by Dave Hazel
“That’s right,” William huffed. “I’m getting tired of just sitting here waiting for our adversary to barge through the door to attack us.”
“As much as I hate to admit it,” Boris said with a smirk. “I agree with chrome dome. This sitting around stuff is just making me antsy. We gotta do something.”
“I would like to at least try to communicate with these people or Goblins, whatever they are,” William said while standing straight, almost at attention as if his posture would help convey his serious determination.
Everyone ceased what they were doing and looked. They expected Mykal to erupt in anger because of William’s constant meddling annoyance.
“Go ahead,” Mykal replied after a brief pause. “Yeah, go ahead and give it a try. Do whatever you think and if you can get us outta here, I’ll apologize to you for butting heads with you over this.”
“Can I borrow a white t-shirt from anyone?” William called out to the room.
“Yes Sir, you can have mine Sir.” Marine Private Wickey jumped up from his M-60 and removed his shirt. Wickey sniffed the cotton to confirm it reeked of perspiration. He then put his BDU blouse on without an undergarment.
“Thank you Private Wickey,” William said confidently as if he was about to save the world. William tied the white cotton cloth to the end of his rifle barrel.
Most of the men were annoyed with William but dared not say anything to him due to his rank. Despite the ill feelings they felt toward him, all the men hoped William’s plan would work and thus be able to deliver them from the underground hell they were trapped in.
“What is William preparing to do?” Leeno asked with a quizzical expression.
“In our world, waving a white flag is a sign of surrender or a sign to the other side that we would like to have a truce,” Finley answered the confused Elves.
“This is strange,” Starling spoke softly.
“Does he expect the Goblins, those foul evil little creatures, to know this?” Nordad asked. His gruff tone implied William’s experiment to be foolhardy at best. “If we did not know of such a custom, how will such an evil brood, as the Goblins, know of such things?”
“That is a great point,” Finley sighed and looked to the ceiling. “Well, let’s see what happens. He finally got his wish. Let’s not take that from him. Would you agree, Sir?”
“Yeah,” Diaz half moaned and quickly stepped aside so he could pray quietly that William would be successful.
The three Elves, Nordad and his men quietly discussed the matter among themselves. They would rather die with honor in battle than to surrender and become a slave without honor.
“Could one of you open the door? Just slightly, so I can stick this white flag out.”
The three Marines guarding the door looked to Mykal for final approval. With a nod from Mykal they carefully opened the door so William could push his makeshift flag out for the Goblins to see it being waved.
The sound of the door being opened and shafts of light from Nordad’s staff caused a sudden stir of commotion in the corridor. The rushed disturbance rippled down the corridor and spread through the entire complex. Commanding orders were being yelled in the peculiar language of the Goblins.
William continued to wave the white flag blindly. He waited for the noise to settle then he would try to converse and negotiate a resolution to their grim situation. William looked smug in his assurance that his superior intelligence would secure their extrication from inside the belly of the mountain.
“Brains over brawn, and wisdom over might,” he said quietly to the Marines holding the door. “If I get them to understand me, they will be putty in my hands.”
“It’s getting quiet Sir,” Sergeant Freeman whispered with a shared excitement.
“Maybe they will listen,” Green Beret Sergeant Thompson smiled enthusiastically. He gave an encouraging thumbs up to William.
“Slowly open the door just a little more so I can stick my head out to talk to them,” William beamed with joyful nervousness. All eyes were on him. He desperately needed this victory to gain some respect with the younger men who clearly despised him.
A thunderous noise sounding like a teenagers drum practice suddenly shattered the moment of quiet. Dozens of crossbow bolts slammed into the wooden door. Two quarrels slipped in through the slight opening of the door. The first small arrow hit the stone wall and slid along the wall until it fell harmlessly to the floor. The second struck the hand guards of William’s GAU and nearly knocked the rifle from his grip. After ricocheting off the hard plastic it struck the wall and stopped.
“Shut the door! Shut the door!” William cried out frantically and jumped back away from the opening.
The Marines slammed the door hard and secured it quickly. All the faces in the room looked defeated. All displayed the expression that their last hope had been taken from them, except for Boris. Boris burst forth with a hearty laugh. If he wouldn’t have been sitting down he would have fallen over by his amusement from the fearful look William displayed.
“Nice going ‘Bullet Bob’. That sure as hell went well.”
“Stop it,” Mykal warned Boris and nodded for Jake to pull Boris aside. Mykal saw William tried to hide his embarrassment. He didn’t want Boris to make the situation any worse. “Blair, Starling and Leeno. Do you guys think any of the Goblins speak the common language?”
“I do not know how to answer,” Starling replied. “From our first attempts earlier, those standing at the door did not understand the common tongue. It would appear their entire existence has been inside this mountain. That would lead me to conclude they would not have had any contact with others outside of their race, thus there would never have been a need to know the common tongue.”
Leeno appeared to be deep in thought while Starling spoke. “It is possible there are some ancient languages we know small portions of that may be of help,” Leeno offered.
“Should we try to speak through the door after they assaulted William’s attempt?” Blair asked.
