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By Root 614 0

course, after Dodo and Lesia’s appearance, I had had every confidence that he would come with us, but I had come to respect his noble decision to stay. Was there another reason for this – was the old man perhaps in cahoots with Yevhen, and thus not inclined to join our hasty escape? Indeed, apart from Lesia’s reaction at seeing him, which seemed genuine enough, I now had no reason to think that Olexander had ever been a prisoner at all. Perhaps it was a set-up.Yevhen, via his puppet Olexander, wanted me to come to the cathedral. In which case, both men might know I was behind them.

That thought sent a shiver down my spine.

They turned into a side corridor, and I followed. Though I could just perceive window shapes set high up on the walls, either the clouds outside had thickened or the ‘panes’ were illusory, for even the torchlight struggled to pierce the velvety darkness. I followed the twin points of light, not wanting to. lose sight of them but not wishing to reveal myself inadvertently to the two men.

Yevhen and Olexander came to a halt at last. I stood, straining for their voices.

‘You know what you must do?’ queried Yevhen.

‘I will try my best,’ affirmed Olexander.

Yevhen said nothing else, but I heard the metallic rattle of a bunch of keys being removed from a pocket, examined and then harshly slotted home.

There was a sharp crack as a door, I surmised, was pulled open.

‘I must return to the governor’s residence,’ saidYevhen. ‘I will be missed.’

‘The door?’ queried Olexander.

‘I will leave it open. You may return here... once you have completed your task.’

‘It will not be easy.’

‘I have every confidence in you.’

With that, one of the torchlights disappeared into the still deeper darkness of the doorway, and the other began to return towards me.

I panicked, not knowing what to do. I could turn round, but it was some way back to the door into the main chamber, and I would be vulnerable to Yevhen’s torchlight. Now that he was facing in my direction even absolute silence might not save me.

Indeed, the corridor was so narrow that I had no realistic hope of avoiding detection.

The corridor thus far had been lacking in any feature that might come to my aid, but, as I recollected seeing the two lanterns come to a halt, I did wonder if some sort of alcove had briefly been illuminated.

It was too late to turn back now. I had to take careful steps towards Yevhen, hoping against hope that I could find an alcove before the adviser’s torchlight illuminated me. And that I could do so without making a sound.

The torch, illuminating Yevhen’s waxy face and broad shoulders, bobbed closer, but still I could not find anywhere to hide. I felt sweat prickling between my shoulder blades as I continued to stare, with awful fascination, at the oncoming figure.

Just when I was about to give up, to admit to the futility of it all and let Yevhen know I was there, I found a large recess set into the stone wall.

It was, as I had hoped, the first in a series of alcoves that ran along one side of the corridor. Hardly believing my luck I ducked into it, taking a deep breath as Yevhen drew closer. All I could hear was his footfalls, sounding like heavy rain beating against concrete. All the while, my heart pounded like a piston –

I almost came to wonder if Yevhen could hear that.

But no. He passed without a sideways glance, though I glimpsed a twisted smile on his face which quite chilled me.

Once Yevhen was out of sight I crept forward, my hands nervously outstretched like a man suddenly gone blind. I checked the opposite wall for the doorway, but could find nothing at first. I wondered if I had become disorientated in the dark, and had already come too far and somehow missed it.

Soon, however, my expectant hands found another space in the corridor wall. Yevhen had left the door open, and I could just make out one or two steps fading into the darkness.

I considered going back to try to find a torch or a candle, but I was wary of running into Yevhen – and letting Olexander proceed too far into the catacombs without me. There