The Shining Falcon

Alexei had built himself a shelter there in the meadow, a rickety hut contrived from fallen branches and bits of bark. He'd kept himself fed on whatever he could find, and refused to consider that someday the summer would end, and the winter come on. But—he was a prisoner, as surely as though walls penned him in, for the moment he entered too deeply into the forest, Alexei knew with dreadful certainty, the forest would take him.

There must be a way out of this, a way back to civilized lands… But so far he had not found it. No matter how hard he tried to hold to dreams of power, wealth, revenge, his will kept slipping away. And right now, Alexei simply lay in the warm meadow sunlight, as empty of thought as any of the small animal lives about him. But—there was a flicker of movement, there at the far end of the meadow. Alexei came bolt upright, staring, thinking, God, oh God! That was a human form—a girl form!

Overwhelmed by shock, his muscles wouldn't move; he could only sit and stare. But if he didn't do something, she'd get away, and he'd be alone again. Struggling frantically to his feet, Alexei shouted in a voice grown harsh with disuse: «Wait! Stop!»

Aie, he'd been too slow to react. All unaware of his presence, the girl had already scampered from one end of the meadow to the other—almost as though she was afraid to be caught out in the open—and vanished into the forest at its far side. Alexei let out a little moan. She hadn't heard him, and now it was too late. Desperate, he began to lunge after her—

No, he dared not. Enter that forest, and he was lost, he knew it.

And the girl? She was lost, too. The forest would never let her go. The forest would keep her, forever and ever.

«A pity. What a pity. She was so young. Young and warm, and soft…»

Head all at once full of dim memories, of private rooms and woman-scent and secret, midnight games, Alexai sank back to the grass and vagueness once more.

Ljuba bit back a frustrated curse. What good old Semyon deigning to allow her a mirror once more if she couldn't keep her emotions under control long enough to bend its image to her will? But‑Maria! The forest's hostility had allowed Ljuba only tantalizing bits of vision, but she had seen that—that‑Maria—had somehow managed to charm it into letting her pass. Bah, more than merely let her pass.

The girl had already gotten surprisingly far, quite unscathed.

«I don't believe it!»

That sheer, quiet persistence was maddening. And it certainly wasn't helping to have to listen to Finist's incessant calling for his love. Particularly since she suspected he wasn't so far from lucidity that he couldn't taunt his cousin.

«Oh‑dammit!» Ljuba exploded.

She must be rid of that girl. She hadn't a chance of controlling Finist completely till that—that gadfly was crushed!

Raging, Ljuba turned her full attention to her mirror. There must be someone human in that forest, a hunter, a bandit, someone she could contact, someone quite without scruples…

Yes… There was a meadow, clear enough without the forest's magic-haze to fog it, though it did seem to have its own magical aura, and a figure within that meadow— a man, or what passed for one. Ljuba curled a fastidious lip in disgust at his raggedness.

Yes, but she didn't care if the man wasn't a vision of masculine beauty! He need only have two things: greed, and a certain ruthlessness. And a man in such sorry condition was almost certain to be greedy, and eager enough for any reward she might offer to be ruthless.

Ljuba's smile was thin and cold.

At first, he thought the woman only a part of his fantasies, this radiant golden creature whose image seemed to waver ever so slightly, a vision, a lovely, sensual dream of pleasure…

«Have you finished staring?» the vision asked him. «Come, fool! Answer me!»

The startled Alexei sat sharply up. Pleasure‑dreams didn't scold! Was she a… hallucination? Alexei looked at the beautiful creature, and shook his head. He doubted his madness could ever be that artistic!

«All right, you're real. Who are you?» That strangely wavering image made him add warily, «And, for that matter where are you?»

«Who and where I am doesn't concern you.»

«Why, you're a magician!» Delighted to realize he wasn't that far gone into madness, Alexei managed to summon up an echo of his former charm, his former cunning, enough to make him ask urbanely, «But, dear lady, why bother sending your image to me? What could you possibly want from such as myself?»

«An errand.» If the woman was surprised by his sudden courtliness, she didn't show it. «The removal of… a nuisance.»

«Ah.» Alexei's voice was bland. «A living nuisance, I take it?»

«Why, the man has some wit about him after all!» Her smile was humorless. «I shall be blunt. There is a girl somewhere in the forest near you.» Alexai tensed. «The—forest…»

«Yes, of course! You may even have seen her pass.» The lovely eyes had gone quite cold. «I wish her to disappear.»

«But… to go into the forest… I don't dare — "