Chapter 5: Reynolds
Well, I'm back with another chapter. Did you miss me? Probably not, seeing as no one is really reading this anyway. Rather sad how the IZ fandom has withered. And besides, I really wouldn't miss myself either. When I die, they're gonna gather around my grave and say what a hateful, misanthropic, friendless, miserable old farmer I was, and I'll look up from the hot coals and agree with them. Anyway, here's the chapter. I don't own Invader Zim, and the rest of the characters are either completely real historical figures, or secondary characters I made up because I didn't feel like researching the names of every corporal, junior officer and adjutant in the army of the Potomac. Reviews? I'd appreciate a few.
Dib and Tak fell to the ground as a cannon shell exploded nearby, sending a cloud of dirt into the air. They looked up to see General Buford walking calmly through the dust.
"You alright?" He asked. Dib and Tak nodded in affirmation. "I'm goin' up to look around. You'd better come too." They stood and followed Buford back into the Seminary. The three started up the steep stairs to the observation dome.
"Gah." Dib complained. "If I have to climb these stairs again, my legs are going to fall off."
"Would you rather be out there with the bullets, Dib?" Tak asked. Dib groaned, and kept climbing. He wondered how Buford, who looked to be at least 50, stayed in shape enough to stay in the saddle or on foot constantly like he did. The general hurried up the steps, and out of the hatch. Dib and Tak stepped out after him. Buford pulled his binoculars to his eyes and looked out onto the battlefield. They heard him grumble something. He then turned, and looked to the north, before dropping his glasses to his chest.
"Thank God, it's Reynolds." He sighed. The two time travelers moved to the balcony and looked. A small group of horsemen were galloping hard toward the Seminary. The man in the lead stopped below the building.
"How are you, John?!" He yelled up.
"There's the Devil to pay!" Buford replied.
"Can you hold?" Reynolds asked.
"I reckon I can." Buford said.
"Reinforcements are deploying." Reynolds said.
"Good. Good." Buford nodded. "Oh, General Reynolds!"
"Yes, John?"
"I got two prisoners here I need to pass off to you, sir. " Buford said, nodding to Tak and Dib.
"Very well." Reynolds called up. "Send them down." Buford nodded to a man in a dirty blue uniform, who began to escort them out of the observation dome.
"You kids are goin' with General Reynolds. Buford said to the two. "You oughtta be safer with him than here. Good man, General Reynolds. He'll watch over you alright enough." The soldier began to lead them down the stairs.
"Good luck, General." Tak said. She found the old commander to be quite admirable.
"And to you." Buford replied in a somber tone. He looked back out over the battle below. "And to you."
Exiting the Lutheran school, Dib and Tak got their first good look at this Reynolds, whom General Buford had been hoping to see all morning. Tall and well dressed with a full brown beard, Reynolds sat upon his mount looking over the field as if it were a chess board. Dib noted the confident way he sat on his horse, surveying the battlefield with a set of stern but understanding eyes. Tak, having more experience with military leaders recognized immediately the poise and air of a dignified and intelligent commander. His very presence commanded respect. Buford was an exceptional general, but he seemed more of an old soldier. This man had the look of a solar system's worth of power and strategy, all held within the paper thin walls of a human body.
"I suppose you youngsters are coming with me then." General Reynolds said indifferently. "Lieutenant Carter."
"Yes sir." A well dressed officer saluted, riding alongside the general.
"Please help these two onto a spare horse, and lash it to your own." He said. "You two can ride, can't you?"
"We can sit on a horse while it moves." Dib answered. Reynolds gave a small smile and nodded.
"That's well enough for now." He said. The young lieutenant dismounted, and after finding, borrowing, stealing or otherwise 'requisitioning' a horse, he began to help Tak onto the animal's back.
"I can do it on my own." Tak said curtly, pushing the officer's arms away. She put a foot in the stirrup, and leapt into the saddle. Dib on the other hand, after struggling on the stirrup, had to be helped up by Lieutenant Carter.
"How did…" Dib began. The blue haired girl just shrugged her shoulders.
" I've been watching all the soldiers do it. I figured since this seems to be the only way people get around in this age, I'd might as well master it."
