The Dreaming Land I: The Challenge (The Zemnian Series Book 5)

by E. P. Clark

  “No…well, one time she brought two men…but they weren’t ours, they were foreign.”

  “Do you know their names? Where they were from? How your daughter became acquainted with them?”

  She shook her head again. “You must…you must think me a terrible wool-head, Valeriya Dariyevna, but I’m afraid…I’m afraid it’s all a blur to me now. I remember…I remember when Nastya was my little girl, but what she became afterwards, and what happened to her…it’s all just chips and splinters to me, like it’s all been smashed and I can’t put it back together.”

  “That’s to be expected,” I said gently. “I thank you for your help, Olesya Annovna, and I am sorry, so sorry, for your loss. Where might I find Dunya right now?”

  “In the kitchens,” she said faintly, so I set down my plate and, following her pointing finger, when in search of the kitchens and Dunya.

  ***

  I did indeed find Dunya in the kitchens, where she was directing the other servants on the distribution of breakfast to our large company.

  “Avdotya Raisovna,” I said, once she had sent the others off with their trays of food. “May I trouble you for a moment?”

  “Of course…I hope Sasha was of use to you last night, noblewoman.”

  “She was extremely helpful,” I assured her. “But now I have a few questions for you, if you will.”

  “Of course, noblewoman,” she said, but her face and her voice were guarded.

  “The man who brought the news of Anastasiya Olesyevna’s death—do you remember him?”

  “Of course, noblewoman,” she said, sounding surprised and relieved.

  “Do you know who he was? What his name was, where he was from?”

  She frowned. “He was from the black earth district, noblewoman, of that I’m sure.”

  “Yes, everyone seems to be in agreement about that. But who was he, exactly?”

  She frowned some more. “I know it sounds silly, noblewoman, but we were all in such a state over the news of Anastasiya Olesyevna’s death…we weren’t as attentive as we ought to have been, and it’s as if everything that happened then was in a fog…”

  “I’m sure. But surely he gave his name to someone.”

  “Yes, of course…Ruslan…I think his name was Ruslan, noblewoman.”

  “And his matronymic?”

  “Mariyevich…no, Marusyevich…no…Marislavovich. Ruslan Marislavovich, noblewoman. I’m sure of it.”

  “Do you think that was his real name, Avdotya Raisovna?”

  She shrugged. “That I can’t say, noblewoman, but I remember now that when I pressed him for his name, he introduced himself as Ruslan Marislavovich. I remember because that’s my third-brother’s name.”

  “And his family? Did he say anything about his family?”

  “Not that I remember, noblewoman, except…” she paused, screwed up her face in concentration, and then continued, “we asked him if he needed to borrow a horse for his ride home, and he said no, he didn’t have far to go, he would be home by the next day. So he must make his home somewhere within two days’ ride from here.”

  “What’s two days’ ride from here?”

  “No big towns, noblewoman. The only big town nearby is Srednerechye, and that’s at least three or four days’ ride from here, more if you’re in a cart, not on horseback. But two days’ ride on one horse—Malorucheyevo, Sredrucheyevo, Maloroshchevo…and others, no doubt, noblewoman. We’ve no shortage of little villages around here, noblewoman.”

  “Very well,” I said. “How many are we likely to encounter if we carry on down the Eastern road?”

  “Several, noblewoman. Sredrucheyevo and Maloroshchevo for sure, and all the other little roadside settlements.”

  “Well, we’ll just have to stop and ask and hope for a stroke of luck,” I said. “Is there anything else you can tell me about him or about Anastasiya Olesyevna?”

  But Avdotya Raisovna shook her head, and I had to content myself with what she had already given me, which, while it raised more questions than it answered, was still considerably more knowledge than I had had this time yesterday, so I told her to make sure the others were ready to leave soon, and went off to the stables to check on our horses.

  ***

  The horses all seemed fine, so I groomed and saddled Zlata and ordered the others to be readied for departure, and then went to find the rest of my party. They were all up and fed, and so I told them to meet me in the stables shortly, and went off in search of Olesya Annovna.

