Content warning: Some profanity, physical violence, and mention of corpses

Earlier that day in the Vargoranth empire…

“So, we’re looking for an enchantress?” Yuri asked.

“Enchantress is a nice way of putting it,” Demyan replied.  “She’s a witch.”

They trailed behind the other Vargoranth soldiers as the unit trudged through the dense forest.  Demyan kept his voice to a whisper so the others wouldn’t hear and had been shushing Yuri every time he started speaking too loudly.

“What’s the difference?” Yuri asked.  “Don’t they both use magic?”

“The difference is in reputation.”

“So, enchantresses are cooperative and witches don’t give a damn?”

“Hush!  Don’t joke around or you’ll get cursed!”

Yuri laughed.  “You’re so superstitious.  Anyway, where do we find this…witch?”

”She is hard to find since she lives in a house that is constantly moving.”

”Why’s the house constantly moving?”

”It stands on two chicken feet.”

Yuri stared at him wide-eyed.  “Chicken…feet…”

”Yes.  Chickens constantly move around, so by that logic, her house is constantly moving around.”

”Mm-hmm, logic…Witches and houses on chicken feet.  Next thing you’ll be talking about fire-breathing dragons.”

”Those also existed!  Long ago…”

”Uh-huh…sounds like the stories parents tell to frighten their children.”

”You’ve got quite an attitude, Yura.  Why’d you join the army if you’re going to talk back to your superiors like that?”

”Haha, you’re not that much older than me!”

“Nevertheless, hold your tongue!  If the witch doesn’t end up cursing you, the commanding officer will have you peeling potatoes with a thumbtack for the rest of the month!”

Yuri stifled a laugh.  “So, why are we looking for this witch?”

”King’s orders.”

”That’s it?  Is there a reason for it?”

”If a king gives an order, we follow it.  Again, why are you even here if you’re going to question everything?”

”Same as everyone else. For the glory, money, and fame. And to get off the farm. My parents were born serfs and will die serfs on the boyar’s land. Me going into the army means they don’t have to pay this year’s tax so they can have more than turnip scraps and potato peelings to eat this winter. And if I survive all the years in the service, I’ll get my freedom and maybe even become a landowning lord myself. Wouldn’t want to have serfs though. Grew up that way so I know what it’s like. Maybe I’ll go to the city instead and study at the university.”

“Well, if you want to last that long, you better learn to speak only when needed.  Haha, university, can you even read?”

Yuri grinned.  “Some.  Learned the letters in basic training.  Even if I can’t read now, doesn’t mean I never will.”

“You’re quite overconfident.”

”So it’s better to not believe in yourself?”

Their banter was interrupted by a rustling in the trees.  Yuri and Demyan unsheathed their swords and held them at the ready.  The other soldiers did the same.  A milky mist began to swirl around them.

”Be on guard!” the commanding officer shouted.

In the mist, they could hear the sound of heavy walking.  The ground shook with every step.  It crunched the branches and leaves on the forest floor.  Tree trunks bent and snapped as a hulking silhouette lumbered towards them.  The soldiers gripped their swords.

A gigantic claw with three toes in the front and one toe pointing backward broke through the mist and stomped on the ground before them, throwing leaves up into the air.  The soldiers gasped and moved backward.  The second claw followed soon after, tearing through the branches and landing with a thud.  A jagged shadow loomed over them.  Yuri and Demyan stared upwards with wide eyes and agape mouths.

The two avian claws propped up a monstrosity of a house that looked like it was designed by an architect during a fever dream.  The sides of the house were covered by haphazardly placed dragon bones and snail shells, held together by dried mud and snaking vines.  Lizards scurried along the walls and lashed out their forked tongues.  Patches of moss and fungus dotted the dilapidated roof.  Instead of windows, there were phobia-inducing clusters of tiny holes, between which crawled multitudes of ants and spiders.  

On the wall that was facing the soldiers, a small hole grew and stretched until it resembled a round doorframe.  Bony fingers gripped the doorframe and the rest of the body was propelled forward from the shadows.

