11
The secret passage cited by Katyusha was nothing but an old, by then forgotten tunnel from the age of the Moscow siege of 1612, created by the Poles to secretly resupply the fortress under the nose of the Novgorod insurgents.
It could be accessed through a small stone column of the southern gardens, turning its top twice counterclockwise until a small trapdoor opened in the paving nearby.
Katyusha herself, now busy removing all of her skirts for better freedom of movement, had just casually discovered it when she was little, and taking care of not mentioning it to anyone to not lose her own escape route from the palace's dullness.
Nonna, insisting on a minimum of security in the case of this being a trap, had herself changed up, and had exchanged the clothes of a humble maid with a dark suit worthy of a soldier, topped off by a Cossack sabre found who knows where.
"You're looking good like that." Katyusha commented. "You're better off than with that horrible dress."
"You're welcome, Your Highness."
"But, forgive me if I ask, do you know how to use that sword?"
"A little." Nonna replied with a barely seen wink.
By the light of two petrol lanterns, with the heart beating faster with each step, the princess and her maid went through the narrow, low shaft for several feet, passing under the red border walls and reaching a gutter outside. At that point, all that was left was reaching and climbing the nearest steps, ending up right at the foot of the Ustyinskiy Bridge, not far from the Kremlin's walls.
Nonna went first, making sure nobody was around, nor any guard still dawdling on the towers, then she helped Katyusha out.
"All clear, Your Highness."
Katyusha walked out, immediately turning her gaze upon the river, looking for any sign of anyone.
At first, nobody could be seen, but it was only after the two girls had begun walking on the bridge that they both took notice of a barely visible light, hidden under the southern arch.
To err on the side of caution, however, as they reached the other side Nonna brought Katyusha behind a bush, begging her to keep still and to wait for the boat's arrival without making a sound.
Afterwards, the maid went a bit closer, and raising her lantern she made an "eight" figure three times; from the boat the helmsman replied with the same signal, then the two parties walked towards each other, meeting up midway, upon a muddy bank.
Katyusha was almost besides herself with excitement, and as soon as she saw a cloaked figure emerging from below deck, following two guards, and being saluted by Nonna with a small smile and a slight bow, she ran towards it.
"Olishka!"
The figure then turned, lowering the hood of the cloak. And in the princess' eyes a mix of shock and disbelief appeared.
"And who are you?" she asked, with apparent disappointment, to the thirty-odd looking fellow standing before her, looking anything but Russian with those blonde hair and green eyes.
"Your Imperial Majesty." he replied, respectfully bowing. "Allow me to introduce myself. Major Herbert Cross. Officer of the Royal Marines, at the service of Her Majesty the Queen Victoria."
Hearing that accent and that name, Katyusha immediately got defensive.
"An English!"
"Scot, to be precise."
His words and attitude were kind and affable, but that had no effect on how Katyusha was staring at him.
"What does this mean? Where is my sister?"
"I regret having had to resort to this despicable trick, but with all the measures taken by your father, we had no other way to get you out of the palace."
It was more than enough.
"Nonna, quick! Let's get out of here!"
Turning away, Katyusha made to run away as fast as she could; but for two shapes to materialize and block her avenue, both clearly foreigners dressed up as Russians.
"Nonna!"
Katyusha expected to turn around and see Nonna with her sabre at the ready; instead, when she did, she saw her as still as a statue, and for the first time in her life the princess felt a shiver run up her spine when she met her eyes, eyes turned cold and dim as two lifeless stones.
"Nonna..."
Taking advantage of her disbelief, that had frozen her on the spot, the two men were upon her in a moment, grasping her firmly.
"Let me go!"
With the strength of despair, Katyusha tried to react, squirming and kicking like a wild beast, even managing to mightily bite the hand of one of them when he attempted to silence her; one result was a terrible slap that left her dazed and almost bleeding.
"Stop!" ordered Nonna turning towards the Major. "We hadn't agreed upon this!"
"Stop that." Cross admonished them. "Don't forget who she is."
"Apologies, Major. This little snake almost bit my finger off."
"You know how you deal with things like these, don't you?"
As one of the two was fishing into his pocket for a piece of cloth and a small bottle, a now resigned Katyusha could not tear her gaze away from Nonna, who instead was trying to look anywhere but at her.
