"I need to get Ivan out of here and safely away from the house."
"Because the marriage has been consummated? Or because it has not?"
"Let's leave everyone wondering about that," said Katerina.
"What's your plan?"
"Have Sergei and Ivan trade clothes. Ivan leaves limping, his face hooded, following close behind you. Who will look at him?"
"And then what?"
"Sergei and I wait for a little while. You bring back more of his proper clothing for Sergei to wear. While Ivan runs away, Sergei and I emerge, asking what happened to Ivan, he disappeared suddenly."
Father Lukas frowned. "Which is only slightly true."
"They have to believe the Pretender spirited him away, or they'll start to search too soon."
"And you consent to this?" Father Lukas asked Ivan. "Running away on your wedding night?"
"It seems more prudent than bloodshed," said Ivan.
"We have to hurry," said Katerina. "You can be sure several people have cast spells to see if I am still a virgin. The longer we take, the more impatient the plotters will become."
Father Lukas turned to Sergei. "Does that robe come off, or weren't you listening?"
Sergei doffed his robe at once. He and Ivan exchanged a glance: What if Father Lukas had ordered this while Sergei still had the parchments tucked under the robe?
Ivan pulled it on over his head. Then he put up the hood.
"Thank you, Father," said Katerina.
"I don't like lying."
"To save a life, is it a sin?" she asked.
"Perhaps just a venial one."
Ivan turned to Katerina. "I can't get over the bridge without you there."
"I'll get there as soon as I can. You simply have to hide till then."
"I'm not sure I know the way."
"Follow the trail of broken branches you left behind you as you came through."
Ivan shook his head. "I'm no hunter, I don't know how to follow signs like that."
She seemed to make an effort to be patient. "Can you figure out where west is?"
"As long as the sun's up."
"And uphill, do you know that one?"
Ivan glared at her.
"I wasn't being nasty," she said. "You don't always understand every word I say, I just wanted to make sure you knew. I have to be able to find you out there."
"You have to find me, and they mustn't find me, and it's the same trail."
She reached up and pulled three or four strands of her hair out of her head. "Tie these around your wrist," she said. "I'll find you."
Ivan couldn't do it one-handed. Sergei helped him.
"Now go," said Katerina. "We have to play the scene out before dark."
Ivan took a few steps, trying to get Sergei's limp right.
"No, no," said Sergei. "You look like you're trying to limp. I try not to limp."
Ivan tried again. It wasn't good, but it was better.
"Come on," said Father Lukas. "I'll give you something heavy to carry, and that will explain the change in your gait."
Father Lukas led the way out of the room. Ivan followed close behind. Limping, his foot twisted.
Sergei rushed to the door and latched it behind him. There he stood in his tattered linen undergarment, so full of holes it was like wearing a fishing net. Katerina was not looking at him, which meant she had looked at him and now was looking away so as not to cause him shame.
"Thank you for keeping the secret of the parchments," he said to her.
"A lot of secrets are being kept tonight," she said softly.
"I don't belong in this room."
"Neither of us does. But sometimes we're put in a place and we have to do our best."
Sergei appreciated her modesty, but knew that even if she believed it, her statement wasn't true. "You'd be a princess no matter where you were."
"We'll soon see," said Katerina.
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing," she said. "Don't be afraid of me. I've seen men bathing, I have no particular fear of seeing through the holes in your tunic."
"I'm not afraid, I just... I'm not the one who should be here."
"Oh, now I understand you. Well, Ivan didn't belong here either. Just bad luck, him finding me."
"Not luck, I don't think," said Sergei. "He's your husband now."
"An oath, but it can be annulled if it isn't acted on."
"I think," said Sergei, "that he's a better man than you believe he is."
"I believe he's a very good man," said Katerina. "Not a king, though."
"A bird can't pull a plow."
"I needed God to send me a plowhorse. I tried to make do with what he sent instead. I failed."
"Maybe God's message is that you don't need plowing." Then Sergei realized the double meaning of what he said. "Not to say he's the plow and you're the—I mean, I—"
"I understood you," she said.
There was a soft knock on the door. Sergei opened it. A hand thrust another robe through the door. Sergei took it, then closed the door again. He pulled a priestly robe over his head. It had fresh burn holes on the back. Of course—Father Lukas couldn't continue wearing a damaged garment.
"Imagine," said Katerina. "A Slavic priest."
"I do imagine it," said Sergei. "But it will not be me."
"Why not?"
"Never me."
"And I say, why not?"
Sergei laughed bitterly. "How convincing will I be, talking about how Jesus healed all the sick and the crippled? What more proof does anyone need that I'm not a man of faith?"
"Jesus isn't here."
"Jesus is everywhere. And as he often said, 'Your faith has made you whole.' "
"So don't be a priest," said Katerina. "But if you aren't that, what are you?"
"Is that how priestly vocation comes?" asked Sergei. "Because my foot was born twisted, I must be God's chosen servant?"
"We are all called to be servants of God in whatever way we can. Perhaps I can serve him as a princess. Perhaps you as a priest."
"Do you think I served God when I wrote down those old stories?"
Katerina shrugged. "That's beyond my judging."
"I'll tell you what I think. I think God made all men, including the people who told these stories. So these things are the creations of God. Or the creations of his creations, but it amounts to the same thing. And if God created the people who would make up these stories and tell them, then by saving them I'm also honoring God."
"God made the murderers and adulterers, too."
"I think these stories are good. I think they teach us to love goodness."
"Or to wish for the power to do great deeds," she answered. "But we've given them time enough. We need to give the alarm."
Sergei winced. "You do all the talking, would you?"
"Yes," she said. "I'm good at talking, I suppose." Then, without warning, she gave a shriek.
They could hear the crowd outside the window fall silent, then set to murmuring. Who screeched? Was it the princess? Is he hurting her?
Katerina rushed to the window, flung open the shutters. "Did he come out here? Did you see him pass?"
"Who?" asked the people.
"My husband! We were new-shriven, Father Lukas left, Ivan and I were talking, and suddenly he wasn't there!"
The people took only a moment to digest the tale before they reached the only conclusion that made sense. "The Widow took him! Another curse! Another spell!"
Katerina burst into tears. "Am I never to be free of the witch's plots?"