by Stacy Gregg
“You must stay.” Anna smiled winningly. “If Drakon bolts and I cannot stop him you may have to come and fetch us back from Siberia.”
She was making jokes, but her hands were trembling. All week she had been preparing Drakon for his first time ridden under saddle. She had broken him in herself, starting by simply leaning across the stallion’s back to get him accustomed to the feeling of a rider’s weight. Slowly as the week progressed she had tested him further, putting more weight on him and then throwing one leg all the way across his back; then finally straddling him so that she was sitting upright. Once he accepted her, Anna began to work with the saddle. The first time she girthed it on to Drakon, he had startled and given a buck, but soon he realised the device would not hurt him. By the end of the week, Anna had been able to saddle and sit on him and chat away to Vasily as if it were perfectly natural to be on Drakon’s back.
Vasily had led her within the enclosed yard by the stables, but out by the river they were in the open countryside. There was no telling how the colt would react.
“Take him as far as the woods,” Vasily said, “but keep him to a trot, all right?”
Anna pulled a face. “I thought we wanted to see how fast he could go?”
“Next time maybe,” Vasily said. “This is all new to him. If he gets overexcited and bolts, you will not be able to hold him.”
“All right, we will trot,” Anna promised.
Down by the river, where the wildflowers had been blooming just a few months ago, the threat of the coming snow had turned the ground stark and bare. Soon the fields would be buried beneath white drifts, but today they were perfect for riding.
“Good boy, Drakon,” Anna murmured as Vasily untied his rope. Now her hands on the reins were the only thing holding the stallion back.
“Take him slowly, remember …” Vasily began to advise, but his words were brought to an abrupt stop by a shriek from Anna.
“Sorry!” she called back over her shoulder as Drakon surged forward. “This is his idea!”
The big grey stallion might have been broken in to saddle but no one had explained to him who was in charge. He flung his weight against Anna’s hands as he bowled into a trot. She had to resist the urge to grab at the reins and pull him back. If they got into a tug-of-war then Drakon would easily win. Besides, she wanted him to run, didn’t she?
She could feel the power in the horse beneath her as his strides began to flow, getting faster and more dynamic as he swept across the riverbank. Anna gave a check on the reins but felt no response. Her promise to Vasily had been meaningless. Any minute now the horse would break out of a trot into a canter and then into a gallop. All she could do was hold on.
Drakon’s legs were pumping frantically like pistons, striking out a furious tchok-tchok against the earth. Boris and Igor bounded on alongside him excitedly. Anna kept waiting for Drakon to canter, but miraculously, her stallion did not seem to want to. He kept gaining speed until he appeared to be floating above the ground, his ridiculously long legs flung out in front of him, but he did not break from a trot.
At the curve of the river, Anna rose up in her stirrups and leant down low over his neck, her heart pounding as she urged him to even greater speed. She was no longer trying to rise and sit with the trot: Drakon’s strides had become so massive and bouncy that no rider could possibly keep up with their rhythm. And still Drakon kept the pace, striding onwards relentlessly towards the forest.
He was still full of running when they reached the trees, and she sensed at that moment that he could have gone on like this forever. A part of Anna wanted that too, to keep going into the woods, just her, Drakon, Boris and Igor. They would disappear together into the trees and never return to Khrenovsky.
If it had not been for the winter chill in the shadows of the firs that made her shiver, then perhaps Anna would have considered it. The icy air brought her back to reality and she pulled hard on the reins. At last Drakon listened to her, slowing his stride. From a trot to a walk, he came back to her and Anna gave him a firm pat on his sleek, dapple-grey neck. Then, telling him he was a good boy, she turned him round and let the reins hang loose to cool him down on the homeward journey. The stallion gave triumphant snorts, his nostrils flared wide, breath coming like a dragon’s with a hiss and rumble of air.
“Wasn’t he amazing?” she called out to Vasily as the groom ran along the riverbank to meet them.
Vasily shook his head in disbelief. “He trots faster than most horses can gallop! I have never seen such speed.”
