Soldiers One - Warriors of Misfortune

by Pj Belanger

between the wings. This time the lobo just pranced around, anxious to be off. The beast began to run awkwardly down the field, spread its wings and within a few steps it was up, taking Omomo with it. The exhilaration of flying again almost overwhelmed the rider as memories with Lissy came flooding into her brain. The lieutenant heard the lobo screeching, Lio was confusing this lobo with thoughts of Lissy. Blanking her mind, getting a hold of her emotions, she steered the animal towards Talman’s Stolla who was already heading towards the East. The two riders had forgotten to hook up their cells, so Lio followed his hand directions.

  Once the lobos reached the river, Talman turned north. They reached the outskirts of Stousa quickly. He motioned for her to follow him down. Moira gently landed in the chosen field. “I will let you point him out to me, then we will snag him and bring him here,” Talman instructed. This time the two riders remembered to hook up their cells. Talman’s voice came in her ear loud and clear, “Let’s go get the son of a bitch.” They took off for the large village. “Keep low, just above the tree line,” he advised. Like him, she’d taken out her long hook type lasso rope.

  They glided so silently none of the natives looked up in the fading light. Sure enough in the center of the community was the prayer ground. Torches surrounded the field as hundreds of natives stood waiting for the evening blessing. Lio pointed to a fat man, sitting on a large bench, the priests standing behind him, chanting their blessings.

  Both lobos flew right next to each other, both diving as their riders directed them. The swoosh of the wings brought the crowd’s attention to the lobos, everyone started to scatter. Some of the Chief’s guards raised their bows but didn’t shoot. The lobo was too sacred to harm. Lio was glad it also had extended to the riders.

  Talman threw his rope lasso first. Lio followed. Her lasso at first seemed to miss its target but the huge hook type rope finally dragged itself over the chief’s shoulders. She immediately tightened the loop.

  The fat man screamed as he was lifted off his bench and into the air. Both lobos banked left away from the field. Lio looked down to see the chief was actually hanging upside down. They sped to the clearing. Unfortunately, the Chief was unceremoniously dumped on the ground. He was knocked unconscious. Lio landed first and quickly ran to the man. The villager’s leader was just coming around when she yanked him to his feet. Lio had to hold him up as the Chief was totally disoriented.

  Talman called him every swear word he knew in the native’s language. Lio stopped shaking the Chief and placed him on his feet which were still wobbly. The native sank to the ground, sitting.

  Talman squatted down so he was face to face with the Chief. “Loppe rue isti ci lonie?” The White Wing lieutenant asked the Chief where he’d gotten the sharp arrows. The terrified native looked up. Both lobos started screeching. It was deafening. Lio hauled the native up on his feet and repeated the question. The last of the light was fading; Talman had brought out a stick light. The native’s face, even in shadows, looked pale and scared.

  Finally, she dragged him over to Moira. “I will have the lobo eat you!” she told the leader in his language. The jaws of the animal opened, sharp teeth snapped close to the Chief. He tried to back up but Lio held him, even dragging the petrified man closer.

  “Ni, ni.” He screamed, “E scocoi, E scocoi.” I will tell you, I will tell you, the native kept repeating in his own language.

  She dragged the Chief away from the beasts. Both riders listened as the half-sobbing native leader told them of the shipments of arrows and explosives that came by a dark colored truck. A man, who glowed gold and claimed he was a god, a new King who told of the evil soldiers that were actually murdering, not relocating his people. The Chief reiterated that the soldiers were not relocating the natives but burying them in massive graves. The people of Stousa had seen this glowing golden man. He would be their salvation, their long awaited golden King.

  Both riders listened to the tale. “Someone is playing on the old myth of a golden god that is in the stories that the native children learn,” Lio told Talman, who nodded. Her own mother had told her such stories. The Chief told them a shipment was due tonight.

  Whimpering and crying, they could hardly understand him, “It come, it come tonight, bring arrows and things to make explosions.”

  Lio got a general idea of which way the hovertruck would come in, which dirt road it would come from. “They must have a hell of a time getting a hover in here,” she commented. “It must be a military heavy duty type vehicle.”

  “We’ll see.” Talman poked the Chief with his rifle, “Bebumo, stite roe truck.” Take us to the where the truck comes.

