The Phoenix Key 2 "Deliver Me"
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Erotica › General
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
8
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2,649
Reviews:
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Currently Reading:
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Category:
Erotica › General
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
8
Views:
2,649
Reviews:
4
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The Author holds exclusive rights to this work. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited.
Chapter 7
\"The Phoenix Key\"
Deliver Me
By: Delilah deSora
Pagan_nyght@yahoo.com
Chapter 7
**
All of my life I was in hiding
Wishing there was someone just like you
**
In retrospect Ivan knew he’d acted like a fool. He should have waited, as Afron had urged but when word had reached him of Dedumil’s marriage he had let his anger get the better of him. Events on his former teacher’s side were moving quickly while it seemed to him that they were not moving at all on his own side. He’d been plagued with doubts and they had gotten the better of good judgment. What need had a tsar for a slave when he had a new wife? What need had a Koshchey for a bribery tool when he had just taken the object of his desire?
Ivan hadn’t been able to come up with any satisfying answers to those questions so he had set out on his own. He had used pathways he’d discovered over nights of boredom when he could no longer concentrate on magic. He’d hoped that the passageways had been unknown to the master of the palace.
He’d been wrong.
He growled at the guard who gripped his arm a bit too tightly, gaining an annoyed glare for his trouble. Dedumil laughed, clasping his shoulder in a mocking gesture. His heavy robes brushed the floor as he passed. They made him look like an overstuffed pheasant and it took everything Ivan possessed not to sneer at him.
“So glad you decided to come pay a visit, boy. I was beginning to think you’d forgotten all about me.” The elder man gloated, playing with the mustache that framed his self-satisfied grin.
Ivan glowered. “I want him back.”
Dedumil laughed. “Really. We shall see.”
“Now.” He snarled, garnering an annoyed look.
“You haven’t even congratulated me on my marriage yet. Really boy, didn’t your father teach you any manners?”
Ivan snorted. “My father taught me many things, Dedumilspecspecting those that skulk through the night like thieves wasn’t one of them.”
Dedumil’s long face flushed red and Ivan stiffened when he took a threatening step forward. The other tsar, however, regained control of himself and he backed down. “You are truly tiring, boy.”
“Then give me back what is mine and I will leave.”
Dedumil waved his words away. “I think not. You are to be my guest. Who knows, maybe you’ll learn something since you seem to have forgotten most of your training. I will be more than happy to . . . relay your orders for your kingdom while you’re here.”
Ivan shook his head knowing full well that any orders relayed to his kingdom wouldn’t come from his liphe ghe guards dragged him along behind Dedumil, who was still talking. Ivan paid him no heed. He peered about the wooden halls, looking for anything familiar and things that had changed since he was last a resident. He recognized the paintings from the west hall and from the number of stairs they climbed he figured they were in one of the towers.
Dedumil unlocked a heavy wooden door with a key that was slipped back onto his belt. He held the door open and Ivannd hnd himself dragged inside. He hissed in pain as he was forced to his knees. Cold metal closed about his wrists and he felt his awareness of the magic that permeated the world fade. Frowning he peered up at the shackles and bite back the curse that sprang to his lips.
Iron.
Dedumil was gloating again but Ivan ignored him. He could see something moving about behind him that didn’t seem to move like a person. He was still too blinded by the sudden darkness of the room to make out the form properly, though. With a sigh he turned his attention back to the tsar before him.
“It is about time for me to go greet my wife. I must admit you do have such wonderful timing. I’ll leave the two of you alone to get reacquainted shall I?”
Frowning at the man’s words he watched as Dedumil departed, taking the guards and light with him. The door was closed and locked behind them, leaving him drenched in darkness. He blinked a few times before realizing that there was a source of light in the room, even though it was very faint. He turned his attention back to the center of the room and stiffened.
A soft yellow glow, like candlelight, came off of long red feathers, illuminating the large bird that sat quietly on a perch in the center of the room. It watched him with golden eyes that were more human than they had any right to be. Long feathers trailed down the back of its crane-like neck, creating a crest that trailed down to its powerful back and wings. Its body was long and covered in feathers that shifted from red to orange to yellow. A long full tail hung beneath it and Ivan could clearly see that the two foot long feathers ended in large flame patterned eyes, like a strangely colored peacock feather. The bird swayed slightly, flaring its tail to maintain its balance and Ivan saw two longer feathers on either side of the tail that bore no eyes but rather curved out like those of a lyrebird.
