by Dave Hazel
“What troubles you my friend?” Towbar said. The giant stood there with his six foot sword dripping heavily with blood.
He didn’t want to lie to his giant friend, but he didn’t want to sound ‘stupidly weak’ by telling him the truth. “I don’t know. I just have so many things on my mind right now.”
“Are you trouble by what we are doing? Taking the lives of the wounded?”
No. Honestly no. I’m worried about Doninka. I wanna get to her. I need to get to her cuz I’m worried about what has happened to her or what could be happening to her and this is all my friggin fault.”
“My friend. Do not do this to yourself,” Towbar said quietly as some of the men came closer to them. “What is done is done. We can not undo the past. However we can change the present and affect the future unless you allow the wrong thoughts to interfere with your thinking.”
“You’re right. You’re right buddy. I just needed to hear it. Thank you,” Mykal said and suddenly his mood changed and wondered if he should talk to Captain Diaz about his mental condition. He would like to talk to Ski, but Ski was back at the Pass. He knew both of them would relate it to religion somehow. But how would religion square it with the truth of his magic ring? If he opened up to them and told them he had a magic ring that could turn him invisible, the first thing they would say is that he had to get rid of it. ‘Get rid of it.’ He thought with a mental scoff while Towbar spoke to him. ‘It’s easy for them to friggin say get rid of it when they don’t have the big heavy’s breathing down their neck,’ he pondered while thinking of Percy and the President with all the power they have.
“Hey Mykal,” Mathis called out to him while he and the Dosch brothers approached.
“What’s up?” Mykal asked and quickly looked to Towbar. The giant no longer looked above when anyone asked that. He understood the meaning of the question. He smiled when Mykal looked at him. He knew why Mykal looked his way.
“Captain Diaz said we need to wrap this up and get over that incline,” Mathis said and pointed to the slight incline out in the distance before them. “I guess Lanorear and his Hawkmen said they flew over that area and about six maybe seven hundred soldiers are on the other side of that little dip. We can’t see them from here. But from what the bird people said it’s all flatland beyond there so they’re not getting away from us.”
“Alright, tell everyone I said let’s get this wrapped up so we can get outta here.” Mykal turned to Towbar while single shots of rifle fire continued going off which meant wounded soldiers were being killed. He didn’t want to tell Towbar what he was struggling with. “So do you think we’re really gonna be able to find her after all this stuff we’re going through?”
“I believe we will my friend. With the help of Hidtotim we should be able to find her before our dead line,” Towbar said while cleaning the blood off his blade with a piece of cloth he had taken from a dead soldier. “You were wise to offer them the option to come back with us. If they help us find her I will make sure they are rewarded handsomely. And I will still try to make contact with her through Mind Talk.”
“Thanks Towbar.”
The men all assembled on Captain Diaz before departing. “From what Lanorear and his Hawkmen told me,” Diaz said while watching the Hawkmen fly into the air. “On the other side of the hill they are just resting and trying to recover. They must think that because we can’t see them we don’t know they are there. Well, we are about to sneak up on them and finish them off. Make every shot count. Lanorear is going to fly over one more time and ensure they are standing still or they will let us know if they are on the move. Either way we need to stop them.”
The men all responded in the affirmative.
“Understand people,” Sergeant Barry spoke up. “Just like with an M-203, you can lob a 40 mike mike grenade over a hill,” he said and used his hand to show the arc of a movement simulating dropping bombs from above. “We can do the same with the Mark 19 only with much more devastating effect,” he said and gave a happy laugh as if lives were not involved. “We can’t see them, and if they’re not looking they can’t see us, but we can still drop some love onto them,” he said with a laugh and all the men laughed with him. “Let’s finish these guys off before it gets dark. Whadda ya say?” Barry asked and held his hand to his ear.
The Army personnel shouted in unison “Hooah, hooah. The Marines shouted in unison “Ooh-rah, ooh-rah.” The rest of the men shouted and or clapped.