  I found her in the room in which I had spent the night, contemplating the packet of her daughter’s ledgers as if it contained poison, which from her perspective, it did.

  “I’m glad I found you,” I said, startling her and making her jump away from the desk with the packet. “I’m planning to set off soon, but I wanted to ask you a favor first.”

  “Of course, Valeriya Dariyevna,” she said in a subdued voice.

  “I would like to take the packet with me.” She opened her mouth as if to object, so I raised my hand to silence her and carried on quickly, “I know it is probably the last thing you received from her, and for that reason it is precious to you, but…do you understand what she wrote in it?”

  “I…” She swallowed. “I’m not sure, Valeriya Dariyevna.”

  “It’s probably best. If what I have guessed is true…Olesya Annovna, I know these things hold value to you as mementos of your daughter, but they hold memories of her you would be best off not having. Choose something else, something from when she was innocent and beloved, and let me take this away from you, as if it had never been.” Seeing that she was still hesitant, I added, “There is nothing in there that can hurt her worse than she has already been hurt, and there may be information that will lead me and the Tsarina’s justice to those who were responsible for her death, and everything that took her…down that dark path that led her to it.”

  “Truly, Valeriya Dariyevna? You think so?”

  “I do,” I said, with all the conviction I could muster. “Olesya Annovna—your daughter was a young woman who wanted to make her way in the world, and she got caught up in something much bigger and more dreadful than she could have guessed. However she may have been…however she may have been complicit in it, I am convinced that she was also the victim of people much more ruthless than she, people who have no qualms about tearing a daughter from her mother and ruining both their lives. But these records…they might lead me to these people, and perhaps help me stop them. And if that happens, then you will have helped avenge your daughter’s death, and stopped other mothers from suffering what you have suffered.”

  “I want…” She looked away. “Justice seems a feeble thing, when you’ve lost a child, Valeriya Dariyevna. I want vengeance. Our laws…our laws have grown gentle of late. How can I be sure…” she looked up at me, her eyes fixed on mine, “how can I be sure that even if these people are caught, I will have vengeance?”

  “Because, Olesya Annovna, the last time I caught such people, I beheaded two of them with my own hands.”

  “Really!?” Shock filled her face, followed by respect. The sight of it made me feel slightly sick. “You did?”

  “They threatened my daughter,” I told her, pushing down the sickness and saying what I knew she needed to hear. “And I thought that they meant it. So…I made sure their threats had no weight. I made sure it wouldn’t happen. I make no promises that I will do the same again, Olesya Annovna—the Tsarina wants the perpetrators of this vile trade brought before her for judgment, and I want them thoroughly questioned, to make sure that every strand of it is rooted out. But you have my word that I will do everything in my power, and everything that the Imperial name has the power to command, to put a stop to this. I know that may be cold comfort to you, but it will be everything to the mothers of those who in the future will not be taken, not be killed, not be sold into degrading servitude to foreigners, because of what we do now. What you do now, Olesya Annovna.”

 
“Oh…” she said, and then snatched up the packet off the table and shoved it into my hands. “Take it. I never want to see it again anyway. Take it, and use it to find my daughter’s…to find the people who took my daughter from me and made her no longer mine, long before she was killed. Take it and bring them to justice, or if that won’t serve, promise me, Valeriya Dariyevna, promise me that you will bring them to vengeance!”

  “I promise,” I told her. “They will rue the day they decided to use your daughter for their own ends, Olesya Annovna, of that I swear. And when they are found and sentenced, I will send word to you of it myself.”

  “May the gods be with you, Valeriya Dariyevna,” said Olesya Annovna, and then rushed off, probably to hide the tears that were standing out in her eyes.

