Read Online One Crow Alone by S. D. Crockett - Free Book Online Page B

and back down the street.
    â€œI know these people, Magda. I know how their minds work. If there wasn’t something in it for Valentin, he wouldn’t have helped.”
    â€œWhat package have you got to take?”
    â€œFake passports.”
    â€œWhy passports?”
    â€œPeople want to get east. They are valuable documents.”
    â€œWhy does he trust you?”
    â€œWhy do you, Magda?”
    *   *   *
    She followed him through the darkened streets of Krakow, the hard wedge of remaining zloty rubbing against her breast. She did not know where she was going and—she did not know why she trusted him.
    Bogdan Stopko will be waiting. He will be sitting on his bed with a dark crease on his forehead thinking that he has been robbed. Robbed by Agnieszka Krol’s granddaughter.
    Even though Ivan had spoken words that seemed to live with a certain truth, about Stopko and his money and how the pony would have died forgotten in the village anyway, even so—
    In her mind there was only one truth. And she had given her word to Bogdan Stopko. Ivan had twisted her thoughts.
    â€œHow will we know when we can leave?” Magda asked.
    â€œThey’ll tell us. Don’t worry.”
    â€œYou already gave them Stopko’s money. How do you know they won’t cheat us?”
    â€œStop punching yourself about that oaf Stopko. He wouldn’t expect any less.”
    â€œBut he would! You don’t know how people live in our village. He would not expect me to cheat him.”
    â€œListen, Magda. You have eyes in your head. Look about. Doesn’t everything look different to you? Hasn’t it all changed?”
    Fear had stripped Magda’s certainty away. She felt it melting from her bones. She did not know what would be left when it had gone. What bit of her would remain standing.
    â€œCome on.” He pulled his hat down. “It’s going to be a cold night. We’ve got to get to the railway lines. I have somewhere we can sleep there.”
    A couple with two children turned the corner. As they passed, the smell of warm bread came from a large paper sack the man clasped against his chest.
    Magda closed her eyes. The smell of the bread.
    The man stopped, the wife clinging to his arm and watching Magda with narrow eyes.
    But he reached into the bag and tore off a large crust and gave it to Magda. His children looked up with open mouths, pale faces like moons inside a bundle of hats and scarves.
    *   *   *
    Magda and Ivan shared the bread as they walked.
    â€œWhy are you helping me, Ivan?” Magda asked through a mouthful.
    He laughed.
    It seemed that Ivan Rublev laughed a lot. Magda could not see so many things to laugh about.
    â€œJust the money then?” she said.
    â€œYou helped me, Havemercy.” He tore another chunk of crust. “And, besides, you’re pretty enough—for a foolish country girl.”
    He put his strong arm over her shoulder.
    In the dark she blushed. “Ivan, look.”
    Ahead of them, an old man shoveled snow from the steps of a church.
    â€œI want to go in.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œSo I can light a candle for my grandmother.”
    â€œThere isn’t time. We’ve got a long way to walk still.”
    â€œI will be quick. I promise.”
    He stopped his chewing. Shook his head. “Well, don’t be long.”
    *   *   *
    Sitting here and there along the wooden pews people bowed their heads in prayer. At the altar a priest lit the candles. He moved slowly beneath a statue of the Virgin Mary, which towered above the nave.
    Magda pulled a note from the rolled bundle of money under her belt and pushed it into the collection box. She took a long, thin candle from the table, dipped it in a flame, and placed it among the others burning on a sand-filled tray.
    Forgive me, Babula, for nailing your coffin with a shoe.
    A priest was making his way back among the