Chapter 48: The cavalry has come!

RATATATATATATATATA~

The closer we get to the settlement, the more we hear the helicopter’s racket, accentuated by how peaceful and quiet this region normally is at night.

When we finally get to the crossroads that lead to the village, the clamor of a flurry of bullets drowns out the noise of the helicopter.

“Did you hear that?” Nila panics. “What can we do against the army?!”

My face darkens. I hope nothing bad happened to Gini.

I don’t really mind the others, though. I’ve been bullied and shooed away because of my white hair and eccentricity since we first arrived in this perimeter. I have no attachment whatsoever toward this place, but Gini… Is a very important new asset…

The War of Independence has only really started three years ago. Before that, the tensions were building and many fights occurred, but they weren’t as related to each other, and were also organized terribly. But ever since an important new law that we nicknamed ‘the Treaty of Spices’ has been proclaimed, the oppression of Indians on the whole territory skyrocketed and they lost many of their economic rights, particularly concerning the spice trade. Alarmed by the situation, my parents and their numerous friends instigated the independence war, by organizing a liberation army in secrecy. Their high activity and efficiency over the past few months drastically increased the number of fights, so the British army countered by establishing an emergency state that allows them to have free rein on their actions. This conflict actually works in their favor for their propaganda: the separatists are violent terrorists that should be stopped by any means necessary, and they can act as they want, restraining our rights and increasing theirs. By using terror, bargains and more violence themselves, our reputation dropped and most common folks felt endangered by our actions. Of course, this led to the loss of faith in some people and resulted in many betrayals. The army doesn’t hesitate to use torture and embargoes, in spite of this having been decreed as war crimes long ago, and the fact that confessions under torture aren’t recognized as valid testimonies by the international law, but they terrorize people who are not aware of their human rights and those who betray us are promised benefits. This situation widens the gap between the common people who just want to live peaceful lives and the separatists who want to free them. The problem further worsens when some of our operations end in failure. Of course, we can’t succeed all the time, but the public opinion always adds one when we hit, but lose two or three when we miss. Some may believe that during such an era of information, with everybody owning mobile phones that have access to the internet, there is no way the army can commit war crimes unpunished, yet they don’t realize that the army controls every piece of information that goes in and out of the territory. Every act of terrorism from us is mediatized, while every war crime they commit is covered up. The rest of the world is only seeing the ‘defender of peace’ side of their actions. Journalists from other countries are thoroughly watched and can’t move freely wherever they want, with the excuse of protecting them. Celebrities often visit only to be shown the colonist’s side and point of view, and sympathize with them. They control both the soft and hard power. In such an unreasonably unbalanced situation, someone like Gini is a one-of-a-kind opportunity. Considering the mission she has been given, she seems to be in an interesting position in the army: strong enough to be trusted with acting solo, in direct contact with high grades, but most importantly, if I make sense of her situation, she has probably been forced into the army, and then into this war, so she doesn’t feel any personal interest towards it. She doesn’t look for more rewards, she’s not fighting for fun, she doesn’t plan to climb the ranks… This led to the loss of her will to fight, and meeting us was for her the perfect opportunity to betray her camp. In my opinion, there is no way she betrayed us. There is no logical reason for her to play along like this and then call for a helicopter in the middle of the night. If she wanted to infiltrate our network, spying for the army, then it doesn’t make sense… I’ve thought hard about it and I think the most logical explanation for what’s going on, is that the army realized that something was amiss in her behavior, or judged that she was in too much danger and sent an expedition to take her back. If that’s the case, maybe we shouldn’t try to stop them, actually. If she suddenly gets kidnapped by terrorists, aren’t they going to stop giving her information that we need? Wouldn’t it better for her to go back with them and nurture their trust in her?

But once we finally set foot in the settlement, the clamor of gunshots and people screaming pulls me out of my thoughts.

“Rohini! Watch out!” Nila shouts.

But his warning comes too late and my camel flinches.

Hit in the leg and neck, it yells in distress, until a series of bullets comes to finish it.

Meanwhile, I roll to the side and take cover behind a house. Unfortunately, Nila’s camel suffers the same fate and he takes cover behind its body.

“Are you okay?” Nila asks me, put a finger to my lips, to shush him.

‘Don’t make a sound.’ I mouth.

He covers his mouth and nods, showing that he could read my lips.

I make signs saying that I’m going to sneak around the house and try to pinpoint the enemies. He nods and pulls the rifle we always travel with from the bag that the camel was carrying.

He arms it and awaits my move. He’s smart enough not to show himself right now.

I sneak, as I said, around the house and notice bloodbaths everywhere I look. But the biggest one is the one under the hill, and it’s the last one in the village before the helicopter. I can’t find any survivors.

I see two soldiers. One is on the hill, using binoculars to watch the village. The other stands across the main street, taking cover behind the next house’s wall.

The one taking cover is in the line of sight of the other, so I can’t kill him without the other noticing. My only option is to sneak over and eliminate the binoculars guy to break their dynamic.

I put my hand on my kirpan and prepare to advance, but I hear a very faint noise behind me.

Before I have time to look back, a third soldier I hadn’t notice grabs me in a headlock and pulls me up. Thankfully, I put my arm between his bicep and my neck, so he can’t strangle me, even though the pressure is very painful.

I roar and struggle to get back on my feet but nothing helps. At least it seems like he can’t kill me in this position.

“Caught a woman.” He says in English in his radio. “Hands are taken. Can’t finish her on my own. Over.”

“Roger, I’m on the move. Over.”

This is probably the one that was under cover. According to their positions, the one on the hill is not going to move and is just watching and giving intel on the situation. Unless there is a fourth soldier hidden somewhere, then I’m fucked.

