Champions

Taking it from his hands gingerly, she carefully inspected the engravings along its length. There were images of Eros from the temples at Wolfsvale and Exitibus etched into the wood, as well as multiple Enochian glyphs hidden within the carvings.

"It has the standard enchantments, strength, speed, high durability, but it also has five command words. The first is [speaking Enochian] fang one."

When he said this an eight inch double edged blade sprang from one end of the staff. Laurena jumped at its sudden appearance, but relaxed quickly once she realized what had happened. Inspecting the blade, she realized it was made from the same metal as her knife. Smiling at David she nodded for him to continue.

"The next two commands are [Enochian] fang two and away," he explained.

Fang two caused a second, identical eight inch blade to spring from the opposite side of the staff, and away caused both blades to retract. Looking closely at the ends of the staff, she couldn't see where the blades appeared from, or disappeared to, but she could see a small, 1/32 inch line bisecting the end of the staff. Looking at David questioningly he explained, "I used a similar enchantment for the blades as I used for Sapphire's harness. It should give you an extra edge if you need it."

Laurena nodded in approval, and then asked "What do the last two commands do?"

Smiling David had her change her grip on the staff. Moving her hands over two carvings that she now realized were actually strategically placed to improve her grip on the weapon, David then spoke the next command word, "[Enochian] Twain." The staff separated cleanly in the middle, turning into two 26 inch escrima sticks. Twirling them like David taught her, she noticed the balance was slightly heavier toward the ends. She imagined it was because of the hidden blades. "Then last command word is [Enochian] meld, and it will rejoin the two parts back together, but only if the correct ends are touching."

Laurena nodded in understanding, and after a few more test swings she touched the two inner ends together, and spoke the command word to reconnect her staff.

"Test it out, try using it in different ways when you get the time to practice with it, just keep in mind I'm not sure how successful I was with the enchantments. Some of them may stop working eventually. I never got a chance to talk to Zaffre about enchantments that change the state of objects, so some of these creations were just fanciful attempts to see if they were even possible."

Both women nodded at his words, then spent the next hour checking, rechecking, and testing their new gifts. His durability enchantments seemed to work quite well, for all the items, and Sapphire's sword made short work of a few nearby trees. Afterwards the gifts were packed away, dinner was cooked and eaten, and David was given a thorough 'thank you' by a very appreciative Sapphire. Much later - after the couple had finished and all three were laying in bed - Laurena told him that she would have to ask Sapphire to thank him on her behalf another night. Sapphire replied that Laurena could thank him herself the next time they were near a temple. David emulated a paragon of virtue and wisdom by keeping his mouth shut.

*** Chapter 36: Movement to Contact***

060800APR13 DW

The Calavius Road, Erosius

The group got an early start the next day, returning to the Calavius Road and resuming their journey. Sapphire explained that there would be three days of travel along the Calavius Road until they reached the old road leading to the abandoned fishing village. From there it was anyone's guess how long it would take, since that road was never used anymore and she had no idea of its condition. However, their time on that road would be shortened, because they would turn off at the halfway point and travel overland westward to the Field of Woe. She admitted that she had only heard rumors and stories about its location from Astinus, but she believed that she could get them close enough to find it within a few days after that.

David merely nodded at her words, suddenly lost in thought. He had been so focused on getting back home that he never really thought about what he would be leaving behind. Would Sapphire want to go back to Earth with him? Could she even go? Did he even want to go anymore? He didn't have answers to any of these questions, but he also knew he had to try. He had been gone for nearly a month now, and he knew the minute that search and rescue recovered his team they would find his note. Then every combat able body in the area would have started searching for him. How many men had died looking for him, while he was fucking stuck in the Land of Oz?

He imagined they had stopped the full on search after a week or two, but they would never stop looking. He had to return, or at least get a message back. He had to do something.

