by E. P. Clark
Both the children nodded vigorously and ran off. I examined the scrap of paper again. It had been torn in haste from a larger piece that had been used for something else, I could tell by the edges of letters along the jagged edges of the message. I examined the letter fragments carefully. It was hard to tell, but they seemed to be from the words All my best, I.M. So, the bottom of a letter Ivan Marinovich had written to someone else, and then torn the corner from to compose this message to me. I wondered why he had done that. The most likely reason was that his mother had decided to stop him from sending out any letters and take away all his writing materials, but he had somehow managed to tear off a corner from a letter he’d already written and hide it away until he could write this message with—I looked at the lettering, and then sniffed at it—soot from the fireplace. I looked at the sad face he’d drawn in the corner. It made me smile in spite of myself. It was a remarkable piece of drawing for something done in haste and secrecy with nothing but soot for ink. I told myself I would have to ask him about his talent for drawing someday soon. But first I would have to free him.
I went back to my chambers, changed into the clothes I had worn yesterday to the Princess Council, which were the only good and also comfortable clothes that I had, and sent word that I would be calling on the Empress soon. I left my chambers without waiting for a reply, and went to the tsarinoviches’ chambers, up on the Imperial family’s floor. As I had expected, Mirochka and the boys were at their lessons, but they (and their tutor) broke off eagerly when I came in.
“Mama!” cried Mirochka ecstatically. “We’re studying history!”
“Good for you. And what have you learned?”
“We are studying the history of the wars with the Hordes, Valeriya Dariyevna,” said Ruslan with a serious little bow.
“An excellent subject,” I said. “I won’t disturb your studies for long. I just wanted to call on you for a moment on my way to the Tsarina.”
“Will we spar today, mama?” demanded Mirochka. “If we do, Kiryusha wants to join us.”
“Perhaps not, my dove, or if we do, not until evening.”
“But we have to train every single day, mama!” she protested.
“Yes, and we will this evening, but first I have matters I must attend to. Perhaps you can go riding instead? Surely your pony needs attention, and it is a trifle cooler today than it has been. I think a storm might be coming in, so you would be wise to go riding while you can.”
“Will you go riding with us, then, mama?” she asked.
“I’m afraid my business will prevent it. Perhaps tomorrow.”
She started to pout. I gave her a look. She gave me a look back. “But mama…” she began.
“I am afraid that duty calls, my dove.”
She started to screw up her face in preparation for an outburst. “And when duty calls me, it calls you as well,” I added firmly. “You must behave like a princess, my love, even if it is difficult.”
“You’re gone all the time, mama,” she complained accusingly.
“Such is the press of my duties right now,” I said, even more firmly. “And you have a duty too. After all, someone must escort your brothers out riding, and I can’t do it right now.”
“All right,” she said with a huge sigh. “But tomorrow you have to spend all day with me, like you do when you’re at home.”
“We shall see,” I said. I bowed to the tutor and the tsarinoviches, and turned to go.
“You’re going to go storm the palace now, aren’t you, mama?” she said suddenly.
I stopped and turned back to her. “I beg your pardon?” It came out more abruptly than I intended. Another child probably would have been driven to tears, but Mirochka said, unfazed, “Last night you were thinking about storming a palace, and now you’re going to go do it, aren’t you? That’s why you can’t train with us this afternoon, isn’t it?”
The tutor and the tsarinoviches were staring at us round-eyed. “In a manner of speaking,” I said.
“What do you mean, ‘in a manner of speaking’?”
“I have to go deal with some unpleasant people. I suppose you could say it’s sort of like storming a palace.”
“But”—her face creased in a frown—“there won’t be any arrows, will there?”
“Probably not,” I assured her. “But I don’t know how long it will take, so I might not be back until evening.”
“Oh, all right. And then can we train?”
“As soon as I get back,” I promised.
This appeared to satisfy her, and so, after bowing to everyone again, I left and headed for Sera’s chambers.
I found her pacing around restlessly and giving longing looks out the window. “Feeling better?” I asked.
“Much! Too much, in fact. I can’t stand to spend another day cooped up inside here!”
“You weren’t tired out by the Princess Council, then?”
“A little,” she admitted reluctantly, but then added, “But I feel completely recovered already! I feel so much better this time than I ever did with any of the boys! Let’s go for a ride, Valya!”
I looked at her more closely. She certainly looked better than she had since I’d arrived, but I still didn’t like her skin tone and texture. Something was still wrong with her blood and her heart, I could tell, even if she did not currently seem in imminent danger of collapse.
“What do the healers say about riding?” I asked.
“Oh…” She waved her hand dismissively, which told me all I needed to know.
“Perhaps a stroll in the park this evening, once it grows cooler,” I suggested. “We could take Mirochka and the boys. I’m sure they would all enjoy it.”
“Oh…very well, but I don’t know if I can wait until evening! I’m as restless as a young horse in springtime!” She gazed out of the window for a moment onto the stable roof, and then turned away abruptly and said, “Are you here to talk about the members of your party, then?”
“Well…sort of. It seems that Ivan Marinovich has been locked up. I’m here to let you know that I’m going to go over there and see if I can speak with him and maybe free him.”
