Art grabbed the other trooper by his collar. “Why did you do that? She was a member of ROG, goddamn it!”
The Council trooper pushed him away with his now bloody baton. “Shut up, Art. She’s a traitor and she protected sinners. She got what was coming to her and her kind.”
Art fumed as he knelt down beside Alice. She was barely conscious and coughing up blood. “Goddamn you! She was a woman! You just smashed her face in!”
The other guy merely shrugged as he walked past him to look for more people to beat on. “We’re here to do our job, God will sort out the rest.”
15. The Raven
Siberia
Since the crisis began, a strange weather pattern had developed all over Eastern Europe. Even though the fall season had barely started, the entire region was now only experiencing an average of three to four hours of daylight. It was as if the gods had somehow shifted the orbit of the Earth so that most of the day was now spent in either a gloom-filled twilight, or in the blackest of nights.
Ilya Volkhov crept out of his hiding place near the abandoned factory building as he squinted at the dying rays of the sun on his face. He had been on the run since yesterday afternoon. The night before, Private Anosov was able to smuggle him out of the military compound just a few miles away. There were a few times his pursuers had gotten close to him, but in the end he saw a team of four Spetsnaz commandos just walk past his hiding place. The soldiers were from the elite Alpha Group section and they even had a sniffer dog with them, but Ilya foiled the animal’s scent by using a small container of black pepper to help cover his tracks. Anosov had given him the pepper shaker just before they had parted from the base perimeter and told him that he needed to use it against the dogs.
For a lowly private, he seemed pretty clever, Ilya thought as he just sat there near the rubble. The sun on his face was a blessed welcome, but he was just biding time until nightfall so he could rendezvous with Anosov at the address he had been given. As he silently observed the deserted, snow-filled streets from his vantage point, Ilya marveled at how quiet the city had now become. There was a time when all the children in the orphanage went out to see the museums around Novosibirsk and they encountered so many feral dogs; there were packs of strays on the loose all over the city back then. The boy had heard from his guards that all the dogs in the city had pretty much been rounded up and used for food, now that the convoys from Moscow had gotten less frequent. The situation became so acute, they said that not even pets were safe anymore. Ilya knew he was running out of time if he was going to fulfill his pledge to free his country from the clutches of the black god. If he didn’t act against Chernobog soon, there wouldn’t be any people left to save.
Ilya bit his lip as he thought about what to do next. Even though Private Anosov gave him an address to an old house where he could hole up in, he could not stay in there forever. He needed a plan to find out where Tara was and to try and rescue her. A goddess that he had met in the Otherworld had told him that he would need allies if he was to take on Chernobog, but the only friend he knew was Tara. If he was going to save Russia then he would need to get her back, but how?
That was when he thought about Tara’s talking dog. It looked like nothing more than a little puppy even though it was fully grown. There was a growing doubt inside of him that felt that perhaps the dog was killed when they were abducted by the soldiers. If the dog was indeed dead, then how could he possibly make it back into the Otherworld, much less find Tara?
Ilya immediately turned and looked up when he heard a cawing noise out in the distance. Perched up on a broken lamppost about a half a mile away was a raven. It continued to caw for a bit before ruffling its feathers and then flew off. Ilya smiled. It was a raven that had somehow made it into the broken window of the supply room that had saved him the night before. Although he had been taught in school that ravens were bringers of bad luck, it seemed that every one of his recent encounters with those black birds had been doubly fortunate. The boy hoped that this latest encounter would bring him even more good fortune.
When the sun finally disappeared over the murky horizon and a twilight dusk settled onto the city once more, Ilya checked and made sure the street was deserted before making his way across. He had already crossed the bridge past the river and based on the handwritten map Private Anosov had given him, it looked like he was no more than a few blocks away from the rendezvous point.
