Mother Russia,
how are you sleeping?
Middle winter cold winds blow.
From the trees the snowflakes drifting,
twirling 'round like ghosts in the snow.
Mother Russia,
poetry majestic,
tells the time of a great empire.
Turning 'round the old man ponders,
reminiscing an age gone by—

"Mother Russia"—Iron Maiden

Sweet child in time,
you'll see the line.
The line that's drawn between,
the good and the bad.
See the blind man,
he's shooting at the world.
Bullets flying,
taking toll.
If you've been bad,
lord I bet you have.
And you've not been hit,
by flying led.
You'd better close your eyes,
and bow your head.
Wait for the ricochet—

"Child in Time"—Deep Purple

Darkness and Light

Chapter X

After Anastasia put her daughter to bed, and watched her two boys play in Nicky's room, she joined Johnny, Lenny, Roger, and Kurando in the master room—who sat in a circle around the fireplace, having a glass of wine. Pouring herself a glass, Anastasia took a seat next to her husband.

"Your Highness?" Lenny began, as Anastasia sat down.

"Yes?"

"When the three of us arrived earlier in the day, I asked you how you were able to survive that night in Siberia."

"Yes." Anastasia paused to look at the icon of St. Seraphim; her mother's favorite saint. "It's been over ten years."

"How were you able to survive, Your Highness?"

"I'd like to know that myself," interjected Johnny. "I mean, the last I heard, the entire family of the tsar was killed."

"Gentlemen," Kurando began, with a gesture, "this is a sensitive subject for my wife…"

But Anastasia raised a hand. "It's all right, Kurando. I think it's an obvious question anyone would ask, since most people think that my brother and I are dead." Anastasia took a sip of wine. "Where should I begin? When my father abdicated, or the night in question?"

"I was kind of young when all of this happened," replied Johnny. "So a little history lesson wouldn't hurt me any."

Anastasia nodded. "Very well then." Taking another sip of wine, Anastasia said, "In March of 1917, my father abdicated the throne of Russia, and the duma—or parliament—took over the country. The new leader of Russia, Alexander Kerensky, tried to work with King George's government in Britain to move our family there." Anastasia paused to sip her wine. "But the British wouldn't have us. So for our own safety, Kerensky sent us to Tobolsk in Siberia. For the first couple of months, nothing drastic happened. It wasn't until Kerensky's government fell, and Lenin took over that we noticed changes in Russia. Through Lenin, we were moved to Ekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains. Most of the people there hated my father."

Taking another sip, Anastasia said, "Now, let's move to that night in July. What happened to us? Around midnight, that night, our guards woke us up. We were told not to take anything with us, because it was just a precautionary move, due to some disturbances in town." Taking another sip, Anastasia added, "But that doesn't mean we were necessarily going to follow orders. My sister, Olga, had a dagger that she had snuck in all the way from Petrograd to Ekaterinburg. She gave the dagger to me, and told me to slip it underneath my dress. I had my mystic egg that our royal watchmaker, Edgar, made me back in 1915. The guards, however, were too stupid to realize that it was a weapon."

"Um, what exactly is a 'mystic egg'?" asked Johnny.

"It's a Faberge style egg that acts as a weapon. What it does is that it will ricochet off someone. For example, I could throw it at the wall, and it will bounce off the wall."

"Kind of like a ball?"

Anastasia nodded. "Yeah, that's one way to look at it." And taking another sip of wine, she continued. "Anyway, we were taken to the cellar of this house—the Ipatiev House, for the record, is what it was called. All of us were there—including our servants, who followed us all the way from Petrograd to Ekaterinburg. Our guards told us that we were to pose for a family photograph. But instead, our chief guard, a man named Yakov Yurovsky, read us a death sentence." Anastasia looked at the floor, before she turned back to the men. "I really don't want to go into the very graphic details, but I will say that once the shooting began, the bullets ricocheted off my corset."

"How?" asked Lenny.

"My mother told all of us girls to sew our jewels into our corsets. We were told this, because if we ever escaped, we would have something to live on. But despite the shooting, I did fall down. I fell down next to Alexei. I could tell that he was still alive, and I whispered to him to play dead."

Finishing her wine, Anastasia said, "We were placed on this truck, and that's when I noticed that only Alexei and I were still alive. Eventually this truck, driven by our executioners, got stuck in the mud. I realized that this might be our best chance to escape. I handed Alexei the dagger. Alexei had never used a weapon before. I knew he was scared, but I told him to have courage. He did. When some of those guards came to push the truck, Alexei and I struck—me with the mystic egg and Alexei with the dagger. I don't think that we killed anyone, but I think we caught the guards off guard enough that we managed to escape."

Finishing his wine, Johnny said, "I understand how you survived that night in Siberia, but how did you make it all the way to Japan? It is a long way from Russia to Japan."

