A look of wild alarm crossed the faces of Galena and Dmitri, and my own heart began to pound.
‘Tonight?’ I repeated.
‘Yes, tonight,’ the lawyer repeated with venom. ‘The Tsar’s brother has already been executed, as will the Tsarina’s sister, who also married a Romanov.’
‘But she is a nun!’ Galena protested.
‘No matter. Nagorny, the sailor who carried the Romanov boy about, has also been executed.’ Holding the pistol aimed at Galena, Viktor Ilyich backed towards the door. ‘A Cheka execution squad is scheduled to arrive in Yekaterinburg shortly. They are all to be killed – every member of the Imperial Family, and whoever else is in the house with them tonight.’
Chapter 54
The lawyer had reached the door. In seconds he would be gone, no doubt locking us in as he went. Dmitri and I were poised, but the pistol was aimed directly at Galena.
Behind his back, with the fingers of his free hand, the Viktor Ilyich groped for the handle. He smirked.
In a swift movement Galena picked up the sash from the bed and flung it directly in his face.
The explosion deafened me.
‘Galena!’ Dmitri roared.
She had fallen to her knees. Dmitri bent to help her and the lawyer kicked him in the head. Dmitri crashed down, knocked unconscious by the blow. I grappled the gun from the lawyer’s hand and it skittered across the floor. But he was heavy and my thin and fatigued frame couldn’t hold him. He smashed my legs from under me and I curled up in agony as he trod heavily on my ribs.
Galena picked up the pistol. ‘It is more than you deserve but I give you warning,’ she cried out at him. ‘You must not leave this house.’
‘Silence, you peasant,’ he answered her, and opened the door.
And so Galena shot him between the eyes.
Dmitri was the first to recover.
‘You amaze me!’ he said to Galena. ‘Is there no end to your talents?’
Galena dropped the gun and stared at the dead man.
‘Are you hurt?’ Dmitri went over and touched her on the shoulder.
She shook her head. ‘My grandfather was a farmer. He taught me how to bring down a running rabbit. It required small skill to shoot that snake.’ Dragging a sheet from the bed she spread it over the lawyer’s body. ‘Now we must think what to do.’
I levered myself onto my feet. ‘I will ride into Yekaterinburg and get Nina out of that house.’
‘How long have you known that Nina bears the name of Romanov?’ Galena glanced at me anxiously.
‘Nina wrote and told me. She wanted to be completely honest with me.’
‘You should be proud of how you helped to bring her up,’ Galena said to Dmitri.
‘I am.’ He smiled at her.
‘Is that why you came here, Stefan?’ Galena asked me. ‘To speak to Nina about her being a Romanov?’
‘I came here because I love her,’ I said simply.
‘Love alone will not get you past the guard at the merchant’s house,’ said Dmitri.
‘They are expecting the lawyer and he carries a Cheka pass …’ I was thinking aloud.
‘Dressed as the lawyer, you might at least gain access and plead for her life,’ said Galena.
Dmitri searched in Viktor Ilyich’s pockets and found his identity papers. ‘You are not similar.’
‘Not so dissimilar,’ I argued. ‘The main difference being my age. But the writing with the date of his birth is blurred.’
‘Probably deliberately,’ said Galena. ‘Nina said he was a vain man.’
‘Perhaps …’ said Dmitri. ‘He has a small beard and, with your present scruffy unshaven look …’
‘It will have to do.’ I began to unbutton the coat on the lawyer’s dead body.
Galena took his cap and put it on my head. She kissed me as she did so. ‘God go with you, my son.’
‘Stefan,’ said Dmitri, ‘you ride ahead as fast as you are able. I will follow on the lawyer’s horse and bring one of our own. The merchant’s house is easy to find for it is set into the slope of a hill. Opposite the front gate there is a field of grass with a large tree and a path leading to the forest. I will wait there with the second horse. Nina knows the countryside very well. She can take you through the villages where she and her papa travelled. They were known and loved among the people and they will help you on your way.’
