Freedom for Contrez – Part Four
(Queen’s Envoy and Champion)
Sixth in the Forest Amazon Series
By Wyldewood

What had recently gone before:
The trial of the bear was over and Queen Amerlin had emerged unbeaten and unbroken, though not without significant injuries. Contrez for her part, had then sought out the now banished warrior woman Spice, recognizing that the matter between them was still unresolved and with the queen’s unwilling blessings, she found Spice, took her well beyond the kingdom’s borders and in a fight of honor, defeated her and buried her body but not without serious damage of her own as well, leaving both women in need of healing up before Contrez could start on the new and important mission the queen had planned for her.

And now, the latest story. . . .
By all rights, Contrez should have been well enough to start out on the trip to the larger villages of the Forest Amazon valley. The broken ribs on both her and Queen Amerlin should have healed, but both women as the chief War Priestess knew all too well as she once again found herself applying bindings to both women’s chests loved to grapple, to test each others endurance, strength, stamina and how long they could outlast each other. No sooner had the priestess declared the healing was progressing fairly well and they were at it again and took damage and now this third time. Giving both women her sternest stare in an attempt she knew was already doomed she told them to both knock off the rough stuff for a minimum of a month to let the healing complete this time. She was barely out the door of the queen’s chamber and she heard stifled laughter from inside and sighed. Shaking her head and suspecting she would be back again all too soon, she left the Queen’s hut complex.
To her shock and surprise, the whole month did pass quietly, and she was not summoned to the queen’s hut to patch up either of them, though by the third week she had seen fresh scrapes and bruises on them both telling her they were at it again, but at least this time they kept it reined in. A final inspection and she declared the ribs and other injuries finally healed, adding extra emphasis to the word ‘finally’.
She might have been more shocked that the queen had accepted the warning a month back as she realized her scheduled plans to visit all her villages in the kingdom were steadily getting later and later. It was time for them to both heal and for Contrez to begin her duties as the Queen’s Envoy and Champion. The friendship between Amerlin and her slave Contrez who at one time was queen of the smoking mountains people until war had erupted between them had grown steadily with both women having a deep respect for the other’s abilities, complete honesty, and open willingness to speak their mind regardless of their very different ranks in life. Amerlin had put that time they healed to good use and she put Contrez to good use as well. Each day as Amerlin conducted her queenly duties in the main chamber of her hut complex, Contrez was over to one side with various wise women and men called from this and the other villages to teach Contrez all they could of the history and laws of the land. If Contrez was to serve as both the queen’s envoy and now also as her champion, a title she added after the Spice affair, she needed to be as fully versed in all this as possible. It would be no easy task, Contrez had to learn in a month’s time what most learned over years and more, and she found herself struggling in part to absorb it all. A fact that Amerlin noticed without the need of the others to advise her.
It was time, now that Contrez was declared fit for her to begin the delayed journey through the other villages in her new role. Amerlin called Contrez before her and also fifteen other women and men that would make up the party that was going to make the trip. Eight of them were from the queen’s own personal fighting group, hand picked by her to serve Contrez to the best of their ability. The other seven could also fight fairly well, but their main purpose was to continue to instruct Contrez and if need be should Contrez start to make an error from her lack of knowledge step in and correct her. The fact that they could by Amerlin’s orders step in and essentially pull rank over her rankled Contrez a bit, especially as the queen stated it before the others assembled there as well. Amerlin made it clear that this was how it would be until she was satisfied that Contrez could handle her new duties on her own, this trip as she openly explained it, was her proverbial trial by fire to prove she had learned enough to serve on her own without advisors.
In the morning, they would be heading east to the first of the major villages that was less than a day’s travel from the queen’s own. Dismissing the others to prepare for the morning, Amerlin quickly wrapped up the remaining queen’s matters for the current problem and after checking that the remaining waiting to see her did not have matters that were urgent, had them sent home or put up in a visitor’s hut to await her in the morning. Signaling Contrez to follow her, the queen walked around the village as she did at least twice each day, and eventually ending up near the edge of it as the Queen verbally probed Contrez’s grasp of the laws, rites, and rituals and seemed satisfied she would do well enough.