The next week of travel was blessedly quiet. They passed a handful of peaceful travelers on the road, and despite the odd looks they received the people they met were generally friendly. David couldn't really blame them though. He was an odd sight in his Multi-Cam combat gear and his Mk48 laid across the saddle in front of him. Added to that, Sapphire road beside him with his M4 slung across her back and sword at her hip, and Laurena had her staff in a scabbard on her horse and her belt with the knife and pistol. Considering all that, they were certainly worthy of a few strange looks.

Once they turned off the Calavius Road on the fourth day, there were no other travelers. Unfortunately, the closer they got to the Field of Woe the stranger things became.

At first, it was just an unsettling feeling, as though someone was standing behind them and watching them. But as they traveled further, it turned into a feeling of annoyance, and eventually anger. On the seventh day - their last day of travel on the side road - David and Sapphire had their first argument; and many unkind words were spoken. Remembering the story that Astinus had told them, Laurena realized what was happening and cast a spell of mental protection. It caused her anger to fade immediately, and she quickly cast the spell again on Sapphire and David.

It was as though someone dumped a bucket of ice water on them both. They immediately ceased arguing, and spent the next ten minutes apologizing to each other profusely. As soon as Laurena could interject safely, she explained what she had done, and David took over the spell of protection for them all. He began working on a more permanent solution when they stopped that evening.

The next morning he handed both women simple gold rings with spells of mental protection engraved into the bands. He explained that he would need to continue to empower them for at least a few days, but he would keep them protected with his magic in the interim.

***

David was nervous. The trio had traveled westward all day, and he had to dump more and more of his power into the protective spell as they went. At first it had been effortless to protect everyone from the persuasive magic, but now he had to consciously attend to the enchantment. He could feel something constantly pushing at his spell, trying to break through it. He began to feel as though he had built a dam against flood waters, and he had to continuously check and reinforce the structure or else it would overflow and crumble.

He had also dumped as much of his magic into the rings as he could that day. He was starting to gain a feeling of how his magic interacted with items. He felt that it was easier to enchant items that he conjured himself, but how sturdy the material was made a difference as well. The steel of Sapphire's sword was able to absorb more magic faster than the aluminum of his own blades. The gold rings were much slower than both. He also got a sense of each enchantment's capacity. He could tell that the single enchantment on the rings would require less magic to fill than the multiple enchantments he had combined on the other items. This knowledge allowed him to accurately predict that the rings would be marginally effective by the end of the day, and full in two additional days.

Unfortunately, the feeling of being watched had returned. Two hours before they stopped for the night it had begun. He had dumped as much of his magic into the protection spell as he could, but with no noticeable effect. Suspicious of it, he insisted that they reinstitute guard shifts at night. It did not go over well.

"David the system we've been using for the last two weeks works fine," Sapphire argued. "There is no need for a guard."

"What about the people that attacked the group of treasure seekers from Wolfsvale?" he responded.

"You mean the story told by a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers in order to cover up their misdeeds?" Sapphire replied acidly.

"Yes that," David answered with a sigh. "I am not entirely sure I believe it either, but I've felt like I was being watched for the last few hours, and dumping a ton of extra power into the protection spell is doing nothing to stop it. Maybe it is nothing, or maybe there really is someone out there watching us. Guard shifts are an inconvenience, but they are better than being snuck up on in our sleep."

"Then set more of your 'trip-wires' up. Set them further out if you have to. Do whatever else you need to do, just don't make me try to go to sleep without you," Sapphire continued to argue.

She refused to admit it, but she was afraid to sleep without him. Something about sharing a bed with him helped to keep the nightmares at bay, and she had no desire for them to return. She especially didn't want them to come back when there was an oppressive, evil presence trying to batter through his magic.

"I can understand both of your arguments," Laurena finally joined the conversation, "but I am forced to agree with David, Sapphire. Something has felt...off...this evening. His explanation makes sense, and after hearing about how Priest Pelagios was killed I have been a little nervous myself at night. I think this is the safer decision at this point, and hopefully it should only be necessary for a little while."

