“I did,” she lied simply.
Myra frowned, expecting more.
Ava didn’t give it to her.
Let her dangle to feed her curiosity.
The two scouts stopped a few feet away, breathing heavy and dripping in sweat. The smell of that sweat wafted into Ava’s nose with a shift on the light breeze.
“Better get some tarc root to rub on your clothes before you go back out,” she said. “Otherwise your scent might give you away.”
Hunched over, Eder, the younger of the two, a teenager they had picked up from Uman, raised an arm and took a whiff while lifting his head. He crinkled his nose as he started to speak. “We got problems.”
“What kind of problems?”
“Another army.”
“Two, we think,” said the older scout, a random traveler they had picked up recently named Massa.
“You think two? That’s a crappy scouting report. Explain.”
Eder straightened, holding his side. “A couple miles up the road there was a camp of Malduks. About a third the size of the ones that Sivan had spotted.”
“A hundred or so strong?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“And you were sure they were Malduks?”
“They matched the descriptions you gave.”
She nodded. That was good enough for her.
“They were starting to break camp and leave, but then another army came in from the west. At least twice the size as the Malduks, but they were different. I hadn’t seen people dressed like that before.”
“They were Geneshans,” said Massa, finally catching his breath.
She narrowed her eyes. “You’re sure? From a distance, they don’t look too different than we do.”
“I’m positive.”
“You served?” she asked, trying to get a feel for how he could be so sure.
“No. But before the war I had gone into the Geneshan Empire a couple times to do some trading. I recognize the ugly symbols of Beel on their clothes and armor . Trust me, they were Geneshans.”
Crap.
“Then what?” Ava urged.
“Well, I thought they might fight or something,” said Eder. “But some people, I guess they were officers, stepped out and greeted each other. Then they seemed to combine their forces.”
She swore. Dozens of questions ran through her mind.
What are the Geneshans doing here? And why two Malduk armies this far south? Surely they know about the artifact better than most. Are they just hoping to seize on an opportunity to gain power like so many others?
Later Ava. Safety and survival first.
“Which way is the army heading?” she asked.
“North, just west of us.”
Why north? The land is worse the closer you get to the artifact. Another question for later.
“So we can stay on our current course?” she asked.
“Probably.”
Probably isn’t good enough.
“We’ll turn more southeast just in case,” she said. “We don’t want any of their scouts to spot us.”
“Isn’t that going to put us farther from our goal?” asked Massa.
“It is.”
She waited for an argument, but it seemed everyone understood.
“You want us back out there, I’m guessing?” asked Eder.
“Yeah. But I’ll need you to split up. I’d risk sending more scouts, but you two are the best I got and the last thing I want to do is have us spread so thin we can’t watch over each other properly and I lose track of someone. Massa, you follow our back trail and make sure that army doesn’t shift course. Eder stay ahead of us and keep a lookout. Both of you check in regularly.”
The boy sighed, and started to turn.
“Wait. Don’t kill yourself. Go see Dinah first. Tell her to get you some fresh water skins and that tarc root I mentioned. Take some jerky with you to eat as well.”
They both nodded and left.
Nason sighed. “Time to move out?”
“Time to move out,” she said.
Nason hadn’t moved. Though he hated to lead, he hated just as much to not contribute. The sooner he was given a task, the better and more relaxed he seemed.
“You want to get everyone ready?” she asked.
“Sure.” He gestured to his kids. “C’mon. Let’s go see where we can help.”
“I’ll help too,” said Zadok, giving Ava another wink before leaving her alone with Myra.
Myra tilted her head. “You never said what you wanted to see me for.”
“What are your thoughts on our situation?”
“It’s pretty crappy.”
Ava waited, but nothing more came. “That’s good. You haven’t lost your honesty. Though I could use a bit more explanation next time I ask for an opinion.”
She shrugged.
“Good grief, Myra. Since the outpost, you’ve barely spoken. You’re more closed off than you were when I first returned to Denu Creek.” She paused. “The problem then was because you were mad at Tyrus.”
“Well, I’m not mad at him anymore.”
“No kidding. The problem now is that you’re mad at yourself.”
“Maybe,” Myra snapped.
“Well, get over it.”
She blinked. “Because of me, people died gruesome deaths. And you want me to just get over it?”
“Yeah! They died because of mine and Sivan’s decisions. It was our responsibility. We gave the orders. I’m not happy with how things worked out either, but stuff happens. You have to get over it, or at least do a better job of dealing with it because life goes on.” She gestured. “Some died, but more lived. You letting the negative affect you so much isn’t doing those survivors any favors.”
“So now you’re laying guilt on me?”
Frustrated, Ava closed her hands into fists. She desperately wanted to hit something.
Think. How do I reach her?
Despite how poorly the conversation was going, Myra hadn’t walked off yet which gave Ava hope.
