Before You Start A War

Chapter Ten

Finally, he gets close enough to see over people's shoulders, immediately recognizing Niall, even through the bruised and bloodied appearance. His hair is mangled and sticking to his forehead, and there is dried blood under both of his nostrils and on his chin. He can't see the rest of his body, as it's covered by his clothing, but he can only imagine how battered he is.

"Wait!" Harry yells when he notices a man that was held captive with him lifting his saber up from the dirt, holding it directly over Niall's chest, ready to stab down. He breaks through the final ring of people, tripping over feet and nearly landing on Niall's bound body. His wrists are tied with thick ropes, and Harry can see the inflamed skin surrounding the binds. Niall's head is resting against the ground, his eyes wide and looking around frantically. His mouth isn't covered by anything, but he must know better than to yell.

"Styles! Why don't you do the honors, huh? Stab right through this fucker's heart." The man, Harry believes his surname is Witt, pulls Harry forward and forces him to grab hold of the saber.

Harry looks down at Niall again. His eyes are red and irritated, probably from the dirt being kicked up around him and into his face, and his body is completely unmoving. He isn't even trying to escape.

From the sidelines, Corporal Maddox watches on. Harry looks into Niall's fearful eyes, catching a flash of betrayal in the dark blue. It's the first time Harry's ever been able to see him in the daylight. However, Harry throws the saber down next to Niall, and yells at the corporal, "You're condoning this behavior?"

Corporal Maddox raises his eyebrows, "He's the reason for over a dozen deaths. He deserves to be tortured for it."

Harry screams, "No! He doesn't! He's the reason we got out! He gave me the map, he helped us escape!" He looks back down at Niall's tearful eyes, wanting nothing more than to grab him and run away from this place. Run toward safety, for both of them.

"He's still the enemy, Styles. He is of no use to us now. Witt, go ahead." The corporal orders, stepping back to watch this poor man be stabbed, murdered, with no emotion on his face or in his words. No remorse whatsoever.

Witt makes a move to pick up his saber, but Harry leaps over Niall to get it before him. His foot catches on Niall's side and the man groans, finally moving his body. That confirms to Harry that there's more damage below the surface.

Harry thinks quickly, blurting out, "But he is useful!" He holds the saber far from Witt, making sure to keep an eye on the surrounding soldiers just in case they decide to try their own hand at hurting his friend. "He gave me the map, right? Which means he, uhm, he has to know, at least to the slightest degree, where the enemy base is, right? He could make us a map and lead us right to them!" Even though Harry has no idea how Niall got here, he assumes they beat him and abandoned him in the woods to die. He knows Niall probably has no idea where he came from, but if it will buy him more time, then it's worth it.

Corporal Maddox thinks for a second, looking between the two. Niall is still lying on the ground, his eyes staring right at Harry. Finally, after a full minute of silence between the men, the corporal responds, "Fine, but he's your responsibility. Adams, put him in the cellar."

Another man, Adams, probably the corporal's assistant, rushes forward, untying the ropes. He pulls a whip from where it's wrapped around his belt loop and cracks it against the ground. "Get movin'. Try anything and you'll be dead where you stand."

Niall shutters, blinking a few times before sitting up slowly. Harry makes a move to help him, about to lean down and act as a crutch, but Corporal Maddox bellows, "Styles. In my chamber. Now." Harry meets Niall's gaze, who looks up at him, and sends him a small smile. Niall seems as if he's going to smile back, but another whip crack startles him to his feet, walking forward immediately. Harry's smile drops, glaring at Adams.

Harry follows the corporal into his meeting chambers, and the door slams behind him. "I don't understand why you're so adamant on keeping him alive. I don't really feel like dealing with a hostage situation right now." Corporal Maddox roars.

"He's valuable, I know he is. He was able to get me the map, which means he probably worked on it in some way. If we can just reverse his steps, we'll be led right back into enemy territory, but they won't see it coming."

"And what makes you say that?"

"When we went missing, you were expecting some sort of attack. But him... he's the only one that's gone missing, and they probably assume he's dead somewhere. He's just one measly soldier; they mightn't have even noticed he's gone."

The corporal nods, "And what about the map, huh? You said he gave it to you?"

Harry searches for a good excuse, and finally comes up with, "Take that with a grain of salt. He didn't give it to us; I threatened him. I told him I'd kill him and take over his camp if he didn't get us out. I must've scared him, so when I finally threatened to bash his skull in, he came back with that. We were running before he could even blink." Harry feels disgusting saying such things, but he knows how to pretend he has the same mentality as his comrades. He knows how to act like a crazed, blood-thirsty soldier; people he now knows exist on both sides of the war.

"Impressive. Well, I said earlier that he will be your responsibility. You'll be the one to get the information out of him, and get him to make the map." The corporal demands. Harry nods.

"And what about food?"

Corporal Maddox's eyebrows shoot up, "Food? We're not feeding him."

Harry groans, "You'll have to, or else he won't have the strength to make the map. He has at most a week left to live if we don't provide him with some kind of food and care. Plus, it'll make him trust us more. He'll be more willing to draw the map out for us if he thinks we're trying to keep him alive."

"Couldn't we just force the words out of him?"

Harry shakes his head, "Words can't be used to craft a map; only the hands of the ones that have walked the paths can. The map he gave me only went so far. We had to guess the rest of the way back, but if we have a map of the surrounding area, we can build off that."

The corporal nods and pulls out a small piece of parchment, "Here's what we have so far. Can we work off that?"

Harry looks over the map, seeing some of the landmarks he remembers passing on their route back. Luckily, they've mostly explored North and East, whereas Harry believes their camp is several miles south, and off to the West. "Definitely."

Corporal Maddox sighs, "We'll provide him with one meal a day, and a small bit of water. Just enough to hold him over. We don't want him getting too comfortable. Once we get our use out of him, he's a dead man."

Harry sucks in a breath, biting his cheek. However, he puts on a menacing grin, responding with, "He's a useless waste of human life; no one will miss him."