“By ‘over there’ you mean to Princess Velikokrasnova’s palace?”
“Yes,” I confirmed.
“And are you planning to storm the palace by stealth or force?”
“Well…” I said, “What makes you think I’m going to storm it at all?”
“You have that look, Valya. I realize I’ve never actually seen you go into battle, but you have that battle look.”
“Since you’re the second person who’s asked me that question, I guess I must. Mirochka said I dreamed of it last night.”
“Her abilities continue to develop, then?” asked Sera, temporarily diverted from the matter at hand by something much more pleasant and interesting.
“Perhaps, or perhaps she’s only started telling me about it more.”
“Or perhaps the two go hand in hand,” said Sera. “I shall watch her with great interest this fall, to see how her gifts grow and strengthen.”
“Yes,” I said. “Yet another thing that I will miss.”
A complicated look crossed Sera’s face: guilt and sorrow at the thought of me missing a whole season of my daughter’s growth, and at this most significant time, but also a hunger for something I couldn’t name but that sent a little shiver down my back. I wondered how much Sera’s current condition was affecting her mind. Or maybe it was her desperation for a daughter at any cost. The look disappeared; repressed, I was sure, rather than dismissed. “I’m sorry, Valya,” she said. “I know this is a great sacrifice for you to make. Believe me, if I could have chosen anyone else…”
“I know,” I said. “But I also know it must be done, and that I am the best woman to do it. While Mirochka sits here safe behind the kremlin walls, other women’s daughters are being wrenched from their families, dragged from their homeland, and sold into the most vile servitude imaginable. If I had to leave Mir
ochka for a year, I still would not be able to stop myself from going. But that doesn’t mean I don’t regret what I will miss; it only means that what I will miss will make my passion for justice burn even brighter.”
“I know, Valya.” For a moment Sera looked sad, but she shook it off and said, “And so, Ivan Marinovich? What are you planning to do about it? For I agree, we can’t allow him to be locked up against his and our will, but freeing him could be a ticklish business.”
“I know. Which is why I thought I’d start with a surprise attack, and go make a civil call on Princess Velikokrasnova. I figure no one will be expecting that. But I wanted to let you know before I went, in case things go…badly.”
Sera raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean by ‘badly’?” she asked.
“Well, I’d like to think that Princess Velikokrasnova wouldn’t set her guards on me, but to be honest, I wouldn’t put it past her…so if I’m not back by, say, late afternoon, send guards after me. Say that I promised you and the tsarinoviches an evening stroll, and you are impatient at being kept waiting. You could demand Ivan Marinovich’s presence as well, while you’re at it.”
“You know, Valya, that Princess Velikokrasnova has brought her whole household with her,” said Sera cautiously.
“I know.”
“There may be…unpleasant encounters.”
“There may,” I admitted. “I’m not saying this will be a pleasure call. But it seems like the best thing to do at the moment.”
“I suppose you’re right,” she said with a sigh, and then suddenly grinned. “You know what you’re doing, Valya?”
“What?”
“You’re kidnapping him! Actually kidnapping him! Right out from under his mother’s nose!”
“Ah…I suppose,” I said.
“Oh, Valya, you are! And you said he sent you a note about it, asking you to do it?”
“Ah, well, sort of.”
“Even better! Oh, Valya, if you succeed, if you actually succeed, that means you’re practically as good as betrothed, doesn’t it? If you kidnap him from his family with his help?”
“Well…back home, yes,” I said. “But I don’t think it’s seen in quite the same way here on the black earth of Mother Krasna.”
“Oh, well…I mean, yes, spouse-stealing fell out of fashion here generations ago, now that we’re all peaceful and families want to make good alliances and hold tight control over the lines of inheritance, instead of producing daring warriors. They say it encourages disobedience and recklessness, especially amongst young men, and we know how prone they are to those traits anyway! But I know they still do it in the Southern mountains, and I thought you still did it on the steppe too.”
“We do,” I said.
“Oh, Valya, how much fun!” cried Sera, looking flushed and giddy, as if she were about lead a raid to steal a lover herself.
“Well…yes,” I agreed. “Normally the couple has to take turns kidnapping each other, with the help of their friends and family, to show they’re serious about it and that they’re brave and cunning enough to be worth marrying. Only normally the kidnapping is in name only. Your target has to agree to it and even help you out, once they realize what’s happening, if the match is to go through, and normally their friends and family only pretend to resist you, if they see that your target is going along willingly. It’s more of a game than anything else.”
“But it doesn’t have to be a game, does it?”
“No,” I admitted. “Even if the family resists, if the person you kidnap goes along willingly, then it’s considered a binding declaration of intent. And then they have to reciprocate and kidnap you as well, to show they want the match as much as you do.”
“Oh Valya!” Sera exclaimed, clapping her hands with glee, her eyes sparkling now. At least she was enjoying this. “Have you led many kidnapping raids before, then?”
“Well, the person who wants to make the match leads the raid, so no,” I said. “But I’ve helped out on many, of course.” Something in my face must have given away the fact that my own experiences with spouse-stealing had been bittersweet at best, for Sera asked, speaking quietly now, “Did you…did you try to kidnap him, then, while you were here?”
