The Red Tide

by Christopher Nicole

  “Your family, Prince Alexei,” Rotislav said. “All that is left of them, at any rate.” Alexei gazed at Sonia, his cheeks flushed, then he looked at Priscilla, and the baby boy.

  “You will, of course, wish to regain possession of your women and children,” Rotislav said. Alexei looked at him.

  “I am perfectly willing to return them to you,” Rotislav said. “If you agree to my terms.”

  “Which are?” Alexei’s words were like drops of ice.

  “That you withdraw your force for a distance of fifty miles. Some of my men will accompany you. Once your withdrawal has been made, one of my people will return to inform me, and I will send my prisoners to you.”

  “You expect me to trust you?” Alexei said.

  Rotislav made a mock bow. “You have no choice, unless you wish to see your wives hanged before your eyes. I am being very generous, Your Highness.”

  Alexei hesitated. “As you say, I have no choice. I will withdraw my men.”

  He turned, and Sonia stepped forward. “Have we no say in this?” she demanded.

  Rotislav grinned at her. “None at all, Princess. This is men’s business.”

  “You are mistaken, wretched man,” Sonia said, and drew her hand from beneath her shawl. It held a revolver, and before anyone could move she had levelled it and shot Rotislav in the groin; he gave a shriek and fell to the ground, clutching his shattered genitals. In almost the same movement Sonia continued to turn and shot the guard through the chest, while completing a full circle and shouting at the top of her voice, “Charge, Colin! Charge!” That done, she grabbed Priscilla by the shoulder and hurled her at the door, following her with the other women; Grishka paused long enough to pick up the guard’s rifle and bandolier. Alexei took in the situation as the men in the houses began to stir into action, and ran behind the women. Sonia admitted him, and then closed and bolted the door.

  “Sonia!” he gasped, and she was in his arms. Then he looked past her at Priscilla, and slowly released her. “Priscilla!”

  Priscilla did not move. “Where did you get that gun’?” she asked.

  Sonia smiled. “I asked the Commissar for it. I told him we wanted to kill Whites as much as anyone, and he gave it to me.” She went to the window, gazed at the writhing, moaning Rotislav, then levelled the gun and shot him through the head.

  Bullets thudded into the walls of the house, but now they were overtaken by the bugle call as the cavalry charged.

  Alexei continued to stare at Priscilla for a few seconds, then he drew his revolver and joined Sonia and Grishka at the window to return fire. But the Reds were already distracted by the charging cavalry, firing their carbines to smother the houses in bullets and then drawing their sabres to complete their victory. The Reds came out of their houses with their hands up, demoralised at once by the death of their leader and the sudden overturn in their fortunes. Nordenski was the first to emerge.

  Colin brought his horse steaming to a halt in front of the prison house, and leapt from the saddle, as his father and the women came out. “That was a very brave thing you did, Mother,” he said, and was in Sonia’s arms. It had been seven years since he had seen her, and then he had been only eleven — but it might have been yesterday.

  Prince Alexei Bolugayevski stood in what had once been his front drive and looked at the burned-out shell of his house. “We fought virtually to the last bullet.” Sonia was at his side. “But we were betrayed.”

  “Aunt Anna?”

  “Died quickly, and in the midst of battle.”

  “Thank God for that.”

  “She was more fortunate than either of your sisters,” Sonia said.

  Alexei turned and looked back at the gate posts, gaunt in the gloom of the evening. “Yet I am more fortunate than most,” he said, half to himself.

  “You must go to her,” Sonia said. “And make her realise that she is still your wife.” He made no reply, continued gazing into the darkness. “She is every inch the Princess Bolugayevska,” Sonia said. “She managed the estate for you all the while you were away. She bore you a son. She fought as hard as anyone. And when she surrendered, it was to save the children. Your children.”

  “How much did she surrender?” he asked.

  “Everything. As did I. As did we all, to survive.”

  “Then those people in the village are all guilty.”

  “Every last one, save Dr Geller. But she is not guilty, Alexei. She is your wife, and you could not have a better one.”

  He sighed. “And you?”

  “You must give me the time to think. I need a home. I was going to Trishka, but now...”

  “This is your home, Sonia. I committed a great crime when I drove you away from it.”

