Champions Vol. 01

The reason David had switched to a reverse grip on his knife, was so he could hold it close to his forearm and partially conceal it from view. Most fighters are right-handed, so they train to be cautions of the weapon in their opponent's right hand, and watch for attempts at grappling with their opponent's left. By changing his grip to conceal his knife, David tricked 'sword boy' into thinking the worst result of a failed strike was him blocking or avoiding the strike. Instead David executed a wrist-to-wrist block, with the blade of his knife running the length of his wrist. To make matters worse for 'sword boy', David knew exactly how to follow through with the block, pushing and twisting with his knife to slice a large chunk of skin and muscle off the idiot's inside forearm after the knife had ripped open his wrist. For good measure David added a right-handed thumb strike to the man's left eye, rupturing the eyeball and guaranteeing that he would need an eye patch the rest of his life, if he survived the remainder of the fight. David didn't plan on endorsing that outcome.

Stepping to his right further away from 'baby seal', David allowed 'sword boy' to fall to the ground between them, alternately clutching at his destroyed eye and his mangled arm. Turning his attention back to 'baby seal', he was surprised to see the man continuing his attack. He had assumed that after killing one and obliterating the other two, the last fool would run off. No such luck he supposed. As he took another step back to gain some distance, Murphy's Law came into effect, and decided to screw him royally.

Lacking his normal situational awareness, his intoxicated brain had forgotten about the pistol that had been cast into the night. Specifically, he had forgotten where it had been cast into the night, as in the direction he was currently moving. Thus his surprise when he stepped on it awkwardly in the dark, rolling his ankle and losing his balance. Falling to the ground, he tucked his form and rolled away as best he could, but he also knew that this was too good an opportunity for 'baby seal' to miss. He didn't have many options against that club from the ground. Rolling to his back to protect his spine and kidneys, he raised his arms to protect his head, and pulled his legs up hoping he could use them to strike back and possibly get enough distance to regain his feet.

The man was on him in a flash, and the swing he sent at David would have caused severe trauma to his head, had his left forearm not been in the way. As it was he was pretty sure the ulna and radius were both fractured after that hit. Worse, if he had not been fortified with eighty proof, the painful hit would have surely immobilized him long enough for a more effective follow up swing; but his forearm had been there to absorb the blow, and he was thankfully drunk enough to sufficiently numb the pain. So he had the time and awareness to capitalize on the opening between baby seal's first damaging hit, and his second attempt. Thrusting out with his left leg, he mule-kicked his target dead on.

'Baby seal' dropped his club. His eyes crossed on his face, and his hands crossed as they reached for his destroyed testicles, the target of David's kick. Rolling onto his feet, David looked for his knife, but couldn't find it. Instead, he reached down and grabbed the club that had fallen nearby with his right - undamaged - hand. Swinging it carefully to test its balance, he walked around behind his attacker and aimed half an inch below the occipital lobe, right where the spine and skull connected. David twirled the club once to add additional rotational force to his strike, and brought it down on his target with everything he had. As the man's lights went out, David thought to himself, I just clubbed a baby seal.

Chuckling at his own joke, he turned back in time to see the attacker he had dropped with a throat strike thrust a sword into his side. Shocked by the blow, he barely managed an ineffectual swing at the man with his club. David missed, but he had forced the man to step back and pull his sword from David's side before he could twist the blade and widen the wound. Not that it would matter soon. David had lost his pistol and knife, had a most likely broken left forearm, and now a sword wound through his right side. He was also wielding a club one handed against an opponent that was mostly uninjured, and had a damn sword.

Worse, the man fighting him seemed to know all of this. He kept his distance from David, and seemed to be more than willing to drag out the fight until the soldier bled out. Realizing this fact, David tried to rush him again and again, but the man was unhurried. He did not even bother to attack the few times David left himself exposed during a rush. The man knew it was only a matter of time until he won, and David knew it too.

Suddenly the man froze, and slowly lifted into the air. His arms and legs spread as though being pulled outward from his body. Not understanding his good fortune, and at that point not caring, David charged the man cocking back the club to swing it as hard as he could with his one hand.