Stopping at one of the larger watch stations, the queen ordered a pair of fresh fighting women to serve her as an escort and then had the four of them walk in to the forest, the village soon disappearing in to the dense woods as they soon left the main trail and went cross country a couple miles to one of the areas many ‘hunter trees’. Here, she stopped and instructed the guards to stand watch on the ground and ignore anything they heard from above and she and Contrez climbed up to the platform high in the trees. Contrez already had realized where they were going when they stepped off the trail a bit back, as she and the queen had come here a few times already and there was a look of anticipation in her own eyes as well as in the queen’s as they stepped out on the platform. No words were needed as they both shed clothes, weapons and everything else, and looked out over the forest watching as the setting sun slowly brought darkness to the land.
“Mmmmm,” was all the queen said as the last of the sun vanished over the horizon, and she lit a pair of small shuttered lanterns setting them on the floor of the platform so they lit the floor in a dim light and they could see where the edges were. “It’d been too long since we’ve been up here and enjoyed one of our sessions.” Contrez had to agree, she also enjoyed the sessions here as they tended to be very intense with both women willingly pushing their limits to the fullest. Sketching a semi-formal bow towards Amerlin, Contrez asked her what her pleasure was for the night.
“Much as I’d like to choose something that would test our bodies severely,” the queen replied, “I want you fit enough to travel come morning. We do however have some unfinished business from a few weeks ago, that I think we can finish here and now without too much damage.” Turning towards Contrez she slowly closed the several feet between them, “There is the matter of the ‘breathless breasts’ that kept getting interrupted for one thing or another. I still want to see which of us can force the other to end the duel and beg for the final smother to put the loser out. Think you can do it?” The question was part boast, part dare, and part statement of fact. There was a local rumor almost a legend than when it came to breast smothers, she always emerged the victor. Contrez for her part, knew the hold as well, had also used it even in the Northern lands that used to be her home. She had doubts she was as experienced as her queen, but that had never stopped her before, and there had been the short private duel barely a month ago that she won when she had out smothered the queen, though she later began to suspect the truth that the queen had thrown the fight. This however was going to be for real, and she was willing to try and defeat the queen.
Turning to face Amerlin, the smile was on her face and Amerlin didn’t need her to say she was ready, her face and eyes even in the dim light told her the they would do it. Contrez however was not above a few surprises of her own and she sprung one herself suggesting a slightly different start to the usual prone position. Amerlin always open for new ideas was willing to listen, and was pleasantly surprised at the new twist she offered as she stepped to the center and kneeling down, leaned way back and told Amerlin to kneel behind her head. The queen caught the idea in a flash and she willingly took the position suggested. Amerlin was about to lean forward her whole upper body weight essentially pinning her slave in her leaning back position even as they locked arms around each other’s heads to apply the smother and she would thrust her legs out and back and try to keep herself balanced that to start adding more pressure to Contrez’s straining back. Contrez for her part however could use her body like that and their locked head to try and twist the two of them over dropping Amerlin on her back and Contrez on top and the usual prone struggle would then commence. First advantage was to Amerlin so long as she stayed on top, but if Contrez could twist her, the impact would drive some air from her and shift advantage to Contrez in turn. It was an interesting twist and Amerlin was willing to risk it as well and the two women closed, bent and locked each other in, arms circling the head and then closing for the air tight seal.
For the two guards down on the ground, the low muffled moans and groans would never reach their ears, the very faint sounds of thumping from above was nothing to be concerned about. Neither had a clue of the serious duel that was going on between the two women, a duel that would last well past the time when the moon had reached its zenith, and the two women at last climbed down. Eyes raised at the sight of a few scrapes both showed, but had enough sense to ask no questions. For the parts of Amerlin and Contrez, both women were exhausted and all but staggering, and would have probably fallen down, had they not after a winner had finally emerged suggested they wait an hour or so to recover. With a guard ahead and another behind, neither could see the quiet looks the two women, queen and slave, had shared with each other. It had been a rough struggle, both had passed out repeatedly along the way as they tried to hold the other on the edge and then had to restart, Amerlin for her part found herself a couple times as well taking the lean back starting position when she passed out underneath Contrez. Nor did either guard spot the secret smile on Contrez’s face that came from hearing the queen at long last beg the struggle to end conceding her the victory. Even now Amerlin was looking at Contrez with a certain speculative look on her face, and was making plans for a rematch between them; especially since her slave had admitted almost right afterwards that the queen had her on the verge of surrender as well. It had been that close, and if it had not been for the start of the mission shortly after dawn, she might have asked for the rematch then and there. Still, so long as the remaining black band stayed on her neck, she remained a slave, and so long as those two red bands likewise remained around her neck, Contrez was her prize and her property. There would be, she realized more than enough time for that rematch and many other matches as well.