Galena embraced us both, calling after us to be careful and saying she would light a dozen candles for each of us.
Night was coming on, but the sky was lit by that late low glow which comes with summer sunsets in northern latitudes.
The guns had quietened. Whatever bombardment was taking place had ceased until morning. Perhaps Dmitri was right. With the intimate knowledge of the countryside that Nina possessed we might be able to slip between the opposing armies and win our way through the war zone.
I was halfway on the road to Yekaterinburg when I realized that in my haste to leave I’d forgotten to bring the gun.
Chapter 55
Alexei had gone to the window, where a section of the shutter was open to show a slit of daylight.
‘They allow us that much so we can breathe some fresh air,’ the Tsar told me. ‘It is fixed to go no wider lest we try to climb out and escape.’ He beckoned to his son. ‘Alexei,’ he said, ‘I have persuaded Nina to tell you a story before she leaves us tonight.’
Alexei shrugged his shoulders. ‘What good are stories when they have whitewashed the window panes so that I cannot see the sky?’
‘You think that is whitewash on the windows?’ I asked him with great surprise in my voice.
‘Of course it is, Nina,’ he replied. ‘What else could it be?’
‘You once told me that you owned all the snow in Russia. And because you love snow, I assumed that you’d commanded it to fall so thickly that it had drifted as high as the rooftops. Just like in the second story of Masha and the Bear …’
The child turned from the window with a look of mild interest on his face. ‘Was that the tale you were about to tell us on the evening when Father Grigory frightened Mama with the story of the dagger he carried in his sash?’
‘It is,’ I said. ‘But my story is even scarier … so perhaps I’d better not tell you what happens when Masha meets the Bear in the steep snow-covered mountains.’
‘But now you must.’ Alexei limped over and seated himself on the couch with his bandaged leg resting on a stool.
I opened my satchel and took out the story booklets. These handwritten stitched sheets were so important to me – a vital aspect of my childhood. The rustle of the sheaves with their neatly curved script triggered my childhood memories; I could smell our log fire and see my father, spectacles perched on the end of his nose.
One midwinter night my father had looked up and said: ‘Nina, daughter of mine, this is my most precious legacy to you, and to Russia – the country that I love.’ He spoke quietly but with great passion. ‘These tales are passed from generation to generation. They are an essential part of the fabric of life, an expression of our identity.’ He set down his pen, took off his spectacles and rubbed the bridge of his nose. ‘My hope is to preserve our history and our culture through the written word. Oppressive regimes consider words to be dangerous,’ he said, ‘and they are right. A person with a book in their hand wields more power than the one who holds a gun.’
Through a mist of tears I found the story I was searching for. I held it up for Alexei to look at, and saw that the Tsarina and her daughters had turned from the table to listen. The Tsar himself had set aside his paperwork and was gazing fondly at his son.
‘Here it is,’ I said. ‘Masha and the Bear of the Snowy Mountains.’
Chapter 56
My desperation made me bold. When I found the house I tethered the horse and marched to the gate.
The barrier that had been erected around the garden made it look more like a stockade than a gated building. I realized that they weren’t so
concerned about people breaking out as they were about rescuers breaking in. My stomach cramped with fear. I blotted Nina’s face from my mind for I didn’t want to think what might be happening to her.
The soldier on duty at the gate took the papers and the pass which had belonged to Viktor Ilyich. He began to examine them. Too closely. I turned my head away from the lamp and his direct gaze, and saw that next to the guardhouse his fellows were cooking a meal over a burning brazier.
I said, ‘Are we boiling socks for supper tonight?’
It was an old joke, exchanged between battle-weary soldiers used to existing on short rations in the trenches for days. Not particularly funny, but it was the key to my entry.
‘Where did you serve?’ the guard asked me.
‘The Balkans,’ I said. ‘You?’
