Champions Vol. 01

His second round passed through the fat man's throat, not exactly where he was aiming, but at this distance with this equipment it was good enough. His third target was chosen for him, as one of the men below grabbed up the knife from the dirt and started to move toward the woman. David planted his third round in that overachiever's chest. Courageously attack a tied-up, half-naked woman will you, not on my watch, he thought with satisfaction. He got too excited, worried about the woman's safety and punishing the wicked, and missed his fourth shot. Steadying his breathing, he aimed and fired his fifth and sixth shot a single second apart; downing the last two would-be rapists with a single shot a-piece. Looking through his scope another minute, he checked to see if any of his targets were faking. One move, one twitch, and the goat-fucking camel-jockeys were getting an extra round, just because.

After a minute David scanned the area around the fire, and apparent camp, for anyone else that might be on guard or running away. He continued scanning the area for another five minutes; but he couldn't see anyone else, and the woman's movements were becoming frantic. Pulling his NODs off the mount on the M14, he clipped them to the Rhino mount on his helmet, and re-adjusted the focus back to where it was before. Then he pulled his M4 out of his rucksack, and left his pack, the M14, and Mk 48 there. If something went wrong with the girl or the camp, he would be able to move and maneuver better with the small M4 carbine, and without all the extra weight. Turning back to the camp he checked one final time with his NODs; and not seeing any movement apart from the woman, he decided to go down and introduce himself.

*** Chapter 6: Same Day, Different Stuff ***

101915MAR13 DW (according to David's Watch, but who knows what time it really is)

NOT the Korengal Valley, Kunar Province, Afghanistan

Laurena had no explanation for what had just happened. Her five would be rapists had dropped from small holes that appeared in their bodies, each one followed by that strange thunder. After the last one had fallen she had waited for her turn, certain that she would be next. But as the quiet seconds became a minute, and then two, she began to think the thunder was over. That was when she realized she was still half-naked, still tied up, and still in the mountains; with no one left alive nearby to free her. She began a spell to conjure a knife, but she couldn't focus. She was frightened and confused; two emotions that were ruining her concentration. Frustrated, she began tugging at her bonds, pulling them every which way in the hope that they might loosen enough for her to slip free.

Ten minutes later, after twisting and tugging at her bonds and wracking her brain for a simpler spell that might free her, she was exhausted. Her wrists were chafed and bleeding, and she was no closer to freedom than when she started. Heartbroken to be so close to freedom, and then to realize it was an illusion, her world crumbled. Allowing the full weight of her body to hang from her painfully bound wrists, her head slumped low and she cried what she assumed would be her final tears in this life. She was going to die here of dehydration, and her crying was only ensuring it happened faster. She had yet to realize that her hysteria was the only real obstacle before her, and if she were able to calm herself, and think rationally, she could probably have gotten free easily. Unfortunately, as is often the case, emotion had trumped logic.

"Excuse me, miss. Do you speak English?"

Laurena was surprised by the voice...and didn't recognize the accent...and didn't know what English was. But at that point she truly didn't care.

"Who is it? Can you get me down?" she asked hesitantly while looking around for the unknown speaker.

"Yes ma'am I can. I'm David, and I'll have you down in two shakes."

Stepping out from the darkness at the edge of the firelight, the figure from her dreams appeared. He was dressed almost exactly as he had been in Eros' vision, except for the strange object he was wearing over one eye. Her god's Champion had found her, in the last place she ever expected to be, and at a time she had given up hope of ever being found.

She had no idea what he was talking about. Two shakes of what? But as he drew a large, wicked looking knife from his bulky vest she pushed his strange comment from her mind. That knife was now of far greater import to her than his unusual words. He stepped closer to her, standing to the side and reaching over her bound form to sever the ropes securing her to the post. She shivered in the rapidly chilling mountain air, suddenly very aware of her exposed chest. With one slice of his knife she was free of the post, and immediately lowered her arms to cover her breasts. Though she was exceedingly proud of her magnificent body, she was unaccustomed to displaying so much of it outside the temple; and it was getting cold.