  She rested her hand on his arm. “Alexei, Bolugayen is nobody’s home now. You and Priscilla and the children also have to find a new home.”

  “Sevastopol,” he said. “They will live in Sevastopol, until we have won this war, then we will come back here and rebuild Bolugayen.”

  “I wish you joy of it.”

  “But you will not be here? Do you think I can ever let you walk away into the unknown, now?”

  “Dear Alexei,” Sonia said. “You cannot stop me walking away from you. I am no longer your wife.”

  The regiment bivouacked in and around the village. Camp fires were lit, and the men settled down to a comfortable night, after their arduous march. The prisoners, men and women and children, were herded together in adjacent houses under guard. Alexei embraced Geller, listened to the tale of the murders of Father Valentin and the Boscowskis with a grim face, but he smiled when he saw Gleb. “You old reprobate,” he said. “You are a survivor.”

  “He raped the Princess,” Grishka spat.

  Alexei looked at the butler, then at Priscilla, who stood with shoulders bowed. Gleb fell to his knees. “Mercy, Your Highness,” he said. “I have been a good and faithful servant, except for that moment of madness.”

  “He was also the one who opened the doors and let the Reds in,” Sonia said.

  Alexei’s face hardened. “Put him with the others.”

  “Mercy!” Gleb howled as he was dragged away. “Mercy.”

  “Are you going to execute him?” Priscilla asked. They lay in bed together, but both had remained fully dressed. Neither knew how to resume their marriage. They had not even kissed.

  “Are you going to ask for his life?” Alexei countered.

  “No,” Priscilla said. “Not for raping me. But for betraying us all, including his own people, the servants.” She rose on her elbow. “Is that wrong of me?”

  “That is right of you.” Alexei continued to lie on his back, staring up at the darkness.

  She bit her lip. “About...what happened.”

  “Sonia has told me you had no choice. I understand that.”

  “She is so brave, and so strong. She never wept. I wept. I did not beg, Alexei. I never begged for myself. But I told Rotislav I would not fight him if he would spare the children. I thought that is what Aunt Anna would have done.”

  “That is what Aunt Anna would have done, yes. I am proud of you.”

  “If only we had known what had happened to you...”

  “By the time the Germans released me, the Army had already been taken over by the Reds. But I knew Denikin was raising a counter-revolutionary force in the Crimea, so I made my way there. I had been told you were all dead, you see. I was seeking only revenge. But now, to find you all alive...”

  He had used the word, all. “Do you wish me to go back to Boston? Then you and Sonia...”

  At last his head turned, his face a blur in the darkness. “You are my wife, and the Princess Bolugayevska. You are also the mother of my son and heir.”

  “But Colin...”

  “Colin understands the situation, and accepts it.” She heard him smile in the darkness. “I think he is rather relieved.”

  “And for those reasons you wish me to stay.” She lay down again.

>   Now it was his turn to rise on his elbow. “I forgot to add, that I love you, have always loved you, and will always love you.” He lowered his face to hers.

  They were awakened by a rifle shot. Alexei leapt out of bed, dragging on his clothes as he ran to the door. Colin was already dressed and on the street. They gazed at the sole horseman who had been checked by the shot from the sentry, and now sat his mount some fifty yards up the road leading from Poltava. “That is Commissar Denovich,” Sonia said.

  “You are our prisoner,” Alexei called. “Dismount and raise your arms.” Denovich obeyed. He looked totally confounded. But not afraid. “Now advance,” Alexei commanded.

  Denovich came towards them, hands held high. “That traitor Rotislav,” he remarked.

  “Rotislav is dead,” Alexei said. “And his people are my prisoners. As are you.”

  “You are dreaming, Colonel,” Denovich said. “You are my prisoners. I came here to tell Rotislav that he need no longer defend this village, because General Trotsky advanced more quickly than he had hoped. You are virtually surrounded.”

  It was Alexei’s turn to look confounded. “Where is General Trotsky?” Sonia asked.

  “He has made his headquarters in Poltava. He but awaits my information as to your whereabouts before resuming his advance.”

  “But as you will not be returning with any information,” Alexei said, “he will not move.”

