-1918-
-Siberia-
"Calli!" The voice startled her as her shoulder was shaken abruptly. "You must get up!" She struggled awake and recognized Maria's wide blue eyes above her. Tatiana was also in the room with Anastasia, pulling out the travel trunk they had tucked into the closet.
"What's going on?" She asked with a frown. The only things in that trunk were the girls travel garments, and it was much too early an hour for them to be going anywhere. She raised herself from the bed and tried to rally, but sleep had been elusive as she laid in bed that night. Thoughts of the Doctor had chased her every moment, making rest an impossible goal.
"The guards said there is to be battle. They're trying to move us somewhere safer. Can you help us dress? Olga said to wear our special travel skirts." They were only special because that's where they had sewn in the Romanov's remaining wealth to hide it from their captors. Which had to mean Olga thought they were going to be moved, and possibly searched again.
"Yes, of course." Calypso shook the remaining sleep from her limbs and wrapped her robe around her shoulders, helping the girls to pull the trunk out before layering the dresses, now heavy with family gems and heirlooms, on each of them. Calypso dressed herself and they stuffed the trunk back into the closet, unsure if this would be the last time they saw it. As they walked out into the parlor, Olga had just appeared, a guard waiting at the door.
"Everyone is already downstairs," Olga said as she caught Calypso's eye. "I haven't seen any firefight in town, but perhaps they are on their way. Are you all ready?" She asked, giving a meaningful glance to the clothing they were wearing. But Calypso knew the girl recognized the clothes just as well as she did, they had both spent painful hours stitching the treasures into the fabric on the train ride there.
"Yes, of course. Did you say downstairs?" Calypso asked with a tightness in her chest.
"Yes, in the basement. Bound to be damp, hopefully Alexi does not get the cough." Olga turned back to the door as she prepared to leave, but Calypso grabbed her arm.
"No, please, your highness," Olga's eyebrows rose considerably, so unused to having her title used. "You can't. Not the basement. It isn't safe." She tried to come up with any reason to convince her, but found she could not. The Doctor's warning had been vague, but Calypso knew she believed it.
"What do you mean? Of course it's safe, the guards are already down there." She had lowered her voice as her eyes trailed to the door, the man still waiting outside, but not paying them much attention.
"I'm sorry. I can't explain." Calypso shook her head. The sisters listened nearby, but did their best to act like they weren't. "My friend, who you saw today. He warned me against the basement. I'm afraid there is something terrible down there."
Olga's eyes widened, "But Papa, and Alexi…" Calypso felt her heart sink as she realized what Olga's fear was. Her family was already down there. If there was some trouble lurking in the basement, they were already trapped in it.
"Stay here." She gripped Olga's shoulders firmly as she spoke. "Don't let the girls go down. I will go see, perhaps it's nothing." She tried to make her voice confident, but it was hard to doubt the Doctor in this instance. Olga nodded firmly and turned to her sisters.
"Ana, have you forgotten how to properly clothe yourself? Where is your cloak? And your hat? Tanya, you as well? Come, the trip may be long and I want to make sure you do not catch something, I've no desire to listen to you whine like the last time." Olga scolded Anastasia who stuck her tongue out at the girl furiously, but Tatiana seemed to understand and shuffled off back to the rooms without protest. The guard turned as he heard the commotion and Calypso strode past him, offering up a smile.
"Afraid the girls are having trouble with their wardrobe. I'm sure they can manage without me." He nodded her past with a disinterested grunt and Calypso ducked down the hallway, moving quickly to the stairs. She didn't know what she might find downstairs and the fear itself was making it hard for her to breathe. She passed the fireplace on her way and, on a whim, grabbed the iron rod used to stoke the coals. It may not offer her much protection, but it was bound to be better than going downstairs with nothing at all.
The house was eerily silent as she crossed to the final set of stairs that would lower her into the belly of the house. It lacked any light, being the oldest portion of the home, and no candles had been provided to light her path. Only a faint glow near the bottom illuminated the gray steps at all, signaling there would at least be some reveal at the end. With her sweating palms gripping the poker, she descended the stairs. The old boards creaked and groaned, denying any hope she had for a silent approach. The stairs turned near the bottom, giving her no hint of what lay in wait, the chill of the stone room beyond her sight caused her to shiver. She had to pause and take a deep breath before turning the corner.
And then she stepped out into the light, her hands rising to bring the rod into a defensible position.
"Tutor?" One of the guards stood near the base of the stairs, and noticed her immediately. "What are you doing?" His voice had hardened and his gaze narrowed suspiciously. There were more guards further in, but they looked just as surprised to see her carrying a coal poker as though she intended to fence with it. The Czar was further in, Alexi in his arms. The boy drowsed sleepily, but with his wounds still healing, would have been unable to stand on his own. Alexandra was leaning against the wall; the early hour was no doubt, poor for her health.
"Calli," the older woman spoke, her voice cross. "These brutes have roused us from our beds and forced us to stand here for near an hour. They have ignored each and every one of my demands for a place to sit, someone needs to speak with the commander about this at once. This cannot be good for Alexi's circulation-"
"Mama, I am alright." Alexi said in the irritable tone of a teenager who was being overly coddled. None of the family looked pleased to be there in the dim and damp basement, but neither did they look to be in any terrible danger. While it was poorly lit, it was not so poor that there were any lingering shadows where something could hide.
"What are you doing with that miss?" The guard at the foot of the stairs had stepped forward now, still eyeing her weapon.
"I didn't…I didn't realize what was happening. I thought we were in danger." Something flitted across the guards face, but it vanished quickly.
"Of course not. You are here for your own protection. As for the chairs, they have already been sent for. There is no need to send your servant for them." The guard plucked the poker out of her hands and tossed it aside. There was a tiny tremor of relief as she let herself hope that perhaps the Doctor had been wrong, just this one time.
"Ah, and here they are." He gestured to the guards who marched down with two chairs; they were quickly followed by the sisters. Calypso felt that nagging fear again, Olga met her gaze briefly, worry outlined in her strained face. Calypso could offer her no reassurance. There didn't appear to be any danger, but she had no way of knowing what that meant.
"About time," Nicholas bristled as he set his son gently on one of the chairs and helped his wife into another. "Now, my family is here, tell me what this nonsense is all about. It is a ridiculous hour to frighten us all with stories of battle."
"Yes," the commander, Yurovsky, marched down the steps with purpose. He was a stern looking man, with a beard that rivaled even Rolf's, but there was no mistaking the commander. "Emperor Nicholas. I apologize for the rude awakening." He said 'emperor' with contempt, none of the other guards referred to him as anything but 'Nicholas', pleased that the man had been stripped of his royalty. But it was only the commander who chose to make it a painful reminder of all that had been lost whenever they spoke. Nicholas bristled at the man and stood straighter.
"Why have you brought us here?"
"Your execution has been ordered by the Bolshevik's." He said the words casually, as though he were remarking on the weather. It almost looked as though he were smiling. "You and your entire family."
"What?" Nicholas' eyes grew wide as he searched the man's face for some sign of deceit. When he found none, he looked to his wife, the fear for both himself and his family evident from the way he shook his head wordlessly.
Calypso swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat, now it was clear to her what the Doctor was trying to warn her of. The words he had tried to speak before he had been interrupted. The Romanov's, once monarch's of Russia, were going to die in this basement, and now she was going to die along with them.