“Not at first,” I answered after a pause. “At first I tried to court him like a black earth princess would. But then in the end, when I was desperate—yes. Only obviously he didn’t want to come along willingly. But that’s the only time I’ve ever seen that happen.”
“And in this case we have good reason to think it won’t,” said Sera consolingly.
“In that case I had good reason to think it wouldn’t either,” I pointed out sharply. “But these black earth princes are a fickle, teasing lot.”
“Many men are fickle and teasing, and some from the black earth district are steadfast and true!” said Sera, suddenly nettled at my insult of her people. “By all the gods, Valya, you’re half black earth yourself, and Mirochka…”
“Steppe blood runs pretty thick in Zerkalitsa veins,” I interrupted her. “But that’s neither here nor there. Yes, I suppose I am kidnapping Ivan, but I can’t expect him to think of it that way. Even if he comes along willingly with me, we can’t assume he’s agreed to the match, or that he even understands what his actions would mean, in some other part of the country where he’s never set foot his entire life.”
“But you’re still going to do it, aren’t you?”
“I’m still going to do it,” I confirmed. “Which I would in any case, if there were some young man being held against his will, and I had the means to do something about it. But if we want to be sure that he intends to agree to the match, we’ll just have to—to wait and see if he kidnaps me back.”
“I suppose you’re right, Valya.” She grinned again. “So…I take it no one has ever tried to kidnap you, then?”
“That,” I couldn’t help but grin too, at the memory, “is my business, not yours, Sera.”
“Valya! But…I suppose you must have refused him…how sad…”
“On the steppe,” I told her, “we kidnap lovers as well as spouses. And,” I raised an eyebrow at her, “who said it was a him?”
“Valya!” She gave me a sideways look. “You’re joking, aren’t you? You’re trying to shock me!”
I only grinned in response, causing a very peculiar look to cross her face, as if she had suddenly become consumed with embarrassment, curiosity, and the realization that there were things about me of which she had never even dreamed.
“Well…be that as it may…” she said, recovering herself. “At least you’ve had experience in the matter. And…you said friends and family could help out? With the raid, I mean?”
“Ye-es…”
“Should I send some guards to escort you, then? I mean, I suppose you’ll need them anyway, but…if I send them, it wouldn’t make it not a proper kidnapping, would it?”
“No,” I said. “It would be fine. In fact, it’s better if friends and family help out—it makes it more official.” I thought about it for a moment. “Send a pair,” I said. “That conveys a message without making it a threat.”
“Very well. I suppose you’re going right now?”
“I don’t see any point in hanging about.”
“No doubt you’re right.” She went to the door, stuck her head out into the corridor (much to the surprise of her guards), and said, “Sasha! Tima! You are to accompany Valeriya Dariyevna on her errand.”
“When, Tsarina?” asked one of the guards apprehensively.
“Immediately.”
There was some shuffling. “Far be it for me to gainsay you, Tsarina…” said the one who had spoken before, “but…”
“Lyova and Vasya are no doubt calling upon the maids down the hall,” said Sera crisply. “Have them take your place, and then escort Valeriya Dariyevna wherever she wishes to go. You will be under her command for the rest of the day, is that understood?”
“Yes, Tsarina,” said the guard, sounding uncer
tain. I heard him leave, and then return shortly, accompanied by two more pairs of boots. Once Lyova and Vasya had been installed at the door, Sera called Sasha (who turned out to be the one who had been speaking) and Tima into the room and impressed on them once again that they were under my command until I saw fit to release them. Sasha, who was older and looked as if he were feeling the heat, did not seem exhilarated by this prospect, but Tima, who looked barely old enough to have left his mother’s side, perked up at the prospect of spending the afternoon out and about instead of standing in a stifling corridor.
“I will inform you of the results of my mission as soon as I return,” I told Sera as I took my leave. “And if I don’t return by a reasonable hour, send more guards in after me.”
“I think it most likely that you’ll be returning earlier rather than later, and with nothing to show for it because Princess Velikokrasnova will refuse you admittance, and you’ll have to come up with something a bit more…exciting than just showing up at the door,” said Sera, while Sasha grimaced and straightened himself up with the resigned air of a man determined to do his duty, even it was turning out to be much more burdensome than he had expected when he had donned his armor that morning.
“Well, I have to try,” I said, and, flanked by Sasha and Tima, left Sera’s chambers and headed downstairs, out of the kremlin.
***
“To Princess Velikokrasnova’s, then, Valeriya Dariyevna?” asked Sasha, once we were out of the kremlin.
“Yes,” I confirmed. “And I don’t expect any trouble—well, not of the kind that would require guards to get me out of it—but things might go a little more smoothly with you two by my side. So don’t leave me unless I specifically order it, and,” I turned my attention to Tima, “if we are admitted, which is not a sure thing, don’t rise to any insults given to us, no matter how provoking our hosts become. We are doing this to win, not to bandy pointless words about. So unless they actually try to drag me away by force, you are to do nothing. Are we agreed?”