The Land Below our Feet III (Legacy)

BALLS

-Is it true, what they say about you, Yahun? – One of the soldiers asked in a low voice as he crawled near the masked man in charge of the entire mission, who had been crouched a few feet away from the rest of the taskforce with his eyes fixated on the cluster of houses ahead.

-The name is Iktan, but you can call me Sir – The Yahurian responded distractedly, keeping his sight on the target – And that depends. What is it that they say?

-That you have no balls, Sir – The crimson guard let out with a hint of derision and a curious grin that would vanish from his face when his interlocutor´s attention briefly switched to him, and he went instantly pale.

- I´ve got no testicles, that´s right – The man casually corrected him, holding his gaze for a whole uncomfortable minute, then redirecting it towards the buildings again – But ball wise… Well, I can assure you that I grew a perfectly good set a while back.

-What happened? – The young trooper thoughtlessly inquired, betrayed by his own irrepressible intrigue – Was it an accident, or were you born that way?

-You are a little nosey bird, aren´t you? – Iktan grunted, raising an eyebrow, his features then softening – Let´s just say I lost them in another life.

-So, you can´t get it up then? – The soldier gasped in morbid fascination, with an agape mouth.

-Not that it´s any of your business, but I can – The Yahurian puffed out after giving him a long, blood-curling stare, then looking away once more.

-How? How is that possible? – He babbled insistingly in perplexity before he could think of refraining his running mouth.

-What´s your name, pal? – The officer questioned him with an annoyed frown that would make him regret having said a word at all.

- M-Mikkho, Sir – The subordinate stammered, raising his hands in the air – But hey, listen, I´m sorry if I was out of line… I talk too much, I know that. I´ll just keep my mouth shut starting from now.

-M-Mikkho, sweet Mikkho – Iktan mockingly repeated, nodding at him with evident amusement when the man involuntarily winced – How old are you, uh?

-T-Twenty-eight – The soldier mumbled, staring at his lap, embarrassed. Praying for the ground to open and swallow him up and spare him from his demise.

- Well, you are old enough to know that arousal doesn´t happen in one´s nuts, but in one’s mind, ain´t you? – The masked man chuckled lightheartedly, patting his arm and letting him exhale the breath he had been holding in his lungs with a relieved sigh.

Iktan´s eyes wandered to the calm landscape once more, his soft giggles gradually becoming silent and his pupils darkening as he pensively acknowledged that it had been years since he had last given the issue a single thought.

But his past seemed quite reluctant to be forgotten lately, and it had been persistently nagging him, forcing him to revisit a chapter that he had happily closed a long time ago.

He had found the young man curled up on the dirty floor with his empty gaze fixated on the bars ahead. A clean bandage covered his leg right above the knee, where a stray bullet had been extracted earlier, leaving a gaping hole behind.

“So, I guess it is safe to say that religious life didn´t stick with you either, Canek” – Iktan had greeted him as the pair of heavy boots appeared across from his blurred sight and made the prisoner´s eyes open wide in surprise when he recognized the voice that was speaking to him behind the metallic mask.

“E-Elder?” – The hostage had mumbled, shakily getting on his feet and scrubbing his eyelids in frank disbelief – “Is that really you?”

“I never got used to that title, you know?” – The Yahurian had sadly chortled, deliberately ignoring his question and producing a set of keys from his armor – “I wasn´t old enough to do it justice back then, it always made me feel like a fraud”.

“So, you´re a Yahurian now?” – Canek asked, stupefied, taking a fearful step back when the sturdy gate clicked open, and the massive soldier stepped inside while he scanned his unrecognizable body up and down – “How the hell did THIS happen? Last time I saw you, you were as scrawny as I am!”

“Oh, it wasn´t any easy!” – Iktan had sighed, pacing calmly towards a bench in the corner and plopping down on it – “But you should know that whenever I needed motivation, I looked back to that last encounter you and I had… I don´t know if you remember it, but you asked me a question that day”.

“Oh, I do remember” – The young man had scoffed, his eyes clouding with sorrow – “I had just witnessed how they buried my mother among the others in that awful mass grave, and I wanted to know why war exists at all, so I figured I could ask my mentor, the man of the Gods… Never in my life have I been so wrong!”.

“I´m sorry I didn´t have an answer for you, and that I still don´t have one to this day – The Yahurian had gloomily told him - But I swore to myself that I would do everything in my power to spare others from the pain I saw in your eyes, Canek…

All of a sudden, the warrior stood up, pointing his long finger at the prisoner and making him flinch.

“All these years, I´ve been fueled by the memory of your sad little face, and the desire to make things better for the innocent! – The warrior yelled at him - So, imagine my disappointment when I heard my old temple assistant´s name being brought up in the middle of this whole mess!”.

“You call it a mess, I call it a movement” – The young man had boldly replied, overcoming his fright and planting himself before the Yahurian, crossing his arms over his chest – “Rebellions are born from a cause, and ours has been long disregarded. It was time we did something to change that at last”.

“Really?” – Iktan had hissed, picking him up by the clothes and searching intently into his startled eyes – “So, what were you planning to do, and what cause could that be, uh?”.

-What if they don´t show up at all, Sir? - Mikkho´s concerned voice interrupted his reverie and brought him back from his recollection, as he refocused his attention on the block of dark houses ahead.

-Don´t worry, they will come – The Yahurian confidently assured him - They´ll be here soon enough.

-But how do you know? – The soldier doubtfully inquired – They might be cowering and scared… It could be days till they regroup and decide to move on!

-Trust me, that sting just cost them a bunch of their own – Iktan calmly replied – The last thing they need is to miss their window of opportunity, waiting for too long… At this point, all they want is to finish the job. So, I guess we will soon find out if you can land a bullet half as fast as you can talk.

-Oh, you bet! – The young soldier smugly replied, smirking at him with pride – I learned from the Commander himself!

-Oh, did you? – The masked warrior chanted, raising a curious eyebrow at him – I wasn´t aware that he still found the time to personally train the Crimson Guard after all these years.

-Well… He will teach a lesson or two every now and then, and it´s always a treat! – Mikkho shook his head excitedly – But he had already shown me how to shoot long before I joined the army. It was one of the many kind things he did for me.

-Oh! You´re THAT kid! – Iktan exclaimed in realization after a long silent second – The one that got his ass miraculously spared after being with the group of mercenaries that kidnapped Souna back then… You have no idea of just how good you´ve got it! To this day, I still don´t know why Ussi didn´t rip your heart out like he did with the rest of them.

-Would you believe me if I told you that I talked my way out of it? – The young man playfully winked at Iktan.

-Absolutely not! – The Yahurian sneered, genuinely amused – Not in a million years! In fact, I´m sure you must have annoyed the hell out of him!

-Yeah, at first, I did – The soldier humbly admitted, staring ashamedly at his feet, then composing a s**t-eating grin – But I like to think that I slowly grew up on him! I took care of his children for years and years, until they inevitably got older and he told me I was free to go … But I had nowhere else to call home.

-And here you are – Iktan sighed, perking his head up and nodding purposefully at him – Well, they have arrived… So, here´s your chance to show him that he made a good call letting you stay around for so long.