The Shining Falcon

«Ye a thief, then?» came someone's not-quite-hostile query.

«Some have called me that," Alexei answered carefully, wondering if he'd made the right answer. What if these scum felt some sort of professional jealousy? «What of it?» he added, fear sharpening his voice.

«Eh, no need to get hot about it!» They evidently thought he was about to go back into the bizarre fighting frenzy that had killed their leader. «No shame in bein' a thief.»

«A good one?» someone asked, and Alexei sneered.

«Do I look a failure, now? Do I?»

«If yer so fine a thief, what ye doin' runnin' for yer life?»

Alexei managed a reasonably casual shrug. «Misfortune.» He glanced at them slyly, feeling how hostility, bit by bit, was being replaced by curiosity. They're harboring no loyalty towards their late leader, realized Alexei. But why should they? The man was a failure‑I proved that by killing him. The young man smiled in suddenly restored self‑confidence. Did these peasant scum actually think they could get the better of him?

Alexei straightened as a sudden, fantastic idea struck him. After all, he'd need help to get out of this forest, particularly now that these fools had left him afoot and nearly penniless. Not one of these slow-witted creatures seemed eager to replace their late leader, so… «You see," said the young man carefully, «I did make one small mistake. I needed a band of good, skilled men behind me. I didn't have one at the time. But something tells me I just might have one now.» With a coolness that wasn't quite feigned any longer, Alexei pulled a golden ring from his finger and tossed it to the robbers, a boyar tossing a scrap to his dogs. And the dogs scrambled for it.

«Yes," repeated Alexei softly, watching them, «I do think I have a band behind me now.»

He waited a moment, but there were no arguments.

And so it goes, thought Alexei wryly. From boyar to leader of a scruffy bandit troop in one short day. God, what a ridiculous change. Oh, Danilo, what I owe you for this! But I'm still alive. And, he added savagely, I will have my revenge! Hear me, Danilo, wherever you are: I will have my revenge!

Chapter XXI

Resolutions

It was a mild spring day, and she'd taken her mending outside, meaning to do her sewing by sunlight. But for some time now, Maria had been sitting, simply sitting, staring moodily off into space.

Finn, akh, Finn … She couldn't believe the ridiculous things Lissa had been saying about him. But why had he left them so suddenly, without so much as a good-by? Even to me?

Maria hurried over that last, over the silly hurt; of course she'd been nothing to him, no more than his nurse, no more than he'd been anything to her! A nameless wanderer; she should be ashamed of herself for even considering-Enough of this! There was work to be done. And yet, why had he left so abruptly? And for that matter, how had he managed to leave so abruptly? Maria sighed, bending over her mending, determined not to think about it any longer.

Until now, the forest birds had been chirping, there'd been the normal little rustlings of creatures in the underbrush. But suddenly the forest fell into so abrupt a silence that Maria looked up again, heart pounding, listening intently.

And then she heard the invading sound of hoofbeats. Maria sprang to her feet, letting the mending fall, unheeded, to the ground.

'Father!

«Father," she called, then more fiercely, Come here! Hurry!»

It was a troop of soldiers come riding up. Prince Svyatoslav had finally found them.

«… and I must admit you gave me quite a fright," Danilo said, smiling, to the captain of Svyatoslav's guard. The man grinned in return.

«You gave me a bit of a fright, too, boyar Danilo, standing there with that axe. Thought you were going to take off my head before I could give you the good news!»

«Is it true?» breathed Vasilissa. «The pardon‑is it really… ?»

«Quite true, boyarevna. " The captain glanced about, plainly trying not to show his embarrassment at the poverty all around him. «The boyar Danilo Yaroslavovich is to return to take his rightful place as counselor to our Prince as soon as he is able.»

Danilo snorted. «Which is, as I'm sure my daughters will agree, today!»

But Maria hesitated. «Please, tell me this: how did you find us?»

«Well, our Prince gave us directions. But we were pointed onto the shortest way by some peasant or other.»

«A peasant?»

«A man in a crudely made deerskin caftan.»

Maria exchanged a startled glance with her father. «Finn?» she asked. «But how could he have known… ?»