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  “I can see that my friend,” the giant added with a raised eyebrow.

  “Do you know if anyone told Colonel Fisher that I’m dead?”

  “I do not know my friend. I would assume that everyone, most everyone in camp believes that you had passed beyond the wall of sleep,” Towbar answered.

  “Well, let’s go rattle some cages,” Mykal joked and started to rise. Towbar had to help him get back to his feet. “This is just like when I almost died from the death arrow. Lieutenant Edwards was telling everyone that I died and he tried to get everyone to turn away from waiting for my return.”

  “I remember the startled look he gave when he saw you face to face for the first time,” Towbar said and gave a slight laugh. “Lieutenant Edwards truly believed you had gone beyond the wall of sleep.”

  “Oh yeah. He thought I was raised from the dead,” Mykal laughed. “It’s gonna be the same thing here,” he snickered.

  “I do believe you need to get your rest and to get as much rest as possible, my friend.”

  “I will. I will rest on the back of the horse and then I’ll rest in the back of the vehicle while we’re driving to find Doninka,” he chuckled stubbornly. “I take it you haven’t had any success trying to Mind Talk with Doninka, have you?”

  “No my friend. Yet I will not give up. I will continue to try to make contact with her.”

  “I know you will, but you gotta try harder cuz we’re starting to run outta time.”

  2.

  By the time they came within sight of the outskirts of the camp, Mykal was weary and worn-out mentally. Though he rode high on the horse and Towbar walked alongside him Mykal felt beat and exhausted physically. His body still wracked with pain but he had to force himself to continue. He didn’t feel he could waste any time, not even one hour, in trying to find Doninka.

  “How do you feel my friend?” Towbar asked when Mykal started to slump forward slightly.

  “It’s funny you should ask that buddy. I feel like Elvis Presley at the end of the movie Flaming Star,” he said and couldn’t help but laugh. He knew Towbar would have no idea what his reference was.

  “I am confused my friend.”

  “I know, I know,” Mykal continued to laugh weakly though he slumped forward a tad more. “Elvis Presley was a big famous rock and roll star who became a big movie star. I’m just talking to keep my mind focused on something, just anything other than the friggin pain I’m fighting off.”

  “I understand my friend.”

  “But anyway Elvis was a big famous star. I never really cared for him all that much. I think I didn’t really like him cuz my mother loved him so much. But I remember as a kid I saw this one western movie he did and it shocked me, cuz at the end of the movie he rides off on a horse just like this, meaning all beat up and about to fall off,” he chuckled at Towbar’s confusion. “But Elvis rode off like this to die,” he continued to smirk his humor. “I just remember how shocked I was as a kid that I saw Elvis Presley playing a part that he was gonna die. In most westerns the good guys ride off into the sunset to live happily ever after,” he added and laughed. “But he rode off to die and that’s kinda the way I feel right now.”

  “You are not going to die my friend. I will not allow it.”

  “I know you won’t buddy,” Mykal gave a slight laugh. “That’s just the way I feel. I think that movie was made in 1960, about twenty-four years ago. I don’t remember that movie at all. I just remember Elvis Presley riding off to die. It was a shock to me. My sister was crying and I think my mother cried too. But I’ll never forget how I felt when I saw that, cuz out of all his stupid ‘happy happy’ movies, I don’t think I ever saw him in a situation like that.”

  “Interesting my friend,” Towbar replied to humor him and to keep the conversation going. It was clear this was a meaningless conversation from his point of view. “So this person is a famous celebrity in your world?” Towbar asked in reference to the fame they experienced when they went on the ‘world tour’ as they called it.

  They had been ushered around the United States for television and radio interviews, to do conferences in order to share with the people of Mykal’s world the information discovered of Towbar’s world. It was done on behalf of the United States Air Force. Mykal knew it was a ploy to help put a positive spin on the fact that a nuclear missile was missing and that sixty-nine other people, at that time, were also missing. Most were dead and some remained unaccounted for from Mykal’s first trip to Towbar’s world.

