Chapter 340: 335: The Patrol

"And have you seen the water that you drink? Is it you who brought it down from the clouds, or is it We who bring it down? If We willed, We could make it bitter, so why are you not grateful?"

-        The Qur'an, Al-Waqi'ah, Verse 63

Back on the front line, a team of five soldiers are patrolling along the mountain trails to make sure that there is no Ottoman infiltration through the densely populated rural mountain ranges in to their heart land. 

The Ottomans have adopted to this tactic four years ago as they relentlessly sent wave after wave of scouts and task force through the mountains in to the plain of Macedonia, and there are a few occasions with the furthest infiltration reaching the out skirts of the city Serres. These infiltrators proved a great threat and destruction to the stability and peaceful environments of the front line. They disrupt normal agriculture activities by setting fire to crops, killing precious life stocks and even attacking farmers working in the plains. 

In the later stages when they are better equipped, enriched with experience and boosted with guts they became bolder in their actions laying ambush to Roman supply troops, destroying the newly constructed roads and demolishing the bridges creating almost a halt to the food supplies of the front line troops at one point of time. 

With these people around the civilians in the region who have just returned from the damage of the war are forced to flee from their home once more fearing that the Ottoman infiltrators will show up before them again getting their life like a reaper's due, leaving many farm lands vacant creating a disruption to all social, economical and production activity in the newly cooperated border regions. 

With this Helio had to constantly send out troops on patrol along the mountain ranges and the country side roads as a direct response to the infiltration threat every single hour, and for today there is no exceptions to these five poor fellows, who got pulled up from their straw beds and dispatched for a new round of patrol in the early morning along the mountains ranges, which is undoubtedly the most atrocious kind of guard duty that a soldier can get as it is known for its dangerous nature and rugged mountain hiking trails. 

The leader of this patrol team is experienced though as he led his team of four through the forest mountain trails avoiding all the slippery spots, terrain killers and the Ottoman patrol route until they reached a mile stone of their patrol trail today – a mountain water spring. The soldiers would usually joke that this stream of shallow waters is the 'fountain of the living' as it marks the final mark of their patrol, now it is time for them to go back. 

But the team decided to have a little moment of relaxation prior to leaving as they drenched their thirst dipping their head in to the flowing stream gulping down mouthful after mouthful of fresh mountain dew. The sparkling and cooling mountain dew waters splashing on to their faces also provided them with a satisfaction and easiness after a such strenuous session going around the woods for almost half a day. After this the team rinsed their hands and leaned down against the soft grass ready to relieve their muscles first. 

However not long after they have lied down, they heard a bunch of noises coming from the woods on the other direction, a sound that mimics the crutching noise of men's boots crushing against dried leaves and twigs. What alerted the team leader even more is that the noise is not coming from one or two persons, it sounds like there is a large group of people right beneath them. The team leader immediately alerted the others and stood back up on his foot with vigilance in his eyes as he quickly went behind a wild bush remaining hidden.

The other team members soon followed the instructions from their leader and stared nervously at the direction of the sound with their hands already on the grips and handles of their weapons. What appeared next proved that the team leader's vigilance is correct, a couple of minutes later the sounds became clearer and clearer until the alien incomers finally revealed themselves – a bunch of armed Ottoman soldiers, counting to nearly fifty of them spreading themselves out along the woods, with five of them each holding a bunch of water flasks in their hands coming up to the stream to refill it while the others stand on guard remaining cautious too, but failed to spot the Roman patrols disguised in the bushes. 

These bunch of Ottomans laid down their guards after a while too seating down together having a short rest, but during their rest ever single one of these men kept their mouth shut staying quiet refraining from all conversations except for those necessary. The leader of the Roman patrols could almost immediately assume that these people are not just ordinary Ottoman troopers they come across every day, these are elite forces. 

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But what are they doing here? Just as the team leader is there pondering about it, a fellow recruit in his team could no longer control that intensive amount of worriedness and scare in his inner souls and moved an inch of his foot, but this is already loud enough to attract the attention of a near by Ottoman trooper as he signaled his pals that there is some thing here and began moving towards the bush with his blade in hands. 

Over stretched by anxiousness the recruit made a strange yell and then made a run out of the bush down slope for his life, leaving the surprised Ottoman troopers and shocked patrol team behind there. 

Sensing this sudden change of situation, the patrol team leader bite his lips hard and leapt out of the bush to strike on the approaching Ottoman trooper, only to have his blade blocked by the similarly quick acting Ottoman trooper with a specially designed smaller round shield attached to his arm. With the element of surprise lost and pre emptive strike wasted the team leader, and the remaining three other guys formed up in a close quarter combat formation with blades in front and ranger behind, going in to an heart burning stand off with their Ottoman foes, daring to not move a single inch. 

"You, you are the youngest and the best athlete among us." In the mean time the team leader suddenly called out to the ranger at the back. "GO back to camp and report on what we saw today… Do not wait for us." 

The ranger nodded acknowledging the order, placed the arrow back in to his quiver and similarly made a run for down slope with out having any hesitation under the cover of his pals.

The team leader is already determined to lose his life beside this 'fountain of the living' with his friends and pals. "At least a soothing place to die and spend my after life." He thought in his mind, and gripped on to his blade even tighter preparing for the engagement with the foes who are far more superior in numbers, and probably war fighting techniques. 

Though what he did not expect is that, after roughly a brief five minutes stand off between the two parties, a man who seemed like the leader of the Ottoman troopers shouted some thing, and after that the Ottomans drew their weapons, gave the remaining three Romans standing there holding weapons a salute acknowledging their bravery not fearing to die, and went away in the direction where they came from. 

It took a long time for the three survivors to finally realise what has just happened before their eyes, their back is literally soaked wet in their own sweat, their sweaty palms are almost going to lose the friction on their grips with sweats as big as droplets of rain dripping down on to the ground beneath their feet making the Earth damp. 

"Let us go back lads." The leader of the patrol force heaved a sigh of relief as he placed back the blade in to his belt with a still trembling hands. "We got to report this encounter…" 

On their way back they met that recruit who ran away just now, feeling ashamed of himself running away from his comrades and combat as a soldier he managed to ramble back to the fountain. After a while they merged with the ranger, who reported this news with utmost urgency to their commander, which came here personally with a hundred men as reinforcements trudging difficultly on the mountain path, suffering from a knee injury that he got ages ago from that fire outside the coast of Anatolia. 

The company sized army managed to march back to their camp beneath the mountain ranges by dawn, safe and sound with out any one getting killed or hurt. Though the day is far from over for the five men patrol team, as their direct superior Helio is there waiting for their return at the gates of the camp.

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