Lover next trench 2

 

Being held a prisoner isn’t the best thing that can happen to you.

Younger dog sobbed: “Sir… do you think they will kill us?” The one who was called ‘Sir’ smiled at his subordinate. “I am sure they won’t. They are dogs like we are. And if they are reasonable, and I hope they are, they will release us…”

            “Sir, I don’t want to die. I have family and kids and-“ His words were cut by an enemy dog, which was heading towards them

‘Oh no… he… not him…’ The older one gasped but just in his mind. ‘Bad luck… this one ISN’T reasonable…’ Their enemy looked at them with disdain and common anger that was being used more than usual those days. It was a well-built Doberman with plain black collar, just with a silver clip.

“Commander?” One of guards asked when the Doberman was near.

“Good work, soldier…” the Doberman said in the tone, which meant just one thing: Well, it could be better, but I am your nice and outgoing boss and therefore I am better than you will ever be. And of course I am not mad at you. You aren’t worthy enough for that. “So let’s see…”

The younger prisoner stepped back when the Doberman looked at him.

“So look at our little heroes. Again… I just can’t get that you, Americans, cannot understand that you will never be able to defeat us. Nonetheless… execute them.” The young dog gasped and the older didn’t say a word.

“Commander?” Guards weren’t happy. Killing the prisoners wasn’t right.

“Oh, is there a slight chance you didn’t understand, soldiers?” the Doberman glanced back with cold anger in his brown eyes. Soldiers shook their heads quickly. They knew well they could be executed, too, because they were against the direct order. And their Commander showed them proper punishment for disobeying. The younger prisoner quaked.

“Oh and I forgot… execute the older first. And make sure the younger is watching…”

Guards, that meant another Doberman and German shepherd dog, watched their commander leaving and then they sighed. And they gave the prisoners look which was saying: Look, we don’t have anything against you. Our commander is just… you know… SS… band of bigheaded pricks… “Get lost…” then the shepherd whispered. The prisoners looked at him with the state of shock and untold gratefulness. “Get lost… quickly.” The prisoners nodded and ran away.

“That was close, Danny…” the older one sighed with relief when they were far away enough.

 

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In Nome, things hadn’t changed even a little bit. War was far away and the only men who had participated in it were private Kinley and Sergeant Napper. And of course their dogs: Renna (daughter of Balto), Mut (sergeant’s sergeant), Wolfgang (former enemy) and Wilhelm (well… former enemy, too). Wolf and Renna had a good living there. They were mates now and Wolf had been accepted by everyone. Soon, nobody was mad at him because of his past. But Wilhelm the Doberman, former German commander, was still treated like stranger. His breed was really unusual there and moreover he didn’t talk a lot. He missed his homeland. The dog who knew that the best and who was his closest… well let’s say a friend… was Mut. This friendly, but a fierce and brave malamute was a great friend and leader. And he knew Wilhelm, or Will how he liked to call him, was a soldier. And he knew he was feeling like a prisoner there. Nobody had ever spoken with him. Like he had been complete stranger. But Wolf didn’t forget. Wilhelm was treating him like his own son and Wolf knew that. He also knew the Wilhelm was the one who’d saved own enemies just because of him. He’d saved Renna and Mut. In fact, he was the real hero. And Wolf really suffered when he saw his closest friend and almost a father in a such condition.

            But war doesn’t knock. It simply kicks your door open and rattles your walls. And now it kicked twice.

Napper was sitting with Kinley near the fireplace and both were holding envelopes with various stamps like the one who had sent them had wanted them to look awfully official.

            It had been a nice day until Napper had knocked on Kinely’s door and instead of greeting he had given him one sealed envelope.

“Will you go?” Napper asked suddenly.

Kinley looked into his glass full of whiskey and nodded. “Of course, it’s my duty.”

Napper murmured something and then he asked again: “So you obviously think that your duty is to go and kill people you don’t even know and who don’t know you too.”

Kinley was quiet. Sergeant’s questions could be sharp and pointed. At least Kinley imagined them like really pointy things that Napper used to make other people say and do everything he wanted. And when necessary, the sergeant simply poked you by that sharp sort of questions. Moreover, it wasn’t a question. It was a statement.      

