Ariadne and the Tales of Heroes

Serving aboard ship was a long and challenging life. It is not for the faint-hearted, but after being taken off of it, I now had more time than ever. I used my time wisely to begin writing books. Writing had and continues to serve as therapy for me. It helped me through my roughest of times.

And of course, the other patron supporters for allowing me to write and supporting the universe that I write. :)

What if we live in a world where myths were real?

What if we live in a world knowing that the folklores were true?

What if we live in a world in that the fairy tales were real?

What if we live in a world where history and myth intersect?

What do you believe?…..

Private Toha Smith ducked his head behind the dirt entrenchment as a heavy 6 inch round fired from German artillery less than a mile away flew with steady speed near his position. Machine gun rounds were wising past his head. Toha had little to do but duck his head or risk losing it. The Germans were putting up strong resistance. He held onto his rifle tightly. There was not much he could do.

The private that warned Toha grabbed his M1917 Browning machine gun and started to return fire. A small squad of German soldiers charged at him, Toha, and the other men. It was in the middle of the day.

The artillery round smashed into the dirt and exploded not more than 30 feet away. The mud flung from the ground and flew into the trench that Toha was hiding in. Adrenaline flowed from his body. A small piece of debris smacked against Toha’s helmet as it landed in the ground.

It was the War to End All Wars or as it became called the Great War. The day was September 12th, 1918, when the American Expeditionary Force led the assault in Saint Mihiel, a commune in Northeast France. This three day conflict would mark the first time the United States Army launched an offensive attack on the Germans. The French and United States forces were allied together.

Toha finally mustered the courage as he looked up above the dirt with his Springfield rifle. He had five rounds to fire into the enemy as he stood up above the trench to look ahead of him. He could see the German soldiers getting close to hitting him.

A heavy artillery round fired from a French Artillery piece struck the exact center of the German squad. Five men lay dead between the Allied and Central trenches. Toha’s head was fully poking out as he looked ahead of him. He could see more of the Germans closing in.

Toha took aim with his rifle directing it at the rushing German soldier. In about less than a minute, he would be on top of him. He found his mark and pulled the trigger. A powerful round struck the enemy soldier in the heart as he fell to the ground.

“Good shot!” yelled the machine gunner. He continued to fire heavy weapons fire downrange. “Seems some of the Indian blood flows in you still.”

Toha pulled the bolt handle up and back, ejecting the spent casing onto the dirt and resetting the bolt back, loading another round into the rifle. He aimed at the next soldier and pulled the trigger. The shot missed as an enemy round struck the dirt a mere foot away from his head. He was forced to duck his head behind cover as he loaded the next round into his rifle.

Toha Smith was a volunteer from the Native American Pima Tribe. This small group of Native American Indians was forced off their land and forced to live in desert-like conditions in Arizona. A large group of the Choctaw Indians had volunteered and used their language as code talkers during the war. Their own language used by their tribe served as the perfect coded words to pass along to friendly soldiers. As long as the Germans never captured one of the Choctaw, there was little to no way the enemy could break their language. Other Native Americans, such as Toha, served as scouts advancing ahead of the group or fighting in the sidelines. It was the most dangerous thing for the Native Americans ever to do. Most were alone, having to fight against an enemy that outnumbered them or gunned them down before they ever made progress. Native Americans like Toha usually had little problem doing such missions as they proved as a way to prove themselves to the tribes at home.

The machine gunner continued to fire at the advancing soldiers. Three of the Germans were shot down. An Allied SPAD S.XIII fighter aircraft flew overhead of him and past the German trenches going after an enemy Albatros D.V. The crude construction of the plane had proven to be pivotal during the warfront as they could easily fight and destroy enemy aircraft that threatened to bomb allied Trenches. Toha had little time to worry about the fight in the air.

Toha looked around him in the trenches. Four other Native American soldiers with him were firing away at the enemy soldiers. He took another deep breath as he stood back up and stuck his head above the trenches looking for the next target to shoot. There were none to shoot. All the German soldiers were dead as the heavy machine gunner stopped shooting. He took the time in the calm of the storm to have his assistant reset a new belt into the machine gun. The gun was extremely hot from the constant firing.

“Where is the tank battalion?” yelled one of the soldiers. They were supposed to be here five minutes ago.

Before Toha could add his two cents into the conversation, a heavy artillery round fired from one of their position behind them flew into the vast distance.

The squad leader that was looking through his binoculars was looking at the location of the allied artillery. A smile was on his face.

“Looks like our artillery is laying waste to them,” said the squad leader.

Toha was taking a look at the battlefield. The ground between them looked like a wasteland of death. Dead bodies or ones near their death, lined the countryside. The grass was reduced to dirt and mud. Crater marks from artillery and bombs littered the area. Trees shattered and shaken from the continuous fire from artillery marked the landscape. Toha was used to these images, but those that have never seen it before would think the land was turned upside down. He felt remorse seeing the pretty countryside get destroyed. It reminded him of home when water was diverted from the reservation to fuel the ever-growing population of the White Men around the Pima.

He looked at the other soldiers as they relaxed from the shooting. All the soldiers were dressed in the same similar U.S. uniform. The uniform-like Toha was wearing was the brown wool dress coat, wool service breeches, trousers, leather boots, belt, long sleeve shirt, and helmet. The allied artillery was still firing their shots towards the enemy entrenchments. The enemy artillery was firing less and less as allied artillery was laying waste to them. He looked at the soldiers as they closed their eyes and began to hum music of songs from their land and culture.

“They hum beautifully,” he thought to himself. “The humming and singing during the shooting would keep us from going mad.”

Native Americans were brave when the war started. Over 10,000 Native Americans volunteered to join the war to help the United States. They were not citizens and could just as easily decide not to be involved in the war at all. Some of the tribes even went as far as declaring war on Germany. This was to show them that they were just a part of the war as every other nation out there desired.

