Champion

Chapter 53

Unconcerned with the downed adversary, David scooped up his NODs from the ground and tried to reacquire the location of the archers on the building tops. He spotted them, and not a moment too soon. They were kneeling on the edges of the rooftops nearest the trio, and were already drawing back their bowstrings.

Turning he ran to Sapphire and half pushed, half carried her to the doorway as four arrows landed near where she had just been standing. He hadn't even made it a third of the way to the door before he heard Laurena's scream in fear from the arrows that had struck not far from her.

"f**k!" he cursed. Holstering his pistol he shifted the knife in his left hand to his right, not having the time to try to stow it safely, pocketed his NODs, and then pulled a frag grenade from his vest. He hated to use one of the three he had left for this, but he needed to incapacitate or distract four archers, at night, in the next few seconds, or Laurena was going to end up re-classing as a pincushion.

Pulling the pin with his teeth hurt, but he figured if he f****d up any of his dental work he could deal with it later. Lobbing it to the top of the roof nearest his location, he dove into a roll hoping that these archers hadn't learned to draw and fire an arrow more accurately than he could. His best time was six seconds, and their last shots had been about that long ago. Fortune smiled on him, because all four had assessed Laurena's cowering form as a non-threat, and had decided to shift their aim to him. As he dove into the roll all four fired within two seconds of each other, and only one of them adjusted his aim enough to account for the soldier's movements. The arrow struck the back of his IOTV after he had finished the roll and gone prone, awaiting the blast of the M67. He gave himself a mental pat on the back for putting his ceramic plates back in yesterday morning, which had stopped the arrow from penetrating. As the mental timer in David's head counted down from five, he began to lament the fact that the best the Army could do was a grenade with a fuse that was 'about 3-5 seconds'. When he hit zero, he got worried, but before he could count further...

BOOM!

It didn't matter how many times s**t blew up around him, that crap was still LOUD! Shaking his head he counted to three to allow the airborne debris to land, then jumped up and ran over to Laurena. Grabbing her upper arm he dragged her up and hauled her toward the doorway where Sapphire was waiting. He heard shouting, cursing, and painful screaming coming from the rooftops, but no more arrows came his way before he made it inside the building.

Pushing Laurena inside David swapped his knife back over to his left hand, sheathed it, and then drew his M9 from his thigh holster and swept the room. It was clear. Loading a fresh clip into his pistol, and pocketing the half empty one, he started looking for a different way out.

"Over there," Sapphire said, pointing to a door that led further into the building.

Nodding he moved to it, and tried the handle. It opened easily, and he swept the new room, making sure there were no threats as he moved inside. Seeing another door that probably led to an adjacent alley, he made a quick decision.

"Both of you get in here," he ordered the women, closing and locking the door behind them. Looking into their eyes, he conveyed the seriousness of the situation with both his tone and his expression. "We need to get to the temple. I have no idea what the hell these people want or why, but I damn sure intend to ask them later. Right now I just need to get you two dropped off, and grab my heavy lumber from my room."

"What do you need me to do?" Sapphire asked him.

He cursed the fact that he had never bothered to teach her how to use one of his pistols. He could really use an extra shooter right now. Hell, he would have given his left testicle for a Ranger battalion right now. "Do you know how to use a knife?" he asked her.

"Of course. You put the pointy end into the other person," she replied sarcastically.

"Close enough," he sighed, moving to hand her his non-enchanted knife.

"I'd rather take the throwing knives," she requested with a smirk.

Not having the time to wonder about the request, he pulled them out and handed them to her. She stowed one in her belt, and held the last two in either hand, testing their weight and balance.

Turning to Laurena, he could see her fear was still significant, but was no longer paralyzing her. "I need you to stay between us," he told her. "I'll lead, you will stay two steps behind me, and Sapphire will be two steps behind you. Stay quiet, don't slow down, don't get distracted, and do everything I tell you to. Clear?"

She just looked at him for a few heartbeats, clearly overcome by the seriousness of their situation. Finally she slowly nodded in agreement, and he just sighed. That was probably the best he was going to get. Turning to Sapphire he asked "Ready?" to which she nodded in reply. Moving cautiously, he went to the door and cracked it open, peering out. He didn't see anyone in the alley, in either direction, so he stepped out and moved quickly towards the temple, drawing his enchanted knife from its sheath. He walked in a smooth heel-to-toe manner, pistol raised and steady. He was making more noise than he would have liked, but he had never been good at walking in the quieter toe-to-heel method. Whenever he tried to use it his weapon swayed too much. He scanned everything from his nine o'clock to his three o'clock, both rooftops and street level, while his knife hand supported his shooting hand. Behind him Laurena and Sapphire followed along as quietly as they were able.

