Oleg rode out of the stables, scanning past the torchlight that lit the stable yard to see the company of immortals that had gathered on Rudov’s estate to witness the game.
They had been trickling in from across the region over the past month, but now the wedding was only a week away, and Oleg could see that clans of his empire had finally come in number.
As Oleg rode out, nodding at each group as he passed them on the way to the field, he couldn’t help but see an army mustered for war. It had been decades since he had seen such a mass of his people brought together, and the sheer force of their numbers impressed even him.
In addition to his black-coated boyars and personal druzhina, there were immortal warriors from his territory in Ukraine crowding the sidelines and wearing the blue and gold colors of their homeland.
Red-coated Muscovite vampires from central Russia gathered around his brother Ivan. They were cheering and chanting a song that sent a chill up Oleg’s spine. One of Truvor’s favorite battle songs, of course.
He saw Mika’s men and women gathered from Estonia, fewer in number but lethally effective water vampires with silver-and-blue coats and quiet, watchful expressions.
Lidik’s small clan of wind vampires was gathered around their governor, mixed with a few earth vampires from the northern territories. Lidik’s wind vampires observed the prematch preparations from the sky overhead, nearly invisible in their light-blue-and-white coats.
Oleg’s brother Lev had brought a few of his children, scattered immortals from the Arctic stretches of the Kievan Rus. They looked out of place with all the formality, but they blended in with the forest in their deep green coats.
His daughter Polina was watching the match, sitting this game out as a rider. She was joined by a massive crowd of earth vampires, all wearing the emerald green and white colors her territory was known for.
And more than any other, Rudov’s clan had gathered, wearing green-and-red jackets in the Cossack style typical of his daughter Juliya’s people. So many had gathered that the border of the chaugan field positively glowed blood-red under the torchlight.
There were other guests from the Poshani. Radu, who waved as Oleg passed, was joined by a large company of mounted Poshani vampires and numerous humans, all clad in colorful finery and heavy fur coats.
Lidik’s clan mingled with the Poshani Hazar, who took to the air to observe the match from a higher angle.
There were Russian mortals in sleds that pulled alongside the mounted vampires as they trod steadily out to the field, and on the far side of the field, there were stables already set up, grooms tending to horses who waited among the heated shelters for their turn to play the game.
The far side of the field was for players, and the forest side of the field was for the spectators.
When the majority of the company had reached the chaugan grounds, Rudov rode forward to the center of the field, pointedto the tall painted poles on either side of the field, and shouted, “Welcome, friends, to the battle ground!”
The first twochukkas were not as brutal as the typical matches Oleg fought with his brothers, but then again, this was more of a ceremonial match than a competitive one.
Tatyana’s and Oleg’s teams were at a draw, each having scored two points. Only one player had been sidelined on Tatyana’s team—a young Poshani who wasn’t prepared for a sudden blow to the chest with a chaugan mallet—so while there was blood on the field, it was mostly confined to bloody noses or cuts from flying ice.
The horses were resting, so Oleg and the five others on his team had gathered on the far side of the field to see how they could push out of the current draw while Juliya and Rudov led the crowd in chants and singing.
Music and dancing were a vital part of the chaugan match, keeping the spectators entertained while the riders regrouped.
“I’m honestly surprised how well Tatyana le Tala is doing,” Lazlo grumbled. “Did you see her take that mallet to the chest?”
“Yes.” Oleg cut his eyes to Oksana. “Am I going to have to bring out my axe?”
“Don’t give me that look—it’s a contact sport.” Oksana’s face was smeared with dried blood from her nose. “And she’d already drawn first blood by the time I hit her.”
That much was true. His wife was showing her competitive side, and while she didn’t have as much dexterity hitting the pul as others, what she could do very well was aim that chauganmallet at anyone trying to take the ball from one of her teammates.
“We need a strategy,” Oleg said. “They may be down one player this half, but we aren’t going to walk away with this game when they have Mika, Lev, and Pavel. We need to isolate Mika.”
“Her Hazar is good too,” Ivan said. “Very good rider for a wind vampire. And his strikes are accurate.”
“That’s Sándor,” Oleg said. “And you’re right. He’s better than expected.”
“He scored one of their goals and has had the most attempts.” Ivan narrowed his eyes. “Can wind vampires cheat and use wind to alter the ball?”
“If you think they can do that, don’t you think he would have scored more than once?” Lazlo asked.
“Fair point,” Ivan muttered.
“We can,” one of their Poshani players named Jodi chimed in. “Use our amnis on the ball, I mean. But we don’t. We’d feel it if Sándor used his wind to score, and he’d never hear the end of it and no one would ever play him again.”
