Blood Red, Snow White Read Online Free PDF Page A

as one of them ran from the restaurant cursing and shouting. The other diners froze, forks halfway to their mouths, as they caught sight for a brief moment of Rasputin, his trousers round his ankles, waving his penis at them.
    The curtain swung shut. Police were called, doors continued to bang and swing open. The police arrived, but when they heard who they had been sent to arrest, they refused to do anything. More calls were made, to higher and higher powers, until finally the Chief of Police came. He personally led the absolutely inebriated and docile Rasputin out of the club and away to a prison cell.
    The following day, however, the Tsar ordered not only the release of Rasputin, but the dismissal of the Chief of Police as well.
    Arthur and Robert, like everyone else, were speechless, but then they didn’t know the secret of Alexei and his blood. All they saw was the Tsar making inexplicable decisions.
    *   *   *
    It went like this:
    There was blood in the boy, Alexei. Tainted blood.
    Only Rasputin could temper the disease, and therefore the Tsarina forgave him anything, because she knew he was a gift from God, and the Tsar could do nothing but agree with the Tsarina’s wishes.
    “Better Rasputin,” he said, sadly, “than my wife and child should suffer.”
    And Rasputin’s word went undisputed.
    So when Rasputin told the Tsar that his army would only be victorious if he were at its head, the Tsar left the palace, and went off to the war, leaving Rasputin alone with his wife and child.
    *   *   *
    And, just then, while the Tsar was far away, the bear began to stir, deep in the darkness of its cave.
    It opened one eye, and it was hungry.

 
    VLADIMIR AND LEV, THE RUSSIAN AND THE JEW
    THE BEAR HAD FORGOTTEN what it felt like to walk through the trees, padding heavily in and out of the silver birches and firs, the snow balling and clumping between his claws. He’d forgotten what it was like to swipe a salmon from the river as the fish leaped upstream to go home to spawn. He’d forgotten what it was like to rub his back against bark, and feel the North wind trying to run its icy fingers through the thickness of his fur.
    All he knew was that he was hungry, and that he had to stop this hunger.
    He lumbered out of his cave, thinking solemn bear thoughts about food, and made his first stumbling steps out into the winter morning.
    The snows were as thick as they had been for five months. Every branch was ice and crystal, and shone with the immaculate beauty of a fast hoarfrost. He remembered now what it was like, the world that he had missed during his hibernation, twelve long years of sleep. Slowly, thoughts and desires crept into his brain, but the hunger in him rose above everything else.
    It made him light-headed, and he swayed on his feet as blood began to pump in him as it had done, so many years ago.
    *   *   *
    Now, only a few trees ahead of him in the forest, stood two men deep in conversation. One was a Russian, the other a Jew, and they were firm friends, though they spent much of their time arguing.
    They would argue about all sorts of things, but each would listen politely to what the other had to say. First, the Jew, whose name was Lev, would argue that the people of Russia should be its true masters, and while he did, the Russian, whose name was Vladimir, would stroke his small and excellent beard. Then they would swap, and Vladimir would argue that while what Lev had to say was true, they should not forget that people need guidance from enlightened minds. And Lev would stroke his own small and excellent beard.
    Then they’d each light a pipe, and have a good long smoke, while they thought what to argue about next.
    The two men, who had both been born in Russia, had since traveled all over the world, and had discussed these questions with many people. There was never silence, wherever they went; there was always talk, talk, talk. Vladimir and Lev had spent the last few years abroad, though