Lost to the War by astroboysandeep,astroboysandeep

Author’s note: This story was inspired by the wonderful @tihomirovanatali_, after coming across her rural maiden photoshoot. She has served as my muse for the past two months as this story slowly got fleshed out. I began writing this in spring after my winter break, and now we’re in the thick of summer. I’m sure many more stories will follow this one, but I somehow remain fundamentally incapable of writing stories shorter than ten thousand words (and that’s before getting to the fun bits). I swear the next one will be shorter (I think).

This is a slow burn, so take your time with getting to know the world and the characters. Also, there’s allusions to violence/non-con at the end so steer clear of the epilogue if you’re not into that. Apart from that, hope you enjoy the story, and I’ll see you in the comments!

***

Janek had lost sight of his pursuers about half an hour ago. Yet he knew, as he zig-zagged his way between the trees, taking care not to brush up against the trunks as he ran past so as not to leave his scent or a rag of his clothing on them, that they were gaining on him. An occasional shouted order or a bark from one of the hounds tracking him punctuated the near-complete silence of the forest he was making his way through. Above him, beyond the tree cover, the sky was still the same shade of inky black that it had been when he had made his escape. But he knew dawn wasn’t too far away, and he had to put enough distance between him and his pursuers before the first light broke out over the horizon that they’d lose his trail.

His feet light on the underbrush, he briskly jogged through the forest. His ears were pricked, listening for the sound of running water. He knew there was a stream nearby, he had seen it on the maps. If he reached it and swum across, it would make the tracking hounds lose his scent trail. For the next quarter hour, he headed due east, squinting in the dark at the compass which he held in his hand. Behind him, the sounds of the hunt grew louder. He could tell they knew they were getting closer, too. The snarls of the pursuing canines drifted through the cool air, interspersed with Janek’s ragged breathing and the chatter of birds beginning to awaken high above. The sky was a dark lavender now, turning orange towards the horizon. In less than ten minutes it would be light, and then even the stream wouldn’t be able to save him. They’d just wait for him to pop into sight and they’d riddle his body with bullet holes.

Janek’s heart thudded in his chest as a primal fear overtook him. His hands and feet started to grow cold, and his vision tunnelled until all he could see in front of him was next tree to weave around. Something caught at the leg of his pants, tripping him. He fell heavily against a fallen tree, smashing his compass. Bits of broken glass sliced his palm open. When he tried to get up, a sharp, stabbing pain rocked his ankle. He felt a metallic taste in his mouth. Pushing himself back up with his uninjured hand, he resumed running, but only at half the pace he had before. Less than two minutes later, he heard excited barking and shouting behind him. They had already come across the place where he had fallen. At this rate they would catch up with him before the sun broke through the horizon. He’d die in darkness, like the rest of his comrades had the night before. He suddenly felt an immense weight in his limbs. His body was giving up on him. Darkness fell across his vision. His shoulder slammed into a tree and he stumbled. His legs gave out three steps later and Janek grunted as he fell for the second time, hitting his head hard on the ground.

A tinny silence fell across his world. His eyes were open but he saw nothing. This was it. He was about to die. He only prayed that they would do him the honour of letting him see the sunrise for one last time before putting a bullet in his brain. The sound of blood rushing in his ears grew louder, until…

Janek blinked, bringing his vision back into focus. He saw the thicket of dead leaves and underbrush that he was lying on. He craned his neck and his eyes scanned across a tree trunk, then another, and another, until they stopped, and there were no longer any trees in sight. He had come to the edge of the forest. Propping himself up on one elbow, he looked out and saw the ground dip a little. Then he realised that what he had been hearing for the past thirty seconds wasn’t the sound of blood in his ears.

Janek rose, aching all over. He only had to take a couple of steps to reach the bank. In front of him, the lavender of the sky was reflected in running water. It wasn’t a stream. It was a river. He had found it. He lunged into the current. The water was brisk and he immediately found himself getting dragged downriver. He kicked his shoes off underwater, surrendering them to the depths. The shock of the cold water imbibed his limbs with new energy. Adrenaline surged through his blood stream again as he began swimming over to the other side, in a long, loping diagonal. It took him a minute to reach the other bank, in which time the river had carried him a quarter mile downstream. Janek dragged himself by his arms out of the frigid water. As he lay panting on the muddy bank, he heard a shout from somewhere up river. His eyes followed the source of the noise up the other bank till they fell upon a group of soldiers who had gathered around the spot on the edge of the forest where he had fallen for the second time. Three dogs accompanied them, off leash, sniffing the bank. The men’s heads were scanning the opposite bank. Janek knew he had to get out of sight before they spotted him, and the hunt began all over again.

A row of maize protruded from the ground about fifty feet from where he lay. Janek dragged himself up the bank, towards the fence which separated the crop field from the bank. Using what reserve of strength and willpower remained in him, he pulled himself up over the wooden fence, and into the thicket of maize. He couldn’t help but feel he had been just in time. But he also knew he had to keep moving. It wouldn’t take the soldiers long to cross the river and begin a grid search of the fields, looking for him. Surrounded by stalks of maize on all sides, he tried standing up. His ankle roared in pain and he grimaced, tears forming around the corners of his eyes. His hand dripped blood from the cuts. Janek bunched his handkerchief into a wad in his palm, hoping to stem the bleeding. Dragging his bad foot, he set off into the field. The sun had broken through the horizon, and the skies were turning lighter. Janek saw a hill in the distance, estimating it was due south-east. If he got to the top, he’d have a clear sightline of the surrounding country. He’d then be able to find tracks, roads. And if made it to the roads, he’d be able to hitch a ride to the border. He set off towards the hill.

Progress was slow. He had to push his way through the dense crop cover. Within minutes, the pain in his ankle grew unbearable. He opened his palm and saw that the cloth kerchief had been entirely stained scarlet. Janek closed his eyes, took a couple of deep breaths, and swallowed hard.

Have to reach the hill

When he tried to walk his feet felt like lead weights. The adrenaline had been purged from his system, leaving only numbness. His vison had begun to tunnel again. His throat felt dry. His wet clothes clung to his skin and he began to shiver.

Have to reach the hill

He thought of his comrades, culled like sick cattle during the night. He thought of his commanding officer, who had led them through enemy lines for six days and six nights. They had completed their mission on the fourth night. They just had another fifty miles to go to the border, where they were scheduled to be picked up. Images of the lifeless bodies of his team flashed across his mind, their eyes glassy, their bodies torn apart with lead. Janek had only managed to avoid the enemy ambush because he had gone into the bushes to do his business. When the bullets started flying, he had curled up on the ground, his pants still around his ankles. He waited until the enemy squad had done taking the camp apart, looking for survivors. When their voices had died down, he had snuck into the camp for the one thing that his team had been sent into enemy territory for, the vital piece of intelligence that they so desperately needed. No sooner than he had laid his hands upon it that a snarl arose from the surrounding forest, followed by ferocious barking. The hounds were onto him. He had run into the trees, and hadn’t stopped running until his first fall.

Have to reach

He was now bent over, putting his body weight into the maize stalks to pry them apart. The hill seemed so far away, but he dared not stop.

Have to

The maize suddenly gave away and Janek stumbled headfirst into a clearing. Too late, he saw a harvester advancing towards him, mere feet away. He held his hand up in a vain attempt to save himself. The giant machine stopped inches away from his nose. Someone got out of the cab and jumped onto the ground. But before they could approach Janek, his legs gave way and his whole world went black.

***

When Janek woke up he found himself covered under a sheet of canvas. Underneath his head lay not a pillow, but a folded blanket. He realised very quickly that he was naked under the covers. When he brought his right hand up to rub his eyes he found it bandaged – a bit more crudely than field medics would. His ankle felt dreadfully sore but it wasn’t wrapped. Whoever had brought him here hadn’t thought of, or known to, splint it.

He sat up gingerly and looked around. He was clearly in a barn. Bales of hay lay stacked up on the far corner, and straw covered the floor. Rolls of wire fencing, paint buckets, coils of rope and a ladder took up the corner closest to him. The far wall was covered in a pegboard from which an assortment of tools and handheld machinery. On the other side, open enclosures lined the wall. They would have held horses, but it was clear from the state of disrepair that no horse had stayed in them for a long time. A loft with a step ladder leading up to it hung over the barn’s entrance. An amber bulb hung from the ceiling, switched off. Dusk light peered from between the wooden rafters.

With sudden horror, Janek realised that he had lost the thing he had been carrying. He spotted his clothes lying in a pile near one of the enclosures. He prayed it was still in his pocket. He put his feet down on the ground and tested his weight on them. His ankle was swollen, and would barely move. Steeling himself, Janek got up off the cot. It took him three tries, and he had to push himself off the cot with his uninjured hand. The canvas slid off his body and crumpled on the floor. He immediately stumbled. His legs were still weak. He hobbled over to the pile of clothes, bent down and dug through them. It wasn’t there. He went back to his cot, checking under the blanket on which his head had rested. With a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, he limped over to the table under the pegboard, hoping that whoever had found him had left it on there. Still nothing.

Maybe they hadn’t found it. Janek had no recollection of it being in his possession when had climbed out of the river. Had he lost it in the water? He began shivering again. The air in the barn had suddenly grown chilly. Without it, Janek’s whole mission, the sacrifice of his team, would have all been for nothing. He mindlessly rummaged through the table’s drawers, hoping to manifest it into reality somehow. His face was flushed and the back of his eyes burned.

Please please please please

“Looking for this?”

Janek whipped around at the voice. A man stood at the entrance to the barn, holding out a thin metallic cylinder. Unmindful of his nudity, Janek limped over as fast as his legs would carry him, almost snatching the cylinder from the man’s hands. He unscrewed one end and looked inside. What he saw made a sigh of relief escape his body. He screwed the cap back on and clutched the cylinder to his chest.

“It obviously means a lot to you.”

Janek looked up at the man. He looked about sixty years old, and had a weather-beaten face. Veins, creases and splotches of crimson mottled his skin. His hands were callused, his digits thick and his palms wide. This was someone who had lived a life of hard manual labour. He was dressed in a grey shirt and faded denims, whose cuffs were streaked with dried mud. His boots were sturdy, although Janek could see that they had been stitched along the line of the sole many times.

“When was the last time you had something to eat?”

Janek’s rumbling stomach answered for him. The old man smiled.

“Come on, my daughter’s prepared dinner,” he beckoned. “You can bring that with you if you want.” He pointed at the metal cylinder which Janek was gripping. Janek gulped and nodded. Only then did he become keenly conscious of his nudity. He glanced at his pile of clothes.

“They’re too far gone, son.” The old man gently said. He handed Janek a towel.

“I’ve kept a bucket of water and a sponge next to the outhouse. Go get yourself cleaned up, I’ll bring you a fresh change of clothes.”

Janek took the towel and wrapped it around his waist. The old man turned and walked out of the barn, disappearing around the corner of the doorway. Janek made to follow him, but as soon as he crossed the threshold, heavy, cold fingers gripped his heart.

What if they’re out there, waiting?

Janek bent over and scrunched his eyes shut, waiting for gunfire to erupt from the shadows and rip his chest apart.

“You alright?” he heard the old man’s voice. It seemed to be coming from miles away. Janek dared not open his eyes.

