by Dave Hazel
“Did you tell them they were prisoners of Sosos?”
“Oh yeah. Major Chick and the Battalion Commanders as well as everyone else are curious to see the prisoners. This has created a great buzz,” he chuckled into Mykal’s ear piece. “It goes to show how bored everyone is.”
“We also let them know that your raiding parties are now called Mykal’s Marauders,” the co-pilot added.
“Oh brother,” Mykal shook his head and started to laugh. “I hope they don’t think I came up with that,” Mykal yelled to his friends.
“What’s that Myk?” Larry asked.
“The base camp knows some of the guys are calling us Mykal’s Marauders,” he said and shook his head.
“That’s got a nice ring to it,” Larry yelled and gave thumbs up. “If it was mine we could call them Larry’s Looters. If it was Roy Jr. or Randy’s team we could call ‘em Roy’s Raiders.”
“If it was Jake’s we could call them Irwin’s Invaders,” Roy Jr. shouted and gave Jake a thumbs up.
“And if it was that asshole Lieutenant Johnson’s team,” Larry laughed. “We could call them Johnson’s Jerkoffs.”
Mykal laughed hysterically. He knew if Johnson heard that he would hate Mykal even more than he does now.
“Too bad Boris, Kurt and Denny weren’t here,” Larry said with a sad smile. “We coulda called their groups Boris’s Bandits. No, Boris’s Bad Boys, or Boris’s Butchers. And Sam’s would be Sam’s Slayers,” Larry laughed.
“You could call Kurt’s group Kurt’s Killers,” Randy quipped.
“Denny’s could be called Denny’s Deviants,” Jake laughed and joined in their fun.
“What about Franklin Perry?” Larry laughed at the memory of the goofy kid. “You could call his group Perry’s Pimple Patrol or Pus Squad,” he said and started to laugh.
Some of the Marines on the helicopter looked at him funny. “This kid had a lot of acne,” Roy Jr. shouted so they would understand.
They continued to reminisce of the past and their dead friends. The talking and joking showed they all missed them. It was a way to say things weren’t the same without them.
“Wow, look at that turn out,” Mykal said and pointed. “That is the largest welcoming we’ve seen since the Lost Patrol returned.” The Lost Patrol title came about for Mykal and the others lost on the other side of Towbar’s world. There were thousands around the helicopter landing area. Military personnel including a number of reporters and cameramen, Towbar and thousands of his warriors and several hundred Dwarven warriors all gathered around. Everyone wanted to see the captured prisoners.
Mykal and his helicopter landed first. He and his friends waited for the other helicopters to land so they could be seen with the prisoners. Mykal’s intent was to insure they were treated decently since they were bound and somewhat frail from their torture and abuse at the hands of the Soso captors. Watching the two prisoners being led to him, Mykal didn’t think the one he saved would have survived the lashing that was going to be given. The man Mykal saved seemed older, 40 to 50 years old. His hair and beard were long and scraggly with streaks of grey. The man’s shirt had fallen off his shoulders since it had been ripped open in preparation for his whipping.
The man looked like he had been starved over a long period of time. His ribs and other bones protruded from his skin. His fingernails were long and dirty. The other man looked a little healthier as if he hadn’t been a prisoner for as long as the older man. He was just as dirty and unkempt. There was complete silence while everyone stared at the couple as if they were a rare exhibit at a zoo. The only real activity that took place involved the injured Green Beret being led away to have his stab wound treated. Lieutenant Johnson stormed off as if he didn’t want to participate in the attention Mykal was going to receive.
“Ski,” Jake yelled and waved at Ski to come to him. “Hey Ski,” he called again and waved. “Ski, come here. Me and Larry have a question for you about religion,” he said in reference to something they talked about during their lunch break.
Mykal noticed when Jake yelled “Ski” the older prisoner gave a funny look. When Jake called Ski’s name again, the man’s face lit up and his eyes welled with tears. When Ski came toward them, the older prisoner broke free of the hands that were on his shoulders to lead him where they were going to take the prisoners.
