Alexei stepped up into the strangest room he’d ever seen. He was forced to stop and blink for a minute until his eyes grew accustom to the light that made the room seem to glow with the rays of the sun. When he could see again he peered about himself in surprise.

The night sky stretched out above him and it was only the faint reflection of the light on glass that made him realize there was even a barrier between himself and the stars. The walls tilted inwards, creating a triangular shape to the room. They were made of a mirrored surface and his reflection stared back at him admits the soft glow of the bird that slept in the center of the room.

Alexei grinned and turned towards the source of the light. The firebird’s angled head was tucked under the fall of one great wing as was one of its feet. The other foot grasped an ornate perch that held it high off the ground so that its long tail didn’t drag on the floor. Beneath it laid a series of glass plates and crystal prisms all designed, Alexei guessed, to magnify the soft light coming off of the firebird’s feathers and reflected in the mirrors.

He reached out and brushed his fingers over the firebird’s long tail, making the bird jump and shriek in surprise, its great wings flaring to make it look larger than it actually was. Long years of harassing the birds that congregated around his father’s palace taught Alexei to stand still and wait for recognition to come to the creature.

Golden eyes glared at him as the firebird calmed and folded its wings back. It chattered at him in reproach and he laughed softly, not needing his gift of animal speech to understand what the bird meant.

“Hello, uncle.” He greeted, shaking out the blanket he had brought with him and spreading it out next to the glass opening in the floor, careful not to obstruct it less Libertine wonder about the lessening of her light.

“I hope you don’t mind some company but I find this room much more satisfying then the room provided for me, though I suppose Yala won’t appreciate having to walk up so many steps.” He noticed the way the firebird shuddered at the wolf’s name and he frowned. “Surely you aren’t afraid of her! She’s never hurt you.”

The firebird shook its head. “It’s not something I can help,” it replied, “She is a predator and that frightens the bird in me. It is the same with the dogs in the palace. I can’t bare to be around them.”

Alexei climbed into the makeshift bed he’d created and pulled the side of the blanket over himself. “Then she can sleep outside. She will be more comfortable that way.”

The bird hesitated as he made himself comfortable but whatever protest it wanted to voice was pushed aside for it shook itself and began preening the long feathers of one wing.

“Will you tell me a story?” Alexei asked.

The bird paused in its preening, glancing at him over scarlet feathers.

“Not one of the ones you’ve told me before. I want to hear the one story you haven’t told me and I want to hear it without all the embellishments its been given over the years.”

The firebird was silent for a long moment as it stared off at something only it could see. Finally it heaved a sigh. “It is not a story I relish telling.”

“Please?” Alexei asked, “I want to know.”

“Alright. But you must not interrupt.”

The young prince smiled. “I won’t.” He promised as he always did when his uncle had agreed to tell him a story.

“Well once there was a family that had been born with a strong wanderlust. They roamed near and far, collecting stories and songs from those they visited. Once every four years they all gathered in the only place that could call their home to exchange stories and tales before going back out into the world.

“Now it was always that when the first born child was old enough they would go out with their father or mother. When he or she was old enough they would take out the next sibling with them. So it was that when the second born son came of age he traveled out with his older brother one year. They went south and then west and then north and west farther still. It was in the cold lands of the north that the second son fell in love with the people he met. He longed to know more about the stories they told and about their culture. However it was not to be for three years had passed and it is no small thing to miss a family gathering so they turned back and went home.

“Now the third born daughter was not yet old enough to go back out with the second son so he left on his own after the gathering, returning to the northern lands. He traveled from town to town learning all he could about these proud hardy people. One day, on the road between one town and the next, he heard the baying of hounds. A woman came running towards him and, sensing that she was in danger, he gave her his cloak and helped her climb high into a tree with thick leaves that would hide her.

“The men with the hounds came and the hounds circled the tree, baying. The second son pressed himself to the tree and when the men came he demanded they call off their hounds. The hunters fell for the trick, thinking that the hounds had targeted him instead of following their original prey. They apologized and moved on. When they were safely away the second son called for the lady to come down, only to discover the lady wasn’t a lady at all but rather a fae. In exchange for saving her she promised him a favor.

“’Just call my name if you ever need me,’ she said.

“’But why do these men hunt you?’ He asked.

“’The tsar stole my scarf and forced me to stay with him. His men chase me now to bring me back.’ The second son thanked her for her words and she left. Curious about this tsar he traveled the road the hunters had just ridden for nearly a year until he came to a small city. He went to the palace and was brought before the tsar himself. The second son begged a room.

“’And with what will you use to pay for my hospitality?’ The tsar asked him.

“’I will pay with my stories. I have seen many things and heard many tales. I will play music for your table. All this I will give to you if you will but give me a place to sleep.’

“But the man only laughed for Tsar Vislav had no love for things of art. ‘I shall take other payment from you!’ He said and he harmed the second son most grievously. He carved his mark on the traveler’s face for all to see and had him cast from the palace.

