Call For War

30/07/1917

“Father, father! Don’t you fear?”

“Fear of what? Kelly.”

“The knife will cut you.”

“Oh my little princess. I’ve played with bigger knives in my past.”

Saying this, a handsome middle aged man wearing off-white 20th century clothes, in one swift stroke brushes a knife over his right cheek shaving off his beard. While he does that, his five years old daughter watches him with amusement.

It’s not very often that 51 years old Ramsey Cranston shaves his black beard, but when he does, his daughter Kelly is always there. To her her father is a hero who can do anything. Chopping trees, lifting huge trunks, riding horses and scaring off wild predators. Whenever Kelly goes hunting with her father, the stories she tell are often full of impossible fantastical elements where she portrays her father to be some sort of muscular god.

A significant period of his early life Ramsey was a soldier and followed by that a junior colony officer working for the Drandt Sul Company. (An evil trading company that colonized under-developed regions of the world to exploit the people for cheap labour and drain their resources for personal gain).

Well, in Ramsey’s defense, when he discovered the wrong practices of the company, he quit his job. Still what he did was bad. Only one good thing that came from it were the skills he learned. They were required when he and his family started living in the middle of the great evergreen Craglinn forest of Drandt state.

Living here in the 20th century is less easy than a century later due to absence of advanced technology like chainsaw, heavy duty vehicles and machine made high quality fences to protect them from the wild. Hence, Ramsey Cranston has to do all the things by himself.

That’s not entirely true, when the newly married couple decided to start living in the forest, surviving in a place like that would not have been possible without equal contribution from his wife Natalie.

Natalie Cranston is a nurse by profession, a farmer by family, a herbologist by obsession and a mother by choice. Meaning she has enough knowledge to survive in any place and not die of hunger or lack of medical services. Whatever Ramsey can’t do, Natalie does it like a pro. One of her jobs is to take care of the farm they have grown in the backyard.

Together they form a perfect power couple who has built a life in this dense forest disconnected from the outside world and are raising twins; Molly and Kelly. These two five years old girls despite having similar appearances have contrasting personalities. While Kelly generally gravitates to her father, Molly decided to follow in footsteps of her mother. That’s why even right now she is helping Natalie pick ripe fruits from a tree.

“Catch this Molly.” says Natalie dropping a fruit down below. A beautiful fit woman in her forties wearing a loose cotton shirt and trousers is hanging from one of the branches of a huge tree. The way she is positioned she can’t look down. Still hearing the sound she realizes that Molly isn’t standing below as instructed.

“Molly, molly… Where are you?” Natalie calls for her while getting in a comfortable position from where she can look down. After a couple of minutes Molly comes running.

“Mother, there’s injured rabbit there. It can’t walk. I’m helping it.” says Molly with slight sadness in her tone.

“Is it a he or a she?” asks the Mother coming down from the tree. “What did I tell you, all animals are either a ‘he’ or ‘she’. You must know that. Don’t address them as ‘it’. They are not things.” explains Natalie while they walk towards the injured animal.

Meanwhile in the bathroom, Ramsey is telling a story. He swiftly moves the knife in air as if it’s a sword while shaving. Positioning the blade for the last stroke saying, “You see Kelly I once was little like you. A boy. Then one day I turned into a man.”

“I don’t know why you would remember this. Still…” he whispers to himself.

“The time when a boy turns into a man is when he is able to properly complete his shave without cutting himself.”

Saying this Ramsey initiates his final move, but then hearing a sudden scream Ramsey cuts himself. The scream is of a his other daughter, Molly. This seems like a regular occurrence which is why Ramsey and Kelly aren’t bothered by the scream. Actually Kelly giggles seeing the blood come out from her father’s cheek.

“Looks like you are still a boy…” laughs Kelly.

“Sush… young lady. Now, go look why your sister is screaming this time.”

