The Champion's Companion Ch. 21

Leaning in she puzzled over the sensation. It wasn't the awe or interest like when she saw him fighting. Nor was it a tingly warming sensation of tightness she felt when he stood before her naked. That was merely lust over the proximity of something so potent, and powerful.

She stopped herself as she rolled her face within inches from his. She never had been so self aware before. She could understand her feelings now, and see what they were exactly. No longer were her feelings the amalgam of sensations that had driven her all her adult life to react this way or that unwittingly. Although she didn't know why or how, Marcos was very familiar to her now.

The thought lodged in her heart with a fluttery feeling that stirred in her breast. She was now conscious of the bond the rest of her body seemed to be acting on already. Now that she was aware of it, her mind coveted the idea that they had a bond. Instincts leading towards pair bonding behavior leapt out.

Janis watched those thoughts unraveled before her. Small feelings she would have missed before were explained before they combined into complex thoughts. The desire to stay close to him, made her shift closer until she could smell his body. The desire to continue touching him, made her rub the shoulder nearest her. The need to see him happy with her, made her pick some of the grass from his hair.

It was as though she was seeing the dancers practicing and preparing before they came out to the fore-front of her mind to perform. There were now no surprise urges that would make her question herself because of unfathomable attitudes, or inexplicable behaviors. No foul moods, or depressions that would pop up and take her hostage.

Pushing that other stuff away she concentrated on what she wanted from him, and what she already knew. She wanted Marcos to teach her something and would need his attention for that. He was stronger than her. He was attractive, and what she figured to be well endowed.

Saliss's behavior showed she wasn't aggressively pursuing him. The blonde allowed him to see her exposed body regularly. In addition, she didn't mind sharing a bed naked with him even though he was he bodyguard. Janis was also fairly certain for some reason that neither one was interested in being partnered together. Saliss did however seem to consider him a superior/excellent mate.

Janis had also noticed Saliss considers him completely reliable. After witnessing how powerful he was, one could be considered safe if Marcos had an interest in protecting them. Conversely, if he wanted to, he could rape or kill her quite easily. However, in that type of situation, she wouldn't pointlessly fight him. Instead, she would offer herself freely after ensuring she could continue to stay and learn from him. That would be a worthy trade. After all, why die a weak virgin, or worse have it taken from you without benefit from some inferior men?

Whatever changes in behavior were necessary to ensure he didn't become violent with her were carefully considered as she rested her heavy breasts on his shoulder and pondered.

Suddenly her senses told her she was being watched. Without turning her head, she could feel two men close in from the road to her left. Both were walking wobbly in her mind's eye as they stumbled up through the grass to the blankets to get a closer look at her.

"Oi, Just the thing," One said. Janis sat back and turned to put faces with the energy she was reading. They looked like they had been out all night. Both wore grayish farmer's homespun wool clothing spattered with food, drink, and sweat stains. One was younger with light hair and fair complexion. The other was equally fair but seemed to be in his fifties with shaggy hair and a bit of a pear shape.

The drunken men yelled at each other as she watched. "I told you this is the whore's camp. We ain't seen this one yet though."

She was aware of her body remembering the fear and terror from her earlier treatment at the hands of Garec. She felt her heart race, and her muscles tightening up. As she struggled to push against the paralyzing feeling creeping into her mind, one side of her cursed herself for sitting around wearing nearly nothing. Of course, these fools thought she was offering herself for sex.

"Perhaps another time." Janis said after finding a voice. She hated to make what sounded like a promise, but knowing outright refusal would make these drunks angry, she planted her bottom down in the blankets and tried to reason with them. "I need to wake up and wash same as everyone."

"Well you could make some money by just staying still." The elder of the two men offered stepping forward grabbing his crotch.

Janis blushed and pulled up the blankets around her. "You wouldn't want me today..."

"Ahh...Oh." Said the younger one picking up what she implied.

She had only turned her head to face them. Looking over her shoulder was the best she could do since her breasts were much larger now, and hung down past her torn blouse swinging freely. Unfortunately, to them, she was just appearing to act chaste. Their minds were already concentrating on their cocks and their libidos were inflamed by her actions.