Ilya noticed that a few houses in the block of nearby buildings still had people in them as he saw the faint, flickering candle lights from their windows. A few small chimneys still belched grayish smoke as the surviving people of the city were doing their best to stay alive. The boy moved deliberately as he sprinted from one cover to the next, making sure that the occasional car wouldn’t notice him as he kept hiding in corners and alleyways.
His winter boots were muddy and starting to crack as he had been using them relentlessly for some time now. The fact that they were hand me downs from an older boy in the orphanage meant that they were old and he would need a new pair soon.
As he got close to his destination, Ilya noticed that it looked like a medium-sized factory building near the outskirts of a frozen park. There was a two-story building in the center and was connected to what looked like a pair of office bungalows. The main building had wooden sliding doors and it looked like a cross between a garage and a barn. As the boy moved closer, he noticed that there was some faint yellow light coming from the inside. A small chimney on the wooden roof gushed out a column of smoke.
The sliding door was ajar so he crept closer and peered inside. The floor within was concrete and there was a large crack that ran in the middle of it. At the far end of the hall was an old, rusting tractor. Near the side was an aged masonry stove with a fire burning in it. The tall stove radiated a comfortable heat that warmed Ilya’s cheeks as he stared into the high-ceiling garage. As he continued to observe while crouching down near the edge of the entrance, Ilya noticed an old, heavy-set woman, bundled up in winter clothing, step out from a side door and walked over to the oven carrying two bowls.
Ilya hadn’t eaten for almost a day and his stomach growled as he smelled the aroma of cooking coming from the inside. Since there didn’t seem to be any soldiers about and this was the address that Private Anasov gave him, Ilya decided to reveal himself as he pushed at the door to widen its aperture so that he could step inside.
The old woman noticed him almost immediately but didn’t betray a hint of emotion as he moved closer to the warmth of the stove. All she did was glance at him briefly before taking the lid of a pot sitting near the edge of the oven and using a ladle to stir its contents.
“Hello, I’m Ilya,” the boy said as he stood a few feet away from the old woman. “My friend, Private Anosov, told me to come here.”
The old woman had thick flushed cheeks behind an embroidered headscarf as she merely gestured at a wooden chair beside a nearby table. Ilya just stood there for a time but then he sighed and finally sat down. The old woman placed a bowl of steaming potato and cabbage soup in front of him along with a slice of thick bread.
“Thank you,” Ilya said as a spoon was placed beside him so he picked it up and started eating. The hearty soup warmed his trembling body and sent a cascading sense of comfort that relaxed him. As he put the spoon down on the empty bowl, Ilya nearly burped out loud but he was able to place his hand over his mouth to stifle it. The old woman’s stone-faced expression hardly changed at all as she placed a steaming mug of hot tea on the table and then took the bowl away.
As the boy started to sip the tea, there was a screeching noise that came from behind, surprising him. He instantly stood up and turned around. A middle aged man wearing a thick winter coat had gone through the entrance and then closed it again. He wore an ushanka, the traditional fur cap that had long ear flaps that he took off, revealing a bald head with wisps of grey hair on the sides of his scalp. The man smiled at Ilya as he held up a gloved hand in a gesture of pea
ce. His face was gaunt and crisscrossed with wrinkles.
Ilya said nothing as he tensed up and got ready to run.
The man’s smile widened into a buck-toothed grin. “You are the boy that my son said was coming here, yes?”
Ilya’s brow was furrowed. “Your son? Who is your son?”
“Dmitri Anosov,” the man said. “He is a private in the Forty-first Army here.”
Ilya let out a sigh of relief. “Private Anosov? You are his father?”
The old man nodded. “Yes, I am Yuri. And you must be Ilya. Dmitri has told me a lot about you.”
Ilya walked up to the old man and shook his hand. “I would like to thank you for your hospitality. I’m sure you know that I am on the run from the military.”
“Yes, Dmitri told me as much and to prepare for your arrival,” Yuri said as he walked over to where the table was. “Come and sit by the fire.”