"I need to cut the rest of that rope off your wrists miss, and take a look at the damage it caused," he said, motioning to her still bound hands now clenched before her ample bosom.

Nodding her head, she held out her restraints to the man, and spoke the first thing that came to mind. "My name is Laurena, David. If you remove the bindings I can heal the cuts on my own."

Reaching out with his knife, he gave her a part confused and part dubious look as he carefully cut off the last of the ropes. "It is nice to meet you Laurena, but you really should let me take a look at those. The cuts could get infected; god only knows where those ropes have been."

As soon as her wrists were free Laurena reached for her robes, attempting to use the tattered remains of her top to return it to some form of modesty. Sliding two longer strips over her shoulders, she tied them behind her neck, creating a modified halter to cover her breasts from direct view. Not the best fix, but enough until she could get a change of clothes.

"Your concern is appreciated Champion, but even I can heal injuries this minor", she responded to his concern.

Focusing her will, which was easier now that she was no longer bound and distraught, she chanted a short spell of healing. The spell worked, and sent her magic into her wrists to repair as much of the damage as she was able. The cut and chafed skin knit back together, but her wrists still retained what appeared to be three day old bruising, and were very sore. Sighing, she again wished she were a better healer. It seemed that in blessing her with such great beauty, Eros had also cursed her with terribly minimal healing magic. She suspected it was to preserve the balance.

Looking up she noticed the deeply surprised look on David's face. "What is wrong Champion?" she asked confused and somewhat embarrassed by his response to her healing magic. She knew she wasn't nearly as good as a fully qualified priestess, but her magic was certainly not bad enough to warrant that level of shock from the Champion.

Closing his gaping mouth, mostly because he didn't realize it was open and thus making it hard to vocalize a response to his rescuee; he tried to think of how to calmly respond to that question.

"You started singing, then your wrists started glowing, and they just healed themselves?!" Ok, that came out a little less calm, and a little more hysterical than he would have liked. But, in his defense, this chick just chanted some mumbo-jumbo and healed herself. Perhaps a little hysteria was warranted.

"Yes, I cast healing magic on myself. I am only an acolyte, and my poor skill in the healing arts is what keeps me from priestesshood. But while I am not able to fully heal the damage today, I can heal the rest over the next few days," she replied, uncertain of his meaning with the question.

David thought for a moment about that statement. Ok, she's obviously crazy. This isn't Vegas and I don't see a white tiger anywhere around so that sure as shit wasn't magic. Whatever, I've taken too much damage to the head today, and trying to figure this out is just making my migraine worse. Deciding to shelve the whole situation until he wasn't standing around the bodies of slain enemies, he started listing priorities to himself. Priority number one was "the mission". He had no idea where he was or how to get back to friendly lines, status: FUBAR. Priority number two was security. He was currently standing in someone else's armed camp with no idea if they had friends coming back soon. Status: not secure, aka also FUBAR. Priority number three was water and food. He had both back at his rucksack. Status: manageable. Priority number four was currently standing in front of him, in a weird looking, mostly torn dress. Status: loony tunes, emotionally traumatized, and smoking hot.

There was nothing he could do about number one, but number two and three needed to be dealt with pronto. Four could tag along if she kept her crazy to a minimum. Besides, she spoke English so odds are someone somewhere up the chain of command would be pissed if he didn't rescue her...even if she has to go right back to the asylum afterwards.

Looking around the camp he tried to see if there were any booby traps, or anything useful. He hadn't seen any tripwires, flares, or explosives on the way in; but there could still be some hidden in other areas of the camp. Moving about cautiously, he noticed a few things that didn't make sense. One, there were no guns. He knew there were plenty of places in the world where firearms were scarce, but he figured criminals like these guys would have at least an AK, a hunting rifle, or a handgun of some type lying around. Two, there were knives, swords, and a battle axe lying next to the fire in sheaths and scabbards. Seriously, swords and a friggin battle axe? What the hell kind of Medieval Times, LARPing bullshit am I in the middle of? David thought to himself. Three, the guys he took down were wearing a mish-mash of Renaissance re-enactor clothing and Roman looking leather armor.

