Wayward Soldiers

by Joshua P. Simon

  “And with the mountain behind them, there’s little chance of sneaking in from the other side,” she continued. “The defenders can concentrate all their efforts in one area.”

  “Yeah. I bet they still had traps set up in the mountains just in case. Might want to pass the word once everyone is inside that there’s no reason anyone should go exploring.”

  “I’ll do it,” said Zadok.

  “Good. Why don’t you two go in and give Sivan a hand? He’ll need it.”

  The rest of the group began to catch up.

  I offered a smile to everyone. Many returned it out of habit, smiling wider when realization set in that they would have a chance to truly rest tonight. A few didn’t have the energy to smile, offering a nod instead. A couple offered me nothing.

  After nearly an hour, everyone but Ira and Ava made it in.

  The two were still a couple hundred yards out on horseback. They stopped frequently, dismounting often. Ira did what he could to hide or confuse our back trail physically, while Ava pushed herself in an effort to mask our path with what little sorcery she could manage.

  Riding double, Ira finally stopped at the entrance to the gate. Both he and Ava stumbled as they dismounted once more. They leaned on each other for support. I went over to help.

  “Are you both all right?”

  “Thirsty, hungry, and tired,” said Ira. “Fix those things, in that order, and I’ll be all right.”

  “Seconded,” said Ava.

  I grinned. Hearing Ava agree with anything he said was rare.

  “You know, I thought you two might kill each other, but being together for so long might have worked wonders for your relationship.”

  “Oh, yeah. Best of friends,” Ava said with an eye roll.

  “Really, Ty. If we had to go another day like that I was going to kill myself. I don’t know how much longer I could have taken your sister’s foul breath blowing on the back of my neck.”

  “My breath?” said Ava. “How could you smell anything with all your farting? Even the horse was trying to throw you.”

  “Now, look—”

  “All right. Enough. Sorry I said anything. Let’s get inside. I’ll make sure that neither of you has to pull a turn on watch.”

  Ira sighed. “If I didn’t think Reuma might get jealous, I’d kiss you, Ty.”

  I shook my head and turned toward the gate. What to say to that?

  * * *

  Luck was always a strange thing in my life. It had a habit of abandoning me when I needed it most, disappearing like a rich man on tax day. It had a tendency to show back up for trivial matters, like winning that third hand of cards in a row. Yet, like most people, I hoped for luck at every turn, knowing good and well it was going to fail again.

  Imagine my surprise when it didn’t.

  Sivan found the well at the outpost was not only easily accessible, but filled with the best tasting water I could remember. It was clean on the tongue with a hint of sweetness.

  I would have been happy even if our luck had ended there. But, luck came again, this time when Nason found an overrun garden behind the barracks. We discovered potatoes, carrots, and onions in the earth along with vines full of pea pods. Considering all the damage to the land, I had no clue how the plant life managed to survive.

  To make matters even more extraordinary, we found a large family of rabbits living off what the garden produced. The food wouldn’t last forever, but we’d eat great for a week.

  Many rejoiced at the discoveries. I sulked. That much good luck at once didn’t bode well. I wondered how long before we’d see the other side of the coin.

  I allowed one small fire in an old hearth inside the barracks. The sky was cloudy enough that smoke from the one fire wouldn’t be seen by anyone at night.

  Moods improved. Tired songs were sung over dinner after an unnecessarily long prayer by the priest from Uman.

  I got sour looks when I imposed a curfew. I didn’t care. Everyone needed rest.

  As I had every night since leaving the caves, I took first watch. I did this to ease the fatigue of others. Admittedly, it wreaked havoc on my mental facilities, but I kept telling myself that I’d take a break the next day. I meant it this time. My plan was to let someone else manage the watch tomorrow night.

  My shift began with me on top of the gatehouse, sitting on an old, stone seat someone crafted more than a lifetime ago. I didn’t stay there long as my chin kept finding its way to my chest.

