Once dawn came and the sun peeked over the horizon, Luka no longer needed to depend on his compass to keep him headed in the right direction, as the location of the sun told him where he was going. Of course, he also had to stop to give his horse a rest, as well as himself. Because of his dream, he hadn't gotten very much sleep, and so had been riding all night. Not only were both of them tired, but neither was used to going for so long.
They didn't stop for long, however. Ever since his dream had ended, Luka felt an urgent need to get to wherever he was going as quickly as possible. Still unable to sleep, he rested for an hour, figuring that would be enough time for the horse.
Not long after started traveling again, it began to snow lightly. The temperature had dropped steadily throughout the night, and it showed no sign now of going up again. The snow didn't bother them right now--there was less than an inch now, and back in Cathair Rithe, it snowed regularly during the winter. Luka knew, however, that the father north they rode, the colder the temperature would get and the deeper the snow would be. He hoped the horse would be able to hold up, as he was completely uninterested in travelling on foot.
It kept on snowing, and by mid-afternoon, Luka was thoroughly sick of it. He asked himself why on earth he had decided to go this direction, instead of south, where it would be warm and hopefully have weather more conducive to travelling. Then he remembered, with sudden clarity, his dream of the night before--the darkness, the voice calling his name, the woman, and her words.
Go north.
He found himself wondering who she was, why she was able to appear to him in a dream, and how she knew his name. The only explanation he could think of was magic, but that didn't even make sense. Everyone knew magic was just a myth, nothing more.
Still, it wasn't a common occurrence for people to appear in dreams and know people's names the way the mysterious woman had...
Luka eventually gave up trying to figure it out. He was getting nowhere, and succeeding only in frustrating himself. In any case, the woman's words had implied that he would see her again. If there was time, he would just ask her how she was able to do what she did.
His inability to find a feasible explanation was not his only source of frustration. As they traveled further north, the snow fell harder and got deeper, making it increasingly difficult to make good progress. Luka didn't even know exactly where he was going, so he wasn't sure why he was in such a hurry.
But in spite of his uncertainty, he knew somehow that he did need to get there as soon as he could.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By the time it started to get dark that day, Luka was exhausted. His lack of sleep had caught up to him, and there were several times that he nearly fell asleep as he rode. Fortunately, it had stopped snowing near the end of the afternoon, so it didn't seem quite as cold as it had earlier.
Shortly after darkness fell, Luka decided it would probably be a good idea to stop for the night before too long. He didn't really know where he was, and so wasn't sure if there was any place more ideal than where he was now. He kept riding, hoping to find somewhere with less wind than he was getting.
He came to the top of a small hill and stopped to look around. The sun had disappeared, but the moonlight and the snow made it possible to see quite a bit. Luka glanced to his left, and almost turned back, but... There was a large dark shape in the distance, and he wasn't quite sure what it was. He rode closer so that he could see it more clearly. As he closed the distance between them, the shape resolved into that of a house.
It looked like no one was there, as he could see no light inside, but he supposed perhaps that was due to the fact that it was getting late. Dismounting, he led the horse up to the door and knocked quietly. It took a few minutes, but then Luka heard a shuffling from inside. Then came the sound of a lock shifting, and the door was cracked open. Luka could see one eye peering out.
"Who's there?" came a gruff whisper.
"My name is Luka," Luka replied.
The door opened a little more, just enough to reveal a burly man who appeared to be middle-aged. He squinted at Luka suspiciously.
"Luka Vasiliev?"
"Yes," Luka said, instantly regretting the word, as he wondered if it was really a good idea to reveal his identity to a perfect stranger.
The door swung open further, and the man beckoned him in. "Come in, your Highness. Come in out of that cold."
"Please, call me Luka. I don't want formalities here," Luka said as he stepped inside.
"As you wish."
After he shut the door behind Luka, his host lit a candle.
"Are you hungry?" he asked. "Is there anything you need? Anything at all?"
Luka shook his head. "No, I'm quite alright. The only thing I need is your name."
"My name is Mikhail," he replied with a bow. "Come now. We have an extra room you may use for the night."
Luka followed Mikhail through a narrow hallway to a small room furnished with only a bed, a washstand, and a diminutive chest of drawers.
"It's not much," Mikhail admitted, shame-faced, "but I'm afraid it's the best I can do on such short notice. I am sorry I cannot do better for my prince."
