The Forgotten Princess

Two men meet to discuss the fate of a very important girl.

Snow was falling thick and fast, which was to be expected in Moscow on December, and a thick blanket of snow had already piled itself on top of Pyotr’s car after five minutes of him being there. The snow was crunching under his feet as he was walking on the spot in a desperate, yet futile, attempt to warm himself up. He sneezed and the second the snot landed under his nose he felt it instantly start to freeze. He briskly wiped it on his sleeve before once again resuming in his losing battle between him and the cold. He had not been there long, but minutes always feel like hours when you are waiting for someone, especially at this time of night in temperatures far below zero.

 

Pyotr looked around and could just make out the round onion domes of the kremlin because the small amount of light from the streetlight was reflecting off their hats of snow. The Kremlin was Russia incarnate, strong, vast and the design of it mystifying. It looked better during the day with its rainbow of colors. It looked like someone had drawn out the plans while looking through a kaleidoscope. Being over four hundred years old it was a building so rich in history, so many Tsars from the past lived here before Peter the great moved the capital to Petrograd. Maybe many more leaders now that the red army had moved the government back here again, but who knows what will happen. The whole of the country is balanced on a knife’s edge at the moment and any movement could push it either way. He decided he would come back soon to see it in all its glory, but when you are from the place it usually doesn’t feel like such a big deal.

 

He was starting to get impatient now and started to wonder if the person he had come to meet would arrive in the first place. Pyotr knew that the man he had come to meet had become pretty paranoid in recent times, but who could blame him in times that were so violently volatile. Pyotr once again started to count the lights from the corner of the kremlin wall one, two, three, four, yes under the fourth street lamp; he was definitely in the right spot. He lunged his arm forward to expose his watch under his many clothing layers and tried to get it in a position so that he could read it under the dark street lamp. The new electrical ones were definitely far more numerous and convenient, but they were still a long way to go before they were anywhere as close as good as the gas ones they used to use. It was ten past eleven, so his contact was definitely late. The meeting must have been called off. He was never late, ever, so there was no point in waiting in this bitter cold any longer. He turned around and made his way back to the car and just had his hand on the door handle when he heard a noise. It was a very distant crunching. It must be footsteps. Pyotr quickly spun a hundred and eighty degrees and once again took up his position under the street lamp. The crunching got louder and a figure appeared from around the corner and made his way along the wall and stopped behind Pyotr in the darkness behind him.

 

“Did you come alone comrade?” the man in the dark enquired.

 

Pyotr smirked “No. I brought my family along for a f*****g picnic. Of course I came alone. What do you take me for?”

 “Don’t take offence comrade. I have to take precautions and ask these things in my line of work. It is just a force of habit that is all. You want a smoke?” the dark figure lifted his open cigarette packet in to the light in front of Pyotr.

 

Pyotr reached out and grabbed one out the pack, “Yes. I have been dying for one of those. That and a piss, but I’m afraid if I take my dick out that it would freeze to my hand in this god dam cold!” The figure laughed, took a cigarette out the packet himself and lit it; which momentarily illuminating his face before it once again was consumed by the darkness. “I never thought you would have come yourself comrade Lenin. I was sure you would have sent a goon in to do your dirty work for you.”

 

Lenin took a deep draw from his cigarette and leaned against the wall, “A job that is this top secret needs as few people in the know as possible. A secret like this, if it got out, could result in many casualties.”

 

Pyotr shrugged “Well you don’t make keeping secrets too easy for me comrade. Do you know how hard keeping a girl locked up in your house is? It’s really f*****g hard that’s how hard it is.”

 

Lenin bowed, “and I must thank you again for that my friend. You have done for me, and your state, a great thing and soon you will be rewarded justly. As for the duration it’s my schedule has been pretty busy between fighting a civil war and being shot.”

 

“oh yeah” Pyotr said. “ I heard about that. Where did she get you?”

 

“Once in the neck and once in the cheast.” Lenin pointed at the positions respectively.

 

“Jeez that must have hurt.” Pyotr gasped “So what happened to the would be assassin? I’m guessing that she is in jail or something.”