'I'll be damned if this is my fault.' Janis thought.

"I am not working." She said flatly. Then added after a moment, "Ask the other girl when she gets here." Saliss would know what to do.

"Awww," the older and dumber of the two said. "You're already naked and comfortable, can't you do something for us?"

"Just go." Janis said turning to confront them head on. For a second they were silent and their eyes dropped to her rocking breasts as her swaying nipples grabbed their attention.

"hu hu..." The smart one giggled. "That's nice. Well if you're not going to give us more, thanks for the free show." He said turning. The other man stayed rooted to his spot.

"I ain't got no money anyway." He grumbled fumbling with his crotch. "You're gonna suck this cuz you're too good a whore to ignore." He said stepping onto the blanket looking down on her.

Moving quickly, she stood to face him and tightened her jaw till it hurt. "Go away! There is nothing for you here." She tried to say but her voice cracked making the man before her grin.

"Come on Hime, you got a wife. If you get the rot and bring it to her she'll kill you dead." The second man said. He couldn't see the intensity in Hime's eyes as he and Janis stayed locked in a battle of wills.

For a faint moment, Janis could feel the energy of his hand build as he flexed it into a fist. The energy went up his arm and tightened his shoulder and bicep.

'He's gonna hit me. He's really gonna-'

Janis moved to react as he released the tension and shot out his hand. He tried for her gut to drop her to her knees, but at the same time, Janis tried to block her face. Her hands flew up making their arms tangle instead of either one striking or blocking.

"Che-" Hime stepped back and came in with his other arm trying to hook her in the jaw. Janis saw it but couldn't react properly with the new information she was seeing. As she blocked low, his fist connected.

She stumbled back less out of pain than shock. She had expected to fall from the hit, and she had almost let her knees go out. Not feeling anything save the jolt against her head, she straightened and looked at him defiantly. He could see the inner resolve in her eyes and the flaring intensity of confidence as she realized he couldn't hurt her. She was stronger than him now.

He tried to hit her again and from a cool almost disinterested part of her mind, she swatted his fist away. Without the earlier panic, she could see him move without fear and panic clouding her judgment. Reeling back, he gave her a straight leg kick that would've buckled her knee. Rather than her falling in pain and ending the fight, he was launched away as she stood steady and still like a statue.

"Stay back, I'm warning you." Janis growled at him even as he jumped at her.

She stood her ground and braced for impact but this time was different. A metallic taste filled her mouth and her arm ached. Looking down, she saw a small knife in the back of her arm just below the shoulder. Her muscles ached with sharp pain as they tightened around the intruding metal.

"Ah-" Janis exhaled half shocked.

"Now you know you should've listened." The man said growled as he started to push her down to her knees.

With a roar, Janis shook him off and spun her arm up in a blur to knock his head off.

"Stop." An even voice behind her called freezing her in place.

Janis dared to look and saw Marcos sitting up. His face dripped sweat and he looked half-asleep in the crumpled clothes he had slept in. "You were going to blow off your hand if that connected. Allow me to finish this for you."

"You the money man?" Hime said with a sneer. "Coward. You can't even protect your girls. I knew you were awake too, why don't you do something?"

"Hey Hime," the second man called "Let's just go-"

"I'm taking this whore with me! Are you gonna stop me?" Hime shouted at Marcos.

"No, why?" The bodyguard replied almost softly with an odd coldness to his voice.

Hime turned to yell at Janis but he didn't get the chance. Before her eyes, Janis's fist that had stopped in mid swing opened and she used her fingers to catch onto the side of Hime's head and hold him still.

Her other hand came up slowly since the arm was injured. Using the heel of her palm, she thrust up into the center of his chest just below the ribcage. Everything seemed to move slowly as she felt the softness of his body, the obstructing muscles, and the organs within him cave. Energy came up in a bright warm wave from her center. It ran up her chest and out her arm into him a few inches till it found his pulsing heart.

She felt the energy wrap around the slick organ as though poured on to fill the space around his heart. The squishy flesh suddenly turned freezing cold, and in a flash, the lazy flowing energy contracted around it hardening and tightening. His heart struggled with its next beat under the layer of constricting power binding him. If Hime felt something out of the ordinary it was too late.