"Really, it's alright. I don't wish for special treatment from you, Mikhail. All I ask is shelter from the cold, and you have already given me that. Thank you."
Mikhail's answer was nothing more than another bow, and then he exited the room, leaving the candle behind.
Luka sat on the bed with a sigh, wincing as it groaned beneath him. He didn't know until then just how tired he really was. Blowing out the candle, he burrowed underneath the covers and fell asleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Luka! Luka!"
This time around, Luka knew what to expect. He waited as the darkness grew brighter, closed his eyes as the light blinded him, and opened them again to the woman from his dream the previous night. Again his eyes were drawn first to her fiery red hair, and then to the deep grey of her eyes.
"Luka."
Her voice was a mere whisper this time, plaintive and broken.
"You must come quickly."
"I'm going as fast as I can."
"It's not enough. You must come sooner."
"I can't!" Luka shouted. "And I don't even know why I'm doing this in the first place. I don't know you, I have no idea who you are, I have no clue as to where I'm going, and if I know why exactly I need to get there so quickly, I'm the queen's mother!"
The woman shook her head, amusement in her eyes. "I know you don't understand what's going on right now, Luka, but you will. Trust me."
"I have no reason to trust you!"
"True. But you also have no reason not to."
That was logic to which Luka could find no answer.
"Fine. But please, at least tell me where I'm going."
She sighed. "You're going to the mountains."
"The Buryas?" he asked in surprise. "Why?"
"You'll understand in time, Luka. I must go now. Be strong. And hurry."
With that, she faded away, and Luka was left in darkness.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unlike the night before, the end of Luka's dream did not mean the end of his sleep. He slept soundly for the rest of the night, only waking up long after his usual time of rising. He waited several minutes to get out of bed until he heard the sounds of people moving in other parts of the house. He was extremely grateful for his host's generosity, and had no wish to be of any trouble to him.
Before he left the room, Luka ran his fingers through his hair in a futile attempt to calm it down a little. Groaning in frustration, he abandoned this idea and decided Mikhail was just going to have deal with it or not look at him.
He headed back out through the hall Mikhail had taken him through the previous night, and found his way to a spacious room that seemed to be a kitchen and dining room combined. Standing in front of the fire was a petite woman that Luka had never seen before, but guessed to be Mikhail's wife. She turned around at his approach and gave him a welcoming smile.
"You must be Luka," she said, her voice soft. "Mikhail told me all about you this morning. I hope you are satisfied with our humble home, my prince."
"It's wonderful. I could not ask for anything better," Luka assured her, and she beamed at him. "And what is your name?"
"Natalya," she said and curtsied.
"Please, give me no formalities," Luka said, waving his hand at her. "I don't want them here. I simply wish to be treated the same way you would treat any human being, royal or not."
"As you wish."
Turning back to her fire, Natalya said, "Breakfast will ready in just a few minutes. There's wash water in a pail by the table, and, ah, I'll fetch you a comb in a bit."
Not even trying to hide his smile, Luka replied, "Thank you, ma'am."
He took the pail of water back to his room and washed his face and hands. Thankfully, the water was not cold, and he guessed Natalya had heated it on the fire. Once he was finished, he headed back out to the kitchen. Mikhail had just come in from outside, and was stomping his feet on the floor to get the snow off of his boots.
He looked up as Luka entered the room and shook his head.
"If I'd known you brought a horse with you, I would have put it in the barn," he said.
Luka stopped and stared at him. "My...horse." He closed his eyes and sighed. "I forgot there was a horse."
"Yes. Well, he's frozen solid. You won't be using him again."
Luka groaned in frustration. "I can't believe I was so stupid. Forgetting I had a horse."
"Breakfast is ready," Natalya said, bringing a pot over to the table. "Sit down, you two."
They followed her directions and sat at the table, waiting for Natalya to serve the meal. She put a bowl containing something Luka had never seen before in front of him. It was lumpy, with a grayish-tan color. It looked positively awful.
"I've never seen this before. What is it?" he asked.
Natalya stopped and stared at him. "You mean to tell me you've never seen porridge before?"
He shook his head. "No..." he said slowly.
"Well, I suppose a prince would be used to eating finer food, but this is what we've got. As for what it is, it's just oats and water cooked together. Simple, but filling. Eat up."
Luka took a bite and immediately grimaced. It tasted horrible, and he just barely refrained himself from spitting it out of his mouth. He swallowed, and quickly took a drink of water in an attempt to get rid of the taste.