“Well,” Napper continued, “I bet the best would be to throw away weapons, kill our generals and go home. But unfortunately, there is still large amount of people who think and act like you, Thomas. They think it’s their duty, so they go. Like brainless animals.” Napper smirked and emptied his glass with one deep sip.

Kinley was quiet. His sergeant was right. Again,

“And the worst thing is we allowed them to do this. Yes, we. We are humans. Of course, they speak different language and have different customs, but we are humans. We should ignore him. But we gave them even more. We gave them Poland, we gave them Czechoslovakiaand then they took all they needed. But for war and for love you need at least two people. I wonder what would happen if we stopped fighting and simply went home.”

Kinley was… quiet. His sergeant was unpleasantly accurate and he was able to call the things by their proper names.

“So, will you go?”

‘Thank God!’ Kinley thought, ‘finally a direct question!’

“Would you go?” He replied instead of direct answer. He knew Napper disliked direct answers. He claimed: ‘Direct answers shows you haven’t thought about the question. But you should.’

But Kinley saw his sergeant had been prepared for this.

“What do you think?” He replied. Yes… he disliked direct answers.   

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“… Well and that’s how he saved the whole city.” Mut grinned as he was walking through Nome’s streets with Wilhelm by his side. And he waited. He waited for a response.

‘Oh come on, Kraut…’

The Doberman sighed and said slowly: “He wasn’t alone. Others helped him. But he is the hero.”

Mut rolled his eyes: “Well and now you will say it’s unfair.”

“Why? Nobody is interested whether it’s fair or not. But… The winner is nobody without those who lost. Because without them there would be no winner.”

“Eh?” Mut managed to say. “There weren’t any-“

“Really? If I remember well, you called him Steele.”

“Oh Steele…”

“Yes. He would be great commander. He was determined to achieve his goals at all costs.”

Mut gasped. Wilhelm was speaking about Steele like Steele had been a hero. And he gasped once more when one dog joined them. But Wilhelm didn’t notice that.

“Yes, I don’t know him. And you may say that risking the lives of children for your glory is something that can’t be excused. You may say that the commander who cares for his troops is better than the commander who cares about his goals. No… everybody says that. But this isn’t true. You must get their respect. And when you have respect, you have everything. They will follow you even into hell. I… I was a bad commander.” Wilhelm bowed his head.

“I just… wanted Wolfgang to be happy and now I am here… like a prisoner.”

“So you say Steele was right?” the dog who joined them asked. They hadn’t seen him coming, but they didn’t pay attention… it was quite usual.

“Right? Well… tell me, who is right? Or do you think that there are good and bad things? That there is the truth and the lie? That the things are true or false? No… things just are.”

He made a dramatic pause.

“Things had just been… then we came. We divided them and gave them names. And we marked them. But there isn’t anything like the truth or the lie. But we have been using these two words too much so we aren’t able to accept that simple fact now. We got used to truth and lie.”

“So you say Steele was doing the right thing?”

“No… He was just doing a thing. And Balto and the others were doing a thing, too. But they had different views…”

Mut almost exploded with anger. That blasphemer was speaking about Balto like-

“I understand.” Balto nodded. “You are wise, Wilhelm.”

Wilhelm gave him look full of nothing. He wasn’t surprised. He wasn’t amazed. He wasn’t afraid. “No… I am not. I don’t know how I would act in a situation like this.”

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Kinley knew that was just a little game. And he knew they could carry on but he felt he had to let his sergeant win.

“I will go…” He said slowly and his ears caught his wife’s silent sobs.

“I still don’t know.”

“So they lied to us. They said we would go home for good.”

“Just words, Thomas… just words. Every war is about lies.”

Kinley looked into the papers once more. Yes, they were sending him to his old unit. “Well… they say just one soldier – one dog…”

“And?” Napper’s eyebrows raised and that was the sign you said something really, but really stupid. “I have two dogs…” Kinley said carefully.

“Oh really? I thought you have fifty-eight…” Napper murmured. “I have two dogs, too. But I will take Mut. And you?”

Kinley felt sergeant’s eyes and ears were searching for at least a small proof of the things sergeant had taught him. Or had at least tried to teach.

“Oh well… directives… they are here just to say: ‘Look, this is the limit that shouldn’t be crossed too many times. You

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