Winter in the Mountains Ch. 03

We travelled all day on the main road, without stopping for lunch. We were quite a crowd; in addition to 18 men with horses, we had several huge horses loaded with gear, and an assorted crowd of dogs. The captain had a pet falcon. It spent most of the time in the air, only resting on his shoulder occasionally. The captain spoke only a little to me, he spent most of the time talking to the squad about military matters. For me, it was a day of blissful quietness, and I tried to think as little as possible.

That night, in a small hollow near the road where we camped, I waited for the captain to command me to serve him or some other soldier. But instead I heard him tell one of the soldiers that I was not to be touched until after I was no longer using the seed. I didn't know whether to be relieved or not. The men were watching me and there was no doubt what they wanted. I doubted that the captain would be able to hold them back.

The captain came to me and told me that I would not get seed that night, to use my brew instead. My anger consumed me – he had lied to me. I swore at him; I used all the words I had learnt. But he was unimpressed. He said that I had already missed one night the night I was sentenced, and I could miss another. He said it would do me good. And I would get seed when I needed it, he had not promised me seed every night.

I saw that I had been deceived by the captain; that I would never trust him again. I brewed my drink, and planned to find and use the seed while he slept. I wouldn't be able to sleep till I had the seed. I waited by the fire while the squad prepared to sleep.

Finally, the captain summoned me; I was to sleep next to him. I pretended to do what he said, and lay down under my blanket next to him.

"No one is to touch you. If some one tries, wake me up". Yes, sure, that was why I was sleeping next to him.

"You won't sleep well without the seed will you?" he asked me.

I gritted my teeth: how could I answer that question? I opted for the truth, but I was unable to keep the resentment from my voice.

The captain sat down next to me and spoke quietly, so only I could hear him. "You really want the seed?". Yes. No. I didn't know what to say, how to answer. I glared at him. "I understand that you will be tempted". He pointed to the man on watch – very close to us. "The men on watch will be watching you. If you try to find the seed, they will wake me and I will have to chain you."

He watched me for a while, and then spoke again. "You are still young. You deserve better from life, but it will be a hard road from where you are now, from what was done to you. Think of this as your first of many tests. Your responses will show you whether you have the strength to find what you deserve."

The captain's words filled my thoughts long after he had gone to sleep. I could not sleep; though I ached with tiredness, the brew had not dulled my desire enough. Yes, the captain was right, this was a hard road. Did it lead to what I deserved? I had no idea. But he had filled me with the determination to show him that I could resist temptation. I began counting the night off. If I could hold to the end of the first watch, I would have begun to show some strength. Before the end of the first watch, I fell into a disturbed sleep.

I barely remember the second day at all. I hadn't slept well, and I was consumed by the desire for the seed. There was nothing to distract me. I thought about trying to run for it, but it was no use; it was hot, they had better horses and would track me down. Nor were my wits any match for them, even at my best. I think I barely spoke. Towards the evening I began to feel better; perhaps it was only because I was sure I would get the seed that night. I was able to care for my horse and help wash the dishes after the evening meal.

The squad were sitting around the fire laughing and singing when the captain showed me where I should sleep and gave me that precious little bag of seed. I did not delay, and once again, taking the seed brought me no pleasure in the way that it had before.

On the morning of the third day, I woke early to a beautiful morning. I was able to wash quickly in the stream we had camped by before many of the men were awake. I decided that I would start to master my fears. I had passed my first test, and I would pass all the others. And this morning, I would start by learning the names of these soldiers I had to give myself to. I helped with breakfast, I smiled at them, I spoke to them. I began to learn their names. Most of the squad were known by nicknames, often relating to something that had happened in their past.

"Scar" was obvious. In fact, you couldn't miss the big red weal running down the left side of his face. "Gong", a huge man, had been given his name because he had made an enemy commander's armour echo like a gong in a battle when he had attacked him with a hammer. "Ferret" was a clever woodsman who could move through the woods with no sound at all. Not all the names were complimentary. "Sock", I was told, to the evident enjoyment of the audience, got his name when he stuck a sock down his pants to impress a woman. Sock laughed, and told me that it wasn't true, and he'd be happy to prove that he didn't need a sock. I was sure that I would find out.

