by Dave Hazel
“What Soonme is saying,” Hidtotim started but hesitated as if fearful.
“Don’t worry about what you say,” Mykal said as an encouragement. “You four are not staying here. You don’t have to worry about what you say. Besides, there’s no one around here to do anything about it anyway.”
“You are correct Mykal,” Hidtotim boldly spoke his mind. “What Soonme is saying is at times the crime may be minor and yet the punishment may be extremely severe. It would not surprise me if one of the men hanging from that tree lied to a superior, or did not finish his work detail speedily enough.”
“Or one could have made a mistake with his commander’s meal,” Clontab suggested as if he experienced seeing such a vicious punishment for just a slight crime in the past. “One could have been late in paying the full amount of his taxes that were due. Some of the commanders were notorious for meeting out vicious punishments for small crimes.”
“There were commanders who were known to add fees to taxes collected which would end up in the commander’s own purse,” Nomorek said and looked around as if he spoke something that was to remain a secret. “However, there were commanders who were very good to their men, such as our Commander Dand Gulag.”
“Dand Gulag died under the mountain,” Hidtotim said with a sad frown. “And yet there were those like Commander Ingledoss. Commander Ingledoss had a great reputation for being a terror to his enemies,” Hidtotim said in reference to the brutal commander Mykal killed with his Glock 17 after he turned invisible and quietly shot him with a silencer attached to the weapon. “And Commander Ingledoss had just as great a reputation for being brutal to his own men. He ruled with an iron fist and his men trembled whenever he neared them because one did not know what his mood would be.”
“Well good, then I’m glad I killed his stupid ass,” Mykal tittered sadly. “That friggin Ingle-doofus.” He added to be funny. Some of the men laughed but they were all focused on the senseless display of brutality and watched the nineteen sway slightly from above.
“Our Commander, Dand Gulag, was the best commander of all,” Hidtotim said with a twinge of sadness in his words. “He was fair and showed leniency which won over his men. Dang Gulag had men who would die for him because he was truly a great leader. His men loved and adored him because he treated his men like men and not slaves.”
“The people who did this,” Captain Diaz pointed to those hanging and the three doubled over the tree logs headless. “How far away would they be from here?”
“I would not know,” Hidtotim replied. “However, this took place recently. I would think this took place yesterday.”
“Why do you think they executed them here? Away from their military barracks or city where they were stationed?” Sergeant First Class Lemon asked.
“All soldiers must travel this road when they move to their new location to perform their duties for the next two years,” Nomorek answered. “They were executed here so fellow soldiers would see them while they were in route to their new location or returning from their time in the foreign lands. They will remain there until they rot away. It is to instill fear. The leaders all rule by fear. This would be placed here to remind all soldiers never to step out from under the rules.”
“If we come across the bastards who did this I say we oughta dish out a little of our own punishment,” Roy Jr. suggested. “Whatta ya think Mykal?”
“I’m okay with it,” Mykal replied, not to get revenge for the possible mistreatment of soldiers, but if they came across the soldiers who did this they would have to silence them. “Hey Starling, Leeno and Blair,” Mykal called to the three Elves only because they were like triplets and he could never see them as being separated.
“Yes Mykal?” Leeno turned to his voice and they all turned together.
“Make sure we get in touch with Lanorear and have the Hawkmen scout out the area and let us know if they see a good size group of soldiers who could have done this cuz I’d like to give them a punishment, not for failing to pay their taxes, not for messing up a meal, or any of the things these guys mentioned. But just for the sake of them beings soldiers of Ziggy Stardust and since they like to be a little heavy handed in giving out punishment we’re gonna see how they like it.”
“Ooh-rah, ooh-rah,” several Marines shouted together.
“Hooah, hooah,” the Army personnel shouted with them, not to outdo them, but to show unity.
