Where the Dark Stands Still

The following day, Liska and the Leszy resume her combat training. She is suddenly struck by the realization of how long he has fought to protect humanity and thanks him. He is deeply touched but quickly resumes their training exercises. The Leszy tells her that silver weapons are more powerful if they are given names, so she decides to call her dagger Onegdaj, which means “the past.”

Liska has been in the Driada for over a month. She spends her time studying combat and spellcraft. One day, she teases the Leszy about his lack of cooking skills, and he admits, “Perhaps I am so used to looking after the wood and only the wood that I’ve forgotten how to care about anything else” (146). Liska blushes because she is still unaccustomed to his occasional moments of openness. Jaga scolds the girl for developing feelings for the demon despite her warnings. Around midnight, an unknown threat breaks the Leszy’s wards and attacks the village of Wałkowo. Liska insists on accompanying the Leszy because she is trained in healing and because she doesn’t want to wait in the manor while he could be in trouble.

The Leszy opens a spelldoor to Wałkowo. A czarownik named Kazimiera explains that all the men in the village have been lured toward the forest by a dozen rusałki. The Leszy tells Liska to watch over the village women while he and Kazimiera fight the demons. After the village’s gates close behind the Leszy, dozens of strzygoń attack the women. Many perish despite Liska’s efforts to defend them, and one of the strzygoń wounds her with its poisoned talons. Desperate to save the villagers, Liska unleashes her magic in the form of swarms of butterflies. At her command, the water in the well forms spears of ice and slays the strzygoń. Liska collapses as the poison spreads through her body and soul. The Leszy determines that the only way to save her is to absorb the poison into himself. Kazimieira tells the Leszy, whom she calls Eliasz Kowal, that such a feat is impossible, but he ignores her.

Liska falls unconscious and revisits a memory from when she was 17 in her dreams. Marysieńka told her that she was engaged to Tomasz Prawota. Liska was aghast, but Marysieńka insisted that Tomasz was kind to her and that the match would benefit her family financially. When Liska awakens, Kazimiera is using healing magic on her wounds. Liska was told that female czarownik go mad, but Kazimiera explains that “women are inherently more powerful in magic” (165), so men spread lies to limit them. Kazimiera is centuries old thanks to spells that keep her alive as long as she evades mortal wounds. She assumes that Liska is the Leszy’s apprentice, but he says that she is just his servant. Kazimiera tells them both to rest and leaves to tend to the villagers.

Seeing the Leszy’s exhaustion, Liska realizes that he isn’t a demon after all. He admits that he never died and that part of him is still mortal. He hides his humanity behind the deer skull mask because, if he looks like a monster, “no one will be surprised when [he does] monstrous things” (170). Liska tells him that she doesn’t think he’s a monster. They nearly kiss, but he abruptly withdraws.

The Leszy informs Liska that he will spend a week inspecting his wards, refuses to allow her to join him, and gives her a magical token that will transport her to the manor. Liska overhears a conversation between Kazimiera and the Leszy. The czarownik tells him that he cannot hide from his feelings forever, but he’s determined not to repeat the same mistakes he made with Florian. He believes someone called Weles is behind the coordinated demonic attack on the village, and he says, “I will not let one intrepid, doe-eyed girl ruin seven hundred years of stability” (174). Liska is saddened because she was starting to feel a sense of belonging with him.

Liska finds a thin 11-year-old orphan in the village square and brings him to Kazimiera’s home. The woman tells Liska the story of how Eliasz became the Leszy. Originally, he was a czarownik with a deep understanding of magic but little strength, and his scholarly work was exploited by his peers. After making a pact with an old god named Weles, he gained tremendous power, which he used to create the Driada. Kazimiera was once his apprentice, and she says that he was “not a good man, not for a long time” (179). Eventually, his interest in wealth and political power faded. Although Eliasz and Florian were together for only three years, Kazimiera credits him with much of the positive change in the Leszy’s character. Weles killed Florian because he jealously views the Leszy as his property. Kazimiera believes that the Driada respects Liska, which makes her different from Florian.

The young orphan doesn’t speak, but he makes it clear that he wants to stay with Liska. She decides to call him Maksio. Kazimiera tells Liska she could return to Stodoła, but she is resolved to fulfill the bargain she made and wary of endangering her village. Liska says her goodbyes to the czarownik and takes Maksio to the manor. She teaches him to play chess and gets him settled in one of the estate’s bedrooms. Jaga comforts Liska when flashbacks and bad dreams haunt her that night.

Over the next few days, Liska attempts to cast spells, but her negative associations with magic interfere. As promised, the Leszy returns at the end of the week. Liska’s elation upon seeing him turns to rage when he says that he’ll return Maksio to his village because the manor is too dangerous for a child.

Liska’s magic shatters some of the objects in the kitchen before she regains her composure. The Leszy tries to help her understand why he is afraid to take unnecessary risks with humans’ lives: “This wood has taken everything from me. Everything” (195). He agrees to let the boy stay, but Liska now believes that she is too dangerous to be near Maksio. She begs the Leszy to take her magic from her and then flees from the room.

The manor ushers her into the library, and the Leszy follows her. He tells her that the library was Florian’s favorite room in the manor because he loved fairy tales. The Leszy offers her a new bargain. If she tells him about the day her magic disappeared, he’ll make one last attempt to free her power and grant her wish if he fails. He suspects that the incident has something to do with the white streak near her temple because czarownik’s hair turns white if they overexert their magic. Feeling as though she is taking a knife to her chest, Liska confesses that she killed a man.

The narrative moves back in time. After their wedding, Tomasz tells Marysieńka to stay away from Liska because his family is convinced she has evil powers. One day, he sees the two women talking and nearly strikes Marysieńka for disregarding his warnings. Two weeks later, Tomasz asks Liska to help his ailing milk cow. When he steps out of the barn, she uses her magic to determine that the animal is sick because he purposely fed it blackened clover. Tomasz had Marysieńka watch Liska from outside the barn, and they both saw the flash of blue light that accompanies her magic. Tomasz intends to hand Liska over to the village authorities, and she panics. She asks her magic to stop him, and a tree collapses on the barn, crushing him. Marysieńka calls her a witch and then faints. To shield her daughter, Liska’s mother tells everyone that Marysieńka suffered a head injury in case she tries to reveal Liska’s magic.

The narrative returns to Liska’s present. The Leszy reassures her that she is not a monster and that she can create a place for herself where she belongs. Facing her painful memories unlocks Liska’s magic. She uses a restoration spell on a dried rowanberry, and she’s surprised by how good it feels to cast magic.