68°28'14.7"N 55°18'11.9"E – Vangurey, Nenetsia

  27.05.2024 – 04.30 UTC +03.00

  The mist crystallized almost instantly on the maimed bodies around me. Mostly men, but also children and women. Innocent as any unfortunate mortal soul that would cross a witch or a witch hunter was. Their eyelids fluttered, covered with freezing blood.

  They had lined a circle around me and the woman. Vodyanitsa. Witch of the rivers, one of many. Disgusting Cursed – not exalted like us. Not using their Curses to unite and protect, but to sow dissent. Revolt.

  The vodyanitsa stood, her right foot in front of the left one, as if she balanced on an invisible pole. Her blonde hair was muddied with water and blood, stuck to her face. Her lips quivered, probably from fear; I would be surprised if she could even feel cold. The Arctic rising sun cast sparkling shadows through the dissipating mist, somehow making her eyes look greyer than they were.

  She looked right into my eyes.

  And I hesitated. She was not a lamb to be slain, but a prize to be worshipped. I noticed her wet clothes, as if she had herself emerged from the river. Her body did not move, not even breathing. Only observed and waited for my move.

  “Won’t you execute me, ??galej?”

  I knew my answer. My hesitation was not rational.

  “What is your name, vodyanitsa?”

  “My name is Valeriya, hunter.”

  Her first name was that of an innocent maiden. Her voice was soft. Natural and earthly. And its sound was, simply put, intoxicating.

  “Come closer, vodyanitsa. My friend has cut too many innocent veins this morning. It’d be a shame if it missed yours,” I said. I tightened my grip on Lopt??’ handle.

  She moved one step, placing her left foot in front of the right, with a dangerous precision. The dead bodies around us felt like a web of blood, ready to catch prey.

  “Here. I stepped closer. Will you execute me then?”

  Her voice turned deeper as she pronounced the last word. I could feel adrenaline pumping throughout my body. I took a step forward, reducing our distance to another step and a swing. There was sweat and anticipation in the air. I would execute her. Yes, I would.

  But I hesitated.

  Yushkov and Zaytsev arrive in five. Ready to combust territory, evacuate.

  Yushkov’s quiet voice had reached me, this time with a warning. I had taken too long to confirm the kill, and they thought I was a liability. Idiots. I had her right where I needed her.

  Valeriya made another step, hopping over the body of one of the three women she had sent to me earlier. She landed in a puddle of blood, always with grace. Her face was an inch away from my axe. She lay her cheek onto its rugged blade.

  Oh, the feeling, as her cheek pushed against the axe.

  “Here. What about now? Will you execute me, hunter?”

  “I will vodyanitsa. But not here.”

  Exactly. The other Pyrisbyd?mos, Spark Hunters, were ruining the moment that was owed to me. We had to take cover away from here. And then I could drive the axe deeper. I tilted Lopt??, and I saw the woman’s reflection in it.

  “I am ready for it. But it can be elsewhere too,” she said, “any ideas?”

  Yushkov and Zaytsev arrive in four. Evacuate.

  The breeze carried the words to me. Was that a hint of impatience in Yushkov’s voice?

  I put on my helmet.

  “Hop on.”

  ? ? ?

  Riding on the motorcycle with her hands around my waist, I was filled with a sense of victory. Yes, she was not dead yet, but she would be. Until then, her wet hands and clothes were a comfort on this ride.

  “Okutyvat’.” Envelop.

  She spoke as if she had a leisure of a second per syllable. And with every letter enunciated, mist rose to our vanguard, hiding our trails. Well, I knew the Spark Hunters would still see through the illusion eventually, but getting a head start on Zaytsev’s combustion could make or break our escape.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Zaytsev sends his apologies, ??galej.

  I grabbed the river weed I had wrapped around my right ear and tore it apart. That was it, no more quiet voices.

  Zaytsev’s last message was an apology to the one he thought he would kill. I knew he lied. He never liked me, and I was sure he relished the order he was following.

  Somewhere behind us, a loud explosion, followed by many others, signaled Zaytsev had unleashed his Curse. Obliterating everything and everyone near Vangurey. Hopefully, it would make all the bodies unrecognizable.

  Another round of explosions. This time, a couple of them were close enough to make me wonder if we would have survived without Valeriya’s cover.

  Valeriya held me tighter.

  We had a long trip ahead of us.

  ? ? ?

  The terrain would be impossible for anyone else to navigate. But not for me. I had taken the route to the Bay more than a few times in the past, and the motorcycle was feeling at home in the tundra.