Just as his heart filled with blood and bottom part contracted, the heavy wrapping of energy was released to explode, destroying the heart and irreparably damaging any soft tissue that had a blood vessel running through it.

In the blink of an eye, she had just killed a man without doing anything herself.

"What-" Janis blurted as the bloody meat sack that was once Hime fell away and flopped back across the ground.

Her mind replayed every detail as she though it all over. There was the feeling of warm energy moving up her arm in a lazy yet purposeful way. That odd coldness that drew it all in like a magnet seemed important. Finally, the instant his heart contracted, and imploded. Then there was the after image of the faint pinkish mist of blood that shot out his black eyes, ears, and nose. It felt like a dream.

"Excellent," Marcos noted from behind her in a dry whisper. "That was easier than I thought it would be."

"Hey! What the fuck did you do?" The second man said rushing to his friend Hime who of course hadn't moved at all since falling like a sack of potatoes.

Janis knew Hime was dead already. Marcos knew Hime was dead too. After a moment, the man came to the same conclusion. "He's dead! He's dead! Look at him! What the fuck did you do you crazy bitch!?!"

Janis could tell his emotions were flooding him now. He wasn't violent yet because his mind was too confused. Fear and anger were there in equal parts far below his shock. If she gave him a reasonable warning to leave her alone, his fear would evaporate. If that happened and his anger took over, Marcos would likely have her kill him too. Directly confronting him would let the fear win out and scare him off.

Hopping forward to stand nearly atop him, he backed away quickly. Fear was already in his eyes when she bent and picked Hime from the ground with one hand. "Take your friend. He should have listened to you." Janis heard herself say. With a flick of the wrist, she tossed the limp body over so he fell over trying to catch it.

Watching him struggle to scramble off with the body, Janis relaxed and her body was hers again.

"What was that?" Janis asked turning to Marcos who lounged back looking tired but amused. She wasn't angry with him for possessing her. Or, more truthfully, only a small part of her was angry. Her old feelings of helplessness flared up because she didn't handle it all herself.

"That was me teaching you your limits." Marcos said motioning her to sit before him.

******

"Okay what was that really?" Ruegin asked before Ein got the chance.

"I've never seen him do that," Ein muttered wide-eyed.

"It was something he forgot. In the past Marcos knew how to manipulate an innate form of power. He was truly terrifying with it but he forgot that too." Janis said simply. "I actually learned it all from him, but you all saw how he struggles with it now in this era."

"huh..." Kaarthen said frowning perplexed.

*******

After sitting back on her knees, Marcos took her hand in both of his and the tension she didn't realize was there was released throughout her body.

"Whatever you did ramped up your spirit." He started and closed his eyes.

Janis followed suit and could see a picture herself in her mind's eye that he was trying to show her. "Mind, body, and spirit. The mind is the you that you project. Sometimes spirit is called the will, the energy, or other things. It is what you want. You think, move, live, and draw your awareness through it.

"You know the body obeys the mind. We walk, talk, and eat because we think too. The spirit is the bridge. If it is weak, the body does not obey. But this is important: if the mind is unfocused the spirit will be confused, and the body will falter. Your spirit is very strong. Its fidelity is enough to give you powerful control over your body. It now even exists outside your body opening your mind to a powerful and unique sixth sense.

He opened his eyes looking her over.

"It is so strong however that you can destroy your hand punching something, or even mangle it just by creating a fist. Your spirit will drive your body to destroy itself if you aren't careful.

"What you need now is a strong mind to control this power. You need discipline, and some experience so that you know what you are doing to yourself." "So... Training?" Janis ventured.

Marcos closed his eyes again. "Yes, but not with swords."

His concentration changed. Janis' shoulder wound where Hime had gotten in a lucky shot with his knife came into view. He showed her a view of her arm through and under the skin. She saw the energy flowing in the blood, along muscles, and nerves. The cut was a tingly gap with sparkly edges that went in deep.

