by Dave Hazel
“The warriors of that time said one moment they were not here and the next they were here. There was a strange cloud of mist that they walked out of. Nothing was ever said about the color, green, grayish brown or white. No color was ever mentioned. These strange warriors wore strange clothing, carried strange powerful weapons and looked like nothing the warriors of the time had ever seen. That is why when we were inside the mountain that Hidtotim said he had heard of our type of weapons in the past.
“Hidtotim said there have been many different tales as to what initiated the conflict. Some say the strangers went on the offensive when they exited the cloud and attacked the massive army Zizmon-Tarl had out here. There were supposedly twenty-five to thirty thousand soldiers out this way,” Finley added and turned to cast his arm over the horizon. “Supposedly, this army was in route to attack a small country or a couple of cities with their fortresses. And on the way the strangers appeared and went on the offensive. Others said that because of the strange looking force that came from the cloud, the armies of Zizmon-Tarl initiated the attack and were surprised by the might of the strangers and their weapons.
“Either way, the battle ensued and many, many soldiers were killed by the powerful magic weapons, but because of the overwhelming size of the force out here they were overcome. Hidtotim said most of the strangers were killed, and those not killed were taken as prisoners and they had never been seen from again from what the tales say that are passed down.”
“How long ago?” Mykal asked and had a renewed excitement at the possibility of maybe rescuing these people who had been taken captive.
“He said it was a long time ago. Not only was it before his birth, but it was before the birth of his father and his father’s father. That’s why I’m thinking it was the Vanished Battalion of the Sandringham’s, 5th Norfolk Regiment that disappeared from the Gallipoli Peninsula of the Ottoman Empire on August 12th of 1915. They were never discovered or found anywhere. They were taken away in a cloud and though people of our world think it was UFOs, we know for a fact that we have transported back and forth from this world to our world through the green fog. It could have been them. On that August day, the 12th of 1915, Sir Horace Proctor-Beauchamp, Colonel, led 266 men into the trees covered in a cloud on the Peninsula of Gallipoli and they just disappeared.
“It’s a fact Mykal. I’ve done a lot of studying on this and as a matter of fact, just before we came here on our current mission, while we were in the Pass I had the opportunity to shoot the bull with some of our English allies and we talked about this very subject because I’ve always been a history slash war buff and I wanted to get their take on it because it’s one of the greatest military mysteries of all time. Some of them had no idea. Some thought they had been taken prisoner, though no prisoners were ever found. The Turks still deny it to this day that they had anything to do with their disappearance, and then some of the United Kingdom soldiers thought it had something to do with UFOs.
“One of their officers said to me that he thought maybe it was the green fog and traveling between our worlds had something to do with it. Previously, that officer was in the camp of ‘diehard alien abductionists’,” Finley snickered and laughed at his own made-up word. “He always thought there was no other possible reason to explain away their disappearance. But now, since we have traveled back and forth between our worlds with the green fog, he privately leans toward the green fog as being a possibility. I can’t wait till we get back there and show him what we’ve learned.”
“Yeah, but c’mon you’re talking about a story passed down by generations from backwards hicks to Hidtotim so those who were taken prisoner gotta be what, 85 to 90 years old?” Mykal asked. “They gotta all be dead if they weren’t executed cuz who knows what kinda labor they were forced to do or what kinda maltreatment they woulda received. So there is no way to prove that story, unless by some chance one of the survivors left a written record where ever they had been taken prisoner to,” Mykal scoffed, though the possibility of the tale was fascinating.
“True, more than likely there would probably not be any living survivors to corroborate the story Hidtotim shared,” Finley agreed. “But he did say the number the massive army battled was small in comparison. It wasn’t even close to five hundred but the small number, which would have been 266 had inflicted serious damage to their size. The story passed on said the strange army killed nearly four thousand battle hardened warriors, soldiers, of your Ziggy Stardust due to the magically powerful weapons. Hidtotim thinks the number might actually be even higher to lessen the humiliation of taking such a loss from so small a group of strange warriors. Hidtotim thinks the numbers were fudged, or as he said, ‘reduced’ to help ease the hurt pride of the great warriors.
