034 – An Afternoon Rest And Evening Entertainment

They turned up a draw, and across a saddle. Finally they entered a clearing, and stopped. Steven looked around, after a long day of hiking he was surprised to stop as he and Caspian usually went on for an hour more. Steven was startled to see a village around him. It was built right into the land, with very little done to change or prove the land that was not directly agricultural. Doors and windows looked out from between scrub and trees. Children were running around, as young and old adults were tending to chores. A light breeze up the draw kept the air fresh.

Steven nudged Caspian. “Are we in Hobbiton, or the home of Gustav Stickley?”

“Where?” Caspian was completely baffled by this comment from Steven.

“Sorry. Out of context joke.”

“Right.”

They stood in the area for a moment, and then were directed to another side area, a hollow in the terrain. In the bottom of this hollow was a hole. It was surrounded by two tiers of benches. The rectangular hole was about 8 feet deep, and lined by finished stone. They were settled on the inner row of benches, on the short side of the hole. Steven estimated it was about 12 feet wide and 30 feet long. As they settled down, loops of rope were put around their ankles. Steven was in the middle, with Caspian to his right and Abey to his left. They put down their traveling gear around them. Cyrril fluttered around the hollow, investigating whatever he could find.

A guard spoke to Abey for a moment.

“We are to stay here. And not go anywhere unescorted. Now, if you will excuse me for a bit.” She then turned to the guard and spoke in their language.

The guard nodded, and Abey slipped her ankle out of her loop, and went with another guard out of the hollow.

Steven turned to Caspian at this point.

“Why are you letting her do all the talking?”

Caspian was working his boots off as he answered. “Because she speaks the language better than I do.”

“Right.”

They were sorting their gear and stretching a bit when Abey returned. She seemed to bounce along, enjoying what was happening. She slipped her foot into her loop, and made herself comfortable, as Steven watched.

“So, what happens now?”

“Well, we wait.” Abey stretched a bit, and sat on the ground, her back against the bench. “Come dinner time, the village will assemble, and we will take our turns in the pit. Kill or be killed.”

“Who will we fight?”

“Whatever critter they toss in with you.”

“What do we fight with?”

“What ever you take in with you.”

“You’re excited.”

“Yeah.”

Caspian leaned over to join in. “Why?”

She smiled up at both men. “Remember my irritation over what my mother did not send with you?”

Both men nodded, vaguely.

“Well, I was looking for a certain necklace, with matching bracelet and earrings. Mom never liked them. There was a lot that Mom didn’t like that way.”

Caspian interrupted, “What made these special?”

“I made them myself. ‘Umpa was from this land. He kidnapped and raped ‘Nana. She eventually came to love him, but only after he took her home to Beowa. Well, mom really dislikes the idea of being the bastard child of a rape, never mind that her brothers and sister are all legitimate. So, as ‘Nana was able to tend the farm with the kids help ‘Umpa returned to his people. But only for the summers. Come harvest he was back, and working as hard as the rest, usually with a stock of meat and summer-furs to trade. Well. Mom married, and I came along. ‘Umpa and ‘Nana both came back to this land, a village to the south of here. I spent most summers and one winter with them, to mom’s chagrin. Along the way, I learned their tongue.

“Well, at Mom’s request, I was kept off limits from the young men. To Mom’s chagrin, ‘Umpa taught me to hunt. So, the necklace and earrings were made from the teeth and claws of things I killed those summers, while tending ‘Nana’s flocks. The bracelet was the claws and teeth of a mountain cat that I killed,” Abey gestured to the pit, “in taking a turn in a pit.”

Steven guessed the rest. “So your mother did not approve, and to discourage you, she did not send them. That might also explain whom your parents ‘gave’ you to.”

Abey nodded.

When Steven had first found her, he had thought Abey to be a helpless waif. But as he got to know her, he discovered that she was far from helpless. Save in the face of her social situation. Until he came along.

“She did not send my sling either. That is why I had to borrow one. Otherwise I would be contributing to the meals more.” Abey turned to her belt at that point and pulled the sling off with its bag of shot and handed it back to Caspian.

Caspian spoke as he put the sling away under his coat. “Oh, yes. ‘It’s not a woman’s place to provide. Only to tend and prepare what is provided.’”

“That’s Mom. Now, after telling who my grandparents are, I get to go back in the pit. And claim a new set of trophies.”

This idea intrigued Steven. Caspian was also very interested, but down played his enthusiasm.

“How is this? Are there some rules for going in,” Steven asked.

“As I said before, it is a test of valor. I have actually been in 6 times. The seventh time is against the nastiest critter they will put in. Also the contest is really to put yourself to the level of the critter you are there with. To face a mountain cat with a sword is considered less than using a knife.”

Abey turned to the guard, and spoke to him in their language. He left and returned shortly, with a bag that he gave to her. She opened it, pulled its contents out. They were gauntlets, of various sizes. Made of leather, the fingers looked to end just beyond the first knuckle. Fixed between each finger and running to a plate attached to the palm was a set of four short curved blades. They all looked well used and cared for, and were tied in pairs by the laces that would be used to tie them closed. The blades looked well cared for, and sharp enough. Abey sorted through the pile, and tried on three pair, before finding one that she liked.

It came half way up her forearm, and wrapped tight, to reinforce the wrist. The blades were a bit longer than her fingers, when spread. When she clenched to a fist, she gripped the plate that held the blades, and pinched the blades between her fingers. They looked generally like claws.

“Using these, and dressed in as much as the critter is, is considered the pinnacle of valor.”

Caspian looked for a moment, as Cyrril fluttered over to examine the gauntlets. “Have you used something like those before?”

