Time Skip

“I’m serious!” Dragomir took off his belt and shoes first, then pulled off his shirt.

Milena watched him, one corner of her mouth twisting in disgust. “You’ve lost it.”

“Look. Nav is the afterlife. When people are dying, they say they grow cold. And spirits are basically walking dead people. Their touch is cold, their breath is cold…” Dragomir stepped out of his trousers. “So if we want the road to Nav to appear before us, we have to get cold!”

“Good. Then you do it and I’ll wait.” Milena crossed her arms.

Dragomir stood before her in nothing but his undergarments.

“You have no shame, do you?” she said, her gaze briefly wandering over the scars across his muscular body. “So? Do you feel cold yet?”

“No… everything here is just too perfect. We have to go farther.” Dragomir turned around and walked toward the river behind them.

He inhaled and dove headfirst into the water.

A few seconds later, he resurfaced. The river was deep enough to reach his chest, but its gentle waves were warm. Dragomir raised his arms, lifted his chin and closed his eyes as Levoslav’s dushe hovered nearby.

“Ahahah! This feels amazing! Come try it, Milena!”

“I said I’d wait until this road to Nav magically appears.” She tapped her foot against the ground.

“I wish we could use Leshy’s method, but… I don’t think he’s here in Prav.” Dragomir splashed some water over his shoulders. “And you can’t leave me alone here. What if only I can see the road? I think we have to experience the cold together.”

Milena sighed. “You sure you’re not just trying to see me in my underwear?”

“I used to see you naked practically every day, you know,” Dragomir said as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Milena’s eyes widened, a faint blush creeping onto her cheeks. “Don’t you ever mention that again! It’s creepy when only you remember it!”

“Sorry, sorry! But I swear you did it willingly!”

“Arrgh… this guy… How did I put up with you before?”

“Look, you don’t have to do it if you’re uncomfortable. We’ll figure something else out.”

“No.” Milena untied the scarf from her head, letting her raven hair fall loose. “I’ll do it.”

She removed her outer clothes, leaving only her undergarments.

Dragomir was playing with the water when he realized he should probably avert his gaze anyway.

He turned his back to her.

And waited.

A moment later, Milena stepped into the river.

She moved closer until her body pressed against his back, then wrapped her arms around him.

“Sorry, but… I’m not that good of a swimmer.”

“No worries.” Dragomir held her hand. “I know. I’ve got you.”

For a moment, he simply felt her holding on to him.

He forgot about their quest. About the curse. About gods.

Or spirits.

A faint squeal came from somewhere among the trees.

Milena glanced toward the forest.

“Did you hear that?”

Dragomir looked over his shoulder. “No?”

“Probably my imagination…”

“Alright, this is probably enough. Let’s get out and let the breeze make us shiver.”

Dragomir walked toward the riverbank, holding Milena’s hand as she followed closely behind. He climbed out first, then pulled her up after him.

They stood on the road, water dripping from the ends of Milena’s hair.

They waited in silence.

But their bodies slowly dried.

“Uhm, are you cold?” Dragomir asked.

“A little. But…”

“Argh!” Dragomir kicked the air. “I knew this wouldn’t work!”

“You knew?” Milena furrowed her brows as she hurried back into her clothes. Dragomir picked up his own and started dressing as well.

“I actually had two hypotheses. The first one was this one and-”

“And of course you chose this one first just to see me in my underwear. I get it,” she hissed.

“The other one involves killing each other.”

“What?” Milena blinked twice.

“See? Stripping down doesn’t seem like that bad of an idea all of a sudden, does it?”

“Do elaborate, Mr. Boss.”

“Alright… just bear with me.”

“Like I always do.”

“Can you please stay silent for a few seconds?”

Milena theatrically mimicked locking her mouth with an imaginary key.

“Thank you.” Dragomir sighed. “So… The underworld is a place for dead people. And your pocket watch reacted twice but only when somebody’s life was in danger, right? You tried to activate it before, but maybe nobody’s life was in danger, and that’s the condition.”

