There was a muttering of anger from the robbers.
''Fool, I say!'' repeated Alexei sharply. ''Look at you— half-starved, ragged, filthy. Is that the sort of leader you admire, a man who couldn't even keep you fed, let alone show you riches?»
«What makes ye think ye're better?» came a grumble. «Ye, with yer fine city clothes and yer fine city words.»
Oh, God, now what? Alexei located the one who'd spoken, and started towards the man as boldly as he could, praying his weak‑limbed gait would be taken for brash swagger, letting his sword droop in his hand in what he hoped was a convincingly casual manner. Face to face with the man, trying not to breathe in the stench of him, Alexei simply stared, the unblinking stare of a boyar trained to cow servants. And to his great relief, he saw the robber blink and look angrily away. Alexei smiled. «That should be obvious," he said coolly.
«Ye a thief, then?» came someone's not-quite-hostile query.
«Some have called me that," Alexei answered carefully, wondering if he'd made the right answer. What if these scum felt some sort of professional jealousy? «What of it?» he added, fear sharpening his voice.
«Eh, no need to get hot about it!» They evidently thought he was about to go back into the bizarre fighting frenzy that had killed their leader. «No shame in bein' a thief.»
«A good one?» someone asked, and Alexei sneered.
«Do I look a failure, now? Do I?»
«If yer so fine a thief, what ye doin' runnin' for yer life?»
Alexei managed a reasonably casual shrug. «Misfortune.» He glanced at them slyly, feeling how hostility, bit by bit, was being replaced by curiosity. They're harboring no loyalty towards their late leader, realized Alexei. But why should they? The man was a failure‑I proved that by killing him. The young man smiled in suddenly restored self‑confidence. Did these peasant scum actually think they could get the better of him?
Alexei straightened as a sudden, fantastic idea struck him. After all, he'd need help to get out of this forest, particularly now that these fools had left him afoot and nearly penniless. Not one of these slow-witted creatures seemed eager to replace their late leader, so… «You see," said the young man carefully, «I did make one small mistake. I needed a band of good, skilled men behind me. I didn't have one at the time. But something tells me I just might have one now.» With a coolness that wasn't quite feigned any longer, Alexei pulled a golden ring from his finger and tossed it to the robbers, a boyar tossing a scrap to his dogs. And the dogs scrambled for it.
«Yes," repeated Alexei softly, watching them, «I do think I have a band behind me now.»
He waited a moment, but there were no arguments.
And so it goes, thought Alexei wryly. From boyar to leader of a scruffy bandit troop in one short day. God, what a ridiculous change. Oh, Danilo, what I owe you for this! But I'm still alive. And, he added savagely, I will have my revenge! Hear me, Danilo, wherever you are: I will have my revenge!
Chapter XXI
Resolutions
It was a mild spring day, and she'd taken her mending outside, meaning to do her sewing by sunlight. But for some time now, Maria had been sitting, simply sitting, staring moodily off into space.
Finn, akh, Finn … She couldn't believe the ridiculous things Lissa had been saying about him. But why had he left them so suddenly, without so much as a good-by? Even to me?
Maria hurried over that last, over the silly hurt; of course she'd been nothing to him, no more than his nurse, no more than he'd been anything to her! A nameless wanderer; she should be ashamed of herself for even considering-Enough of this! There was work to be done. And yet, why had he left so abruptly? And for that matter, how had he managed to leave so abruptly? Maria sighed, bending over her mending, determined not to think about it any longer.
Until now, the forest birds had been chirping, there'd been the normal little rustlings of creatures in the underbrush. But suddenly the forest fell into so abrupt a silence that Maria looked up again, heart pounding, listening intently.
And then she heard the invading sound of hoofbeats. Maria sprang to her feet, letting the mending fall, unheeded, to the ground.
'Father!
«Father," she called, then more fiercely, Come here! Hurry!»
It was a troop of soldiers come riding up. Prince Svyatoslav had finally found them.
«… and I must admit you gave me quite a fright," Danilo said, smiling, to the captain of Svyatoslav's guard. The man grinned in return.
«You gave me a bit of a fright, too, boyar Danilo, standing there with that axe. Thought you were going to take off my head before I could give you the good news!»
«Is it true?» breathed Vasilissa. «The pardon‑is it really… ?»
«Quite true, boyarevna. " The captain glanced about, plainly trying not to show his embarrassment at the poverty all around him. «The boyar Danilo Yaroslavovich is to return to take his rightful place as counselor to our Prince as soon as he is able.»
Danilo snorted. «Which is, as I'm sure my daughters will agree, today!»
But Maria hesitated. «Please, tell me this: how did you find us?»
«Well, our Prince gave us directions. But we were pointed onto the shortest way by some peasant or other.»
«A peasant?»
«A man in a crudely made deerskin caftan.»
Maria exchanged a startled glance with her father. «Finn?» she asked. «But how could he have known… ?»
Her father waved her to silence, and got down to business with the messengers, checking the condition of his estate, of his status, pleased to hear that Alexei hadn't quite managed to deplete his finances. «It sounds as though it won't take much to make everything quite liveable again.»
«No, boyar, I would think not. And Prince Svyatoslav does expect you back in Stargorod as soon as possible.»
«Yes," said Danilo.
«No," said Vasilissa, and when everyone turned to look at her in surprise, she repeated, quite calmly, «No. Don't you see? We have already lived in enough shame. To go back now, dressed as peasants, sitting on horses behind common guards—we cannot accept that. Good Captain, we shall wait here till all is ready for us. And then we shall return to Stargorod not as beggars trying to steal into the city, but as noble folk properly clad, in a proper carriage, in proper style.»
And, while her father and sister stared at her, amazed at this longest coherent speech she'd made in some time, Vasilissa smiled at them and gave a little sigh of delicious anticipation.
Ljuba awoke with a start, looking up to find her maid, Anya, standing over her, a worried expression on her face. Ljuba frowned, puzzled, looking around. She was in her bed, with no memory of having come here!
«What is this? What's going on?»
«Ah… you've been asleep, Mistress.»
«I gathered that! How long?»
«Well… you did wake, or almost wake, a few times, enough to take some water and then some soup. You don't remember?»
Ljuba shook her head impatiently. «How long? Altogether.»
«Nearly five days, Mistress.»
Ljuba stared up at her in sheer disbelief. But the look of stupid honesty on that bovine face just couldn't have been feigned. And Ljuba had to admit she did feel amazingly drained. But why… ?
And then memory returned with a rush:
How long had she been staring like this into her mirror? Ljuba had long since lost track of time. But it didn't matter, because at last she'd located Finist‑in Stargorod, of all places.
And though the image was dim and uncertain, she watched while the prince paid his visits to Alexei and Prince Svyatoslav, while one boyar was condemned and another reprieved, she watched in complete bewilderment.