“’Libertine! Come to me.’ The second called as he lay there dying. The rusalki came and he begged her to help him. She brought him fruit that healed his wounds and gave him the means to claim his revenge.

“’Take the apples from his orchard,’ she said, ‘for they are one of his greatest treasures!’

“So it was that the second son used her magic to climb the great wall. His flute was enchanted by the rusalki so that any who heard its music fell into a deep sleep. He gathered all the fruit and slipped away. The next night he returned to find the tsar’s eldest son, Dmitriy. Dmitriy fell easily under the spell and the second son fled with the tsar’s fruit. The third night saw the tsar’s second son, Vasiliy on guard, who also fell under the flute’s power. The fourth night, however, was the youngest son, Ivan’s turn.

“As before the second son played his flute and when all was quiet he slipped into the orchard and began gathering his prize. But he had underestimated the tsar’s clever son for Ivan had found a way to wake himself. He recognized the man that his father had wronged and tried to stop him but the second son got away and fled the land.

“The next morning Ivan took the story to his father as well as the tale of the second son’s miraculous recovery. Vislav realized that only magic could heal such wounds so quickly and his desire to possess all the magic of the world drove him to want to possess this man. He declared that whichever son brought him the thief would inherit his kingdom. Dmitriy and Vasiliy rode off but only Ivan figured out where the second son had fled.

“By this time the second son had fled to Dolmat where he had caught the eye of the tsar who, like Vislav, also desired magical beings. He was brought before the tsar, who was really the Koshchey of legend and made into a slave. The Koshchey had heard the tales trickling from Vislav’s kingdom about a firebird that had stolen fruit from his orchard and he kept the second son locked in a golden cage in the garden, where Prince Ivan found him.

“However Ivan triggered the magical alarm on the cage when he tried to retrieve the man and the Koshchey made a deal with him. If he brought him a magical horse that belonged to Tsar Afron he would give up the second son. Ivan agreed and the second son was left in the Koshchey’s possession. Intrigued by the prince’s tale and by the second son’s magical healing ability he created his greatest feat of magic by bonding a firebird’s feather within the second son’s body and thus creating a creature of myth within the man.

“When Ivan final returned with the magical horse the Koshchey was forced to turn over the second son. The second son begged Ivan not to return him to his father but his pleas were ignored. Before they reached the palace, however, they were beset by Ivan’s brother’s who killed him and took the second son for themselves.”

“What do you mean they killed him? My father isn’t dead!” Alexei exclaimed.

The firebird gave him a reproving glare and he settled back with a murmured apology. “As I was saying, the second son fell under Vislav’s control and he was his slave for five long years until a sorcerer named Ilya came to the palace. Ilya won the tsar’s trust and was gifted with the second son after pleasing the tsar. The second son recognized the sorcerer as the prince who was supposed to have been dead.

“Ivan later told him the story of how the grey wolf retrieved the water of life and returned his soul to his body. The water of life also woke the magic in his veins and he went to Dolmat to learn how to use his magic from the Koshchey, though at the time he did not know Dedumil was the dark sorcerer of legend.

“Ivan used his brother’s indiscretions and his own father’s warmongering against them and in the end his second brother and his father were dead, though neither by his own hands. His eldest brother he sent to Tsar Afron, leaving himself alone to take the throne.

“The second son became his slave and though his life was better in Ivan’s hands than in any of his previous master’s he still feared. He did not tell Ivan of what had been done to him by the Koshchey for it humiliated him to know that he could be forced to lose his human form and become nothing more than a creature of the wild.

“He would later realize that this was a grave mistake for one day a new firebird came to the orchard. For half the day she was a firebird and for the other half she was human. She brought with her a tale of an angry Koshchey who, in a fit of rage at her refusal of his advances, turned her into a firebird and pursued her across the land.”

The firebird’s words halted and it shook its head sadly. “The second son knew of whom she spoke but he was a fool and feared telling his secret so he said nothing. The fear and guilt ate at him and he fell ill one night. It was then that a serving girl tried to force herself upon him and he fled in confusion. The Koshchey took advantage of the situation and took him. He then tricked Ivan into giving up the lady, Maryushka.

“Maryushka again refused his advances so he concocted a spell to force her to fall in love with him. However the spell only worked on those who had never shared their body with anyone else so the second son lay with her to keep the spell from being effective. The lady pretended to be under the spell’s influence and wed the Koshchey.

“Ivan came to take his slave back but he came alone and was captured by the Koshchey. He challenged the Koshchey and defeated him with his magic but it drained him greatly. Fortunately, Tsar Afron’s men had followed him and, with the help of Maryushka, were able to free the second son and Ivan. They returned home where the Koshchey was to be turned over to Afron for judgment. Before it could be done, however, the Koshchey turned on the second son and stole away his human form. The Koshchey was killed, leaving both the second son and Maryushka trapped within the Koshchey’s curse.

“Ivan tried to free them from the curse but he could not do so. It was then the rusalki Libertine appeared and offered to use a spell that would turn a firebird back into a human in exchange for Ivan’s most treasured possession. Ivan fell into the trap of her words, thinking she meant to take his kingdom and agreed. She ended the curse on Maryushka and stole away the second son, for he was a slave and therefore Ivan’s property. His most treasured property.