Mykal didn’t know if these ex-soldiers committed real serious crimes or not, but he turned to Soonme, “We’ll give them a taste of their own medicine,” he said and smirked at their confused expressions. “We’re not gonna give them medicine,” he quickly corrected his statement and couldn’t keep a humorous smile from his face since he knew they took his words literally. “We’re gonna give them a taste of what they like to dish out, alright?”
“Yes Mykal,” Soonme replied and gave a sad smile for the friend who hung above them. “My childhood friend who hangs there, his name was Pladold. He was always the weaker child when we were children playing in groups. He was always the slower student in our studies. However, he was always the most obedient person I have ever known. He never did any thing wrong. I can not see him doing any crime deserving of this,” Soonme explained with tears in his eyes.
Mykal was stunned. He hadn’t seen this kind of emotion from the soldiers in Towbar’s world, either Towbar’s men or the soldiers of Zizmon-Tarl. Mykal looked up into the swelled neck and face of the dead Pladold. His tongue was pushed between his lips and his face was darkened in death. His eyes were open slightly with little lifeless slits. Mykal felt worse as he listened to Soonme’s explanation that gave Mykal the impression Pladold was slower mentally.
“Pladold would be obedient in the removal of his soldier’s garb when ordered even if he had not committed a crime,” Soonme continued and his voice rose in saddened anger. “Pladold was always like a child in his innocence. They took advantage of his willingness to get along with those over him. I have never felt such hurt. He was forced into the service as a soldier when his parents could not pay their tax. His father wanted to be taken in his place. However his father was too old.”
“You guys will never have to deal with this shit again,” Mykal declared and inside he believed Pladold was a child mentally who would have been labled ‘slow’ in his world. If that was the case then Pladold who was mentally handicapped, he had been abused, mistreated, and executed for being an easy to get along ‘slow child’ in the hands of these butchers. “As far as I’m concerned, you guys are my men and I’ll fight with you and I’ll fight for you. I’ll defend you like the rest of my men. After we get back to the Pass you four will be free to live like free men who don’t have to pay unreasonable taxes, right Towbar?”
“That is correct my friend. Before we depart I would like to take a few minutes to be by myself,” the giant said and walked off to go into the trees.
Mykal knew Towbar was going to try Mind Talk again. Mykal hoped that since they were even closer to where Doninka was supposedly being held that Towbar would have more chance of being successful. Mykal would love nothing more than for Towbar to locate her, give his men the ability to sneak in to grab her, then to return to the Pass to ‘live happily ever after’. ‘Yeah right,’ he thought with a mocking laugh.
“Mykal, are we doing anything right now?” Captain Diaz asked while he eyed the surroundings.
“Let’s take a little break and if the men want to have an early meal I’m okay with it. And you guys,” Mykal turned to Hidtotim, Nomorek, Clontab and Soonme. “If you guys wanna chow down on some of your Lucky Charms, go for it,” he said and tried to hide the fact that he was laughing at their love of breakfast cereal while Soonme seemed to ache tremendously. They loved it dry and they loved it with milk.
It seemed odd that the men could take a meal break with nineteen men hanging from trees and three more were headless before them. Mykal realized in the course of the past few weeks these men had seen worse.
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3.
Mykal had been dozing when he felt the vehicle slow to a stop. It caused him to waken quickly. He had been dreaming or thinking of Doninka and he felt downhearted. Now he felt depression creeping in since he realized his thoughts or his dream had been on the missing princess. Guilt swirled about the negative emotions as well. He knew all this could have been avoided if only he would have taken the girl back to his world for the five days he was there at the beginning of the year. He never regretted something more than not taking Doninka with him. He replayed this wrong decision in his mind over and over, more than anything else he wished he could undo. He knew it didn’t help because he couldn’t change all that happened unless he came across a time machine.
“Why’d we stop?” Mykal asked.
