Hello my dear readers! Really quick, I just have a note about the pronunciation:

Kashchey ~ kashei (the e vowel at the end is very closed and sounds more like the long i sound)

I'm kind of a stickler when it comes to accurately pronouncing things, and any Russian speakers who may be reading this story, feel free to critique the words I try and slip in here and there (though there are none in this chapter...) Anyway! Leave your comments in a review, they are always greatly appreciated. Enjoy!

Chapter 15: Two: Kashchey

With her book in hand, Amber walked up to Cedric's lab and knocked on the door. The sound of shattering glass emanated from behind the door, followed by Cedric's distinctive outcry of, "Merlin's Mushrooms!" Heavy steps came close to the door before it opened revealing the court wizard wearing an expression of irritated exasperation.

"Oh, Princess Amber. What is it you want?" he huffed, looking down at her from behind his long nose.

"I'm looking for information on a man named, Kashchey the Undying." Amber said plainly.

Cedric nearly fell over as his entire body lurched in surprise. "Whatever do you want to know about him for?" he asked, staring at the girl incredulously.

Amber looked around the corridor and made sure there was no one else around. There wasn't typically anyone around Cedric's gloomy corner of the castle, but she wanted to make sure before she spoke. "I think I saw him in the giant castle star chart that James and Sofia found not too long ago."

Cedric knit his eyebrows together and thinned his lips. "Alright then. Come in."

"Thank you, Cedric." Amber said as she entered the lab.

He ushered her into his lab, and closed the door behind them before turning his full attention to the girl. "Now, care to tell me exactly what you saw on that star chart, and what in Enchancia do you mean by, you saw him?"

Eager to get answers to her questions, Amber condensed the story as much as she could without leaving out important details. "Well, to make a long story short, the stars on the chart were glowing, so I closed the dome and turned off all the lights, then all the stars on the chart projected themselves all over the dome of the observatory, including Amberina Major, which I thought was strange because I only just discovered Amberina Major, how could it be on any old star charts? Then I touched it, and it pointed to a constellation that I had never seen before of this old man." Amber opened the book to her marked page and held up it up for Cedric to see. "There were only three stars that I could see, but the dust surrounding the three stars made a clear picture of this man when I looked at it from the correct angle."

Cedric blinked a few times, trying to process the rapid-fire story as he studied the illustration in the book. He skimmed over the text of the description of the picture and quickly realized that much of the story of Kashchey was missing from the following pages.

"So, let me get this straight. The enormous star chart in the observatory is magic, and it showed you this constellation of Kashchey the Undying by turning the observatory into a astrological map?"

Amber nodded. "Yes, precisely."

Cedric blinked twice, irritated with the girl's infuriating nonchalance. "And you want to know what it means." He stated with obvious irritation.

"Yes."

Cedric puzzled for a moment then rolled his eyes and sighed. "Very well. I believe the book I have on immortal legends is up here somewhere." He placed Amber's book on his desk and gave his wand a flick, causing three other books to float off the shelves and gently land on the desk.

The wizard opened the first of the three and hummed thoughtfully as he scanned through the pages. "Well, according to this work, Kashchey used to be a great warrior who committed treason and was exiled and cursed with immortality, but not eternal youth. Meaning he can still grow old, which is probably why he looks so dreadful in this illustration." Cedric cleared his throat as he read an excerpt from the book.

"Kashchey was captain of the Imperial guard when he found he shared an attraction to the tsarina of Ledstrana. Letters from the two showed that their great affection was mutual and indeed quite intense. Tsar Ivan III prized his bride, Marja, daughter of King Gustav of Tavastia, and because of that, she was often able to sit in on all types of royal meetings, including those involving the military. It was during these meetings where she and Kashchey would be able to see each other face to face, though they could never interact personally. As their relationship progressed, Kashchey longed to meet with her outside of the meetings, and expressed his longing in his letters to her; and with reserved enthusiasm she accepted his request. Unfortunately for the two, a loyal messenger to the tsar, who had suspected the affair, intercepted Kashchey's letter and then reported it to the tsar. Ivan III, reluctant to accept his wife's infidelity, went to the secret meeting place of the two lovers to witness it for himself. When the two were caught at their secret meeting place, the tsarina claimed that Kashchey had been harassing her with letters for months; that he threatened her not to tell the Tsar, and the only way to make him stop was to meet him. Furious, the tsar immediately arrested Kashchey, and would have had him executed, but could not bring himself to do so because of their close friendship in arms. When the tsarina showed the letters she had received from Kashchey to the tsar, she claimed that she only ever refused his advances. Kashchey was sentenced to exile without a trial, and cursed with an experimental infertility spell.

"Ah, yes, now I remember." Said Cedric, closing the book and grabbing the second one from the small pile and began flipping through the pages. "I believe the nature of the spell is described in this book."

"That's horribly unfair. How could any ruler be so ruthless?"

"Indeed, it's quite tragic. But the sad truth is that many kings and queens are not like your father and mother when it comes to fairness."

Amber thought to herself while Cedric picked up the next book and began flipping through pages. "So, what did the spell do? Did it trap him in the stars or something?"

"I'm getting to that part." Cedric said as he flipped through a couple more pages, running his finger across the text of the page that he landed on, and then cleared his throat.

