“The first written mention of Ruthenian Gypsies appears in ‘The Chronicles of the Princes of Czernograd’, a manuscript written down the mid-12th century, but believed to be based on earlier, now unfortunately lost, written and oral sources. ‘The Chronicles’ mention the homage paid by the ‘wandering people’ called Romany to Prince Czeslaw the Dark. Modern history dates his reign over the Principality of Czernograd to the early 11th century, ending in 1025. If the anonymous authors or compilers of ‘The Chronicles’ are correct in placing this event a century and a half before their time, this presents us with a minor mystery of the early Medieval European history, since the first mention in Europe of people resembling Roma dates to around 1100 and is found in the writings of the monks at Mt Athos in Greece. Over the subsequent three centuries, Roma are mentioned more frequently in writings throughout Greece and the Balkans, before making their first appearance in Western Europe in 1417 in Hamburg, Germany.
“Until recently, historians assumed that Roma have entered the continental Europe through the Byzantine Empire sometime towards the end of the 11th century. ‘The Chronicle’, however, puts their first appearance around one hundred years earlier and some thousand kilometres to the north, suggesting, still controversially, that Gypsies might have first entered Europe from the east, instead of the south, and through the supernatural gateway of Ruthenia and Galicia, rather than by simply crossing the Bosporus.”
Jan Koval and Marina Blacha “The Short History of Ruthenian Gypsies”, Slowo Press, Czernograd, 1998, p.34
28 June, 7:28 AM, Czernograd, Hotel Casino
The noise woke him up, and for a brief moment in the nether land between sleep and awake he couldn’t tell if it was the alarm clock or a phone going off. He felt around the bedside table until his hand encountered the familiar, and now vibrating, shape.
“Mr Voynich?” the voice at the other end sounded unfamiliar; English, but with a local accent.
“Yes,” Jake said.
“This is Deputy Inspector Milos. I’m calling on behalf of Inspector Maciejewicz.”
“Oh, good morning Deputy Inspector,” Jake mumbled.
“Good morning,” Milos seemed to have no qualms about waking people up for a friendly chat. “Inspector Maciejewicz asked to give you a call and tell you about the developments in the case.”
The case. It sounded so serious. “I’m all ears,” Jake said, before realising that Deputy Inspector Milos might not understand all the English idiom. But the Deputy Inspector wasn’t fazed.
“We have analysed all the security camera footage from outside the airport and we were able to obtain the registration number of the blue Volvo vehicle that almost ran you over.”
“That’s great.”
“Unfortunately, this was only of limited help to us. The car in question has been reported stolen to the police a week ago in Nove Ostoije.”
“Nove Ostoije?”
“It’s a little town, about hundred kilometres north east of Czernograd,” explained Milos.
“Oh,” said Jake. A dead end. How... not really surprising when you think of it.
“However,” the Deputy Inspector continued, “the Volvo in questions was parked outside of the airport, further back down the road, for about an hour before your flight arrived, it seems waiting for you. We have this captured on another one of the security cameras, and we have footage of the driver of the car getting out of the car, walking around, and sitting on the bonnet of the car while waiting.”
“Is the footage clear enough-“
“Our IT people are working at the moment to get the best quality images of the suspect’s face so that we can try to identify him.”
Jake noticed there was a thin crack on the ceiling radiating away from the lamp towards the bathroom.
“We will keep you updated about any further developments,” Deputy Inspector Milos continued. “In the meantime, Inspector Maciejewicz would like to reiterate what he has told you before – if you do remember something or come across any information that could be useful to our investigation, please let us know. Also, if you have any plans to travel...”
Should he, or shouldn’t he?
“Actually,” said Jake, “a friend and I were planning a little day trip today. To Stare Duszki.”
“Ah OK,” Milos seemed to be momentarily taken aback by the fact someone was giving him information. “To be perfectly frank with you, we would rather at this stage you did not venture too far out of your hotel. But we can’t really stop you and the investigation at this stage does not justify giving you a police escort. And if it did – to be frank, once again – we would not be letting you do any day trips.” He paused for a moment. “Stare Duszki. Any particular reason?”
“I’ve heard it’s quite picturesque,” Jake yawned and stretched.
“...be careful,” Milos was saying when Jake brought the phone again to his ear, “there have been some reports of suspected werewolf activity in the area.”
Jake didn’t know if the the Deputy Inspector was winding him up. He decided Milos probably wasn’t.
“If you encounter any trouble at any stage of your trip, please let us know immediately.”
“I sure will,” Jake said. “Werewolf or otherwise.”
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
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