“We’re being careful Myk,” Sergeant Simmons said from behind the wheel. “The lead vehicle heard the screeching sound and the heavy flapping of wings. One of the Elves said it was a dragon and could possibly be more than one dragon. We’ve stop to take up defensive positions. We have the men ready with the .50 calibers and the Mark 19s”
“But nothing has been seen,” Corporal Nelson added. “Sergeant Barry went to the lead vehicle to see if there is more to it than just the sound of flapping wings and the screeching that had been reported.”
“Yes Sir,” Simmons spoke into the radio microphone. “I’ll pass it on. It looks like the all clear has been given by order of Captain Diaz. He said for the men to get out and stretch their legs for a few. He also said we’re going to take a break for a meal.”
“Good,” Mykal replied and all the occupants exited his vehicle. Mykal walked off to try and clear his head. Towbar walked off to be by himself. Mykal knew the giant was going to try to make contact with Doninka through Mind Talk. Mykal also understood that worrying about the girl wasn’t helpful but the mental battle at times seemed to be beyond his control. He looked down at the gold band around the middle finger of his right hand. He accepted the fact that the ring, as great as it was as a magic weapon, was destructive to his emotional state. He didn’t know how to make others know he couldn’t stop the thoughts.
The only other regret he had that came close to the same sort of wasted thought time was his decision not to kill Captain William Roberts when they were trapped under the mountain in December. Mykal clearly replayed the scene in his mind countless times. If he could go back in time this would be one other thing he would change those few seconds that seemed to haunt him over and over as well.
“What’s up Myk?” Roy Jr. asked as he and Randy approached his solitary position.
“Nothing,” he lied and he knew he wasn’t doing a good job of hiding the mess in his head.
“Seriously Myk, what’s going on?”
“Yeah Mykal, me and Roy know you a whole lot better than any of the others,” Randy said and stretched. “You don’t have to keep the stuff from us, cuz we ain’t gonna share your private stuff with others. You know that. As far as we’re concerned, you’re family to us. Even daddy says you’re one of his boys now,” Randy added while he moved to where longer grass stuck out from the ground. As always he plucked a long piece of green and stuck it in his mouth.
“Don’t take us wrong Myk, we’re not trying to pry into your personal business,” Roy Jr. said with a sincere tone and expression that hit Mykal’s heart. “But if you need to get some stuff off your chest, use us as sounding boards. We need to be there for each other. Even if it’s the same ol’ stuff you been struggling with. Don’t hold it inside.”
“You know, you’re right,” Mykal said and suddenly felt the freedom to get some of the junk out of his mind and out of his heart and off of his chest. “If I tell you something, it’s gotta stay between the three of us.”
“You know it brother,” Randy quickly replied.
“You don’t even have to ask,” Roy Jr. said. “We’re solid and anything that is serious is always just between us.”
“I wanna tell you guys something not just to get it off my chest, but cuz it may come up now that we’re getting close to Ziggy’s castle,” Mykal said and looked around to be confident none of the humans from his world could hear them. “Only Towbar and Jake know the truth.”
Without realizing it, the brothers took a step closer to Mykal and they both looked around to ensure their privacy.
“William, Captain William Roberts may be alive.”
“Whoa. Wow,” Roy Jr. gasped and suddenly thought back to a couple of things Mykal said or slipped up and hinted at over the past few weeks that could have confirmed as such. Specifically, Mykal was one of the many men who got high after being attacked by the Stinging Snowflakes of Delight along the gorge before they entered the mountain. He had been talking some ‘crazy stuff’ and made a comment about killing someone named William.
“Why do you think that Myk?” Randy asked.
“When we, as the Lost Patrol, were stuck on this side of the world we went into that mountain way back there,” he said and waved his hand to refer to where they started this mission to find Doninka. “You have to remember a bunch of shit started between William and Boris. They were at each other’s throats like cats and dogs and William was making things bad for me. Boris even asked me if I wanted him to kill William to get him off my back,” he said and smirked at their surprised looks. “William was trying to get the men to turn against me and to follow him, but it went nowhere. None of the men could stand him. But anyway it was so bad that Boris asked me on two different occasions if he could take him out. Of course I said no.
