Paul Middleton: Evacuation

Nathan turned to the door and saw Gabrielle there, grinning. Nathan looked at her and said “Okay then, you have a go without the tricks BA taught you. Think of it as redeeming our honor.”

Boris shrugged and nodded as Gabrielle stepped forward.

They circled each other, watching how their opponent moved. Gabrielle darted forward under his reach and caught an elbow in her chest for her trouble. She backed off again, and Boris feinted with a kick to the mid-drift that was actually a step forward. He grabbed the arm that reached to grab his foot. Gabriel broke the hold and kneed him in the gut. He folded forward in pain but used the movement to achieve a grapple around her waist. Once her feet were off the ground, Boris asked, “Do you yield or should I throw you?” She took a half minute trying to find the leverage to remove his grip without going to vamp speed, but couldn’t and called the bout.

She glared at him. “Okay. Rematch. This time, I will use some tricks” She flashed a vicious grin at him. Boris shrugged and nodded. It wasn’t like he really expected to beat her if she decided to go all out.

Gabrielle chose to pick up the speed to the first level. She was surprised that he could still follow her and despite her landing more blows he seemed to be coping well. He was able to face Gabrielle despite the step up in speed. He waited, often taking a pounding until she pushed too hard on an attack and left him an opening he could exploit.

Then she realized he was riding most of the blows, robbing them of striking power. After about ten minutes of this, they heard Bethany Anne from the doorway.

“I’d call it a draw at that level, Gabrielle. I need to talk to Boris,” Bethany Anne commented as the two turned in her direction.

They backed off and bowed. Boris raised a questioning eyebrow, but Bethany Anne shook her head and indicated he should follow her. Walking down the hall, Bethany Anne said “Stephen tells me that you have been a Pricolici for four centuries. He also told me of the dangers of the form.”

Boris nodded, “I have noticed that you have three amongst you with that form. They have been warned of the dangers?”

“Yes, Stephen cautioned them,” Bethany Anne replied, “I am hoping you could provide some insight on how you have successfully dealt with this for so long? They’re good friends, and I’m not willing to lose them to a form of madness.”

Boris nodded, “I will teach both methods I know. If I could meet them privately?”

Bethany Anne could almost feel his level of discomfort talking about this subject around non-Weres. She smiled and responded, “Of course.” Her curiosity was acting up. She didn’t have a need to be there at the time it occurred, so she could always ask Ecaterina later.

The four Pricolici met in a conference room on the Ad Aeternitatem later that evening.

Boris started with the simplest means. “One year in five. Stay out of the Pricolici form just one year in five and you won’t lose yourself to it. For most of the first two centuries after I met Stephen this was the method I used.”

Peter looked at him and asked, “But you found another way?”

Boris turned and nodded to him “Da. But I’m not so sure it is one available to most. Perhaps it just differs for others. I have tried and failed to teach it at least twice. But, for me, I found a way to change into the form without rage. With calmness, like a summer pond without a breeze in the air. When you reach a particular state, you will be able to reach for the form. But I cannot guarantee you will find the same path. It is something that has to be found, and can be corrupted if you find rage once changed. Until you are sure, stay as human or wolf for one year in three. If you do not… you will eventually succumb to eternal rage.”

Nathan considered Boris’s statements, “You sound more akin to a Japanese Zen teacher.”

Boris grinned broadly. “Perhaps, Grasshopper, because it was a half-Japanese woman who suggested the solution to me.”

Peter and Ecaterina burst out laughing as Nathan glared at Boris.

Boris continued, “I will think of other circumstances where I have changed and suggest more options if I think they may work. But it is no easy thing. This form is as much a curse as a blessing. Always remember that before you change. Think ‘Do I need this, or would wolf or man be as useful?’ The less you use it, the safer you’ll be. And if you find yourself behaving more aggressively than normal as a man, DON’T change. You are near the madness then.”

The next morning Boris was having breakfast in the ship’s mess with Nathan, talking about moving unobserved. “I think in a city, you would be less likely to be noticed than me, Nathan. A man of my size finds it hard to move unobserved. A bear is more likely seen than a wolf and taken as a bigger threat. In a forest, I think I could best you at being unobserved, more because of the time I’ve had to master it than anything.”

“Sure, sure. But you have more mass to hide. Surely we’d be even there?” Nathan replied.

Boris shrugged, “It is not so big a problem if you learn how to deal with it. It would be interesting to see which of us your pups would find first. Perhaps…“

Both men turned when they heard the quick footsteps coming down the hallway and watched the doorway as Frank entered, looked around to find them and hurried over to their table. He nodded to Nathan but turned to Boris, “Sorry to interrupt you guys. Boris, your town is Romanovka, right? The one in Chelyabinsk Oblast?” Boris nodded, his expression tightening in concern. Frank’s face clouded up, “Dammit. I’ve received information the Russian government is rounding up treasonous dissidents there.”

The entire mess went silent as Boris stood up from the table and loudly spun invectives from five languages. It took him a couple of minutes to calm down. With eyes filled with anger, he turned towards Frank. “Do you know who ordered this?” He held up his hand to stop Frank from answering, “It was straight from the President wasn’t it?” Frank nodded his head. “I keep telling people that all communists who had served in the bureaucracies should have been shot or imprisoned. Instead, they elect one — and a former KGB at that — to the Presidency!” Boris looked around as if he wanted to spit on something, but there were no options on the ship.

He paused, then started walking towards the door. Nathan called out, “Boris, wait! I’m sure Bethany Anne will want to help you!”

Boris turned and shook his head at Nathan, “The politics are such that if a non-Russian attempts to interfere, more of my people will be put in danger. I must go alone. I can make arrangements for a flight. Vassily will regret telling anyone I was dead, the shitehawk arsehole licker.”

That cursing, Frank could understand.

Nathan tried again, “We can at least get you there a lot faster than any plane. Let us do that much — and give you a clean line of communications in case we can help you further.”

Boris was obviously torn between going there his own way and acknowledging the obligation Bethany Anne may feel she had and accepting any help, something he was unused to doing. He eventually nodded, following Nathan and Frank as they quickly left the mess and headed towards the hanger.

Frank and Nathan stood while Bethany Anne eyed them both. Her eyes went from one man to the other, her voice calm, clipped, precise. Too precise.

Like a woman trying mightily to hold back anger.

“So, Boris is back in Russia. The government is rounding up his people and killing them, and you two did what exactly? Supported his effort by getting him to the location as quickly as possible?”