Page 17 of A Witch Out of Time
Unlike the bone-chilling cold I’d been subjected to since being captured, the air in this space was hot and dry, reminding me of the homey warmth from Vasi’s stove. There was a wet earth smell combined with fresh air and sea, and even an undertone of embers burning in a hearth. The entire experience was foreign and familiar, like an intense dose of deja vu.
“Wha...what is this place?” I choked out, too overwhelmed to ask anything more intelligent than that.
Either I’m dreaming, or I’ve lost my mind...
My mother gracefully spread her arms wide, reminding me of when she would welcome important guests into our grand entryway back home. “It’s the Great Womb!” she grandly announced. “The receptacle from which all life emerges and all life returns.”
I scrubbed a hand down my face, feeling like I was being presented with a puzzle where none of the pieces fit together correctly. “Why on earth would Koschei have a room like this in his ….
“Oh, this isn’t Koschei’s,” she replied, absently picking a stray speck of dirt off her dress. “It’s mine.”
That’s it. I have plumb lost my mind.
Recognizing my confusion, my mother elaborated. “He may be keeping me here, but I still have a duty to fulfill!”
I narrowed my eyes as my brain—and shaky foothold in reality—finally caught up with the situation. “And what exactly is your duty, mother? Considering you’redead.”
She indulgently nodded, as if I were a young child in need of guidance. As if it made perfect sense that a Southern homemaker who’d been blown to smithereens by a car bomb would now be tasked with maintaining a mystical womb cave.
“Come! I’ll show you,” she looped her arm through mine and led me toward the nearest wall, again startling me with howsubstantialshe felt. “Traditionally, Slavic people touched the Earth or even held a clump of soil to their head while swearing an oath to make that vow binding—hence the handprints. Some of the more figurative drawings represent the sins confessed into a hole in the Earth before death. More specifically, confessed to...”
“And what isthat?”I interrupted, although I knew full well what I had stumbled upon. A forest scene was painted on the wall in great detail; the rich greens and blues of the vegetation swirling as if caught in the winds of an incoming storm. In the foreground was a familiar woman. Her dark hair blew across her face, embroidered dress swaying as she headed home to a wooden cabin peeking over the treetops, surrounded by a fence topped with lit skulls.
What truly captured my attention were the three men circling her on horseback—flyingon horseback, to be exact. All three were dressed like medieval knights, except their armor appeared to be leathery, second-skin, while the helmets featured distinct horns that seemed to grow directly from their foreheads. With swords and shields brandished, and flowing capes billowing behind, each man seemed to pulse with magic—glowing brightly in red, white, or black, respectively.
With all four figures evenly spaced...
My mother proudly smiled as if I’d discovered Einstein’s Theory of Relativity and not an eerie illustration of the legend I was supposedly a part of. “Why, Vasilisa’s brave Riders, of course! There’s you and Taneer,” she lovingly tapped her fingertips over the red and white Riders before settling on the black one. “And there’s Noxy.”
Noxy?!
I opened my mouth to barrage her with about twenty more questions when a loud explosion from outside suddenly rattled the cave. “Oh, I swear,” my mother dramatically sighed, batting me away as I tried to protectively cover her from any falling rocks. “Gods are worse than mortal men, andthisone is especially trying—always haphazardly tossing his thunderbolts around whenever he gets into a tizzy over this or that.”
“Who, Zeus?” I stuttered, wracking my brain to remember which god she would be referring to in this particular pantheon. “Or...Thor?”
She gave me an odd look.“Perun,honey. You really should work on getting up to snuff on all this. It is your legacy, after all.” Before I could retort it was still news to me that I evenhada legacy, something over my shoulder caught her attention. “Oh, I believe that’s the escape route you’ve been searching for if I’m not mistaken...”
Still reeling from the last ten shocks to my system, I spun to find a river suddenly flowing through the middle of the cavern. Although I was an experienced swimmer, the water was choppy, and not knowing where it led—whereanyof this was leading me—gave me pause.
“There’s no fighting your destiny, suge,” my mother’s voice was in my ear, that unmistakable honeysuckle scent of hers making my heart ache, knowing I had to leave her again. “There are times in life when you simply have to let the current take you where it will. And, thattimeis now.”
I turned to face her, tears stinging my eyes despite my best efforts. “Will I see you again?”
Her pale blue eyes twinkled knowingly. “If the creek don’t rise,” she smirked, and pushed me into the raging current.
Chapter 14
Taneer
“Why this man’s mother didn’t drown him in the river as a baby is beyond me.”
I inwardly groaned at the sound of Veles’ voice permeating my semi-consciousness. If I was a god, I would be busy creating universes or blessing humans with my dick instead of acting grumpy-as-fuck all day. But, ever since I was brought to the Nav against my will, Veles had been behaving like he had a massive bug up his ass.
A bug that died after it crawled up there.
“Vel, take a breath. Tan ingesting the blue roses and not dying is interesting, don’t you think?” The redheaded fortune teller was stepping in as peacemaker again, but I could hear the mischievous undertones. This caused me to wonder how much she intended to soothe Veles versus rile him up even more.
This broad can sit next to me on the petty couch anytime.