  “He was,” Mykal replied. “He died in real life about six and a half years ago.”

  “That is sad my friend,” Towbar replied, clearly to keep the conversation going.

  “Not as sad as when one of my favorite musicians of all time was murdered a little more than three years ago. John Lennon was a member of the music group called the Beatles and he was murdered by a nut job.”

  “Beetles? Like the insect?” Towbar asked and looked at him.

  Mykal couldn’t help but laugh. “Kinda, but not really,” he answered so he wouldn’t have to explain the origins of the group name. “When John Lennon was murdered it actually broke my heart more than anything else when I heard it. Even though I never met him his death hurt me more than even when my grandparents died. I know that sounds strange, but his music, and their music as a group, really played an important part in my life. As a kid I loved their music and it helped shaped me growing up. When he was murdered, to me it was like a family member of mine was murdered. I know, he could have been a jerk in real life but it was hard for me when he died. Partly cuz he was murdered and taken so suddenly from us,” Mykal added and paused to think about whether he should admit his next idea or not.

  “I know I should never say this,” Mykal declared when he realized how ‘crazy’ this was going to sound. “Since I have my ring and can turn invisible, I have actually toyed with the idea of going back to my world with my magic ring and going to where they have his murderer locked up so I could kill him. The best part is no one would ever know it’s me who did it and millions of people all over the world would be glad that the murderin’ scumbag would get killed.”

  “Do you think that would be a wise thing to do my friend?”

  “No, cuz it wouldn’t bring back the person he murdered. But it makes me feel good that I would be able to get revenge on someone like that.”

  “If he was not a member of your family would it be right and just if you sought such revenge?”

  “I guess not, but millions of people all around the world would be glad if I did,” Mykal declared. “He was such a big star and was so well loved by millions of people. I remember reading something somewhere that said his murder was the most shocking thing in rock music ever. But yeah, I guess it’s not my place to go after his murderer cuz I guess his killer really had mental problems and wasn’t right in his head. I’m not exaggerating when I say millions of people all over the world would rejoice if Lennon’s assassin got murdered, got some payback, cuz he robbed something special from millions of people, like me, who loved the Beatles and him musically. When he died I remember reading that a couple people actually committed suicide because of his death. Now that’s going too far.”

  “That sounds like they were not mentally strong if they took their own life over the death of someone they did not know.”

  “You’re right. They coulda been a little off in the head, but to murder a scumbag like Lennon’s murderer would be different than killing yourself. Ya see what I mean? Plus, I also got to thinkin’ that I could go and kill people who have it coming to them like Charlie Manson or the scumbag who--”

  “I know you will do the right thing my friend,” Towbar said to cut him off and continued to look ahead. He was talking to humor Mykal.

  “You’re right, you’re right,” Mykal admitted and stopped with the foolish ideas. “Oh man, I’m really hurting Towbar,” Mykal groaned and slumped forward more.

  “Do you need to stop and rest?”
/>   “No. I can make it. I gotta make it,” he gasped and blew a deep breath.

  “You really should have stayed in the mountain to rest longer my friend,” Towbar said as a correcting rebuke. “Your body needs to recover.”

  “I can’t. It’s that strong willed child thing in me,” Mykal chuckled in reference to his stubborn bullheadedness. “We gotta move to rescue Doninka,” Mykal argued and sounded as if he would get angry. “I will rest in the vehicle when we head out. We gotta get the teams together.”

  “It will be a great surprise for the men. I believe the men all fear that you died.”

  “Well, we’re gonna change that,” he replied and looked up to see how far away the camp was. “If we can get in touch with anyone try to wave them over and see if we can get a vehicle to us.”

  “I am watching my friend. I am watching. Do you desire to lean forward and sleep to rest?”

  “I can’t Towbar,” Mykal scoffed with a smirk. “I’ll fall off. I know your men train to ride on horseback to where they can even sleep while they ride.”

  “That is correct.”