“I know!” Anna laughed. “I told you we would trot, didn’t I?”
As she loosed Drakon in his stall that night and gave him his feed, Anna was practically dancing with delight. The other horses in the stables put their heads over the doors and nickered their greetings to Drakon.
“Do you hear them calling you?” Anna whispered to her horse. “Shall we tell your friends in the other stalls about how you ran today? Tell them how fast you are?”
Drakon gave his mane a shake as if he were embarrassed by her praise. Anna flung her arms round his neck, holding him tight.
“Wait until my father sees you run like that,” she murmured. “He will be so glad that I saved you. He will change his mind about you. He will change his mind about both of us …”
On the road back up to the palace that evening, Anna was in such a good mood that even the sight of Ivan, waiting impatiently for her on the palace steps, could not upset her.
Most days she did her best to avoid her brother. In such a large palace it was not hard to put distance between them, especially when she spent so much time at the stables or out in the grounds with Boris and Igor. Right now though avoidance was impossible. She gave her brother a weak smile as he towered over her – Ivan had grown considerably since his father’s absence. “Hello, Brother.”
“Hello, little sister,” Ivan’s grin was dark and nasty. “I have been growing very cold standing here waiting for you.”
Anna tried not to glare at him. “Why were you waiting?”
“Do not be alarmed!” Ivan said. “I only wanted to give you a compliment. I wanted to tell you how nicely you ride.”
Anna felt her heart stutter. “You saw me?”
“I was hunting pheasant down by the river,” Ivan replied, as if she hadn’t spoken. “And I looked up and there you were, mounted on a grey horse that I had never seen before. Is he new to the stables?”
Anna could not resist the pride swelling in her heart. “Ivan, that horse is the son of Smetanka! He is the finest horse in all of Russia!”
Ivan’s mouth twisted in delight, and his grin became menacing. “Little sister, tsk tsk, what secrets you keep! So you have the son of Smetanka at the stables. And I’m guessing you have kept him alive against our father’s orders? Oh, little sister, he’s going to be furious when I tell him. He still hasn’t forgiven you for killing his prize Arab, you know. Once he finds out that you kept Smetanka’s ugly, useless offspring alive he will see to it that your horse is as dead as its sire!”
“You’re a beast!” Anna spat the words at him. “You are the most heartless and cruel person I have ever met!”
“And you are far too sensitive,” Ivan replied coolly. “But then you always were. I expect you will sob like a baby when father slits its throat …”
Anna flung herself at her brother, fists pounding at Ivan’s chest until he shoved her away from him.
“Such a tantrum!” Ivan laughed at his sister. “I think I need to teach you a lesson …”
He grabbed her by the arm.
“Niet!” Anna cried. “Stop it! You’re hurting me!”
She felt the blood rush to her face as her arm twisted up hard behind her back. She was struggling against Ivan, yelling at him to stop, in vain. And then, she saw the blur of orange-and-black fur streaking across the palace steps.
A tiger’s roar at close range is the most terrifying thing you will ever hear. Even Anna could not help but tremble
at the sound. She saw her tiger leap to protect her from the boy who had once so viciously ripped out his whiskers. The young man who was now tormenting his mistress.
Ivan did not see Boris until the tiger was upon him. Dashed to the ground beneath the enormous weight of the big cat he released Anna instantly, and let out a blood-chilling scream. Anna, face down on the ground, turned over to see Boris straddling Ivan, crushing the boy beneath him. And then, with a growl of fury, the tiger lifted his mighty paw and struck the blow that changed their fates forever.
CHAPTER 9
The Madness of Ivan
Anna poked her head round the corner of Ivan’s bedroom door.
“Can I come in?” she asked cautiously.
Ivan was sitting up in bed. He did not reply, but she entered his room anyway, tentatively walking to his bedside and sitting down in the nearby chair.
“I wanted to see how you were feeling, Brother,” she said quietly.
“You mean you want to see what he did to me?” Ivan snarled. He turned his face round so that the right cheek was exposed. Anna could see a deep crimson incision that ran from temple to chin.
