by Dave Hazel
One of the transport vehicles approached them. Staff Sergeant Barry exited the vehicle to join their group. He quickly threw up a salute because Finley and Diaz were standing there. “Excuse me Sirs,” he interrupted. “I just wanted to let everyone know that the entire group is formed up, supplies and ammo are loaded into the vehicles and we’re ready to depart if you guys are all good to go. The Elves, the Dwarves, Towbar’s warriors and the soldiers of Zizmon-Tarl are all waiting and ready to depart. So we’re just waiting on the rest of you.”
“I’m ready to take off,” Mykal replied and looked to Diaz and Finley. Mykal physically touched all his weapons and mentally went through his possessions to ensure he had the all-important magic items he needed; sword, dagger, two figurines, leather pouch with crystalline powder and most importantly the ring on his middle finger.
They all said their goodbyes to Ski and when they joined the rest of the men Major Chick, Major Innes and Captain Taylor were there to see them off. A number of the men were there also but Colonel Fisher wasn’t anywhere to be seen.
7.
“Hey Mykal. Hey Myk,” Mathis whispered while shaking Mykal’s shoulder. “You may want to wake up.”
“Why, what’s up?’ Mykal asked groggily and barely opened his eyes.
“You slept for a while and we’re just about where the last attack took place. The one where you got hurt.”
“Oh really?” Mykal asked and quickly sat up. “I’ve been sleeping that long?”
“It has done your body good my friend,” Towbar said.
Mykal looked around the transport vehicle. In his vehicle were Towbar, Mathis, Roy Jr., Randy, Hidtotim and his three men, Vick Daring and his cameraman Benjamin Milnar.
“Good. Is there anything new to know about?”
“Captain Diaz did make contact with Lanorear and the rest of the Hawkmen,” Mathis said and when we stop for the night they’re going to meet up with us and give the information on all that has happened.
“We actually stopped a couple of times Myk,” Roy Jr. said. “But you slept right through it.”
“Well I feel a million times better than I felt earlier today. Do we know anything about the last group we fought?”
“Well based on what Captain Diaz said from his brief conversation with Lanorear,” Mathis said and looked to make sure he wasn’t stepping on anyone’s toes by speaking. “But Lanorear said that only a handful of the soldiers escaped the battle. They were heading back to the home castle or base, wherever they came from.”
“Did they get away?” Mykal queried and looked as if panic covered him. “If they get back there they would be able to rat us out.”
“Rat us out?” Hidtotim asked and looked totally confused. His three men looked just as confused.
“It means to tell on us,” Mykal said and had to laugh.
“That is a strange choice of words,” Hidtotim said and looked as if he was still trying to understand the meaning of those words.
“It’s mobster talk,” Mathis chimed in. “Or street talk. So I know a little bit of stuff here and there,” he added and shrugged playfully when they all looked at him.
“We’ll talk about that later,” Mykal said and gave a wry smirk to the ever confused expression of Hidtotim and his men. “But did any of them get away?” Mykal asked again.
“No Mykal,” Mathis said and laughed with him. “Lanorear said they stopped each and every one that was able to get away. Lanorear went back over the battle field to ensure all those littering the ground was really dead.” He paused and from the corner of his mouth he added, “Munch munch.”
Suddenly Mykal burst out with laughter. It had been an inside joke between Mykal and Mathis that demonstrated Mathis’s fear of the large Elf birds, the Hawkmen, that seemed to eat much of what they killed. “You’re a funny dude Radio Boy,” Mykal continued to laugh and the rest of the men didn’t understand what had been so humorous.
“Yeah, it must have been one hell of a smorgasbord. A real open buffet for them bird people to eat the hell out of anything they set their eyes on,” Mathis said while laughing. He was laughing at Mykal’s laughter. “But anyway, from what Captain Diaz said, the Hawkmen are sure they didn’t allow anyone to get away.”
