Chapter 19 #2
“Otlichno.” Nik relaxed in his chair and continued playing. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw the fire burn just a little brighter for a few seconds and imagined his gesture had made Mama happy.
“But I want you to finish the game first. No forfeits allowed.”
“Fine. Just so long as you know that Eldar wins in the end.”
“Didn’t I just say no forfeits?”
Nik scowled.
“That’s fine with me,” Eldar said. “I don’t fancy ending up the sluga for my praded.”
“You will if you want to live, boy.”
“He’ll do as you ask,” Nik said, warning Eldar with raised eyebrows.
Eldar set down a card. “Let’s just see how it plays out, shall we? I’m sure I can beat him.”
Nikolai knew it didn’t matter. He’d win no matter what. He was using the magic cards given to him by Pasha. He didn’t think he could lose if he tried. In fact, when he attempted losing, it backfired. Eldar played even worse cards than he did before.
“You’ve got to be kidding me, Eldar,” Nik said when he won attack after attack. “What kind of chepukha hand were you dealt? Or are you just that bad of a player?”
“Hey, you’re the one with the gift. The one who never loses. Remember?”
Eldar and Nik played furiously until, finally, they neared the end.
Both of them only had a few remaining cards.
Nik attacked, then Eldar. Then it was down to one card apiece.
It was Eldar’s turn. Whatever card he held would decide both of their fates.
He smiled widely. He had a high trump card left—the Queen of Clubs.
There were only two cards that could beat it.
He leaned forward, his hands clutching the table so hard his fingertips turned white.
Nik sucked in a breath and played one of the two—the King of Clubs.
It was a draw. It was the best Nik could do without stomping him.
“What—what happens now?” Eldar asked in a shaky voice. “Do we play another round?” he suggested hopefully.
The knife that had dropped away from his throat lifted again, first pointing at him, then turning to point at Nik.
“Well,” the ghost said. “Since we’ve decided to bury the children, I suppose it will go much faster with two. I’ve waited this long. I suppose I can bide my time for just a tad bit longer. Come along. Let’s get this over with.”
They all rose from the table, careful to step around Andrey’s chilling body, and headed outside.
Nik obtained shovels from the shed, and they began digging underneath the old tree.
Once they had moved enough earth to hold all the little bodies, and Andrey’s, they began moving everyone to their new resting place.
The job took most of the night.
By the time they were finished, Nik was dead on his feet and nearly ready to crawl into the hole right next to Andrey’s body.
Instead, Nik picked up his shovel and scooped dirt on top of him.
He was about to turn and ask Eldar if he thought they might be able to catch a few hours of rest when he was hit over the back of the head.
The world spun. One minute he was looking down at Andrey’s dead body, half covered with dirt, the next, he was lying on top of it, looking up at the leaves of the tree.
Then he closed his eyes and could see no more.
* * *
Nik’s dreams were mercifully dull. He slept deeply and long and only woke when he was jostled smartly on the arm.
“Wake up. Wake up! Surely I didn’t cuff you that hard!”
To his horror, Nik found he was slow of speech, drooling, had blurry vision, and was indeed sleeping next to the very dead, very cold, and now putrid-smelling Andrey.
Flailing his arms and legs in a vain attempt to extricate himself from the shallow grave, Nik managed to flop over like a dead fish, which only served to put his drooling lips on top of the dead Andrey’s, causing him to finally gag and vomit a bit into the dead man’s mouth, which upon seeing it, made him vomit even more.
At least it served to rouse him fully from his stupor, and he stumbled from the dirt at last and thrashed his way to a standing position.
“What? What did you do to me?” he managed to ask as he tried to straighten his clothing, brush dirt from it, and wipe vomit away from his person all at the same time.
“I figured if I knocked you senseless, the ghost would let both of us live. Turns out, I was wrong.”
“Wrong? What do you mean?”
Eldar sank down to his knees. “You should run. Run while you can.”
He fell, turning to his side, and that’s when Nik saw the knife plunged into his back and the other stab wounds that leaked blood down his shirt. Reaching down, Nikolai pulled out the knife and rolled Eldar over, only to see his eyes had already turned glassy. He was gone.
“Why did you do that?” Nik asked. “Why did you kill your only kin?”
“I told you. I don’t want to remember. Keeping him alive is just a reminder of the past.” The leaves on the tree began to quiver. “Now, do as I say. Bring me the tin and the key. Stand here under the tree and open it. Then read me the contents of the spell. Be quick about it, boy!”
His leg still slightly twisted, Nik limped back into the house and found the box and the key he’d put back inside the nesting dolls. Taking them outside, he paused at the door and said, “If there’s anything I can do to stop him, Mama, then make it known to me.”
Clouds had gathered, and cold sleet began falling, leaving icy rivulets trailing down the sides of the house and the trunk of the tree. He stood beneath a heavy branch and lifted the box to the sky. “It’s here!” he shouted. “I’m opening it now!”
“Help me, Mama,” he murmured.
Inserting the small key in the tiny lock, he turned it, and the top of the box popped open.
Inside the box, he found a rolled scroll of paper wrapped around a stick.
Again he felt a shock of cold, fetid breath on the back of his neck.
“Read it to me,” Yuri mumbled in the storm. “Read what gift shall be mine.”
Careful to keep the paper away from the rain and sleet, Nik unrolled it and began to read.
Dear One,
Herein is contained that which you desire above all else.
It is more precious than diamonds, gold, glory, fame, or even love.
I hope you can use it to start anew and find happiness.
Know that I will always watch over you,
Mama
The gift is . . .
Nick turned the paper over to see what was written on the back.
Forgiveness
Flipping it over again and again, Nikolai read and reread the letter until his vision blurred with tears.
It was as if it had come from his very own mama.
