Champion

Chapter 29

You know nothing of my father, or what he would think!" she yelled angrily.

Tired of her attitude, and his patience losing the battle against pain and alcohol, he snapped.

"You're goddamned right. I don't know s**t about him. And you don't know s**t about me. How many people have you killed? How many dead faces do you see in your dreams? I'm trying to help you, before you go too far down a path there is no coming back from. Hell, you're probably already there, after making the bloody paperweight over yonder. So f**k you and your f*****g ingratitude. Enjoy the nightmares princess," he yelled at her. Then he turned and began to stagger slowly back to the road.

He had only managed to struggle a handful of steps toward the temple when she reappeared beside him.

"You already killed the other three," she said accusingly.

"s**t happens," he replied evenly. He was a bit surprised; he knew his strike on 'baby seal' had a fifty-fifty chance of either paralyzing him, or killing him outright, but he had thought the guy missing an eyeball and half his forearm would make it. His knife must have gone deep enough to open up the artery.

"Now what?" she asked angrily.

"Do I look like your f*****g Yoda?" he snapped back. "Do what everyone else does and figure out your own s**t. I got enough trouble in my life trying to walk my ass back to the temple before I pass out."

Huffing, she moved closer to him, tucking herself under his right arms and guiding him toward the place of worship.

"Thanks," he said tersely.

"I owe you for avenging my father. When I get you to Astinus that debt is repaid, understand?" she replied.

"Done deal," he grunted.

They had only taken a few more steps when Astinus and Laurena came running toward them from the temple.

"What happened Champion?" "David, are you hurt?" they asked simultaneously.

"Dead assholes, lots of pain, hole through my right side, and broken forearm," he replied. "That's the Cliff's notes. You want more, make with the hocus pocus."

Confused at his unusual words, Astinus paused in his approach. Laurena was more familiar with his foreign phrases, and continued to move toward him until he stopped her with an outstretched arm and raised hand.

"Not you," he said angrily. "I know where you've been tonight, so I'll wait for the actual priest, thanks."

Hurt by his words and tone, and not fully understanding his meaning, she kept her distance.

"Sapphire, I did not realize you were in town," Astinus greeted the woman helping David. "When did you arrive?"

"Tonight," she replied in a clipped tone. "I had some business in town. I dealt with it. Now I'm repaying a debt to this man. Heal him quickly so I can move on."

Astinus' eyes narrowed at her response. "Is this 'business' about the men that killed your father? I told you the clergy are searching for them. They cannot hide forever."

"Two years!" she shouted angrily. "Two years my father has been dead while his murderers roamed free. You healed my broken body, and for that I owe you. But what I told you that first day held true today. Those men either face your justice, or they face mine. Well your justice couldn't find them, so mine did."

Looking at her angrily, Astinus pointed at David, "And here is what your justice has wrought. A man near death so that you could satisfy your revenge."

"First off," David began, thoroughly pissed off again, "they attacked me. I killed three of them; she saved me at the last minute by killing the fourth. Second, the fuckers deserved it. They were vile wastes of oxygen, and we did the world a favor by exterminating them."

He stopped his rant to take a deep breath; it was getting harder to focus. "Third, while you two are bickering over the morality of killing killers, this holethrough my kidney isn't getting any less life threatening." David paused. Breathing was becoming more difficult. "So shelve...your shit...and make...with the...hocus...pocu..."

And he passed out in the street.

***

David was at COP Able-Main. He was walking back from the ANA artillery section to the SFAAT offices. It had been a tough day of training, but his counterparts had started to improve. Suddenly he heard the zip of a round cutting the air nearby. Getting shot at on the COP was a common occurrence, but the insurgents' aim was usually too shitty for him to ever hear the rounds come in. That one was close. As he heard the report of the rifle, he ran to a nearby rock that was barely big enough to take cover behind.

While he crouched there waiting for the shooter to stop, other soldiers kept walking around like nothing was happening. Another round came in, and pinged off the rock he was behind. The shooter was good, and was targeting him. Turning to the side, David yelled to one of the soldiers that walked by for help. He needed to get to better cover, but was pinned down at the moment. However, the man just kept walking, ignoring him.

As he crouched behind the rock, waiting for the sniper to kill him, he kept yelling to anyone that walked by, hoping someone would help him. But they didn't. He was stuck, he was going to die, and no one cared...

David woke with a start. He hated that dream.

He reached over to pat the reassuring presence of his M9 on the table by his alarm clock. It wasn't there. He reached to the side of the table for his M4. It wasn't there either. He felt a surge of adrenaline as the familiar panic set in. Bolting upright, he searched his room frantically for his weapons.

He wasn't in his room at COP Able-Main. He wasn't even in Mukavia. He was in his temporary quarters at the Temple of Eros, and all his gear was stacked neatly where he had left it. His pistol and holster were lying on top of them. At the foot of his bed, his clothes were folded into a neat stack as well. That was when he realized he was naked.

"Why the hell am I naked?" he muttered.

"Your clothes were torn and blood soaked," came Laurena's voice from his left.

He turned to that side to see her seated in a chair; a large, old-fashioned, leather-bound book lying open in her lap.

"Astinus healed your wounds, and we brought you back here to rest. We had to remove your clothing to repair the damage to it," she continued.