Chapter 26

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Dawn broke in the city of Kyiv, and the residents woke not to falling snow, but falling pages of colored paper. On one side was printed an ikon of the Wolf Mage, and on the other was a message directly from the saint herself.

Soldiers immediately took to the streets and tried to gather and burn the papers that told the citizens of Kyiv what their emperor and general had been up to with wicked magic and how they had run their precious saint out of the city, or she would die at their hands. With every page that was destroyed, another three appeared.

The emperor himself wasn’t spared the good news. He had woken up to an apparition of his father and of Odin, both waving their own copies of the flyer.

By midday, the city streets surrounding the Mariinskyi Palace were crammed with angry protestors and priests demanding answers.

From an apartment building directly across the street from the front entrance into the square, Zarya and Arkon drank hot chocolate and watched the chaos unfold.

The apartment was one that was owned by Arkon’s ravens and was generally used for surveillance. Arkon was in awe of how calm Zarya was as she watched the city turn against itself.

"They are bringing in the soldiers to the gates," she said, and Arkon joined her at the windows. The pretty courtyard in front of the palace was now filling with soldiers that were lining up along the fence line.

Arkon lifted his pair of binoculars and looked away from the soldiers and to the trees that surrounded the back of the palace. "What do you think? They have to be moving him out while the crowd is busy."

"If they are, they will be taking him through the tunnels. Arkadi isn’t going to be stupid enough to show his face right now." Zarya frowned at the people who were starting to shake the gates. "They are going to get hurt if that gate drops."

Arkon raised a brow. "They know the risks, Zarya, or they wouldn’t be there."

"I wanted them to put pressure on Arkadi to leave. We have done that. Those soldiers in the courtyard have no choice to be there either. They are there to act as collateral damage so that Arkadi and the others can get away." Zarya bit the inside of her lip. "I need to do something."

"What do you have in mind? If you go down there, they will tear you apart," Arkon replied.

Zarya pulled on the ends of her hair, her eyes scanning the swaying fence. "What about some divine intervention?"

"Tell me what you need me to do," Arkon said without hesitation. This was her capital, her emperor, her people. Whatever she wanted to do, he would do. Whatever darkness she wanted to throw herself into, he would follow her. He would always follow her.

"I need your help to magnify an illusion for me. You are better at feeding a spell, just enough to get it to work," she said and then pulled up a perfect replica illusion of herself in her full saint regalia. She was radiant in gold and red, a silvery wolf’s fur around her shoulders.

"I have to admit, I would probably be a devotee of you too under different circumstances," he said with a low whistle. Zarya walked about the illusion, her frown deepening.

"They turned me into a symbol. Well, now we will see how well it worked," she replied. She took Arkon’s hand and showed him the threads attached to the illusion. Like all of her spells, there was a vicious kind of elegance to it.

"I have it. Now, where do you want it?" he asked.

"The roof. And Arkon? Make it big," Zarya said, and threads attached to the illusion tied themselves around her throat.

Arkon guided the illusion through the roof like a ghost and onto the roof of the apartment building. He fed it power until it grew and grew, high enough that the protesting people were turning away from the palace toward them. Some of the soldiers dropped their weapons and got to their knees.

"People of Kyiv," Zarya said, and her giant illusion spoke the words through the city. "Remember your humanity and your compassion toward each other. You were fooled by the men you trusted to protect you. The soldiers were fooled by men they looked up to as their commanders. You are not each other’s enemy. You are allies. Don’t bloody your hands for the sake of the emperor. He will meet divine justice, as will his followers, the cursed bone mage Strahil and General Zaytsev. Support one another, and all will be well. As my great descendant Olga protected you, her beloved people, so I shall protect you. I will be your justice. I will be your blade. And I will make the devil’s pay."

The illusion vanished in an explosion of golden light that sprinkled down over the crowd. People were slack-jawed in awe; some had their hands raised to catch the sparkles, and the priests were crossing themselves.

Arkon smiled at Zarya. "Well done, Wolf Mage. What shall we do now?" He couldn’t wait to see what she did next.

Zarya opened her mouth and shut it again. She gripped her head with a curse and sank to her knees.

Arkon grabbed her, panic crashing through him. "Zarya! What is it? Tell me!"

"It’s okay. I’m okay," she gasped and gently touched his face. "I’m not hurt. It was a call."

"A call? What do you mean?" he asked, brushing the hair back from her face.

Zarya licked her lips. "It’s a message being sent through the weavings, like when a fly gets caught in a web and sends vibrations through the strands. My mother… She’s summoning me home. She must have felt me come back to Kyiv and is panicking. She won’t stop until I see her."

Arkon helped her stand again and got her a glass of water. "If you need to go to her, I’m coming with you. I don’t want us to be separated."

"Of course, you are coming with me, sorcerer," Zarya said and drained the water. "I would never hear the end of it if I turned up without you."

Arkon hadn’t expected to meet any mothers that day, so he nervously ran his fingers through his hair and dusted off his jacket sleeves. "All right, how do I look? Presentable?"

"Like trouble, as always." Zarya stood up on tip toes and kissed him.

"What was that for?" he asked, his heart doing a little leap in response.

"In case I don’t get to kiss you while we are there."

"And why wouldn’t…" he began, but she kissed him again. He pulled her up against him, wanting to feel her in as many places as he could get.

"We need to go. She’s getting ready for another pull on my strings," Zarya said, and summoned the transportation spell. She wrapped her fingers around his. "Just remember how much you enjoy my company when we are there and think of all the naughty things I’m going to do to you if we get through the encounter."

"What kind of…" Arkon began, but the spell was already dragging them away.