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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The Shaman" data-source="post: 3006459" data-attributes="member: 26473">Karel Syrovy looks over at Pyotr. “We’re all wasted talents, don’t you know? That’s why we’re in the Legion.” He opens his silver cigarette case and lights a Gauloises.Silvio Ortu snorts at Marcel’s “weight of the world” remark. “Cafard already?” he says derisively.David Nedjar looks up, scratches his scruffy beard. “I’m betting it’s a certain nurse,” he replies, grinning. Ortu rolls his eyes as he checks and rechecks the AAT-52, resting the machine gun on its bipod mount.Marcel approaches the captain with his questions. “Over this ridge here, and north, about a kilometer,” the company commander replies, replacing the map and compass in the worn leather case. “Lt. Ferrand – the SAS officer – suggested that the ALN is moving supplies along an old route used by Arab insurgents about seventy years ago. The tomb of a marabout, a holy man, named Abd-el-Hamou, was built on the route after he and his followers were defeated by the Army in the 1880s.” Capt. Martini reaches for his canteen and takes a swig, then mops his face with a scarf made from a swatch of old camouflage parachute cloth draped around his neck. Marcel notices the faded lighting bolt tattoo, and the vicious scars, on the captain’s forearm. “It’s a rough, dry march away from the douars, but that’s precisely why the insurgents used it back then. The lieutenant believes that hasn’t been forgotten by the ALN.”Asked about the prisoners, the captain replies, “The father wasn’t carrying his carte, but that’s a minor offense. I don’t believe those donkeys wandered all the way out here, however. In the winter perhaps, when there’s water and forage, but not now. If we find they were involved in supplying the ALN, caching water or food, they will be turned over to the gendarmerie when we return to camp.” Capt. Martini pulls his binoculars from their case, and with one hand shading the lenses to keep light from reflecting off the glass he quickly scans the rugged horizon.</blockquote>

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