Keeping The Faith (John Fisher Chronicles Book 2)

by William Lehman

  Teador looked up from his bowl and asked "What's wrong with it?"

  "There's a turd in it; and I know just which turd put it there."

  "OK, you'll have your meeting. In the meantime go get another bowl, and" he raised his voice to where it could be heard throughout the cavern "Sean, you'll be eating his bowl, or go hungry." He lowered his voice again "John, all I ask is that you remember, he was a soldier once."

  I nodded, "I'll try not to kill him."

  A couple of Sean's boys were within earshot and had been watching with grins. They laughed when I replied to Teador, looked at me and one of them cracked "You don't need to worry about that, you won't be alive long enough."

  I went towards the kitchen to get another bowl as Sean was walking up to the table. I stayed out of his reach, but he was glaring at me in a way that made it clear that he was planning on more than just a dominance fight; he wanted me dead. Me, I just kept walking. As I was getting another bowl out of the kitchen I could hear Teador ripping a chunk (figuratively) off Sean. Everyone else was being as quiet as a mouse in a cat house. For a guy who didn't grow up with English as his mother tongue, Teador was adept at explaining Sean's deficiencies mental, physical, emotional, psychological, and genetic, all without raising his voice or using a single cuss word. I was in awe, and just a little jealous.

  I got another bowl from the kitchen, and went back to sit and eat it. The dining hall was quieter than I had ever heard it. Bobby was even quiet...I'm not sure if that's an improvement or not.

  After dinner, Teador stood up and said "All right then, you all know what happened. John asked for a meeting. I'm turning it over to him as the requesting member." With that he motioned to me with his left hand, and everyone was looking at me. Bobby started singing "The Ballad of Johnny Ringo". Well, this wasn't going to get any better for waiting..."Men, I was told that duels are only fought with the concurrence of the group. Sean has not given me my due. I question his honor. No, I say that he has no honor. He has attempted to break into my belongings--"

  At this point Sean jumped up and shouted "You got no proof of that!"

  "Oh yeah?" I replied "Has your hair grown back yet on your feet? Sean, I smelled you. So did Teador and Yoshi, unless you want to challenge them too? You attempted to break into my things, you tried to steal from me, you have generally fucked with me, and finally you soiled my food. I request the permission of the group to duel you, single combat, and your choice of form."

  Teador walked into the middle of the room and said "Gentlemen, it has been our rule that only with full agreement do we fight duels, and never to the death." This with a LONG look at Sean. "What say you now? Are there any who do not support this fight?" He waited for a few moments "Are there any who support this fight?"

  Before the words were fully out of his mouth, there was a general roar of assent. He looked at Sean and me, and with a sour voice said "Well, you got your damned fight. One hour from now, topside, unless either of you want to drop this now?" He looked at me, I just looked back with that blank, "you gotta be kidding" look. He looked at Sean, who laughed at him. He shrugged his shoulders and said "Fine, pick your seconds."

  Chapter Sixteen

  I asked Jose to be my second, I thought of asking Yoshi, but I didn't want him in the middle of this. I doubt he would have thanked me for involving him. Sean's second was one of his little pack, Paul Becket. Paul was the sort of guy you used to see in high school. The ones hanging out with the quarterback, laughing at his jokes a little too hard, fetching and carrying for him, all for the privilege of being his friend. A minor jock in his own right, but if you look up second banana in the dictionary, there's his photo.

  Paul and Jose were supposed to talk to each other and try to talk the principals (uh, that would be Sean and me) out of "this madness". Neither side really had their hearts in the job, Jose because he had been the butt of far too many of Sean's jokes and would really like to see him get a comeuppance. Paul, because Sean wanted this, and well, anything Sean wants is OK by Paul. Still they went through the forms of it, enough to satisfy Teador, who was acting as the judge for the duel. So, shortly we found ourselves up at the entrance to the mine system where I had come in the first time. There was a nice clearing there, and with a gibbous moon, glancing off the snow, it was quite bright out.

