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

Theo counted the time in his head, starting from when he saw the first head use its magic. When he reached three minutes, he noticed a definite flagging in the struggle. The balachko stopped jetting fire and cold wind and staggered back and forth, swatting at each other instead.

Finally, one sat down hard in the snow and passed out. The other reeled a few steps, kicked its companion, and then it too collapsed.

Theo smiled to himself. Not only did their magic drain quickly, the depletion caused physical exhaustion as well.

The commander balachko finally emerged from its tent and walked over to the two by the river. It bellowed something at them but neither moved. The balachko kicked one prone body and then the other. Then it stopped. It lifted its three heads high and took deep breaths through its noses.

It spun suddenly and lunged through the air, grabbing at something. Theo held this breath. The balachko staggered when it missed, and then made another lunging snatch. It appeared to miss again. It pulled its sword and began swinging wildly. It took several deeper breaths and started pacing around the space between the river and the tent.

Theo kept a careful watch for the next twenty minutes, worry prickling at him.

Finally, in a scattering of snow, Cato dropped next to him, reappearing out of thin air.

Theo let out a strong exhale and shook the other man’s shoulder. “It smelled you. We can’t do that again.”

Cato nodded, his face pale. “Yeah, that was too close. That first snatch missed my cloak by only a few inches. Good thing I ran out of there before it started swinging the sword. They’re faster than they look. Bigger too. From here, they look like giants, but up close, they’re colossal.”

“I timed the fight,” Theo said. “Three minutes until the magic is gone, and then another minute after that before they collapse.”

“Good,” Cato said. “Now we need to think of a way to tell everyone what we know without telling them how we know it.”

“Right.”

WHEN Rurik and Bard came to switch with them later, Cato asked his dad how the Varangians killed balachko by the citadel.

The most common way was to surround it with warriors, so it couldn’t aim its fire or cold wind in just one direction. Then, when it wore itself out blowing magic, someone would start cutting off heads.

Another way was to blast it with energy bolts from a distance. The bolts wouldn’t kill it, but it would weaken and eventually fall unconscious, when it could be killed.

Rurik told the story of one balachko named Femor. It fought in Abaddon’s army and withstood a direct attack from a fire elemental during the citadel battle.

Rurik shared that the balachko, as they age, become more and more immune to magic. Their skin gets harder as they get larger too. Eventually, they turn fully to stone. That’s how they reproduce. Another balachko will then hammer the stone into pieces and each piece will turn into a new giant. There were no female balachko.

Theo then asked about the bes leader with the tall horns. It didn’t seem to be a specific species.

Rurik explained that under Abaddon, the besy had become more varied. It was said that Chernobog himself was creating the new besy, deep in a mountain to the east of the citadel. The new ones could control the other besy, to some extent. That was how Abaddon was able to form his armies.

“Has anyone tried to find the mountain and stop the creation?” Theo asked.

Rurik shrugged. “The elders have been more concerned with protecting the citadel and our surrounding farms and villages. All of our strongest fighters have been garrisoned at the citadel for the past several years.”

He continued, “Now that the bes army has been decimated, maybe the elders will authorize an attempt.” He shrugged again. “The younger generation,” he gestured at Bard, “is full of warriors who would go.”

Bard nodded seriously. “The war will continue. A new army will be built, if we don’t ruin Chernobog’s design.”

Chapter 29

We were almost back to the campsite when I got my idea. Julian actually prompted it. We were high up on the mountainside, the valley below us to the west, as we skirted the bes camp. The snow was deep but our feet only sank a little; this was old snowpack.

We were picking our way through the trees, avoiding the large boulders that were scattered around, when Julian noted that the valley was probably a glacial trough, carved out thousands of years ago by a glacier scouring its way along the earth’s surface.

He put on his teacher voice and said, “You can tell by how steep the valley walls are, and how the valley itself is u-shaped. Also, it’s probably why there are so many large boulders around.”

I nodded. He was right, the valley walls were incredibly steep. I’d slipped a few times and slid downhill before catching myself on a tree or a branch. “There are probably a lot of avalanches in this valley, with such steep walls,” I said slowly. I thought back to the battle yesterday and how I’d been able to shake the earth and create the sucking holes.

I dropped back to walk next to Astrid. Our moment of camaraderie yesterday after relaxing in Manya’s house hadn’t lasted much past breakfast this morning. Once we were on the trail again, she’d given only monosyllabic answers to questions and avoided walking next to anyone.

I asked her directly, before she could scoot ahead, “Can you tell me more about your air elemental powers?” I added some awe to my voice. “My Aunt Helen has the same magic, but I don’t think she’s nearly as strong as you.”

Astrid sniffed at my obvious flattery, but she answered. “I am the strongest air elemental at the citadel, yes. Probably for generations.”

“Can you make a defensive bubble out of air?” I’d read about that in Irene’s journals, but it wasn’t something Aunt