The Regenian bartender relaxed in his chair with a yawn like he was attending a church service. Lacing his cuffed hands over his middle, his right eye had swollen up purple. The evening before, the snarky Resistance fighter had made a snide comment to one of the Regenian Police who socked him in turn. The man grinned at Viktor and saluted him.
“How do, Lieutenant?”
Viktor ignored him, slapping a folder on the table between them, “Hopefully this won’t take too long.”
“It shouldn’t. I think I’ve made up my mind and so have your people. Convenient how that works out sometimes.”
Flipping open the folder, Viktor spread a swath of black and white photos between them. They were snap shots of the partisans who had escaped earlier that week.
"Do you know these men, Mr. Sauvegeon-”
“Please, call me Jude.”
“Just look at the pictures.”
Jude leaned forward and hummed in his throat, “Bought a rifle from him last winter, think I paid too much though-“
“Mr. Sauvegeon, I need you to tell me what you know about these men and their whereabouts. I’m not in the mood to play games-“
“No, you’d rather be doing that with our village girls. Or perhaps just one village girl,” Jude’s tone lowered, his expression sobering as he stared at Viktor.
Viktor shifted his weight in his seat with a scoff, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t you? Heard it just last night you are on a first name basis with the Roux girl.”
His spine stiffening, Viktor glared down the suspected partisan, “Mr. Sauvegeon, we are not here to discuss my life but yours. If I cannot make you talk in a civilized way, there are other men they will send in after me to finish the job. They aren't as patient.”
“I’ve seen Berchten handiwork on Regenian suspects before and its nothing I want to experience myself,” Jude held out a hand, “Give me a smoke and I’ll tell you.”
Viktor sighed and dug into his coat pocket. Lighting a cigarette, he held it out to Jude. The man took it from his outstretched fingers and breathed in the smoke, his eyes drifting closed, “Now I can think clearly. Yes, I know all these men. I jumped them from this very building just the other night.”
Viktor had thought this would be an easy go of it. Neatening the photos into a pile and setting them aside, he retrieved a second smaller stack of pictures. Jude glanced down at them as Viktor laid them out.
“How about these-“
“Yes, yes,” Jude sighed past the cigarette dangling from his lips, “Your famed scientists.”
“How did you know about their location?”
Jude blinked up with his heavy lidded eyes, smoke swirling from his nostrils, “A friend.”
“Who is this friend?”
The moment he asked, Viktor’s stomach fell at the possibility that this man would give up Georgiana. He was positive of her involvement with the Resistance cell in their area but hadn’t found any incriminating evidence. But there was no way he could protect her from a direct accusation, not with Gruber and Bartel out for blood.
“It’s too bad for you that he’s already dead. You killed him while we were springing those men out of jail the other night. Shame.”
Viktor fought back a sigh of relief as he pushed the pictures towards the man again, “Are the scientists dead?”
“Not that I know of.“
“Who are you working with?”
“Ourselves. The other boys you caught, they are in on it too. The Resistance wants nothing to do with our little backwater town so we decided to take matters in our own hands. Boy, they must be mourning that decision now,” Jude replied, his eyes dead set on Viktor’s.
“Who else in the village-“
“We’re it. You got us all, my boy. How old are you anyway? Nineteen?”
“You can't distract me from the matter at hand-“
“Bet you I’m old enough to be your father. I know I’m old enough to be Georgiana’s. I went to school with her dead beat father. The poor lass. Worked her tail off to keep that farm of theirs going and he lost it all. Just that crumbling, old manor left to them now. What an inheritance.”
Viktor blinked out of his stupor. Jude smirked, noticing that the man had listened intently to everything he had to say about the Roux girl.
Standing abruptly, Viktor gathered up the pictures, “So it would be correct of me to send someone in to take down the statement of your guilt? You are admitting to kidnapping, murder and espionage?”
“Sure as shooting, boy,” Jude nodded grimly, “Thanks for the smoke.”
“Don’t mention it,” Viktor added dryly as he turned towards the door.
“Do me a favor, Lieutenant?”
Viktor’s fingers drifted away from the door knob. He cut his heel around and peered over his shoulder at the man. Jude’s expression was more serious than it had been for their entire interview.
