Dan Smith - Red Winter

Behind the farm was nothing but the forest we used for cover. It was mottled with shadow there now, and the trunks leaned in towards the buildings, the crooked and barren branches extending as if reaching out to smother it and take the farm for its own.

Beyond the yard, though, the fields stretched a long way. On the far side of them, there was a hedgerow and evenly spaced trees, beyond which another farm stood. Only the roofs of the far buildings were visible.

There had been no movement for at least half an hour. No sign at all that the near farm was inhabited. No smoke from the chimney and no light from the windows. The evening closed in on us and the air grew colder and we shivered in our heavy winter coats.

When the darkness smothered us, and the time of forest demons was on us, I felt a chill run through me.

I put my arm around Anna’s shoulder and held her close.

Tuzik stood in front of us, Kashtan behind, the four of us inseparable now.

‘We should go down there,’ I said into the eerie quiet. ‘Either that or go back into the forest and find somewhere good to build a fire. It’s getting late and I don’t want to freeze to death out here.’ My breath was white and thick around me.

‘Maybe we should keep going,’ Tanya said.

‘I want to go on as much as you do –’ I didn’t take my eyes off the farm ‘– but there’s too much cloud to travel at night. And the horses need rest. We all do.’

I felt her turn to me, so I met her gaze. Jagged teeth of hair jutted from the fringe of her hat. Her eyes had a distant look.

‘We’ll find him,’ I said. ‘Together. But we need to rest.’ Stopping at Lev’s place had given my pursuers time to catch up, and I was reluctant to make the same mistake, but we were exhausted and needed to rest. My hunters would need to do the same thing.

She looked away, clenching her jaw and pursing her lips tight.

‘It pains me to say this, Tanya, but he’s right. I say we go down there.’ Lyudmila hadn’t spoken for a while and it was a surprise to hear her agree with me. ‘There’s no one there.’

‘And if there is?’ Tanya asked. ‘What do we do then?’

‘If there were soldiers down there, we’d have seen them,’ I said. ‘There’d be horses, equipment… and with three of us, armed, we should be able to deal with any overprotective farmers.’

‘And what about the other farm?’ Tanya asked, looking out at the rooftops beyond the hedgerow. ‘There might be people there.’

‘We’ve seen nothing so far. And if we can’t see them, they won’t see us.’

So we led the horses out of the trees and headed towards the back of the farm, keeping out of view as much as possible.

When we reached the rear of the two houses, Tuzik padded ahead, nose to the ground, and we followed him round to the front.

‘There’s no one here,’ I said, as we came closer and let the horses through the gate.

As we entered the yard, though, the door to the first building opened, making me snap my head round, my hand reaching for my pocket. I half expected One-Eyed Likho to appear from the house like a crazed old hag, but instead it was an old man who stepped out into the cold.

He was as surprised to see us as we were to see him and we all stopped dead in our tracks.

Tuzik lowered his head and splayed his front legs in one sudden movement, his whole body tense. The fur on his neck rose, his ears went back, and he bared his teeth in warning. The growl that escaped him was feral.

‘He’s unarmed,’ Tanya whispered. ‘Don’t do anything.’

‘What do you think I’m going to do?’ I asked, moving in front of Anna. ‘Attack an old man?’

Tanya gave me a look to suggest that was exactly what she expected me to do. ‘You or your dog,’ she said under her breath. ‘Keep the damn thing under control.’ Then she turned and raised a hand. ‘Good evening,’ she said.

The old man nodded once with uncertainty and glanced into the house behind him with a worried expression before casting his eyes over us once more.

‘Let me talk to him,’ Tanya said, handing me the reins of her horse. ‘And hold on to that dog.’

I called Tuzik, surprised when he obeyed and came to my side. Anna held on to him as Tanya strode over to the old man and took off her hat, holding it in the fist of her right hand. As she did so, the old man stood a little straighter and took a deep breath.

‘What do you want?’ He closed the door behind him and took a pace forward to stop Tanya from climbing onto the first step.

‘We thought there was no one here.’ She hesitated with one foot raised.

‘And now you can see there is.’ His voice was deep and rattled with phlegm as if he needed to cough.

‘We’re passing by on our way north. Looking for shelter for the night.’ She withdrew her foot.

‘And you want to get it here?’ He looked down at her, then squinted and peered through the semi-darkness at me and Lyudmila standing with the horses.

‘If that’s agreeable with you,’ Tanya said.

The man’s craggy face broke into a smile that displayed blackened teeth. He put back his head and laughed, emitting a croaky, rasping sound more like a death rattle than a laugh.

Tanya took another step back and glanced across at me.

I made an encouraging gesture with my hands, prompting her to speak again, but before she could say anything, the old man stopped laughing as suddenly as he had started and stared down at her with watery eyes.

‘Three of you, armed, deserters most likely, with a… What is that? A wolf?’

‘A dog,’ Tanya said.

‘A bad-tempered dog, then, and you’re asking if it’s agreeable with me?’ He took a step forward so he was looking right down at Tanya. ‘Of course it’s not agreeable with me, but since when did anyone care about that?’

‘Sir,’ I said, coming forward, ‘we have food we can share in return for shelter and warmth. We mean you no harm. We’re not deserters.’

‘Then why are you armed?’

‘We’re searching for someone.’

‘Searching for someone?’ The old man scratched the back of his head and furrowed his brow as he looked around me. ‘That doesn’t mean anything. Who are you? What…’ As soon as he saw Anna standing with the horses, he stopped scratching. ‘You have a child with you.’

‘Yes.’

He dropped his hand to his side and puffed his cheeks as he blew out a long breath. For a moment I thought he was going to welcome us in. I thought perhaps the sight of a child had softened his heart, but then his face hardened and his next words were spoken with venom. ‘There’s nothing for you here. Go away. You should—’

Just then the door to the izba opened once more, making him look back in surprise.

‘Who’s out there?’ said a voice, and an old woman came out onto the step, dressed in black and with a shawl draped around her shoulders. She shuffled in an unsettling way, like Galina had done. Like I imagined a witch would.

‘It’s no one,’ said the old man. ‘Go back inside.’

‘I want to see who it is,’ she said. Her voice was coarse and hard and unsympathetic.

‘It’s no one.’

‘Well, it has to be someone , you old fool. Who is it?’

The old man sighed and shook his head. ‘They say they’re looking for someone.’

‘Who? Who’re they looking for?’

‘Chekists,’ Tanya said.

It was more than I thought she should have given away, but there was something in the old man’s eyes when she said it; some sort of recognition, or perhaps it was just sympathy.

‘Well, bring them in, Sergei, bring them in.’ The old woman’s tone changed, but it still sounded unfriendly. It was as if she were hiding her true nature, like One-Eyed Likho settling the tailor before cutting his throat. ‘You can’t leave them standing in the cold.’