Chapter 4: Claws of the She-Bear
“Ugh”… Lily groaned, rubbing her head as she woke up. Looking around, she found herself with her friends and Casp in what looked like a prison cell. “Wh-What happened? Where are we? She asked slightly scared, seeing her friends had slight scare expressions as well and the soldier sighed.
“I am afraid that I have to tell you that The She-Bear got us.”
Lily’s eyes went small in shock. “No…No…” She whimpered, hoping it was only a bad dream.
Then she felt something warm, noticed Dinky and the siblings were hugging her. “Shh, we are here for you. Together, we’ll make it through this.” Dinky gave her a weak smile, although she sounded just as scared.
The Rosa pony took a deep breath.
“R-right…”
A loud, terrible creak make them flinch, followed by footsteps. The children and man held their breaths as a woman stepped into view.
She looked young in build, about a head shorter than most of the soldiers, lean and slender but with hard, firm shoulders and a heavy step as she paced forward, hands behind her back. Her hair was a reddish-brown, tied in a spiky ponytail just below her cap. But her face was different.
She wasn’t wrinkled or even worn-looking but something about her made her look like an old woman. Perhaps it was the unsettling crease in her lips that set them in an expressionless frown. Perhaps it was the biting coldness in her piercing blue eyes as she scanned the room. But something about her gave the impression that this was a young woman who’d seen war, tasted of it and developed a thirst for more.
Lily, Dinky, Katja and Blau held their breaths as she looked at them with a neutral expression, then turned her head. “Tartikoff.”
A man stepped into view. He looked more bull than man. His scalp was bald but his beard was simply enormous, coal-black and tangled, blotting out his lower jaw and neck almost entirely from sight. Barrel-chested with arms like logs, he was certainly an intimidating sight which was made all the more effective by the ominous scar over his left-eye. The side of that face was charred black, the eye colorless, by what must have been a fire, most likely a directed one. The other eye was small, yellowed by drink but still alert and fixed on any who looked to be stepping out of line.
He opened the cell door and they recognized his as the same one they had seen on the tank.
“I take the German, Colonel.” He said to the woman and she nodded.
The children looked at Casp with worry but he gave them a look that said, “’ll be fine.” Despite being scared, they walked out of the cell without hesitation, fearing what would happen if they would not follow.
“You’re coming, lieutenant Lemkin?” She asked another man behind her.
“Yes, Colonel Kallistrovich.” He replied with unease in his voice.
Tall, taller than his commanding officer at any rate and yet somehow appearing not so much shorter but smaller. Slender-faced with an angular nose and chin, slightly sunken cheeks and wide, forest-green eyes that looked childish and a head of black hair that hung near his shoulders. His overall appearance had a slightly feminine look, coupled with the light, pattering steps as he kept pace with his formidable Colonel. It didn't take long to see that this man had very little authority in the company of Kallistrovich and perhaps even less without.
Slightly shaking, the kids got brought to what looked like an interrogation room, with the woman pointing to some chairs, her expression without any emotion.
For a time she just sat there, occasionally tilting her head or squinting, examining the children in front of her, measuring how useful or threatening she could be, all without moving from her chair.
“You can make it easy on yourselves.” She said in a neutral tone.
Breathing deeply, gathering some courage, the children managed to tell her about where they came from. They left the lab out, just calming it was an accident with magic, also leaving out the previous adventures.
Kallistrovich’s expression was neutral throughout the entire story. “And the outpost?” She just asked.
“It…It was only a few trenches before we moved on, a temporary base.” Lily explained, slightly shaking.
“And who did you see? What did you see? Any artillery? Any armaments? Radios? Spare no details, for your own sake.”
At this point, fear took completely over. “Please, I don't know. Don't hurt us, please, I...”
She couldn’t finish as Kallistrovich threw her chair to the ground, taking a corkscrew from her coat pocket, grabbing Lily by the jaw and held the corkscrew right next to her eye. Lemkin, watching, was shocked, Dinky and the siblings startled, shrieking.
“SAY PLEASE AGAIN!” The woman yelled, her eyes blazing in rage, causing Lily to shiver, her eyes one of terror.
“Wh-wha...”
