OPERAREALM

Chapter VII

Contrary to the previous night, Roza was having the worst time sleeping. The gypsy woman's chilling words kept resounding in her mind relentlessly. Just what exactly did she mean by that? But in her heart, Roza exactly what she had meant. But how could she have known? Could Despina, that sly trickster have told her Roza's situation as some sort of a mean joke? Even though Despina insisted that Madame Damira was not one of the gypsies she had met that day, Roza could not be sure. She knew Despina's calculating character quite well and knew that she was easily capable of it. Roza did not know what to think. Somehow she believed that Despina had better things to do and that it was below her to initiate such a mean prank.

Roza tossed and turned in the canopy bed. The wind whistled eerily around the castle. She drew the quilts up higher, to shied herself from the cold and whatever horrors lied in the ancient castle. She had read a great deal about the castles of Europe and knew for a fact that many of them had extremely dark histories. Dark histories that left behind a trace of the terrible events that had taken place there centuries earlier. Dark histories that left behind vengeful ghosts. Her mind kept replaying all the most frightening things she had ever read and seen on television. Particularly frightening was that television program called Castle Ghosts where this woman awoke in the middle of the night to find herself face to face with a bloody ghost that was floating over her bed. Roza couldn't get the frightening images out of her mind and she became increasingly paranoid. The eerie wind began to sound like the wail of a banshee, the creaks and groans of the castle began to seem like footsteps stalking toward her.

Suddenly the footsteps grew louder. Step...step...step...step...They were coming from the hall and seemed to be heading toward her door. Step...step...step...step... The footsteps stopped at her door. The doorknob turned...the door creaked open...

Roza screamed.

"Sssshhh..." said the figure. "Do you want to wake everybody up?" The figure stepped into the moonlight.

Roza gaped in disbelief. "Liza?! What are you doing here?" She rose from the bed.

Liza ran to Roza, embracing her. "Thank goodness you are safe! Please forgive me for startling you--I did not know that this room was occupied. Myself, Gherman, Palina, Yeletsky and Alexandra just arrived a few moments ago. We were initially supposed to go on a holiday to Paris, but the plans have been changed. I persuaded my party to come here after I received urgent word from the Princess Gremina."

Roza still shaking from shock, was extremely bewildered. "Tatyana? She sent you here? But why?"

"To bring word, among other things..." Liza explained. She dropped her voice as if the walls had ears. "Palina and I are the only ones that know you are here. Roza...I saw what happened at the ball...and I have spoken with Tatyana. Roza--Yevgeny is madly in love with you and will stop at nothing to have you."

Roza whimpered in despair. "But Liza--it can't be! I'm here as an opera singer in serious study. I explained it all in a letter that I gave to Tatyana to give to him. Didn't he receive it?"

"Da," said Liza solemnly. "And he has written a reply." she reached into her bodice pocket and pulled out two letters attached to each other which she handed to Roza. "This is a letter from Princess Gremina and with the letter from Yevgeny attached. Read it and you tell me if your situation is any less grave."

Roza sighed heavily and opened the letters, already knowing in her heart what she would find. The first letter with a gold seal, was from Tatyana. She recognized the fine writing paper.

Dear Roza,

I hope that you are well and are finding some peace in your castle in Czechoslovakia. I write to you in great concern, but I encourage you to remain strong and steadfast as I have on many occasions. Roza--that letter you wrote to Yevgeny did not seem to do any good. In fact, it has only served to inflame his passion even more. When he read it, he dropped to his knees and begged me to reveal your whereabouts. I told him that he should know better by now, when I make a promise I keep it. And I had promised you, myself and God that I would not betray your trust. I would no sooner break my marriage vows! Yevgeny is very dangerous to me. He always seems to be haunting me and trying to sway me to do something that is not honorable! It is abominable! I had to leave the room. An hour later, I returned to fetch my shawl and he was still there! Only now he held a letter he had just written and which he begged me to get to you. I told him plainly that you were long gone from here and that I had no means of delivering it. Alas, when he threatened to take his own life, I just had to relent. I will send word with Liza, who is very sympathetic and clever. Everyone from Pikovaya Dama was planning on a holiday anyways, so I know it would not look at all suspicious if she were to leave suddenly and with the group. I wanted her not only to deliver the letter, but to be there for what I know is a very hard time for you. I wish someone had been there for me like that. You will now be among many more friends. But do be cautious about who you reveal your presence to. I trust Liza and Palina, but I don't know about the others--especially Alexandra. I must leave you now. I will attach the letter from Yevgeny as promised. I will pray that fate is kind to you.