“They couldn’t just pretend that it didn’t happen because too many soldiers were present and the story spread among the people like wild fire because there was talk that these men were sent by the gods or were gods because of their mighty power and the extraordinary way in which they killed so many soldiers so quickly. Then there was the fear that they had killed gods or those sent by the gods so would they now have to worry about the gods waging war on them and annihilating the entire nation. The Zee-Man calmed the fears of the people, but it took time.”
“Okay, that’s all fine and good--” Mykal began and his tone expressed the negative feeling that they weren’t going to be able to get anyone to believe them because of one soldier of Zizmon-Tarl.
Finley stopped him short. “But Myk, we have proof!” Finley exclaimed wildly with his index finger pointed skyward. “Those back home will listen to us. That’s why we need to remember where this place is so we can come back and do an in depth investigation. We have found buried in the mud, over there, a World War One era rifle, an Enfield .303 rifle with a bayonet attached. There is a helmet which is clearly the English style from World War One. It’s not the Brodie salad bowl steel helmet that you would recognize as a World War One English helmet, but rather it’s a completely intact British Wolseley pattern sun pith helmet that’s made of cork and khaki. That was what they wore during the Gallipoli campaign. And there is also the top half of a Vickers water cooled machine gun. I can’t imagine all we will find if we were to dig up this entire area.”
“Are you kidding me?” Mykal asked with a surprised gasp and suddenly straightened up at the prospect of physical proof. It also caused the others with him to stir with confused excitement as well.
“No, I’m serious as a damn heart attack,” Finley laughed loudly and pointed to the men working at pulling the rifle and the machinegun from the muddy ground. So not only is there truth to what Hidtotim is saying but just those three items are exactly the type of items that were used in August 1915 by the English Army during the battle of the Gallipoli campaign when the Sandringham company disappeared, never to be seen or heard from again.
“I know we have an important mission to find Doninka and we must do what we have to, but Mykal you and Towbar have to remember this place. You must, please, remembered this place,” Finley repeated and begged. “So you can bring us back here after the mission is completed so we can find more artifacts and solve this mystery for back in our world. Sure the mystery is what, sixty-eight years old, almost seventy years old and all the close relatives would have passed on by now, but this would be a terrific historical find,” he continued with an overly active excitement.
“Wow, I’m blown away,” Mykal said. “Let’s go see what they got,” he added and they all jumped up from their comfortable rest.
The men were gathered around the three pieces that were found easily. A mud caked rifle with a rusted bayonet attached, a mud covered pith helmet and part of an old heavy machine gun. As the men passed the Enfield .303 around to each other they wiped at and picked mud and dirt from the World War One era rifle.
“We found this because part of the blade stuck up from the ground,” Finley said. “And when the men dug around it to pull it out they found the helmet and
then the Vickers. I know if we were to dig we would find much more. That’s why I want you and Towbar to remember this place so in the future we can come here and find all the proof we need to verify that we have the answers to what happened to the Vanishing Battalion of August 12th, 1915. I am begging you and if I had it I would pay you a million dollars out of my own pocket to get you to bring us back here, but I have to be honest and tell you I don’t have a million dollars,” Finley said with a sad seriousness that stopped all those around him.
Mykal burst out with bold excited laughter. “Honestly Fin, even if you had a million dollars I wouldn’t make you pay it,” Mykal said and continued to laugh. “I would do it anyway for you cuz you have been great for the men, thus in turn you have been great for me. After we accomplish our mission with Doninka and stop the idiots from trying to take the Pass, I will make sure we do what we can to come back here. I give you my word as much as I have the ability, Okay?”
“Oh thank you Myk,” Finley gasped out loud with a laugh and latched onto Mykal with a thankful bear hug.
