A Question of Tine - 4. Of Diversions and Deviations…

For Tine, the next few days passed in a whirlwind of new activities, new routines, and a lot of long lonely hours. The strange dreams did not stop, but they did not have the same disorienting after effects as before. His body adjusted rapidly to the new pace and, after the first few days, he had been mostly unhindered in his new training schedule, which mostly consisted of him spending endless hours in one of the watch towers keeping a look out for anything that might harm the livestock speckling the fields below. Unfortunately, his watch tower duty, in addition to the never ending drills on marching and riding and war craft, caused him to keep long, irregular hours that kept him from enjoying any of the normal things in his previous life -- things like Aiden, whom he missed sorely. He grew to despise the red tunic which separated him from his year-mates and took no pride in the wearing of it.

Tonight, for example, would have been his free night. A night that he and Aiden typically would have spent together playing games, mending clothing, or just talking about their dreams for the future -- a future they had wanted to share. Instead, he was in a training camp, wearing borrowed clothing that was entirely too big, entirely too black, and smelled of something he would prefer not knowing about. Lizan had found a black knitted cap for him to wear over his blond curls and another trainee had smeared his face with camouflage consisting of tallow mixed with ash. He sneezed again, and remembered this time to not touch his face as that had previously brought him admonishment along with a fresh coat of camouflage.

There were half a dozen trainees present. Tine was the youngest and the newest, but the instructor told him he earned his place tonight by his attentiveness in war craft. Tine grimaced; he had fallen asleep in that class yesterday.

“Tonight’s exercise is a simple one. Across the river is an enemy camp. They have a flag on a flag pole in the center of their camp.” He pointed to the pole they had erected earlier with a square of red drooping limply from the top, “your flag is there. You must guard it while attempting to capture their flag. How you do it is up to you.” He started to walk away, but then turned back to face the young men again, “you can capture and be captured by the other team. First one to raise their opponent’s flag on their pole wins.”

The instructor pointed at Lizan, “You are this team’s captain.” Lizan nodded then turned to the other five trainees. “Tiva and Tine will stay here to defend our flag. You know what to do Tiva. Come on guys, maybe we can at least capture their flag tonight.” Then the four walked off toward the river.

Tine looked at Tiva, he was big. Maybe they could manage their end of the task. Tiva sat at the base of the pole.

“You can do what you want to do, I’ve done this before. All Lizan wants us to do is make noise when they take our flag. He don’t get mad or nothing.”

Tine stood facing the direction of the river, “You’ve done this before?”

“Lots of times. We aren’t really expected to win, but the instructors like it if we give the other camp a good fight.”

“Who?”

“The Imperials, this is part of their training too.”

“So, we just let them take our flag, and all we do is make noise?” Tine asked suspiciously.

Tiva nodded.

Tine scowled. He hated to loose, even when he was expected to -- especially when he was expected to. A plan percolated in his mind and he grinned as he walked over to where Tiva sat and untied the rope holding the flag to the pole.

“What are you doing?”

“Moving camp,” Tine told him as he quickly lowered the flag.

“To where?”

“I don’t know, but there has got to be a better place than this. Which way is the enemy camp?”

Tiva pointed.

Tine grinned and started walking.

“You can’t do that, Tine.”

“Why not? Call it a tactical retreat.”

“How will Lizan find us?”

Tine shrugged. “Maybe we will find him. Either way we won’t be in this camp when the Imperials come.”

Reetik and Bra-Neche lay belly down on the slope of the hill. Reetik was just peeking over the top, looking down on the enemy camp.

“How many are down there?” Bra-Neche asked.

“None,” Reetik said as he pulled back, “and neither is their flag. I think we should go down and take a look.”

“Is it safe?”

“The camp appears empty. They could be hiding nearby though. It would be easier to tell if we were closer.” Reetik stood up and walked toward the camp. He was right, it was empty. No defenders and no flag. “Scent the place; look for tracks, maybe we can figure out where they went.”

Bra-Neche nodded and walked over to the flag pole. When he was standing close enough his face nearly touched the wood, he caught a whiff of a very familiar scent. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. There were other scents masking it, but his human had touched this pole recently. When he opened his eyes he smiled at Reetik.

“Recognize one of them?”

Bra-Neche nodded.

“Can you follow it?”

“I think so; it’s masked.”

Reetik shrugged, “Just do your best.”

Bra-Neche stepped away from the flag pole then began a simple spiral search pattern, moving a little more outward with each pass. He was nearly back to the river before he picked up the scent again. The path took them upriver before it disappeared into the water, but that was the direction of their own camp. “He wouldn’t have come this way for long,” Bra-Neche said as he scanned the water. “He went downstream, in the water.”

“So, we slog downstream too,” Reetik said with a chuckle. “I think I might consider considering this one myself, Bra-Neche.”

Bra-Neche felt his hackles rise and could not stop the growl before it sounded.

Reetik laughed again. “Fine, I won’t. He’s yours. Come on, let’s see if we can find where your disobedient human came out of the water.”

An hour later they still had not picked up the scent or any sign Tine or anyone else had come out of the water. “Are you sure he came this way?” Reetik asked Bra-Neche.

