Morozko and Ivan did not encounter any other ghosts.  Morozko suspected Maria Morevna held her spectral sisters at bay, already having claimed Ivan as her own.  He wondered if Ivan’s deaths each night at Maria’s hands was the tithe they were paying to enter the deathless lands, for everything here had a price.  Food was scarce, game nearly nonexistent, and they often went hungry.

The morning of the summer solstice came, and they arrived at a steep rim of mountains that ringed the deathless lands.  A great lair of a cave lay atop the tallest mountains: the domain of Zmei Gorynych. 

Greyback made quick work of the scree with Ivan...