Blood Red, Snow White Read Online Free PDF Page B

dusted himself off.
    “Well,” he said, “Do you think that will do it?”
    Vladimir nodded.
    “Nothing will stop what we have started,” he said, “because it’s been waiting to happen for three hundred years.”
    And everything he said was true.
    *   *   *
    Nothing would stop the bear, and that was why, as Grandfather made his way back to the hut to see Vanya and Maroosia and tell them a bedtime fairy tale, the bear bowled out of the trees and ploughed straight toward him.
    The old man barely had time to see it coming, and the monster charged him and struck him, sending him flying through the air. The bear knew nothing about it. He was in such a blind rage that he couldn’t see, and had just one thing on his mind: one person, the Tsar.
    But Vanya and Maroosia heard the noise from inside the hut, and ran out into the snow without even stopping to put their boots on. First they saw a trail of broken branches and undergrowth leading away, and then they saw a dark shape huddled in the snow nearby.
    It didn’t move.
    The children ran over, and knelt by their grandfather.
    “Oh, Grandfather,” they cried, “are you all right? Please get up and tell us you are all right.”
    But Grandfather said nothing, because he was dead.

 
    EXECUTION
    THAT LAST TALE WAS A SAD ONE , a very sad one. Once upon a time, more stories had sad endings than happy ones. There was more cruelty casually done than happiness lightly bestowed. Unhappily for Vanya and Maroosia, they were in one of the saddest stories of all.
    Now the children had lost not only their parents, but their beloved grandfather, too, and as if that wasn’t bad enough, the fact was that the bear didn’t mean to do it. It was just an accident. Utterly unavoidable, but somehow inevitable, too.
    The bear hurtled on through the forest, heading for the Tsar, and Lev and Vladimir followed slowly on behind, in his tracks. They picked their way through the undergrowth of the forest, stopping now and again to refill their pipes, and argue about what they would do when they got to the city.
    *   *   *
    Even before the bear arrived in the city, another story was reaching an end there. The story of Rasputin.
    His behavior had grown even worse, if that were possible. Not only was he molesting the women of the palace, perhaps even the Tsarina herself, but men as well. And he had engineered the situation so that the Tsar was away at war with the Kaiser. Added to that, suspicion had long ago taken root in many people’s minds that the Tsarina, who was German after all, might not want what was best for Russia. Perhaps Rasputin was a spy, sent by the Kaiser, to work with the Tsarina in plotting Russia’s downfall.
    Unbeknown to him, Rasputin was being watched. Residents of the royal household were under observation at all times of the day, and he was no exception. Police spies drew up long reports. They called them “staircase notes,” but they were spying all the same.
    Eventually, a small group of noblemen came to the decision that they had to act. With the Tsar away, Rasputin had become the Tsarina’s key advisor, and it seemed that he was influencing her decisions.
    One prince, Felix Yusupov, led the group. He had recently married a beautiful Grand Duchess, but the truth of the matter was that he desired men. Few people knew this outside the court, but while the gorgeous Duchess languished unwanted in her chamber, her husband prowled the murky underworld of the city, looking for excitement. Some say that Rasputin learned of Felix’s desires, but when he tried to seduce him, the two men had a violent falling out.
    Felix was joined by two Grand Dukes, Dmitri and Nikolai, and together they plotted Rasputin’s end. They thought about it, dark and deadly, and rumors of what they were planning, even the finer details, spread around the city. No one tried to stop them. By some miracle, Rasputin himself seemed unaware of these stories, and so, on the appointed night, he