The Damsel Not In So Much Distress

Five minutes earlier, inside the Bauchan leader’s tent

“Ya dinnae mind, dae ya?” the Bauchan leader asked Aza after three of his guards brought a cask of ale inside his tent; the same one he had tasted from earlier while on top of the truck. The guards stood waiting by it for a while seemingly apprehensive while listening to loud cheers from the others obviously drinking their share of the stolen ale. Deciding they had been tortured enough, he let them go and join the others on the drinking of their spoils.

“Me, mind being kidnapped, have my hands bound and being threatened to be ****? No, of course not. What girl would?” Aza finally answered him sarcastically after the other three had left them alone.

“No, I didnae mean that,” he told her with an evil grin and walked towards the cask and rested his hand on top of it. “I mean if ya dinnae mind drinking from the cheap quality ale. Ma father used tae make them back in the day, so I’ve grown accustomed to the cheaper variety. I also hate the fancy kind. Gimme the cheap stuff any day.”

“To tell you the truth, I prefer something less bitter,” she said defiantly. She realized that being alone with him had improved her odds somewhat. She needed to plan for her escape, but even after she had taken care of her main captor, she would still have to face the rest of the camp that was outside. It didn’t help her that, once again, most of her gear had been taken away from her; all she had on was a shirt that was just big enough to hide her private parts.

“It is of no use, lassy,” the Bauchan told her after he noticed her searching for a possible way out. “There’s no way of escape and no one will find us, so help ain’t coming for ya.” He said as he took a mug from an adjacent small table and filled it with the ale from the cask. He placed the mug on the table presenting it to her, then took another mug for himself.

“I’d advise ya tae not fight the inevitable or else I'll have tae call some of the guards tae hold ya down during the fun,” he threatened her while he took a sip from his mug. He smacked his lips after savoring the bitter taste of the cheap ale. “Then again, I guess ya might prefer an audience?”

Preferring to stay alone with him, Aza took the mug from the table; at least it would have the added benefit of delaying him from doing to her whatever he intended to do. She drank from the mug and presented it back to him as if she was asking for more.

The Bauchan happily obliged her and filled it back up. He did the same after he finished his first cup.

John was cautious at first while he walked around the camp; fearing the possibility of waking up the Bauchans, he did his best to not make a noise. He noticed that three casks of ale were opened and had probably been drunk from; another two were lined up on the ground as if waiting to be opened. Only one cask was missing. Aza was nowhere in sight and, to make matters worse, neither was the Bauchan leader.

All that was left for John to do was search for them in the tents. The first one he entered was a sleeping quarter with four beds inside it; by the foot of each bed, there was a small chest. The next two tents were exactly the same. In the fourth tent, his jaw dropped as he saw a wide variety of items that ranged from weapons and equipment to a significant assortment of food. They were all arranged in such a disorderly fashion that John guessed that the Bauchans just stored each item anywhere they found a space for it.

When he caught sight of the gear that he had purchased for Aza, John initially panicked; he was only relieved when he searched through the pile and saw that they didn’t take all of her clothes. At least now I am sure I am at the right place, he thought as he stored her shortsword and buckler in his inventory. Still, no sign of Aza, the leader or the sixth cask.

John was about to enter the fifth tent when he heard a commotion coming from one of the bigger tents further from him. He quickly equipped his swords while he rushed towards the tent from where he believed the noise had come from.

As he entered the tent, John saw the Bauchan leader about to advance on Aza. Both occupants of the tent noticed him enter and were quite surprised. Aza smiled relieved and the Bauchan was enraged after the initial shock.

John was surprised to see that the leader was still conscious, but seeing the half-empty mug in his hand only proved that he had been drinking the ale. John also remembered seeing the Bauchan drinking from a cask while he was on top of the truck. The only explanation he could come up with was that it was the same cask as the one inside the tent which was also the only one that didn't have Amanda's concoction in it. The sudden urge to curse his bad luck quickly went away with the realization that he was the only Bauchan still conscious out of a whole camp; it was an actually way better scenario than he expected when he had entered the barrier.

“What the? How the hell did ya get here?” the surprised leader asked quickly unsheathing his shortsword.

“It was really quite easy, all the others from this camp are knocked out drunk,” John answered him preferring to taunt the Bauchan than to tell him how he entered his camp barrier.

“That’s not possible!” the Bauchan obviously didn’t expect John’s answer; he was stunned after hearing that he was the only one left and that he had to face the human alone. He did not want to believe his foe; there was no way he would have entered his tent without the others noticing him. “How can they be knocked out so quickly from just drinking ale?”