“Libertine took the firebird to her island where it demanded answers for her deception. ‘Silly human,’ she said to it, ‘everything I have done I have done to achieve this end! A human captured me because my powers are tied to the sun. As it wanes so too do my powers. Tsar Vislav captured me because I was too powerless to protect myself. I have sworn that it shall never happen again and I spent the long days of my captivity devising a way to protect myself. I needed a firebird whose light I could use to keep my powers strong, even on the shortest of days.’

“’So why not capture a firebird for yourself?’ The second son asked.

“’Because they are no more firebirds. Humans dragged them from the sky for their feathers and put them in cages where they withered and died until not a single bird was left. All that I could find were three feathers, one each from the three kinds of firebirds, but it was enough. With these three feathers and a transfiguring spell I knew a firebird could made.

“’As soon as I had gotten free I took these things to the most powerful human sorcerer and I whispered in his ear while he slept at night. I painted for him dreams of glory and fame for creating a firebird in a human. He tried the spell but alas I had misjudged the fragility of humans. No one survived the procedure for they all bled to death from the wound needed to insert the feather. I had almost given up all hope.

“‘But then you had called me and I knew. I fed you the fruit from Vislav’s garden and in doing so created a man who would survive the procedure. I led you to Dolmat where I whispered stories of you to the Koshchey. He took you and performed the spell. And you survived! I tried to take you from him but before I could devise a way Vislav’s son had stolen you back.

“‘I feared Vislav and could not take you while you were under his roof so I returned to Dolmat where I convinced the Koshchey to take in the young prince and teach him how to defeat his father. For five long years I waited but once again I underestimated humans. Ivan’s powers had grown greatly and he is very clever. I knew that I could not just take you as I had planned so again I was forced to wait.

“’Then a white firebird came to the palace and I was amazed! I had forgotten about the other two feathers and it had never occurred to me that someone else might survive the spell. However this firebird was imperfect, the spell had not been cast properly and I could not use her for she was a human in firebird form whereas when you are a firebird you truly are one.

“’But she was useful for she caused turmoil in your mind and took Ivan’s attention off of you. I went to the Koshchey and whispered in his ear, urging him to take you once more. I returned and gave you dark dreams of your time at the Koshchey’s hands and I caused the illness in you. As I had hoped the Tsar left the door unlocked and I was able to slip inside in the form of a servant. You fled and were captured.

“’The Koshchey really was going to return you to Ivan in exchange for the other firebird but I wove him dreams of glory and a matching pair of firebirds. I could not let you go back to Ivan for who knew when I would get another chance! But alas Ivan got to you before I could. He took you back but the fates favored me when the Koshchey used the last of his magic to trap you in your other form!

“’It was an easy thing to get the Tsar to give you over to me and with his word given he can’t take you back! You belong to me and now you will use your light to strengthen my powers.’

“The firebird, however, refused for it was angry at the deception. It refused to sit in the sunlight to soak up the sun’s rays and it refused to sit in the room prepared for it. It destoryed the carefully crafted prisms and mirrors and it threatened to fling itself into the ocean unless it was released.

“They finally came to an agreement for Libertine didn’t need the firebird during the summer season and it could return home on the conditions that it would return with the turning of the season and that it would never tell anyone of Libertine’s island or what she required of it for she did not want anyone to know of her weakness. Two days before May Day she placed a golden pendant around its neck with which it could return to its human form and allowed it to return home. It did so joyously only to find that the single night spent between he and Maryushka had resulted in a child. The second son was very happy at the discovery and he loved the new child with all of his heart but the summer began to wind to a close and he began to fear.

“Come the final day of summer a strong call captured him, forcing him into the form of the firebird and making him return to Libertine’s side. It pleaded with her to allow it to go home to its lover and child but the rusalki would hear nothing of it. It was not allowed to return until the beginning of the next summer.

“Ivan agreed to raise the child as his own for the second son knew he could never raise the child himself. He and Maryushka had already been married and the public knew the young child as prince. It was decided that a great deception would be staged. Ivan rotated the nobles of his court discretely until there was none left who remembered the golden eyed, red haired man that had once been his slave. When this was completed the second son was introduced as the Tsarina’s brother.

“The young prince was kept from the palace to keep people from noticing that he was really a year older than what everyone believed, for he had already been born before Maryushka had brought him to Ivan. He was also kept away to keep people still familiar with the red haired slave from noticing the similarities and questioning his claim to the throne.

“Eventually Maryushka fell in love and plans were made to allow her to go live her own life. The young prince was brought to the palace where he was raised as Ivan’s son. They had always intended to tell him the truth but each year it was decided that they would wait a bit longer for it is no small thing to tell a young boy such truths.”

The firebird fell silent and Alexei lay, staring at the fall of its tail, his uncle’s words dancing around his mind. No more words were uttered and the young prince fell asleep amid dreams of fire and hateful creatures.