*** : Pursuit ***

252048MAR13 DW

Back Alleys, Exitibus, Erosius

The ambush had been an abysmal failure. Claudius, a.k.a. Shadowmaster Whisper, wanted to blame his people, but he knew the fault lay elsewhere. The information he had received indicated that the major threat would be the sorceress, and they had taken steps to protect the ground team with the best enchantments they could. That part of the plan had worked, and she would have stood no chance against the four man team; especially with the archers in support. But the man, David, was far more powerful than he had been told. The man had killed four of his best enforcers in a handful of seconds! The Shadowmaster didn't know what kind of magic the man possessed, but he was damn sure that none of his people were prepared for it.

Resigned to the fact that this endeavor was going to be more costly than he anticipated, he cast a spell of light on an arrow and fired it into the air. The improvised flare alerted his back-up teams to move in along the path near the temple. He had been instructed to use two teams, and avoid taking any action near the temple. However, as far as he was concerned, his guidance had been open to interpretation. So he had stationed two additional teams between the ambush location and the temple, in case the trio took a different route or managed to break through the ambush. His people thought his preparations were beyond overkill, but he had learned over the last year that you could never really be over-prepared.

As the current Shadowmaster Whisper, his dominion was extortion and enforcement. His predecessor, the last Whisper, had been an over-confidant fool. The man's failure to plan ahead for every contingency had resulted in a number of failed assignments, and had eventually risked the exposure of the entire organization. The Night Lord's 'termination' of his employee had been an object lesson for his replacement. Claudius had never failed an assignment for his Lord since taking over, and more than a few of his successes were the result of refusing to underestimate a target. His information on tonight's assignment had been less than useful, but he would not let that break his streak.

Moving to support his remaining teams Claudius thought about the damage David had done in such a short time, and resolved to search the man's body himself after he was dead. He wanted that power for himself.

***

Moving along the alley, David tried to look everywhere and listen to everything all at once. He knew it would be safer if he only had to worry about a single sector of fire, but the reality was that he couldn't trust either of his companions to spot danger in time. He needed to get them off the streets and stashed in the temple pronto.

They were traveling at a good pace, and had made it to within a few blocks of the temple when the next attack came. A door to David's left opened, and he spun quickly to sight in on it. He realized there was no one standing inside the doorway in the same second that he caught motion in his peripheral vision from his right (the direction they were traveling). Turning his head, he had just enough time to recognize the posture of a man standing roughly twenty paces away throwing something at him. Gambling, pulled his nearside (pistol carrying) arm up and tucked his head behind it. He realized it was the right move when he felt the throwing knife pierce his deltoid, the upraised arm preventing the attacker from burying the knife in his intended target, David's jugular.

"Motherfuckers," he roared in pain. He was no p***y, but the damn knife buried two inches into his arm f*****g HURT.

Turning to engage the knife thrower he was able to fire a single shot at him, but the pain in his arm threw his aim off enough that he missed his target. Shocked by the sound of the gunfire, the man dropped the second knife he was preparing to throw and jumped behind the side of the nearest building.

"David!" Sapphire yelled, trying to alert the Champion.

Turning back he saw that the previously empty doorway was now pouring out reinforcements only a few feet away from him, and there were a f**k-ton of them. Hastily David adjusted his position and snap-fired at the man charging him. He got off six shots before the nearest opponent reached him, and four of them went into the man's chest. His sword had slid from now nerveless fingers, but the man's momentum was too great to be overcome by four 9mm slugs. His mortally wounded body clipped David on the way down, knocking the Champion to the ground and bouncing the knife in his upper arm against the hard surface.

David roared in pain as the knife twisted to the side and was driven deeper into his arm, the tip lodging in the bone. He lost his grip on the pistol, and didn't give a f**k. These assholes had severely pissed him off. Rolling away from the fallen man, he did a reverse somersault into a crouch, and then charged the nearest attacker. It was time to kick ass.

Meanwhile, Sapphire was facing a dilemma. David had told her to cover the rear, but he was injured, knocked down, and was being rapidly surrounded by the three attackers still standing. Turning to look behind her, the decision got a lot easier as two men charged her from the direction they had just traveled. Throwing one of her knives at the one on the right, she gave it a little extra help with her telekinesis magic. She felt vindictive satisfaction when the knife buried itself into the man's throat. He dropped to his knees, choking out his last breath. She drew the spare knife from her belt and faced off against the remaining adversary. She just hoped David could handle his fight alone.