The Unsung Heroes

by Soter

Renown author Christoph Sokol is looking to write a tribute to the "Ghosts of Razgriz," who had saved his home town during the war. However, Sokol is a man who is not as he seems. Once he was known as Alex Stark. He more than anyone on earth knows the tale, since he played a central role in it. Now, a ghost from the past is at his door, he must relive the events of that unsung war.

3. Chapter 3

"First, I'm going to explain just how I found you."

Alex sits there, silently, for a moment. If he wanted, he could have guessed a few different options. There were any number of ways, and that worried him. He had been hiding from Herr Schmidt and his cronies for six months. Sooner or later they would have found something. It was impossible to completely erase things from history. Even the most carefully hidden left a few breadcrumbs. Alex had hoped there had not been enough to track him. Especially since the whole world, except for perhaps a dozen people, though he was dead.

And of those dozen, only one knew where he was.

"You spoke to Emma, didn't you?"

Kei looks down and nods. "It took a while to find her, and even longer to convince her to tell me anything. All she said was you had gone 'back home' to pay your respects to your great-grandfather. You never told me he was an ace."

Alex shrugs. "I never personally knew him. And the wars he fought in are kinda forgotten by most people. That's how you found my pen name."

Kei nods again, picking up the book and handing it to him. Alex had expected to see it say "A Blue Dove For The Princess," but is forced to grin when he sees the title.

"'The Legend of Razgriz,' translated by Christoph Sokol." He traces his finger over the taped binding. "What happened?"

Now it was Kei's turn to shrug. "I don't know. I found it in the bookstore like that. The publisher was kind enough to tell me which city the author resides in, but could only give a postal box, not a street address. So I started asking around town."

"Discretely, I hope."

Kei turns away. There were few times Alex had spoken harshly with her, even during the war, despite rank differences and being in command. "I was as discrete as possible. In fact, I only had to ask the librarian. I figured if you had achieved your dream of writing, that you would frequent the library. They would have to have your address on file."

Smiling, Alex nods. It all made sense and was, unfortunately, simple. He wondered if Schmidt had figured it out.

"Okay, so that's how you found me. What's the Third thing?"

Kei took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I'm sorry."