Terrifying Bombardment

At Battery Number One.

Enrique held his mess tin and stood in a long line under the barked orders of a cook wielding a ladle.

The iron pot gave off the aroma of potato and tomato beef stew. Beside it were sausages and bread piled into small mountains. The cook kept stirring the pot with his ladle, sending out a rich fragrance.

After receiving his meal, he spotted a fierce-looking quartermaster beside the cook handing out a bundle of loose cigarettes. "Take them. Everyone gets a share!"

Enrique hurriedly clenched his bread between his teeth and freed up a hand to take them. These cigarettes were valuable. Even if he did not smoke, they were hard currency in the army, enough to trade with his comrades for many good things. That big fellow Barry's pocket watch had been traded for cigarettes.

He found an empty ammunition crate in the dugout and sat down to eat. At that moment, an unfamiliar soldier wearing an exceedingly rare cross-emblazoned surcoat sat beside him. He too carried a mess tin, with a friendly smile on his face.

"Where are you from? I've never seen anyone with features like yours."

"Kurdish. I'm from Egypt."

Drem smiled. "Just call me Drem."

"Egypt? Isn't that Englishmen territory?"

Enrique thought this, but did not ask further. Instead, he introduced himself and shook hands with the strange fellow named Drem, discovering that his grip was astonishingly strong. "Dressed like that, are you an army doctor?"

In Texas, only doctors and priests wore crosses on their bodies.

Drem nodded slightly. "That's right. I studied under Bishop Uldin. He is a master with remarkable medical skill and once cured the King of Jerusalem's leprosy. I studied alongside him for several months."

Enrique did not know where Jerusalem was, but every soldier