Blood Lily Company - Afghanistan - Year 2

XLIII

I got the feeling that the rain was letting off a little. Just a little. It was still raining hard, but I felt like visibility was better and that the rain was less heavy on my shoulder.

We left two by two, Kris bringing up the rear, Erk and Baby Jane leading the way and as always, Yaka on the sides as an outlier, even if, with the rain, her nose and ears would be of less use than the satlink of our helmets.

We had mud over our toes and I was starting to think not all of it was rain, and maybe a little of the river, too. After all, it overflowed regularly, here, bringing rich silt to the fields on its banks. The sheep usually went on the other side of it, rockier, less proper for agriculture, but perfect for grazing.

When I started to feel some pull against my feet, my doubts regarding the origin of the water started to melt. And when the water reached my ankles, they were gone.

I looked at the satlink on my HUD and saw that we were quite close to the river. In front, Erk stopped. One of his legs was wet higher than the other. As if he had stepped into the "real" river bed. He turned left, northwards, going upriver to one of the pastures indicated by the malik's wife. Most of them this side of the river were upstream from the village.

We checked while walking but found nothing. No more sheep around us than honesty in the eyes of a horse dealer, as my grandfather used to say.

So Erk got closer to the river to cross it. Easier said than done, apparently. The current was strong. Very strong.

- Shoot, Kris said. If the boys are on the other side, I don't see how we can help them back to the village.

- Let's hope they found a place to wait the end of the rain, I said.

- If they are on the other side, they are on the territory of the Dotard, Erk noted. That is... a damn hassle.

- You sure about that, big boy?

- I hope I'm mistaken. Tito?

- Checking, my lil' pal answered.

I looked at our giant and he seemed tense. It's true that if the boys were on the wrong side of the border, they would be in deep shit, the Dotard was looking for a pretext to invade our territory. The only thing preventing him now was his fear of Lin and the fact that we hadn't been shitting in his boots.

I started looking at the satlink, in case there was a picture of the herd, even if wet sheep wouldn't make a big stain on a satellite picture, and I remembered I had made a model of that river when we were looking for our two lost sheep (already). So I gathered my memories and then...

- Kris?

- Yes, Archer?

- We should be able to use the hack of... you know?

- What for?

- To listen to the Dotard's comms and see if he has the boys?

- The hack? Erk asked.

And Kris told him how he had asked a hacker lady he knew for something to listen in Higgins guys comms. We didn't get anything out of it, just a big pile of zilch, as when we finally manage to listen in, Erk and Tito were already on the other side of the river, in the Dotard's territory.

I noticed Kris gesturing slightly and Erk didn't comment on the identity of the hacker, as if he knew.

- Fine, I said. When we modelized the area to find you, we also did this part of our little paradise. And I think I remember an interesting place not too far from here. A small butte that is in the Dotard's sector when it rains less.