‘Galicia.’ He spat on the ground and then pushed open the gate to let me pass. ‘Get this dirty deed over with and rid us of the Romanovs, that we can bring this bloody business to an end tonight.’
I walked slowly to the main entrance to give him time to close the gate. Then I swerved to the side of the house. Dmitri said they were being held in five rooms on the first floor. In the gathering gloom the whitewashed windows stared out like the empty eye-sockets of a skull. A window stood open. I would need a ladder to reach it and there was the chance that I might be seen from the street. In any case, the gap was too small for anyone to climb out. I forced my brain to think only of the next step, avoiding the problem of two people attempting to exit through the guarded gate. I would circle the house and see if there was another way in. I pressed myself flat against the wall and crept on, to be brought up short by a gun poking into my back:
‘Put up your hands and turn round, Stefan Petrovich, or I will kill you where you stand.’
Chapter 57
The window shutter banged.
‘There’s a storm coming,’ I said.
Alexei rose to go to the window. He peered through the narrow opening. ‘There are soldiers coming through the gate.’
‘There are always soldiers,’ the Tsar responded wearily.
‘These are different,’
The Tsarina glanced up from the table. ‘What is different about them, my love?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Alexei. ‘They’re just … different.’
I went to the window and looked down.
The soldiers who were arriving weren’t in the uniform of the house guards. Their clothes, their manner, everything about them was unusual. One of them spotted the kitchen boy. He cuffed him on the ear and sent him scampering out of the gate. Then he stood fiddling with the loading mechanism of his gun. Another was wiping the blade of his bayonet while a third checked and rechecked the ammunition. They sprang to attention as their officer appeared. He spoke to them and then looked directly at our window.
I recognized him. He was the commissar who had shot Dr K. Approaching the house was a Cheka execution squad! I took Alexei’s hand and stepped back. Alerted by my sudden movement, the Tsar raised his head from his papers. I was aware that my breathing was becoming more rapid – a terrible dread had entered my body.
‘You’re holding my hand too tightly, Nina.’
‘I’m so sorry, sweetheart.’ I released my grip and knelt down in front of Alexei. I brushed his hair from his face. ‘I am so, so sorry.’
The door of the room opened. The Cheka commissar stood there. He spoke abruptly to the Tsar. ‘You, your family and your servants are being transferred to a new location. You must all come with me now.’
The Tsar and the Tsarina exchanged glances.
‘Get up and come at once!’
The Tsar rose to his feet. He reached out for his wife and she ran to him. He held her in his arms and kissed her hair.
‘Father Grigory told us what would happen,’ the Tsarina whispered. ‘The holy monk gave clear warning: “Disaster for the Romanovs follows the death of Rasputin.”’
‘My children,’ the Tsar said in a brave, calm voice. ‘We must do what this man says. But’ – he smiled at his wife and children – ‘we will do it together, as a family.’
His daughters linked hands and gathered round their parents. I helped Alexei to his feet.
‘That girl’ – the Tsar pointed to me – ‘was only visiting for an hour.’
‘When I said all of you, I meant all of you.’
‘Nina is not a member of our staff,’ said the Tsarina.
‘Everyone within the household is to travel on to Moscow tonight.’
‘But I live in Yekaterinburg,’ I protested. ‘This is my home.’
‘Do as I say.’ The commissar put his hand on his gun. ‘I will not ask you again.’
Tsar Nicholas hoisted Alexei into his arms. The child’s face was pinched with fear.
‘Alexei,’ I spoke softly. ‘Once again you are higher than everyone else.’
The young Tsarevich looked at me seriously and said, ‘In the stories of Masha and the Bear, does the Bear represent Russia?’
‘I do believe it might,’ I answered him.
‘It is appropriate,’ he said. ‘I am happy with that.’
The Tsarina allowed her husband and son to leave the room first. She too went out and indicated for me to follow her. Behind me came, one after the other, Olga, Tatiana, Maria and, lastly, Anastasia.
Chapter 58
I turned round.
His face had changed: older, harder, but I recognized the man who held the gun.
