***
It takes us several hours to reach the remote village, nestled on a tiny plateau along a steep, brown mountain slope. We park a long way out and make our slow hike. Night drops and we move the last hundred meters in total darkness, using our NOGS—night vision goggles. Billions of bright stars shine down on us. It’s breathtaking.
We move with stealth, in silence, wearing our black gear.
We approach the first square building, looming out of the darkness, two stories high. The few houses and buildings are simple, earth structures, put together with scraps of all kinds—wood, metal, tarps. Some have straw roofs. It’s a poor settlement.
We stop near what doesn’t look like a residence. Riley motions for me to start with this one.
I can do this, no matter what Tor thinks.
Once I begin, the element of surprise will be gone. We station ourselves behind a low, shed-like, ruined structure.
I lean around the corner and study the scene. No one is outside, curtains and shutters are closed. A few goats are bleating. It’s around 2200 and everyone’s inside, sleeping.
I don’t know if my fire will burn these buildings, mostly made of earth. But perhaps the homemade bricks are filled with straw, which may help.
Filling myself with Pele’s power, I draw up the earth’s core and shoot a powerful stream of burning laser fire right at the largest building.
The old, wooden door is blasted in and flashes in a blaze. The surrounding scrub, grass, and debris are ablaze. Flame is quickly licking up the dry walls. My force was strong enough to cause a bit of an explosion.
I don’t have time to linger. Riley pushes me to building after building, leaving Tor behind. Before the village can react, I’ve lit the entire town.
Men, women, and children are stumbling out, screaming, shouting, crying, dazed. Our twenty-man unit picks them off with gunfire, one by one. Tor may have his doubts, but he’s a good soldier and does his duty.
We’re both in this together, now, I realize with satisfaction.
It doesn’t seem like any of them are shooting back at us.
Are there any enemy soldiers here? I don’t have a chance to look at them closely. In the chaos, the villagers are screaming and running as they are shot down.
Riley and I move through the pandemonium, our unit following, covering us, as I burn everything in my path—gardens, sheds, anything that will burn. The giddiness fills me, making me laugh out loud: I can’t help it. But something doesn’t seem right. There’s something about the way my power is hiding some truth from me. Am I going a crazy with all this energy? A flush of heat scatters my thoughts away.
We round a corner and I stop. A small girl, maybe five years old, is leading an old, blind woman. They’ve just left a hut and are shuffling across the street, wrapped in faded cloths, their hair free. They are right in front of us, not ten feet away.
The little girl sees us, her big brown eyes wide with terror, and she freezes. The old lady speaks a foreign babble, gesturing back to the tiny hut. There’s a faint crying of a baby, coming from the ramshackle home.
“I’ll take care of them, you fire at the hut.” Riley takes aim and shoots, the bullets riddling and punching their frail bodies, so that they both jerk and fall back onto the dirt road. Blood pools beneath them, tiny gleaming rivulets in the dust. “Fire on the hut—that’s an order, Private Warfield!”
I waver.
Conversations with Tor about what we’re doing here places doubts in my mind. Am I doing the right thing? Those people …
My soldier training clicks, however. My arms seem to raise of their own accord. The fire that comes out is small and puny, but enough of a spark hits the dry, grass roof and the hut is soon crackling and burning, drowning out the baby’s cries as it whooshes in flames, sparking into the night sky.
What have I just done?
Chapter Thirty-Four
I can’t shake the daze I am in.
What just happened? What did I do? I don’t feel the power anymore, the joy of fire, of destroying. I’m filled with a strange emptiness. A deep, black, hole opens inside of me, sucking all life into it.
We finish the mission, leaving the flaming village, its bodies littering the streets.
I’m quiet, withdrawn.
Little brown eyes stare at me.
***
I can’t look at Tor. I don’t want to talk to him. He’s acting the same way. He doesn’t talk. We avoid each other.
Something changed at that village. I thought we were great since Hawaii, personally and professionally. His isolation from me hurts.
I have to be tougher than this. I’m a soldier. I have to not care.
Thank God, we’re given a break for a short while. We live our daily lives in the desert oasis, our base. Local, indigenous workers clean our tents, latrines and showers, and wash our laundry. I have trouble looking at them, too.
There’s no room for love or caring in a soldier’s life. I decide to break up with Tor. I’m better off alone.
The makeshift Chow Hall is packed. Tor and I really haven’t spoken since the Village Incident. In a way, I miss him. Going from hanging out all the time to never is hard. But he just doesn’t understand. I was given an order by my superior officer and can’t disobey. Did I think it wrong to kill? What I think doesn’t matter. I must follow orders. Why can’t Tor get that? We’re not to question.
I know it’s not the best place, but I don’t want to give Tor a chance to react. Scanning the room, I make out Tor’s blond hair. He’s sitting alone. I don’t bother with a breakfast tray since I plan to flee right away.
I clear my throat. “Tor.” I tap his shoulder. He spins around as if knowing I’m standing behind him even though he didn’t see me approach. “Whatever’s happening between us … it’s …. Let me start over.” I swallow. This is harder that I thought it would be. “You and I aren’t on the same page anymore. I think we want different things.”
