Chapter 19: Regroup

Even though we had finally slipped out of death's reach, that did not mean we could immediately kick back and let our sweat-soaked bodies rest. We were at the promised location, but we still had to circle the farm to find where the Colonel's group had settled.

"Caspian, did they not give you a specific location?"

"My bad, Lieutenant. I forgot to ask for more details."

"Alright, it's okay, I'm not blaming you."

The farm was fairly large, so it was only natural that combing the edges would take some time, especially since Caspian's radio had stopped working at some point during our game of cat and mouse.

In the distance, the sun was beginning to rise, bringing its beautiful red light to finally signal the nocturnal creatures to return to their dens, while for most of the waking world it served as their alarm to start the day. After everything we had been through across that long night, the morning sunlight cutting through the dew felt unfamiliar the moment it hit us.

I could not pretend it did not feel strange, knowing we had just spent half the night inside a transport aircraft and the other half adventuring across land that was entirely foreign to us. It all felt so fast and yet somehow also felt like it had gone on forever, to the point where the memory of us still camping at the airfield felt like it had been months ago.

".....I still can't believe it," Rick, who had been on Horgan's back earlier, was now walking on his own, though still a little unsteady. "What am I supposed to tell your mother, you're such an idiot, Bob, to die on the first day, damn you...."

All we could do was walk alongside him, occasionally stealing glances but not daring to say a word to him as he grieved, clutching the dog tag of our fallen comrade. It turned out Ashton had already grabbed it before we finally pulled back.

It seemed the Bob figure had been someone from the same neighborhood as Rick. They had volunteered together for the paratroopers at the same time, so it can be concluded they were close friends. Nobody could contain their grief when forced to lose someone that close to them, and for that reason we all chose to keep our mouths shut, afraid of saying the wrong thing.

We were fortunate that he was still holding himself together as well as he was after losing someone that close to him. Even though tears had briefly fallen, he had told us all he did not want to be a burden. So it seemed that even without our help, he was someone with a heart as strong as iron, and only time could truly heal what he was carrying.

"Zzztttt....zzzst....rescuer-rescuer," without any warning, the radio on Caspian's back crackled back to life, bringing all of us to a dead stop. "This is Blue Heron, please respond, over."

Lieutenant Bulgers immediately grabbed the handset, signaling us to take a knee in the meantime. "This is rescuer, we are already at the rally point, where the hell are you? Over."

"Ah, about that, we were actually there earlier," the operator explained somewhat vaguely. "But out of nowhere a Varexil mobile patrol unit showed up, so we went silent mode including the radio. We have moved a little further into the trees now. Not deep in, just at the edge, we are currently sheltering in a hay storage. Where are you? Over"

Lieutenant Bulgers turned his head to look around. "We are near some fenced mud pits, probably a pig pen. Over."

"Ah, we passed that spot too before. Just head into the tree line and walk a short while and you will find us. Over."

"Alright, wait for us."

Right then, we moved away from the edge of the farm and headed back into the nearby trees without much commentary or second guessing.

It was a good call anyway, since with daylight now washing over the land that was not going to do us any favors, especially with the report of a Varexil mobile patrol having passed through earlier. At least our camo was well suited for terrain packed with green fauna.

True to what the operator had told us, we found an abandoned wooden structure after a short walk. Fortunately the place sat hidden enough to serve as a temporary shelter, with a large boulder behind it, shrubs wrapping around it, and climbing roots covering the structure itself, all of which made for a decent bonus camouflage.

"Halt right there," a voice came from behind one of the shrubs and two figures rose from it with rifles ready to point our way. "What's your unit?"

"211th Division, 710th PIR, Second Battalion, Falcon Company, well mostly," Lieutenant Bulgers answered calmly.

As we tried to move closer we were stopped by their two perimeter guards, though they did not give us a hard time after that since they already recognized several of our faces even from the other unit, and with that they let us through.

"How your guys doin' in there, kopral?"

"We barely made it, Lieutenant," one of the guards replied, waving us through the shrubs like it was some kind of gate. "Some of us are wounded, the Colonel included, but fortunately none of them were in truly bad shape, just got exhausted from the rough landing combined with the enemy catching us off guard right as we had just touched down. Still, our medic went down during the landing. So maybe this leech can handle that for us."

How rude. Saying something like that right in front of the person he was talking about, as though I had any say in this.

"Look at her face, Corporal, you just made her mad. Looks like you're going on her blacklist."

That again? I had no idea who had started that rumor. Just because I had Ulvrike heritage with its history tied to black magic did not mean I was any part of it. "Sir, this book is just casual book. Besides, that whole black magic history is bullshit anyway."