“The last two times.” Abey smiled in a wistful remembrance. “If you really want to impress these people, go for as even a match against the critter as you can.”

The village was signaled by a bell from somewhere nearby, and people filtered in to the hollow to watch the spectacle. Steven noticed that many bore the marks of various slashes. A few had missing eyes, or misshapen limbs. Many more looked as fit as any Steven had encountered. Several young men with spears took up positions around the pit, and stood there as if to guard it. Torches were lit, though the sun was still coming through the trees.

Caspian put his boots back on, and called Cyrril to order. He had only removed his cloak and shoulder bag, keeping his coat on, and his staff nearby. Abey had removed her boots, as had Steven. As for that, they had all generally divested themselves of their travel gear, having sat there or stood near for some time. Steven had honed his knife, and sword. Also he had put his crossbow, pack, and coat aside.

An older man called the assembly to order, by standing on the bench beside Abey, his hands raised for attention. Shortly the crown was quiet. The man addressed them briefly, and gestured to the three of them, and then to the pit.

He turned to them, and addressed them in the common tongue.

“Who will go first?”

Abey stood up. “I will.” She then switched to the local tongue, and addressed the crowd.

They roared back in challenge. The gauntlets she had picked out earlier were presented to her.

Abey quickly divested herself of her clothes, down to her boob-tube and breach cloth. She pulled her hair from its restraint and let it hang down her back. Then she pulled the gauntlets on and the leader tied them closed. A set of barbed knee pads was tied on. Barefoot, and nearly naked, she stepped to the center of the wall, and raised her fists in the air in salute. She stood where she could be seen by all, idly clanging the blades together.

Steven remembered watching her at the lake. Then he was not close enough to see any detail. Earlier when she had offered herself to him, the light was not bright enough for a detailed look, and he was concerned about other things. Now with her close enough to touch, and in just her skivvies, he could see as she moved around she had three sets of claw marks across her body. One that ran down her left side, from below her ribs to mid-thigh; a concentric set that ran across her shoulder blades; one set that ran down her belly.

Steven looked quickly at Caspian. But he was looking across the pit, to where a cage was being moved by extended carry handles to the edge.

Abey dropped into the pit, walked to the middle, and yelled in the native language for a few moments. The crowd yelled in nearly joyous frenzy.

She challenged the crowd again. They yelled again and began to chant. Then at the far end, the cage was in position. The carry handles were long enough for two men on either side, or to allow a lot of room for one. Some snarling critter was inside, spitting and growling.

Steven turned and noticed that Caspian had suddenly moved. He had thrown his hood over Cyrril, and was working to get the little dragon in a restraining hold. One of the locals looked ready to help, but Caspian quickly had Cyrril under control.

The crowd roared, and Steven turned to see something land on its feet below the cage. In the light available, it looked to be about the size of a small adult bear. It staggered a bit, and regained its composure, then looked about in irritation and hissed at the noise. The crowd quieted, and Abey screamed at the thing. Steven decided it looked about like he figured a wolverine would, but was a bit larger, and possibly different in the construction of its head and face.

She stood her ground as it surveyed the situation. It looked around, and decided it wanted out more than it wanted her. It turned to leap back the way it came. Three young men with spears moved to block its way, as Abey also moved. She charged and leapt on its back, her weight colliding with it as its spring started. She wrapped her arms around it, as it crashed into the wall, instead of onto it. They tumbled and it snarled as she stayed on top. She got off it, and backhanded its muzzle. Steven was not sure, but thought he could see its back torn up a bit where her knee pads had bit in as she landed.

It rounded on her, and swatted at her, growling. Abey dodged, and the thing turned away, to try to escape again. Again, she stopped it, by backhanding its ears. It flinched, and turned back to her, it swatted again, and she backed away. It paced a bit before her, as she matched it. She again swatted it when it tried to turn away.

Steven realized that she had not yet used the cutting edges of the claws yet. “She must want the trophy.”

“Yes.” The leader beside him on the bench agreed.

It paced a bit more, then tamped its hind legs a bit, and crouched, facing her. She faced it square, slightly to its right. It would have to leap slightly diagonal, and Steven wondered if she had torn up this side’s rear leg. Its spring was almost a surprise, but in the instant before it moved, it flinched.

Abey lunged as the thing leapt, and pulled it over, so that she landed on top of it, as it landed on its side. It was thicker and heavier than she was, and growled and swiped at her, as she worked to stay on top. It bit into her left shoulder, as it scratched and grabbed at her back, and looked to be trying to get its rear legs in to do damage.

Abey screamed as it bit her, and got her right hand in under its neck. Her arm jerked out hard, and into the paw on that side. Blood washed out from under her head as the creature tried to continue struggling.

Their noises stopped, and the creature stopped moving.

Steven watched as Abey got up from the now dead beast. She had a fresh set of deep scratches on the middle of her back running from the center to the left, and had to open its jaw to get its teeth out of her flesh. Streams of blood ran down from the bite. Her left arm hung at her side, though she worked the elbow and hand. She stood up, and caught her breath. Then turned her head up and yelled, raising her right hand.

The crowd yelled back, and then quieted.

Abey walked back to this side of the pit, and a looped rope was dropped to her. Her face and front were covered in blood, though most of it was not hers. She put her foot in the loop, and held on with her right hand. Steven could see that her right gauntlet was soaked in blood. The damage to her shoulder on her front was more severe than her back, as it had evidently been chewing on her a bit. A healer emerged from the crowd and began tending to her.

“Are you ok?” Steven leaned past the leader to make eye contact.

She was still breathing a bit hard. “Yeah. My shoulder is a mess, but I’m fine. You’re next.”

Abey chuckled, and winced as the healer poured what smelled of alcohol over the bite to begin cleansing it.