Mykal's Second Deadly Journey

by Dave Hazel

  From the opposite beach several soldiers came from behind the trees and fired a volley of arrows. The missile assault took a number of Mykal’s men by surprised as their focus had been on the bridge and the boats. He saw two of his men go down from the arrow attack which caused several others to shout a warning about the archers. Most of the weapons turned and fired across the river to those who attacked with arrows and those standing near the trees.

  A couple of the medics rushed to the two men who had been dropped by the enemy archers. The two medics gave thumbs down signifying the two arrow victims had been killed. Both Marine Sergeant Fields and Green Beret Sergeant Rogers had been killed instantly. It was a miracle no others had been hit by the many arrows fired upon them. Mykal fired his weapon slowly. He was more concerned with watching for other possible attacks the enemy could launch at them. The sudden sound of ram’s horns blasted all down the length of the tree line beyond the beach. It was the call to retreat. The enemy scurried farther away, but were they preparing for a counter assault? Were they going to come back with a bigger and stronger force? But how? They couldn’t cross the bridge while it stood intact and their boats didn’t work as they thought they would.

  “Make sure everyone is alright and I want a report of injuries,” Mykal shouted. He looked around at all the men scrambling to make sure their friends were fine, while others knelt and continually watched the beach on the opposite side of the river. Mykal caught sight of the second reporter team hugging each other tightly and crying with each other. He couldn’t believe his eyes when he watched the men kiss. “What the hell?”

  “I told you not to expose yourself damn it,” Josh Collins yelled at his younger cameraman.

  “I didn’t think I was in danger,” Jeff ‘Lil Bit’ Bennett moaned while looking at the nick in his helmet. “It felt like my damn head was going to come off,” he said while he picked up his video camera.

  Mykal realized the cameraman was struck in the head with an arrow and thankfully he wore his helmet. Mykal hoped they weren’t lovers because he didn’t want to have to worry about people in relationships on this side of Towbar’s world. He didn’t know how to deal with something like this; same sex lovers, because they weren’t military. He wouldn’t be able to forbid actions like that unless they were active duty soldiers. He had to make sure they didn’t show public displays of their affections because he was sure most of the military men would have a problem with homosexuals, and he wasn’t sure how they would respond. He rushed to them while the chaos of the battles end swirled around them. ‘As long as they don’t push their stuff on me, I don’t care what they do but I don’t want the men to go ballistic over it,’ he thought as he neared them.

  “What the hell’s going on?” Mykal snarled at them and wasn’t sure how he would be able to fix this problem. “Are you guys…” he paused as he watched the two men hugging each other and declaring their love for each other. Mykal wasn’t sure how to ask them a personal question about their relationship.

  “My boy just gave me the scare of my life,” Josh laughed and wiped his eye. “I honestly thought he died when he went down and didn’t move,” he added and pointed to Jeff’s bloody neck.

  “I thought I died too,” Jeff laughed. “I was struck here,” he pointed to the side of his head and at the same time another arrow just nicked my neck. It’s nothing,” he laughed after looking at the blood on his fingertips from touching the minor wound. “I’ve nicked myself worse than this by shaving,” he joked. “It just looks bad. But the one that hit my head hurt. I thought it took my head off. But thank God for the helmet I was wearing. I’m okay dad, honest.”

  “Dad?” Mykal asked.

  “Yes Mykal, this is my son,” Josh said and wiped his eye again. “We tried to keep our relationship a secret because we didn’t want any special treatment.

  “What the hell is your son doing here with you, or what the hell is your father doing here with you?” He asked and was relieved it wasn’t what he first thought because of the potential problems it could have caused.