  They walked with the lobos following behind them. It was totally dark and they traversed by Talman’s stick-light. The first moon was up, it gave them some relief. Capa’s second moon wouldn’t be up for a couple of hours. Finally, not far from the village, they came upon a wide dirt road. The Chief pointed up the road.

  After dragging the Chief with them, the two soldiers found a nearby sharp turn. “Good place to stop them,” Lio pointed out and got a nod from Talman. They set up a road block by dragging some heavy rocks into the road. The Chief sat between the two beasts. If he even moved a little, the lobos hissed at him. Once they were sure the hover would have a hard time passing over the protruding rocks, they sat and waited.

  Sure enough, they didn’t have to wait long. A ray of light was filtering down the road. Its engine was loud, affirming Lio’s opinion that it was a military type vehicle with the power to keep a hovertruck afloat on a rough dirt road.

  The Chief looked scared, the whites of his eyes shining brightly as the truck grew closer. “Here, take this.” She handed the native leader a small curved knife, “This is for defending yourself. If you use it on us, the lobos will kill you,” she told him in his language. Looking grateful, he took the knife and nodded.

  Sure enough, the truck stopped at the rock barrier. Two darkly dressed men jumped out of the cab, rifles held high. “Fuck, what the hell is this,” one of them spat out. “Those damn natives.”

  “Put your weapons down,” Lio jumped out, her rifle pointed at their chests. The men fired but Lio and Talman were ready, shooting their own guns while flinging themselves to the side. The riders had gotten both the men. Two others poured out the back, shooting as they came. They both went down.

  Stepping over the barrier, the riders slowly circled to the back. In the truck was a glowing gold man. He was dressed in native royal garb. The God put his hands up, “Hey don’t shoot, man,” then repeated it in the native’s tongue.

  “Who are you?” Lio asked. The whole back of the truck was lit up from him glowing so brightly. Lio shielded her eyes and waved him out with her rifle.

  The gold figure stepped out. “Hey, I’m just doing what they told me to do. Don’t shoot me!”

  “Who are you?” Talman demanded, poking his rifle in his chest.

  “It’s none of your business,” came from behind them. They turned to see two soldiers with high powered laser rifles pointed at them. They must have snuck out of the vehicle while the others were covering the sides. Unfortunately, Lio recognized one of the.

  “Well, Sergeant Mulle,” she spat it out, “why am I not surprised to see you?”

  “Ah, the highfalutin sarcastic Lieutenant,” he laughed, “look who’s gone and got herself killed! You native bitch, Captain’s favorite, his pet that is sleeping with him, wouldn’t give me the time of day. Maybe if you are nice to me, I might reconsider torturing you and kill you right off instead.

  So that was it, she thought, he wanted me to fuck with him. She recoiled inside at the thought. “You’re out of your league,” she told him. “The army will catch on to you.”

  “P-l-e-a-s-e, who do you think sent me?” he laughed again. “Not as smart as you thought you were, are ya?”

  “Listen Sergeant,” came from the glowing golden man, “I didn’t sign up to kill soldiers. These guys aren’t natives.”
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br />   “No, they are sympathizers. They want to help the natives. She’s one of them, grew up here. Omomo probably screws a native a day. Once these subhuman inhabitants are eliminated, the whole southern continent will be ours! Think of how much were being paid, asshole! Shut up.”

  So that was it! Before she could react, the lobos attacked. Both Mulle and his partner fired at them but the lobos’ thick outer shell protected them. The two animals tore the two men apart before Lio or Talman could intervene. The huge jaws almost cut the humans in half.

  “Help me! Help me!” the glowing man started to run towards the forest. He didn’t get far. From the dark, the Chief jumped on him, stabbing him to death despite Lio’s yell to stop.

  “Shit, what a mess!” Talman went over to the still glowing dead man. “He has effervescent paint on him.” He rubbed his hand on the man’s arm, a little of the paint came off.

  “Essa, Houlm datta,” the Chief scowled down at the painted man, “Eas tomie.”

  “I guess the Chief saw the ruse,” Lio exclaimed as she translated the chief’s words, He a bad man, no god, he die.

  They loaded the dead traitorous soldiers into truck. Lio shoved the dead Mulle into the back, careful to avoid getting any blood on herself. She had been right, she had ended up killing him, or at least her lobo had!