In the morning, after the ladies had awoken, they dismantled their camp and headed for Blek. Just before they left the safety of the woods, Katira called a halt.
“Before we go in, I just want to make sure you are aware that I will do absolutely anything to protect you, Risa. If I feel you are in any danger, I will put a stop to it. Also, make sure you don’t let on that I am with you. Tell the holy man that I’m in the woods, waiting for you. Am I understood?” Katira warned.
Risa nodded. The last few days were proof enough of that fact. Katira had scared off several predators that would have snacked on them all. Not to mention her actions in the cave.
Risa said with a smile, “I understand you clearly, Katira. You’ve proven your love for me several times over. I’m not scared anymore.”
With a grave expression, Sinta knelt before the young girl and said, “As soon as I hear any commotion, I will be on my way, too. While Katira will protect you, someone should also have her back. I’ll do whatever I can to keep you both safe.”
Risa gave the older woman a hug, and smiled. Katira shrunk herself, and Risa put her in the pack she carried. Together with Sinta, they strode into Blek.
Blek wasn’t terribly large, but it had been there for quite some time. It was certainly far larger than anyplace Risa had ever been, which caused her no small amount of discomfort. There were people bustling here and there, pursuing their tasks with grim faces. From out of a building ahead of them, came raucous laughter, and a young man stumbled out, weaving his way through the street.
They stayed clear of that building.
Further into the village, they saw bowyers and coopers. They smelled the acrid tang of the metalworkers' furnace. The breeze brought to them the scent of cat pee, and they knew the village also had a tannery nearby.
A few discrete questions brought them to the hut of one Laszlo Syvin, the holy man for this village. His home was near the outskirts of the village, on the side she would have arrived, had Risa not been waylaid by the bandits.
Risa knocked on the door. A grumbling was heard within and presently, an older man wearing an ash-grey tunic and a heavy amber necklace, complete with a sundrop pendant, answered the door.
“Yes? What is it?” he asked irritably.
“Um, my name is Risa. I have come for the cleansing, sir,” Risa said awkwardly. Sinta cast a worried frown at her charge.
“Risa, was it? Risa, Risa… Where have I heard that name?” he mused. He stood in the doorway for a while in thought, then suddenly snapped his fingers. “Ah! You’re Marishka’s granddaughter, are you? Come in, come in,” he said, ushering Risa inside.
Noticing Sinta for the first time, he glared sharply at her. “And who are you? What do you want?” he asked suspiciously.
“I’m a friend of Risa’s. I just wanted to make sure she got here safely. That’s all,” she said. Clearing her throat, she asked, “Is there anything I could possibly do for you, sir? Get some meat, maybe? I’m a passable hunter,” she said hopefully.
Laszlo stroked his chin in thought. Some venison would be good if she could get it. Rabbit would do in a pinch, if not. “If you wish to make yourself useful to me, get me a deer, or several rabbits. I’m sure this child will eat me out of house and home by the time spring comes; if it does,” he groused, closing the door on Sinta.
Sinta stood there in shock. He seemed to be a rather disagreeable fellow. Not bad, just disagreeable. She shook her head and left the village, intent on finding something to appease the man.
Once Laszlo had shut the door, he sighed. He did not like people. However, for the sake of the world, he had to make sure this child remained free of the taint of evil her family’s demon brought upon the world.
Turning to Risa, who stood there obviously terrified, if the trembling of her arms and the sudden appearance of a ragdoll had anything to say about it, his expression softened somewhat. It wasn’t her fault her family had this issue. She was simply a child, and a child wouldn’t knowingly make a pact with a demon.
“So where is it?” he demanded. “Where is that demon?”
Risa shrank back in fear. “Outside. In the woods. It’s waiting for me to leave,” she said in a small voice.
Laszlo grunted an acknowledgement. “Good. There is where it will stay. You are not to invite it into the village, do you hear me? No matter what it promises, it will stay outside these walls!” he exclaimed.
Risa flinched as if she had been slapped. “Yes, sir. I won’t try to bring it in,” she squeaked, tears beginning to flow down her face.
“Good. See that you don’t. It will end badly for you, should you decide to go against me. Now. While your friend is occupied with finding meat for us, You will tell me about your demon,” Laszlo commanded, reaching for a massive, sealed wooden box on the shelf.
