# # #

The wind drove sheets of heavy snow through the village while Anatoli Parov and Nikoli Brodski walked into the Trovesk Medical Center.  The lobby was cold, but its protection from the wind and snow was a modest pleasantry.  Nikoli looked at his companion.  “So Anatoli, are you absolutely certain that you should be telling Anna that it’s over?”

“After the accident… well I can’t stand looking at her.  Besides, now I have Nikita.  I will tell Anna the wedding is off.  The sooner the better.”

“But shouldn’t you wait until she’s in better health?”

“The accident has left her hideous.  If my news makes her worse, so be it.”  He paused and looked about the dim facility.  “I will go see her now.  I expect this to take but a few minutes.  Then we’ll go pick up Alexander.  I take it that the information plant went well?”

Nikoli nodded.  “Of course.  No problem there.  And we probably could have done without the plant because we’ve fabricated two very believable witnesses.  They did not cost much and they will testify that he delivered classified information to the American embassy.”

Anatoli patted Nikoli on the back.  “Very good.  I think the bureau may end up giving you an early promotion.”

# # #

Anatoli walked into room 313.  He looked at the Anna’s face.  A face that was so beautiful a week ago, that it was beyond compare… but now, with all the stitches and punctures from glass… well now it reminded him of some crazy work of abstract art.  Now it was beyond compare in the other direction.  Yet, for as bad as her face was, her eyes had somehow been spared.

Anna looked up at Anatoli.  She smiled.  “Ah, Anatoli, my love.  It is so good to see you.”

He shook his head.  “But it is not so good seeing you, Anna.  Let me be quick, and to the point.  I am calling off the wedding.”

Anna began crying.

Anatoli cleared his throat.  “Actually, I’ve done more than to just call off the wedding.  I’ve decided I don’t want to see you anymore.  Never.  So I’ve arranged for you to be transferred to Chernobsta.  You will have a job translating documents, much like the job you had here.  You will leave by train on Saturday.”

As she cried he continued with his hard words.  “So, look at me through your watery eyes one last time, if you want to.  For it will be the last time that you see me.”

He turned and walked out the door.  He heard her screaming as he walked down the steps.  He could still hear her from the lobby.

Suddenly, there was silence.  Then he heard her scream at the top of her lungs.  “I curse you Anatoli!  I curse you!”

# # #

Outside the hospital, Anatoli took a long draw from his cigarette then released the smoke into the snow soaked wind.  He took a cigarette pack from his coat pocket.  “Looks like I’ve smoked my last one.  There’s a shop on the other side of the cemetery.”

“Want to drive there?”

“No. I want to look at Pragon’s grave.  Come.  We will talk as we walk.”

Nikoli looked confused.  “Pragon? Who was he?”

Anatoli smiled.  “He was the brother-in-law of Dr. Von Erich.  The later is a nuclear scientist who was attempting to defect.  He had made it into temporary hiding and we had reason to believe that Pragon knew the location.  Well, you know I don’t enjoy roughing people up.  I have a reputation for using my imagination, not my fists or cruel tools.  Anyway, I knew that Pragon had a very strong fear of spiders.  So, I had him strapped to a chair in a small room.  We had a glass ceiling above him.  And there was a little sliding glass door in that ceiling, directly over his head.  He could look up and see hundreds and hundreds of spiders moving about.  Now these spiders were of different types so many of them were fighting and devouring each other… they were quite agitated."

"We said, ‘Pragon, just tell us were Von Erich is.  Just tell us a location and this nightmare will end.’  He didn’t.  So we slid the door open a bit.  As soon as he saw spiders coming down he went crazy.  Started screaming.  Tried hard to break free of the chair.  Some of the spiders made little web lines and came down slow.  In addition, we had some tubing taped to the inside of his pant legs.  The other end of each tube went to a small glass box of spiders near his feet.  We opened those too.”

