Resurrected Soldiers: The Tyrus Chronicle - Book Three

by Simon, Joshua P.

  She spotted him at the river’s bank alone with Nason’s children. While the adults had caught their quick glimpse of freedom and immediately set to work to see it realized, Zadok had led the younger children closer to their potential salvation for a closer look.

  He waved her over frantically. “Aunt Ava!”

  She swore. That doesn’t look good.

  She carefully walked down the embankment to Zadok. As she descended, Zadok helped Nason’s children back up the long, sloping earth to meet her.

  She paused in her descent, frowning as Zadok met her. “What is it?” she asked.

  “Have you looked at the river?”

  She frowned. “Kinda hard to miss.”

  “I don’t mean have you seen it. I mean, have you looked at it? Closely.”

  “Quit being cryptic, Zadok. What’s wrong?”

  “It’s going the wrong way.”

  “What?”

  “It’s going the wrong way.” His mouth twisted. “We’re not going to be able to use it.”

  She gave the river a closer look. Not caught up in the immediate relief and exaltation of its discovery, she saw what Zadok had.

  “Ao-be-damned,” she muttered. “The blasted thing is flowing in the wrong direction. It actually reversed course to flow uphill.”

  Amazement left her quickly as anger took its place. Anger came for two reasons. One, because she had been so caught up in the moment, that like everyone else she had missed something so blatantly obvious. Two, because their luck had taken another detour to hell, and the solution she had been hoping for to make it to the Southern Kingdoms was no longer available.

  “Yeah,” said Zadok sullenly.

  It was one of the few times she had heard defeat in his voice. She remembered Myra warning her about Zadok hiding his worries from others.

  Reality wears everyone down after a while. And he’s still just a boy.

  “How is that even possible?” he asked, watching the river defy logic.

  “The blasted artifact is the only explanation.”

  “What do we do now?”

  She sighed. “I have to tell everyone to quit wasting their efforts on the rafts. Then we figure out a new course.”

  “Are we going to follow the river on foot?”

  “We might for a while. But I’m hesitant to do it for long. More Malduks or Geneshans might be coming up north and using the river as a guide. The last thing I want to do is run into them. Guess I better go break the news to everyone. You coming?”

  Zadok stared at the fast moving water. “I kind of just want to watch the river for a little longer first.”

  She patted his shoulder and trudged back uphill.

  Myra was the first to meet her as the land leveled out. Her niece had spent much of the last day with Chadar and Galya learning more about the Southern Kingdoms.

  Ava could see how important the two were to Myra, giving her connections to her heritage she no longer had with Lasha dead.

  “Something wrong?” Myra asked.

  “Of course. We’re awake.”

  “What—”

  “Just get everyone together. I don’t want to repeat myself.”

  She and Myra made their rounds, stopping people in their tasks. The rejuvenation in their spirts made her wince. Though the river wasn’t her fault, she still felt guilty for the impending disappointment. She had led them to it.

  She glanced around, making sure all were there. “Where’s Massa?”

  “He hasn’t check in yet,” said Myra. “Should we wait?”

  Ava shook her head.

  No sense in prolonging the inevitable.

  She stared at the expectant faces. Their earlier glee began evaporating.

  They’ve dealt with me enough to know this can’t be good.

  “We can’t use the river. It seems the artifact has done us in again. It’s flowing the wrong way.”

  Everyone looked to the river. She expected several shouts of “What?” or “That’s impossible,” but no one said anything. Apparently, they had all learned that nothing was impossible anymore.

  “So now what do we do?” asked Nason.

  Ava restated what she told Zadok. “We’ll wait until Massa returns, then set back out while we still have a few hours of daylight left. I’d suggest everyone rest and grab something to eat while you can.”

  Grumbling, curses, and a few tears of frustration and sadness followed as everyone shuffled away toward their things with heads down in defeat.

  “What else can go wrong?” she heard someone complain.

  Prophetically, a sharp pain struck her shoulder, knocking her back a step. She looked over at the shaft sticking out near her left shoulder joint.

  Immediately, she began working a spell while opening her mouth to shout a warning. However, the spell refused to form and the words she wanted to speak came out as an incoherent mumble. She dropped to her knees, dizzy and lightheaded. Panicked sounds were on the edge of her consciousness. Her vision blurred and blinded her to what was happening around her.

  She fell to the side and slammed her other shoulder on the ground. She never stopped trying to work that spell, but soon darkness took her.

  CHAPTER 29

  Over my shoulder, in the early morning light, five dead men swung from trees.

  I wasn’t surprised, but still my anger burned.

  I had given specific instructions to all officers that none of the women and children were to be harmed in anyway, and that anyone defying my orders would receive swift punishment equal to their crime.

  I guess the low-life idiots who raped or attempted to rape five women among our newest additions didn’t understand just how serious their crimes were.

  Ugly as it was, I was not unfamiliar with some soldiers doing similar things in times past. In the Geneshan War, I’d try to stop, or be on the lookout for them as best as I could. However, I didn’t have final say on how to handle the punishment of such abuse then. But in my new role, my judgment was swift and absolute.