Risa nodded and crushed the ragdoll to her chest as she told Laszlo everything she knew about Katira. Laszlo nodded and checked everything she was telling him against the scrolls within the chest. Once she was finished, he nodded grimly.
“There has been no change in the past five hundred years in its behavior. That’s good. It means the power of Svarog is keeping it contained.
“Now. I need you to understand that the rituals you will now be undertaking are of the utmost importance! More than your need for food. More than your need for water! You will do them every day, without fail. If I find you have missed even one, you will be here even longer, as you will have to start again. Obey me, and you will leave, to be home by springtime, as has been tradition. Am I clear, child?” Laszlo asked.
Risa nodded, clutching the ragdoll to her face. Laszlo terrified her almost as much as Malak did.
He nodded and pointed to the far wall, against which two cots sat. “The small one is yours. See to it that you don’t make it filthy. I don’t want to hear a single word from you until tomorrow. I will feed you when I eat and not before. There is a stream nearby. You will gather water every morning and evening. You will remain clean and pure while you are here. Outside, around the back of the hut is the privy. You will go there and only there,” he said gruffly.
Pointing to a smaller room to the right, he said, “In that room is the door to my sanctuary. Never go down there. Only if the house is under attack or on fire, will you go down there. Do we understand each other?” he asked imperiously. Risa nodded.
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“Good. Go.”
Risa stumbled over to the cot, and sat down, feeling helpless. Silent tears ran down her pale cheeks, and she pulled the single blanket around herself.
Laszlo started a fire in the small brick hearth, hoping to provide some much-needed warmth to the small hut. Made smaller now, by the addition of a sniveling girl-child. As long as he could cleanse her of the obvious taint of that…thing, the world would continue for another generation or two.
The one commonality of all that demon’s hosts was that they genuinely thought it loved them. Hah! As if demons could feel love. Such a lofty concept was far beyond anything it could hope to understand.
Laszlo reflected on the message he had received from the seeress a decade ago on Midsummer. If the old crone was correct, a girl-child was the key to answering some of his problems. “When the buck’s bright gaze falls upon the river of life, secrets sealed in virgin blood shall stir. The dance of shadow and blood shall illuminate the path to truth.” He only hoped he had cast his net wide enough. He should hear from his associates in the next day or two.
Risa fell into a light sleep as she sat on the cot, waiting for either Sinta to return, or for Laszlo to announce lunch. Her dreams were occupied by the memories of her being taken by the bad men, only to be rescued by her sweet bear.
Her slumber was interrupted by a gruff voice and a nudging kick to the cot. “Risa! Child, wake up! There is food in the cauldron. Eat your fill,” he said.
Startled, she clutched the ragdoll to her chest until she realized where she was. Once she acclimated herself to her surroundings, she nodded and set the doll down, moving toward the hearth.
Laszlo watched her furtive movements with extreme curiosity. Just what made the demon form a pact with humans? What did it get out of the arrangement? Why in the name of all the gods was this family continually submitting its children to the pact? One would think that after at least five hundred years of Svarog’s protection, and the guidance of His priests, the family and the demon would be irrevocably separated. Alas, that was not so. And now it fell to him, Laszlo Syvin, to purify yet another member of this accursed family.
From the records, Marishka had been quite agreeable. Talkative, even. Indeed, all that his father had said of the child was how lovely and sweet she had been, even during the rituals. Almost as if she didn’t believe in the power of Svarog, and that He held no sway over her. Of course that simply couldn’t be true. Svarog held sway over the skies and stars. Naturally, his might extended to the world below the dome of the sky. Laszlo was assured of his eventual triumph over the demon, and the purification of yet another of the accursed bloodline.
As he sat at his table, eating the gamey stew, he watched Risa spoon out a portion of the stew into a nearby bowl. Wordlessly, she sat on the floor and sullenly ate her stew. Perhaps he had been a bit too harsh.
“Risa. Come. Sit at the table. I would… talk with you,” he said softly into the dim light of his hut.
Risa froze for a moment, icy fear gripping her insides. After she took another moment to calm herself, she nodded once, and moved herself to the table.
“Tell me about yourself, child. Why are you so frightened?” Laszlo asked softly, dipping a heel of stale bread into his stew.
Risa looked at him questioningly, unsure if this was a trick. When he motioned for her to speak, she nodded, and began.
