by Levi Stack
Chapter XXVIII
THE SILENT DEAL
The girls watched the boys, waiting to see what they would do.
Romulus stepped forward first, tightly flanked by his blood brother, and laid eyes on the old pages. "I've waited my whole life to understand this ..."
Viktor's voice shook: "To me, this year felt like forever."
"What does it say?" Evenova spouted, unable to keep her peace.
Romulus took the torch from Viktor. "You should read it to us. I don't want to chance messing up any of the words."
Viktor sucked in air, composing himself as best he could. Then he leaned over the parchment on the stone pedestal and read aloud:
"'This confidential agreement hence referred to as the "Silent Deal" is entered into this 26th day of December in the year 1825 between the people of Aryk and the Leopard, with Master Molotov as draftee and Captain Ulfrik as witness of signatures.'"
"Then Molotov did write this," Romulus said. "But why would the people ever agree to make a deal with the Leopard fifteen years ago?"
"Keep going, Viktor," Charlotta said.
"'The day prior to this contract, on the night of the 25th of December, a rebellion was attempted in Aryk against the Leopard by the group that calls themselves the 'Cards' (whose members carry playing cards to identify one another). On the same night, the Leopard crushed the rebellion by ordering his remaining faithful Masqueraiders to seize all children (under the age of three) of suspected members of the Cards and'"—Viktor paused—"'and cast them under Aryk's frozen river!'"
Evenova cried out, flinging her hand over her mouth.
Tears filled Charlotta's eyes. "He murdered infants?"
"That's why people think the river is haunted," said Viktor, horrified. "Children died there—mass numbers of them ... dumped just like the boxer on the ice. That's why there are no children in this town. Half our generation was wiped out when we were born!"
Romulus swallowed. "But who are these 'Cards'—former Masqueraiders?"
"And if they rebelled, how do none of us know about it?" Evenova asked. "How don't our parents know?"
"Maybe they do," Charlotta said. "Keep reading, Viktor."
"'Many deaths transpired (including Masqueraiders, suspected members of the Cards, and children of the said Cards) and those confirmed have been respectively recorded (see Appendixes I, II, III).'"
Evenova's green eyes flashed. "Go to the appendixes. Who did they kill?"
"Not yet! In time," said Romulus.
Viktor cleared his throat. "'In an effort to restore peace to Aryk, this Silent Deal contract presents four laws that, when broken, bear the punishment of death by hanging. By signing this agreement, each individual agrees to the following laws:'
"'1. PLAYING CARDS. All playing cards (namely those of R.E. Kamdrac's making that were typical of members of the Cards) are to be surrendered to Master Molotov. Personal possession of such cards or aiding others with such cards is strictly forbidden.'
"'2. GRAFFITI. Adding to, covering, or erasing the street graffiti (which members of the Cards used to distribute information and intimidate authority prior to the rebellion) is strictly forbidden. The graffiti is to remain in its current state indefinitely as a reminder to all citizens of the permanent laws of this Silent Deal.'"
Charlotta paled. "Each day, it reminds the Cards of their dead children. How sick ..."
"'3. FIREARMS. All firearms are to be surrendered to Master Molotov's armory, returned only in the event of an emergency (war, foreign invasion, etc.). Personal possession of such weapons is strictly forbidden.'"
"But these are just the three laws of Aryk," Romulus said.
Viktor looked up. "There's a fourth law, remember:
"'4. THE SILENT DEAL. Under penalty of death, from this point onward, all citizens of Aryk are strictly forbidden to speak of the rebellion, the playing cards, the town graffiti, and the reasoning behind the public rules. All persons who were either not present at the rebellion or not old enough to remember its event must never learn of its existence. This severe rule is of the utmost importance, and has been created so as to not breed contempt between the new generations of serfs, citizens, nobles, and rulers. Anyone who speaks about or implies the existence of such a rebellion will be killed in secrecy to uphold the Silent Deal.'"
The torch slackened in Romulus' hand. Evenova and Charlotta were speechless.
Finally, Viktor understood his town's secret, the looks that passed between strangers, the conversations of elders that were dropped whenever youths entered a room, the reason his father and mother and Grandpap could never tell him the truth about his town's past: The Silent Deal ruled everyone.
"Viktor, this changes the meaning of everything we've heard this year," murmured Romulus. "Petya, Zindelo, Yanko, Kamdrac, and even my grandmother—we often thought they were talking about playing cards, when really they meant the rebels, the Cards ... capitalized!"
"Zindelo kept saying the Leopard destroyed the Cards, and when we misunderstood him, he knew the Silent Deal was real, that we were being kept in the dark," Viktor said, countless realizations forming in his mind. "He thought Molotov did it to protect us from ourselves, because we'd want revenge. Really the Leopard was afraid the next generation would rebel!"