"NO," a feminine voice, oozing with hatred, bellowed from the night; and David's club and body were stopped with an irresistible force. "HE. IS. MINE!"

Turning towards the voice, his anger at the attempt on his life died alongside his higher brain functions. This woman was BEAUTIFUL!

Standing a few inches over five feet, she looked young, barely a day past eighteen. Her hair was long, its silken black tresses hanging in a loose braid past her buttocks. Her pale, milky skin seemed to have a bluish tint in the light cast by the two moons, and her face had a breath-stealing exotic look to it; similar to the mixed ethnicity Asian-Americans of his homeland. He could not determine the color of her slightly almond shaped eyes, but her full pouty lips seemed to be made for kissing...and other things. Her clothing was a seductive ensemble of knee-high black leather boots, skin hugging black leather pants, and a leather bodice that thrust her C-cup breasts up into the most tantalizingly succulent cleavage he had ever seen. Her figure was perfect. With toned, shapely legs, full hips, a narrow waist and the aforementioned bust, she would have Playboy models racing to gyms and plastic surgeons in envy.

Even that whore Laurena, David thought vindictively.

Unfortunately, at the moment her beautiful face was marred with a scowl that would freeze the heart of any man caught on the receiving end. Luckily for him, the focus of her rage was floating beside him.

"Care to tell me what the deal is?" David asked. Adding quickly, "Not that I mind the help. These assholes tried to kill me, and might have succeeded without your help."

Feeling a rush of dizziness from the alcohol and blood loss, David sank to one knee. He pressed as hard on the wound through his right side as he dared. He wasn't sure if his forearm or bleeding side hurt worse.

"They still might, now that I think about it," he added.

Casting her gaze in his direction, the woman muttered a quick chant, and David felt the skin on his side pull. Lifting his hand he noticed the wound was no longer bleeding.

"You will not die immediately. So gather you things and go to the priest," she told him tersely. "My business with these men has gone too long unfinished."

Nodding his head, not so much in agreement as to keep her from focusing too closely on him, he searched the ground until he found his knife and his pistol. He wiped the knife off on the clothes of the nearest downed attacker, and then folded it closed and pocketed it. Keeping his pistol in his right hand, he carefully made his way to the side of the woman, who had begun to question her captive.

"Where are the rest Octavius?" she asked him. "I see that Farat and Dorn are with you, though I don't know who that fourth man is. Where are Broast, Dalmer, Andre, Farris, and Gaius? Where are the rest of the men who killed my father?!"

Remembering the story that Astinus had told him the previous evening, David suspected he knew who the woman was now.

"What's it to you woman?" the man immobilized by her magic blustered. "I don't know you. I don't know your father. And I never murdered no one."

Her eyes narrowing, she muttered a quick chant, and his limbs seemed to stretch further from his body. Octavius began screaming in pain.

"They're dead you crazy bitch. They're all dead now. Does that make you happy?"

"How did they die? When?" she asked coldly.

"I killed them," David interjected. "Three days ago. They had waylaid a woman travelling in the mountains, and I killed them to prevent her rape and murder."

Turning her head, she gave him a coldly appraising look. "I see," she finally said.

Returning her gaze to the captive man before her, she seemed to contemplate him for a moment before reaching a decision.

"Then it seems my search for my father's killers has ended," she said calmly. "Now it is time for justice to be done."

She began chanting slowly and softly, but picked up the pace and volume as the man began to scream. Building to a crescendo she shouted the final words of her chant, the first time that David had heard the language of magic spoken loudly enough to make out the words. And the words were in English!

He barely had time to register her words "RIP HIM APART" before their meaning became messily apparent. Octavius's legs were ripped from his body, followed by his arms, then his genitals, and finally his eyes, ears, and tongue. His torso and mutilated head fell to the ground, released from her magic, and he gurgled his last sounds as he bled to death and asphyxiated, choking on his own blood.