Not long after we broke camp, we came to the end of the farmland we had been travelling through, and the captain decided that we would head away from the road and through the forest. It was another hot day; very hot by the middle of the day. The captain said that this was the last hot spell of summer, and the men all took their shirts off to enjoy the sun. I thought, since we were no longer on the road, we had seen no one since we left the road, and I was very hot, that I'd join them too.

I brought my horse to a stop so that I could take my shirt off, then lift my undershirt over my head. The undershirt got caught in my hair, and by the time I had lifted it over my head, the entire squad had come to a halt, watching me. I enjoyed the look in their eye's – they wanted me. I shook my chest for effect. It really pleased me to see that they all couldn't take their eye's off me.

"OK, soldiers, you'll get plenty of time to look, get moving", the captain called out. He smiled at me as the squad started moving again. "Make sure they all get a good look."

I stayed like that for several hours, and the soldiers took it in turn to ride next to me. The captain changed both the point and rearguard riders so that they could ride next to me too. It was another opportunity to talk with them all. Or at least, for them to talk to my chest.

Our pleasant ride through the woods came to a sudden halt midway towards the end of the afternoon. I felt that I had heard a scream of pure terror. I looked around, but I didn't see anything, and none of the soldiers had heard anything. I heard it again, clearly the voice of a girl. This time I knew where it was coming from, just over the hill, though why I could only hear it in my mind, I didn't know. I called to the captain, and galloped over to his horse.

"What is it?", he asked

"Please, Captain, I hear screaming from over the hill". As I said this, I heard another voice, a cry of fear, that was cut off during the middle of cry. Death. I felt death for the first time. Ashes in my mouth.

Gong, who was riding next to the captain, said "I don't hear anything". I looked at the captain, his eyes were out of focus and he seemed to be thinking.

"Halt" he called. "There is a problem over the hill. It looks like an enemy attack on a small village. We will ride to the rescue". He began to bark out orders to the squad. Two of them were to wait with me and the dogs and horses. The others were divided into 3 groups, and the captain led them over the hill.

While I waited, I dressed again, and prepared a small bag of the things I'd likely need if there was anyone wounded. I was afraid. Why had I been able to sense this from over the hill? Nothing like that had ever happened before. I was no longer hearing voices, but I could strongly feel fear, filling me up, and adding to fear of my new sense.

It wasn't long before Ferret appeared over the hill and summoned me. I followed him into a small village with six houses. The dead lay all around, and some of the houses were burning. I couldn't see any of my squad. Ferret spoke to me. "They are around us looking for the enemy. We caught one alive but we think there is more. There is only 2 survivors, a mother and her daughter. They were raping the mother when we got here." Ferret's voice was low and tight. When I looked at him, I could see the anger in his face. "They were going to start on the daughter when they finished with her". He led me into the middle of the village, where there was a small open area.

In the middle of the open area was a woman laying on the ground sobbing, and a young girl, maybe 13 years old, was sitting next her crying. They were both covered in old ragged blankets. One of the soldiers, Digger, was standing over them. He looked at me. "These are the only living ones. The captain wants you to look at them. Anyone else living will be brought here too, and I am to help you".

Oh, no. What a dreadful thing to happen. I asked Digger to make me a small fire and sat down next to the girl. I laid my hand on here mother's shoulder, and looked at the girl. She was quite pretty, but tears were running down her face, and she wasn't looking at me. "I am a healer" I told her. She lifted her eyes to mine, and looked straight through me. She went to speak, but words would not come. "Are you hurt?" I asked her. She shook her head, but moved the blanket to show me some surface marks on her side and her arms. I knew that I would need to tend to her but she could wait for now.

I lifted the blanket covering her mother, and gasped in shock. They had not just raped this women, they had beaten her too. She was already bruised across much of body, and she probably had some broken ribs. She must have fought them viciously. I had treated a rape victim once before, but nothing like this. She was lying in a pool of blood and still bleeding from several places.

