Far Winter & Close Fire - An Old Enemy

 

“Your heart beats seem weak or is just me?”

“Hmm…” I began as I looked down to see where the stethoscope was, “ohh, my heart is on the right side note the left. Sorry I forgot to mention this.”

“Ohhhkkk…. There ahh I see, ok your heart beats seem good. Your pressure is good, good. You young man are good to go.”

With that the doctor released me and I was ushered to the right side of the tent. Exiting that side led me to another one where an officer was inspecting the recruits for the next phase. As he examined the teeth, the head and every things else he made his way down to me. He stopped to check my eyes and the told me to open my mouth and as I did, he shoved his entire hand into it, I woke up from this nightmare and into the trench I was sleeping in. The smell of vomit, mud and death still hung in the air and so did the rain. It was still raining and the nights were just as miserable, I looked across to the other soldiers who were huddled together for warmth. We were all miserable and so was this war, nothing made sense and the death of out brothers and sisters made that worse. The call to protect out motherland was great and it made it seem like we were traitors for not heeding the call, the rich circumvented this by paying their way out.

“Bomb!!!” came the warming shout from somewhere down the trench and a loud crash was heard followed by the quack from the explosion. I held on to my rifle as more explosions tore through the other trenches, I tried to block out the sound but knew that soon we will have to jump over and run. Soldiers were now running up and down the trench shouting for medics while others were pulling, or carrying, wounded soldiers and some of them were missing limbs. The soldier next to me was a young lady who signed up to be an ammo supply for the sniper were following around. Were, is the main point here as he was killed by a mortar shell 2 days ago, we were then left to wait on further orders. The enemy was just as tired as we were, so they started shelling our positions and using machine guns to kill anyone running from a distance. Our generals kept sending orders to either charge or hold positions, out numbers were ever dwindling due to the shelling and it did not seem that reinforcements will be coming soon.

“Corporal Jennings and Ammo Corporal Bouchard! Report immediately to the Lieutenant Bask.” Came a call, I nudged her to move and we set off after the soldier. He looked at me and then her up and down “you look as sorry as this war front. Come on then she isn’t going to get any rosier the more you dawdle here.” Another explosion registered near us and I was shaken by the sound and Anna fell to the ground, I helped her up out of instinct while the solder ran forward shouting for us to follow. We ran through damaged trenches while evading the cries of dying soldiers and flying bullets, the mud was no longer saturated by water alone, it had taken a red hue from all the dead that littered the warzone. As we ran I could see that she was getting sicker by the moment, I was paired with her because no one else wanted to. She turned out to be good at spotting movement which helped us stay alive, it was unfortunate for Sniper Marshal Townsend as his position was spotted by another sniper.

We reached a barricaded bunker that has a soldier guarding the entrance, I looked around before we entered and all round us were explosions and gunfire from all sides. We did not have the mortars the enemy had so we ended up being the mice in this field and running from one hole to the next in the hopes that we would get lucky. Getting into the bunker I found my self in the company of only two soldiers who were taking turns to fire at enemy advances, at the centre of the bunker were stairs that were leading down. I followed the senior soldier down while Anna followed, she threw up outside the bunker when we stopped forcing the senior to turn away in disgust.

We walked through a maze of tunnels passing many rooms that were turned into hospitals for the wounded, there weren’t enough druids that could heal the wounded and those that could were at the end of their ropes. Magic was outlawed by the council but using it to heal wasn’t, but it did not stop the enemy from turning their cannons into machine guns for shells. We had no answer for that but sheer force of will, even then we were losing ground. A few more rooms that contained munitions and other supplies we finally reached the room that officer we were being called to see. The guide soldier left us after bowing to the senior officer and we entered with a bow.

“At ease soldiers, this is Lt. Bask, she will be your new Officer Sniper and you will do the same as you did to your old officer. He was a average soldier but it seemed that he let his hubris get the better of him.”

We turned to the officer and bowed to her but she waved us to remain, “the only sign of respect I want from you is doing what you are good at. Corporal Anna, I heard your eyes are better than most of the spotters, and you corporal Townsend are better than most secondary riflemen we had. I wonder how you two ended up with an inept sniper.”

I shrugged and Anna remained as she was, I looked to the senior officer and he remained stoic. Bask looked at him and then to us, “Corporal Anna, you are related to our Lord Franz, I wonder how a distant royal can be allowed to join the battle when you could have easily avoided the draft.”

“I… I signed up because of my mother.” Anna spoke in a low voice.

Bask’s eyebrow raised slightly and she looked at the senior officer who’s face turned red. I had no clue what was going on and knew that asking would lead to a punishment so I remained silent, I would probably get the story from Anna later.

“Who allocated her if I may ask senior officer?”

“Well… umm… well that is… I don’t know. I will check her order sheet and let you know?”

“You do that senior officer while I brief the both of them. It would seem that I had two of the most competent corporals being assigned to the most incompetent sniper. I should consider it luck that they are still alive and I was also informed that one of the juniors had them sit in the trenches near the front for over a week as a punishment for surviving. Find me that junior and I will have him sit there for a month.”

“Yes Sniper General, I will do that immediately,” and with that he practically ran from the room leaving the three of us staring at each other.

“Sniper General? I thought that was supposed to be Officer Hindergurt?”

“Hundergurt is dead, he was killed in a bombing raid in Lessengird, I am all that is left of the forward sniper battalion. So are you two ready to finally do something to move forward?”

