5 - The Pass

Chapter 5
The Pass

The air was different in the mountains, it was lighter and fresher, you felt like you were breathing yourself clean, I felt all the phlegm in my guts come out and I felt young again. The route to Sesuthia we had retraced over the last two days using Sophie Onion as our guide had been beguiling, beautiful and ice-lined, and we didnt know if it was right and nor did she. Around the small fire Sophie Onion cooked a rabbit stew from a rabbit Rowan had shot not half an hour before. I had told him not to use his gun as sound travels especially in the rocky valley we were in; the ricochets travel for miles, but he said nothing and didn’t look ne in the eye and for some reason I let it pass. Rowan sat close to Sophie Onion and they talked in a low, secretive hubbub.

‘Don’t get too close’ I said to him, he looked at me indignantly, his lip curled in a snarl, his face creased, his eyes staring. ‘You’re supposed to be alert’

‘Like you were with that girl in the house at Medvia?’ he said slowly and deliberately.

‘Do I answer to you? Anyway we weren’t on the run then’

‘Do I still answer to you?’

‘For the time being, yes you do’ I said in a shout. Jack looked on indifferently, while Briggs turned away, pretending not to hear. Were the men getting fed up with it all and feeling rebellious. We weren’t exactly still at war, perhaps I should disband the unit before it disbanded itself. We were told to disperse and retreat, that was all, but we had removed ourselves completely having effectively deserted in a way we had committed an act of mutiny and if we did get back or run into our army we could be court marshalled and shot. Rowan looked down, shaking his head.

‘The stew will be ready soon’ Sophie Onion said cutting across the atmosphere.

‘Thank you, Sophie’ Briggs said stepping towards the fire. He looked at the silver billy cab bubbling with juices.

The wafting smell was a dangerous thing in itself I thought. ‘We eat then move off, right?’ I said realising I was now asking for approval?

‘Yeah’ Rowan said accepting what was left of my authority. Perhaps I should aim to keep some control at a lower level.

After my stew I walked back along our route and checked the route behind us I heard the men talking loudly and arguing. As soon as I was out of sight of them I got out my tobacco tin and rolled some strands of tobacco in the thin white papers. The vapours hit my head and I stared far away at the horizon and there far off was the mountain of Taragas and it still looked as big as it was two days ago. I took another long drag and thought of ‘that girl in the house at Medvia’ and where she might be and her words echoed at me again. Your name is old-fashioned she’d said. I walked on a few more steps and my hand shook as I lit another smoke in the few minutes I had allowed myself and all I needed now was a beer and I would be in heaven and thoughts of heaven led to her, Nola again. I mused about what she was doing, she had probably moved on and was with some Narsian guy, she excited me and then decimated me all at once. Her words haunted me like the dying notes of a song, but more than that it was the way she looked at me, her eyes shining like the moon in dark water ‘Where are you going?’ she whispered. I looked down the narrow valley we had walked through only an hour or so before, it had steep mountainous sides that led down to dark green fields and hedges with clumps of trees around the winding path at its lowest point ‘You’re not coming back?’ she asked. I was so lost in thought I hadn’t seen a group of men sitting casually on a patch of grass. Looking closer I saw they were a troop of Narsian soldiers. Immediately I crouched down and put out my light, fanning the smoke away. ‘I can smell smoke’ I heard one say, they started looking around and I hoped that I hadn’t given us away. One looked my way and in panic I ran. When I got back to the camp Rowan was making out with Sophie Onion, their mouths locked in a long kiss, their arms thrown loosely around each other and my thoughts drifted once more. ‘At night?’ Nola said, confusedly.

‘We’re moving out, come on let’s get out of here’ I said.

‘What’s up?’ Jack said from his slumber, he looked around stretching his eyes open until he was fully awake. Briggs stood up and checked his rifle and hefted his kit bag onto his back, making himself ready in an instant.

I pointed back ‘there’s a bunch of Narsians up there and I think they saw me. Let’s go, come on’. We picked up as much stuff as possible and ran headlong up the narrowing valley that became a ravine. We weaved our way up with Rowan and Sophie Onion straggling at the rear. As shots rang out behind us I began to fear the worst and knew we couldn’t run forever as the zig-zag of the ravine provided little cover with a sandy scrub-like floor and high gorge like rocks.

‘Leave that woman behind’ Briggs yelled at Rowan as he charged along. ‘She’s slowing us down’

‘I’m not leaving her to them’ Rowan shouted back as he ran in a crouching position

‘She’s a civilian, she’s nothing to do with the war, they won’t harm her’

‘You don’t know that’

While Rowan and Briggs were arguing I saw to my horror that Jack had stopped a way back and was taking shots at the Narsians chasing us. I turned to see him laughing as he had hit one, the man fell to the ground after the jolt of the bullet hit him. Jack was encouraged by this and taking aim again shot another man dead. I was about to call him on when a volley of shots hit him and he fell to the ground, his already lifeless body collapsing in a heap.

‘Come on you two’ I said to Briggs and Rowan. There were only three of us now I thought. The ravine zig zagged, left to right, right to left until it opened out to a flat area of land with no cover other than some boulders. ‘We take cover here’

‘Are you crazy?’ Rowan announced, dragging Sophie Onion by the arm behind a boulder.

‘We have to face them sometime, we can’t run forever’ I said. ‘Give her a weapon’ From our concealed positions we pointed our guns and waited.

A rush of six men shooting came out of the ravine as we had. We shot at them and four fell and the remaining two turned back. Again we waited until another six men came through. They picked out our positions this time, firing right at us. They held their position in the open ground. It made them easy targets and all but one died where they stood. The last man dropped his gun and put his hands up. Slowly we came out.

‘What’s your name?’ I asked him as I picked up his gun.

‘Cultarr’ he said slowly. He was shaking and was as white as a ghost. I beckoned him on and we walked on. He kept his hands up until several hours later we reached the lowlands and marshlands of Sesuthia

‘We are here’ Sophie Onion announced. ‘But we are too far east. I live to the west by the sea. But thank you for getting me to my home land’ in turn she made a point of looking each one of us in the eye.

Author's Note

In the next chapter they reach the fabled land

Reviews

[Coyote Poetry]

I enjoyed reading the story Testia. You give enough for the reader to grasp the set-up for war and I like how you described places and situation. Thank you for sharing the excellent chapter.
Coyote