“If I may speak to interrupt you,” Hidtotim said. “When you say that the last group of soldiers had been defeated and completely annihilated, that is a truly remarkable feat. We saw their standards and we know of this group.”
“Standards?” Randy asked and looked really confused. “I don’t understand.”
“It means a war flag,” Mathis quickly replied to clear up Randy’s confusion. “See, I did learn a little something in my military classes in the Marine Corps,” he added with a wink and chuckled. “Ooh freakin rah baby.”
“Yes, their battle flags,” Hidtotim agreed as if everyone should know what he was talking about. “Their standards showed they were a special group of elite soldiers who were tasked to fight the Elvin people in the Elvin lands.”
“You’re right,” Mykal said and snapped his fingers. “The night before the attack when me, Towbar and a few others snuck up to their camp to try gathering information, I heard a couple of soldiers talking and they said something about being tasked with attacking the Elvin people.”
“I would be so bold as to declare,” Hidtotim said and raised his pointed finger into the air. “That this one group, though slightly larger in size than Commander Ingledoss’s group, they would have been worth three or four of Commander Ingledoss’s group. They were elite fighters who specialize in war and battles more so than other fighters.”
“But we done kicked their asses,” Roy Jr. laughed.
“May I ask how many men we lost in that battle?” Nomorek asked and looked to his leader Hidtotim to ensure he didn’t step out of line by asking such a question.
“We lost six men,” Mykal said and felt a twinge of guilt though he told himself he was going to try and fight the guilt and sappy emotions during the rest of the journey.
“That is unheard of,” Hidtotim announced. “I understand six lives were lost and they mean very much to you,” he added and looked directly at Mykal. “However, you lost six men and they lost approximately three thousand top elite soldiers. That group was considered one of the finest war groups in existence. I am truly grateful you spared us Mykal, and not only had you spared us, yet you took us under your wing and agreed to take us to your side of the world.”
“Yes, yes,” the three others agreed and declared their gratitude.
“And not only that Myk,” Roy Jr. spoke up. “When we went and made sure our meals were what we wanted,” he paused and pointed to his brother to indicate Randy went with him. “We made a big fuss to get these ol’ boys all the Lucky Charms cereal they wanted. They each got over fifty individual boxes of whatever kind they wanted. Ol’ Hidtotim here got at least forty boxes of Lucky Charms himself,” Roy Jr. added and laughed.
“This is true and we are all very grateful,” Hidtotim professed and bowed his head despite their laughter. “To us, those little boxes are a special treasure and we are very thankful.”
“They’re magically delicious,” Mathis laughed with an Irish accent.
“There’s plenty more where that came from,” Mykal laughed and thought it was so bizarre that they liked Lucky Charms cereal more than anything else they could have handed to them.
“Hey Mykal, Captain Diaz is calling for you,” Mathis said and handed Mykal his radio handset.
“Myk here.”
“First things first Mykal, how are you doing? How are you feeling?” Diaz asked.
“Honestly I feel great. Sleeping through the entire road trip so far gave me the rest I needed. I honestly feel like I’m back to normal. Thanks for asking.”
“Well, I’m not trying to be preachy, but myself, Ski and some others have been praying for you and I honestly believe you have been healed by the hand of God.”
“I don’t doubt that. And not only a
m I saying thanks for asking how I’m doing, but I’m saying thanks for all your prayers. I have to believe that your prayers did something for me. I mean it cuz I was hurt bad,” he answered and didn’t want to bring up that Towbar’s magical blood flowed through his veins. He did believe God had to have been involved based on Diaz’s and Ski’s prayers but he didn’t really understand their ‘God stuff’ so he would have to bring it up at a later time. He truly wanted to know if God would use Towbar’s ‘magic stuff’ to work hand in hand with their ‘God stuff’ to help him survive what he suffered through. “So I really thank you for your prayers,” he replied and wondered about the God power and the ‘magic power’ working together. It created a nagging curiosity he would have to present to Diaz or Ski when time permitted.