I stood to attention and almost shouted my acceptance of the order while Anna just stared at Bask, Bask on the other hand looked at me with wonder. “Are you a son of a soldier or something corporal?” I blinked at the question and soon felt my energy levels drop, I was the son of a street sweeper and the money to sign up was more than he earned in a year. I had 3 other siblings to look after so the money they received would go well for them and my mother.

“I am the son of a street…”

“I know, don’t bother. Your mother is what separates you from us. She is the grand daughter of one of the original witches. I doubt if she bothered to tell you. So that makes you a rarity here. So few descendants of the original clan remain, the ones that did still practice were kidnapped by the enemy.”

I lowered my head in embarrassment and gave a glance at Anna who looked at me with incredulity. I had know of my ancestors but kept that out of my mind to avoid being singled out but I guess the higher you are in the army the more information that is at your disposal.

“So this is why I had them looking for you, we will be going the other direction to fight this war. The other direction I mean is the town Freisenville, it was taken a few days ago and we need to find out how the enemy by passed the frontline and took a town with just old people and made themselves a fort. Anna you will make sure you stay close to Townsend as its because of his natural mana aura that you have your far sight, and Townsend you are a conduit as I mentioned. I know magic was outlawed by the council of nations but it did not ban the citizens who had the natural affinity. We, or, I need you to make sure you don’t end up in enemy hands and don’t worry your family will not be touched. Your mother’s history is known only to a handful of people whose job it is to make sure she isn’t taken like the others.”

Anna finally spoke up, “I knew he was a mana conduit when I met him. I am also of the magic bloodline as you may know. My father did not practise the craft but he knew that if anyone found out we would be executed. I signed up because it was the only way I could keep him and mother safe from the inquisitor general’s officers.”

“I know, the inquisitor general is a fool and a very dangerous heretic. I have heard from my people in the cities that his officers now have free reign to burn anyone they want as write it off as potential magic practitioners. I am not against magic users but seeing that they are what is causing us to loose battle after battle I think the lord will have to rethink the old law.”

There was a knock on the door and another corporal walked in with a tray, it contained food that Anna hungrily stared at, my stomach was also sending signals that I tried very much to ignore. Hard cheese, bread, boiled vegetable soup and some clean water, all of this was a luxury for us frontline soldiers. The softest thing I had eaten since coming to the frontline was a field biscuit soaked in water and that water wasn’t even clean. Bowing, the corporal left the tray on the central table and left, Bask looked at us with amusement and said it was for us and we should eat while we wait for the senior officer to arrive. Anna did not wait for another second and rushed forward and tore into the bread and practically drank the soup, paced myself with the soup then the bread and cheese. Feeling the warm soup go down my throat was the best feeling ever and the salty taste of the cheese remined me of home, as a sweeper my father would get left overs from shops he would sweep for. My mother would cobble up whatever she could from what was brought in and we would have a feast while my parents looked on.

After the meal I saw that Anna had sat on chair and was almost dozing off now, the sounds of bombing from above had subsided and Bask looked up to listen. “Looks like the enemy has gotten tired. We need to move immediately and get on to the road, no point in sitting around for dawn.”

With that I woke Anna up and we were taken to another room where we received fresh uniforms, I got a new rifle that I recognised. It was a Wilfire Mark 8, something I had only heard about, and a pistol. The pistol was a service issue that I had before but lost when we were hit by the mortar that killed the sniper officer. Anna got a better ammo bag and better fitting uniform along with an arm band with the royal seal, this way she could get around without being treated like a pleasure doll. I had to save her a few times from being raped by fellow soldiers, a few times I had to break a few arms in doing so. She, in her defence, gave them souvenirs of her own with a pocketknife I had given her. Women had to defend themselves more than the men when it came to the frontlines as being raped by a soldier from either side was not uncommon.

“That rifle will give you a better chance of defending me when I am taking out the other snipers. I think you know about it right?”

“Yes Officer Bask, I had seen another soldier use on one of our scouting skirmishes. The accuracy is near perfect if you get the sights right and the reload is effortless unlike the one they gave me.”

Bask snorted at this statement, “that boomstick they gave you is something they give to children to hunt rabbits, yet still you managed to chalk up 67 kills with it. Impressive and troubling to say the least, with that you might increase the number ten fold.”

I looked down at the rifle and smiled, but knew that whatever numbers I get it would mean than there would be that many not going home to their families. This war was about power and it seemed that neither territory would back down and the precursor that started this was a border nation that is now a graveyard. Anna was admiring her arm band and showed it to me like a child showing her prized possession, I smiled and nodded my head. She was like my younger sister who would find things on the walks back home from school to show me, her and Tanisha would come running to show the gubbins they found while the youngest of us, Casey, would act like they embarrassed him. We were then hurried of to another room to change, taking off the torn and bloodied clothes felt good, while in the corner of the room were to basins for us to clean up. I washed myself and Anna did the same. We were to tired to bother looking at each other while doing so and dressed up quickly as Bask was waiting outside.

Once out the room we were taken further away to a camp above ground where we boarded a pick up, Bask sat next to the driver and we were off. Looking back at the camp where soldiers were walking around either looking for food or a place to rest I could see the hopelessness in their eyes. Anna has snuggled close to me and was asleep in minutes as we rode to the town, it was a good 5 hour journey so I slept also. Rest was hard to get when everyone and thing was exploding all around you. The dream did not return as I had a full belly.