What if it’s a trap

“You look like a deer caught in the headlights.” The old man called out again, closer this time. Janek gripped the cylinder in his palm, his fingernails digging into his skin. They were going to have to tear it out of his hands if they wanted it. It wasn’t until the stranger laid one hand on Janek’s shoulder and whispered,

“You’re okay, son. You can stop running now.”

that Janek opened his eyes. He saw the old man staring deeply into his eyes.

“You’re safe.”

Janek took a deep breath and exhaled.

“That’s it. Breathe.”

Janek took a couple more deep breaths before straightening up. He realised his heart was pounding in his chest, and his knuckles had gone white from clutching the cylinder.

“You good to walk? I can give you a shoulder” the old man offered.

Janek took another deep breath and shook his head. He looked around, found the outhouse and began walking towards it. The old man set off after him, after a moment. There was a pail and a sponge next to the outhouse, like the old man had said. Janek unwrapped the towel and folded it up, slipping the cylinder between the folds. He set it down on the ground and walked over to the pail. Five minutes later, Janek had just finished drying off when the old man returned, carrying a shirt and khaki pants. A fresh pair of boxers and socks were on top of the clothes.

“I don’t know your shoe size but if you get dressed and come in, I’m sure we can find something for you inside the house.”

Janek pulled the clothes on. They were at least two sizes too large for him, especially the boxers. He found a piece of old bicycle inner tube lying next to the outhouse. He picked it up and slipped it over the waist of the khaki pants, cinching it tight and tying off the two ends above his crotch. When he walked inside the house, the old man was waiting for him. He held out two pair of boots to Janek.

“Try these on and see what fits.”

As Janek slipped the first pair on his feet, the old man noticed the belt that he had fashioned for himself.

“That’s handy.” He commented.

The second pair fit better than the first one.

“All set? Dinner’s waiting.” The old man announced. He led Janek into the small dining room. The table was already set, plates laid out and knives and forks arranged neatly. A big pot in the centre of the table contained what looked like broth. Wisps of steam rose up from the pot, and the smell wafted to Janek’s nose. After almost a week with no warm food, his mouth began watering at the smell. There were a couple loaves of bread in a basket next to the pot, and some cutlets in another dish.

“Sit down and serve yourself. My daughter usually serves our guests, but she’s out in town at the moment catching up with a friend.”

The food was simple but delicious. Janek hungrily devoured the cutlets and went for a second helping of the broth. The old man ate slowly, watching Janek relish the food. When he was done, Janek leaned back, turned his face to the ceiling and closed his eyes. He set his knife and fork down on the plate. The old man had finished a while before him.

“My daughter will take care of the plates. Come, I’ll show you where you will be sleeping tonight.”

The house had three bedrooms on the upper floor. The bedroom that the old man had picked out for Janek was at the end of the corridor. A wooden floorboard creaked underfoot as the two men entered the room. It was sparsely furnished: a bed was propped up next to the window on the east wall, and next to it was a desk with a woven rope-backed chair tucked underneath. A solitary bulb hung from the ceiling.

“This is where my wife used to come sleep on nights when she couldn’t take my snoring anymore”. The old man said quietly.

“It’s been a while since anyone has used this room. The window doesn’t open. Tomorrow I’ll come and fix it. If it gets too hot in the night, leave the door open.”

Janek sat down on the bed. The mattress had been worn thin over the years, but for someone who had been sleeping on bare earth for the past week, it felt luxurious. He began taking his shoes off.

“I’ll leave you to it, then.”

His hand hovered over the light switch next to the doorway.

“If you need anything during the night, my daughter’s room is next door. She’ll be back sometime later in the night. I apologise in advance if she wakes you up. I’m in the far room but I’m afraid once I hit the sack it’s hard to wake me up.”

Janek nodded at the old man.

“I… should’ve introduced myself earlier. My name is Piotr. My daughter is Natalia. Have a good sleep.”

Piotr switched off the light, plunging the room into darkness. A shaft of moonlight stabbed into the room crossways, illuminating the desk and chair into a wheatish glow. Janek reclined on the bed. Despite having woken up only hours earlier, sleep came quickly. But the old man had been right about the heat. At some point in the night, Janek woke up, his torso covered in a sheen of sweat. He got off the bed, feeling thirsty. He went out in the corridor, heading for the stairs to fetch a glass of water from the kitchen. He passed Natalia’s room, noticing the thin shaft of amber light that spilled from under the closed door. When he came back up a minute later, the light had gone out. All was silent in the house except for the dull snores that came from the direction of Piotr’s room. Janek went back into his room and lay down on the bed. It felt unnatural sleeping in complete silence. In the past week he had gotten used to the sounds of the forest. Out there, silence under the tree cover meant danger.

Janek tossed and turned in his bed for about half an hour before getting up again. This time, he grabbed the pillow and went downstairs. Before he left his room he made sure to grab the cylindrical canister with him as well, slipping it into the pocket of his pants. He slid out of the house and headed for the crop field. He walked into the wall of maize stalks and kept walking until he could no longer see the house behind him. There, in a narrow clearing, he threw down the pillow on the ground and lay down. Back under the moon and the sounds of the night, sleep came quickly to him…

***

As had become his habit, he awoke at first light. Feeling a little disoriented, he stood up quickly, scanning the rows of maize for approaching figures. Then the events of the past 24 hours came crashing back into vivid memory. The ambush, the chase, the escape, and the rescue. He realised his heart was thumping in his chest. He squeezed his eyes shut and took a couple of deep breaths. When the sound of blood pounding in his ears died down, he opened his eyes and started walking. He didn’t go back in the direction of the house, however. He followed the sound of rushing water until he emerged from the thicket of crops onto the river bank. He was going to follow the river all the way up to the border. It would be a day’s hike, but Janek was doing much better today than he was yesterday. He was no longer being pursued, he was fed and rested. The track along the river was also going to be much more secure than wandering the roads and coming across roving patrols.

Janek shortly came across a narrow stone bridge that connected the road on either side of the river. He ducked into the maize, making to scan the road for any signs of approaching cars. Having satisfied himself, he was about to make a dash across the road when he heard a splash.

“Natalia no!”

A woman’s voice rang out. She sounded distressed. It seemed to have come from the bank, on the other side of the bridge. Janek watched as a figure appeared in the water underneath the bridge. It was pale, floating under the surface like the spirit of a drowned woman. Janek watched as the figure kicked and dived deeper into the water, until she broke the surface about twenty seconds later. It was definitely no apparition. The woman sucked in her breath. Wet hair lay plastered to her face. She turned back towards the bridge, even as the current of the river carried her away from it.

“I can’t find it!” she yelled out.

Another figure appeared from behind the bridge, dropping down from the road to the river bank. She looked terrified, like she was about to cry. She walked along the river bank, close to the water.

“Mikhail going to kill me” she moaned. “He’s going to kill me.”

The figure in the water kicked, trying to keep her head above the water.

“I’m going to take another look.”

She dove again. The woman on the bank looked on helplessly as her companion searched the depths for whatever it was that she had lost. Half a minute later she resurfaced, empty handed.

“It has to be around here. The current isn’t too strong.” She said, between gulps of breath. She dove again, but turned up nothing. When she came up, she looked frustrated. On the river bank, her companion began to cry.

“I’m so stupid oh god why am I so stupid!”

“Marta, I swear we’ll find it. We just have to keep looking.”

The woman dove again, and this time stayed underwater for almost a whole minute. When her head broke the surface, she sucked in a huge lungful of air. Her dejected face told her friend that she hadn’t been successful. She began to sob.

At that moment, Janek emerged from the thicket of maize. He walked down the bank, towards the water. He undid his belt and the oversized pants slipped easily off his legs. Stepping out of them, he dove into the water, to the surprise of the two women. He swam against the current until he was under the bridge, then dove underwater. He emerged a minute later, heading for the bank where the distraught woman sat. He climbed out of the water, and walked to her. He held out a closed fist to her. When he opened it, there was a gold ring in his palm. The woman’s eyes widened and she cupped her hands over her mouth.

“You found it!” she screamed. “Praise god you found it!”

She held out her hand and Janek slipped it on her ring finger. She grabbed his wrists.

“Thank you, thank you so much!” the woman said, between sobs. She wiped her tears and stood up. “You have no idea you just saved my life.”

Janek smiled and nodded. From behind him came sounds of water of someone wading through water. He turned around and saw Natalia for the first time.

She had still been wearing a cotton dress when she had dived into the river. As she emerged, the powder blue fabric clung to her body, drenched through and through. It framed her ample breasts and wide hips in a way few men would see a woman’s body silhouetted, outside of the conjugal chamber. Her flaxen hair clung to the back of her neck and her face was flushed pink with the exertion. Her chest heaved with her laboured breaths. The front of her dress may well have been glued to her belly, framing her navel like a chiaroscuro painting. When she saw Janek staring at her, she turned away, suddenly conscious of the way she was presenting. However, her wet clothes could not afford her any more modesty than a skin-tight swimsuit, perhaps even less so.

“Natalia, he found it!” her friend rushed to her, grabbing her in a hug. Both women looked at Janek, one with uninhibited admiration, the other with more than a tinge of apprehension.

“I don’t know how to thank you. My engagement ring… my fiancée saved up for half a year to buy it.”

The woman looked like she was close to tears again. She took a deep breath and composed herself.

“What’s your name?” she asked.

“Stejpan” Janek lied.

“Stejpan. Stejpan.” The woman repeated it, as if she was committing it to memory for the rest of her life.

“Stejpan. Would you like to come over to my house, Stejpan? You can have a change of clothes. So can Natalia, for that matter.” She said, throwing a glance at her friend. She seemed to have realised for the first time since Natalia waded out of the water that her clothing was drenched, the semi-sheer folds glued to her body. She deftly stepped in front of her friend and Janek, in an effort to conceal her friend’s modesty.

“And then I will make the both of you some warm breakfast. How does that sound?”

“It’s fine, Marta. I should be heading home anyway.” She made to step out from behind Marta’s back but Marta took another step to the side, blocking her off. She was flushed.

“No no, I can’t let you go home like that.”

“Like what?”

“You know… hungry.” Marta stuttered. “Besides, my house is on the way to yours anyway.” She insisted.

“Fine.” Natalia huffed.

“Great! Why don’t you lead the way?”

Again, Marta manoeuvred expertly between Janek and Natalia as she headed off down the road. Marta tried to make small talk with Janek along the way but it was awkward as she had to keep looking back over her shoulder to talk to him. In the small bouts of silence, Janek managed to catch a peek of Natalia’s hips, and once, even the full curve of her ass. He gulped and looked away before Marta could catch him.

By the time they reached Marta’s place, Natalia’s dress had mostly dried. She again insisted that she’d be on her way, but Marta wouldn’t hear of it. She practically dragged Natalia into the house and forced her into the bedroom, closing the door shut behind her.

“Just pick whatever fits!” Marta told her through the door. She turned to Janek.

“My father’s room is down the corridor. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind you borrowing some of his clothes. I’ll head downstairs and heat up some meatballs.”

