Maid of Baikal: A Novel of the Russian Civil War

Musical Theme: Symphony No. 2 in E Minor, Op. 27, I. Largo, Allegro Moderato, by Sergei Rachmaninoff

LATE NOVEMBER, 1919, SAMARA

Zhanna’s capture succeeded in accomplishing what the attempts to kill her had not: Siberian troops were forced to withdraw from Kazan. Tolstov realized that, without her, his meager forces could not possibly hold out against attack from twenty thousand Red soldiers. The Cossack general waited until day’s end for his patrols to continue searching for the Maid, and then ordered a hasty withdrawal under cover of darkness. At dawn, the S-Rs found the Siberian encampment deserted, only to realize that they were back at the mercy of the same Bolshevik commissars whom they had been so eager to expel weeks before. Only, this time, the Commissars would know exactly who their enemies were in the city, and would root out the S-R agitators once and for all.

Tolstov led his dispirited column across the Volga to Chistopol on the first day of their retreat. There they linked up with an advance party from Kappel’s Western army, who escorted them back to Samara. Soon after, the Ural Cossack cavalrymen under Tolstov’s command rode home to Uralsk, while Zhanna’s Siberian volunteers, except for Paladin, were sent on to Aktyubinsk to form a reserve element for General Belov’s Southern Army. Paladin had insisted on remaining with General Kappel, so as to be close at hand should Zhanna escape or be rescued. But the rest of Maid’s volunteers were grateful now for an opportunity to relax in a safe place deep inside friendly territory.

While few who had been at Kazan blamed the members of Zhanna’s patrol for her capture, the event left a deep impression on each man who had accompanied her that morning. Ned found himself revisiting the ambush and the ensuing search for the Maid over and over in his mind, racking his brain for a clue as to what he might have done differently to save her. He and Ivashov rode to Chistopol, and then back to Samara, as if in a trance, before arousing themselves at last to consider how they might retrieve her somehow from enemy hands.

But once in Samara, Ned encountered an entirely different attitude toward the Maid’s capture. There, even former supporters of the Maid displayed a fatalistic acceptance toward her loss. Few spoke of ransom or rescue. As daring as her victories had been, now many of her backers showed themselves to be fair-weather friends of the kind who never expected her success to last. To the conventionally wise, Zhanna’s capture was viewed with the sneering relief that a veteran gambler displays when a novice’s improbable winning streak comes to an end.

And among the public at large, initial shock at the Maid’s vulnerability, and a clamor to demand her rescue, soon gave way to a sense of impotence and discouragement. None of her former flock spoke any longer of Yermak’s prophecy. If Russia were to be saved, someone else would have to do it.

Upon reporting back for duty in Samara, Ned feared at first that he might face disciplinary action from the AEF for having gone to Kazan without permission. But Colonel Barrows managed to smooth things over in Vladivostok by the time of Ned’s return. The same day, Colonel Ward paid him a visit to commiserate over Zhanna’s loss and to offer encouragement that she might in time be recovered alive. Ward assured him that all possible means were being considered to get the Maid back, though the Bolsheviks were keeping her whereabouts a tightly held secret and had shown no inclination to bargain for her release.

To Ned’s relief, Ivashov likewise received no punishment from his superiors for riding off with the Maid to Kazan. To the contrary, while he was away, the staff captain had been promoted by two ranks to lieutenant colonel and given a more senior position at the Stavka. Ostensibly, the promotions were meant to recognize his role in White victories at Uralsk, Yershov, and Ufa. On second thought, however, Ned could not resist the idea that perhaps both he and Ivashov were being bribed to remain silent about the Maid and to let her plight fade from popular memory.

On his first morning back at work, Ned called on Ivashov at the Stavka and was promptly taken behind closed doors in his new office.

“It seems our leaders have grown rather more aggressive toward the Bolsheviks since we left for Kazan,” the lieutenant colonel began after pouring each man a glass of strong tea from a brass samovar.

“What a surprise,” Ned remarked, unable to conceal his bitterness over General Dieterichs’ earlier refusal to send reinforcements to the Maid at Kazan. “Do you suppose Zhanna’s captivity might account in some way for the chief of staff’s increased belligerence?”