The old man ran toward Ski like a wild man that suddenly became animated. His hands were out before him still bound at the wrist. Before anyone could grab him or stop him the disheveled man dove to the ground at Ski’s feet crying out, “Skee. Skee. Skee,” he cried out tearfully and rambled on in the Soso language. He grabbed hold of Ski’s feet and repeatedly called out, “Skee, Skee, Skee.” The older man sobbed while touching Ski’s boots.
Others rushed to the man fearful he was going to attack someone, but Ski held up his hand when the man didn’t do anything other than babble and cry on his boots. Others grabbed tightly onto the second prisoner unsure if he was going to attack anyone
“What the hell is this?” Mykal asked and lowered his revolver when he saw the man wasn’t going to harm Ski. “Towbar, do you know what this is all about?” Mykal asked while the entire area seemed to come to life with noise.
“My friend, this man is talking much too fast for me to understand what he is saying. We must calm him down. He does not appear to be a threat,” Towbar said while the older man continued to babble and sob on Ski’s boots. “I think he confuses Ski for the Soso word Skee which means something that sounds like it could be ‘One who knows all, or One who knows truth.’ It would depend on the context, though the meaning is what I just explained. However, he is rambling rapidly so it is difficult to understand. Know this my friend, touching one’s feet, such as he is doing, is a custom among my people and the Soso people that means one is happy to see a long lost friend, or the welcoming of one who has been lost and been a long time in coming. My friend, I do not know if you will remember when we first arrived here with Towbar One, my people who swarmed all around us and my people were all kept dropping to the ground to touch my feet in a similar manner.”
“Ah yes, I remember that cuz I thought it was odd, until you explained it to me,” Mykal said and holstered his .357 magnum. “Alright let’s break this up,” Mykal yelled. “So does he think Ski is like a long lost friend or relative?”
“I do not know, my friend. However, the Soso thinks of Ski as being one who knows all,” Towbar answered. “That is what I assume from what has taken place.”
The pilots walked off together but joined Mykal when he waved them to him. “What can we do for you Myk?” One asked for the group.
“Please make sure the choppers get refueled and are ready to go. I wanna use the choppers for a night mission, and I’ll be happy with whatever pilots want to go. Be it you guys or the guys on rest status,” Mykal said and noticed all the pilots were fixed on the sight of the strange old man sobbing on Ski’s boots. “Make it known though, for the group tonight, I want another group to be like the Silent Killers group. We’re gonna sneak into the Soso camp to do what we do invisibly,” he chuckled at the play on words for his own humor.
“You got it Myk,” one of the pilots said and they sauntered away from the odd sight of the old man prostrate before Ski.
“Yeah, let’s get outta here,” Larry said.
“What about him Myk?” Ski asked while he gently patted the man’s back to let him know he was going to be alright. “I don’t understand what’s going on here.”
“I want medical to check these two out,” Mykal said. “Then get with some of Towbar’s people and see if they can translate what he’s trying to say. I gotta go talk with Major Chick. Ski, I’ll get with you after cuz I really wanna see what’s going on with that guy.”
“It seems like this crazy old guy has the hots for you Ski,” Larry laughed.
“I don’t know what to say to him,” Ski said and ignored Larry’s crude remark.
“Ski, why don’t y
ou stay with him until we figure out what has got him all worked up over you,” Mykal said and watched the older man who would be dead right now if he hadn’t killed the whip master. “He obviously has you confused for someone.”
“Sure thing Myk,” Ski said while squatting down to comfort the sobbing man still latched onto his boot.
“That’s the damn’dest thing I done ever seen,” Roy Jr. said while watching the crazy old man’s love fest of Ski’s boots.
“He’s still a damn Soso,” Randy said with hatred. “Sosos killed my baby brother,” he said for those present who weren’t aware. He wasn’t trying to justify his hatred because he didn’t care what others thought. Randy wanted to make it clear the crazy old man was still a Soso.
“He looks like he’s really crying. Look at the waterworks show he’s putting on.” Larry said as the crazy old man gently rubbed his face against Ski’s boots. “Do you think he’s putting on a show?”
“In front of all these people?” Jake asked. “I don’t think so. Look, the crazy old dude is really crying and he’s hanging onto Ski’s feet like he knows him. Something is really, really strange about this.”