SAY PLEASE AGAIN! SAY IT AGAIN, YOU WHINY LITTLE TRAKH! I DARE YOU! SAY PLEASE ONE MORE TIME! SEE WHAT HAPPENS! SAY IT!” The woman screamed.
“Colonel!” Lemkin raised his voice, sounding terrified.
It seemed like hours before the female officer let Lily go, straightened up and sat back down as if nothing happened. “Miss Lily...Mercy is not something that I consider professional. And my men will not show any unless I tell them to. So, just so we are clear Miss Ruby, you beg and plead one more time...and you'll wish you hadn't.” She warned with a cold voice.
“Colonel,” Dinky spoke up, her expression slightly unsettled. “With all due respect, there is no need for this. We are just lost and Casp helped us. He didn’t tell us anything.”
“We swear.” The siblings added.
Katyusha was silent for a moment. “You can talk.”
The words sunk in. Lilly shuffled awkwardly on her chair.
“Yeah...Yeah, I guess that’s true.”
“You're certainly not from here, that much is certain.” The woman added, pausing again, making them fear what it would mean for them.
“However, that is not an immediate concern.” This made the kids wonder what she meant with that. “You have a nice voice. My little sister, Anya, had a sweet voice too, and was pretty and kind and helpful and would never wish harm upon anyone. When the SS came for her, she knelt and cried and pleaded, just as you have done...It didn't help her...And it won't help you.” She added.
Katyusha gave then a strange smile. Or not-a-smile as it seemed.
"I shall tell you a little about myself," she said quietly, almost purring like some predatory cat.
"I grew up in a little village not too far from Yelninsky. I was fifteen when the wolves from Germany came howling at our door. When it was clear to us that they would reach us before Timoshenko's men did, we prayed it would be just the soldiers or even the tanks. Men like Rommel or Goering who we heard could be kind and honorable. Alas, men like Rommel and Goering were far away. The ones who found us first...were the SS"
She sat back in the chair opposite her, her eyes appearing to glaze over and Lilly could swear they were slightly moist.
Was she crying?
"Have you ever seen what happens to those who fall under the SS? When they're let off the leash? When there's no-one around to stop them shaming their fatherland? Their commanders eager for easy conquest and their henchmen wild with bloodlust? My father was a carpenter. They thought it would be funny to cut him up on his own work-table and feed him in bowls to the other prisoners. And my mother was always known to be a beautiful woman, my little sister also. She was thirteen...But that didn't bother them" Her pale eyes twitched "I was not quite as beautiful. I looked more like my father, I am told. But that didn't bother them either though they took care of my mother and sister first"
"You mean..." Lilly stammered, uncertain whether her story or her expression was the most terrifying "...k-killed them?"
Katyusha gave that not-a-smile again.
"No, little one, they did not kill them" She gave a sharp exhale that could have been a laugh if it didn't sound so...dead.
"They wouldn't get around to that for a long time"
Lilly and Her friends didn't quite understand what she was trying to convey but, if what had happened had made Katyusha the way she was, it couldn't have been good.
"Eventually..." she stood up again and reached for a small drawer by her desk "It was my turn. My father, mother and sister had died. Now it was my turn to die...I should have felt ready. I should have been happy that the time had come to join my family and all those I grew up with...Except...I wasn't. I didn't want to die. I didn't choose to die" she took a deep breath and pulled something out the drawer. Some form of necklace.
"I chose to live...To fight...And to pay for their hospitality...in very much the same way as it was given"
She held up the item.
It was a small leather band. Strung through it were a dozen thin, black sticks. It didn't take much else than the stench to know they had once been body parts, torn off, burnt and dried.
Katyusha's non-smile widened, twisting into a sadistic leer as her pale eyes glinted like a scavenger.
Lilly's, Dinky’s, Katja’s and Blau’s eyes widened with horror as she shuffled back uncomfortably in her chair.
Please, please, PLEASE Celestia, let those be fingers!
"Oh, how the little pigs squealed..." the formidable Soviet sighed "when the crying little bear-cub grew big...and strong...and hungry.”
Then she looked at Lily with a cold glare. “You have a nice voice. My little sister, Anya, had a sweet voice too, and was pretty and kind and helpful and would never wish harm upon anyone. When the SS came for her, she knelt and cried and pleaded, just as you have done...It didn't help her...And it won't help you.”
