From Behind Barbed Wire

Shuffling

What to do now? He just stood there looking at me. His blinkers where hanging on by threads. Reaching up I tugged at the loose leather. Using the edge of my gloves I brushed the mud out of the edge of his eyes.

He didn't move. I had no use for him with no saddle and only the damp rotting driving bridle. However I always needed money, a horse like this one could be worth good money dead or alive. So I took the the long reins which where surprisingly dry from being trapped under the chassis and cut them slightly shorter. Using the two ends I made a long lead rope and pocketed the rest of the material.

Before I moved him I wanted to check he wasn't lame, if he was then I would leave him here. Heat was often a sign of injury. All four of his feet were warm. When I turned away from him he followed me. He wasn't limping. I had a mental dilemma. Leave him here and let him die or take him with me but risk an abscess or infection.

Half an hour later and the desolate plain of death and destruction seamed to have no end. The dusty haze was lowering in the sky and making visibility poor. I had been using visual points on the horizon for orientation but now a slightly inaccurate compass would have to do. We needed to keep moving, the last thing I wanted to do was spend a night in this hell hole. I could hardly see a hand in front of my face. My feet had lead me to trip over multiple soft bodies. The strange thing was a few of them still had liquid blood on them, yet non of them where alive. All were dead, I thought.

That was until I fell down. Into an unpleasant pit, of the dead and now the living. Lying on my back I waited for the air to return to my lungs. Deep slow breaths.

Then I remembered the lump. Lump was ok. Hopefully. It hadn't woken up, even though it was drugged, that was either a good thing or a very very bad thing.

A warm wet nose nibbled at my coat. I pushed it away, bloody horse. The horse trotted away to the opposite side of the hole. Very loyal. Then it spoke, no, it couldn't have. The wind rattling my coat. But maybe it was, there it was again. Horse was now very intrigued by something. A low whistle was definitely there, barley audible. I was not scared but shocked.

Crawling on my hands and knees I made my way towards it. A voice let out a croaky laugh. Pushing myself up onto my feet I peered round the horses legs. A peculiar sight greeted me. Sitting in the bank was a bloodied man or, a boy.

He coughed. It was hard to distinguish what was man and what was earth. He blended into the soil. "Hello." I just looked at him, he chuckled. It took me a moment to acknowledge his life presence. I stopped.

"Why are you alive?" I asked. He shrugged.
"I could ask you the same question." He paused. "Sorry, look could you help me out."
I tilted my head to the side, slowly I crouched down."Are you hurt?"
"Only a small shrapnel wound." He indicated to his arm. I nodded. Looking around I saw a charred stick which would make a perfect spade. Using the wider flatter end of the stick I carved him out.

For the first time I looked at his face, he was a taller boy of about seventeen or eighteen. He had brown eyes framed by faint worry lines and hair which was the same colour of the mud. It stuck up at odd angles and was clumped together. His skin was slightly tanned under a thick mask of dirt. On the side of his head was a scar that was at least a few inches long. "I'm Hans." He presented his hand to me. Looking directly into his eyes like my father had taught me, I grasped it and shook.

Hans didn't ask for my name, which was good because I couldn't remember. "Who is this fine beast?" He was admiring the horse, who had seamed to take a liking to Hans.
"He doesn't have a name." I replied.
"All horses should have a name." He was cooing at the horses large eyes.
"Not if you are planning on eating them, now let's bandage your arm and get moving. I want to be out of here before the sun sets."
"I need to find my horse."
"What?" I shot at him. "Well you can go find it. I'm going this way." I indicated to north from the compass.
"My horse is that way. I left it there." I huffed but, maybe I would like some company.

Progress was slow. Every few minutes Hans would blow a metal whistle in deep long blasts. Each time the horse would look up and try to get as close as possible to him. He said it was a special device he had been given to call horses.

He was wearing a light grey uniform with gold bands around the cuffs. A battered cap and a badge with coloured striped sat lopsided on his head. The jacket had a sort of short fighting cloak attachment to it. He wore walking boots with a raised heel. I had never seen any solider who looked like him before.
"Whose side are you on then?" I ventured.
"It quite complicated but basically neither."
"So what are you?"
"Assisters and objectors to war."
"How does that work?"
"We are assisting the quickest and best way to end the war." Hans said.
"Whose 'we'?" I asked. He looked at me like he was analysing me.
"You ask a lot of questions." He paused. "What side are you on?" Now it was my turn to judge him.
"My own. I do what I need for my own benefit, like most of us civilians."
"But your not like most civilians. I doubt your even a civilian." He murmured.
"What makes you think that?" We walked on in silence for a while. The only sound was the horse breathing and sighing behind us.
"Because no civilian would risk going over a battle field to get to a town which is just as crappy as the last." It was awkward now, I couldn't think of an answer that wouldn't reveal my intentions. He glanced at me and sniggered."You also look like a musketeer." I sighed and assumed he was referring to my hat.
"Shut up. You can't talk your the one wearing a cloak." I snapped.
"It's actually very practical."
"Knight."
"What?"
"Wizard."
"I beg you pardon?"
"Thief."
"What on earth are you talking about?"
"You."
"Are we still talking about the cloak?"
"Yes."
"Shh listen." I waited.
"There is nothing th-"
"Shut up!"

I looked up. In the mist a large figure was emerging. It was moving rather fast, a bit too fast, it wasn't going to stop. You could hear the creatures hooves now. I looked at Hans, he was fixed to the spot squinting at the rapidly approaching object. Screw this and with that a I quite ungracefully dived for cover. Squeezing my eyes shut I hoped for the best.