Joshua Simon - Forgotten Soldiers

Had I really?

He continued. “You move on to someone else, Mister. Someone who still has a chance.”

Panic hit me when I thought of those who still needed help. I couldn’t let anyone else die. Too many had died under my command and I couldn’t fail the people here like I did those in the army. I couldn’t fail Denu Creek like I had failed Lasha by not being here for her. I rose to my feet quickly and nearly passed out as the town spun. I shuffled several steps, not regaining my balance until a set of soft hands grabbed hold of me.

“Take it easy,” came a voice I hadn’t expected to hear. “I have you.”

My eyes stopped dancing, and I stood straighter, gaze drifting down to Damaris’s hands, one on my arm, the other on my bare chest. I had been trying to heal people for so long, I had forgotten that I was shirtless. With trousers rolled up to my knees, I wondered how foolish I must have looked.

Damaris pulled her hands away, her cheeks going rosy.

I cleared my throat. “Where’s Nason?”

“He said he was going to get one of your friends to come talk some sense into you. He asked me to make sure you didn’t hurt yourself.”

“Oh. Who’s next?” I asked.

“No one here.”

I gave her a puzzled look. The streets of Denu Creek were eerily void of people, a stark contrast to the morning when it seemed like beaten earth was the place to be for the dying and dead to reside.

Gods, I guess I was more tired than I thought.

“Where is everyone?”

“Home. Most needed food, water, and sleep since they were in too much pain to do those things before you helped. Some also needed time to clean up since they were unable to move and accidently soiled themselves.”

I turned back to the young man in the street who I left by his grandmother.

Damaris’s father, Sivan, was at the boy’s side. I overheard the faint prayer he led to Xank, the God of Death. It seemed the only time people ever prayed to Xank was in the time immediately following the death of a loved one, hoping he might watch over their soul. A part of me wondered if people quit cursing him during their days and prayed to him instead, if he would stop taking so many lives.

Such a thought seemed contradictory to my incessant cursing of Molak. I wondered if instead of devoting most of my swears to him, maybe I should give Ao her due.

I let out a sigh.

“What are you thinking about?” asked Damaris.

“Since I don’t know your religious inclinations, I’ll keep that to myself.” I turned away from Sivan. “I guess I must have gone into a trance because it seemed like there were more people who needed my help.”

“Well, there was. Jareb and several of his people weren’t as affected by the explosion as others. Or at least they recovered quickly on their own. They convinced quite a few people not to come to you. They blame you for what happened, saying everything in town was fine until you showed up. They keep talking about some curse on your family.”

My hands balled into fists, remembering what Myra had said about such nonsense. “That’s ridiculous.”

I cursed Molak. Then I cursed Ao. They took an old woman who meant everything in the world to her grandson, but let Jareb and his goons not only live, but barely suffer.

“I know. They’ve holed themselves up in the Soiled Dove where the physician is looking after them.”

“Is he well enough to even care for them?”

“He was one of the first people you healed today. Apparently, he suspended his prejudice toward you just long enough to suit his needs.”

“That’s usually how it works.” I shook my head. “I should have done more sooner. Jareb might not have been able to convince them that I was the problem if I had.”

She stepped in front of me, grabbed my chin and pushed it up where I had been staring at my feet. Up close, our difference in height became more noticeable. The top of her head barely reached my chest.

“You can’t dwell on that. You saved a lot of people today.”

I grunted, suddenly uncomfortable with taking credit for what I had done. It felt insincere to become puffed up with something I should have done sooner and without convincing.

“One thing has been bothering me all day though.”

I inclined my head, curious by the shift in her tone.

“You left last night before I had a chance to ask you why you helped me and my father. All we did was sell you clothes.”

“You didn’t treat me or my children differently. After all Myra and Zadok had been through and everything I had experienced since leaving the army, that meant something to me.”

“Well, thank you.” She smiled in a way that made me suddenly aware of how close we stood to each other. I took a step backward.

Dizziness returned to me the second my foot found earth. Damaris reached out to steady me once more, but was a second too late.

I fell. Hard.

“Gods be cursed, Ty. What’s the matter with you?” Ira’s voice rang out as footsteps pounded the dirt.

Rough hands reached under my armpits and yanked me to my feet where they held me firm.

“Nason said you were pushing yourself, but I didn’t realize you were this bad off.” Ira flung one of my arms over his shoulder. “Let’s get you back upstairs.”

“I’m fine,” I mumbled.

“Yeah, I bet.” Ira leaned in and whispered as we walked away from the feed store. “Not many people can say they literally fell for a woman, Ty.” He snorted.

“Gods, that was bad even for you.”

“You’re just tired. After a few hours of sleep, you’ll wake up laughing.”

“Not likely. Tell Dekar the line when we get upstairs and see what he thinks.”

“What would be the point of that? The moment’s passed. Besides, you can’t judge the quality of a joke by his standards. The man barely smirked that time we got Caleb drunk and tricked him into wearing that old dress we found.”

“Caleb? Man, that’s a name I haven’t heard in awhile.” I chuckled. “It was pretty funny though.” A sigh followed.

“What was that for?”

“Just thinking about Caleb now.”

“Oh?”

“He was a good soldier.” I felt a tickle in the back of my throat. “Then the fool had to go and save my life. Now, he’s dead like thousands of others. Just another name that only a few will ever remember.”

Ira swore. “You sure killed my mood quick.”

“Sorry. It’s just aggravating that so many like him won’t be remembered. Everything they did will be forgotten.”

Ira spat. “I ain’t going to forget. I doubt you will. And you know good and well Dek won’t. That man remembers what we had for breakfast twenty years ago to the day. I’m not sure what happened to Hamath or what’s going to happen to your sister, but I reckon they aren’t the kind of people to forget a man like Caleb either. I guess it’s up to us to make sure others hear about their deeds so they live on. Right?”

I nodded. “That’s some deep stuff coming from you.”

He laughed. “Dek’s been my brother for almost thirty years. The man’s bound to have an influence on me after that much time.”

We reached the porch in front of the inn and our boots hit the wooden planks with a thud that reminded me of my Pa fixing boards on our barn when I was a kid.

I froze as a thought struck me. I threw Ira off and turned back toward Nason who was talking to Sivan and Damaris in the middle of the street. My footfalls came quickly thanks to a sudden burst of energy.

“What’s wrong?” asked Ira, coming up behind me.

“The farms!”

“What?”

My shouting caught Nason’s attention and he hurried over.

He eyed Ira. “I thought you were getting him upstairs.”