Janek, for the second time in 24 hours, changed into a stranger’s clothes. Marta’s father, unlike Piotr, seemed to however be of the same build as Janek, and his clothes fit him much better. He toweled his hair dry before stepping out. Already he could smell the coffee and bacon from downstairs. His stomach rumbled and he realised that his little swim in the river that morning had left him ravenous. He began making his way to the stairs. He was just about to pass Marta’s bedroom when the door opened and Natalia stormed out. Neither of them could’ve avoided the collision that followed. Natalia ran nose-first into Janek’s shoulder, upsetting his balance. As he fell, he grabbed the front of her dress for leverage, but instead only pulled her down on top of him.

Janek had not been the most outgoing of kids at school. This meant that, when puberty hit, the boy who had always been shy around other kids became ever more awkward – especially around girls. A fourteen-year old Janek could not have explained why, when an older female cousin kissed him on the cheek at Christmas dinner, he had sported a painful erection that wouldn’t subside until he went to bed. It was at least a couple of years later when some of his friends left a lads magazine lying around in the dormitory when he saw a naked woman for the first time in his life. The woman in the centrefold had been plump and buxom. She was seared into his memory for life, yet if put at gunpoint, Janek wouldn’t have been able to recall what her face looked like. He only knew she was a blonde because her legs were splayed open. Her breasts were generous, definitely bigger than his mother’s, and his older cousin’s. The last night before he had left town to join the military, his uncles had taken him out to a speakeasy, to initiate him into the world of men. That night, Janek had the first taste of liquour. His eyes had almost popped out of his head when the waitress bent over to serve him and his uncles their drinks, nearly spilling out in her low-cut uniform. One of his uncles noticed him drooling over the girl and, on the pretext of going to the toilets, slipped a couple of notes in the young lady’s hand. He told her to give Janek a taste of the top shelf.

“It might be his last time” he muttered.

The girl had smiled and pulled Janek out by hand to the dingy alley behind the bar. There she kissed him. Janek had stood there, frozen, as she ran her hands over the nineteen year-old’s torso. Then she stepped back, and slipped the straps of her dress off her shoulders. Janek nearly gasped when he saw a woman’s breasts for the first time in his life, up close and personal. The girl had taken his hands and placed them on her chest. She let the boy fumble about with her tits before pulling him close and kissing him again. She realised she liked the way Janek almost worshipped her body, with a dumbfounded reverence. When her hands slipped down to the front of his trousers, Janek did gasp. Ten minutes later, on the same night, in the same dinghy alley next to piles of trash and just out of earshot of the drunk patrons inside, Janek became a man. The waitress had sent him on his way with a peck on the cheek.

Janek had not been that close to a woman since. But he hadn’t forgotten the silken feel of a pair of breasts. Now, at twenty-one years of age, Janek – for only the second time in his life – felt the full weight of a pair pressing into his palms. Time had slowed down as he savoured the feel of the fleshy mounds, albeit separated by a thin membrane of fabric, under his fingertips. In his haze, he realised he couldn’t see. He was blinded by Natalia’s damp, flaxen hair, which had fallen across his face in a tangle. Despite her dip in the river water earlier, her hair smelt intoxicating. Her cheek was pressed against his. When she pressed her palms to the floor to lift herself up off Janek’s body, her lips grazed his stubble on his jaw. She rose, but not completely. Her lower body still resting atop Janek’s, she stared at him, with an expression that Janek could only tell was a mixture of confusion and curiosity. Pinned underneath her, Janek found his eyes inexorably slipping to her chest, where her breasts hung pendulously, supported only by the thin cotton of the dress. Marta was obviously less well-endowed than Natalia, because the fabric of the borrowed dress looked like it was about to rip apart at any instant. Janek’s sight travelled down Natalia’s pale neck, slipping between the cleft of her tits before getting lost in the dark void between the front of the dress and the rest of her flesh. He blinked, burning this moment in time in his memory. When he looked back up at Natalia, the expression on her face was inscrutable. Her hair still hung over his face, blocking out Janek’s peripheral vision. In those few moments, all that existed in his universe was her face, and the feeling of her body over his. Janek’s hands rose, of their own accord, to find Natalia’s hips.

“Everything alright up there? I thought a heard a fall”

Marta’s voice rang out from the bottom of the stairs.

“Natalia!”

She called out again, followed by the creak of one foot placed on the step.

“It’s okay!” Natalia called back. She didn’t break her gaze from Janek’s.

“Are you sure? It sounded bad.”

Another step on the stairway.

“The coat hanger fell down! Sorry, I’ll be down in a minute!”

Natalia rose up off him, her hips slipping from Janek’s grip.

“When I go downstairs, wait one minute before you follow me.” She whispered to Janek. She got on her feet, collecting herself, then proceeded to take the stairs down. Janek followed her instruction, and when he entered the dining room, found the two women seated at the table already. Janek was thankful for the brief break, as he wouldn’t have been able to hide his raging member under these trousers as well as he would have under Piotr’s baggy ones.

“Breakfast is served!” Marta called out.

***

The trio had just finished eating when there was a sharp knock on the door.

“Who could that be?” Marta muttered before getting up. She hadn’t even taken a step when there was another knock. And then another.

“I’m coming!” Marta yelled, but the knocks followed her all the way to the door. In the dining room, Janek and Natalia heard the door open, followed by a hushed, urgent-sounding conversation. Janek saw Natalia watching him keenly.

“You don’t talk much, do you?” She asked. “I suppose that’s a rare quality among men your age.”

Footsteps pounded in the hallway behind her yet she didn’t break her gaze. Janek held her stare until a woman appeared in the doorway of the dining room, behind Natalia’s back. The woman was followed by Piotr, and in short succession, by Marta. Piotr fixed a piercing glare at the back of his daughter’s head.

“Care to explain this?” he said, evenly.

Only then did Natalia drop her gaze, letting it settle in her lap. The woman behind her looked pale.

“Nat, I couldn’t… I tried to slip away but he was waiting for me outside.”

“It’s fine, Yulia.”

“No, no it’s not fine!” Piotr growled. “Having your friend switch places with you so you can pretend you’re home at night, while you’re out in town doing… whatever it is you do. It’s juvenile!”

The room was silent for a couple of moments as no doubt, everyone present contemplated the situation.

“Look at me when I’m talking to you!” The old man raised his voice.

“Natalia put her fork down and stood up. She turned around to face her father. She remained quiet, however.

“She was out with me.” Marta spoke up, a touch timidly. “I was missing my dear Mikhail last evening, so Natalia agreed to spend the night with me. Yulia… volunteered to take her place.”

Piotr didn’t break his cold stare from his daughter’s face.

“Did you go into town?”

“Yes.” Natalia replied. She sighed, almost if she knew what was coming.

“I’ve told you a million times not to be in town past eight at night. Have I not?!” Piotr thundered. “Do you have any idea the kind of men that roam the streets at night these days?”

Marta opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by Piotr.

“Hungry men! Men who haven’t seen a woman for months. Men who drink themselves blind, prowl the alleys at night, looking for unaccompanied women like yourselves, defile them, and move on to the next town come morning. Have you no sense left in that head of yours?!”

“I do!” Natalia’s sharp voice pierced the room. “And I don’t care!”

“You’re a married woman, Natalia! Stop acting like a child!”

“Then stop treating me like one!” Natalia screamed at her father. Her face had gone red, and veins in her neck stood out.

“You can’t keep me locked up at the farm forever! I deserve to live my life how I see fit!” She took a step towards Piotr.

“You said it yourself, I’m a married woman. I don’t belong to you anymore.”

“Natalia…”

“So stop treating me like a prisoner, the same way you did mother!” she yelled in her father’s face. Her fists were clenched tightly by her hips.

“Okay FINE!” he yelled back. “You want to be treated like an adult? You want to go out into town and get up to silly little things with your friends? Go ahead!”

Natalia took a step back. She unballed her fists.

“But he goes with you.” Piotr said, pointing to Janek. All three women in the room turned to look at him, to find that he had gone bright red in the face.

***

Janek had no choice but to head back home with the father and daughter. The day had already dragged on, and if he had continued towards the border, it would be late evening by the time he arrived. Recalling the patrol patterns of enemy soldiers around that time close to the border, he knew he had a slim chance of slipping by unnoticed, especially under the floodlights. He knew he had to make the crossing during the twilight hours, during the shift change when the border guards were the most unsettled. So he had tagged along, walking behind Piotr and Natalia the whole way back to the old man’s house. Once there, Natalia had shut herself in her room, and Piotr had engaged Janek’s help in repairing some old fence posts around the farm perimeter.

They were only done halfway by the mid-afternoon. They sought a brief refuge from the heat under a tree. Piotr had brought some wild cherries, which he shared with Janek. The two sat there in silence for a long while. Eventually, Piotr spoke up.

“I’m sorry you had to see that, this morning at Marta’s.”

Janek turned to the old man.

“It’s just… Natalia drives me up the wall sometimes. She’s a lot like her mother in that way.”

Piotr paused for a minute to nibble on a cherry. He spat the pit out and continued.

“I met Yana at a stock sale, a little over thirty years ago. We got married six months later, and soon after she gave me the greatest gift of my life.”

Janek stared at the ground as the old man spent another long moment contemplating.

“Natalia was a passionate girl growing up. She let curiosity lead her everywhere. I remember once she almost set the old barn on fire because she brought home a magnifying glass and wanted to test it out. Can you imagine?” he chuckled.

“The same fire in her belly led her to volunteer as a carer in the hospital, around the time of the war. That’s how she ended up meeting the man who would later become her husband. If you thought I and Yana were quick, Natalia and Andrej didn’t even bother with a wedding. They eloped!” Piotr chuckled again. Then his face fell.

“When Natalia came back home a year later, Andrej wasn’t with her. She claims he found the military to be a better mistress than her. The fire in my daughter’s eyes was gone.”

Piotr turned to face Janek.

“I worry about her. I know there’s a lot that happened in that one year that she hasn’t told me about. And probably never will. I am okay with that. But what I’m not okay with is someone else taking advantage of my daughter the way her husband did. As long as she’s back under my roof, I will not allow it. Do you understand?”

Janek nodded, looking straight into the dark pools of Piotr’s eyes. Piotr nodded back.

“I don’t know who you are, where you came from or why you’re here, but as long as you’re staying with us, I need you to help me protect Natalia.” He held out his hand.

“What do you say, soldier?”

Janek stared at Piotr’s hand for a long moment, before reaching out with his own and shaking it.

***

Janek returned to the house with Piotr in the early evening, retiring to his bedroom for a quick shuteye before dinner. The day’s work out in the farm had tired him out. For the whole week prior, he and his squad had mostly skulked through these territories, slowly, methodically. Most of the time they were usually stationary, waiting for an enemy patrol to pass by, or waiting for the night to fall before they could move again. Always watchful, always on edge, even when they made camp and rested. Janek realised, suddenly, just how tired he was. And just how much he wanted to be back home.

Tomorrow

He told himself. He placed the metal cylinder on the desk. It had been concealed under his shirt, hanging off his neck the whole afternoon by a piece of twine he had fashioned into a necklace. He closed his eyes, and had only begun to drift away when two pairs of footsteps pounded up the staircase. Someone rapped their knuckles on the door next to his room. He heard whispers, before the door opened and the footsteps retired in Natalia’s room.