Ivan had seen Maryushka as a firebird and he had been impressed but this creature before him made her seem like a frail copy. Where she had been shades of white and gold this creature was flame incarnate. It made her seem like the muddy cardinal when up against the male version. This was what the tales spoke of.
This creature before him was a true firebird.
It clacked its long bill and trilled softly, sending a ripple through its crest. Long wings unfurled and it shook out its feathers, giving Ivan a glimpse of layered orange, yellow, and red feathers that also glowed softly with the creature\'s inner magic. The light reflected off of bars and Ivan realized that it was trapped within a large cage.
A cage that seemed strangely familiar.
He frowned, studying it, trying to figure out where he had seen it before. The bird hopped down off the perch and paced about the cage, peering about lazily. Its long legs carried it about the cage twice before it came back around to where he sat and he found himself fixed by golden eyes once more. Iaredared at him sorrowfully for a few moments before the bird began preening the feathers of its wing and Ivan blinked, finally realizing where he had seen the cage before.
A disturbing thought came to him and he frowned deeply.
“Trey.”
The bird glanced back up at him sharply before its crest flattened against its head. The firebird turned from him, tightening its wings against its body.
“I know its you.”
The firebird seemed to sigh. It jumped back up to its perch before turning to face him. Its head bobbed, but not in the way of a bird but rather in the way of a person reluctantly admitting something.
Ivan laughed humorlessly, letting his head fall back against the wooden wall. “Couldn’t sleep, hmm? Is this why you couldn’t sleep after I told you about Maryushka?”
Again the firebird nodded.
“You should have told me.” He admonished.
The firebird chirped quietly, its tail flaring slightly.
He closed his eyes, letting his mind wander where it may. He needed to think of a plan. With the iron so tight about his wrists he couldn’t call magic to him. Dedumil had said something about preparing a room for him, which could be anything from a dungeon cell to a heavily guarded guest room. He sighed, tallying all the information he had gleaned.
“Can you fly?” He asked, opening his eyes. “Do you know how?”
The firebird paused in its preening, settling a heavy wing back against its body before nodding.
”If you were to get out, would you know how to get back home?”
The firebird trilled in what Ivan assumed was a positive response.
He nodded to himself and closed his eyes again, falling into silence.
**
Ivan opened his eyes at the sound of the door opening, watching as his captor approached the cage. The firebird hissed at him, backing away with flared wings. Dedumil unlocked the cage and reached for the creature. All he received in return was an angry slash across his forearm where the sharp beak of the firebird dug into his flesh. He snarled something and Ivan tensed feeling magic sudden flood the room.
The firebird flung back its head with a shriek, its wings beating ineffectively against the bars of the cage. Ivan felt his breaths coming in gasps as the magic danced over him on its way into the flailing creature. After a few agonizing minutes Dedumil’s hand fell away and the magic poured back into the earth. The firebird lay panting on the bottom of the cage, its wings stretched out around it.
The Koshchey met no resistance this time when he snatched the bird from the cage. Ivan watched as a long red ribbon was tied to a metal ring about the bird’s leg. Dedumil waved to the man at the doorway and Ivan found himself being released from the shackles. He was herded from the room and down the hall until they came to a small set of quarters. Bands of iron were fixed about his wrists and he was shoved inside. He was ordered to freshen up and told that he was expected to join the Tsar and his lady in the gardens for lunch.
Ivan did as he was told and followed the guards to the gardens. He was greeted as though he was a visiting dignitary and he kept up the act as he accepted a seat at the long table that had been set up in the courtyard. Maryushka glanced at him with vague blue eyes before turning her attention back to Dedumil. Ivan frowned. There had been no recognition in her eyes and she sat at her pursuer’s side as though she had always belonged there.
Before he could comment on it the ladies that sat around her exclaimed in pleasure peering above them. Ivan followed their looks upwards in time to see the firebird fly the length of its leash and perch on a statue of a rearing unicorn. One lady reached up to touch it but it hissed and flared its wings threateningly. She snatched her hand away quickly amidst the gasps of her fellow ladies in waiting.