“Tyrus suffered through his share of setbacks as commander, you know,” Ava said.
“And?”
The attitude remained, but she didn’t care.
She loves him, respects him, and wants to be like him. Just go with it.
“His first mission as commander was a disaster.” She recalled the situation. “It was right after our first real battle. Tyrus showed a lot of promise early on and was given his own squad to lead. We weren’t considered one of Balak’s elite units yet. Gods, that’s when Balak was still a captain. Still, your father had twelve soldiers under his direct command, including me.”
Ava glanced at Nason helping others get their things together. They really ought to be back on the road. However, she needed to take advantage of the conversation with Myra.
She continued. “Our orders were simple. Each unit was to sneak behind enemy lines and destroy a supply cache previous intelligence had targeted. Tyrus came up with this great plan, much better than what Balak suggested and we reached our goal sooner than any other squad. To top things off, the wagons weren’t even guarded. Looked like a sure thing. We made our move, me covering for the others as they snuck in close. We didn’t want to destroy the grain in a traditional sense, but instead were looking to poison it.”
Myra frowned. “Isn’t that against the code of war?”
Ava snorted. “The Geneshans broke those codes long before they got into it with Turine. It was partly why they won their earlier campaigns. No one else had the guts to do the same. But we did. We could be just as dirty, if needed.” I guess some of those stories about us were true after all. “Anyway, the squad was in position, ready to make their move, when one of the flaps of the wagons opened, and a D’engiti emerged. You’ve he
ard of those, right?”
“Pa said they’re massive soldiers the Geneshan sorcerers created out of their own men.”
“Yeah. You want to talk about breaking rules of war. They’re unbelievably hard to kill. And all three wagons contained several.”
Her eyes widened. “It was a trap.”
Ava shook her head. “No. It was obvious that we surprised them. The problem is that they surprised us just as much. There was no trap. Remember, this was the early part of the war. Our intelligence system was not nearly what it turned into later. We had bad information and our plan went to crap in seconds.”
“What happened?”
“We got out of there as fast as we could. Nothing else we could do. Less than half our squad made it back alive though.”
“Wow. Did Pa get in trouble?”
“No. Balak was angry at how the mission went, but he didn’t place blame on Tyrus. He knew it was a miracle that the four of us who survived, did.”
“And you’re saying it was a miracle we survived the outpost too.”
She shrugged. “We did the best we could with a bad situation. You can’t plan for everything. You just do your best to try to.”
Myra bit her lip. “So I guess Pa did a better job at handling his losses than how I’m handling ours.”
“But that doesn’t mean you’re inferior to him. He was older. And frankly he didn’t have a chance to think about it too long because the very next day, Balak filled his squad back out and sent us on another mission. Your Pa got better at catching surprises though, and we grew tight as a unit. It wasn’t long before we were the standard that others were measured against. It went to our heads for a while, but there’d always be something—a setback, or the death of a squad mate, that would jolt us back into reality. Sometimes it would just be even a comment, a reminder of that first mission or something similar that would set it off. Tyrus never really gets over what he deems a failure, even if others don’t see it that way. He just learns how to cope, and uses the lessons learned as best as he can for next time.
“It’s all right to be mad and upset. I’d worry if you weren’t. Those feelings help you from thinking about the people under you like they’re game pieces in crests. It helps you think twice before making a careless decision. So be mad at how things turned out, but don’t let it consume you.”
Myra tilted her head. “Watching Pa, then Sivan, then you. I don’t think I ever want to be in charge.”
Ava started to chuckle.
“You’re laughing at me?”
“No. I’m laughing because every one of us felt the same. Yet, we all ended up leading anyway.”
She whispered. “Are you saying the same is going to happen to me?”
“Gods, if I know. I hope not, but if it does, I hope it’s not for a long time.”
“Me neither, because that would mean something would have had to happen to you first.”
That struck Ava cold.
“Yeah, we definitely don’t want that.”
CHAPTER 11
I woke in a cold sweat while the remnants of past memories worked their way out of my consciousness. So many faces haunted my dreams. Some were burning, others dirty and bleeding. All of them were men I had lost under my command. From Balak on down, many said it was a miracle I hadn’t lost more, if not the whole squad. I guess I was supposed to take solace in that.
I squeezed my hands tightly into fists to ward off the shaking as I tried to relax and still my beating heart.
The only positive to my dreams was that they reaffirmed my decision to defy Balak. If Balak had once been right and that without me the losses would have been greater, then I needed to be with my unit.
I put up quite a show for Balak as he handed Hamath the destruction globe. I tried reasoning, cursing, and even begging in the hopes he might change his mind. If I had given up without a fight, he’d likely suspect I was up to something. As expected, the general didn’t relent.
And he still had a man follow me after I left his tent. Apparently my performance was too good, and he didn’t think I’d stick to his orders. He was right. And though the man following me had been one of the better members of Balak’s personal guard, he was not good enough to stop me.
