Dogs of War, Part 2

I grasped a handful of the tubes stuck into his chest. "How easily I could change that for you."

"And still, you don't."

Our supplies were limited, most of all our medicine and life support machinery. But I was not the only one of our number who wanted to learn the truth of this Banarii's claim, else he would have been left to die, his words unheeded, our blind obedience uninterrupted. Then it wouldn't matter what state our salves and bandages were in.

I released my grip on the plastic veins supplying him lifeblood. "You could have made it all up so that we would keep you alive."

"Banarii live and die by honor. If the war rages on, I should have no desperate need to cling to life."

"You call slaughtering innocents honorable?"

"There is no more virtue in claiming your neighbor's home as your own."

"These were blasted lands, unclaimed and inhospitable."

"Perhaps as perceived by your people. But I'm sure you didn't keep me alive to discuss semantics or matters of foreign policy."

I had only ever known the enemy to be uncaring, brutal killers. To meet and speak with one so capable of logical negotiation made me begin to wonder what else we were wrong about. I crossed my arms. "What do you mean, 'the war is over?'"

He sat up with a grunt, his granite countenance appearing stoic and unaffected. "Your king has perished, leading a suicide squad disguised as a diplomatic envoy."

"Did he succeed?" I heard myself ask the question before I could consider a more amicable way to phrase it.

"It remains unclear. But our capital has been decimated."

"And, so, what, you've been trying to get the word out? Wandering into every outpost you encounter?"

He coughed and cleared his throat, making a sound like slinging a sack of bricks over one shoulder. "It became apparent that we had underestimated you humans. You have a will to fight and survive like no other opponent we've faced. Even when our seat of power had been overturned, your smaller isolated camps continued to persist, launching small waves of skirmishes against our surviving forces. My superiors didn't believe me when I insisted that perhaps it was because many of you still did not know what had transpired. They accused me of being sympathetic to the enemy and I faced execution for treason. I bargained for my life, choosing exile over death, so that I could spend the last of my days helping to end this war."

My head swam. I did my best to maintain my composure, but a gale force storm of emotions raged on behind my clammy exterior. It was hard to believe what he was saying, but it had that undeniable feeling of rightness. I had never been a god fearing man, and now I was faced with the toughest test of faith in my life.

"Let's say you're telling the truth."

"And I am."

"But let's just say. Am I supposed to have my men pack their bags, tell them we done did a good job, and everyone can just go home now?"

"Do as it pleases you, human. There is no more fighting to be done."

"There will always be something to fight for, somewhere."

I saluted him, switched off the life support machine, and left the medic's tent to tell the troops that the Banarii mongrel had finally bit the dust.