Page 52 of Tiger's Tale
Fortunately, the rest of their escapade went according to Zakhar’s plan, with the exception being that the vault was incredibly dark. There were no windows at all in the cathedral basement, so they stumbled about a great deal and were constantly on alert thinking someone would hear them and come down to check on the noise. Apparently, the wind was sufficient to block out most of it.
Once they found the cabinet, it only took a moment to discover the box. Locking everything behind them, they returned to the barn, doing their best to cover their tracks, leaving the snowfall to do the rest. If everything went according to plan, they’d get what they’d need and return the box, along with the key, before anyone was the wiser.
By the next morning, they realized it wasn’t going to be that easy. They’d believed the key would be needed to open the box, but that wasn’t the case at all. Zakhar arrived early, bringing some breakfast and a small haunch of deer meat for the tigers.
“Do you have it?” he asked excitedly.
“We have it,” Nik replied with a yawn. “But we haven’t figured out how to open it.”
“Let me have a look.”
Danik handed the golden box to Zakhar and took out his hunting knife, portioning the deer meat for the tigers. Once they had their breakfast, he cleaned his hands with the warmed water from the fire and began preparing their own meal. Nik sat back against a post, sipping hot sbiten with his eyes half closed.
Meanwhile, Zakhar was flipping the box upside down, left, and right, over and under, pressing on jewels and twisting different knobs. When a small piece of the lid clicked, and he pulled it open, he crowed gleefully. “I knew it,” he declared. “It’s an elaborate puzzle box. I’ve only heard of these, but I’ve never seen one.”
“A puzzle box?” Nik said, opening his eyes. “What’s that?”
“They can be simple, requiring only a few simple moves, or they can be very complex boxes requiring more than one hundred moves. So far, I’ve only managed a few. My guess is that this one is a complicated box with lots of levels.”
He kept at it while they ate, discovering a magnetized gemstone that was embedded in a removable piece of wood. If they held it on the underside of the box, they could hear something moving back and forth inside. Zakhar was certain that was the key that fit into the keyhole he’d just uncovered. They just needed to access it. Unfortunately, he needed to head to seminary classes, so he left the box in the hands of the other two men for the morning, promising to return and bring them an early supper. Zakhar had hoped to retrieve the key and the box before the others woke that morning, but he couldn’t take one without the other, so they’d have to wait and risk the bishop discovering one or both was missing.
Nikolai and Danik took turns trying to solve the puzzle, until finally Danik had the idea to push down on a small piece they’d both been overlooking on the corner. It must have opened something inside the box, allowing the key to drop into another compartment. Once it was there, they slid open the outside wall, allowing the key to fall into Nik’s palm. He inserted it into the keyhole on the top, and with a click, the box fell open.
Four sets of eyes stared down inside the box—two human and two tiger. Hands shaking, Danik reached inside and carefully took out the rolled piece of parchment. They debated for a moment if they should wait for Zakhar to return, but it was only midday, and they’d have to wait for several hours. Unable to resist, Nik tugged on the leather tie, loosening it, and unrolled the scroll.
Holding the parchment up to the light, Nik squinted at it for several long moments and then passed it off to Danik, saying, “I can’t read it. It’s in some other language.”
“Let me see.”
Danik perused it for a time as well but was equally frustrated, though he did take some time to admire the beautiful art in the margins. “Uh, Nikolai?” he said. “Take a look at this.”
He pointed to some beautiful renderings of tigers, with very familiar coloring.
“Yeah,” Nik replied, after a moment of comparison. “I’d say it’s them. Unless you’ve come across any that look like them before.”
Danik shook his head. “Stacia maybe, but she’s much redder than most tigers. They tend to be more orange. And I’ve certainly never seen any that look like Veru.” He took the parchment back and pointed out a section at the bottom. “Doesn’t that look like a cat to you too?”
“Not sure,” Nik said. “Might be a panther of some type.”
The two spent several hours studying the drawings, trying to figure out what they might mean. When Zakhar arrived with the evening meal, they showed him the scroll, and when he unrolled it, he, too, was fascinated with the art, but told them he couldn’t read the text either, even though he was well-versed in several languages. Then he peered at it more closely and gasped, tracing his fingertip lightly over the whorls and ink, focusing intently on one section.
“What is it?” Nik asked.
“Did you see something we didn’t?” Danik pressed.
Zakhar stepped back and turned away, clasping his hands behind his back. He paced a bit, mumbling to himself, saying things like, “It can’t be,” and, “Impossible.” Finally, he turned back and smiled at the others. While rolling up the scroll tightly, he told them that the bishop had instructed all the students to look for the missing key, and it was imperative that the gold box and the key be returned as soon as possible.
He’d brought a waterproof leather bag for them to wrap the scroll in, and as he carefully rolled the beautiful work and stored it, he hoped the suspicion he had didn’t show on his face. Like them, he believed the art reflected the tigers, but unlike them, he was skilled enough with letters and scrollwork to recognize the work of certain reputable artists, especially those he’d seen often. And Zakhar could absolutely identify work done by his own hand.
Though Zakhar had no recollection of creating such a piece, and it was much more masterful than anything he’d ever done, he’d found the hidden signature instantly. That he didn’t know the language meant nothing. It could simply be a copy of something he didn’t know. But how could it be? Had he created it before, during a waking dream? Or perhaps someone had duplicated his style? But why? It didn’t make sense.
What was clear to him was that he was involved. He had felt it from the moment they’d explained their situation. As much as Zakhar loved the church, when they moved on, he’d need to go with them. It was as simple as that.
Handing over the bag, he said, “Will you trust me?”
“Yes,” Danik said instantly.
“Depends,” replied Nik.
