Page 113 of Tiger's Trek
She looked him up and down. The bangles on her arm jingled musically as she put her hands on her wide hips. “Yes. I bet you are thirsty. Thirsty and chafing. No? Come. I give you drink and help you find brother, but that is all. Yes? And don’t scratch. Not in my tent. Understand?”
Nik nodded and bit his lip. “Yes. Spasibo.”
“Come. You sit here. I bring brother.”
Disappearing through a curtain, Nik sat at a table, warming his hands by a small cookstove. Soon the fabric stirred, and a serving girl brought a glass with a pitcher of cold water and set it down beside him. He stared at it greedily, not even waiting for her to leave before gulping down a glass. He’d emptied three more before he heard voices. One sounded familiar.
“But who is it, good lady?”
“You go, see.”
“If you’re scared, I’ll go.” This came from a young girl. She was the first one to enter. The girl cast aside the curtain and strode up to Nik, offering her hand as if she were a princess. “Hello,” she said.
Before he could shake her hand, the fortune teller called out from behind the curtain, “Don’t shake hands with that one, girl. He’s stricken with a curse. You would’na want it ta rub off.”
“Oh. Sorry,” she said and gave him a curtsy instead.
“Don’t worry about it,” Nik replied. “Dobryy den’, to you,” he added, inclining his head.
“I’m Zima. Who are you?” the little girl asked boldly.
“I’m—”
Before he could answer, the man strode into the room, gave a shout of delight, and exclaimed, “That, my dear, is Nikolai Novikov! I can’t tell you how good it is to see you, Nik. Now what’s all this about a curse? Is there something I can do to help?”
Nik rose from his chair and grasped hands with the priest, then quickly stepped back, withdrawing them. “Better not take a risk. I don’t think it will rub off on you, but I was also promised it was painless, so you never know. You have no idea how good it is to see you, Zakhar. How have you been? I’ve got so much to tell you.”
“And I, you. I’m so relieved we are reunited at last.”
“Yes, but not all of us. We’ll get to that. But first, have you seen my friend Pasha? He might be going by the name Gedeon. Gedeon Volkov.”
“Oh. I’m a...” Zakhar leaned in closer. “I’m afraid Gedeon ismywatchword.”
“Really? Well, that’s interesting. How did you come by that, I wonder?”
“It was the little man,” Zima said. “He said we needed to be more careful. And hide our balloon too.”
“Is that right?” Nik queried Zakhar. “So you have a balloon?”
“Yes. I gave the man our gold. In exchange, he’s going to help us rescue Stacia.”
“Did this little man happen to have one large eye in the center of his forehead?”
“He did!” Zima exclaimed.
“Ah. That’s Pasha.”
“At least that’s one mystery solved,” Zakhar said.
“Yeah. About that. You’d better sit down.”
Zakhar and Zima sat, and Nik poured himself another glass of water, downed it, and then peered at the empty pitcher with a scowl.
“Okay, I don’t know how much time we have,” Nik said, “so I’ll just get right to the point. Veru, Stacia, and Iriko have all been captured by the Death Draughtsman.”
“What?” Zakhar said in alarm.
“Who is that?” asked Zima.