Dawn would see the two once again outside the queen’s hut, this time with the assigned retinue along with her as Amerlin and Contrez exchanged a warrior’s embrace and then turning without further word, the group turned east and soon entered the forest and disappeared from sight. Amerlin breathed a long sigh as they disappeared, it would be a long two to three weeks before they returned, and she was already a bit bored. She still had a few hours of official matters to deal with as Queen of course, but as she started her usual morning walk around the village her mind was already toying with ideas. It had been over a year since the man she favored had died during the war, died in fact at the hands of Contrez. If she wanted to continue the reign after her death with her blood she would need a suitable male to create a child within her, and there was that young man recently proving his worth as a fighter and a hunter that had caught her eye, perhaps a visit to the camp of the hunters and huntresses on the edge of the village was in order. After that. . . .
For Contrez, this journey as the queen’s envoy and champion was something she was also looking forward to. Since her return with her people of the smoking mountain, and the division of them among the five villages, she had essentially not ventured beyond the village of the queen except when in the company of the queen and never to any of the other villages yet. She was looking forward to seeing these villages, to meet some of her former people, many whom she personally knew, and also to fulfill her new duties as well as possible which meant becoming very familiar with the entire forest valley kingdom. This first leg was probably going to be the easiest part, as the first large village was just over a half day’s travel by foot, an hour or so to reach the Suhr River that ran west to east down the middle of the valley and then along a well beaten and used trail to the village.
The party made good time the whole way, the only delay being a brief encounter with one of the snakes of the river who made the mistake of attacking the party and trying to drag one of them under only to have the rest turn and kill it within seconds. A brief pause on the other river bank to be sure the ‘victim’ was all right and the march resumed and the village on the river banks soon came in to sight shortly after the sun had reached the zenith. Immediately Contrez sought out the village chieftess as laws expected her to and after proper introductions and explaining her purpose there, the two began a fairly brief tour of the village. Even as they did this, word was quickly spread of Contrez’s arrival and her reason for being there and by time the two had returned to the hut of the chieftess many had gathered there both to see her and to present any problems she may need to carry back to the queen.
All in all, the village which thanks to the river location was a fair bit larger than the queen’s was in good shape, and the actual number of complaints were not that many, some of them, Contrez after a brief consult with her advisors resolved herself in the name of the queen, though she would the following day leave with a few sheets of parchment with notes on them in her own hand of problems the queen needed to consider herself. The fighting exploits of Contrez had indeed made the rounds here and after the more formal activities had ended at dark, she found herself invited to a large fireside celebration where drinking and story telling was the main activity. For her part, Contrez found herself telling of the fight with the man bear in the queen’s hut who had wanted to kill both her and the queen and set himself as the new king. The story told in the first hand apparently left its mark on many of them, and in the morning she found her popularity had grown even more.
It was time however to move on, and after another couple hours of formal duties there, the group secured the services of several large canoes and were floated down stream for about half the distance to the next village, stopping about a quarter mile short of a waterfall that would not allow them to go further without the risk of getting caught by the fast moving waters to be swept over the top of the falls. From here they would walk the rest of the way to the next village. The trip past the falls was perhaps the hardest and most treacherous part of the journey. The falls were themselves quite tall, close to a three hundred foot drop top to bottom, and the trail that was close to the falls was very steep, rocky and slick from the spray of the water. Once down they had a quarter mile journey to where a rope bridge crossed the river leading to the trail down towards the next village. It was close to late afternoon when they crossed the bridge and decided to camp for the night there. The nearby river further down was well known for the crocodiles and most wisely did not walk the trail at night in case one was out of the river and close to it. They did however dislike the light of fire, and that night with a good watch out just to be safe in which Contrez stood her share of it, they slept well with large bonfires making a three point circle around a well used camp area. Morning would see them moving on early as they still had a ways to go and hoped to be to the village by mid afternoon.