"Why? Tell me, Nonna. Why it was you of all people..."
"Sorry, Your Highness." she answered, seemingly unfazed. "It has to be this way. Sometimes, one must choose."
"You... I thought you considered me a friend."
"You are wrong. I was just your governess, and you my mistress. We have never been anything more."
Katyusha felt her heart threatening to crumble, and such was her grief that she completely missed the moisture in Nonna's eyes. Deprived of any idea of further resistance, she did not lift a finger when the cloth was pushed on her mouth, leaving her assailants free to put her to sleep.
"I say, I was not expecting this." Cross said to Nonna. "I was aware that you were close to her, but for you to convince her of this..."
"I've done my part. Now you have to keep the promise you made me."
"Don't worry. We are men of our word. When you'll be back in Sevastopol, I promise you that your sister will already be bound for London."
Nonna stared at the ground, with shaking hands and eyes half-closed, and when the four guards brought Katyusha onto the boat she deliberately avoided to help out; almost as if, inside her, something were trying to convince her that she had done the right thing, to silence her heart's voice.
All the men of Major Cross' unit were Royal Marines veterans, with decades of experience gained on many battlefields all over the world. And yet, not a single one of them noticed the sudden arrival of a small deluge of small daggers. Out of sheer luck, or maybe out of choice, not a single one of them had been aimed at the two soldiers closest to Katyusha; on the other hand, one of the other two got by with one of them stuck into his shoulder, while the other took one straight in his forehead, his already lifeless body falling from the boat into the river.
"What in the..."
A black shadow fell upon them like the Angel of Death; the Major, his sword drawn, tried to tackle him, but the assailant dodged the blow with almost inhuman agility, and then went for his men, formed up to protect their precious cargo.
Just before he could jump down the bank, however, the newcomer felt a threat behind him, and he barely had time to turn around and draw one of the kukri he had at his belt to parry Nonna's blow.
Only then the others could get a good look at him; he wore a long cloak with a hood, and his face was covered by the lapel; despite that, everyone could see it was surely a woman, likely even younger than Nonna herself.
"And who the hell is this guy?"
That shinobi lookalike kicked Nonna away and again turned towards the boat, but the intervention of another guard, who got a reward for that in the shape of his throat getting cut, gave the girl time to regain her footing.
"Go! I'll take care of this."
"Alright, move it!" ordered Cross, jumping aboard.
"Remember your promise, Major!"
The two guards left hurried to clear all moorings, then furiously rowed to get underway.
The aggressor tried all she could to get rid of Nonna and resume her task, but the girl kept up against her.
Meanwhile, the boat had already gotten away, and was going south, but just when the Major and his two surviving men had thought that they had made it, another shadow fell upon them from the bridge, right from above the boat.
One of the two soldiers fired his gun, but the shot, despite giving the similarly-dressed stranger a small wound, missed its mark, and the aggressor replied by drawing a sabre and beheading him just like that.
He would have likely done the same with his other two targets, but Cross, with a sudden move, grabbed onto a still asleep Katyusha, keeping her before him and pointing his gun at her head.
At that, the newcomer immediately froze.
"Don't make me do this. I can shoot her before you can move a muscle."
That dramatic stalemate could have gone much longer, but in the end the intervention of the last standing guard forced the aggressor to abort the mission and jump into the river, leaving the Major and his man free to continue their escape.
On the bank, despite her unusual ability and mastery in swordsmanship, Nonna was having lots of trouble to keep up with her enemy, her agility looking more and more superhuman.
The clash, despite all, remained a deadlock the whole way, until a sudden ringing of the bells and lights being lit announced the imminent discovery, inside the Kremlin, of what had happened.
"What is happening?" came from above the bridge, followed by a great noise of steps. "Under here, quickly!"
Completely surprised, Nonna was unable to avoid the last blow of her opponent, who first disarmed her with a quick strike, and then unleashed a terrifying knee into her gut before jumping into the river, disappearing underwater like an alligator.
A few seconds later, Captain Yerematev ran down the steps with a handful of guards, finding a corpse floating onto the water, another with his throat cut, and Nonna squirming on the ground for the pain.
Their eyes met, with the Captain unable to disguise his hatred.
"Arrest her!"