Deadman

I froze Elise as she lunged and moved to the side, letting her fall with a thud to the ground. I caught the older of the attacking guards by the hands as he attempted to stab me with a Ren style sword.

The Khan moved as quickly as I did, knocking the younger of the guards hand away as he went to draw a pistol on him. He fired a shot into the ground, and the Khan struck his nose with a firm palm, shattering his nose. He followed that up with a knee strike that made ribs crack before he tossed him to the side like trash.

I started squeezing the older swordsman’s hands, hard. I saw his eyes widen as he attempted to loosen his grip and pull away, but I wouldn’t let him. I slowly increased the pressure at first then, suddenly, I squeezed full force, shattering the bones in his hands. He collapsed to the floor, screaming.

The third guard, the one that hadn’t attacked us, was surprised and slow to react, but he recovered with dignity, disarming the two men the Khan and I had dispatched, calling for more guards, and hauling Elise back into her seat, where she eventually unfroze.

I looked down at the two other guards who were now hunched over either screaming in pain or passed out. “That’s two more people to interrogate.”

The Khan nodded, but looked at me. “Sara. You believe she was framed?”

I nodded. “I wasn’t certain, but between the evidence I found, and Elise’s reaction, I’d say she’s likely innocent.”

Elise spat at our feet. “None of you are innocent.”

The Khan knelt down in front of Elise, embodying that same kind of quiet calm that led him to sending both her and Sara to confinement rather than lashing out and killing them where they stood. He looked her in the eye. “Why Elise? You served me so long. I cannot imagine this betrayal was for something material.”

“I serve at the pleasure of my lady.”

He shook his head. “There is no reason to continue trying to shift blame onto Sara. Your attempt to frame her has already been revealed.”

She looked him in the eye. “I. serve. My. Lady.”

The Khan stood. “I will start with your fingers. Whether you cooperate or not, you are already dead. The speed and method are up to you.”

I watched as the guards picked up their two injured former fellows, and the Khan’s wife Carmilla appeared shortly after. He looked at her. “My guard has been compromised. Those two,” he pointed at those who’d attacked us, “are to be interrogated to determine who else may be involved, and any other information they can provide.” He pointed at the third guard, the one who’d helped us. “He shall be in charge of the investigation.”

The man looked surprised, but gave the Khan a deep nod before Carmilla ushered him along and began detailing what she believed to be the best way to go about the investigation. She phrased it as a suggestion, but I knew orders when I heard them. I was thinking of sitting back, maybe helping with an interrogation or two, then putting all the information together, but I found myself picking at my teeth, feeling a thought on the cusp of being realized. “I. Serve. My. Lady.” Is what Elise had said. The Khan assumed she was still trying to sow division with Sara, but there was another potential answer.

I moved back to where Elise was seated, fresh bruises on her face and blood pooled in the corner of her mouth. I knelt down, she was maybe six foot one, and seated, which meant I needed to crouch down a long way to look her in the eye. She didn’t flinch when her brown eyes met my red ones, which I credit her for.

I said one word. “Jantai.”

Her eyebrow twitched, just for an instant, and I took a breath. That was interesting. I stood and looked around, approaching Carmilla. “The Khan, where is he?”

“He retired to his private tent.”

I turned around and started heading in that direction.

“I don’t believe he wants to be disturbed.”

I kept walking. Making my way past his ‘show’ tent he used to keep his lieutenants impressed to the much simpler one behind it. There were no guards, which made sense given his new reasons to distrust them, and there was no door to knock on.

“Khan, it’s Donovan.” I would’ve preferred to walk directly in, but that seemed like a good way to wind up shot in the chest.

“Enter.”

I walked in. It was much the same, a simple tent with little decoration, a few tables with car parts, a fire pit, and a simple cot. The only difference was the central table, which appeared to have been recently smashed. I saw splinters in the Khan’s hands, but his expression was completely calm as he looked at me.

“I assume you have something regarding the investigation. I am impressed so far, even if I’m disappointed in my own people because of it.”

I nodded. “I think I have a prime suspect for the leader of the widows, but I need to ask some questions.”

He nodded. “Ask then.”

“Elise, she worked as a guard to your third wife, correct?”

He nodded.

“I’ve heard from your other wives that you don’t talk about her, or about your first two very much.”

He nodded again.

“Your third wife…you killed her yourself right?”

He nodded a third time, stonefaced.

“Did you see the body?”

The Khan’s eyes narrowed. “Why?”

“Elise, served you for a long time after you killed her. You yourself were surprised that she could’ve been the one to betray you, even if it had been ordered by one of your wives. That got me thinking, who could change her allegiance like that? Then when she kept repeating to you, ‘I serve my lady’, that’s when it clicked. I said the name Jantai, and her face twitched. So I’m asking again. Did you see the body?”

The Khan looked down at his hands, and took one of the splinters embedded in his fist. He drew it out slowly, then repeated the process until his hands were clear of everything, but blood. “No. The body was never found.”

I nodded. “She betrayed you to some raiders right? So she had connections, must’ve been biding her time, waiting for a chance to strike.”

He chuckled. “At the time, the Horde was also considered a raider group. That’s what all rulers of the wastes begin as. Jantai had chosen me as a husband, but she’d been in love with another, an enemy. She gave us up to them, and cost me my first wife. I killed the man she’d betrayed me for in front of her, slowly. She I granted the mercy of a single shot, leaving the corpse for the crows.” He shook his head. “Perhaps that was a mistake.”

“I’m not certain it’s her yet. It’s just a theory.”

The Khan moved over to a table, grabbing a shotgun and a knife. “I will know the answer myself by the end of the day. I left that guard in charge of the investigation, and I will allow him to continue it, but the interrogations themselves... I must show my men I am not above taking part in these things directly.” A small smile crept across his lips, one that didn’t meet his eyes.

I simply nodded. I was fairly certain his men were under no illusions about his willingness to get his hands dirty, in any situation, but it was also clear that wasn’t what it was about. I’d brought up something that the Khan found deeply enraging, or rather, it brought itself up and I pointed it out, and he wanted to take some of that rage out on those who had betrayed him and his people.

There were many words that could be used to describe the Khan. Brutal, cruel, cunning, vindictive, but the one I always thought of when I spoke with him was practical. I’d gotten a glimpse into the old world through my travels and books, which told me that they didn’t believe violence was the right choice, though they clearly felt it was the only one in the end. The truth is violence is always the answer, the only question was how it needed to be applied. The Khan knew where to apply violence, and how to channel his own, that’s what made him the Khan. I wasn’t the sort to feel pity normally, but in that moment I felt a tinge of it for the men he was planning to interrogate.