“Go on! Take a good look!”
Anna winced and turned away. “Ivan, I’m so sorry.”
“Hah!” Ivan sneered. “You’re not sorry yet. But you will be.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I mean I am ordering the serfs to have your tiger shot,” Ivan said.
“Oh, please, Ivan, don’t!” Anna felt her pulse racing. “He only attacked because he thought you were threatening me. He is very protective of me.”
“Is he?” Ivan sneered. “Well, you will need to find a new protector. The tiger must be destroyed!”
“For goodness’ sake, he only scratched you, Ivan! He could have killed you but he didn’t!”
Ivan’s face grew purple with rage.
For although the tiger had claws powerful enough to kill, the cut he had made was only skin deep. Boris had held back; he had only scratched Ivan to warn him away from hurting his mistress. All the same, it had been enough to cause Ivan to scream like a baby. When the housekeepers who had gathered at the commotion began to beat the tiger with brooms, Boris gave another roar of fury, as if to say, “Leave me alone! He started it!” Then he leapt off the young man and bounded away, heading out through the gardens, past animals screeching wildly in their gilded cages as he ran by.
On the palace steps, the housekeepers shouted at each other as they scrambled to help the young Lord Orlov.
“Give him room to breathe!” Katia pushed them all away. Ivan was still screaming, his hands clutching at his face. Anna saw Katia’s look of horror, and then she heard the head housemaid exclaim under her breath. Two words, spoken in French, which Anna had heard many times before.
“Le Balafre.”
***
Anna ran down the wide corridors of the palace to her bedroom. From her wardrobe she pulled out her thick silver fur coat, fur hat and fur-lined boots and hurriedly got dressed. Then she ran through the corridors once more and headed out across the front steps and down the long winding driveway that led to the stables.
“What are you doing, Lady Anna?” Vasily asked when he found her in Drakon’s stall, saddling up the grey stallion.
“I have to go,” Anna told him. “Ivan is going to have Boris killed! I have to make sure that he gets as far away from the palace as possible!”
“Where will you go?”
“The forests of the taiga,” Anna replied.
“It is too dangerous! There are tigers and all manner of wild creatures out there.” Vasily looked worried.
“And that is the point!” Anna said as she put her foot in the stirrup and leapt up on to Drakon’s back. “It is time for Boris to go home.”
***
It was snowing. The flakes fell lightly at first, tiny stars shimmering like crystals on the collar of her fur coat, tingling against the warm skin of her cheeks. As Anna reached the great gates that led out of the Khrenovsky estate, without a sound Boris fell in step with her stallion.
Igor panted alongside them. Anna had tried to stop the borzoi from joining the expedition; had entreated him to go back home, but Igor was not about to be left out from an adventure. He could not have known how this fateful journey was going to end. Or perhaps he did know – because strangely that day, instead of racing ahead and circling back again, the hound stayed close to Anna, Drakon and Boris the whole time, trotting along next to the tiger, as if he knew that this would be their last journey together.
In the grey skies above, the hooded crows circled, following the curious party: girl, horse, hound and tiger. Anna imagined the world from their lofty perspective, looking down at the three indistinct specks making their way doggedly across the white terrain. The taiga stretched out ahead of them. Only a few fir trees dotted the horizon – the world out here was a bleak wasteland.
“Come on.” Anna coaxed Drakon into a trot. “We need to get moving. Ivan will soon realise that we are gone and he will send a hunting party after us. We need to make speed, Drakon. We must get Boris to safety.”
It was not just Boris that she feared for. Her father was due back home within the month and when he knew that she had kept Smetanka’s colt alive against his will, then Drakon’s life would be in danger too. Anna had briefly considered letting the stallion go free along with the tiger, but in her heart she knew that Drakon could not possibly survive out here alone. Even though he was hardier than his father, Smetanka, being let loose in the wild in the middle of winter would kill him. That was if the timber wolves didn’t get him first. Anna shuddered to think of the dead-eyed, baleful predators that stalked through the woods. No, her horse would have to come back with her to the Khrenovsky estate. They would have to take their chances and face Count Orlov together. This last journey across the taiga was for Boris alone.
