Mistress of the Solstice by Anna Kashina Page B

but he averted his eyes, and I let my hand fall
to my side.
    “I didn’t tell him, Father. Please,
believe me.”
    He didn’t respond.
    “I’ll get the Needle back. I
promise.”
    My father never looked at me. Turning, he strode out of the room.

 
    Ivan

    “ Y ou what ?”
Wolf’s eyes glowed like two hot coals.
    “I asked for her hand.”
    Wolf sat down on the ground and scratched his ear in a dog-like gesture.
    Ivan waited, making sure to stay out of the way of the flying bits of
fur. Wolf always calmed down. Eventually.
    “Do you mean you couldn’t find the
Needle in time? It wasn’t in the
box?”
    “It was in the box. I found it at
once.” Ivan lowered his head waiting for a further
outburst. Nothing happened. After a while he dared a look.
Wolf’s eyes were so close to his that he had to hold
himself from jumping back in fear. The old beast could move like a
ghost. When angered, he was much more frightening than Kashchey and
Leshy together.
    “Then, what happened?” Wolf
snarled. “All you needed was to grab the Needle and
get out of there. How hard could it be?”
    “I do have the Needle,” Ivan said.
“Here.” He fumbled in the pouch at
his belt. His hands shook. He had never seen Wolf like this.
    “Keep it,” Wolf said.
“It can’t be used unless you fulfill
your suitor’s task.”
    He turned and walked away along the forest path.
    “Wait!” Ivan called out. When no
answer came, he started along the path after the disappearing gray
tail, first at a walk, then at a run. “Please,
don’t leave!”
    “You have a task to fulfill,” Wolf
said without turning. “Go, do it. If you survive
you’ll get yourself a lovely bride. Deadly, true. But
quite a beauty. Skillful in bed, too, that’s what I
heard. Maybe she’ll teach you a thing or two about
love.”
    “Don’t you want to know what the task
is?” Ivan panted. He could fall in rhythm with the
wolf’s slow trot, but talking on the run was hard.
    “Why? I’m not the one who got himself
into this mess. And, whatever task she gave you, you’re
meat, boy. I’d be better off finding myself another
hero. A real one, this time.” Wolf spat out the last
words before speeding up.
    Ivan strained to match his pace.
    “We have twelve days before the
Solstice,” he gasped. “We could
still make it.”
    “I said forget it, boy.”
    “I am sorry,”
Ivan said between breaths. “I really am. I hesitated
up there. I—I lost my chance.”
    There was no answer, but after a while Wolf started to slow down,
eventually falling into a walk. Ivan hurried along, struggling to
steady his breath.
    “D’you know what it
takes to fulfill a prophecy?” Wolf said after a
while. “There are times you can’t
hesitate.”
    “Look,” Ivan pleaded,
“can we please slow down to discuss it? I
can’t keep up much longer.”
    “You can never keep up.” Yet, after
a few more paces Wolf stopped and faced Ivan. “All
right, boy, I’ll hear you out.”

    The house looked deserted. The shutters swung on broken hinges. From
behind them, the dark empty windows gaped like the eyes of a blind man.
The wicker fence was broken in so many places it hardly looked like a
fence anymore, and the small path from the gate to the
house’s front door was overgrown with tall weeds, among
which the jagged leaves of the stinging nettle reached out in a vain
attempt to catch a trespasser unawares.
    There were no trespassers here. Who would trespass in this desolate
place?
    “What’re we waiting
for?”
    “Hush.” Wolf peered into the dusk.
    “Why?” Ivan whispered after a long
silence.
    “Do you know the saying:
‘Don’t wake the
trouble’—?”
    “You mean,
‘don’t trouble the
trouble’?”
    “Whatever you humans say.”
    “What trouble?” The words froze on
Ivan’s lips.
    The door of the house swung open with a creak that was carried on the
wind like a human wail. And then it slammed shut by itself. There was a
thud, then a rustle as something