Blood Lily Company - Afghanistan - Year 2

XXXIX

- As for me, Erk went on, I was on my back, shooting at the bad guys. But... I was already incapable of killing. I shot legs, arms... But that didn't change anything. Except they rushed to me, without fear of dying, jumped me, I swung my fists, I must have broken a few bones, until a knife at my throat stopped my struggling. They tied my feet, my hands in front of me. Then they put a thin cord around my neck and it was more difficult to fight. And then...

He went silent, he seemed lost. Kris tightened the arm he had around the giant's waist.

- Yes, sorry. It's just that... what the leader said was very upsetting.

- What did he say, Erk? I asked, when I saw that the Viking was still a bit lost.

- He... he said that, once broken and trained, I would make a good... slave. Then... then... I still can't, Kris. I...

- Do you want me to tell them?

Erk nodded, his throat constricting with the emotions that shook him or with the import of what the guy had said.

- He wanted to make Erik his... his personal whore.

We were stunned. And I got it why poor Erk was so off. Tito had tears in his eyes and exchanged a look with Kris, that I couldn't decipher. There was something between the two of them.

We let some time pass. Erk's eyes focused back.

- I was paralyzed by those words. And that gave them time to regroup and try to make me stand. But... I couldn't walk, I fell back to the ground. So they started hauling me. I screamed because they were hurting me. They dropped me, cut a tree down and tied me to it, like in the old movies, hanging below it, bound to it hands and feet. Except that, to avoid damaging my knee, which would lower my... value as a slave, they bound my knees to the tree, with a rope around my waist. So my weight wouldn't aggravate my injury, left untouched.

He rubbed at his face. Must be difficult, having lived that and talking about it.

- Erk, I said, if it's too much, don't...

- No. Thanks, Archer, but talking about is good. I already talked about all that five years ago but Kris' dance of death the other day made a lot of things come back to the surface and... the way I look at him has changed other things. So I think talking to you about it, you who are our men, and our brothers-in-arms, it's important for the whole patrol.

- Erik brought back interesting information, from his trials, Kris said. It's that, in Guyana, a French soldier has a lot of value, as a hostage. Because that's the reason they took him alive. The rest, the... the slave and... the rest, came after. Because Erik is who he is, strong, powerful and beautiful.

The Viking blushed.

- At the time, he didn't have his goatee. The Legion tolerated his bun, but not the beard. Except for the sappers, of course. And, beardless, with his porcelain skin, Erik was almost more beautiful that now. He had that teenage beauty of the greek ephebe, of Adonis. Perfect, but a little bland.

- Stop, please, I'm not b...

- Oh yes, you are beautiful. But I prefer you now, my love. With a little more... maturity.

And Erk blushed even more. To regain some composure, he resumed his story.

- I let them carry me for a moment, still shocked by what awaited me, then when I understood that it was going to happen, that they were taking me into their camp, I panicked, I got agitated, I struggled and my hundred kilos of the time shook the trunk to which I was tied and them too. I found myself back on the ground and I tried... I don't know, to roll my tree away from them. I wasn't thinking properly, but... I was frantic. Terrified.