Deadman

While the Khan was waiting for Sara and Elise to stew, I decided to follow the guards who’d gone to tear through Sara’s quarters. I had never been to that portion of the palace, but I heard the crashing of furniture and the fluttering of papers, which meant my mental map of the place was at least partially accurate. The wives each seemed to have one of their own tents within the Khan’s own palace. Each was decorated differently, with most sporting the typical oil sigils, and a few Ursan fur blankets, but there were also colorful flags on some of them as well as bird feathers and other decorations.

The flaps to a few were open, and in one I saw several bookshelves of what looked to be handwritten journals, and in another were rows of guns in various states of repair, and maps with small sigils I recognized as representing some of the larger raider groups. I had to fight the temptation in both cases and keep myself from ducking into them and seeing what I could memorize before I was caught. I was in the Khan’s good graces, but I could only imagine what the punishment might be for being caught in the tent of one of his wives.

I reached the sound of the noise, and found several of the Khan’s guards tearing through Sara’s room with vigor. There were several broken tables, books strewn about, and a bed tossed upside down. The guards nodded in acknowledgement and I returned the nod. “Found anything yet?” I asked.

The more heavily pierced and tattooed of the two shook his head.

“Clear out for a few minutes. Let me look around.”

They exchanged glances, and looked like they were going to argue, but took another glance at me and stopped. “We’ll be just outside.”

They left and I began to look around. It was hard to tell exactly how things were before they’d torn the place up, and I had the impression that they didn’t really know what they were looking for. I lifted the bed and frame and flipped it in a quick motion, taking a moment to check between the mattress, but finding nothing. I then checked a desk that had been flipped upside down, flipping right side up.. Inside were letters that I recognized. They were the same kind I’d delivered for her to Pott’s. I tore one open and read it. It was from a different wife, and I saw nothing suspicious. I even tried reading just the first word of each sentence, or every first letter to see if there was some sort of code, but I couldn’t figure anything out. I read a few more, but realized eventually that none of them were Sara’s. I checked another drawer and inside I found nothing, but hesitated before I closed it. It seemed to have less space than the first drawer, which made me suspicious. I felt around in it, and realized that there was a false panel at the bottom. I pried it open and inside found a single letter. I opened and read it. It was a letter written to, from what I could tell, a lost child. This was the only one I was certain was hers, and I tucked it into my cloak.

I moved on to the books and began searching through them. I found a few old medical texts that seemed directed to women, and a few romantic books with a clear beauty and the beast theme. When picking one book up, a piece of paper fell out. I picked it up and saw a series of numbers and notes requesting a certain amount of oil. I opened several more books and found more notes, each of them detailing a different portion of the plan with parts, oil, personnel, and transport all noted and taken care of. I collected those notes into a pile, then I looked over them and the letter a final time. I exited the room and walked back out to the guards.

“I found some documents I need to take to the Khan right away. Feel free to continue destroying the tent, but if I were you I may spend some time tidying up.”

They shot me a confused look, but I offered no explanation and instead walked back to where the Khan was continuing his repairs in a much more somber atmosphere than when I’d arrived. He was no longer asking Brun for tools, and was instead sliding in and out from under the vehicle to retrieve them himself in what was the first sign of distress I’d ever seen from him. In spite of that, his actual expression was unchanged and he seemed relaxed and focused on the work in front of him.

Before I approached him, I deviated slightly to stand next to Carmilla. She was giving orders to a few of the guards and referencing a clipboard. I waited for her to be done, and when she was I went to tap her shoulder and get her attention, but she had turned to face me before I could so much as lift a finger.

“Yes?” she asked.

“I just had a few questions.”

She gave a businesslike nod.

“Elise, the guard who just accused Sara, the Khan said she’d been in his service since before he took Fette, as a guard of his third wife. Whose his third wife?”

Carmilla looked in the Khan’s direction and directed for me to follow her a short distance away. “Why are you asking this?”

“I got fragments of information from Brun, but I just want to make sure I have the entire picture.”

“For what purpose?”

“I have a theory, but I don’t want to present anything about it until I have all of my bases covered.” I glanced meaningfully over to the Khan.

She nodded slowly. “The Khan’s third wife was Jantai. He prefers that we do not speak of her.”

“Is she the one who was killed by raiders, rad poisoning, or him?”

“Him. She had betrayed us to the raiders that killed his first wife. He found her during the attack, shot her in the head.”

“Was Elise involved?”

“She didn’t know. Swore so on her life, got most of those scars in that battle.”

“Why did Jantai betray the Khan?”

She shook her head. “That I’ve never learned. His second wife may have known, but she was taken by rads before she could’ve ever told me.”

I nodded and approached the Khan who was wiping grease from his face with the back of his hand. He nodded at me while I approached. “You will accompany me to speak with them.”

I nodded. “Before we go, I ask that we speak with Elise first. I think it’ll save us some time.”

He sighed. “I look forward to neither. It doesn’t matter which we approach first.” He threw on his Ursan cloak, and began walking toward the back of his palace, three guards falling in behind us as we walked, two of them younger and one almost as old and grizzled as Elise. I took note of all three of them, and kept myself on guard. We made it all the way to the cell, in which sat Elise, a stern expression on her face.

The Khan took a step toward her, but I held up a hand. “Mind if I start?”

He frowned, but nodded.

I stepped ahead until I was standing directly in front of her. “How long have you acted as Sara’s guard?”

“Since she joined us,” she answered.

“You’ve been in the Khan’s service much longer than that, yes?”

She nodded. “Much.”

“I’ve found a number of notes in her quarters.” I pulled the stack of papers from my cloak. “They indicate a series of orders she’s given requesting additional oil, parts, and even vehicle escorts. Am I to understand that you passed these orders along for her?”

She nodded. “As she ordered.”

“And you didn’t question or think to report what was going on?”

“I do as I am ordered.”

“You believed all of this flowed from the Khan?”

She nodded.

“This betrayal must hurt.”

Her eyes flickered at the word betrayal, but otherwise she didn’t move. She seemed very relaxed about the entire line of questioning, which made me more suspicious, and certain. I pulled out the letter I had that Sara had written.

“The strange thing is. All of these notes Sara is supposed to have written, they were oddly easy to find, just loose in her books. If I were her, I would’ve hid them where I found this,” I held up the letter. “Which was hidden in a compartment in her drawer. I mean, if she already had such a good place to hide things, why didn’t she hide these there?”

Elise’s eyes widened a fraction, and I saw her shoot a rapid glance to the eldest of the guards behind me.

I held the letter up next to the notes. “The other funny thing… the handwriting doesn’t match at all. Almost as if someone who had access to her room may have placed them there for someone to find.”

It was at that moment, that not one, but two of the guards attacked, and Elise lunged at me.