Joshua Simon - Forgotten Soldiers

“Sergeant, you better get out here right away. We’ve got trouble.”

“What is it? Where’s Ira?”

“Outside with the others. He’s the one who told me to grab you.”

Dekar cursed and followed the soldier out. I went after them, using some colorful language of my own. Ira rarely called for help.

My hand immediately shielded my eyes from the harsh sun as I rushed out of the store. Squinting, I followed Dekar further into town. I heard cattle shuffling around in their pens as we neared the edge.

Behind an old barbershop rested the animal pens I heard earlier. The men I sent off with Ira to sell the wagons and mounts stood with weapons in their hands. Anger and fear lined their faces. I spotted Ira at the front of the group. Sword at his side, he said nothing. Never a good sign. For all Ira’s talk, when things got grim, he got focused and quiet.

I walked up, Dekar beside me.

Across from our group, over thirty men from the town, mostly ranchers, stood with various weapons of their own. A few had swords or machetes. Most improvised with woodcutter’s axes or pitchforks. A handful wore patches of armor. Several others held makeshift shields. They were a rag-tag group, obviously unaccustomed to fighting. However, the townsfolk had numbers on us. Again. We’d take them, but not without losses of our own.

“What’s going on, Ira?” I whispered.

“Idiots trying to steal from us,” he answered back in a voice just as low.

Men continued to run in and join the group across from us. Inexplicably, none seemed in a hurry to do much more than stand around and try to intimidate us. That strategy suited me just fine as it gave me time to catch up with Ira. It also let me know that we had a chance of getting out of here while avoiding any violence.

“How so?”

“I made a deal with the owners. Fair for both sides I thought. I even had the men get the horses in pens for them. Then when the idiots came to pay us, they only gave us half of the agreed amount. Said they changed their minds. I threw the money at their feet and called for the men to get the animals back out. When I did, people ran out with weapons drawn.”

“I’m surprised you haven’t killed anyone yet,” said Dekar.

“Don’t think I didn’t want to. Just trying to do what you would do, brother.”

“You did good,” I said. “Which one is the leader?”

“The one carrying the scythe. At least he’s the one who told us we couldn’t get the animals back. Everyone seems to be waiting on him to do something.”

I grunted. “He looks the most nervous of everyone.”

“He’s had time to think,” said Dekar. “Probably second guessing whether this was all worth it.”

“Let’s hope.” I sighed and undid my sword belt, letting it drop to the ground. “Best to try this the easy way first.”

“Be careful,” said Dekar.

I walked out into the space separating the two groups, stopping halfway. “I’m here to talk to who’s in charge. I took my sword off as a sign of peace. Bring whatever you want with you for all I care. I don’t intend to kill anyone.”

All eyes went to the man Ira tagged as the leader. He didn’t move at first, but realized quickly he needed to in order to save face. He brought the scythe he carried with him. Apparently, he didn’t need to save that much face. The curved blade looked comfortable in his hand, like a man who had used one all his life. He probably had and that worried me a bit.

He stopped about five feet away, scythe leaning outward between us like some barrier he dared me to pass.

“Good day.”

He didn’t respond. Whatever the man at the feed store had was catching.

“I hear there’s a problem in regards to payment for our animals and wagons.”

“No problem from our perspective.”

“Of course. Even still, we’ve decided the deal just isn’t worth it to us. If you and your friends would kindly step aside, we’ll get our wagons hitched again and get out of your way. What do you say?”

The man looked over his shoulder. Several of the men behind him shook their heads. “I can’t do that.”

“So theft is something accepted here then?”

“We’re not stealing anything.”

“Sure you are.” I gestured behind me. “My friend made a fair deal.”

“It wasn’t fair.”

“All right. He makes a deal. Fair or not, it was one that you agreed to. Then you have a change of heart. He returns the money. And now you want to keep our animals anyway. If that isn’t stealing than I don’t know what is.”

“The animals stay. You can have the wagons.”

“And how would you have me take my wagons away without horses to pull them?”

He shrugged. “Not my concern.”

My eyes narrowed. “What is your problem with us? We did nothing to you or this town.”

“We heard about what happened in Damanhur. Better we get to you before you get to us.”

That made no sense. Even if the truth was that we razed Damanhur to the ground, why would he want to provoke us into doing something similar in Kafr. Scared and threatened, the people had forgotten to think.

I grit my teeth, trying to bite back the words pronouncing his foolishness. I didn’t think that sharing my thoughts right then would help matters much.

“What exactly did you hear?”

“That your men were all over the place, raping and pillaging with your first taste of freedom. Reports say Damanhur lost seventy men just trying to protect what was theirs on account of your numbers being so much larger.”

“You got it backward. Damanhur attacked us. We lost twelve of our own men defending ourselves. And I promise there was no raping and pillaging.”

“Just like there was no raping and pillaging going on in Genesha?”

That took me back. “What?”

“We’ve all heard the things that went on.”

“I never raped anyone.”

He nodded over my shoulder to those behind me. “What about them? Could you say the same for them?”

I said nothing, knowing that I couldn’t speak for everyone. It was the ugly part of war few talked about. Officers tried to keep that stuff in check, but we couldn’t be everywhere and we couldn’t see everything.

“I thought so. So, you didn’t do any raping. Good for you. I guess that’s saying something.”

“Watch yourself,” I said, voice low as I tried to stay calm.

He ignored me, spinning his scythe. Gaining confidence as he spoke, his voice rose so the others could hear. “How many villages did you burn? How many innocent people who had nothing to do with the war died? People like us. How many families died because of disease and starvation? How many Geneshan children did you press into work gangs?”

I’d always been the sort who could let most things people said against me slide, but the man’s accusations struck me like a fist to the jaw. It wasn’t the man so much as the truth behind his words.

The man’s scythe was in my hand. Its blade pressed against the owner’s throat. I couldn’t say when, but at some point I had reacted, pulling him inches from my face. I stared into his panicked eyes, smelling fresh urine run down his leg.

“Who do you think you are to judge me?” I yelled. “You think I wanted to be a soldier? I lost ten years of my life because of the army. All because they told me I had to join. It was my duty. Turine needed me. And without people like me, we’d all be speaking Geneshan now!” I paused, seething. “I was taken from the only home I ever knew, from my wife and my kids. I did my part to protect not only them, but also ungrateful people like you who didn’t have the guts to fight yourselves. Are there things I did that I’m not proud of? Yes. And I’d do it again, because I know the alternative. I saw what the Geneshans had done to the nations they conquered. I saw piles of children’s’ bones as tall as a man from kids the Geneshans used as sacrifices to Beel. Yes, people died. Yes, people suffered. It’s awful, and it’s as much a part of war as the battlefield. Without what we did, you wouldn’t have any of the freedoms you enjoy now.”