“Ash, it’s not that we want different things. It’s the fact that you are finding joy in killing civies. It’s wrong and you know it, but yet you’re following orders blindly. That’s not the Ashley I know. She helps people. Not destroys them.”
“This is me helping. If you can’t understand that then maybe you don’t know me at all.”
“I do know you, Ash.” Tor stands. “I know what’s in here.” He pokes my chest. “And this isn’t you. When you find that person, come find me. I’ll be there for that girl.”
He’s calling it off from me? For a split second my vision goes red. I ball my fists at my sides. “When you get your head out of your ass and figure out that this is the effing army and that soldiers follow orders or die, you come find me. Otherwise, stay away from me.” I turn and walk away.
This pain I’m feeling, this emptiness … I don’t deserve any better.
***
Dr. Mara keeps our weekly counseling sessions through everything. She’s noticed the change in the both of us. It’s easy to talk to her.
“I liked the destruction. I do like it … deep inside, there’s a part of me that likes it.” My head is down, but I glance up at Dr. Mara, my mentor.
“It’s understandable, Ashley. Fire is a destructive force, and it runs through you, in you. I’m guessing it feels good to set it free, let it loose.”
“Yeah, that’s it.” I’m grateful for someone to talk to, who won’t judge. Unlike Torrent.
“But there’s something bothering you,
Ashley, ever since the village.”
“I saw a little girl and an old lady, right in front of us, when we were at the village. I didn’t want them to die. Riley shot them and ordered me to burn their hut.” Dr. Mara remains silent, waiting for me to go on. “I saw them die, shot down like dogs, and left in the street … I never thought I’d be killing civies like this, children … old people.” I take a deep breath, make myself say it. “There was a baby crying in the hut before I set it on fire.”
“But
you were given orders, weren’t you?” Dr. Mara places her hand on her hip. Her face is neutral, not giving any emotion away.
I nod.
“And you’re a well-trained soldier.” She sighs. “This is not the first time this has happened. Soldiers should be fighting enemy warriors, not the innocent, caught in the crossfire.”
“They weren’t in the crossfire. We just came upon them on the edge of town, and Riley shot them. He could have let them go. He must have heard the baby. We could have left that hut alone.”
“But they were in an enemy village, one known to house an enemy base. The insurgents were using the largest building. We defeated our enemies there, too, you know. Some innocents died because they were also there.” Dr. Mara studies me. “There’s something else you have to consider, Ashley. What’s the alternative? If you had let that baby live, there would have been no one to care for it. It would have died slowly, of starvation.”
“But the little girl, the old lady …”
“If we had let them live, would they have survived on their own, among all the dead in the destroyed village? A little girl, with no shelter or food, trying to care for an old lady and a baby? How long do you think they would have survived?”
I look at her. I hadn’t thought of this.
“But still … I don’t want to kill civies.”
“I know. It goes against the grain. But this is your job for another three years, and you will follow orders and do your work well.” Her face softens. “I’ll do my best to avoid these kinds of missions for you two.”
“I don’t want to be on any assignments with Torrent. At least not for a while.”
“I know things are strained for you and him right now. But you guys are our special task force, and your services can be used in many different ways. You liked the disaster relief, didn’t you?”
It seemed like a lifetime ago. It was hard work, and often I didn’t know if I could get through the hours. I was so exhausted, at the end of my rope. The conditions were extreme—hot, wet, muddy. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, taking everything I had to fight the forces of nature. Tor and I worked together. I don’t tell her that we have broken up.
“Yes, I loved those. We were doing something important, helping people.” Now I remember the high I get when fighting actual battles against a ruthless enemy shooting back. “I do like being a soldier, fighting the enemy directly.”
“I will see what I can do. On another note, I’ve got some news. Our research team sent me an update. These are the four hieroglyphs which repeat themselves, related to that religious sect from the Egyptian temple.” She hands me a paper printed in full color, featuring a column of four Egyptian human-like figures. They are very similar to those found on my parents’ gravestones. “We think this was a secret sect, hidden within a branch of their religion. We’re kind of guessing here. But these refer to Four Elemental Children, or Deities. We believe a marking in the glyphs may represent children, or those born with god-like gifts.” She points to the first figure. “This is Sekhmet, goddess of fire.”
I study the little picture, showing a tall goddess with cinnamon skin, a lioness head, and a golden sun disc on top of her headdress. She’s holding a long, thin staff in her left hand and a black ankh in her right.
“She’s also the goddess of war, and of healing, Ashley. Her name means ‘The Powerful One.’” Dr. Mara looks at me a moment, then points to the next figure. “This is Wadj-Wer, god of the sea and lakes. His name means ‘Great Blue-Green.’”
I study the second figure.
“Is that why his skin is blue? Why does he have such a big belly?”
“He is also the god of fertility, notice the loaf of bread in his left hand. He is sometimes seen as part male and part female. That’s why he looks pregnant.”
I snort.
“The inscription we found in the temple says again: ‘Where there is one, there are four’,” Dr. Mara continues. Here we have Shu, god of the air and the winds. And Geb, god of the earth and vegetation.”
