For over an hour Gansukh lead Nate through the mountains, until they reached a path that had seen traffic recently, the snow crushed and mixed in with the mud and rocks creating a brown sludge that led them across the plateau and past a narrow, natural bridge. From there, Gansukh led Nate up a small wall face and they slowly crept forward until they reached the edge of a rim looking down into a valley.
Gansukh held a finger to his lips and pointed over the rim. Nate leaned over and gasped.
There, in the middle of the Altai Mountains, hidden for 800 years, was the fortress of Batu Khan. It was made of stone and built into the mountainside and it looked more like a small city than a fortress. Surrounding the perimeter was a stone curtain wall, crumbling in some parts, completely fallen in others creating an impassable rubble. The wall ran in a half circle starting at one side of the mountain, passing around the fortress and re-joining into the mountain on the other side. Battlements were spaced evenly along the wall.
"That's not Mongolian design" he muttered. Gansukh looked at him but said nothing.
Inside the wall were small, square buildings made of timber and stone with yurts interwoven around them. Nate frowned wondering what was going on, the stone buildings were not Mongolian at all. Sarai Batu showed what kind of buildings they built. Was it possible they evolved their design while living here? He supposed it was possible, stone and rock were plentiful around here. Though the timber would have had to have been carted in.
He glanced over the city, some of the buildings and yurts still stood, but most had fallen to the weather or decay, they were spaced evenly, fanning away from the fortress keep where wide roads lead in between sections giving it a look of a spoked half wheel. It was well organised, built with a specific structure in mind, which didn't surprise Nate at all. The Mongols were a highly organised and disciplined empire. All roads led directly into the main road which flowed through to the fortress gates.
The fortress was made of stone, and like the wall it was built into the mountain, only the facade and some parts of the side walls could be seen before it connected to the mountain. Because of that and the distance it was hard to judge just how big the fortress actually was and impossible to tell how far back in it went.
Gansukh tapped Nate on the shoulder and pointed to a spot off to the side of the wall, almost out of sight around a bend were tents. Modern ones built for winters.
"Crap" he muttered. Gansukh looked at him and Nate pointed his thumb and index finger to look like a gun and then pointed to tents.
Gansukh nodded his understanding.
As much as he wanted to avoid it, the tents would be the first place to search. If they captured Mia then that's where they would keep her. If she wasn't there that means she got away from them and followed the trail to the fortress or tried looking for him. Or they killed her and left her for dead.
Pushing that morbid thought aside, he tapped Gansukh on the shoulder and motioned for him to follow.
A natural path led them down into the valley and they emerged behind a boulder and overhang just behind the tents. There were minimal guards on duty, probably due to knowing there was no one around for miles and even if there were other nomadic villages around they would probably have kept their distance from them. The chances of being caught were less if only one person went in, so Nate motioned for Gansukh to wait behind the boulder. Gansukh nodded his understanding and Nate crouch-walked to another outcrop of rocks, where he waited. He peered around the side of the rocks and studied the area. There were only five tents and he watched two guards, one walking with a shotgun in his hands and the other with an assault rifle, do circles around the closely pitched tents. The tents were large, the same size as the yurts, probably housing four to six mercenaries in each, but there were only five of them which meant Khanoğlu had, at most, 30 men here at the moment. Nate wondered if Khanoğlu had more on the way or if this was it. Crates and tables and chairs were strewn about in no particular order and a fire pit, with a blazing fire, had been built in the middle of the tented area.
Nate waited until both guards were out of sight and crept over to the closest tent, he pulled back the flap and peered inside, but it was empty except for some cots. The next two tents were also empty. When he reached the fourth tent, coming from the rear, he heard someone talking and peered around from the side and saw a mercenary had poked his head inside and was talking to someone.
The reply was harsh but familiar, Mia!
Looking around, the two patrolling guards were nowhere in sight, so Nate rounded the corner and wrapped his arm around the mercenary's throat and forced him inside the tent. Mia gasped while the mercenary struggled against Nate's chokehold. Eventually the mercenary stopped struggling and slumped, a dead weight that Nate let fall to the ground.