Yuri felt his skin crawl and his limbs freeze over.  His temples pulsated in tune with his erratic heartbeats.  Although his background was modest and his formal education nonexistent, he generally thought himself above the superstitions and irrational beliefs that he felt were holding back his family and community.  However, there was no logical explanation for what he was about to see.

In the doorway stood a wraithlike figure with a tattered white dress.  Her head was tilted downward and her dry straw-colored hair completely covered her face.  She was barefoot and her toes curled around the bottom of the doorframe.  She swung herself from the doorframe and clung to the mud wall.  While the rest of her body had rotated around, her head stayed in the same position, tilted downward and facing the soldiers.  It was like how an owl could swivel its head all the way around to the back.  She scurried like a spider along the mud wall and the dragon bones until she reached the top of the rotted roof.  Only then did she lift her face, and it was nothing but a blank canvas.

”Why are you here?” she asked.  Her voice was a mixture of female and male, young and old.  It was like a chamber of people speaking in unison.  Yuri gripped the hilt of his sword.  He glanced over at Demyan, who was trembling and muttering anxiously under his breath.

“Are you the Golden Enchantress?” the commanding officer asked.  His voice was authoritative but Yuri could hear the tension in his vocal chords.

”And what if I am?  Who is interested?”

“King Dragomir of the Vargoranth empire is seeking an alliance with you.”

The Golden Enchantress emitted a sound that was an amalgamation of a maiden’s giggle, a crone’s cackle, and a viper’s hiss.  “Alliance?  Why on earth would I ever ally with a mere human?”

“Do not speak ill of our king!” the commanding officer shouted with nervous indignation.

”Or what?  Are you going to slice me up with those little bread knives that you wield?”

Yuri stared at his sword.  It wasn’t a particularly weak weapon but he wondered how powerful this strange creature was.

“What will you offer in return for this little alliance?”

”A seat next to the throne of an empire that will span the world,” the commanding officer said.  “More riches and power than you can ever imagine.  Why stay in this hovel in the wilderness when you can be queen?”

”Queen?” The Golden Enchantress laughed.  “Oh, you humans are hilarious.  Your promises are so hollow that you can hear the echoes.  I’ve been around for centuries and I know how you humans treat mages once you get what you want.  All right then, say I refuse.  What then?”

“That is not an option,” the commanding officer replied.

”Hahaha, your king really did send you on a fool’s errand!”

The commanding officer waved his hand.  A group of shrouded soldiers standing near the front pulled away their cloaks, revealing strange weapons.  They kneeled and pulled contraptions that resembled metal pipes up to their shoulders.  With a pull of a trigger, a flint ignited the dragon heart shard in the pipe’s interior and a stream of fire spewed outward toward the house on chicken feet.

Yuri’s eyes widened and he gasped.  He turned to Demyan, who was equally dumbfounded. They had never seen such weapons during basic training.

The Golden Enchantress tilted her blank face at them and pulled on a jutting dragon bone.  The dragon bones on the walls rearranged themselves and the house sprouted a pair of spindly arms with menacing hands.  She waved her arms and the house mimicked her motions, sweeping through the front lines of the Vargoranth.  The fire streams sprayed in all directions, igniting the surrounding trees.  The soldiers in the middle of the formation took out their crossbows and loaded them with arrows with dragon heart stone tips.  They ignited the arrowheads and shot at the house.

”You humans killed off all the real dragons long ago and now you build these flimsy contraptions that are a pale imitation of them,” the Golden Enchantress cackled.  “And which brilliant advisor of yours thought that I’d ever be enticed with an offer to be your queen?  The forest is my domain.  I am already the queen!”  

The house continued to tear through the unit.  The fire arrows merely bounced off the bony surface.  The giant chicken feet stomped down hard and screams filled the air.