Tatyana

My dear Roza,

I have been beside myself with torment since your flight from me at the ball. If anyone would have told me that I could have fallen this hard yet again I would have never have believed them. When Tatyana rejected me two months ago, I thought my life had ended. I have been forever doomed to relive that unbearable pain for as long as I can remember. Oh, if you could know the agony of being alone and rejected! It is a fate worse than death. I know you have known such pain yourself. During the fireside conversation at the Inn in Vilnius, I was utterly entranced by your story of suffering. I found in you a sort of second Tatyana. I believed there and then that God had given me a second chance! Oh Roza--from the moment I saw you I loved you, I wanted you! Every word you said just confirmed the fact that I had found an angel on earth, a light in this desolate life of mine. When I saw you again at the ball that night, I became overwhelmed with passion. My passion was such that I couldn't even speak...I wanted only to hold you and make you mine. I know you felt it too...I know you must love me. Oh Roza--why did you flee from me and deny both of us the unearthly bliss that we could find together? I have read your letter a thousand times. It gives me immense pain to read your words of farewell. Oh Roza--you can not desert me like this! I love everything about you and you must know that I will never abandon you. I wish to be your protector forever...to kneel before you and drown in love's agony. Oh how I long and ache to hold you and kiss you and make you mine for all eternity. I must find you, my beautiful Roze. Fate has decreed us for each other irrevocably and I long for the precious moment when you shall be mine.

Yevgeny

Roza discarded the letters onto the canopy and burst into tears, feeling more anguished than ever. "Oh Liza--that letter! It has struck me straight to the heart!"

Liza embraced her. "I was afraid of that. I'm so sorry. I never should have given it to you!"

Roza sobbed. "No, you were only doing what you were told. You were only being a good friend. Liza--this is so terrible! I am weakened--frankly--wracked with temptation. How can I live like this? From that letter, I get the impression that he is going to seek me."

Liza nodded. "I know. Perhaps it would be best if you returned to your world immediately."

"But I can't! The only door is in the country where Opera was born, in Italy. It's so far, there is a storm coming and besides, I have so much more to learn!"

Liza smacked the top of her forehead. "Darn, I didn't even think of all that! But don't worry, Roza--there is no way he will find you out here. He doesn't know even know where to look. It's so remote and lonely out here. I'm sure he'd expect you to go to one of the big cities like Prague or Vienna."

Roza sighed sadly, her heart wishing otherwise. "Yes, I suppose you're right."

"We must get our rest now, " Liza said stifling a yawn. "My journey was absolutely exhausting and I'm sure you've not fully recovered from yours either. You've been through so much..." she hugged Roza. "Try not to brood...it's hard I know...for you are Slavic. The Slavic soul loves to brood."

"Oh...Don't I know it?" said Roza. "Thank you, Liza." And so Liza left and Roza was once again left alone with her melancholy.

Roza slept very late and she was still exhausted. She had been awake long after Liza had left brooding hopelessly over the contents of the letters--particularly Yevgeny's. She had never received such a letter in her entire life! Never! Oh, how she'd longed for such a love for as long as she could remember! As she re-read the letter, she once again saw his handsome face, heard his seductive voice. She saw the look of passion that had overcome him, his heartbreaking desperation when she slipped out of his grasp. She was utterly unable to purge him from her mind. Nor could she forget the gypsy's chilling fortune. Was Madame Damira right? Was her fate already decided?

A knock on the door interrupted her intense thoughts. It was Despina bringing a brunch tray of soup, tea and biscuits, followed by Liza and Palina. They greeted her and then insisted firmly that she at least eat something.

"Despina?" asked Roza. "Where is Madame Damira? I need to ask her if last night was for real."

Despina shook her head. "I'm afraid you can't do that now. She left for Prague at daybreak so she could beat the storm." And Despina left, smirking at the tragic expression on Roza's face.

Liza turned to Roza. "I've met Madame Damira. I believe she is the official gypsy fortuneteller of Operarealm."

Palina shivered. "That woman gives me the creeps. Remember the time when we visited Prague and she predicted your exact fate, Liza?"
Liza shivered too. "Da, how could I forget? Now as I pass through my story seasonally, nothing is ever a surprise to me anymore...Even though I am powerless to stop it." She became momentarily lost in her melancholic thoughts and then she turned to Roza, "What did she tell you?" Liza asked darkly.

"Oh, nothing really..." said Roza in a tone that was much lighter than she actually felt. "She basically told me that I was foolish to try to overturn my fate, that a storm of desperate passion was coming from the East and that I would be consumed by it." Roza shivered, betraying her anxiety. "So what do you think? Are my precautions useless?"

Both Liza and Palina were silent for several moments.

"I don't know what to say, Roza," said Liza.

"I do!" proclaimed a voice behind them. Despina was back. "I think your girls are stupid if you believe a word of what that old kook said."

Liza was annoyed. "But Despina--she has predicated my fate!"

"Balder-dash!" retorted Despina. "You make your own fate, girls--don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise." She went to the windows and pulled the drapes aside to reveal a swirling mass of fat snowflakes flying down with huge gusts of wind. The snow had already accumulated to a point where the ground was no longer visible. "It started about an hour ago," Despina told them. "Without a doubt this is the storm Madame Damira predicted...which is no surprise...we all knew it was coming. I don't think you have anything to worry about Roza--that mad Russian loverboy can't get to you in this, even if he knows where to find you and even if he is dumb enough--which I don't doubt: men are so stupid--to even attempt to travel in such weather."