In the beginning

This is my writing blog. Hopefully (haha!) I'll have St. Michael by the Gate finished by the end of the month. After I write a paper, catch up on my reading, in short, it's so not happening!! Gaahh!

“Is he truly dangerous?” my foster-sister Evgeniya asked, jarring me out of my dark study and reminding me of my guests, awaiting my conclusion.
“Surely the Madu can restrain him if he acts foolishly,” my cousin Mikhail said, smiling bitterly. “After all, doesn’t the power really lie with them, as they so love to remind us?”
“His arrogance will turn popular opinion against him and us, and annoy our allies,” I explained, drumming my fingers on the windowsill for a moment. “Our enemies will say we are all like him, and in a fit of pique he might take on a larger opponent than our country can handle- and I believe the Madu would let him.”
“But why?” Evgeniya was horrified.
“Cousin, I beg you, use the brain God has gifted you with,” Yana said sharply. “If Ivan leads us into war and fails, the Madu will say they are forced to take the rule of the country directly into hand. Without consulting you in the slightest of matters. They will lock us up and kill us- maybe they’ll spare little Vasya, if they feel they must have a continuation of the line. The rest of us… we can die in any number of convenient ways.”
I saw Evgeniya twisting her little lace handkerchief, small motions but I noticed them. Yana was being a little too harsh, perhaps. But even at a mere fourteen, Evgeniya should have been able to understand such things.
“Evgeniya,” I said gently, “he has been unkind to you, hasn’t he?”
She said nothing for a long moment, then- “What are you going to do?”
“What is best for our country,” Yana said. Of all of them, she was most firmly on my side, I thought.
“Will you…kill him?”
“If he cannot see the error of his ways, we may be forced to. That is a last resort though,” Yana added, seeing the look on Evgeniya’s face.
Evgeniya stood. “I don’t think I want to hear any more of this, ’Kari,” she smiled wanly at me. “I will not betray you, but perhaps it is better if I don’t know anything?”
Yana frowned thoughtfully, surprised at this sudden maturity. “Yes,” she said after a moment. “I think it’s best.”
Evgeniya walked to the door and began to turn the handle.
“Niya,” Yana said quietly. “Has he hurt you, or Vasya?”
Evgeniya froze, shoulders trembling slightly. Mikhail and I looked helplessly at each other. I took a hesitant step towards her, but then Yana walked over to her and took her hands from the door, turning her slightly so they were face to face. Then she knelt and brought Evgeniya’s hands to her forehead “Princess Evgeniya Alexandrova Areshenko, it is my honour to serve you. If ever you should have need of me, day or night, one of my men will be on-duty and able to help. You may trust him with your life and that of Prince Vasily’s. Truly, Princess, we are all yours to command."
“I do not deserve such loyalty,” Evgeniya said quietly. “I am a foolish young girl.”
“Young, yes, thoughtless at times, yes, but no fool, Princess,” Yana said, almost affectionately. “Your Guard ever stands ready at your command.”
I smiled at this. Despite everything, despite the anger that Yana held close, she knew Evgeniya very well.
“Then let this be my first command,” Evgeniya said. “Guard Vasily Alexandrov above all. If Ivan does anything foolish, take him somewhere safe.”
“It shall be so,” Yana said. Evgeniya held her hands tightly for a moment, then let go and left. “What was that about?” Mikhail asked, a few moments later. “I thought you were going to repeat your oath of allegiance.”
“I would have, if it would have brought her any comfort,” Yana said, standing. “She is so lonely, and she is so young. I forget that too easily, I’ve grown up much faster and I have a few years on her.” She sighed. “So what will we do tonight at the ball?”
“Try to keep that Ivan from making more enemies than we can take,” Mikhail suggested.
“When do we take him out of power?” Yana asked. “And how?”
“As soon as we must,” I said firmly. “No sooner than we have to. And it must be done quietly.” “That will be difficult, but I prefer it to risking many lives in open war,” Yana said. “Now, if you gentlemen will excuse me, I must leave you.”
“What for, Yana? We’re just about to start the real planning,” Mikhail protested.
Yana laughed. “To dress for the ball of course! You know nothing about women, Mikhail.” “Aren’t you wearing your dress-uniform?” Mikhail frowned.
“You prove you know nothing about women,” I smiled. “Yana- Lieutenant-Commander Torvalesko, I should say, has one hundred and twelve things to see about before the ball, am I right?”
“As always, sir,” she smiled and left.
Mikhail was silent for a little while and then spoke. “Makari?”
“What?”
“Why are we doing this?”
“To save lives,” I answered shortly.
“It doesn’t hurt that you hate Ivan and he exiled the girl you love more than you love your life.” “That’s true but irrelevant,” I snapped.
