Page 189 of Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt

‘Defendmyself with it... I would be dead.’

Kreeg bristled. ‘We’ll remedy that soon, Atlas.’

‘We both know what happened next. Whilst you were disorientated, I ran out into the snow. I was already dressed for a long journey.’ I gave a small shrug. ‘Little did I know how long that journey would last...’

‘When I regained my wits, I followed you to the door.’

‘And the words you shouted have haunted me ever since.’

‘I will find you, Atlas Tanit, wherever you may hide. And I will kill you,’ Kreeg repeated.

I nodded. ‘I ran for as long as I could, to put as much distance between you and me as possible. Eventually, I collapsed in a disused barn.’ The memories were so clear in my mind. It was as if I was reliving every painful moment. ‘I was scared beyond belief, Kreeg. I had no one. So I resolved to do the only thing I could think of – try to find my father.’

Kreeg stroked his chin. ‘It is what I calculated you would do. I thought that, maybe, the Siberian midwinter would claim you... but you survived. I’ve never had the opportunity to ask how.’ He gave me a quizzical stare.

‘I don’t know, Kreeg. My journey across Russia took me eighteen months. I knew that Switzerland was west of Tobolsk, so that is where I walked.’

‘How did you know in which direction you were travelling?’

I pointed up to the sky. ‘The stars. My father used to spend hours teaching me about the Seven Sisters. It is how I navigated.’

Kreeg scoffed. ‘Navigation is all well and good, but how did you keep the cold and hunger at bay?’

I closed my eyes. ‘I believe the stars kept me safe. Always, when I was at my weakest, I would happen upon an empty cabin, or a kind stranger would take pity on me. But I am ashamed to say that I was forced into performing deeds that no one would be proud of.’

‘You stole?’

I nodded. ‘I stole. I lied. I manipulated people. But I lived.’

Kreeg scrutinised me. ‘Nobody would believe that an eight-year-old boy could survive an eighteen-month trip across the Russian wilderness.’

I put my hands out to express my disbelief a little too quickly, and Kreeg’s grip on the pistol tightened. ‘I have experienced things in my life which have confirmed that the realm of the physical is only part of the human story. I cannot explain how I lived. But live I did.’ Kreeg huffed, not satisfied with my answer. ‘In the end, I managed to overshoot Switzerland. I ended up under a bush in a Parisian garden, where I finally collapsed.’

My enemy continued with his own narrative, despite the truth of the situation. ‘So, you were trying to find your father to give him the diamond. He knew of its existence and instructed you to steal it! The pair of you plotted together.’

I rejected his assertion. ‘I do not blame you, Kreeg, but you are blind to reason. I swear on my daughters’ lives, Inever knew about the diamond. I did not even know itwasa diamond until I was in that barn and looked inside the leather pouch your mother had given me. And even then, I believed it was made of onyx or some such semi-precious stone, for your mother had smeared it in black boot polish and varnished it with the glue she used for her bone carvings. It was only when it began to leave marks on my fingers that I took a rag to clean it and realised what was hidden beneath. Here.’ I slowly undid two buttons on my shirt, and removed the battered leather pouch from around my neck.

‘What is this?’

‘What do you think, Kreeg? I wish you had given me a chance to return it eighty years ago, but you were intent on killing me first, and back then I did not wish to die. Nor on the other occasions you have hunted me down and I have yet again run for my life. In Leipzig, when you set the building containing my lodgings on fire, or in the bookshop in London... Nevertheless, I have kept it safe for all these years. I hoped that if it came to it, I would be able to return it to you in exchange for my life, and the safety of my daughters.’ Kreeg picked up the pouch, and attempted to undo the drawstring with one hand, which proved an impossibility. ‘There is no need to keep the pistol trained on me, Kreeg. I am eighty-nine years old. Even if I wanted to, I could not run. Remember, I am here willingly.’

Kreeg considered, and after a moment, slowly placed the gun on the table. Then he undid the pouch, and gently removed the contents. He examined the rock closely, and began to scrub away the boot polish on his trousers. Having done so, he held it up to the light, where it sparkled magnificently in the Mediterranean sun.

Kreeg looked genuinely perplexed. ‘Why would you not sell it?’

‘It was not mine to sell.’

‘So you acknowledge you stole it!’

‘No. I acknowledge that through circumstances beyond my control, I came into its possession.’

Kreeg paused, and for the first time, I saw a small flicker of doubt pass across his tanned face. ‘So, you have kept the diamond. But you can never return my mother.’

‘I cannot, brother, no. But if it was not for the diamond, please tell me why I would have wished her dead? She was all we had. Believe me when I say that I loved her.’

Kreeg rolled the diamond around in his palm. ‘You loved the thought of food in your belly more.’

I put my head in my hands. ‘Who can ever prove their love for another? It exists in the soul and is based on trust. If you trusted me the way I believed you did, you would know I could never harm her.’