Dan Smith - The Child Thief

I felt adrenalin begin to surge, a vibrancy in my muscles as my body prepared itself, but it was as if Lermentov sensed it, and he turned his head to meet my gaze. The soldier who had ridden in on horseback was still taking to him, Lermentov nodding his head slightly as he listened, but his stare never left me. It was as if Lermentov and I were connected. He even continued to watch as he called over another soldier and gave instructions, the man hurrying away to carry out his orders.

And when the conversation with Andrei was complete, only then did Lermentov look to the ground, his lips pursed. His shoulders rose as he drew in a deep breath, then he walked in my direction.

‘Come.’ Lermentov took my arm and pulled me away from the others. ‘I have a surprise for you.’ He turned me round and gestured to the soldier he had instructed just a few moments ago. The young man was now returning along the frozen street with Dariya at his side.

‘Your daughter,’ Lermentov said. ‘Or should I say, your niece? Go on.’ He released his grip and I went straight to Dariya, crouching to her level, ignoring the pain in my feet. I fastened her sheepskin coat around her and took her head in my hands, turning it so we were looking at each other.

‘It’s me. Everything’s going to be all right.’

For a moment there was no response from her at all. She didn’t even blink.

I moved close to her, leaning in to whisper into her ear. ‘I’ve come to take you home. I promised Lara. I promised her I’d bring you home. Remember Lara. Remember her.’

And Dariya “pressed her head against my face. Her cold ear against my lips. The side of her head against my forehead. And when she put her arm around me, I knew she remembered. Beneath everything that had happened to her, she remembered who I was.

I held her tight, pulling her right into me and holding her for a long time. Only when the guards began to move, shouting for us to make a line, did I finally release her.

I stood, and even then Dariya put her arms around my legs as if she would never let me go.

‘I don’t know if you’re a brave man or a stupid man,’ Lermentov said. ‘The soldier I was talking to told me they found another village. Vyriv, it’s called. It’s small, well hidden, and there wasn’t much there. Some food supplies which have been taken.’

I said nothing.

‘And he told me something else. Something that’s of no consequence to me but might interest you. Apparently a girl was taken from the village.’ He looked down at Dariya. ‘She was taken from the village and some of the men went to bring her back. A soldier and his two sons. So which are you, Luka Mikhailovich Sidorov? The child taker or the one who went to bring her back?’

Tears came to my eyes, a heavy sadness to my heart. They had found Vyriv. ‘My wife?’ I said. ‘What about my wife? My sons?’

‘Don’t ask me what I can’t tell you. Maybe you’ll see them again when you get to the train, maybe you won’t.’ He shook his head. ‘You let us think you had harmed this girl, and you did it to protect a tiny piece of land and a few peasants in this frozen shit hole. Like I said, I don’t know if you’re brave or stupid. But either way it doesn’t make any difference.’

‘But you know I’ve done nothing wrong. You know .’

Lermentov shrugged. ‘You lied. You had a weapon. It’s enough.’

‘Take Dariya home. Please.’

‘There’s no going home now. Not for you, not for me, not for any of us. Work is all there is now. Everyone is a worker.’

‘She’s just a child.’

‘It doesn’t make any difference.’ He looked away, watching the other prisoners. ‘She has fingers, she can work. It’s just the way it is now. There’s nothing I can do.’

‘Would you do it to your own daughter?’

Still he wouldn’t look at us. Instead he waved his hands at the guards. ‘Go,’ he said. ‘Get these prisoners to the train.’

‘Where are we to go? Where are you sending us?’

‘Work. You’re being marched to the transit prison at the station and then you’ll be taken for work.’

‘Where?’

‘What does it matter? It’s all there is, but at least you’ll be together.’ He looked at me. ‘You asked how long you have been here.’

‘Yes.’

‘Two days. You’ve been here two days.’

‘It feels like longer.’

‘It always does.’ He turned and began to walk away, one of the soldiers coming to push me and Dariya into line with the others.

As he ascended the church steps, Lermentov stopped and looked back. ‘Someone give that man some socks and boots,’ he said.

Then he went into the church and closed the heavy door behind him.

They marched us out of the village in pairs, two lines of shuffling, bowed prisoners. Dariya held on to my hand as if she would never let it go, and we fell in at the rear of the pathetic column. Ahead of us Yuri and Evgeni and Dimitri were lost among the other zeks , who shambled like the walking wounded returning from battle. Men and women whose hope had deserted them. Twenty, twenty-five people, some of whom had already been marched from other villages, their own homes left far behind.

No one spoke. Four guards went with us, two at the head of the column, Yakov and Andrei on horseback – the two men who had arrested me on that very road – and two at the rear, dressed in good winter coats and warm boots.

I looked down at my own feet, almost to check they were still on the end of my legs, for there was barely any feeling in them at all now. Even with boots and thin socks, the cold had set so firmly into my flesh that I felt I would never be free of it. On my back I wore only a shirt, and the wind plucked at it as I crossed one arm over my chest to protect myself, but I was thankful that Dariya was better dressed than I was. She had suffered more than enough. With my other hand I grasped her small fingers, determined not to let go of them. I would keep her with me now, whatever was going to happen. She would not be alone again. But my body was reluctant to keep going. I had been beaten and left in the cold, and now my mind was closing and I fought to keep it open. My whole body was trembling, the shaking growing worse so that I could hardly put one foot in front of the other. I had to focus all my strength to stop from falling to my knees and giving up. Kostya had said it was easier to close his eyes and imagine a better place, and I had to concentrate hard not to do the same thing. I looked down at Dariya beside me and reminded myself she had endured as much as I had and more. She was only a child and yet here she was, still walking, still strong. If she could survive so much, then so could I. And as long as we were together, I had to make myself believe there was a chance for us. I couldn’t afford to think, even for one second, that our fate was now decided. But in the face of the crippling cold, the warmth of Kostya’s peace was inviting, almost overwhelming, and my eyes began to close and my legs ceased their walking.

The guards noticed straight away that one of their zeks had stopped. They shouted at me to get back in line, startling my eyes open in time to see one of them raising his rifle, coming towards me. But I was too tired even to move. All I wanted to do was to lie down in the snow and go to sleep.

Up ahead, the rest of the column was faltering. Some had turned to see what was happening, look for the source of the disturbance, while others continued in their bewilderment. Bodies bumped together; prisoners stumbled.

‘Keep walking.’

I raised one hand and looked at the guard. Tm so tired. So cold.’

He sighed and I saw a look of sorrow in his face before the soldier shook himself back into character and spoke to me. ‘Walk.’