"Wow…" Dib said. "You know you're…well…"
"What?" Tak asked impatiently.
"Well, you're pretty…amazing." Dib said, glad he was seated behind Tak so that she couldn't see his cheeks grow a little red.
"Oh…" Tak replied. She smiled. "Um…thanks, I guess."
"Gentlemen!" Reynolds called to his staff. "To McPherson's Woods. We have desperate work to do. Forward!" He wheeled his horse around and trotted away at a quick pace. The staff followed suit, with Dib and Tak in tow.
"Where do you think they're taking us?" Tak said quietly to Dib. "This McPherson's Woods, what is that?"
"Huh?" Dib replied. "I don't really know." Tak raised an eyebrow.
"This is the history of your country." Tak said dryly. "So what happens next?"
"I don't know, okay?" Dib answered. "I'm not exactly a history buff, and the only thing I learned about Gettysburg in school is that, like a lot of people died, and there was some big charge, and it changed the war or something."
"Wow." Tak said. "Something as big as a civil war, and you people learn so little about it."
"So?" Dib asked, a little perturbed at an alien talking down to "his people".
"So, as an Irken, we're taught about all of the great wars of our past in great detail." Tak replied. "We think it's important to know about the battles that shapes a race or culture. War is what makes countries and people what they are. It doesn't really surprise me that an arrogant, material race like humans have all but forgotten their past and the people that shaped it."
"You think we're arrogant, but your race is out to conquer the universe." Dib said cynically.
"We at least acknowledge that we're a conquering race, and we remember the great Irkens who died to make us that way." Tak stated. "Which is more than I can say about humans."
"I…" Dib stammered. "We…" He didn't know how to react to that statement. It was true, but who would admit to it?
"What are you two whispering about?" The dark haired officer that led them queried harshly.
"We were just wondering where we're going." Tak answered.
"I do not believe I'm bound to answer you." He replied. "You two being prisoners and all. You'll be fortunate enough if you can prove you're not rebs."
"That's quite enough, Carter." Reynolds said calmly, coming alongside the lieutenant. He looked at the two. "Forgive my adjutant's manners. To answer your question, we're riding to McPherson's Woods, by the Chambersburg Pike."
"I don't know what that is." Dib confessed. "Man, I'm so confused."
"Well, obviously, you're no confederate spies." Reynolds jested. "Or at least poorly informed ones if so."
"We're not, and that's what we've been saying all morning." Dib said, pleading his and Tak's case. "We were just lost, and now we've been captured by this army, and talking to people everyone expects me to know, and going to places I've never even heard of. You know how twisted this all is?"
"Twisted…" Reynolds repeated, as if tasting the word. "Never heard of it put that way before, but I see your predicament." He smiled. "You youngsters just calm down, and we'll take you someplace safe…or rather safer than that damned mess John is trying to curtail."
"You mean Buford?" Tak asked.
"Yes. I do hope he's well. Buford and I are old friends, you see. " His gaze grew distant for a moment. "Many of us are."
"Soldiers?" Tak asked.
"Mmm." Reynolds answered. "There's many friends here. Old schoolmates, childhood friends, old war mates from down south. Many of us have good friends on the other side."
"That's…" Dib said, trying to find the words. "That stinks."
"Hmm." Reynolds answered, again amused by Dib's strange language. "That's what makes this war all the more terrible. All the more damnable to those of us who have to fight. Sometimes, we're fighting our brothers, or those that are like brothers to us." He nodded his head sadly.
"You know someone." Tak stated.
"Yes." Reynolds replied. "I have two friends, like brothers. War college, the Mexican war, we were close all these years. At the beginning of the war, Win and I went north, but My good friend Lo went south instead." He sighed. "Maybe after all of this fighting, after this war ends, we'll all see each other again." Neither Tak nor Dib knew what to say. To Tak, this Reynolds was so multifaceted, that it seemed impossible to understand him at all. He was obviously caring and thoughtful, but also very stern and calm. He was one of those rare individuals that seem to be everything at once. Tak fancied that with Reynolds, it would be entirely possible to be a great commander and a good friend at the same time, to be a tactical, even rock-solid disciplinarian and to simultaneously be amiable and compassionate. If anything, in the short time she'd known General Reynolds, she respected him.