  Hamath walked up beside me and grunted. It caused me to turn away from the hanging men and face again what Hamath now marveled at.

  A sixth man had died during the night as well. His punishment was anything but swift, though it redefined the term absolute.

  The dead soldier was naked and castrated. At some point, he had been beaten until the blows, shock, and blood loss had killed him.

  “I knew Ira had a mean streak, but by the gods, I never thought him so sadistic,” Hamath said.

  “Can you blame him?” I asked. “That man tried to rape a child last night. A girl of seven.”

  Some say the gods work in strange ways. Others say luck has a strange way of showing up. Whether it was luck or the gods, I was thankful that something had woken Ira during the night so that he came upon the girl before the scum had carried out his intentions.

  Hamath sighed. “Balak isn’t happy, you know. He sent me over here to tell you that he wants to see you right away. He thinks you killing five men was excessive.”

  “I don’t care what he thinks. He passed the people off to me. This is my call, not his.”

  “He won’t like that.”

  “Don’t really care. I’ll deal with him.”

  “He uh . . . he also wants to know how you plan on punishing Ira.”

  I turned my head slowly at Hamath. “You’re joking?”

  He frowned. “You know I’m not. Look, I’m not saying I agree with Balak, but see things from his perspective. We’re already hurting for numbers. Then you kill five men for something that happens all the time in war. And on top of that, Ira kills not only a soldier, but a blasted Lieutenant. As sad as it sounds, he doesn’t care about those lives when weighed against a soldier’s. The six men dead could have helped him. These women and the child
won’t.”

  “Piss on Balak,” I said. “And piss on his plans.”

  I turned away and started walking.

  “You going to tell him that?” asked Hamath.

  “Maybe, later,” I said over my shoulder.

  “But he wants to see you now.”

  “He can wait. I’ve got more important things to do first.”

  * * *

  I found Reuma pacing back and forth near the edge of camp. She stared at Ira who sat on a recently felled tree. His shoulders were hunched forward with his back to her. Dekar sat next to his brother, arm around him in comfort. I’m not sure I had ever seen that image before.

  I stopped by Reuma. “Everything all right?”

  She looked frazzled. “I don’t know. He won’t talk to me.”

  That took me off guard. They had grown so close, I didn’t think there was anything kept between them. “Really?”

  “He said it was hard to talk to me about it.” She opened and closed her fist. “Xank, what does that mean?”

  “I don’t know.” I gestured to the two brothers. “He’s talking to Dekar?”

  “Yeah. They’ve been over there for a while. He said he wanted to see you too.”

  Admitting as much seemed to only make her angrier. I could understand that. She wanted to be the one to comfort Ira, not us.

  I reached out and touched her arm. “Give him time. He isn’t trying to hurt you on purpose.”

  She relaxed some. “I know. I just . . . I want to help.”

  “You will. He’ll come to you when he’s ready. And the help you give him will be far more than what me or Dekar can give.”

  She bobbed her head in understanding and gestured me on to see Ira.

  Dekar glanced over his shoulder, then patted his brother’s back before removing his arm. Ira didn’t move.

  I came around the front. Ira sat with elbows on knees, hands clasped in front. Blood was all over his hands, arms, and the rest of his clothes. He seemed oblivious to it.

  “You going to be all right?” I asked.

  “Dek, why don’t you go see how Talya is doing?” Ira asked, ignoring my question.

  I realized Talya was the name of the young girl he saved.

  Dekar whispered. “Reuma just checked on her a few minutes ago, Ira.”

  “I know. But go check on her again. For me.”

  Dekar’s eyes went from Ira to me, then back to Ira. He sighed. “All right.”

  He stood, leaned down, then whispered something in his brother’s ear. He then kissed Ira on the cheek. “I’m here.”

  Ira reached up and patted Dekar’s arm. “I know.”

  Dekar let his hand slide from Ira’s shoulder, then walked away.

  The exchange took me a moment to process. Ira and Dekar were both some of the toughest men I had ever known. Though I knew they cared for each other, I can’t recall in the ten years I had known them to ever show such a heartfelt exchange of affection. I had to fight back an itch in my eyes as I thought of Ava.

  Ira broke the silence. “You can sit, Ty.”

  I did and reworded my question from earlier. “You going to make it?”

  “Yeah. Just shaken up a bit. Lots of old memories coming up I try not to think about.” He swore heavily. “Some people have nightmares about the war, about old battles, and friends dying. I haven’t had many of those yet. Memories of my childhood are what haunt my dreams.”

  I said nothing. I had a feeling Ira was trying to work out what he wanted to tell me.

  He continued after a moment. “We talked not that long ago about why I love kids so much. Remember?”

  “Yeah.”

  “All I said was that I wanted them to have the childhood I never got and then left the rest of the story alone.”

  “I remember. I also remember how talking about that bothered you. I’m here for you too, Ira, but you don’t have to tell me if you aren’t comfortable doing so.”

  He shook his head. “Outside of Dek, you’re about the best friend I ever had. Besides, I’m sure you’d want to know what possesses a man to do what I did to the lieutenant.”

