Kalinov Bridge

“Are you sure about this, Zduhach?” Dragomir asked. “Dazhbog isn’t only your father. He used to be human, too.”

“We’re already beyond that boundary. Gods, spirits… they were all human once. And I’ll always try to find another way. But…” Zduhach picked up the bow and quiver beside his bed and slung them over his shoulder. “I won’t forgive murderers.”

“I’m with Zduhach on this one.” Milena placed a hand on his shoulder. “Why should we show mercy to the likes of Perun?”

“Trust me, I’m the first person who’d like to spit on the corpses of these so-called gods.” Dragomir’s mouth twisted with disgust. “But…” He paused. “I… I don’t even have an argument. I think you’re right. We’re bohatiers. We’re supposed to lead humanity toward a better tomorrow. And as long as these gods are around, that future will never be bright.”

“You say ‘these gods’… doesn’t it bother you that I wanted to become one?” Zduhach asked.

“No.” Dragomir looked at Levoslav’s dushe. “I can’t judge people by their desires. You proved time and again that protecting people comes first. You brought me onto the right path. And you taught me what it means to be a bohatier.”

Milena smiled. “You were the rope that held us together against the odds, Zduhach.”

“So what do you say, my fellow bohatiers?” Zduhach extended his hand.

Milena placed hers on top. “I’m in. My mother deserves more than being a god’s toy.”

“If there has to be a single god, let it be you, Zduhach!” Dragomir added his hand.

The three smirked and threw their hands into the air.

“If that’s what you want… a dead person like me has no right to interfere.” The weaver watched them. “But I’m still your mother. That defines me more than death. So let me help you somehow.”

“Help us?” Zduhach tilted his head.

“Do you know how to get out of Nav?”

“No idea!” Zduhach said, almost proudly.

“There are three ways. The first is to die and return as a spirit.”

“Yeah, I’d rather skip that one…” Dragomir scratched the back of his head.

“Second, a god can take you through the gate. These days, however, the gods have agreed that only Morena may do so.”

“I don’t think she’ll let us through without killing us first, or torturing us like I heard they do in the Far East.”

Dragomir and Zduhach stared at Milena with stone faces.

“The third way is the Kalinov Bridge. You’ll find it in the middle of the Smorodina River. It leads directly to Alatyr.”

“Kalinov Bridge?”

“Smorodina River?”

“Alatyr?”

The bohatiers blinked.

“The names aren’t important. You’ve seen the bloody river flowing through Nav. It carries the blood of everyone who died violently. The Kalinov Bridge is the only bridge from Nav to Prav.” The warm and cold weaver took turns speaking. “Alatyr is the sacred stone of the world. It is the foundation of the balance between the three realms.”

“So this rock is some kind of… vehicle for traveling between realms?” Zduhach counted on his fingers, trying to make sense of it.

“Not really. It is simply the core of this world.”

“Whatever it is, it sounds important. And now that we found your body, we can return to our quest.” Dragomir clenched his fist.

“Could it be the Golden Egg I saw?” Milena asked.

“No. That is something else. The Golden Egg is the source of the gods’ power. Commandments are born from it.”

“Commandments?” Dragomir perked up. “Can you tell us more?”

“I’m afraid I don’t know much more.”

“How do you know any of this, Mom?”

“Your father told me. Before Morena took over Nav, he used to visit me here. He is the author of the Tenth Commandment, the one that allowed him, a former human, to join the gods.”

“Lada did mention he was not among the original nine bohatiers…” Dragomir said.

“I can confirm that,” Levoslav’s warm dusha added.

“Levo! I forgot you could talk!”

“I get a little flustered around beautiful women.”

“So all that talk about marriage was just a front, huh?”

“That’s who I am.” His warm dusha shrugged while the cold one nervously scratched the window. “When I learned that a bohatier had joined the gods, greed consumed me. I thought I could become one, too. Dazhbog supposedly led his comrades to certain death. So I basically did the same…”

“Enough, Levo.” Dragomir tugged the thread connected to warm Levoslav. “What’s done is done. Mrs. weaver, is there anything else?”

“When you reach the Kalinov Bridge, keep moving forward no matter what happens. Even the slightest hesitation can cost you your life.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Dragomir frowned.

