The Winter Horses(23)

“Is it going to snow again?”

“In this part of Ukraine, at this time of year, it always snows again,” Max said grimly.

Kalinka shrugged and led the two horses back into the stable. “I suppose,” she said, “we could always hide under the straw if that captain or any of his men come back.”

Max nodded. “If my old heart can stand it, I suppose you could at that,” he said.

“Until then we could play chess, if you like,” said Kalinka. “I noticed that you have a set of pieces and a board.”

“Do you play?”

“A little.”

It was several hours before it started to snow again, by which time Kalinka had beaten the old man at chess three times in a row.

“You’re very good at that game,” he said irritably as he finally led the girl and the two horses across the open steppe to the smallest lake, which was where the waterworks was located. “How is that?”

“My father said I was a prodigy,” she announced matter-of-factly. “He could never beat me and he was much better than you. Oh, I don’t mean that you’re no good at all. Just that you’re not half as good as he was. He was the regional state chess champion. He used to say that the secret of being a very good player is to think two or three moves ahead. Somehow, I manage to think four or five moves ahead. That’s all.”

“That’s all?” he muttered. “You manage to make that sound quite unremarkable, Kalinka.”

“Do I?”

Max turned and looked back at their trail, which was already being covered by a light layer of snow; in an hour or two, the trail would have disappeared for good.

“But maybe that’s how you’ve survived on your own for so long,” he said. “By thinking four or five moves ahead.”

“No,” she said. “I think I’ve just been lucky. That’s the difference between survival and chess. In chess, you don’t need any luck at all.”

“The way I play, you do.”

“True.” She paused for a moment and then added, “Being good at chess is a little like looking into the future. Mostly it’s about seeing things that other people can’t see.”

Max shook his head. “Chess is one thing. But I think you’ve also seen things that people are never meant to see. Such as your mom and dad being killed. That’s what makes you a survivor, Kalinka. That’s what makes you so strong.”

Kalinka didn’t answer; she didn’t feel particularly strong, but she felt that Max was probably right. Then again, it wasn’t like she had much choice. Going on with her life was the only thing that she could do now—and not for herself but for her mama and her papa. Her own survival was something she had dedicated to them.

They reached the smallest lake, where the forest was at its thickest and most overgrown.

“The waterworks,” he said. “It’s in those trees.”

Kalinka looked closely and then shook her head. “I can’t see anything,” she admitted.

“Good,” said the old man. “That means the Germans won’t see anything either.”

He led the way through some thick undergrowth to a doorway in a brick-built structure not much taller than Kalinka that was almost invisible underneath the snow-covered vegetation. Max opened the door and then lit a lamp that was hanging on a hook on the wall inside.

“The baron built this place because it’s difficult to provide a park of this size, surrounded by steppe, with enough water,” he said, advancing along a low passageway. “Down there is the old pumping station. And out here—”

He opened another door to the outside and pointed to what looked to Kalinka like two circular stone huts.

“These are the old storage tanks. Water from these used to flow all over the reserve in pipes and canals that go underground. As you can see, we’re completely surrounded with trees and bushes. The only way you could see these is if you were to fly over them. The tanks were both completely watertight until the earthquake of 1927. That put a big split in the wall of each of them and that was the end of the waterworks. Over the last ten years, the splits have got bigger, until now they’re more like doorways. We’ll put you in one tank and the horses in the other. But I reckon the horses can come and go and do their business out here within the perimeter of the trees without anyone noticing. Not even you, probably. There’s an inspection window in the roof of each tank that should give you plenty of light in the day.”

Kalinka stepped through the jagged doorway of the water tank and looked around. There was an old mattress, some boxes of junk and the makings of a fire.