 

Lenin threw his head back and laughed, “Not quite. The favor was returned and she got a bullet right between the eyes. Then her body was put in a barrel that was then set alight. How is the girl anyway?”

 

“I will have to write not to piss you off in my notes.” Pyotr joked, “She is in the car wrapped wrapped up warm and in a confortable position, for the long journey ahead of her, just as you have asked. She is such a nice girl, cute as a button, apart from almost not just metaphorically shitting myself when someone came to the door for the last six months she has been a pleasure to have.”

 

Lenin laughed heartily before getting serious again “How did the switch go. Did anybody suspect a thing?”

 

Pyotr shook his head “No Lenin not a thing. I hope you never organized for someone else to switch the girls too, because one of us could have easily switched her back again. They were both indistinguishable. Where the hell did you find such a look alike?”

 

Lenin smirked. “Well you know, Russia is the biggest country on the planet. There had to be someone that looked like her somewhere.” He took another draw from his cigarette. “How was the girl about being switched?”

 

Pyotr nodded, “She was good about it. I know that if my options were between getting a face full of lead or getting switched with a princess what my choice would be. Seemed like both options lead to the same destination after all anyway, which is pretty ironic.”

 

“How did the Tsar feel about the switch?” Lenin quizzed.

 

 

“He was totally fine with it. He must have thought that I must have been coming with lookalikes for the lot of them. He would have done anything to get his kids out of the Ipatiev house. He loved his family so much. The more I spent with the Tsar on his last days the more I started to admire him. It was a shame he was so weak a leader. The ruler of the largest empire of the entire world was dictated by his wife and a mad monk named Rasputin.” The both spat on the ground after the name was mentioned. “How could the Tsar have let that despicable excuse for a human being survive for as long as he did? Rasputin touched the Tsar’s daughters in plain view of the public. They recon he was even sleeping with the Tsarina. I even heard he drunkenly went to a balcony, took out his c**k and while holding it in his hand shouted that it was the true ruler of Russia. I would have let hungry dogs tear him to shreds if that was me.” Pyotr clenched his fists.

 

Lenin threw his cigarette end in to the snow, “It was for the love of his son Alexei. The poor boy was a hemophiliac, due to the worlds royalties close genetics, and Rasputin was meant to have taken the boy back from the jaws of death.”

 

“So do you believe that Rasputin was magic? I heard that the assassinators put enough cyanide in to his wine and bread to kill twenty men only to have the scoundrel ask for second. The killers then got fed up of waiting, pulled out a revolver to finish the job and left the room to make plans of disposing the body. When they got back he was gone and they found him running for the gate outside, where the showered him with bullets. Later when he started to crawl again one of the killers stuck his gun right in Rasputin’s mouth and pulled the trigger. Bang. They wrapped him in a carpet and drove him to an icy river and dumped him in and when they found the body in the morning it had half crawled out of the carpet, like he was once again trying to make his escape.” Pyotr chuckled.

 

“Impressive story.”

 

Pyotr resumed, “Well It does not end there. I heard when they burnt him that his body sat up in the flames. If it’s true he must have had some sort of divine powers.”

 

Lenin sneered, “That story gets more impressive every time I hear It. I’m sure in a weeks time he will have eight legs and a tail to go with it. Well if that scourge of the earth had any sort of powers they would have come straight from satin. It only took that one man to end the world’s most powerful dynasty. It ended up for the best though. If that dog of a man hadn’t sent so many Russians to die on the Eastern front the revolution wouldn’t have happened and I would never have gotten my chance to put communism in to effect. The days of royal families are coming to a close. The Romanovs are dead, emperor Willheim will be forced off his throne now that the German army has lost and after that it’s only a matter of time before the rest start dropping like flies. It’s time the power came to the masses.”

 

“It doesn’t seem like that at the moment.” Pyotr retorted.

 

“Well you know how the saying goes. If you want to make an omelette you are first going to have to break a few eggs. I first have to create order before I can start putting my plans in to place. The people of Russia are unruly. At least I am not sending them to die in a pointless war. The royals of the world just send their people in to battle like it was some game.” Lenin started to talk with some passion in his voice.