But I was right, the guy under cover prepares to leave his position. When he’s about to jump across the street, I yell: “NILA! HE’S FOR YOU!!”

And when the soldier jumps and rolls and ends up defenseless, a single shot resonates in the village.

Nila who is using the camel’s dead body as a tripod for his rifle, is holding still in a perfectly stable sitting position, and hits the soldier twice in the head. The first one hits the helmet, the second pierces through his skull and embeds itself in the ground behind him.

At the same time, I pull my lower body above my head and grab the soldier’s head with my legs squeezing press his neck with all my strength.

The soldier drops on the ground, landing on top of me with his full weight.

Because of the pressure, I exhale all the air in my lungs and try painfully to breathe, but can’t.

“Charles is down. Need more backup. Over.” I hear the third soldier say in the radio.

Fuck, we have to run before their backup comes!

The guy still clutches my neck, but I clench my hand that holds the kirpan, and use the body weight he pins me down with to effortlessly plunge it into his flank.

He screams and I dig it further in until almost my entire fist is within his insides.

When the pain becomes too sharp, he seems to faint and his grasp loosens.

I finally pull my hand out, push his body from me with the other, and finish him by plunging the now crimson kirpan into his neck thrice.

With my arm and lower body covered in this guy’s blood, I stand up.

But before I can breathe again, three more soldiers run from the hill with what seems to be flamethrowers in their hands.

 

---

 

“Charles is down. Need more backup. Over.”

From the helicopter’s main cabin, Robin hears this news and frowns.

“Tch—, what the hell is wrong with them? Hey you, go end this shit quickly. Take the heavy weapons.” She orders the two soldiers that carried me inside.

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Apart from them, there are three more soldiers in the helicopter. The pilot and copilot in the cockpit, and a Second-Class Private who was awaiting orders. Robin points at her: “You’re going too, we can’t afford to stay any longer.”

The soldiers acquiesce, take the flamethrowers that were hanging on the cabin walls and swiftly glide down with the cables.

Worried about what’s going on but still captive, I try to see what’s going on down there, but can’t because of the darkness.

Suddenly, the roar of flamethrowers resonates loudly, and bright fire lights up the entire area.

Amidst the chaos, I recognize a white-haired figure running for her life.

“What are you looking for?” Robin asks, kicking me in the flank. “Don’t tell me you got attached to these peasants!”

I clench my teeth.

“Or maybe… You really betrayed us after all…?” She smirks.

My reaction doesn’t change, but she seems to like her idea a lot. “Did I get it right? Come on, you should tell me. Confessions are always taken into account in the martial court.”

Her mood switches once again, when a loud explosion reverberates and the sound of dozens of rifles echoes in response.

Her eyes widen and she runs to the cockpit, pushes the copilot to the side and stares at the situation for a long minute.

I also witness more than ten horsemen rushing from all ends. Screaming and shooting in a seemingly chaotic formation, but managing to never hit each other while wreaking havoc in the settlement.

The four soldiers remaining are well trained, but heavily outnumbered.

On top of this, three drones appear from nowhere and swirl around the helicopter. Shooting with their little machine guns, they can’t break the attack helicopter’s armor, but they cut the cables, leaving us no way in or out of this flying fortress.

Actually, there are many more cables, life jackets and parachutes in the cabin, but Robin shouts: “CLOSE THE DOOR, YOU MORON!” so, I am obligated to follow the orders and close the door, even though that impedes me from watching the battle progress.

Robin kicks the copilot’s chair, and orders with a bitter expression: “LEAVE, NOW!”

I don’t think it’s the thought of losing a few Privates that makes her this mad, but more likely announcing to my brother that she lost them. He cares about his soldiers far more than anyone.

While the helicopter disengages its hovering mode to fly away, I smile at the thought that Rohini is saved. I haven’t seen it, but I’m sure she’s fine.

Looking at Robin’s face, my smile widens. At least I’m not going to be the only one who’ll have to face a beating.

 

---

 

Breathless, I try to run away but the fire catches up with all the houses quickly, and I run out of ways out.

In the chaos, I scream at Nila to flee, but I don’t hear him back.

But in response to my worries, the thuds of horseshoes hitting the ground suddenly emerges in addition to the ambient racket.

Unexpectedly, I feel something lifting me, and my feet leave the ground once again tonight, but in a strong yet gentle way.

A brown woman in her mid-30s and a black hijab holds me. Slaloming on her horse swiftly between the fires, a smile on her face and her brown eyes lit. These long eyelashes can’t belong to anyone else!

“Auntie Nishaa!!” I scream of joy and hug her neck.

“Don’t move too much, you’ll fall!” She laughs.

I look around and realize that many other people have come to save us.

“I’m so happy you came, Auntie Nishaaaaa~” I start weeping in her hijab.

“There, there.” She smiles. “The cavalry has come.”

She reaches a safe spot near the river, where I reunite with Nila.

I jump off the horse and we run at the same time to hug each other.

“Ahhh, I’m glad you’re okay!!” He says.

Remembering something, I don’t take time to respond and turn back to Auntie Nishaa: “Auntie, where is Nala?”

Auntie sighs and points at the center of the battlefield: “This idiot can’t be stopped.”

I grab Nila’s hand and pull him. “Come! We have to help Nala!”

But Auntie stops us. “Don’t go back after all the trouble it took to get you!”

“But Nala-!” I try to argue, until a silhouette appears from behind Auntie.

“Hey whassup?” Nala jumps from his horse, the head of a soldier in one hand, his beautiful talwar in the other.

Spattered with blood, he throws me a radio that he took from the soldier’s helmet.

“What am I going to do with this?” Happy to see Nala safe and sound, but also not understanding what he means by this, I frown.

“It’s not for you, I know you’re an idiot!” He smirks. “It’s for your girlfriend.”

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