I Kill Monsters: Fury (Book 1) (29 page)

Do
you
children
live
near
here
? He asked us. Despite a look
from Leonid, Mina answered, telling him
yes
good
sir
,
we
are
the
children
of
Andriy
Tischenko
,
a
farmer
of
this
land
.
My
name
is
Mina
Tischenko
.
And
what
beautiful
offspring
he
has
sired
,
Mina
Andriyivna
, the man complimented.
At twelve, Mina was old enough to understand the man’s charms and
smiled back, though a wary look had taken hold of Leonid.
Young
man
,
I
assure
you
, the
stranger’s tone was sincere,
I
mean
neither
you
nor
your
siblings
any
harm
.
I
am
a
stranger
to
this
village
.
I
am
new
to
this
land
.
I
was
merely
passing
by
and
was
drawn
by
the
sounds
of
your
pleasantries
.

Mustering his courage, Leonid spoke up.
It
is
not
safe
to
walk
about
at
night
,
there
are
wolves
.
Ohhh
, the man appeared concerned,
wolves
. He looked around himself in the night and, seemingly
convinced there were none of the four legged creatures about,
turned to us again.
But
do
not
wolves
come
to
drink
from
the
stream
? The man wondered aloud.
Ah
,
of
course
they
do
!
But
I
am
speaking
to
those
who
know
of
wolves
and
their
ways
,
who
undoubtedly
know
how
to
defend
against
them
. Of course, in retrospect,
it is clear he was feigning unease. But he did it without
condescension, without belittling Leonid or any of us.

Though Leonid looked somewhat less wary it
was Viktor who spoke next, telling the stranger it was true that we
did not fear wolf nor man, as the lord of the manor protected all
within his realm.
You
speak
admiringly
of
the
proprietor
of
this
land
, noted the man.
Tell
me
of
him
,
what
is
he
like
? Viktor was
brought up short. What was there to say of someone we had never
met, of one to whom none of us had ever spoken?
He
is
very
wealthy
, Mina interjected.
He
is
rebuilding
the
great
house
.
It
will
be
the
envy
of
all
surrounding
villages
.

Will
it
indeed
! mused
the man.
I
believe
I
passed
this
great
house
of
which
you
speak
,
and
it
has
all
the
trappings
of
a
latent
magnificence
. The man spoke eloquently, though we did not
understand all of his words. His diction, paired with his presence,
mesmerized us as surely as one of Maleva’s supposed spells.
Tell
me
, the stranger invited,
of
the
man
himself
.
What
does
the
lord
look
like
?

Why
would
you
to
know
,
sir
? Leonid asked it as if he were protecting
the lord, a man we had never actually seen.
I
ask
that
I
should
know
him
in
passing
, explained the man,
so
as
not
to
disrespect
his
personage
.
Disrespect
his
personage
,
hah
! Leonid
laughed.
I
assure
you
,
you
will
not
confuse
him
for
some
base
commoner
,
sir
.
He
is
quite
prominent
,
I
promise
you
.
Viktor blurted out,
He
is
striking
,
a
man
among
men
,
sir
!
Elegant
,
fashionable
, added Mina,
and
oh
—
so
handsome
.
Handsome
is
he
? The stranger
put his palm on his chin and considered this information.
Oh
,
terribly
so
,
sir
,
it
is
rumored
that
the
Czarina
herself
wooed
him
,
but
he
is
dedicated
to
his
land
and
the
people
of
it
.

Wooed
by
a
czarina
, wondered the man, still standing there, still
holding his chin.
By
more
than
one
,
sir
! Mina added.
You
don’t
say
? The man
looked impressed.

I remember, as my brothers and sister outdid
themselves in their lies about a man they had never known, that
even through the haze this man’s presence cast upon us, my gaze was
drawn to his hand. He removed it from his chin and put it down at
his side, opposite the other one. Those hands. They did not look
like they belonged to this man. They were gnarled and vascular in
the moonlight. They looked misshapen and crippled, as if palsied. I
imagined they must be the cause of great discomfort for him.

And
what
says
you
of
this
noble
man
? He was addressing
me. Little Sasha and myself were the only ones who had not spoken.
He must have known I was looking at his hands.
Is
he
as
your
brothers
and
sister
say
? The stranger’s gaze was inviting, amused. And then it
dawned on me, as I stood there in the stream in the first dark of
the evening with my family.
H
-
he
is
,
s
-
sir
, I stammered. But I knew he
knew
I was
aware, and that continuing this artifice served no useful purpose.
He
is
in
fact
,
sir
, I hastened
to add,
very
similar
to
yourself
in
appearance
and
person
.

