Napoleon Solo propped himself up on his makeshift crutch and stared off into the darkness. The wind was blowing and it looked like the cold front they'd heard about was moving in.
At least they were free and not confined in a tiny cell with no heat or blankets. He didn't know if this cave was much better, but at least there was a fire going and the clothes they'd stolen were warmer than the rags they'd had on. Of course, no good deed went unpunished. They'd escaped basically uninjured, but the boots Napoleon wore had been so big, he'd fallen and taken Illya down with him. Now his knee was swollen to twice its usual size and Illya clenched his teeth as he walked.
They'd stumbled onto the cave, which thankfully was unoccupied at the moment. The daypack Illya had stolen had matches and Napoleon got a small fire started with the scraps in the cave, but they needed wood. Napoleon could barely move, so Illya went out into the rapidly growing snowstorm for more wood.
He'd been gone too long and each second stretched eternally in Napoleon's consciousness. If he'd not tripped, if he hadn't instinctively reached for the first thing, which happened to have been his partner, if the snow had been deeper and cushioned them more…
"Illya, where are you?" he asked the swirling wind.
"Right here, Napoleon, never fear." Illya Kuryakin hobbled into view and dropped an armload of wood onto the pile just outside the cave mouth. "That should keep us going until morning. At least the storm is keeping THRUSH at home. We won't have to worry about them for a while and the snow will cover all our tracks. If you hadn't gotten that fire started, I never would have found my way back. I just followed my nose."
He picked up a few pieces and moved slowly to the small fire near the mouth of the cave, squatting to carefully feed it. That accomplished, he half crab-walked, half-crawled deeper into the cave and fell against the cave wall, taking a shaky breath.
"How are you holding up?" Napoleon watched him intently as Illya took off his gloves. At least the fingers weren't bright red or splotchy white. He wasn't quite as anxious to check his.
"Well, my cracked rib hasn't punctured my lungs, so I'm glad about that."
"So am I. I'd hate to have to reinflate it out here." Napoleon hobbled to his side and sunk down, trying to keep his weight off his right leg.
"Is it broken?" He asked carefully feeling Napoleon's leg.
"Just a bad sprain, I think." Napoleon wiggled his foot, then hissed as Illya hit a bad spot. "Everything still works, it just hurts like hell." Illya grinned through his own discomfort. "What?"
"I think I've only heard you swear a half dozen times in all the years we have been together."
"Well, it was my fault we're hurt."
Illya took Napoleon's hands in his, slowly pulling off the ill-fitting gloves. His fingers burned and Illya flexed the fingers and blew onto them. He lifted the edge of his shirt and held Napoleon's hands to his skin, eyes closed against the cold.
Gradually, they grew warmer and only then did Illya release them. "Napoleon, if you hadn't tripped, we never would have seen this cave. I wouldn't have wanted to give us much chance out there. We'd have been done in another hour. Granted, it's not the Ritz, but it's warm and dry. Right now, that's enough."
He dragged the daypack over and began to dig through it. "It looks we have a handful of energy bars, an emergency blanket, some flares, a flask of," he paused to sniff. "Bourbon, I think, a few more matches, some string, and a pen knife."
"Not much, but at least we have each other." Napoleon joked.
Illya nodded as he returned items to the pack. "This isn't much better than our cell, but not having a locked door between us and freedom means a lot. Did you manage to get word off?"
"I think so. It went out encrypted to look like THRUSH code. Hopefully someone will translate it and find us."
Illya's mouth was ajar and Napoleon smiled at the sight.. "When did you learn THRUSH code?"
"You were off, being *um* questioned." Napoleon finger-quoted the words.
"Beaten, insulted, threatened…" Illya winced as he leaned toward to toss a larger branch on their fire. "Tortured, but not questioned. They never asked me a single thing. I don't know what their game is..."
"Anyhow, I could see the code book in plain view from my cell door and had nothing else to think about-"
Illya laughed softly at that. "My heart is broken. I thought yours was an undying mix of love and loyalty." He eased back against Napoleon and Napoleon's arm was slipped around his waist.
"It is, but they don't need to know that." He nuzzled Illya's ear and rested his forehead against Illya's damp hair. "Anyhow, it was something to do and keep my mind off those long silences."
"Stupid of them to leave it out with an UNCLE agent around. As those long silences, they were reading to me."
"Reading?"
"Tolstoy, of all things and a poor translation, too. He kept mispronouncing something. It kept coming out, Nомоги мне."
"My Russian is rusty, that means?"
Illya's eye went wide. "Help me. It meant, help me. He was asking for help."
"Unless that was their plan to begin with."
