Forgotten Soldiers

by Joshua P. Simon

  As Nason left I watched my sister’s chest steadily rise and fall with the same unchanging rhythm as before.

  “I don’t know,” I answered under my breath.

  I spent ten years being in command where I was used to making decisions on the fly. Never did I hesitate. Yet, right then, I felt completely helpless.

  “I just wanted to come home,” I whispered. “I just wanted my life back.”

  The door to the suite opened and closed. Soon afterward, everyone drifted into Ava’s room. Zadok was up, joining Myra, Ira, and Dekar.

  “Well, that was a bunch of garbage, eh, Ty? Who in the name of the gods does he think he is trying to guilt you into helping these people after what they did to you and yours?” asked Ira.

  “I see you were eavesdropping again.”

  “Didn’t really have to, as loud as you were.”

  I sighed. “He means well.”

  “He makes a good point,” said Dekar.

  “What? Are you crazy too?” Ira said.

  “It’s true. Some of these people might have done us wrong, but until Ava’s recovered, we’re stuck here. If Tyrus heals some of them, it would go a long way toward building goodwill.”

  Ira spat. “Xank can have them all. We don’t need goodwill.”

  “I think we do,” said Myra. I looked up at her. “Unless you believe that the three of you can take on a whole town by yourselves.”

  “We faced worse odds,” said Ira, though his comment lacked conviction.

  I saw where this conversation was going.

  “It’s the right thing to do, Pa,” Zadok said. “If Ma was here, she’d want you to help.”

  I sighed again, much heavier than before. That did sound like Lasha. Zadok had mastered his mother’s unselfish nature.

  “Myra and I can help if you don’t want to,” he continued.

  “No. I still don’t want you to leave this room until I say so. I don’t trust anyone out there.” I paused, thinking. I eyed Myra and Zadok. Except for new clothes, they looked more worn than when I first met them. Given our situation, it made me wonder if I was doing them any good at all since returning home. “All right. I’ll go. Dekar, go grab Nason. Tell him I’ll be down in a minute.”

  * * *

  Apparently Dekar didn’t have to run far to catch Nason. He had taken his time getting downstairs. I’m not sure if it was because he didn’t look forward to telling the townspeople the answer I had given him or if he figured I’d change my mind.

  Regardless, I went to meet him in the hallway after giving instructions to everyone once more about Ava and what they should do if I didn’t come back.

  Ira told me none of them was in swaddling, and that I should leave before he put a boot in my mouth to shut me up. I expected a rebuttal from Dekar, but for once the two brothers were in agreement. Apparently, I was being overprotective of everyone, not just Ava.

  I took the hint and left. The quick hug I got from Zadok took a bit of the sting out of Myra’s cold goodbye.

  Nason led the way down the stairs. Another whiff of the lime on his clothes made me wonder if I should have taken the lead.

  He looked over his shoulder. “I figure we’d start by the feed store if that’s all right with you. Most of the families are there.”

  “Sure,” I said, not caring one way or the other.

  We took another flight of steps and low groans and garbled voices rose in volume. I heard Boaz’s wife, Dinah, holler over the lot of them.

  “Just be patient. I’m sure he’ll be down any moment,” she said.

  Nason reached the bottom of the stairs and paused. I eased down beside him.

  Townsfolk packed the inn’s common room. Some sat on the maroon chairs, while most lay sprawled out on the floor, struggling to find enough energy to keep living. Hollowed eyes framed by pale, damp skin turned my way. Mouths gaped with moaning pleas. Desperate parents barely able to support themselves stood and tried to drag their children toward me.

  “These are the worst. I guess they couldn’t wait,” said Nason.

  The scene left my throat dry. Flashes of the horrors I had looked upon too many times over the years in the infirmary hit me. Maybe it was because of the lack of sleep or the stress I’d undergone since returning to Denu Creek, but my nerves were shot. Though weak, those panicked faces struck fear into me in much the same way the first time I went toe-to-toe with a D’engiti had. My heart started racing.

  “Tyrus. Tyrus!”

  Nason looked me in the eyes. “It’s all right. We’ll calm them down.”

  I relaxed, berating myself for being so jumpy as Nason joined Boaz and his wife in organizing everyone in the common area.

  To my left, I noticed a young mother and father holding their two children in their laps. The young girl and boy looked near the same age Myra and Zadok had been when I left for the war. Both parents sobbed and whispered into their children’s ears. I saw that the effort to fight against the eruption’s symptoms had been brutal on their own physical well-beings, but as parents, they found the resolve to push through the pain in order to comfort their kids.

  My chest tightened, imagining me and Lasha in a similar situation while someone who could easily help just stood by doing nothing.

  Shame washed over me.

  Zadok had been right about his Ma. Lasha never would have turned someone away and she never would have allowed me to deny help to others. As I had already done. My stomach knotted as I remembered Nason saying a couple of people had already died.

  I walked over to the family and dropped to one knee. “May I help?”

  “Yes,” rasped the father.

  “Our children,” whispered the mother.

  I placed a hand on the shoulder of each child then asked the parents to grab my arms. They complied. Just as before, the change in their condition started immediately. Others waiting in the room saw this and anyone strong enough to put up a fuss did so.

