My plane rumbled and tossed, barely keeping ahead of a blizzard as we landed in Russia. Ominous clouds reduced the earth and sky to the same shade of gray, increasing my sense of foreboding. Wary of the bitter cold, I chartered another plane to Irkutsk, then skirted around Lake Baikal on a train until I reached the heart of Siberia. From there, I had to rely on my wings. Knowing my blackbird form would freeze in seconds, I remained an Aloja for most of the journey, stopping only occasionally to shake the ice from my feathers. Hunger pangs triggered my animal instincts and swept me down with bared talons upon an unsuspecting elk. I continued on after taking my fill of warm flesh, feeling energized.
The forest became dark and dense. Thick snow blanketed the ground, absorbing all ambient sound for miles around to create an eerie silence. I could sense the Leshi nearby, even without resorting to meditation. I wasn't expecting her to find me first.
"My husband and children have all died. Now a stranger comes to slaughter me as well?"
I landed in a clearing after hearing Danica's mournful howl, but there was no sign of my quarry. I had no idea what to suspect, as Leshi can take any form they wish. "No, I seek an audience with Danica, the fourth point of the Antecedent Star," I shouted to the trees.
"Only if you tell me a joke. A good one." The Leshi's tone seemed suddenly playful.
The childish request had caught me off guard. "A joke?"
"Yes, only then will I show myself to you, stranger."
I was losing my patience. "I don't have time for this! I came here to seek your help, or claim a pound of your flesh. Which shall you give me, demon?"
"That's not a joke," boomed the voice, annoyed.
I took a deep breath and wracked my brain, recalling my life as a human. One of my university classmates had made it his life's mission to torment me with terrible jokes. I finally decided on one I hoped Danica would understand. "Why shouldn't you write with a broken pencil?"
"Oh! THIS is a joke," replied Danica, excitedly. "Tell me, Why?"
"Because it's pointless."
The ground started to shake as Danica's howling laughs broke the silence. Without warning, the snow beneath my feet collapsed, sinking me up to my waist.
"Good joke. I will claim it...and your life."
Before I could flap my wings to escape, an immense pain stabbed through my middle. My body was clamped tightly in a set of prodigious jaws. I screamed as the Leshi rose from the snow in the form of a hulking, coal-black wolf.
YOU ARE READING
ALOJA: The Journal of Pteridophia Anteres Lumina
Fantasy-A TALE FROM THE SECRET SEA- As a child, Pteridophia washes up on the shore of a small village in Catalonia, a stranger in a strange land. Just as her isolation becomes unbearable, a forbidden object high atop a towering sea cliff beckons to her, se...