“It’s gonna take some time so don’t get too excited yet. But now, what are we going to do with all this stuff?” Mykal asked and nodded to the items the men slowly pulled from the ground.
“We’ll bring it with us. If we’re going to wait a while on returning to the Pass I may just leave the Vickers machinegun here because it will be too much extra weight to carry around.”
“No, bring it, cuz we can use Towbar’s soldiers, the Dwarves and even Hidtotim’s soldiers to help carry it,” Mykal said and couldn’t believe they stumbled upon such a magnificent find after all they had been through. “I am truly blown away, but I’m just torn about taking them to the Pass. But damn it, at the same time I don’t wanna separate from them,” Mykal sighed. “They seem like good guys and they don’t know that we’re their enemy. If we take them back to the Pass we may have to kill them about the time we get to the real castle or we’ll have to take them prisoner,” Mykal said and his voice started to sound like he was whining sadly. He knew it was his emotions going from one extreme to the other.
This was so hard for Mykal. He didn’t want to harm them after they saved them and the soldiers were willing, in turn, to take them to the castle of Zizmon-Tarl, though it was under false pretenses. Then again, he didn’t want to put his men at risk for these fifteen soldiers of their dreaded enemy Zizmon-Tarl. He glanced down at the ring and knew if he gave it a few moments and allowed the wrong thoughts he could easily change his mood and become a ruthless cut throat that could easily murder all fifteen in such a brutal fashion that it would be scary even for himself.
It made him wonder why he couldn’t control his emotions. He understood the magic ring had strong magical properties, but it didn’t make sense to him that it effected his emotions, whether it was true hateful rage or soft sappy tearful melancholy. It brought to memory of someone he knew who had been addicted to pain killers. The friend had a prescription from a doctor and he had become addicted to the medication and it changed his emotions on a daily basis. To Mykal that medical situation made some sense because there was a chemical that was actually interacting with his friend’s brain. But this didn’t make sense in that the magic ring didn’t have a chemical going into his brain.
He wanted to talk to Captain Diaz or even Ski about it, but he knew their answers and advice would all revolve around God and their religion. He knew he would get straight answers from them and they wouldn’t lead him on. They were the two most trustworthy people he knew besides Towbar. Their answer would be ‘To get rid of the ring and turn your life over to God’. And maybe they would be right, because that would have been the same thing his Christian, ‘church going’ grandfather would have told him before he passed away, but at this point in his life the magic ring was so important to his survival in dealing with the likes of Percy and the President.
‘God may be a good path to go down, but I’d rather wait till I’m a little older and live out the things I need to live first,’ Mykal thought and snickered while slightly shaking his head to his own thoughts. He didn’t want to deal with people giving him a hard time about becoming a religious nut like Ski and Diaz. But deep down inside he knew it would never bother him what other people thought. ‘I have a giant for a friend and he’ll kick their ass,’ he laughed it off in thought.
“What are you thinking my friend?” Towbar asked when he noticed Mykal’s quieted humor.
“Oh, nothing really,” he snickered as if he had been caught doing something he shouldn’t have been. “I’ve just been thinking how I have so many different things going on in my life and at times I don’t know which way to turn.”
“You know I am always available for you my friend,” Towbar said.
Towbar’s response was so serious it was as if the giant had actually read his mind and answered to comfort him. “Thanks buddy. And I will always lean on you.”
“That is good to know. We have been through much together my friend.” Towbar said and looked with deep concern. “I try not to dwell on the negative situations we can not control, however, I am fearful for Doninka. I am fearful for my people and I desire to make this cease once and for all.”
“I agree with ya and I’ll do all that I can to help you. We will use my military to put the Sosos back in their place and hopefully we can get them to stop. My people think we’re going to allow them to come in and take whatever they want from your land or this world, but we’re not gonna let them.”
“We can discuss these matters at a later time my friend. We may allow them to exploit some areas if it will enable them to defeat my enemies.”