The trip on this stretch went without incident, however upon entering the village; almost everyone could sense right away that something was not right. There was an almost palatable sense of anxiety on the faces of everyone, and when they went to meet the village chieftess, they soon found out the reason why. The woman that came out of the hut was not the person Amerlin had made the chieftess but someone else, someone unknown to Contrez but apparently not unknown to at least some of the advisors. “Korren” one of the advisors near Contrez said, the name coming out almost as if it was half oath and half curse. “Explain” was all Contrez said to the comment and got a quick earful before the woman came in to earshot. “Korren is the daughter of Queen Lurren, who had started the war in this valley and was in a blood feud with Amerlin as well. Like her mother, she was known as a fighter with little to no honor, and she probably killed the chieftess here in formal fight to claim the village.” Little more could be said then as the woman had now closed the distance and there was no doubt from the look on her face that the party of Queen Amerlin was not a welcome sight.
Looking the party over she made her feeling clear and blunt, “You who serve Amerlin are not welcome here in this village, I rule here now, and I say this village is no longer a part of the rule of Amerlin, and in fact she had best better prepare to deal with me as her equal for I have declared myself queen of the lower valley after I dispatched her chieftess two days ago!” The woman before her was younger than Contrez, and looked quite powerful, but she had in essence also declared herself the new queen and was claiming a good chunk of the kingdom that belonged to Amerlin by right and by law. It was an area of the laws that Contrez had not been taught about yet as such had not been expected in such a short time, yet this had happened, and Contrez was not about to just stand there and accept the claim. Her own face hardened and there was more than the touch of a growl to her voice as she replied. “You may have claim to this village under the laws of Amerlin if you defeated the chieftess in honorable combat, but you have no claim to this valley and this kingdom. This land belongs to Queen Amerlin, and as her envoy I reject your claim to this valley, and as her champion I hereby challenge you to death fight on her behalf!” The words had the desired effect as several of the villagers nearby heard the open and formal challenge and gasped several quickly retreating and no doubt spreading the word through the village, and from Korren a slow smile that had a positively evil look to it. “The queen’s pet, and still a slave thinks she is good enough to face a real fighting woman!?! You are trash, not even suitable for the dogs to feed upon after I kill you, and I shall have the survivors of your party here carry your body back to your queen along with the message that she is next to die at my hands!”
Those were fighting words, and Contrez was more than willing to fight the woman before her, and her own envoy at the exchange had drawn their own weapons, half expecting an attack from those who apparently were on Korren’s side. Not taking her eyes off of Contrez, Korren stepped back a couple of paces and noting the local open market area very close by pointed towards it and started to walk there, deliberately turning her back to Contrez as if to dare her to attack her then and now.
Contrez wasn’t about to do that however, as she waited for several paces to come between them and then followed, but not without a warning from an advisor that she should not fight as she was likely to be killed by Korren. The look on the face of Contrez however was grim and her words low as she told the one councilor, “Take one guard with you and quickly but quietly flee this village and return to Amerlin with this news and bid her to prepare a war party and be ready to fight should I fail at my duty here, now go!”
It was in essence a command, and the councilor accepted it as such, recognizing that this time Contrez was right about the laws and securing the closest guard, he held back while the rest moved behind Contrez and then the two quietly went the other way and left the village, once away from direct sight of the village, their pace became a good deal quicker, and with luck, they would be above the falls before nightfall, and they would likely press on through the night to the village they just left and secure a canoe and several paddlers to speed them back up river to the village where Amerlin was.
In the meantime however as they initially fled the village, Korren had reached the open market area and turned and seeing Contrez approaching didn’t even wait for any kind of formality and charged at the women, snatching a length of wood from a cart as she did and tried to brain Contrez even as the rest of her party quickly backpedaled to get out of the way. Contrez ducked the swing and responded with a hard punch to the solar plexus that got a gasp from the woman and she staggered back, but not dropping the wood. Before she could raise it however, Contrez had closed and grabbed at the wood herself and the two began to struggle for control of the wood. Korren went right to the dirty tactics as she repeatedly slammed a knee in to the groin of Contrez but despite the blows, she would not let go of the wood and managed to head butt her foe in turn to stagger her a bit in turn, but again, neither woman could take the wood from the other.
