by Dave Hazel
“Thank you my Dude,” he said and bowed his head. He turned to Doninka. “I am very sorry my lady, I did not know,” he added and bowed his head to her. “I only looked at you with the information that had been given to me. I can tell you that all through my years as serving as a soldier, I have come to learn that we soldiers are often lied to with false information to keep us in line. However, we are soldiers and we must obey those over us.”
“I know what you mean Mooty,” Mykal said with a smile. “Enjoy the rest of your days. As you watch your grandchildren grow before you over the years, always think back to this day and know that it was because you kept your word to me that you are able to watch them grow and you’re not rotting away, laying in a dirty road, like your other three friends.”
“Thank you for your help Mootmass,” Doninka said with a half-smile while her horse snorted which caused the other two horses to snort.
The experienced warrior nodded his appreciation to them.
“Go ahead and leave before I change my mind,” Mykal joked and laughed. “I’m kidding. You kept your word and I will keep my word. Go ahead and go, and don’t come back until we’re gone,” he added and waited while he watched the soldier ride away quickly.
“What do you plan to do Mykal?” Doninka asked.
“I really don’t know yet,” he answered and laughed. “I’m kinda winging it. The bottom line is,” he paused to think through his plan. “I gotta kill William. I’ll tell ya why,” he said and explained to her the various threats William posed to the Pass. “…so anyway, let’s quicken our pace so we can get to them before they get to their main group. I’d rather have to face sixty to eighty rather than over four hundred soldiers. Especially if they’re elite soldiers.”
They were able to get very close to the carriage that was acting as the caboose on the train of mounted soldiers slowly strolling along. Someone must have spotted them once they got within about thirty yards of the carriage. The carriage stopped and several soldiers on horseback turned to approach them. Mykal wasn’t sure how they would be accepted since they didn’t know who Doninka was, and he obviously looked very strange with his camouflaged uniform and cammy face paint, but they were on horses that clearly belonged to soldiers.
At least ten mounted soldiers turned and slowly moved toward them. At least another twelve or so pulled up along the carriage with six on each side. There were several more that pulled close to the carriage which would be the front of the carriage though they were on the far side from where Mykal and Doninka stood.
Mykal had a wild idea that would prevent them from riding off into all different directions. As the soldiers approached him he pulled up his leather bag of green crystalline powder. He swallowed some as the soldiers called to him to ask them what they were doing following them and what were they doing on the horses that belonged to soldiers. He shouted the words Towbar taught him and suddenly they were all cloaked in the green fog. Mykal knew what to expect and he thought of where he wanted them to be taken to. He heard Doninka scream, but his dizziness was too strong to try and comfort her.
Mykal hung close to the neck of the horse that started to buck a little. The horse he rode was definitely afraid and he assumed all the horses got spooked. Some of the soldiers had been thrown from their mounts. He heard several shouts of men who had been taken by surprise. They sounded like they were stuck in a sound proof booth together. Mykal knew he had an advantage because he understood where he was going and what he planned to do, where as they were all taken completely by surprise and not sure what to expect next.
When the green fog cleared Mykal knew where he was but he shook his head to clear the fogginess that seemed to cloud his thinking. He stuck the Glock 17 into his waistband and took his rifle from his shoulder. With the scope on his GAU, the smaller version of the M-16 rifle, he took aim and shot four of the soldiers who appeared to be lost. The four soldiers he shot were those who were closest to him and posed his most immediate threat. All four were knocked from their mounts. He didn’t care if they were dead or incapacitated because they were knocked out from the fight and no longer posed an immediate threat.
He turned his horse and road hard and fast while mass confusion swallowed the twenty to thirty mounted soldiers who had just exited the green fog. Near some trees he saw what he was looking for. The 1984 Jeep Wagoneer they had parked before they entered the road into the Black Forrest, the Forrest of Death. Thankfully Towbar and those with him didn’t return here and take the vehicle away. That would have made things much more difficult for him.