“Let’s move out,” Diaz ordered and all the men filed off into their vehicles.
5.
All the vehicles spread out again and crept to the hill. Lanorear and the Hawkmen flew back and informed them that the six to seven hundred men were resting on the other side of the hill. Some of them seemed to be injured. They were clearly fearful and had no understanding of what brought the rain of destruction that poured down on them previously. They couldn’t have known if it had been magic that had been used on them or if the gods had become angry with them, or if someone in the chain of command had angered the Supreme Ruler and he had decided to take it out on all the men. While resting they hoped they escaped the terror that devastated their force.
Following Sergeant Barry’s lead they slowed to about 300 yards from the end of the hill and lobbed multiple 40mm grenades into the soldiers resting on the other side of the hill from the Mk 19 rapid fire grenade launcher. The new terror caught the resting soldiers off guard. Explosion after explosion ripped into the group on the other side of the hill. Some fled running away in all different directions. Some tried to run toward the attackers but were easily mowed down with machine gun fire before they could ever pose a threat. They didn’t know how to deal with such a devastating enemy. They didn’t know how to appease the beast that killed from great distances. They didn’t understand that the enemy’s sole purpose was to annihilate them. There was no negotiating, no surrendering and no deal making. Some of the soldiers believed it was retribution coming back on them for all the times they did the same thing to unsuspecting towns and villages.
All the men eagerly exited the vehicles and eliminated all of the soldiers who tried to attack and they didn’t get anywhere close to harming one of Mykal’s people. Those who fled were picked off before they got very far. The entire group had been eradicated. The men went around and made sure the wounded were put out of their misery. Hidtotim and his three friends couldn’t imagine what it would have been like to be on the receiving end of such devastation. They were glad they made the decision to side with Mykal and his people when they did. Now it was time to look forward to starting their new life on the other side of the world. Friends and family of the past would have to consider them as dead. Had they sided with the soldiers they would have been killed so it worked out for them.
“So whadda ya think?” Mykal asked Hidtotim and his three men who surveyed the battlefield. Most of Mykal’s men went about the combat zone to ensure every one of the soldiers were dead.
“I am amazed Mykal,” Hidtotim replied. “We had just said how grateful we were that we decided to trust your words and not turn against you. It would have been foolish on our part and we would be left back there,” he said and pointed behind him.
“Or if we would had been lucky the first time,” one of Hidtotim’s men named Nomorek said, “then we would have made it to here,” he added and pointed to the broken bodies littering the plains.”
“And you know it didn’t have to be this way,” Randy said.
“He’s right,” Mykal replied and shook his head. “If Commander Ingledoof wouldn’t have made such a big deal about not letting the Elves go they would have continued on their way to relieve the soldiers waiting to be relieved. Remember Ingledoofus asked me something like, ‘all this for six Elves?’ And I said you really wanna put all this on you guys for six Elves?” Mykal added with a laugh. “I know he’s dead, but I guess he knows now that I wasn’t playing games, am I right?” Mykal asked with a loud laugh and held his hand up for both
Randy and Roy Jr. to high five him.
“You’re right Mykal,” Randy agreed. “It didn’t have to be this way,” he added and stared at Hidtotim.
“I must admit Mykal,” Hidtotim said and slightly bowed his head under the glare of Randy. “Our forces, our armies, under the Supreme Ruler are the greatest forces the world has ever seen. Yet, your forces, of much smaller numbers have dispatched and annihilated some of our greatest warriors with such ease. I do not know how to compare what I have witnessed,” he added and expressed his amazement with his facial expression.
Nomorek tried to fill in the gap for his friend Hidtotim. “It is like a class room of small children suffering at the hands of a adult hardened warrior. Though the numbers would favor the class room of small children, they are not a match for the adult hardened warrior. We are grateful,” Nomorek said and turned to Mykal. “That you have taken us under your wing and allowed us to join with your mighty forces. We four spoke earlier and look forward to spending the rest of our days on the other side of the world with you and you men,” he added and bowed his head as if showing his submission.