This whole situation just didn't make any sense. He was somewhere in the southern-hemisphere of the globe, but still close to the Eastern Afghanistan time zone. With the exception of some small islands east of Madagascar, which were way too small for mountains like these, there was nothing there but the Indian Ocean. He was pretty sure he wasn't swimming right now. Completely lost, growing more and more frustrated, and surrounded by dead guys dressed like the Frankenstein brainchild of Game of Thrones and Spartacus, he decided to cease that line of thinking until he had more information. He'd take the girl with him, go back and grab his gear, and hole up in a defensible location until he could get some answers.

Turning back he nearly tripped over her; she had been following closely behind him, and seemed to have been caught staring at the pistol strapped to his thigh.

"Did they take anything of yours that you absolutely need? We should get away from here before anyone comes to check on them," David explained to Laurena. "My rifle shots were probably heard for quite a distance, and we should assume they have friends in the area."

Looking around, she pointed towards a horse tied up nearby. "They took my horse, and my supplies."

Nodding, he led the way to the horse, moving slowly and checking for traps along the way. Finding none he allowed Laurena to collect her mount. She moved around it and inspected the saddle and bags, finding everything in proper order. Untying the reins she looked to David for guidance.

"What now?"

"Now we walk back the way I came in and gather my gear, then we find somewhere safe to spend the night," he explained. "And hopefully you can tell me where I am, and how to get back to my base."

Not waiting for a response, he turned and began walking toward the barren path he took into the camp. It was narrow, and wound its way across the rocky terrain. The path was mildly challenging for David, difficult for Laurena, and dangerous for the horse she was leading. Unfortunately, there was only one other visible way out of the camp, and it was pretty obviously the only safe way in and out from the site. He would rather risk twisting an ankle on this goat trail than getting ambushed using the other obvious route. Looking back to check her progress, he noticed that Laurena had fallen far behind him, and was sliding her feet forward cautiously in the dark. While they had been busy the sky had fully darkened, and night had arrived.

Of course she fell behind; she doesn't even have a flashlight, he thought to himself.

Reaching into the right cargo pocket of his trousers, he pulled out his headlamp. Equipped with a single powerful white LED light, and three lower intensity red LEDs, it was the best he could come up with under the circumstances. He didn't really want anyone in the area to see the light, but if she or the horse fell the situation would get a lot worse in a hurry. Walking back towards her, he took her hand and placed the light in it saying, "Use this, but only the red light."

Confused Laurena tried to figure out what he had handed to her. The moons had yet to rise, and the stars provided some, but not enough illumination. She was barely able to follow the sound of David's movements carried to her in the still night, and she could not make out more that the most general of shapes in the darkness. She had no idea how he could see, but she assumed it was either part of his powers as a Champion, or the soft green glow she could now see coming from the object in front of his eye.

"What is it?" she asked.

"It's a flashlight that you wear on your head. Put it on, and click the button once to turn it on."

After fumbling with it a few moments she grew frustrated, "I have no idea what this is or what I'm doing. Is it really necessary?"

Shaking his head, David rolled his eyes to the heavens in supplication for divine mercy from idiots and the technologically disinclined. Stepping close to her, he reached up and flipped his NODs up higher on his helmet and away from his face. Then he reached for the Surefire light mounted on the side of his helmet, over his left ear, and flicked the switch down. The dim glow of its red LEDs illuminated Laurena's hands. She jumped, and stared at the light on his helmet in disbelief, but he was too focused on the headlamp in her hands to notice her actions. Reaching forward, he took the tightly wrapped headlamp, and loosened the elastic band. Tilting it so that it was in the middle of the red beam of light cast by his Surefire, he pointed out the important parts of the light he had given her.