“So do you think my idea was a good one after all?” William asked.
“Not really William,” Mykal said and couldn’t keep the wry smile from his face. “I wanna try to get a feel for what they’re up to. I don’t think they’ll make any kind of deals with us and I wouldn’t trust them if they did anyways. If we could get some information, I think we would be able to scare them away.”
“How would that be of any help to us?” Agnor asked.
“Watch, you’ll see,” Mykal said. He had a plan forming. He turned to the Elves. “Can one of you try talking to them?”
“I will try,” Leeno said. All three Elves moved to the door. “Do you have a specific request?” Leeno asked Mykal.
“First, just see if you can get them to understand you.”
Leeno pulled his dagger from its sheath and with the handle of his weapon he rapped several times on the wooden door. He stopped and waited for a response. There was a muffled commotion and then silence.
Leeno used his dagger again and knocked harder. The noise on the other side sounded like increased confusion. Then silence. After a few moments of silence someone knocked on the door from the other side. Everyone in the room looked at each other in disbelief. They replied.
Leeno knocked again and surprisingly another knocking response returned. The Elf knocked three hard slow raps. Three hard slow thuds replied. Leeno gave three rapid hits, paused and gave three more rapid thumps. The same pattern had been repeated from the other side.
Leeno paused to see if the Goblins would initiate the odd communication. Finley and Nordad both waved their hands showing impatience for Leeno to continue. The Elf held up his slender ghostly white hand for them to stop.
A few moments passed then knocking came from the other side. There was no particular rhythm or cadence. Leeno quickly mimicked the same pattern which caused a roar of laughter to erupt from the other side of the entrance.
“Great job,” Diaz whispered and gave
Leeno thumbs up.
“Do you speak the common tongue?” Leeno spoke close to the door. “Do you understand my speech?”
Silence. A verbal response broke the silence. The Elves couldn’t understand the language being used.
“I am sorry, but I do not understand what you speak. Do you speak the common tongue known to all the peoples of the world?”
The verbal response sounded the same as before.
“Try our language,” Blair suggested.
“No, not our language,” Starling gasped and quickly interrupted. “They are hostile toward our race as many of the evil humanoids are. They will surely turn on us,” he added as if they were Jews preparing to communicate with Nazis.
“What would you suggest?” Blair asked.
“Try languages of the different races above ground. They may know some or parts of those languages. Focus on the races known to be neutral.”
Leeno pressed closed to the door and began to speak in a language that sounded like a garbled bunch of noises. Some of the men snickered when they heard the Elf speaking. The response did not help Leeno, so he tried another foreign language. It sounded like the Goblin on the other side of the door tried interchanging languages as well.
This went on for fifteen minutes when Leeno thought to try an ancient, long thought dead dialect. The other side let out a gruff laugh followed by many others laughing. The gruff laugh turned into a slightly different version of the language Leeno tried. Leeno nodded enthusiastically to let the others know they could understand each other a little.
“It appears they understand each other,” Starling whispered to Mykal and Diaz. “They can not communicate as well as I can communicate with you, but we have found common ground.”
“This is great,” William quietly clapped his hands together. “I knew communication would be the key.”
“I wouldn’t get your panties in a bunch just yet,” Boris scoffed. “We don’t know what they’re planning.”
William ignored Boris’s remarks. “Let me know if there is something I can help with. I have had extensive training in hostage negotiation. I know this is not a hostage situation, but I am well versed in negotiations, bargaining and parleys.”
“Hostage negotiation?” Mykal asked. A puzzled look covered his face. He wondered what William’s true background could be. So many strange things have been revealed about William that Mykal didn’t know who William really was.
“It’s a long story,” William said to Mykal in an attempt to prevent further questioning.
Leeno continued to converse with the group of Goblins on the other side of the door. The discussions were a slow process. They took turns to make sure their point came out as intended. The language they used wasn’t a common dialect for either party. All the men watched and listened intently. Though they couldn’t understand a word they tried to gauge the conversation by Leeno’s facial expression. Being an Elf he showed no emotion. The tone of voice didn’t help since the Goblins came across angry and hostile with every sound uttered.
Leeno stepped back from the door making it clear the exchange ceased for the time being.
“Well, what did they say?” William rubbed his hands together. “Are they going to allow us to leave?”
“They did not answer my questions. Instead, they asked me a series of questions. They ask why we invaded their home. ‘Home’ was clearly the word that had been used.”
“Tell them we’re here purely by accident,” William responded quickly. “Tell them we mean them no harm, and if they bring up what has happened so far, tell them we only defended ourselves. Explain all we desire is to depart the mountain.”
“Also tell them their people never gave us a chance to explain our situation,” Mykal lied. “They attacked us after we got drawn down here by that strange creature that killed some of our men.”
Leeno turned to the door and tried to explain the message that William and Mykal dictated. The message seemed slow and labored to translate for the Goblins to understand.
“They insist we inflicted great harm to their peaceful community,” Leeno said after turning from the door.
“Peaceful my ass,” Boris scoffed. “He sounds like a friggin politician from back home.