"You think so?"

"Please don't put my name on it, haha..." The Corporal laughed lightly. I knew he was joking, but still. "Anyway, it's already too crowded inside, it's better for us to leave some of the others out here, Lieutenant."

We followed his suggestion, and most of our group stayed outside to keep watch around the perimeter, Philipe and Nira included, though Lieutenant Bulgers told Philipe to stay ready in case he was called in later to discuss something.

In the end it was only me accompanied by the Lieutenant who entered the creaking structure. Even before we were fully inside I could already hear groaning coming from within, which made me start mentally preparing myself.

Following Lieutenant Bulgers' back as he moved ahead, I caught glimpses from behind him of our men looking absolutely ragged, sitting on the ground packed together, most of them leaning against the old hay behind them.

Pausing my steps, I checked in with one of them. "You doing alright, friend?"

"Don't worry bout me, lil' doc. Better get to the Colonel first, and the ones around him over there," he pointed his index finger toward the corner of the room.

As I made my way through the middle of them, I could not help but catch the exhausted breathing filling this cramped building. For the first few I passed, it seemed like nothing more than fatigue, no mortal wounds among them.

"Ah, so y'are the Lieutenant, here-here," a thick southern accent reached us from the far end of the room. "And bring that Lil' Missy too, Lieutenant. I need somethin' to stop the pain from my tumit."

Careful not to step on the legs of the soldiers sprawled limply across the floor, I adjusted my focus to follow the Lieutenant as he approached the Colonel.

The Colonel himself cut a different figure from the rest. He was well into the late end of middle age, and with his helmet sitting on the ground beside him his hair was exposed, grey already painting streaks through it in several places, topped off by a thick mustache beneath his nose, something of a rarity since most soldiers in the modern military tended to keep themselves clean of facial hair. All of it put together made him older looking than even Scarface.

"Thank the Goddess, y'are really saved us from the madness back there," the Colonel greeted us as we crouched down in front of where he sat on the ground. "And, can y'do somethin' bout my leg, missy? My heel's been throbbin' somethin' awful, our glider landing was real rough, reckon I got sprained it on the way down."

"Of course, sir," I answered, sliding myself closer to him. "Please stretch your leg out, sir. I will need to remove your boot first, it might hurt a little."

It was true that I was not too pleased with his casual attitude after letting us go through something that cost us dearly, but I still did my best to show it by fulfilling his request. There was not much else I could do, he still outranked me.

Before I could begin the healing session, I carefully untied his boot laces, taking my time so he would not wince in pain, not out of any particular care for him, more because I had no interest in getting an earful from him.

He flinched slightly and pulled his foot back on reflex from the pain as I began working his boot off, and shortly after I rolled his sock down partway, leaving it intact on his foot.

"Shit, that bruised up that bad?" He complained once the sock was no longer hiding his slightly swollen foot. "No wonder it feels like hell every time I take a step."

Having no intention of responding, I bit down on my bracelet again to pull the pin and let my hands light up as they had before, bringing them close to his bruised heel.

"Y'are not from my regiment, are ya, Lieutenant?" the Colonel asked in the middle of the healing.

"That's right, Colonel, I'm from the 710th PIR," my Lieutenant explained, shifting slightly closer and crouching down.

"What about our glider? Did y'all really destroy it?"

"Done, Colonel. Fire had taken it by the time we pulled back."

"...I see," the Colonel let out a breath of relief. "Did y'lose anyone in your group?"

"Yes, one man," Lieutenant Bulgers paused, glancing briefly at my face before turning back to the Colonel. "He was not from my unit actually, but from your regiment, sir. I believe his name is Bob, I don't know which element he was attached to. His dog tag is being kept by his closest friend who is grieving right now."

"....Is that so," unlike before, he showed a faint look of guilt even as he tried to cover it. "I'll pass that along to the captains in my regiment. If I'm given the luxury of time, writing to his family will be the first thing I do, same as the others among us who also went down at the landing zone."

That statement made me feel a little guilty for kinda having blamed him earlier. It still did not change my mind that trading human lives for a stack of papers was not a fair exchange, but I at least tried to understand his position, since an intelligence leak was not something to be taken lightly. He had his reasons, and of course he never wanted to see a young man die because of it.

....Maybe I am the one being too naive. Every one of us here enlisted voluntarily. So it's mean nobody forced us into this madness, because of that we should have already known the risks going in, and there was no point in complaining about it now.

"So what do we do from here, Colonel?"

