Emil made his way back home. Telling just a part of his story to Kasia made him feel like a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders. Once he came home he was greeted by the two cats. He stared at them for a moment.

“Come Ruta, Mira,” he called and beckoned to the newly named cats. They followed him inside. The apartment seemed empty and Emil took off the backpack but while putting it away heard a voice.

“Hello Emil,” Eon said and brought out a little shriek from Emil. He looked up and saw the cat on the window sill, where there was nothing just moments before.

“Hi Eon,” Emil replied and continued tidying up.

“I see you are all better.”

“Yes, I’m trying to get over it.”

“I noticed smell of foxes again.”

“I went to clean up after myself.”

“And I assume it had nothing to do with a certain kit.”

“Wait, no. You can’t. Please!”

“It’s fine. I specifically told you to get the three grown-ups and you did what you were told. That is good enough.” Emil sighed in relief.

“You should try to not make such a huge deal out of something like this. Believe me, your other tasks will be way harder than this one.

“So you already have the next one?” Emil asked dejectedly.

“Not yet. You can enjoy your freedom for a while. I will tell you as soon as you need to know. You can enjoy Veles’ company tonight.”

“How can you tell?”

“You look tired.” As Eon answered its stomach rumbled, but it just pretended that nothing had happened. Emil smiled a little. Without saying anything he prepared the food for all of the cats. With a while to go until the sunset Emil began tuning his violin. It was the first time since receiving another one in the forest that he returned to his original one. After practising scales for a while he realized that however he tried he just could not get the violin to create the sound he wanted. After attempting to play a tune from the glade, he came to a complete halt. He couldn’t remember how to play any of the numerous melodies. He returned to his old repertoire, but even these pieces became next to impossible to play. He felt the violin from the glade call out to him from the corner of the room, but also from within himself. He left his own instrument on the bed and picked up the other one. At once he was able to play better and could even remember the melodies. After the switch Eon started paying attention to his playing as well. Emil practised for a few hours then spent the rest of the day reading books. As the Sun began setting he fed the cats, grabbed the mask and violin and walked to the door.

“Bye Eon.”

“See you soon Emil.” As he opened the door Ruta and Mira followed him outside and went on their way. The night sky was filled with heavy clouds and the air seemed thick with moisture. A storm was brewing behind the distant mountains. Emil made his way into the forest, past the stream where the canisters were still waiting and deeper into the dark woods. The Moon was beginning to show as a waxing crescent between the immense clouds. Its light obscured the nearby stars, but lit up the edges of the clouds, giving them a silver lining around their black bellies. Emil stared at the bewitching sight as if in a trance, but slowly walked on. He tripped over a branch and as he was trying to regain his balance he looked in front of him and noticed, he was no longer where he was just moments before. He looked around and strained his ears to hear the party. He followed the faint rhythmic beat and put the mask over his face. The clouds grew ever thicker and faint distant rumbling of thunder was audible.

Before long he was standing at the edge of the glade. It was still covered with beautifully colourful flowers that seemed to give a faint glow in the night. This time however instead of the usual singing, all the attendants were standing in a circle around the willow tree and chanted in unison. Emil joined in without a second thought. The tree began changing shape and once more a great serpent arose. It turned its head down and opened its colossal mouth and roared.

“Yarilo, my son! I go to battle now but I want you to watch over my herd.” Only now Emil noticed the beautiful and slender figure standing inside the circle. He only nodded towards the behemoth. It spread its enormous wings, which were even larger from the last time that Emil saw them. With a single flap it sent a strong gust of wind that made the entire circle stagger and took off from the ground. At the same time the thunder seemed to be coming closer. The serpent ascended ever higher and pierced the clouds and sent them scattering across the sky. Across from him appeared a colossal eagle, glowing in blue and red. It looked as if it was both on fire and born of lighting. With a screech it sent a bolt of lighting across the sky, lighting up both the clouds and the forest for a brief moment. Veles rolled away in the air so the attack just barely missed. It swiped with its claws and sent a jet of water that sliced through the clouds.

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While all this was happening some people were just staring at the terrific display while others were cheering on their keeper. Still others were not impressed and were talking amongst themselves. Emil was brought out of his reverie by a call at his side. He shook his head.

“Huh, sorry. What?”

“Here you go,” a kind and soft voice said and Emil turned. Standing by his side was Yarilo, offering him a full tankard. He was at a loss for words for a moment, but managed to squeeze out the minimal response.