It was Contrez who managed at last to break her foes grip on the wood as she got the piece between them and with both women gripping it caught her out as she dropped on her back and dragged Korren forward and down only to plant her feet in her stomach and monkey flipped her over her and in that moment she lost her grip leaving Contrez the sole holder for now. Both women were on their feet almost at once however and Contrez could have used the wood but instead as Korren tried to close she flung the wood away, well out of the reach of both of them and then they grappled hand to hand, both trying to bring the other down with a vicious set of brawling like blows and elbow smashes targeting each other’s face, head, and breasts. It took a barely dodged fist aimed right for her exposed neck to make Contrez realize this woman had no honor of any kind, and seizing the brief moment and opening, she seized the extended arm and used it to spin her foe around until she was behind her and a sharp kick to the back of the knee dropped the woman before her and her arms quickly closed around her foes head half lifting her in a rear naked choke meant to throttle the life from her foe if possible.
“Contrez! Behind you!” a sudden cry of alarm and terror came from one side, and the warrior woman reacted with equal suddenness, not sure the danger, letting go and throwing herself to one side in a rolling action that allowed her to come to her feet facing the other way and several feet to one side. Even as she did so a sudden garbled scream of pain and terror came from the lips of Korren and whirling again, Contrez saw a spear sticking out of her back, it had plunged in from behind, the same spot that Contrez had been and must have been meant for her, the head now sticking out the front of Korren instead, and several shouts and curses directed Contrez’s towards the thrown end where a younger but similar shaped and looking woman was beating a fast retreat towards the villages edge. One of the advisors of Contrez was heaping curses at the fleeing woman, and seeing her look at him he snarled, “Kittrezz, the younger sister, she saw her big sister in trouble and threw the spear maybe to try and take you both out and claim the village for herself!”
Any further words about her Contrez ignored for now, she took a step as if to go after the other woman but then Korren grabbed her leg trying to topple her. Despite the spear in her and the clearly fatal injuries it had incurred, she seemed determined to still fight her foe, and Contrez staggered and fell on her back, and Korren swarmed her trying to get on top and drop down to try and spear her with the spear protruding from her, a final desperate attempt to take her foe. The strong arms of Contrez slammed up against her upper body holding her off, even as her foes hands closed around her head in an attempt to forcibly drag herself down on top and impale her and the two struggled for several more seconds before the rapidly weakening Korren could be thrown off and could fight no longer as she was rapidly bleeding out from her wounds.
Contrez herself soaked in the blood as she held her foe off her rose to her knees, looked to be sure the sister had not returned and turned her attention back to her foe. She was clearly finished, there was no chance of survival from all she was losing but it could last a few more miserable minutes. Contrez was not willing to wait that long, despite her anger at this woman, she would not let her suffer. Grabbing her head and partially lifting she wound her arms around it and gave it a sharp wrench, bone snapping sounds came and Korren shuddered once and went still, her neck clearly snapped, and herself dead. As she went limp, Contrez rose and didn’t waste time or questions as she took off in the same direction as the other woman had, but gave up quickly as she realized she had too much time now to her advantage for her to be able to easily trail and pursue her. Returning to the fight scene, she gave orders for the removal of the dead body and for it to be dragged in to the forest and left there for the animals, a woman like that deserved no proper ritual of death in her mind and she began to start asking some hard questions of the villagers still there as to the recent events that had led to Korren taking over.

As she had suspected, it had been by treachery that Korren had won, she, her sister and a handful of her fighting friends had ambushed the chieftess in the guise of a formal fight and they had terrorized the village for a couple weeks now using brutality and terror to force their acceptance including a couple who spoke against them. Spotting several of her own people among the villagers and knowing them as fighting women of honor, she called them out, and selecting one she knew as tough and wise, made her chieftess for now pending approval of the queen, and that one at once gave orders for the friends of Korren to be found, taken, if need be by force, and brought there for judgment.