The Colonel did not answer right away. He went quiet and glanced at me for a moment, perhaps because it did not sit quite right for someone of my rank to be listening in on a conversation between officers. There was no rule against it, but it seemed many in military circles found it unprofessional.

"No need to worry about her, Colonel," Lieutenant Bulgers offered his reassurance. "Despite her age, she is surprisingly mature even among us. She is also far too quiet to start playing telephone between units."

After a moment Colonel Dinks seemed to come around, giving a nod, so I was able to continue the healing without needing to pause and excuse myself first.

"What do we do? I don't think much needs to change," the Colonel picked up his helmet and put it back on his head. "You just proved yourself out there, so I don't think I need to give you much direction. The 710th has the 4th Causeway, right?"

"Yes sir, it is."

"Hell no," the Colonel looked mildly surprised at that, and honestly that was understandable given what we would have to take. "Y'all really drew the short straw, huh? I heard there are several Varexil barracks out there."

"Nothing we can do about it, Colonel. If that's the menu we've been handed, then we'll eat it."

"Well, I'm sure you do," the Colonel gave a thin smile, stroking his mustache. "But y'all sure did overshoot a fair bit, didn't ya?"

"...Yeah, not gonna lie, it's really a pain in the ass..." Lieutenant Bulgers exhaled, but only briefly before his expression steadied itself again. "Fortunately we made contact with local resistance."

Hearing that, Colonel Dinks genuinely stopped stroking his mustache. "Wait, wait, y'all found what?"

"A partisan serving as a liaison, sir. I had him waiting outside, shall I call him in?"

"What? The fact that y'all made contact with local resistance on day one, that ain't nothing. That's the kind of thing gonna change our whole campaign," Colonel Dinks made his enthusiasm very clear. "Hey, missy. Can y'be the one to call him in from outside? After that I want y'to take care of the others."

Well, that was one way of saying 'Okay girl, I gave you a chance earlier, so now get the fuck out of here, the adults want to talk.' If that's how it is, so beat it.

"Alright Colonel, but how is your foot feeling now?"

"Don't worry bout it, kid," he moved his foot up and down to make the point. "Your sparkling-sparkling thing worked surprisingly fast, so we're good."

Well, sprains and muscle injuries like that were the easier type to heal compared to open wounds that took a lot of energy to close, since with open wounds I had to reconstruct damaged tissue from scratch, unlike his case where no tissue had been lost to begin with. On top of that, as long as it was not a serious injury there was no need for me to give him any pain relief on top of it.

I gave him nothing more than a nod, and the light in my hands began to fade shortly after, almost at the same moment I clicked the safety pin on my bracelet shut again.

After that I pushed myself up, turned my back to them and walked out of that stuffy wooden interior. By the time I stepped outside the sun had climbed a little higher, though it still had not fully shown itself yet.

Outside I found Philipe sitting against a tree with his arms folded, and right in front of him sat his daughter and Raylan side by side, both of them on the receiving end of what was clearly a lecture.

....This is bad, honestly I don't want involved any part of this. My steps slowed as I approached from the side. I could already guess this had everything to do with the two of them disappearing right before the emergency earlier.

"I know, I know, so don't think I am stupid, I know you both are young, but--" Philipe noticed my presence and his stern expression softened slightly. "Yes? You need something, Miss?"

"....uh, eh, you're being called by the Lieutenant to come in-inside," this was genuinely awkward. Raylan you bastard, dragging me into your family business.

"Is that so? Thank you for letting me know," Philipe rose from the ground, light machine gun in tow as always. "Even so, we are not finished here. We will continue this later."

"...... alright," the two of them answered in unison, both equally gloomy.

That was enough for Philipe, after that he walked away and headed into the abandoned hay storage without another word. Truly, a father's anger hit differently, especially when he was a loving one, when he was displeased it made you feel like you had done something unforgivably terrible.

....Uh. Which was also why I was still standing there staring at Raylan sitting nervously on the ground. I still could not quite believe that someone who generally came across as a decent, straightforward guy could pull something like that. I knew what it felt like to be a man, but come on, In the middle of a war? Even in behind the enemy lines? How do you even manage?

"....Elise," Raylan muttered. "....Come on, even you too? It's not what you think.....so please, drop that disgusted look..."

"Is that right?" I answered flatly. "Do I really look like that? I don't even know what you guys talking about, hahaha."

With that, time to play the role of a clueless innocent girl. This is kinda fun, maybe I could use this to get back at him for the bet I lost earlier. Jeez, sometimes I scare myself with how smart I am, hehe.