Kelly goes while Ramsey carefully finishes with his shave. Once he is done he too goes out to see what is happening. At the front of the house both the girls are staring down at a blood stained piece of paper kept on a log of wood. They are scared to touch it so they simply watch.

“You don’t have to do that Ma’am. It’s okay. Just a simple bullet wound. I’m fine.” says a soldier looking away. He is trying hard to not scream. This young soldier has a nasty deep cut on his outer left thigh.

“Nonsense. Stay put soldier and let me do what I am doing. I’m qualified to do that.” she says while cleaning his wound.

“What is going on here?” asks Ramsey.

Seeing Ramsey the soldier pulls up his pants and stands up. He quickly stomps his feet while saluting as he introduces himself as Corporal Robin. The instant he stomps his feet he feels a sharp pain as the oozing blood starts to stain his pants.

He walks to Ramsey while picking up the blood stained letter from the log. He holds it up for him and says, “This is a letter from lord Kevin Stomfort, for you.”

“What’s in it?”

“I have strict orders to not look inside, sir. My job was simply to bring this paper to you”

Acknowledging that Ramsey takes the letter.

“This blood…?”

“Apologies for the stains, sir. That blood is mine.” says Robin looking down at his bleeding thigh.

Ramsey cleans the excess blood on the letter with a cloth in hand and tries to read it. Meanwhile Robin struggles to balance his weight on one healthy foot. Let’s not judge the lack of fitness of this soldier without knowing that he walked all day all night non-stop to come deliver this letter.

“Please, get that fixed.” says Ramsey watching the growing blood stain on the right thigh area of his pant.

“It’s okay sir. I need to leave so-“

“That’s an order.” Ramsey interrupts.

Robin insists on leaving but Ramsey does not allow this. Eventually he gives up letting Natalie carry him inside to put proper bandage on his wound. Life would have been simpler had Robin left then itself, but as fate has different plans for him, Robin agrees to this.

Meanwhile Ramsey stays outside to read the letter. The writing is unclear due to heavy stains of fresh blood. Further ink is smudged at various places. Still Ramsey is able to read enough to get the gist of the letter.

“Apologies for cutting your vacation short… We need you… The God War (a world war) has finally come to our doorstep and it is unavoidable… You will have to… We need our-.”

This should be followed by a signature at the bottom but the blood stain makes it unclear if the signature is there or not. But that is irrelevant. It takes a minute for the gravity of this situation hit Ramsey hard. Ramsey has to follow these orders since it came from lord Stomfort But if he does re-joins the army there is a chance that he might not return.

As a single guy, Ramsey never hesitated to jump into any such situation but now watching his daughters standing at a distance looking at him makes it difficult for him. That’s why he steps inside the house searching for his wife, to involve her in the decision making process.

“I don’t understand what I should do. After all these years… Why did he…?”

The thing that bothers Ramsey is that this letter came from Lord Stomfort and not some random officer. For Ramsey he wasn’t just a superior in the company but a father figure as well. Lord Stomfort granted Ramsey his indefinite leave (which people at his rank usually don’t get) and also gifted this piece of land they built their house on as a wedding gift.

“Maybe things are that serious, that’s why he needs me by his side.”

Ramsey is confused not knowing what to do. That’s why he was throwing random ideas at his wife hoping she would respond with a solution.

“Maybe going is the right thing to do. After all I swore an oath to protect the people of our state. It would be wrong for me to spend happy time here while there are others who are struggling to lead a happy life. But… I did my part when I worked, in the company. So now I don’t owe anybody anything except, for my daughters and you. I can’t leave you guys alone.”

Ramsey continues with his train of thought meanwhile Natalie simply does her daily chore of washing the vegetables. Whenever he demands a reaction she says, “Hmm.” and moves on. No matter what he decides Natalie shows full support to his decision saying, “Okay.”

Normally this would be the ideal response a husband can expect from a wife but in this moment Ramsey is unable to decide. So when he gets a neutral response from his wife it frustrates him.