The shelling died down dramatically. Allied artillery was still firing off and on, but it was apparent that the enemy formation was being pushed back or wiped out. Toha was breathing a sigh of relief.

Toha went and removed the magazine of his rifle to insert new rounds from his belt. He reinserted the magazine back into the gun. He sat the butt of the rifle into the dirt floor below him. He then closed his eyes as he hummed along with the fellow soldiers around him. He slipped his hand into his shirt and felt the necklace he wore underneath and pulled it out to look at it.

The necklace he wore depicted a small plate that showed a circular pathway that would slowly and eventually lead to the center. A silhouette of the man representing the Elder Brother or guide would begin at the edge of the maze to work his way to the center.

“The I’itoi is the cornerstone to our people,” he said quietly to himself as he gripped the necklace tightly. “Ancestors, Akmiel O’odham people, my parents, watch over us in our darkest days.”

“New orders,” a new voice rang out. “We need to scout the location ahead of us as the Tanks are closing in to give us support. Toha, it is your time to scout ahead.”

Toha was unnerved. He stuffed the necklace under his shirt again. He breathed hard, knowing he was going into a dangerous area.

The radioman looked at Toha as he added, “You will head East, North East of us. If you encounter resistance, you will take this signal gun and fire it in the air. It will let us know where the enemy is located.

He nodded his head as he took the single-shot signal gun. He lifted his rifle as he took deep breaths.

“We wish you luck brave warrior,” said one of the soldiers.

Toha took a look. He almost stopped noticing that the artillery was still firing. One Krupp 3 Inch artillery piece from the German entrenchment was constantly firing at another allied position, but it was again firing in the extreme distance. Allied artillery was getting close to hitting it.

One of the soldiers looked over the trenches and could see that the last artillery piece in the area was taken down. A shell landed directly on top of it, showering wood, metal, and blood from the gunner.

“That is the last one; most of the opposition in the area is out. Go Toha, Go!”

Toha jogged to the ladder and began to climb up the top of the dirt. With one last leap, he planted his foot at the edge of the trench he was hiding behind. He was in a clear, sniping range. The heavy machine gunner had his hand on the handle, ready to fire on anything that would try to fire at him.

It was dead quiet except the distant sounds of artillery bombardment. The artillery behind him stopped firing to allow Toha clear access to the area without being accidentally shot.

“Toha, take this! It had five rounds loaded. Use it well!” yelled one of the men below him.

He looked down and saw what was thrown at him from the trench below. It was a Winchester Model 1912 shotgun made into a Trench Gun configuration due to the smaller barrel that also had a bayonet attached to it.

“Thank you!” he yelled as he turned around and looked at the distance leading North East. He could see nothing but smoke rising from the trenches. Shattered debris from the destroyed artillery littered the area.

Toha ran. He was in a broad open field now. “The enemy did not have enough time to even put up barbed wire,” he noted. “That will probably mean that there might not even be mines.”

He ran past a broken tree reduced to a chipped wooden pole. The mud and grass caked on his boots. Overhead the daylight shined brightly. Each footstep took him closer to the enemy trench. He was planning on jumping in and lay waste to any opposition that the trench gun was designed to take out.

He was halfway down to reaching the other trench. He noticed a German soldier popped his gun from it and aimed down as Toha. While the German soldier made his aim towards the incoming soldier, he saw that he was also being aimed at. One of the Native American soldiers had fired at him but missed. The German ducked his head back down.

“He will be the first to shoot when I jump into the trench,” he thought to himself with his adrenaline pumping.

He was three-quarters of the way there. He had to leap over two bodies that were shot down. He swore he heard one of them speak up as he jumped over. He would let the others deal with them when they came across.

With one leap, he jumped into the most Northern part of the trench. The perfectly ninety-degree designed channels highlighted German engineering at the time as the trench was designed to help limit explosions in it if an artillery shell struck.

As soon as he jumped in, he scanned” the area and saw none alive so far. He saw nothing but bodies. His shotgun was trained at the bodies.

“Hilf Mir bitte” said a downed German soldier. Toha understood a little bit of German that he knew that the words meant, “Help me please.” The soldier lay on his stomach with shrapnel that struck the lower portion of his body.

Using his foot, he shifted the body right side up and aimed down at the soldier. He was conscious enough to look back at Toha.

“Vielen Dank,” he said as his eyes remained open and went still. He stopped breathing. Toha had little he could do.

“The trenches were nothing but a grave for the soldiers,” he quietly said to himself. “The artillery was instrumental. We all but had to wait for the guns to wipe out the enemy.”

Artillery amounted to 58% of the casualties in World War 1. 41% of the victims were afflicted from small arms. For Toha, the man he gunned down earlier was the second man he ever shot down.

He continued to scan but saw only a 90 degree turn to the left ahead of him. There was nothing else but bodies, mud, and dirt. He looked for a ladder or area that he could poke his head from. He saw it; it was a ladder near the turn.

As he stepped over the body, a German soldier ran around the lip of the turn, and he aimed his shotgun at him. He pointed his rifle at him.

“Ich gebe auf…..I give up,” the German said. He lowered his rifle, and Toha nodded to him. He began to lower his shotgun but ready to pull it back up if the man was lying. The German dropped his rifle to the dirt.

“I…hope this….war ends….soon,” the German spoke to him.