As Ilya sat down and finished his tea, the old woman served a second bowl of soup to Yuri. The old man placed his hat on the side of the table and looked at the boy closely as he started to eat. Even though he seemed agitated, Ilya was clearly exhausted as Yuri could see that the boy could barely keep his eyes open. The old woman had gone into one of the side doors and disappeared from sight.
The boy looked at the old man as he ate his meal. “What did your son tell you about me?”
Yuri bit off a piece of bread and swallowed it before spooning more soup in his mouth. “Nothing much, he simply told us that you were a very special boy. When I asked him why the authorities were keeping you prisoner, he simply stated that there was a rumor going around that you had somehow been to another world. A magical world, that is. And he said that you may hold the key to what is happening all over the country. Is that true?”
“I know things,” Ilya said softly. “The weather is being controlled by Chernobog. He has my mother prisoner and I must rescue her.”
Yuri nodded. “Ah, so that is what has happened. This is just like one of our folk tales, except that instead of a fair maiden on an adventure, it is a boy of about twelve that will be saving the day.”
“I’m ten.”
Yuri laughed. “Oh, I’m so sorry, remembering my own son as a boy was a long time ago, and so I am not very good at determining children’s ages anymore. So tell me, boy, how are you going to save us against this god?”
“I’m not sure yet. I need the help of my friends.”
“And who are these friends of yours?”
“One of them is a girl, an American, slightly older than me. The other is a talking dog. Though I don’t think he really is a dog, but some sort of god.”
“So you know of two gods already, that is remarkable.”
“I’ve met two other gods while journeying into this Otherworld,” the boy said. “I need the talking dog to bring me back there and then I will need to rescue my American friend.”
Yuri arched his left eyebrow. “Rescue? Has she been abducted by Chernobog too?”
Ilya shook his head. “I don’t think so. She was abducted by someone else, perhaps. But I know this dog can help me find her. All I need to do now is find the dog.”
Yuri laughed. “You will have a hard time looking for dogs in this city right now! The people have been starving and the last street dog disappeared weeks ago. I have heard that many folks have even eaten their own pets.”
“But this dog has a power. I doubt he would be eaten because it was no ordinary animal.”
“Perhaps you are right. What does this dog look like?”
“A very little dog. Like a puppy, except that it is fully grown. Not much fur on its coat and it has very big ears. It was like one of those toy dogs that rich women carry around.”
“Not much meat in a little toy dog like that,” Yuri said as he finished off the last of his soup. “I can ask around but I doubt anyone would have seen it. If it doesn’t have a thick coat of fur, it might have died from the cold already.”
Ilya looked down. “I hope not. But I also think that because it is a god, it won’t be harmed by the cold.”
As soon as the boy said those words, there was a sound of a vehicle that stopped in front of the garage. Ilya instantly stood up while Yuri turned around and headed for the door. The boy slowly backed away towards where the oven was. Yuri opened a small viewing latch on the door before unlocking it and pushing it sideways. A large, heavyset man with a dark crew cut and black coat instantly stepped through the opened door. The man looked younger than Yuri and his clothes seemed to be made of better materials. Ilya could see an old van parked at the front from the opened doorway.
The boy stayed where he was when he saw the two men whisper to each other. The other man then walked over to where the table was. Just as Yuri was about to close the door, a black raven flew through the opening and flapped around the top of the ceiling for a short while before landing on top of the old tractor at the far end of the room.
“Looks like that bird was attracted to the warmth of the oven,” Yuri said as he locked the bolt of the door into place. “I will probably catch it later. We haven’t had much meat here in the past two weeks.”
The other man looked up at the bird. “An old crow like that would taste horrible.”
Yuri smiled as he walked back towards the table. “It’s a raven. I’ve eaten a few of them before. If this winter keeps up, I may very well need the meat.”
Ilya’s curiosity won over his caution. “How can you tell the difference between a crow and a raven?”
