The Shining Falcon

And, with a quick touch of the silver chain for luck, Maria started eastward once more.

It had taken time for Alexei to gather enough courage to enter the forest, even with the magician-woman's assurance of protection, even under the goad of his own shame. Maria's trail had nearly grown cold when Alexei had finally mastered himself and plunged in, but now he found that he could still follow it. Somehow, magically, no one, no thing was moving to stop him.

Magically! The woman had been right, she had been telling the truth, her powers were protecting him! Alexei squirmed in delight. Let the forest demons rage as they would; they couldn't touch him, not with that beautiful and most powerful magician as his ally! And as for the girl he was pursuing—she couldn't be travelling too quickly, and soon enough he'd overtake her, and then… Alexei hissed with savage laughter as he tore his hungry way through the underbrush.

So that was Ms brother leshy's gift! The being stared at the ragged creature in distaste, thinking that Brother Leshy had a dubious sense of humor at best. No wonder the foxes were always sneaking out of his domain! The leshy gave a dry wind-whisper of a laugh, remembering the last time Brother Leshy had gamed with him, and lost, and been forced to give up almost all his squirrels from leaf-birth to leaf‑death.

He moved smoothly after the human, chuckling soundlessly in the joke of seeing but unseen. Well now, maybe he was, indeed, bound by the rules of the leshiye games to accept this… gift. But no rule said he had to actually do anything with it! The being hugged himself with delight. There is was! He'd let the creature pass as it would, and maybe it would be eaten by something, or simply make its way right out of his domain. Either way, Brother Leshy's jibe at him would be spoiled!

They'd been following her for some time, the whatever-they-were, drawn, Maria guessed, by the magical aura of her necklace. And while they hadn't actually done anything—yet—she was beginning to feel unnerved by the glimpses at the very corners of her vision of shadowy forms and pale, glowing, inhuman eyes. Something cried out— a bird? an animal? — with a sound very much like shrill, tittering laughter, and Maria started violently.

«Enough of this.» She held the silver chain out from her neck so it was clearly visible. «See? It's a necklace, that's all, a chain of silver. It was given to me by a magician. You may even know him: Finist, Prince of Kirtesk. Now, are you satisfied?»

They were, to judge from the whisperings in the bushes. But as she turned to go on, Maria found that she'd picked up a new, equally fascinated audience, the members of which—as far as she could tell in the deepening shadows-seemed to look something like hedgehogs. Hedgehogs with green fur, bright green eyes, and a tendency to giggle.

«Wonderful.»

At least the things—some type of forest sprites, she assumed—all seemed harmless. They were even, in their own strange way, a sort of company. But if so many magical creatures were able to gather by daylight (when, according to all the old tales she'd heard, nothing enchanted was supposed to be out and about), just what might be waiting for her by night?

No, Maria told herself firmly. I refuse to start worrying.

And yet, it was already twilight, and rapidly turning towards the night…

Akh, this was ridiculous! She had come all this way, she wasn't going to let herself be afraid of nothing.

But the swift forest darkness was overtaking her. She was beginning to have to peer to see her way. Better to stop for the night now, while she could still—

A sharp squeal of alarm made her jump. All her little green-eyed, giggling friends vanished in a frightened rustling of bushes. Then the forest was still, unnaturally still. Remembering the deadliness of two innocent-seeming larch trees, Maria, hand going to the silver necklace, turned, ever so warily…

What was that shadowy Something? Strain as she might, she couldn't see it clearly in the darkness, save to note that it was large and filled with a strange, boneless, supple power. And it was stalking her. Silent as death, it was stalking her, radiating a dreadful cold amusement at her fear.

«All right!» she shouted at it defiantly. «Maybe I am afraid! But I'm not going to run! And I'm not going to stand here like a little fool and let you scare me right into your jaws, either!»

But how could she fight something she couldn't even see clearly? How could she fight something that was sending wave after wave of terror at her?

The leshy? No, she had no hold on him; he would have no reason to answer her.

The necklace? It was silver, and magical—