  Nason came over quickly. “By Prax, we almost had them organized.”

  “Take off my clothes, will you? I don’t want to move.”

  “What? Why?”

  “Because the fewer clothes I have on, the more surface area people can touch.”

  His eyes widened. “Oh. But uh . . . I don’t know how to remove all that stuff you have on. I’ve never worn leather armor before.”

  “Boaz!” I called out over my shoulder.

  The innkeeper hurried over. “Yes?”

  “Go upstairs and tell Dekar to come down here right away.” He’d get me undressed quick enough and without all the dirty comments Ira would make.

  “Yes, of course.” He took off.

  The two children I touched began to stir, showing more promising signs of life. Tears streamed down the cheeks of the two parents as they thanked me.

  I worried about all those I wasn’t helping. “Nason!”

  “You don’t have to yell. I’m still here.”

  “Start bringing people over here. Drag them if you have to, but find a free spot on my body until Dekar gets down here. Pull off my boots or something.”

  “You got it.” He took a step.

  “Nason.”

  “Yes?”

  “Thanks.”

  “For what?”

  “For coming to get me.”

  He patted my shoulder. “Just doing what Lasha would have done.”

  * * *

  I was in the middle of Main Street when a hand touched my shoulder.

  I didn’t have to look to see who it belonged to. I smelled its owner.

  “Nason, when this is all over, I’m going to buy you a bar of soap.”

  He ignored my jibe, just like when we were kids. “Tyrus, you need to stop and eat.”

  I had left the inn not long ago after spending hours helping all that had made it there. I figured leaving would save people the trouble of coming to me.

  I shook my head in response to Nason, concentrating on the old woman before me. I didn’t really
know if concentration would do any good. I doubted I could increase my resistance just by thinking about it. It never seemed to make a noticeable difference before when I drew away sorcery. But I tried anyway.

  “Tyrus, you need some water at least. You’ve been at this all day.”

  They brought the old woman to me just a few minutes ago. I had worked on her grandson earlier and once he recovered enough, he took off in a sprint to retrieve her. I don’t know how he managed it, but he carried her all the way back to the center of town on his back. He collapsed from exhaustion in front of the feed store.

  The old woman’s gray hair had begun to fall out around her ears. Even her wrinkles had wrinkles. Most marveled that she hadn’t yet died when others much younger had.

  Her grandson wasn’t surprised at all. He said that his grandmother had always been a fighter. She had raised him after his parents died, and had outlived three husbands and four children. He was all she had left and it was obvious the reverse also held true.

  I pressed more firmly with my hands against her brittle skin, mumbling curses to Molak.

  “By the gods Tyrus! You aren’t going to do anyone any good dead.”

  My head bobbed.

  “Look at you, you can barely support yourself.”

  “Just give me some water.”

  I tilted my head back and opened my mouth as someone poured water down my throat. I hadn’t realized how thirsty I was until then. I started to cough. My dry throat wasn’t ready for the liquid.

  Why was I so worn out? It’s not like I was on a thirty mile march. I guess I had never combated sorcery for so long before. I wondered if the healers in the army felt this way when working on us. Especially when dealing with me.

  The grandson began to sob. He sniffed and wiped his nose on his sleeve. “I guess she didn’t have enough fight left in her after all.”

  My brows furrowed, confused for a moment until I realized what he was saying. The old woman’s chest had stopped moving and no air passed through her lips.

  Dead. I hadn’t noticed the change.

  I pulled my hands away and looked at them in disbelief. Others had died during the night before I had a chance to treat them, but this old woman who was the center of her grandson’s world, was the first to die after I had come into contact with them.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered.

  “It’s all right. I know you did your best.”

  Had I really?

  He continued. “You move on to someone else, Mister. Someone who still has a chance.”

  Panic hit me when I thought of those who still needed help. I couldn’t let anyone else die. Too many had died under my command and I couldn’t fail the people here like I did those in the army. I couldn’t fail Denu Creek like I had failed Lasha by not being here for her. I rose to my feet quickly and nearly passed out as the town spun. I shuffled several steps, not regaining my balance until a set of soft hands grabbed hold of me.

  “Take it easy,” came a voice I hadn’t expected to hear. “I have you.”

  My eyes stopped dancing, and I stood straighter, gaze drifting down to Damaris’s hands, one on my arm, the other on my bare chest. I had been trying to heal people for so long, I had forgotten that I was shirtless. With trousers rolled up to my knees, I wondered how foolish I must have looked.

  Damaris pulled her hands away, her cheeks going rosy.

  I cleared my throat. “Where’s Nason?”

  “He said he was going to get one of your friends to come talk some sense into you. He asked me to make sure you didn’t hurt yourself.”

  “Oh. Who’s next?” I asked.

  “No one here.”

  I gave her a puzzled look. The streets of Denu Creek were eerily void of people, a stark contrast to the morning when it seemed like beaten earth was the place to be for the dying and dead to reside.

  Gods, I guess I was more tired than I thought.

  “Where is everyone?”