They gulped, knowing they shouldn’t say anything wrong before she made a sign to Lemkin. “But we are done here.”
Casp said nothing as he got led to another interrogation room and sat down on a chair.
“So, what can you tell me? I am not like the Colonel.” Tartikoff asked rather calmly, yet a neutral expression.
“Not much, really. I am a simple interpreter that was ordered to scout ahead and await further orders. Still, I have seen what The She-Bear does, the horrific acts of violence.” Casp replied a bit disgusted and the officer chuckled.
“I always find it funny when Nazis talk of horror and violence. I wonder if you know Colonel Kallistrovich. She just a little girl when your men burned her village, cut up her father and took her and her mother and her sister again and again and again.”
The Sergeant took a deep breath. “...Alright, I did hear about that and I wish to make one thing very clear. They were not my men, nor was I with them. If they were, I would have put them to justice for their disgrace...in a manner that would make whatever Kallistrovich did to them seem kind. I am a regular soldier, not part of the SS.”
Tartikoff just laughed. “I am having a hard time imagining that.”
“I keep my men disciplined and ensure no civilians are harmed at their hands. This is war, standards must be maintained.” Casp started firmly.
“You misunderstand. I am willing to believe your men are better than those who burned her village. That is not hard to imagine. What is hard to imagine is how, in any possible way, what she did to those who hurt her could be seen as kind. There is a reason we call her the She-Bear.” The Soviet countered.
“Indeed. And there is a reason we call her Bloody Katja.” Casp replied with unease in his voice before he saw the Colonel entering, her icy glare fixed on him.
“Ah, good timing, Colonel. He’s very cooperative but I haven’t got any valuable information yet.”
“Then allow me.” She said coldly and he nodded.
“All yours.” He walked out and she sat down on a chair, not letting her glare down.
Casp’s heart started to race, yet he knew he had to keep the children safe, as Katyusha stayed silent for what seemed like an eternity before breaking it.
“Your pets aren't telling me anything I like the sound of. You do not want me to lose my patience with them. What do they know?” She asked stern.
“Nothing. I found them while on patrol and just did the right thing, helping them.” The interpreter replied truthfully.
”Why do you even care?”
“They are lost, what else was I supposed to for? I just operated on instinct and we were awaiting orders, so there was no time to tell them, had been there things to tell. I am no Nazi.”
As he said this, the woman saw in his eyes that the flames of the Reich had died long ago.
“I grew up with Russians, as such, I was horrified to hear we would attack the Soviet Union. I only followed orders for protecting my patents and girlfriend, never believing in Hitler’s messages.” Casp told with a tired voice. “But in the end, I lost everything. Keeping them safe is the least I can do I don’t care what happens to me as long as they are safe. If it means my death, so be it, I have nothing to lose anymore.”
Kallistrovich said nothing, just eyed him for a moment.
“I wouldn't be so sure of that if I were you, Sergeant. Is that all?” He nodded. “Then you may go back to your cell.”
Tartikoff did escort him back without a word.
Once back in the cell, Casp saw that Lily trembled, looking at her friends with guilt, although they had expressions of sympathy. ”S-sorry, I… I… I just wanna go home…” She sniffed, a tear left her eyes before her friends hugged her.
“Shh, it’s okay to be scared. We are all in this together.” Dinky gave her a weak smile.
“And I’ll do what I can to keep you safe,” Casp added with a weak smile of his own.
Before Lily could form an answer, they saw Lemkin walking up, carrying bread and water. “It’s the least I can for you.” He said with pity in his voice and placed it inside.
“Thanks.” Katja smiled at him and they ate their meal, glad to have something their stomach, despite it wasn’t much.
Seeing it was getting dark outside, they decided to hit the way, the children huddled together to keep themselves warm, as it was slightly cold.
The next day was quiet, Lemkin brought them breakfast and some cards, so they could pass the time.
While it helped them to keep their minds free, Lily still was lost in thought. “Do…Do you really think Fletcher comes for us?”
“Yes. It took him a few days to catch up. It’s very likely that the cold weather slows him down.” Dinky tried to make her hope.
“I-I hope that it did not get him or was buried by an avalanche or something…” Lily trembled at the thought.
“He survived worse, Lily.” Blau pointed out and she sighed.
“Yeah…Maybe…I just worry too much.”