Toha would spend the rest of the day helping move the dead bodies out of the trenches. The squad would rest in the very trenches they tried to wipe out earlier. The German soldier was bound so that when reinforcements arrived, he would be taken as a Prisoner of War. P.O.Ws were well treated by the United States. While it was true that propaganda promoted the idea that to surrender would mean harsh treatment, some German’s didn’t buy it at all, and when faced with surrender, they simply went ahead and did it. Some nations mistreated their own soldiers so badly like Italy in the mid-days of the War that Italians would throw down their weapons at the enemy and thank them for taking them into custody. The Italians would ultimately have to revaluate their system in how they treated their soldiers.

“Wha? Who said that?” Toha asked. All he could see was darkness.

The voice continued, “It is important that when they offer you to take the scouting assignment to go north to Fresnes……”

“Who are you? I can’t see you.”

The darkness prevailed. Toha could swear that he did see something that looked like a pair of eyes looking at him, but the darkness obscured him well.

Suddenly his eyes opened. Toha could see the light coming from the entrance of the room. He quickly put on his clothes and uniform.

“Another dream,” he thought quietly to himself. “It is a dream where I am surrounded in darkness, but somebody is talking to me. I can’t see who he is, though.”

Toha went through the long process of putting his uniform on. He was ready for this battle to end and get some rest. Surprisingly he was able to get a night's rest and did not have to go on watch. He used the bathroom, tidied up, and stepped out into the trench.

“Toha, we have an assignment for you since you were the last person to wake up. We need you to take this message to Lieutenant Colonel Patton in the 42nd division. He is not far from here. This message is a priority one private. He is not far from here, and he is by his tank. It broke down, so you will know which one it is when you see it.”

“Roger that,” he replied as he received the enclosed envelope. He took his rifle and began to march eastward. He took a good look and could see three tanks in the distance behind some ruined trees. He could still hear artillery rounds being fired from a range. This area, however, had some barbed wire that was run over by the tanks that passed by. There was already a detachment of men ahead of him. There were bodies strewn across the landscape, but people were tending to them. A cart was being loaded up with the dead being put in place to be taken for proper burial.

Suddenly Toha could hear the whizzing sound of an incoming artillery round heading in his direction. A randomly fired artillery round was heading in his direction. The only thing he could do was jump and duck to the ground floor, lowering his profile as much as possible before the round landed. His face planted into the dirt as an artillery round landed and exploded with a defining sound forty feet away from him, leaving a massive crater in the ground. He got back up and started wiping the dirt and mud from his uniform before he picked up his rifle and continued marching to the tanks in the distance.

The dirt and mud caked on his boots as he marched on the ground. He started to hasten his pace as another random artillery shell exploded 100 feet away. Even with the distance of the shots and explosions, no one wanted to be in an area for too long, especially with explosive ordinance going off.

Finally, Toha reached the three tanks. He could see smoke and burning fumes coming from two of them with the other non-functioning. He could see a man standing next to the tank and inspecting the tank with another soldier explaining things to them. Both of the men did not notice him and were busy explaining things to each other. He could hear the tail end of the conversation as he approached them.

This was the first time Toha had a chance to see the tanks up close. They were the newest Renault FT-17 Tanks. They were loaned from the French to help provide the United States additional support when it came to ground combat. The tanks were unique compared to other tanks since they had a turret installed on top of the fuselage. Their small profile made them easy to manufacture, perfect for crossing trenches, and having a good enough speed to race forward ahead of infantry or simply keep up. They were primarily mobile pillboxes with a gun that could fire in any direction. He remarked the treads that lined its sides as it went to the back. This was a different tank than what he saw in a photograph of a British Male Mark V tank. In that picture, the tank was big with massive tank treads that lined its entire structure with multiple machine gun emplacements and cannons that lined its hull. They were mobile fortresses.

“Sir,” a random man spoke. “We have broken a tread, and the engine is working at half its capability. We will have to take this tank back and do repairs to it.”

The man that he recognized as the Lieutenant Colonel took his leg and kicked the side of the tank. “Damn, that is one more tank that has broken down. We might as well use chariots against the Germans! For all, we know those would actually work, and they’re easier to fix!”

Toha noted that he could see a holster with a pearl ivory handle to his Colt 45. He waited for the two men to finish their conversation before giving the message.

“Lieutenant Colonel,” another man spoke. “We are also experiencing supply shortages. We are pressing forward too fast and leaving our supplies behind. Perhaps this is a time to rest a bit and let our supply chain catch up.”

“Ugh….I guess it might be best to do so,” Patton spoke. “Have my command changed from this tank to the tank on my right. We will proceed in the latter part of the day once our supply line has caught up.”

“Incoming!” yelled one of the tank crews as everyone took cover. An artillery round fired from the Germans was whizzing close to their direction.

Toha quickly ducked by the tank on his right, hoping that if it landed close, the armor of the tank would protect him. Patton did nothing but stare at the distance of where the shot was fired. Everyone but he was unfazed by the round as it landed forty feet away and exploded, doing no damage. He got up and was surprised to see that Patton was unshaken from the explosion.

The other soldiers, except those in the tanks, slowly got up and dusted off the sand that collected on their uniforms.

Toha broke the sudden silence, “Sir, I have a message from a squad that needed to be delivered to you.”

Patton turned his head and looked at Toha. He put his rifle butt to the ground as he held it close to him. He saluted him as Patton saluted in return. He reached into his coat and pulled out the letter to hand to him.

Patton smiled. “Ah…I wonder if Pershing had anything to say about our attack so far.”

Toha handed the letter that was decoded by the Choctaw from his squad to be delivered to George S. Patton. Patton accepted the message as he opened it up in return. The other soldiers from the other tanks proceeded with the work in moving equipment and gear from the almost inoperable tank.

Toha stood watching Patton read it as he awaited further orders from him.

“Hmm…” Patton said as he had a bewildered look on his face. “Looks like we are to keep going that direction. Things are going well so far. The Germans are sure to lose in no time and pondering on surrendering. Allied Government is thinking of pursuing and helping the Whites in Russia. I am all for it. I think the Red Bolsheviks are going to become the next problem in the world. Communism will be our next great war if they are not stopped.”

