I nodded.
“Yeah, that got to a lot of people. Cemented my resolve in what we were fighting for, you know. We had to stop the Geneshans. Who else was going to stop them if we didn’t? They had already conquered four nations.” He paused “I know you were pressed into the army, but did you ever really feel a sense of duty to what we were doing?”
“Sure. Sometimes. Like you said, it was hard not to after stuff like El Ghriba.”
“What about now?”
I blew out a slow breath. “On occasion, but less and less as the days wear on. You?”
He spat. “Nope. Not anymore.”
“What did it?”
“One of those villages that man talked about us burning. Hadera. We were making our final sweep after they allowed us to evacuate it before we razed the place. I found a baby crying in a basket under one of the beds. Xank knows what parent would have left their kid like that. Of course, the parents might have been dead for all I know. Anyway, I grabbed the baby out the basket and walked back to camp. Balak saw me and called me over.”
Ira changed his voice to Balak’s, stiff and deep. “Son, what are you doing with that baby?”
“I found him, sir. Left behind in Hadera,” he answered back in his own voice.
“And?” he said once again while imitating Balak’s voice.
“Thought I’d give him to one of the whores. I know it ain’t the best life for a kid, but at least it’s something.”
“And are you going to become that baby’s surrogate father too?”
“Honestly sir, I haven’t thought about it much. Probably wouldn’t hurt for him to have someone around while I can do it.”
“That’s what I thought. Give me the baby.”
“Sir?”
“I’ll take care of things.”
“How?”
“Give it to me, son, or find yourself in the stockades!”
Ira laughed. “Well what was I going to do, Ty? I didn’t want the stockades so I gave him the baby.” He spat, then worked the tobacco around his jaw. “He took care of him all right. I saw one of his aids burying the child during third watch near the latrines that night. I dug him back up to know for certain and saw his lips were all blue and there was some bruising around the mouth. Likely smothered. I realized then just how awful a person Balak was and what sort of person the king was for promoting him to general. It also said what sort of people we all were for following them both.”
We sat in silence, watching the flames dance for some time. I always had issues with Balak, but never did I think he was that cruel. Something dawned on me. “That aid. That was Jahleel, wasn’t it?”
He spat. “Yep.”
I remembered Jahleel dying around that time. Strangled with a belt. Body dumped in the latrines. No one knew who had done it though Balak did his best to find out. I put two and two together.
It was my turn to spit.
Gods, why had I taken a bite of tobacco? “Well, I guess I know how he died then. And the reason for it.”
Ira shrugged. “Yep.”
“Why didn’t you ever tell me?”
“You had enough on your plate managing us and the never-ending missions Balak threw our way. You didn’t need something like that clouding up your thoughts. Besides, if someone had ever figured out what I did, and you knew about it but didn’t address it, you’d be in just as deep as me. Probably deeper.”
Ira nodded toward his brother. “Dek thinks that most of your threat earlier in Kafr about killing everyone was a bluff. He said it wasn’t like you to go around killing civilians. But it wasn’t a bluff, was it? You would have cut that man open in a heartbeat.”
I shifted uncomfortably. “What makes you say that?”
“Because I’ve only seen you that angry one other time and that was when we all first joined and them two mages were picking on Ava. You were madder then actually, which only makes sense because of her being family. But this was close. And you nearly killed both of them mages then. Probably would have if me and Ham hadn’t pulled you off.”
“Good thing you did. Balak would have had me hanged. The lashings were bad enough.” I winced as phantom pains drifted over my back and shoulders. “He said it was unfair that I beat them so badly since I had a resistance to sorcery. I told Balak that those idiots should have carried swords.”
Ira snorted. “Yeah, they should have. So like I asked, you weren’t bluffing earlier, were you?”
“No. I wasn’t. I don’t bluff when someone threatens my family.”
Ira was probably right by keeping that story of killing Jahleel from me. My unit had taken the place of my family during the war and I wouldn’t have turned my back on Ira for something like that. Regardless of what would have rained down on me.
I glanced over my shoulder at the men talking, playing cards, a few others already settling down for the night. I knew they weren’t perfect, but I’d die for them just as I knew they would for me.
When it comes to family, that’s the way it should be.
CHAPTER 11
Eventually it was down to me, Dekar, and Ira. Thankfully, Kafr was the last confrontation we had to deal with during the remainder of our travels. That made the journey more palatable and still allowed us to hang onto our hope of what was to come when we reached our homes. That’s not to say the people we came across started throwing flowers at our feet or anything like that. They just never tried to kill us.
Small victories.
Ira and I sat up front while Dekar snoozed in the back of the wagon.
“Gods, Ty. You’re shaking the wagon more than the road.”
“Huh?”
Ira nodded to my hands that I had been rubbing subconsciously while tapping a leg and rocking in my seat.
“Sorry,” I said, trying to force myself to relax. “I’m getting anxious. We should be in Denu Creek within the hour.”
He shook his head. “Well, we ain’t there yet so calm yourself. I swear you’re acting like a kid on his name day.”
I chuckled, but stopped at a sudden urge. I stood.
Ira swore. “What in the name of Xank are you doing now?”
“Gotta piss.”
“Well, let me pull over then. It won’t take but a minute,” he said pulling the reins.
“No! Just keep going. We can’t stop now. We’re too close,” I said, undoing my britches.
Dekar woke up. “What are you two going on about? That was the best sleep I had in days.”
“Ty’s being ridiculous,” said Ira. “Man can wait a decade to see his family, but not a few extra minutes to make sure he doesn’t get piss on his leg.”
“Seriously?” asked Dekar, looking away from my stream.
I shook off and started tying my britches up. “Let’s see how you feel tomorrow when you’re this close to seeing your Adwa again. Then we can talk.” I sat. “You got time to get a bit more sleep if you want.”
“Too late now. I’m up, and I’m hungry.” Dekar started rummaging around in the back. “I guess we won’t be stopping to eat. Might as well do it now. Here.” He handed up some jerky for me and Ira.
I was pretty hungry, but my stomach was also in too big of a knot to eat much. I took a bite of the dried beef, and let it sit in my mouth, slowly sucking out the spices before chewing and swallowing. The ritual gave me something to do other than think about seeing Lasha and the kids again.
How would they react? What would they say? Molak be damned, I still hadn’t figured out what I would say.
The food only calmed me for a few minutes. After the third bite, I started blabbering about Denu Creek, my home, Lasha, Myra, and Zadok. Stories I knew Ira and Dekar had heard dozens of times before spilled out before I even realized it.
I couldn’t help myself.
Ira started to drive the horses harder with each story. We actually had to slow down as we reached the outskirts of town.
Ten years is a long time for anyone to be gone from home. In that amount of time, a baby can become a boy or a boy a man. Even still, I had not expected Denu Creek to be so different. The place had more than doubled in size-inns, taverns, specialty stores, and even a small theater next to the local auction house lined Main Street which actually lived up to its name.