Page 89 of Bargain with Fate
“I’m a kinesthetic learner. I learn by doing.”
Zach raised his eyebrows. “Trust me, Maya. I’m unsure what your kinks are, but I feel confident you do not want todoKoschei the Deathless.”
He had me there. “Tell me about him.”
He set the cane against the wall. “Koschei was Slavic. The short version is that his soul was hidden inside a needle, that was inside an egg, that was inside a duck, then a hare, then a chest.”
“Those had to be the weirdest Russian nesting dolls ever.”
Zach’s disapproving look appeared. Message received. “Some regional versions of the story say that Koschei’s immortality was preserved in his bones. The only way to kill him was to destroy the bones or scatter them.”
“Those types of stories usually involve a villain. Ronald is hardly a villain.”
“Not always. Norse. Celtic. Many cultures have tales where bones act as soul anchors or house one’s essence. Look at the ancient Egyptians. They believed that ka, their word for life-force, required a physical anchor. Bones were carefully preserved during mummification because any damage to them could prevent reunification.”
It was easy to understand why. They outlasted flesh and other parts of the body. Bones endured.
“Okay, but none of that explains why Ronald would anchor his soul to the cane. He’s an ordinary elf.”
“I would venture a guess that perhaps this young ordinary elf would have preferred to be something more extraordinary. Perhaps this cane was the closest he could get.”
I studied the elderly elf currently wasting away in his bed. Zach’s theory backed up my own. Young Ronald had longed for immortality. Ronald, you clever fool. How could you know at such a young age that you’d want to live forever?
“Incredible work, Maya,” Dr. Adam said. I’d become so engrossed in my discussion with Zachariah that I’d forgotten the druid was in the room.
Zach gazed at me with a look bordering on approval. “You came up with this theory on your own?”
“It was more of a hunch, really.” My intuition had been honed like any other skill. It was good to know that one hadn’t grown dull like so many others.
“But does your hunch tell you how he did it?”
“Not without help, I imagine.”
“Definitely not. I’d wager one of his bones was chosen as the receptacle, then part of his soul was interred there. The bone was then removed from his body and added to the staff.”
I gazed at Ronald. “Which bone would’ve been removed?”
“If we examine his body for scarring, I believe we’ll find the answer.”
“The cane is the length of his hip to his foot,” Dr. Adam said. “It isn’t possible.”
“It’s combined with other bones that don’t belong to your elf. You’re a doctor. Which bone would you have chosen?”
“None of them,” the healer replied.
“Fair enough. Ronald’s an elf. If I were him, I would’ve chosen a bone from his ear. One would only need the smallest of bones to preserve a soul outside the body.”
To become deathless.
Dr. Adam leaned over to examine Ronald’s pointed ears. “There’s a small scar here,” he said, observing the left one. “You wouldn’t even notice it if you didn’t know to look for it.”
Many youthful decisions were reckless and foolish. Ronald’s youthful hubris was the only thing keeping him alive right now. Without the cane anchoring him to this world, the elf would have quickly succumbed to the faerie’s “charms.”
“How do you know so much about this subject?” I asked Zach.
“Isn’t it obvious? I’m a necromancer. Overcoming death is one of our favorite topics.”
“I wouldn’t describe what you do as overcoming death.”