“Ski,” Mykal yelled to get his attention amid the blur of activity around him and the Soso. “Stay with him while medics check on their health. I’m gonna have Towbar send some of his people to you to translate and I wanna know what the heck that was all about?” Mykal reiterated. “I wanna know if you think he is pulling a scam on us. I’m gonna go debrief with Major Chick and the others,” he said when he noticed some of the lieutenants walked away with Major Chick, Major Innes and Captain Taylor. “Meet me at my tent so you can fill me in on this guy.”
6.
“Hey Myk, are you up?” Larry asked when he entered Mykal’s tent.
Mykal sprawled out face first on his cot. He heard Larry’s words, but his brain and body didn’t want to move.
“Hey Myk, you wanted to get up,” Larry reminded him. “Hurry up and get your lazy ass outta bed. Jake, Ski and Captain Diaz are on their way over here.”
“Oh yeah,” Mykal mumbled. He quickly got to his feet and then sat on his cot. “Man, I didn’t realize I was so tired,” he said with a yawn and stretched. He had slept in his trousers and t-shirt and rushed to get his boots on before the others arrived.
“Myk, are you sure you don’t wanna put off the night raid? Or maybe just allow others to go without you?” Larry asked.
“No, I really wanna go. When I get tired of all this I’ll ease up, but for now I wanna create as much mayhem and chaos for the Sosos as possible. I know we’re killing them slowly but surely, and in the big scheme of things I know what we’re doing numbers wise isn’t gonna have a big impact, but I’m hoping that these attacks, especially these attacks we’re gonna pull at night will have a strong psychological effect on them. All those we kill tonight will spook those who find them in the morning,” he laughed.
“So did anything special happen in your meeting with Major Chick?” Larry asked and took a seat.
“He was pissed. He’s fed up with that Johnson. I just don’t understand what the guy’s problem with me is,” Mykal said and shook his head.
“You don’t know him from back home do you? You didn’t boink his sister or mother or wife or anything like that, did you?”
Mykal couldn’t help but laugh at Larry’s crude suggestion. “No. I don’t know the guy at all. But Chick was fuming that Johnson cut the Soso free who stabbed the other Green Beret. If the Green Beret would have been killed or seriously injured Chick would have put him up on charges and took his command from him. I didn’t really say anything. The other officers explained all that happened and Chick didn’t like it. But I was honest and told Chick I see Johnson as a good officer under combat, cuz he did a good job. I just don’t know what his beef with me is.”
“Ah, he’s a dipshit,” Larry scoffed. “I’m sure he’s not as bad as Edwards was, but something about being an officer in the military today,” Larry snickered. “But hey, that name, Mykal’s Marauders, is catching on quick. Everyone is calling all these little raids by that name.”
“I wish they wouldn’t do that,” Mykal said and shyly turned his head while he finished getting dressed. He felt somewhat embarrassed by the naming of the raids after him.
“Well, here they are and it looks like Towbar is with them,” Larry said while looking through the opening of Mykal’s tent.
“Hey, how is everyone doing?” Mykal said and greeted them as they entered his tent. “So what’s going on with that prisoner?”
“Mykal, you are not going to believe this,” Ski said and bounced with excitement. Captain Diaz could barely contain his laughter also.
“Before you get to that, Towbar, are you gonna come with us tonight? We’re gonna go in the camp while it’s dark and kill the Sosos silently like we did when we rescued our people.”
“Yes my friend. I will be able to take many Soso lives using stealth and the cover of darkness,” Towbar answered and dropped down to one knee. He was too large to sit on the folding chairs in Mykal’s tent. “You and the men of your military have taught me a great deal about using sneaky tactics. I am indebted and forever grateful.”
“Ski, you look like you’re sitting on a feather, what’s going on?” Mykal asked and they all laughed at Ski’s obvious excitement.
“I am just blown away,” Ski said and rubbed his hands together and looked like he had a difficult time keeping still. “First of all, you know that I’m a born again Christian and I live for God and all that stuff right?”
“Believe me Ski, we know,” Mykal said and playfully rolled his eyes. They all laughed.
