Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 83281 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83281 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
“It doesn’t matter which way you go,” Rath told me. “As long as you state your intention to find Baba Yaga and then head in one direction, you’ll eventually come to her hut. Though she’ll likely put some barriers—like this blizzard—in your path.”
“But how do you know this blizzard is sent by her? By Baba Yaga?” I asked. “Couldn’t this just be regular New England weather for February?”
“It could be but it’s not,” Rath said grimly. “Depend on it—this weather is all courtesy of Baba Yaga. We can’t let it stop us from getting to her—that’s all.”
As he spoke, the blizzard abruptly died. One minute the wind and snow were howling around our heads and the next minute there was complete silence with just a few snowflakes drifting quietly down from the sky.
“Wow!” I looked around in awe. “It stopped—just like that.”
“Just like that,” Rath repeated, but he didn’t sound any less grim. “One down and two to go,” I heard him mutter, as if speaking to himself.
“Two what?” I asked.
But the big Orc didn’t answer. He suddenly stopped and his muscular body went rock hard against mine. He was staring at something in the forest ahead of us. I looked to see what it was he was looking at and at first I didn’t see anything.
But then I did.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
At first, the person in front of us didn’t seem to be a threat. It was a tall, slender man…or was it a woman? I honestly couldn’t tell. Anyway, he or she was wearing a long, emerald green robe and had long red hair and delicate, androgynous features. The person also had mesmerizing green eyes…or were they purple? I blinked. No, they were blue. The color kept changing…
“Don’t look into their eyes,” Rath rumbled in my ear. “Don’t let them mesmerize you.”
“Huh?” I blinked and somehow dragged my eyes away. But they kept wanting to return.
“Who are you and why are you in our path?” Rath asked the person standing in the woods in front of us.
“We are but a simple messenger.” The voice was also soft and androgynous. “You do not wish to seek this path—you should return to your home where it is safe and warm and dry.”
Somehow the words sounded extremely reasonable and true. Despite my new winter coat and Rath’s body heat radiating against me, I was shivering with cold. Being warm and dry sounded really good right now.
“You know, maybe they’re right,” I said to Rath.
“Maybe…” he rumbled in a deep, dreamy voice. Then he shook himself. “No—don’t listen, Sarah!” He looked at me fiercely. “I’m going to walk past them—put your fingers in your ears and don’t look at them.”
I tried to do as he said, but the wooly gloves I was wearing kept me from really plugging my ears. I could still hear the person in the green robe speaking, even though I did my best not to look at them.
“Come now,” they said coaxingly even as Rath moved right towards them, a determined expression on his face. “Come now—this is no time to be out in the elements! Why do you not go back to your home where you can find comfort and warmth?”
Again, the words sounded eminently practical and true. I wasn’t built for snow and ice—I was a Florida girl, I reasoned to myself. It really was so much nicer back at my Grandma’s house with a fire going in the fireplace…maybe some hot chocolate with marshmallows melting on top and Sebastian purring as he snuggled against my side…
“You do not wish to seek Baba Yaga,” the person murmured. And as Rath got closer to them, their voice seemed to weave around me, like an enticing melody. “You do not wish to bother Grandmother Witch. She is an old woman…a poor old woman who only wants to be left alone. Why would you torment her with your presence?”
Suddenly I felt really bad. What was wrong with us, going to bother a poor old woman who just wanted to be left alone? I knew exactly how she felt—it was the same way I felt anytime a stranger came to my door or the phone rang with an unknown number. The social anxiety was awful—it was cruel and wrong of us to put her through such agony!
“They’re right,” I said to Rath again. “I know how hard it is to deal with people sometimes. We shouldn’t be forcing ourselves on Baba Yaga like this.”
“It does kind of make me feel like an asshole,” he admitted, looking ashamed. “Makes me feel almost as bad as I did after chasing you through your backyard that first day you were here.”
“I know I hate it when strangers bother me,” I said. “Maybe we’d better go back. We can snuggle on the couch in front of the fireplace and I’ll make us some hot chocolate.”