Page 126 of Tiger's Trek
“Best get going now, boy, before my good nature wears off.”
Reaching behind the chair, Danik took hold of his bags and patted the mantle a farewell. Just then the secret door popped open, and a wrapped bundle fell out. Danik picked it up and placed it in his satchel. Yuga began to protest, but the fireplace roared, and she settled back in her chair with pursed lips and a sour expression. When Danik walked to the front door, it opened of its own accord. Veru bent and patted Max, then stumbled after Danik. They headed down the rickety steps and were securing their bags on the sledge when the little house rumbled, stretched up on tall, stilt-like boards, and walked over their heads, quickly disappearing into the dark forest.
Just as it did, the sun broke over the eastern mountains, signaling a new beginning. Both Danik and Veru wondered what this new beginning would look like for the two of them.
Chapter30
BEFRIEND THE WOLF BUT KEEP THE AXE SHARP
“So, we’re in agreement?”
“Yes.” The powerful man stood with his back turned to the boy who was not as unlike himself as he thought back to who he’d been when he’d first arrived in this strange dreamworld. True, Nikolai Novikov wasn’t as clever and didn’t possess as many gifts, but he held one very valuable gift that even someone with as many assets as Grigor had amassed in his time couldn’t easily come by—knowledge of his future.
Turning, he said, “Tell me again—why would you do this? Betray your friends, the tsarevna you profess to love, all simply in the hope that I will take you on as my protégé? I must confess, I’m afraid I cannot trust your motives.”
“Then let’s go over it again. When you return, you take me with you. You train me in your ways. Teach me how to bend time like you do. Perhaps you haven’t done it yet, but you will. You’ll become so powerful that one day you’ll be able to reanimate the dead. Then, when all is in place, we’re going to stop my father from marrying my mother; either that, or kill him when he’s young. Either way, I’ll be able to remove the curse of him from my life.”
“But won’t that mean you’ll never be born?”
“Maybe. If so, I don’t care.”
“How can you not care about such a thing?”
Nik picked up one of the Death Draughtman’s books of magic and flipped through the pages boldly. He was no longer frightened about what the man could do to him. Now he was filled with purpose and determination, and there was nothing on earth or in the heavens that could shift him from it. “I had a meeting with Death,” Nik replied softly. “He said I was kept alive all these years for a purpose. Now I know what it is.”
“Do you?” Grigor Sobol Petrovsky hadn’t felt that level of feverish determination in himself for quite some time. Perhaps he should reconsider killing the young man and see if he could indeed help him escape from this prison of the mind he’d found himself a captive of all these years.
“Yes,” Nik replied. “I carry the deaths of innocents on my back and shoulders, dragging them like weighted balls, shackles, and anchors that threaten to drown me with each step. It’s time I cast off those chains, placing them upon the man who truly deserves them.”
“So, what do you intend to do?”
“With your help, I’m going to send my father to hell.”
Epilogue
IT’S BETTER TO TURN BACK THAN TO LOSE YOUR WAY
“So he betrays his friends? What kind of a coward was he?”
“Lay down again, son. Your fever will return,” Kadam chided, rising to wet a towel in the sink, then placed it on Kishan’s forehead. “Don’t forget how easy it is to judge others when we haven’t walked in their shoes. You and your brother had the advantage of being loved and cared for by a wonderful set of parents.”
“Even if we hadn’t, we also had you for a mentor. This young man did as well.”
“I... wasn’t as hands on with this group as I was with all of you. It’s one of many things I have come to regret.”
“But surely he made his own choices.”
“Yes,” Kadam conceded. “All of us do. But you forget how many life paths I went down when exploring our own world. Not all ofyourown life paths were as joyful as the one you ended up selecting.”
Kishan grunted. “You mean the oneyouselected.”
“Be that as it may, I hope you know that my intent for all of you was only that you find a measure of happiness.”
“We all know that.”
“Good. Now get some rest.”
“But what happens next? Will Nik succeed in banishing his father to hell? Will all of them escape the dreamworld? How will Stacia handle having three tigers inside her? What mustthatbe like?”
Kadam chuckled. “Sleep. I’ll return in the morning and continue the tale, if you wish. Perhaps, if you’re feeling better, I’ll tell you of how the sisters were ultimately able to triumph over evil and overcome their trials. Does that suit you?”
Nodding, Kishan closed his eyes, and Kadam stepped outside and took in a deep breath of fresh evening air. All was quiet. The sun had just set. It was the time between, when the things of the day switched to the things of the night. He knew that soon evening predators would be on the prowl, seeking, hunting, searching for anything they could find to assuage their hunger. As he well knew, there were some dark things in his world as well as others, with an appetite so powerful that no matter how much they consumed, they could never be filled.
Anik Kadam glanced up at the wide expanse of the sky and felt small and a bit sad. There was so much dark in the world. It was hard to continue fighting it all the time. But then the first star appeared. Then another, and another. He smiled.
It was a little reminder that light could always be found if one looked.
And light could always defeat darkness.