“I’m afraid that’s all I can tell you. It’s getting colder.”

Frost crept across the window beneath cold Levoslav’s fingers. Milena stepped closer and spotted a black mass racing through the sky toward them.

Her next breath came out as mist.

“She’s coming.” The weaver pointed toward it.

“T-that’s Morena!” Milena shouted. “We have to run!”

“Why run?” Zduhach reached for his bow. “I’ll just defeat her!”

“No!” Dragomir stopped him. “We have to think strategically. If we kill her, the remaining gods will grow even stronger.”

“That’s true…” Milena kept staring outside. “Then we need a way to bring them all down together.”

“No time for tactics. Let’s go!” Dragomir grabbed his battle-axe.

“Thanks, Mom! I’ll visit you again!” Zduhach and his dushe rushed outside, Milena followed.

“I’m sorry for what I said back then.” Dragomir glanced at the weaver one last time. “I deserved that slap.”

Then he dashed outside.

Warm Zduhach was already astride his stallion, but the real Zduhach shooed him aside.

“I’m the boss of this party!”

He climbed into the saddle while his dushe hovered nearby.

Milena jumped on behind him, and Dragomir climbed on behind her.

The stallion neighed and charged toward the Smorodina River.

Morena tore through the lightless sky behind them, moths swarming around her. Mora had transformed into a pair of enormous moth wings at her back, beating through the air and driving her faster.

“I told you, there is nowhere to hide from me in Nav!” Morena shouted.

“What did she say? I couldn’t hear her!” Zduhach urged the horse faster.

Milena looked over her shoulder and gritted her teeth. “That wench is using my mother’s spirit like a tool!”

“Eyes forward, Milena!” Dragomir pointed ahead. “We’ll avenge her soon!”

They raced alongside the Smorodina River, searching for the bridge.

But there was no bridge in sight.

An icicle spear struck the ground beside the stallion’s hind legs.

Morena was already closing in.

“She’ll kill us!” Milena shouted. “That stupid bridge won’t show up!”

Zduhach stared at the river. “Wait! Mom said it was in the middle of the river. We have to jump!”

“I don’t think that’s what she me-”

The horse’s neigh cut Dragomir off.

The stallion leapt straight into the bloody river.

They braced for the plunge.

Instead, hooves struck bone.

A bridge had appeared beneath them.

“Oh my!” Milena twisted around to look.

“It doesn’t cross from shore to shore!” Dragomir tightened his grip around her. “It runs with the current!”

More icicle spears crashed around them.

“You’re not going there!” Morena screamed. “I can’t accept another humiliation!”

Flames erupted across the bridge ahead.

“What in the blazes is that?!” Milena pointed over Zduhach’s shoulder.

“I don’t know, but Mom said not to hesitate!”

Zduhach drove the stallion straight into the inferno.

The instant its hooves touched the flames, they vanished.

“That’s my weaver mom!”

“She’s gaining on us!” Dragomir looked back at Morena. “We’re going to die!”

“I see a light!” Zduhach shouted. The Kalinov Bridge stretched toward an unnatural glow.

Milena grumbled. “If only I still had that pocket watch!”

“You mean this?”

Warm Zduhach held up the pocket watch and pressed it into her hands.

“Where did you…?”

“Outside the mill!”

“No time to be amazed!” Milena squeezed the relic as an icicle spear flew straight at her chest. “Pocket watch, save us from death!”

The second hand split into several copies. All but one began to tick. Morena froze in midair.

The icicle stopped inches from Milena’s chest.

But Mora did not.

Her enormous wings broke apart into a black swarm and surged past Morena.

“Come to Mommy!” Mora screamed.

The moths rushed toward them.

“Levo!” Dragomir pressed the blade of his battle-axe against the thread connecting him to Levoslav’s warm dusha. “I don’t know what awaits me outside, so I’ll keep your cold dusha with me.”

He severed the thread.

“But you… enjoy your peace!”

Freed from Dragomir, Levoslav’s warm dusha threw himself at Mora, distracting her long enough for the stallion to burst through the unnatural light.

The riders crashed onto solid ground beyond Nav.

A single moth slipped through the crack behind them before it snapped shut like a door, leaving Morena trapped on the other side.

Chapter 40: END