Forgotten Soldiers

by Joshua P. Simon

  “But what about Lasha and the kids? Don’t you want to know your niece and nephew?”

  Ava smiled. “Lasha is going to be too busy making up for lost time with her husband to worry about me. And as far as Myra and Zadok go, they’ll both be better off seeing me through your rose-colored eyes than to learn the truth face-to-face.”

  I shook my head, unable to believe what I was hearing.

  However, what she said did make sense.

  Life had been hard for her, far more than for me. Part of it had been her personality, but most of it had related to things outside of her control, like sorcery. In a small town like Denu Creek, folks acted as if you were cursed to have a talent for such things. On the other hand, my resistance made some people think I had been blessed by the very gods who cursed Ava as a way to keep my wild sister under control.

  “You know they’ll make you wear robes,” I said, gesturing to her leathers.

  Unlike every other mage, Ava refused to wear the traditional garb associated with one of talent. She thought the attire looked ridiculous unless you were an old man pushing a hundred. I agreed, but still liked to give her a hard time about it.

  She scowled. “We’ll see about that.”

  “What about me?” I asked, serious once more.

  “What about you?”

  “Are we going to see each other again?”

  She chuckled. “I’m not dead. You can come to Hol any time to visit me. I’d love to show you around. You can even bring the family if you aren’t sick of them after a month of being home.”

  A tight smile came to my lips as I tried to hide my sadness. I could tell by the look on her face that we both knew that wouldn’t happen. After a month, I’d be trying to get settled back into a routine at the farm, catching up on all that had happened from our uncle who I had tasked to help Lasha out while we were gone. Once I fell back into that routine, the chances of me leaving for weeks on end would be slim.

  “Yeah, that’s not a bad idea,” I said, lying.

  It didn’t make me feel any better, but maybe it did for her.

  * * *

  Ava and I parted a short while later when a High Mage—one of her new tutors, I presumed—interrupted us for something that he considered important. A part of me wanted to slam my fist into his face for not refusing my sister’s request to go to Hol. But I refrained. Ava and I weren’t children anymore, and I had to let her make her own decisions. I needed to respect her decision, regardless of how much it hurt to do so.

  The weight of my conversation with Ava had one positive in that it sobered me up.

  Losing her. Losing half my unit. Winning the war. Winning my freedom. With everything that had happened, I felt as emotionally drained as I did physically fatigued. Even still, I knew sleep wouldn’t come any time soon so I walked around camp again.

  Like a moth to a candle, I drifted toward blazing bonfires off in the distance, careful not to get too close to them. The bonfires were not fueled by wood, but by mounds of flesh. No officer wanted death to linger so close to their army lest all the disease that came with it spread among the survivors.

  I stopped fifty yards upwind from the hellish inferno, near a pile of armor and weapons stripped from the corpses. Men stoked the flames licking at the naked bodies.

  If there had ever been a sight to damage the allure of war, this was it.

  “Gods, you left us for this?”

  I turned at the sound of Hamath’s voice.

  “No. Though it smells better here than downwind of your feet.”

  He laughed. “Talked to Ava, then?”

  I nodded. “She’s moving on to Hol. The High Mages are taking her on as an apprentice. Our successful mission really impressed them.”

  “I’m sorry. Really.”

  “Thanks.”

  We didn’t say much else for some time, watching body after body smolder and burn.

  “Crazy, isn’t it?” I asked.

  “What is?”

  I gestured. “All of this. How many soldiers will be forgotten? One turn of the blade or stab of an arrow separates the living from the dead. They could have been here watching our bodies dumped onto the fire, rather than the other way around.”

  “Well, I’m glad it isn’t like that.”

  “Yeah, me too. Makes me feel guilty for admitting it though.”

  “Every soldier feels that way.”

  “Maybe. It’s just sad that a hundred years from now, no one is likely to remember what they died for. Gods, how many people are likely to forget in ten years? One year? Molak be cursed, less than that?”

  “I won’t forget them. That’s for sure,” said Hamath.

  “Me either.”

  Hamath turned, slapping me in the arm. “All right, enough of this. We’ve got all the time in the world to mourn. Let’s get back to the others and celebrate. We’re going home, and we’ll be treated as heroes. What better way to honor those soldiers who died than enjoying all the accolades for them.”

  I chuckled as we turned and started walking away. “Heroes? You really don’t believe that do you?”

  “Trust me.”

  CHAPTER 4

  The next morning I saw Ava off.

  I stood in the middle of camp near the officers’ tents with Ira, Dekar, and Hamath. They had already wished Ava good luck, and said their farewells. Though Ava could be a hard person to get along with at times, I could tell they’d all miss her. Even Ira. You didn’t fight alongside someone for ten years without growing close in some way.

  Ava waited for the transfer portal a step ahead of me, nervously shifting from foot to foot.

  Further away, High Mages guarded prisoners of war, most of which wore the robes of Geneshan sorcerers. The leader of the High Mages, someone’s whose name I couldn’t pronounce, carried the wooden box that held the Geneshan artifact under his arm.

