Doctor Zhivago Part 12: The Frosted Rowan Summary

Part 12, Chapter 1

In a place with a bunch of vertical rocks surrounding it, Zhivago goes to attend the execution of the people found guilty in the conspiracy to kill Liberius.
The execution is a bit of a gong show. One officer drops his gun and accidentally shoots one of the condemned men in the foot. One of the young men being executed is Galuzin, a guy we met earlier in Part 10. He begs for his life, but to no purpose. No one cares.
The firing squad does its thing. All the men fall, including Galuzin, who twitches for longer than most of the men.

Winter comes, and the army starts to suffer. They even kill all of their dogs to make extra coats out of their skin. Moonshining and drinking starts up again, but this time around, hardly anyone cares.

Pamphil starts to cheer up and eat more once his family joins him in his tent. But when he finds out that all non-military people will be sent away again, he returns to his gloominess.

Eventually, it becomes known that the White Army has completely surrounded the Forest Brotherhood.
However, it doesn't look like the Whites have any way of tightening their circle, since they don't have the numbers or the firepower to do so. For this reason, Liberius and his army rest easy.
Soon enough, the Forest Brotherhood breaks through the White lines and starts attacking them from the rear, basically spelling doom for the Whites. With this new breach in the White lines, tons of new refugees come pouring in to fight with the Forest Brotherhood.
The army is swollen enough with people as it is, however. They don't have enough food to supply all these new soldiers.
Worse yet, the Whites are eventually able to close the breach in their lines, cutting the Forest Brotherhood in two.

Liberius's second-in-command decides that he'd like to leave the army. But he knows that he'll be killed if he tries to desert now.
While the army is wondering what to do, a group of women who've been cut off from their husbands swarm through the forest in a pack, chopping down trees and building roads while the men wait around. Liberius's second-in-command sees this happening and tries to report it back to Liberius, but Liberius only wants to talk about battle.
The problem is that the roads these women are building will help the Whites more than Liberius and his crowd. He sends word for the women to stop working at once, though he has no way of getting the message out to them.

While walking through the forest, Zhivago hears a quack named Kubarikha singing some sort of magic song. People are laughing at her because she's trying to cast a spell.
Zhivago doesn't necessarily believe in the woman's powers. But he does believe in the power of Russian songs to hold deep meaning about human life.

It turns out that Kubarikha is putting a spell on a sick cow and trying to heal it.
Pamphil Palykh's wife goes up to the woman and asks her to help heal her husband's mental illness. Instead of helping, though, the magic woman makes fun of the wife for not having enough sorrow in her life.
Kubarikha goes on a long speech about how nothing is what it appears to be. She also claims that humans have a much closer, more mystical connection with nature than they will ever realize. Zhivago agrees with many of these things, even though he's a man of science.
For some reason, all he can think about at this moment is how much he loves Lara. He feels very sorry that he might die before he ever sees her again.

Gunfire breaks out all around the camp. But the turmoil quickly dies down. People quickly move to where they heard shooting.
They all surround a bloody person who's lying on the ground. The guy is still breathing somehow. His right arm and left leg have been chopped off. He's been captured by the Whites and sent back as a warning to tell everyone in the Forest Brotherhood that even worse things will happen to them and their families if they don't surrender.
The tortured man was dropped over a mile away and told to crawl he rest of the way back to his army comrades. He informs the Brotherhood that the Whites have broken through their resistance and will be on them soon.
The mutilated man goes on to talk about all the horrifying tortures that are happening to people just a few miles away.
Unfortunately, Pamphil Palykh sees this guy and becomes overcome with fear for his family. He can't stand the thought of them being tortured like this. He immediately kills them all with an axe. As you can imagine, this isn't good for army morale. For some reason, the guy doesn't kill himself, even though there's not much of a life still left for him now.
While Liberius, Zhivago, and some other guys decide what to do with Pamphil, the guy just wanders free around the camp in a deranged trance. The next morning, he's disappeared, vanished into the woods like a wild animal.

Winter comes AGAIN.
Liberius runs into Zhivago one day and invites him to spend the night in his tent to chat, just like old times. Zhivago can't think of anything he'd want to do less. But Liberius has new info for him about what has happened in Varykino.
There hasn't been any news about Liberius's family or Zhivago's. This is encouraging, because if the families had been killed, they'd have heard something about it by now.
The big good news is that their enemies are retreating on all fronts. By all accounts, the war is over and done with. The Whites are surrendering.
While Liberius pulls out a map and tries to explain how the Whites are retreating, Zhivago throws a coat on and leaves the tent, saying he wants some fresh air.
All Zhivago can think about now is getting back to his family. He pictures Tonya running through the snow with two young children and realizes that he has to help her somehow.
A long time ago, Zhivago stashed some skis and food in case he ever tried to escape again. Well, now is the time. He goes to the hiding place and, after a quick chat with an officer, runs away into the forest.