A Long Time from Home Ch. 08

Author's notes:

This chapter contains combat. If it's not for you, please don't read it.

About the language and notation:

The Baylon language is a predecessor to Latin, which is why it looks like Latin at a glance.

Mental communication is denoted by a < and ends with a >, so a mental communication will look like this: "< Who are you? >"

Some warnings:

This is erotic action adventure, meaning that there will be both sex and violence, but I don't mix the two.

It's a long story and I suggest that you read them continuously (At least for a first time read).

This story is posted on the Literotica website and the author does not give permission for it to be reposted or reprinted anywhere else without consent.

P.S. I haven't gotten an editor yet, so any mistakes are mine. Interested editors are welcome :)

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Flashback story so far:

After having taken a test (the Quaestio), where it's determined, that Ivah is extraordinary gifted with Ars Mentalis (The Art of the Mind), Ivah is selected to go to a training castle called Arcem Discendi in the Lescare (Baylon: Far East).

There he is trained in combat, investigation, Ars Mentalis, Vis Vitae and, using both powers, as a Healer.

He also develops a relationship with both a Baylon woman, Verina, and a half Lescarian, half Baylon woman named Jia.

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Chapter 8 -- Flashback: Saving the Village

On the road, Lescare

Once this unremarkable village might have been a pleasant place to live, but as I looked down upon it from a nearby hilltop, I doubted it was the case right now: Some of the houses were burning and small groups of bandits were fighting desperate civilian.

The bandits had leather armors and real weapons like bronze spears, dagger-axes and short swords and the tool wielding villagers were losing badly.

"Bastards!" mumbled Sun Wukong as he looked at the scene. "And it gives us a problem."

Sun Wukong was a former student of Master Healer Anqi Sheng and a noble from one of the islands, here to attend the same gathering as Yang Zheng.

I nodded in agreement to what he had said. My job was to help escort Yang Zheng and her daughters from Arcem to the city of Yinyi, where Yang Hao was supposed to marry the king.

The Dominus Grande had decided that a doctor was needed on the trip and since I was both fluent in the local language and a doctor, I was chosen.

The job was simple enough, but as noble women, Yang Zheng and her daughters were riding in a wagon, surrounded by a group of bodyguards. However, with a wagon, going cross-country was out of the question and the only passable road in the area lead right through the village.

A high-pitched scream made me look in the direction of the sound and between the bushes we were standing behind, I could see a little girl running for her life, followed by two laughing men.

She couldn't be more than ten and the men were gaining on her.

Instinct took over and I suddenly noticed that not only had I drawn the sword, but I had also entered the state of Mutatur Tempus Mente (Baylon: "Time shall be changed in the mind.") without even thinking about it.

My brain accelerated and everything else slowed to a crawl. Mental Power surged through my body, strengthening the muscles.

"Sorry, Dominus Grande." I mumbled and slipped into Vis-meditation. It might be slightly outside the scope of my orders, but I couldn't stand quietly on a hill and see a child be murdered, molested or both and not do anything.

The men had almost caught up with the girl, when I threw the sword at the one closest to me and moved, using adrenalin to boost my speed.

Because I launched it with the use of Vis Vitae, the sword didn't tumble through the air, like a thrown sword normally would, but flew like a spear directly into the chest of the target, throwing him to the ground.

Moving at twice the normal speed, I wasn't far behind and with almost perfect timing, the sword returned to my hands, just in time for me to deliver a two-handed slicing blow that almost cut the second man in two.

Then I noticed two things. First, I was closer to the village than I thought that I would be and second, I discovered the bushes had hidden a group of ten armed and armored bandits from my view. The group was close enough to be on me within seconds, but unless they have trained together, any group of fighters is only a mob and if you avoid being surrounded, they will get in each other's way.

It was time to dance with the Goddess of Death again.

Activating Pugna Promptu (Baylon: "Combat Readiness") which allowed me to parry or dodge attacks that I couldn't even see coming, I charged the left flank with lightning speed.

The first foe went down, before he even discovered I was there as I took his leg off.

With a swift dodge, I avoided at stabbing attack from a spear and took off the arm of the attacker. He fell to the ground screaming and tried to stop the blood.

