Dan Smith - Red Winter

‘A princess killed all those people?’

‘She did.’

‘Why?’

‘I don’t know, but when Ivan found her, he must have been impressed because he fell in love with her and she with him.’

‘Just like that,’ Lev said.

‘Just like that,’ I agreed. ‘So they got married and lived together for a while until Marya Morevna grew bored and decided to go warring again, leaving Ivan alone in the castle. When she left, she told Ivan not to look inside her secret room, but, well, you know what it’s like when someone tells you not to look or touch or listen. He just couldn’t help himself, and one day, when he was bored, he opened the room and found a man bound by chains. He was tall and thin and gaunt and terrible-looking. A monster .’

‘ That’s Koschei,’ Anna said. She stopped, spoon in mid-air, and sat upright with a pleased but concerned look.

‘You’re too clever,’ I said.

‘Go on.’

I lowered my voice again, starting to enjoy the telling, forgetting, for just a moment, about the real Koschei, somewhere out there.

‘Ivan thought the man was ugly and frightening, but he was a good prince and felt sorry for him when the man asked for a drink, so he brought him a bucket of water. The chained man drank it down and kept asking for more until he had drunk three whole buckets, but the water gave him his strength back and he snapped the chains like they were twigs and told Ivan he would sooner see his own ears than see Marya Morevna again. Then Koschei left in a whirlwind of smoke and fire and blazing eyes, and he found the princess. He snatched her up and threw her on his skeletal horse and took her away to his kingdom.’

‘Sooner see his own ears?’ Anna said. ‘All he’d have to do is look in the mirror. He’s a prince – he must have a mirror.’

‘There’s no fooling you, eh?’ I stopped and took the last spoonful of soup, wiping the crust of the bread round the bowl before looking over at the dog sitting by the pich . He had not moved from his warm spot, but his eyes were always on us. From time to time he closed them, but the slightest change in the rhythm of our voices caused him to lift his nose and check the room. I threw the crust of bread over to him and in an instant he was on his feet, chewing it down and licking his lips.

‘That was a good meal,’ I said to Lev. ‘Thank you. I think he liked it too.’

Lev took a packet of papirosa cigarettes from his pocket, offering them across to me. There were only three left in the packet and I hesitated, but he gestured for me to take one. ‘Please.’

I looked him in the eye and nodded once before taking it. Then I struck a match on the tabletop and lit both, savouring the first lungful.

‘Then what happened?’ Anna asked. ‘Did Ivan find Marya?’

The dog left his place, claws ticking on the wooden floor, and came to sit beside me, putting his chin on my lap. I ruffled his head, guessing no one had ever thrown him a scrap from the table before.

‘Does he have a name?’ I asked.

‘He’s not ours.’ Lev shrugged. ‘He was already here.’

‘He looks like he might have some wolf in him.’

Anna yawned and put out a hand to stroke his fur. ‘What happened to Marya?’

‘Where was I?’

‘Koschei took Marya.’

‘Oh yes,’ I said, sitting back and waving a hand. ‘Well, Prince Ivan looked for her, of course. He looked for a long time, but the first thing he found was one of his sisters. She and her prince told Ivan to give up on Marya Morevna because Koschei the Deathless would surely kill him, but he wouldn’t give up on his wife, so he left and went on his way. Before he went, though, he gave them his silver spoon and told them that if it turned black, then it meant something had happened to him and they should come to look for him. When he found his second sister, she tried to stop him too, but he went on, giving her his silver fork, and to the third sister he gave his silver snuffbox. Then finally he found the place where Koschei the Deathless was keeping Marya Morevna.’

Anna stopped stroking the dog and went to sit on her papa’s knee. Lev put his arms around her and held her tight. Beside me, the dog moved, turning in a circle several times before flopping on the floor at my feet, making me look down and see my brother’s boots.

They waited for me to go on.

‘Koschei was out hunting,’ I said, trying not to think about Alek lying under the ground, ‘so Ivan took Marya and they rode away on his horse, but Koschei knew.’

‘How?’

‘I don’t know. He just knew . So he went after them, and though his horse was like a skeleton, it was much faster, so he caught up with them.’

‘Did he kill the prince?’ she asked.

‘No, he took pity on him, just as Ivan had once taken pity on him.’

‘So he let him go?’

‘Yes, he did, but not Marya Morevna. He kept her, so Ivan stole her twice more when Koschei was out hunting, and each time Koschei’s horse was too fast and each time Koschei forgave him. In fact, he forgave him three times because Ivan had given him three buckets of water, but after that, he decided enough was enough and he flew into a whirling rage. He jumped on his hellish horse and came crashing from the forest, sword raised, eyes blazing, and cut Prince Ivan into little pieces.’ I brought the edge of my hand down on the table in a chopping motion.

Anna halted mid-yawn and sat up straight. ‘But he’s the prince.’

I took a drag on the cigarette. ‘Yes, he is.’

‘And the prince always wins.’

‘Does he?’ I asked.

‘Of course he does. He’s—’ She stopped herself and shook her head at me, giving me the same stern look her father had given her earlier in the barn. There was something strangely inclusive about that, as if she had accepted me. ‘I know what you mean,’ she said, ‘but this is different.’

Anna was young, but not too young to know the fate of our own tsar, executed just two years ago, along with everyone in his family. She didn’t see any irony in the fact that the hero, Ivan, was now a tsar, though. She saw a skazka , a hero and a villain, that was all. ‘This is just a story ,’ she said. ‘It’s not here; it’s… somewhere else. And in the stories , the prince always wins and the monster is always burned or drowned in the lake or killed with a sword.’ She shrugged. ‘That’s just how it always is.’

‘Not in this story,’ I said, narrowing my eyes and leaning closer. ‘I’m sorry. But this is the part my boys always love. Pavel especially. And Marianna loves telling it. You see, I’m afraid Koschei really does chop Ivan into pieces and he puts all the bits of Prince Ivan in a barrel and smears it with pitch. Then he binds it with iron hoops and throws it in the sea.’ I stopped and looked at Anna. ‘Are you scared?’

‘Of course not.’

‘He doesn’t die,’ I said.

‘How can he not die after all that?’

‘Because he’s the prince, of course –’ I winked ‘– and the prince always wins.’

Lev lifted his cup. ‘To the prince,’ he said.

‘To the prince.’ I smiled and drank, feeling the effects of the vodka. It was the best I had felt in a long time.

‘You shouldn’t worry,’ I said to Anna, ‘because when the spoon and the fork and the snuffbox turned black, so the falcon and the eagle and the raven came to help. One of them dragged the barrel from the sea, while another went to fetch the water of life, and another to find the water of death. They broke open the barrel, put the pieces of the prince together and sprinkled them with the water of death to make everything stick together. Then they used the water of life to bring back Ivan. Straight away Prince Ivan set off in search of Marya Morevna again, but this time, instead of taking her, he told her to find out where Koschei got his horse from.’