\u2018Bring the traitor in,\u2019 the major said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Flaming orange hair topped his rugged head. Next to him sat the captain, his blue eyes chill discs. Fire and ice together hunkered behind a desk. A youth in khaki pushed in a tall man, his hands tied behind his back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018You\u2019ve been found guilty of treason,\u2019 the major said. \u2018You will be executed by members of the people\u2019s liberation army immediately. Any last words?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The man spat on the floor in contempt and was dragged out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\u2018Execution\u2019s not good enough for that one,\u2019 the captain said. \u2018Revealing half of his battalion\u2019s arms stache to the enemy?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Do you believe his claim? Tortured by the occupying forces?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Irrelevant. His duty was to lay down his life for the nation, not betray it.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Roig and Palumbo smoked nervily at the edge of the moor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018No need for you to fire,\u2019 Roig said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018They\u2019ll count the bullets.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Tell you what. I\u2019ll fire once with my rifle, then once with yours.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Somebody could hear a gap of that length between shots.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Out here on the moor? Look man, he\u2019s your\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018I\u2019ll do it,\u2019 Palumbo said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Nobody will know. There\u2019s just us two and\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Palumbo shook his head fearfully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Roig led the man to be shot to a space brightened by moonlight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Did<\/em> they torture you?\u2019 Roig asked him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018The occupying soldiers held a gun to my wife\u2019s head. Either I told them where the cache was or she was done for.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Why did you tell the major you were tortured?\u2019 Roig said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018I wanted to keep my wife out of the story. He can kill me, but Eloise – ? No! Nor my kids.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018I\u2019ll do my best, you know, to help Eloise and\u2026\u2019 Palumbo muttered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Releasing me is what you should be doing, Peter!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018If we don\u2019t carry out orders, we\u2019ll be shot,\u2019 Roig insisted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018An army of national liberation you\u2019re called! Look at yourselves. Killing more of your own than the occupiers of our country! You\u2019re led by religious nutters and sociopaths. They\u2019re playing you, Peter. And you Roig.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n Roig rubbed his chin thoughtfully and said, \u2018Do you think Peter\u2019s been chosen<\/em> to shoot you?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018His own brother? Of course! They know <\/em>Peter\u2019ll be tempted to let me escape. Maybe they suspect him, or both of you, as well as me. And if you don\u2019t pass the test\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Testing us?\u2019 Roig said, feeling the pistol cold in his pocket. \u2018You really think\u2026?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018This country! First ruined by colonists and now the liberators. Obeying orders from our all-wise betters<\/em> is the pretext, destroying our own is the outcome. C\u2019mon the pair of you, get it over with. Shoot!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \/<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the dead of night in their bunks the major and captain woke up, disturbed by noise. Facing them were three privates, two armed. They were shot and died in a pool of their own blood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The civil war, which normally follows a country\u2019s war of independence against an occupier, had begun early.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u2018Bring the traitor in,\u2019 the major said. Flaming orange hair topped his rugged head. Next to him sat the captain, his blue eyes chill discs. Fire and ice together hunkered behind a desk. A youth in khaki pushed in a tall man, his hands tied behind his back. \u2018You\u2019ve been found guilty […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10158782359051062_103813597863211":"","twitter_1225722811282530305_1225722811282530305":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1490,1750],"tags":[124,370,441,122,20,77,119,1769,31,12,128,1768,1767,9,11],"class_list":["post-2565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1490","category-traitor","tag-do","tag-fire","tag-head","tag-him","tag-his","tag-liberation","tag-ll","tag-major","tag-man","tag-my","tag-out","tag-palumbo","tag-roig","tag-said","tag-was"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbrNJE-Fn","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2565"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2566,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2565\/revisions\/2566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}