  I stood and paced back and forth along the wall. That helped some, but not nearly enough. I went up and down the stairs of each tower, one in the hopes a good sweat would push aside my drowsiness, and two so the height would give me a better line of sight.

  Of course, at night, my line of sight only extended so far.

  Standing in place too long while staring out into the night, my eyelids grew heavy once more. I sighed, and pushed myself off the battlements. Down the stairs I went. Exiting the tower, I came to a halt.

  Damaris stood on the wall, waiting.

  “Is everything all right?” I frowned.

  “As good as it’s going to be, I guess,” she said with a shrug.

  “Is there something I can do?”

  “Not specifically. I had trouble sleeping and thought I’d pass the time with you. I figured you might be having the opposite problem.”

  “A little.”

  She frowned. “You take too much on yourself. Someone else could have taken first watch, you know.”

  “I know, but it’s who I am.”

  We started pacing up and down the wall together.

  “What’s on your mind?” I asked.

  “Balak. I overheard Ira complaining to Reuma about him. The general does not sound like a good man.”

  I sighed. Ira was usually better than that.

  “No. Results are the only thing that matters to him. He’s willing to do whatever it takes to meet his goals. I’m not sure I’ve ever met anyone who really liked him. It’s just varying degrees of hate.” I paused, thinking of how he had wiped out the people of Damanhur after their mistreatment of returning soldiers. “Yet, sometimes the man can surprise you and give the appearance that he actually has a heart.”

  “Do you think he’ll come this way?”

  “Logically, I’d say no. There are no towns or marked settlements out this way so the army would have to swing off its current course just to examine an old, abandoned, military outpost that few know about. He’s not one to waste time and resources like that.”

  “I sense a ‘but.’”

  “But my gut says that he’ll come. Hiding here is the best chance we have of avoiding him, but I still don’t think it’s enough. I can’t tell you why, but I feel it. And I learned long ago to trust those feelings.”

  She said nothing for the next few steps, and I had no interest in filling the gap in conversation. I hated to admit it, but it felt good to be in her company.

  “What will you do if he does come?”

  “I think that will depend on how he comes.”

  “If he comes with just a small group would you consider fighting them?”

  I shook my head. “No. Our losses would be too heavy. Even if we won, Balak would never let us escape. He’d retreat, regroup, and use the rest of his army to hound us forever, just on principle. I’ll have to talk to him or whoever he sends. See what exactly he wants, then see what he would be satisfied with getting instead.”

  “So bargain with him.”

  “Something like that. Though from our position, we don’t have much to bargain with.”

  She chuckled. “I came up here hoping you might ease my mind.”

  “Sorry, I’ve never been good at sweetening the truth.”

  CHAPTER 41

  I’ve never been one to fall asleep on watch, but apparently I did. I blamed Damaris. The woman talked me into sitting down inside the tower.

  “Just for a moment,” she had said.

  Well, that moment turne
d into many as my willpower finally gave way and my eyes closed shut. I realized my failure when someone slapped my face.

  A faint voice sat on the edge of my consciousness. “If you don’t open your eyes, Big Brother, I’m going to hit you harder.”

  Another slap, much harder, jolted me awake. Through blurry vision, I saw I was still on those same tower steps from before. Ava kneeled beside me with Myra and Zadok at her side. My back ached in a way that made me feel twice my age.

  “About time,” Ava said.

  “Sorry,” said Damaris, a little further back. “I couldn’t get you to wake up.”

  “What’s going on?” I muttered, sitting up and rubbing dry eyes.

  “Balak’s here, Pa,” whispered Zadok. Fear was in his voice.

  I shot to my feet. My back screamed at me for not taking my time. My head spun, still groggy from sleep. I took a deep breath and steadied myself. “Show me.”

  Crouching, they led me out onto the wall. Grays of early morning took over from the black of night. A slight breeze whipped across the wall, sending a shiver down my spine. The sensation helped shake off the remainders of sleep.

