Behind the Raven Mask

by Cherime MacFarlane

  While the ship steamed down Stephens Passage at full speed, Dmitri retired to his cabin to get as much rest as he could. He knew someone would have to pay the debts owed with their life. Dmitri wanted to make sure Ooskada would be the one making payment.

  The next evening, just as the sun was setting, Dmitri dashed down the extended gangplank to the wharf before it touched the planking. He charged up the path to the house. When he flung open the door, Dmitri entered chaos.

  Helena was crying at the foot of the stairs. When he tried to ask her what was wrong, she only sobbed harder. Near panic, he rushed up the stairs into his bedroom. Anya stood clutching the baby against her.

  "Where is Camille?"

  Anya walked toward him, then laid a hand on his arm. "Gone. Ooskada took her from the house. I think he has gone crazy. He said something about storming the bear's den. Stanislaus went after them. He returned an hour later. Ooskada stabbed him, but it is not a fatal wound."

  Dmitri went to the gun cabinet where he took out the Winchester .45/70 along with a box of shells. In the dressing room, he found a pair of shooting mitts. Dmitri stuffed them into the pocket of his fur coat. His brandy flask along with a spare pair of socks followed the mitts.

  Dmitri looked at Anya as he shrugged into the coat. "Which direction did they take?"

  She glanced at the rifle and then looked at the baby. "I know where he is going."

  Anya stared at her father's single glittering gray eye. His mouth twisted into something someone else might have taken to be a smile as he waited for her to continue.

  "The cliffs on the seaward side of the island. You know, where the hole in the rock is."

  "Why there?"

  "Ooskada means to give Camille to the sea people. He intends to throw her into the hole."

  Dmitri bent to kiss his daughter’s forehead. "I am sorry, sweet."

  He kissed the baby's fat little fist, then strode from the room. Anya raced behind him to the head of the stairs, still clutching the infant to her chest.

  "You mean to kill Ooskada."

  He turned at the bottom of the stairs. "Yes, Anya. No matter what, he is a dead man. Take care of your brother."

  "I will Poppa, I understand," Anya whispered as Dmitri strode from the house.

  Dmitri took a pair of snowshoes and a lantern from the stable. He started up the path which went behind the stable, then up over the mountain. The pass was a shortcut Ooskada would never expect him to use. It would be choked with snow after the last storm. If he traveled all night, he could reach the cliffs above the blowhole before noon.

  ***

  Camille lay huddled in a rabbit skin blanket Ooskada threw at her. She was so frightened; it was hard to breathe. She was also trying hard not to let Ooskada know how much he terrified her.

  "Tomorrow," The man looked at her with a sly grin as he spoke. "You will serve the killer whale people."

  Camille looked away from him. Could he sense her terror? She shivered in her blanket. "Perhaps. But in the end, you will die. Dmitri will kill you."

  Camille pulled the blanket closer as she pretended to sleep. It was almost impossible as her breasts ached. Milk trickled from them because she missed the baby’s evening feeding.

  The man made a small fire and sat in front of it rocking back and forth while mumbling a sing-song chant. When he closed his eyes, she wondered if she should try to run. Without a lantern, she would lose her way.

  The night was black as pitch. Through breaks in the branches above, Camille could see the stars. There was no moon. Without a way to see the path, she would not get far. The man knew he had her trapped in the thick vegetation.

  Tugging the fur closer, she tried to rest. Perhaps she could somehow delay them in the morning. Once, she took a covert glance at Ooskada. He sat staring at the bird skin he held in his hands. Camille recognized the mask. The sight of it caused her to tremble violently. During the night, Camille drifted into an uneasy sleep.

  ***

  Dmitri cursed the sun when it rose behind him. It had come too soon. At least, the lantern would weigh him down no longer. He halted for a short rest. As he leaned against a rock, he took a sip of brandy, then returned the flask to his pocket.

  The lantern got left behind when Dmitri resumed his journey. The sun traveled higher in the sky above him. Sometime later he descended to the lower reaches of the pass on the far side of the mountain. The snow had thinned, but not enough for him to discard the snowshoes. He knew he was making good time. Was it good enough?

