Lara's Gift by Annemarie O'Brien

Author:Annemarie O'Brien [O’Brien, Annemarie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-97548-5
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2013-08-06T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

The Red Thief Returns

Two of the wolves howled, hiked on their haunches and noses pointed to the pinky-plum blue sky. Such powerful songs came from deep within their bellies.

The thought of them so close, standing under the birches Zar and I had passed—alone—in the dark of night frightened me. I cradled Chara even closer to me. “I thought wolves were afraid of us.”

“Normally they are,” Papa replied, pulling on his coat.

“Then why are they coming so close?”

But I answered my own question.

They must be desperate to eat.

“Don’t worry.” Papa headed for the rifle cabinet. “They’ll learn soon enough that they aren’t welcome here.”

On cue, Zar flew over the birthing stall fence and headed for the door to join Papa—his nose poking the latch and his feet dancing.

“Nyet, boy, stay,” Papa said.

Zar pawed at the door, and the fur on his neck bristled.

“Let him hunt, Tyatya. He wants to go with you.”

Papa grabbed a lead and dragged Zar, his feet flying like mad, his claws scarring up the dirt floor, to a spot where he tied him to one of the brass rings attached to the wall.

How Zar struggled to free himself, pulling and twisting and leaping toward the door. His front feet pawed the air like a rabid dog.

“Don’t let him out,” Papa said to me. “He’ll get in the way.”

“Zar has experience with the Red Thief.”

“Zar’s got experience, all right,” Papa said. “Lucky for him Borei came when he did.”

“Who told you?”

Papa kissed the hunting horn that hung around his neck three times, and then he disappeared. The kennel door slammed shut, followed by the music of his horn and a quick …

Boom!

The noise from the gun shook my insides. I braced myself for the next one, and even though pups are born deaf, I covered Chara’s little ears just the same.

Boom! rang the second shot.

I prepared myself for a third one and closed my eyes, my whole body cringing.

Just like Papa had promised, the howling stopped. Little by little, the borzoi settled down.

Except for Zar. His ears still stood on alert, his focus unbreakable.

Papa returned, kicking the snow off his felt boots. He wore a look of defeat on his face. “They got away.”

“Tyatya, you’ve got to train Zar,” I said. “Look at how much he wants to hunt.”

I expected Papa to walk away from me, as if he were deaf to my question. “Did you see how big the Red Thief was? He’d tear Zar to shreds.”

Part of me wanted to stick up for Zar, and another part of me was afraid to lose him.

What if Papa was right?

Not long after Papa left to send a telegram to the Count with good news about the birth of the pups, the zvon of stable bells pulsed—ding ding dong, ding ding dong, ding ding dong. And even as the bells continued to ring like a chorus of singing icons, Alexander rushed in, wiping his tired, sleepy eyes.

“Did the pups come early?” The tone of his voice sounded worried.

“Everyone’s fine,” I assured him.

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