Dedumil glared up at the bird but kept his peace. Instead he turned to Ivan with a condescending smile.
“I must apologize for my lack of generosity earlier. I fear I was ill prepared for your arrival but all has been corrected. I do hope you like the new arrangement.”
Ivan smiled politely. “They will do.”
“You’ve been to my gardens before but tell me what you think of the new additions to my household.” Dedumil said, reaching out to capture one of Maryushka’s golden locks.
“Very impressive, though I see certain additions are adapting better than others.” Ivan replied, gesturing towards the seething firebird that was busily pecking at the ribbon leash.
Dedumil frowned. “I am afraid it has been spoiled. No matter, it too will learn its place.”
Ivan refrained from replying to the man’s words. Food was brought out and Ivan ate in silence, responding only when the Tsar himself directed a question towards him. One of the Tsarina’s ladies took a bowl of cherries and tried to coax the firebird to eat from her hand but the bird only turned up its beak at the offering. The lady appealed to Dedumil with a pout and the Tsar declared that the bird wouldn’t eat unless it ate from their table. The lady again tried to get it to eat from her hand. This time the bird took to flight.
Ivan didn’t bother to hide his smile when the large bird landed on the arm of his chair, garnering shocked looks from the lady and dark ones from Dedumil. He red oed out and ran his fingers through the thick downy feathers of the bird’s chest as it eyed his plate. He pushed the uneaten food away and replaced it with a platter of fruit. The firebird ate from his hand and his plate until Dedumil stood with an unconcealed growl.
“It seems my bird has a better memory for some than others.” He growled.
Ivan smiled, running his fingers through the unnaturally warm feathers. “Sometimes spoiling is the best method of taming.”
His words were met with a sneer and the abrupt ending of the mid-day meal.
**
It was a few hours later that he was dragged from his quarters, half asleep and half dressed. He was lead to the tower room and shoved inside. The door was closed firmly behind him. The sound of something slithering across the floor dragged his attention to the cage where he met Dedumil’s dark eyed glare. Candles burned around them, reflecting off the bars of the cage.
“Would you like to know what else spoiling gets a slave?” He asked, stretching out his hand and tearing the firebird from thde ode of the cage.
The bird screamed pitifully as it was flung to the floor. Feathers peeled back and Ivan took a step forward. He fell to his knees and reached through the bars, closing his fingers about newly formed flushed skin. Trey looked up at him from a spill of red hair, panting for breath. Ivan brushed the back of his hand against his slave’s face.
Pain flared up his arm and he fell back against the floor cradling the burning limb to his chest. He barely registered the heart-stopping crack of the whip that fell back to slither around the Koshchey’s feet. He felt blood run from the wound and he resisted the urge to examine it. Before him Trey clung to his shoulder where a long thin red line wept blood. Dedumil smirked disdainfully.
“You shouldn’t touch what isn’t yours, boy.”
Ivan pushed himself back to his feet. “If you dare . . .”
The whip came again, cutting off his words. He closed his eyes against the sound of it striking flesh and Trey’s cry.
“He won’t listen to me anymore,” Dedumil said, gathering the coil of leather, “but he must listen to me. It’s his place. The world strives to be ordered and once attained that order must be maintained. Koshchey, tsar, boyar, peasant, slave, it’s all part of the universal plan. I know I’ve told you this. I’ve explained to you its importance. If this slave won’t listen to me I must make him listen.”
Ivan forced his eyes open. “So you put yourself at the top of that list?”
Dedumil spread his arms. “Am I not? Have I not proven myself against you?”
“You have proven yourself a thief and a coward, my lord. But you have not proven yourself my better. Even now you do not prove it if you must resort to such means to make even a slave listen to you. Dogs must resort to such uncivilized measures but not Tsars.”
<>
T>
The Koshchey stood frozen at his words. With a snarl of rage he raised the whip again. It came down and Ivan forced himself to ignore the pain that flared through his palm as he caught it before it tore anymore of his slave’s flesh. He jerked the weapon from the Koshchey’s stunned hands and flung it away.
“And only a fool takes out his anger on someone weaker than hiue oue opponent.”
Dedumil flung open the door to the cage and stormed towards him. Ivan held his ground, watching the man approach with equally angry eyes.