“I had to jump on the two of them cuz we were trapped in that damn room and were surrounded by the Goblins who had been chasing us and they wanted to kill us. I blew my top and told them both to knock the shit off cuz I couldn’t deal with their bickering while we were trying to figure out how the hell we were gonna make it outta there alive. We were totally lost and completely surrounded. There was no getting outta there, but then Towbar made contact with me through Mind Talk,” he exclaimed with excitement. “If he wouldn’t have found us we’d be dead right now.
“But even then that friggin bastard tried to turn the men against me to say that I was losing my mind,” Mykal snarled to show his hatred toward William. “Long story short, Towbar got there with us and we were still trapped cuz we couldn’t use the green fog inside an enclosed space. But one of the Elves found a secret door and it appeared to be a long passage way to get out of the room we were trapped in. So we made the decision to leave and I needed volunteers to hold the room for an hour or so just in case we had to come back. Boris volunteered and so did Marine Private Wickey,” Mykal said though he still had a twinge of sadness over the nineteen year old kid who volunteered to put his life on the line. “William said he would stay too. I was shocked. Those two were like water and oil. I was gonna have a couple of others stay and they both agreed that they would be fine and it was their way of patching things up after all the headaches they gave me from going after each other. Boris wanted to do a good deed after his screw up on Minot Air Force Base,” he said in reference to the Minot Air Force Base massacre. “William wanted to do something to make up for all the men disliking him and him acting like a little baby. I agreed cuz they were gonna join us in an hour or we were gonna have to go back to the room if the passage wasn’t any good for us.”
Mykal paused and remembered the room where his best friend Boris, Marine Private Wickey and Captain William Roberts had volunteered to hold their ground while the rest of their group made their getaway. The group was able to flee from the Goblin army via a secret passage way that branched out under the mountain. Boris, Wickey and William were to hold control of the room just in case the secret passage turned out to be a dead end and they would have to return.
“Before that time expired, before an hour had passed, there were a few gunshots,” Mykal continued to explain the situation to the Dosch brothers. “We believed the Goblins were trying to sneak in and I was having a hard time that we only left th
ree there. And now I’m a little freaked out cuz we told those three that if Goblins got into the room they would have to die so as not to give us away. They agreed but the more I thought of it the more it drove me nuts cuz I just put a death sentence over my friend Boris by ordering that. Private Wickey had an M-60 machine gun and at first there were a couple of rifle shots and then you could clearly hear Boris’s .44 magnum. There was no mistaking Boris’s favorite little cannon,” Mykal chuckled sadly. “I knew Boris hated William but Boris wouldn’t go against my wishes and I told him not to kill William despite the fact they both hated each other and William had threatened that Boris would get his, but William was an officer who was a nerd and a desk jockey. So from my point of view he wasn’t really a threat, at least from what I was thinking.
“When I approached the secret door I listened to make sure the Goblins weren’t in the room and so I wouldn’t expose the secret entrance should the room have been taken over by the Goblins. I’ll never forget it,” Mykal said and shook his head. “I heard Wickey say, ‘I know he was a bad apple. I promise I won’t say anything. I promise,’ he begged and that poor kid was scared while he was shooting three and four round bursts of his M-60 down the corridor. I honestly thought, ‘Ah Boris what the hell did you do?’ I walked into the room and William was standing there with Boris’s .44 magnum in his hand,” he added with a dramatic pause. “And Boris was on the floor dead. The scene shocked the hell outta me. I wanted to think it was a joke or a prank cuz it didn’t make sense. I thought Boris would have killed William but William had shot Boris in the back with his rifle and them took Boris’s Redhawk .44 magnum and shot him a couple of times in the back of his head. I never got to say good-bye to my buddy Boris,” Mykal said and choked on his words. Tears were in his eyes. Mykal saw his sadness affected the brothers. They were close to Boris and missed him dearly also.