Evenova and Charlotta, still apparently in disbelief that all of their elders knew of the rebellion, leaned against the stone pedestal and began shuffling through the endless pages of forced signatures, many names familiar. Viktor and Romulus watched, their minds spinning.
Appendix I recorded the Masqueraiders who died. The boys recognized a few names matching the ones in the House of Cards, but beyond that, they gained nothing.
Appendix II listed the suspected members of the Cards who had died.
Evenova pointed to the top of the list, her lips parted.
Romulus stared in quiet horror at the first two names—Maksim and Adelaida. "No ... this must be false. My parents witnessed firsthand the evil of the Leopard. They never would've joined the Masqueraiders, so they would've never broken off as Cards."
"Maybe they joined the Cards after the rebellion started," reasoned Viktor.
"Or else worked as spies," Charlotta offered Romulus, who looked ill.
Evenova stabbed her finger at the parchment again. "Georgiy Inshov—but that's my father! He died in the mines when I was a baby, but ... but my mother lied. The Leopard killed him," said Evenova, murmuring only to herself now. "Maybe that's why she is so protective of me ... maybe she thought he would kill me also."
Viktor blinked away tears. "Look, enough, we've got to get this to authorities. The Leopard will get a death sentence for such a massacre."
"Appendix III is all that's left," Charlotta said. She was the only one willing to turn the page, but even as she did, her eyes filled with tears at the impossibly long list of murdered children.
"They ... thought they killed me in the forest," Romulus said, his face pale. "Look, there: 'Unnamed child of Maksim and Adelaida.' Why am I at the top of the list? Why is my family the most hated?"
"I'm sorry I made you look at this," whispered Charlotta. Then her eyes latched onto another name. Her shoulders began to shake. "Gala Jaskova ... but that would make her my—my—my sister!"
Everyone's eyes flickered to Charlotta, thinking on the same events. In her infancy, her father had turned to the drink, and her mother had fallen into deep depression. And now they understood the cause.
Viktor shook his head and made to flip to the end of the document and be done with it, but his hand froze abruptly. A bone-deep shiver colder than permafrost speared his spine like an icicle. Two words on the page unhinged all his understanding: Viktor Vassinov.
"My name! It's ... my name. It says here that I'm ... dead."
Something large moved behind them.
Romulus whipped the torch around toward the entrance. Out of the chimney opening emerged the black-masked, gold-beaked Masqueraider. His cloak flowed like smoke as he dre
w up to full height, pulling out a long sword in his right hand, and in his left, a massive pistol with a revolving cylinder. The four serfs backed into shadows; only the white pillar separated them from their foe.
"It's you. You're the one who stabbed Petya. You burned down my ..." Romulus trailed off as the Masqueraider dropped his mask.
Captain Ulfrik smirked behind his thick beard and mustache. "Good evening."
No one spoke.
"I see you've brought company. Splendid. And you found the Silent Deal. Bravo."
Romulus held the parchment dangerously close to his torch. "Stay back or I'll burn it!"
"Really? Burn the only source of evidence that incriminates the Leopard?"
"Yes, and if I do, your master will lose the records of all the Cards he suspects rebelled against him. He'll be furious with you!"
For a moment, Captain Ulfrik's eyes flickered with rage; the next, he breathed out evenly. "How ironic this is. I spent fruitless months shaking down the mines, fields, and factories, yet all this time, the king of spades card I sought was with the two stupid boys Dimovna begged me to kill long ago. Searching for you left a bloody wake, and as much as I enjoyed hearing that pipsqueak Gypsy and fortune-teller squeal, I do hate trails. Hence, Kamdrac's punishment."
"What did you do to him?" Romulus said.
"The same thing I did to your father."
Viktor and Romulus recalled what the Blok Widow had told them: Maksim had been slowly tortured to death in the castle. Now Kamdrac had been condemned to the same fate.
"Maksim." Ulfrik spat the name out like it was rotten. "'The Greatest.' Ha! He didn't look so great when the Leopard crushed him in hand-to-hand combat, when he pleaded on his knees for the lives of his wife and unborn child."
Viktor and the girls looked sick to their stomachs. Romulus was unreadable as ever.
"Of course, the Leopard showed no mercy. Your mother was found in the forest and dumped in the river. You perished with her. Yet here you are before me fifteen years later—alive. How is it so? Who raised you?"
"My grandmother—Miss Blok. You must know her—you burned her alive in House 13!"
Evenova and Charlotta were stunned: Romulus had never told them about his past.
Ulfrik seemed equally perplexed. "I burned only Vassi's house."