“How dare you speak to me so?” The man raged, pacing around him, “I, who took you in after your own brothers killed you. After you tried to make a fool out of me. He isn’t yours. You reneged on our contract! Yet you stand here and make such claims against me! You are the one that is nothing more than a dog! You don’t have the stomach to be Tsar, you never did!”
Ivan’s hand came up and smacked him with all his weight behind the strike. Dedumil stumbled back in surprise, holding his own hand to the bloody smear across his cheek. Blood trickled from his mouth where the iron band around Ivan’s thin wrist had struck the soft skin of his face. Ivan advanced on him and he backed away warily.
“Where is your magic, my lord?” Ivan asked quietly, “Surely a man of your . . . bearing . . . wouldn’t hesitate to use it against me,” he spread his arms, “I am helpless to use mine. Is it not the best time for you to show me your superiority, Koshchey? Isn’t that how you got to be Koshchey in the first place? Was the previous one chained up so you could kill him without worrying about ruining your new robes?”
Dedumil growled and slashed at him. He stiffened but no attack followed. Instead the iron bands fell away from his wrists and he straightened, feeling the magic in the room pour into him.
“I don’t need to go so far to defeat a child such as you.” Dedumil growled.
Ivan crossed his arms before him, warding off the onslaught of magic that his former teacher sent towards him. The magic slid away from him like a parting tide and he reached out for it, gathering it into him. Dedumil sent wafteafter wave at him and he stood his ground absorbing it until it felt like more magic than blood flowed through his veins.
Raising his hand he released that magic, gritting his teeth against the edge his spilled blood gave to it. Blood magic was unpredictable at best but it was the only weapon available to him. It smashed into the Koshchey’s shields, surrounded them as it looked for a way inside. Dedumil was forced to fling his magic away from him to deter the persistent flow and Ivan took the opening. His former teacher wasn’t able to block the sudden onslaught of magic that flung him back against the wall.
Ivan called more magic to him to replace what he had flung away. The flow hesitated only for a brief second and that was the only warning he had before it turned on him. He cried out in pain as it entered the wounds on his hand and arm, tearing the flesh back as it entered him. It curled about his heart and squeezed, dropping him to his knees. He heard the door to the room opening over his slave’s worried calls. He was aware of a large form coming to a halt over him before all became darkness.
Deliver Me
By: Delilah deSora
Pagan_nyght@yahoo.com
Chapter 7
**
All of my life I was in hiding
Wishing there was someone just like you
**
In retrospect Ivan knew he’d acted like a fool. He should have waited, as Afron had urged but when word had reached him of Dedumil’s marriage he had let his anger get the better of him. Events on his former teacher’s side were moving quickly while it seemed to him that they were not moving at all on his own side. He’d been plagued with doubts and they had gotten the better of good judgment. What need had a tsar for a slave when he had a new wife? What need had a Koshchey for a bribery tool when he had just taken the object of his desire?
Ivan hadn’t been able to come up with any satisfying answers to those questions so he had set out on his own. He had used pathways he’d discovered over nights of boredom when he could no longer concentrate on magic. He’d hoped that the passageways had been unknown to the master of the palace.
He’d been wrong.
He growled at the guard who gripped his arm a bit too tightly, gaining an annoyed glare for his trouble. Dedumil laughed, clasping his shoulder in a mocking gesture. His heavy robes brushed the floor as he passed. They made him look like an overstuffed pheasant and it took everything Ivan possessed not to sneer at him.
“So glad you decided to come pay a visit, boy. I was beginning to think you’d forgotten all about me.” The elder man gloated, playing with the mustache that framed his self-satisfied grin.
Ivan glowered. “I want him back.”
Dedumil laughed. “Really. We shall see.”
“Now.” He snarled, garnering an annoyed look.
“You haven’t even congratulated me on my marriage yet. Really boy, didn’t your father teach you any manners?”
Ivan snorted. “My father taught me many things, Dedumilspecspecting those that skulk through the night like thieves wasn’t one of them.”
Dedumil’s long face flushed red and Ivan stiffened when he took a threatening step forward. The other tsar, however, regained control of himself and he backed down. “You are truly tiring, boy.”
“Then give me back what is mine and I will leave.”
