Cesare stared at the strange circle, in the center of which was Tony, as his new boss liked to be called. It was drawn with chalk in their Airbnb apartment. Probably not the strangest thing their host would have to clean from her floor, but maybe it would rank in the top ten?

When Tony had told Cesare he was a necromancer, Cesare had laughed. Now, as he saw how Tony was in a trance like state and there was white mist around him when the weather outside was pleasant, he didn’t feel like laughing anymore.

Finally, the mist turned into a man and chains appeared around him. The man was muscular and had on a tunic and pants. Furthermore, a long beard and a bow strapped to his back.

“Welcome, Genghis Khan. I summon you to ask you about your tomb,” said Tony. Cesare wondered how the American thought that the ancient ghost would understand him. But then, the ghost snorted.

“My tomb? I just have a grave. You won’t rob it, necromancer. My curse will fell you,” Cesare’s eyes widened. The Khan was speaking in English! Antonius saw Cesare’s surprise and was quick to clarify.

“Spirits get translated in the language of the necromancer who summoned them. Well, I know a bit about the khan’s burial. Care to let me bounce ideas off you?” Cesare nodded. He knew a bit about Genghis Khan, too.

“Well, as the legend goes, he died in a hunting accident,” said Antonius. Cesare became thoughtful.

“Maybe they spread the rumor, so they wouldn’t demoralize the troops? I mean, he was in a campaign in China at the time, right? What if he died of his wounds?” Antonius rubbed his chin.

“Yes. If some lucky Chinese archer managed to pierce his insides or a levy cut him too deeply, then the myth about the great khan would be ruined. Khan, how did you die?” Antonius turned to the ghost, who frowned.

“There was poison in my fermented horse milk one day, the next I was dead,” Antonius and Cesare shared a look. They had both been off the mark by a long shot.

“So, you were poisoned. Died quickly and then got transported back to Mongolia?” Asked Cesare. “But, that doesn’t make any sense. Why would they stop a campaign just to cart a corpse, even if it was their khan’s, back to their homeland?”

“My warriors knew to respect me. Something you do not,” replied the khan with a glare that made Cesare shudder. He was not very knowledgeable about whatever or not the ghost could hurt him. And he wanted to avoid finding out if the khan could break from his chains.

“Maybe one of the khan’s generals continued the fighting and just a small group broke off to go back to Mongolia. His wishes were to be buried in the  Burkhan Khaldun Mountains,” supplied Antonius. Then, he laid down on the floor and stared at the ceiling. “But that place has been upturned so many times that there is no way the grave is there.”

“Maybe he is still buried beneath some mountain?” Suggest Cesare. “Which is the most holy mountain for the Mongolians?”

“Otgontenger Mountain, in Zavkhan province,” supplied Antonius, but then he shook his head. “But it is connected to Buddhism. And Genghis Khan believed in Tangra.”

“Tengri, you infidel,” snapped the khan, and Antonius send him a disinterested look.

“Yes, totem worship, basically,” spoke Antonius, ignoring the khan’s growl.

“Well, then, would it be too illogical to assume he had his soldiers bury him somewhere where this Tengri was worshiped?” Asked Cesare. He received a glare from the khan as well, and the ghost fought against his chains, but couldn’t get them off.

“Tengrianism was practiced around bonfires, not in temples. The totems were of wood, so there are none surviving from that time,” said Antonius with a sight.

“Maybe it is not the connection between the religion and the burial site, that we should be searching for, but the connection between the religion and the khan himself,” Cesare looked at the Mongol khan and added.

“You, as a khan, must be a descendant of Tengri? How, exactly?” The khan preened and smiled.

“My first ancestor was the Blue Wolf, he was known under the name of Modu Chanyu. He was born with a destiny that came from Tengri. He made Xiongnu into a terror that the world never saw the likes of, again,” Cesare didn’t know a thing about Modu Chanyu or Xiongnu, but he recognized hero worship when he heard it.

“He is buried with the first ancestor,” said Cesare, sure of himself.

“Which is bad for us, considering that no one knows where the Chanyu was buried, either,” Antonius got up and went to a map. He pulled out a bag of bones and cut himself over it. Cesare went to look at what Antonius was doing, and he stared at the bones with interest.

“This will give us a wide range to search in. It will span about two hundred kilometers wide area,” Antonius threw the bones, and they piled over a spot in Russia. In Buryatia province.

“Well, that was a part of Mongolia, once,” said Antonius, rubbing his chin. “But with the war going on, it will be hard getting in the country.”

“So, this is it? We give up?” Cesare had been excited about an adventure. And he had just gotten a spirit medium session instead.

“I didn’t say impossible. We won’t be able to get in there through Europe, but, if we go to Mongolia from the Middle East and then go to Buryatia from there, we will manage it. The khan will be coming with us. No one but us can see him, don’t worry,” Cesare’s face split into a grin.

Their first case, and they were going to go to a country that was at war! He had never been to the European part of Russia, much less to the Asian one, but it all sounded like a grant adventure!