Page 4 of Rise of the Witch
The three of us originally planned for our assignment to take the better part of a day, so at this point, our supplies were running low. Licking my dry lips, I mentally calculated how many water filtration tablets we had left before seeking out another form of purification would become necessary. It had been a dry spring, so the possibility of finding a fresh mountain stream was slim. Our repeated run-ins with the thermal pools were only adding insult to injury as we had no way of knowing how sanitary the water was.
Sighing, I flicked a damp, blond curl out of my eyes and walked over to Nox, resting a hand on the other man’s shoulder. “If you and Tan can forage for some greens, I’ll see what I can rustle up for dinner,” I gently suggested, feeling some of the tension unwind from his massive body at my words.
I knew I shouldn’t be wasting bullets on harmless game, and my rifle was probably the least appropriate gun for such an activity, but I was a good enough shot to get something on the first try with the least amount of damage. Resolutely tucking my weapon under my arm, I noted my direction with what I hoped were accurate landmarks and headed into the woods.
After a few minutes of walking, I spotted enough tracks and scat to scout for a blind. Spying a brushy ridge nestled between two firs, I positioned myself upwind and settled in. It didn’t take long for the natural sounds of the forest to pick back up again—the trees creaking in the breeze, birds calling to their mates, a squirrel rustling through the leaf litter.
The heartbeat of an approaching meal.
As usually happened when I was waiting for a kill, my pulse slowed until I entered an almost trance-like state. There was something incredibly calming about being alone with my gun, disconnecting until I became just another predator among many. My gaze zeroed in on motion to my left, and I impassively watched as a mountain hare hopped into view.
Although I could have taken the rabbit out the instant it appeared, I had to wait until it got closer to be absolutely sure I wasn’t in violation of the many regulations my team adhered to. Out here, nothing was as it seemed, and the last thing I wanted to do was shoot an animal that turned out to be something else entirely.
My finger caressed the trigger like a lover, tracking the rabbit’s movements through my scope while I waited for it to present the angle I needed. The hare finally turned to face me, the lack of intelligence in its expression confirming its status on the food chain. Given this clean shot, I took aim and sent a bullet into its brain.
Sliding off the ridge, I slung my rifle over my shoulder and approached my kill. Bending to retrieve the now headless rabbit, I leaped back with a start as I noticed its already decaying state, its skin loosening as the meat beneath rapidly deteriorated.
What the hell?!
Snatching the hare by the back leg, I raised it to eye level, only to almost drop it again in surprise. The instant the animal left the ground, the decomposition ceased, leaving me to wonder if my mind was playing tricks on me.
Tightly wrapping the bloody corpse in a waterproof bag from my pack, I headed back in the direction of the thermal pools, praying the trickery we’d been experiencing wouldn’t result in me becoming separated from the other men. Blessedly, I soon heard Tan’s contagious laugh and Nox’s annoyed reply right before I rounded a boulder to find them crouched around the start of a campfire.
“There’s my brave hunter!” Tan cooed flirtatiously, hazel eyes twinkling as he grinned and gestured toward the bag I carried. “What’s on the menu, my love?”
“Wabbit,” I smiled in return, unable to resist his charms, despite everything. “And what did my bravegatherersfind?”
“Fiddleheads and morels,” Nox answered for him, mumbling around the knife held between his teeth, his gruff tone putting an immediate end to our playfulness. Finishing the construction of a small spit over the fire, he sat back on his heels and leveled me with an appraising stare. “Did you see any weird shit while you were out there, Ace?”
Avoiding his gaze, I shook my head and busied myself with preparing the hare for the spit. I mulled over what I’dthoughtI’d seen, wondering if it had been a byproduct of my hunger and fatigue. Expertly removing the skin with my knife, I discovered the meat was still relatively fresh, making me further question whether I’d actually witnessed anything unusual at all.
Nox and Tan were the two people left on earth who I trusted implicitly, but tensions were already high, and our number one priority at the moment was surviving until we could find our way back to the Facility. Nobody needed me overreacting, spouting theories about forest creatures’ decomposition rates, infecting our team with paranoia.
Especially when it really isn’t my business either way.
Then again, it wouldn’t be the most unusual thing we’d seen on a routine patrol. Our superiors sent us out at least a few times a week, and as we’d risen in the ranks, the more exposed we’d become to the strangeness of this ancient forest.
Although I suspect there’s still plenty we don’t know about.
Having finished dressing the rabbit, I let my gaze wander over the birch trees lining the clearing. Although I’d encountered similar terrain back in the States, there was something different about the woods here in Russia. Somethingother.Even the areas I’d patrolled a million times felt mysterious and changeable, like a doorway to another world.
When he was in a sharing mood, Nox would entertain Tan and me with stories from his childhood growing up on the northern side of this seemingly endless forest. Folklore would inevitably weave its way into these tales, and it fascinated me how magical elements were apparently talked about as fact by his relatives. It reminded me of how superstitious the old-timers were in my hometown of Savannah, Georgia, but the legends here felt more untamed somehow. More primal.
And they call to me for reasons I cannot understand.
Chapter 4
Vasilisa
Groaning in pleasure, I sank into the depths of the thermal spring, allowing the enveloping heat to ease the soreness from my muscles. I’d probably walked a good 15 kilometers throughout the forest, monitoring areas of concern and gathering samples whenever I came upon any particularly troubling sites.
Death was a natural part of the forest’s life cycle, but what I’d witnessed today was unprecedented. Towering firs that proudly stood for centuries were not only felled but reduced to sawdust. Animals—and shifters—who’d been healthy the day before had weakened or died, their rapidly decomposed carcasses already feeding the earth. And try as I might, I couldn’t conjure enough power to reverse any of the damage I found.
How can I be trusted with this forest if I cannot protect it!
The faint scar over my heart throbbed, as it often did at the end of the day, and I grimaced, burying the memory of how it had appeared. Leaning back against a large, smooth stone, I propped my elbows up on the grassy bank to catch the cool air on my skin and absently watched a droplet of water run down my smooth, tanned wrist to my fingertip.
Not for the first time, I marveled at how my true appearance hadn’t changed in the hundreds of years since I’d accepted my role—how I still looked to be in my late 20s, the same as the day I became Yaga. I wasn’t a tall woman, but I’d always been shapely, with wide hips and full breasts that promised fertility. Frowning atthatunwanted thought, I could clearly envision the resulting curl to my full lips, the annoyance flashing in my blue-green eyes. To humans, I appeared as the wrinkled hag of legend, but in the eyes of the forest, I was still the legendary beauty who once won the heart of the Tsar himself.