I didn’t injure him. I couldn’t do that unless I wanted to get in even worse trouble when I saw Balak after the mission. However, I did tie and gag him behind a tree on the edge of camp. The fiasco cost me precious time I needed to catch up.
However, I worked fast. I found my replacement, convinced him that everything he saw was a deception by Balak to confuse any enemy watching our camp, and his real orders actually included me sneaking off.
He bought it.
I heeled it out of camp with a full pack. It took a little over two hours to catch up with my unit. They were pretty happy to see me.
Hamath, not so much.
“Who do you think you are?” he hissed.
Thankfully the man had the decency to pull me aside to question me. I didn’t want to have it out with him for all to hear.
“Same man I’ve always been.”
“You weren’t known for openly defying orders before, Tyrus. Twisting and manipulating them, yes. But Balak was clear. No wiggle room.”
“I need to be here. This is the first mission. A lot depends on it.”
“And you didn’t think I could handle leading it?”
I blinked in surprise. “I never said that.”
“You don’t have to say anything. Your actions make the point well enough.”
“What? I have no idea what you’re even talking about.”
He shook his head in disbelief which made me question my own sanity. Was I really the one at fault in this?
I started to open my mouth, but he cut me off.
“I want to explain, but I just can’t find the words.” He made a frustrated noise in the back of his throat. “We’ve got more important things to worry about right now. You’re here. Let’s just get on with the mission.”
He walked away, as if resigned to the situation. I was happy that he gave up arguing so quickly, but the inability for us to speak as easily as we once had put a damper on it.
CHAPTER 12
Our two squads congregated at the top of a small ridge that looked over a low forest. Before the eruptions, we wouldn’t have had a clear line of sight to the Geneshan camp. But the eruptions removed such bothersome things as leaves, some branches, and even several trees that might have once blocked our view.
Hamath and I were at the ridge’s edge on our stomachs looking through the few trees that had survived to get a better view of our target. Ira and Dekar kept people ready while Reuma patrolled an area farther out to make sure we wouldn’t get ambushed.
For a moment, I found myself agreeing with Hamath’s previous sentiment. Despite what was to come, once more in the thick of things, everything felt right.
Then I looked over my shoulder for Ava, and she wasn’t there. She was miles away with Myra and Zadok.
Without my family, things would never be right.
Unlike Hamath, it wasn’t the violence or conflict I longed for, it was just being around men and women I respected and trusted. If I had my druthers, I’d rather try to achieve a similar feeling over a game of cards than by risking my life.
The grin on Hamath’s face made it obvious we didn’t share similar views.
“What are you grinning about?” I asked. “That’s a lot more than three hundred.”
“I know.”
“Cavalry too. At least a hundred. Molak knows how they’re caring for that many horses.”
“We could ask them.”
“That’s not funny.”
“Just trying to lighten your sour mood. Figured you’d be happy by what you’re seeing. Basically proves your point that they were u
p to something more. It looks like they’ve settled in which means they’re probably expecting their numbers to keep growing. If we succeed, it will hurt their plans pretty badly.”
“Yeah, But it’s not about being right.” It was about keeping soldiers alive. “I’m glad Balak said the globe is twice as strong as the ones we’ve used before.”
Hamath looked my way. “How’d he come by it anyway?”
I shrugged a lie. “Leftover from the Geneshan War, maybe.”
“Then how do we know it’ll work? Wouldn’t the sorcery be null?”
“He promised me it wouldn’t fail.”
“And you trust him?”
“On this, yeah.”
Hamath sighed. “All right.” He pointed. “So we hit them at their center for maximum damage, right?”
“That would be the obvious plan.”
I tried to keep the bite out of my voice, but our last conversation was still fresh in my mind. If Hamath noticed my lingering frustration with him, he didn’t show it.
“It’ll be hard to reach them there given the setup of their camp. We’ll need to wait until night-fall and sneak in.”
A painful memory from a recent nightmare struck me. “I have a better idea. We make a new center.”
“What do you mean?”
I pointed to the horses. “I mean we set off the globe just inside their camp past the animals. We encourage the army to come to where we plant the globe by creating a commotion with their horses to make them think they’re under attack by a larger force. When we get their attention, we take as many mounts with us as we can manage and cut the rest loose.” I pointed. “Ideally, we should set the globe where that rock formation is. It will send enough heavy debris into the air that the blast itself won’t be all that kills people.”
“Hmm. I like it.”
“Good.” I held out my hand. “Give me the globe and get your men ready to secure the mounts while mine go in.”
Hamath gave me a look. “No.”
“What?”
“I said no. You defied Balak and came in here taking over the command he gave me. You’re not taking the globe too.”
“Hamath this is not about me or you, it’s—”
Resurrected Soldiers: The Tyrus Chronicle - Book Three Page 14