Veles did mention this thing can save lives.

“So… we have to try to kill each other while you command the pocket watch to save us. If we get close enough to death without actually dying, the watch should activate and make us eligible to enter Nav. Maybe it’s not about finding a road. Maybe it’s about the state we’re in…”

Milena gazed at him.

“You may start talking again…”

Then she ‘unlocked’ her mouth. “You. Have. Lost it.”

“Come on, what else can we do?”

“I don’t know but you’re right. We have tried everything. We wandered around the river, we dug a hole, we jumped into the water… Yeah, that covers everything. Now we can kill each other.”

“Exactly, you get it!” Dragomir said enthusiastically but then noticed Milena’s stare. “Oh, you were being sarcastic…”

“No, not at all,” she almost sang with that mocking tune.

“Alright, alright… but I… truly don’t know what else to do.”

“Do we even have to go to Nav? Zduhach may wake up soon. And I… don’t really have to see my mom. She’s gone… I should just accept it. Not many people get a chance to speak to their deceased relative… so… maybe what I’m doing is cheating.”

“The thing is… I don’t believe we can take the remaining gods down without Zduhach’s help. And Jarilo is still out there.” Dragomir raised his hand, showing the ring. “You saw how effortlessly Zduhach killed Lada. We need that kind of strength. Besides… I’m worried about him.”

“You’re right… and I’m worried, too.”

Dragomir walked over to the sleeping Zduhach, pulled an arrow from his quiver and handed it to Milena.

Then he took his battle-axe.

He knelt down, took Zduhach by the wrist and gestured for Milena to come closer. She knelt beside him.

“Let’s stay close to each other. I’ll count to three. On three, pretend to drive this arrow through my eye and into my skull. And I’ll pretend to cut off your head.”

“Okay, if we’re just pretending, that should be easy enough.”

“Yeah… Don’t forget to wish from the bottom of your heart to save us from our imminent death. Oh, I almost forgot.” Dragomir took off his ring and put it into his pocket. “Now you can kill me.”

Milena tightened her grip on the arrow and held it like a knife.

Dragomir raised his battle-axe, lining the blade up with her neck.

“One… two… three!”

Both of them struck at once. Milena squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. The arrow and the battle-axe stopped just short of their targets, his eye and her neck.

“Did it work?” she asked, huffing.

“No…” Dragomir exhaled. “I’m out of ideas.”

“Dragomir…” Milena’s hand trembled. “Maybe we have to actually kill each other.”

“Yeah… I feared that, too.”

“But it’s too risky. What if the pocket watch doesn’t activate? And even if it did, what if this is not the way to get to Nav?”

“Then we go to Buyan… somehow… and get massacred by the gods. Or worse, become their playth-”

THUD!

Dragomir’s body jerked forward.

A blade had punched through his back and burst from his chest. Blood quickly soaked through his shirt around it.

“Dragomir…?” Milena’s pupils shrank.

He slowly turned his head toward whatever had struck him, blood already trickling from the corner of his mouth.

A figure stood in the distance, too far away for them to make out his face.

Then he broke into a run.

With every stride, his features became clearer.

First, they saw his half-naked body.

Then the boar head.

Radegast.

Another knife was already clenched in his hand, his arm drawn back to throw.

“I told you bohatier pests I’d show you no mercy once we were outside!”

Milena covered her mouth.

Dragomir’s knees gave out. He collapsed across Zduhach’s sleeping body, the light slowly fading from his eyes.

“No… No…!”

Dragomir gurgled. “…two…”

“W-what?” Milena leaned closer.

His lips barely moved. “Three…!”

Milena grabbed Dragomir’s wrist and pulled the blade of his battle-axe against her own throat.

Radegast snapped his arm forward.

The knife left his hand and spun straight toward Milena.

She froze, watching the blade close the distance.

As her hands trembled, she squeezed the watch through the fabric of her pocket. “P-please!”

The knife struck her eye.

The pocket watch reacted.

Tick.

The second hand jumped from twelve to one as Milena collapsed.

Chapter 36: END