  Denovich grinned. “If I am not back by noon he will resume his advance in any event. You may be able to get out of here in time. Colonel, but General Denikin’s army is lost. He does not know we are here. But we know where he is.” Alexei bit his lip, knowing that the Commissar was stating nothing but the truth, in the circumstances. “Of course, you could sacrifice yourself and your men by attempting to hold this village,” Denovich suggested, slyly. “Then, as General Trotsky is well supplied with artillery, you will all die. But...” he shrugged. “You are all going to die in any event.”

  “Take him away,” Alexei snapped. Two of his men marched Denovich away. “You and the children at least must get out, immediately,” Alexei said.

  “No,” Priscilla said. “After so long, to send us away? And what are we, without you?”

  Alexei gazed at Sonia. “Walk with me,” she invited. He hesitated, glanced at Priscilla, and then followed his first wife to the side of the road. “You are keeping Denovich a prisoner?” Sonia asked.

  “I shall probably hang him. But as I expect he’s telling the truth, I don’t think it’ll do us much good.”

  “Listen to me. Mount up your men, and Priscilla and the children, and leave Bolugayen. Get back to your General Denikin and tell him what is happening.”

  Alexei’s expression was almost pitying. “Sonia, I am four days away from Denikin. Even supposing I can get to him at all. If Trotsky’s men are already south of Poltava, then they are already south of Bolugayen. I cannot fight my way through with Priscilla and the children. I can ride round them, I think, but then I could only reach Denikin at virtually the same time as Trotsky’s people. There would be no time either to retreat or set up an adequate defence.”

  “How much time would you need?”

  “Oh...twenty-four hours start, certainly.”

  “I give you that time.”

  “You?”

  “Leon Trotsky and I are old friends. We are lovers, Alexei. Don’t look at me like that. When you turned me out to sink or swim on my own, I determined to swim, and to do that I had to accept some very strange bedfellows. But Trotsky is different. I am special to him. I ran away from him, over a year ago. Now I will go back to him. And I will guarantee that when I do that, you will have your twenty-four hours, at least.”

  His frown was the deepest she had ever seen. “But...you say you ran away from him? How can you be sure he will not have you shot?”

  I will love you forever, Leon had said. Had he meant it? “I cannot be sure. But I am sure he will not even do that, until he has...renewed our acquaintance. For at least twenty-four hours.”

  He gazed at her as if she were a stranger. Well, she thought, no doubt I am, now.

  “You would take that risk, for me?”

  “No, Alexei. Oh, I still love you, I think. But that is feminine weakness; you are not really worthy of my love. I will do it for the sake of Colin and Anna. I have nothing to offer them, now, and perhaps you still do. And I know Priscilla has been a good mother to Anna, and will be to Colin. But I will do it for her sake, too. On the off chance that you may prove worthy of her love.” She turned away. “I will use Denovich’s horse.”

  He caught her arm. “Sonia. It is not quite as simple as you think. If you go back to that man, to those people, you are going to be identified with the Reds. When this war is over, you may find yourself in serious trouble. Even I may not be able to save you.”

  Sonia smiled. “What makes you suppose you are going to win?”

  “We have all the officers, all the expertise. We are professional soldiers. They are a rabble. How can we not win?”

  “And your cause?”

  “Well...rescuing the Tsar from his captivity in Siberia, and restoring him to the throne.”

  “I think the men against whom you are fighting, to whom I am going, have a greater cause than that: the possession of Russia for themselves.”

  “And you can believe that they will rule it for the people? My God, you have seen their atrocities for yourself. You have suffered for them.”

  “Are you going to hang the people in the village? They were once your people.”

  “I am going to hang them because they have turned against me, against the rule of law.”

  “The rule of law, Prince Alexei, is what the man in power considers to be the law. You happen to be in power here, now, so your decision is the law. But I doubt you will always be in power. Then someone else may make the law. I agree, it will probably be bad law, but at least I can play my part in alleviating the worst of it. As for you, Alexei, when next we meet, I may not be able to save you. Remember that.”

  Priscilla watched her friend walk the horse out of the village and on to the road to Poltava.

  “Where can she be going?” she asked.

  “Mount up!” Alexei shouted at his men. Then he turned to his wife. “She is going to her destiny. I think we should now hurry to ours.”

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