"Nate?" Mia whispered sharply. She was sitting on a cot, handcuffed to the rail. In the dimness from a portable light hanging from the roof, Nate saw she was battered and bruised, red welts on her cheek and her eye was starting to bruise over.
"You ok?" he asked, searching the mercenary. He pulled out his M1911 and a set of keys.
"They said you were dead."
He gave her a smile, "Not this time. Are you ok?" he repeated.
Mia nodded, "I'll be better once I'm out of here."
Nate walked over and worked the cuffs, "You look a little worse for wear."
"He...he's an evil man."
"Khanoğlu did this?"
Mia shook her head, "No, Kelvin."
Nate felt his blood boil, "Come on, let's get out of here."
"What about Sully?"
"I'll come back for him when you're safe."
"They've seen him you know" she said and Nate stopped in his tracks. "He was heading into the fortress."
"We'll talk about it once we're out of here" he said and indicated for her to be quiet and to stay low. They exited the tent and he led her around to the back. After waiting a minute for the guards to pass she followed him to the boulder where Gansukh waited.
Nate ignored Mia's questioning look when he introduced her to Gansukh, telling her he would explain it all later, "Tell me what happened and where they saw Sully."
"After you fell, I tried to escape but Khanoğlu had men ahead of us, scouting the way. They captured me and set up camp and waited for Khanoğlu and his men to make their way over.
"Khanoğlu put me in a tent and when he came to question me, I thought he was going to kill me. But he took the map and studied it, he asked me questions and I told him all I knew, I'm so sorry Nate. I was scared."
Nate put a hand on her shoulder, "You have nothing to be sorry about. You did what you had to do to survive."
A tear trickled down her cheek, "Khanoğlu seemed almost impressed with how far we had gotten and to be ahead of him. He said it was a shame you were dead and would miss out on seeing the Jewels. He asked if I required anything and then left. He was actually courteous. Not long after I heard him talking to Kelvin, he was harsh calling him a fool and useless. That he financed him for years for nothing. I think he slapped him as well. Kelvin came into the tent and he was furious, and he questioned me, asking me the same questions Khanoğlu did and then some other ones like where the nomads were, who was attacking the men. I had no idea what he was talking about and Khanoğlu didn't even ask me questions like that, just about the Jewels. When I told him I didn't know he hit me again and again until one of the guards came in and pulled him away."
Tears were now flowing freely down her cheeks, she wiped them away and Nate pulled her in for a hug.
"It's ok" he said softly. "You're safe now."
"Thank you," she whispered. "For coming back." She pulled away from the hug and wiped away the tears again. "Sully was seen earlier today, a guard told Khanoğlu and he told me, asking me about him but I told him I joined you after he had left you in Hungary and he was always one step ahead of us."
"Where was he seen?" Nate asked.
"Near the Fortress, I think he found a way in. Khanoğlu and Spence rushed ahead with some men and more are on their way."
"So Khanoğlu and Spence are inside already?"
Mia nodded.
"Ok" he said. He turned to Gansukh, "Can you take her to safety?" he asked pointing to Mia and then up to the rim of the valley.
Gansukh nodded and Nate turned to Mia, "No," she said. "I want to see this until the end."
Nate sighed, "I can't risk you getting caught again. If Khanoğlu finds us, he won't be so kind next time. He will kill us."
Mia shook her head, "I'm not sure, Nate. From what you told me about him, he was totally different. He sounded like he respected you."
"He's just playing you. We can't take the risk."
"Then what about you?" she asked.
"Don't worry about me" he said. "I'll get Sully and meet you at the village as quick as I can. Go with Gansukh. He doesn't speak English but he will pick up what you say. He will take you back to his village."
Mia placed a hand on his arm, "Be careful" she said. "They're both crazy and they both want to get their hands on the Jewels."
Nate nodded, "I will. Go" he said.
He watched as Gansukh led Mia away from the camp while he headed towards the fortress.