"THRUSH isn't known for its long-range or deep-thinking plans"
"True." Illya handed his partner an energy bar and unwrapped one for himself. Outside the wind howled and he shivered in spite of himself. "Guess we'll never know. If they are out in this, they are dead men."
"Are you running a fever?" Napoleon checked, but Illya's forehead was cool beneath his lips.
"No. Papa was afraid of the wind. I know there's nothing to fear from it, but my friends, the gypsies, filled my young head with nonsense, according to him. According to my grandmother, it was the wisdom of the world. They would say that the wind would sneak in at night and steal your soul."
"Your father and his mother had varying views on the world, I take…" Napoleon trailed off as the noise at the mouth of the cave and both men immediately came to attention. They froze and Napoleon found a branch, not that it would be much against a weapon of any sort, but it was better than nothing.
Two snow-crusted foxes skulked in and looked at them with accusing eyes,
"I wonder if this is their joint," Napoleon murmured.
"Possible, but I think it's more a case of this being a port in a storm. Don't put down that wood just yet." Illya moved slowly as he added his branch to the fire, then retreated back to the wall. "Welcome. Brother Fox, Sister Fox, please come and share our fire."
The animals, enticed by the heat drew a bit closer, but still made sure there was ample room to escape. Their curiosity held them in place.
Napoleon broke his energy bar in half and tossed the halves towards them. They scurried a few feet off, back into the storm but then returned cautiously to sniff the offering.
"Napoleon, you really need that for yourself."
"You can count their ribs," he murmured as they sniffed, then ate the pieces. "I think their need is greater." He let Illya settle back into his arms.
"I love your compassion," Illya said, as he broke his own bar in half and passed it over his shoulder to Napoleon. "We should keep watch."
"I don't think THRUSH is going to be able to track us, not with that storm outside."
"But if the fire goes out, we could be in trouble." He studied the foxes as they ventured a few feet further into the cave and settled down by the fire. "And I want to keep my eye on those two."
"You think they would attack us?"
"No, but I think they'd do whatever they needed to get to the rest of the energy bars. Foxes will do whatever it takes to survive. My gypsy friends had a lot of stories about them, too." He offered Napoleon the flask.
Napoleon took a cautious swig and coughed. "It's diesel fuel."
That brought a laugh and then a wince from the Russian. "Ouch." He tried it himself and nodded. "You're right. Just like what Grandfather used to make."
"You talk about your family a lot, but the more you talk, the less I know. You, my friend, are a mystery onto yourself, just like that wedding ring you wear."
"Please, Napoleon, I'm a spy. If I can't confound you about the simple stuff, I should turn in my X-ray glasses and wrist radio."
Napoleon managed a gentle laugh and watched the foxes doze beside the fire. "Did the gypsies ever tell you any stories about foxes?"
"They did. It is said if a fox crosses your path, you will be given an opportunity. If he stops and looks at you, then your dreams and ambitions will succeed." Illya smiled, half remembering those tales. "Lyuba would often tell me stories about a fox named Kuma Lisa. Her favorite target for her mischief was a grey wolf, Kumcho Vulcho. She was also very close to a hedgehog called Ezhko Bezhko. They were said to be as close as brother and sister."
"Hope they got along better than I did with my sister. I loved her, but we fought."
"Try having three of them." Illya grinned. "There were moments when my parents threatened to ship all of us to Siberia."
Napoleon shifted slightly to get as comfortable as he could and stared into the fire. "So they fought a lot, this fox and hedgehog."
"Well, they didn't really fight. They got along quite well in fact, until one day. Kuma Lisa decided that it would be the perfect time to raid the farmer's vineyard. All the grapes were fat and sweet and it would be a feast to end all feasts. Ezhko Bezhko wasn't convinced, but Kuma Lisa started to brag, "You don't have to worry. I got a bag full of tricks. No matter what I can get us out of through. Don't you have any tricks of your own?"
"Well," said Ezhko Bezhko. "I only have three, but they are good ones and I'm saving them for a rainy day..." Kuma Lisa finally persuaded him to come along."
Napoleon yawned slightly and took another swig. "I smell disaster."
"Or it could be the fact that we haven't bathed in days."
"Back to the story, please," Napoleon said, then pointed. "Look at the foxes." Both animals were actively watching them, as if also interested in the tale of their cousin.
Illya smiled and spoke directly to them. "So they went to the vineyard and the grapes were as plump and sweet-looking as they'd hoped. They had just starting eating when suddenly Kuma Lisa got caught in a trap. He couldn't free her leg and she was terrified.
