Nikolai the Penitent by Mark Carver

Author:Mark Carver
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Crossover Alliance
Published: 2023-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

A growling noise startled him awake. His eyes snapped open, and he saw only darkness. He held his breath, clenching every muscle in his body as the cold swept away the tendrils of sleep that still clung to his mind. He scanned the void in front of him, hoping to see something yet afraid of what it might be.

The snarling sound rumbled again. It came from his stomach. He cringed with embarrassment, even though there was no one else around. He pushed himself up into a sitting position and hugged the tattered curtain around his shoulders.

Slivers of light forced their way through the boarded windows to his right. The sun was just beginning to rise. His eyes adjusted to the weak light after a few minutes, and he could soon see well enough to move around.

Several rodents, some of them quite large, scurried across the floor. Nikolai growled with frustration when he saw his provisions bag gnawed full of holes. Stupid, stupid. He picked it up, hoping to find some edible morsels left, then threw it back down in disgust. At least his water skin was still intact, only because it had been tucked under him while he slept, but so had his provisions bag…

He shuddered to think of these cat-sized vermin sneaking up to him in the night and dragging his food bag out from under him. Good thing they hadn't decided to nibble on him as well.

The edges of the doorway glowed in the dawn light, like a divine portal beckoning him. Nikolai swallowed some water and wiped his mouth. He knew what lay beyond that door. Once he went through it, there would be no going back.

His stomach snarled again. Before the whipping and pain and blood began, he needed food. He didn't have any money, and he suspected that the remaining stores at a place as distraught as Hamburg would have very high prices.

A prayer that the priest in Segeburg had often said echoed in his mind: Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread…

Nikolai had never prayed for something so simple before. He had always asked God for large things, like health and safety. The deliverance of his family. Some prayers had been answered; most had not. It almost seemed like a waste of God's time to ask for something as trivial as a piece of bread.

His stomach didn't think it was so trivial, voicing its displeasure at being empty. Nikolai looked again at the door and took a deep breath. Almighty God, please give me something to eat. He pushed open the door and stepped outside.

His foot caught on something, nearly sending him tumbling headlong down the front steps. He regained his balance and looked down. The crusty carcass of a dog lay sprawled across the front step, its head resting on its paws as if it had simply gone to sleep, never to wake again. Flies buzzed around it, large clusters of them congregating around the ears where fluid leaked out.

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