 

“Well your friend Stalin must be making some massive f*****g omelettes with the amount of eggs he has been going through. The guy is a maniac”

 

Lenin lowered his head “It is true. Don’t get me wrong Stalin has helped me a lot to get power, but he is definitely a lot harsher than I would like. I will have to try and replace him as my right hand man. I would definitely not trust him as my successor. He can be pretty cruel. If that happened we would have been better off sticking with the Romanovs. So how did the killing of the royals go?”

 

Pyotr nodded, “Yes very well. They never expected a thing. I think the poor saps even thought we were going to release them, because they were very compliant. We led them downstairs and in to a room. The Tsar asked for a seat, which we brought in for him, and he sat on it while the Tsarina and stood behind him. He then placed his little son upon his lap and started to stroke his hair. It was then announced that they were to be killed in the name of the Russian republic and the gun squad entered. He just had enough time to turn to see his family for one last time before they were all nailed by a storm of bullets. There was a bit of complications after that.”

 

Lenin raised and eyebrow “Complications?”

 

“Before they were taken downstairs the Tsarina had ordered the princesses and the dopplegänger to sew many precious gems in to their dresses to stop them getting stolen by the guards, it was nice to see even in their time of need that their priorities were so well in check, and the gems deflected enough bullets so that the imposter and the princess Maria lived.”

 

“They lived? So what did you do? Did the imposter say anything?” Lenin quizzed.

 

“I never let her get the chance. As she was squirming on the floor I grabbed the nearest gun and stuck a bayonet right in her chest. The other guards all followed suit and joined in on the bloodbath. I still hear the squelching noise in between her screams in my most horrific nightmares.” Pyotr shuddered “So why save Anastasia? Why save one princess and kill all the rest. If you hated the Romanovs so much why not wipe them off the face all together?”

 

Lenin pushed his back against the wall, slowly made his way in to the streetlight and looked straight in to Pyotr’s eyes. “Call I weakness, call it pity, to be honest I really am not sure myself why I did it. I just could not kill off the Romanov bloodline. A royal dynasty that has lasted over three hundred years in a country as volatile as Russia is nothing short of a god dam miracle if you ask me. You know that the first Romanov Tsar was dragged kicking and screaming to the throne in the Kremlin? Who could have blamed him when the only difference between a death sentence and being made Tsar was that with the latter choice a crown was placed upon your head. Back in those days poison was a piece often played in the game of power and every meal could have always well and truly been your last. Rulers had to be, somewhat, tyrannical in their rule of Russia to have even stood a chance. The world has had many leaders titled great in its time, fewer people have achieved being titled the mad but only Russia has ever managed to have had a ruler cruel and sadistic enough to forever be known as the terrible. Ivan killed more of his fellow Russians than he did enemies. Nicholas was not like that though, he was a nice man and see where that got him and his family; buried in a shallow grave at the side of the road as if they were road kill. Nicholas’s only problem was that he was too nice. His wife used him, his government used him and that despicable Rasputin used him. The royals needed to go. The royal white army was on its way to storm the city to put Nicholas back upon the throne. The first plan was to exile the monarchs but when the white army was making its way in to the city it was as if they cornered a wild animal. Instincts took over and we reacted to the impulse. We had to kill him so that they no longer had anything to fight for. We prevented a civil war. We made it so now we can finally give the power to where it really belongs, to the people. We can now finally be communists.” Lenin pounded his chest. There was not a single ounce of doubt in his words. He felt so strong in his cause that Pyotr could literally feel the energy coming off of him. Lenin was still looking straight in to Pyotr’s eyes unwavering. They stood like this in silence momentarily before Lenin finally broke the gaze and looked down at his feet. “But as I have said Nicholas was a good man. He just had the bad luck of being born in this generation. The people no longer need monarchs; they need each other. We found that girl who looked just like Anastasia. That was the only reason her life was spared. I just felt it would have been like killing the last unicorn, if there was ever such a thing, once the deed had been done there would be no possible way of bringing those majestic beasts back.”