“Thank you,” he said with a stutter. Before he could say more Yarilo smiled at him and went on. He was serving all the guests and filled tankards seemed to simply appear in his hands. A single sip filled him with energy and lifted his spirits and soon he began heartily quaffing. The sky above lit up now and again in blue and red flashes of light. The roaring thunder sounded in the distance and sometimes it seemed as if it came from right above the flowery glade. Emil almost forgot about the battle when suddenly the serpent and the eagle tore through the dark clouds, bolts of lighting still flying towards the serpent and it nimbly dodging and occasionally sending jets of water or spears of ice backwards.

The eagle spread its wings and unleashed a terrible ear-piercing screech. All of the clouds around it and the serpent caught fire. The serpent was forced to fly directly upwards and taking advantage of the opportunity the eagle sent another bolt of lighting towards it. Not able to dodge the attack struck the left wing of the serpent, causing it to start falling. The eagle pressed on with the attack and struck the serpent many times more, singeing its amber and auburn scales, making some of them shatter and fly off of its back. The serpent attempted to correct its course, but only managed to dive faster, crashing into the trees. Some splintered into tiny bits and flew far around the forest. Other trees were completely uprooted and thrown to the side.

Among the crowd on the glade there were some gasps, but most kept loudly cheering on their shepherd. The serpent lifted a great boulder from the ground and hurled it towards the eagle that was descending swiftly towards it. Without slowing down it shattered the boulder with a bolt of lightning but right behind it was an uprooted tree, flying towards the eagle like a spear. Not able to react fast enough the eagle took the blow. It wounded its side which spewed liquid fire, that looked like shooting stars in the night sky. The eagle screeched loudly and began falling towards the ground. It managed to regain control, just barely touching the highest of trees with its claws. With a mighty flap of its wings it rose back into the sky towards the colossal white oak far away. Behind it were still occasional shooting stars.

The serpent made a victorious roar and flew low over the trees back to the glade. It landed roughly and began changing form and shrinking. Soon there stood a man with the head of the wolf. He raised his head and howled towards the crescent Moon, visible now through on of the many holes in the clouds above. The entire glade cheered along with him. Yarilo hurried towards his adoptive father with a worried expression on his face.

“Are you all right?”

“Of course my son, today I won a glorious victory.”

“Let me see your arm.” Without even waiting he grabbed Veles’ arm that had a nasty wound all across the upper arm. He held the wounded arm tightly in both of his hands. Vines began growing from his hands and wrapping themselves around the arm. Soon all of it was covered in green and a moment later the vines grew large white flowers that ornamented the arms for mere seconds before wilting away and dropping to the ground. After that the vines themselves began wilting away as well, turning brown and disintegrating in the faint gust of wind. What remained was a fully healed arm. With this the drinking and singing continued. After Yarilo was satisfied with his work he returned and served drinks to the people.

“Yarilo!” He turned around with a start. At the edge of the glade were two women. One in a white tunic adorned with flowers and long chestnut hair in a French braid. Her face seemed used to smiling and her cheeks were red. The other one dressed completely in black. Her long free-flowing hair seemed to reflect the stars of the night sky. She was pale and deathly thin. Her breath turned to fog in front of her. She was standing behind the woman in white, peering over her shoulder. Despite looking very different Emil couldn’t help but be reminded of Kasia. Yarilo hurried towards them and greeted them.

“Morana, Vesna, what are you two doing here?”

“I was enjoying my well deserved rest, when I found her wandering the forest alone,” replied Vesna. Even as she talked new flowers began blooming here and there in her hair and clothes. Morana shyly shrunk even further behind Vesna as if becoming her shadow.

“Well say something,” Vesna urged her as she turned around. After not receiving a satisfactory response from the girl in black she pulled her forward by the hand so she faced Yarilo.

“I was well you know worried,” she was speaking with a very soft voice and stammered repeatedly. Vesna made an irritated sigh.

“She was worried about you since you were kidnapped by Veles so she sneaked away from Perun’s home in search for you. She had been lost for a long time now, so I guided her here.”

“I understand. Thank you Vesna.” After saying that he turned to Morana. “Thank you Morana I’m very happy to see you,” said Yarilo and smiled. In response Morana covered her face with her hair.

“I feel like throwing up,” Vesna said after witnessing the exchange. Yarilo gently blushed and Morana concealed herself even more in her hair.

“Come on let’s go,” Vesna said and pulled the two along. The trio left the glade and soon there were noises made by a horse, a raven and a lamb coming from their direction. Emil felt even more lost than usual and decided to return his attention to the party and the music.