  “When I first met you and your men, I remember seeing Kotan and your other soldiers pull that off. I was amazed when I saw that they rode while they slept,” Mykal snickered. “We were all flabbergasted cuz we had never seen anything like that. Hell, we couldn’t even ride a horse when we were wide awake,” Mykal laughed in a self-deprecating manner. “Remember when we went to check out the mountain when you found that strange smell that led to the Dwarven kingdom? Remember how Boris almost got killed trying to ride one of these giant ass horses?” He said with a laugh at the comical memory. The image of Boris trying to ride the horse brought laughter, but suddenly brought a heavy sadness. He missed his friend Boris.

  “Yes, I remember,” Towbar said and a slight smile formed on his face. “I miss all those friends of yours my friend. They played a very great role in keeping our land free. Those days were a trying time for me, yet you took charge and amazed me with your small number of people to help me hold the Pass. I was amazed when we kept the Pass from falling into the hands of the Sosos.”

  “And we had no friggin idea what the hell we were doing,” Mykal scoffed as he thought back to the beginning days of his first adventure in Towbar’s world. “All we were concerned with was surviving and trying to find our way back home. We had no idea how to fight a war, especially with the two friggin dipshits we had leading us at that time. Edwards and Mansfield,” he scoffed with disgust. “What a damn friggin joke of leadership.”

  “I agree with you my friend.”

  “We had a damn war with Sosos and then we had a damn war within a war dealing with them two numbskulls.”

  “They were a challenge,” Towbar agreed.

  “But they got what was coming to ‘em. I don’t feel bad at all. Do you know, if them stupid asses woulda got their way all my people woulda ended up dead and we wouldn’t have helped you and your people,” he declared and realized when he spoke in anger it took his focus off his pain.

  “I am glad you took charge my friend. And I am very grateful that you and I met when we did,” Towbar added which implied he could have met Lieutenant Edwards and Technical Sergeant Mansfield first and that would have changed everything.

  “I can’t believe how much I changed because of the last seven months,” Mykal said and looked at his hands as if they represented the person he had become. “I don’t know how many people these hands have killed but I’ll never be the same again. I can tell I’m cold and jaded,” he sneered at himself. “But you don’t seem to be affected by all the killing you have done Towbar.”

  “I have killed because I am a warrior in a world where if you do not kill, you or those around you will be killed,” Towbar explained and looked at his friend. “I do not enjoy taking the life of any person, yet I know the Sosos live to torture and kill in the name of their gods. They must be stopped. Every Soso I have killed has saved countless lives and I must look at it from that perspective. I would have to say that the soldiers on the other side of the world are in the same class. It is kill or be killed. They are under the direct rule of Zizmon-Tarl.”

  “Yeah and what’s sad about that,” Mykal started and thought back to something he heard from Hidtotim, the soldier of Zizmon-Tarl they befriended. “Most of the soldiers under Zizmon-Tarl are forced to be there. I remember hearing Hidtotim saying to his men that he couldn’t pay his taxes so he was forced to be a soldier. He was forced into the military or he would have been sent off to the prison or the ‘torturers’ he said. It sounds like a scam Zizmon-Tarl has going on. The people have to pay a super high tax that they can’t afford. If they don’t pay it then they get sent to the prisons where it sounds bad or they can earn their way by being in the military.”

  “This is sad, yet that is where they are.”

  “Oh no, I’m not getting wimpy about it,” Mykal replied. “Every single one of Ziggy’s soldiers would have killed us if they had the chance. But I kind a feel bad cuz most of them kids were forced to be in that position. From all those soldiers that were killed just in the last week or so, they had to be someone’s son, someone’s husband or someone’s father and because they were forced into that position they died for being in Ziggy’s military. And we killed them like they were nothing.”

  “As you have said my friend. If we did not kill them, they would have killed us,” Towbar countered.

  “Oh no, don’t take me wrong. I’m not regretting what we did, cuz I’m sure there were plenty who loved doing what they do when they abused the populations they destroyed. I’m sure there were plenty who had the mindset of that Commander Ingledoss who was brutal and cruel. What did I call him, Commander Ingle-doofus?” He added and laughed.