"The fire spread from 12. You meant to kill her."
"No, Maksim and Adelaida have no living family—the Leopard made sure of it. So what are you hiding? How are you alive?"
Stop it! Viktor told himself, his old doubts about Romulus flaring up. Don't believe a word out of that man's mouth.
Romulus tightened his grip on the Silent Deal. "We know the back of each Kamdrac card is a map of the Great Fairy Ring. We found your master's precious House of Cards. We know he's trying to overthrow the empire!"
Triumph spread over Ulfrik's face. He began to laugh deep in his chest. "Fools! Didn't you read the Silent Deal? Don't you understand?"
"Understand what?"
"That house, that plan, those cards—it was the work of your fathers! The Cards are serfs—and Maksim was their bloody leader! And they didn't just rebel against the Leopard and his Masqueraiders—they tried to rebel against the empire's very institution of serfdom!"
The world halted, and those words rang over and over in Viktor's ears, for he couldn't accept them. Neither could his friends. They stood there swaying in disbelief, their minds wrestling with the audacity of such a claim.
"The House of Cards was the serf headquarters," sneered Ulfrik. "We've searched for it for over a decade, but you delivered the location to me on a silver platter!"
"It can't be—we found evidence," Viktor said desperately.
"Such as?"
"Political pamphlets ..."
"To study the empire's propaganda," Ulfrik snapped.
"French manifestos ..."
"For inspiration."
"Masks ..."
"That came from the Masqueraiders the Cards killed during the rebellion!"
"Weapons ..."
"Aye! Ones that were never found, and hence, never confiscated!"
"Maps and plans to attack ..."
"Used for their rebellion!"
Romulus hefted the torch even closer to the Silent Deal. "What about the letters to the military leaders? Those are the Leopard's contacts."
"No, your father and his serf friends went to war when Napoleon invaded Russia. They're the ones who rose in the ranks and made powerful connections. And when they returned to Aryk, they brought back something more dangerous than weapons: Ideas." Ulfrik's lip curled. "Maksim joined a larger radical group—the Society of the True and Faithful Sons of the Fatherland. Pavel Pestel led the Southern Society in Tulchin. Men like Nikita Muraviev and Prince S.P. Trubetskoy led the Northern Society in St. Petersburg. The Cards became the Eastern Society in these Ural Mountains."
Ulfrik continued, "When Tsar Nicholas took the throne, all three groups rebelled at the same time, creating the Decembrist Revolt of 1825. They thought their motion might start a wave of revolution across the nation, but instead each rebellion was crushed!"
The words of the Last King ran through Viktor's mind. "Our allies in the west have failed. The overthrow of Tsar Nicholas did not come to pass." Maksim's bet had failed.
Ulfrik pointed at the stone pedestal. "That's how the Silent Deal came to be. The Leopard had no wish to involve the empire in his town—"
"Because of his sick experiments," snarled Viktor.
"... and neither did the serfs," Ulfrik said. "So they signed the document and swore to leave the rebellion forever in the past—like you should have. No history book will ever tell you that the Cards were the third prong of the Decembrist Revolution. Your pathetic fathers will be forgotten, and all your kin will die as slaves! Now hand over that document or one of the girls gets a bullet!"
"Don't do it, Romulus," whispered Charlotta.
Evenova shook her head.
Romulus let the parchment edges curl under the torch's flame. "If you're not lying, then explain why R.E. Kamdrac told us he made the cards for Leo the Leopard."
"Leo the Lion, you ignoramus, as in Leonid Nikifor—the King of Clubs! He was your father's comrade ... and apparently the only woodsman capable of mapping the Great Fairy Ring. Why do think Maksim had him work with the card-maker?"
Viktor and Romulus exchanged a knowing glance, remembering the friends Maksim had written about in his journal: Leonid the hunter, Feliks the gambler, and pure Vitaly. What other signs had they terribly misread?
"Then why does this entire rebellion revolve around playing cards?" Romulus asked.
"It's no secret," growled Ulfrik, analyzing the room. He, too, was clearly biding his time, trying to figure how he could attack without losing the Silent Deal. "The card table is where Russians discuss ideas and forge friendships. Maksim was clever enough to realize this, and after the war, he used nightly card games to win men over, building a force in such stealth that even the Leopard overlooked the warning signs. Eventually he divided his army in four segments, or Suits, and each was led by one of his old friends."
"Miners ... soldiers ... gamblers ... recruiters," Viktor said in awe.
Ulfrik kept his eyes on the Silent Deal, waiting for an opening. "The miners were Spades, named after their shovels. Maksim led this Suit as the main attack against the Leopard.