Mykal looked at his giant friend and clearly saw the concern etched into the creases of his face. Towbar had been giving this a great deal of thought and realized he may have to compromise to get what he needs, not necessarily what he wants. Mykal hated the idea of Percy and Colonel Fisher running the show and doing whatever they wanted no matter what the consequences to Towbar and his people. He felt like he had so many battles on so many fronts and didn’t want to make any costly mistakes.
3.
After a couple hours of quiet walking through the wide open plains, Mykal caught sight of a disturbance near the front. The Hawkmen returned to the front of the formation after scouting the low rolling plains. The five Hawkmen appeared to be agitated. Their wings flapped wildly and their squawks could be heard back where Mykal and Towbar were. Mykal didn’t know how to take the physical demonstration of wild excitement brought on by the bird men. He couldn’t see what got them all flustered and riled up. It was obviously a threat in the distance that was about to be a sudden problem.
“Mathis, get on the radio and find out what’s going on.”
“Yes Sir Myk,” Mathis replied and chuckled. “The bird men seem to be going bat shit crazy,” he laughed to be humorous. “They probably found something they wanna eat. Munch munch.”
“Have everyone behind us get ready for what may be coming,” Mykal said to Private First Class Anka while Mykal tried to suppress a laugh that tried to take control of him. Anka ran to those who followed behind in the trail position of their formation.
“Hey Mykal and Towbar,” Mathis yelled normally to convey a tone of seriousness and to bury his playful jocularity. “It sounds like we got company. It looks like we have a good size group of soldiers heading this way. They are soldiers of the Zee-Meister. Captain Diaz is relaying that Lanorear said there could be about twenty-five hundred, give or take a few. Hidtotim told Diaz they should be a normal formation of men traveling to relieve another group of soldiers who have put in their tour of duty around this part of the country.”
“Towbar, do you wanna go up there with me?”
“Yes my friend.”
“I wanna see what’s got the Hawkmen so on edge,” Mykal said and pointed to the group of large colorful birds acting strangely. Mykal could tell the Hawkmen were tense and showing their anxiety. But if the Hawkmen had a problem they could
easily just fly away and avoid whatever happened to upset them.
The fifteen soldiers of Zizmon-Tarl seemed to be just as anxious as the Hawkmen. When Mykal and Towbar joined those at the front of the formation Mykal felt a heavy unease and Hidtotim looked worried. The six Elves appeared to be just as troubled as the Hawkmen and the fifteen soldiers. Mykal thought it odd that such a heavy tension was in the air and he knew something was out of the ordinary but didn’t know what the problem could be when they still didn’t even see the approaching force that had everyone on edge.
“What’s going on?” Mykal asked Diaz and Finley. “It seems like it got crazy all of a sudden up here.”
“Yes, and that’s what we’re trying to ascertain,” Captain Diaz replied after giving orders to Ratner and Lemon.
“What do we know so far?” Mykal asked though his eyes were fixed on the six Elves conversing with the five Hawkmen off to the side, away from everyone else.
“We’ll get Hidtotim over here in a little bit,” Finley answered as he eyed Hidtotim speaking to his men under his command. “We’ll have him explain what he told us. We’re going to have to be on our toes Mykal. The Hawkmen flew back from patrolling the lands out before us,” Finley said and pointed into the direction they were traveling. “I got the impression that Lanorear was freaking out when he returned. He first went to the Elves and then went to Hidtotim to tell them what they saw.”
“Is there trouble for our party?” Towbar asked. The giant folded his massive arms across his chest.
“We don’t know that yet,” Finley answered. “From the quick briefing we received there is a normal military rotation taking place. The military groups move into a location and stay there for close to two years and then they are relieved and relocate back to their home base,” Finley explained as if trying to make it clear for Towbar. “It’s something similar to what we face in our military. Wait, here comes Hidtotim,” Finley added and waved for the Zizmon-Tarl soldier to join them.