Baba Yaga

Elenora:

I wake in a cage, one like the cage my father used to put the doves in so that they wouldn't fly freely.

In the cage beside me lays a boy, he looks about the same age as me; He wears a ragged cloth that hangs from his torso down to his knees - It's filthy.

He sleeps silently, not even a flinch or a twitch of his sleeping eyes.

After a few minutes he slowly wakes, rising from his laying side position; He looks at me, not asking of the situation he's in, not even a flicker of worry in his eyes.

His eyes are so sad, the saddest I've seen - He is from a completely other world than I, lived a much crueler life than I. His hair is a black muddied mess that hangs over his forehead sticking to his eyes.

We sit for a while before I decide to tell him my name is "Elenora" before asking him his name - he does not reply, does not have a slight bit reaction to my question, I wear an awkward smile and giggle as I ask if he knows where we are and how we got here, Again, he does not answer.

Outside of the cage is dark, all I see in the room are more empty cages. the walls are built from logs of a light brown wood. a strong stench of rotten meat infests the place - are we still in the great-woods?.

The door of the cabin creaks open, my heart pounds, I don't know what to expect; I turn to the boy he still wears no expression, all he does is stare into the abyss.

"HEYYY, COULD YOU LET US OUT NOW" I shout

That is when the candles lights flickers on before settling down; A hunched back lanky elderly woman walks towards a counter where a knife lays, her hair matted, infested with filth. I haven't yet seen her face.

I hear loud scraping noises, she is sharpening the knife, I didn't see it before but the counter that the woman is at is covered in dark brown stains.

That is when I look back to where the cages are, they're stained with the same dark brown stains, my stomach grows heavy as I look back to the boy.

I thought it was just mud that he was covered head to toe in, but no - the entirety of his body is splattered with a thick crimson - He must be badly injured, is that why he is so quiet? is he in pain?

My eyes widen as I divert my attention back to the room where the elderly woman stays, there are shelves of skulls, they don't look like the skulls from animals that my grandpa hunts, maybe they're a different species to the ones in my home forests. I look up to see long skeletal bones hanging from the ceiling, they look like giant white centipedes.

A few seconds pass before the lady halts her sharpening, she places the blade back onto the counter and turns to face us.

Face riddled with folds and creases, eyes filled with crazed hunger like a rabid beast, nose arched and crooked, lips replaced by crevasses spewing out of the mouth.

She walks towards us, her cheeks rise wrinkling the under eye lids, eyes squint, nose wrinkles as she puts on a nightmarish smile, a smile that makes my heart sink into my stomach; Her teeth are stained yellow, splattered crimson.

What is she going to do to us?

My eyes are widened, my body riddles with goose-bumps, I cant stop my quaking.

she starts unlocking the cage, I shakingly turn my head towards the dirtied boy, his head is now raised, still no emotion present, it's as if there is no one present in his body, he is an empty shell.

The lock drops, the cage door squeals open.

I'm dragged by the arm from the cage, I scream, I'm terrified - I don't stop screaming as I'm dragged along the floor towards the counter, I know what is about to happen to me.

Please someone save me.

I plead for someone to come save me, the elderly woman lets out a blood curdling laugh whilst mimicking my pleads.

I'm slammed onto the counter, I wriggle around, kicking at the woman as she tries strapping me down to the counter, she does so successfully, I cant move, no longer can I struggle - I am trapped.

She picks up the blade, licking it before raising it up into the air, I close my eyes accepting what is about to happen - Just when she is about to swing the blade down.

"Thump"

we both turn our heads, seeing the boy standing in front of the cage he had just jumped from; He is holding one of the centipede looking bones.

Just when the boy goes to rush towards the woman, a wooden broom moves by itself piercing the boy through his chest stopping him in his tracks - he falls forward but his body is supported by the end of the broom that pierced him.

He lets out a bloodied cough as the women lets out a loud howl, she finds this amusing, we're just a hunt to her, our pain, fear mean nothing to her.

He raises his head, looking up to the woman, his eyes are a sad rageful sight.

To the witches surprise, the boy doesn't surrender to death, to pain - Instead, he raises the skeletal centipede preparing to fight; I don't want him to die.

I close my eyes and memories of the past flow through me, things my grandfather taught me of wind magic which I had not yet been able to properly summon.