I went to one-handed style as I used the sword with my left hand and drew my scabbard with the right. Since it's made from reinforced wood, it makes an excellent club, which one of the bandits discovered when I broke his elbow. With the other hand, I slashed another attacker's shoulder.

It wasn't what I had aimed for, but at least it made him drop the spear and turn to run away.

Avoiding yet another clumsy attack, the adrenalin hit my nerve system again, allowing my body to move at the same speed as my brain.

I hit the guy who was trying to run away in the back of the head with my scabbard, crushing the skull, and with the sword, I killed the guy with the broken elbow when he foolishly tried to attack me instead of running away.

Warned of an incoming attack by Pugna Promptu, I dodged it without even looking and a whirl with the scabbard broke the leg of the attacker and a backhanded strike with the Spatha made another guy drop with a severed spine.

Changing direction to confuse the enemy I suddenly moved the other way and knocked a weapon away with the scabbard before I killed the owner with a well-placed cut.

A spiked club came close enough for me to feel the air moving, when I dodged out of the way, but it didn't hit me. My position gave me a free path to my attacker's right leg, and I cut it off by the knee.

That left only two standing.

I activated the adrenalin in my body yet again and moved to the right, cutting one neck with a moving strike as I went past and crushed the skull of the last one with a hard, precise strike with the scabbard.

The sound of an arrow whistling by, confirmed that one should never relax in a combat situation, and I moved to the left, just before two more arrows flew through the space where I had been a moment ago.

In the small space between two buildings stood four archers and as I looked at them the last loosened his arrow.

I dodged and at the same time brought up the Spatha to deflect it, knocking it slightly off course, which meant that it only graced my shoulder, instead of hitting me in the chest.

My style of combat depends on rapid movements to avoid getting hit and while that was excellent in close combat, it didn't work quite as well at the distance. Another drawback is that it makes it close to impossible to use any form for normal armor, since that would slow me down.

All in all, I was at a disadvantage when confronted with archers.

However, being at a disadvantage didn't mean defenceless, so I ran towards them, using a Vis Vitae trick called Mico Gradus (Baylon: "Flash Step"), which made it look like I faded in and out of reality while moving.

It's not a complicated trick, but when faced with archers it made it almost impossible for them to hit me, since they couldn't really see where I was at any given moment.

This time was no different, as I ran in a zigzag pattern and the archers fired their arrows without coming close to hitting me.

Then I was upon them like a fox being dumped in a henhouse.

As a rule, archers are bad in close combat and these were no exception, as it took little time to kill all four.

With no enemies in the vicinity, I took a moment to look around.

The running girl had disappeared into the bushes and a little further up the hill, I could see the hilltop where Xing and I had been standing.

Sun Wukong was gone, but the wagon and the rest of the escort must have caught up, because the Yang Zheng was standing there, flanked by her daughters Jia and Hao as well as some of the bodyguards.

A motion out of the corner caught my eye and without even thinking, I parried a spear attack with my sword, pinned the weapon to the ground and kicked the attacker in the chest with enough force to throw him into the narrow street.

Unfortunately, he hit the first man in a group of five, sending them both tumbling to the ground and immediately announcing my presence to the rest of them.

They didn't attack but looked at me with eyes wide open in horror. I guessed they had never seen a white-haired man with blue eyes before.

I couldn't help myself and flashed a grin at the four men. "Buh!"

As one, they turned and ran down the street, shouting about ghosts and demons.

"Need help?" said Wukong's voice behind me.

"Not really." I said, while I turned to look at him. "But thanks for coming down."

Dressed in red-and-black leather armor with a painted bronze helmet that was shaped as a monkey snarling head, Wukong looked every bit like the demon the group had feared.

I had expected him to use a spear like most warriors from this area, but instead he was holding a staff that looked like it was made from dark red Bdel, with ends of Adamant. Since only Baylons could work Bdel and Adamant, that made it a Baylon weapon and that Wukong wielded it openly, told me more about his status than anything I had seen so far.

Baylon made weapons were rarely given to anybody else than rulers over large areas and when they were, they were always given as rewards for great deeds.

