Where The Spirit Meets The Bone

Forty-one: Baghra Morozova

Forty-one:
Baghra Morozova
To survive a fairytale here is the first rule. Be kind to old witches. You never know what they might bring you. Baghra had no notions about the role she played. She was not a simpering, pretty young miss. The kind the poets wrote sonnets over. She lived in shadows, between the smoke, and the night. She took what she wanted. Waiting not for true love's kiss or a golden wedding band. Baghra had wanted to be loved, anyway, she could, and so she found the first fool she could and gave herself a child who would do the trick.

She was the village witch. Grisha. The girl who could summon shadows at will. Who lived with her father, Sankt Ilya in Chains, they called him. The maker of the amplifiers. The man who would use magical creatures to make himself more powerful. Yet all of the power in the world couldn't stop him or the rest of the grisha from being subject to the laws and power of Kings and men.

First, there was The Stag.

Then there was The Sea Whip.

And then there was The Firebird.

She had many sins. The second of which was letting Aleksander continue to live despite all of the things he had done. But what hadn't been done to her and the boy, too? Even with the powers of the saints, there were still those who ruled over them.

When Aleks created The Fold and the Volcra, she had thought that it was time. That she had watched her son create enough chaos and mayhem. But she was no match for him. No one was. Not until the girl.

Alina Starkov. Baghra remembered when she came to the Little Palace the first time. Young, untrained, dangerously powerful, and hopelessly naïve. She had spent her whole life lost. Was it any wonder she fell under Aleksander's spell? But theirs wasn't a love story. Aleks wanted her for the power, not for her heart. He turned her into a human amplifier, using her father's stag.

The girl was in love with a soldier boy. Some old orphan friend of hers from when she was a child. Wasn't that always the way? They ran away together, and Aleksander chased them, until finally...they both died in a final showdown. At least that was what everyone believed. They watched their saints sent out to sea, in their funeral pyre, and the strife between them seemed to be over.

In those days, there was a thing called The Fold that tore Ravka in half. A thing of pure night and shadow. Living darkness that would claim anyone that tried to go through it with winged monsters, Volcra, swirling inside it. When Alina and her son seemingly perished, The Fold seemed to grow. As if The Fold sensed Aleksander's death. As if it were grieving it.

The Fold worsened.

It did not simply die out.

One day, Baghra was in her hut when she received a knock on the door. The young fox prince turned King. "What do you want, you brat prince?" she said.

"King," he said, "Might I remind you that I am your King, you old crone."

She smirked and leaned against her cane. "And I am old enough to remember a time before your line even bore the title. What do you want, boy?"

"What do you know about curses?"

She laughed. "Curses? Like of your lore and legends?"

"Yes," he said.

"They're not grisha. We don't do curses. That's not how our magic works."

"Would the same be said of your son?"

She frowned. "What do you think is a curse?"

"The Fold," he said, "I've been working with David. The one that spends all of his time in his workshop?"

"Yes," she said, "what about it?"

"David and I made a trip to The Fold."

"As if it's a vacation."

"We ran some tests."

"How do you run tests on ancient magic?"

"It's a science, is it not? If it's a science, it can be tested."

"What did you do, poke at it with a stick?" Baghra asked.

"Something like that," he said, "I had something of Alina's with me at the time."

"What did you have of the girls?"

He sighed. "A piece of her old kefta. I found it in her room and I...."

"You don't have to explain, boy. Hearts are not so mysterious. Unlike magic. What happened?"

"The darkness....reacted."

Baghra tilted her head to the side. "What do you mean, it reacted?"

"It seemed to dissolve. I dropped it----I thought into the shadows----but the instant the piece of her kefta touched it, it seemed to dissolve. The Darkling was a human amplifier, was he not?"

"He was."

"Alina and The Darkling, together, they were more powerful?"

"Yes. The trouble was that he only knew how to take power. He didn't know how to---"

"Play well with others?" Nikolai suggested.

"Yes," said Baghra.

"What would happen if the two of them were together? Do you think Alina's sunlight could drive out his darkness?"

Baghra laughed. "Did you ever meet my son?"

"I knew of him. I saw him in passing."

"My sons' heart was dark. He did not know how to love. He only knew how to control."

"I think you're wrong. I found something else when I was looking in Alina's room."

"What's that?"

"Love letters."

"Love letters?"

Nikolai nodded. "I think they were for him. I think if they were given the opportunity, Alina and The Darkling could heal the Fold."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because, Miss Morozova, I don't think that The Fold is what we think it is. It's not some ominous force made to destroy. The Fold is a living, breathing thing. The Fold is what remains of The Darklings heart. It got destroyed when he tried to have enough power to get rid of his enemies. It was the last shred of his love. For his country, for anything. If we can repair it, we can repair the Fold."

Baghra stared at him. "Are you suggesting to me that one of the darkest forces of magic, that has terrorized our country for centuries, is because of my idiot boys broken heart?"

"Yes," he said.

"And you think that True Love can fix it? Like we're in a children's story and not a nightmare?"

"Well, if you believe the legends, True Love can fix most anything if we get it right. Well, that and a time travel pocket watch that I have quite possibly invented."

"And now there's time travel involved," Baghra muttered, "alright, Fox Prince----"

"King," Nikolai said.

"Alright, King Fox, let us reverse time."

"Ah. No. We're not going to reverse time."

"No?"

"No. We're going to steal it. Well........them."