THE SNOW HADN’T STOPPED FALLING SINCE MY ESCAPE FROM HEADQUARTERS, ALTHOUGH IT WAS LIGHTER NOW. I LEANED UP CLOSE TO SPEAK WITH PETR AND VLADIMIR TO ask about our route to Kobona.

“Will you go directly west, Vladimir?”

“Not exactly. We’ll go north, then west, then north, then west. That way if two different people saw us and reported our direction, they could easily contradict each other and cause confusion. I’m also staying off the roads whenever possible.”

It was a silent journey; no sleigh bells jingled on Nesa’s harness, and none of us spoke much once we left Petr’s. His rifle rested on his knees; two more sat on Auntie’s lap under the blankets. Our rush from headquarters to Petr’s was an unexpected blessing; the dogs had exhausted themselves and fallen asleep.

The first twenty minutes were uneventful. We were approaching the main east-to-west road, the road the Germans were almost certain to use when they retreated. It would take only a few minutes for us to cross and disappear into the forest, but those few minutes might be the most dangerous of our journey. I was listening hard for any unusual sound.

“What was that?” I said, half to myself. Was I the only one who heard it? “Vladimir, turn — now — into that gully,” I whispered as loudly as I dared.

He didn’t question me, and with a pull of the reins guided Nesa down a small hill at the edge of the meadow. There were few trees; the hillock provided our only protection from someone on the road spotting us.

“What did you hear, Ivan?” Auntie asked once we came to a stop.

“Motors, rumbling. The same sounds I heard outside headquarters.”

She nodded and put her arm around me. “We haven’t come this far to be careless now.”

Vladimir climbed down and stood next to Nesa, holding her reins and petting her head. It was decided that Auntie and I would stay where we were to keep the dogs quiet, and Petr would see if he could find out what was happening. On his knees, with his rifle in his hand, he crawled to the lip of the hill. We sat motionless in the falling snow, listening to what were clearly the sounds of the German army abandoning Vilnov. It was cold and hard to sit still. Just when it seemed that we’d heard the last of them, another contingent of noisy vehicles would rush by. We must have been there an hour before Petr carefully crawled backward down the hill and came to talk to us.

“This could go on for some time,” he said, looking almost as pale as the snow, and very, very cold. “I don’t think we should leave until fifteen minutes after we’ve seen our last vehicle.”

“I agree,” I said, “but we have to take turns or you and Vladimir will freeze.” All of us were covered in about a half inch of snow, like so many statues in a garden; and it didn’t look like it was going to be letting up any time soon.

Petr looked doubtful, but I jumped down from the sleigh before he could protest. “Take my seat, get warm, and we’ll trade places in another hour if we’re still here. Be careful of the dogs,” I warned him.

Auntie slipped out of her side of the sleigh and said something to Vladimir. He shook his head. Auntie put her hand on his arm and talked to him some more before he handed her Nesa’s reins and climbed in next to Petr in the back of the sleigh.

“You’re no good to us if you’re frozen to death,” I said, making sure they covered themselves in the thick blankets all the way from the neck down, and that the dogs didn’t awaken.

“I’m worried about Nesa,” Vladimir said. “We can’t keep her standing in the snow for too much longer.” Petr and I nodded without answering. If we were lucky, we would be on our way soon and wouldn’t have to formulate a plan for Nesa at all.

I lay on my stomach on the hill; it was freezing. Every five minutes or so I crept carefully to the crest of the tiny hill and peeked out to see if the German army was still on the road, then crawled back down. At least it kept my blood moving.

It surprised me at first that the Germans, so well known for their discipline and organization, hadn’t left Vilnov in one long column, in an orderly retreat. The possibility of losing Tikhvin must have frightened them deeply to respond so quickly, and a little haphazardly.

After twenty silent minutes went by, I shimmied down the hill, hoping Petr would agree with me that it was time to go.

“I was just going to come and get you,” he whispered, climbing out of the sleigh, stiff from inactivity.

Vladimir leaned toward me. “I’m worried about Nesa. We have to get her out of the cold.”

“As soon as we’re clear of the gully, we have to go as fast as we can,” Petr said softly. “There’s a forest about a quarter of a mile away, on the other side of the road. We’ll head for that.”