“Oh, I didn’t mean it like that, that I did anything special. It was all God’s doing. We were just being obedient by praying for your situation and God did the healing,” he added as if he was being careful not to rob God of His due. “All the glory and praise belongs to God. So hopefully you’ll pay closer attention when I talk to you about God and what He’s doing,” Diaz said and laughed. “I say that as a joke. But you did have a close call.”
“I believe you especially after the talk we had that morning. I had one of my gut feelings that morning. I had a gut feeling that I someone close to me was going to die. It turned out that it wasn’t someone close to me was gonna die, instead it was me that was supposed to die that day. But hey, we’ll talk about that stuff later. What’s on your mind?”
“I was curious to see what you wanted to do,” Diaz offered to get his response. “We could stop and set up a camp for the night and head out in the morning or we could drive straight through and we’ll be near the forest we need to go through first thing in the morning.”
“I’d rather go straight through if we could, but are we gonna run into anymore soldiers?”
“We shouldn’t,” Diaz answered. “When I spoke to Hidtotim he was confident there are no soldiers nearby to see our lights. I spoke to Staff Sergeant Barry and he said his four man teams would gladly take turns trading off to drive straight through the night. Based on my discussions with Starling, Leeno and Blair with their Elvin comrades we are guessing we should be at the forest by the morning some time. Keep in mind, this is just a guess because they don’t really understand what ground our vehicles are capable of covering.”
“Yeah, I’m all for that,” Mykal said and happily jumped up and down mentally. Reaching the forest was that much closer to possibly rescuing Doninka. He listened to Diaz talk but his thoughts were on the girl who he knew that he cared very much for. If he was truthful he would have to admit that he loved the girl, but he wouldn’t endanger his marriage for her. ‘Why is this so friggin hard? I love her like a friend,’ he thought in an attempt to convince himself. “Yeah, sure,” he added to make it sound like he was paying attention. ‘I just wanna rescue her to help save Towbar’s people,’ he thought and realized his thinking was a lie. ‘It’s bullshit. I wanna rescue her for me. No, I can’t do that,’ he yelled inside his head. ‘This crap has gotta stop. I won’t hurt Pam. I don’t wanna hurt Pam. I love Doninka like a close friend, like a relative. It stops there!’ He demanded mentally as if he was putting his foot down.
“But tell the men to sleep in shifts,” Captain Diaz said as a suggestion. “And make sure everyone gets some good sleep because we don’t know what tomorrow will bring our way.”
“Yes Sir I will,” Mykal replied. “I need to ask a favor of you Captain Diaz. I’m sure you’re already doing so. But I need you to be praying to God that this really is a rescue mission and not a recovery mission. To recover her body that is,” he said and felt his stomach drop when he spoke those words.
“I will and I have been,” Diaz said and by his tone it was evident there was a smile attached to his words. “I’m not saying that God told me this or God told me that, but I just want you to know Mykal, I have a genuine peace, not a feeling, but a peace in my heart based on my relationship with God that Doninka is alive and well. I truly believe this is a rescue mission and not a recovery mission. My confidence is strong based on my understanding of my relationship with God or I wouldn’t have told you that. I’m not telling you what you want to hear, I’m telling you the peace that God has laid on my heart.”
“Thank you. Thank you,” Mykal repeated and tried not to allow his emotions to shine through his words into his microphone. “Anyway, what about the Hawkmen?” He asked to quickly change the subject. “Is Lanorear gonna follow us to the forest? Are they gonna go through the forest with us? Do we know where they stand and how far they will go to help us?”
“So far, the last he said to me was they were committed because of the Elves and because of the Dwarves with us,” Diaz replied. “And he did say that since we are so committed to protect his Elvin relatives, despite all the racial hatred toward the Elves, he has a much greater respect for us and will help us. He said they may even help us to the end.”
“Cool. Great. I think he’s kinda crazy, but I’ll take that,” Mykal laughed. “We’ll talk in the morning.”
