The Stolen Star
Page 11
banks of a large river - the River Dniester.
The Dniester served as the border between the Podolsk Province and the State of Bukovyna. And Bukovyna was a vassal of the Ottoman Empire. So, once beyond the Dniester, the Turks would essentially be on their own territory.
Other Turks were already waiting with boats and rafts in order to ferry their comrades over to the Bukovyna side of the Dniester.
When the Cossacks reached the river the Turks were well on their way across the river. The rafts with the Turkish cavalry were close to the other side and two boats full of captives were straddled in the middle of the river. Rescuing the prisoners would be very difficult if not nigh on impossible.
Michael and Ben stood helplessly with the Cossacks at a complete loss as to what to do next. Dear Lord, what was to be done? How were they going to save Darya, the other young girls and the children? Sitting in one of the boats with Darya was her younger sister Varvara. One of the Turks could not take his eyes off her. Varvara heard someone mention that he was called Akhmet. He was the Turks' commanding officer and to the bewilderment of his subordinates had decided to sit in the boat with the prisoners. It was evident to anybody with eyes to see that Varvara had really caught Akhmet’s fancy. She was an exceptionally beautiful fifteen year old girl, who was evidently older and wiser than her years. She reminded Akhmet of his sister Ganka with whom he had been extremely close in his childhood. Ganka had been the most beautiful girl in the whole village. Their father had a large farm and often went to Greece to buy food and other things that they needed. It was there that he had learned both Greek and Turkish. On returning home he would pass on this knowledge to his two children. Ganka had the most wonderful voice and she was often invited to sing at big celebrations where she would sit with the highest ranking guests. One day she was spotted by a very important Turkish official, the Vizier to the Sultan himself, no less. He was charmed by her beauty and voice and within a couple of days decided that he must have her for his wife. Ganka’s parents were at a complete loss: it was quite impossible for them to refuse such an important personage but to give their daughter away in marriage to a Turk would be to go against all tradition. In the end they agreed to the Vizier's proposal for the sake of their son Akhmet, or George to be more precise. He had already been serving as a janissary for over a year. Naturally, he had been taken against his will. In order to tame his wild and free roaming spirit, they had sent Akhmet (as they had immediately re-named him) to the galleys to work as an overseer with the poor galley slaves. Akhmet found this incredibly hard because he didn't have an ounce of cruelty in him. One day Akhmet refused to beat one of the slaves who had fainted from the hard and cruel work. So they began to beat him instead. They beat him so hard that Akhmet was lucky to recover. But then a chance appeared to free Akhmet from his terrible work in the galleys. The Vizier promised that Akhmet would be transferred to a cavalry regiment and given a promotion if Ganka's hand was offered in marriage. And his sister was more than ready to make this sacrifice for the sake of her beloved brother. In the end, the Vizier turned out to be a kind and most remarkable husband. He was very attentive and tender towards Ganka and did his best to support Akhmet and his parents-in-law.
So now Akhmet had decided to save Varvara who so reminded him of his little sister. And what wouldn't he have given to save her. At the same time Varvara looked at Akhmet and thought:
“Who is that strange looking Turk, he keeps looking at me but he doesn't seem at all fierce like all the others and his eyes are as blue as the sea…”
Varvara nudged Darya:
“Look at that Turk; don’t you think there is something strange about him?”
But Darya only angrily replied:
“Don’t you go looking at the Turks and don’t expect anything but trouble from them."
At that very moment the Cossacks were getting ready to rescue the hostages from the Turks. They were just about to jump into the water when they were met by the grisly sight of the corpses of a number of drowned Turks who had fallen off the raft with their mounts. Swimming out into the turbulent waters of the Dniester on their steeds was not going to be an option.
“Stop it!” Marko shouted, “we need a different plan otherwise we’ll all perish this way.”
The Cossacks stood there paralysed by indecision.
The cousins were also at a complete loss.
“Michael, have you got any ideas how we can help them?" Ben cried in anguish.