Vladimir smiled patiently. “That’s where I was going when we stopped. I’m not sure Nesa will be able to run immediately. We’ll see.” As he left the sleigh, I saw two small lumps appear under the blankets on the floor. Zasha and Thor were awake.

“Petr, can I let the dogs stretch their legs and go to the bathroom?”

He shook his head. “There’s no time. Maybe once we’re in the forest.”

Vladimir examined Nesa’s feet and rubbed her ankles with his bare hands. Settling himself on the front bench, he said, “I think she can run,” but his tone was uncertain. Nesa proved her master wrong and set off at a good pace, increasing it quickly as though happy to be free and moving again.

There was a rise in the land where the road cut through, so we didn’t see the wooden box upended on the road until we were racing past it. I stood up quickly, as did Petr, trying to see what it was that had bounced out of a German truck and lay waiting to be claimed.

It was dark and hard to see, but Petr said, “I think it’s a box of bullets. Vladimir, go back. Ivan will help me load it into the sleigh.”

“No,” Vladimir said. The sleigh quickly cleared the road and glided down the modest embankment on the other side. The forest lay just beyond a small meadow.

“Vladimir — we need those bullets. Go back,” Petr insisted.

The sleigh rushed forward. “If I stop on the road and a vehicle comes, we’re all dead.”

“We haven’t seen a German in almost thirty minutes,” I argued.

Petr looked furious, but Vladimir continued quietly, “I will stop when I find a place in the forest where we can’t be seen. One of you can go back for it.”

Petr shot him an angry look. Vladimir simply flicked Nesa’s reins to make her go faster. Petr had no choice but to sit back down and go along with Vladimir’s decision, although he was clearly none too pleased about it.

“Ivan, look,” Auntie said. I turned to look east toward Vilnov. A cloud of black smoke was rising high into the sky. “They’re burning Vilnov on their way out.”

I thought of all my friends who were planning to leave by dawn. Had they escaped? Were they in danger? “What about … our friends?”

Auntie shook her head. “I don’t know.” Axel knew where Galina lived. I was certain that if any house was burned that night, it would be hers, the place where he’d first found me. Petr reached out and patted Vladimir’s back, like a reminder that we were all in this together. Vladimir urged Nesa on toward the forest.

In another minute we had penetrated the forest deeply enough that we couldn’t be seen from the road. Petr turned around. “Ivan, you and I will go. Those boxes can be heavy.”

We couldn’t have been more than fifty feet from the sleigh and nearing the edge of the forest when we heard a low whistle. Petr and I froze. “It’s Vladimir,” Petr whispered.

“What’s wrong?” I turned back toward the sleigh, and even in the darkness, through the light snow, I could see movement. The dogs had gotten loose and were running toward us. Behind them Auntie and Vladimir were doing their best to catch them.

“The dogs! Petr — go after the one on the right.” I ran toward the one on the left, who I soon realized was Zasha. She looked happy and excited to be out in the snow and moving. As I got closer to her, she changed course, as if to engage me in a game of chase.

“Zasha! Here, girl!” I called softly. She ran farther, ears back, tongue out, happy as any puppy could be. “Please, Zasha,” I pleaded, “come here.” I was terrified she’d get so far away from me that she’d get lost.

Her desire to run and play won out over her desire to please me or obey the commands she’d been responding to so well back at headquarters. I desperately wanted to know how Petr’s rescue of Thor was going, but I dared not look away from Zasha for fear I’d lose sight of her.

I ran as hard and as fast as I’ve ever run, but she was faster. I finally caught up to her when she stopped to smell something around the bottom of a tree. Whatever she smelled must have been awfully interesting, or maybe she was tired, because she let me pick her up without protest.

“Oh, you bad, bad dog,” I said, holding her in my arms as she licked my face. What I really meant was, Don’t ever scare me like that again. If I lost you, I don’t know what I’d do. She panted happily after her run, and seemed content to be placed in Auntie’s arms when we arrived back at the sleigh. Petr arrived a minute later stroking Thor’s head and settled him into the blankets.

“He’s got spirit,” he said. “I only caught him because he let me!” I think the scare and the exercise actually did us all good: Everyone was smiling and talking and laughing softly. We’d made it across the main road and were well on our way to our destination.

“All right, Ivan. Let’s get those bullets,” Petr said. We walked at a good pace out of the forest and out into the meadow. It was beautiful and quiet.

