Chapter Ten

Some chapters in life are shorter than others. After Katyusha left and the encounter with the foreigner, time melted into a river of years. All that consumed Ivan's thoughts was gaining power. For this goal he endured everything Winter threw at him, but he never felt close to achieving his mission.

"How many years have I wasted on you?" Winter had entered one of his moods again. Ivan did his best to ignore it and drank some more from his clear bottle. "Honestly, you must be the most worthless piece of shit I have ever offered to train. How many times have those savage Mongols ravaged your borders in the past? And now the powers in the West are uniting and growing stronger every day."

"A boy with a gun can only do so much." Years of being alone with the General made him bold enough to talk back to his guardian... Or maybe he just did not care enough to avoid the beatings anymore. He pressed the mouth of the bottle against his lips and savored the cold sting of the vodka running down his gullet. "A barely armed boy and a cantankerous old fool could hardly strike fear into any nation with half a head on their shoulders. Even eunuchs would laugh."

"That drink makes you too brave, boy." The General glared down at him while drinking from his own flask. "There is a thin line between bravery and stupidity."

Ivan sighed and his warm breath rose visibly into the night air like the final wisps of a snuffed out candle. "No doubt you would know from experience."

He had crossed the line with that one. Winter grabbed a fistful of his jacket and lifted him up until their noses touched. His sour breath was enough to make the youngster's stomach to riot. Steel grey eyes bored delved deep into violet pools. "I have half a mind to pummel you out of existence."

"Then do it," Ivan challenged. "If I'm such a worthless piece of shit, then get rid of me. Stop wasting your time."

The older man shoved him against the frozen ground dangerously close to the fire pit. Spitting out curses, General Winter pounded his weighty fist several times into Ivan's stomach. He rolled to the side and vomited what little food and strong liquor he swallowed earlier. Winter towered over him with murder in his eyes.

"You disgust me, boy." He spat on the still gagging child. "I respect the man who doesn't fear his own mortality and laughs in the face of death... But you are a brat barely entering his rebellious stage, hardly an adolescent. You have yet to know what it means to die. Until you are lying in a lake of your own blood, gasping for air, wondering if this breath will be your last or the next one, you have no right to ask for death. Until then, you are just a scared brat either too lazy to find a reason to fight or running away from the cards life dealt you."

Ivan stared daggers at the an, anger burning his cheeks red. "I a no coward."

"Then you really are a worthless shit." The General stamped out the fore bathing the both of them in the dark of the night. "You will always be a worthless shit if you keep crying for an easy way out. Without a reason to become strong, you never will become strong."

Ivan counted the sound of crunching foot steps until they disappeared with their owner into the forest. Once again he was alone. Alone with the merciless night sky. The isolation was enough to make him want to wretch. He cried and clawed at the white crust around him. Ivan knew he was too old for tantrums, but the loneliness ripped through his chest and tore up his insides causing him to fall into hysteric fits. Soon his voice had left him to silently curse God with inaudible swears. His strength was the next to fail him.

The night was remarkably still. No wind stirred or creature moved. Ivan held his breath in attempt to sink into the silence more deafening than the thundering of cannons. He nearly suffocated in the horrible quiet.

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

A ghostly wail broke the spell. Ivan sat up and scoured his surroundings for the source of the interruption. His eyes adjusted to the gloom around him, but he saw nothing.

"Waaaah, ah, wah!"

The noise came from the West. Ivan turned toward it. "Who is there? Show yourself."

"Waaah..."

The wailing was growing weak. Crawling on his hands and keens, he edged closer until he found what was crying under a snow laden tree. "My word! This is..."

His hand stroked the soft cheek of the infant. Its skin felt unbelievable war against his own. He gently lifted the babe out from the snow unsure whether it was real or his lonely ind playing a trick on him.

"What are you doing here, little one?"

The infant looked at him with crystal blue eyes that reminded him of his older sister. Thin wisps of fair hair covered the babies head. He look at the single layered wool dress she wore with a sad shake of his head.

"Those clothes won't be enough here, little one." He pulled the little girl to his chest and pulled his coat around the two of them. "You would have become a frozen doll by sun up if I had not found you."

The baby cooed and nuzzled closer to him. She smiled at him and something in Ivan's chest moved. He started to walk back to the shack he lived in, taking a slight detour to retrieve the unfinished bottle left by the cooled fire pit.

"Don't you have a family, little one?" he asked while pushing the door open. "Don't you have someone that will take care of you?"

The baby answered with a deep yawn. Ivan laid her down on the bed and swaddled her in the only blanket. She dozed off with a serene expression that was completely unaware of the cruelty that existed in the world.

"You really do remind me of Katyusha. She is my older sister. When she is asleep, she looks like nothing in the world could harm her. Her eyes are blue like yours too."

Ivan could not believe how small she was. So defenseless and fragile, yet so care free. He envied her ability to sleep so soundly in a stranger's home.

"If... If you have no one to protect you, I could protect you." Ivan smiled. "We won't be friends. Those come and go. You and I will be a family. You the little sister and me the big brother. Family stays together and protects each other and cares for each other. Yes, we will be a family."

xx

Ivan awoke to the sound of creaking floor boards above head. Morning barely traced a bright thread across the distant horizon, reflecting off the glass lamp that had long run out of oil. The servants of the house would not moving about this early in the day. That only left one person that could be stirring.

"Natalia must be home."