“Sir?”

Patton took the letter, rolled it up, and started to tap his other hand with it as he was in deep thought. He looked at the battlefield ahead of him. Toha watched him as Patton looked forward. He knew the Lieutenant Colonel was thinking. He turned and looked at the soldier in front of him.

Patton had a questioning look on his face “Private….you look like you are Native American, but I don’t recognize the full features of one.”

“It is because my father was white and my mother was Native American. I am fighting for the Native Americans.”

Patton smiled, “Indians….now those are some brave warriors if I ever saw one. I have seen you warriors scout and serve as communicators. Nothing like giving the Germans a good run of their money when they have no way of deceifering what you are saying. You Indians are perfect to have on the battlefield and are honored for fighting with us. I know firsthand what the Native Americans are capable of in combat.”

Toha had a confused look “You fought directly with our squad before, sir?”

“No, I fought against the Native Americans in the Battle of Little Big Horn. I was with Custer in the 7th Cavalry the day the Indians wiped us out. I fought with all my might, but in the end, an arrow struck me in the throat. In the end, I am happy that you are on our side now. The Germans don’t stand a chance against us.”

Toha was further surprised at his choice of words “Sir, what we call the Battle of Greasy Grass happened in June of 1876. You are too young to have been involved in that.”

“That is because I died in that battle Private. Don’t you believe in returning to the Earth to fight again?”

That was a question that perplexed Toha. He looked at the officer with a questioning look “There is some belief in reincarnation, sir. I have some doubts of it, but I keep an open mind on it as my ancestors did beforehand.”

“There is no proof nor yet any denial soldier. We were, we are, and we will be. I am sure of it. I fought with Alexander at the Siege of Tyre, I was a Viking once, I fought in Agincourt, and I was a pirate or privateer fighting on a ship trying to free slaves or was it prisoners of war? I was born to fight like you warriors and all the warriors of this conflict.”

Toha had a small smile on his face. “I respect your beliefs, sir. I feel something like that happens with us. We come back as the animals, the trees, anything living on this Earth.”

“With me, it is war. I always make sure to come back when I am needed for some great conflict. My timing was true as Europe burns that I fight as a soldier in this war.”

Patton walked up to his tank with a busted tread and looked at it closely. “These tanks are the future of warfare. If the French were able to come up with this, then it is a matter of time before better and faster versions of these things come out to replace them. It will be a matter of time before Trench Warfare will be obsolete, soldier. You will no longer have to hide in trenches waiting for an enemy that you cannot see shoots you down. Eventually, warfare will be nothing but these machines. Like riding a chariot into battle.”

Toha stood and listened to listen to Lieutenant Colonel speak. He never met this man, but he had a certain aura around him when he spoke. It was to him like talking to some aged warrior that knew that he was part of something greater and destined to be here. Only a few Native Americans to him thought like this, and he felt that he was somehow Native American himself.

Patton looked at the tank again and looked at the Tank “I look at this tank I have been riding on, watching it break down as it slowed down my own advance towards enemy lines and I feel like I did in June of 1912 at the Olympics.”

“What happened at this…Olympics?”

He shook his head “In Sweden, I participated in the Olympics. It seems like I was hit by a stream of bad luck during the competitions. Fencing, polo, swimming, cross country riding, and then the shooting, I went through the competitions. It was the shooting that I felt that I was screwed at. I scored 21st place as they said that I missed one of my shots on the target. I got furious at the judges as I told them that I never missed. One of my shots went clean through one of the holes that I shot through, and they didn’t count it. The judges didn’t believe me.”

“Perhaps it was better to be here then, sir, than in some competition of the white man.”

Patton smiled. “I believe you are right, soldier. It was better to be here than there anyway. From Pancho Villa to this….Great war, what future wars will I be a part of?”

Patton snapped out of his dialogue and looked at Toha. “Here I am, ranting along, and here you have to listen to some soldier you have never met. Perhaps I just needed another person to talk to, soldier or no soldier.”

“It’s alright, sir, I enjoyed the conversation. This war is allowing me to meet many people, both good and bad. It is an experience for me that I will never forget. I hope to be by your side in battle, and if I die, then it will be a good death.”

Patton smiled as he looked back at the soldiers that were stopping to listen to the conversation he was having with the messenger.

A stern look developed on his face. “Alright, alright, what are you standing around here for? Get my equipment on this tank. I want to face the Kaiser myself!”

Everyone snapped back to work as they continued moving the equipment. They were nearly done.

Patton looked back at Toha with something he considered. “Private…..what’s your name?”

“Toha, sir.”

“Private Toha, I have a mission that might be perfect for you. It will be a dangerous one; will you be ready for it?”

“Yes sir, I am ready for anything, sir.”

Patton nodded with a smile, “Like a true Indian. With our advancement temporarily stalled, I need to start getting more eyes on the surrounding area. Perhaps they are right. We went too far too quickly. The Western advance almost completely bypassed the town of Fresnes north of here. For all, I know, the Krauts might be launching an attack to cut off our supply chain from there. I need to have scouts in the air and on the ground. I would like you to go to this town and scout it to see if the Germans are planning on launching a counterattack. If there are some stragglers, do what you need to do, but I need to know if we are heading into an ambush. If I were a German Commander, I know I would hit us around there.”

“Fresnes?.....” Toha was almost taken aback by surprise. He said it out loud. “Sir, I would like to go to Fresnes and scout the area.”

“Good….no hesitation in you.” Patton walked up to a soldier and directed him to give him a paper and pen to him.