Dedumil waved his words away. “I think not. You are to be my guest. Who knows, maybe you’ll learn something since you seem to have forgotten most of your training. I will be more than happy to . . . relay your orders for your kingdom while you’re here.”
Ivan shook his head knowing full well that any orders relayed to his kingdom wouldn’t come from his liphe ghe guards dragged him along behind Dedumil, who was still talking. Ivan paid him no heed. He peered about the wooden halls, looking for anything familiar and things that had changed since he was last a resident. He recognized the paintings from the west hall and from the number of stairs they climbed he figured they were in one of the towers.
Dedumil unlocked a heavy wooden door with a key that was slipped back onto his belt. He held the door open and Ivannd hnd himself dragged inside. He hissed in pain as he was forced to his knees. Cold metal closed about his wrists and he felt his awareness of the magic that permeated the world fade. Frowning he peered up at the shackles and bite back the curse that sprang to his lips.
Iron.
Dedumil was gloating again but Ivan ignored him. He could see something moving about behind him that didn’t seem to move like a person. He was still too blinded by the sudden darkness of the room to make out the form properly, though. With a sigh he turned his attention back to the tsar before him.
“It is about time for me to go greet my wife. I must admit you do have such wonderful timing. I’ll leave the two of you alone to get reacquainted shall I?”
Frowning at the man’s words he watched as Dedumil departed, taking the guards and light with him. The door was closed and locked behind them, leaving him drenched in darkness. He blinked a few times before realizing that there was a source of light in the room, even though it was very faint. He turned his attention back to the center of the room and stiffened.
A soft yellow glow, like candlelight, came off of long red feathers, illuminating the large bird that sat quietly on a perch in the center of the room. It watched him with golden eyes that were more human than they had any right to be. Long feathers trailed down the back of its crane-like neck, creating a crest that trailed down to its powerful back and wings. Its body was long and covered in feathers that shifted from red to orange to yellow. A long full tail hung beneath it and Ivan could clearly see that the two foot long feathers ended in large flame patterned eyes, like a strangely colored peacock feather. The bird swayed slightly, flaring its tail to maintain its balance and Ivan saw two longer feathers on either side of the tail that bore no eyes but rather curved out like those of a lyrebird.
Ivan had seen Maryushka as a firebird and he had been impressed but this creature before him made her seem like a frail copy. Where she had been shades of white and gold this creature was flame incarnate. It made her seem like the muddy cardinal when up against the male version. This was what the tales spoke of.
This creature before him was a true firebird.
It clacked its long bill and trilled softly, sending a ripple through its crest. Long wings unfurled and it shook out its feathers, giving Ivan a glimpse of layered orange, yellow, and red feathers that also glowed softly with the creature\'s inner magic. The light reflected off of bars and Ivan realized that it was trapped within a large cage.
A cage that seemed strangely familiar.
He frowned, studying it, trying to figure out where he had seen it before. The bird hopped down off the perch and paced about the cage, peering about lazily. Its long legs carried it about the cage twice before it came back around to where he sat and he found himself fixed by golden eyes once more. Iaredared at him sorrowfully for a few moments before the bird began preening the feathers of its wing and Ivan blinked, finally realizing where he had seen the cage before.
A disturbing thought came to him and he frowned deeply.
“Trey.”
The bird glanced back up at him sharply before its crest flattened against its head. The firebird turned from him, tightening its wings against its body.
“I know its you.”
The firebird seemed to sigh. It jumped back up to its perch before turning to face him. Its head bobbed, but not in the way of a bird but rather in the way of a person reluctantly admitting something.
Ivan laughed humorlessly, letting his head fall back against the wooden wall. “Couldn’t sleep, hmm? Is this why you couldn’t sleep after I told you about Maryushka?”
Again the firebird nodded.
“You should have told me.” He admonished.
The firebird chirped quietly, its tail flaring slightly.
He closed his eyes, letting his mind wander where it may. He needed to think of a plan. With the iron so tight about his wrists he couldn’t call magic to him. Dedumil had said something about preparing a room for him, which could be anything from a dungeon cell to a heavily guarded guest room. He sighed, tallying all the information he had gleaned.
“Can you fly?” He asked, opening his eyes. “Do you know how?”
The firebird paused in its preening, settling a heavy wing back against its body before nodding.