Sapphire was annoyed that Laurena took David's side in the argument, but as she was out-voted two to one she finally accepted the decision. He chose to take the second shift, after showing Laurena how to use his night vision device. He emphasized that she should only use it if absolutely necessary, explaining that if the battery ran down he only had a few replacements left. He had already burned through his first AA battery for it, and he only carried two spares. Then he joined Sapphire on the bed, insisting that they both sleep fully clothed, just in case. Three hours later Laurena woke him for his shift.

David was spooned up behind Sapphire, with her head resting on one of his arms. Moving slowly, he eased himself away from her sleeping form and slid out of bed. Throwing on his boots he took the NODs from Laurena and reattached them to the mount on his helmet. Then he whispered a quite 'good night' to her grabbed his gear, the Mk48, and slipped outside the tent.

It was a cool night, and he could see his breath in the moonlight. After slipping on his IOTV and helmet, and belting on his pistol, he slung the Mk48 and began walking the perimeter. First he checked his trip-lines, making sure they were still in place. Then he moved past them into the lightly wooded surroundings. He had hoped to find a more densely wooded area to set camp in, but this region was fairly sparse on foliage. The smattering of trees they had found was barely enough to set up the trip-lines, and he was worried how visible the tent would be in the moonlight. He wanted to see how visible their camp was in the night.

Moving slowly, he listened to the sounds around him. With the cooling temperatures there was little fauna out and about, but he could hear the hooting of a night owl and the wind whispering through the sparse trees. Once he had moved about one hundred meters out from the camp, he turned back and looked. The tent was barely visible, the few trees doing a decent job of concealing it. He still had the feeling of being watched, but he resigned himself to the fact that there was little he could do about it. Taking a quick look around, he decided here was as good a place as any to answer nature's call.

While relieving the pressure on his bladder David allowed his mind to wander. Rather than thinking of anything specific, he tried to let his mind go blank. Peaceful. Who knows what would have happened next if he had done otherwise.

Just when he finished tucking his wedding tackle back in; he heard soft footsteps behind him. Turning his head he saw the vague outline of a humanoid shape creeping towards him from the darkness. As he began to turn the rest of his body the figure rushed him, swinging something in its outstretched arm towards his head.

THUNK.

"Ow, fuck," David gasped, reeling away from the pain that blossomed in the side of head, under his helmet.

Stepping to the side he reached for his nearest weapons, the fighting knife on his kit and his pistol. Whoever it was that had just attacked him had swung some kind of club into his head, and if he had not been wearing his helmet there was a good chance his brains would have been oozing out of a gaping hole in his skull right now. Instead he was just dazed, and a little woozy.

His vision blurred from the strike, David saw three attackers set themselves for another swing at his head. Reacting instinctively, he snap fired his M9 in their general direction. Four shots rang out as he tried to hit at least one of them with his hasty shots. All three reacted identically; they all initially jumped at the sound of the pistol shots, and all fell backwards howling in agony. Shaking his head David cast a quick healing spell on himself; and as the fog lifted from his brain he realized that his blurred vision and brain trauma had tricked him. The three attackers had been a trick of his faulty vision, there was only one of them.

Reaching up he flipped down his NODs and turned them on. Searching the surrounding darkness he was greeted by a few surprising and unfortunate revelations. The figure that had just attacked him was a man with a club, he was lying on the ground bleeding from two gunshots, and he had A LOT of friends.

Cursing his stupidity at not using his NODs during the perimeter check, he realized that a group of over thirty people armed with clubs, axes, spears, swords, and knives had been sneaking up on their campsite under the cover of darkness. The one that had attacked him was the closest to him, and his pistol shots had momentarily surprised the rest, shocking them into immobility. But they were now starting to move again.

