Chapter 46 - Treasure Finder's Revenge
General Summary
Many paths lie open before the Yokels. The journey to the Tsardom of Shadow must continue, but the Apples of Paradise are too tempting to pass up, and there are likely to be lots of animals around whose lives can be given in exchange for them (though there is no clear indication as to whether this will work). Perhaps they can be purchased back in Yarozersk, though the Yokels will likely have Filipok - or Treasure Finder, to deal with.
After the parlay with Sunduk Sundukovich, who they still have every intention of bringing along, the main group goes back to the smithy to collect Vasilisa Priamovna. She has been resting and busily making new arrows to prepare for their next challenge. She now follows her companions to the shaft behind the bloodbath to meet Sunduk, and to explore the tunnels beyond him. At the bottom of the shaft where he sits, there is a long tunnel, and then another one going up, which is blocked by a flat rock of some kind. Plamen helpfully changes into a rodent and clambers up and out. After a brief search, he is able to locate Vasilisa's wolf, still waiting by the entrance to the giant's cave, but no other animals nearby, and no Treasure Finder. He comes back to report this to the group, and a decision is made to exit the subterranean book by way of the entrance, as moving the flat rock will be too difficult, and then to return for the apples, for Sunduk, and whatever other items they want after finding the missing part of Drazhan's crown. No help is to be had from the dungeon's denizens - they are bound to it, and cannot (or will not) leave, even if commanded by the wearer of the crown.
Prior to leaving, Drazhan eats their hard-won apple, which alleviates some of his wounds. The Yokels then proceed to climb up to the cave, and then out to the surface, is arduous as usual, but the newly knotted rope helps the Yokels avoid any untoward accidents. The wolf is waiting for his mistress up top, but Lumír is nowhere to be found. Vasilisa and Drazhan lead the group back to the village, while Chonkorchuk peers into the Otherworld to glean how a confrontation with Treasure Finder will likely end up (he sees massive amounts of fur and blood flying in all directions, he informs his companions).
As they approach the village, all seems quiet. Near the gate of the Ruslan Anatolievich household, they see the giant, recently slain, towering over it. Chonkorchuk and the rest call out to it, while it bends down, picks up Filipok-Treasure Finder, and lifts him up where everyone can see him. The chud is wearing a tiara with two attached horns - likely from the crown - on his head. He states that he is impressed with how the Yokels comported themselves inside the dungeon, but now the game is over. He has cleared the village out of its residents, and is now reclaimed back this territory (including the subterranean book) for his kind. As for the Yokels, he will let them go in whatever direction they please, but they must leave all the items they took from the book, as they do not belong to them.
The Yokels consider the offer. Vasilisa says that the chud is in the right, and the items should be returned, as she begins to back away from a possible confrontation. But the lure of the apples is strong, and her companions do not want to part with the wondrous items taken from the book. The horns will likely allow the crown to become complete. And Treasure Finder should be punished for driving away the people (though he is also of low opinion regarding how the Yokels have treated creatures in the dungeon and its environs). The decision is made to fight - by all except Vasilisa.
Drazhan uses the power of the stone taken from the statue to transform himself into a mammoth, and charges the gate. The gate opens, and inside, aside from the giant and the chud, the Yokels see the wooden manakin that assaulted Sasha in the barn, as well as eight wolves. Chonkorchuk summons up his signature pit of darkness with writhing tentacles, while Plamen summons his bears, and a flaming sphere, which he rolls inside the compound. This has the effect of making short work of the wolves, and slowing Treasure Finder, who takes a while to emerge from the horrors. Yet once he does, he takes control of the mammoth's mind, and forces him to turn on Chonkorchuk. Sasha recites verses to counteract his spell, but the chud comes prepared, and utters words to void her efforts. As the beast turns to attack his companions, the giant and the manakin pound him down, unmolested. The bears fight back, and the chud briefly disappears - the fight appears to be going the Yokels' way, and Sasha begins taunting Vasilisa to help them finish off the chud and his minions. But the diminutive man soon reappears, and transforms a pile of sticks into poisonous snakes, which come after Sasha and Plamen, along with the bears. The giant is soon brought down, but not before Drazhan is forced out of his mammoth form. Vasilisa tries subterfuge, and sends her wolf to distract Sasha, and shoots her in the leg, to make it appear like the party is in disarray, and to create a face-saving way of backing out of a fight the Yokels likely cannot win. Her ploy works only too well - the shot is true, but hits an artery, and Sasha collapses, spraying blood all over the battlefield.
A parlay breaks out, during which Treasure Finder repeats his demands - abandon all the items taken from the book, and leave. The Yokels begin to comply, but Drazhan wants assurances that Sasha will be turned back over to the group. Treasure Finder says that they are in no position to make demands, so the ghazi leaps back into action. At that point, the manakin pounds him into the dirt, and the snakes beset the rest of the companions from all sides. Vasilisa rushes over to aid her companion that she mistakenly shot, but it is too late: she has lost too much blood. The horses summoned by Plamen to replace the bears do not manage to turn the tide. Nor does Chonkorchuk's last-ditch effort to mimc Treasure Finder's voice to pull Two out of the Sack: before they can turn the tide, the chud sends them to sleep.
The Yokels have pulled defeat out of the jaws of victory: Sasha lies dead before the gates, and the manakin pulls Drazhan's lifeless body inside the compound. As the stunned Yokels lay down their hard-won loot, Treasure Finder warns the survivors to stay away from the dungeon, and to never return.
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