ilya must’ve used them to find the firebird’s egg.”

  “Before he died, he found the Álfr in Russia at a place called Svetilo. It is a place very sacred to us and is the seat of all of our knowledge and history. He gave all of this to them, because he knew that all writing was sacred to them. Every scrap of writing in here are his visions, dreams and prophecies. After many years, they were shipped here at Ruthann’s request. I thought you would like to have a look at them because you lost everything else when Vasilli burned the farm.”

  Anya looked at the writings and back to Søren. It was one of the few moments in her life that she’d been robbed for words. She threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly.

  “I take it that this counts as a good surprise after all?” he said as he slowly and awkwardly put his arms around her.

  “I’m going to have to reassess my views of surprises now,” Anya replied. She felt her magic warm and tingly inside of her and she let it reach through her skin to touch his tentatively. It was drawn to him and afraid of him all at the same time.

  “That feels so strange,” Søren said slowly, snapping her out of it. She stepped back and felt the tendrils of magic slip back into her.

  “Sorry, it has a mind of its own,” she said and focussed back on the cabinet. “Is this catalogued?”

  “No, it was all placed in here and locked up. I thought if you wanted to make a copy of them or read them, at least you have the option.”

  “I don’t know how to thank you,” she said as she smiled at him.

  “I can think of a few things.” Anya did her best to ignore the insinuation.

  “This is a job for Fox. At least she won’t be bored anymore.”

  ***

  Yanka walked the halls of her handsome 18th century home on Vasilyevsky Island. The Darkness had made many renovations over the years, but it was still aesthetically the same, which pleased her.

  Vasilli had sent word to have it ready for them by the time they had arrived and now Yanka was enjoying the peace and quiet. She was still relying on her magic to keep her up right and walking, but she was quickly rehabilitating the emaciated muscles. She liked the new clothing of this world, and admired her fine straight black skirt that ran the shape of her body to her knees and the dark purple blouse that tucked into it. Servants had helped her dress and to straighten her long hair. They introduced her to modern make up and they had shown her how to walk in heeled shoes, something that had delighted her instantly. Overall, she was pleased and impressed by the results.

  Yanka wasn’t impressed about how things had been run in her absence. For starters, they now had some kind of bizarre treaty with the Illumination. After the trick they had pulled to capture her, she was ready for some intense revenge. She hoped that Ladislav had a very good explanation by the time he got there.

  “Is there anything I can get for you, Yanka?” Vasilli asked. He had cleaned himself up, had shaved, and changed his clothes.

  “I’m content for the moment. This world has changed so much. I caught glimpses and gained information from Anya’s mind, but it is impressive how much the humans of this world have learned.”

  “Technology is their new god,” Vasilli said as he poured himself some vodka from a decanter. “They no longer believe in the old ways or the old tales. We are reduced to characters in the pages of children’s books.”

  “Do not worry, Vas’ka, I’ll change all of that. I will give them reason to believe again. Tell me, why this treaty with the Illumination? They are our enemy!”

  “The last two major wars we had against the Illumination tore the human world apart. In the last one, we were winning for many years, but then our human leaders failed us. We made the treaty with the Illumination to prevent our kind from being completely annihilated. Most of our numbers have been restored. Ladislav and I had hoped to bring a legion through the gates once we had them open, but Anya and her tricks managed to stop us. I earned these in the process.” Vasilli lifted the side of his grey shirt to reveal his mass of burn scars.

  “I saw her do that through her memories. The foolish girl had no idea what she was doing. Ladislav overreacted like a child and almost killed her. If that had happened, I would not be free right now. The girl is stupid but she managed to find me when all of you failed.”

  “She would have had help. Aramis would have contacts that he could have called on as soon as his suspicions were roused. He went Rogue for Anya. The way rumour tells it, the Illumination wanted her and he refused to give her up.”

  “Typical of him. He always wants to be the hero. He went Rogue for her and she was still fucking the Thanatos? How pathetic.” Now the Thanatos was dead, Yanka was sure that Aramis would be there patiently to comfort Anya and try to move to be by her side. It didn’t bother her. She was free and soon she would have it all.