“No, no, no… you are not doing this again.” he says interrupting her task in hand, “Stop using sounds and start using words. Tell me what I should do!”

As Ramsey looks at her, Natalie’s face is blank with just a feint smile of assurance. She might be showing support on surface but he sees through the facade and knows that Natalie is as disturbed as he is from the arrival of this letter.

“Tell me! tell me!” Ramsey shouts in a raising tone.

“No!” says a voice. “No, no, no…Stop! Don’t do it… Get it off me. Get it off me! Ahh!”

It’s the soldier, he is having a nightmare. Both of them rush to the adjacent room where he is sleeping. Robin, the soldier is wakes up still he seems troubled by the bad dream he just had.

He simply sits there breathing heavily while focusing on one corner of the house to know this is real and not a continuation of his dream.

“A bad dream, was it?” asks Natalie.

“I wish.” gasps Robin, “The horrors of what I’ve recently seen refuse to leave me.”

The soldier genuinely seems troubled.

“Well. The only solution to that is a nice warm afternoon meal.” she says in a cheerful mood. “It’ll be ready in fifteen.”

“Thank you. But I think I’ll leave now.” says the soldier.

“Not until you sit with us to eat. Please, I insist.” says Natalie.

As they converse Ramsey is waiting for her to step outside so he can ask a very important question to the soldier. He waits patiently but the conversation lengthens. Natalie seems comfortable chatting since she assigned simple tasks her daughters, to do the basic preparations of the meal, before coming in. Watching from the window she knows that they are still not done yet.

Suddenly Ramsey interrupts the conversation asking, “Soldier,” He pauses waiting to get his attention, “What is the current status of the war?”

When he asks this, Ramsey looks at Natalie hinting that she should go to the kitchen. “Okay.” she says realizing his intention. Natalie leave the room but then positions herself such that she can still eavesdrop on their conversation.

“Soldier, status.” Ramsey repeats.

“Not good.” says Robin. “Not good at all.”

Robin is speaking in pauses while assessing how much Ramsey wants to know. “We are going to lose. That is for sure.”

“There is no light at the end of this tunnel. The only question that remains is, how long before we surrender? That to only time can tell.”

Robin pauses to let the reality sink in. He is about to say something when Natalie speaks from the other room. “Then, maybe, there is no point in going.” she suggests.

Robin looks at Ramsey and then continues, “Initially we were fighting war at many fronts but restricted to the local colony grounds, as you must be aware of. That was manageable. But now our enemies have united. They are calling it ‘the Allied Forces’. We have not only lost control over most of our colonies, they are pushing us back in our own territory. Last night, they had already entered our state lines through the northern border.”

Hearing northern border, as if Ramsey can see it, he turns to look in that direction saying, “So the war isn’t happening far from here.”

“We are losing hundreds of men everyday, if not thousands. Our arms and ammunition are depleting at a very fast rate. We need all the help we can get.”

“And how is Lord Stomfort handling the situation?” Ramsey asks.

“He… he has passed away. When times were getting tough, Lord Stomfort tried to initiate cease fire. He went there to talk about peace. Sadly the Allied Forced decide to play dirty. They agreed to end war but then shot Lord Stomfort in the back on his way out.”

This was painful for Ramsey to hear. His expressions made it clear that he didn’t want to know anything more. Please get ready, the food will be served in ten minutes. Ramsey is almost in tears as he steps outside the room.

Up until this point Ramsey had a logically sensible reason to not be a part of the war but now, after hearing this, he is emotionally motivated to go re-join the company. Ramsey has made up his mind. Natalie knows that too. But this means that today is the last day he will spend with his family.

Hence, Ramsey does what he never did before. He goes to the kitchen and helps them prepare food. He wants to spend as much quality time as possible. Ramsey displays a happy face for the the girls, but deep down he is crying. Partly for the loss of his father figure. And another reason being for what he is going to lose when he leaves tomorrow.

