The Third Section Read online

  About the Book

  It was dark now. The moon outside was a thin crescent, shining its light through the doorway and through several holes in the ceiling, cutting through the cave in glowing, ethereal columns. The skin of the dead Russian, lying in one such ray of moonlight, looked as grey as the rocks beside him. Next to the body stood the figure of a man …

  1855. After forty years of peace in Europe, war rages. In the Crimea, the city of Sevastopol is under siege. To the north, Saint Petersburg is blockaded. But in Moscow there is one who sits and waits – for the death of a tsar, and for the curse upon his blood to be passed to a new generation.

  As their country grows weaker, a man and a woman – unaware of the hidden ties that bind them – must come to terms with their shared legacy.

  In Moscow, Tamara Valentinovna Komarova – an agent of the tsar – uncovers a brutal murder. It seems this is not the first death of its kind, but the most recent in a sequence of similar killings committed by one who has stalked the city since 1812.

  And in the ruins of Sevastopol, Dmitry Alekseevich Danilov confronts not only the guns of the British and French but also another, unnatural enemy – those creatures his father had thought buried beneath the earth, thirty years before …

  Contents

  Cover

  About the Book

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Author’s Note

  Characters of the Danilov Quintet

  Selected Romanov Family

  The Crimean War

  His Imperial Majesty’s Own Chancellery

  1854

  Prologue

  1855

  Chapter I

  Chapter II

  Chapter III

  Chapter IV

  Chapter V

  Chapter VI

  Chapter VII

  Chapter VIII

  Chapter IX

  Chapter X

  Chapter XI

  Chapter XII

  Chapter XIII

  Chapter XIV

  Chapter XV

  1856

  Chapter XVI

  Chapter XVII

  Chapter XVIII

  Chapter XIX

  Chapter XX

  Chapter XXI

  Chapter XXII

  Chapter XXIII

  Chapter XXIV

  Chapter XXV

  Chapter XXVI

  1864

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Also by Jasper Kent

  Copyright

  THE THIRD

  SECTION

  Jasper Kent

  For my parents

  AUTHOR’S NOTES

  Measurements

  A verst is a Russian unit of distance, slightly greater than a kilometre.

  Dates

  During the nineteenth century, Russians based their dates on the old Julian Calendar, which in the 1850s was twelve days behind the Gregorian Calendar used in Western Europe. All dates in the text are given in the Russian form and so, for example, the coronation of Alexander II is placed on 26 August 1856, where Western history books have it on 7 September.

  Characters

  A list of characters in the Danilov Quintet appears here.

  Thanks to Stéphane Marsan and Hilary Casey for assistance with French and German.

  CHARACTERS OF THE DANILOV QUINTET

  Aleksei Ivanovich Danilov

  Russian soldier and spy who defeated the Oprichniki in 1812 and saved Tsar Aleksandr I from Zmyeevich in 1825 by helping to fake his death. Sent into exile after the Decembrist Uprising

  Dmitry Alekseevich Danilov

  Only son of Aleksei Ivanovich Danilov

  Marfa Mihailovna Danilova

  Wife of Aleksei and mother of Dmitry

  Domnikiia Semyonovna Beketova

  Aleksei’s mistress, who accompanied him into exile in Siberia in 1826

  Iuda

  The only human among the twelve

  also known as Vasiliy Denisovich Makarov and Richard Llywelyn Cain

  Oprichniki who came to Russia in 1812. Under the name of Cain he experimented on vampires. Became a vampire himself in 1825

  Zmyeevich

  The arch vampire who brought the Oprichniki to Russia in 1812 and who seeks revenge for the trickery played upon him by Tsar Pyotr the Great in 1712

  Vadim Fyodorovich Savin

  Aleksei’s commander, who died during the campaign of 1812

  Maksim Sergeivich Lukin

  Comrade of Aleksei, who died during the campaign of 1812

  Dmitry Fetyukovich Petrenko

  Comrade of Aleksei, who died during the campaign of 1812

  The Oprichniki

  The nickname for a band of vampires defeated by Aleksei in 1812. Individually they took the names of the twelve apostles

  Yelena Vadimovna Lavrova

  Daughter of Vadim Fyodorovich

  Valentin Valentinovich Lavrov

  Husband of Yelena Vadimovna

  Rodion Valentinovich Lavrov

  Son of Yelena and Valentin

  Dr Dmitry Tarasov

  Physician to Tsar Aleksandr I, who conspired with Aleksei to fake the tsar’s death

  Prince Pyetr Mihailovich

  Adjutant general to Tsar Aleksandr I, Volkonsky who conspired with Aleksei to fake the tsar’s death

  Raisa Styepanovna Tokoryeva

  Vampire who helped Iuda to escape Chufut Kalye in 1825

  Margarita Kirillovna

  A prostitute colleague of Domnikiia who was murdered by Iuda in 1812

  Natalia Borisovna Papanova

  Daughter of a cobbler; sheltered Aleksei and Dmitry Fetyukovich during the French occupation of Moscow in 1812

  THE CRIMEAN WAR

  In 1853 Russia went to war with the Ottoman Empire for the eleventh time in three hundred years. The difference on this occasion was that Great Britain and France allied with the Turks, leading to a European war on a scale not seen since the time of Napoleon. There were major engagements around the Danube, in the Baltic and the White Sea, in the Caucasus and even in the Pacific, but the most significant theatre of conflict was the Black Sea, where the Allies attempted to destroy the Russian fleet harboured in Sevastopol on the Crimean Peninsula. Hence in the West at least, the conflict became known as the Crimean War.