I need you to help me protect Natalia

The old man’s words echoed in Janek’s mind. He gingerly got up from the bed and tip-toed out of his room. He went up to Natalia’s room and pressed his ear to the door. All he could hear were muffled voices. He squatted down until his eye was level with the keyhole. He peeped into the room. The first person he saw was Natalia. She was standing with her side facing the door. She was dressed in a bath robe which came down to just below her knees. Her hair was wrapped in a towel. Her hands were on her hips and she seemed to be listening to someone, out of sight. She looked flustered. Then she stepped out of view. Janek waited for a couple of moments for her, or anyone else who was in the room with her, to reappear. When no-one did, Janek placed his hand on the doorknob and carefully, incredibly slowly, turned it. The door gave way and Janek opened it just a crack.

The first thing he saw was Natalia’s bare leg, resting on the bed. The other was hanging off the edge, with her foot resting on the floor. Her current posture had made the bath robe ride up her legs, exposing pale flesh almost midway up the thigh. Janek felt a familiar stirring in his loins. He felt his heart beginning to beat faster. Sat next to Natalia on the bed was Marta. Behind her, seated on the dresser chair was Yulia. The three women were having an animated conversation, sotto voce.

“… can’t sit in your room and sulk, Nat.” Marta was saying. “Okay, yes, you got caught. And got told off by your father. Why are we acting like that’s the first time in your life it’s ever happened?”

“I’m not mad that I got yelled at, Marta. I’m mad I got yelled at… in front of him.”

“The boy?” Yulia piped up.

“He’s a stranger, living under my roof. What right did my father have to embarrass me like that in front of him?”

Marta reached over the covers and clasped her friend’s hand, stroking the back gently as if trying to calm Natalia down.

“Remember when my mum found out that I was seeing Mikhail? She stormed in on us at the restaurant while we were having dinner, and shouted me down in front of all the patrons?”

Natalia turned her face away.

“She called me a pig, a street whore. And for what, going out with the son of a butcher?” Marta continued. “My point is, our parents will never understand us. If they had their way they would lock us up at home until we got married, and send us off to be locked up at our husbands’ place until we grew old and died. We’re nothing but cattle to them, to be herded around from one home to another.”

“We can’t live our lives in fear of getting caught, Nat.” Yulia spoke, quietly. “We can’t allow ourselves to become old and bitter like they did.”

“I’m not bitter.” Natalia replied. “I’m just… angry.”

She paused for a couple of moments before continuing.

“I don’t hate the old man. And he doesn’t hate me either… I think. But when he goes off the handle like he did this morning, like so many times before this… I just worry one of these days his heart will give away in the middle of an outburst. And then he…”

Natalia covered her eyes with one hand. She took a couple of long, deep breaths. Her friends waited patiently for her to continue.

“… and then he’ll die, angry at me.” She said, sniffling. “And I won’t be able to live with that.”

A single tear rolled down her cheek. Marta scooted close to Natalia and hugged her friend, tightly. Yulia got up and walked around to where Natalia was sitting on the bed, before kneeling and embracing her friend around the waist. The three women remained locked in a mutual embrace for a while. When Marta pulled away, she wiped the tears off Natalia’s cheek.

“He won’t, Nat. He loves you. You’re the only family he has left.” She said, pressing her friend’s cheek to her chest. “He cares for you. Why do you think he asked Stejpan to look out for you?”

“The boy?” Yulia asked, for the second time that evening.

“He may be a boy, but he owes your father.” Marta reminded her. “Besides, he acts more mature than most boys his age.”

“He also looks more mature…” Yulia said, twirling a lock of her hair. “What?!” she squeaked when she saw her friends staring at her.

“Anyway, as long as he’s by your side, your father will rest a little easy.” Marta said.

“Which reminds me, there’s a traveling cabaret troupe performing in the town tavern tonight.”

Natalia pulled away from her friend.

“Marta, I can’t.” she said, massaging her temples.

“Why not! We’ll be back well before midnight!” Marta insisted. “Besides, Stejpan will be there with us.”

“Marta! You’re seriously not suggesting we take him with us!” Natalia protested.

“So you agree we’re going!” Marta replied, clapping her hands. “And regarding Stejpan, do you really think you have a choice?”

“Yeah, come on!” Yulia encouraged her friend. “Besides, can you imagine his face when he sees the performers on stage?” she rocked her shoulders, imitating a tassel twirl. Natalia buried her face in her palms.

“I bet he’s never seen a woman with her top off before.” Marta said, grinning.

“Hey, you didn’t see the way he was looking at me when I came out of the river.” Natalia objected. “He got more than an eyeful.”

Janek gulped. She had noticed.

“Is it really his fault, though? You’re a lot of woman to look at.” Yulia grinned, rubbing her friend’s cheek.

“Was that your way of rewarding him for rescuing your ring? Dressing me up in one of your tight tunics so he could ogle at me at the breakfast table?” Natalia grilled Marta, who smirked.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You’re impossible”. Natalia threw a pillow at her friend’s face. Her companions laughed.

“Okay okay. If we are to make it to the performance, we need to leave in a quarter hour. How about you get dressed, and I’ll go fetch Stejpan from his room.” Marta said, getting up from the bed. Natalia sighed and stood up. She tugged at the belt cinching the two halves of her robe together. Before the folds fell away, Marta stepped in front of her friend, cutting off Stejpan’s line of sight. As soon as she started heading for the door, Stejpan turned and made his way back to his room as noiselessly as possible. He shut the door behind him and had only lain back down in his bed when there was a knock on the door.

“Hey soldier! Want to take us girls out to dinner?”

***

The four of them reached the tavern just after sunset. They found themselves a booth near the raised dais on the far end of the hall. Natalia and Yulia sat on one side, while Marta squeezed in next to Janek on the other. An matronly-looking waitress came over to their table in a short while to take their drink orders. Natalia and Marta went for sodas. Yulia ordered a glass of wine. The waitress then turned to Janek.

“And for you, young man?”

Janek stared back at her blankly. Marta interjected.

“He’s not the talkative type. He will have a beer, yes?” she asked, looking at him. Janek nodded. The waitress snorted and left them.

Janek looked around the restaurant. The patronage was mostly male, and the few women scattered about were all accompanied by a male partner. These folks weren’t the well-dressed sort that Janek was used to seeing in pubs and taverns over on his side of the border, but he could tell that they were proud enough to not step outside their homes looking shabby. Most of the men wore top coats and trousers, and the women sported long dresses. Around his own table, Marta and Yulia were dressed in long tunics that came down to their knees. Natalia had put on a delicate looking white sleeveless cotton dress, embroidered with red flowers across the bust, waistline and hem.

Before long, their glasses were empty. Before their second round arrived, Natalia and Yulia excused themselves from the table to use the women’s. Marta took this opportunity to strike up a chat with Janek.

“Sooo Stejpan,” she began, “It’s turned out to be quite the day for you, hasn’t it?”

Janek straightened up and turned to Marta.

“I mean, the first thing in the morning you jump into a river to rescue a stranger’s engagement ring, then get hired to be her friend’s bodyguard. Now you’re playing the role of handsome escort to the three of us.”

Janek smiled. She was right.

“The evening’s just begun. I do hope you have enough stamina to last the night. That Natalia can get pretty bouncy once she gets a couple glasses of country wine in her. In fact, that’s what happened last night.”

Marta leaned in, lowering her voice.

“Don’t tell her father, but the two of us spent the last night wandering the streets, tipsy like wouldn’t believe. First we came across a puppet show taking place in someone’s courtyard. Then we got invited by a bunch of army types to watch a late screening of a movie. Ten minutes in, we realised that it was smut!”

Janek grinned.

“You should’ve seen our faces when we realised what we were watching. We quickly excused ourselves. I’m sure I heard the entire back section of the crowd laughing at us. Around midnight we ended up wandering into Nat’s father’s farm. We found a place to lie on the ground, and stared at the stars.”

Janek realised that Marta and Natalia couldn’t have been too far away from him when he himself wandered into the crops last night. Marta dropped her voice even lower before continuing.

“Because it was so hot, we both took our dresses off and used them as mats. And no, you cheeky bugger, we weren’t naked.” She added quickly, noticing that Janek had gone red in the face. “We still had our slips on.”

Janek tried to imagine what he would have done had he happened upon two partially undressed women lying in the field at night. His member once more strained against his trousers.

“We slept until the break of dawn, then put our dresses back on and were heading home when had the bright idea to take off my engagement ring to show Nat. Just as we were crossing the bridge, it slipped out of my fingers and went into the water. First Nat jumped in, then you. I bet she was so mad that it was you who ended up finding it, not her.”

Marta paused for a couple of moments, running her finger on the rim of her glass. She let out a sigh.

“She’s a strong woman, that Natalia. Proud, bold, loyal. Even before she turned sixteen, she had half the school’s boys declaring their undying love for her. But she wanted exactly none of it. She wanted to leave town, get an education and move to the city. She was working as an accountant’s secretary when she met Andrej. I tell you, that was some torrid affair that they had!”

She smiled, reflecting on some fond memories of her friend.

“Natalia looked happy. She had everything that she had dreamt of having since we were little girls. Or at least, she was on her way to getting it. But then the war came, and Andrej left for the front lines. When he came back… he just wasn’t the same. He looked at Nat different. Soon, the abuse began, and later the beatings. When Nat returned to her father a year later, it wasn’t because she had had enough. She came back because Andrej, after all that torture, just up and left one day. No explanations, no notes. It took her another year to realise that she was dead to him, that he had entirely written her out of his life. No one knows what happened to him. But I think, deep down, Natalia still thinks he will come back to her, one day.”

Janek had been staring at the bottom of his glass throughout this. When Marta placed her hand on his shoulder, he turned towards her once again.

“I am telling you all of this because I’ve seen the way you look at her. It’s the same way Andrej used to look at her before the war.”

Janek’s eyes widened. He suddenly felt hot under the collar. Underneath the table, his fists clenched.

“I wish I could tell you Andrej was the only one who was transformed by the war. But that won’t be true. Natalia changed, too. She’s still everything I remember her to be on the outside, but inside, she’s hollow.”

Marta cupped Janek’s chin.

“You’re young. You haven’t been spoilt by the war. You can go to the city and find a girl… who’ll make a decent man out of you.” Marta’s voice quaked slightly in her throat. “Take my advice. After tonight, leave this town. Forget about Natalia, forget about us. We are still stuck in the past, and you… you have your whole future ahead of you.”

Marta blinked and twin tears dripped from the corners of her eyes. Behind her, Natalia and Yulia approached the table. Marta must have noticed them, because she quickly dabbed her tears with her handkerchief. By the time their companions had seated themselves, Marta was back to her cheerful self.

***

Soon after their second round of drinks arrived, the lights in the tavern dimmed. An expectant hush fell over the room as everyone present trained their eyes on the eaves of the dais. The musicians came out first, followed by a tall man in a glitzy suit. He waited until the instrumentalists: consisting of three trumpeteers, a drummer and a pianist had settled themselves in one corner, then put his lips to the microphone. His voice boomed across the tavern.

“Ladies and gentlemen! I hope you’re ready for a raunchy night!”

There were some cheers amongst the crowd.

“We’ve got a great show lined up for you tonight! Our girls can’t wait to put on a performance for all you fine folk!”

Louder cheers came from the back of the tavern. Janek looked around the table and saw the three women craning their necks towards the dais, expectant smiles on their faces.