Some of them were about in the village, but about half were no where to be found, it was guessed when Korren fell and they saw her sister flee, they instinctively knew they would be next and some had fled, while the rest were caught before they could. Those captured were bound over to the chieftess to be held until the queen arrived in a couple weeks time for her judgment, and orders given for the others to be hunted and either captured and also held for the queen or killed. From the looks of some of the people there, Contrez suspected some of them would die before the queen passed judgment, and she sternly warned all present that this was now a queen’s matter and they should wait for the queen’s rule on this. The rest of the day was spent getting things back in order. Contrez would have spent the next day as well, maybe more to await the queen as she suspected she would not await her return but come with a full war party as soon as she got the word. She also knew she had to continue her own duties as well. Dispatching messengers to try and intercept the queen’s party she gathered her own remaining party and turned her own footsteps eastward once more to see the rest of the villages.
Once again, the river would come to their aid, a fishing dock serving the village there was enough to get her use of three strong long canoes and paddlers and within a couple hours they were once more heading down stream for the next village a good three quarters of a day’s journey. It would actually take less as there must have been rain in the upper valley for within a couple hours; the river picked up speed and rose a bit as waters from upstream caught up with them and hurried them along making good time and arriving late afternoon rather than early evening at this latest village.
This time it took the better part of an hours walk to reach the village for they had chosen not to build on the river, but rather to use a series of natural caves and caverns they had discovered in one cliff wall and used this as a natural shelter and become a mining community as iron ore had been discovered deeper in and been put to use providing a great deal of the kingdom’s metal needs. Here Contrez had also found a good deal of her people including many who had migrated from the newest village at the edge of the plains, being mountain people, many had skills that could be used here better and they were doing so. Outside the caves a working area had been growing quickly as forges had been built with this newer knowledge of the mountain people and iron tools were being crafted here for trading to the villages in the valley.
Contrez was pleased that this village was in good shape, and in fact after the inspection with the chieftess and calling for the open meeting so any with problems could come forward, a single petitioner was all they had to settle a dispute of a marriage where three women were seeking the favor of a particularly rugged and handsome looking male and he in turn was perplexed on how to best choose and came to Contrez for advice. After consulting with the chieftess, a contest was proposed, each of the women had two weeks to prepare for him five gifts that they alone could prepare with no help from the others, to show how they could best match their love and skills with his own. Promising to check back when she returned with the queen in a few weeks, the open meeting was closed, and a good night’s rest taken before the journey began east to the final village.
This final part of the journey was the longest of the stops, despite the fact they traveled by canoes down river for it, as it became much broader, slower, and the distance much greater as the final village was literally at the formal edge of the kingdom where it exited from the woodlands valley and entered an open plains area. It was at the entry to this valley on those plains the new village mostly for the people of Contrez’s old kingdom that had come here, and where a great deal of her best friends had also been chosen to live three days travel from the next one.
The few months that had passed here since the mountain people had seen itself split on the upper plains had seen much happen here she quickly discovered, the partially finished village had been completed, and many had shifted a bit further out from the village and spread out on both shores of the river to take advantage of the river’s bounty to create farmlands and a bit further out some hunting and trapping camps had sprung up with the hides going to the village for tanning, and the meat becoming a much liked food commodity they were also sending back up river to provide a new food source. The arrival of Contrez was warmly welcomed by all, though it was not totally free of troubles either.
Scouts had traveled a couple weeks down stream using the river as a guide, and discovered a new kingdom’s outermost edges in the form of barbarian horsemen, initial contacts had occurred and both were now aware of each other, and there were some evidence of distrust at first, though efforts were underway to ease that by trying to establish trade using the woodlands itself and the valuable wood there, something they clearly lacked as a trade form, exchanging wood for horses which bred well out there on the plains and clearly something they had to offer in plenty. Biggest problem however was a rift between the majority of the people and about 20% of Contrez’s former people who felt the leader of their group could rule the village better and wiser and they in turn had presented Contrez with a long list of alleged grievances.
That evening would see Contrez spend at least part of it with the chieftess going over some of these claims. Many people from both sides were called in to give their versions of the complaints, and a handful of the complaints she quickly discarded as frivolous and without merit or with no proof to sustain the claims before releasing the chieftess for the night and turning in herself. Sleep however was not easy in coming, a few of the claims did have merit, and even the chieftess had admitted she had done some of the complaints, though not all of them, and a handful of the most serious complaints she had yet to review or had set aside to await the queen’s own visit.