  The immediate cause of the war was the argument over who should have control of the Christian holy sites within the Muslim Ottoman Empire; the Catholic Church, championed by France, or the Orthodox Church, by Russia. More generally, antagonism between the two sides was due to fears of Russian expansion into the British Empire. Russia had the potential of reaching British India over land, while Britain’s access was by sea, over the circuitous route around the Cape of Good Hope. Turkish influence in the east acted as a buffer against Russian ambitions, but the anticipated collapse of the Ottoman Empire – nicknamed by Tsar Nicholas I as the ‘Sick Man of Europe’ – would mean that Russia could gain much of the Turkish territory and take a step closer to the subcontinent.

  While the French had little interest in this dispute, the French Emperor, Napoleon III, was, like the British, concerned over Russian naval access to the Mediterranean, through the Black Sea. Moreover, Napoleon III saw that making a stand against Russia might consolidate his recently acquired position (he became emperor in the coup d’état of 1851) as well as offering a chance to take revenge for his uncle Napoleon Bonaparte’s defeat by Russia in 1812 and Tsar Nicholas’ failure to properly recognize Napoleon III’s claim to be emperor.

  To test Turkey’s determination during negotiations over the holy sites, Nicholas I ordered the Russian occupation of Moldavia and Wallachia – autonomous principalities within the Ottoman Empire and historically the lands ov
er which the two nations had often clashed. The Conference of Vienna led to a proposed compromise which gave Russia limited authority over the holy sites. This was enough for Russia, which began to withdraw from the principalities, but not for Turkey, which declared war on Russia. The remaining players began to take sides.

  Austria and Prussia remained neutral, but in March 1854 Britain and France jointly declared war on Russia. Within six months their troops landed in the Crimea and had soon besieged the naval base of Sevastopol. By the end of 1855, Sevastopol had fallen, and in 1856 the Treaty of Paris brought the war to an end. The most significant result was the demilitarization of the Black Sea, which applied equally to Russia and Turkey. However, the Turks had coastline on the Mediterranean itself, whereas Russia was denied a southern fleet for a quarter of a century.

  HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY’S OWN CHANCELLERY

  Following his ascension to the throne in 1825, Tsar Nicholas I consolidated his personal authority by taking powers away from individual ministries and incorporating them into a body known as His Imperial Majesty’s Own Chancellery. The chancellery was divided into several departments, or sections.

  The First Section of His Imperial Majesty’s Own Chancellery dealt with imperial decrees and orders. The Second Section was responsible for the codification of law; the Fourth for the administration of charitable and educational institutions.

  The Third Section was in charge of political crimes, censorship, espionage and internal suppression. It was the tsar’s secret police.

  PROLOGUE

  THE VALLEY OF death lay far behind.

  Even so, Owen could still hear the rhythmic thump of cannon fire – four tightly grouped reports, then silence, then four again, and again, and again. He looked over his shoulder, but could see nothing – no men, no horses. There must have been over six hundred of them at the beginning. All dead now, probably. Owen slowed his own horse to a canter.

  The rhythm of the cannon changed – volleys of three now, rather than four. Owen laughed, briefly. There were no guns, not here. Back in the valley they might still be firing, but not here. He slowed his horse even more and the rhythm of hoofbeats changed again, quietening to almost nothing. There had been a point when the cannon had been loud enough to engulf the sound of twenty-four hundred thundering hooves, but not any more. He halted Byron. The horse breathed noisily. Byron had been at the gallop from the beginning, never questioning what he was instructed to do, just as Owen had never questioned. None of them had.

  They’d charged down the valley behind Lord Cardigan, not for a moment pausing to query his command, even as canister hailed down from the hills to the left and right of them. Ahead had been the guns, the guns that they must take at any cost, because that was what they had been told to do. Cannonballs spun and bounced towards them along the valley floor, threatening to rip the brigade into tatters, but that only went to prove how essential it was to capture the position. Men and horses fell on either side, the blood of both spattering Owen’s face and uniform, but he kept going. Cardigan had kept on too – Owen remembered that much – as did everyone else, all those who hadn’t lost their mounts, or their lives. They got as far as the Russian guns; Owen, Cardigan, maybe a few hundred others. And once among them, it was child’s play to cut the gunners down, sabres making easy meat of men on foot, trained to fight targets at a distance of a thousand yards, not face to face. The Russians ran like cowards, and those who didn’t run perished. British casualties were heavy, but the guns had been taken.