  ***

  I had been half-tempted to turn back or split us up in order to search all the settlements in all directions for this Ruslan Marislavovich, but in the end I decided to keep us together and keep heading East, towards the steppe and the mountains. We still had a good chance of finding Ruslan Marislavovich’s home village that way, and if we didn’t and we still needed him, we could always search on the way back, after we’d exhausted our other options. His trail was unlikely to grow any colder over the next couple of months than it already had. So we all rode off down the Eastern road, with no one else any the wiser that they had almost been sent off in completely the other direction.

  I did, however, tell them that we would be stopping at every settlement and asking about him and about Aleftina Vasilisovna. Everyone pricked up their ears at this, and Aksinya Olgovna asked, “New information, then, Valeriya Dariyevna?”

  “Yes,” I told them. “It seems our hostess’s daughter may have been involved with the people we are looking for.”

  Everyone stared at me in shock, and several of them swore.

  “Where’s she now, then, Valeriya Dariyevna?” asked Aksinya Olgovna. “Not too far away, I hope.”

  “Dead. Which is why her mother was willing to help us. She gave me information, including her daughter’s notes. It seems very likely they were taking children in Seumi and here in Zem’, and selling them beyond the mountains, just as we thought. And it looks as if the black earth district and the coast are up to their necks in it.”

  “Pristanogradskoye would never..!” cried Alzhbetka indignantly, while Ivan looked sick. They both had been standing very close to each other, I couldn’t help but notice, and glanced hastily at each other at the news, as if wanting to ascertain each other’s opinion of my story. They’d been sitting together at meals too, and often been riding together…I hadn’t done anything about it, since I had been riding half the time with Aksinya Olgovna in order to discuss our plans, and Ivan had to ride somewhere, and anyway I had deliberately not ridden with him even when I had the chance, sensing that he would find it embarrassing to be publicly linked with me like that, but perhaps that had been a grave tactical error on my part. He had been puzzled and even a little hurt by my withdrawal, I had known that ever since we had set off, and yet I hadn’t done anything about it, so caught up had I been in finding and following the slavers’ trail, and I had also arrogantly thought that avoiding him might inflame his ardor for me more, especially after our ride together in Krasnograd…and it had, I was sure of that, at least at first, but perhaps I had taken it too far in my thoughtlessness and distraction…I tried not to stare at Alzhbetka as I thought of what a good match she would be for Ivan…Princess Velikokrasnova would probably have no objections to her; in fact, if Pristanogradskoye were part of the same plot as the black earth district, Princess Velikokrasnova and Princess Pristanogradskoye would probably be delighted to forge an alliance and keep their two obstreperous offspring under control…although such a plan could just as easily go against them; Alzhbetka, for all her faults, was unlikely to go along with anything she considered underhanded, and Ivan was proving surprisingly unmalleable as well…perhaps this would be the best possible outcome, and I should just get out of their way and let them get on with it…I thought of Alzhbetka, who at this moment seemed to me to be cold, priggish, haughty, and childishly inexperienced, initiating Ivan into the pleasures of love, and my scalp prickled with rage…I really need to stop letting myself get carried away by my imagination. By all the gods, they were just standing next to each other. By that token, you should be expecting Kseniya and Aksinya Olgovna to be making their wedding vows any day now—or, given the amount of time you spend in her company, Aksinya Olgovna and YOU. Pull yourself together!

  “If children are being taken from Seumi, then someone in Pristanogradskoye has to know about it,” I said, hoping that I had not been suspiciously silent for too long. No one seemed to be looking at me strangely, so, deciding that my woolgathering had probably gone unnoticed, I continued, “And trade is definitely happening in Srednerechye. But the worst of it seems to be on the steppe and the mountains, so that’s where we’re going. But ask everyone you meet as we stop about Aleftina Vasilisovna and Ruslan Marislavovich, and perhaps we’ll get lucky.”

  “What if we find them, Valeriya Dariyevna?” asked Amiran soberly. “Do we carry on, or bring them back to Krasnograd?”

  “That depends on what we find with them. If it’s enough…we go back to Krasnograd. If it seems better to go on, then…we deal with them and go on.”