Yes, tomorrow. Ramsey gives himself permission to spend one last night with his family. Ramsey still knows that his thoughts and beliefs don’t align with the policies of the company. “But that is irrelevant now.” he says to himself while remembering a quote by lord Stomfort.

‘There are good people on both sides of war.’

– Lord Kevin Stomfort

Happily all of them sit to have lunch. All of them are seated around a circular table. The family join hands to pray but Robin refuses to comply. He gives an excuse that his shoulder is in pain.

The girls are disappointed as he leaves their hand hanging in mid air. To that Natalie says, “It’s okay sweeties. Today uncle Robin seems to be not in good terms with God. Maybe next time when he comes, he will join us in the prayer.”

Robin does not say anything. The family simply acknowledges that and join hands to pray. Once they are done, they simply sit steady with their eyes close. During that moment of silence Robin suddenly has the urge to say,

“God is food that satisfies only those with full bellies.”

The family listens it but do not react. There’s a pin drop silence in that moment. While the girls have no clue what Robin is talking about, the adults in the room understand that he is mocking their theistic attitude. This is something expected from a soldier of Drandt Sul Company.

For a moment Natalie gets disturbed hearing this but then she shakes it off as they start the meal. Meanwhile Ramsey fixates on this one line. It’s not that he is offended by that. As a matter of fact this very unique line he had heard one more time, from a person in his past.

Suddenly Ramsey starts thinking with that approach. As he observes carefully he can see the resemblance between soldier Robin and that other guy he knows from his past. The more he thinks about it, the more confusing it gets.

Suddenly Ramsey asks, “Soldier, you never told us your name.”

“Yes sir. I did. My name is Robin.”

“And your last name?”

Here he takes a pause and then speaks, “What’s in the name. A wise man once said. Anyways, since the day I joined army, my last name became irrelevant. Now I am just Robin, enemy to those on the other side and brother to those that fight along.”

All of them smile and continue with their meal. Once done Robin gets ready to leave. The girls wave him bye-bye and then walk inside the house to wash the dishes with their mother. Meanwhile Ramsey walks the soldier out of the house.

The wasn’t enough time for the wound to sufficiently heal, hence Robin is having difficulty to walk. Ramsey notices that. Realizing that this soldier will have to walk 20-24 hrs to return to the northern front he says, “Take my horse.”

Yes, Ramsey has a horse, obviously. In case of any medical emergency, the nearest hospital is still very far away. Hence the only means of quick transport possible through the Craglinn forest is a horse.

“Sir, I can’t accept that. I am not important, you are. They need you in the capital city as early as possible.”

“Don’t worry about me. Anyway I’ll have to drop my kids and my wife in the nearby town before coming. I’ll catch a ride from there. You go, take my horse. Just be careful, you have to be gentle with him if you wish him to take you to your destination.” says Ramsey, while walking with him to the stable. It’s wooden structure slightly far away from the house.

Standing just outside, Robin says, “Thank you. Thank you sir. I can’t believe you are doing this for someone whom you barely know.” they say while shaking hands. Then Ramsey goes on to untie the horse and get it read to ride.

“Actually I prefer helping strangers. There is always a chance that they are good people. Not like some I helped in the past.” Says Ramsey. Rubbing his shoulder scar, he speaks, “I once took an arrow for a guy whom I know for sure is just one big piece of shit.”

“How can you say that!” says Robin.

He seems to take this comment personally. Meanwhile Ramsey continues with that thought. “It’s true. If I ever get to meet that, that d- degenerate animal…”

Robin starts breathing heavily as his aggression builds.

“…If I ever see him again. I’ll kill him myself!” says Ramsey.

“How dare you? Who are you to say such things about him!” shouts Robin unlocking his holster to pull out his pistol. Strangely the gun is not there.

Ramsey smiles as he turns pointing that gun at Robin’s forehead. “No, more important question is , Who are you? Tell me your name.”