“Now, to the business at hand…”
****
I looked for Yana first of all. I saw here standing in a far corner, a pretty picture in her becoming dark blue uniform. She had piled her red hair atop her head by means of the standard pins, with the blue, gold, white and black pin-tips, the national colours, and they sparkled so brightly I wondered if they were standard. She gave me a nod, but no more. No more was appropriate here and now. Next I looked for Vasya, and spotted him being chased around a food-laden table by his tutor who narrowly avoided collision with a naval commander and his lady. I could not help but smile and wonder if Dimitri was overplaying his role, just slightly, then decided he was not. It was indeed fortunate that he had previously been stationed abroad, Ivan didn’t know who he was, and Dimitri’s remarkable facility for languages and total loyalty to me made him an extremely convincing and able tutor.
Vasya ran towards me, hands full of pastries. “Hullo Makari!” he grinned from ear to ear. “Pastries?”
I selected the least squished pastry I could find. “Thank you, Vasya. You know you really shouldn’t be tearing around like this.”
“But it’s fun!” Vasya protested. “Lots more fun than just sitting with Evgeniya and stupid old Ivan!”
“I don’t think it’s very fair to leave Evgeniya by herself with Ivan,” I commented.
Vasya shrugged with the vast unconcern of the very young. “She’s got a lady-in-waiting with her- and I was really hungry.”
I saw Dimitri approaching from behind and smiled.
“What?” Vasya wanted to know, then started as Dimitri caught hold of him. “Oh, you again,” he muttered.
“I’m so sorry, Your Grace,” Dimitri said, as he firmly took hold of Vasya’s arm. “Come now, Prince Vasily, your sister wants you.”
Vasya sighed. “I’d rather do schoolwork.”
“That can be arranged,” Dimitri smiled, and off they went, leaving me alone again, to wonder and worry where Mikhail was and why he was late. Then I noticed that Evgeniya was staring hard at me. I frowned. Why… I then noticed that Ivan was signalling me to come over. I did so. “My lord,” I sketched a half-bow to Ivan. “Evgeniya,” I kissed her hand. “You look lovely as always.” She blushed prettily for a moment, then resumed looking worried.
“We were just talking about you, Makari, my friend,” Ivan smiled.
I hoped I didn’t look nearly as worried as I felt. Why was Ivan being so polite? Normally he had no qualms whatsoever about being as rude as possible to me. “I am honoured,” I said carefully. “Yes, I’m sure you must have heard by now that General Reikida, God rest his soul, has passed,” Ivan said, looking suitably downcast for a brief moment. “Well, I can’t have an army that lacks a general, and while Colonel Traedis assures me he is quite capable, his son beat me in a tennis match last year. So, I thought that by now you must be eager to get back into military life again- you’ve been out how long now? Six months?”
“Three,” I corrected. “The doctor tells me I should still be on light duty for some time.”
“Ah, but a man like you?” Ivan smiled positively evilly now. “I’ve seen you pacing the grounds in the afternoon, and pretending to read peacefully in the library, but you’re as anxious as an old warhorse to get back into the thick of it! It will be light physical duty, no one expects you to lead your troops at the front!”
“I…” I had a sickening suspicion that I had little control over what would happen next. My right leg began to ache unmercifully again, nearly as bad as it did two months ago. Ivan watched me, he read the signs correctly. I suspected I looked a trifle pale and sick and I certainly felt it.
“I even had HQ rush your paperwork for you,” Ivan said. “There are some nice benefits to my job. Your orders should be here in two days time. Until then, start picking out your staff and packing!”
“When will you declare war?” I asked. I felt cold, but the temperature of the great hall had nothing to do with it.
“War?” Ivan contrived to look genuinely surprised. “Who said anything about war?”
“I thought you were going to stand down the Fifth Army, you wouldn’t need to replace General Reikida so soon if you were.”
“You’re not afraid, are you, Makari?” Ivan’s eyes glinted with anticipation as he studied my face. “No, just curious,” I said as lightly as I could. “By your leave, lord, Evgeniya,” I bowed to each in turn.
“Wait!” Evgeniya called as I was ready to leave. I turned. She quickly looked down, avoiding my eyes. “Please stay,” she said quietly. “Please, Makari, we have to celebrate your promotion… and give you a proper send off… and I wanted to talk to you about the book you lent me.”
I hadn’t lent her a book in a week or so, but I did stay, talking about nothing in particular. My leg still hurt and I wanted more than anything else to sit down, but I stayed and watched and waited for Mikhail to show up. He never did and I was glad when it was all finally over and Evgeniya let me leave. I had work to do.

Once I reached the relative safety of my room, I pulled the correct book on the bookshelf and it opened outwards. I lit the candle I kept on the inside of the passageway and taking it began walking, past the exits that would lead to the chapel, to King Alexander’s room, and to the library. My destination was still further, the panel that was covered by an icon of St. Mikhail, in Vasily’s nursery. I tapped twice, alerting Dimitri if he was there: it was best not to surprise him. When no one opened the panel from the outside, I opened it. The nursery was dark and quiet. I tapped on the bedroom door.
Dimitri opened it, relaxing as he saw it was me. “What is it, sir?” he asked, holstering the wicked-looking foreign pistol he swore by.
“It’s time,” I said quietly.
“I heard a rumour,” Dimitri admitted, opening the door and allowing me in. He then opened the prince’s closet and took out a travelling satchel. “What exactly is happening, sir, or is that need-to-know?” He began packing the prince’s clothes, rolling them neatly.
