Aftermath
The ride back to the city felt long and onerous. The men had to keep their eyes on Malik the entire ride there, and everyone was watching for an ambush that might attack the vulnerable convoy.
It was morning when they arrived at the city, and everyone was dead tired. Rashid and Hamid’s eyes fluttered open and shut throughout the last two hours of the ride, while Duke and Frost kept theirs open the whole ride. Whether or not they could have effectively responded to an attack immediately was up for questioning.
The streets were mostly empty in the city at the time they arrived. Duke and Frost both wore digital watches, as many special operators do, and Duke checked the time. It was barely seven in the morning. Normally, the men would already be up, but since they hadn’t slept at all that night, they wanted nothing more than to plop onto a mattress and let sleep take them.
The convoy arrived at the palace in no time, letting all of its passengers off at the front gates. Duke and Frost hadn’t actually gone through this area that much, mostly going through the gardens, and the craftsmanship of the area was astonishing. Or, at least, it would have been, had the men been in any condition to notice any of it.
As the convoy left, the guards took note of the haggard appearance of the soldiers before them. Were it not for the humans, they would never have guessed that they were soldiers; their clothes were so torn and they were so dirty that they could have passed off as peasants. The men only marginally looked better, everything but the torn clothes being about the same. There were distinct blood stains in obvious patches all over the group. As they approached the door, the guards looked at each other, then put their spears out to block the way.
Duke saw it and thought to himself, “What the hell?”
When he arrived before the guards, one of them said something to him in his native tongue. With an exasperated sigh, Duke turned around and pulled the mic off of the injured Malik’s head and tossed it to the guard. When the guard didn’t get it, Duke pointed at his own and made gestures to tell the guard to wear it. The guard hastily tried to get it onto his head, ultimately requiring Duke to aid him.
“Can you understand me?” Duke asked.
The guard stallion blinked. “Yes,” he replied.
“Now what were you saying?” Duke asked, rapidly growing impatient.
The stallion cleared his throat. “We cannot allow anyone to enter the palace in such a condition, regardless of who you are. This is a place of refinement and greatness, not to be soiled by-”
“I don’t give a rat’s ass about your refinement!” Duke shouted, getting the guard to step away. “My team is beaten, bloody, and exhausted. We want to rest, we need to give an After-Action Report to the king. We’re going in there, clean or no, and you won’t do anything about it.”
Duke pressed forward and shoved the guard out of his way, refusing to look back. Frost and the rest of the team followed, not noticing the looks of contempt they received from the guards as they walked past. As he passed him, Frost plucked the translator off of the guard’s head with little grace, practically slapping him. Under them, small droplets of blood and sweat formed a trail through the halls and chambers as they moved. It was no wonder the guards didn’t want them to come in.
Just before they made it to the king’s chamber, Duke let out a frustrated sigh and held his hand to his face. The rest of the team stopped behind him, looking on. After a moment of muttering to himself, Duke turned around.
“You guys head on ahead,” he said. “I need to take care of something.”
“What would that be, sir?” Rashid asked.
Duke started walking. “I told the lieutenant that I would take care of informing that stallion’s family of his death. He gave me their address here in the city on the ride back.”
“You ever done that before, boss?” Frost asked with concern. “I’ll come with you, the king can probably wait a little longer.”
“No, no, you guys head on in,” Duke said with a wave. “I’ll take care of this.” With that, Duke ran off to the gardens exit to go find the family of the soldier. Frost watched him go for a moment, then shook his head.
“I would never wish that job on anyone,” he said. At least no one would have to deal with that if Frost died.
First, Frost brought Malik to the infirmary area of the palace, then went to see the king with Rashid and Hamid. They spent the walk in silence, receiving curious glances from the guards around them. They were probably wondering how the filthy trio had gotten into the palace. The team was more focused on informing the king of the events of the night, though, and kept on walking.
