To appease Galina, Oleska went first to Vasily for help, but she learned from his wife that he was already out on a hunting trip with his son and wouldn't be expected back for a few days. That left Oleska with no choice but to turn to Maxim and hope that Galina was mistaken, and that Izolda's positive opinion of him wasn’t just naïve wishful thinking. From Izolda, Oleska learned that Maxim lived in a small hut about two miles from the eastern edge of town, a ways into the sparse woods that bordered the Valdai Forest proper. The trek there was quite difficult because while the path was beaten, it was winding and very uneven. It reminded Oleska of the grueling journey likely to come.
She rounded a bend in the trail, and came to a wide clearing containing a modest hut.
Oh, my… that’s pitiful, Oleska thought to herself. The mud and sapling hut wasn’t even big enough to house a stove or even have a proper door to knock on.
Oleska wondered how Maxim bore the winter, but it seemed like he didn’t need a proper house during warmer weather because it was apparent that he spent most of his time outdoors anyway. A fire pit, still burning, lay a few strides from the hut, with a pheasant and hare roasting over the flames. A primitive stitching horse with crude leather-working tools was located under a nearby tree, where several animal skins were being stretched out and tanned in the sun. A small bushel of apples was placed nearby.
Maxim was nowhere to be seen, but judging by the meat roasting over the fire, Oleska knew he wouldn’t be away for very long. Feeling a bit peckish, she grabbed an apple to eat while she waited for his return. Just as she was about to take her first bite, the apple disappeared from her hand, accompanied by a loud thump.
Oleska squeaked in surprise.
The apple had been speared to the tree next to her by an arrow.
“I have no tolerance for thieves! I don't care if you're a woman!” called a voice from the other side of the clearing.
Oleska looked to its source and saw a dark-haired man wielding a bow, with another arrow already nocked and aimed.
“I mean no trouble! Sorry!” Oleska called back to him, hands raised. “Just came to talk—honest!”
Maxim slowly lowered his bow, but left the arrow nocked. He walked cautiously toward Oleska, eyes shifting as he checked his surroundings.
As he approached, Oleska got a better look at him and realized that Maxim was a man in his mid-twenties, more or less her age. He had long, shaggy, and dark hair with short scruff on his chin and cheeks. Most of his olive-coloured skin was marked with various scars. The only imperfection on his otherwise handsome face was a particularly nasty scar on his upper lip that ran up to his cheekbone, giving him a permanent snarling expression. He wore a crudely patch-worked and sleeveless leather jerkin, exposing his hairy but lean chest and arms.
“You come alone?” Maxim asked once he was close. Oleska noticed his voice was raspy and hoarse, as if he didn’t use it often.
“Yes… why do you ask?”
“I don’t trust you,” Maxim said bluntly, looking over his shoulder.
“Little ol’ me?”
“It’s not personal. I don’t trust anyone.”
Giving it a second thought, Oleska knew she didn’t need to ask why, and said instead, “My name is Oleska.”
Maxim finally placed the arrow back in his quiver. “What are you here for?”
“I need your help.”
“You want to hire me?”
“Um…” Oleska faltered. She didn’t expect to have to pay him. She never had much in the way of coin; she usually bartered herbs for most of her needs. And she didn't think Piotr and Galina had much to offer either, despite the extenuating circumstances. “More like a favor, actually.”
Maxim scowled, an expression that looked more unsettling than it needed to be because of the jagged scar on his face. “I don’t work for free.”
“Please, it’s an emergency.”
“Fox or some other pest harassing your animals?”
“No… Galina, Piotr’s wife, is having trouble with her pregnancy. It’s looking bad. She may die when the baby comes unless we do something to help her.”
Maxim snorted and rolled his eyes. “Leave.”
“What? I haven’t even told you what we need to do.”
“I said leave,” Maxim repeated, and pointed at the path leading away from his homestead. “I won’t help you.”
“But… please! A woman’s life is at stake, and an unborn infant! How can you turn your back on them?”
There was a minor look of disbelief on Maxim’s face, but it disappeared quickly. He rolled his shoulders, as if in discomfort. “You’re better off if you don’t already know.”
Oleska studied his face for a moment. “I think I do know why. It’s because of your mother, isn’t it?”
Maxim’s eyes widened, looking even more offended. “You already know why the people of Valdushka hate me—why I hate them—yet you still ask me for help?”
“I’ve only lived here for two winters, and just heard of you today—and I’m not one to hold prejudices.”
“You don’t believe what you’ve heard of me?” Maxim asked incredulously.
“I know what the town thinks of you, but I also know that Izolda thinks most of it is hearsay and needless superstition. Quite frankly, I trust and respect Izzy’s opinion over everyone else’s. She’s the one that sent me to you.”
Maxim stood silent for a moment. “Izzy, huh? So you’re friendly with her?”
“She’s like a mum to me.”
“Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you,” Maxim said, walking to the tree with the pinned apple, “but everything you’ve heard about me is mostly true.” He pulled out the arrow and took a bite of the apple.
“Mostly true? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I mean that people have exaggerated certain things, but the broad strokes form an accurate picture.”
“Well, I’d like to hear some of the details, if that’s all right.”
“Why?”
Oleska shrugged, feigning exhaustion. “I hiked two ruddy miles to get here. Since you won’t help me, at least let me rest and give me a good story for my trouble. Let me know why it is you’re not willing to help.” And perhaps give me time to convince you otherwise… she said to herself.
Maxim’s deep brown eyes flickered toward the sky. “It’ll be dark soon. You should head back to town while you still have light.”
“I’m not afraid of the dark.”
“You should be,” Maxim said bluntly. “You’re a woman.”
Oleska felt her ire rise a bit at his chauvinism, but she ignored it. “I’ll stay the night here then.”
Maxim looked at her sideways. “I don’t have any extra beds, and I’m not sharing my cot with you.”
Oleska didn’t know whether to be offended that Maxim presumed she intended to lay with him or to consider him a gentleman for his restraint.
“It’s alright,” she said. “I’m no stranger to sleeping on the ground, I’ll manage. Looks to be a clear warm night anyway.”
“Fine,” Maxim said with a shrug. “Have it your way.”
Maxim tossed the apple aside, grabbed some leather off his stitching horse, and walked back towards the fire pit by his hut; Oleska followed. He sat himself down on a log, while Oleska sat on a tree stump opposite him. He set down his bow and quiver, then started working on the leather rags with a crude needle and thread. After a minute, he asked, “Where do you want me to start?”
Oleska thought for a moment, then said, “With your mother. What was her name?”
“You don’t already know?”
“The townspeople never speak of her.”
Maxim nibbled on his scarred lip while he looked hard at Oleska. “Katerina,” he said finally.
“Beautiful name. Ill-fitting for a witch.”
Maxim growled softly in annoyance. “First off, my mother wasn't a witch.”
“I didn't think so.” Oleska was admittedly a little superstitious, but she needed more to go on than hearsay to accuse a woman of being a witch.
“But she was a whore.” Maxim cut a knot with his teeth.