Now, any other time Robin had found himself on the receiving end of a gunpoint, he would have either ran away shouting or defecated in his pants, but not right now. He is so angry that he stays anchored to his place despite there being threat to his life. He proudly speaks.

“My name is Robin Waran and the person you are speaking ill of is my uncle, the great Lord Rand Waran.”

Ramsey smiles knowing that his suspiscion has finally come true. He then loosens his grip around the gun and gives it to Robin, “Nice product. Did your racist uncle gave it to you?”

Robin says nothing. He simply takes the gun and puts in back in place. Meanwhile Ramsey quietly gets the horse ready, helps him get on it and sees him off. Before they part ways Ramsey just says this,

“You think you know someone just because you have known them for a very long time. The truth is that during those times we are blinded by our own confidence, our trust in them.”

Once he is gone, Ramsey does some cleaning in the stable. He restocks animal food and picks up a pile of wood to carry back home. It’s almost sunset time by then. Ramsey is about to reach home, but before he would step inside he hears loud sound of a racing horse. Ramsey stands quietly until he sees Robin approaching the house.

He still seems angry as he was before but now his aggression seems to be directed elsewhere. The horse is fast approaching Ramsey as if he will walk over him but the horse knows Ramsey. He stops even though he didn’t get any command from the rider.

Robin jumps off the horse saying, “Why would you say that? Why would say that last line? What do you mean by that?” He asks as a tear oozes out of his left eye and rolls down his cheek.

Ramsey says nothing. The question seems rhetorical as Robin already knows the answer to it.

A little back story here. Robin as a child had no interest in war or the Drandt Sul Company even though all of his family men worked there. While his father always forced Robin to train to be a soldier, Rand Waran, or his uncle Randy always supported little Robin. “Brother, let the kid do whatever he wants.” he used to say.

Robin is a storyteller, he likes to write books. He has written many under a pseudonym while he worked at a newspaper printing press. For once Robin was happy with his life. All this was possible only because of his uncle Randy. Sadly his uncle Randy was brutally killed locals when he was on duty overseas. With that support gone, when the war escalated, Robin was forced into the war by his father.

Robin has fond memories of his uncle and he knows everything about his uncle; where he worked, what he did, whom he worked with… he know everything. So when Ramsey talked ill of him, Robin had to get angry.

“He was good to me. He was always good to me.” Robin said with tears in his eyes. “But…”

Robin felt short of words as he recollected his suppressed memories when he saw his uncle mistreating servants, immigrants, even foreign scholars who were invited as chief guest for some important events. Sadly his young mind was unable to understand it back then. But now all of a sudden these tiny cracks in a perfect wall feel magnified.

“The reason my uncle was perfect and successful at his job at the company was because he was one of them.”

“Deception and lies. That is what the company men are all about and now they are turning me into one of them.”

Robin’s walks of secrecy are slowly breaking down. He not trying to hide anything anymore. By then Natalie walks out of the house to join the conversation.

“I lied to you.” says Robin looking at both of them. “Everything I said was a lie.”

This sun is slowly going down as Robin spills the truth.

“I am not a soldier in true sense. I have a rank but I work as a messenger in the capital city. I type messages and deliver them as per the order. I have never been to a war frontier.”

“So this injury?” asks Ramsey.

“A thorny Scrifilus branch.” answers Natalie.

“Yes.” Robin acknowledges. “I accidentally slipped and fell on it while I was coming here. Wait, how did you..?”

“I’ve seen enough bullet wounds to know which isn’t one.” says Natalie.

“Also, the gun you saw earlier is not mine. It belongs to Lord Stomfort.” Robin confesses to Ramsey.

“Aa… actually, RTY4591 pistol belongs to me.” says Ramsey. “When I quit my job, I gave it to Stomfort saying, “In my absence this will protect you.” Sadly it failed to do its job.” cries Ramsey.