  The rhythm of it had come back to him, even if it had been a long time since he last broke trail through deep snow. Lift and step. Lift and step. The miles and the landmarks were left behind with surprising speed. The early morning sun beat down on him. But as high as he still was, the air was cold and his breath steamed. Dmitri quickened his pace with another oath.

  A large outcropping of granite below him marked the place where the pass widened out. The snow thinned out to a few inches of slush. Dmitri stepped out of the snowshoes, then ran toward a large granite outcropping. There, the trail downward began, it was free of snow.

  ***

  Ooskada woke Camille as he pulled away the blanket. After rolling it up with his own, he pushed it into his pack and slung the bag over his shoulder. With a hard push and a nod, he urged Camille down the path ahead of him.

  Camille dawdled as much as she dared. She tangled her skirt in a patch of tiny spruce and briars. As she fumbled with the cloth, Camille looked up at the clear blue sky. On the mountains above them, the snow gleamed in the sunlight. Camille wondered where Dmitri was. If only he had not gone to Juneau. Her eyes filled with tears as she moved on.

  The path they walked was unfamiliar. But she noted it took them close to the shore line. When they came to the edge of a small clearing, Ooskada grabbed Camille. Without a word, he pushed her behind a tree.

  As he clapped a hand over her mouth, Camille glimpsed a large bear. She wondered what Ooskada thought she might do? Call to the bear for help perhaps?

  He is absolutely insane. Camille thought to herself.

  They stood behind the tree for some time. Camille wondered what was going on, but could not see anything.

  ***

  Ooskada watched the bear as it sniffed the breeze. It rocked back and forth on all fours in the middle of the trail. He knew it could neither see nor smell them; the wind was blowing from the bear to him.

  It sensed something, however. He and the Russian’s woman could not go around; the rocky shore was to the right of them, and if he tried to slip past the animal on the left, it would catch their scent. They stayed behind the tree for some time, unable to leave because of the animal before it wandered off down the trail.

  The One-Eyed One’s totem. He should have expected this! But he had not learned of the Russian’s leaving the island soon enough. The delay cost him valuable time as he and the woman had to wait for daylight to continue the journey. Ooskada urged the woman forward with a sharp push. No further delays would be allowed.

  The Russian would come for him. One of them would not live to see summer come to the island. But he had given Anya’s child all the training he could. If he joined his sister, so be it.

  He wanted to see the man bleed. He remembered the day his sister left the world after bearing the child. They clashed in the house like two great bears. It would have pleased him to shred the Russian as the bear had once done.

  When the mauling happened, he hoped the man would die. Instead, his sister brought him through it. He never understood why Anya had to have that one. Was it because he was different?

  Neither of them could hide from him. He knew when the boy and his sister first shed their clothing and explored each other’s bodies. Ooskada tried everything to keep her from claiming the boy, for he was only a boy then. She would not listen.

  The boy hunted and brought back furs. The wolverine fur the Russian draped across her shoulders became her most prized possession. But her love f
or the fair skinned man took her life as he told her it would.

  Now he would take the life of the woman the Russian replaced his sister with. It was a fair trade. When the man came for him, death would claim one of them. It mattered not which.

  The sea boomed as it crashed against the rocks on the seaward side of the island. Ooskada shoved the woman forward, and they emerged onto a windswept flat.

  He pointed toward a place where the spray surged out over the flats that topped the cliff overlooking the blue gray ocean. "There is the opening which leads to the land of the sea people. You are going down the hole."

  She hung back but Ooskada grabbed her arm and pulled her forward, closer to the edge of the rocky shore.

  ***

  Dmitri stumbled down the trail. When he turned a corner past a large boulder, he emerged at the base of a sheer cliff. Gasping for breath, he leaned against a large rock, then looked across the flats.

  Below him, Ooskada was dancing around Camille. Dmitri levered a cartridge into the chamber of the rifle. He glanced up at an enormous load of snow on the lip of the cliff.