"Let me answer that," interjected Kurando. "The Fountain of Sukune, which you saw today, sometime before everything Anastasia told you took place, my mother had a premonition in the water. It was a bad omen that warned of the execution of the tsar and his family. I kept in contact with Anastasia after our journey ended together, but we had not seen each other, since about the end of 1916. Still, I knew where she was, and I left immediately for Ekaterinburg."

Finishing his wine, Kurando continued, "Of course, time was always against me. It was dark, when I arrived on the night that all of this took place. Here I was in Russia, but I had no horse, no carriage, and no car. Fortunately, I did find a man, who had a car. I asked him for a ride, but when I told where I wanted to go he was reluctant to help me, so I had to use the one thing that can loosen the hearts of any man."

"What is that?" asked Johnny.

"Money," Kurando replied, short and to the point. "He drove me near the Ipatiev house, and I charged into the home. I was more than willing to slice up a few Bolsheviks in half, but the house was empty. That's when I went down into the basement, and I saw the bullet holes." Kurando paused to turn to Anastasia. Although Anastasia had been able to put a lot of her past behind her, sometimes she still suffered bad memories from what happened that night. Kurando did not want to remind Anastasia of too many of her bad memories. Turning back to the men, Kurando continued. "I won't go into the details about what I thought, but it wasn't good. I remember going back to the car, and telling the driver that no one was home. The driver seemed to sense what had happened. He didn't like the Romanovs, but somehow he felt sympathy for me. He told me that if he were the Bolsheviks, he'd take the Romanovs to this mine shaft. I asked him to take me there. He didn't want to, but he did so anyway."

Kurando left his seat, and journeyed to the bottle of wine on the counter. Turning to his guests he asked, "Would anyone else like another glass of wine?"

Roger accepted. So did Lenny. Johnny and Anastasia refused.

As Kurando began to pour three glasses of wine, he continued his story. "The driver, of course, would not get too close to where the mine was located—probably for his own safety, and I can't blame him—so I had to walk. Thankfully, I did not have to walk too far. This mine was located in a forest. I called for Anastasia in the forest. I was just hoping that maybe she would respond. I won't go into about how scared I was." Looking briefly at Anastasia, Kurando added, "Thankfully, she heard me. She came with her brother." Handing Roger and Lenny their glasses, Kurando retook his seat, and grabbed Anastasia's hand. "To quote something, Anastasia often tells me, when good things happen, 'God was on our side.'" Kurando took a sip from his new glass. "To make a long story short, that driver, I guess feeling sympathy for Anastasia and Alexei, took us to Omsk. He also told us that he had some coats we could use, mostly to disguise Anastasia and Alexei. From there, we took a train to China, and finally, a boat to Japan." Taking another sip of wine, Kurando added, "That, in short, is the story of how Grand Duchess Anastasia and Grand Duke Alexei escaped Russia."

"Your Highness?" began Johnny.

"It's not necessary to call me that, Johnny, but yes?"

"Did you hear about a woman living in New York about a year ago, who claimed to be the Grand Duchess Anastasia?"

Anastasia laughed. "Oh, yes! I heard about that."

"What do you think about it?"

"I think she's a terrific actress, because she's fooled a lot of prominent people."

"She slightly fooled me," interjected Lenny. "I remember looking at a photograph of her from a distance, and I thought that maybe should be the Grand Duchess Anastasia. But I just couldn't tell for certain."

"Well, obviously you know now that she is an imposter." Anastasia turned to look at an icon of the Virgin Mary, before she turned back to Lenny. "Quite frankly, I don't know how she has been able to fool the people that she has."

"Who in the royal family knows about the status of you and the tsarevich?"

"Only a few people know. My aunts know. And my grandma knew, but she passed away last year." Anastasia turned to the clock on the wall. "Well, it's getting late. I probably should go to bed."

"Before you do, Your Highness," began Lenny, "may I ask you just one more thing?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"My former boss, Nicholai, he told me that he was the illegitimate son of Tsar Nicholas II. He told me that before your father was tsar, he had a mistress named Mathilde Kschessinska, who was his mother. Is all of this true, or did he just make all of it up to fool me?"

"No, he didn't make it up. Before my father met my mother he had a relationship with a Polish ballerina named Mathilde Kschessinska. It was a relationship that was never going to go anywhere, because she could never be the empress. But a child was born from that union—Nicholas. He was named after his father, my father. But he apparently liked to use the Russian form of saying his name, hence Nicholai. After Nicholai was born my grandfather, who I never met, told my father that he should distance himself from the child and his mother. Daddy didn't want to do it—he told me later, when I asked him about all this—but it was for the good of the dynasty." Anastasia looked at the floor, before she turned back to Lenny. "I would never tell Yuri this, but I have often felt sorry for Nicholai. He simply was born under a bad sign." Anastasia sighed. "But that's enough of me talking for the night. I'm off to bed."

As he did in the Hygua home, Johnny spent the evening on the Inugami couch. The fire from the fireplace cast a glow on the Christmas tree—particularly its ornaments. Two of the ornaments that stood out to Johnny were a gold icon of Madonna and Child and the image of Father Christmas worshipping the Christ child. The glowing ornaments helped create a peaceful feeling that eased Johnny to sleep.