“Well I’m glad we came to an agreement,” Mykal replied. “We do like you guys and we’re glad you didn’t put us in a spot to where we had to kill you four like these guys,” Mykal added and waved his hand toward the hundreds of bodies littering the green flats. “If Ingledoofus would have just let us pass by, then he and all his men would be on his way to relieve those who are waiting on him.”
“Them boys is gonna have a long ass wait waiting for Cap’in Ingledoofus to show up,” Roy Jr. laughed and raised his hand for Mykal and then his brother to high five him.
“So what will the others do who are waiting to be relieved from their post?” Mykal asked Hidtotim. “Cuz not one of them survived to get to the waiting group or to go back to the base camp to fill them in on what happened?”
“That is a good question,” Hidtotim answered and looked upward as if the answer would be written in the clouds. “We have never had a situation like this occur before. I would only guess in saying the group that is waiting to be relieved may eventually send a group of soldiers back to see what is taking so long. I really do not know,” he added and looked to his three friends who gave him empty stares.
“Well as long as you don’t turn on us you got nothing to worry about. I just need you to show us how to get to Ziggy’s castle and then we will go back to Towbar’s side of the world.”
“The four of us have been talking Mykal, and we desired to ask if it would be possible,” Hidtotim started to ask a question and then stopped. He looked to the ground as if he feared he would be rejected.
“What is it?” Mykal asked and turned to Towbar to see if he knew what the question might be.
The giant’s eyebrow arched curiously. He didn’t know what the ‘former’ soldier wanted to ask.
“Would you be able to give us some of the weapons your men are armed with and then teach us how to operate them?”
Mykal burst out with laughter. He thought the question was going to deal with moving entire communities to Towbar’s side of the world. “Sure. That shouldn’t be a problem at all,” he said and all four of their faces lit up with excitement. “But we gotta wait until we get done with this mission we are on now. We can’t just give you one and say ‘hey, go ahead and start shooting up the place.’ You gotta be trained on these weapons which is not hard to use, But you just have to have some instruction. Every one of my men has had to have training on how to use them and the safety of them and so on. But yeah, that won’t be a problem at all. As soon as we get done with my mission I’ll gladly give you guys some weapons. Alright let’s get ready to head out. We’ll see you later.”
Mykal walked off and knew Towbar and the Dosch brothers would follow. He waited until they couldn’t be heard by Hidtotim. “I didn’t know what to expect when he was afraid to ask his question. I thought he was gonna ask something along the lines of gathering up all their families and moving their entire villages with us. But if he helps us find Doninka I’d even entertain that. Cuz then that would be more people to help fight the friggin Sosos.”
“I agree with you my friend. I too had no idea what he was going to ask. It seems as if they are committed to our cause. As time dwindles I will do all I have to compensate for their help. I am not having any success with my attempts to Mind Talk with Doninka. Their assistance may become invaluable. ”
“Who knows Myk,” Roy Jr. giggled slightly as they walked on. “Maybe we could get these ol’ boys all excited to help, and then maybe put an M-60 in his hands and then we could have a Johnny Rambo on our side and have him run head long into a big ol’ army of Zee-dawg.”
“Yeah,” Randy laughed along with his brother. “Instead of having him charge into his war buddies swinging a sword in his hands he could go and take them down like a professional soldier from our world.”
“Who knows, there could be a book or a movie in that,” Mykal said and started to laugh. “We could call it ‘My Secret Army of Back Woods Anti-Ziggy Stardust Soldiers From Another Time and Place’ and it would have to be an action packed, fantasy, sci-fi, time travel epic adventure. We could put zombies and AFAs in it along with some dinosaurs and all the other bizarre shit we’ve come across in this damn world of Towbar’s,” he continued to laugh.