  In fact it was almost eerily bright, with a ghostly sort of light that seemed to come from everywhere. It was also damn cold. Teador walked out first, with my second and me behind him, which I was told was the proper format.

  It seems they had actually codified a "Code Duelo" for this sort of thing, and per the code, the rest of the community came out after the challenging party, and before the challenged. Eventually we were all outside. Yoshi as the eldest member handed the book of laws to Teador, who opened it to the appropriate page and started to read.

  "In the case where personal enmity becomes so severe that all agree that the only way to restore the peace is to allow the two individuals to fight a duel, the following shall be the ordinances. Both parties shall name a second, whose job it shall be to make a final attempt to restore peace between the parties. "At this point, he stopped and looked at us, asking "Gentlemen, have you so done?"

  We each nodded, and he looked at our seconds, asking "Gentlemen, did you have any success?" They each shook their heads, Paul almost giggled. Jose looked stern. Teador then continued to read "In the event that the seconds are unable to bring the parties together in peace, the leader of the group, if he be not a party, or the eldest not involved member, shall act as the judge of the duel. He shall muster the group at a time and place of his choosing, leading the group there, followed by the aggrieved and his second, then the rest of the uninvolved group to insure that the parties are separated, and followed finally by the challenged party and his second.

  "All of the community is to watch any duel arranged under this chapter, both to insure that honor is satisfied, and as an object lesson. The Judge shall read these rules to all, to insure that all understand the guidelines of this chapter. The challenged party shall have the choice of how the fight is to be fought, and both sides must agree that with the end of the fight, honor is satisfied, and this subject shall never be brought up again." Teador looked at us both, saying "Do you both understand and agree to this?"

  I nodded, and Sean said "Yeah, I get it: we fight and it's done."

  Teador continued "No fight shall be to the death, and both sides must understand that if, after this fight is brought to a close, the subject is brought forward again, the party restarting the quarrel, by decision of the group assembled, shall be immediately banished, with nothing but what he currently wears, and should he attempt to rejoin the group, or reveal the group's existence outside the group, shall be under a sentence of death. The other duties of the Judge shall be: to start the duel, to declare a victor, and that if he observes dishonorable conduct, either by the aiding of a combatant by a third party, or by the attempted killing of a combatant unable to continue the fight, or the continuing of the duel after it has been called, shall kill the offending party.

  "Men, is there any who doubt that I can, and will at requirement, follow my duty in this?" At this question, there was a still silence, as every man considered whether he wanted to deal with a pissed off four-hundred pound Tiger or not. I had seen Teador kill an elk with a single swipe of one huge paw, breaking its neck. A 'Thrope is a lot tougher than an elk, but we can die too, and I don't think for a second that anyone except maybe Amos had a snowball's chance in Saudi of surviving such a fight. The silence dragged on for a few beats, and then Teador started up again, looking at Sean. "As the challenged party, you call the forms, what do you want?" It was obvious that Teador found this distasteful, but he was, if nothing else, a man of honor.

  Sean looked over at me and said "I ain't fighting him full animal to full animal, a cougar's got too many advantages on a wolf. Beast-man form, until one of us can no longer continue the fight, or turns belly up."


  Well, that's sort of what I expected, and I was more than ready to "get this party started", for one thing I was getting cold. So without a word, I started stripping down. I wasn't about to leave any clothes on for him to grab.

  He started to do the same, and soon we were both naked, and I willed the change. As sharp as my senses were in human form, there's still a big change when we shift to any part beast. Colors snap into view, and everything takes on this hyper-focus. Scents become as vivid as color to the human eye, and you can tell the direction, quality and quantity of the wind. I could smell the anger and a small amount of fear coming from Sean, and oh gods, I liked it. Of course, the change brought a hard-on too, as it usually does (I mentioned that it feels REALLY good, didn't I?) Sean was changing as I looked at him, it's really weird to watch, but I had seen it a thousand times in the teams. I was trying to get into fight mind, both because I didn't really want one of my favorite parts swinging out begging to get ripped off, and for the more important reason that I didn't DARE go Baresark. If I tripped into Baresark mode, I wouldn't be able to stop short of killing Sean, and that meant I'd end up having to fight Teador too. In Baresark I could probably kill Teador, but then the jig would well and truly be up. Not to mention that I would have some serious explaining to do to Tyr.

