Then Tanya stepped forward and placed the barrel of her pistol against his chest.
He pushed the cold steel aside and pulled her body close, kissing her deeply.
“You will have to make it seem real,” she whispered. “Hit me hard, and then run. They may be waiting near. Can you go over the wall?”
“There’s a door from the kitchen to the outside. I saw it this afternoon. I’ll take your gun and shoot the lock if necessary.”
He took her face in his hands and forced her to look him in the eyes.
“The door’s big enough for two, and there’s a big world on the other side of it.”
“I... I’m afraid that is quite impossible. Maybe...”
“Later?”
“Later. Perhaps. But now... hit me after I fire one shot.”
“Goodbye, comrade.”
“Goodbye”
She fired the pistol into one of the crumbling arches. Simon hit her, just hard enough, and caught her in his arms as her knees buckled and her gun dropped to the ground. He lowered her gently, smoothed the soft brown hair from her face, and walked swiftly from the courtyard into the kitchen. The outer door was padlocked, but a single shot freed it.
Striding and sliding down the pathless mountainside, he felt a bittersweet mixture of sadness and relief. He paused and looked back up at the hulk of old stone almost lost to his sight among the moon-touched firs. Then he turned, measured the weight of the General’s purse of gold coins, which had by some mysterious means found its way into his Saintly pocket, and went on down once more for a while to the world of ordinary things.