by Jasper Kent
We turned the corner into Fonarniy Lane and walked south past a couple of houses. Dmitry led us through an archway and into a courtyard. The dvornik was not at his post, and the main door stood open.
‘Where?’ I asked.
‘Top floor,’ said Dmitry.
We went through the door and he bounded up the steps two at a time, but with surprisingly little noise. He was by his nature a hunter. I followed more slowly, eager as I was to see Nadya; I hoped desperately to still be myself when I finally set eyes upon her. Dmitry was waiting for me on the top landing. He indicated a door. I reached out to turn the handle, but then hesitated. It felt like an intrusion. This might have been Nadya’s home, but it was not mine. Instead I raised my hand and rapped on the wooden door.
There was no response. I tried again, but still there was nothing.
‘You’re sure this is the right place?’ I asked.
Dmitry nodded. He leaned forwards and listened intently, looking puzzled. Seconds later I could hear what he did, and could make more sense of it. It was the sound of claws scampering across the wooden floor.
‘It’s Polkan,’ I said.
Now he was scratching on the other side of the door. I banged harder and shouted, ‘Nadya?’ Polkan’s claws scrabbled more frantically, but there was no human response. I tried the handle, but the door was locked.
‘Step back,’ said Dmitry.
I did as I was told. ‘Careful of the dog,’ I said. Polkan wasn’t so well trained that I could tell him to stay back.
Dmitry took hold of the knob, then swung his shoulder against the door. It seemed so slight a movement, but it carried an enormous strength. With a sound almost like the report of a bullet the frame splintered and broke away. The door only moved a couple of inches before Dmitry’s hand restrained it. It was an impressive exhibition of controlled power. Polkan began to bark in short, aggressive yaps. Dmitry opened the door fully, as if it had never been locked, and stepped inside. I followed.
As soon as he saw me, Polkan fell silent. He studied me for a moment, then trotted towards me, his tail wagging. I knelt down and stroked his snout, letting him lick my hand. It was a more friendly greeting than last time we’d met. Perhaps in the intervening months his memory of me had faded so that he could no longer perceive the subtle distinction between what I had been and what I had become. Perhaps I’d simply learned to become more at ease with my condition, and so he was more at ease with it too.
‘Where’s Mama?’ I asked him. ‘Where’s Nadya?’
He turned and ran down the hallway. I followed him. There was a strange, unpleasant smell about the place that took me a moment to recognize: dogshit. Polkan was normally well-behaved in that respect, so he must have been left alone for some time for this to happen. I couldn’t see anything, but he would have gone to some dark corner to do it. He turned left through a doorway. By the time I entered he was already sitting on the bed, looking pleased with himself. There was every indication that it was Nadya’s room – I recognized so many of the things she liked to keep closest to her. How could I miss them? They were scattered across the floor. Every drawer had been pulled open and turned out. The place had been ransacked.
‘Mihail! Come here!’
I followed the sound of Dmitry’s voice, out across the hall and into another room – evidently the living room. I looked around; it was in the same state as the bedroom. Dmitry stood in the middle of it, ignoring the detritus around him. He raised his hand and pointed ahead of him. ‘Look.’
I turned. His finger was stretched out in the direction of the wall above the mantelpiece. One might have expected to find a picture or a mirror hanging there, but there was nothing. The wall was blank but for three words scrawled on it in black, probably using coal from the fire. It was a short message, but there was absolutely no question as to who it was from, or who it was to:
Bring Me Ascalon
CHAPTER XXI
‘IS SHE STILL at saint Isaac’s?’ I asked. ‘Susanna, I mean.’
‘How should I know?’
I turned to look at him. It didn’t matter whether he knew or not. She’d hardly have gone into hiding, not while I had what she wanted. ‘She must be there,’ I said.
‘She could have written that weeks ago.’
I shook my head. ‘It can’t be more than a few days. Polkan’s not starving.’
‘You’re going to take it to her then?’
I remained silent, thinking.