Meanwhile, the river itself seemed to doing all it could to help the poor hostages. It was remembering all the attacks made over the years by the Turks and Tartars on the Southern villages of the Ukraine. The myriad cries of those who had suffered at their hands, and tears of the adults and especially the children made her water turn icy cold. Many times the cold, water and smoke from the ruined villages drew forth storms and even the occasional hurricane. The rafts and boats bobbed up and down on the huge waves like corks and many of the hostages managed to save themselves in the ensuing chaos. But today a particularly black cloud ran on ahead of the Turks, stopped over the river and stretched her waves flat so that the surface of the water became quite calm. And neither wind nor living thing could agitate the waters. The river beseeched a passing white cloud:
“Help…!”
And this sounded out like a light groan… And the cloud sped towards the angels:
“There is a great misfortune afoot, we need to stir up the water so that there will be waves."
So the Angel immediately whispered to the brothers:
“Quickly, turn yourselves into animals that live in the water.”
Michael immediately turned into an enormous whale, ploughed straight into the river and began to beat the water with his tail, creating huge fountains of spray and washing the river banks with enormous waves. Then, when the boat with the girls and children found itself at the peak of a huge wave, a crocodile appeared. The crocodile was enormous, his eyes flashed angrily and his great jaws opened threateningly. But, this, of course, was Ben. The Turks were nearly frightened to death and immediately leaped from the boat into the water. But Varvara fell into the water together with the Turks. Akhmet immediately dived in after her. In a few seconds he had grabbed the girl and was swimming with her towards the shore. The crocodile flashed his blue eyes at the Turk and the young girl and everyone on the shore feared the worst. But then the crocodile totally unexpectedly snapped his jaws in the air and swam off in the opposite direction.
Akhmet and Varvara safely reached the shore, although it was the Turkish and not the Cossack side of the river. The Turks rushed to help them get out on to the bank.
But the boat with Darya and the other hostages was hoisted on to the peak of a huge wave and safely surfed right up to the bank where the Cossacks were standing. Everyone rushed with joy to free them from their fetters and help them out on to the bank.
But Varvara, with a growing sense of horror, took her first shaky steps on the Turkish side of the river. She was once again a prisoner of the Turks. Although, the Turks did seem to behave a lot better than she expected. They untied the ropes on her hands and feet, put her on a horse and set off on their long, long journey home. Akhmet rode next to Varvara. She had ended up being the only trophy the Turks had to show for their raid. But so many totally unexpected and unforeseen things had happened that those who were left were just thankful that they had survived the ordeal.
Meanwhile, the river became calm again and the whale and crocodile disappeared as suddenly as they had appeared. However, just around the bend Michael and Ben shook the water from their wet clothes and burst into fits of uncontrollable laughter. What fun it had been! They had saved the hostages and discovered what it’s like to be such powerful and frightening sea creature. Michael would never forget how he ploughed up and down the river making such huge fountains and waves with his back and flanks. Fantastic! And as for Ben, just the
sight of his crocodile had caused the Turks to lose their heads completely. And how frighteningly he had flashed his eyes at them! Of course, everyone had been too terrified to notice that this crocodile's eyes were the sweetest bright blue. And when he had opened his huge jaws! Oh, what fun that had been for Ben. Fantastic! The Cossacks had also been amazed at the appearance in their modest little river of two such a huge sea and river giants. But what had been really surprising was the fact that everything these creatures had done was aimed at frightening the Turks and saving their loved ones. It was divine providence! The only downside was that Varvara had not been saved and was still a prisoner of the Turks. But even this sad turn of events had a strange and inexplicable side to it. Although most of the Cossacks had been concentrating on the fate of the boats with the girls and children, many had noticed how one of the Turks had thrown himself into a huge wave to save a simple Ukrainian hostage. What’s more it hadn’t just been any Turk but one of their commanders. It was totally unheard of… simply a miracle. Then the Cossacks had seen how respectfully they had sat her on a horse and set off into the distance and into the unknown. The cousins had also witnessed it. And they were very sorry