Broken Arrow

'Who is she?'

'Hood's woman,' Tanek replied.

Hood's woman did not look very well. She was unconscious for a start, her face and arms battered and bruised, blood pouring from several wounds. One of her legs looked severely twisted. If she was still alive, then she wouldn't remain that way for long.

'She needs medical attention,' Tanek confirmed, 'if she is to survive.'

'And why would we want her alive?' The Tsar said. 'I thought the intention was to kill all those close to Hood, including the ones that you have clearly let escape.'

'She might yet prove useful,' Tanek retaliated.

'The big man will tell you where the others have fled, will he not?'

'Possibly.'

'If your skills are lacking, my friend, then I'm sure Bohuslav will oblige upon his return.'

Tanek shot him a contemptuous look. 'I was thinking more in terms of leverage… against Hood.'

The Tsar laughed. 'Hood? I would not worry about him. He will soon be dead, if he isn't already.'

'Don't underestimate the man.'

'He's right,' Adele said, siding with the brute who had once been her father's second. 'Not that I want to save her, but I've seen the man fight, my lord.'

The Tsar smiled. He liked the way that sounded coming from Adele's lips: my lord.

'Nonsense,' he said. Then he gazed down and saw people being herded in through the castle's entrance, the first batch of prisoners from the nearby hotel, under armed guard in case they had any stupid ideas about fleeing. 'We let her die. Look at her, she is well on her way already. She might even have died as we stood here talking about it.'

Tanek looked her up and down and The Tsar was satisfied he'd made his point. Apart from anything else, there weren't many men with medical knowledge amongst his troops. If one of his men was injured, then he was of no use anymore and would either be left to die or shot right there and then. And The Tsar himself relied on Bohuslav to see to his personal health needs. With his detailed knowledge of anatomy, he was better than any doctor. But Bohuslav wasn't here, and even if he was The Tsar wouldn't waste his talents on this whore.

'Sire, sire!' This came from behind and The Tsar whirled around. It was the radio operator from the AFV they'd travelled in. 'I have news of the other skirmish.'

'Ah, excellent.' The Tsar's smile intensified.

'Our… our forces have been…' The Tsar expected the next words out of the man's mouth to be 'successful', but instead the man said quietly: 'Defeated.'

'What?' The Tsar grabbed the messenger by his collar. 'Repeat that, man.'

'I… They have been defeated, sire.'

'You lie!'

The man shook his head. 'One of the remaining vehicles just checked in. Commander Bohuslav's.'

Remaining vehicles? What the fuck was this cretin talking about? The Tsar had sent enough firepower to lay waste to an entire city. And what did Hood's men have? Sticks and stones! They didn't even fight using guns. How was this possible? Bohuslav. He was to blame. Oh, when he got his sorry hide back here The Tsar would personally punish him.

'He himself is reported to be extremely badly injured,' the man blurted out, still petrified. 'Near to death, in fact.'

'Bohuslav?'

A nod from the mouse he was holding by the throat. The Tsar looked across at Tanek who was not only nodding in an 'I told you so' kind of way, he was also grinning, probably at the thought of Bohuslav's fatal wounds. 'Impressive,' commented the giant, 'even for Hood.'

The Tsar shook his man again, tightening his grip.

'They… they suffered heavy losses as well, majesty,' he blurted, probably hoping this might spare him The Tsar's wrath, 'including The Hooded Man himself.'

At this news, The Tsar did let him go. The messenger dropped to the ground, landing on his backside. Without even bothering to get up, he crawled away in case The Tsar should change his mind.

'Not so impressive, after all,' The Tsar countered, and forced a smile — though he couldn't help thinking it had taken all those tanks, armoured vehicles and men to bring down that one man.

'Can we be certain he's dead?' This came from Adele.

The Tsar glowered at her. 'What is the matter? You seem disappointed.'

She shook her head. 'It's just that I hoped I might be the one to kill him.'

The Tsar nodded, he could understand that. He'd never met the man and he wished he could have done the deed personally. Now they'd both have to settle for recovering the body and putting that head on a pike.

'Those left alive will return to the castle,' Tanek said, showing no emotion concerning Hood one way or the other. Perhaps he didn't really believe it.

'But they will not be expecting us to be here. They will return, battered and exhausted, leaderless, demoralised, expecting a warm welcome… only to find guns jammed in their faces instead.' It didn't worry The Tsar in the slightest. 'We have more than enough men to stand against them, taking into account our new comrades from the cult and these prisoners.'

As he waved a hand across to indicate the folk from the hotel, there was a sudden cry from one of them. A female cry. It was coming from a short woman dressed in scrubs, but with a Ranger's jacket on top. 'Mary!' She'd broken ranks and was attempting to get to them, resulting in several automatic weapons being trained on her. But she was unarmed, and The Tsar was curious about who she was. He held up a hand to signal the men to hold their fire. She couldn't do much harm with the twins and Tanek standing so close by.

'Mary,' cried the woman again, tears in her eyes. 'Mary, what have they done to you?'

'And who might you be?' The Tsar asked.

She glared at him before answering. 'Lucy Hill.'

The Tsar looked across at Adele, who shrugged. She'd obviously not had much contact with this woman who'd been lumped in with the prisoners. Lucy took another step towards Mary, but it was one of the twins — Ying — who stood in her way this time, arms folded.

'Please,' said Lucy, the tone of her voice changing from defiant to pathetic, 'let me go to her. She's been training me as a nurse and-'

'Oh dear. If only you'd been here ten minutes ago,' The Tsar cut in. 'We have just learned that we have no further use for her. You see, Hood is dead.'

'Robert?' Now the tears ran freely down Lucy's cheeks. 'I don't believe you.'

'Believe what you like. It is the truth.'

Tanek placed a hand on Ying's shoulder, and was lucky the bodyguard didn't cut it clean off. 'Let her go to the woman,' he said, making it sound more like a command.

'But why?' asked The Tsar. 'What purpose would it serve?'

He didn't answer, but that just backed up what The Tsar suspected. Tanek didn't believe Hood was dead either. He sighed and nodded for Ying to let the nurse through. What did it matter to him if Hood's woman was fixed up, only to be executed later? It was their time and energy they were wasting, not his.

Ying moved aside and Lucy went to Mary, immediately checking her over. Tanek moved to join her, but The Tsar was not quite finished with him yet. 'I want to know where Hood's closest companions are,' he told the giant, 'that is your priority.'

Tanek gave a brusque tip of his head, then continued on his path. Lucy said something to him The Tsar didn't quite catch, but the next thing he knew Hood's woman was being taken back up to the castle with the nurse accompanying her. Tanek and Adele followed on behind, but took a different route when they reached the steps, heading down instead of up.

'As useful as he has been, I think Bohuslav may have been correct about Tanek. The time is fast approaching when he will have outlived his usefulness. Do you not agree?' The Tsar said to Ying and Xue. The women concurred with silent nods. 'And when that time comes, I will call on one of you to do the honours.'

They both smiled at this, no doubt remembering the embarrassment of not being able to best Tanek back in