"On the top here is a button, see," he said, pointing to the top of the headlamp. "All you do is press it, and it turns on. Click it once for the lowest red light setting, twice for the brighter setting, and the third time turns it off. If you hold the button down for two seconds, it will switch from red to white light, but don't do that unless I tell you. The red light is only visible for about half a click at night, but that white light can be seen for miles. I'd rather not advertise our location right now." Turning the headlamp he pointed out the other main feature, "This is the retention strap. This buckle allows you to adjust how tight it is on your head. I suggest making it pretty tight. It keeps the light steady and reduces the risk of you losing it." Finishing the show-and-tell he looked up to see if she was following what he said, and saw a look of total confusion and awe on her face.

Giving up, he eyeballed her head, guessing at the adjustment. He tightened the elastic band on the light nearly a hand's width and placed it on her, centering the light on her forehead. Once it was secure, he clicked the power button once to turn it on. "You're set. Now don't mess with it and try to keep up."

She was so surprised at the power of these strange devices, she barely noticed his movements. But as he finished with the "headlamp" she realized how close he was standing. Her minded flashed back to being bound and helpless less than an hour ago, and a paralyzing panic and fear jolted through her. However, David saw none of this, nor did he see her take a sudden step away from him. He was already focused back on the trail ahead.

Flicking off his Surefire helmet light, he folded his NODs back down, and turned them back on. Walking forward again he turned back to check on her more frequently now, but the girl was doing a much better job keeping up.

They walked carefully along the path for a few hundred meters. Eventually David stopped them, turning to give Laurena instructions.

"Wait here. My gear is just up the slope another 75 meters. I'm going to grab it and come back here, and then we are going to a shallow draw I spotted earlier. It's not much, but it should do for the night."

Reaching up to her forehead, he clicked the headlamp off. "Leave that off unless you absolutely need it. My GPS uses the same batteries, but I don't have an infinite supply."

Seeing her nod in confirmation, he moved off to where his gear was stowed. It was slow going; the slope was steep, and had been quite a bit easier to jog down than climb back up, but he eventually managed. Sweating from the exertion, his soaked combat shirt began to rapidly chill in the cool night air. I need to get moving to that draw and get settled in before I freeze my ass off here. Thinking of the girl he had left below, he realized she was probably far colder than he was by now. It wasn't like that shredded garment she still wore covered much. At this thought he opened the zippered bottom of his rucksack, and pulled out his fleece jacket. It should help her till they got settled. Closing his pack back up, he strapped his M4 and M14 back onto it, and tossed it on his shoulders. Then he picked up and slung the Mk 48, stuffing the fleece jacket between his body and the sling. Turning to face back down slope, he carefully returned along his previous route.

While he was away Laurena thought about her fears, and her reaction to his touch. He had saved her. He was the new Champion of Eros, chosen of her god. She was certain he would not harm her. He wasn't like those others. So why couldn't she stand to be near him?

By the time he got back to her, she was shivering from the cold. Pulling the fleece from where he had stowed it, he unzipped the front and tried to drape it over her shoulders.

"You can wear this for now; it should help with the chill."

Before he could get it on her though, she stepped quickly away from him, shuddering fearfully at his attempt to get close to her. Not seeming offended, David raised his hands placatingly.

"It's okay. Here, I'm sure you can put in on yourself," he said, holding the fleece out to her.

Nodding her head in thanks, she took it from him and inspected the garment. She wondered what kind of animal fur it was made from. She noticed it had sleeves, and slid the strange coat on happily. The ends of the sleeves had an unusual type of material that stretched, like the light on her head, but it wasn't uncomfortable. As she puzzled over the unfamiliar coat, he slowly reached toward her waist.

"I'm just going to zip the jacket closed. It will keep you warmer."

She took a breath and clamped down on her fear, allowing him to reach down and grasp the separated front of the garment. Holding the two sides together he grasped something and pulled it up, joining the two sides together with what appeared to be small teeth. Surprised at this, she failed to notice how close his hand was to her breasts until after he had stepped away from her.

"Just a short walk now and then we should be in a safe place to rest for the night."