“Doninka, follow me,” he shouted as loud as he could. He jumped off his horse and held onto the reigns just in case the vehicle didn’t start. The keys were left in the ignition because no one on this side of the world would know what the vehicle was, let alone how to start it and to drive it. He got inside the vehicle and it started on the first try. “Go on,” he yelled as he slapped the back end of the horse and allowed it to run free. Now that he had a vehicle he wanted to pick up Doninka and then he was going to chase down the carriage to eliminate William. He didn’t care about the other soldiers, but if they wanted to get in the way, he would eliminate them as an obstacle as well.
After Mykal started the vehicle he stepped outside of the driver’s side and looked for Doninka. She was able to get away from the soldiers because they were concerned with trying to make sense of what just happened to them while they tried to assess and understand where they were. A number of the mounted soldiers converged on each other. Mykal assumed William must have told those inside the carriage something about the green fog because the carriage took off at a full run to get away from whatever just happened to them.
Many of the soldiers turned and followed after the carriage though the carriage was riding blindly into the wide open plains away from the Forrest of Death.
“No problem,” Mykal said with a confident laugh when he looked at the gas gauge. It was on full.
“Is this one of your crafts?” Doninka asked with a delightful surprise.
“Yes. We left it here for me in case this kind of a situation occurred. Hurry up and get in,” he barked and adjusted the seat and mirrors while he awaited her to get inside. “Get your seat belt on.”
“This is truly amazing,” she said. “I do not know what you mean,” she added as he helped her to put the seat belt on.
Mykal wanted to make a joke about this being their first date because he was happy. He realized he couldn’t joke about that type of thing with Doninka and decided against it. “Having this vehicle will definitely make it much easier to catch up to them and kill that scumbag,” he said after his happy thoughts turned dark.
“Do you think you should rescue him to take him back to the Pass?” Doninka asked.
“What?” Mykal asked and was stunned by the question. He had already explained to her all the reasons why William needed to die.
“By taking him back to the Pass you will then allow your military to judge him and punish him so you will not have to kill him,” she replied. “I do not wish to see you face problems with your people for killing the man without a trial.”
“Do you wanna get out and walk?” He joked but he was surprised by her idea. “No, he has to die. They were gonna use him to identify you, so in essence he was gonna help Ziggy Stardust to bring you to the real bad guy.”
“Oh. Well, I just don’t want you to face problems,” she said while Mykal drove toward the group of mounted soldiers. “I do not wish to see you get into trouble with your own people.”
“Well, if I did take him back I would face more problems cuz I told everyone I saw him get killed and now here he is, alive and well. So they’re gonna wanna know why I lied. I knew the Goblins took him so I thought for sure they would have tortured and killed him. More important than that, he killed my best friend and then he was going to kill me. Right then and there he was gonna shoot me in the head, but I turned invisible and I was able to hide until the Goblins grabbed him. I wo
uldn’t have told you that but now that you know I can turn invisible, that was how I was able to get away from him. I shouldn’t be here right now. I should be dead cuz of that scumbag. I honestly regret not killing him there. I could have killed him but there was a ton of Goblins in that room so it mighta caused me to get captured. When I say there was a ton of Goblins, I mean there were a lot of them. Many of them,” he clarified.
“I see. I just didn’t want you to be guilty of cold blooded murder Mykal,” she offered out of a loving devoted heart.
“That’s not even the main reason why I can’t trust him to be alive. If I let him stay here, the real bad guy Ziggy Stardust will use him to attack the back of the Pass and then we’re screwed. That means we’re in big, serious, trouble. Or he may even take Ziggy back to my world and make a deal with my President so that my people back in the world will get whatever they want from your world, and then Ziggy will want the okay to wipe out all your people. It would be a win-win for them and a big ol’ loss for you and your people. And to be honest with you Doninka, I don’t know what Ziggy Stardust has done to him so far, so maybe he wants me to take William back to the Pass so William’s eyes could be eyes for Ziggy and then he will be able to assassinate your father, or Towbar or whoever is important, and he may be able to allow his armies to see where our defenses are at their weakest. There are so many reasons why he needs to die. It is not murder. If anything, I’d say it’s self-defense in protecting your people. Are you gonna have a hard time with me killing him?” Mykal asked and he sounded angry.