”If you were to get out, would you know how to get back home?”
The firebird trilled in what Ivan assumed was a positive response.
He nodded to himself and closed his eyes again, falling into silence.
**
Ivan opened his eyes at the sound of the door opening, watching as his captor approached the cage. The firebird hissed at him, backing away with flared wings. Dedumil unlocked the cage and reached for the creature. All he received in return was an angry slash across his forearm where the sharp beak of the firebird dug into his flesh. He snarled something and Ivan tensed feeling magic sudden flood the room.
The firebird flung back its head with a shriek, its wings beating ineffectively against the bars of the cage. Ivan felt his breaths coming in gasps as the magic danced over him on its way into the flailing creature. After a few agonizing minutes Dedumil’s hand fell away and the magic poured back into the earth. The firebird lay panting on the bottom of the cage, its wings stretched out around it.
The Koshchey met no resistance this time when he snatched the bird from the cage. Ivan watched as a long red ribbon was tied to a metal ring about the bird’s leg. Dedumil waved to the man at the doorway and Ivan found himself being released from the shackles. He was herded from the room and down the hall until they came to a small set of quarters. Bands of iron were fixed about his wrists and he was shoved inside. He was ordered to freshen up and told that he was expected to join the Tsar and his lady in the gardens for lunch.
Ivan did as he was told and followed the guards to the gardens. He was greeted as though he was a visiting dignitary and he kept up the act as he accepted a seat at the long table that had been set up in the courtyard. Maryushka glanced at him with vague blue eyes before turning her attention back to Dedumil. Ivan frowned. There had been no recognition in her eyes and she sat at her pursuer’s side as though she had always belonged there.
Before he could comment on it the ladies that sat around her exclaimed in pleasure peering above them. Ivan followed their looks upwards in time to see the firebird fly the length of its leash and perch on a statue of a rearing unicorn. One lady reached up to touch it but it hissed and flared its wings threateningly. She snatched her hand away quickly amidst the gasps of her fellow ladies in waiting.
Dedumil glared up at the bird but kept his peace. Instead he turned to Ivan with a condescending smile.
“I must apologize for my lack of generosity earlier. I fear I was ill prepared for your arrival but all has been corrected. I do hope you like the new arrangement.”
Ivan smiled politely. “They will do.”
“You’ve been to my gardens before but tell me what you think of the new additions to my household.” Dedumil said, reaching out to capture one of Maryushka’s golden locks.
“Very impressive, though I see certain additions are adapting better than others.” Ivan replied, gesturing towards the seething firebird that was busily pecking at the ribbon leash.
Dedumil frowned. “I am afraid it has been spoiled. No matter, it too will learn its place.”
Ivan refrained from replying to the man’s words. Food was brought out and Ivan ate in silence, responding only when the Tsar himself directed a question towards him. One of the Tsarina’s ladies took a bowl of cherries and tried to coax the firebird to eat from her hand but the bird only turned up its beak at the offering. The lady appealed to Dedumil with a pout and the Tsar declared that the bird wouldn’t eat unless it ate from their table. The lady again tried to get it to eat from her hand. This time the bird took to flight.
Ivan didn’t bother to hide his smile when the large bird landed on the arm of his chair, garnering shocked looks from the lady and dark ones from Dedumil. He red oed out and ran his fingers through the thick downy feathers of the bird’s chest as it eyed his plate. He pushed the uneaten food away and replaced it with a platter of fruit. The firebird ate from his hand and his plate until Dedumil stood with an unconcealed growl.
“It seems my bird has a better memory for some than others.” He growled.
Ivan smiled, running his fingers through the unnaturally warm feathers. “Sometimes spoiling is the best method of taming.”
His words were met with a sneer and the abrupt ending of the mid-day meal.
**
It was a few hours later that he was dragged from his quarters, half asleep and half dressed. He was lead to the tower room and shoved inside. The door was closed firmly behind him. The sound of something slithering across the floor dragged his attention to the cage where he met Dedumil’s dark eyed glare. Candles burned around them, reflecting off the bars of the cage.
“Would you like to know what else spoiling gets a slave?” He asked, stretching out his hand and tearing the firebird from thde ode of the cage.