 

Once again there was silence. Pyotr lifted his arm and placed in on Lenin’s arm to comfort him. “I think I get it. I am pretty happy to hear it like that comrade. To be perfectly honest I was scared for Anastasia. I truly was and hearing what you are saying now really has lifted a heavy load off my conscience. Where is she going anyway?”

 

Lenin shook off his feelings and resumed. “First to Germany and then she will be sent to Switzerland. I have friends there that will look after her.”

 

Pyotr’s mouth dropped “Germany? As in the country we were just at war with?”

 

Lenin smiled “Yes. Let’s just say I have contacts over there. How do you think I got across the front lines to Russia from my exile in Germany anyway, skipped? The German general Erich Ludendorff got me home to disrupt the government here so that the Germans could win the Eastern front so that they could concentrate on the Western allies. It worked, but my communist teachings slithered its way back through the German ranks. Soon, power to the people, could be heard from the German trenches and by the end of the war the German generals couldn’t even tell their troops to go to the front line let alone fight for them. From then the Germans had well and truly lost the war. My communist friends are now slowly making their way up the ranks in the German government and are fully capable and willing to help me, and my cause, out whenever I need a helping hand. They know how delicate a mission this is to me and communism as a whole, so I know our little secret will be safe with them.”

 

Pyotr clapped “Well I see you have planned this all pretty well from what I can see. I also see that Anastasia is in safe hands, so I think it is about time you paid me my dues. I have to get home before I have to hack frost bitten toes off before bed.”

 

“Right you are my friend. You will get everything that you deserve.” Lenin put his hand in and reached in to his jacket, pulled out a brown paper bag and handed it to him.”

 

Pyotr grabbed it. “Thank you comrade I have been needing this financial boost. Times have been pretty tight at the moment. My wife Tatiana and I have been talking about it and we think we are entitled to some more money. Silence isn’t cheap these days. I was thinking along the lines of a pension of some kind, you know something that would mean I can retire early if you get my drift.” Pyotr ripped open the top of the bag and looked in. “What is this s**t? Are you trying to pull a fast one here?”

 

He looked up just in time to see Lenin once again pull something from his coat, which this time flickered in the light. There was a flash, then a bang and after which Pyotr rag dolled to the floor; the paper bag landing next to him that spewed neatly tied piles of news paper bundles out of it. Blood furiously started to gush from the open wound on his head. It wasn’t long before the ground around about him was covered in blood, which looked black in the dim light and the snow started to crackle as it melted under the copious amounts of warm blood that now lay on top of it.

 

Lenin made his way over to the body, which now lay convulsing on the ground like a fish that had been chucked on the shore. He then knelt down beside him and put a hand as if to reassure him on his back. “I am sorry my friend. I truly am, but no one can no of this and I mean no one. I have worked too hard to revolutionize this country and I can’t have it all come crashing down in front of me. No one is as sick of the killing as I am. I hope that one day soon it will all be over, but for now hard choices have to be made in order to stabilize the world. The way I see it the pages of history are already dyed red with blood what is the harm of a few more lives to finally give us peace.” He then took his arm, put it in to Pyotr’s pocket and retrieved the car keys. He then made his way to the car, unlocked it and opened the door. He had just got one foot in when he turned back to the corpse. “and I am very sorry to hear about your wife Tatiana. Her knowing about our arrangement could easily jeopardize the entire operation. She is a nice woman and I regret that I will have to send people over to silence her. I hope you know you have done the world a great justice. I wish it never had to end like this Pyotr I truly do.”

 

Lenin then started the car and drove off down the road and soon enough was out of view of the Kremlin. Pyotr’s body was now laying still, but maybe just a glimmer of life still clung to his body because a solidary tear rolled about a centimeter from his eye before getting frozen to his cheek. After a while the snow then once again started to pour down fast, but gently, and within no time his blood soaked body was covered by a pristine blanket of white. Russia in the winter is a cold place indeed, so the odds were very high that he would not be found until the spring.

 

 

 

Author's Note

I really hope you guys enjoy this one. My punctuation can be horrific at times, feel free to point out all the flaws in grammar. Thank you again.