Lemkin also brought them lunch and dinner.
As the next day came, they awoke as they heard the cell door being opened. It was Tartikoff.
“Outside. Now.” He said without any emotion, the kids gulped, fearing the worst as they and Casp got led out, together with other prisoners.
Lilly and her friends clutched Casp's arm tight as yells and holler sounded across the camp, all Russian.
A door from the lowest, darkest cells was opened and five men were dragged out, their wrists bound behind their backs. Each one bore the badge of the SS on their belts and had it tattooed into their backs where their shirts and jackets had been ripped open, the twin lightning bolts running blood down their bodies
The first prisoner was a middle-aged man with an auburn perm and a cracked monocle. His uniform was shiny and decorated in the design of an officer, perhaps a Major or even a Colonel.
"Lieutenant Hubert Von Steigler" Casp named him quietly "The Soviets must have taken Ostmark Point."
Beside them, another prisoner cursed.
"Damn...That's the last radio tower for miles."
Lilly watched as the officer stumbled to his knees and fell before Kallistrovich, who stood over him patiently, glaring with those icy eyes of hers.
"Please...listen..." he said, trying hard to keep calm "I am an Obersturmbannführer of the Schutzstaffel. I am worth a lot to you as a prisoner. If you let the Reichstag know you have me detained, they will negotiate..." He withered under the woman's steely gaze "I...I can convince Herr Fuhrer to show mercy to your regiment after Russia is conquered"
Kallistrovich tilted her head.
"That's like convincing Carthage to show mercy to Rome. They were the ones who ended up begging for it. They received none. And neither shall you" She clicked her fingers and Von Steigler was hauled to his feet.
"No, please! I am a leader!" he protested as they dragged him forward "Herr Hitler wants me alive!"
"Too bad for him"
The next couple of prisoners, from the looks of them Captains or Commandants, said nothing, but looked into the She-Bear's eyes with despair, hoping to find some pity.
"Listen, it's all a mistake! If you'll let me speak to the Kremlin, I am sure they will understand!"
A reedy whimper sounded loud as the Soviets dragged out the fourth prisoner.
This one was different. He was a fair few decades older than the rest and wasn't in uniform. He was dressed more like a dinner guest than anything else, wearing a grey jacket with gold cufflinks, a black tie with the SS insignia and a small badge of the Nazi eagle. He was wearing glasses and his grey hair was thinning on his scalp. He was weeping as the two soldiers held him firmly by the shoulders and marched him forward.
"Who's that?" Lilly asked "He's not a soldier"
"No. But he is a Nazi" Casp answered "I never got his name but he's some kind of bureaucrat. Fancies himself a philosopher, spouting the Aryan theories and such. Word is, he manages the camps."
Lilly watched as he tottered around on bandy old legs, desperately trying to get the Colonel's attention.
"Miss Gruvna, ah...Colonel Kallistrovich, you mustn't do this. I am just a clerk. I'm not involved with the war effort at all. Please, send me back to Westphalia, I am a civilian. The Geneva Conventions clearly state-"
He was cut off by Kallistrovich spinning round and backhanding him hard across the cheek. His glasses flew off his face in pieces as the woman barked, teeth bared in fury.
"Heinz-Walder Schneifenberg. Dean of the Reich Education Ministry and Head of the Department of 'Purist Research', Judge of the People's Court, Senior Inspector of Sobidor Extermination Camp and unofficial Oberfuhrer of the Schutzstaffel." She paced forward and stared him the eye, the old man quavering, knowing the woman was under no delusions that he was a simple clerk.
"You signed the death warrants of over twenty-thousand men, women and children of Russia." she hissed "You had them tortured, mutilated, experimented on, your ventures in the field of human suffering were beyond speaking of, you created hell on earth before our border...And you speak of the Geneva Convention?" Every word that came out of her mouth poured with malice and contempt.
"You...Dare...Speak...Of...Mercy"
Lilly and the other children looked at the old man. He seemed so normal. Looking at his weeping face and quivering posture, one could easily be convinced into pitying him, asking why the Soviets were treating a scared old man so harshly.
They found it so difficult to look at him and see a mass-murderer.