Patton then proceeded to write two letters on the side of the broken down tank. Toha watched as his hands wrote feverously. “I am writing two sets of orders that need to be delivered to your chain of command. One needs to be sent back to Pershing. The other is for your chain of command. This order for your chain of command supersedes any orders that they may have for you. Is that understood soldier?”

“Understood sir.”

About a couple of minutes later, Patton signed his two letters and gave them to Toha. They both saluted one another as Toha turned around and marched back to his squad.

“Interesting man,” he said to himself as he walked. “Fresnes, though…..I felt like I had a dream last night, and he said, ‘go to Fresnes.’ There was no way I would ignore that possibility. Something is there, or I am having premonitions to go there. Either way, I must go there and find out what is going on and why I am being driven there.”

Patton walked down away from the tanks as he stood staring at the battlefield in front of him. Artillery was still being fired at a distance from both sides. He could see much smoke coming from multiple areas ahead of him. Machine gunfire could again be heard in the far distance as the battle waged in front of him.

He said quietly, watching as a shell landed by a tree in the far distance. “Through the travail of the ages, midst the pomp and toil of war, have I fought and strove and perished countless times upon this star. So as through a glass, and darkly the age long strife I see where I fought in many guises, many names, but always me. So forever in the future, shall I battle as of yore, dying to be born a fighter, but to die again, once more.”

The squad leader looked at Toha almost in disbelief “Lieutenant Colonel himself wants you to scout Fresnes north. It is a couple of miles away from us. Be ready to meet possible fierce resistance private. We have a couple of squads that are in the surrounding area trying to make sure the Germans are not pressing some counter-attack on us, but you will be on your own. We will be helping the supply line get moved forward while you are gone. Go get yourself something to eat. You will be leaving in an hour.”

“Understood.”

Toha went into the trench and the room that he slept in. Not far from the place was the galley, a makeshift dugout room with a simple table and chairs. It had its own stove and bucket to clean and wash plates. On a cabinet, the squad found food that was left behind after the place was captured. Food was being served for the men by another fellow Native American who doubled as a cook.

“I am afraid all we have is German food. Let’s see I found kartofflen, schweinefleisch, and möhren. Toha, how good is your German?”

Toha looked at the cook that was trying to figure out the food in the cabinets in the galley. The food was stuffed in heavy bags to help preserve their shelf life. His German was ok, but with no one else being an expert, it was better than nothing. “Looks like potatoes, pork, and carrots.”

“Good, I can get started with making a stew,” the cook replied.

Toha went and decided to head to the makeshift armory that the Germans used in the trench prior to its capture. There was not much, but he took a look at the rack with the weapons. There were Gewehr 98 Rifles, but Toha felt happy with the Springfield rifle that he already had. He went and made sure to take about fifteen rounds with him for the rifle.

He said out loud, “I need a pistol or revolver to take with me in case my rifle does not work, or I run out of ammunition. I could go and ask for my squad leader’s M1917, but there are a couple of pistols I can grab from the armory here instead. Wait, what is this?….”

Toha found something that was smaller than a rifle but bigger than his rifle. Another soldier walked into the room and looked at what he was looking at.

“By our ancestors, look at what you found,” the soldier said to him.

“What is this gun?”

The soldier explained, “I am actually surprised it’s here. Their storm commandos that attack trenches use this. This is an MP-18. This is a wonderful gun to have. I have only heard of this gun. I never thought I would see one.”

“Is this a carbine or some powerful semi-automatic pistol?”

The soldier replied, “This is a very light machine gun or submachine gun depending on how the white men term it. It is the German answer to us using shotguns in the trenches. You could literally jump into a trench with this gun and pour automatic weapons fire with it.”

Toha’s eyes widened. He had seen someone use a Chauchat, but the thing was large and broke when it was being demonstrated to the division.

The soldier nodded, “If you are heading into a possibly dangerous area alone, then I suggest you take the most powerful stuff you can use. The MP-18 is short-range, it’s basically an automatic pistol hence why the Germans called it a Machine Pistol in German obviously.”

Toha held the MP-18 in his hand. He nodded, “I wonder if I can take this and my rifle at the same time? What’s your name anyway?”

“You can simply just call me Private Koi. I don’t share my full names to anyone. I don’t anyone getting too attached to me in case…well, I get shot. It might be possible to carry both; it will be heavy for you, though. The gun does seem to have some problems that I already see upon looking at it.”

“What do you see that has problems?”

Koi took a good look. “Well….for one the way this thing is constructed. The loader drum is this snail drum that sticks out. It looks like it carries about 25 to 35 rounds in it. I imagine the spring would make it hard to try to load more rounds unless we have something special to load it. Out on the field, you will have a hard time reloading this thing. Once you fire all the rounds, it might be best to go and drop this thing or….I don’t know, find an expert on German guns. It does have some cool things, though. The loader drum is mounted on the side so you can grip the side as you fire it and keep it stable as you kneel and shoot.”

Koi took a look at the snail drum and could see that it is fully loaded with ammunition. “It’s up to you on this one, um what’s your name?”

“Private Toha.”

“Yeah, well….it’s up to you on what you feel is the best for you. There are some Lugars that I see on the rack that you might take instead of that. They are straightforward to use and fire in case the rifle jams.”

Toha was in deep thought. He took and held his rifle and tried to shoulder the MP-18, but it was awkward to do so. He would have to drop the gun to use the MP-18 practically, but if he was going to be the lone wolf, he might as well risk and take the best he could find.

“I think I will take the Springfield and MP-18 with me. I will have something short-range and long-range for me out there.”

Koi nodded as he took a look at the guns on the rack. “I know I am taking this Lugar as a trophy to bring back home. I love the simplicity of this pistol.”

Toha took a look at a crate that was next to the rack. He took his knife and broke the seal, holding it closed. Koi took a good look at the crate as well.

