Blood Lily Company - Afghanistan, year 1

LXXIII

We finally went out on patrol again. It was about time, we had the impression we had encysted ourselves in a false comfort that was very dangerous for our health. Even though the health of Erk, JD and Quenotte had been at risk, we still had been bloody lucky, after that night attack.

What had horrified Erk, so pure, so righteous, so... chivalrous, was that Durrani had not sent his own men to kill us, he had preferred to stuff the head of innocent idiots, who had lost everything, saying that we were the cause of all their suffering, designating us as scapegoats.

There was a positive point about that, apart from the village teens voluntarily coming to help us, and that was that Rafa, the only perpetrator alive, had come to see Kris to beg his forgiveness. Which really surprised the Icelander. I remember the conversation, or rather the almost monologue.
- Forgiveness? But why? It'd rather be up to me to ...
- No, Kris. I saw your brother fall from exhaustion after Healing me, when he could have let me die. I have watched you, the whole Company, listened to you, observed you. And I understood that what we forced you to do to defend your base had cost you dearly. That your brother, with his Gift, almost killed himself, taking care of me, and taking care of the men and women we had injured, my comrades and I. I understood, chatting with Archer, looking at your captain, that you had crossed the barriers of language, religion, color, gender, even. And that the only thing you care about is doing what's right. When I saw the teens helping you, out of consideration for you, I realized that Durrani had it all wrong and that you were the ones I wanted to be like. It might seem weird, at forty years old, to have a severe case of hero worship but there you go ...
- And ... don't you blame me for leaving you for dead? For marking you?

Erk hadn't been able to completely remove the scars.
- No. They remind me of what I was and no longer want to be, they remind me that you thought I was dangerous enough to want to kill me, they remind me that your brother saved me, when I pushed you to kill.

Kris had considered him for a long time.
- Rafa, I wish I could be as wise as you are. And may you stay that way forever.
- If Allah wills. But I'll give him a hand.

The two men smiled and shook hands.

When we left on foot towards our village, accompanied by the teenage sentries and apprentice cooks, whom we were bringing home, the Land Rover passed us and stopped long enough for Curly to exchange a few words with Erk. Rafa, in the back, leaving on his first assignment, raised a hand towards Kris. They gave each other a resounding "high five", a big smile on their faces.

As we walked into the village, we had ... well, Erk had the great pleasure of seeing the children running up to him and hugging him – he was crouching down. He found himself kneeling in the middle of the street, covered with children, surrounded by children.

As we know that the children of the village will rush to him, and that he will come within their reach to welcome them as they should be, before entering our village, he gives his EMA 7 to Kris, removes the magazine of his Behemoth that he hides under his bulletproof vest. He gives his knives to Tito. The most dangerous thing on him afterwards is his smile.

After reassuring each child, he grabbed the youngest, lifted him up at arm's length – one arm only – and brought him back to his mother, screaming with laughter as the giant tickled him mercilessly.

The parents had come out to see us go by and we also reassured them. Pretty Dina was there, and Erk was treated to a small kiss on the cheek, as always.

Then we continued on our way, Kris gave his gun back to his brother, Tito his knives, Erk reset his magazine and we approached the last house in the village.

We heard a woman scream, so our very own knight errant, our Viking with a heart of gold, rushed to her aid. Kris was about to run after him when Kitty pulled him back.