“I was taken by some bad men on the way here.”
Laszlo looked aghast at the little girl. “That sounds dreadful. How did you survive?”
“Miss Sinta was part of their group. Until she met me, anyway. She protected me when Katira couldn’t,” she explained.
“What do you mean, ‘when Katira couldn’t’?” he asked in confusion.
“Well, when they tried to take me, she fought them off. I climbed a tree and one of them hid out of view. I think he was the leader. He ripped me out of the tree while Katira was busy, and ran all the way to his cave,” Risa said, drawing in on herself slowly.
“I see. So, while the demon was fighting these bad men off, another snuck up and took you away?” Risa nodded. “Then what happened?” Laszlo asked, as connections were being made in his mind.
“Well, there was this huge mountain of a man, and he scared me so bad, I made water on myself. The way he looked at me was just wrong. The man who took me then found Miss Sinta and gave me to her so she could take care of me. She bathed me, cleaned my clothes and made sure I had something to wear and was safe. I owe her my life,” Risa said, her eyes filling with tears. She sniffled and continued.
“I fell asleep with Miss Sinta holding me like mommy used to, and we were both woken up by a really loud roaring sound, and then the door was being beat on.”
“That sounds scary, for sure. What happened after that?” Laszlo prompted. The story she was telling him was lining up with what one of his associates had told him about one of the strands in his net.
“Then the door banged open, and Miss Sinta held me tight and told me not to move. You’ll never guess what had happened.” Laszlo shook his head and spread his hands apologetically, and Risa continued, a smile on her face. “It was Katira! She had tracked me down, and I think she killed all the bad men. She even said she ate one of them. She was really mad. Anyway, she made Miss Sinta let me go, and then Miss Sinta wound up coming with us! I think she was real sad about something, and I seem to have reminded her of it. Katira liked her, so she let her come with us, and I’m glad she did. She’s nice to talk to. And a week later, here I am. Those men scared me something terrible,” she concluded.
Laszlo was certain, now. The demon is what killed his men at Postojna. That it had easily crushed the skull of one of the most dangerous men he had ever met was a testament to its power.
“Well. You were lucky you had Miss Sinta and the demon to save you. But I think that someone as smart as you would have found her way out of the cave eventually, right?” he asked.
Risa shook her head emphatically. “No. Not with that big mean man there. He looked like he could smell me and hunt me like a dog. No matter where I went. He scared me bad. But Katira scared the poop out of him!”
Laszlo smiled wearily, a thoughtful expression on his face as he remembered Barklin. “How old are you, Risa?” he asked.
“I’ve seen ten springs, Mr. Laszlo.”
“Ten? My, that’s a big number. And you’re so tiny for a ten-year-old!” he exclaimed, and it was true. Risa barely came up to his hip. Perhaps someone in her father’s line was related to the Dwarfs of legend? A question for another time. He cleared his throat.
“As you may know, I am Laszlo Syvin, priest of Svarog. My family has specialized in removing curses and defending the people of the world for as long as we can remember. I’m certain I can help your family remove the demon that has so cruelly attached itself to you. Now, don’t give me any lip! It’s a demon. It doesn’t love you, nor does it care for you. Not any further than for whatever it is your family gives it. That we usually only see you every other generation is testament to that. In the beginning, it was every generation. It isn’t killing the host as fast anymore. I have records that go that far back. Back to the very first one that came to my predecessors, complaining of constant headaches and terrible growths on his chest. My ancestor cured his headaches, but the growths took him in the end. It was then that my ancestor saw the demon rush out of his body, and into the body of his sleeping grandson. We have maintained our vigil for a little over five hundred years, child,” he proclaimed proudly.
“Wow... You can read, Mr. Laszlo?” Risa asked with wide-eyed wonder.
“Well...uh… of course I can, child. How else could I read the records of your family’s demon?” he asked, as if it were evident.
“I can’t read,” the young girl lamented. “Will you teach me?” she asked, her small fists clasped beneath her chin.
“Well, I… ah… S-sure… I, uh, I can try,” he stammered. Maybe if she could read and understand the records for herself, she would be more willing to part from her demon. He didn’t know if anyone had tried it before.
For now, she needed to clean the bowls, and he needed to bake the dough for the evening bread. He set her to her task, and he went about his. It would be a blessing if she truly were the one to shed her family’s demon.