When they arrived at the throne room, the guard standing outside it tried to stop them. Frost gave him the coldest death glare he could manage, and the stallion quickly moved aside. As the door opened, Frost noticed that, on the inside, there was a large group of horses. As in, a very large group of horses. Most were decked out in fancy outfits, wearing nice jewelry and carrying all sorts of trinkets.
“This can’t end well,” Frost thought as he walked in. Now he was wishing that he had made himself at least a little presentable. On his way up, he tried to straighten out his sleeves and pants to look more decent.
He and the stallions trudged through the chamber toward the throne, where they could see Sauri sitting on his throne, looking proud. When he saw the rough look of the trio and lack of three members, though, his expression faltered. The horses all around them were muttering in their language things that seemed to put the Rashid and Hamid on edge. Frost tried not to notice it and approached the king.
“I see you have returned,” Sauri said, though not happily. “What transpired?”
“Are they allowed to hear this?” Frost asked, to which the king nodded. Frost felt his chest tighten with anxiety. “Everything went wrong.” The muttering became full-blown conversation in the background.
“Everything? How could everything go wrong?” Sauri asked in disbelief.
“The information on the compound was almost completely inaccurate,” Frost began. “They had more soldiers than the intel indicated, practically an army, and the assault force didn’t stand a chance. There are five of them left.” The talking in the background grew louder, forcing Frost to speak up. “There was an entire cave complex where they were holding Blueblood, who we lost, after grabbing him, to a large group of gryphons while we had no assault support. The building that we thought was the entire compound was leveled, and any intel inside was just about destroyed.”
“This cannot be,” Sauri interrupted. “Nedal and his troops are excellent, and you are supposed to be even better!”
“Don’t give me that,” Frost warned, his voice taking on a cold tone again. The guards around him tensed up at him. “We’re special operations, not super soldiers. Nedal made the decision to take on a force he couldn’t possibly defeat, and his assault troops suffered for it.”
“I’m sorry?” Sauri asked, growing angry.
Frost toned back his critique. “He led his team against these impossible odds and lost. He saw it coming, and he still went. You lost twenty of your best soldiers because of that, and Nedal’s actions nearly killed my team.” Frost took a moment to point at Rashid and Hamid. Sauri stood from his throne, resulting in louder conversations on the side.
“I assure you, Nedal was a good soldier,” Sauri said defensively.
“I don’t doubt that,” Frost said. “He just wasn’t a good leader,” he thought privately. That lieutenant would have been a good leader for that mission.
Sauri seemed satisfied and sat back down. “What became of him?” he asked. “He is not with you.” Frost took off his helmet and held it to his chest, letting everyone know that bad news was coming.
“I’m sorry, but he didn’t survive,” he said, then added, “Though he did fight hard.”
Sauri tried to put on a strong face, but he did a poor job of concealing his sadness at the news. In the background, the conversation grew ever louder, giving Sauri a moment to lose himself in his own mind. Frost had seen people lose their buddies; it’s a part of Pararescue; so he let the king have some time. But not too much.
Frost put his helmet back on. “King Sauri, We had to-” The king couldn’t hear him over the crowd. “King Sauri, I-” Still, nothing. Frost turned around to face them all. “Will you all shut up!?!” he shouted, silencing the room. King Sauri took notice. “King Sauri, we buried the dead, including one of our own, out there at the compound. I hope that isn’t a problem.”
The king waved his hand. “No, no. He would have wanted to be buried on a battlefield.” The king’s hoof shook. “He told me that when I led him into battle as my lieutenant before I became king.” Frost didn’t know what to say, so he just nodded and remained silent. Thankfully, everyone else in the room remained silent as well, giving them time to think.
“What else do you have to inform me of?” Sauri asked.
Frost stepped forward. “Duke found these in the rubble,” he said, pulling several pieces of paper out of his plates. “He handed them to me on the ride here. One’s a map, the other’s a weird symbol we don’t know.”
One of the king’s aides came forward and took the papers, bringing them up to the king. When Sauri saw the symbol, his eyes widened all the way, and he frantically grabbed the paper from his King’s aide. He studied the symbol like it was a holy text for a moment, then set it down on the floor.