‘Let me do it,’ he said. ‘It’ll be safer. Just tell me where you’ve hidden it. I’ll go and get it.’
‘No. It’s all we’ve got to bargain with. I’ll go and see her, tell her where to find it – once Nadya’s safe.’
‘Ascalon may not be the only thing she’s interested in. It could be a trap.’
‘She doesn’t give a damn about me.’
‘Not you – Iuda. She wants revenge. And she won’t care that you’ll suffer as much as he does.’
‘She can’t do a thing until she’s got Ascalon,’ I said. ‘God knows why it matters so much to her.’
‘Iuda might have some idea.’
‘If he does, he’s not telling me.’
‘We’ll just have to wait then, won’t we? Till he comes back.’
‘I’m not waiting.’ I made for the door.
The dog insisted on walking beside me all the way, quite oblivious to the change in my nature that had occurred soon after we left the apartment. It still limped with its front right paw, just as when I’d first encountered it. It wasn’t a long walk to Saint Isaac’s, but it gave me time enough to think. I had some guesses as to what Susanna might want with Ascalon, but I couldn’t be sure. The only simple fact was that it was stained with blood. If legend was true then that was the blood of the dragon that Saint George had slain. It was equally possible that it was Zmyeevich’s own blood, or that of one of his victims. If it did belong to Zmyeevich then it gave another chance for his resurrection. If that of the dragon, then who could guess what might be achieved? Clearly Susanna knew better than I did – she had heard the truth directly from Zmyeevich’s lips.
None of it mattered. My main aim had been to get out of the Peter and Paul Fortress, and that had been achieved. Susanna could have Ascalon for all I cared and could use it to resurrect Zmyeevich if she wanted – or even the dragon itself. I wasn’t going to put my life at risk either to help her or to hinder her. Dmitry was right – I’d be a fool to just walk in there. Susanna wanted revenge upon me almost as much as she wanted Ascalon. All she had now was Nadya, and what did I care for her? It wasn’t as though our one night together left me with any burgeoning affection. If I could simply get away then Susanna would have nothing. I might even be able to break into the building on Gorohovaya Street and get Ascalon myself, not that I had any use for it with Zmyeevich dead. But did I need a use for it? As I’d explained to Dmitry, I didn’t make plans, I made moves, and taking Ascalon seemed like a better move than leaving it.
But Dmitry was still my immediate problem. He was stronger than me and faster than me, and he was intent on fulfilling Danilov’s wish of confronting Susanna. I fancied I understood his motivation a little better than Danilov did. I knew what it was like to be a vampire, and I knew that while much of the former human was stripped away, there was a core that remained. Whatever drove the man – obsessed him – might also, with some dark twist to it, drive the voordalak. With me it had been my scientific curiosity, with him his bizarre sense of honour. I should have guessed it from the moment he kicked me into that dungeon beneath the Kremlin. There weren’t many honourable vampires out there, but not many had been tricked into the choice of becoming one in the way Dmitry had. And there were other currents that ran within him, not least his ties to Zmyeevich and how he had fought to sever them.
There was one obvious way I could be free of him, by changing my mind – or changing Danilov’s mind – and accepting his offer to fetch Ascalon himself. There would be the bonus of knowing h
ow he would suffer to be in contact with an item so redolent of his former master. But if I did, I couldn’t be sure I’d ever see him or it again. A better plan would be to send him on a wild goose chase, allowing me to avoid a meeting with Susanna and giving me ample time to rescue Ascalon myself. I’d be out of the city – out of the country – before either of them knew they had been cheated.
We were just crossing Saint Isaac’s Square. It was more crowded here than it had been elsewhere. People were heading for the railway stations, all of which were to the south and east of the city. Again we were going against the flow. I looked across at Dmitry.
‘I think we can do better than this,’ I said.
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean we can have it all. We can save Nadya and keep Ascalon out of Susanna’s hands.’
‘How?’
‘You go and get Ascalon. It’s at our old house. I’ll go to Susanna and tell her where to find it. I’ll make something up, obviously, but I’ll walk free with Nadya and by the time Susanna realizes what’s wrong, we’ll all be long gone.’