“Yeah, that’d be cool, but I think we’d have to work on the title first,” Roy Jr. laughed with him.
“Hey Mykal,” Private First Class Anka shouted while running toward the four of them. “Myk. Captain Diaz is trying to get in touch with you. He’s over there. He wants to talk to you before we leave.”
“Thanks Anka. Do you know what he wants?”
“No Sir. He was just talking with the Hawkmen and three of the Elves and the bearded wizard. If you will look you can see the Hawkmen are taking off again.”
“Thanks,” Mykal said and watched the five Hawkmen fly into the air. They flew into the direction they were to drive. “Let’s go see what’s going on.”
Mykal and Towbar met Captain Diaz and Lieutenant Finley in the center of the gathering of vehicles. Most of the men were rushing around to ensure the enemy was all dead. “So what’s going on?”
“Lanorear and his Hawkmen just took off. They said there is another army not far from here,” Captain Diaz said and pointed to the smaller Hawkmen high into the air. “We have a couple of options. We can continue straight ahead with our plan and we should reach the forest by morning if we continue straight through.”
“This is based on what Lanorear said,” Finley added. “He doesn’t really understand how fast our vehicles can travel so I think we’ll get there sooner.”
“With that being said though,” Diaz continued. “We want to travel straight ahead and reach the forest where we will leave the vehicles and be on foot again. Starling, Leeno and Blair all seem to think we could reach the forest sometime after dark and not the morning time because they have a little idea how our vehicles travel.”
The three Elves nodded their agreement. “Once we are inside the forest,” Starling spoke first. “We think our travel through the forest should take a day and a half to two days to get through the forest.”
“I would think it would be closer to the end of two days,” Leeno shared his thoughts.
“It would depend on how hard we travel,” Blair said.
“Okay, so what’s the problem?” Mykal asked.
“We have that army about the same size, well over two thousand troops, coming this way,” Diaz said. “Lanorear said they have already cleared the forest and are marching through the plains now.”
“Can we get around them to avoid a conflict?” Mykal asked.
“Yes. Lanorear and the Elves agree that we can travel to the west and then turn north to go all the way around them without being seen by them. But,” Diaz said and paused to get everyone’s full attention. “But,” he repeated for emphasis. “If we do that it will take about three days, maybe less, wit
h our vehicles to get where it would be a good place to enter the forest and then we will make our travel through the forest easily three or four days travel and that is if we don’t get lost. Am I correct?” Diaz turned to the Elves and Nordad.
“We have never traveled through the forest from the northwest,” Starling said. “We have been inside the forest where our first option would take us,” he said and pointed straight ahead.
“That is why I would think it should take us two days,” Leeno said. “I do not know how these men would fare on foot through the forest thus I would estimate on a conservative guess.”
“I have been through the forest several times,” Nordad announced. “I know you can push your men and we should be able to travel the forest in less time than two days. That is not the issue. “If we travel the safer route and go to the west I have only been through the forest three times from that direction. The length of time would be longer and the danger would be greater. The chance of becoming lost traveling that way would be greater as well.”
“Another thing we would have to consider if we take the longer route and avoid the next army,” Diaz said and looked at Nordad. “Nordad brought up a great point. When the army gets to this place here and sees all these dead and no enemy dead in sight they may turn around and go back to the palace. They are on a direct path to march through this exact area.”
“Hmm. Damn, I didn’t think about that,” Mykal sighed.
“It’s possible they may continue on,” Diaz said. “But what happens when they see the next group of dead. I would think they would surely return then. And if not,” Diaz started to force a laugh and held his index finger up. “Once they get to the next area and find their Commander Ingledoss dead with all the people we left there I would think they would definitely turn around then. They may view it as a threat to the palace, or to your friend ‘Ziggy’ or if they know about the special package they are holding onto they may view it a threat to her being taken away. I’m just trying to think of all the possibilities.”