Bursting out from behind the trees, the hounds blocked their way, baying and showing their fangs. The bloodshot eyes of the angry animals glowed in the falling darkness, and foam was dripping from their jaws.
Although the dogs could tear Jeff to pieces, they stopped not far away from the hunted victims. Vera covered Jeff’s body with hers and the hounds dared not attack the white woman.
She turned toward Jeff, and they embraced each other. Closing their eyes, they stood still. The lovers knew it was their last hug as the horsemen neared, and any kind of resistance would be pointless because their sheer numbers left not even a little hope of success.
A man roughly pulled Vera from Jeff’s arms, and he felt as if his soul had been brutally torn from his body. He saw the men place a big cross in the middle of the glade, and set fire to it. The reddish orange angry light flooded the glade as it would an area of Hell.
The men tied Jeff’s arms behind his back, while the others threw a rope on the branch of a tree, fastening a noose. He saw the swinging loop waiting for him, but it did not matter to Jeff.
He kept his eyes on only Vera, and thoughts that he could not help or protect her filled Jeff with boundless despair.
Squeezing her elbow the man rudely dragged Vera to her husband. Oleg welted her across the face, knocking her to the ground, and Jeff screamed, feeling such pain, as if it was not the woman who collapsed, but his own heart.
«I’ll deal with you later, my darling,» Oleg said very quietly, yet his words rumbled into Jeff’s ears like thunder.
«No!» he cried out. «It wasn’t her fault! I forced her to go with me!»
«No, Jeff.» Vera slowly got up, and her death-like white face was gleaming in the dusk. «I love you. I’m not sorry that I was with you.»
He saw Oleg take out a gun, and, forgetting everything, Jeff rushed forward and rolled down into a murky abyss.
* * * * *
Covered with cold sweat, he sat up in bed and wildly looked around.
The scarlet and saffron raging light oozed through the blinds and flooded the bedroom. He heard dogs barking outside, and, still caught up in his dream, Jeff did not realize at once that the nightmare was over, and he was in reality again.
«Thank God!» Panting, Jeff pinched himself to be sure he was awake, and smiled, unnerved with the stress. «Just a bad dream. Oh Vera, my beloved. There is no price that I would hesitate to pay to be with you, but I’d rather die than bring you any troubles.»
The fire outside now caught his attention. Menard went to the window and looked through the blinds.