  “It’s entirely my fault,” Josh admitted. “I’ve been absent all throughout the lives of my six children because of my job. I’ve been all over the world covering hell holes all around our world and now I’m doing it in Towbar’s world,” he gave an awkward giggle in an attempt to laugh at his life choices. “Jeff couldn’t understand how I could allow a job to break up our family. I lost my wife and my kids and he wanted to understand why, so we agreed for him to come along for the purpose of seeing what it is I do as a war correspondent. I blew it with my wife and kids and I can never undo what I’ve done with my life, so when he asked to come along in order to understand, I agreed as an opportunity to show him that I really do love all my kids. I didn’t want--”

  “Alright, alright. Stop,” Mykal said with a raised hand. “We’ll talk about this when we get to where we can settle down.”

  “Thanks Myk,” Josh and Jeff said together.

  “Just make sure you let all the men know what you guys are to each other so they don’t think you guys are carrying on,” Mykal said with a raised eyebrow to get his meaning across.

  “Oh heavens no,” Josh gasped and blushed when he realized what Mykal was getting at. “He’s my son for crying out loud.”

  “Yuck,” Jeff said with a hearty laugh. “He’s my dad Myk.”

  “Well good, but I didn’t know that and I saw you guys hugging and kissing each other and saying that you love each other. I didn’t know what the hell to think, so you may wanna make it known what you’re relationship really is.”

  “Thanks Myk, we will do that,” Josh said and nodded enthusiastically and rubbed the graying beard he started to grow.

  Lieutenant Finley ran to Mykal while men were still scrambling around checking on any who could still be injured. “Hey Myk, you’re okay?”

  “Yeah, how about the others?”

  “It looks like we have two K I A.”

  “K I A?” ‘Lil Bit whispered to his father.

  “Killed In Action,” Josh whispered quietly to his son. He tried to keep it a secret how inexperienced his son was to the battlefield though he did stand beside his son’s photography and filming talents.

  Mykal heard them, but ignored them since they wouldn’t be able to do anything about it now that they were here on the other side of Towbar’s world. “Yeah, I saw,” Mykal sighed in response to Finley and looked all around.

  “I came here to tell you that Diaz wants to head out real quick,” Finley said. “Lanorear said he thinks the soldiers will regroup and try to counter again. From what he was saying I guess there is some sort of military detachment or small base not far from here.”

  “What about the Hawkman that had an arrow in his leg? Can we do anything for him with our medics?”

  “They’re already on it Myk,” Finley said with a slight laugh. “That was one of the first things Diaz wanted done so they would see we’re good guys.”

  “That’s what I was thinking,” Mykal snickered. “I guess it’s that ‘great minds think alike’ kinda thing. Why don’t you see if we can take a bigger part of that bridge down to buy us a little more time before we head out.”

  “Captain Diaz and I already suggested that,” Finley said and started to laugh. “Great minds again.”

  “Good and if you need to ask Towbar if there is anything he can do cuz he is super strong.”

  “We’ve already asked the Hawkmen to help and they’re on it.”

  “Great,” Mykal said and looked all around the gorge again to size up their situation. “Do you know if we should go back to get above this gorge or should we continue down the river?”

  “That was one of the first things Captain Diaz asked Lanorear,” Finley answered and looked past the trees to eye the top of the gorge. “Lanorear said he thinks we would be safer down here. Lanorear also said that he and his Hawkmen will fly out ahead of us to warn of any potential problems.”

  Mykal let a quie
t sigh escape. “Captain Diaz is still comfortable with the Hawkmen even though we still haven’t met the other five yet.”

  “Lanorear said he will bring the rest of the Hawkmen to our camp when things settle down. I take it you still don’t trust them?” Finley asked quietly as if they were discussing something of a secret nature.”

  “No, it’s not that I don’t trust them,” Mykal said and paused to think through his feelings of his confidence in that the Hawkmen were really helping them. “I’m just concerned cuz they have been slaves of Ziggy for a long time. What better way to earn favor with Zee-dawg than to set us up and disrupt our mission,” Mykal said and realized he was so concerned for Doninka that he didn’t want to take a chance with outsiders.

  “Just be careful Myk,” Finley whispered and looked around. “They haven’t done anything to hurt us, but they had put themselves at risk to help us and attacked the soldiers. So if we turn them away, then they may turn on us, or we would have to get the drop on them and eliminate them without any cause.”