"The spell was very temperamental, and therefor inexplicably gave him unnatural resistance to cold and heat. Able to withstand the harsh winter of Ledstrana easily, Kashchey wandered the frozen wasteland to the north of Ledstrana and found shelter in a cave, where he recorded his days and on the walls of the cave, and animal skins. He wished to die in the cold, but his body would never freeze. He went days without eating, but he was not hungry. There was one incident where a large boulder fell from a high mountain slope and was about to fall right on top of him, but when he put his hands up in sheer reflex, the boulder split in half and fell on either side of him. Still upset that his life would not end, Kashchey continued to the top of the mountain planning to end his life by jumping from the edge. However, as he was falling, the winds picked him up and slowed his fall so that when he hit the ground, it was as if he had merely tripped on a stone. Kashchey tried to end his life many times because of the severe loneliness he felt from the tsarina's rejection. But each time he did, the forces of nature seemed to work against him and prevent him from dying. Even after many months without eating, Kashchey was still alive. Although his body seemed to be wasting away, he felt as if he had more energy than ever before, and he slowly realized that he could control the elements around him. He could move and manipulate rocks, start a fire by merely snapping his fingers, melt the icy snow, and heat warm baths for himself. Slowly but surely, it was as if Kashchey himself was becoming the elements. During five years of solitude, Kashchey's heartbrokenness morphed into rage and a desire for revenge. He sought out the help of Baba Yaga, who was able to train him in the magic arts, which he gained mastery of in two short years. With his newfound power, he was determined to seek revenge on the tsarina who denied him. Using his powers of the wind, he flew to the Imperial castle, and kidnapped the young tsarina trying to bring her back to his castle. In an attempt to escape, the tsarina found a large, sharp rock and threw it at Kashchey, causing him to bleed profusely. If not for Kashchey's mastery of magic, he would have certainly perished. He retreated from the castle immediately, unused to the feeling of fear of death he and swore he'd return for Ivan's bride. It is unknown just how Kashchey truly became deathless, but it is rumored that after retreating back to his castle, he spent years developing a spell to separate his soul from his body, so that he could only be truly killed if someone released his soul from its keeping place. It is still a mystery how he developed this magic, and there are few who still search for it, but it is probably best if this type of magic stays a mystery.

"That's all for this book." Said Cedric, closing the book.

Amber puzzled for a moment, scanning over the text of the book before speaking. "So do you think because he was became very close to the elements, he was able to eventually make a constellation of himself in the stars?"

"Well, in a way, yes. The last time he was defeated, his soul very nearly got destroyed, that's what this last book explains. In summary, after he trapped his soul on an unknown island, he went back and kidnapped the tsarina and kept her in his castle until she took her own life. The whole story is quite sad, and I do apologize for all the talk of death, but what can you expect from a man with the name 'Kashchey the Deathless? He spent centuries in his castle and would steal young women, typically those who were just married, and keep them as his prisoners. That is until he kidnapped a princess by the name of Vasilia of Ledstrana, who was also a gifted mage. She escaped and tried to return to her husband, but Kashchey got to him first and killed him. When Vasilia found this out, she challenged him and the two fought for two days straight. Kashchey retreated into the stars to regain his power, and left Vasilia severely wounded. If Baba Yaga hadn't found her, she would have surely died as well. According to most history of magic books, that happened just about 100 years ago." Cedric finished.

Amber furrowed her eyebrows and picked up the last book in the pile. "So that constellation must have appeared when that woman, Vasilia was her name? It must have appeared when she defeated him… but I looked in all the astronomy books in the library and found nothing about the stars I saw on the map. I even checked back on the giant star chart and none of them were there either. It doesn't make any sense. If the constellation existed a hundred years ago, someone would have discovered it by now, right?"

Cedric touched his chin and Hines thoughtfully. "Perhaps, but magic is a mysterious thing, many things about Kashchey are still unknown to magicologists even today."

Amber moved her lips to one side of her mouth and skimmed over the text, trying to make sense of the puzzle. "Cedric, do you think I could borrow these books?" She asked after a brief moment.

"Well, I suppose. These are just history of magic books after all, there are no spells in them. I guess it wouldn't do any harm." Replied the wizard.

"Thank you Cedric." said the princess gathering up the books.

"Princess," Cedric said just before she was about to open the door. "I know you saw this image in the star map, and I share your curiosity as a wizard, but why do you want to know so much about this… undead man?"

Amber turned over her shoulder and furrowed her eyebrows. "I just have a feeling… I don't know why, but I can't shake the feeling that something bad is going to happen to Sofia." Amber turned around to fully face Cedric, determination flashing in her eyes. "I know that most adults think that I'm just biased against Birk, and maybe that's true to some extent, but I just get this weird feeling every time he's around and… This morning in the observatory, when I saw that old man, when I saw Kashchey, I got the same feeling...I don't know why, and I don't know if they're related or not, but Sofia is in danger and I'm going to figure out why."

Cedric watched her with his head cocked to the side and his eyes ever so slightly narrowed, listening intently. "You know princess, you are not the only one who feels that way. I too have had my suspicions about that man. If you find anything enlightening, please do let me know."

Amber's eyes widened a bit, not expecting that kind of response at all, before a small smile tugged at the corner of her lip. "Really? Thank you, Cedric. I'll make sure you let you know of I find anything."

"You're welcome, Princess Amber." Cedric said as he opened the door and ushered the young princess out. Amber cast one last smile at the sorcerer before exiting the room and saying her thanks once again. Despite the gnawing feeling that something bad was still going to happen, she felt better knowing that someone else was on her side.