“It’s need to know, and you do,” I said. “Ivan’s made part of his move, he wants me out of his hair, he knows or suspects what I’m planning and he’s reinforcing the Fifth Army.”
Dimitri whistled between his teeth. “Not good,” he muttered.
“Worse, Mikhail didn’t show up at all. I wonder what happened to him?”
“I hardly think Ivan could have rubbed him out without some rumour of it flying around,” Dimitri said, trying to be encouraging, I thought.
“I hope so…”
Dimitri bent over Vasily and shook him. “Time to get up.”
Vasily woke up slowly. “But it’s still dark out,” he complained.
“Where do you want us to go?” Dimitri asked me, then turned his attention to Vasily. “Yes, Vasily, it’s still dark, well observed. Here, put these clothes on.”
“I want you to stay in the country, high country where they can’t get to you quickly if something goes wrong at our end. We’re going to try to take Ivan out quietly but if we fail, there will probably be hell to pay. If you get positive confirmation that we’ve failed, flee the country, take Vasily somewhere safe, and bring him up properly.”
“I know where I’ll go,” Dimitri began. “There are some good places to hide in the high country, some of my friends…”
“No,” I interrupted quickly. “Don’t tell me anything,” I said. “The less I know, the better.”
Dimitri blinked. “You really think….it’ll come to that?” For a brief moment, he almost seemed afraid.
He deserved an honest answer. I sighed. “I don’t know.”
Dimitri clenched his fists. “Yana should never have involved herself in this. If she doesn’t get out-”
“Dimitri, I have every reason to believe we’ll succeed- but if we don’t, I swear I’ll do everything in my power to make sure that blame falls squarely where it deserves to, on me, not Yana, or Evgeniya, or Mikhail. Besides, she wouldn’t be the woman you loved if she didn’t do things like this, would she?”
A brief smile lit Dimitri’s face. “She never suffered idiots lightly, never. And she never could stand bullies.”
A sudden realization hit me. “You haven’t talked to her, have you?”
“It wouldn’t have been in character,” Dimitri said matter-of-factly. “I saw her at the ball though, and that was very nearly enough.”
I stared at him for a long moment. “Go to her.”
“What?!”
“You heard me!” I snapped. “Go to her! Make your goodbyes and make them quickly, I’ll stay with Vasily until you return, but hurry!”
“I’m not a baby,” Vasily protested. “You don’t have to watch me-”
“Vasily, be quite!” I snapped. “Please go,” I said.
Dimitri nodded slowly. “All right. I’ll be back in a half-hour or less, I promise. Behave yourself, Vasily!” he ordered and was gone.
Vasily started rebuttoning his shirt, he’d missed a button the first time. “What’s going on?” he asked.
“We’re going to put Ivan out of harm’s way,” I said.
“Can I go back to sleep until Dimitri comes back?” Vasily asked.
I nodded. “Get a few more minutes of sleep in a real bed. It’ll be like a camping trip,” I said. “Sleeping under the stars, that sort of thing.”
“Bugs, cold weather, stupid horses…” Vasily chimed in.
“Has anyone told you what a bright ray of sunshine you are?”
“Not recently.” Vasily mumbled and was asleep.

Dimitri was later than a half-hour, but not by much. His face was flushed and he was grinning foolishly.
“Had a nice time?” I asked.
“She kissed me,” he announced, slightly breathless.
“That’s nice,” I said, shaking Vasily awake.
“Ow- Makari, that hurts!” Vasily protested and was quickly awake.
“She also told you that if you got hurt, she’d kill you, right?” I asked quietly, though I thought I knew the answer.
“Close enough,” Dimitri admitted. “Come on, Vasily, let’s get going. Makari…thank you.”
“Don’t thank me too soon,” I said wryly. “Good luck.” They left through the secret passage, I remained for a little while, my leg was aching badly again. I stared up at the familiar ceiling. It had been my room before Vasily was born. I remembered the day I moved all my things out of it as clearly as though it was yesterday. Evgeniya still had her old room though, and would until King Alexander died, abdicated in favour of Evgeniya or Ivan, or married Evgeniya off, to Ivan or a more powerful man. Evgeniya… I didn’t love her as anything other than a sister, but that was all that I needed to know that Evgeniya and Ivan would be horribly mismatched and unhappy. Well, Evgeniya would be horribly unhappy. If Ivan wanted to, he could easily be married to her, receive all the power he wished for as her consort, ruling in her name, and be ‘with’ any woman he wanted to. Evgeniya didn’t really interest him I sensed, and I was grateful for that. He hurt her by his very existence, but he would not hurt her in other ways, thankfully. Somehow, despite everything, I found myself almost drifting off to sleep. I dug my nails into my palms and made myself sit up. I didn’t remember lying down. What was I thinking- at this critical moment?! Suddenly filled with a nameless dread, I thought I had best check and see that Dimitri and Vasily got away safely. Why didn’t I think of assigning them an escort? You did think of that, my inner NCO reminded me. But it would draw too much attention to them, wouldn’t it? But I should have gone with them!