The box weighed more than we’d anticipated. We could lift it, but it was too heavy for us to carry back to the sleigh. We knelt next to it on the road; Petr sighed. “If Vladimir has rope with him, we can tie it around the box and around our waists and drag it back to the sleigh.”

“Is it worth the delay?” I asked, tired and anxious to be on our way.

“There are bullets — hundreds of them, maybe thousands. Not a gift a partisan can easily turn down.”

“Will they fit our rifles? What if they don’t?”

“We have hundreds of rifles we’ve taken from dead German soldiers. We can use them, all right.” As he got up, moaning a little as he did so, I heard another sound.

“Petr — someone’s coming!” He froze. I knew there wasn’t time to make it back to the safety and cover of the forest. Petr was looking around frantically.

“Run to one of those trees,” he said, pointing to a few birch trees scattered along the edge of the meadow between the road and the forest. “Lay flat on the ground and sort of curl yourself around the base of the tree.” He began to run, and I followed. “If we’re lucky we’ll blend in like patches of ground underneath the trees. Thank God it’s dark and snowing,” he said, panting as he ran, “or we might be dead men soon.”

I was faster so I let him take the nearest tree and I ran to one not far behind it, taking a couple extra seconds to position myself so I could see the road. Petr’s idea was a good one; the human body can quickly fade into the background when lying down. I even threw some snow over myself to make it look more natural.

Finally, a jeep came into view. It carried four men. They must have been freezing because the jeep had no roof or sides and was completely open to the elements. The brakes whined and it came to a halt. The box, I thought. Of course. They’ll take the bullets with them. Their conversation floated across the meadow to us. I could see the men, but not very clearly. All four got out of the jeep. Two of them lifted the heavy box, and a third quickly went to help them.

The fourth man strode up and down the road as if looking for something, then stopped to light a cigarette. Even before that flash of illumination showed me his face, I knew who it was.

Like a sinking ship’s captain, Axel Recht was the last one to leave. He stopped, staring out across the meadow in our direction. I could barely breathe. What would I do if he suddenly came running toward us? I had my knife in my boot, but it was no match for a gun. As far as I knew, Petr was unarmed, his rifle waiting for him in the sleigh. Axel tilted his head back, as though smelling for his prey, trying to pick up the trail of its scent in the air.

I forced myself to hold still, willed myself not to shake. If the dogs hadn’t delayed us we’d probably be dragging the box right now, easy targets in the open meadow, Zasha and Thor lost to us forever.

Just as the soldiers deposited the box in the back of the jeep, I heard more conversation. The men joined Axel at the edge of the road. He pointed at the ground. Our footprints! The sleigh and horse tracks were all there to be read and followed, although he couldn’t know it was us.

One of the men ran down the embankment about ten feet and stopped, but craned his neck as if looking for something. A conversation ensued between him and Axel, and he pointed toward the forest. After some hesitation, Axel said something and the man returned to the group.

I exhaled the breath I’d been holding. They talked for another thirty seconds or so, gesticulating toward the forest where Auntie, Vladimir, and the dogs waited. Then, to my great relief, all four of them got back in the jeep. But the one in the front passenger seat, who I knew was Axel, stood up and stared out across the meadow before they drove away.

“Zasha! Thor!” he cried. My heart froze. I listened hard for a bark, a whine, a yap, anything that would give us all away. “Zasha — come! Thor!” He called again, crisp and commanding. Another thirty seconds passed in silence. Finally, he sat down and the jeep roared back to life and headed west.

Petr and I lay still for ten more minutes on the cold, hard, damp ground. Then we half walked, half ran to the safety of the forest.

“It was Axel,” I told him.

“You can’t be sure; it’s too dark.”

“No, I’m sure. I’d know him anywhere.”

“Well, whoever he was, he didn’t come after us.”

To myself I thought, If he’d come down from the road instead of sending one of the others, we might not have lived to tell the tale. What were his last words to me? I’ll find you. And when I do, I’ll kill you.

Now he was in retreat, minus his dogs and me, his musical performing monkey. How long before he forgot us? I wondered. The war provided so many important distractions and challenges on a daily basis that surely we’d fade from his memory soon.

But something told me Axel’s anger, hatred, and desire for revenge would burn like an eternal flame, ready to spark into a wall of fire to destroy the boy who had deceived him if he ever had the chance.