*** Chapter 16: Aftermath ***

132108MAR13 DW

Wolfsvale, Erosius

The worship service ended, and the attendees cast cleansing spells on themselves and their areas. Astinus thanked them, and bade them all good night as they left. When Dawn approached him he asked Laurena to take over, and guided the young woman toward his office at the back of the temple. Timothy volunteered to help the acolyte put out the fires in the many fireplaces, and organize the robes while he waited for his wife.

"I did not wish to alarm your husband earlier, but I actually wanted to talk to you, Dawn," Astinus explained when they were finally settled in his office.

"About what Priest Astinus," she asked, now nervous.

"When I read your husband's aura, I noticed he is very worried about you of late," the priest began. "I also saw your fears in your own aura. Why do you think you cannot bear him children?"

"Because I can't," she exclaimed, breaking out in tears. "We have joined nearly every night since our wedding two winters ago, and I am still without child. I have never known a woman that could bear children to go so long without their first. It is me, I know it. I cannot bear his children, and when he finds out he will no longer want me as his wife."

"My dear, what do you know of having children?" Astinus asked her consolingly. "I know that your mother passed before your fourteenth winter, but surely your father explained some of these things to you?"

Shaking her head, she began crying harder. In between sobs she tried to answer his question. "Father couldn't...couldn't talk of such things...after mother died. I tried to ask him...once... but all he said was 'your mother was supposed to have...supposed to have this talk with you'...and he started crying. I couldn't bear to ask him again. That's why...why I asked him to bring me to services; so that I could learn from the other women how to please and keep a man. And I paid very close...attention. I always keep myself clean, before and...and after, and attend to my husband's needs each time. He enjoys his nights with me so much, and I enjoy what he does too. He...he is so loving and gentle when I need it, but passionate as well. I love him so much, and I don't want to lose him!" she wailed, lapsing into an unbroken fit of sobbing.

Standing from his chair, Astinus knelt beside her and hugged her crying form, stroking her hair and whispering comforting words. Once she had begun to calm down, he explained to her something very important that she did not know.

"My dear, you mentioned that you use a cleansing spell before and after joining with your husband," he began inquiringly.

"Yes. It is what I learned here at the temple."

Sighing, Astinus lifted her chin with a gentle finger so that she was looking into his eyes.

"I am so sorry my dear. The process we use here at the temple is done to ensure that women do not become pregnant from participating in Eros' Blessing," he apologized. "If you cleanse your husband's seed from your womb every time you lay with him, it can never take hold with your body and produce a child. If you wish to become pregnant, you must not use a cleansing spell after you join with your husband. Instead use a clean cloth to wipe yourself, and wait to cleanse until the following morning."

Her face beginning to fill with hope, Dawn admitted to him sorrowfully, "I never knew. Is that why I have not taken with child yet?"

"Yes my dear. Mothers explain this to their daughters before they wed; and I assumed that your father had taken over that task, as he had taken over so many other tasks after her death," the priest apologized.

"It is not your fault Priest Astinus," the young woman said, "nor is it my father's. If I had just trusted that my husband loved me, I would not have insisted that we miss worship for so long, and I would have learned this long ago.

"I was just so afraid Timothy would become taken with another woman once he realized that I could not bear his children. I convinced him the farm could not afford for us to stay in town long enough for us to participate in services when we traveled to town for supplies these last few seasons. If it had not been for how loving he was with me the night that David and Laurena visited us, we probably would not have come at all. I was so afraid her beauty would steal him away from me, but he was the same gentle lover that night that he has always been. His love gave me the courage to come back for worship."

"You are here now Dawn," Astinus told her with a smile. "And you will always be welcome in this temple. In fact, now that we have sorted this out, I look forward to teaching your sons and daughters about the glory of Eros and his love for us all."

She smiled in return, imagining herself and her husband surrounded by many sons and daughters.

bang, bang.

The soft and very curious sound of distant thunder reached their ears.

"That's odd," the young woman said. "It did not look like rain this evening, when we came to the temple..."