  “Oh crap, you’re right.” Mykal sighed and shook his head. He couldn’t believe he allowed his suspicious thoughts to go down such a dark path. “Forget I said that and don’t bring it up again. Don’t tell anyone I even doubted their loyalty.”

  “Don’t worry about it Myk,” Finley said quickly to stop him. “That was just between the two of us and it will never come up again. We’ll just have to be ever vigilant.”

  “Thanks. Tell Captain Diaz I wanna keep the men spread like we have been. Me and Towbar will stay back here in the rear so I want the radio men to be spread out evenly. I have Mathis back here with us and tell everyone to make sure we’re communicating. I don’t wanna have any surprises. And I want people to be focused on what’s taking place on the other side of the river.

  Suddenly two large explosions ripped through the air followed by several men joyfully shouting their pleasure. Mykal and Finley looked to see almost half of the middle of the bridge collapsed amid a large splash in the river.

  “What the hell was that?” Mykal gasped with surprise. “What did they use?” Mykal asked with amazed appreciation. He didn’t think they would be able to take down that much of the bridge with just hand grenades and 40mm high explosive rounds.

  “They used a couple of our satchel charges.”

  “What satchel charges?” Mykal asked.

  “We brought eight large packs of C4 in case we needed to knock down a door or a wall,” Finley answered. “Captain Diaz had the Hawkmen place them on the center of the bridge so we could knock down a large portion of the bridge.”

  “Cool,” Mykal said and smiled to show his delightful surprise. “I didn’t know we had those. No one told me. But that’s cool.”

  “I’m sorry Myk, I thought you were there when someone brought up the idea, since the Princess is in a castle, what if we need to knock down a wall or something?”

  “I’m not complaining. I’m actually grateful you experienced military people are with me.”

  The four men of Towbar’s army and the three remaining Dwarves ran to Mykal and Finley. They looked flabbergasted. Rogal and Malidon, the brother of Towbar’s general Dalisid stepped forward. “Mykal my friend,” Rogal spoke. “Was that a normal noise?”

  “We understand that your men are mighty warriors and their powerful weapons make tremendous thunder,” Malidon said. “However, we have never heard a noise so devastating and loud.”

  Mykal and Finley looked at them and welcomed their questions. Mykal was surprised how much Malidon looked like his older brother Dalisid. They could easily pass for twins though Dalisid was three years older. Mykal thought Dalisid could be successful as a male model back in his world and he believed Malidon would be just as successful. His black hair, blue eyes and squared jaw could easily put him in any magazine or commercial for men’s clothing. “Oh yeah, it was something our guys did.”

  “You people amaze my people,” Norg said and touched his two fellow Dwarves on their shoulders. “Big noise. Big death. You people mighty warrior. Yet not look warrior.”

  “What was that?” Finley asked.

  “He’s saying we don’t look like mighty warriors, but he knows we’re mighty and powerful warriors,” he said and suddenly Mykal was saddened when he looked up the beach to see the bodies of Sergeant Fields and Sergeant Rogers had been completely covered in rocks. Mykal didn’t want the men to take the time and effort to bury their bodies. He didn’t want to leave them out to be exposed but he knew they couldn’t carry them around to take them back. Nevertheless, to see the two forms of piled rocks hit him hard. They were leaving another two men behind.

  This was the fourth day of their journey and so far eight men have died. Six were Americans, people from back home and it bothered him. ‘But wait, they knew the dangers when they volunteered and I didn’t kill them. I can’t blame myself. I can’t beat myself up over this,’ he thought and scolded himself. ‘If I let this eat me up it will destroy me. I gotta stop it right now!’

  “What’s the matter Myk?” Finley asked and then looked to where Mykal stared. “Don’t do that to yourself Myk. You couldn’t have prevented it and I know you take it hard whenever someone gets hurt or, God forbid, gets killed.”