After laying there barely sleeping for a couple of hours, Contrez awoke yet again and left her tent and in a way much imitating her own queen now, began a quiet tour of the village walking among the huts and many wooden buildings. Many of the structures were a mix of wood cut the mountain people way and stone, more sturdy then the hut styles most of the forest people preferred, but which Contrez could see was catching on locally, she had even seen a couple at the prior village as well and hoped that the style would further carry up river and be adopted there as well. An hours walk had helped her clear her head somewhat and as she returned to the larger building they had set aside for her to use, a somewhat familiar and not seen for a while form rose from a log near the entry to greet her.
“Chopper!” Contrez smiled as she saw his form and recognized his face in the moon lit night, “It is good to see you, I had wondered how I was going to deal with your problem in the morning. How has your own adapting to here been going, besides your formal complaint of course?”
The man she had addresses smiled, clearly the same height and very close to her own weight, the two had been very good friends when she ruled the mountain kingdom, and many had considered him to eventually become the consort of Contrez. As leader of both the wood cutters and the miners, he wielded a considerable amount of influence among his people, and his own formal complaint had been one of the complaints she had set aside for the queen, both for the seriousness and because she knew her affection for him may cloud her judgment in part. In fact, few knew the fact that he had been the primary reason she had finally decided to venture out with the army to try and seize the valley they now lived in rather than go the other way as many had urged, had she chosen the other route, her people might never had been embroiled in the war that saw them where they are now.
His real name was actually something else, but his skills with his axe that he always had close by him as well as with an hatchet were expert and even now here at night, his best throwing hatchet was strapped to his side as he rose and embraced her in a crushing hug of affection. Many had tagged him with the nickname as his arms made it easy for him to hew his way through trees and stone alike quickly and easily, and he had more or less adopted it as his own rather than his real name. Now as they separated, he spoke quietly. “I had hoped to see you sooner today but the list must have been long to not call me at once.” The smile faded from Contrez’s own lips as she realized he was there more due to his complaint rather than a meeting as friends. Trying to get him off the subject, she told him. “I have decided this is a matter for the queen to settle rather than myself. Mining is a skill that essentially does not exist here yet in this kingdom; most metals are taken from the surface for it is fairly plentiful, or from not too deeply in via the caves that lace their ways through these surrounding hills, even as you have discovered locally from what had been said.”
Chopper’s own smile faded at her words, he was a man of actions and hated the fact she was deferring to the queen, a role he would prefer to see Contrez to fill and also if she had, as her favored, his own stature would have risen in turn. “You have grown weaker” he said, a tone in his voice setting off warning alarms in Contrez, “You wear her bands and the bands of slavery and have become less than even most of us now, you should heed my words and make this decision now and not allow the queen to decide this, she has no knowledge to guide her, and you do!” His voice grew rougher, and he said, his words now becoming alarming. . . .
“Tear those bands from your neck, free yourself of those self imposed shackles and with me and the others who support me, we can take this village and make it our own, or better yet abandon the village to those willing to stay and with those with me we can travel well beyond her kingdom to the other side of these lands and found a new kingdom of our own!” His words were pitched right, and they played well on the thoughts of Contrez, she knew she had lost, and yes she did want free of those bands he spoke of, but she had also lost the fight in fair and honorable contest, and was well on her way of winning free of the bands at a pace no one else had come close to matching. Her own voice was both sober and cold as she responded.
“Amerlin saved both of our people when we fought and in a final battle that would have been the alternate choice, we would have been destroyed, or else risked defeat and been turned aside and have to begin a long march along side this kingdom here until we found a land of our own, and neither of us knew what laid beyond, and you know this! I am earning my freedom as I should as one of my station and skills allow me, be patient in this, she beat me fair and square, even as I have usually beat you when we fought back at our own homelands.” Contrez’s own voice took on a sense of urgency as she continued, “If you take the people and leave here you risk a rift between those who stay between your group and the rest that may be too wide to easily repair, and to take this village by force would bring retaliation by the queen, and I am bound as both her champion and her friend to stand by her. I am queen no more, but she does listen to my words and in this I can try and influence her decisions to rule in your favor. But rise against her, and you risk a dangerous war that would go against you and find me having to set aside our friendship and love and try to kill you, do not force me to take this step, you know I can take you if it comes to a fight like this!”