“But first can I hear a thunder applause for our band this evening!”

The crowed whooped and clapped their hands. The musicians waved.

“My name is Jakub and I’ll be your host for the evening!”

More applause followed. The tavern doors suddenly burst open, and what looked like a small regiment of soldiers poured in.

“The troops are here!” Jakub roared. Even louder cheers and applause followed. Someone whistled in the background. The uniformed men headed straight for the bar. Some of them nodded at the crowd, taking their berets off.

“And just in time! I can see one of the girls peeping at you from the wings. Put your hands together for our performers!”

There was a sharp blast from one of the trumpets as five women poured onto the stage from both sides of the dais. They were dressed in sequinned tops and similarly glittery hot pants that came less than a third of the way down their thighs. Under the amber glow of the stage lights they all looked spectral. The crowd roared lustily upon their arrival. Yulia, Marta and Natalia all clapped excitedly along.

“Without further ado, let’s begin the festivities!”

There was a sharp blast from the trumpets and the show began. The whole tavern drowned in excited cheering as the performers linked their arms and began swinging their legs to the lively music delivered by the band. Everyone watched, mesmerised at the sight of pale flesh exposed so boldly and in such a concerted manner. The performers broke away and one of them did a running cartwheel, much to the amazement and applause of the crowd. Then, just as smoothly, she ran backwards into a handstand. Her legs went akimbo, which was followed by an excited holler from the new arrivals. Janek looked over at the uniformed men standing next to the bar, many of them with drinks in their hands. All but one of them had their eyes trained on the show. The one who didn’t, was looking directly at Janek’s table. He didn’t have a drink in his hand, and he hadn’t bothered to take his beret off. Janek felt a twitch in his stomach. Natalia and the others hadn’t realised that they were being watched. Janek fixed his gaze on the soldier, waiting for him to look in his direction. Eventually the man’s gaze swept towards Janek, but passed him over as if he were part of the furniture. Janek felt another twitch in his stomach. He was getting a bad feeling about this.

***

The performance ended half an hour later, to raucous clapping and hollering by the crowd which shook the whole tavern. The performers, sweating and breathing heavily after the exertions during the show, threw glittery smiles all across the hall. They took three bows on stage before ducking back into the wings.

“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you! Your love means so much to us!” Jakub’s voice boomed over the applause.

“Before we leave you, we would like to dedicate this performance to our men in uniforms.” He said, throwing a sweeping arm towards the soldiers. “Thank you for your service, men. We wouldn’t be able to do this without you.”

The men in question were unquestionably drunk by this point. Some of them took a half bow towards the crowd, while others beamed, clearly pleased at the recognition. Janek searched for the one who had been lecherously staring at the women, but he couldn’t find him.

“Goodnight, and god bless our country!”

People had already started filing out of the tavern. Marta and Yulia excused themselves to use the women’s room, leaving Natalia and Janek alone at the table. When the other two had dipped out of sight, Natalia turned to face Janek.

“Let me guess, you’ve never seen a cabaret before.”

Janek smiled and shook his head.

“My first cabaret was in the city, a fair while ago. I went with a friend of mine. When the show ended, I had the same look on my face as yours.” She grinned and swept a lock of hair behind her ear. “This is my first time watching a performance in the country, however. And between you and me, it doesn’t even begin to compare to the ones in the city.”

Janek raised his eyebrows. Natalia leaned over the table, prompting Janek to do the same. He caught a whiff of her perfume. It smelled like the sea and roses. Natalia lowered her voice.

“I’ve watched shows where the women shed their blouses. And their knickers.”

She giggled at Janek’s wide-eyed reaction.

“In some, they have men and women on stage dress up as cats and dogs and chase each other around the stage. The one who wins gets to strip the other and spank them bare-bottom. And trust me, I’ve watched many men lose on purpose just so they can strip in front of a thousand people.”

By now Janek’s jaw was hanging open.

“Of course, you won’t find these shows happening in decent places. You have to go to special theatres for that.” She giggled again, and Janek felt his chest tighten as he gazed at her lovely face. She looked out of this world when she smiled. He had this sudden urge to reach out and touch her hand. His fingers quivered, as if moving on their own accord. Natalia’s hands were wrapped around the base of her glass, inches away. Janek was just about to say something when a figure appeared in his peripheral vision.

A uniformed man was standing next to their table, smiling slightly. Janek’s heart jumped in his chest and began thumping double time when he realised who it was.

“Good evening.” He addressed Natalia. “I noticed you across the crowd while watching the performance earlier and couldn’t help but think to myself: Now that’s someone who should be on the stage with those girls.”

Natalia turned to the soldier, her smile dimmed. She replied politely.

“That’s very kind of you.”

“You’re even more beautiful up close.” He said, his eyes running over her body. “Tell me, what’s your name?”

“Natalia.”

“Natalia. That’s a lovely name. I had no idea our country towns raised such fine stock of women as you. If I had known, I would have enlisted to be a farmer instead.”

Natalia silently nodded her head once. The soldier stood there, regarding her with a smirk on his face. Then he took his beret off and slid onto the seat next to Natalia.

“I hope you don’t mind if I join you. I’ve grown weary of my companions and you look like great company.” He said, pressing up against Natalia’s side.

“Actually I do mind.” Natalia said. She hadn’t moved an inch. “I came here with friends and I am waiting for them to return.”

“Your friends can go over to the boys. I’m sure they’ll find ample entertainment over there.”

Natalia’s smile was back.

“I think you missed the point.” She said, facing the man directly. “So I’ll explain it clearly this time. I would like to enjoy the company of my friends this evening. And you need to leave us before they return to the table.”

“What if I offered to buy all of you a drink?”

“I’m afraid you’ll have to drink it yourself. Far away from us.”

Janek’s hands had been clenched under the table ever since the man had materialised at their table. He keenly watched the tense exchange between him and Natalia. The soldier’s smile had never wavered throughout.

“I didn’t know you had such strong feelings against the military.”

“I don’t, I just have strong feelings against you.” Natalia said, stabbing a finger into the man’s chest. He caught her wrist before she could pull it back. The man’s jaw was set, his smirk gone.

“Don’t they teach you manners in the countryside?”

Janek was up and off his seat in a flash. He slid out, grabbed the lapels of the soldier’s jacket and yanked him out of the booth. The way the soldier stumbled to the ground when he let go confirmed Janek’s suspicions about him. This was no soldier. This was a reservist. Poorly trained, yet proud. Janek bet that he took more care of his uniform than he did his drills. Janek loomed over him, fists still clenched. He let the man stand up and dust himself off. It was only then that he seemed to have noticed Janek’s presence, for the first time.

“Would you look at that.” The soldier murmured. The corners of his mouth curled up. “It breathes!”

His eyes scanned Janek’s face, then dropped down as if to appraise his body. Or to distract Janek, because a swinging left hook crashed into his jaw the next moment. Janek didn’t budge an inch, however.

He hits like a child

Janek grabbed the soldier’s collar and dipped his head, pulling the man with a sharp jerk. When the top of his forehead made contact with the bridge of the soldier’s nose, it crumbled like fish bones. The man yelped and stumbled backwards, blood streaming from his nostrils. It didn’t go by unnoticed. Two of his troop who had been standing nearby turned to face Janek, shock and anger in their eyes. One of them stepped up to him, while the other flanked him. The first one threw a straight punch towards Janek’s face, which he parried and returned with a counter. It must have stung, but this man was made of sterner stuff than his friend for he didn’t retreat. He threw a loping hook, but Janek was able to duck underneath and countered with a short, explosive uppercut to the sternum. That took the breath out of the soldier, and he crumpled to the ground. Janek saw movement in his peripheral vision, before a brittle thud fell on the side of his face. That dazed him momentarily. Janek felt liquid seep down his neck and drench the shoulder of his shirt. He turned and saw the other soldier holding a broken glass bottle by the neck in his hand. Rage overtook Janek as he realised that he had attacked him with it. The soldier, holding the jagged glass towards Janek, made a stabbing motion towards his gut. Janek grabbed his wrist and pushed his arm down, while bringing a knee up to the man’s chin. The contact was solid, and the soldier had his lights out even before he fell to the ground. The bottle slipped from his hand and rolled towards a woman in the crowd, who let out a scream. Janek looked up and saw that it was Yulia. Behind her, Marta held her hands cupped to her mouth.

The bar fell silent. The other dozen or so soldiers who had been milling about the bar turned in the direction of the commotion, and saw three of their own lying on the ground. Then their eyes fell upon Janek.

Janek felt a burst of adrenaline course through his body. A couple of the soldiers began making their way through the crowd, pushing aside lookers-on. He prepared himself for a fight, but a hand fell upon his shoulder from behind.

“We’re leaving, now.” Natalia’s voice urged him. When he didn’t move, she grabbed his arm by the crook of the elbow and pulled. Marta and Yulia began heading towards the door as well.

“Stop him!” a cry rang out behind Janek. The four of them rushed to the open doorway and spilled out onto the street.

“The toy store!” Marta yelled out, before taking off in a sprint that belied her usual grace. Janek felt Natalia’s hand in the small of his back, pushing him in the same direction. With Yulia taking up the rear, they bounded down the street. Behind them, more shouts echoed off the walls of the surrounding shops as their pursuers took off after them. Marta ducked into an unlit alleyway, and the three of them followed. For the next minute, their group zig-zagged their way across the town, through narrow alleys and deserted roads. They burst out onto a crescent-shaped street, at the apex of which was the toy store. When Marta rushed past it, Janek looked incredulously at Natalia.

“Keep going!” she panted. “They’ll be expecting us there”.

They ran for another short while until they came to a bakery. Marta led them down a side street to the back of the store. Fishing underneath a stone by the side of the door, Marta pulled out a key. She inserted it into the lock and pushed the door open. The four of them squeezed into the back of the bakery, and Marta shut the door behind them. She slowly slid onto the stone floor, with her back to the door. Yulia and Natalia were both bent over, gasping for breath. Janek went to the front of the store and peeped out into the street through the curtains on the display window. He heard a couple of angry shouts. Half a minute later, several figures came running down the street, their boots pounding on the cobblestone. Janek waited until their footsteps receded, and realised that he had been holding his breath the whole time. He headed back towards the rear, where he found all three women resting on the floor.

“Are they still out there?” Yulia asked. Janek nodded.

“I guess we’ll have to wait here until they’re all gone.” Natalia whispered.

“What about the patrols? Surely the soldiers will tell them to keep a look out for us.” Marta insisted.

“We’ll turn a corner and likely run into one.” Yulia said.

“Then we’ll just have to wait until dawn, when their shifts change.” Natalia responded. The three women suddenly looked up at Janek, as if only now noticing his presence. Janek flushed. He wasn’t used to being the centre of attention.

“Fair lot of trouble you put us in, mister.” Yulia said, sternly.

Janek’s gaze dropped to the floor and he felt his ears burning. But the next moment, a snigger broke out amongst the women, followed by hushed giggles.

“Not the first time we’ve had to come down here because of a man.” Marta laughed. Natalia turned to Janek and motioned him to sit.

“The toy store is a code, known only to the three of us. Yulia used to work here up until a few years ago. She knew where they kept the keys, and would sometimes bring us out here at night. It was our little getaway, a place to sleep over if we’d had too much to drink at the tavern.” She explained.