Bra-Neche nodded. Then he saw him, sitting naked on an outcropping of rock above the river. Reetik nearly bumped into Bra-Neche when he stopped to point. Their ascent wasn’t exactly stealthy as they climbed the rock, but Tine didn’t seem to notice.

“So, does this mean I’m captured?” Tine asked as they got to his level.

“Depends. Hand over the flag.”

Tine shrugged, “I don’t have it.”

Reetik looked at Bra-Neche who looked confused.

“Where is it?”

“Probably hanging from a pole by now. Hopefully ours.”

“So this was…”

“A diversion,” Tine grinned up at them. “Did it work?”

Reetik growled, “Consider yourself captured. Bra-Neche, take this… diversion… back to our camp while I see if any of this can be salvaged.”

Tine giggled, and then blushed as Reetik stalked off. “Not much of a sense of humor in that one?”

“No, not really,” Bra-Neche agreed, “Now up on your feet so we can get back to camp.”

“Can’t,” Tine told him as he sat there, unmoving.

“Why can’t you?”

“I’m captured. You have to make me go with you and I have to try to escape.”

“Escape?”

“Yes, that’s what you do when you’re captured, isn’t it?”

Bra-Neche looked confused for a moment, a state he was starting to recognize as being related to this human in particular, and especially when his clothes were off. Cautiously, he sat down. “I guess so, it’s never happened to me before.”

“Well, your friend declared me captured, how about if I declared you captured. Then we could both be captured together.”

“Can you do that?” Bra-Neche asked, clearly having a difficult time thinking when the scent wafting off the blond was driving him to do things he knew he ought not to do.

“Yes.” Tine said with all confidence, “but if I do, will you chase me when I try to escape or will you try to escape too?”

“You don’t want me to capture you?”

“I do,” Tine said as he stood up, “but just you.” Then he jumped off the rock into the water. Bra-Neche sat there for a few long moments with a silly grin on his face, then it registered Tine escaped and he must capture him. He looked at the river and saw a blond head bobbing with the current, headed yet further down stream. A scream of challenge erupted from his throat as Bra-Neche followed.

--**--

“What was that?” Lizan asked his partner as they ran back toward their camp with the Imperial flag.

“Sounded like a whole lotta noise to me,” he responded and ran all that much faster back toward their own camp.

Tiva did his best not to move. Tine explained that he would create a diversion, but that he could not move until Lizan or the others came back to the camp. Tiva held very still when the first two Imperials came sniffing around and they didn’t find him. It was harder when the second set came, but they still did not find him, but now it sounded like his teammates returning. The steps were too light and too fast for the Imperials who always approached cautiously.

“Damn it,” Lizan cursed, “they not only took the flag but they took Tiva and Tine too.”

At the cursing Tiva knew it was safe. He rose up out of the muck behind Lizan and Cado.

“They didn’t get us, or the flag,” he said holding out the red square which was slightly damp from being inside his shirt.

Lizan and Cado turned around quickly. “What the?” Cado began, but Lizan grabbed the flag, attached both flags to the flapping rope, and raised them to the top, winning the game for their team as the referee on the tower signaled the game over.

“Hah!” he crowed defiantly, “take that!” Then he turned to Tiva to inquire as to what happened.

“Tine thought we should make a new camp somewhere else. I didn’t think you would mind, but one of the referees said we couldn’t take the flag out of this camp. He did say we could create a diversion so long as the flag was in the camp though. So, Tine did that while I stayed with the flag, since it was his idea and all.”

“So they think Tine has the flag?”

Tiva nodded.

“And he’s out there alone against them?”

Tiva nodded again, then his face screwed up as he realized what Lizan said, “That’s not good is it?”

Cado made a non-committal sound, before he turned to Lizan, “They lost. Let’s hope they don’t hurt him when they find him.”

“Or, we could try to find him first,” Lizan said as he looked downriver.

Tiva groaned.

At some point in the wee hours of the morning the search was called off. The instructors decided that both Tine and Bra-Neche were adept at survival skills and would return sometime during the day. If they did not, then the search would continue.

Tine knew he was in for it when he felt the hand grasp his ankle. He had led Bra-Neche on a merry little chase down the river, but he was starting to tire. Evidently Bra-Neche was not. Tine kicked again trying to dislodge his captor. Bra-Neche let go, but managed to grab Tine by the hips. Tine went limp on him and Bra-Neche almost lost his grip before pulling the human to his chest while heading to the more shallow water near the river bank. “I’ve captured you, Tine,” Bra-Neche said quietly as he pulled the boy from the water onto the grass covered bank.

“Yes, you did,” Tine grinned at him, “You alone.”

“Would you have another?”

“Only Aiden has come close to making me feel this way, Bra-Neche.”

“Aiden? A human?”

Tine nodded, his teeth chattering as the chill of the night caught up with him. “Yes, a human.”

“But you…”

“We were going to be Temple Guards together, always side by side, sharing our lives although we could never share our love. But now I can never be a Temple Guard and Aiden will have to find another to share that dream with.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

“No one knew. If they had Aiden and I would have been separated long before now.”

“Did he bring you pleasure?” Bra-Neche asked as he caressed his prize.

“His joy was my joy, Bra-Neche, but we never… it was not like that.”