  I had far better control over that than I used to, but "too damaged to continue" would surely bring it on. So, I needed to finish this fight quickly, before my body decided that we might just lose this thing, and played trump. As I was thinking this, Sean was standing ready. He looked like he might have the reach on me, but not by much, and he was apparently unable to control his body well enough to dampen the "gallant reflex". As I noticed, Teador shouted "Begin!" and Sean rushed me. Now this would have been a bad idea if it was a fight that I was going to fight to the death, a cat even in half and half mode is just better equipped to use the back feet to disembowel his enemy than a dog. Either Sean was sure that I was going to play by the rules, or he wasn't thinking. I hoped for the second, but bet on the first.

  Of course, by the time he got to me, I wasn't there anymore. I stepped up and to the left as he charged and got him in the side with a set of claws as he went by. Then I felt a burn on my thigh. I spared it a glance, and saw he had gotten a back kick in as he went by, not bad, but it would start to slow me down soon. The boy wasn't bad at this.

  He whirled around and started to charge again, heading slightly to the left of center. OK, I see his plan. I stepped up and to the right, as he wanted me to do, but instead of taking a rake at his side, I dropped into a crouch, looking for the back kick as he went by.

  All of this was going on faster than a normal human can move. A 'Thrope isn't as fast as a vamp, but if you know the snake is there, a cobra can't strike fast enough to touch you. Pete could usually grab a cobra behind the head, mid strike. I wasn't quite that fast, but I was fast enough. So I dropped and pivoted, and sure enough here came the back kick. I caught it, and took both his hamstring and his Achilles with my claws, right paw to the hamie, left to the ankle. I don't think he felt it, 'till he tried to take the next step, and piled up on the ground. I backed out of the fight, and looked at him. He lurched to stand up and fell again, and then got up on one foot. He was bleeding from five cuts to the ribs, two of them showing bone, and his right leg was a wreck. Me, my right thigh was really starting to hurt like Hel, and wouldn't support my full weight, but I didn't want to spare a look at it, just in case.

  I looked hard at him, and asked "You done, or you want some more?" He shook his head, and stood there, weight on one foot, hands in a tiger stance.

  "I'll be damned if I'll let you win that easy, fucker. Come and get me." he growled. I glanced at Teador and shrugged my shoulders slightly. It was obvious that Sean hadn't thought this out, wounds from a 'Thrope heal as if you were a normal human. He had just lost the use of his leg for at least 6 months, maybe forever without surgery that these guys just weren't up to. Damn it, I didn't want to leave the boy a basket case, but I didn't want to kill him either, and I wasn't sure what else I could do to get him to surrender.

  I started moving slowly to his right side. The thing is this: you can't pivot nearly as far on only one good leg to the side that the leg is on. I stayed out of his range and got about even with his side, which is where, if you're on only one leg, you have got to pivot or lose the ability to watch your opponent. My plan was, as he started to lurch in the only pivot you can do one-legged, I was going to do a drop and kick, breaking his other knee, which should have put him out of the fight. It was a good plan, trouble is, it didn't work. Instead of him lurching in a pivot, he lunged at me. I was already dropping down for that long side kick and he landed right on top of me, when I kicked against something that wasn't there anymore.

  We wound up in a ground fight, with him on top of me trying to bite my head off, literally. I was out of position as Hel, one leg fully extended, and both front paws on the ground as he hit me. In the three or so blinks that it took me to get my paws around where I could use them, he had raked both sides of my ribs, bad, and was trying for my throat.