Is
he
indeed
? The man
looked immensely pleased and he laughed, a deep, rich, aged laugh
that belied his size and apparent age.
Well
,
then
…
but
it
is
late
,
children
.
And
I
imagine
you
must
be
returning
to
your
father
,
the
good
Andriy
Tischenko
,
yes
? Leonid and Mina were old enough to
understand that some recognition had passed between myself and this
man, though they did not grasp its nature.
Yes
,
we
must
,
kind
sir
, answered Leonid.
And
what
of
you
,
sir
? asked Mina.
It
is
late
,
where
will
you
lodge
?

Oh
,
I
have
arranged
accommodations
, the man looked unconcerned.
I
bid
you
all
a
fond
farewell
if
and
until
our
paths
cross
again
.
And
good
night
to
you
,
sir
, Leonid spoke on our
behalf.
Good
sir
, Mina called after him,
but
what
should
we
call
you
? He
stopped and faced us one last time,
My
surname
is
Vinci
. When this man, Vinci, turned and walked off
towards the road and our village, we watched him go until the night
had enveloped his form and he was unheard. We quickly got out of
the stream and dried off and made preparations to go home to
father.
Do
you
know
that
man
? My
eldest brother asked me. I shook my head.
It
is
he
, I said,
the
new
lord
of
this
land
.

Leonid, Mina and Viktor doubted me. Sasha was
not overly concerned because she but five. Yet, I knew. There was
something about that man, something I did not understand then.
Vinci was no surname common to our land. In fact, we had never
heard such a queer name. We walked home that night trading
speculations. It was later than we had ever stayed out. Our
conversation with the stranger did not seem to consume much time,
yet the position of the moon in the sky told us we were well into
the night. Would father be angry? We passed Feigl’s house. It was
too late for his boys to come out and molest us. We passed Maleva’s
cottage. A candle glowed from somewhere within. We arrived at our
own cottage and crept inside, but there was no need. Father was
passed out face-down on the table, a half emptied jug of vodka next
to him.

As it turned out, the stranger
was
the
new lord of the manor, though he went unseen by any of us for a
month’s time following that first encounter. Much occurred in that
interval. The moon went from full to waning gibbous to a half moon.
The days grew slowly longer and steadily warmer. Our daily
hectoring by Gerald and his brothers increased from teasing and
pestering to harassment. We worked besides our father in the fields
in the day and at night he drank until his words were slurred. The
renovation of the manor house continued and each day it looked more
splendid. The men who labored upon it were strangers to our land
and only their foreman could communicate in our language. But they
spent their wages in our village and paid for their rented rooms,
stimulating what small economy our small village could boast.

From a waning crescent to its complete
absence a sliver of the moon appeared again in the night sky.
Feigl’s boys antagonized us as we passed them, their words
especially tormenting Leonid and Mina. Gerald sprouted hair on his
face, Ezra looked much the same, and Symeon grew uglier. Maleva
regaled those who would listen with tales of the otherworldly while
speculation as to the identity of our new landlord spread like
wildfire among the adults. Our father would slump upon the table at
night and my eldest sister and brother would have to carry him off
to his pallet. At night, the moon was a white crescent and the
wolves howled.

And then one day the manor house was
completed. It was a sight to behold, truly beautiful. It lent a
sense of pride to all of us, to be associated—no matter how
tangentially—with such a structure. The workers, who had kept to
themselves the entire time they labored on it, had disappeared
without a word. That night, at the stream, my brothers and sisters
and I discussed their possible whereabouts. To the east they had
gone, claimed Leonid, to bore tunnels through the mountains in a
herculean task. No, maintained Mina, they had returned west, where
they had been retained by none other than Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov
and his half-brother, Ivan, for some magnificent government
project. Viktor argued that both were incorrect, that the workers
were in the service of the Habsburgs and would be sent across the
ocean to toil on some splendor among the savage Mohammedans.

Once again it was little Sasha who alerted us
to the presence of others at the stream. She stood staring into the
dark and we looked as one to where she gazed. Gerald and Ezra and
Symeon. When they saw the fear in our eyes they laughed at us. The
laughter of one fed off of and reinforced the other. Their hilarity
was drawn out and each second I grew more uncomfortable, more
fearful.
Were
they
never
warned
, Gerald
asked tauntingly between the tears his laughter had dredged out,
that
the
night
holds
many
a
fearsome
beast
,
and
that
these
creatures
descend
from
the
mountains
in
the
dark
to
drink
from
the
cool
waters
?
But
,
brother
,
who
would
tell
them
, Ezra wiped his nose with his hand,
their
cur
mother
is
not
of
this
earth
any
longer
,
and
their
father’s
only
concern
is
the
fermented
potato
. The brothers, even the little
stupid one, enjoyed a hearty laugh at this. Leonid moved so as to
position himself between ourselves and the three miscreants.