  “I just hate the idea that we have to leave them behind like the guys when we first got lost,” Mykal said and shook his head while looking to the ground. “I hate this part of it all.”

  “Don’t beat yourself up Myk,” Finley repeated and stepped closer. “We all knew this when we signed up for this mission. We knew we’re gonna be on the run and won’t be able to carry,” he paused when he almost said ‘dead weight’, “all the extra weight.”

  “You’re right, let’s get everyone going.”

  3.

  They continued marching down the river in silence. Mykal felt a comfortable calm walking over the smooth stones near the water. It reminded him of his childhood when he would walk along the Niagara River looking for red-spotted newts, spotted salamanders and redback salamanders. The sound of the water lapping against the beach, the scent of water in the air, the greenery, it took him back to his pre-teen years when he would wildly investigate everything within reach for any form of life; insect, rodent and strange plant life. He wished he could go back to being a ten year old for just twenty minutes to check out some of the rock formations and to see if anything lived under dead branches on the ground.

  “What are you thinking my friend,” Towbar asked and broke his self-imposed silence. “You look like you are humored.”

  “Oh, nothing really,” Mykal said and started to laugh lightly. He believed the scenery and thoughts of his childhood must have put a smile on his face. “This here,” he pointed to the river and the gorge walls, “reminds me of my home town and where I grew up as a child. I guess I was just reminiscing a little bit. What about you buddy? How do you feel to be on the other side of your world?”

  “It is strange. Our reason for being on this side of the world is even stranger. From all that Nidious told me as a child about this side of the world, I would never have chosen to come here. There are dangers at every turn and this we have experienced first-hand. I would not like to venture into these parts on my own. It is with heartfelt thanks we were able to come here with a considerable size force of your mighty warriors.”

  “I agree with you there,” Mykal laughed again. “There’s no friggin way I’d ever come here without a damn army with me.”

  “Do you mind if we join you Myk?” Roy Jr. asked when he and Randy quickened their pace to walk with them. “We heard you talking and wanted to see what you’re talking about.”

  “Sure. I was thinking how much this reminds me of back home, my home town of Niagara Falls, New York. When I was a kid my father or my uncle would always take us down to the Devil’s Hole, it’s a place along the Niagara River where there is a state park and they have stone steps from the top of the gorge all the way down to the river. It’s gotta be two hundred and fif
ty feet to three hundred feet from top to bottom in our gorge. Anyway, we would always go down there when I was a kid and I’d go crazy “explorin’ and adventurin’” as we called it. I would turn over every rock and dead tree branch looking for newts and salamanders or spiders or whatever I could get my hands on.”

  “What are newts?” Randy asked. “Aren’t they salamanders?”

  “They’re similar, but they’re not the same thing. In North Dakota you guys have salamanders but I don’t think you have newts. They’re--”

  “Attack! Attack!” Someone screamed the warning from the front of the line.

  Just as suddenly more than one hundred arrows sliced into the water near their side of the river. The arrows all missed. Most fell short. A couple of dozen hit the rocks and the ground of the beach, they fell short also. There were a handful of arrows that slammed into the trees behind them, but all missed the mark where Mykal and his section of the walking convoy were slowly moving along.

  Everyone dove to the ground or ducked back behind the trees near the gorge walls. Most of the enemy fired their arrows and they slipped back behind the trees on their side of the river. It seemed the ground on the other side of the river was far wider than this side which gave the enemy much more room to maneuver. They seemed to have learned from the last battle that they could not charge headlong into this strange enemy and be successful. It appeared they wanted to remain out of sight as much as possible.

  “Captain Diaz says don’t waste ammo,” Mathis shouted after listening into his radio handset. “When you have a target, take them out.”

  “Mathis,” Mykal yelled to him while peeking from behind a tree. “Do we have any injuries?”

  “They haven’t said Myk, but it seems our front was hit just moments before we came under attack,” Mathis replied and slid down to a seated position behind the large tree he hid behind.