“Sometimes she’d even bring over a man. Whoever was gaga over her at that time.” Marta added.

“Marta!”

“What?”

They all burst out into another round of muffled laughter. This time, Janek joined in. When they settled down again, Yulia placed her hands on the floor behind her and leaned back. She ran her gaze over the walls, the stone over, the large twin stone counters in the centre of the room, and sighed.

“So many happy memories from this place.”

“Don’t start getting all teary-eyes on us, Yul.” Marta said, throwing an empty sack of flour at her friend’s face. “Start making your bed. We need to settle in for the night.”

“Your father is going to be so mad…” Yulia said to Natalia.

“That’s tomorrow’s problem.” Natalia replied. She stood and went to the corner where a heap of gunny bags lay stacked upon each other. She brought back a bundle of them, throwing two to Janek.

“One’s your pillow and the other’s your bedsheet.” She told him, before spreading out her own on the floor. Janek copied her. Eventually all four settled into their makeshift stone beds.

“Tonight was fun.” Marta whispered.

“Agreed. But I think I’m getting to old for this.” Yulia replied, stretching as a yawn overtook her.

“Speak for yourself, old woman.” Natalia murmured, a smile on her face.

“Who’s making breakfast tomorrow?”

“It’s Nat’s turn, seeing as how her new bodyguard put us all in this situation.”

“Hey, at least you all feel a little safer because he’s here.” Natalia chided.

“I miss my bed.” Yulia whined.

“Suck it up, princess.” Marta murmured. “You’ll be back there before long.”

Soon the room was filled with the gentle snoring of the women. Janek couldn’t sleep for the longest time, still on edge, listening for approaching footsteps. But eventually, he too drifted into the comfortable darkness. At some point in the night, Janek woke up, and found Natalia’s body pressed up against his. They were both lying on their side. Her rump lay nestled in the crook of his hip. In a daze, Janek did what seemed so very natural in that moment: he raised his arm and slipped it around Natalia’s belly, pulling her closer to him. She murmured something unintelligible, but did not push his arm away. Janek slipped back into sleep, now with the sweet smell of Natalia’s perfume in his nostrils.

***

When Janek next woke up, there was no one next to him. Natalia’s bed-sack lay a couple of feet away from his. The world outside the windows was a light grey. He looked around and saw that none of the women were present. A sudden panic overtook him as he remembered the events of the past 48 hours, making him sit up bolt upright. He listened for sounds around him. Twigs cracking, dogs snarling, leaves getting crushed afoot… but heard only whispers. His heart racing, he looked out around the side of the stone counter, down the front of the bakery. He saw a figure up against the display windows. His eyesight still blurry, Janek slowly crawled on his hands and knees towards it. Careful not to make a sound, he inched towards it. Hoping to take it by surprise. As he went crawling past the till, a voice spoke to him from the darkness.

“Look who’s awake.”

His breath caught in his throat and he whipped around, finding the grinning face of Marta behind the counter. Her face was a little puffy, yet she looked like she had slept much better than him. Yulia’s head popped out next to her.

“I was about to come get you.”

Janek turned back towards the display windows and saw Natalia half-turned, looking back at him over her shoulder. Her figure was silhouetted in the dim dawn light. Her gauzy dress was so delicate that he could see the outline of her figure through the fabric. The crescent of her bosom, the swell of her hips, the curve of her rump… the space between her parted legs. It was almost like she stood denuded before him. Like the other day, when she had come out of the water. Her body, as it had back then, produced the most natural reaction in his body. His loins flushed with heat and he felt his testicles draw up, tense. When Natalia spoke to him, he couldn’t make out her words.

“Did you hear me?” she asked. “We need to leave now. I saw the patrols heading to the barracks for their shift change.”

Janek gulped and nodded. He stood up, half-turning away so as to not make his arousal too visible.

“Anyone want day-old bread before we leave?”

“I don’t have the appetite for anything but sleep.” Marta said, groggily. Natalia shook her head, as did Janek.

“Suit yourselves.” Yulia said, plucking a loaf out of the display case. The foursome headed back to the rear of the bakery, slipping out through the door. Marta locked it behind her and slipped the key back under the stone. They emerged through the side-street onto the main road, and set off towards the farmlands. A half hour’s walk brought them back to the bridge, where Janek had first met Marta and Natalia. It seemed ages ago now, and it felt like he had known them forever. The sun was only half-emerging in the horizon when they came to Marta’s house.

“The offer for breakfast still stands.” Natalia reminded her.

“I know. But I’m just keen to slip under the covers and get some real sleep.” Marta replied. She stepped to Natalia and hugged her. Then she turned to Janek.

“Before you get up to anything else, make sure she gets some sleep.”

“What do you mean by that?” Natalia quizzed.

“I just mean, get enough sleep.” Marta replied, still looking at Janek. He thought he saw the ghost of a smile on Yulia’s face.

“Alright… and you, Yul? You coming to my place?” Natalia asked.

“I think I’ll head home, too, but thanks for the offer.” She replied, before kissing Natalia on the cheek. She tore off some bread from the loaf she was carrying and pressed it into Janek’s hands.

“Keep it. As a thanks for last night’s adventures.” She told him, before also kissing him on the cheek.

Natalia and Janek waved goodbye to Marta and Yulia before setting off. The crop was shimmering golden in the early daylight as they walked by rows upon rows of it. Neither of them said a word to each other. When they got home, they found the front door unlocked. Inside the house, there was no sign of Piotr.

“Father is probably already out in the field.” Natalia remarked.

This was confirmed when they saw two bowls of stew and bread laid out on the dining table, accompanied by a flask of coffee. Piotr was a gruff old man, but he was by no means inconsiderate.

“Oh, dad…” Natalia whispered, running her finger along the rim of one of the bowls. She turned and caught Janek looking at her. She sighed, a wistful smile on her face. Then she looked down at her dress, which was dirty and stained from last night’s activities.

“I am going to take a bath.” She told Janek, looking him in the eyes. Janek nodded.

“In the river.”

Janek looked at her.

“I am going to wash my clothes too. And yours. They reek.”

Janek looked down at his clothes. They had patches of flour all over. He raised an arm to smell his armpits.

“Help me carry the washboard and clothes basket down to the riverbank.”

Janek nodded. A minute later they emerged from the back of the house, Janek carrying the basket and Natalia carrying the washboard. They took a path through the crop. Piotr’s tractor roared dully in the distance. Flocks of birds flew overhead. A gentle breeze rustled through the maize, as if caressing it. Janek realised he really wasn’t feeling sleepy anymore.

When they reached the bank, Natalia set down the washboard near the water. From a satchel slung over her shoulder, she pulled out various toiletries, a towel and a sheet of cloth. This last one she laid out on the grass, placing her toiletries on top. She motioned Janek to place the basket he was carrying on top of the sheet. He did so, then stood staring at Natalia, expecting further instruction. Natalia didn’t say anything. She began to slide the straps of her dress off her shoulders. She paused, holding the fabric to her chest, looking Janek in the eye. Janek gulped, coming out of his trance, and turned around. He heard the rustle of fabric falling to the ground, then Natalia’s footsteps heading towards the river. He heard her wading into the gentle current, gasping lightly as her body sank lower in the cold water. Then he heard nothing for a while but for the sounds of the flowing water.

“You were shivering in your sleep last night.” Natalia called out. “I didn’t know if you were cold, or if you were having nightmares.”

Janek turned his head slightly to the side. In the corner of his eye he saw Natalia’s head bobbing above the surface of the water.

“Either way, I figured you needed company. So I came over.”

That made him snap his head towards her. The whole morning, Janek had wondered if it all had been a dream. Feeling her body against his. Sharing warmth, comfort. She smiled at him.

“The water’s cold.” Natalia continued. “How about you return the favour?”

Janek couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Did she want him to join her? He stared at her, mouth slightly agape, until raised a hand out of the water and beckoned him with a curled finger. Janek felt like his heart was going to leap out of his chest. He took one uncertain step towards the water. Then another. Staring at Natalia, her body obscured from the neck down. She looked like a siren, emerging from the water, singing her song. Janek felt trapped. Suddenly, his legs wouldn’t move.

“Hurry up and get in here!” Natalia called out, again, this time splashing water in his direction as a show of mock annoyance. But Janek’s legs were rooted to the spot. His body was betraying him, even as his mind screamed for him to run and jump into the water. Natalia grunted in exasperation. Then she began coming out of the water. Her shoulders emerged, then her torso. She was wearing a white slip, which clung to her body like second skin. It betrayed her heavy breasts as they rose above the surface like twin pale moons. In the daylight, the slip revealed her pointed nipples and dark pink areola. Janek was mesmerised by the way she quaked lightly with her each step.

Natalia only had to come up halfway to be able to reach her hand out and grab Janek’s. She tugged at him, and Janek felt like he had been released from iron shackles. He let her pull him into the water, boots and all, until the both of them were up to their armpits in the current.

“Hold me.” Natalia whispered to him. He raised his arms and slipped them around her waist. When he pulled her to him, she put up no resistance, her slip-clad mound pressing up against his crotch – and his throbbing member. She began unbuttoning his shirt. Janek held on to her, watching her hands work their way down, until he had to slip his arms out of the sleeves. She balled up the wet cloth and threw it on the bank, behind him. Natalia went for his belt next, unbuckling it. He helped her along, unbuttoning his trousers, letting them slide under water down to his feet. Natalia then squatted down, her head disappearing under water. Janek felt his cock throb as he felt rather than saw Natalia’s face hover around his loins. He felt her hands tugging at his boots, and he complied, lifting his feet so she could slip them off. When she emerged, she was carrying his trousers in one hand and his boots in the other. These went the way of his shirt. Natalia then grabbed his hands and pulled them back up to her waist. Once again, Janek found himself intimately pressed up against her. Her breasts lay flattened up against his chest, her mound to his member.

Natalia looked into his eyes as her hand stroked his face. Then it slid down to his shoulder, before running down his arm. Then she ran her fingers all the way back up to his shoulder. She did this a couple times, before moving on to the other arm. Janek realised she was helping him wash. Not wanting to leave her out, he ran his hands up and down her spine, over the fabric of her slip. Slowly, they began to drop lower, down to the curve of her ass. He massaged her cheeks, running his hands over the soft flesh reverently. Natalia had moved to his neck by now. Janek’s hands slipped underwater, under the hem of her slip, so tantalisingly close to her sex. A soft sigh escaped Natalia’s lips as his fingers brushed the underside of her loin. But for now, he was content with grabbing great handfuls of her ass, kneading them, massaging them.

Satisfied that she was done washing his torso, Natalia spun around in Janek’s grip, until her back was pressed to his chest. Janek’s hands now rested on the tops of her thighs. Natalia took his hands in hers and gently brought them up to her breasts. Janek lifted and pushed them up together, getting a feel for their heft. They were certainly much bigger than he had imagined. Natalia’s dresses hid their true swell very well. She reached her arms behind her, encircling his neck, as Janek began to knead the pale flesh. Her ass pressed into his crotch insistently. A light moan escaped her throat as Janek’s fingers found her nipples.

For Janek, this was the polar opposite of his first time. It was daylight instead of night, a river instead of an alley, the sweet scent of perfume filling his nostrils instead of the stench of piss… but suddenly, doubt clouded his mind.

