Chapter 38:

Morena

Beyond Prav

Dragomir’s eyes snapped to Levoslav’s dushe. Then to Milena’s. Then to the two millers and Milena’s mother.

Finally, he looked back at the two dushe bound to him.

It was true.

His own dushe were nowhere to be found.

“But you don’t have any dushe either, Mo—... Queen!”

“As the ruler of this place, I can contain mine within my body. But a little still sticks out.” Morena raised her wrist, revealing the same thread. This one disappeared beneath her skin. “Losing a dusha would be… very pricey. Especially for a god.”

“What does that mean? Why am I the only one who doesn’t have even one?!”

“Maybe you were supposed to die,” Milena’s mother said.

“No, no, no!” Milena pulled away from the family hug. “Maybe you just… lost them while we were being transported here?”

“No, I don’t think he lost them.” Morena stood up slowly. “He should already know what truly happened.”

“Can you tell us more?” Milena clutched her skirt.

“That’s not my… domain.”

The miller’s warm dusha spoke. “You can’t leave Nav alone, Dragomir.”

His cold dusha continued. “A body needs a dusha to survive.”

“So once you leave Levoslav’s dushe behind, you will die,” Milena’s mother added.

“What…?” Milena and Dragomir said at the same time.

Morena giggled. Dragomir shot her an annoyed look.

The goddess flinched. The tip of the staff in her trembling hand slipped across the frozen floor.

She clicked her tongue and headed for the door. As she passed Dragomir, she leaned close to his ear.

“In five seconds, I’m going to say my name out loud.”

Dragomir’s blood froze.

For a second, his mind went blank.

The worst part?

He had no idea what would happen or how to stop it.

He grabbed his battle-axe, caught Milena’s hand and pulled her close. His palm was slick against hers.

“She’s an enemy, isn’t she?” Milena asked.

“Yes.”

Morena tapped her staff against the frozen floor.

“My name is Morena, and I’m the Goddess of Death and Winter! That pocket watch is my heart!”

The watch in Milena’s pocket started ticking.

TICK!

Milena stiffened.

TICK!

Before Dragomir could reach for it, her warm dusha snatched the watch from her pocket.

TICK!

The dusha jumped through the window.

Glass burst outward.

Its thread pulled tight, yanking Milena toward the wall. Her cold dusha jerked after her.

“Milena!”

Dragomir tightened his grip and pulled her back.

TICK!

Outside, the warm dusha hung at the end of its thread, still clutching the watch.

TICK!

A violent blast swallowed it.

Ice tore through the broken window. Dragomir covered his face as shards cut his cheek and arms. The others ducked, some scratched by ice, others covered in frost.

Milena didn’t have a scratch.

But her warm dusha was frozen solid.

A crack ran across its chest.

Then it shattered.

The thread binding it to Milena’s wrist snapped and faded away.

“No… way… am I still… alive?”

Only her cold dusha remained.

“Not for long!”

Morena’s voice cut through the chaos.

Dragomir spun around.

An icicle spear was already flying toward Milena.

He raised his battle-axe.

Too slow.

The spear struck Milena square in the forehead.

CLINK!

Its tip shattered against her skin.

Morena narrowed her eyes. “What?”

Dragomir raised Milena’s hand.

The wedding ring gleamed on her finger.

He had slipped it on when he first grabbed her hand.

“I will slaughter you.” Dragomir glared at Morena.

“You…! Don’t you dare look down on me!” Morena clenched her teeth so hard that blood trickled from the corner of her mouth. “I will never suffer another humiliation! Never again! Not by a bohatier!”

A sudden rush of warmth swept through the frozen kitchen.

Zduhach’s warm dusha came crashing through the broken window on his white stallion, tearing away part of the frame.

“Oops.” He stared at the broken wood.

“Z-Zduhach?”

The moment Milena saw him, her memories rushed back.

“What a coincidence! You’re all here!”

“What do you mean by ‘coincidence’?” Dragomir asked.

“I heard the explosion, so I had to see what it was!”

