Chapter 2 : Friends or Foes

As I rode to the abyss on my horse, I feel really tired and fatigued, as a surprise attack commences onto me. Bandits! Blimey! but then one of the bandit's spoke up.

"G'day Mate, are you British?"

"Well yes, bloody hell, what do I look like, Dutch? Boer?"

as I spoke that line, the commander of the bandit's showed up

"G'day fellow countryman, how ye doing? sorry for attacking ye. What company are ye from?"

"66th Foot"

"ah yes, thy is from the northumberland fusiliers, officer Thomas O'Spangerson nice to meet ye. ye and ye crew got lost on ye way at night when ye supposed to return to report to ye commander. for now ye will have to keep plundering crosserbys, but as a fellow countrymen ye will allow to pass"

"well since you kinda got me interested, could I stay at your camp for a while?"

"sure"

as I entered the camp, there were 10 other men waiting for us, with their khaki uniforms all covered in dirt, there was certainly a strong smell of tabaco in the air as soldiers smoke bring the pain away, a infantryman comes down with a report.

"sir! we have a entire battalion of Boer soldiers heading into this direction, they are after us since they got wind of a highly skilled British soldier in this direction by the name of Harry Smith."

"who in tarnation is this Harry Smith?" asked the curious officer

"that would be me" I answered "I killed 3 Dutchmen with 2 rounds in seriously brutal ways, I was the only survivor of a scouting unit and was ambushed during a scouting mission by local militias"

" alright lad, ye can leave right now, and ye maybe die, or ye can stay with us and defend this land"

"alright, expect me to kill more men without bullets"

as dawn arises, I set up traps around the area, as a young man came out of the wooden guard walls of the settlement, with the flame flickering outside and the sound of the wind passing by, the young man said.

"sir? why are you setting up a ton of traps around this area? shouldn't you be doing it in the front door?"

"trust in me... I have a plan."

as I said that line the lad pulled out a revolver and shot towards my direction, missing my head by a millimeter, as I thought in my mind... ah that young lad... I always knew he was a traitor... what was that book that the bloke Connan Doyle told us he wrote in the camps again... Ah, yes... the study in scarlet, what was the bloke's main character again... that detective guy... ah! Sherlock Holmes, and what was that thing he used again...? The Science of Deduction. Right now Im in my own "mind room" right now outside, it's just been one second since the bullet passed by... what ever you do Harry... Don't Die... Follow the plan. as I exit my mind room, the lad is cocking the hammer of the revolver, I pulled out my service rifle and pulled the trigger... Clank! Clank! God dammit! my gun is jammed! I guess I have to use my bayonet, as I charged into the place, I get stuck into a trap of my own, a sling trap. which my leg gets pulled up by a flexible rope, and im stuck there... as the lad giggles.

"wow, I thought you were the skilled Harry Smith, it turns out, you are a bloody idiot."

"well then lad... if you want to end me, then do it!"

" as the lad aimed his revolver towards me, a knife comes flying by and cuts the rope, making me fall down to the ground, bruising my buttocks, but giving me a clear shot to his chest.

Bang!

"I thought your gun was jammed!" screamed the lad, with his chest bleeding out, I apparently hit his heart, and it was pumping blood out.

"M'lad, it was just acting, remember how you killed everybody including the officer during their sleep right? well, they were hiding in the pit traps, since you were convinced that there were spikes there were traps there."

"What!?!?! thats impossible, I checked the pit traps before you even came out of the camp during the night!"

"well, remember how it's not the fall that kills you... it's the impact, so without a fall, there couldn't be a big impact on the spikes"

"But how did you escape the rope!?!?"

"well thats enough talking for now, it's time for you to sleep, it's bed time after all"

and with a pull of the hammer and a sigh, I pulled the trigger of my revolver.

Bang!

"great job mate" said the officer " ye did the traitor well. How did you escape the rope though?"

"Remember when I set up a trap?" I asked

"ye lad, we remembered"

"I set up a knife flinging trap as well, remember? at the time, I knew he was the traitor, so I set up a precise battleground that is to my advantage, as getting the gun jammed and getting hooked up by the trap, which I waited to a precise time, for the knife to fling towards the string, by stretching the conversation, when the knife flung and hit the string, I was 3 meters off the ground, so I was able to perform a backflip and land on my behind, which then I ended my act, aimed my riffle to the heart and fired my gun, making him suffer before I kill him"

"but how did you know he was the traitor?" asked the officer

"he of course fed us false information, I am part of another regiment's scouting unit, so I know what is happening, since there was no Boer settlement here, judging by his role, he is a scout, but we didn't meet him during my scouting mission, so I assumed he was a spy or a traitor, but judging by the courage to talk to the captain with a casual manner, I simply guessed that he was a traitor, because who would spy on a little camp of some of our blokes?"

"well that is a wonder explanation ye explained, but now since we have no traitors, our camp is fine, so do you mind if ye come with you to your journey to safe zone?"

"sure, Im always alone and tired since that lad died. but there is something I want to ask you."

"sure, what do you want to ask me?"

"what is your rank in your regiment"

"I'm Captain Thomas O'Spangerson of the 5th Northumberland fusiliers"

"well then, nice to meet you, I am sergeant Harry Smith, of the 66th Berkshire Foot regiment"

as we finished introducing ourselves, we left at the next morning with 13 rounds in my pouch, 5 rounds in my revolver, a combat knife, more jerky, more crackers, and a full canteen of water, as we rode on the dead dutchman's horse in the middle of a beautiful sunrise.