She cried out to Ezhko Bezhko, "Please help me escape! I can't remember any of my own tricks and I don't want to die. Please, tell me one of your tricks!"
Ezhko Bezhko took pity on her. "Pretend you are dead and when the farmer releases your foot, head for home with all your might." And that's just what happened. Kuma Lisa got so quiet, even Ezhko Bezhko was worried. The farmer came along and was quite happy with his catch, but the second he opened the trap, Kuma Lisa was off and gone.
She ran until she got back home where Ezhko Bezhko was waiting for her."
"And they lived happily ever after," Napoleon whispered, almost asleep.
"Not quite, for you see a few days later, Kuma Lisa again suggested that they go down to the vineyard for the grapes.
"You almost lost your fur last time or did you forget that?"
"But now I know your trick. We'll be fine! If anything happens, I'll think of something fast and we'll be okay."
"Despite his better judgement, Ezhko Bezhko decided to go along." Illya listened to Napoleon's breathing deepen and even out. He kept watching the foxes.
"And wouldn't you know it, they weren't there but a few minutes and Ezhko Bezhko fell into a pit."
"Help me out, Kuma Lisa. You have a whole bagful of trick and I have just two. How will I escape?"
However, Kuma Lisa was a selfish fox. "I guess you'll have to think of something then. I seem to have forgotten all of mine."
She turned to leave and Ezhko Bezhko said calmly, "All right, well, at least let me kiss you goodbye since I can't escape."
Kuma Lisa thought about it and sighed, "All right." But when she leaned over the edge to kiss him, he jumped as high as he could and bit Kuma Lisa right on the nose."
"The nose?" The words were barely audible.
"And wouldn't let go. Kuma Lisa took off, taking Ezhko Bezhko with her. That was the end of their friendship. You see, Ezhko Bezhko still had one good trick left and Kuma Lisa didn't want to stick around to see what it was."
At the silence that followed, Illya looked over at the two foxes. Like them, one was dozing while the other was on watch. "And the moral would be that everyone needs to pull their fair share and not expect hedgehogs to save your bacon."
He leaned back against Napoleon and listened to the wind howl.
He wasn't sure when it stopped or when he'd fallen asleep. He blinked and opened his eyes to bright sunlight. Illya held his hand in front of his eyes to shade them. The fire was nearly out and their nighttime visitors were gone.
Groaning, Illya pulled away from his partner and carefully began to feed the fire, encouraging it back to life. He'd had to go out and get wood today if they were going to make it.
A noise made him look up and one of the foxes stood there, holding a limp rabbit in its mouth. It laid the rabbit down and backed away, eyes never leaving Illya's face.
"Thank you, Brother Fox. We will all eat because of you."
"Who are you talking to?" Napoleon's voice was sleepy, but stronger than last night. He limped to Illya's side as he held up the animal. "Our friends brought it to us.
"The founder of our feast." Illya dug through the day pack and pulled out the penknife. He quickly field dressed the rabbit, then set it above the fire to roast. The foxes, for now the second one had returned, made short work of the innards and waited politely.
Carefully, Illya cut the rabbit in large chunk, swearing softly as he burned his fingers and made certainly he shared equally with the animals.
They had just finished when there was the sound of shouting and the foxes, alarmed, scurried away. Carefully, Illya got to his feet and moved to the edge of the cave. "We appear to have company."
"Wonderful. I always wondered what the inside of a THRUSH hospital looked like."
"You're going to have to wonder still, I believe they are ours." Illya shouted and waved to them. "Let me have one of those flares."
"We'd just about given up on you," the Section Three agent said as he tromped up a few minutes later. He offered them blankets and shouted over his shoulder. "Let Mr. Waverly know we have them, both alive, and that we need medics." He looked around the cave. "I don't know how you do it."
"Honestly, neither do I." Illya gestured to the back of the cave. "Help Napoleon first. He has a bad leg."
"You?"
"A couple broken ribs and the desire for a nice hot bath."
"We'll see what we can do. I'm going to go hurry them along." And he was gone.
Illya moved slowly back into the cave and retrieved the daypack. Then he hesitated and tossed the rest of the wood onto the fire.
"What did you do that for?" Napoleon asked.
"Just saying thanks for their hospitality." Illya caught sight of the foxes as he emptied out the rest of the energy bars and nodded to them.
"Maybe you should say Merry Christmas instead." He slipped an arm around Illya's waist and helped each other out of the cave.
"Christmas? I thought that was later… have we been held captive that long?"
"Maybe not officially, but any day I find you alive is reason enough for me to celebrate."
Illya watched as a helicopter circled to land. "Me, too. Happy Christmas. Let's go home."