  The Geneshan sorcerers looked nauseous just being in the box’s vicinity. Thinking on my conversation with Balak, it appeared the Geneshans believed the artifact was something to fear.

  Loud, rapid popping filled the air. A blue and white flash of radiance followed. It coalesced into an oval of bright light that hung a few inches above the ground.

  I’ve seen dozens of transfer portals over the years and they never ceased to fill me with a sense of awe.

  According to Ava, portals were a handy method of travel, though not safe enough to use in battle. After a few disastrous attempts at transferring units close to enemy targets, the mode of transportation had been relegated to delivering messages to Hol to keep the king abreast on the war while he spent his time doing whatever it was kings did.

  She faced me, looking nervous. “I guess this is it,” she said.

  “No guessing about it,” I said.

  Neither of us knew how to say good-bye. The knowledge that we’d likely never see each other again left us formal and stiff.

  “Take care of yourself, Big Brother.”

  “You too. And be careful.”

  Apparently, being close wasn’t a guarantee of saying what you felt.

  My sister followed the High Mages leading the prisoners through the transfer portal.

  Ava stood out among the group, but not because she was one of only three women, but because she alone disdained the robes. She wore instead, of course, her black leathers. I wondered how long it would take for them to force a change in her wardrobe. The corners of my mouth turned up as I thought of that confrontation. The High Mages would rue the day they had agreed to apprentice my sister.

  Ava paused at the entrance to the portal and spun toward me. I gave her a wave. She smiled, offered a slight nod, and then was gone.

  “That was maybe one of the worst good-byes I’ve ever seen in my life, Ty,” Ira said behind me. “Ow!” he added as Dekar cuffed him.

  I snorted. “It was pretty bad, wasn’t it? Good thing she and I don’t need to say much. We know how things stand between us.”

  And that was true. Granted,
that didn’t stop me from wishing I had actually said the hundred things running through my mind. Most of all, I wished I had told her how proud I was.

  It took some effort not to start bawling like a little girl when the portal closed. I hadn’t ever shed a tear in my life except when it came to family. Whether it was the happiness of watching Lasha give birth to our children or the sadness of my parents passing, family tugged at my heart the most. It really affected me to see the person who knew me better than anyone else in the world leave.

  * * *

  We hung around camp another three days before we were ready to depart.

  Those three days took longer to pass than the nearly ten years I had spent in the army. I must have played a thousand hands of cards, lost nearly all my money twice over, and still managed to come out a few coins ahead in the end.

  Finally, we set out at dawn on the fourth day.

  Most soldiers sent us off with a smile and a wave despite the gods’ forsaken hour, believing their turn would come around soon enough. Others more cynical stared with jealous eyes and sneers. The faces of the latter lingered with me the most as I recalled Balak’s mention of pursuing Noval after Genesha had been cleaned up.

  Though some of the army would be allowed to return home in the coming months, many seemed destined to suffer through another conflict. If successful, I wondered when Balak and the king would finally call it quits, to allow life in Turine to return to normal.

  Somehow, I didn’t think they ever would. They had tasted success and had become greedy. War just might be the new norm.

  Hamath and I stared at the Turine camp from the back of a rolling wagon, feet dangling over the road. Soldiers sat behind us, crammed between barrels of salted pork and oats. Other wagons were loaded similarly.

  None of us said a word until long after the army faded from sight. If it wasn’t for the occasional grunt when the wagons hit a hole in the old roads, you’d think we were all asleep.

  I think we were just taking time to process the return home.

  We began talking about things weighing on our mind, each glad they weren’t alone in their thoughts. How many more soldiers would never return home? And why did we deserve to leave when so many others were forced to stay behind?

  * * *

  By evening, the depressive mood shifted to celebratory. We were on our way home.

  A clear and starry night hung over us as we finished prepping our camp for the night. We formed a circle with the wagons and tethered the mounts just outside of it to graze on tall grass. Sentries patrolled the perimeter with loaded crossbows.

  The war was over and we were happy, but old habits died hard. The likelihood of any bandits brave enough to try their hand at a few dozen veterans was slim, but that didn’t mean we wouldn’t prepare for such a scenario. You didn’t stay alive as long as we all had by taking things for granted.

  I took my place in the chow line, behind Hamath. I hadn’t realized just how hungry I was until I caught a whiff of the night’s stew. My stomach growled.

  Hamath turned. “Lasha a good cook?”

  “Why you want to know?”

  He shrugged. “Just curious. I can count on one hand the number of meals we’ve had over the last decade that’ve been prepared by someone outside of the army. Thought it might be something you’d look forward to.”

  “I guess you’re right. The last time was what? Two and half years ago?”

  “Yeah. It was when we spent a couple weeks in that city near the battle of Urtok’s Ridge. What was it called? After all this time, the places are starting to run together.”

  “Awarta.”

  “Yeah, Awarta. I liked it there.”

  “Really? Don’t you remember all the trouble we had with them trying to poison us?”

  “I remember. But outside of the poison, the food was good.”

  I shook my head, chuckling. “I guess.”

