Brian McCLELLAN: The Crimson Campaign

Adamat patted her on the cheek. “You’ve been very brave,” he reassured her gently. Inside, Adamat fumed. Once Adamat was no longer any use to him, Vetas no doubt would have turned those goons loose on the children without a second thought.

“I’m going to find them,” he said. He patted Fanish on the cheek again and stood up. One of the twins grabbed his hand.

“Don’t go,” he begged.

Adamat wiped the little one’s tears. “I’ll be right back. Stay with Fanish.” Adamat wrenched himself away. There was still one more child and his wife to save – more battles to win before they were all safely reunited.

He found Sergeant Oldrich just outside the upstairs bedroom, waiting respectfully with his hat in his hands.

“They took Faye and my oldest son,” Adamat said. “The rest of the children are safe. Are any of those animals alive?”

Oldrich kept his voice low so the children wouldn’t overhear. “One of them took a bullet to the eye. Another, the heart. It was a lucky volley.” He scratched the back of his head. Oldrich wasn’t old by any means, but his hair was already graying just above his ears. His cheeks were flushed from the storm of violence. His voice, though, was even.

“Too lucky,” Adamat said. “I needed one of them alive.”

“One’s alive,” Oldrich said.

When Adamat reached the kitchen, he found Roja sitting in one of the chairs, his hands tied behind his back, bleeding from bullet wounds to the shoulder and hip.

Adamat retrieved a cane from the umbrella stand beside the front door. Roja stared balefully at the floor. He was a boxer, a fighter. He wouldn’t go down easy.

“You’re lucky, Roja,” Adamat said, pointing to the bullet wounds with the tip of his cane. “You might survive these. If you receive medical attention quickly enough.”

“I know you?” Roja said, snorting. Blood speckled his dirty linen shirt.

“No, you don’t. But I know you. I’ve watched you fight. Where’s Vetas?”

Roja turned his neck to the side and popped it. His eyes held a challenge. “Vetas? Don’t know him.”

Beneath the feigned ignorance, Adamat thought he caught a note of recognition in the boxer’s voice.

Adamat placed the tip of his cane against Roja’s shoulder, right next to the bullet wound. “Your employer.”

“Eat shit,” Roja said.

Adamat pressed on his cane. He could feel the ball still in there, up against the bone. Roja squirmed. To his credit, he didn’t make a sound. A bareknuckle boxer, if he was any good, learned to embrace pain.

“Where’s Vetas?”

Roja didn’t respond. Adamat stepped closer. “You want to live through the night, don’t you?”

“He’ll do worse to me than you ever could,” Roja said. “Besides, I don’t know nothin’.”

Adamat stepped away from Roja, turning his back. He heard Oldrich step forward, followed by the heavy thump of a musket butt slamming into Roja’s gut. He let the beating continue for a few moments before turning back and waving Oldrich away.

Roja’s face looked like he’d been through a few rounds with SouSmith. He doubled over, spitting blood.

“Where did they take Faye?” Tell me , Adamat begged silently. For your sake, hers, and mine. Tell me where she is. “The boy, Josep? Where is he?”

Roja spit on the floor. “You’re him, aren’t you? The father of these stupid brats?” He didn’t wait for Adamat to answer. “We were gonna bugger all those kids. Startin’ with the small ones first. Vetas wouldn’t let us. But your wife…” Roja ran his tongue along his broken lips. “She was willing. Thought we’d go easy on the babies if she took us all.”

Oldrich stepped forward and slammed the butt of his musket across Roja’s face. Roja jerked to one side and let out a choked groan.

Adamat felt his whole body shaking with rage. Not Faye. Not his beautiful wife, his friend and partner, his confidante and the mother of his children. He held up his hand when Oldrich wound up to hit Roja again.

“No,” Adamat said. “That’s just an average day for this one. Get me a lantern.”

He grabbed Roja by the back of the neck and dragged him out of the chair, pushing him outside through the back door. Roja stumbled into an overgrown rosebush in the garden. Adamat lifted him to his feet, sure to use his wounded shoulder, and shoved him along. Toward the outhouse.

“Keep the children inside,” Adamat said to Oldrich, “and bring a few men.”

The outhouse was wide enough for two seats, a necessity for a household with nine children. Adamat opened the door while two of Oldrich’s soldiers held Roja up between them. He took a lantern from Oldrich and let it illuminate the inside of the outhouse for Roja to see.

Adamat grabbed the board that covered the outhouse hole and tossed it on the ground. The smell was putrid. Even after sundown the walls crawled with flies.

“I dug this hole myself,” Adamat said. “It’s eight feet deep. I should have cut a new one years ago, and the family has been using it a lot lately. They were here all summer.” He shined the lantern into the hole and gave an exaggerated sniff. “Almost full,” he said. “Where is Vetas? Where did they take Faye?”

Roja sneered at Adamat. “Go to the pit.”

“We’re already there,” Adamat said. He grabbed Roja by the back of the neck and forced him into the outhouse. It was barely big enough for the two of them. Roja struggled, but Adamat’s strength was fueled by his rage. He kicked Roja’s knees out from under him and shoved the boxer’s head into the hole.

“Tell me where he is,” Adamat hissed.

No answer.

“Tell me!”

“No!” Roja’s voice echoed in the box that formed the outhouse seat.

Adamat pushed on the back of Roja’s head. A few more inches and Roja would get a face full of human waste. Adamat choked back his own disgust. This was cruel. Inhuman. Then again, so was taking a man’s wife and children hostage.

Roja’s forehead touched the top of the shit and he let out a sob.

“Where is Vetas? I won’t ask again!”

“I don’t know! He didn’t tell me anything. Just paid me to keep the kids here.”

“How were you paid?” Adamat heard Roja retch. The boxer’s body shuddered.

“Krana notes.”

“You’re one of the Proprietor’s boxers,” Adamat said. “Does he know about any of this?”

“Vetas said we were recommended. No one hires us for the job unless the Proprietor gives the go-ahead.”

Adamat gritted his teeth. The Proprietor. The head of the Adran criminal world, and a member of Tamas’s council. He was one of the most powerful men in Adro. If he knew about Lord Vetas, it could mean he’d been a traitor all along.

“What else do you know?”

“I barely spoke twenty words with the guy,” Roja said. His words were coming out in broken gasps as he sputtered through his tears. “Don’t know anything else!”

Adamat struck Roja on the back of the head. He sagged, but he was not unconscious. Adamat lifted him by his belt and shoved his face down into the muck. He lifted him again and pushed. Roja flailed, his legs kicking hard as he tried to breathe through the piss and shit. Adamat grabbed the boxer by the ankles and pushed down, jamming Roja in the hole.

Adamat turned and walked out of the outhouse. He couldn’t think through his fury. He was going to destroy Vetas for putting his wife and children through this.

Oldrich and his men stood by, watching Roja drown in filth. One of them looked ill in the dim lantern light. Another was nodding in approval. The night was quiet now, and Adamat could hear the steady chirp of crickets in the forest.

“Aren’t you going to ask him more questions?” Oldrich said.