“Thank you for bringing these to us,” he said.
Frost wanted to ask what the symbol was, but kept his questions to himself. The king then looked over the map, muttering to himself and occasionally talking to one of his aids. After a few minutes of that, an aide took the map and ran off with it.
“Is there anything else?” Sauri asked.
Frost shrugged. “Only that OGA got moved days ago and isn’t in the country,” he said. “And that Blueblood wasn’t recovered. But he didn’t seem too badly injured when we found him.”
Sauri nodded. “Very well.” He paused, looking Frost over. “I suppose that you and Duke will not be staying, then?” He had a little bit of hope in his voice.
“That’s right,” Frost said. Sauri looked disappointed. “We need to find our guy, and if he’s not here, we need to travel to find him. Anything you can tell us would be helpful.”
Sauri thought for a moment. “I’m afraid we don’t have much,” he replied, causing Frost to sigh and let his head drop. “But-” Frost looked up hopefully. “-the Equestrians might be able to help you.”
“Aren’t they Equestrians?” Frost wondered.
“They have a long-standing conflict with these gryphons, and they might have what you need. We can send you there as soon as today,” Sauri said.
Frost looked back at the stallions. “If it’s all fine with you, I think Duke and I could use a day’s rest before we leave,” he said. “Rest up, say our goodbyes.”
Sauri smiled weakly and nodded understandingly. “Very well. You may stay in the same room you have been in. Tomorrow at noon, a guard will retrieve you to bring you to your transport.”
“Thank you,” Frost said. “How long is the trip?”
“The land portion is six days,” Sauri said. “The sea portion is two more, with stops at several ports.”
Duke and Frost didn’t care to acclimate, as they had proven, so they would mostly just be checking gear and such on the trip. Amel would be coming with them, helping to carry their stuff and generally being a companion, so they would have some pleasant company. She might be able to tell them a little about where they were going in regards to political and military situations, which could drastically alter the nature of their involvement.
Frost bowed. “Thank you, your majesty,” he said and turned around. “I suppose we may see you tomorrow?”
Sauri laughed. “It is a poor host who does not see off his guests!” he announced, getting laughs from everyone else. The uproarious noise made Frost want to run out of the room, but he controlled his reaction. He and the stallions exited the room and stopped once the doors were shut.
“You guys go do whatever you do,” Frost ordered. “I’m going to get some rest.”
The stallions saluted Frost and then walked off, probably to go and get some rest for themselves. Frost went up to his and Duke’s room, ignoring everything on his way there. He just wanted to sleep. Nothing would get in his way now, not when he was so close.
Except for the door to his room. When he arrived, the door was locked from the inside, forcing him to knock on it as hard as he could. When he received no answer, he knocked even harder, as if he were trying to bang the door down. In his exhausted state, he didn’t notice Amel as she approached him from the side.
“Open the door, Amel!” he shouted at the door.
“Fine,” she said, startling the airman away from it. She took out a key and stuck it in keyhole under the handle and pushed the door open. “Lazy man,” she said jokingly.
Frost followed her in after a moment. “Where were you?” he asked.
She hopped up onto his bed. “You saw those nobles down there?” she asked. Frost nodded. “Some of them were wondering about you and Duke. When they learned about me, they called on me to ask questions.”
Frost nodded. “Everyone always wants to hear about what the special ops guys do,” he mumbled grumpily to himself. “Just let us do our jobs. You don’t need to know about it, it’s sort of the point.”
Amel giggled. “Some of them were particularly interested in you, Frost,” she added.
Frost played it off as Amel playing games with him and plopped down next to her. Without warning her, he pushed her away from the center of the bed so he could lay down and set his feet on his pillow. After realizing he was wearing his boots, he begrudgingly sat back up and took them off, as well as his socks. Given the heat of the room, he took off his plates, his helmet, and then the rest of his clothes, other than his underwear, and tossed it all aside.
Amel sniffed the air and was repulsed. “Whoa!” she shouted, covering her nose. “You smell terrible!”