  Above the gatehouse Ira, Dekar, and Sivan huddled behind the crenellated battlements, staring out. I worked my way over to them while following their gaze

  A mass of soldiers formed lines for battle several hundred yards away. I assumed Balak meant for the vision to intimidate us.

  Admittedly, it worked.

  It seemed that Balak’s recruiting efforts had gone especially well as of late. He had closer to twenty-five hundred men at his disposal rather than the previously reported two thousand.

  I looked down into the outpost’s courtyard. Everyone stood there. Some sobbed. Some shook with fear. Reuma and her squad kept them in line. The priest led many in prayer.

  A few craned their necks at us, seeking answers to the questions running through their heads. I made eye contact with Boaz and Nason. I tried to offer a confident smile.

  I stopped beside Ira. Ava and the kids piled in behind me.

  The tension among everyone was as thick as a summer fog.

  “What do you think, Ty?” asked Ira.

  “Only one way to handle this. Count them out. You take numbers one through nine hundred eighty-four. Dekar takes the next eight hundred forty. I’ll grab the rest. Ava and the kids can support any we miss. On three. Ready?”

  Ira looked at me like he thought I had lost all sense. Then he began to laugh uncontrollably. Dekar joined in, as did Ava. Sivan and the kids smiled, not really understanding my old unit’s code for numbering out opponents to take down. The tension between everyone dissipated to a more reasonable level.

  “You got balls to joke at a time like this,” Ira said.

  “Someone had to since you looked ready to mess yourself. And with Hamath only-the-gods-know-where, I figured that left me. They do anything interesting yet?”

  “Just been standing out there making a show of themselves.”

  “Here’s something now,” said Sivan.

  Sure enough, a dozen men separated themselves and slowly rode our way.

  “Now the hard part begins. Ira. Dekar. You two with me. Everyone else stay here and out of sight.”

  “Pa, that’s crazy. Twelve against three,” said Zadok.

  “We’re just going to talk. If it comes to blows, numbers won’t matter because after we kill their twelve, all those thousands out there will charge us.”

  “Still, wouldn’t it make sense to take more men?” asked Myra. “Just to make a better show.”

  “No. One, we don’t have enough horses. Two, I only trust a handful of people to come to a meeting like this and not screw things up. Three, I don’t want Balak to see how many we have here.”

  The twelve riders stopped about a hundred yards from the wall of the outpost. We went downstairs, mounted our tired horses, and went out to face them.

  Passing through the gatehouse, Ira leaned over. “I never said thank you for what you done back at the cave. I know it wasn’t easy. Just wanted to let you know in case, well, you know.”

  Unfortunately, I did. I didn’t know how things were going to play out in the coming moments either.

  “It was the right thing to do,” I said, thinking of the baby who had died. “I just wish it would have done some good.”

  “I know. But if it helps, it did good by me, Ty. Real good.”

  He clapped me on the shoulder, and I gave him a nod. His appreciation reaffirmed to me, at least, that I had made the right decision.

  Dekar patted my other shoulder as he brought his mount around to my right. “We’re with you, Tyrus. No matter what.”

  Ira took my left. “No matter what.” He paused. “But still try not to get us killed, you hear?”

  I grinned. “I’ll do what I can.”

  It was good to have friends like Ira and Dekar.

  We slowly rode our mounts out to the twelve men waiting for us. As we did, the army seemed to grow larger by the moment. I couldn’t help but wish for a couple thousand more friends like Ira and Dekar.

  The twelve men waited in a bunched-up mass that slowly separated as we neared. As usual, Balak rode the largest mount. In the army, we speculated the habit came from him trying to compensate for his lack of height. I didn’t study him much further in that moment though as the two riders that took a place on either side of him grabbed my attention.