  ***

  The next morning, Anya heard her group before she even opened the door to a training room. Izrayl and Hamish were throwing each other around like rag dogs and loving it.

  “They are like little children,” Isabelle said as Anya laughed at them. “Thank you for getting this training room for us. We were all going crazy with nothing to do.”

  “I didn’t organise it,” Anya said confused.

  “Really? An Álfr came and got us an hour ago, and said that Søren requested it be given to us. I thought you may have asked him.” Anya shook her head.

  “I never mentioned it though he’d know that these boys would’ve been getting restless.”

  “He’s a bit sweet on you,” Katya teased, and Harley threw a towel at her.

  “Don’t start.”

  “I’m not starting anything, merely making an observation.”

  “Søren threw a knife at my head yesterday, I don’t think that is a sign of a crush,” Anya stated.

  “He did what?” Yvan said, appearing behind her.

  “He was showing off. If he had wanted to hit me, he would have.”

  “That is no excuse,” Yvan growled. Isabelle, Katya and Harley quickly got on the treadmills and pretended not to be listening.

  “Let it go,” Anya said. “Is the firebird back yet?” Yvan lifted his shirt causing Harley to start coughing loudly and obviously. Anya tried to keep a straight face as she looked at his blank, brown muscles.

  “I can still feel him in there if that’s what you are worried about,” he said as he lowered his shirt again, “He’s very quiet.”

  “I could ask him to come back out,” Anya suggested. She didn’t like that Yanka’s power had damaged him.

  “No need, he will come back when he is ready. Honestly, I’m enjoying not having another voice in my head.” He smiled and it was warm and content. She hadn’t seen that smile for a long time, but being among the Álfr and knowing that you were perfectly safe was good for the soul. Yvan hadn’t had that since he hatched. Strong protective emotions welled up inside of her as she gazed at him.

  “Did I tell you about Ilya’s prophecies?” she asked.

  “I heard something about it and it explains Fox’s absence.”

  “I had to put her to work and besi
des, she’s the perfect person for the job. If anyone could code and catalogue them, it’s her. She’ll record all of them into her computer and pick up patterns that I would be too stupid to spot.”

  “You’re far from stupid,” he said, “but you are right. She will know how they fit together. What do you hope to find?”

  “I don’t know,” Anya answered honestly. “It would be nice to have a copy of them. If I can learn anything from them, it will be a bonus. I would like to know what he was like. I’m not the one who used to get drunk with him.” She elbowed him playfully.

  “He certainly drank me under the table. You would’ve liked him. He was melancholy but funny at the same time. You’re a lot like him in that respect.”

  “It’s nice to know that there was one of my ancestors who wasn’t a psycho. I feel really let down by the whole ‘Yanka is pure evil’ outcome. It’s really annoyed me. She seemed so genuine.” Anya was trying to make a joke of it, but Yvan saw right through it. He always did.

  “Perhaps, she thought by being genuine you would join with her. I, for one, am glad that you didn’t.”

  “As if I would! You’re more like family to me than she will ever be. Blood doesn’t matter. Thank God, because I really don’t want to be like her.” Yvan put an arm around her shoulders and she looped hers around his waist.

  “You will never be like her shalosť,” he said seriously, “you are far too stable.”

  “I have been accused of many things but being stable isn’t one of them.”

  “You know, Anya, you should really be on one of these machines,” Isabelle called over as she ran a perfect stride on a dreaded treadmill.

  “I don’t see you jumping down Aleki’s throat to get on one of them,” Anya said defensively.

  “She doesn’t need it. I’m sure Mychal is giving her enough of a work out,” Harley said on the machine next to Isabelle.

  “God knows, I would if I was in her position,” Katya added and high fived Harley. Anya looked over at Izrayl to see if he had heard her, but he was too distracted with Hamish holding him in a headlock.

  “Leave them alone, it’s none of your business,” Anya defended. She knew that Aleksandra would be embarrassed about them talking about her sex life.