Geb is brown with tiny pine trees drawn all over his body. He is shown lying down, like the earth. Shu holds a long staff and another ankh. His skin is a rich brown and he sports a tall, blue feather sticking straight up from his head.
“What does this have to do with me?”
“We believe these four, elemental gifted ones appeared whenever the earth was going through great, devastating changes.”
Part IV
Chapter Thirty-Five
The desert is hot and dry, the sun burning relentlessly on us all. The tents provide only slight relief, a bit of shade. Our uniforms are desert colors, except when we wear our blacks for nighttime stealth missions.
“Burning the village was effective, it’s the best progress we’ve made in this damned eternal war.” Riley is briefing our unit before we head out again.
Which war is that exactly? None of these people have done anything to me. I shift my weight. In my time off, I’ve had plenty of time to think. Tor stayed away from me like I asked. I attempted to write to Smoke but didn’t know how to say what needed to be said. Many crumbled balls of paper got tossed into the trash.
“We’ve received more orders,” Riley continues not even acknowledging my unease. “We have another village to attack tonight.”
I rock to my other foot as my pulse jumps. My hands fidget. I look at Dr. Mara, but her head is down.
“Commander, I thought we weren’t going to attack any more civies,” Torrent speaks. We aren’t dating, but he’s still in my friend, though you’d hardly know it, as we never speak. Friends do fight, but right now, I could kiss him.
“These are our standing orders, Private Weir. Remember, we are targeting known insurgent bases. The villages are small, so the number of casualties will be minor.” He dismisses us.
I turn and walk out of the tent. Anger flares through my veins.
Not again. I guess Dr. Mara has no influence. Somehow, I’m not surprised.
Fucking army.
***
Heavy dread fills me as the night presses upon us. Nights here get damn cold, after the insane heat of the day.
We make our way along the slope, avoiding the dirt road, watching for IEDs with our NOGS.
Climbing silently over a ridge, we spy the tiny settlement nestled in the valley a hundred feet below.
As we fan out and approach, Riley guiding me with Torrent and a few others, dogs start barking, echoing loudly across the desert night. Before we are in position, men come out of several buildings, find shelter, and ready their weapons. We see their green figures clearly. They don’t know which direction we’re coming from.
Riley motions our unit to crouch low, stopping. “How far can you shoot a blaze?” He whispers.
“About fifty feet,” I respond, refusing to look at Tor.
He gestures for us to split into three groups. The other two head down to engage and distract the fire. Tor is assigned to Bravo Team. Rattling and thunderous pops bounce off the slopes and skip through the valley within moments.
Riley directs our Alpha Team toward the back of the village, away from the gunfire.
We approach a low, long building, getting within twenty feet. Nothing is stirring here. Riley motions for me to fire it up. He stares at me for a long time. His gaze makes me shrink back into myself. This is the building the insurgents have been meeting in.
“Commander—” I’m about to respond to his scrutinizing.
“If you don’t do as your superior officer orders, I’ll have no choice but to start paperwork to relieve you of active duty. You will be dishonorably discharged and stripped of any—”
I’d leave the army with nothing. All my effort down the drains. Smoke will be so disappointed in me.
I shoot a blast, exploding the wooden door. The flames are slow to ignite the earthen building, so I shoot more and more blasts, setting fire to the woodpiles and brush outside. Soon the structure is dressed in bright orange and yello
w, lighting up the town.
The gunfire comes closer, and we know Bravo and Charlie Teams are closing in.
Screaming sounds and a stream of civies come running out of the back doorway. Men, women, children of all ages in rag-tag robes, dressed in desert garb.
The nightmares of seeing those little brown eyes still haunt me.
Alpha Team guns them down, machine guns firing rapidly, punching the screaming into stillness. Two messy groups of people manage to split and run.
“Alpha Team, shoot those on the right. Warfield, fire up those getting away back there—you can reach them!”
I don’t move. Shoot fire directly at all those civies?
“Do it now, Private. That’s an order,” Riley barks in my ear.
The anger burning through me all day bubbles to my head; my face flushes. Consequences be damned.
“No, they’re civilians.” I shake my head. “We don’t need to kill them.”
“Now. They’re getting away!”
“They’re civilians, Commander,” I shout back.
Riley’s voice gets low, right in my ear, so only I can hear.
“Private, you’ll obey my orders if you want to keep your brother alive. It’d be easy for me to order him to the front lines where the fighting is the worst. Your friend behind us, too, for that matter.”
I stare at him.
What? Are you fucking kidding me? His eyes bore into mine, deadly serious.
“Fire them now, Private!”
Ever so slowly, I lift my hands, shooting a thin laser of fire. Several of the stragglers ignite, screeching in pain, but many get away.
Another group of villagers are scrambling right at us, but they don’t know we’re up here.
“Fire!” Riley commands us all. “You too, Warfield.”
I shoot arrows of flame, missing the terrified people as they realize they’re running into death. Many fall from our weapons.
Riley puts his hand on my shoulder as he shouts. “Private Weir, scout the village—get in there now!”
Flame Guardian Page 14