The bird screamed pitifully as it was flung to the floor. Feathers peeled back and Ivan took a step forward. He fell to his knees and reached through the bars, closing his fingers about newly formed flushed skin. Trey looked up at him from a spill of red hair, panting for breath. Ivan brushed the back of his hand against his slave’s face.
Pain flared up his arm and he fell back against the floor cradling the burning limb to his chest. He barely registered the heart-stopping crack of the whip that fell back to slither around the Koshchey’s feet. He felt blood run from the wound and he resisted the urge to examine it. Before him Trey clung to his shoulder where a long thin red line wept blood. Dedumil smirked disdainfully.
“You shouldn’t touch what isn’t yours, boy.”
Ivan pushed himself back to his feet. “If you dare . . .”
The whip came again, cutting off his words. He closed his eyes against the sound of it striking flesh and Trey’s cry.
“He won’t listen to me anymore,” Dedumil said, gathering the coil of leather, “but he must listen to me. It’s his place. The world strives to be ordered and once attained that order must be maintained. Koshchey, tsar, boyar, peasant, slave, it’s all part of the universal plan. I know I’ve told you this. I’ve explained to you its importance. If this slave won’t listen to me I must make him listen.”
Ivan forced his eyes open. “So you put yourself at the top of that list?”
Dedumil spread his arms. “Am I not? Have I not proven myself against you?”
“You have proven yourself a thief and a coward, my lord. But you have not proven yourself my better. Even now you do not prove it if you must resort to such means to make even a slave listen to you. Dogs must resort to such uncivilized measures but not Tsars.”
<>
T>
The Koshchey stood frozen at his words. With a snarl of rage he raised the whip again. It came down and Ivan forced himself to ignore the pain that flared through his palm as he caught it before it tore anymore of his slave’s flesh. He jerked the weapon from the Koshchey’s stunned hands and flung it away.
“And only a fool takes out his anger on someone weaker than hiue oue opponent.”
Dedumil flung open the door to the cage and stormed towards him. Ivan held his ground, watching the man approach with equally angry eyes.
“How dare you speak to me so?” The man raged, pacing around him, “I, who took you in after your own brothers killed you. After you tried to make a fool out of me. He isn’t yours. You reneged on our contract! Yet you stand here and make such claims against me! You are the one that is nothing more than a dog! You don’t have the stomach to be Tsar, you never did!”
Ivan’s hand came up and smacked him with all his weight behind the strike. Dedumil stumbled back in surprise, holding his own hand to the bloody smear across his cheek. Blood trickled from his mouth where the iron band around Ivan’s thin wrist had struck the soft skin of his face. Ivan advanced on him and he backed away warily.
“Where is your magic, my lord?” Ivan asked quietly, “Surely a man of your . . . bearing . . . wouldn’t hesitate to use it against me,” he spread his arms, “I am helpless to use mine. Is it not the best time for you to show me your superiority, Koshchey? Isn’t that how you got to be Koshchey in the first place? Was the previous one chained up so you could kill him without worrying about ruining your new robes?”
Dedumil growled and slashed at him. He stiffened but no attack followed. Instead the iron bands fell away from his wrists and he straightened, feeling the magic in the room pour into him.
“I don’t need to go so far to defeat a child such as you.” Dedumil growled.
Ivan crossed his arms before him, warding off the onslaught of magic that his former teacher sent towards him. The magic slid away from him like a parting tide and he reached out for it, gathering it into him. Dedumil sent wafteafter wave at him and he stood his ground absorbing it until it felt like more magic than blood flowed through his veins.
Raising his hand he released that magic, gritting his teeth against the edge his spilled blood gave to it. Blood magic was unpredictable at best but it was the only weapon available to him. It smashed into the Koshchey’s shields, surrounded them as it looked for a way inside. Dedumil was forced to fling his magic away from him to deter the persistent flow and Ivan took the opening. His former teacher wasn’t able to block the sudden onslaught of magic that flung him back against the wall.
Ivan called more magic to him to replace what he had flung away. The flow hesitated only for a brief second and that was the only warning he had before it turned on him. He cried out in pain as it entered the wounds on his hand and arm, tearing the flesh back as it entered him. It curled about his heart and squeezed, dropping him to his knees. He heard the door to the room opening over his slave’s worried calls. He was aware of a large form coming to a halt over him before all became darkness.