Out of pure instinct I flick my chained hand, a small blast of wind flies into the woman's back pushing her forward into the boys weapon; the skeletal centipede fully pierces through her chest, I can see its end poking from her back.

She doesn't scream, she just lets out a croaky breath of air; the boy pulls the weapon from her chest causing her to stumble back, falling to the ground trying to support herself on the counter where I lay.

I'm mystified as I watch the boy cut off the end of the broom that pierces him before pulling the other end from his back, I see his eye twitch a little but still keeping a composed expression, the gaping puncture wound reverts back to how it originally was as if there was no wound to begin with.

Before my mother passed, she would tell me stories, a prophecy of an immortal child, a child that caused the Gods to fear - the fear of that child ending their rule, their greed couldn't accept that; This would cause the Gods to become irrational, the fear of losing their throne eventually consuming them - becoming rotten.

The boy walks towards me, grabbing the blade from the counter - I flinch and close my eyes.

***

I start lacerating at the straps that chain her to the counter - she looks at me terrified, I don't blame her, I'm covered in blood.

She lifts herself from the counter - I hear the elderly woman beside me take her last bloody breath as her soul is sent to hell. I cut a piece of cloth from my gown and wrap it around the girls face, her hair is a dirtied white colour, her large eyes a swamp green, her ears are unusually large and pointed, she wear a white gown with golden lining and pearl earrings.

From the corner of my eye I see a light flicker from the elderly woman's body, I turn to see what it is, a circular blazing ball in the center of her chest where I pierced her. I walk towards it, crouched I reach my hand out to it; A strong force starts to pull me towards the ball, my small body not able to resist, as my hand starts absorbing it. What just happened? how was my hand able to do that?

My body is lighter, stronger, I feel more energetic as if a new flow of energy was injected into me, I'm confused but I stand, directing my focus back onto the girl.

I gently hold her hand before leading her out of the cabin, we walk a few feet away from the cabin before I hear soldiers shout the girls name as they rush towards me screaming at the me to let go of her hand.

They pull our hands apart, screaming at the girl, telling her to not run off from the barrier again, worrying about the trouble they'll get into from her parents; they pull her by the arm taking her back through the barrier.

"what about him? we cant leave him, he saved me" she says

They her that I cant go with them, they tell her elves aren't allowed to interact with humans or their world.

She reaches out her hand.

"What is your name?" She shouts to me

But before I can answer, she is dragged back through the barrier - and just like that she is gone.

I'm left alone, again; I start walking through the woods, the great wood trees towering over me, there is no light all there is is the trees shadows casted over me - wondering what other dangers ill have to face whilst wandering through these woods.

I wander for about 10 minutes before I feel fear, something is waiting in the dark before me - something flies from out of the dark piercing my shoulder. An older man, looks about 60 walks from out of the dark, his hair a greying gold colour, large pointed ears, folds rippling through his face, thin long slitting eyes holding up grey bushy brows.

"Hello child, the name is Rai - My granddaughter tells me you saved her life - I'd like to thank you" He says with a calm smile

He doesn't seem to have any ill intentions, but I don't trust him, he left the barrier that the others were so afraid of doing just to thank me? he thinks I'm naive.

I stare at him with obvious suspicion.

He notices this and lets out a snort.

he throws up his hands from both his sides.

"I'm going to cut straight to the point, are you what my daughter tells me you are?" His smile is gone, his face is resting.

I pull the dagger from my shoulder that he pierced me with earlier, he watches as the wound closes itself up; his eyes light up and a smile appears onto his face.

not a calm smile like before, but a smile as if he just found a pot of gold.

"I see... well child, I have an offer for you"

"The first option, you come with me back through the elven barrier, i will teach you, i will train you, I will make you strong. Your second option, you wander in these woods until something hunts and kills you, or if you somehow miraculously survive these woods, you live a sorrowful life fearing for people coming after you; It's your choice child."

a tear appears out of no where behind the man as if space itself just opened in front of me, he reaches his arm out to the barrier.

"Sorry to rush you but we elves cant leave the barrier for too long, we also fear for our safety - plus, only a fool would choose the second option."

I throw the dagger I pulled out of my arm at him, he doesn't even flinch, just allows it to travel, just as the dagger is a centimetre away from him, it miraculously drops to the ground as if gravity itself doubled.

He wears his calm smile again, following my face as I walk into the slit space.