Natalia was… the enemy

He had been told about the wickedness of her people, their atrocities drilled into his head. He had been shown photos of houses blown up, burnt to the ground, bodies laying scattered about the front lines, of men hanging, of women raped and children maimed. He had pledged to protect and serve his country, no matter the toll or the personal cost… and here he was, his hands roaming the enemy’s body, her flesh pressed against his so wantonly, her hands around his neck…

Janek twitched. Natalia yelped and broke free of him. She turned around to face him, her arms crossed over her breasts, an expression of shock on her face. Both of them stared at each other, panting. When Natalia uncrossed her arms, Janek saw that the front of her slip was ripped open, from the neck almost all the way down to her navel. When he looked back at her, there was a coy smile on her face.

“You need to calm down.” She said, breathily. She took a hold of the straps of the slip and slid them off her shoulders, before pulling her arms through the arm-holes. Her weighty breasts hung under her chest, jiggling lightly as she bent over to peel the garment off her body, sliding it down her legs. She stepped out of it. The current carried the unsecured slip away from under her, but she didn’t even seem to notice. Her wet skin glistened in the golden light of dawn. Tiny rivulets ran down from her neck, over her sides, over her belly and her wide hips and the puff of auburn hair over the mound between her legs, before meeting the river again.

Natalia took a step towards him. Janek, still unsure, took a step back.

“Just breathe…” she cooed to him, before taking another step. Janek’s fists clenched by his sides.

“Breathe Stejpan, breathe”

He let her approach him. She moved catlike, her torso seemingly gliding on the water. When she got to within a couple inches from his face, she raised her arms and, with both hands, cupped his cheeks. Looking into his eyes, Natalia pulled her face close to his, until their lips were a hair’s breadth apart. Her eyes dipped low and she brushed his lips with hers. It was so soft that it felt like someone playing a feather over his lips, but it didn’t feel ticklish. Natalia did it again, lingering a bit more this time. And again, more insistently. Janek felt his resolve breaking. He felt her mouth press against his, her lips parted this time. He could almost feel the warmth that lay just beyond her lips. His heart was beating a mile a minute. Confusion clouded his mind. A sweltering fire was burning in his loins, the river doing nothing to quench it. When Natalia made to kiss him again, he grabbed her wrists, pulling away with a grunt. She stared at him, a concerned look on her face.

“Is something wrong?” she asked. “Tell me if something’s wrong”

She found her companion breathing raggedly, a torrent of emotions raging over his boyish face. His hands were wrapped around her wrists like twin vices. He was hurting her.

“Stejpan, talk to me. Please.”

He bent his head and mumbled something.

“What? What did you say?” she implored, bending over slightly to search his eyes.

“Janek.” He said through clenched teeth. “Not Stejpan.”

Natalia was confused.

“Not Stejpan?”

Janek finally met her eyes. He shook his head.

“You’re… Janek?”

He clenched his jaw and looked at her. His throat bobbed. Natalia understood.

“Okay.” She said. “Janek. You’re Janek.”

He let go of her wrists, revealing crimson marks he had left on them. Before Natalia could nurse them, he wrapped his arms around her and planted his lips on hers.

“Mmmff!” Natalia grunted. But Janek had her pinned to him, kissing her fiercely. A moment later, Natalia kissed him back. Her hands slid up his forearms, holding on to his biceps. She relaxed and gave herself to him. Janek kissed her hungrily, wanting to savour the taste of her mouth. His hands ran frenziedly over the soft flesh of her back. His cock pressed into her belly through his underwear. For a while, the sound of the rushing water was drowned out by their heavy breathing.

When they parted, they were both panting. Both of them had an uncertain expression on their faces. Janek’s was borne out of conflict. Natalia’s was borne out of surprise, and a lingering doubt. But she was the first to smile. After a long moment, Janek smiled back.

“Janek… I don’t know what to say.” She said, stroking his arms. “That came out of nowhere.”

She saw darkness creep across his face again.

“It wasn’t bad!” she added hurriedly. “Just… caught me by surprise.”

She reached up and kissed the corner of his mouth.

“Do they teach you how to kiss like that in the military?” she asked, bashfully. That got a grin out of him. He bowed his head and kissed her again. His hands slid up her sides and grabbed one breast each, kneading, massaging, caressing the pliant flesh in big handfuls. Natalia moaned in his mouth. She let him explore her body. She marvelled at how tight and muscular his arms felt under her fingertips, like they were made of solid bark. Her thoughts then drifted down to something else that felt like solid bark, pressing up against her. She moaned again. His teasing of her breasts was driving her crazy. Her whole body was bubbling with an energy she hadn’t felt in a long while. Natalia realised she needed a release, soon. She pulled back from their kissing after a minute, her eyes regarding him hungrily. Her hands slipped down to the front of his crotch.

“I want you.”

She whispered, running her fingertips over the wet cloth that barely concealed his manhood.

“Please.”

Janek stared into her eyes. He let go of her and began pulling his underwear down his legs. Just like Natalia’s slip, he let the current claim it. His member throbbed and twitched in the water. Natalia took a step back, pulling him by his hand.

“Here.”

She led him out of the water, towards the picnic cloth she had laid out earlier. She picked up a towel and dried him off. Then she picked up another one and handed it to him, so he could return the favour. Natalia smiled at the almost reverent care he took of her body as he ran the towel over her skin. When he was done, he threw the towel over his shoulder. Natalia turned away from him and got down on all fours on the picnic mat. She could see his shadow looming over her as she turned on her side and laid on her back. She looked up at him, the sun behind him throwing a shadow over his face. She pulled her ankles up to her ass and spread her knees. Even though she couldn’t see Janek’s face, she felt her examining her body, taking it all in. She felt his eyes brushing over her every curve, every inch of skin, every rise and dip in her flesh. The thing bubbling inside her was close to boiling over.

“Don’t make me beg.” She whispered to him.

Janek kneeled in front of her. His hand wrapped around the base of his cock. He leaned over her, supporting himself on one arm, as the other guided his sex to her entrance. He slipped the first few times, sending electric jolts all over Natalia’s body. She gasped loudly when he finally entered her. Natalia grabbed his arms and moaned, urging him. Janek began thrusting into her, as nature had taught him.

“Mmmhhhhh!” Natalia groaned under him.

Her eyes closed and her face turned to the sky. Her body shook with Janek’s each thrust. She bit the inside of her lip and savoured the feeling which she hadn’t felt in years. She knew how much Janek’s body excited her, yet she couldn’t help but marvel at how wet she was. His cock slipped in and out of her sex with almost no resistance. When Janek leaned down and kissed her, bolts of electricity arced between her lips, her nipples and the crown of her sex. She opened her eyes briefly and saw the hunger in his eyes, his primal response to seeing a woman opened up to him. It thrilled her, seeing the intensity with which he wanted to consume her with his member. Janek’s fingers dug into the picnic cloth under her, just as Natalia’s finger’s dug into his arm, leaving bright red marks on his unblemished skin. Natalia’s eyes winced shut as his member found a particularly delicious spot, and she gasped again.

“Gyaahhhhhh!”

Natalia felt Janek’s ragged breath on her skin. She knew he must be close. She reached a hand between them, placing a hand on his hip. Her other hand she placed on his chest.

“Hey… hey…..” she panted. She could feel his heart hammering away in his chest, under her fingertips. “Slow down…”

Janek was in a trance. He either couldn’t hear her, or he didn’t understand what she was saying, as he continued to pound away between her folds.

“Janek… Janek, listen to me.” Natalia’s hand came up from Janek’s him to his face. She caressed the side of his jaw.

“Janek…” she repeated. “Janek”

Natalia saw Janek’s eyes clearing.

“You need to slow down.”

Janek paused, mid thrust. It took all of Natalia’s self-control to not dig her nails into the side of Janek’s face. He stared at her with a confused expression on her face.

“No no don’t stop!” Natalia said, her eyebrows knotted in an expression of need. “I just need you to slow down. You have me for as long as you want.” She cooed to him, stroking his cheek.

“I don’t want you to… lose yourself yet.”

Janek saw Natalia smile at him, and he nodded, understanding. He bent his elbows and lowered herself onto her. Natalia’s hands slid down his back as his chest pressed into hers, and found their way between his shoulder blades. With his cock now sunk all the way in her, their loins came together. Natalia felt his crotch rubbing up deliciously against her sensitive nub which sat on top of her sex. More intimate than he had ever been to a woman in his life, Janek kissed Natalia and resumed thrusting.

The two lovers lay entwined on the river bank, groaning into each other’s mouths. The sun shone on their bodies, painting them in a golden, glistening sheen. Not too far away, Piotr’s tractor roamed the fields, beginning the season’s harvest. Natalia’s slip would be found washed up the river bank later that afternoon by a little girl, who would run red-faced to tell her mother. Janek’s briefs would come to be tangled up in some branches under a bridge. No-one would pay any attention to it, thinking it to be just a rag. His boots which he had lost the day before would stay claimed by the river water for the next few decades, before being dredged up. No one would find any evidence of their coupling, or any evidence of their existence at all – except for unmarked gravestones down the line. But for that brief time on that morning, Janek and Natalia felt like they were the only souls who existed in the universe, connected in a single dream.

Natalia felt herself slipping over the edge. Her fingers dug into Janek’s back, almost as if to keep her from falling. For a fraction of a second she thought she could stay in this limbo between the solid ground and the emptiness of the air forever. But then a massive tremor erupted between her legs, and she accepted the void.

Janek felt Natalia beginning to spasm under her. She pulled him to her flesh in a frenzy. Her sex clamped his member like a vice, giving him the push that sent him hurtling over the edge with her. His balls drew up and a moment later a volcano erupted in his loins. He vaguely felt Natalia gasping and moaning against his mouth… but then he wasn’t sure who he was hearing. His body went completely rigid and his breath caught in his throat as he pumped his hot seed into Natalia’s belly. His senses narrowed down to a fine point at the base of his sex. He floated in that void for what seemed like days.

Natalia was the first to emerge from the dark. As her senses returned to her, she felt the last twitches of Janek’s member inside her. With her eyes still shut, she felt Janek’s head resting in the crook of her neck. Somewhere along the way, his fingers had intertwined with hers and pulled her arms behind her head, where they now rested. She felt the thudding of her heart in her chest, and a short distance away, she felt Janek’s heart doing the same. Her toes, curled up on the picnic blanket next to Janek’s knees, straightened up. The muscles in her thighs relaxed and she let her feet slide down the cloth, straightening her legs. She felt aglow, a lightness enveloping her body that almost lifted her back off the ground. An indeterminate time later, she felt Janek coming back down as well. Natalia showered his neck and the side of his face with kisses. Eventually, when he lifted his head off his shoulder to look at her, Natalia saw Janek smile, and thought that it was the most beautiful thing she had seen in a long while.