“In regard to the spiders in the ceiling…. I take it that you removed his shirt before dropping them?”

“No, not at all.  We had put very baggy clothes on him.  In fact, we had a wide angular collar around his neck so that the spiders would be funneled beneath his loose shirt.  There was a lot of room for the spiders to climb around in under his clothes.  So, anyway, Pragon finally yells out, ‘Erich is in the abandoned warehouse in Treblisk…. Von Erich is in Treblisk!’  I said, ‘See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?’  Then I said, ‘Opps’ and I opened the glass door all the way.  Just about every spider ended up with him.”

Nikoli shuddered.

Anatoli continued.  “Now, it just so happened that a few poisonous spiders were in with the bunch.  And it seems that Pragon got bitten a few times.  He lost muscle control, couldn’t breath.  He died within minutes.”

Nikoli shivered as he pulled up his collar.  “Very clever. But what if he had died before giving you the location?  And the scientist, was he in the warehouse?”

“Yes.  It worked out okay.  But there weren’t supposed to be any venomous spiders.  That was a mistake.  So I did get a bit of a reprimand because I could have blown that one.”

Nikoli nodded.  “I think that spider method of yours is right up there with your electric eel technique.”  He paused.  “I tell you Anatoli, I’ll certainly be glad when today’s job is over.  I want to sit by the fireplace and have a few shots of vodka.  It is cold days like these that I think of my brother.  He went to the U.S. ten years ago.  Lives in Florida near the Gulf coast. Fishes, plays golf, sits in the warm sunlight.  I could have gone with him.”

“Yes.  You could have.  But you stayed here to serve the state.  You serve your country honorably while your brother keeps his back turned towards her.  How can such a man live with himself?”

They walked across the street and through the broken gate at the entrance to the graveyard.  Anatoli started laughing.

Nikoli looked at him.  “What is it?  What’s so funny?”

“It never really hit me before, but the cemetery is located just across the street from the hospital.  How convenient.”

They both laughed as they continued on through a thicker coldness and heavier curtains of falling snow.

Nikoli pointed.  “Look.  Some foolish person is out here.  Looks like an old lady on her knees.  See, by that grave marker.”

“Yes.  I see.  And I believe I know whose grave that is.”

As they walked past the old lady, she looked up at them.  Then she stood upright and yelled, “Anatoli Parov!  You inhuman beast!  You killed my Ivan!”  She began pounding on his chest with both fists, as she continued yelling.  “He didn’t take his own life.  He’d never do that!  His death has your handwriting all over it.  You and your evil cohorts!  May you all rot in….”

He pushed her away then swung his arm with great force.  The back of his hand caught the old woman on the side of the face and she fell hard, hitting her back on Ivan’s stone.  Then he did a masterful kick to her ribs… breaking several.  “You can be with your son now old hag.  Rest in peace.”   He looked at Nikoli.  “Do you believe there could be someone so stupid as that?  To just start hitting me and accusing me of killing her son?”

Nikoli replied, “Were you involved with her son’s death?”

Anatoli laughed.  “That is classified information, my friend.  But, you are my partner and have a high clearance.  So, I can tell you.  Yes, I was involved.”

“Well how did Ivan’s mother know that you staged his suicide?  I didn’t even know until now.”

Anatoli shrugged.  “Ivan was a janitor for our department.  He was also quite a talker.  He probably told her about our work.  He just couldn’t keep his mouth shut.  In a real sense, he killed himself by not keeping quiet.”

They walked on.  Once again Nikoli pointed.  “See that?”

About ten meters ahead of them stood a tall dark female figure.  She was nearly naked, save for a loincloth and a dark robe, which was draped over her back.  Her skin was blue-gray.  On her head were two curved horns with a red disk mounted between them.  The headpiece seemed Egyptian.

Anatoli squinted as the wind picked up.  “She’s holding a dagger.  Hey, you can see through her lower legs.”