“No. I only care for you Mykal I only wish for what is best for you. I do not want you to have trouble with the people from your world--” and she was going to add because she cared about him, but he cut her off.
“You didn’t have a problem when I killed those two soldiers who were in your room who were planning to rape you,” he snapped back at her. “You didn’t say anything when I killed the two soldiers at the Tavern on the Mound,” he added as if she was being hypocritical. “Well, this is basically the same thing. I’m doing this to protect me, you, all the people of the Pass, your father and everything we’re living for.”
“I am sorry Mykal. I did not wish for my words to strike anger in you. I care for you and I did not want you to suffer for killing one of your own people.” She was going to say that she didn’t know he killed the two soldiers in the Tavern on the Mound, but it wouldn’t make a difference.
“Good, cuz I woulda left you here,” he joked and tried to make it sound like he wasn’t joking but he couldn’t keep from smiling. “But you gotta understand he isn’t one of our people. If he woulda got his way I’d be dead right now. Do you remember when we disappeared after we went into the Soso camp and then we came back as the Lost Patrol?”
“Yes. I was terrified when all of you disappeared. I did not think you would ever return. I feared that you would die if you hadn’t been killed already at that time.”
“Well if William woulda got his way, I wouldn’t have come back cuz he tried to kill me,” he repeated to drive home his point.
“I understand,” she replied and looked down.
Mykal slowed the vehicle. Six of the mounted soldiers stood their ground and pulled their swords. They held their raised spears in one hand and their swords in the other hand. Mykal watched the rest of the mounted soldiers continued to ride after the carriage that fled into the wide open flatlands. The six just stood there. It was unsure if they were going to attack or wait for the vehicle to get closer to them. There was a momentary standoff.
“You know, I could easily go around them and out run them,” Mykal said as he put the vehicle in park. “But then we’d have to worry about them coming up behind us at some time. So I’m gonna deal with these guys right here, right now,” he said with a cocky smirk as he stepped outside of the vehicle with his rifle in hand. “Stay in the car,” he barked.
Mykal placed his elbow on the hood of the vehicle and took aim. The six watched him and waited for him to get closer. “Sorry guys,” he mumbled. “You’re not the one I want but I don’t wanna have to deal with you guys later,” he said and then squeezed the trigger after sighting in on the first of six heads.
The explosion seemed loud to Mykal, though the slight wind didn’t allow it to sound very loud to the victims. The first soldier fell backward. A second later the second fell off his horse. A moment later the third flopped off his horse. Then the fourth fell as well. The last two turned and fled as fast as they could. They obviously didn’t know what they were up against, and they didn’t know what type of weapon could kill in such a manner, but it was clear that four of their comrades lay on the ground and no longer sat on their mounts.
“While I’m driving, try to count how many are on horseback so I can know what we’re up against,” Mykal said and he started to drive. “They think they can out run us cuz they’re on their horses, but I have a surprise for them,” he chuckled. “I really don’t care about these guys. I only want William. I’ll gladly let them go, but if they’re gonna be a threat, oh well.”
“I count twenty-two on horseback Mykal.”
“Good, that’s what I thought I counted,” he said and picked up the speed. “So there should be two drivers on top of the carriage and there should be four inside the vehicle with William. I wish you knew how to drive cuz then I could shoot while you drove,” he laughed wildly. “This is gonna be like shooting fish in a barrel,” he added and suddenly stopped. He realized he was laughing about taking lives. There was a legitimate reason to kill these soldiers, but he was having too much fun with it.