  A shiver ran down my back from the man on his right—the square-helmed man, leader of the bandits who attacked Denu Creek. He held his head high, his body still and rigid. He looked just as I remembered him when we exchanged glances before he sounded his retreat. I wasn’t completely surprised I hadn’t seen the last of him.

  As captivating of a figure as the bandit was, he could not hold my interest any longer once I saw the grinning idiot on Balak’s left.

  Anger burned the back of my throat.

  Jareb.

  Somehow that mule had not only survived, but apparently worked himself into Balak’s inner circle. No easy task. But then again, Jareb always had a way of manipulating people.

  “Molak-be-damned,” I muttered.

  Ira hissed a few more additions to my curse. Dekar a long, slow sigh.

  I had already prepared myself for a difficult conversation. But difficult no longer described the exchange of words I expected to come next. Not with those two sitting on Balak’s shoulders. The general would have a demon whispering in either ear.

  Neither Balak nor his men said anything as we approached. Nor did they make any gesture of violence.

  I took that as a positive.

  About ten yards out, I said, “General Balak. How are you sir? It’s nice to see a familiar face after so long. Just never did I imagine it would be yours.”

  Jareb leaned over and whispered something to Balak. The old general slowly turned his head and gave Jareb an icy stare that made the coward shrink back. Apparently, Jareb hadn’t manipulated Balak as well as he had others in Denu Creek. I wasn’t surprised.

  “You keep strange company, sir,” I said eyeing his two companions. I pointed at Jareb. “Especially that viper there.”

  The old general turned his head back toward me, still wearing that hard look—jaw set, gray eyes narrowed beneath caterpillar eyebrows. His mouth worked a mean sneer.

  I let my smile fade, but I held his gaze. Rarely had I ever gotten that look from him in the army, but when I had, I refused to wilt under it. Doing so only made things worse. It gave Balak the upper hand, which he took and used. He held practically every card at the moment, but that wasn’t going to stop me from making him think I hid a few face cards up my sleeve.

  Confidence, or at least the appearance of confidence, goes a long way in any conversation.

  After a little over an eternity, Balak let out a snort, the most that ever passed as a laugh for the man. “Same old, Tyrus. You’re a hard man to track down.”

  “I didn’t expect you’d be looking for me.”
>
  “I thought you could be of use to me. Well, what’s left of you,” he added with a nod to my missing ear. He glanced over to Ira and Dekar, acknowledging them for the first time. “And I thought I might come across others worth finding once I located you.” He looked past me, over my shoulder toward the outpost. “Where’s Ava? Who else do you have with you?”

  I wasn’t ready to answer those questions. “How did you find me, sir?”

  “Jareb told me the general direction you were heading. The rest we had to work out.”

  Jareb had the nerve to smile again. “I told you I wouldn’t forget.”

  My jaw clenched. I was so angry I couldn’t even find joy in the fact Jareb’s smile was as crooked as his ruined nose. I squeezed the reins tightly until leather creaked.

  I had never regretted not killing a man before. But the fact he had brought trouble to me again changed my mind on the matter.

  Jareb started to laugh. His nose whistled.

  “Enough,” snapped Balak. “It still wasn’t easy since you chose not to follow the traditional roads. And it looks like you had someone covering your back trail recently.” He gestured to the squared helmed man. “But it helps to have an excellent tracker. I might be more put out by all the effort expended if we hadn’t picked up quite a number of men in the process.”

  I eyed the square-helmed man when Balak mentioned him, but the bandit showed zero emotion. I wish I could see more of his face, but all I got were knowing eyes mostly hidden in the shadow of his helm. I guessed he didn’t think too fondly of me after Denu Creek.

  I forced myself to relax. “Is there something specific I can help you with, sir?”

  He gave me a look like I had sprouted two heads. “Of course, Sergeant. You can ride that sorry excuse for a mount back to that outpost, pack whatever belongings your people have, and march them all out here. There’s a war coming and we need to get on our way.”

  “A war?”

  “For Turine. We can’t let the country fall into enemy hands.”