  We circled frozen lakes, took detours around creeks and cliffs. I knew where the main crossings were, so I stayed close to the riverbanks, and then always turned to keep the north at my left hand. Valeriya kept holding me, lying her head on my back, close to my axe.

  The chill subsided as morning gave way to noon, but the mist always showed us the way, covering our tracks and subsiding from our path.

  “Okutyvat’. Ustupite dorogu. Okutyvat’. Ustupite dorogu,” Valeriya would say, from time to time. Making sure the mist remained our friend.

  Envelop. Give way.

  The sun rose quickly above our heads, only to be met by grey clouds, the kind of clouds that carry heavy rain to the south.

  Whether the Pyrisbyd?mos looked for us, I did not know. I had lost all touch with their quiet voices. But what I knew was that they would surely lose our tracks soon.

  “Khaypudyr Bay. The Bay,” I said, “I think I can execute you there.”

  “Sounds lovely. Ustupite dorogu, give way,” Valeriya responded.

  The mist all dissipated, and as we turned past the last cliff, the Bay appeared. Grey and red buildings of an industrial city lined one of the busiest bays of the Arctic Circle and formed one of the central hubs in the Pechora Sea. Two blimps waltzed in the sky above the port, where hundreds of sea boats had found refuge the past night. Enormous vessels of the Eastern Republics steamed in and out of the Bay.

  A busy port city would do. Lots of means of escape, and lots of places to stay with no one asking our names.

  I could kill her anywhere, really, and then go on the run. The other hunters would take a while to sniff away the fact that I had taken her for my own kill, but then again, who cared? I was not afraid of them.

  ? ? ?

  “For three nights, yes,” I said, as I left a few bills on the desk, “keep the change.”

  The receptionist behind the desk saw I was paying double; that was code for take the money and keep your mouth shut. He obliged and pocketed the bribe without saying anything, and then handed me a key.

  “May I bathe before you execute me?” Valeriya asked me when we entered the room. I looked at her. Mud and blood had stained her body. Yes, she needed a bath, and I would find no pleasure in killing her at her lowest.

  “You may,” I said and headed to the room.

  It was a single room with two beds. As if she would sleep anything but the eternal sleep tonight. I tried to zone out the sound of running water from the bathroom.

  I walked to the window to take in the view. Amidst the gray and the red, there was a simplicity to the logic of the chaos of the Bay. Ships came in, money came in. Do you help the ships? You get money as well. And a bit of the smell of rotten fish, strong enough to go through closed windows.

  “Maybe I should wait,” I said. Lie low before I would rush to get a job on a big ship. Decide if I would head East or East.

  I was surprised at myself, how quickly I was willing to leave the hunters behind, but something told me I had to forget all about them. I had the talent, so I could start anew in a new place. Maybe go solo.

  The thought annoyed me.

  She was still in the bathroom, showering. I could hear the water running. I looked around the room.

  There was a TV. I turned it on. I wondered if the news had mentioned in any way the massacre the hunters had caused in that village. That I had also caused.

  Movies, pop music, news… News.

  “…convoy from Mongoliya has now crossed into Russkiy territories, asking for a pass. They are asking to cross to the Arktika, without further explanation.”

  A question was at the bottom of the screen, asking a question:

  IS SOMETHING HAPPENING IN GAN’SU?

  “Where the hell is Gan’su,” I muttered and changed the channel.

  Trivia, sports. More sports, news again.

  ELECTIONS IN THE EASTERN REPUBLICS VIA DOMAIN REGISTRATION

  More politics. No massacres; that was good. Rarely did the actions of the Pyrisbyd?mos reach the media. I did not know what I was particularly worried about.

  “Nothing interesting?” Valeriya asked. She had walked into the room, completely naked, and I had not heard or noticed her. My eyes scoured her body for an ounce of imperfection, but they could not find it. “??galej?”

  I could not answer her question. She was the most interesting thing, and although I knew I had to kill her, I kept hesitating.

  “Surely, by now you should have figured out you are madly in love with me,” she said. So casually and nonchalantly, that somehow offended me. She used a towel to dampen her hair as she looked right at me. The mud, the blood, and the blemishes were gone. All that was left was a young blonde woman.

  I nodded. This was her doing, I had no doubt. She had cursed me, hexed me, from the moment our eyes met a few hours ago. A siren of the river.

  “Good. So, you agree not to execute me then?” She asked.

  “Of course I will,” I answered, without even thinking about it, “but not now, while I am in love.”

  She chuckled and wrapped herself in the towel. I looked away, ashamed of myself for being mesmerized by her.

  “Okay, big guy. You sleep on the floor tonight, however.”