As Drakon’s trot became faster and faster, Boris began to lope in a graceful stride to keep pace and Anna felt her heart break. It had always been one of her greatest joys to watch the beautiful tiger’s stripes rippling in motion, vibrating with the raw energy of his muscles undulating beneath the fur.
She felt her breath choke in her chest as she thought about never seeing him again. Yet the last thing Boris needed was for her to cry like a baby. Anna wiped the tears roughly from her frozen cheeks and rode on. She could not change the past. There was nothing to do except keep riding into the vast wasteland that lay beyond the estate.
It seemed like they had been riding forever. Drakon maintained his rhythm but Anna could see that the borzoi was struggling to keep pace with the stallion. Boris was tiring too, but still she drove her horse on. They desperately needed to get a head start on Ivan’s men and run far enough away to make it impossible for them to track the tiger.
When the forest rose up before them, Anna knew that they had done it. The pawprints that they had left behind them in the white powder would be all but erased by the falling snow in an hour or two. And now that they were in the trees it would be impossible for the hunting party to find an animal as skilled at camouflage as Boris was. They could stop running now.
And yet Anna didn’t stop. Because if she halted Drakon and brought their journey to an end then this was really happening. If they stopped she would have to say goodbye.
“Just a little further,” she told her horse. “We should take Boris deep into the forest and then we will know he is safe.”
Finally, as the skies darkened, she found herself deep within the gloomy wood and an open glade appeared before her, a barren circle in the midst of the thick woods that was clear of trees. Here, the snow had not yet smothered the mossy ground completely, and there were still pockets of verdant green showing through the patches of winter drift. Anna dismounted and stood in the eerie silence of the forest. There were no bird cries here, only the whisper of the snow falling on the boughs, and the growling purr of the big cat standing resolutely at her side.
&
nbsp; Anna dropped to her knees and put her face right up in front of Boris. His jaws were open wide as he panted. He was exhausted. They had run as far as they could.
“So,” she said softly. “We have come far enough, I hope. It is time, Boris.”
The tiger, still growling his big cat purr, shut his amber eyes and Anna did the same. She could feel his warm kitteny breath on her face. She leant forward and she kissed the tip of his pink nose.
“Borenka.” Her eyes shone with tears. “You know that I love you. So you must know that I do not do this because I want to. It is because I have to. My brother Ivan will kill you if he finds you. This is the only way to keep you safe.”
The tiger looked at her, still purring, and at that moment she felt as if he were saying: “It’s all right, I understand.”
“You will be fine.” Anna was trying to reassure her tiger and also herself. “I know it. Your parents Veronika and Valery, they were wild once. Now I am returning you to the forests that they came from. This is your true home, Boris. Not some gilt palace with a borzoi and a horse for friends. Here, you will meet a tiger mate, you will have cubs of your own. You will hunt and run and grow old and live a real life.”
There were tears running down Anna’s cheeks and her voice was trembling.
“I am setting you free, Borenka. Igor and Drakon and me, we are going back to Khrenovsky, but you alone, you must stay. Can you do that for me?”
The tiger’s purr changed to a disgruntled growl and Anna’s heart broke just that little bit more. “Boris, please!”
The tiger growled again, but this time he lay down. His great head rested in resignation on his front paws, and his tail, normally so twitchy and busy, was completely still. He understood. He would stay.
Anna dashed the tears from her eyes once more and mounted Drakon. The horse whinnied in disagreement, but Anna was firm with him and turned him back towards the estate. Igor whimpered and dragged his heels, but he did not disobey. The wolfhound fell in beside Drakon and walked slowly by the grey stallion with his head hanging low. Anna bit her lip, fighting back yet more tears. And then, unable to resist the urge, she looked back over her shoulder to have one last glimpse of the tiger that she so dearly loved.
