Russka - Edward Rutherfurd [276]
It was time.
Silently, slowly, the villagers began to go up the ladders into the church. As it happened, she and her mother were rather at the back. She glanced around. Still no sign of the soldiers.
Five of the men were to remain outside. Four of them, at the signal, would light the straw in the undercroft. Then they would quickly mount the ladders, pull them up after them, and barricade the door. Properly prepared, the building would be ablaze in moments, and there would be nothing the Tsar’s troops could do except bear witness to the sacrifice.
The fifth man was up on the roof, acting as look-out. It was he who would give the word.
The villagers were mostly in. Now it was Arina and Maryushka’s turn.
Strangely, Maryushka found that she had stopped shivering. She mounted the ladder quite calmly. She even felt a curious, rather agreeable warmth inside her as she entered the church.
The candles were lit – more of them than usual. All around her she saw familiar faces, looking taut and pale.
Soon afterwards Daniel entered.
He addressed them from before the doors of the little iconostasis.
‘Brothers and sisters,’ he said solemnly, ‘it seems the time has come. For those who are faint-hearted, remember, it is an easier death by far that we go to than that which would otherwise await us. And to you all, I say: Our God, in His Kingdom, awaits us. He is with us now, already. His arms are open. He is Our Father and He welcomes us, at last, from this evil world. Prepare therefore to enter, through Christ’s perfect love, into His Kingdom of eternal light.’
Then he began to read the prayers.
How familiar, and yet how strange, it all seemed. Her mother was beside her. Her sweet voice, singing the responses, was so lovely, so comforting. The candles seemed to be glowing with an extraordinary brightness. How sweet, how lovely, their warm flames. She felt a little dizzy.
For it was now that the berries took their effect and Maryushka began to hallucinate.
They were coming. In the pale first light of dawn, the man on the roof saw the figures crossing the river.
He hesitated, then, drawing a deep breath, called down to the men below.
He too must go down now. He knew it. He must go inside. But for a few moments more he remained up there, looking round at the dawn, peering at the figures approaching.
Then he frowned. He stared again. Surely there must be more. But no, into the village were riding not a contingent of soldiers, but only two men. And in the half-light they did not look like the Tsar’s men at all.
They were Cossacks.
Below, he could see that three of the men had already gone into the undercroft with their torches. The fourth was just following them.
He looked all around. The two Cossacks were quite alone.
‘Stop!’ he called down. ‘It’s not the Tsar’s men at all.’
Could it be that, after all, it was a false alarm, a reprieve? Cossacks – why, they might even be Raskolniki!
‘Stop the fire! There are no troops,’ he cried urgently again.
It was not until they were actually in the village that Andrei and Pavlo realized what was happening.
‘My God,’ muttered Andrei, ‘they’re burning themselves.’
‘Our work’s done for us then.’
Andrei nodded. ‘As long as the man Daniel dies. We still have to make sure of that.’
They rode slowly forward.
And as they did so, they saw that people were starting to come out of the church, down the ladders.
It was the one thing Daniel had not foreseen. A false alarm. He had not planned for it. Nor, therefore, had he calculated the effect that it might have on some of the congregation. For it is one thing to stand up and face death with the rest of the community; it is another to hesitate when there is an offer of reprieve.
About a third of the village, nearest the exits and hearing the shouts from outside, made for the ladders.
Arina was taken by surprise too. As people pushed past her, she tried to continue the responses. Then, after a few moments, Daniel stopped the prayers. Only then did she suddenly realize