Mykal scolded himself in thought. ‘I gotta do this though. I can’t let William get away,’ he pondered and wished his emotions wouldn’t go all over the place. ‘I can’t be mean about this. I gotta look at this as if it’s just a job I gotta do. I wish Towbar and the rest of the guys were here,’ he thought and moaned internally. He looked at the ring on the middle finger of his right hand and knew the magic of the ring was toying with him.
Mykal closed in on the mounted soldiers that caught up to the carriage being drawn by two horses. He wondered if he should speed ahead and shoot them as they approached him or if he should shoot the horses pulling the carriage along to get the vehicle to stop. Mykal just couldn’t get himself to shoot the innocent animals. ‘Why am I getting so wimpy when it comes to animals? If I killed the two horses it would probably save the lives of some of these men,’ he argued with himself. ‘But every one of these men would kill me if they got the chance. I can’t wimp out now.’
Mykal pulled his vehicle close enough to where several of the soldiers looked over their shoulder to see what was behind them. Suddenly Mykal stopped and eight of the soldiers turned to attack the strange creature made of metal. Mykal got out of the vehicle with his rifle and took aim. He shot three of them before the other five advanced on his position. They rode hard and fast. Mykal was able to kill all five of them, but one of them was close enough that he launched his spear. It struck the hood of the vehicle and bounced up where it hit the windshield which in turn caused Doninka to scream. It didn’t do any damage other than dent the hood slightly and scratch the paint. There was no damage to the glass of the windshield.
“That frickin’ scumbag,” Mykal barked after the soldier flopped off of his horse. “Are you okay?” He yelled to Doninka.
“Yes. Yes, I am fine. It scared me yet it did not harm me.”
“I was too slow. I shoulda got him before he threw that damn spear,” Mykal explained and saw that one of the men on the ground was wounded and not dead.
Mykal put his rifle inside the vehicle on the seat and ran to the man who squirmed wildly on the ground due to the pain inflicted on him. He pulled out his .357 magnum and took a chance to reason with the soldier who moaned and rolled around on the ground. He pointed the revolver at the man’s head and yelled to get his attention.
The soldier held his bleeding left shoulder and it appeared he was also bleeding at his
left side. The round entered just under his shoulder and exited his left side. The soldier begged for mercy and moaned that his pain was intense.
“Do you want to live?” Mykal yelled at the man who rolled on the ground.
The man stopped and looked up at Mykal. He held his good hand up to him as if to beg for mercy. “Please my Lord, I do not wish to die. This is such a painful wound. I have felt the sting of the blade in the past. This is far worse,” he said and his hand was covered in his own blood. He grunted and gave a moaning groan that sounded like he was trying to catch his breath.
“I will ask you again, do you want to live?” Mykal asked and cocked the hammer of his revolver back. Mykal knew that action would have a dramatic effect back in his world since people from his world would understand he was getting the .357 magnum ready to be fired. Cocking the hammer of the revolver didn’t have such an impact on the injured man.
“Yes my Lord. Please spare my life. I am yours to command,” he added as he looked to his side and saw two others who were dead. They had been struck in the head and they bled plentifully.
“Okay, I don’t wanna kill you, but I will if you friggin screw with me,” Mykal snarled.
“I am sorry my Lord. I know not what you spoke,” he moaned. “I do not comprehend the meaning of your ultimatum. Please help me to understand what it is you desire.”
“I don’t wanna kill any of yous soldiers, but as you have seen I will kill all of you if it comes down to it,” Mykal threatened. “If you go against anything I say,” he said and dramatically paused to get his point across. “I will kill you just as dead as those two beside you. Do you understand me now?” He asked and nodded to the two lifeless forms surrounded in long green grass blades.
“Yes my Lord,” the wounded soldier gasped and winced in pain. “I will do all that you ask so that you will not hurt me any more than I am hurt.”
“I only want the prisoner you guys are transporting.”