Yuri sat back down on his chair. “Ravens have larger beaks, and they are curved. They also have pointed wings and a wedge-shaped tail. Crows are smaller birds with blunt wings and the caws they make have a higher pitch. I have lived near these woods for over fifty years and I can tell which bird is which just by a glance.”
The other man kept standing as he looked at the boy. “You must be Ilya. I am Leonid. You asked for help, yes?”
Ilya nodded. “I just need some information and maybe a safe place away from the soldiers that are looking for me.”
Yuri held up his arms. “You are safe here, lad. Nobody comes to this area. As far as the dog, you can tell Leonid all about it.”
Ilya sat down beside the table and repeated what he had told Yuri a few minutes before. Leonid seemed to take it in slowly, but the boy was glad that they were taking his claims seriously.
After a few minutes of silence, Leonid looked up and stared at the boy. “I have a network of people around here. We could get you to Moscow so you could talk to my friends there.”
Ilya frowned. “Why would I need to go to Moscow for?”
Without warning, Yuri reached over and grabbed the boy’s wrist, pinning his right arm to the table. The boy cried out and tried to slip away but Leonid quickly moved over to where he was and held onto his shoulders.
Ilya struggled but the two grown men were too strong for him. “Hey! Let me go!”
Yuri just smiled as he kept a tight grip on the boy’s arm. “Looks like we finally caught the other one. Will your superiors be pleased?”
“Very pleased,” Leonid laughed. “Moscow told me that the Temple would pay a very high price for this boy. I don’t know why, but he is important to them.”
Ilya shrieked. “Let me go! Who are you people?”
Leonid kept on giggling. “Stop struggling, boy. You said you wanted to see your American friend, yes? Well, we will be bringing you to the people that have her. So that means that we are indeed helping you after all.”
Ilya looked up at him. He was betrayed by everyone. “So you were the ones who took her then? You are a traitor! Let go of me, you dick!”
Leonid used the back of his hand and hit the boy across his face. The force of the blow sent Ilya sprawling to the ground. For a brief moment, the boy’s head spun and he saw nothing but bright flashes in front of him. Then the pain sent him reeling on the dusty floor.
“Watch your tongue, you little shit,” Leonid said.
&nbs
p; Yuri crouched down and helped the boy back up on his feet. “Leonid, you’re not suppose to hurt the boy like that. The Temple said that he must not be harmed. They could give us less money and food if he is not in one piece.”
Leonid pointed a stubby finger at the boy. “Do not test me, lad. I have killed men three times your size.”
“You won’t be doing anymore beating today, that’s for sure,” a voice from across the room said.
Yuri and Leonid instantly turned around. All along the sides of the garage stood two dozen men in full battle gear. Most of them were carrying AS Val automatic rifles that were equipped with integrated suppressors. A few others had AN-94 assault rifles while one of them carried a Saiga-12 automatic shotgun. All of them wore black helmets and hoods.
As the three of them just stood there, two of the heavily armed men pushed open the door to the outside. A man with a chiseled jaw wearing identical battle gear stepped inside but he wore a beret instead of a ballistic helmet on his head. The man with the beret wasn’t carrying a rifle, but he had a GSh-18 pistol strapped to his side holster.
Yuri instantly had his hands up as he backed away from the other two. “W-Who are you people?”
The man with the beret stepped forward but stayed away from melee range. “I am Major Andrei Zorin. We too have been looking for that boy.”
Leonid grimaced as he held onto the boy and kept Ilya close to his body. “You can have this boy but you need to let me go!”
Major Zorin looked at him coldly. “You are surrounded. I may yet decide to let you live if you back away from the child. Do it now.”
Yuri fell down on his knees as he began to crawl towards the major. “Please, don’t shoot! It was him! It was Leonid who put me up to this! My son, he is in the army too!”
“We know all about your son,” Major Zorin said. “I’m sorry, but he died while being interrogated.”
Canticum Tenebris (Wrath of the Old Gods Book 2) Page 19