Mykal explained the conversation to the men in his vehicle. They were all excited and happy. They talked through most of the night. Some ate when the vehicles stopped to refuel and they took breaks for the drivers to change when they became tired. It was black through the night, but they made the most of their drive until they fell asleep.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN 01/25/1984
1. Wednesday, January 25th 1984
0434 hours, Other Side of Towbar’s World (18th Day)
“Hey Mykal, are you awake?” Mathis whispered.
“Yeah, I’m up. I’ve been sitting here awake for about ten minutes. I can tell we’ve stopped,” he whispered back so as not to wake the rest of the men. “We’ve been sitting still for a few minutes.”
“Captain Diaz wants to talk to you. He’s outside the vehicle with Sergeant Barry and most of the fire teams that are transporting us.
Mykal looked over to where he thought Towbar would be but the giant was gone.
“He’s out there too,” Mathis said before Mykal asked about Towbar.
“Cool. I’ll go see what’s going on,” he smirked and quietly left the vehicle.
When Mykal stepped outside of the vehicle he was surprised by the chill in the air. It was still dark and the stars were shining brightly. The brisk morning air reminded him of his first few days in basic training when he had to stand at attention in the cold of the early morning hours after being abruptly awoken. He chuckled at the memories it brought back of fear waiting for the Technical Instructor (Air Force equivalent to a Drill Instructor) to lay into them and make their life miserable to shape them into obedient airmen (soldiers for the U.S. Government).
There appeared to be no clouds in the sky, but through the darkness he could tell they weren’t in the flats of the plains anymore. There were many trees around them though they were not inside the forest yet. Mykal joined the large group of men gathered together to see what the discussion was.
“There he is,” Captain Diaz said when Mykal approached them. “We’re just discussing what our plan of action should be. Please join us Mykal.”
“My friend, how do you feel?”
“I feel great. All that resting really did me wonders,” Mykal answered and most of the men looked at him as if he shouldn’t be up on his feet let alone exhibiting the appearance of one who had never been injured.
“I’m not gonna get preachy gentlemen, but I have to say it again,” Diaz said in response to the miracle that stood before them. “It’s the power of prayer. Or rather it’s the power of God based on prayer. I won’t say anymore, but I have to declare nobody can just get up and walk away from the kind of wounds that Mykal suffered. Not after only two days.”
Mykal shyly looked down because he didn’t want to be the center of attention. He caught sight of Lieutenant Finley slightly rolling his eyes at Diaz’s comment after
he said he wasn’t going to get ‘preachy’. Mykal hoped Diaz’s ‘God talk’ wasn’t going to cause a rift between Diaz and Finley.
“We have a couple of options, gentlemen,” Gunnery Sergeant Ratner said when the air seemed to fill with an odd uncomfortable awkwardness. “Uminair said if we walk through the forest it could take three days, maybe four days, to get through the forest depending on how we do on foot,” he added and pointed to himself to suggest the humans would be the slower component of their trek. “But now, he also said there is a path, a road if you will, that will take us much father out of the way. It would normally add five to seven days travel on foot, but it is a clear road as opposed to traveling blindly through the forest.”
“The Elves agreed after talking with Hidtotim and his three men,” Finley said and acknowledged the four soldiers. “They all said that the longer route would be good because our vehicles should be able to get all the way through on the road, though it’s not a road like what we would consider a road to be.”
“Using the vehicles would cut down the travel time of that five to seven days to two, three or four days, and that is them guessing, because they don’t really know what our vehicles can do,” Ratner said and picked up where Finley stopped. “So either way we can basically count on taking three to four days either on foot through the crazy shit of the crazy Black Forest and I might add the Forest of Death, and let me also add that is if we don’t get lost,” he laughed and leaned toward the option he would vote for. “Or about two, three or four days on the path, with the comfort and safety of our vehicles,” he added to hint even more toward what option would make more sense.
Those listening laughed at the tough choice Gunnery Sergeant Ratner presented for them. “Tough decision to make,” one of the men called out in a playful manner.