John preferred not to answer him and moved slowly towards Aza.

“Fuck, where is that drunk asshole Adrang when ya need him?” the Bauchan asked furiously.

John finally reached Aza and cut the rope bindings on her arm; wanting to protect her, he moved to position himself in front of her. His foe realizing what was happening advanced on him in an attempt to stop them from escaping. Even though he was alone, only the human posed any threat to him.

“Ya didnae really think ya could barge in here and easily escape, did ya?” the Bauchan said as he moved to strike his opponent.

John blocked the first attack just in time after proximity sense had warned him; he even had to use both of his swords to do so. The quickness in the Bauchan’s movement and how close he had come to actually landing a hit on him showed him that their agility must have been very close.

John tried to keep his focus as he defended one quick attack after the other. He tried striking at the Bauchan a few times, but those were countered. It was quickly becoming a stalemate between the two as no one managed to land a successful hit on the other. The Bauchan yelled in frustration but still kept on attacking.

Suddenly another Bauchan entered the tent quite confused by what was happening around him.

“Glardel, ya abstinent bastard, never again will I mock ya for yar sober way of life,” yelled the Bauchan leader happy to see that at least one other camp member was conscious.

“Sorry,” Glardel yawned mid apology, “I was sleeping at ma tent.” He unsheathed his sword as he noticed the intruder that was fighting his leader.

“Never mind that, come here and help me,” his leader ordered him.

“Hey, Gamer, you don’t by any chance have a spare sword, do you?” Aza asked John wanting to help him. “You can at least give me one of the two you are already holding.”

John smiled at her and realized how foolish he was being. Before the other Bauchan could get in range to attack them, he gave her one of his swords to fend of the leader’s attacks while he retrieved her buckler from his inventory. Believing they planned to attack him before Glardel reached them, the leader backed away towards his ally. John took advantage of this to give the Buckler to Aza and retrieved the other sword for his own use.

“Glardel, ya take on the kobold; dae what ya want with her. This fucking human is mine,” the leader ordered the other Bauchan once again as he advanced on his target. “Ya will pay for invading my camp, ya wanker.”

John was too focused on his opponent to keep track of the other two that were fighting in the tent. He only hoped he could finish him off in time to help Aza. John had **** but to become more aggressive. After he deflected an attack, he tried using double strike, but only his left-hand sword landed a hit on his opponent’s torso; the Bauchan countered and struck John on his left thigh.

Even though John’s strike was more significant, the damage and pain on his thigh were enough to restrict his movement and thus impairing his defensive capabilities. The Bauchan took advantage of it to even the score with a quick strike to his chest. John chose to back away from his opponent to give gamer’s body enough time to repair his first wound.

To John’s surprise, Aza suddenly appeared by his side, and the two of them attacked the remaining Bauchan. They kept on attacking, each landing a superficial hit until they cornered their foe against the back of the tent.

“Surrender,” John ordered the leader as Aza and he pointed their swords at him.

“Never!” he said as he made a sudden strike on Aza’s sword with enough strength to knock it out of her hand. Taking advantage of the opportunity, he advanced on her with deadly intent.

John was quick to react and struck the Bauchan on the head with his sword pommel as Aza blocked the incoming sword with her shield. Fortunately, the Bauchan was knocked out by the hit.

“Are you ok?” he asked the Kobold girl.

“I am fine, let’s get this over with and get what we came here for,” Aza answered.

John felt the same desire to leave the camp as quickly as possible, but to make sure that they wouldn’t be attacked anymore, he wanted to tie up the Bauchans. He looked around and found a rope big enough to hold the two.

After tying the **** leader’s hand and feet, he asked Aza, “Where’s the other one?”

“He’s dying over there,” she dismissively answered him while pointing at the Bauchan lying in a pool of his own blood.

“Why did you do that?” he asked her as he rushed to the bleeding Bauchan. “You were not supposed to kill him.”

“Gamer, this is the Abyss. It’s kill or be killed,” she answered him quite surprised. “You know what these assholes were about to do to me. We should kill him too,” she said pointing at the leader of the camp.

John ignored her, even though deep down he knew she was somewhat right. He tried to feel for any vital signs; it was very faint, but still, he was alive. Without thinking much about it, he took his last health potion and put it up against his lips trying to make him drink from it. To his relief and Aza’s disbelief, it worked; he then proceeded to tie him up in the same way as he had done with the other Bauchan.

“Come on, let’s get out of here,” John told her after he checked that the two Bauchans were well tied up and still ****. As he passed a table, he saw a map spread on top of it. His curiosity got the best of him, so he walked closer to the table to check it out; he was surprised by what it represented.