The gentleman’s shit his pants! said Viška, if only the girls were here now, huh? Don’t worry, said Rudolf, shoving me ahead.
And then we were standing above the valley, me gripping a stone to throw on the roof, and for the last time I whispered to Vohřecký … don’t be stupid, I mean … we’re gonna get … I mean they’re gonna put up a fight … our only chance is if they’re already gone … but then a shadow peeled itself off from the trees and started toward us, Hunter, and Rudolf spread his arms and said: Sakya, sir … Sakya … it’s us … and he said the word one more time and then his eyes bugged and his knees folded and he had a cane stickin out his throat … Vohřecký, two steps ahead of me, reached under his arm, but then sputtered, clutching his belly … I was already off and running … and the forest began to move … I felt it more than heard it: that hop, hop of theirs again, somebody crashed through the bushes, I made a circle and then one more, caught a glance of Vohřecký, white windbreaker billowing in the wind … they were on him, probly to finish him off … and then all around me again: hop, hop … a branch lashed me in the face … thanks to Rudolf my hands were free … I came to some mud, the color of moss … somehow I guessed right and jumped across … whatever it was he’d shot into my vein … my side didn’t hurt, I was breathin all right … the whole way, actually, while I was knocked out, I’d been resting … an now I’ll find out, if Černá’s there an by herself, if they got em … I was gonna find out and that gave me wings … I ducked down between the rocks, cautiously weavin in and out … took a breather in a trench or whatever … an joy again flowed through my veins … but hatred too … cause if she’d betrayed me like I thought, I had a hunch what I would do … there’s the car … I saw him but couldn’t run fast enough … Viška pounced, he’d been waiting, I sidestepped … got to the car, she gripped the wheel, hurry up, go, he rattled the handle, I slammed the door on his fingers, he howled in pain … go, you cow, what’re you waitin for … slowly he walked around the car and settled in next to her … go on, girly, give it some gas, now the clutch, just like I taught cha … let’s get ridda this dumbfuck, huh?
Aiming at me. Both of us panting. Černá shot off.
Here I am, Černá, I hissed. No answer. Won’t be long now, Viška said. Pull over by that haystack, Evie. Yeah, here. An you, out. Into the field, hurry up. Move! Černá climbed out too, I moved toward her, but he was faster.
Into the field, I said. One, two, five steps, an hold it. Turn around. An you hurry up, kill im! You went down on him plenty a times. Now you’ll see … how he goes down. Do it, Evie! I order you … kill him!
I turned around and time came to a standstill … I realized … that woman aiming the gun at me, Černá, now I knew who she was … the mist ripped open behind their backs, somebody was standing there … I hoped, but it was only a scarecrow, made of straw, the mist swallowed him up again … I know now my sister is death … I’d searched for her and now she had me … I closed my eyes and heard: bang! and then one more time … this is my sister, it’s death, and this is the end.
I stood there, still deaf from the gunshots. A sharp dry wind sliced into my face … I heard a scream, like … an animal, and opened my eyes … he was flat on his back and Černá was kicking him, kicking him in the face, and then she jumped up and came down on her heels … I ran over and knocked her off … screaming, out of her wits … What? What? I bleated, somehow I managed to drag her off … the pistol lay on the ground, its barrel hot, stuck it in my pocket and hauled Černá away … we went and lay down in the woods, out of sight of the car … and of him.
She lay facedown in the moss, shoulders twitching … we gotta get outta here, shoulda taken the car, shoulda stuck him in that haystack, I didn’t know what to say, held her … then I heard an engine, somebody drivin down the road, what if it’s … yeah, let it be them, the yellow guys, I shoved her forward, stumbling, but we made it deeper into the woods … somehow I had to break through her silence, I gave her a shake and tore off her shades … her eyes looked like they were inside out, sharp and deep, but it was her, I hugged her on the ground, she’d fallen down, and I said: Thanks, you’re mine … you’re brave … you got tangled up with em, doesn’t matter, it’s gone.
Idiot, she said, that was my father.
Him? Aha. What month is it? I asked.
What’d you say?
I donno. Just wonderin if it’ll be cold tonight.
We both knew we couldn’t go anywhere.
Do we stay here? I wanted to talk to her.
Doesn’t matter to me.
No, c’mon, before it gets dark.
I don’t want it, she screamed.
But you got it.
Know what I was thinkin the whole way?
No.
That I was growin into the car, that I was the car, like upholstery or somethin.
Aha.
There’s no way to put it.
But now … it’s gonna be all right. I thought you were death. Not just mine, just … death … hey, look at that stump, it’s like a person.
She screamed.
No … aright, it’s not. C’mon.
We spent the night in the forest, in the leaves. I fell asleep, regardless of the fact that my sister lay, eyes open, trembling next to me. But then I was the one who couldn’t sleep. Because She-Dog came for me.
I saw her when I got up … it was the forest that had woken me, it wanted me to keep going, somewhere, I knew it. What I didn’t know is it would be so close. First she was hanging up in the trees, then she came down. The moon at her back. Standing before me. Little She-Dog. Her head by my shoulders. But I didn’t dare touch it. She was smiling. In a white dress with her hair down. She was beautiful.
You see, she said, you found her.
An you, She-Dog … have you forgiven me?
I have. It hurt, you know. But I was too tied to you. I think it was true love. So even after … I wanted to see you.
I wanted to see you too, I still love you.
I know.
Why did it happen? She-Dog … I donno!
Me either.
An She-Dog … did it hurt a lot …
No. I was mostly just startled. You’re fast … an I, somehow I forgot about it … it happens … things’re different out our way. That was to make you laugh. You know that one, right?
Yeah … that was a dream. She-Dog?
Hm?
Is this a dream too?
Guess away, guesser. You talk too much. Get ready, you’ve gotta go now.
But I can’t … not with her here! … not yet. You know what she did!
Don’t worry, you can still go back. For her sake.
Can I ask somethin … before we go?
Make it fast.
Do you like her?
Well … She-Dog scowled, I knew that face so well! That serious look of hers … her lips.
Well … you guys’re … a little different now. Something’s changed. But go now! An don’t worry … I’ll protect her when you’re not around. Trust me an don’t worry about her. As for me, my loved one, you’ll never see me again.
I flew. Her last words echoed inside me … hurting, and I felt like a scoundrel and a lost dog, but then all of a sudden … a wave came crashing over it … a wave of joy, an I think it was her who sent it, cause as long as I’m flyin an goin … somewhere, wherever I have to go … an She-Dog’s keepin watch or whatever … over poor miserable Černá, then Sister is safe … I could sense that … then I was walking, in snow, but I felt light, walking hard and my breath was sharp, I was going in a straight line, the path of the warrior, I knew it, mountains, maybe she was trying to give me a dream … I walked a long time, growing stronger with the motion, then I was lifted up again so I could see what I had to see … my footprints in a circle … so that’s my straight line, I nearly groaned, and then there was grass around me again … I stood on a hill, houses below me. Smoke rising out of them. It was summer, it was warm, and my tattered jacket was just right. I touched Madonna and walked on. I had a hunch where she’d sent me … I didn’t know why. But I really, really wanted to see him.