“You called her Georgiana. Don’t.”
Viktor’s mouth went dry, “What are you talking about?“
Jude stood, his hands folded passively in front of him and eyes fervent, “If you have any honor or real feelings for her, stay away. You are both so young. This is no place or time for what you believe to be love.”
“How do you know?” Viktor spurted before he could stop himself.
His scalp tingled at the memory of how Bartel had noticed his interaction with Georgiana at the bar as well.
Jude snorted, “Believe me, I know. I fought in the first Empirical war. My Georgiana is still living in Berchta where I left her twenty two years ago. At least I hope she still is. You put her and yourself in danger playing this game. Please make a promise to a man on death row, leave the girl be.”
Viktor sniffed, glancing down at his hands, “I’ll send someone in-“
“Lieutenant. Please.”
Shooting Jude a glare, he exhaled hotly out his nose, “I would never let anything happen to her.”
Jude blew out a smoke ring, “Good.”
A crowd gathered in the town square the next morning. A gallows with three ropes swinging in the biting, early winter breeze stood by the frozen fountain. It had been erected swiftly overnight once the last of the men had admitted to partisan involvement.
It had been considerably easy to get confessions and information from them about their rebel activity. Gruber had grumbled that it had been too easy. Viktor could only assume that meant that they would continue to come down hard on the little village of Belnon.
“Unwashed miscreants,” Bartel wrinkled his nose, his mustache waggling as he grimaced towards the square, “Look how they mill about, no pride or dignity. Parents grubby as their children.”
Gruber narrowed his eyes at the crowd, “I must say. I have been disappointed with the women in this area. They all look more like men. Don’t you agree, Domnin?”
Viktor took a reluctant step forward to stand beside his superior officer, “Yes sir.”
He scanned the crowd and his gaze came to rest on Georgiana Roux. Standing in the middle of the crowd, a scarf was wrapped around her bright head. Her long face was without a ripple, lips thin with the cold and eyes wide.
Viktor felt sick when he noticed that Edgar stood in front of her, her gloved hands grasping his thin shoulders. He couldn’t understand why she would have brought the boy to such a gruesome event.
“Well, maybe not all of them,” Gruber commented ruefully.
Viktor peered over at the man and realized he had followed his line of sight and found the Roux siblings in the crowd. Viktor's eyes cut away, recalling Jude’s warning.
The doors behind them swung open and the three men were paraded down the massive stone steps of the town hall. Jude Savegeon kept his eyes straight ahead, his expression triumphant. His mouth hinted at a smile as he was led onto the platform. None of the villagers in the square moved, their breath pluming in the icy, golden air.
The ropes were placed around the necks of the partisans.898Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5r42gjNDLi
“Domnin,” Gruber swung towards his second in command, “Would you do the honors?”
Viktor gaped at him, “Sir?”
Gruber nodded towards the gallows, the crowd watching them in breathless silence, “I believe it would be wise for your friends watching to know where you stand.”
A chill ran up his spine as Viktor understood that the Captain was talking about Georgiana. Bartel coughed into his glove, hiding a grin. The Regenian Police officer had reported the incident at the bar during Jude’s arrest. Viktor gritted his teeth and fought off the strong impulse to sock the man in the jaw.
“Well? What are you waiting for, Lieutenant? Its cold out here,” Gruber turned forward expectantly.
Viktor’s eyes trailed from Georgiana’s blank face to where Jude stood on the platform. Apparently the man assumed what the three men were discussing on the steps. The bartender nodded subtly.
Steeling himself, his pulse racing, Viktor strode down towards the gallows. A Corporal held out the rope to him. Viktor removed his gloves and grasped it with white knuckles. It was knotted around a board where the men stood. One quick jerk and it would be all over. It was simple enough.
A year earlier, he would have jumped at the chance to kill Regenians who were responsible for the blood of his comrades. He thought of Maier, Haas, and the countless others who would never see home again.
Viktor peered back at the stony crowd and met her gaze. Steady and grey as stone, she wasn’t glaring. She was numb.
As numb as he had been when he had first arrived in Belnon before he had allowed her into his world. He had a feeling that if this war wasn’t the death of him, Georgiana Roux certainly would be.
Viktor pulled the rope.
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