Upon opening the crate, Toha and Koi knew exactly what it was. They were Stielhandgranates or stick grenades used by German soldiers.

Koi nodded, “Now there is something I always liked about the Germans. I honestly think that these grenades are better than the grenades that we use, but not everyone agrees with me. If there were anything, I would at least take one of these grenades with you. You are already carrying a lot with you, but this grenade. I recommend taking one of our F-1s. That way, you will have flexibility in combat, you will have a grenade for close range and another to throw far away.”

Toha gripped the stick grenade in his hand. The design was simple for it. By adding a wooden attachment to the grenade, you could actually throw this grenade much further than a typical handgrenade. For the Native Americans, they used an atlatl or spear throwers. You would put the spear on the thrower and then overhead throw fling the spear much further than a typical overhanded throw. For the Germans, this was their grenade, and nothing was better than that.

“I will take one.”

Koi added, “Make sure you pull the pin on those things before you throw it or it won’t go off, then they will take it and throw it back on you.”

Toha nodded, “I agree.”

Make sure that you take a flare gun. One-shot will be red to indicate that there are a lot of German soldiers in the area and that you are meeting resistance. It will warn us if the Germans are launching a counterattack on us. The other flare which will be blue will let us know that you are not only alive but that you haven’t seen anything.”

“Agreed.”

Toha decided to head back into the mess hall after a short time to go get something to eat before commencing with his scouting mission. He closed his eyes and thought about the journey ahead of him.

He ate the stew that was made as he noted to himself, quietly, “It is very well possible that I will encounter nothing when I reach Fresnes. I must be ready for what will hit me.”

He closed his eyes as he thought about his parents. He missed them. There was nothing to return back to at home. He had his parent’s house, but that was it. No woman was interested in being with him, and at the same time, he felt discouraged from pursuing a relationship with anybody.

He said quietly to himself, “I can’t think about them too much. The calmness before the storm can drive men mad. The battle is the shortest thing in a conflict. Most of the time is waiting for the struggle to begin and trying to keep everything working. Do they remember the warrior for the battle he fought, or do they remember the majority of the time he spent keeping the home clean for himself? They will always remember the battle and nothing else. I need to think that way too, but in reverse.”

Toha loaded up with his gear in the armory. He took everything he said he was carrying. He carried no additional rounds for the MP-18. If he ran out of ammunition for it, he would drop the gun and keep going. He took additional rounds for his rifle as he knew that was going to be his primary weapon.

“Hmm….feel like in some ways that I should paint my face in war paint, but I am afraid that may advertise that I am Native American to the Germans. Even though I don’t speak Choctaw, I don’t want the enemy to think I am either.”

He took out his necklace, tucked into his shirt, and looked at the picture again. “Se:he, guide me for my journey will be perilous.”

Toha looked at the man of the maze on his necklace. The man destined to find his way to the center. After gathering the courage, he tucked the pendant back into his shirt.

Outside of the room, there were men to wish him luck. The squad leader, Koi, Shikoba, all shook his hand. Death was a natural process, but it was still absolutely essential to wish a person a pleasant journey, even if it might be a short one.

Toha struggled to climb up the ladder with all the heavy gear on him. Carrying almost two full guns and equipment to last a couple of days certainly could weigh any person down. The men helped him climb over the ladder to the edge of the trench. Toha looked north as he started his journey. What lies in front of him was anyone’s guess.

With his two guns in hand, Toha shouldered his MP-18 and began to proceed north. He stepped past a set of trees and started heading north. He saw allied aircraft flying overhead. The artillery bombardment still existed from the allied side, but the front was getting quieter and quieter.

“It’s beautiful,” he said out loud as he looked at the countryside.

“Fresenes…Germans are there…..they let us leave.”

“Hmm,” Toha thought quietly to himself. “It was not a good thing that they went in this direction. They should have gone west, but they are heading southward straight to the Allied assault. It would not be wise for them to turn around, though, as it could put them in danger. Most of the French civilian population does not even know we are launching an assault eastward and even less know that Americans are even involved in it. Shit.”

Toha explained as simply as he could “Umm….go south. French and American Army. They will help you…..allez au sud sur….cette route.”

He said the French sentence so horribly that the man almost gave him a questioning look and then nodded and understood. Toha knew this was not the best solution, but it was better than telling them to go back.

“Merci beaucoup….vive la France et l'amérique,” he concluded with the woman most likely his wife saying it as well. The child was too young to say much as well.

Toha waved goodbye as he proceeded forward. He had a good few miles to walk as Fresenes was getting closer. The wagon and family continued traveling southward.

He was now halfway there. He could see a small outskirt of the town in the distance. He could still hear distant shelling in the distance and see occasional allied aircraft fly overhead. He waved to one of the planes, and the pilot jolted the aircraft’s wings to wave back at him. They knew he was friendly.

Within a half an hour of the march, he saw a reddish aircraft approach from the east. The hum of the engine told him that an aircraft was coming. Red paint on the plane usually meant an enemy aircraft, which was not a good thing.

“Shit…..I am vulnerable here on this road. I am in the wide open. If he sees me, I am in trouble.”

The aircraft got closer and closer. He knew what it was. It was a Fokker D.VIII painted in red. He had been spotted, and it looked like the pilot was going to strafe him.

Toha had less than ten seconds to respond as he dropped his MP-18 on the ground and readied to try to shoot the aircraft with his rifle and be ready to jump out of the way at the last second. It was his only means of trying to avoid getting turned into pieces by machine gunfire. Toha’s heart began to race.

He aimed his rifle at the plane and fired one shot. It missed. He then got on his feet as the aircraft began firing his machine guns at him. He could see the ground near him spit dirt as the machine gun rounds hit close to him. Toha quickly dived to the left, just barely almost getting struck by the spray of bullets. The German biplane then pulled up and continued to fly away from him.