“She’s a ghost!” cried Nikoli.  “She’s an evil spirit!”

“Let’s be rationale.  The most logical explanation is a projection.  The bureau is probably experimenting with a new weapon, a device that projects holograms.  They can make it look like something is where nothing is.”

“She looks quite real.”

Anatoli shook his head.  “Watch this, I’ll prove she’s a hologram.”  He walked up to the image and stopped about half a meter before her.  “Look. I will put my hand through her.”  He slowly moved his hand up to her chest; then moved it forward.  When his hand pressed against the very real flesh of her torso he gave a yell and jumped back.  Then he turned and ran over to Nikoli who stood frozen in horror.

Anatoli turned to face the dark image.  Somehow it seemed to have moved closer to them.   To his surprise, her lips moved.

The robed thing spoke in a whisper of a voice.  A whisper that felt colder than the cold that surrounded them.  “I have come to give you a message.  Listen, for I shall not repeat it.  Very soon you shall see many small people.  And you shall see many small creatures.  And you shall see many small shapes.  You will destroy most of them.  But this I command you, when you see the small images of me and my twin, and of others similar to us, those you shall not destroy.  Those images, you must not destroy.”

The specter faded into the snowy domain.  And left no trace of her existence… save for her own dark cold image in the minds of two frightened men.

Nikoli looked down at the ice forming in his pants.  “I… I wet myself.”

“We’ll stop at that house over there.  We’ll flash our badges and someone will give us a pair of pants for the good of the state.”

“What about that thing we saw?  Do we mention that in our report?  And my pants…. I don’t want that in the report.”

“Of course not.  In fact, I suggest that you tell no one of the specter.  No one.  Otherwise you’ll likely end up in the office of the Bureau’s psychiatrist.  That can ruin your career.”

“Ah!  My groin!  My groin and leg feel like they’re on fire!”

“Come Nikoli.  We must get to that house before you have something freeze off.”

# # #

An elderly man opened the door.  His fear showed at the sight of the brass badges.  He began uttering a defense, “There must be a mistake.  I swear I’ve done nothing wrong.”

Anatoli forced a grin.  “It is okay comrade.  You have nothing to fear.  May we come in?”

“But, of course.  What is this about?”

“My partner and I are on an important assignment from the bureau.  But look at him.  A large dog pissed on him.  Can you believe it?  Now he’s icing up in a critical area.  Alls that we ask of you is the use of your shower and for some clean dry clothes.  That is all.  The bureau will be most grateful.”

The man gave a sigh of relief.  “Yes. I will find my warmest pants and shirts.  You can have two shirts.  And the bathroom…. It is right over there.”

# # #

Upon leaving the man’s home Nikoli asked, “Do you think he really believed that story about the dog peeing on me?”

“What does it matter?  Besides, isn’t that more believable than what really happened?”

They drove their bureau-issued black sedan the 30 kilometers to Beldinsk.  A small town surrounded by miles of snowy hills and pine trees.  Both the tournament hall and the adjoining hotel were now restricted to participants of the Beldinsk Chess Grandmasters Playoff Tournament, approved guests, tournament officials and others with legitimate business there.

A security guard stopped Anatoli and Nikoli just inside the hotel lobby.  “Your passes please.”

Anatoli flashed his brass badge.  “Lieutenant Anatoli Parov, Bureau Special Forces.  This is Sergeant Nikoli Brodski, also with the Bureau.  We are here to arrest Grandmaster Alexander Broniev.  Nikoli, show him the warrant.”

Nikoli removed the folded document from his shirt pocket.  He handed the paper to the guard.

The guard looked over the document and returned it.  “I see.  As it is now, we are just minutes away from starting round ten and Broniev happens to be over there by the stairs.  Did you know that he is, or I should say ‘was’ expected to win this event?  And that most players here actually think he’d take the world chess champion title away from Victor Ganyov next year.”

