Free Child Thief by Dan Smith

protection. She in turn had squeezed herself into the folds of his coat as her older brother watched with interest. I held a hand out to them, indicating they should remain where they were.
    â€˜What about you, Dimitri?’ I turned my attention back to mybrother-in-law. ‘You want to drag that man out into a mob? In front of your wife? What does Svetlana think of this?’
    â€˜She wants to protect the children as much as I do.’
    â€˜Then where is she now?’
    â€˜Where she should be. With our daughter.’
    I shook my head. ‘Don’t do this, Dimitri. Please. Don’t do this. We’re still human.’
    Dimitri stepped forward so the barrel of the pistol was against his chest, but it wasn’t the act of a brave man. It was the act of a coward who knew he’d won. I had shot men in this way before – pressed the barrel of a gun against the cloth of their coat and fired right through them – felt their bodies become heavy and watched them fall aside. But Dimitri knew I wouldn’t shoot him in front of my wife and daughter. There was nothing more I could do to save the man in my home.
    I lowered the pistol, putting my free hand against Dimitri’s chest. ‘Don’t do this.’ But I knew I’d lost my ability to control this situation. Dimitri had weakened me and now he looked down at my hand, shoved it aside and pushed past me. Others followed him, the chanting beginning again as Natalia’s own kin poured in to defile our home.
    â€˜Put it down, Viktor,’ I heard Dimitri say, and I nodded to my son, who was standing beside Natalia, the revolver held out in front of him. Viktor lowered it and moved to protect his mother.
    I continued to protest as the villagers lifted the stranger from his resting place. I appealed to each of them, pulling them back, trying to make them see what they were doing. It was as if I were trying to wake them from a trance, and they neither saw nor heard me, and I knew I was beaten even as I went on pleading with them.
    They put their hands under the stranger’s arms and they pulled him up, his head lolling to the side. People crowded in to touch him, to carry him, to be a part of what was happening. The blankets that fell from his body were cast aside and theysaw his nakedness. His bloated belly. Skin tight around his ribs, clinging to the bones. His legs so thin, his arms without any fat on them.
    Seeing him like that, I knew the man was close to death. Perhaps, with food and rest and warmth, he might survive, but otherwise he was already almost gone.
    â€˜What are you going to do?’ I asked as they set upon the stranger.
    â€˜What needs to be done.’ Dimitri gestured to those who were holding the emaciated man and they dragged him to the door, his feet trailing the floor. The man made no effort to help himself. He didn’t even make a sound.
    â€˜We should help him,’ I said. ‘Look at him. This man needs our help.’
    â€˜We don’t help child-murderers,’ Dimitri answered before turning to follow the others out of my home. ‘Not in Vyriv.’
    â€˜Stop this.’ Josif remained by the front door as the men dragged the outsider into the snow. ‘Please. Stop this now.’ His nose was still bleeding, the blood running across his lips and down his chin, following the line of his neck. ‘Stop.’
    But their furore was high. There was no stopping them now.
    I hurried out and beckoned to Petro and Lara, telling them to come inside at once. Lara went straight to her mother. Her eyes were wide with confusion and fear. Tears welled and fell across her cheeks. She held her mother tight, wrapping her arms around her waist and burying her face in her stomach.
    â€˜We have to stop them,’ Josif said, standing in the doorway. ‘Luka?’
    â€˜What can we do?’ I said. ‘You saw them.’
    â€˜There must be something.’
    â€˜Would you have