Robin is taken aback. “You guys knew I was lying? Since when?”

“Since the time you gave me that letter.”

Robin is shocked to hear that. He takes a few steps back as if he plans on running away. Meanwhile Ramsey continues, “Lord Stomfort never sent me hand written letters. Writing letters to me used too emotional for him. Even if he tried he used to end up blotching the ink and spoiling the paper. Hence he preferred type it out and then sign his initials below.”

“Why didn’t you confront me, then and there?”

“We knew you were lying, but…” says Natalie.

“But we didn’t know how much of it was a lie and why.” adds Ramsey. “Also I didn’t how you would react with the gun in your pocket if things went sideways.” He says directing his attention to his daughters playing at a distance.

“I would never-“ he bites his lip before completing the sentence.

Robin is speechless as he recollects the events that happened till now. All this time Robin thought he was acting smart but the truth is that he was the biggest fool. Robin sits down on the ground not bothered of the surrounding as he narrates his side of the story,

“Ever since the Drandt state government was made a different entity from the company, the administration has been unstable. Over time the two organisation grew apart due to their differing ideologies. So when the company decided to wage unjust wars in various places the government stopped supporting the company. One of the reasons of distrust was that many top officials of the company either left their job, like you, or got transferred to work for the government like lord Stomfort.”

Robin pauses to give rest to his dry throat. He wants water but doesn’t dare to ask. After a minute of silence he continues,

“When the allied forces infiltrated our northern border, the government unanimously decided to call for cease-fire. Lord Stomfort was personally going to go for the peace talk. This was not acceptable for the company men. So they tricked him into writing a letter to call you back for peace talk and then they murdered him cold blooded.”

Robin narrates this event as if he witnessed it with his own eyes.

As painful as it was for Ramsey to know about Stomfort’s passing, how he died made him cry even more. Still he felt proud of him, thinking, “Even in his last moments Stomfort made sure that I knew that it’s a fake letter.”

Ramsey then wipes his tears and asks, “Why call me? What good is it going to do to them?”

“Dirty politics! As I said, one of the reason for distrust was because people like you left the company. So you re-joining the company would mean that it is more likely the government and general public will support company’s decisions.”

At this point Robin stops talking as he feels he has spoken enough. “I’ve told you everything I know, true to the best of my knowledge.”

Robin slowly gets up and startes walking away. “Robin.” calls Ramsey. They wait for him to turn. He sees them smiling at him as Natalie says, “Take the horse with you.”

With those last words, Ramsey drops the letter then and there and the couple walk inside the house. On their way back in Natalie asks, “So, what have you decided?”

Ramsey takes some time to think and then says,

“Although unknowingly, I’ve done some bad things while I was posted overseas as a junior colony officer. For those years I owe a debt of gratitude to the universe that she kept me alive till now. But the fake letter and what happened today is a sign that the universe has come to collect. I would be setting a bad example if my daughters inherit the burden of my debt. So, for my daughters and for your safety I have to go.”

Natalie carefully listens to what Ramsey has to say. Then she simply acknowledges it with one word, “Okay.”

The sun sets as the couple reunites with their daughters to just have fun until bedtime. They eat, they play, they sing, they dance and they talk a lot about everything. The daughters although oblivious to this entire situation know one thing that their life isn’t going to be the same starting tomorrow. That’s why they choose to sleep with their parents tonight.

As all four of them lay in a king size bed trying to fall asleep. Kelly asks, “Father, Mother, we are a family, right?”

“Of course we are.” says Natalie.

“So it mean we will stay together forever, right?” asks Molly.

“Yes.” says Ramsey.

Realizing what the girls are talking about, both mother-father hug their daughter sleeping in the middle and say to them, “Family is forever. We’ll stay together forever.”

Hearing them have this conversation is making me very emotional. That’s why I feel the urge of saying in a divine voice, “Your wish has been granted.”

But that, is a story for another day.

TO BE CONTINUED

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