Anatoli shrugged.  “Who can say?  But, unfortunately he decided to betray the state.  I’m afraid his chess playing days are over.”

Nikoli added, “But he could play in the gulag.  He could probably be the chess champ there.”

Anatoli laughed.  “Good point, Nikoli.  Good point.  Well, let’s get this over with.”

The guard said, “I’d be glad to assist, if you want me too.”

Anatoli replied, “You can assist by locating the Chief Tournament Director.  I have a prepared statement from the bureau that he is to read to the players regarding this unfortunate matter.”

“Yes sir.”

Anatoli patted his nervous partner on the back.  “Come on Nikoli, let’s get this task behind us.

Anatoli approached Alexander Broniev from the front while Nikoli walked behind the chess master.  Alexander smiled and nodded at the agents, not realizing that they were agents of the BSF.  But his pleasant face turned to one of anguish when Nikoli grabbed both his arms and pulled them back hard.  A moment later Alexander was wearing handcuffs.

Anatoli flashed his badge.  “Alexander Broniev, you are hereby being placed under arrest for crimes against the state.  We will now go to your apartment where the state prosecutor is waiting to ask you a few questions.”

Alexander shook his head.  “This is ridiculous!  I’ve done nothing wrong.  I play chess and I write poetry.  That is all.  There is some mistake here!”

“There is no mistake.  In fact, we have two witnesses to your crimes.”

The security guard returned to the scene with tournament director, Gregory Pernowski.  Pernowski looked puzzled.  “Is it true you are arresting Grandmaster Broniev?”

Anatoli once again showed his badge.  “Mr. Broviev has been declared an enemy of the state and he is now under arrest.  Nikoli, show the director the warrant.  Also, give him the prepared statement.”

As Pernowski looked over the documents, Anatoli continued.  “It is important that you read the prepared statement to the remaining players.  That is an order from the bureau.  Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir.  However, this incident is quite a shock.”  At that point the lights began flickering, then went out.

Anatoli and Nikoli took a firm hold of their prisoner.  Anatoli yelled, as if darkness made it harder to hear.  “Nikoli, let’s get him outside.  Director, follow us to the lobby entrance.  Also, we need to have our warrant back.”

They escorted Broniev to the lobby door.  Anatoli spoke to his prisoner, “Do you have a coat?  It is quite cold out there.”

“Yes.  My coat is in my room.”

“Too bad.  Guess you’ll just be a little bit cold.”

Pernowski handed Nikoli the warrant.  “I will read the statement when the power returns.  But I have no idea as to when that will be.  Perhaps I will just postpone round ten until tomorrow morning?”

Anatoli gave the director a strange look.  “They can’t play chess in the dark, so don’t be so stupid about this.  Of course, reschedule the round for morning.  Use your mind a little.  Maybe I should run these events?  Come Nikoli, we have no further business here.”

Pernowski’s face reddened as he watched them escort Broniev to the black sedan.

Moments later, as they started to drive off, Nikoli looked back at the hotel.  He yelled, “There she is!”

Anatoli stopped the car.  “Who?”

“The specter!  She was looking out from that tower…looking out from the top window.

Anatoli got out of the sedan and looked towards the hotel.  Then he got back in.  “There is no one there.”

“But I saw her!  The horned headdress with the red gem.  The hood.”

Anatoli put the car into gear and lightly stepped on the gas.  “Nikoli, talk of this no more or I will personally see to it that you get an appointment with the psychiatrist.”

“Yes, Anatoli.  Sorry.  It was just my imagination.”  He looked back at the hotel.  Once again he saw the figure.  This time he kept quiet.

# # #

The three men walked into the home of Alexander Broniev.  Anatoli was expecting to see the prosecutor, and perhaps another agent; but there was no one else in sight.  He called out, “Hello!  We are here with Broniev!”