"Serf militia and hunters became Clubs, so named for their job—to arm the rebellion. Leonid's wartime connections helped build an armory.
"Gamblers became Diamonds, raising money for the rebellion. Men under that snake, Feliks, toured towns, somehow fixing games or finding winning odds.
"And last came the recruiters, or Hearts, who tested men to find new trustworthy rebels and grow the Suits. They were led by Vitaly, a man whose judgment Maksim trusted above all."
"So the Brass Art was a way the Suits communicated," Viktor murmured.
"Obviously," Ulfrik quipped. "And you're saying it wrong. It's Br
assard—as in a military band worn on the arm to show rank ... as in the single Kamdrac playing card each member of the Cards carried up their sleeve! A serf's card was his identity: The suit showed what Suit he belonged to, and his number showed his rank!"
"My father really was a leader of men," Romulus said, finally accepting the truth with proud respect. "That's why he had the king of spades card."
"Yes, but the four Kings are now long dead. Of course, that's why the Leopard was so concerned when I found your card in the alleyway. We thought there might be ... a new rebellion leader." Captain Ulfrik cackled at the thought, hefting up his revolving pistol. "I must admit I'm pleased I kept your identities to myself. Now I alone will reveal to the Leopard that his rebels are but the corpses of foolhardy children!"
Romulus clung tight to their bargaining chip. "If we're no threat, then let us go, Ulfrik! Move aside and the document is yours—else I'll burn it!"
"Don't be childish. This little revelation was amusing, but you know there's no way I'm going to let you leave here alive. So hand over the document and die quickly, or be tortured slowly, like your father. You have ten seconds."
Evenova's usual boldness had fled; next to her, Charlotta's cheeks were wet with tears. But Viktor had sworn an oath to himself to keep the girls safe, so he dared to slip his hand into the bag slung behind his back.
"Hands on your head!" Ulfrik warned.
Viktor jerked his hands up, but he used the movement to swipe his found objects through the flame of Romulus' torch and then toss them into the air. The room was so dark that everyone was oblivious to the action.
"Hold your breath," Viktor murmured sidelong.
Captain Ulfrik cocked back his firearm, but as he did so, a soft whirring filled the air. Both parties looked up: All around them, the smoking seeds of Blackbirds spun in downward spirals. Romulus flung the torch at Ulfrik; its embers burst against his robes and fizzled out. Blackness ensued.
It was madness in the darkness, with stray bullets ricocheting around the octagonal tower. In an effort to stun the enemy, Romulus began throwing Flashers, which for a split second bathed the clouds of smoke in brilliant light before leaving everyone blinded.
FLASH. The pistol found Viktor through the smoke columns. Everything went dark. Viktor leapt sideways to dodge a bullet.
FLASH. The captain faced Romulus' charge. His great sword gleamed but sliced only the oncoming darkness. Romulus must have landed a hit, because Ulfrik sucked in air; the smoke had him coughing harshly.
FLASH. BANG! The pedestal blocked a gunshot aimed at the girls. Chunks of white stone blasted into the air.
FLASH. Wheezing, Ulfrik slammed the pedestal, sending it crashing at the girls, who dove into columns of smoke.
Viktor's lungs screamed for oxygen, but he didn't dare breathe, for a coughing fit and bullet would follow. Instead he crept against the edge of the wall, trying to find the fireplace exit. He hoped the others had escaped.
Ulfrik, who sounded like he would cough up a lung, let loose another random shot: The spark of the gunpowder showed Viktor the outline of the chimney! He stole to it and crawled inside, but the pressure in his head was too great. In desperation, he sucked in a lungful of air to find that it was pure toxins. With no oxygen left, his eyes rolled back ... and he plummeted down the flue.
Seconds later, Charlotta pulled him out of the fireplace and hugged him so tight he could barely get a clean breath. "You were so brave! Are you alright?"
"Better," Viktor choked.
"Then hurry! Ulfrik will soon be after us," Romulus whispered, hearing the man's hacking from the hidden room. He urged his friends out into the hall.
Grief weighed on Evenova, slowing her steps. "But what about the Silent Deal? If we have no evidence, this was all for nothing."
Romulus smiled and flashed open his coat, revealing a rolled-up parchment stuffed into the inner pocket. "Let's do Aryk a favor and get out of here alive."
With a new wave of energy, the four trespassers flew down the spiral staircase. Their excitement, however, was short-lived upon learning that the eastern tower had become a hive of activity during their absence.
Charlotta leaned over the stairway banister, gazing downward. "It's not just guards now—the Masqueraiders are inside—and coming up!"
Viktor leapt to a landing pad and wrenched open a door to a pitch-black, ominous room. "Come on. We've no choice."