"Shit," David cursed, stowing his pistol and knife. He would need both hands for what he planned to do next. "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit..." he continued cursing as he backed away as quickly as he could in the darkness, swinging the Mk48 from his back and flicking off the safety.

***

Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang.

"What was that?" Laurena asked groggily. She had just drifted off to sleep and was struggling to awaken again.

"David!" Sapphire gasped. More rested and alert than her companion, she reacted to the distant pistol shots by bolting from the bed and grabbing the M4 from where it lay on the floor. Pulling back the charging handle far enough to confirm a round was already chambered, she released it and tapped the forward assist with the heel of her palm. Returning her right hand to the grip she reached down with her left and snagged her utility harness, ignoring her shoes and coat in the rush to help her love.

"What's going on?" Laurena asked again.

"David just fired his pistol," Sapphire yelled back, racing for the opening of the tent. "He needs us."

Finally awake enough to realize what was going on, Laurena leapt from the bed and began looking for her staff and pistol.

They both were shocked into immobility when they heard a long burst of machine gun fire. Then another. Then a third. Then a fourth. Then silence...

***

David barely had time to raise the Mk 48 to his shoulder before the nearest opponent was upon him. He didn't so much aim as point the barrel at the man's torso before squeezing the trigger. A long burst of 7.62 mm 'freedom' spewed from the end of his weapon, and the charging man was blasted away from him. Searching the darkness he noticed two more behind that one and quickly sprayed them with a burst of fire as well. They both dropped, one silenced the other screaming in agony. Further beyond them he heard more screams, and he figured that some of the stray rounds from his bursts must have intercepted others.

Scanning the field before him he noticed three clumps of four to five men charging him, as well as a ragged group of others behind them. Aiming at the closest cluster to his position, which were about thirty feet out and closing fast, he squeezed off another long burst. Sweeping from right to left, he caught all five men in that group with the fusillade. Continuing his rotation to the left, he sprayed another burst into the second group dropping three of the four before he heard a heart stopping sound.

Ka-chunk.

"Fuck," he cursed. Reaching forward with his firing hand he pulled the charging handle, yanking the bolt back until it locked. Returning his hand to the grip he squeezed the trigger and prayed for a miracle.

Ka-chunk.

"Motherfuckingsonofabitchgoddammit!" he roared in fury. Of course the one time he needed it to work the damn thing would fuck up on him. Swinging it around his torso on the sling to rest at his back again, he drew his pistol and checked the position of his enemies.

The first three he had engaged were down, and did not appear to be interested in getting back up. The same was true of the first group of five he had dropped. The second group still had one standing, and a second was trying to rise again, apparently hampered by a leg wound. They weren't getting any closer though. The third group was still charging, and they were only twenty feet out now. Backing away from them carefully, David fired his M9 at this group.

He was no expert when it came to firing his M9 with NODs. In fact he had never done it before. So the fact that stopping all four men in the last group took the remaining eleven rounds in his pistol...was good enough in his book.

Looking past the quartet, David noticed that the once ragged group behind them had closed in on his position, and some of them seemed to be pulling bows from their backs.

"Fuck," he cursed, then turned back to the tent, and ran as fast as his legs would carry him.

*** Chapter 37: Trial by Fire***

112357APR13 DW

East of the Field of Woe, Erosius

Running across an open, expansive, and well maintained lawn is easy. Running in a generally open and overgrown field is challenging but possible. Running in it at night, with a full kit, a Mk 48 on your back, monocular night vision, and a hoard of pissed off people behind you without tripping or turning an ankle is damn near impossible. David still managed to cross the seventy-ish meters to the first trip line without incident. Hopping the first trip line, he continued running the twenty meters toward the second and yelled out, "Sapphire, Laurena, we've got a whole lot of assholes incoming!"

Looking up long enough to see that both women were out of the tent and armed, he looked back down in time to hop the second trip line, and finish his sprint the last ten meters to their side.

"What's going on?" Sapphire asked him as he arrived.