Natalya looked at him sympathetically. "Not a fan, are we?"
He shook his head. "I'm sorry, but no. I am not usually one to criticize a woman's cooking, but this is not good."
"That's alright, Luka," she laughed. "Besides, I'm afraid I may have played a bit of a trick on you. Mikhail and I don't like very much it, either, without adding some things to it. We've got cream and sugar if you'd like."
"Yes, please."
Natalya put a generous serving of each into his bowl. He tried it again, and found that it was much better.
Now that that was sorted out, they all settled down to eat. After a couple minutes of a silence broken only by the cleaning of dishes, Mikhail began to question Luka.
"So tell me, Luka, why are you up this direction in the first place?"
Luka hesitated. "I..." He decided suddenly that Mikhail and Natalya could be trusted. "I came this way to find a wife," he said in a rush.
Natalya's spoon stopped halfway to her mouth, then she put it down and looked at Luka. "A wife," she repeated doubtfully.
He nodded. "Yes, that's what I said. A wife."
"Why are you looking for a wife?" Mikhail asked.
Luka took a deep breath before he answered. "My father is not doing well. He's ill. Dying, actually. He told me just a few days ago that I had to find a wife within three months, or he would sign a law that changed the qualifications for eligibility to be king. Changing them so that a person has to be married to be eligible."
"That's horrible," Natalya declared. "What kind of father does that to his child?"
"Mine."
"I don't understand," Mikhail said slowly. "Why is he so intent on you getting married?"
Luka shrugged. "I honestly don't know. He sees no need to tell me his reasoning, if there even is any."
"It seems rather strange,"says Mikhail. "But why north? Why not somewhere more travel-friendly?"
"Well, a-a friend of mine suggested it, and I...I've also been having rather compelling dreams lately."
Mikhail leaned in closer. "Dreams? What kind of dreams?"
"They've all been...of the same thing," Luka answered, fiddling with his spoon. "Darkness at first, and then there's this red light that gets brighter until I have to close my eyes to keep it from blinding me. Then when I open them again, there's a-a woman standing in front of me. She has this long red hair that...well, it's beautiful. And her eyes are gray, and she's always a white dress."
He looked around the table at Mikhail and Natalya, who were hanging on his every word. "And she's spoken to me, twice now. The first time, two nights ago, she told me to go north. And then last night, she told me to hurry, and that I need to go to the Buryas."
Mikhail shared a look with his wife, then his gaze returned to Luka. "Well, it sounds to me as if there's someone desperately trying to share something with you. Has this...woman given you her name?"
Luka shook his head. "No, I-I asked her the first time, but she only said that it wasn't important at the moment."
Mikhail nodded and rubbed his chin, but said nothing. They finished the meal in silence, and when they were finished, Natalya began clearing the things off the table and preparing to wash the dishes.
"Luka," said Mikhail, "will you, ah-go back to your room and give us a few minutes to talk?"
Luka looked first at Mikhail, then at Natalya, but both faces were unreadable, betraying nothing. "Of course."
He excused himself and returned to his room. Sitting on the bed, he wondered what they were discussing, and why they needed him to leave. A few minutes later, he heard on a knock on his door. He went over and opened it to see that Natalya was standing outside.
"Luka," she said, giving him a smile, "my husband and I have something we'd like to talk with you about. Will you come?"
Luka followed her back to the table, where Mikhail was waiting for them. They sat down, and he looked expectantly at Mikhail.
"Luka, Natalya and I have a...proposition for you. If you will accept our help, we would like to go with you as you continue your journey."
Luka looked between the two of them. "No, I-I couldn't-"
Mikhail held up a hand, stopping him. "Hold on, Luka. You forgot last night that you brought a horse with you. By yourself, you won't last a minute in the Buryas. Natalya and I did a fair bit of traveling back in the day, and our journeys took us to the Buryas a few times. We know our way around these parts, Luka, and you'd be wise to accept the help we're offering you."
Luka threw up his hands. "Fine. It appears I can't stop you. But I will not count myself responsible if you die or are injured."
"Of course not," Mikhail said, clapping a hand on Luka's shoulder. "Now, let's go. We've got a lot to prepare before we can actually leave."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hurrah, Part 3 is here! If you enjoyed it, please comment and vote. Now let me go take a nap for a couple days...I am seriously wearing myself out trying to hit ten thousand words before the 15th. :(
Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed this! :)