  One shot, one chance for the both of us. He thought. "If I dive to the left of the cliff on the other side of the tumble of boulders... The hell with it!" He muttered.

  As he levered the cartridge in, he cleared all thoughts of what might happen from his mind. The rifle barrel swung up, and Dmitri held it snug against his shoulder. In one smooth motion, he brought the sight across his target, then squeezed the trigger. The bullet sped across the distance. The crack of the shot echoed across the flats. Ooskada fell backward and hit the ground as he watched.

  He had only a few seconds and then it started. A dull roar began behind him. Dmitri clambered to the top of a boulder. As if jumping into the ocean, he made a long dive off onto the flats. He rolled as far as he could when he hit the ground. The rifle left his hand and disappeared in the turmoil of snow and ice which crashed down from above.

  Camille heard the shot. Her head turned in the direction it had come from. Ooskada grunted beside her, and one hand slammed across her arm as he fell. She stumbled, and when she glanced his way, she watched him hit the ground beside her.

  A roar, somewhat like the sea filled the area. Her head turned back toward the sound. Above the cliff, far up on the steep slope, the snow slid down in a white cloud. Camille’s eyes searched the rock face below the slope.

  A wall of snow tumbled off the lip of the cliff with a roar. A figure she knew must be Dmitri dove off the rock just as the avalanche poured down the cliff with the full weight of the snow from above driving it forward.

  She screamed, but the sound disappeared in the grinding of snow, earth, and rock as the avalanche slid down onto the flats. Only a few moments later, the area was deathly quiet.

  With a sob, Camille ran toward the place she had last seen her husband's body, as he tumbled about in the debris. There was a patch of color peeking through the white of the snow and ice. Camille dropped to her knees and dug through the snow with her bare hands.

  One arm was across his head. Camille brushed the snow away from his face so he could breathe. Then she frantically pushed the snow from his chest. She was crying as she worked.

  Camille dug further, shoveling the snow and dirt away with her bare hands. Her fingers were numb when she unbuttoned the thick coat and laid her ear against his chest.

  "What..are....you..doing?" A deep voice asked her.

  "Dmitri!" Camille sat up. She dug away the rest of the snow.

  He lifted his head and watched her for a moment. "Wait! Here!" He grabbed one wrist, then the other. Dmitri shoved both of her hands beneath his shirt.

  "Damn! Woman,...cold hands!" Lifting his head again, Dmitri looked over the flats to where Ooskada lay, then back at Camille. "He dead?"

  Camille shook her head. "I am not sure."

  "Must be." Dmitri took a shallow breath. "He would crawl, ...kill us both,... if ... alive. Lost ...rifle."

  Camille lay down on the snow beside him. "Where are you injured? Is anything broken? Can you move?"

  "Yes. Wind ...knocked out. What little ...had left. A moment... then I will be up."

  They lay there as he rested for a short time. Dmitri released her hands and sat up to remove the snow away from his legs. After he had scrambled to his feet, he turned to lift Camille.

  "You are soaked. Here." He took off the fur coat and helped Camille into it. "Wait here, I will be right back."

  He walked over to Ooskada and knelt down beside him. Dmitri removed the pack along with a hunting knife from the man’s body. With both hands, he reached down to take hold of one arm and drug the body to the edge of the hole. Then with a grunt, Dmitri pushed the shaman's body down the opening.

  As he walked toward her, he picked up the pack and threw it on one shoulder. Beside her he extended his hand and sighed. "It is time to go home, love."

  Together they walked back down the trail hand in hand. Dmitri told Camille; Vanessa had convinced him of her innocence. When Dmitri told her how he had chartered the steamer, Camille laughed. She lifted their clasped hands, then rubbed her cheek against the back of his hand.

  She looked up at him, eyes full of questions. "But, if you reached the house last evening, how did you get to the cliff so quickly?"

  "Remember the path which goes behind the stable and up the hill?"

  Camille nodded.