Could it be that this mama had somehow given Nik the thing he wanted most in the world instead of Yuri?
He collapsed to his knees, sobbing. “Oh, Mama,” he cried.
“Mama,” he said, over and over again. “I’m so sorry. I love you.”
“What is this?” the ghost said. “Why are you crying? You want Mama’s forgiveness?
You think this is a gift?” Yuri shouted.
“I don’t care if you forgive me or not, old woman!
I don’t forgive you! You have trapped me here for decades.
You think you have suffered? I have suffered twelve times over!
I had to see our dead children, not you.
I had to stay behind and care for them when you left.
You should be asking me for forgiveness, eh? ”
While Yuri kept yelling, Nik got up, found a bag with all his things packed at the bottom of the house steps, stuffed the tin and the nesting dolls with the key inside, and said dosvidanya to Mama.
He’d only just exited the town and entered the woods when he heard a familiar voice.
“Hey, kid.”
“Pasha?”
“That’s right.”
“Whew! I thought you were going to try to shrink that thing. You haven’t been gone for more than a week or so.
I know I’m a little late, but I thought the time without your power would do you some good.
What could you possibly have found in there to make a sorrow grow like that?
” Pasha climbed up on a stump and began probing Nik’s back and shoulders.
He tried to push the one-eyed man off. “So you’re responsible for this? It figures. I thought you were coming for me! What happened?”
“I got caught up in a gig. Couldn’t help it. Anyway, you’re a big boy, aren’t you? Don’t need a nanny.”
“No, I don’t. So clear out, would you? Just leave me alone,” he demanded.
“I’d like to, but first off, it’s hard to look away from that thing on your back. That sorrow looks like a tick that’s been dining on a blood blister. It’s like a giant slug waiting to explode.” When the little man slid down, Nikolai noticed a strange look on his face.
Trying to ignore him, Nik started walking, and the man followed, saying, “Reminds me of this one time I found a pustule growing on me backside. Raw and red, it was. Festered something fierce. Very difficult to excrete. Couldn’t quite reach it, you see?”
Spinning, Nik said, “That’s quite enough explanation. Thank you, though, for the very vivid imagery.”
“You’re welcome. Now, seeing as how you failed your task, I believe you owe me a debt as well as my cards back. I’ll be taking those now, thank you very much.”
“Er, your cards?”
“Don’t tell me you lost them. Not my lucky deck.”
“Uh, no. Let me just check my bag.”
Rummaging through the bag, Nik began to panic when he didn’t find them.
Then he had a thought, opened the nesting dolls, and took out the key.
When he inserted it in the little tin box, he found the same paper with the note as before as well as the lucky deck.
“Whew! Here they are,” he said, handing them over.
“They’d better all be here,” Pasha said, riffling through them. Picking up a card and sniffing it, he winced. “Killed a few people with these, I see.”
“Not my fault,” Nik said. “The ghost did it. And only one was during the card game.”
“Haven’t you learned yet, boy? Everything in life is a game. I told you, didn’t I? Walking away with your dignity intact, shaking hands with everyone at the table, that’s how you play. Don’t matter if you win or lose. Don’t matter what hand you’re dealt.”
“Yeah? Well, nobody ever said anything about playing with ghosts!”
“Ghosts? What are you doing playing with ghosts? Can’t trust the likes of them.”
“It’s not like I set out to do it.”
“Yeah, well, didn’t learn much, did you? Same lesson still applies.” He sniffed again and grunted.
“Shows what you know. I won forgiveness in a deadly game. That’s not bad.”
“Yeah. You’re right. Not bad. Not bad.” Pasha kicked Nik in the shin.
“Ow! What did you do that for?”
“Because! You’re letting a precious gift like forgiveness go to waste.
Here you are letting your sorrow suck the life out of you while you carry around a trump card like forgiveness in your pocket and never play it.
I suppose it serves me right for letting you go off on your own.
The young people of today are idiots. What a waste.
If I had your wiry frame, your hair, and your, ehm .
. . let’s just call it vim and vigor, not to mention your two eyes, coupled with my vastly superior mind and experience, why, there’s no telling what I could accomplish. ”
“Hold on. Letting me go off on my own? Pushed me, is more like it.”
“Are you still dwelling on that when I’m talking about vim and vigor, boy?
You really need to pay attention to the important stuff.
Besides, you say apples, and I say apples.
Now then, as to the terms of our agreement.
I believe we said something to the effect of you shrinking that sorrow and I’d reunite you with your friends.
I was generous too. Gave you much longer than a week. ”
“You did. Yes. Very generous.”
“And that if you didn’t, you’d do something for me.”
Nik sighed. “Right. Yeah. Well, what did you have in mind?”
“Oh, not much. Not much,” Pasha said, rolling back and forth on his large feet.
He scratched his head. “It’s just that, well, my gal has made up with me, and she says I never take her anywhere. I told her to name the place and time, and she did. She wants me to take her to the Games.”
“The Games?”
“Yeah, the Games. There’s betting. Food. Lots of action. It’s a real good time. The thing is, she’s got this sister.”
“Wait. What?” Nik started backing away. He put his hands up and shook his head. “No way. No! Absolutely not!”
“I’ll cover all the costs. I’ll rent us some nice transportation. You’ll have a lovely time. I promise!”
“You’re kidding me, right? Tell me you’re joking.”
“Sorry, kid.” He held up two fingers. “You should know that Pasha Pogodin never jokes about two things—women and gambling.” He paused and put up a third finger. “Also, food. Can’t forget food. Not necessarily in that order. Come on, boy. We’ve got dates waiting.”
“Pasha! I said nyet!”
“Come along, mal’chik who doesn’t deserve to be young! Let’s see some bounce in your step. Vim and vigor, lad. Vim and vigor!”