Page 55 of Tiger's Trek
GOD PREFERS A TRINITY OR MAYBE A TROIKA
Stacia and Zakhar were jostled awake by the strange sisters. “Come quickly. You must arise. If you mean to rescue your man, you’ll have to hurry, else you’ll be too late.”
“What?” Stacia said, rubbing her bleary eyes. She felt like she’d just fallen asleep. “I thought you said we had time.”
“We thought so as well, but it seems the vodnik like your man so much”—they glanced at one another—“at least in his current form, that they no longer wish to trade. They want to use him in their games, and they’ve already left for the snowcapped mountains of Bogatyr.”
“Once he’s entered, he must fight for his life, for only those who are crowned at the end and drink from the gold and silver horns of the aurochs will live to tell the tale.”
“We are sorry, but we didn’t know he had gifts of his own. If we had, we would have warned you.”
“Perhaps we should give them our gifts now, Sister. For they have a long journey ahead of them.”
“You are right. We must hurry.”
“But you don’t understand,” Stacia said. “Iriko is blind. Yes. He’s strong. He’s in his tiger form, but he cannot see. He relies on my eyes.”
“We do understand,” said the sister called Stribog. “You are bonded, here.” She touched the place on her own chest covering her heart. “Is this not so?” she asked.
“I-I suppose so. In a way,” Stacia replied with a confused shrug, looking at Zakhar for help.
He explained, “Iriko, Stacia, and her sister, Veru, make up what we call the Transcendent Troika. Do you know what this is?”
“Ah!” All the sisters nodded knowingly.
The one called Daz said, “This is the Holy Trinity.”
Zakhar squeaked and chuckled, slightly uncomfortable. “Oh no. I’m afraid you ladies misunderstood me, or mayhaps I misspoke. The Trinity and the Troika are two different things. One is a godhead, as in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.”
“Perhaps I am indeed confused,” Daz said. “I thought you were speaking of power.”
“Oh, but I am,” Zakhar said, nodding sincerely.
“Ah, then there is no misunderstanding after all, for we are as well.”
“But... but how?” Zakhar asked. “What I am speaking of belongs to the heavens above and to the church.”
The women laughed. “Now I think it isyouwho are confused, good priest,” Daz said. “For the power you and I speak of, indeed the very power from which we draw our own strength, cannot belong to something so mundane as a building constructed by men.”
“Indeed,” echoed another sister. “Even as something as expansive and as beautiful as the heavens above couldn’t possibly contain the Source of all things.”
“I’m sorry, ladies,” Zakhar said. “The, um... the Source?”
“That is right. Have you ever wondered why there are always three?” Moksha asked.
“Do you mean three tigers?” Stacia asked.
“Yes,” said Stribog.
“And, no,” said her sister Daz.
“If it is the Trinity you speak of, then I know from my studies that they serve as a witness of one another. Particularly the Holy Ghost,” Zakhar suggested. “When it comes to law, there must always be at least two to witness a truth.”
“That is right,” the youngest sister, Veles, interjected. “Witnesses serve as supporters of truth. As we also exist to support one another.”
“As in ancient days, we unite for a purpose greater than ourselves,” Yaryl said. “The Troika is the same.”
“A triangle is strong. Three is always stronger than two. You can build a great city on the back of three,” said Stribog.