***

Epilogue:

Piotr returned home just after noon to get his lunch. Natalia was downstairs, humming a song unknown to him as she made him a sandwich of cold-cut meat. There was a slight smile on her face, a breeze in her manner. He was expecting himself to get into a raging temper at the sight of her, but seeing his daughter looking… happy after such a long time gave him pause. He listened to her tell him excitedly about the cabaret last evening, but didn’t press her about what she did later that night or where she spent it. When he enquired about Stejpan, he saw, for a brief moment, a confused look cross her face. She quickly composed herself and replied that Stejpan had indeed come along with her and her friends to the cabaret, and that he had enjoyed himself. She left it at that. Janek came downstairs just as Natalia was clearing her father’s plates from the table. Piotr saw a brief look pass between the two of them, and for the rest of the time that he was in the kitchen, neither Janek nor Natalia looked at or spoke to each other in his presence. Piotr quizzed Janek about the cabaret, but as usual couldn’t get more than nods and shakes of head from the young man. When Piotr asked if he could come to the field to help out, Janek nodded again.

The two men toiled in the field throughout the afternoon and the early evening. As they walked back to the house, spent, sweating, Piotr brought out his hip flask and, after taking a swig from it, passed it to Janek. Janek thirstily took a large gulp, but the next moment went red in the face and began coughing. Piotr laughed and clapped his back.

“That’s a homebrew. So strong, it’ll make you grow hairs under your eyelids.” He grinned, watching Janek try not to throw up. Piotr could smell the fumes from the flask from half a dozen feet away.

“My father gave me my first taste when I was fourteen. I almost choked. I swore off it that very day. Didn’t find the original recipe till Natalia was four and ten years old. The alcohol went down a lot easier then, especially with the tantrums she used to throw at home.”

He saw Janek pause and take another tentative sip. He grimaced as the spirit went down his throat, but didn’t give the flask back.

“Starting to like it, are you?” The old man asked. Janek smirked and looked down at the ground.

“Well try not to get drunk before we get back home. I can smell dinner already.”

Soon the scent wafted into Janek’s nostrils as well. His stomach rumbled and he realised how hungry he was. When the house came in sight, the old man looked puzzled.

“She didn’t turn the lights on yet?”

The building was dark. No lights glowed on the exterior, nor the interior for that matter. The two went up the porch steps. Piotr opened the door and stepped in, followed by Janek.

“Natalia!” he called out. There was no response.

“Has she gone off to the town again?” He wondered out loud, sounding irritated. The smell of stew was strong inside the house, but Janek detected another odour alongside it – that of something beginning to burn. He stepped into the kitchen and found the pot steaming, still on the fire. Hairs rose on the back of his neck as a reptilian fear suddenly crawled up his spine, curling around his heart. In the hallway, Piotr called out again.

“Natalia!”

From inside the kitchen, Janek watched as Piotr walked by the doorway between the kitchen and the hallway – pausing when a light flicked on behind him. The old man turned around.

“Natalia-” he began. Then his voice caught in his throat.

“Papa” Janek heard Natalia’s frightened voice call out.

The tendril of fear that lay curled around Janek’s heart went taut at hearing Natalia’s voice, turning into a vice grip inside his chest. Time slowed as Janek watched the old man turn to him, eyebrows raised, before being tackled to the ground from a dark figure behind him. The barrel of a rifle pierced the doorway, turning into the kitchen like a cyclopean eye. Behind it, a uniformed man. Janek’s brain screamed at him to move

MOVE MOVE MOVE

but he stood rooted to the spot as if held by an invisible anchor. Another man with a rifle burst in through the doorway, and before another heartbeat could pass there were two rifles pointed straight at Janek’s chest. Janek heard muffled yelling. He watched as the two men, their faces oddly blurred, drew closer to him. One of them pointed to the ground. Janek was paralysed. He watched the other man flank him, until he disappeared off to Janek’s side. Then something hard and heavy crashed into the base of his skull, and Janek blacked out.

When he came to, he was slumped over the dinner table. His head hurt something terrific. Janek groaned as he sat up. His vision was still blurry. He tried to rub the back of his head but found that his hands were shackled. So too were his ankles, to the legs of the chair he was sat on. A figure moved in front of his vision. It was a uniformed man. The stripes on his shoulders identified him as a lieutenant. The orange glow of a cigarette hovered in front of his face. As the edges in Janek’s vision sharpened, the lieutenant took a long drag and blew smoke out of the corner of his mouth.

“I’m glad you’re back with us” he spoke, pulling the cigarette from his mouth. He stubbed it on an ashtray and sat forward.

“I just wanted to give you my utmost attention for the rest of this evening.” He said, smiling. Janek grimaced and stared at him.

“Do you believe in fate?” the lieutenant asked. He continued when Janek didn’t reply.

“I don’t. But I believe that sometimes, some forces in this universe conspire. To make events happen which have no logical impetus to take place. To bring together individuals who have no business being in the same room.” He smiled again.

“Take, for example, two nights ago. I received reports that an enemy party had been found camping in the nearby forests. By all accounts, they were conducting military espionage. The reports said that while appropriate action had been levied against this party, one of its members had evaded arrest. Examination of the others’ notes indicated that this was the youngest amongst them. The springiest little doe.”

Janek felt a tendril of ice clutching his chest.

“And the very next evening, I get another report, this time from the town – right next to my regiment’s base of operations – that some reservists had received quite the hiding at the tavern, on account of a strapping young lad whom no-one had ever seen in town before. I’ll be the first to admit – the reservists are just men in shiny suits with very little drive and even lesser discipline. But their accounts told me that their assailant must have had hand-to-hand combat training.”

The lieutenant glanced at Janek’s knuckles. They had been skinned the night before, and only beginning to develop scabs.

“I heard how, accompanied by three local women, the man had managed to give them the slip. Now, presented with all the information that I was,” The lieutenant leaned over the table, “what would you have made of it?”

Janek said nothing, glaring at the man across the table. Above them, sounds of boots marching on wooden floors could be heard.

“It wasn’t hard to find you, Janek.” The lieutenant said quietly. “Your companions are well-known around the town. Some of them, a little too much.”

He glanced over his shoulder. Janek followed his eyes and saw, behind him, seated on the couch, Piotr and Natalia. Their mouths were gagged, their hands and feet bound together. Natalia’s head hung low and she was half slumped over, indicating she had been knocked out. Piotr on the other hand, was conscious. He looked back at Janek with fear in his eyes.

“Only one last piece of the puzzle remains.” The lieutenant said, straightening his jacket. “We found cameras amongst your squad’s belongings, but no reels. Since you were the only one who escaped capture, I have reason to believe that you have in your possession photographic evidence of something which you intend to take across to your side. And I cannot allow that.”

Janek glared at him. The sound of a door slamming shut came from upstairs.

“The question is, where have you kept it?”

Janek remained quiet. The lieutenant stared at him for a couple of moments before repeating himself.

“Where are the reels, Janek?” he asked, keeping his tone even.

When Janek still didn’t reply, the lieutenant nodded to one of the soldiers standing watch over Piotr and Natalia. The soldier grabbed Natalia and pulled her up off the couch by her armpits. She groaned as he carried her over to the hallway and out of sight of Janek. A moment later, sounds of something crashing to the floor came from the kitchen. Something heavy was dragged across the wooden floor. Following that, the groan of wood from the kitchen table as something was laid on it. There was silence for a few moments before Janek heard Natalia gasp, indicating she had regained consciousness. She protested from behind her gag and began to struggle. The table groaned underneath her.

“I really don’t have time for this, Janek. I’d rather be back in my quarters, enjoying my dinner and listening to light entertainment on the radio. By the way, do they have radio programs over on your side?”

Janek tugged at his binds. Behind him, he could hear Natalia’s limbs banging against the kitchen table. She yelled and struggled fiercely. Janek grunted and glowered at the lieutenant. Piotr tried calling out to Natalia but his voice was barely a whisper behind the gag.

“Where have you hidden the reels, Janek?” The lieutenant’s voice grew quieter. It was getting hard to hear him over the sounds of the boots upstairs and Natalia’s struggling in the kitchen. “Tell me now, so we can wrap this up.”

Janek pulled at his binds. He tried to stand up but he was tied at the waist to the chair’s back. He grunted again. Natalia screamed. The sounds of a belt being unlatched and pants being unzipped came from behind. Natalia screamed again. Piotr’s eyes widened as he realised what was about to happen. He pleaded for his daughter to be set free, he pleaded them not to do it. All the while, the lieutenant stared at Janek. His face had grown expressionless.

“I need the reels, Janek.” He said, his voice barely above a whisper now. “My men are going to find it eventually. But right now, it falls on you to prevent a tragedy.”

Images of Janek’s squad flashed through his mind. The events of the past week, their slow march back to the border, the ambush, the dead bodies, the chase, the cylinder… His wrists and ankles grew bloody from pulling at his binds. Natalia let out a blood-curdling scream. Piotr slipped off the couch and fell to his knees, yelling out Natalia’s name. Another soldier came around to pull him back up on the couch and whacked him across the head with the stock of his rifle. Piotr slumped over. Janek screamed at the lieutenant, but he just stared back at him.

“JAAANEEEKKKK” Natalia screamed from the kitchen. She must have slipped off her gag somehow. Her voice sounded like it was going hoarse. A moment later, the sound of something heavy hitting her face rang out and she fell silent. A few moments after that, a rhythmic smacking of something against the wooden table.

Promise me you’ll protect her

“STOP IT!” Janek broke. “STOP IT FOR GOD’S SAKE!”

“Only you can stop it Janek.” The lieutenant reiterated.

Tears streamed down Janek’s cheeks as he told the man where he had hidden it. The lieutenant nodded to the soldier in the hallway, who ran up the stairs. He returned less than a minute later, carrying the metal cylinder. The lieutenant unscrewed the cap and pulled out the undeveloped reels. He regarded them for a long moment. Then he stuffed them back in the cylinder, screwed the cap back on and stuffed it into his jacket pocket. All this while, the sounds from the kitchen hadn’t stopped.

“Tell the others we’re done here.” The lieutenant said, getting up. A couple minutes later, a couple of soldiers came down the steps. The one who had carried Natalia to the kitchen came back as well, carrying a dazed Natalia. He pushed her face-first onto the couch, where she lay next to her unconscious father, whimpering. Her hair was a mess and she was bleeding from the side of her forehead. The skirt of her housecoat was crumpled and hiked almost halfway up her thighs. Janek cried in silence, unable to look at her. The lieutenant came around the side of the table. He pulled Janek up by the scruff of his neck to face him.

“The promise of youth…” He muttered, regarding Janek. “And its recklessness.”

He let him go and stepped back around the table in front of Janek.

“I’m sure your country is very proud of you.” He said, unsnapping the buckle on the holster of his sidearm. “You’d have made a fine soldier.”

Outside, the evening breeze whispered through the maize. Crickets chirped somewhere unseen. Not too far away from the house, the river babbled as the currents drifted past the fields on their way to the sea. The moon was just a third of its way up the sky. At the town tavern, patrons trickled in slowly. Those who had missed the previous night’s cabaret were the ones talking the loudest about it. A couple of streets away, the proprietor of the bakery emerged from the back door, slipping the key under the rock by the door before heading home. Further away, Marta chatted about her day over the phone with Mikhail. She told him about the cabaret, and questioned when he was going to take her to one in the city. Mikhail laughed and promised her he’d take her next month.

Outside Piotr’s house, one of the soldiers tossed Janek’s metal cylinder into a fire pit. He turned back around towards the house just in time to catch the windows of the hallway light up with a muzzle flash, accompanied by a muffled bang. There were two more, and then everything fell silent.