“They also asked me if they are expected to forgive and forget about the dead and wounded. Are they not to punish those at fault?”
“What does he intend to do?” Mykal asked. His voice verged on anger. “Can we work something out or not?”
“From what I can make sense of, they intend to punish us for our crimes. The one speaking said it will be much softer on us if we come out and do not fight. I think he means to say it would be easier if we just give up and allow them to kill us.”
“Tell him he can kiss my ass,” Boris said and caused several to laugh.
“Stop,” Diaz ordered the men to refrain from any remarks with his raised hand. “Let’s be careful how we respond. Let’s try not to anger him, but to keep the lines of communication open and maybe we will be able to change their minds.”
“Ask him if he’s in charge,” Mykal stepped in. “If he’s not in charge, tell him I wanna talk to the top dog. The person in charge,” he added before Leeno could ask him what he meant. “I don’t know if we should say this, or maybe we should say it in a better way, but I don’t wanna waste my time talking to the small-fry. The little pee-on,” he added for the benefit of the Elves. “I mean a lower rank person,” he added again at their confused looks.
“Mykal,” Leeno turned to him after speaking through the door. “He says that he is the one in charge. He demands that we come out and receive the penalty for our crimes as outlaw invaders. His attitude has changed. The one speaking says that if we come out our deaths will be quick and painless. If we refuse to come out,” Leeno paused, “our deaths will be slow and extremely painful.”
“Tell him he’s outta his friggin mind, if he thinks we’re gonna just give up,” Mykal said with a growing anger. “Tell that little bastard to back off or we’ll unleash such a terror and destruction on his people that it-- no, wait,” Mykal paused to rethink his words. “Just tell them not to push us. Not to pressure us,” Mykal added for clarification.
“Good. I was going to ask you to hold off on the big threats Myk,” Diaz said and smiled after letting out an exaggerated sigh. “I think we should play this out a little longer and see if maybe their attitudes will change with time.”
“I would have suggested easing up on the response, for the time being, as well,” Finley added.
“And you wanted to talk with these people,” Boris scoffed to William as if he was trying to antagonize him. “Maybe we can talk them into letting us go,” Boris mocked William’s intentions which made some of the others to laugh and giggle quietly.
“That’s enough Boris. Damn it, man,” Mykal snapped when he watched William walk away quietly. “I don’t wanna hear it. We have too much stuff going on. Just do me a favor and chill out on that shit until we’re outta this mess, okay?”
“Yeah. I’m sorry Myk,” Boris pouted. “I’m just clowning around to be funny. I didn’t really mean anything by it.” Boris turned to face William. “I’m sorry Captain Roberts. I was just trying to be funny to take my mind off this crazy situation we’re in,” Boris admitted in front of the group.
“Apology accepted,” William replied but glared at Boris with hatred.
“Sir, I think we should give them another taste of what we can do,” Staff Sergeant Moreno suggested. “If we wait until their entire army is here we might not be able to fight our way out of this trap we’re in.”
“They have already tasted our power,” Finley replied before Diaz answered. “I believe it would only aggravate our situation and make our release or escape that much more difficult. Don’t get me wrong,” Finley turned to Moreno. “I’m not at all afraid of having it out with the ugly little creatures, but I don’t think it would be prudent at this time.”
“I agree. We’ll wait,”
Diaz said loudly for everyone to hear and understand. “For the time being, we will just sit tight and wait. Try to get some rest and keep the guard duty going as if we were camped for night. For those on guard duty, don’t get too comfortable. Remember, the enemy is right outside the door and they may try to break through at any moment. Just be prepared.”
Mykal looked at William and saw William nod in agreement and shake his fist triumphantly as if he had made the suggestion. Mykal studied William and tried to figure out what his problem with William was. Obviously they were two completely different people, with two completely different backgrounds and two vastly different ideas on how to deal with the enemy. He looked at William, he felt bad for the man. William had been taken out of his comfort zone and thrown into such a bizarre situation. Mykal agreed this strange turn of events had to be especially hard on William.
‘But wait, he chose this and he refused to leave when he had the chance,’ Mykal thought while evaluating his feelings. Mykal realized his expressed anger was in response to William the person, but his source of anger was brought about by all the strange things that happened to them. The fact that William and Boris kept going after each other made it much more difficult for Mykal to deal with. ‘Back in the world, William was a pretty decent guy to me. I don’t hate him, I just hate the bullshit we’re caught up in,’ Mykal thought as an exercise to understand his emotions and thoughts.
“Is there anything you would have me say to the Goblins?” Leeno asked.
“For now Leeno, tell them we are going to think about what they said,” Diaz replied. He took a more diplomatic approach than how Mykal would have responded. “But tell them to think over what we explained. We were only defending ourselves and we are not here by our choice.”
Mykal gave thumbs up and nodded in agreement.
“Here’s an idea,” William said as a suggestion in order to win the approval of the men who so despised him. “We could tell them we’re friends of Mister Z, Mister Overlord,” William offered and paused to gauge their reaction. “I know Nordad suggested that we shouldn’t mention his name. We could say we’re on a mission for him.”