He landed on the dirt with his rifle still in his hand. He pulled the bolt handle up and back, ejecting a spent round as he pushed it back, loading a new one. He then aimed at the aircraft that was flying back up into the air. He pulled the trigger as the rifle fired. He missed. Hitting a plane flying in the air was hard. It was his only means of defense.

Toha could see a pair of aircraft coming from the west though that had spotted the German aircraft and were on an intercept course. The German aircraft had fewer things to worry about than going after one lone infantryman. It pulled away and began to head southeast, leaving him behind with two allied aircraft in pursuit.

“Like being saved by a pair of eagles,” he said to himself as he walked to his MP-18, picked it up, and then proceeded northward.

The silence was interrupted by machine gunfire. He only had a microsecond to see that the shooters were from a balcony from atop of a roof. On top of the building was a pivot mount for an MG 08/15 Heavy Machine Gun. The bullets landed by his feet as he jumped to the ditch rolling into it. He listened as he heard about two or three riflemen were trying to shoot him.

“Damn, I am stuck,” he said out loud.

The ditch was serving as a natural trench for him. The top of the dirt was absorbing the bullets protecting him, but he could not look up or risk getting shot at. Without hesitation, Toha went and took his flare gun, loaded a red marker flare, and aimed it up into the sky. He could still hear the distant sounds of aircraft.

About twenty feet in front of him was the coyote: the same and only one he had seen so far. The coyote’s piercing gaze stared at him.

“What?..... Who are you? How is it possible?”

The coyote walked on all fours and slowly approached him and sat about ten feet away from him. The coyote simply looked at him.

“Now you must wait, my old friend,” the coyote spoke to him.

Toha’s eyes widened in shock, “You….actually spoke. Who are you?”

“It is time for your adventure to begin my old friend. You worked so hard to get here. All you must do now is wait. They are coming, and you can help them.”

There was a pause in his voice as he comprehended his words. “Wait for who? How long must I wait? I am in danger if I stay too long. I don’t know if the Germans are sending reinforcements are not.”

“You don’t have to wait too long. They will be here very soon. Don’t worry.”

Toha asked him again, “Who are you? Your voice is the same one that told me to go to here. What are you?”

“Let’s say I owe you, my old friend. Your adventure begins here. Rest here. My debt has been repaid for I am Coyote.”

A swirling mist of air and smoke-filled and wrapped the coyote’s body. Coyote’s eyes glowed yellow as the smoke completely surrounded his body. The last thing Toha saw was the glowing eyes as the coyote. The smoke quickly dissipated along with the coyote. It was like the coyote had never existed. It was quiet. Toha’s jaw had dropped.

He said quietly to himself, “He is…..Coyote a great spirit or deity in the eyes of Native Americans. Some see him as a guide, and others see him as a trickster. I wasn’t going crazy, I saw somebody, I spoke to somebody, and this was real.”

Toha sat there and contemplated his thoughts. Whatever the case was, he felt that he did not want to move. If something was coming, as Coyote stated, then they will get their time.

Toha suddenly started to hear something from a distance to his West. He grabbed his rifle as he was going to check out who it was. He poked his head out of the ditch and looked at what was coming.

Three people were walking down the road heading to the town of Fresnes. It was a man and two women each beside him. At first, it appeared as nothing new, but as he saw them get closer, he noted some of the odd features of one of them. One of the women was Chinese. The other big thing he noticed was that each person was carrying a gun.

“Odd….” He pondered to himself. “Even the women were carrying guns. It seems to them that it did not matter they were approaching a torn-up landscape. Are these the people that Coyote mentioned were coming?” No one else had come.

Without much more hesitation, Toha decided that it would be best to confront these three individuals. They still did not know that he was there, or at least he thought he was. They were at least thirty feet away.

He stood up with his rifle and aimed it downward. He stepped out of the ditch and got on the road to face the three incoming individuals.

Toha had a closer look at the group. One man looked like he was from southeast Europe, perhaps Austro Hungarian. He was holding a Mannlicher rifle, but he noticed that he had no magazine inserted in it. He was dressed in typical civilian attire. The Asian woman indeed looked like she was from China. She was wearing regular thick female clothing of French creation. She was carrying what looked like a French rifle. He did notice that there was a magazine inserted in the gun and that she was armed. The other woman, however, seemed to grab his attention most of all. She was dressed in lighter civilian attire. She was carrying some sort of revolver. She looked like she came from southern Europe, possibly Greek? She was beautiful. She had long flowing blond hair.

“I thought I smelled a mortal,” the Greek woman said. “What do we have here?”

“She knows English?” he thought to himself. “Good…that will make the conversation easy.”

“My name is Private Toha from the United States Army. This town has been destroyed, and you are in possible danger. You are…..”

The woman interrupted him, “We are in no danger mortal. I promise you that. The only one that is in true danger is you.”

The Chinese woman turned her head and looked at the man beside her. She whispered something to him, and he smiled and nodded as her attention focused back at Toha.

Toha had a look of confusion “Mortal?.....Why did you call me that?”

“Because that is what you are. You are a mortal human.”

Toha shook his head “Who are you? You don’t look like a normal group of people. You don’t look like an army or military. There are no resistance movements in this area of the land.”

The Greek woman looked at the group and then back at Toha. “We have urgent business here. We are…..looking for one of my personal belongings that I left in a house somewhere in this town.”

Toha felt that she was lying.

“Good luck in trying to find it,” he replied. “There isn’t much to this town. We….had to destroy the town since the Germans were occupying it.”

“I can tell that. We could see the aircraft flying to this town and hear the distant explosions as we were walking here.”

