Far Horizons: Tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Issue #12 March 2015 | Page 57

Villains
Baba Yaga
Let’s say you are walking in the forest and you see
a small strange house. What’s so strange about it? It
stands on two chicken legs! What a weird thing to
find, right? And there isn’t even a door! Don’t hurry.
You need to say, “House, house, turn your back to
the forest and your front to me.” And before you can
wonder if you are crazy to talk to houses, it will obey.
The door will
open, and a
very old lady
will invite
you inside.
Be careful,
Baba Yaga is
known to eat
humans that
come her way,
but you can
often trick her
into doing you
some favours.
Then she
might send
you to her sisters who live
nearby. Once
they find out
who’s sent
you they will
be happy to
help you too.
Message? Be
kind to elderly
people, but
keep your
eyes open!
Koschei
If you are on a quest to meet Koschei, he must have
stolen your fiancée. But there is a plot twist, because
you should watch out who you are going to marry.
Chances are, this woman was with Koschei first, kept

him locked away in a dungeon and promised him her
eternal love and then ran away. Some women are like
that. No wonder he looks like a skeleton with just
some skin left on his bones. If you are looking to kill
Koschei, stories say you must first get a lot of help,
because Koschei’s death is in a needle, that needle is
in an egg, that egg is in a duck, that duck is in a hare,
that hare is in a chest, the chest is on a tall oak, which
is on a black mountain on a far away island. You might
want to consider if you want a wife like that first, now
that you know her story.
Vij
If you don’t
drink enough
coffee in the
morning,
some days it’s
hard to even
keep your
eyes open. Vij
can relate to
that problem.
Vij’s eyelids
are so long
they reach
the ground
and he can’t
see anything.
He has a lot
of minions
who help him
move around.
Now, before
you want to
try and be
helpful, listen
to this. If Vij
wants to look
at somebody
he shouts to his minions to lift his eyelids. They start
scrambling about, looking for pitchforks they use to
fulfill his order. It’s the first hint you might want to
take an exit right there and then. If Vij looks at you,
you die. And that gives the whole new meaning to the
phrase, “If looks could kill.”

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