Chapter 52 - Kot Bayun

General Summary

Chonkorchuk follows his fellow Yokels to the Strelok Lodge, from where they set out toward the Brus'nia River, which marks the symbolic boundary between Nor' and the Distant Realms beyond. Biggy leaves his wagon at the lodge, perhaps intending to return after dealing with the cat. Vasilisa who leads the way, as usual, is similarly ambivalent, unsure whether she is committed to killing the cat that killed her husband, or finding a way to speak to it to avoid further bloodshed, and perhaps, to learn its secrets. Riding an elk she found in the woods as a replacement for her wolf, whose life she gave for Sasha's, she hopes that her new companion will have a more propitious fate. Chonkorchuk brings down a deer as they travel, to eat, or to give an offering to the cat.
Uncharacteristically, she loses her way in the woods, and leads the group several versts too far to the east, and away from the place where it can be easily forded. As they search for a way to cross, Plamen helpfully turns into a large aquatic reptile, and begins to ferry the rest of the group over. Biggy, too large to be ferried, simply walks across, swimming where his feet don't touch the ground. His horse, and the elk, follow, and easily swim across.
Making their way to the opposite side, the Yokels reform, and proceed toward the place where the cat is rumored to sit. The clearing did not exist when Vasilisa was staying here - this was something new. Chonkorchuk divines that the cat is in its place, waiting for their approach with a big smile on his face. Wondering whether they can propitiate it with an offering, Sasha also focuses her mind on receiving a vision. Chonkorchuk's deer strikes her as being awfully small next to the enormous cat.
Making their way through an overgrown and brambly thicket, they find a path winding through, one which happens to lead them straight to the clearing. The cat, looking like a very large lynx, sits on its pole in the middle of the clearing. Chonkorchuk says that they are on a mission from Baba Yaga, while Sasha opens with a proposition to let them pass, and offers the deer as payment. She strums her gusli, expecting the cat to try to control their minds. The cat, however, also begins to mewl a song of its own, saying that the party have no business there. Seeing that the cat won't negotiate, Plamen summons two giant eagles to try to knock it off its perch, while he inspires his companions with the spirit of the bear. The cat claws at one from atop the perch, and begins to try to put the other to sleep. Curiously, the song he sings is very reminiscent of the verse from the Subterranean Book, though this version is a lot longer. Vasilisa charges in on her elk, while Biggy runs in, swinging his huge oslop, and tries to tear the pole out of the ground. The cat proves quite hard to hit, especially for Vasilisa, who lacks enchanted weapons, though Sasha helpfully heats the tips of her arrows. After felling the eagles, and simply dispelling Plamen's next wave - a flock of giant owls - it switches tactics, and stares at Biggy with dark, oily eyes, causing him to approach the pole. Sasha tries to dominate the beast, but to no avail - it seems to have an iron will. For its part, it causes the elk to fall asleep, and then, dominates Biggy into attacking his companions and driving them away from this place. Vasilisa wakens her elk, but the maddened Biggy quickly beats it into a pulp before beginning to chase down the rest of his companions. Trying one last trick, Sasha makes Chonkorchuk invisible, and the hermit tries to blast the cat, but to little effect. Not wanting to fall prey to Biggy's oslop, and to repeat the disaster at Yarozersk, the Yokels decide that discretion is the better part of valor, and retreat. Plamen, as an eagle himself, ferries Sasha across the river. Vasilisa, able to pass through the brambles nearly unseen, makes her own way back to the Brus'nia. The invisible Chonkorchuk is able to follow unmolested, and though he has difficulty getting across and floats downstream, he is able to catch a piece of driftwood, and make his way toward the near shore. Biggy's horse flees from its enraged master, and gets across under its own power.
Fording the river, the volot heads back to the Strelok Lodge, to see if his erstwhile companions have gone there. He still means to carry out the cat's instructions...

Character(s) interacted with

• Kot Bayun

Report Date

20 Mar 2021