I took a deep breath and gathered my wits. Though I was no stranger to death and injury, the depth of evil and size of the problems I faced here made me afraid. But even if I was out of my depth, I was all that these two poor victims had, and I would have to put my problems aside for them. "Right". I tried to be as decisive as I could be. I turned to the daughter. "What is your name?"

"Lani" she replied.

"Lani, your mum's going to be OK, but we have to do things for her. Can you help me?"

She nodded. "OK, can you help Digger here find a clean bucket of water and a cloth?" She looked relieved to have something to do. While I was waiting I checked the woman. Other then several sharp but shallow cuts, and the bruises, she seemed to be in reasonable condition.

Lani ran back with a bucket. I washed the woman. She had lain on the ground sobbing to this point, but when I open the first wound to check it and clean it she fainted. I bound her wounds with some of the bandages the old healer had given me. They looked clean, and would probably heal OK.

I wiped the sweat from my brow and took stock. Things were not as bad as they had seemed. Both Lani and her mother were going to survive. I used Digger's fire to prepare a poultice for them that would help to prevent infection in their cuts. While I was waiting for it, I spoke to the mother. Her name was Edina. They had no warning, the enemy had run in on foot and started killing everyone in the small settlement. Two men were holding her down and using her when Digger had run up and killed them both. She pointed out the body of a small child, her son Peter, and a body of a man lying on the ground, with an arrow protruding from his face, not far from us. She told me that he was the one that had beaten her.

I think that it was at this time that I started to understand that this wasn't even war. This was something worse, just killing and raping poor innocent working people who were struggling to make a living. What possible response could there be to this outrage? This was far different to how I had been treated. Tom had been hung as a criminal, but this, how could you respond? At this moment the captain walked into the area with several other soldiers dragging a prisoner. His blond hair and pale skin marked him as an enemy.

The captain asked me to prepare a special brew that the old healer had shown me how to make. He would force it into the prisoners mouth while he was unconscious so that he would be disorientated when he became conscious and would talk. When the prisoner became conscious, the captain spoke softly to the prisoner in a language I did not know. The prisoner groaned and answered in the same language. They spoke for a few minutes. Then the captain stood up and looked around at his watching men. "This scum here confirms that we have killed all of them. Scar, tie him up and leave him on the ground down there. Gather all the enemy bodies with him, and the villagers up here".

The soldiers spent the next couple of hours gathering bodies and digging a pit for the enemies and graves. I helped with the graves – digging graves was something I knew how to do. We buried the dead from the village, many of them young children. The soldiers didn't say much, but their grey faces showed a grim pall. The captain pointed to the prisoner, who was fully awake now, and explained that the prisoner had proudly claimed responsibility for killing the children and raping the woman. They gagged the prisoner, placed him on top of the bodies of the other thugs in the pit, and burnt them.

The captain gathered all the soldiers together. "I know that many of you have doubted this mission. The prisoner told me that they came over the mountains to rape and kill until they are dead. These thugs will keep coming, this will keep happening. Do not doubt anymore. We must hold the mountain passes through winter. And we will hold them. We will do this, not for ourselves, but for the people and the land."

We stood as one, inspired, and echoed, "For the People and the Land", our age old war cry.

The captain wanted to take Edina and Lani to a nearby city, but they completely refused to leave the village. By the time we left, the sun was setting. The captain announced that we would be staying at the garrison in the nearby city tonight.

As we rode to the city, the captain spoke to me. "So, you heard the woman in your mind?". I nodded. "Is this the first time that's happened?".

"It's never happened before", I said.

"OK. We will talk about it later."

"But how did you know to believe me?" I burst out.

"Well, don't tell anyone, though the squad knows. I can see through my falcon's eyes when I want to."

I shivered. I had already thought his eyes were piercing. That was incredible. Well, there was no way that I would ever try running from this amazing man. I repeated to myself, this man owned me, I had to do anything he asked without second thoughts. And I knew that I'd do anything for him and for the mission after today. "Even lick his boots" I said to myself, though I figured I'd be using my tongue somewhere else. And, looking at his piercing eyes, I shivered again. For once, it'd be a real pleasure.