"No, no, no, please, Colonel! You don't understand!" Schneifenberg broke down into a sobbing wreck "They made me do it! Herr Himmler threatened to torture me if I didn't help him! Actually, I've always supported the Communist Agenda! You wouldn't kill a fellow revolutionary, would you?! Please let me go! Do you want money?! I have lots of it! Please, in the name of God, don't do this!"
Kallistrovich turned away from him as the fifth and final prisoner was brought out in quite a different manner.
The sounds of struggling came from the cells as an old, weathered man with the look of a veteran in a uniform far more authentic than others, bearing more similarities to the Kaiser's Guard than the SS, was dragged forward, kicking and cursing, the soldiers at his arms barely keeping hold of him.
"To hell with you, Bloody Katja!" he screamed with fury "And to hell with all you hairy Communist bastards! You think you've won?! The German people will stomp you into the ground like the worms you are!"
"Shut up, Captain Wilderschmidt, they'll kill us all!" Steigler's cry could be heard.
The veteran, Wilderschmidt, gave a derisive chuckle.
"These fools?! Probably blind drunk! You think you can scare me? I was at Amiens with Ludendorff! They didn't call me Fearless Klaus Wilderschmidt for nothing! I've fought boy scouts bigger than you lot!" He sized up Tartikoff "Look at you, you big dumb bastard! I heard your mother got ploughed by a bull, Gordy, you stupid, unshaven oaf!"
Tartikoff said nothing, raising a great bushy eyebrow with what could have either been derision or amusement.
Lemkin, meanwhile, stepped forward and cuffed the old man round the head.
"Hold your tongue, sir, or lose it" he snapped.
The veteran eyed him as if he'd been hiding before.
"Lemkin..." he muttered "Hector Lemkin. God, what a stupid name! Who was your father? The village idiot?!"
Lemkin drew back, stunned. Lilly ad her friends could swear he heard Tartikoff chuckle. So did the veteran, carrying on in his stride.
"No...I bet your father was a woman! You look like a goddamn school-girl! Is that what your Colonel's into then? Little girls? Does she dress you up in frilly skirts like that dirty old bastard, Von Gisstler, used to do?!"
"Shut up!" Lemkin clouted him with the butt of his pistol.
"What's taking so long?" Kallistrovich approached with an unamused glare "Does this old man fancy himself an actor?"
"Oh and don't get me started on you, you sick Russian bitch!" Wilderschmidt roared "Is it true every man in the SK 7a had your mother and sister twice?! I bet they enjoyed it! I bet you enjoyed it when it was your turn! I bet you asked for more, you little-"
Bang!
The children gave a scream, falling against Casp's shoulder as the man hugged them tight.
The next instant. Captain Klaus Wilderschmidt lay on his side, his eyes wide open, his face expressionless, as a dark red pool spread over the snow beneath his head. Kallistrovich placed away her pistol as quickly as she had removed it and signaled her troops to walk on, taking the children and the observers with them.
"Why did he do that?" Lily whispered, tears running down her cheeks, Dinky and the siblings watched horrified. "Why did he make them angry?!"
"Because he was smart" Casp answered quietly "He goaded them into killing him before they could really get started. Maybe he wasn't so fearless after all...Though I can't say I blame him."
Tartikoff gave Casp a shove to get him and the other prisoners moving but no other harm came to them as they walked into the courtyard.
The snow was falling heavy. Lilly could see her breath pour out her mouth in a cloudy vapor, her friends too.
Yet that wasn't why they were shivering.
"Are they...are they going to shoot them?" Lily whispered to Casp.
"Shoot them?"
Tartikoff's chuckle indicated he heard her.
"Silly filly. Shooting's for wimps"
The four chosen prisoners stopped as Kallistrovich turned to them and smiled in that unsettling way.
"It's a cold winter up here," she said, "But we'll make sure you're kept nice and warm"
The terrified captives stared at a great mound of tinder, piled high in front of them, wet with oil, with four enormous wooden poles jutting out at odd angles.
"No...no...you can't be serious!" Von Steigler screamed "You're insane! You're goddamn savages!"
Kallistrovich tilted her head.
"And what does that make you who fell prey to these savages?" she asked. Before the man could reply, she answered her own question.
"Dead meat."