Milena’s mother sat behind the table, her husband’s two dushe beside her.

“You should go, Milena. We’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”

Milena looked back at them one last time. “I love you!”

She jumped onto the stallion. Dragomir followed.

The horse neighed and galloped away.

“There’s nowhere to hide from me in Nav!” Morena yelled after them.

“I didn’t know you could talk,” Milena said as the horse’s hooves clattered along the road.

“What do you mean? I was asking you to go with me! I even showed you the way to the underworld!” Zduhach said.

“Yeah, but we couldn’t hear you. Outside Nav, we can’t communicate with our dushe,” Dragomir said, tightening his grip around Milena’s waist as he nearly slipped off the horse.

“Do you know where your body is?” Milena asked.

“Yeah. I can feel myself. And I’m right where I need to be!”

Dragomir noticed a faint, almost transparent thread stretching from Zduhach’s wrist into the distance. His dusha was still connected to his body.

Unlike an ordinary human’s, his thread seemed almost endless.

“Must be the god blood in him…” Dragomir mumbled.

“I feel sick…” Milena gagged as the stench of dead fish carried through the cold air.

A bloody river flowed beside the road, with fish swimming belly-up beneath the surface.

Suddenly, singing voices rose from the water.

Dragomir’s eyes went colorless. He slipped from the horse.

“Debilmir!”

Unnaturally long hair wrapped around the stallion’s legs and yanked them together. The horse stumbled and crashed onto its side.

“Horse!” Zduhach cried.

“Come with us.”

“We’re so scared.”

“This place is so creepy.”

Five Rusalki emerged from the river.

“Those are the same ones Morena took!” Zduhach shouted.

Dragomir crawled toward them and into the bloody water.

“Come join us.”

“You deserve to rest.”

“Don’t work so hard all the time.”

“Yeah…” Dragomir mumbled. “I do deserve some rest.”

“Get away from him!” Milena shouted but the Rusalki ignored her.

Zduhach nocked an arrow. “Milena, out of the way!”

She ducked.

He shot one Rusalka in the arm, making her hiss and retreat.

The others danced around Dragomir. One took his hand and pulled him deeper into the river. Their faces were marked by frostbite.

“Dragomir!”

Milena lunged at her. They both tumbled into the water. The Rusalka resurfaced, but Milena did not.

“Milena!”

Zduhach fired four more arrows, one into each Rusalka, forcing them back.

Dragomir’s eyes regained their brown color.

“What the…?”

“Debilmir! Milena’s in the water!”

“What?!”

He jumped after her.

The water was too dark to see through, but the golden ring shone below him.

Dragomir grabbed Milena and swam upward.

Zduhach waited at the riverbank and helped them out.

Milena and Dragomir collapsed beside each other, coughing up water.

“How come… seeing me didn’t drive them away this time…?” Milena huffed.

“Morena is overwriting their rules…” Dragomir coughed. “She can… control spirits.”

“Here…” Milena took off the ring. “I don’t want to feel any connection to that murderer.”

“If you insist…” Dragomir put it back on. “But I’m throwing it your way the second you’re in danger.”

“My… dusha…” Milena covered her face with her hands.

“You still have one.” Dragomir checked her remaining dusha. “But we have to be careful. In Nav, our dushe are exposed. Looks like the ring protects only the body...”

Moments later, they were riding again.

Soon, a familiar town came into view.

Dragomir recognized it, because this was where he had met Zduhach’s mother.

When they reached Zduhach’s old home, his mother’s two dushe were watching over his sleeping body as he snored loudly.

However, his body was almost completely covered by a swarm of moths, filling nearly half the room.

“N-no…” Milena’s voice cracked.

Zduhach’s cold dusha, still tied to his wrist, darted its eyes nervously around the house.

“Mom!” the warm Zduhach called out.

Both of his mother’s dushe bore the soot cross and short rope.

The house reeked of mold.

“You actually managed to sleep. I’m so glad,” her warm dusha said.

Her cold dusha studied Dragomir from head to toe. “Didn’t we meet somewhere?”