“Why are they asking for papers?” a woman next to us said.
One man walked right up to us and stood too close. He stared at Dmitri. “You look familiar,” he said, spitting out a sunflower seed shell. “What’s your name, comrade?”
I saw Dmitri’s jaw clench. “I don’t speak Russian,” Dmitri said in English.
The man peered at him. “I swear I know you.”
Dmitri looked back at him as if he hadn’t understood.
“You remind me of a lieutenant I had in the west. One of the stinking officers who thought they were better than us and could give us orders.”
Dmitri stayed motionless. The man pointed a finger at him. “Don’t you move. I want to talk to the captain about you.”
The others had gathered around us. Nika grabbed Dmitri’s hand. “Do you know that man?” she asked.
“He was part of a group trying to rebuild a bridge,” Dmitri said. “I was assigned to oversee it. He didn’t like that I knew more than him about bridges. Stay here, all of you.”
“Where are you going?” I asked, dread filling me.
“I need to get away. Hap hasn’t added me to one of the passports and there isn’t time now. I’ll only put you in danger if that soldier recognizes me.”
I heard a man cry out in pain and looked to see someone doubled over, clutching his stomach. The leader stood over him with his fist clenched, as if he had just punched him.
Another woman screamed as a different soldier tried to pull a ring off her finger. He hit her and she fell down as he wrenched her finger again. A shot rang out and a passenger, an old man, fell to the ground.
“We all need to get out of here,” I said. “Hap, can you grab my bag that has the magic boxes in it and do it so no one notices? And get anything else you can carry.”
“We aren’t going to be able to get very far,” Miles said. “Not in the snow and not with the twins. And it’s going to be dark soon.” A few of the passengers had taken off running, and there were already soldiers in pursuit.
“I’ve got an idea.” Dmitri looked over at the Cossacks’ horses, which were hobbled together in a bunch. “I talked to some of those men while you were helping the passengers. They’re definitely not Bolsheviks.”
I noticed that the Cossacks were gathering together in a group close to their horses and they all had weapons. I knew what Dmitri was thinking.
“You’re not the only one who knows how to ride, right?” Dmitri asked me.
“No, we all ride, but the twins only ride ponies.”
“That’s fine. We’ll put them up with two of you.”
“Do you really think they’re going to sell us some horses?” Miles said. He understood too.
“Dmitri and I will go find out. The rest of you stay here.”
Dmitri and I walked over to the Cossacks, who were still in some major discussion. There were fewer of them than there were of the Bolsheviks, but they had the horses, and every single man had a weapon. I didn’t see many weapons among the soldiers who had gotten off the train.
Dmitri went over to one man. “Friend, we’ve got a problem.” He pointed over to the children. “We need to get them away from here. I know you have extra horses, and we’d be willing to pay you quite a bit to borrow them for a few hours.”
The man drew back. “Borrow? How would you get them back to us?”
“We’d ride them across the border and then tie them up. You can retrieve them later.” Dmitri pulled out a small roll of money and tried to give it to the man. “This is good pay for renting horses. We only need four of them, and just your pack animals, not your best horses, of course.”
The man looked over at the children and then back at us. “I don’t know. What if someone steals the horses before we can get them back?”
I pulled the bag out from underneath my shirt and took out both a ruby necklace and a diamond one. They glittered in the sunlight.
“These are very valuable,” I said, handing them to the man. “They’ll buy you supplies and horses for a year.”
He held the necklaces up. “I give you my word they are real,” I said. “And I really want to get my family to a safe place. My little sisters are only five, and they are very scared.”
I held my breath. The soldiers were getting closer to our train car.
The man put the necklaces in his pocket and motioned to someone next to him. “Give them four horses,” he said. “You can have them. No borrowing necessary.” He turned to Dmitri and began to give him directions on how to get across the border.
I motioned for the others to join us. The captain of the Bolsheviks had gotten about halfway down the train, talking to each person. The ones who had tried to get away were dragged to him, several of them with bleeding mouths and noses from the soldiers hitting them with rifle butts.
“You are attracting some interest, my friend,” the Cossack said to Dmitri. “We may be able to give you some help. We’ve decided we don’t like these men on our territory. As soon as you are ready to ride, we will begin to let them know exactly who we are.”
“Thank you,” Dmitri said.
I didn’t know how Dmitri had become their friend so quickly, and I didn’t have time to ask him.
The Cossacks surrounded us to hide us from view as we got organized. “Stepan, you ride with Hap, all right?” Dmitri said. “You two are going to go first. Miles, you put Sophie up with you, and you follow Hap and Stepan. Nika, you’re going to ride with Charlotte.”
Tears were running down Nika’s face. I’d never seen her so scared before. She held out the basket with the kitten to Dmitri. “We don’t have to leave her behind, do we?”
“No, of course not. Who do you think is coming with me?” Dmitri put the kitten in his bag and slung it over his shoulder. “I’m going last. No matter what happens, keep going in that direction.” He pointed down the tracks. “Ride until you see an abandoned house. That means you’ve crossed the border.”
“Better hurry,” the Cossack called. “We can’t wait much longer.”
We got everyone up. The Cossack called back to us again. “Wait for the first shot, friends.” The men around us moved forward until we were behind all of them. Their horses stamped their feet and blew air out their noses as if eager to charge.
When the shot rang out, Hap jerked, but his horse stayed calm. “Now,” Dmitri said. “Hap, go!” Hap took off, Stepan behind him, clinging to his waist. Miles followed. Sophie had her face buried in Miles’s back.
“Ready, Nika. Hold on,” I said as I urged the horse forward. Even the Cossacks’ least valuable horses were wonderful. They ran flat out as if they could go on for hours.
I heard shouts of “Stop!” and then more gunfire. The horses kept on. I didn’t look back, fearing I’d unbalance Nika. I prayed Dmitri was still behind me. We couldn’t have come so far only to be stopped before we reached the border. I was finished with violent, greedy men. They weren’t going to win.
As we moved farther away, I began to breathe more easily. The Bolsheviks didn’t have horses and they couldn’t catch up with us. When I saw the house ahead of me, I slowed down. “Are you all right, Nika?” I said over my shoulder.