  Everyone looked at me with a kind of mute horror when I said that, and I realized that they were all wondering whether by “deal with them” I meant “kill them,” as I had done last time I had been in that situation. I wondered that myself. I was practically sick with anger at the thought that slave traders were traveling across my land, stealing my children or—worse yet—buying them from their parents, who were my people too, and Olesya Annovna’s calls for vengeance were still ringing in my ears. My blood called for it, and my mind said that wiping the stain of these people from the very earth on which they stood was right, was necessary, but even so something was whispering to me that this was not the path I needed to take. I remembered the burning light in Olesya Annovna’s eyes, and, even as my own eyes lit with the same fire, I couldn’t help but shrink away from it. They deserved to suffer and die, they deserved it, and the world would be better off without them, and yet…and yet it had been so repulsive to hear my own thoughts voiced by Olesya Annovna’s mouth, and I couldn’t help but argue against them, now that someone else had spoken them. I couldn’t help but feel, a faint feeling against the roaring of rage that was always there, waiting to be summoned, but a true feeling, unquenchable, telling me in its insistent little wordless voice that my sword was not going to solve my problems this time, and that unsheathing it would only make things worse, no matter how much everything was shouting to the contrary. But I didn’t say that to anyone. Let them be afraid of me and of what might happen to those whom we captured: it might serve me and allow me to be merciful, if that’s what I ended up being called to do.

  We covered little distance that day, stopping as we did at every tiny settlement we encountered, but no one was able to tell us anything about Ruslan Marislavovich. Aleftina Vasilisovna’s name did draw a number of nods of recognition, but all anyone could say about her was that she came through once or twice a year, and would sometimes deign to stop and trade with the locals, although most of what she carried was too fine for anyone to purchase, and she had little interest in their modest crafts and goods.

  “Were there many people in her party?” I would ask, and people would shrug and say that there were as many people as could be expected for a large trading caravan like hers.

  “And children?” I would ask. “Were there lots of children? Or foreigners? Or foreign children?” But that question also elicited only shrugs and the response that of course there were foreigners, there were often foreigners traveling with trading caravans, and sometimes they had children with them, but there was nothing unusual about that.

  By the time we had stopped for the night, the only thing I could say for certain was that if Ale
ftina Vasilisovna or anyone else was taking stolen children across the country, they were probably doing so by some other route. Which was only sensible, as even these stolid black earth peasants would be unlikely to stand by while someone brazenly paraded enslaved children, Zemnian children, past their noses. There must be some other route, a hidden route, between Srednerechye and the steppe.

  With that in mind, I called Ivan and Kseniya to me and asked them, but Ivan had no idea, and Kseniya said that if there were, she was unlikely to know of its existence, although of course there were lots of little roads from village to village, and if one were willing to stick to the walking pace that they demanded, and better yet, travel by night, it would of course be possible to slip across the black earth district unnoticed.

  “But with dozens of children…probably tied up, injured…” I said.

  “Tied up!” Kseniya exclaimed. “Injured!”

  “They don’t always come quietly. And the boys are often gelded.”

  Kseniya stared at me in horror for a moment before saying that in that case, the best bet would probably to travel from Srednerechye through the Northern black earth district, which was much more sparsely populated than the fertile South. There was, according to her, a decent road that ran East-West.

  “But it leads to Severnolesnoye,” she said. “Not to the steppe.”

  “Show me,” I said, and pulled out my map. She pointed out the road, which did indeed run in an Easterly direction from Srednerechye to Lesnograd.

  “It passes near the Northern steppe, though,” I said. “Just here, where it bends to the North. If they left the road there, they could be on the steppe in a couple days, if they pushed themselves.”

  “And then they’d be on the trackless steppe,” Kseniya pointed out.

  “Yes, but…hardly anyone lives there, and as long as the weather’s good, travel on the steppe is not difficult, at least compared to the forest. And if they’ve been doing this for years, they’ll have had years to make roads, set up stopping points, and so on. It’s as good a theory as any other, and I’ll send out a patrol to investigate as soon as I’m home.”