  "There is a pass there. I went over it last night on snowshoes."

  Camille squeezed Dmitri's hand, then fell silent. They reached the clearing where Ooskada had seen the bear. Dmitri looked around.

  "We will spend the night here."

  After constructing a small lean-to beneath the low-hanging branch of a spruce tree, he filled the cavity with spruce boughs cut from several trees with Ooskada’s knife. More spruce tips covered the branches. While Dmitri started a fire and gathered a large pile of dead wood, Camille unrolled the pack and spread out the skin blankets. She found a leather pouch in the center of one blanket, which she set aside.

  They sat together in the lean-to. Camille handed Dmitri the leather bag which he opened. Inside they found smoked fish and a cake of something Dmitri told her was suet mixed with berries. They ate the fish, washing it down with sips of brandy.

  Camille snuggled into Dmitri's arms. "There is no moon tonight. It is pitch dark. How did you see to travel last night?"

  He rubbed his chin against Camille's hair. "I carried a lantern."

  Her hands slipped up under his shirt and Camille stroked his back. "You must be exhausted." Her fingers found the bandage on his shoulder. "What is this?"

  Without responding he pulled her into his lap, Dmitri's mouth came down on hers. Wickedly, he ran his hands over her body before pulling down the neck of Camille's dress. Her bodice was stiff with milk which had leaked from her full breasts.

  Dmitri left a string of kisses from her shoulder to her ear lobe, then across the tops of her breasts. "Questions. Questions. Do you think I walked all night just to answer questions? Ah no, moy dorogoy, this is what I came for." Again, his lips found hers.

  As his tongue explored the moist sweetness of her mouth, Camille's arms wound around his neck. The fingers of one hand stroked the edge of the bandage. "But, what..?"

  "If I must." He sighed. "It is a parting gift from Vanessa. She took a small gash out of me with a pair of scissors."

  Camille giggled. "Which should teach you to keep your handsome self at home."

  Dmitri put her off his lap, then rose onto his knees. "Get under those covers." He roared in mock anger.

  "Yes, cher'."

  The Count watched his wife slide into the nest he had constructed. Camille massaged both her breasts. “I will be glad to see our son. This is painful! Do you think he is well?”

  Dmitri stared at her in the dim light from the fire he had kindled at one end of their shelter. "Helena and Tatiana know how to deal with a hungry baby. I love you, Camille."

  In the firelight, Cam
ille's eyes twinkled like the stars in the dark sky above them. "I love you, husband." She moved the blanket aside for him. "Come to bed.”

  1Thank you for taking time to read Behind the Raven Mask. If you enjoyed it, please consider telling your friends or posting a short review. Word of mouth is an author’s best friend and much appreciated.

  Glossary:

  Durak - stupid

  Golubushka" "My darling" (literally "little dove") female.

  Govno - Shit

  Doch - Daughter

  Dorogoi / Dorogaia - Dear (male/female)

  Lebed - Swan

  Mat’, Matushka - Mother

  Milyi/Milaya - My pretty one (male /female)

  Moy golubushka - My darling.

  Moy sladkiy - My honey

  Moy dorogoy - My sweetheart

  Supruga -Wife

  Svoloch' – Bastard

  Other books by Cherime MacFarlane:

  "Highland Light" Is the first of the MacGrough Clan series.

  Gideon is a ward of the Master of the Croatia Temple belonging to the Knights Templar. The Knights escape execution and flee to Scotland. The master of the Temple strikes a bargain with Robert The Bruce. In exchange for safety, the eighteen men will marry into various clans in the Bruce faction. Ailene saw him entering the Abby and will have him and no other. Gideon has honored the Templar vows of chastity. With no knowledge of women, he and Ailene must learn together.

  But Gideon owes his new King service. No matter how much he wishes to stay with his wife, he has a duty. Scotland is fighting for its life against England. At the same time, Gideon's new home is locked in a vicious internal struggle for power. Enemies are everywhere. The clan is in danger from all sides. The small bedroom they share is the only place where the young couple can find peace.