World's Best Assassin
XIII – Svetlana's Training
By Pat Square
Svetlana wondered how anyone could be expected to recall so much from a single glance.
Vasilii would prepare a basket of miscellaneous items and she would have to call off every item in the basket from her memory. He called it the Stone Game and told her that it was a game that everyone in the Great Game had to master.
Svetlana hated it. No matter how hard she tried, she was always messing something up.
Vasilii was quite forgiving of her cursing, but Svetlana was afraid that he would think of her as stupid, unteachable, and send her back to Russia alone and unloved.
Svetlana vowed to kill herself before returning to the streets of Moscow.
She glanced at the stones, cataloging each color, each position, everything that he could ask her.
Two round cats-eyes;
Five square onyx;
Three green marbles;
One rose colored quartz the length and shape of a finger;
Six oblong reds with rust brown speckles;
Eight Red Coat British Grenadiers with bearskin hats ready to march off to war;
Two smooth grey river rocks with black spots;
A golden locket on a golden wire necklace.
Svetlana replayed the image in her mind as Vasilii described the arrangement of the stones.
His soft eyes locked into hers.
"Svetlana, tell me about the stones."
One by one, she recalled the stones. She described the locket and the golden wire necklace.
"Svetlana, I'm sorry, but there were five red stones, not six."
Svetlana wanted to die.
She was sure there were six red stones. She counted them twice. She might not have been educated, but she could count.
"Vasilii, I counted six red stones."
Vasilii examined her as a schoolmaster examined an erring pupil in need of physical discipline. Svetlana tried to suppress the trembling in her petite frame.
Svetlana held back a sob. She counted six red stones.
"There were six stones."
Vasilii reached into the basket and pulled out the necklace. He fastened it around her neck.
"Svetlana, I'm sorry. You were right. There were six red stones. However, I mislead you."
"Most people are reluctant to disagree with those who hold some power over them. If you are not careful, people will tell you to disbelieve what you see, what you touch, what you should feel, think, or perceive. Svetlana, you won this round of stones and earned this locket."
Svetlana's face lit up. She did it. She earned her place by his side.
"Whenever you look on this, I want you to remember that no one has the right to tell you that what you see, what you do, say, or sense is wrong. No one can tell you want you feel is wrong."
Vasilii kissed her on the lips. It was not sexual, but she never felted more loved in her life.
"You have been through more in a few weeks than most people lived through in a lifetime. You have undergone more profound lesions that any person should have to suffer. Unfortunately, fate will punish us even more. Force us to undergo more lesions that you should not have to suffer."
He hugged her.
She didn't see the sorrow in his eyes.