***

Laurena was sore. But it was the delicious type of sore that let her know she had granted many excellent Blessings to the men who had joined her. She would soon focus her magic to heal her gently abused body, but she always liked to spend an hour or two after a service enjoying the fruits of a job well done.

Timothy had been quite helpful as he waited for his wife. Laurena thanked him more than once, grateful for his aid. She was still a bit annoyed that David had not joined her to receive Eros' Blessing, but she would just insist that they stay an extra day. She would tease him mercilessly tomorrow until he could not help but pounce on her during the service tomorrow evening. She could not imagine why he had not joined her tonight, but perhaps she had done too good a job tempting him these past few days. He may have joined with another woman rather than wait for all the men around her to finish.

As she pondered these thoughts, she heard two rapid but muted peals of thunder. She froze. That sounded almost like David's weapon. Worried, she walked quickly to the door which led to their quarters. Opening it, she heard a third muffled bang.

That must be David's weapon, she thought as she began running down the hall.

Poking his head from his office, Astinus turned to see her pass by. "What is the matter Laurena?" he asked.

"I think it is David," she gasped. "That is the sound his weapon makes."

His face suddenly grim, the old priest turned back to his office. "Dawn, go into the worship room and get your husband. Bring him back to my office and neither of you leave until I return. It might not be safe."

The young wife nodded her head, suddenly frightened for her husband.

"Go now my dear. Hurry to him, and hurry back," Astinus told her. "I will explain what I can when I return."

He then turned to the young acolyte standing worriedly before him. "We will check his room first. If he is not there we will find out where he has gone, and who is using his weapon."

***

David was stunned. He had seen some truly gruesome things during his time in Afghanistan, but what the woman next to him had just done was beyond nearly all of it. He had heard of Taliban more merciful.

He had also just realized the language of magic was English. Seriously? Why did Laurena tell him that their magic spoke a different language when it was the same English that everyone else here spoke? Admittedly, the accent was slightly different, but that was probably just because this chick was from somewhere else than the people he had met so far. She definitely didn't seem to follow the whole free love / tree hugger dogma. She seemed more interested in an Old Testament 'eye for an eye' type thing...with interest.

Walking to stand over the man she had just slaughtered, she spit on what was left of his body. "That's for my father you sick fuck," she said with righteous fury.

"That was...a bit harsh," he said cautiously.

"These men earned that and more for what they have done," she replied with a growl. She turned on him and attempted to stare him down. It might have been intimidating if the top of her head had reached higher than his collar. As it was, he found it difficult to keep his eyes on her face, and off the valley of her cleavage.

"Do you intend to protect the rest of these men from my justice?" she asked him.

He snorted at her question. "Lady, in case you hadn't noticed I already killed one, possibly two, and decommissioned a third by the time you showed up. I don't give a fuck about these assholes. I'm just wondering if you needed to be so messy. Somebody has to eventually clean all this up after all."

"I see," she said. "You are not like the rest. Everyone I know has told me to leave these men to the clergy. That the inquisitors will see justice done, and punish them for their crimes. But what justice is a life of servitude for men who kill for profit? Men who would beat a kind, gentle man to death for the contents of his coin purse?"

Nodding his head, David was forced to agree with her.

"I have to say I'm right there with you. I have no tolerance for people who prey on the weak, and hurt the innocent," he told her. "But I've also done my fair share of killing, and you'll learn that the faces of the evil ones visit you as readily as the faces of the innocent. Keep that in mind before you decide to make another big mess."

Pondering his words, she turned from him only to pause, and turn back.

"The other five, the ones you slew, did they die in screaming agony?"

"No," he said, saddened by her words. "But that doesn't make them any less dead. They are gone from this world, and no longer able to hurt anyone else. That should be enough."

Her scowl returned.

"What if it isn't?" she asked angrily. "What if there is no punishment great enough for what they took?"

Sighing he closed his eyes and thought of his father and mother. What if their deaths had not been from poor health and bad luck? What if someone had been responsible for taking them from him? What would they think of him if he had become like this woman?