“Okay, I know God brought me here for a purpose. The day we left on June 23rd, I told you God wanted me to support you, but I didn’t know why or in what capacity. Long story short we’re here and you’re the leader. The other leaders we had at the time would have gotten us all killed. And so I thought it was just to support you because you brought us to Towbar, but I now know it was far more than that,” he laughed and rubbed his hands together in great excitement. “Now, my goal in life is to share the truth of Jesus Christ to everyone I know, even Towbar’s people and even the Dwarven people. I had mention to you one time before that if I had the opportunity to share my faith with Sosos I would love to do that too. We know how crazy that would be because they’re killers and they wouldn’t listen because they believe in a false god. A very evil false god.”
“What, you got a chance to share your faith with our new prisoner?”
“No, no, yes, yes I did but it’s more than that Myk. Hear me out. This is so amazing,” Ski said and nervously rubbed his hands over his legs. “We took the two prisoners and got them cleaned up and fed them after they had their medical checkup. They’re in bad shape. Especially the older one. They’ve been worked hard physically and on little food. They have been beaten and tortured and now they were being starved to death. They were going to die soon if we wouldn’t have plucked them from the Soso clutches.”
“Why were they prisoners?”
“The young guy and the one who was killed when you captured them were criminals. They had stolen something from a Soso leader and got caught. So their sentence was death, but they work them to death. With the help of Towbar’s men, we found out the reason why the third one attack one of our soldiers was because he was afraid and didn’t know what was going to happen to him. Now the other guy, he has been a prisoner for a long time because he doesn’t believe the way the Sosos believe. He doesn’t believe in their god and he had been on the run in the different Soso countries for most of his life. They finally caught him about five or six years ago and he wouldn’t convert and believe in the false god the Sosos believe in so they put him in a work camp with the intentions of killing him. Every time the Sosos were actually going to execute him, something happened that prevented it and he believes God spared him each of the twenty-seven times he was to be executed.”
“What?�
� Mykal asked. “Do you mean the God you guys talk about all the time?” He asked and looked at both of them.
“Let him explain Myk,” Diaz said and started to laugh.
“Ever since he was a kid, his name is Apostallolind, but ever since he was a kid he said he had visions and he heard voices that told him God was speaking to him and the Sosos way of worshipping their false god was wrong. Everyone thought he was nuts, crazy or out of his mind so they left him alone. He thought he was crazy too, but he knew he heard the voices he heard and seen the visions he saw. He knew he witnessed many, many miracles in his own life. If nothing else, just how he had been spared death twenty-seven times. Twenty-eight times if you take into account how his frail body was ready to be whipped when you guys came and rescued him.”
“I was the one who killed the guy who was going to whip him,” Mykal said and looked at them. “I didn’t think he could have survived that.”
“Anyway,” Ski continued. “All his people, throughout all his life thought he was nuts. Just plain crazy because he spoke of seeing visions and hearing voices and tried to explain little miracles in his own life. He wasn’t harmful and he worked hard so they left him alone. Apostallolind said about seven years ago, the voice he heard clearly told him to start telling people the truth that their worship of god is wrong and they are actually serving demons and so on. That’s when the abuse started. Now he wasn’t just crazy, but he was attacking their god and that ended up causing him to have to flee and live a life on the run. When they finally caught him, they gave him a chance to renounce what he had been saying and convert to serving the god of the Soso land. He refused and they made him a prisoner and sentenced him to death. Though he suffered greatly at the hands of his own people, the Sosos, he knew he heard from God and God assured him he was going to be okay and he would find out the truth.
“When you saved his life Myk, he believed he wasn’t going to die that day because the God who had been speaking to him told him on several occasions people from a distant land were going to come and share the truth with him,” Ski said. “He was told he would not see death until he was told the truth and had an opportunity to share the same truth with people from his home lands. He thought he had been hearing wrong because everyone wrote him off as completely crazy and no one would ever listen to him. He said in his dreams and in his visions he had heard mighty noises and seen strange creatures and seen strange men in green. When he saw Goblins for the first time he thought that was going to be his deliverer who would share the truth with him, but he found out they were foul little evil creatures bent on destruction like the Sosos. He knew Zizmon-Tarl was not a god though some in the Soso community view him as such. He believes Zizmon-Tarl to be an evil magician with extraordinary powers but nothing more than that.