  “Too bad we razed the place when we left,” said Hamath. “Balak’s never been the sort of person you want to upset.”

  “That might be one of the only times I ever questioned if what we were doing was the right thing.”

  “What do you mean? The Geneshans invaded us, remember?”

  “Yeah, but to kill the women and children too?” I whispered. “I still hear their screams sometimes when I close my eyes at night, and I wasn’t even the one to set the houses to flame.”

  We shuffled up the line in silence. I noticed the conversations around us had faded and heads were down. Apparently, I had been too loud. The smell of the stew no longer had the appeal of a few moments ago, but I knew better than to step out of line. In the army, you ate anytime you could. Otherwise, you might regret the missed opportunity later.

  Conversations eventually started back up again, and I managed to push away my own morose thoughts.

  “Lasha’s a great cook by the way,” I managed to say while watching the steaming black cauldron.

  Hamath snorted. “Somehow I knew you’d say that. That woman can do no wrong in your eyes.”

  I smiled. “You’re right about that.” I paused. “What about Bilhah?”

  Hamath tensed. “Hmm?”

  Bilhah was Hamath’s lady friend he left behind before the war started. “Is she a good cook?”

  “Yeah. Pretty good,” he replied quickly.

  I grunted, deciding not to push. Over the years Hamath had talked less and less about Bilhah. A part of me wanted to ask why. Another part respected his privacy.

  The soldier stuck cooking the meal for the night carefully scooped a heaping ladle full of stew into our wooden bowls. His shirt left more than enough evidence of how many times he had hurried his efforts before—brown and yellow stains decorating the front.

  I examined the bowl’s contents. A bit of onion, some potato, a piece of carrot, and even a few pieces of meat. Not bad. In fact, better than most of the meals I’d had of late. I grabbed a hard biscuit from the sack next to the stew pot and followed Hamath to a small fire. Ira and Dekar were already there, the former using his fingers to get the last bit of food out of his bowl, the latter taking his time with each spoonful.

  Ira looked up at us as we took our place around the fire. “What’s the word, Ty?”

  I caught a glimpse of his half-missing ear. Though it looked better than it once did, the image was not a pretty one. “Huh?”

  “Where are we heading first? I saw you talking to Captain Nehab earlier. Dekar thinks it’s going to be Damanhur. I told him to get his head out his rear. It’s gotta be Edema.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Why Edema?”

  “Because it’s bigger and along all the major trade routes. It’s filled with all sorts of wonders, you know. I was mad we didn’t pass through there on the way to Genesha.”

  I nodded to Dekar. “Why Damanhur?”

  He swallowed his food. “Opposite reasons. It’s smaller, so the men are less likely to get into trouble and waste all their coin. Plus, trade routes mean nothing to us now. We’re returning home. Damanhur is a shorter distance from here too. We go to Edema, we’d add a day to our journey.”

  “Dekar’s got it,” I said. “And for all the reasons he listed.”

  “What?” Ira swore. “Who cares about a day when we could have all that fun?”

  I gestured toward Captain Nehab. He sat with his back to a tree, out of earshot, concentrating on eating his stew without dirtying up the thick mustache dominating his face. “The captain does, and Balak put him in charge of seeing us home.” I paused. “I think it’s the right call.”

  “Me too,” said Dekar.

  “You would,” said Ira, giving his brother a look.

  Dekar frowned. “The last thing I want to worry about is bailing you out of trouble again.”

  “You act like that happens all the time.”

  Dekar eyed his brother.

  “All right. Fine,” said Ira, a sour look on his face. “The problem is that none of you really know how to live. Well, except
maybe Hamath.”

  Hamath choked. “I’m not sure if I should take that as a compliment coming from you.”

  Dekar chuckled at that.

  Ira complained and grumbled a bit more as the rest of us finished our meals.

  A few others joined us. It didn’t take long for Ira to pull out a couple decks of cards. It took even less time before most of us had doubled our money. Some might accuse us of cheating and most of the time they’d be right. But not then. The truth was that we had known each other for so long that we knew what the other person would play without even seeing the cards in their hand. If that gave us an advantage over other units not as close as ours, then so be it.

  CHAPTER 5

  Burned out farmhouses and blackened fields greeted us as we traveled. Here and there small shoots of grass, mostly weeds, pushed through the scorched earth. Burning a land with sorcery lengthened the time it needed to recover from a passing army.

  The Geneshan Empire had set fire to their own lands in order to slow us down. The tactic began back when the war had shifted in our favor. Though the Geneshan strategy seemed cruel to the peasants, it did make supplying our forces that much more difficult.

  It had been more than a year since we last passed through the area. The homesteads stood just as vacant as they had then. Landowners must have started life anew somewhere else rather than chance another army destroying their livelihood all over again.

  We crossed a bridge spanning the narrowest part of the Golgoth River. I remember watching its construction after the Geneshan sorcerers blew apart the original structure in hasty retreat. Splinters of wood and broken stone had rained down over a mile in every direction. The heat from such power had boiled all of the fish alive and reduced the water level by half.