Russka - Edward Rutherfurd [209]
He turned away.
‘Lord Andrei.’ The loud whisper came from the window of the house. ‘Lord Andrei.’
He looked in. It was Yankel. In all the excitement he had forgotten about the fellow.
‘Lord Andrei, I recognized you. Save us, noble sir. You see what is happening.’
Andrei looked at him dully.
‘I never did you any harm,’ Yankel went on eagerly. ‘You’re my only hope.’
Because he was not sure if he had the power, Andrei replied testily: ‘You took my father’s horse.’
‘But not the best. The one I took was worth half what he owed me, and you can have it back if you want.’ He paused for breath. ‘Send me out to die. Kill me yourself. But at least have pity on my children.’
‘Open the door.’
They went in. The main room of the house was not very light and it had an unmistakable aroma of vodka, not unpleasant. Before him he saw, besides the stout old Jew, a girl of about fifteen, and a boy of eight or nine. He suddenly realized he had not seen the girl for some years, since before he went away to the seminary. She was a striking, dark-haired beauty now, with almond eyes and a curving nose that looked Turkish. The boy, too, was a handsome little fellow.
‘All right,’ Andrei said. ‘I’ll try. But I’ll need help.’ He turned to his friend. ‘Will you help me, my Ox, to protect these Jews?’ he began, but then stopped as he realized that his huge companion had not even heard. For Stepan was staring at the girl open-mouthed, as though he had seen a ghost.
It was Yankel’s own fault that, a few moments later, he lost his life.
He was so relieved and excited to have got the protection of Andrei and his huge friend that, without thinking, he went out through his front door first. Two villagers standing nearby, one with an axe, the other with a scythe, took one look at him and, before the poor fellow even had time to tell them about his protector, fell upon him. He was dead when, moments later, Andrei emerged.
There were several things to be done. One was to question the two captive Poles to see what they could tell him. Another was to make two graves, one for the Poles, another for the Jews. He instructed the villagers to do this. A third was to ride over to see his father.
He took the boy with him.
The sun had just gone down when he reached the farm. He found old Ostap in robust good humour. With all the events of recent months, Mordecai had not been able to visit the farm to claim his labour service and Ostap had ignored the whole business. He had been drinking less and sleeping in the open.
‘I’ve heard it all!’ he cried, as Andrei rode up. ‘A boy from the village came by. Pity you couldn’t have let me know in time, I would have enjoyed that fight.’
He was delighted with the horses, but when Andrei made his other request, his brow clouded.
‘You want me to shelter a Jewish boy?’
Andrei explained everything that had happened.
‘I can’t take him to the camp. The villagers will kill him. Do you want me to leave him to them?’
Old Ostap frowned, unwilling to admit that he might have a soft heart.
‘He must convert,’ he announced. ‘Then he can help on the farm.’
Andrei went over to the boy.
‘This is the only place where you may be safe. People won’t bother my father. But you have to become a Christian.’
‘Never,’ the boy said defiantly.
Andrei paused, then he looked carefully into the boy’s eyes.
‘I promised your father to save your life and I must keep my promise. You have to help me. Do you understand? As long as you stay here, you’re Orthodox.’
The boy looked at him, still defiant, but understanding him.
‘He’s converted,’ Andrei announced.
The Polish prisoners couldn’t tell them much. The Cossacks took all their possessions and let them walk off through the forest.
As soon as this was done, and while his men were setting up their quarters for the night in the fort, Andrei went across the river on his next errand. This was to see Anna.
He had not noticed her so far, but there had been so much to do that it was not particularly surprising.