There was a rusty metal box before her feet with a loose lid she kicked open. Reaching in, she withdrew what looked like belts of gold, like little sticks of shiny gilded trinkets she began carefully wrapping round the four men, struggling and wailing. Tying them round their legs, waists, arms and shoulders, it dawned on the filly what they were.
Bandoliers of cartridges.
In the fires, they'd blow, one by one, all over their bodies.
She stared in horror at how gleeful the woman seemed.
"You never used these when we stormed Ostmark Point," she told the men. "Not to worry. We'll put them to good use"
The guards dragged each man to one of the poles and bound them tightly. By the end, Von Steigler, Schneifenburg and the two others were writhing at their bonds like mackerel in a fisherman's grasp, screaming for mercy.
It still hadn't dawned on them that Katyusha Kallistrovich did not know the meaning of the word.
Tartikoff strode forward and handed her a burning torch. She raised it high, the fire bathing her ecstatic face in an ochre hue, as her regiment cheered.
Bar one.
Lilly, Dinky, Blau and Katja noticed Hector Lemkin, the young lieutenant, looking pale, almost ill. There was something about his expression that seemed so sullen, as if it were Kallistrovich herself about to burn.
He blinked and did his best to subtly look away without anyone noticing.
All around, Soviets of all shapes and sizes. Men and women, pumped their fists in the air, vengeful grins wide on their faces.
"Burn!" they kept chanting "Burn! Burn! Burn! Burn!"
Kallistrovich nodded, lowered the torch to the tinder and gave the prisoners one last glance.
"You can't do this!" Von Steigler ranted "The Fuhrer will have your heads for this, you primitive psychopaths! Let me go!"
"Please! Mercy! For pity's sake, mercy!" Schneifenburg wailed "I'll give you anything! Anything you want! Mercy!"
The word made the woman's eyes flicker for an instant, though that might have been the torch.
"As our mighty Premier Stalin said," she declared "Suffer not a Fascist to live!"
The next instant, she stuck the torch in the pile, twisted as if turning a key in the lock, and withdrew it.
The wood lit up swiftly and soon became a blazing pyre, the four screaming victims little more than extra kindling.
In the blaze, the four friends noticed the cartridges wrapped around them glowing brighter and brighter.
As she gave a horrified whimper, Casp put a hand over their eyes and did his best to shield their ears with the long sleeves of his coat.
"Don't look" he whispered "Whatever you do, don't look"
As the cartridges blew, there came a piercing, crackling sound not unlike a soda can being crushed and the screams of the burning prisoners rose several octaves, growing wilder and even more agonized.
Casp stared, nauseated.
The cartridges had peppered their bodies with hideous gashes all over, one by one. It was as if a great invisible beast had raked its claws across them again and again, ripping off clumps of their flesh.
The smell was the worst thing.
He hadn't eaten proper food in weeks.
The scent of the roasting flesh before them was feeling unsettlingly inviting.
Casp found himself looking away, tending to the shivering children beside him as the screams finally stopped, the blackened, featureless faces of the dead men locked in a silent howl of agony.
Kallistrovich threw the torch on the pile and marveled at the blaze, warming her hands in front of the four charred corpses, before turning to her men.
"Who's hungry?" she asked, as if she were a playful mother.
"You bet I am!" Tartikoff bellowed merrily "Let's roast up some of those pigs we found at Ostmark! Fresh pork, vodka and burning Nazis. Here's to a fine evening, comrades!"
The Soviets cheered, dispersing to the mess hall.
A small crew of them marched the prisoners back to the pits as Hector Lemkin made his way forward, looking very unwell.
He met Casp and his young friends and stood with his hands behind his back expectedly.
"Casp, is it?" he began "You stopped them witnessing the execution?"
Casp paused, gave the kids a sullen look and answered.
"Yes, lieutenant, I did. No child should ever have to watch that"
There was a pause. Lemkin was a man who found it hard to look threatening but whatever he knew, Kallistrovich would know the next day.
He spoke at last.
"That is something we agree on, at least," he said flatly, "Thank you, Casp. I'll put in a good word. You'll get a decent blanket for the night and extra rations"
Before Casp and the children could register their surprise, and indeed gratitude, Lemkin spun on his heels, nodded to the guard and left briskly.
"Casp, you lucky bastard," a nearby prisoner said with a begrudging chuckle.
"Don't worry" Casp replied, smiling, "I'll let you do it next time."