Chernevog — C.J. Cherryh

TANGLED TRAILS OF TERROR

The forest wilderness lay somewhere north of Kiev in the spirit-haunted land of ancient Russia. There Eveshka, the former destructive ghost -- a rusalka restored to life -- had dwelt in peace for three years with her husband Pyetr and the half-taught young wizard Sasha. But now something called her to travel north into that section of the forest none of them has visited for years -- on a rendezvous about which she dared not tell either her husband or his friend.

Pyetr and Sasha left to seek her -- on a course straight to where Kavi Chernevog slept, on a stone where the forest guardians had bespelled him three years before. It was he who had once killed Eveshka and turned her into a rusalka.

Chernevog's magic caught Pyetr and Sasha in its web of power, and they were forced to take Chernevog where he willed. From Eveshka, there was no word. Dark magic was loose in the world and loose among them, in human shape.