"You're welcome." He said and took of the helmet to get some air. "There're more on the other side of the village, but there shouldn't be that many remaining."

"Good." I wiped the blood off the blade. "Let's go help the villagers."

As we turned towards the village, there was a horizontal streak through the air, ending right in front of the escaping bandits, where Yang Zheng appeared. Wearing her traditional Lescarian outfit and wielding a Baylon steel sword along with a steel fan, instead of one of the local bronze swords, she went through the bandits with perfect technique, balance, and timing, leaving dead or incapacitated brigands in her wake.

Deadly as they were, her moves were beautiful to behold, and I was smiling widely, admiring a true master working her craft.

Sun Wukong cursed loudly and for a few heartbeats, I thought he had detected a danger I haven't discovered, but then it occurred to me, that he didn't see a great martial artist helping villagers defend against bandits. Instead, he saw a noble woman, being involved in a fight against armed people without him being there to protect her... needed or not.

He ran towards the fight, but before he could reach Yang Zheng, the last bandit collapsed from a perfect thrust with the sword, followed by an equally flawless kick to the head.

That caused Sun Wukong to stop and after a moment of stunned silence, he laughed and bowed in Yang Zheng's direction in a sign of respect of her obvious skill. She smiled and bowed back.

More soldiers showed up to protect Yang Zheng and seeing that everything was under control, I turned my attention to the wounded villagers.

Once again, Jia proved she had a sharp brain, the willpower to match it and the skills to back it up. Flanked by four bodyguards, she and her sister Hao walked around in the village, giving orders left and right and organized just about everything. They put the elderly charge of the children. An empty barn was being converted to a makeshift hospital and groups of men were busy transporting the wounded there, while other groups were chopping firewood for the group of women, who were making food.

The village wise woman was busy by the barn, sorting the wounded in groups: Those who could be treated with ordinary medicine and those who could not. Those with light wounds were treated by the women of the village, while the more serious wounds were treated by the village wise woman along with Yang Zhen.

The heavily wounded were brought into the barn, where I worked on them as fast as I could, supported by Jia and Wukong, who had seen Vis healing before.

The advantage of this arrangement was that, since nobody could see into the barn, I was free to use Ars Mentalis healing along with Vis-healing, enabling me to work fast enough to save the patients' lives.

Healing always takes a lot longer than the actual combat and by the time, I was finished with the last patient, it was dark outside, and the barn was lit by oil lamps.

Sun Wukong was sitting by the opening, eating, and watching me at the same time, but when I stretched, he held up a plate. "Come get some food if you're done."

After washing my hands in a nearby bucket of water, I walked over to him, took the offered plate, leaned against the wall, and started to eat. As expected, the food was simple, consisting of fried fish with a salad of local plants and fruits, but it was tasty and filling.

"Only the best for the healers." commented Wukong with a smile and put down the empty plate.

I swallowed the food I had been chewing on. "Well, in all fairness to us, we did save a lot of people today... even if it's against my orders to do anything else than healing unless my life is in danger."

"Well, Lady Yang Zheng isn't going to complain, that's for sure." Said Wukong with a chuckle. "This village is under the protection of her noble house."

I nodded, but didn't say anything, since two of the local men came up the barn, bowed to us and then carried the now healed patient out on the stretcher.

As soon as they had gone, a young woman entered the barn and took our used plates without saying anything.

"Thank you." I said politely, making the young woman blush slightly and bow, before she mumbled, "You're welcome." and hurried out of the barn again.

Shrugging to myself, I looked at Wukong. "I guess I scared her."

He smiled. "Most of the locals saw us fight and as they've never seen Vis in combat before, they believe that we're supernatural creatures. Healing their wounded only confirmed that." He scratched his head tiredly. "Excellent job by the way... I understand why they call you Bai Bao."

I smiled and said "Thanks, but it wasn't really my choice."

Bai Bao was a name Jia had started to use as a private joke. Apparently, her mother liked the name as well and it didn't take long before most of the Lescarians at Arcem Discendi used it.

Bao meant Leopard and when used in a name it meant someone quick and skilled, which was a huge compliment. Especially when it was a name, that other people had bestowed on you.