The almost nude French model was a familiar sight. "Now where have I seen this before?" Johnny said. "Oh, yes! St. Jehanne's in Domremy." Examining his surroundings, Johnny could tell that he was indeed in St. Jehanne's tavern in Domremy, France. All the lights were on. However, very few people were in the bar.

"Well, hello, Johnny!" a familiar voice said.

Johnny turned. The voice came from the bar, and its owner was Jacques with a big smile.

"What can I get you?" Jacques asked. "Another lager?"

"Uh, sure, Jacques."

Instead of sitting at the bar, Johnny chose to stand—waiting for Jacques to return with his beer.

"Johnny, you're back!" came another familiar voice.

Johnny turned, although he knew exactly who this voice belonged to. There stood Jeanne, wearing a purple dress. The dress was short, and thus revealed her legs. But it also revealed Jeanne's curvy body. In short, Jeanne was gorgeous, and her smile only added to her beauty.

"Here you are, sir," Jacques said, as he placed Johnny's beer before him.

"Thank you," Johnny said, as he reached for his wallet.

But Jacques stopped him. "Don't worry. It's all taken care of."

"By whom?"

Jacques chuckled. "You ask too many questions." And Jacques left Johnny to tend to the other side of the bar.

"When did you get back?" asked Jeanne, standing next to Johnny.

"I…I honestly don't know."

Jeanne giggled.

"Jeanne, this is weird."

"What is?"

"We're in St. Jehanne's with all the lights on. But why is there nobody else here?"

Again, Jeanne giggled. "Oh, Johnny, you do ask too many questions. Why does it matter? As long as we're here, right?" she asked, with a smile.

Jeanne's smile pierced Johnny's soul. Wrapping an arm around her waist, he pulled her close. "Right!"

Jeanne patted his rear, before she said, "Guess what, Johnny?"

"What?"

"I got a job."

Johnny was not expecting that one. "A job?"

She nodded. "A few days ago, a man from Paris visited the village. This man specializes in finding girls for modeling jobs, and he said that I'd be perfect."

"Well, yeah, Jeanne, you're gorgeous…"

"Guess how I'm supposed to pose?"

Looking around the bar to think, Johnny turned to the partially nude model. "I don't know." And pointing to the model, he joked, "Like that?"

Jeanne giggled. "You're a good guesser."

Johnny's eyes grew wide. "Huh?"

"What's with that look?" she asked, smiling.

"Oh! It's nothing. I'm just surprised you'd get to pose like that."

"Why? Am I not 'cute' enough?"

"Oh, no! You're gorgeous! I just thought that maybe…" Johnny turned away.

"What is it, Johnny?"

Johnny's face was red, when he turned back. "I think that I spoke without actually thinking. It's a bad habit of mine."

Jeanne laughed. And taking Johnny's hands, she asked, "Shall I pose for you?"

Again, Johnny was stunned. "Huh?"

Jeanne giggled. "I love that look."

"What do you mean by 'pose for you'?"

"I mean would you like me to pose for you, like the girl in the painting?"

"Right now?"

Jeanne nodded.

"I-I don't think we can do that right now, Jeanne."

"And why not?"

"Well, there are all these people in the bar, and there's no place where we can be alone, and…"

Once again, Jeanne giggled. "Silly boy, there are plenty of back rooms in this bar." Taking Johnny by the hand, she added, "Come on, I'll show you."

"Just what the hell do you think you're doing?!" came another familiar voice.

This voice was one Johnny had forgotten, and it froze him. He slowly turned his head to see Shania. Shania stood with her hands on her hips, and two Native American tomahawks at her side. "What the hell is this, Johnny?! I get infected with malice, and you quickly abandon me? You didn't even bother to look for me. Instead, you run off with the first blonde you found with cute legs and an ass!"

"Johnny, who is this?" asked Jeanne.

Johnny swallowed a lump. "Um, this is Shania, Jeanne. She, um…"

"What the hell are you doing with your arms around him?!" Shania shouted, staring coldly at Jeanne. "I watched you smack him on the ass. Just what the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"Johnny didn't tell me anything about having a girlfriend."

"Oh, he didn't?!"

"That's because she wasn't," Johnny said to Jeanne. And turning to Shania, he added, "We never actually dated, but I have been…"

"Oh, but you loved me, Johnny. I can read your heart. You loved me, but you quickly threw it all away once you laid eyes on this little French whore right here!" Shania said, pointing to Jeanne.

"Excuse me?!" Jeanne said. "Just what the hell did you just say?!"

"Now, just wait a minute," Johnny said, as he approached Shania.

But Shania would not allow Johnny to talk anymore. She removed one of her tomahawks, and struck him with the hardest part of the blade.

What Johnny saw next was not stars, but the master room of the Inugami home. Still he checked his face. All his bones and all his teeth seemed to be intact. It was only a nightmare. But it left him wondering, "Have I been doing the right thing?"