Dmitry stopped and nodded thoughtfully. ‘Sounds like a good idea. I’ve only one question.’
‘What’s that?’
‘Who wrote The Cherry Orchard?’
I made a run for it, but he was too quick. His hand grabbed my wrist tighter than a vice. He walked briskly across the square, pulling me along like a reluctant child. There was nothing I could do to resist him.
‘I think we’ll stick with the original plan, shall we? And if I were you I wouldn’t do too much to remind Susanna of just who you are.’
We were at the manhole now, close to the southwest corner of the cathedral. Dmitry pulled the cover up without relaxing his grip on my wrist. The dog peered into the darkness and began to bark. It walked gingerly down the iron steps. If this was the route by which its mistress had been brought here then perhaps it could smell her.
Dmitry pushed me down after it. He was forced to let go of me and I knew that I might have a chance. The sewers below led in every direction, and I could easily elude him. But the moment passed in an instant and I felt his hand gripping me by the back of my collar. There was no chance that I could struggle free. Danilov’s physical frailty was proving to be to his advantage.
Through the open hatchway a little light shone down from the streetlamps above. It was not enough to see very far, and I knew that the path would soon lose all illumination. As a voordalak Dmitry would be better used to the darkness, but even he could not manage without any light whatsoever. He reached into his pocket and took out an electric torch much like the one Danilov had used. He handed it to me.
‘Turn it on,’ he said.
I did as I was told and shone the beam towards the gap at the top of the wall. The dog began to bark loudly. I kicked at it but its reactions were too fast. It stood a few feet away, continuing its noise.
‘Shut it up,’ I hissed to Dmitry.
‘Why?’
‘It’ll give us away.’
‘So what? We’re coming to talk to them.’
He squatted down and hugged his arms around my knees before bringing himself upright and raising me to the level of the dark gap that led to the passages beneath the cathedral.
‘Climb through,’ he said.
I had no option but to obey. I crawled along and dropped down into the corridor beyond. It would take Dmitry a few seconds to catch up with me, but I wasn’t going to try to escape him now. I knew what lay ahead, perhaps just after the next bend in the tunnel, and so for the moment Dmitry might be my only hope of protection. He landed softly beside me. Behind us I could still hear the muffled sound of the dog’s barking, but mercifully the creature was unable to climb the wall and follow us.
The doorway formed by the bottom of the spiral staircase was open. We went through and along to the chamber beneath Senate Square that I had unearthed so many years before. The door was open. I went in first, followed by Dmitry.
Susanna turned as we entered, smiling broadly. It was not an expression that I had ever seen her use when I had known her in life. She had smiled, to be sure, out of amusement or happiness, but this was the forced, affected smile of victory. I had used it myself often enough. It did not suit her. She leaned back against the well in the centre of the room, her hands resting against it on either side of her. I noticed that on her finger she wore a familiar ring – a golden dragon with emerald eyes and a red, forked tongue. It had once belonged to Zmyeevich, but I had stolen it from him. How it had got to her I didn’t know. Against the far wall Nadya sat on a closed coffin. She didn’t appear to be constrained in any way. Standing close to her was one of the vampires I’d seen here before – Ilya, if I recalled the name correctly.
Susanna took a breath to speak, but Nadya interrupted her. ‘Is it you, Misha?’
There was only one explanation for it – she knew it might not be Danilov, that it might be me. For all his attempts to keep it from her, somehow she had found out. I tried to decide which of us it would be wiser to claim to be.
Susanna answered for me. ‘Of course it’s Mihail. Do you think Richard would have come here to save you?’ She turned to me. ‘I should explain, I rather let slip your predicament to her. I presumed you’d already have told her – one or other of you – one out of love, the other out of a sense of … mischief.’ She glanced over her shoulder to Nadya. ‘Mind you, if it is Mihail, he doesn’t seem very pleased to see you.’
Dmitry spoke from behind me. ‘He didn’t have much choice whether he came or not. I made sure he got here.’