  “Home. Most needed food, water, and sleep since they were in too much pain to do those things before you helped. Some also needed time to clean up since they were unable to move and accidently soiled themselves.”

  I turned back to the young man in the street who I left by his grandmother.

  Damaris’s father, Sivan, was at the boy’s side. I overheard the faint prayer he led to Xank, the God of Death. It seemed the only time people ever prayed to Xank was in the time immediately following the death of a loved one, hoping he might watch over their soul. A part of me wondered if people quit cursing him during their days and prayed to him instead, if he would stop taking so many lives.

  Such a thought seemed contradictory to my incessant cursing of Molak. I wondered if instead of devoting most of my swears to him, maybe I should give Ao her due.

  I let out a sigh.

  “What are you thinking about?” asked Damaris.

  “Since I don’t know your religious inclinations, I’ll keep that to myself.” I turned away from Sivan. “I guess I must have gone into a trance because it seemed like there were more people who needed my help.”

  “Well, there was. Jareb and several of his people weren’t as affected by the explosion as others. Or at least they recovered quickly on their own. They convinced quite a few people not to come to you. They blame you for what happened, saying everything in town was fine until you showed up. They keep talking about some curse on your family.”

  My hands balled into fists, remembering what Myra had said about such nonsense. “That’s ridiculous.”

  I cursed Molak. Then I cursed Ao. They took an old woman who meant everything in the world to her grandson, but let Jareb and his goons not only live, but barely suffer.

  “I know. They’ve holed themselves up in the Soiled Dove where the physician is looking after them.”

  “Is he well enough to even care for them?”

  “He was one of the first people you healed today. Apparently, he suspended his prejudice toward you just long enough to suit his needs.”

  “That’s usually how it works.” I shook my head. “I should have done more sooner. Jareb might not have been able to convince them that I was the problem if I had.”

  She stepped in front of me, grabbed my chin and pushed it up where I had been staring at my feet. Up close, our difference in height became more noticeable. The top of her head barely reached my chest.

  “You can’t dwell on that. You saved a lot of people today.”

  I grunted, suddenly uncomfortable with taking credit for what I had done. It felt insincere to become puffed up with something I should have done sooner and without convincing.

  “One thing has been bothering me all day though.”

  I inclined my head, curious by the shift in her tone.

  “You left last night before I had a chance to ask you why you helped me and my father. All we did was sell you clothes.”

  “You didn’t treat me or my children differently. After all Myra and Zadok had been through and everything I had experienced since leaving the army, that meant something to me.”

  “Well, thank you.” She smiled in a way that made me suddenly aware of how close we stood to each other. I took a step backward.

  Dizziness returned to me the second my foot found earth. Damaris reached out to steady me once more, but was a second too late.

  I fell. Hard.

  “Gods be cursed, Ty. What’s the matter with you?” Ira’s voice rang out as footsteps pounded the dirt.

  Rough hands reached under my armpits and yanked me to my feet where they held me firm.

  “Nason said you were pushing yourself, but I didn’t realize you were this bad off.” Ira flung one of my arms over his shoulder. “Let’s get you back upstairs.”

  “I’m fine,” I mumbled.

  “Yeah, I bet.” Ira leaned in and whispered as we walked away from the feed store. “Not many people can say they literally fell for a woman, Ty.” He snorted.

  “Gods, that was bad even for you.”
>
  “You’re just tired. After a few hours of sleep, you’ll wake up laughing.”

  “Not likely. Tell Dekar the line when we get upstairs and see what he thinks.”

  “What would be the point of that? The moment’s passed. Besides, you can’t judge the quality of a joke by his standards. The man barely smirked that time we got Caleb drunk and tricked him into wearing that old dress we found.”

  “Caleb? Man, that’s a name I haven’t heard in awhile.” I chuckled. “It was pretty funny though.” A sigh followed.

  “What was that for?”

  “Just thinking about Caleb now.”

  “Oh?”

  “He was a good soldier.” I felt a tickle in the back of my throat. “Then the fool had to go and save my life. Now, he’s dead like thousands of others. Just another name that only a few will ever remember.”

  Ira swore. “You sure killed my mood quick.”

  “Sorry. It’s just aggravating that so many like him won’t be remembered. Everything they did will be forgotten.”

  Ira spat. “I ain’t going to forget. I doubt you will. And you know good and well Dek won’t. That man remembers what we had for breakfast twenty years ago to the day. I’m not sure what happened to Hamath or what’s going to happen to your sister, but I reckon they aren’t the kind of people to forget a man like Caleb either. I guess it’s up to us to make sure others hear about their deeds so they live on. Right?”

  I nodded. “That’s some deep stuff coming from you.”

  He laughed. “Dek’s been my brother for almost thirty years. The man’s bound to have an influence on me after that much time.”

  We reached the porch in front of the inn and our boots hit the wooden planks with a thud that reminded me of my Pa fixing boards on our barn when I was a kid.

  I froze as a thought struck me. I threw Ira off and turned back toward Nason who was talking to Sivan and Damaris in the middle of the street. My footfalls came quickly thanks to a sudden burst of energy.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Ira, coming up behind me.