"Look at this gash. As bad as it is, you don't even bleed because the energy of your body bound to the blood is fixed within you. The body's healing processes have been sped up by your copious amounts of energy reserves. You have enough energy to heal yourself. I will demonstrate and pull your power along to align it. Witness..."

A clump built up in her navel before moving up to the armpit and down to the arm's wound. Once it met the wound, it stopped and just sat surrounding it. The wound tightened and pinched shut and started to heal. After a moment, it was done and completely healed. The gathered energy once released added itself seamlessly to the rest of her body.

"Pulling energy is a simple task with so much. After pinching the wound closed, you saw the body take over and the spirit energy accelerate the healing. When you rest, you will replenish your energy. The more you have, the faster that process of replenishment will be. As you lose energy however, you will feel a steep decline in ability until you are able to rest.

"You must understand that your will is strong but the flesh is weak. Average men will not have enough strength to hurt you. But as you saw, once he cut you, everything changed. You will have to harden your mind to be a more perfect master of your spirit. You will have to meditate to gain insight into yourself to learn and understand what you are capable of.

"I also want you to know that fear, confusion, panic, and ignorance are your worst enemies. Fighting at this level is no longer about strength, or even weapons. Barehanded, you can kill very easily now. But again, even if the strongest person is panicked, unfocused, confused, or blind with rage, they become just a normal and easily dispatched human being. The strongest enemies you will meet are also those that understand that.

"To at their level you will need to find their weakness, and exploit it while they are trying to do the same to you. You will need to stay focused even in your unguarded moments. You should start that now. Let me show you how by concentrating on your breathing you can be in control of the rest of your body. If you're in a panic slowing your breathing will force you to calm down and pull you back from thoughtless reacting that takes away all your advantages.

"So let's start now. Exhale and breathe in for three, hold for three, release for three, and hold again for three more. I don't usually do the holds for that long but right now let's do the basics. If you would like, try to concentrate on your inhales by pulling in energy to a place deep below your belly button. Try it once."

Janis took a long deep breath and focused on her gut as it inflated. It felt slightly different like something tickled but she couldn't tell if it was right. Marcos' hand fell on the top of her breast and slid down to her navel.

"That's good you're not easily distracted. Keep going like that. You'll feel a tickle almost in your bladder sometimes when you do it. Concentrate on holding it in even as you exhale. Now, give me your hands, we are going to breathe together."

Saliss returned a few hours later with an outfit for Janis. Her excuse for taking so long was she had to 'raise the funds'. She hadn't left that morning with any money so everything was earned from clever dealings in town.

The outfit was best described as skimpy. Soft leather boots came up past the knees, but unfortunately, Janis couldn't squeeze into the pants and had to rig up a loincloth from the dirty grey shreds she had worn earlier. Up top, was a blouse of purple silk that was tight across her breasts and very loose down her arms. With her dagger, she looked like a dancer. As Marcos's eyes moved over her body for the dozenth time, she finally spoke up knowing any minute now some idiot was going to come by and proposition her.

"We should be training," Janis said standing up knowing Marcos' gaze was following her every move. "Train me."

"Hmm..." Marcos stood with her and didn't bother to hide the adjustments he made for his erection. "Come with me." Turning, he led them down near the water beyond the trees that lined the clearing of the campsite. Finding a large oak and inspecting it, he turned and gave her an assignment.

"Your next task will be to strengthen your body. Breathing can keep you calm so you don't do anything stupid while panicking. But, knowing your limits keeps you from unwittingly damaging yourself, and toughening your body will make damage less likely. I want you to be able to use your body to the fullest as quickly as possible. That means hardening your hand, wrist, and fingers so you don't destroy them trying to punch someone. Witness"

He turned to a nearby tree and with exaggerated smoothness punched it slowly three times with each hand rocking left to right.

"Nothing tricky," Marcos informed her. "Just straight punches as you breathe like I taught you. You will also concentrate on what your hands tell you, and remember to pull them back to be ready to guard your body. You can go up in strength once you get a feel for it. It will hurt a little but pay attention to if you are actually hurting yourself. One day we will work to deaden your nerves, but first we'll do this to teach you your limits. Pay attention because you can kill yourself in a fight if you fail to get down the proper basics."