Frost put his hands in the air. “What of you expect from a guy like me? Especially when he hasn’t had a shower or bath in WEEKS?”
Amel didn’t give it any thought, instead accusing Frost of being gross. Frost didn’t respond, hoping she would just let him rest, but that didn’t seem to be happening. She seemed to decide that it would be a fun idea to sit on Frost’s chest while he tried to fall asleep. She didn’t weigh a ton, but in his current state, she felt like a semi.
“Why?” he asked tiredly, trying to push her off.
“Because,” Amel replied. To lighten the load on him, Amel moved herself so that she was just laying across his chest. After what he went through, he could use a warm, comforting presence, she thought.
Frost hadn’t the strength nor the will to fight it, and it honestly did make him feel better to have the soft pony distracting him from his soreness and disappointment, so he only put forth a non-serious effort to try to get her off of him. She didn’t move, clearly aware that his attempts had no effort to them. After stopping that, he let his arms out and put one on Amel’s neck to hold her close, like a child with a stuffed animal. Frost let her stay, and that was when Duke finally returned from his own sort of After-Action Report.
He walked through the door and wasn’t sure what to say. It was an odd scene; Duke, laying like a dead man Amel, who seemed to be content to lay on top of him. Neither of them seemed to notice Duke as he walked in and shut the door, hoping no one else saw the two. When the door clicked, the pair finally noticed Duke’s entrance looked in his direction. Duke looked back and forth between them.
“Sit on his face,” Duke said with a mischievous smile.
Frost sat all the way up, knocking Amel over. “Dammit, Duke,” he said while Duke laughed. Duke walked over to his own bed and sat down, laughing at his partner’s expense.
“Well, you should have known what that looked like,” Duke replied with a smirk. Frost chuckled, but still looked grossed out out at the idea.
“Boss, no,” Frost replied. “Just no.”
“What?” Amel asked, confused. Frost didn’t answer her. “What did Duke mean?”
“It’s not important,” Frost answered quickly.
Duke wasn’t letting it end. “Well, Amel, you see, there are certain acts that two people who enjoy spending time with each other can do...” he began.
“Duke, if you keep it up, I’ll throw my sweaty underwear at you,” Frost warned.
“And where will that leave you?” Duke replied with a smirk.
“Noo!” Frost said, covering his eyes.
“What is he talking about!?” Amel demanded.
“Nothing!” Frost said with finality. “It means nothing.”
Amel looked at him unsatisfied. “I will find out what that means,” she said. “Eventually.”
“As long as it isn’t from him,” Frost replied, pointing at Duke.
Duke shrugged. “Well, my day was awful, so I needed a good laugh. Your expense was just a good place to find it.”
Frost looked over at him seriously. “I forgot about that,” he said. “How did that go?”
“About as well as you would think,” Duke replied, moving back onto his bed and stripping down to go to sleep. “I hope I never have to do that again.”
“I imagine that you had trouble speaking to them,” Frost commented.
Duke sighed. “Shit,” he said. “I forgot Aziz’s translator at their home.”
Frost shrugged. “Eh, they can keep it as a memento or something,” he said, like it was nothing. “We shouldn’t need ours much longer.”
“With any luck,” Duke replied.
“Not much longer?” Amel cut in. “Are you leaving?”
“Yeah,” Duke replied. “Are you not coming?”
Amel blinked and pulled her head back. She hadn’t really been expecting them to think she would go with them. On the one hoof, she was leaving her homeland, where she was born and raised. On the other, it was leaving behind a place with many years of suffering for her for her mother’s ancestral home. To them, it was mostly whether or not she would be able to shoulder some of the weight of the gear. And help them to get through places without being taken by authorities.
“I am,” she said happily.
The men nodded to her and then turned toward their walls to nod off. They would need a proper night’s rest for the journey the next day, and so would Amel, so they all went to their own spots and went to sleep. But before they went to sleep, there was still one question.
“But what does it mean to ‘sit on one’s face’?” Amel asked.
Frost groaned into his pillow and Duke chuckled before they both let sleep take them.