Yuri knew that it would be unforgivable to not stay behind and fight for his unit.  However, he could not fathom why it was worth wasting his meager life for something like this.  He tapped Demyan’s arm.  “Dem, maybe we should run while we still have the chance.  We’re all the way in the back here.”

”Yura, you are the worst soldier I’ve ever met!  The punishment for desertion is execution!”

”But, we’re going to die anyway!  Wouldn’t it be better to die later rather than now?  Besides, the mission is to get the enchantress on our side.  If we save ourselves first, we can strategize later and achieve the alliance goal.”

”You will still be executed for disobeying!”

Yuri sighed.  “This is a really shitty way to go then.  Well, Demyasha my friend, it was nice knowing you.”  The thick smoke from the fires made his eyes water.  He could hear the chicken feet stomping closer.  He felt lightheaded and everything went black.

***

When Yuri awakened he was covered in soot.  He coughed and dug his fingers into the cool dirt.  He propped himself up and took in his surroundings.  Residual smoke wafted between the charred tree trunks.  The fire had burned away most of the leaves of the canopy.  He could see the gray of the overcast sky.  He turned his attention towards the ground.  Soot-covered bodies lay lifelessly before him.  A dreadful chill ran down his spine.  He turned to his side and saw Demyan slumped over.

”Demyan!” He shook his friend’s shoulders.  “Are you still alive?”  His eyes began to water, and not from the irritation of the soot.  “Wake up.  I won’t joke around anymore.  I’ll take everything you say seriously.  Please, just wake up.”

A barely audible groan came from Demyan’s throat.  Yuri felt a release of the heavy weight in his chest.  He carefully turned Demyan over so that he was lying on his back and assessed him for damages.  There were no obvious wounds. He reached for his water flask, opened it, and dribbled a thin stream of water over Demyan’s eyes to wash away the soot. Then he moved the flask over Demyan's mouth so that he could drink.  Demyan coughed and sputtered.  After he decided that Demyan had his fill, Yuri took a swig of water from the flask.  The cool liquid was a salve to his parched throat.  Demyan opened his eyes and slowly propped himself up.  He saw the endless expanse of soot-covered bodies before them.

“Yura, why…” Demyan uttered hoarsely.  “Why are we still alive?”

“I don’t know,” Yuri said.  “Maybe we’re so low-level that everyone else got killed first.  Guess we won’t be executed for deserting now.”

”Gods, how could you still joke around at a time like this?”

“Sorry, I’ll stop.  I did promise.”

”Promise?  What promise?”

”I feared you were dead, so I promised I’d stop joking around and take you seriously from now on if you would just wake up.  Guess I’m already going back on my word.  I won’t anymore though, and I’ll stop complaining about you being superstitious.  But, what are we going to do now?”

Demyan slowly got up.  “I don’t know.  Look for survivors?”

Yuri sighed and also got up.  “I suppose.  This is pretty gruesome though.  I’ve never had to handle-“ He gasped.  They were not alone.

A maiden surrounded by a faint aura stood a short distance away.  Her platinum locks flowed around her and brushed the forest floor.  Her golden eyes glowed as she stared at them.  Her white dress fluttered even though there was no wind.  Her dainty bare feet stepped over the soot-covered soldiers' corpses as she approached them.  Yuri and Demyan trembled.

“Are you the Golden Enchantress?” Yuri asked.  “You look different.”

“Yura, shut your mouth!” Demyan hissed.

The Golden Enchantress no longer had a blank face.  She now looked more like a young woman with delicate features.  If the circumstances were different, Yuri would be admiring her beauty.  She raised her hand and the two men cowered.

“My lady, please spare us!” Yuri pleaded.  “We mean you no harm!”

“No harm?” the Golden Enchantress smirked.  “Your men attacked first.”

“We didn’t know they were going to do that!” Yuri said.  “We’re just two lowly soldiers.  They didn’t tell us anything!  Please, spare us and we’ll become your loyal servants!”

“Yura!” Demyan whispered loudly,  “What the hell are you doing?”

“Keeping us alive,” Yuri whispered back.