  I had one last chance to take him before I wound up in "do or die"' mode which meant going Baresark, at which point the game was up. I got the back foot that wasn't fully extended under his belly and kicked with everything I had. Even when not in Baresark, that's a fair amount. Sean went flying off me, leaving a trail of intestine playing out behind like the tail of some macabre kite, and landing with a thud flat on his back. I stood quickly--well, as quickly as I could, my right thigh was starting to go, so I was a little slower than I would have liked. I felt that sharp pain on my left side that meant broken ribs. The right side hurt too, but it just felt like cuts, nothing deeper than that. Sean was on his back, not moving. His lower stomach was a wreck, with intestine trailed all the way back to where I stood.

  It's a funny thing about intestines, when they come out it looks like there's way more than could have possibly fit in originally, and well, the smell isn't exactly pleasant either. A 'Thrope is tough, but nothing but a vampire or god, was getting up from that. I looked over at Teador, for confirmation.

  He nodded "It is done." he sighed. "I hope you all are satisfied. We have a man whose wounds will keep him from any heavy work for at least a week, maybe more, and another who may never recover enough to be anything but a burden."

  The next two weeks were spent healing up, and what in the Navy we would have called "light duty". By the end of it, I was going stir-crazy, and more than ready to get out and about for a while. I still wasn't completely healed, but I was healed enough to walk out, and these guys haven't been able to get supplies for over 8 months, so that was going to be my next job. We put Sean back together as best we could, and with Yoshi's magic and mine, we managed to keep him alive, and put everything that was on the outside back on the inside. The only thing keeping him alive (I'm fairly sure) is the fact that 'Thropes don't get infections. Otherwise he would have surely died of peritonitis or any of a number of staph infections, "cause these guys had no antibiotics whatsoever. We couldn't do much about the tendon damage; if it had been done by a normal weapon, he would be healed by now. As it was, well, maybe it would knit back together, maybe not, time would tell.

  So they loaded a sledge up with the stuff that had been made, and sent me off with a shopping list. The challenge would be keeping the FPI off me while I filled it, and made plans to get these guys out of the woods and into some sort of care.

  What sort of care was going to be another question. The VA had, under the current administration, become an excuse to "document mental illness", which put the Vet a ward of the state. Some of these guys actually needed to be a ward of the state, frankly, but others were not in that boat, and I would hate to be the guy that told Teador (for instance) that he was no longer going to be allowed to make decisions for himself, but instead was going to be given a keeper, and live in "assisted living".

  Chapter Seventeen

  The run out to ci
vilization was unremarkable. The FPI goons were still looking, but they weren't the best in the world when it came to back country stuff. They couldn't use magic because they didn't know who they were looking for, and without an identifier, well you're just not going to get much. I'm sure they tried to do something off the wounds in young Sgt. Brown, but I doubt that got them anywhere, and if it did, it wouldn't help them find the 'Thropes, just the real murderers, and that wasn't what they wanted, now was it?

  As soon as I was sure I had shaken any pursuit, I e-mailed Murphy and let her know I was coming in, then e-mailed Pete to arrange a rendezvous. He picked me up along a forest service road and we were back in civilization in a few hours. Mary was waiting at the boat when we got back to it, and Pete kindly made himself scarce for the night. I didn't ask where he was going, frankly I didn't care. And that's all I'm going to say about that.

  Early the next morning we got in the Kidd for a wild run to Orcas Island, where we picked up the Lamborghini and headed to the ferry. The looks I got driving that (to outward appearances) fuel hog from Hel in amongst all the VW bugs and other hippymobiles, well it was priceless. I didn't feel the need to point out that it could run on used fry oil, or wood alcohol or any other damn thing that was liquid and burned, I just let them hate.

  It was really quite amusing. I did the numbers once on a Hybrid; gas would have to go to fifteen dollars a gallon before you hit the breakeven point over five years, at twenty-thousand miles a year (compared to say a Camry) and the waste created by the batteries, which have to be replaced every five years or so...well, let's just say that it's going to be obscenely expensive to get rid of, and highly toxic, in addition to costing about three to five grand to replace. But hey, they felt good about themselves, and had someone to look down on, so they were happy. They were also big believers in non-violence, so I wasn't going to have to break anyone, so I was happy. I'm a regular philanthropist, I am.