However, Jia's reason for calling me that was somewhat more mundane: The Lescarian mountain leopard had white fur and blue eyes, just as I had white hair and blue eyes.

The other part of the name, Bai, meant white, so Bai Bao was White Leopard. However as white was also the colour of death, it could also mean death, ghost, or spirit. To make matters worse, Bai could also mean snowy or bright, so depending on how you said the name, it could be White Leopard, Snow Leopard, Deadly Leopard or Ghost Leopard.

According to Jia, she had meant Ghost Leopard in a reference to my nickname Spectre.

"You're welcome... and consider yourself lucky. They call me the Monkey King." Said Wukong with a lazy grin as he stretched.

"That's not bad." I replied. According to the part of Lescarian mythology I knew, someone called monkey were usually a clever and roguish person. "Any particular reason they call you that?"

"Well, I'm the ruler of the Yuan clan... also known as the Monkey clan... so it's rather obvious."

Laughing, I nodded.

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Apparently one of the perks of being healers was having a hut to ourselves. Either that or the locals didn't want to offend the 'supernatural creatures' because a little while later, I was shown into an empty hut by one of the farmers, while Wukong was led to another hut.

The bed wasn't much more than a sack of furs, but it looked soft and inviting. The only problem I had with it, was that it was most likely filled with fleas.

Using a simple Ars Mentalis trick, I sent out a wave of force that would kill small vermin outright and scare the crap out of the larger ones.

A moment later there was squeaking and the sound of small critters running away, as mice fled the hut. Another Ars Mentalis trick cleaned the furs for both dead fleas and dirt.

Satisfied I undressed and cleaned myself using a wet towel to get rid of the sweat, blood and grime from a day of travel, fighting and healing.

I was almost finished, when the door opened and a smiling Jia came walking into the hut, followed by her sister Hao.

Hao stopped abruptly, when she saw that I was naked, but Jia just bowed slightly.

"Bai Bao." She greeted in the local tongue.

I nodded my head and replied in the same language. "Yang Jia. What brings you here?"

"Oh, Hao wanted to see why all the vermin came running out of your hut, but as she can't go in here alone, I volunteered to go along with her." She switched to Baylon. "And as long as we're both in here, no guards will come running to check on us."

I could feel my eyebrows rising on my forehead, while my brain processed what she had just said, Surely, she couldn't mean...

My thought evaporated as Jia walked towards me. There was fire in her slanted brown eyes and with each step, her lovely hips swayed seductively. A slender hand reached up and removed the jade jewellery that kept her white hair in place, and it cascaded down, before settling in snow-white curls on her silk clothes.

"This is a bad idea. Verina will kill us." I protested, as my body stating to react to her sexiness.

Jia stopped right in front of me and slowly lifted her right hand, palm upwards.

On it was a flat stone, inscribed with a short message in Egyptian cursive writing. Faster to write than hieroglyphics and understood only by a few of the Baylons at Penglai, Verina had taught it to me years ago and it was our favourite writing system when sending messages to each other.

This one read, "Spectre. Don't be an idiot. She will be gone a long time, give her what she needs. Falcon."

The message made me smile widely. It was so typical Verina to analyse the situation, foresee any possible problems and then take steps to minimize those problems before they even arose.

Looking at Jia's slanted eyes again, I asked. "How many of these did she give you?"

"Four different ones." Jia laughed and lowered her hand again, before she leaned in and gave me a soft kiss. "Just because you tend to be stubborn."

I reached out and dragged her in for another kiss. My hand slid down her silken dress, reaching her firm butt. She moaned a little, when I caressed her, and I could feel a soft hand closing around my stiffening cock.

Jia broke the kiss and whispered. "We need to hurry just a bit. We don't have forever."

Nodding slightly, I licked her earlobe, causing her to shiver. My other hand found a silk covered breast and lightly stroked it. Even through two layers of cloth, I could feel the nipple harden.

She moaned slightly and started to caress my stiff cock as she whispered. "Undress me."

"Your word is my command." I answered with a grin and undid the bow on the belt that held her dress closed. The silk belt flowed to the ground and almost by itself, the dress opened to reveal a naked body under it. There was no underwear of any kind.