Words on Fire

If we weren’t going to argue, then we weren’t going to speak, for I couldn’t do one and not the other. When Ben was finally well enough to travel, I rode in the back of the wagon with Lukas, rather than up front beside him, in protest, which he said was all the better because then I could keep watch for Cossacks. By late afternoon, we arrived in Kražiai, and made our delivery of books to a dark-haired priest who met us at the doors of a large and beautiful white church with tall windows on all

sides and a tower on the front. After ushering us inside and inspecting our titles, he put money in Ben’s hand, then gave him a paper, saying, “Here are the orders for our next books.”

“Already?” I asked.

“Already,” the priest echoed. “The people here have been waiting weeks in hopes of getting these books. They will be so delighted to finally have them. So when can you return?”

I swallowed hard. It didn’t appear that I’d be allowed to come back again. But where Ben could hear, I said, “The sooner the better, no?”

The priest gestured around him. “This church has stood for over one hundred years, outlasting war and fire and the ravages of nature. But it faces a new enemy now, a tsar who insists we believe in his God. At first, he politely invited us to abandon this place and gather in his own cathedrals. When we refused, he tried to lure us away through rewards and bribery. Now, when all else fails, he intends to force us out.” The priest took a deep breath. “The soldiers among us have new orders, to destroy our churches and our relics. If they cannot remove the people from the church, they will simply remove the church and the people will have nowhere else to go for worship. One day soon, they will come for this place. The only weapon I have to stop them is a people who feel powerful enough to stand between a Cossack soldier and the doors of this building. And how do I make them feel powerful?”

“You give them books,” I whispered.

He leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees. “I know the risks you are taking, and I beg your forgiveness for continuing to ask more of you, but despite how young you are—or maybe because of how young you are—you are finding ways past the soldiers. Maybe they see you but don’t believe a girl your age could commit such serious crimes. Or maybe they never see you because a girl your age is more clever than they wish to believe. Either way, I have books here today that I did not have last night, and I hope that I can tell my people to expect more soon. Will you bring them?”

Ben said, “Stop filling her head with this talk. She …” He paused for a coughing spasm, one that continued on even after the priest helped him into the pew of a church.

“You’re ill.” The priest stood and offered a hand for support, but Ben brushed it away.

“Nonsense. I’ve got an order to fill.”

“We’ve got an order to fill,” Lukas said. “Audra and I can do it, Ben.”

“Let them do it,” the priest said. “Your cough will betray yourself and everyone around you in an instant.”

Ben started to protest, but even that ended in a coughing fit. The priest helped him to his feet and promised to find Ben a bed where he could rest, but Ben looked at Lukas and me long enough to say, “I don’t have a good feeling about this trip. Wait for me to recover and I’ll do it.”

“Get some rest, Ben,” Lukas said. “We’ll be back soon.”

As we began to walk away, I asked, “What do you think he means, that he doesn’t have a good feeling about this trip?”

Lukas shrugged. “I think he’s angry about being left behind, and angry that you are going out yet again.”

“Well, if we’re going, let’s go,” I said. Though if I was being honest, I didn’t have a good feeling about it either. Which was ridiculous—there was no reason to be any more worried this time than any other time. But I was worried.

Before we left, the priest insisted on sending us with as much food as we could carry, which unfortunately wouldn’t be enough for the entire journey. I appreciated it anyway. Ben also gave us some money for the printer and a list of other places we needed to visit to collect orders.

“Will we have to return with all these books?” I asked Lukas.

“As many as possible,” Lukas said, the answer I already knew he’d give.

It should have only taken us a day or two to collect the orders, but at each stop, we met someone who begged us to make one more stop for someone else who was running out of books. Our stack of orders was growing fast.

“We’ll never fill them all,” I told him.

But Lukas only grinned at me. “Maybe not, and isn’t that wonderful?”

I supposed it was, and so over the next week, I made a point of working harder and faster during the waking hours and spending every moment before I fell asleep trying to figure out how we might transport so many books.

The first snowfall of the season came the night before Lukas and I were planning to cross the border, and proved to be a great disappointment. There wasn’t enough snow to keep the soldiers inside their huts, but what little had fallen would easily mark our footprints.

“Distraction,” Lukas said. “That’s what you’re always saying. So how can we use the snow for distraction?”

I glanced over at him. “What if it’s not about distraction, but rather, creating the scene that we want them to see?”

His eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

I took a deep breath. “Where is the nearest camp of soldiers?”