Toha felt that he was in no danger but was perplexed at the motives of this group. He shouldered his rifle. It was his way of showing them that he posed no threat to them. The Chinese woman was studying him and getting a good look at him.

The group decided to walk forward, walking past him to the ruins of one of the buildings. The Greek woman had ended the conversation as she walked up to the ruins of one of the homes. She held up her arm and closed her eyes. Toha could swear he could see some sort of light coming from her hand. She then lowered her hand and shook her head.

“I am not picking up anything here,” she said as she opened her eyes and walked up to the next building.

“I doubt you will find anything, to be honest,” Toha said to the group. “This place is destroyed.”

“None of your concern mortal. Leave and go back to your….unit,” the Greek woman said.

Toha watched as she stepped up to the next home and lifted her hand to check out the building. She closed her eyes again as Toha once again swore that there was some sort of light coming from her hand.

The Chinese woman turned and walked up to Toha. The man watched over them carefully.

“I think it is wise for you to go home,” the woman spoke to Toha. “Your squad is probably worried about you.”

He almost snapped at her “How would you know? You are a woman and don’t serve the army….no offense. You might be carrying a good rifle, but that does not make you army. Who are you?”

“I am Daiyu. Daiyu Lu,” she politely responded. She went and wrapped her arm around his shoulder, guiding him away from the group.

Toha was getting a confused look on his face “I don’t understand. Something told me to be here.”

The Greek woman lowered her arm and shook her head. She then started to walk to the next building.

He spoke up to the Greek woman, “There would be nothing worth salvaging here. These houses have been burned to the ground!”

The Greek woman then turned around and then walked up to Toha. “Listen, human. You have no business here anymore. Go away.”

Toha brushed Daiyu’s arm away from his shoulder and walked up to the Greek woman in a challenging pose. “Listen, woman, an army is coming this way. In about a day or two, they will reach this town. The Germans are sure to send men to try to re-secure this town if they are coming at all. For you and the group, I recommend that you leave this town. Return wes….”

The Greek woman smiled, “You wish to know who I am. Very well. My name is Ariadne. Now go away. You are in the way of our search.”

“I am not against you searching; I am just telling you that it is dangerous if the Germans returned.”

Toha felt that he was not going to convince these people to leave. He decided that maybe going in an absurd direction was the best route. He decided to tell them what he saw.

“A coyote told me that you were coming.”

The entire group focused their attention on him. Daiyu had a confused look on her face. The man in the group spoke up.

“What are you talking about, lass?”

Ariadne had a look of surprise in her face. Toha shrugged in return. “Look, I saw a coyote, and he told me that somebody was coming. Are you those people?”

“What coyote?” Ariadne asked him. “There are no coyotes in Europe.”

Toha had no answer to really give. He didn’t know admitting this was just conveying that he was nuts to the group. “I know what I saw an hour ago. He called himself Coyote and then disappeared in a puff of smoke. He told me to remain in this town and wait for somebody to come. He….”

Ariadne put her hand on his shoulder and then looked him square in the eye. “You have my attention, human mortal. There is something strange about you. There is….some sort of aura coming from you that I can’t recognize right off. Hmm….”

This was all new to Toha, and it felt awkward admitting that to three strangers that he never met. “I know what I saw. I think I might be losing my mind. Maybe it is best for me to go ahead and return to my unit. Do what you want; it’s your life anyway. I did my part in warning you.”

He politely took Ariadne’s hand and brushed it away from him. He turned around and started to walk away from the group. He headed over to the ditch to go pick up the MP-18.

Ariadne went and put her hand to her chin as she thought about his words. Suddenly she got a whiff of something that went into her nose. She had put her hand that she used to touch his shoulder to her chin. There was some sort of smell coming from her hand that caught her attention.

“Wait….come back here human mortal,” she told him. “I need to check something out. You said that Coyote told you that we would come? What else did he say?”

Toha was just about to pick up the MP-18 from the ditch when he turned to speak to her. “He told me that he owed me a debt. That I was to remain here for…..somebody, and that is pretty much it.”

Ariadne slowly nodded, “I…….believe you mortal. I do need to do something to confirm my suspicions. Did anything touch you that you felt was unusual during your lifetime?”

Toha looked down in almost confusion. “No….that is a bizarre question to ask. I remember having a dream this morning that I needed to go to Fresnes. I practically volunteered to take up the assignment to go here. Well….I am here. I helped get this town bombed to the ground. I just wished I knew what was going on. Coyote…..now you three. Nothing is making much sense to me right now.”

Ariadne took a good sniff of her hand again. Then she approached Toha with a stern look. “This is an unusual request. May I smell you?”

Toha shrugged, “I guess stranger things have already happened. Sure go ahead. I don’t care.”

Ariadne came right up to Toha, and she began to take deep whiffs. The first whiff was strong to her nose. She almost took a step back because it surprised her so much. She then took another whiff, and she was more used to the smell this time. She started to breathe heavily. There was some sort of attraction that she felt deep down inside from the scent. It was almost intoxicating to her.

She pulled back, immediately snapping herself back to reality. “I know this….you have two spirits inside you Toha. One is your spirit, and the other is a spirit that is very dormant.”

“Wha…..I don’t understand. Am I possessed?”

Ariadne shook her head “No. You simply have another spirit inside you. This is very rare. I can actually smell the dormant spirit inside you, and it is very faint. I feel like I somehow know what it is, but I need to question you further on this. Can you stay here with our group? Do they need you to return?”

Toha looked around and thought about it. He shrugged, “Sure, why not? Just be mindful that enemy reinforcements maybe coming this way. The four of us would be no match against several squads of soldiers. No matter how well trained, you may think you are. They will try to capture or kill me and then possibly imprison you three for helping the enemy.”