  And then realization had dawned upon them, realization of the futility of the whole charge. They were in Russian territory, and unsupported. They could never hold what they had gained, even if reinforcements arrived – and there was no sign of that. The retreat was sounded and the survivors of the Light Brigade had turned their horses, but there was only one path of escape – the corpse-strewn valley down which they had come. And there were still gun emplacements on the hills on either side, and when they left, the guns here would soon be manned once again. As many would die as had been lost already. Even so, it was the only way to go.

  But not for Owen; he did not retreat. Instead he’d carried on at full tilt through the guns, through the cavalry behind, shocked into inaction by the futility of the British attack. Some might have seen him as brave to ride on further into enemy territory, others as a coward who had disobeyed orders and abandoned his comrades, but he was neither. Fear had made him incapable of any rational action – for both cowardice and bravery required decisiveness. He had done nothing, merely allowed Byron to continue his onward gallop, leading them where he might.

  But no one need know that. When the count was taken, the name of Lieutenant P. E. A. Owen of the 17th Lancers would be among the hundreds missing, presumed dead. If he could make it back to the British lines soon enough, there would be no questions as to what had happened. They’d just be happy to know that there was one more healthy soldier – and healthy horse – able to fight another day. One less man dead or captured.

  Though that wasn’t a certainty yet. He’d survived the battle, but was deep behind enemy lines. He was a good way north of Balaklava now, and heading north-east. That was for the best. He’d need to make a wide arc to get back to the British camp. If he circled left, he’d end up going past Sevastopol, which wouldn’t be clever. So he’d curve round to the right towards the coast and talk his way past the French – or even the Turks, God help him. But at least you knew where you were with the Turks; it was hard to break the habit of thinking of the French as the enemy.

  Already the hills on his right were beginning to look intimidating. The land he was going through was pretty flat – mostly used for growing vines, though all hope of that seemed to have been abandoned for the time being with the arrival of armies from four nations. But Owen knew the line of the rocky hills ran from south-west to north-east and that if he didn’t venture across that line within an hour or so, then he’d be spending the night out in the open. He scanned the terrain, looking for an easy route between the peaks.

  The pounding noise came again, but this time he wasn’t fooled into thinking it was gunfire. Anyone on horseback around here was likely to be Russian and a glance over Owen’s shoulder confirmed it. He cursed his stupidity at not having made some effort to disguise his uniform, but it was too late now. Byron showed no reluctance to break into his fastest gallop and they raced onwards, forced further from the prospective safety of the British lines with every yard they went. It was five minutes before Owen slowed the horse a little and risked turning to examine his pursuers.

  There were three of them, over half a mile behind him. They weren’t going fast enough to get close very soon, but in this terrain they were unlikely to lose sight of him. Moreover, they knew the deployment of the other Russian troops in the area. They didn’t need to catch him – simply corral him.

  The road, such as it was, forked, the less trodden path leading into the hills. This seemed the better bet, with more than enough twists in the road to put him out of their sight.

  He quickly began to doubt his decision. He was coming to a town. If there were troops stationed here, he was finished. So far, he could see only peasants – Tatars by the look of them. He doubted that they could even tell a Russian from an Englishman, with or without the uniform.

  The road weaved on ahead and began to steepen as the hills on either side turned into cliffs. Owen looked behind him again, but could not see the three horsemen. That didn’t mean they had given up. With the cliffs now rising on both sides, he had no choice over the direction he took. They didn’t need to see him to know that.

  He was at the centre of the town now. On his right was a palace, in the Tatar style. Two towers – minarets, he supposed – strained elegantly towards the sky. From the roadside a woman stopped to look at him. She was old, and it was hard to tell whether the darkness of her skin was a result of dirt, or its natural hue. She showed no surprise at his arrival, making him fear that she was used to the pres
ence of soldiers. On his left, the cliff ran alongside the road now, hanging over the palace. At one point natural weathering had shaped it into what could almost be interpreted as a face – a skull perhaps. He thought of the skull and bones of his regiment’s insignia on his cap badge. Death or Glory, it meant; and he’d abandoned any hope of glory.

  He was soon out of the town and into the hills. The last building he saw was some kind of monastery, built into the cliffside itself. It was an odd contrast, so close to a Mohammedan village. The road had switched to the right-hand side of the valley and the hill dropped steeply away to his left before rising as a cliff on the other side. On his right the wooded slope towered above him. He was reminded of the valley he had ridden into at Balaklava. This was narrower and steeper, but he had no doubt the whole of the Light Brigade – what was left of them – would have merrily charged in here if so commanded. If there were any cannon lurking on the brow of the hill, waiting to fire down on him, then he was doomed.