  “Yes. I do not understand the humor of such a name, though I know some of your men laughed when you called him that name.”

  “I was just goofing around cuz the word doof or doofus kinda means an idiot or someone who is stupid,” Mykal said with a hearty laugh. “It was just my way to get a dig in without that moron knowing what I said, cuz he didn’t even know what it meant but it made my guys laugh a little and we have to have a little humor or we’re gonna go crazy if we’re so stinking serious all the time. See if I was serious all the time, it would drive me nuts. But you buddy, you’re always so serious. All the friggin time,” he declared to emphasize his point.

  “I suppose I would have to admit and say it is hard to find things in which to laugh about.”

  “Yeah, if I had a nickel for every time I heard you laugh I would have to borrow a nickel from you to buy a cup of coffee and a cup of coffee only costs a nickel,” Mykal laughed at his exaggeration while Towbar looked at him to figure out what he said.

  “That would mean you have never heard me laugh,” Towbar said with a serious expression while he tried to understand the riddle Mykal presented to him.

  “But if I was to have a nickel every time you kept a straight face when everyone else laughed, I’d be a rich dude and could retire yesterday,” he joked.

  “So what you are saying my friend--”

  “Stop Towbar,” Mykal cut him off and laughed. “I’m joking, I’m joking. But seriously buddy, you don’t have a sense of humor. In all the time I’ve known you I think I only ever heard you laugh two or three times. I don’t think you were born with a funny bone.”

  “A funny bone? Is there really such a thing?”

  “Don’t worry about it Towbar,” Mykal laughed. “We’re brothers and that’s all that matters.”

  “I have noticed that most of your people try to do or say things that will make others laugh.”

  “Yeah that’s true cuz I guess the way we look at it, if you have a sense of humor you can make your situation a little more enjoyable. I recognized a number of people became angry with me during those press conferences we did cuz I always tried to be comical and have a sense of humor about our situations. They couldn’t understand how we could laugh at som
e of the things we were laughing over. I guess I kinda see their point if I look at it from their boring point of view. But I say we gotta lighten things up or I’ll go crazy.”

  “As I said I noticed many of your people share the same perspective.”

  “Yeah, like the friends I had who are gone Kurt, Boris, Denny, Rich, Sam, Larry and Jake all had the same sense of humor and that was why we got along so great during all the craziness of your world, or what we would call the craziness of your world,” he snickered so as not to offend the giant. Mykal eyed the massive walls of the Pass and realized he and his close friends had some great laughs in between the mighty walls of the Pass. He also realized that some of those he shared the ‘great laughs’ with were no longer alive.

  “I understand your meaning my friend.”

  “That’s why I like the Dosch brothers, both Roy Jr. and Randy have a great sense of humor and so does Mathis. Mathis reminds me a lot of Kurt and Boris. Oh man, I’m feeling like I could fall over right now.”

  “We have company arriving,” Towbar announced.

  Mykal looked up to see six of Towbar’s soldiers racing to them on horseback. Rogel was one of the six. “Is there anything we can do my Lord?”

  “Yes Rogel. Ride like the wind and find some of Mykal’s people who have the horseless carriages and bring them here so we can get Mykal to the camp quickly.”

  “Yes my Lord. Would you like any of us to remain here to assist you?”

  “No, that will not be necessary,” the giant answered. “Just bring one of the crafts back here.”

  “Yes my Lord. Just to inform you Lord Towbar,” Rogal said before they turned away. “There is talk all among the camp that Mykal is dead. This will be a surprise. It is very good to see that you are alive Mykal.”

  “Don’t tell anyone I’m alive yet,” Mykal said and looked to be in pain. “I wanna go back there and surprise everyone.”

  “We will do that,” Rogal replied. “We will have a craft here in a short time my Lord,” Rogal said and thumped his chest as if saluting his leader. The six men turned their horses and rode off swiftly.