Verena's Whistle: Varangian Descendants Book I by K. Panikian (essential reading txt) 📗

Manya, through the gate and down a snowy lane. She led us to her barn and pointed out the spare fuel, and then we went up to the house.

The house was an old-style farmhouse, two-stories, with a large front porch. We took off our boots in the entry way and then she pointed up the stairs and said there were two spare bedrooms, and also a foldout couch in the living room. I asked her if one of us could go lie down right away and she agreed to show us the rooms first. We followed her up the stairs and when she stopped at the first door, she gestured us in.

The others waited in the hall and Owen laid back on the bed. It was large and had a pretty white and blue quilt on top. He looked strange in the bed, with his hulking gray form and his lupine head. He let go of his sword and I caught it by the grip, placing it gently on the floor. I tucked him in under the blankets and then picked up his clothes out of Julian’s backpack so he’d be able to get dressed when he woke up. I left a small light burning in case he woke up groggy.

The room was warm and I was tempted to curl up next to him.

Back in the hallway, Manya showed us the other spare room and then took us back down the stairs into the kitchen. It was pretty and clean, with a large white sink and all modern appliances. The walls were covered in floral wallpaper and she had a large, round table in the center of the space. We sat at her table and drank water while she bustled around. She made us tea and then sandwiches. I was so hungry for fresh food that I devoured mine in three bites, it felt like. Julian did the same, while Astrid ate daintily, looking all around the kitchen with round eyes.

Manya said she would make solyanka for dinner and I remembered this was the stew with potatoes that Zasha made too. My mouth watered, despite the sandwich I just ate.

After I finished my tea, I told Julian and Astrid I needed to go burn the todorat bodies. Julian volunteered to help me, and Astrid said she would stay and help Manya with the dinner preparations.

I pulled her aside and asked her not to reveal anything else about what was going on, including the fact that she was not from this world. “Magic and monsters are just stories here. If you tell her too much, she’ll be frightened and might call the authorities on us.”

Astrid agreed and I left them chatting happily in the kitchen, chopping vegetables and grinding spices with an old-fashioned mortar and pestle. Astrid was admiring the fact that the vegetables were fresh, even in the winter time.

It was hard to force myself to put my winter gear back on. I made a face at Julian when I pulled on my wet boots.

“Just think about Theo and the others out there in the snow still. They won’t have beds and stew tonight.”

Right, good reminder.

We grabbed the gas container and a shovel from the barn and hiked back along the road to the field. It looked like Manya had a large farm spread; I couldn’t see any other houses nearby. I hoped she would manage in the spring without her sheep.

The day was still cloudy and I felt weary to my bones suddenly. Whistling that deep into the earth had been exhausting. It was worth it though, to kill three todorats. Three! I still couldn’t believe it. Uncle Alex would be very impressed.

I wasn’t sure if the bes cohort had anymore todorats with it, but still, in the interest of learning all I could about them, I poked and prodded the bodies for a while. The lower bodies were skinny and bony but definitely shaped like a horse. The hooves appeared normal; the hair was shaggy and mottled in different pale colors, like a roan.

“Ready?” I asked Julian and then ripped the cloak from the biggest one. Ugh. The human torso and head were skeletal, with the skin stretched tightly over its bones in some places and sagging loosely in others. The stomach bulged, bloated, and its chest was sunken. It appeared to have some extra ribs, probably to support its tall height above its elongated body. The face had one large eye in the brow area and then a giant mouth. I pulled back the thin, purple lips and saw the teeth inside, long and sharp.

“No nose,” I noted to Julian. “So probably they can’t smell anything.”

He nodded and then pointed to its hands. “Only four fingers, no thumbs. That’ll limit its ability to manipulate objects, maybe.”

“At least one of them had energy magic,” I said.

“Okay, I’m done. Maybe we should dissect them too, but I’m no anatomy expert. I don’t know if I could tell the difference between normal organs and monster ones.”

Julian agreed and then used his superior strength to dig a hole in the field and push the todorat bodies inside. I dumped a small amount of gasoline on top and then lit it. I whistled the blaze extra hot and still, it took about an hour for the bodies to turn to ash. Julian piled the dirt back on top at the end.

Back at the farmhouse, we found Owen still sleeping and Astrid and Manya still in the kitchen. The solyanka was cooking, but it would need to simmer for a long time. I could smell the tomato broth. When Manya asked if we wanted to do a load of laundry and take showers too, I couldn’t restrain myself from hugging her. She reminded me of Julian’s mom, Aunt Sophia, who responded to every crisis with calm fortitude and practical suggestions.

She handed out some spare clothes from her two sons who lived in the town now and then showed us where she had some