Susanna stood upright. As she did so her brow wrinkled and a look of pain ran across her face. She put a hand to her stomach. The moment passed quickly. When she spoke, her voice was calm. ‘It doesn’t really matter which of you it is, does it? You both know where Ascalon is. If one of you refuses to tell me, I’ll wait for the other.’
‘Aren’t you going to thank me first?’ I asked.
Nadya turned her head away. She knew Danilov well enough to tell that it was not him speaking.
‘Thank you?’ said Susanna. ‘For what?’
‘For delivering Danilov’s woman to you.’ It was evident that ambiguity was not going to help me.
She smiled again. This time it was more recognizably her. ‘As I recall I collected her myself – with Ilya’s assistance.’
‘And how did you know where she lived?’ I was taking a gamble. There were a dozen ways they could have found her, but one seemed most likely.
‘Ilya saw her, and followed her home.’
‘Saw her standing on the Palace Bridge, I imagine. Looking out across the Neva.’
Susanna looked surprised, as well she might. ‘How did you know that?’
‘Because I suggested she do it.’ I looked over to Nadya. There were tears forming in her eyes. ‘Didn’t I?’
‘It sounded so like you,’ Nadya whispered. ‘Like him.’
‘It was, for the most part. But occasionally Danilov drops his guard, even in the middle of writing a letter. I only needed to add one sentence, asking you to be there, so that I – he – could look out towards you.’
‘So you deliberately suggested she go somewhere where one of us would see her?’ said Susanna. ‘How would that help you?’
‘Because I knew you’d try to use her to get at Danilov. That would mean he’d have a reason to escape – and if we both wanted to escape it seemed more likely that we would. It didn’t go quite as I’d planned, but I’m a free man.’
‘Hardly free,’ she said. I raised a questioning eyebrow and she nodded her head, indicating that I should look behind me. I turned round. In the corridor, beyond Dmitry, one of her other henchmen had arrived. That meant three of them against Dmitry – Nadya and I would be of no value in a fight. And that assumed Dmitry would be inclined to side with me. But I didn’t plan to fight.
‘I will be, once you agree to my terms.’
‘Your terms?’
‘We’l
l step outside, just you and I. Then I’ll tell you where Ascalon is. You can run along and get it, and I’ll be on my way.’
‘What about the woman?’ She inclined her head towards Nadya.
‘She’s of no interest to me … any more. You’d be doing me a favour to keep hold of Dmitry too. He’s rather more on his nephew’s side than he is on mine.’
I felt Dmitry stiffen behind me. I expected some sort of blow from him, but nothing came. I turned. The other voordalak had moved closer and was holding him fast, his arms twisted behind his back. Dmitry was strong enough to break free, but for now he bided his time.
‘If we leave here, what guarantee do I have that you’ll tell me anything?’
‘You’re far stronger than me. I wouldn’t be able to get away.’
‘So why should I let you go afterwards?’
‘When I tell you, you’ll be in quite a hurry to get to Ascalon.’ I wasn’t going to use the same lie I had on Dmitry – there were good reasons to suppose it wouldn’t work on Susanna. My plan was to tell her that Ascalon was packed away and loaded on to a train that was due to leave the city in less than an hour.
She pursed her lips and blew out through them, thinking intently.
‘I’d hurry, if I were you,’ I said. ‘I could change my mind at any moment.’ I smiled. ‘I mean that quite literally.’
She straightened up. ‘Very well.’ She flicked her fingers and pointed. ‘Ilya! Help Sandor with the big one.’
Ilya looked at her sullenly. ‘It’s a trick,’ he muttered.
‘Just do it,’ snapped Susanna.
Ilya obeyed. I stepped aside to allow them to drag Dmitry into the chamber. Against two of them, there was not much he could do to resist. They took him to the other end of the cell, close to where Nadya was sitting. The way out was clear. Now could be my chance to run, but I doubted I would get far. Much better to allow Susanna to escort me to the surface. But then my mind was made up for me.