While waiting for an answer he noticed several display cases.  Each with a dozen or so chess sets.  There was a set based on Greek and Roman Gods and another with an Aztec theme.  There were fantasy sets, military sets, even sets with animal figures.  There must have been fifty or more different chess sets.

Anatoli walked over to one of the cases.  “How sturdy are these?  Can they topple over?”   He rocked a case back and forth until it final crashed to the floor.

Alexander cried out.  “What are you doing?  What’s wrong with you?  Those are quite valuable!”

“You won’t be seeing these anymore.  Not where you’re going.  My destruction of them will at least provide you with an outstanding memory of your collection.  One that you can carry with you for the rest of your life.”

He went to a second case and knocked it over as Alexander screamed.

As he went to a third case Nikoli exclaimed, “Wait! Don’t knock that case over!”

“Why not?”

“Look at the third set down from the top.”

Anatoli looked at the set.  It consisted of angel-based white pieces and gargoyle-like dark pieces.  The white pieces, with their white feathers and gold armor were attractive.  But there was something about the dark pieces.  Horns, tails, hooves, bat-like wings.  No, these were not what caught his eye.  It was the two pieces next to the evil king and queen.  It was the bishops.  Identical females in dark robes.  Each wearing a horned headdress with a red gem mounted between the horns.

Anatoli laughed.  “I see.  This set has an image of the thing we saw at the cemetery, and her twin.  She predicted we’d destroy many small people and images… and so I did by destroying these chess sets.  And now I’m to protect this particular set.  Amazing!”

He looked at Alexander and then at Nikoli.  “I wonder what would happen, if anything, if we were to destroy this set?”

Nikoli shook his head.  “I wouldn’t do it.  I know something bad will happen.”

“But maybe something bad will happen anyway?  Alexander, what can you tell me about this set?”

“It is good angels against bad angels.  I do not know who designed it.  It appears to be stone.  One thing nice is that the distributor who sells them also sells replacement pieces, should any get damaged.”

They heard floorboards creaking.  On the second floor, someone was walking towards the stairway.

Alexander and Nikoli both drew pistols; just in case the someone was not the prosecutor and was not a bureau agent.

The dark specter descended the stairs.  Her eyes were red, like the gem between the horns.

“Oh my!” cried Alexander.

Nikoli fired his pistol several times, as did Anatoli.  The figure continued as the men stood frozen in terror.

She spoke, “You have not destroyed the image of my twin sister, nor the image of me.  That set remains unscathed.  Good.”  She looked at each of the three men. T hen she stared into Anatoli’s eyes.  “Remove the handcuffs from him.”

Anatoli returned his pistol and fumbled for the keys.  He then removed the cuffs from Broniev’s sore wrists.

The specter continued.  “Now give him the keys to your vehicle.”

Again, Anatoli obeyed.

The specter handed Alexander a document.  Take this and go back to the tournament.  This clears you of any wrong-doing.”

Alexander looked at the paper.  “But how?  And why?  Why would you help me?  You are from the dark side.  ou certainly do not look benevolent.”

The specter pointed at Anatoli and Nikoli.  “Why don’t you take a good look at Mister Anatoli Parov and his partner Nikoli Brodski.  Do they look evil?”

“No.”

“Do not judge by appearance.  Judge by deeds.  Look at whether a man’s actions grow from love or grow from hate.  Appearance is but an illusion.  Actions are real.”

“But how did you get this document that clears me?”

The specter replied.  “I have a way of persuading men.  I have a way of scaring them into doing what is right.”

Alexander looked at the paper.  “I feel like I am dreaming, yet, my senses tell me that I am not.  Thank you.  Whoever, whatever you are, thank you.”

Alexander went into a room and returned with a coat, hat, and gloves.  “Again, I thank you.”

He went out into the bitter cold.  He was confused, but nevertheless extremely happy to be heading back to the tournament.

# # #

Anatoli had no idea what happened.  He found himself lying on the cold floor of a cylindrical room.  It was a room made of heavy stone.  He noticed an opening with iron bars.  He saw that the light within the room came from the dancing flames of several torches.

