Dan Smith - Red Winter

The second to burst into the yard was Lyudmila’s, close on the heels of the first horse, the pair of them feeding off each other’s fear, becoming more and more agitated. They came together, careering into one another, Tanya’s horse colliding with the cart, hooves skidding and kicking up the powdery snow before the pair of them turned and galloped towards the fence. They followed the line of it towards the far end of the yard, rearing back in panic as a black shape streaked past them, low to the ground.

Tuzik’s legs were a blur as he darted across the snow, snarling, launching himself at Ryzhkov, snapping for his throat. Ryzhkov put up his arm in defence and Tuzik’s teeth clamped onto it, working through the sleeve of the coat as the dog braced his feet on the ground and tried to pull Ryzhkov down.

The two of them turned in an unnatural and freakish dance as they writhed together, and I moved as quickly as I could, shouting at Tuzik, trying to make him stop. I needed Ryzhkov alive. I couldn’t let him die, not yet, and I was afraid that if Tuzik brought him to the ground, he would tear out his throat.

I was halfway across the yard, shouting, watching the struggle, when Kashtan emerged from the barn. She was almost in a frenzy, overwhelmed by the blood and commotion, and her exit was blocked by the snarling, screaming mess of man and dog that amplified her distress. Unable to escape, she showed the whites of her eyes and bared her teeth, reared and stamped her feet in a display of aggression, but when it had no effect, she made a break for safety.

As she barged past, Ryzhkov reached out for her reins, perhaps hoping she would save him from Tuzik’s jaws, but it served only to unbalance him, dragging him off his feet. As Kashtan made it past him, she bucked her rear quarters, lashing out with her hind legs.

Tuzik yelped, legs flailing as he was knocked into the barn, but the impact was far worse for Ryzhkov. There was a sickening crunch as one of Kashtan’s hooves made contact with the commander’s skull. His head jerked back, his body arched, and he crashed onto the snow, where he lay twitching for a moment before becoming still.

Kashtan trotted to the far end of the yard, huddling with the other two horses by the fence, and Tuzik scrambled to his feet, dazed but ready to fight again. I staggered across to where Ryzhkov lay, reaching him before Tuzik could get there.

‘No.’ I pointed at the dog, then fell to my knees beside Ryzhkov.

‘Where are they?’ I said, grabbing the front of his coat to pull his head from the ground. ‘Where are they?’

Ryzhkov’s left eye was smashed and bleeding where Kashtan’s hoof had struck him, and the skin round it was split and bleeding. His right eye was open, but it seemed to have a life of its own, rolling up first, then down and looking about as if trying to find something to focus on.

‘Don’t you die on me.’ I shook him hard. ‘Don’t die on me. Not now. Not after all this.’

‘What happened?’ he asked.

‘Where are they?’ I said. ‘Where is my family? Where did you send them?’

‘Nikolai Levitsky? Is that you?’

‘Where is my family?’ I said, pulling him up further so that my nose was almost touching his. ‘ Where are they? ’

Koschei said nothing more. His good eye rolled up, and his body relaxed.

‘No. You can’t die.’ I shook him hard. Over and over. ‘You can’t die. You have to tell me where they are.’

But Koschei the Deathless was already gone.

The interior of the izba was like a battlefield. Bodies. Blood. The dead, the confused and the walking wounded.

Ryzhkov lay in the snow, his secrets unspoken, and I propped myself in the doorway feeling cheated and helpless, wondering how it had come to this. I had left my unit to escape the war. Alek had given his life for us to avoid it, and yet here it was, right here in this house. I realised then that it was everywhere. That there was no way to escape it. It touched every corner of our country. The distrust and the separation and the violence were everywhere. It was plain to see on the battlefield, but it was in our homes too. It was thick in the air that we breathed and I understood that it was a part of us now. We had come too far; there was no way to turn back. Whoever won this terrible war, it wouldn’t matter.

The old woman was wailing when I came in, but when she saw me, she stopped. She knew her son was dead, and now she didn’t know what to do or how to feel. She had protected him as any mother would protect her child. Even a grown man. She wouldn’t want to believe my accusations, to accept who her son had been and what he had done, but in her heart, she knew it was true. Ryzhkov had kept his madness from his family, but it was there, raging beneath the calm demeanour, and when I had pushed him, he was unable to deny it. The old woman couldn’t deny it now either.

Sergei, though, he knew. I think he had known all along that his son was out of control; that’s why he had warned us to leave. Now the shame was more than he could bear. He sat motionless on the floor beside his wife, holding one of her hands in his own, but he stared at the wall seeing nothing. His face showed no emotion, as if his senses had all but deserted him, and he gently patted his wife’s hand over and over. It wasn’t that he didn’t care if his son was dead or alive – I think he just didn’t want to know. He didn’t want to be a part of it. And for now he was going to deny us all.

Oksana was nowhere to be seen, but I knew she would have retreated above the pich to be with her children, keeping them safe and out of sight. Where else was there for her to go but to her children?

Anna was sitting where she had been when I last saw her, my revolver still in her hands, but she placed it on the floor as Tuzik brushed past my legs and went to her, a slight awkwardness in his step. She threw her arms around him and hugged him tight, pushing her face against his neck. When she looked up, our eyes met, a silent acknowledgement passing between us, and it was that which gave me strength. Were it not for Anna, I think I might have sobbed at my misfortune. I had come so far, followed Koschei’s trail of destruction for so long, and all the time I had fixed my hope on the information he would give me. But he had given me nothing and now all seemed lost.

I had Anna to make me keep going, though. She depended on me and I on her.

The old woman stood and came across the room, leaving her husband. She stepped over the bodies and I moved aside to let her out into the yard. I didn’t watch her cross to her son and fall to her knees at his side, but I knew it was what she would do. No matter what he was, she would mourn him. He was, after all, her son.

At my feet, Lyudmila lay dead.

‘Kolya.’

My name whispered.

‘Kolya.’

Tanya was on her side by the table, her face bloody.

‘Kolya,’ she said again. She was looking up at me through half-open eyes. She raised a hand and made a weak, beckoning motion, so I crouched beside her.

‘You’ll be fine,’ I said.

Tanya shook her head and put her hand on her stomach. It was only then that I realised she had been shot. There was already so much blood on the floor I hadn’t noticed that a lot of it was coming from the wound in her abdomen.

I put my hands to her injury and pressed hard.

‘Is he dead?’ Tanya asked. ‘Koschei?’

‘Don’t talk,’ I said. ‘You’ll be all right.’

Tanya managed a gentle shake of her head. ‘Is he dead?’

‘Yes.’

‘Did he tell you?’ Tanya asked. Her voice was weak and I could almost hear the life leaving her.

‘Yes,’ I said, running my hand across her brow, moving aside the blood-matted hair. ‘Yes, he did.’