‘Fyodor?’ I said.
He pointed the muzzle at my stomach. ‘If you move I will fire.’
‘Hey!’ I tried to joke. ‘We both worked in the wards in the Winter Palace. We’ve seen the damage done by a bullet to the stomach. You’d end up having to sew up my intestines.’
‘And no doubt you think you’d do that better than I could,’ said Fyodor. ‘You were always a snob.’
‘My mother was a factory worker. I’ve never denied my origins.’
‘We were all aware that you’re working class. But you escaped to comfort and security before reaching adulthood. It was a false image you projected, for you were too aloof to really care about ordinary people.’
‘Me?’ I said in astonishment. ‘Ever since I qualified as a doctor I’ve worked in the City Hospital of Petrograd caring for ordinary people.’
‘Arrogance!’ He thrust his gun at me. ‘You spoke as though you were doing these people a favour by touching them. The Almighty and Marvellous Stefan Petrovich descending from on high to cure the sick.’
I saw that he despised me and would shoot me dead without further thought. Dispassionately I wondered how long it would take me to bleed out and which organs would fail first. But I had to win him round. ‘I do care about people, Fyodor, but we differ in how we interpret the politics of how to do that.’
‘You once said that you detested the Romanovs and wished them dead.’
‘I admit it – but it was before I witnessed the killings of the battlefields.’ I looked at Fyodor and it dawned on me why he was in Yekaterinburg. ‘You hold a post as Medical Adviser to the Bolsheviks,’ I said. ‘Your loyalty is legendary. Have you been sent here to examine the bodies of the Imperial Family after they have been murdered and check that they are definitely dead?’
‘Not murdered,’ said Fyodor. ‘Executed for treason.’
‘And Nina?’ I asked him. ‘Don’t you care about her?’
‘Of course I care about her. It was I who arranged her escape from the Alexander Palace.’
‘You wrote the letter?’ I asked. And then another thought entered my head. ‘That means you also sent the note to warn Dr K. You are a compassionate man, Fyodor.’
Fyodor didn’t reply. His face had misery etched in every line.
‘I know we argued,’ I went on. ‘I was angry and said things I shouldn’t have. But, Fyodor, may I remind you that it was me who saved you from the Okhrana that famous day, a year ago in February.’
‘Go away then.’
He holstered his gun. ‘There. My debt is paid, but if I see you again I’ll report you or shoot you myself. The White Army are closing in on Yekaterinburg and we’ve orders to kill anyone who tries to rescue the Imperial Family.’
‘Fyodor,’ I said, ‘I’m not here to rescue the Imperial Family. I am here to save the life of Nina.’
‘Nina!’ He stared at me. ‘Nina is in this house?’
‘Weren’t you aware of that?’
‘No!’ He became terribly agitated. ‘No! That cannot be! The Cheka execution squad are already inside with orders that nobody must come out alive.’
‘Help me, Fyodor,’ I begged hm. ‘If not for my sake, then for Nina’s.’
He spoke quickly. ‘The doors are guarded, but the hatch where the winter coal is delivered into the cellar is round the next corner. Go, now!’
Weakness in my limbs meant I had to hold onto the wall as I went past him.
‘I’ll let the soldier on the gate go for his break,’ said Fyodor, ‘and take over myself. I reckon you have about ten minutes. No more.’
I dropped into the hatch and found the door to the house. It opened on to a half-landing. On one side was a staircase going up to the ground floor. On the other side a staircase going down. To the basement.
On tiptoes I inched down the stairs. The door to the basement room was open. Trunks and suitcases were stacked in one corner. They would be led there. The sight of their luggage would reassure them while the execution squad prepared to burst in. There was no escape from that basement room.
I must reach Nina and persuade her to come with me to the half-landing and outside before they assembled the Romanov family.
I got to the top of the staircase and was about to step into the ground-floor hall when, in the corridor, a door opened.
The Rasputin Dagger Page 26