  “As a father, I understand completely what you did to him.”

  He bobbed his head.

  There was a long pause. I waited patiently. I had countless things to do. In fact, I had wanted to be on the road marching already, but for Ira, I waited and would keep on waiting until he no longer needed me to.

  “I had an uncle that lived in Tamra not far from the house I grew up in. My pa’s brother. A good man by everyone’s account. He had a wide, warm smile of crooked teeth that I don’t think ever left his face. In fact, many people just called him Smiley instead of his real name, which for the life of me I can’t remember.” He clenched and opened his fists. “Uncle Smiley never refused a person who asked for his help. Never denied a hungry traveler a place to stay or a bed to sleep in. I even watched him literally give someone the shirt off his back once. Point is no one ever had a bad thing to say about him. But then again, that’s maybe what made it so easy for him to do what he did.

  “I was six. He asked if I wanted to spend the night at his place so just me and him could go fishing the next day. Just the two of us. Of course I said yes. Why wouldn’t I? Man, I remember rubbing that in Dek’s face the entire day before. Gods, he was pissed.” He shook his head with a bitter smile. “We didn’t go fishing, Ty. Spent the whole gods-be-damned morning in his bed.”

  He paused long. I reached and put a hand on his shoulder.

  “When I got home, my Ma knew right away something was off. She asked what was wrong and I started crying. Old Uncle Smiley was with me though. He flashed that grin of his and said I was just upset that the big one got away from me. He also said he was going to pick me up the next day. That me and him would keep at it until we got that big one hooked.

  “The next morning I tried to pretend being sick, but Uncle Smiley convinced my parents I just was still upset, and the fresh air would do me good.” He cleared his throat. “He came and got me almost every day for a month. We ain’t never went fishing.”

  Gods.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Me too, Ty. Me too. I know what you’re thinking, why didn’t I tell anyone, right? I wanted to. I really did. But Uncle Smiley told me he’d hurt Ma and Pa if I did. I was too young to realize that Pa could have whopped him from one side of town to another. I still almost got up the nerve once when Pa asked me why I was limping around after a particularly rough visit. But when I started to say something, Ma interrupted me and by the time Pa got back to me I had lost my nerve.”

  He snorted. “But Dek knew something was wrong. At seven, he could already see things that others couldn’t. I think he always knew really, but it was that night after Ma interrupted me that he pressed me into telling him the truth.

  “To this day, I’ve never seen him so angry. Anyway, I cried myself to sleep then with Dek at my side the entire time. It was the first decent night’s sleep I had since it had all started with my uncle. I woke the next morning just as Dekar snuck back into our window. He was completely naked and wet. That worried me. I asked if Uncle Smiley had gotten to him. He shook his head and said, ‘You won’t have to worry about Uncle Smiley anymore, Ira. Ever. But let’s just keep this all between you and me, all right?’

  “To this day Dekar never told me what he did that night. And I never asked. Not sure I want to know. But Uncle Smiley was never seen or heard from again.”

  “Whoa,” I said, blowing out a slow breath.

  “Yeah. It was after that Dekar began watching over every little thing I did. He never said as much to me, but I think in some ways he blamed himself for what happened. Like at seven he should have known and protected me, which is ridiculous. Regardless, he didn’t want to see me get hurt again.”

  “I can
understand that.”

  Ira sighed. The back of his hand wiped at his eyes. “So now you know why I did what I did last night and why I’ll do it all over again without hesitation if I ever catch someone trying to do that to a child.”

  “Again, I’m sorry. No one should ever have to go through that.”

  “No, they shouldn’t.” He looked up. “Balak said anything about what I did yet?”

  “No,” I lied.

  “But he will, won’t he?”

  “Don’t worry about Balak. I’ll handle it,” I said. I failed to mention that I was already ignoring Balak’s orders to see him about the matter.

  He wiped his eyes again.

  I glanced over my shoulder where Reuma still paced. She worried the nail on her right index finger.

  “You love her?” I asked.

  “Huh?”

  “Do you love Reuma?”

  He gave me a confused look. “I think so.”

  “Then you need to talk to her about this.”

  “Ty, you’re the first person other than Dek I’ve ever told. Now, you want me to tell her?”

  “Yes. She’s over there sick to her stomach worried about you. She obviously loves you whether she’s said as much or not. You need to talk to her. Wouldn’t you want her to do the same?”

  He sighed. “Prax’s balls, Ty. It’s hard to disagree when you put it like that.”

  “That’s the point.” I stood.

  He stood too. “I knew you were going to say that.”

  We exchanged a firm embrace. “I’ll come by later before we head out, all right?”

  He nodded, and I walked toward Reuma.

  She stopped her pacing and gave me a hopeful look.

  “He wants to talk to you.”

  “About?”

  I thought of everything he had told me, and all the pain I had felt for him grew tight in my gut. “That’s his story to tell. Not mine.”

  She hurried to Ira.

  Etan walked toward me as I re-entered camp. He wore a stern look that said he wasn’t very pleased with coming to find me.

  “Balak wants—”