He got to his feet.  “Nikoli!”  There was no answer.

He walked over to the opening and looked out through the bars.  He saw a dark image close by, then, in the distance he saw an army of angelic chess pieces.  He looked at the darker image again.  It was a large pawn.  One from the army of bad angels.  There was a row of them.  It was then that he realized he was inside a dark rook.  That he was imprisoned within a chess piece.

He saw the white pawn, which was in front of the angelic king, move forward two spaces.  He saw the black king pawn move likewise.  He turned as he heard a sound.  It was the specter.

She spoke.  “You have hurt many people in your life.  And you have ended many lives, far before their time.  Now it is time for your life to end.”

Anatoli thought a moment.  Then he recalled a little theology.  “But there is free will.  I am free to live my life, as I desire to live it.  What right have you to interfere?”

“Anatoli, as you have free will, so do I.  But for me to exercise mine, I must be invited by two humans.”

Anatoli pointed a heavy finger at her.  “Well there you have it!  Nikoli and I did not invite you!  So set things back to normal and go back to whatever dark fairytale land you came from!”

“I was not invited by you nor Nikoli; at least, not directly.  You see, your former fiancé cursed you.  But, I cannot interfere if there is just one curse.  But then, not long after there came a second curse.”

“Who?  I heard no one else curse me!”

“You would know her as Ivan’s mother.  You knocked her against a gravestone.  Then you kicked her hard, breaking several ribs.  Believe me Anatoli, she cursed you in her dying breaths.  And with two unrelated, unplanned curses like that, curses that are close in time and from people that don’t know each other…. Well then I can exercise my free will.  Such invitations are rare, but they do happen from time to time.”

“And what about my friend Nikoli?  Where is he?”

“He had no curses against him.  Not one.  So I can’t interfere with him.  So Nikoli is out on the road and is hoping to find a ride.  Did you know that he actually has a trace of goodness in his being?  He just might turn his life around.”

Anatoli yelled, “Well I curse Nikoli!  I curse him!  Now if someone else will only curse him he can get punished too!”  Anatoli looked toward the barred opening as he heard the thunderous sound of falling stone.  He peered out through the bars in time to see one of the dark pieces falling apart.  It finally became as dust.  A white angelic piece moved to occupy the space.

Anatoli looked back at the specter.  “So, what is that all about?  Just what exactly is going on here?  I mean, this silly game of crumbling pieces.  What is it about?”

“Use your mind a little.  Imagine.  Imagine what it would have been like to have been trapped inside that crumbled piece.”

“So, that’s it?  I just wait here?  I just wait until ….”  His thoughts were interrupted by movement of the rook he was trapped in.  He nearly stumbled as he briefly lost his balance.  "What’s happening?”

The castle has moved one square to the right.  But, it’s a terrible move.  This castle is now lined up diagonally with a bishop.  I think you understand your situation.  Goodbye, Anatoli.”  Her image slowly faded, then she was gone.

Anatoli looked out through the bars.  He saw one of the light pieces moving towards him.  It was moving along a light diagonal.  It was a bishop… it was going to take the castle.  “No!  Stop!  I beg of you, please stop!”

The cylindrical room began shaking.  First dust fell.  Then heavier stones …. Then…

# # #

Several days had gone by.  The sky was a bright blue for a change, though it was still cold.  Alexander Broniev returned to his home, happy that he had won the tournament with no losses and no draws.  A perfect score.

He walked over to the two fallen display cases.  “What a shame.  What a pity for someone to destroy such works of art.”  He looked at the next case, still upright.  On the third shelf down was the angel set.  “What happened here?  Piles of dust and a few missing pieces.  Very strange.  Oh well, let’s see.  Looks like I need to order two white pawns, two black pawns… and a black rook.  Yes, that will make the set complete again.”