Chapter 11

Clearing up the sex slavery in the whore houses along the USA/Mexico border was a bigger task than Fire Bringer had realized when he started the job. It took about a year to rescue the women and girls and to track down and eliminate all of the criminals involved. When he finished, he had 22 women and 13 girls that their families didn't want and had no place to go. It's amazing how stupid and cruel people can be, even to members of their own family. Oh, well, Fire Bringer realized that it was up to him to work out a way to make these women and girls happy, since no one else was going to do it, and he could not keep them in limbo indefinitely.

He knew that just giving them some money and turning them loose wouldn't work, since most of them would drift back into prostitution for lack of anything else to do. The women and girls all had the ultimate ambition to get married and have a family of their own, but they didn't know what to do in the interim, nor did they have any idea how to meet appropriate men. The only institution available to handle the situation appeared to be the Catholic Church with its system of nunneries. He visited several nunneries in Texas and Mexico and was able to negotiate placement for the women and girls. He had to scatter them out over many such places to keep from overloading any facilities, but his promise of payment for the expenses of the entire operation was enough to insure acceptance, because the priests and nuns he worked with really did sincerely want to help these unfortunate victims.

It was now 1871, and Fire Bringer was nominally 15 years old, though he was intellectually far beyond that age. His hormones had kicked in with a vengeance, and he couldn't help but notice girls and enjoy the feelings that went with that. He was able to gain physical relief by visiting prostitutes, just as was done by all other young men of the era who had the money for it, but he had the advantage that Storm Who Walks could steer him away from the ones with STDs (sexually transmitted diseases).

In this way, Fire Bringer was able to maintain a platonic relationship with the women he rescued, even though some of the women would have liked to carry the relationship further than that. As was bound to happen, Fire Bringer fell in love. It came about this way: he broke up a stage coach robbery, but too late to save everybody.

Four bandits had attacked a coach running between El Paso and Clifton on the road paralleling the Rio Grande. They had managed to stop the coach and rob the passengers. They killed the driver and the guard, as well as two male passengers. Two female passengers were now the main participants in a rape party. The women were naked and being mounted by two of the bandits when Fire Bringer became aware of the situation. He wasted no time in transporting the men to his favorite desert and leaving them, naked, at the mercy of the elements and the Jacquis.

The older woman had been penetrated by her assailant and had fainted, but the younger woman, who was only 15, herself, and the daughter of the older woman, had not gotten quite that far, so she could still claim her virginity. She was still conscious and fighting when she was rescued, and Fire Bringer could not help admiring both her spirit and her beauty. He covered the women with their torn clothes before he put in an appearance, dressed in his fire costume.

The clothes made no difference to Fire Bringer—his perfect memory had already recorded the appearance of the naked body of the young lady. She fit all of his ideas of female physical perfection, and he was smitten in an instant. Her fighting spirit also drew him to her like iron to a magnet; too many women were too submissive for his taste, he preferred some "attitude," as well.

Naturally, she was frightened by his fiery appearance, so he turned off his costume and took on the guise of a normal man. "Who ... Who are you?" she asked in a hesitant voice, admittedly somewhat intimidated by his ability to change his look in an instant.

"I am called Fire Bringer, that's why I wear the fancy costume. I am really quite harmless to my friends. What is your name, if I may be so bold?"

"I am Maria Consuelo Juanita Murphy. That is my mother whom you also rescued. Those despicable bandits murdered my father and brother."

"I am sure that you would be more comfortable with some clothes. I will fetch your trunks so that you may find clothes for yourself and your mother. I will absent myself while you dress, so that your modesty will be preserved."

"That's very nice of you. I do appreciate your consideration. How do I contact you after we are clothed?"

"Just call out my name, Fire Bringer. I will return when you call me. Here are your trunks. Goodbye for now."

It took 30 minutes for Maria to wake her mother and get her dressed, so it was nearly an hour before she called out "FIRE BRINGER?"

"Here I am, Miss Murphy. How do you do, Mrs. Murphy? I thought it better for you to see me in costume before I showed myself as a normal person. I assumed that would make it easier to believe what happened." Fire Bringer then blanked out his costume and appeared in his normal guise.

Mrs. Murphy asked, "Who are you, really, young man?"

"I know that you will find it hard to believe, but I am a representative of the spirit world. I devote my time to trying to right wrongs and to help those who cannot defend themselves. Though I may not look the part, I am quite human. I just have some extra abilities and powers that were given to me by the Great Spirit to enable me to do my job. I am in a constant war against evil, I will probably never win the war, but I hope to win as many battles as I can."

"We certainly appreciate the fact that you have rescued us from the bandits, but what do my daughter and I do now?"

"Well, you certainly cannot travel any farther by this coach, since the bandits killed the mules pulling it. Where were you going?"

"We were headed home to our ranch after visiting relatives near El Paso. My husband..." Here, she broke into tears and could not continue.

Maria embraced her and let her cry. Without thinking about it and not really conscious of his actions, Fire Bringer wrapped his arms around both of the women; this was when Maria started to cry. The women continued to cry for about 10 minutes before the tears slowed to a mere trickle, and the three realized that Fire Bringer was holding them. He dropped his arms in embarrassment, but Mrs. Murphy turned to him and kissed his cheek. "Thank you, Fire Bringer, I feel better now."

She resumed her short story, "We were returning to our rancho a few miles from Clifton. We expected to hire a buckboard in Clifton and drive it to the rancho. My son would have returned it the next day." This produced another burst of tears, and this time she turned directly to Fire Bringer for comfort and support. Maria embraced them both, and there was another round of tears.

Fire Bringer let them cry, this time for over 20 minutes. They both seemed to have run out of tears at this point, so Fire Bringer suggested that they return directly to their ranch. The women gave him blank looks, so he explained that he could teleport them home; all they needed to do was to visualize the house and its location as exactly as possible. Both women concentrated, and he easily read the information he needed.

In a moment, he transported them home, the bodies and the luggage to the appropriate bedrooms and the three living people to the parlor of the house. He left the stage and the other bodies for the investigators to find; they could puzzle over the mystery of the missing passengers.

Both women were startled by the transition. He explained what he had done and where they could find the two corpses and the luggage. Mrs. Murphy suggested that Maria fix them some coffee while she went to her bedroom. Fire Bringer followed Maria into the kitchen where she started building a fire in the stove. He asked her if she really needed to heat up the stove then, or would she like to wait until later.