Chopper’s own face grew bitter and his voice developed a snarl. “Then go back to your queen and lover, but know this. . . . If she rules against me, I will either move to free those with me and leave the village forever, which you know she can’t stop by any of her own laws, or else I will challenge her myself to make myself the new leader, and you won’t be able to stop me!” Not giving Contrez a chance to respond he spun and stalked away and disappeared between some of the villages buildings leaving Contrez very worried and wanting to follow, but unwilling to. In her heart and mind, she knew she was doing the right thing deferring to the queen in this and she sat there on the log for almost half the night, hoping he might return to try and talk some sense in to him, and knowing full well that if he challenged the queen, she will not hesitate to kill him, or worse she feared, she may order her to kill him as her champion.
Sleep would not be her friend that night, and the following day, she worked slowly through the rest of the request and petitions, still watching and hoping to see his face among the crowd, but he was no where to be seen, and this made it worse as she was sure he was planning something she would not like. Twice her own advisors had to step in as she made some decisions reminding her of some laws and traditions and she found herself reversing her own decisions, and at last she stopped with nearly a dozen more petitions and saying, “Forgive me my friends, but I have done what I can in the time I have for here, I shall return within a few weeks with the queen herself to answer those I present to her and for her to hear the remaining ones as well.”
This done, she gathered her advisors and enlisting the aid of two of the better canoes and the best paddlers available, she had her party set out asking the paddlers and her own people to alternate at the oars, herself as well pushing the trip upstream as far as the falls would allow and bypassing the two other villages. Indeed she had been close to starting up the falls at night had it not been for the appearance of numerous torches on the trail near the top of the falls and start coming down. Moving all back to the canoes as a safety precaution uncertain why so many torches she waited mid river until they were at the bottom and in sight, and discovered it was the queen herself along with a large warrior party, presumably enroute to the next village where she had fought Korren. Standing in the canoe, she hailed the party on the shore and had the canoes quickly join up and her party joined the rest there.
Indeed the queen had been on her way there, and she was in a bad mood after learning of first the taking over the village and even as she had started with a war party she ran in to the next runner with news of Contrez’s work and this made her hurry more, worried the younger daughter would return with more treachery in mind, and the last thing she needed was treachery at this critical village near the center of the Amazon kingdom. Despite their clear fatigue both Amerlin’s as well as Contrez’s party, the march delayed barely an hour as the queen thanked the boaters but bade them wait a half day there to allow her own group to reach the village so as to not tip off the village of her pending arrival. That done, the war party moved on, setting a fast pace meant to have them arrive just at dawn in the hopes of catching any trouble and dealing with it when they were likely most sleepy or asleep already.
The village however was quiet and as the party came within a mile or so, even the torches were put out and the approach made in stealth with both Amerlin and Contrez in the lead. The village sentries were awake, but under the numbers there had little chance except to cry out briefly as the war party swarmed from the woods on two sides before they were overwhelmed and captured, the rest of the village likewise quickly brought under full control and the chieftess rousted from her home. Thankfully it was not Kittrezz who they brought out but rather the one Contrez had set to rule for now, and within minutes the raid was over and the people being held temporarily released as well. As dawn showed at the eastern edge of the horizon, the orderly re-establishment of the village was well under way and things almost back to normal, though not without a few bits of resentment from the rough wake up call. The presence of both Amerlin and Contrez in the village helped quickly put most things right. And a couple hours later, the prisoners who were a part of the Kittrezz and Korren factions were before the queen as she held her court there in the open to deal with them. Of the nine captured, four were identified as the leaders and lieutenants and the worst of the lot, and after hearing what others said they did, these were quickly found guilty and promptly executed, the other five held lesser roles, more as minor support, and these while not condemned were offered a choice to accept slave status or be severely whipped and then taken to the upper plateau and exiled there, with a death sentence guaranteed if they ever were found in the valley again. Two chose the exile and the rest the slave status hoping to earn their freedom back over time. After these were dealt with, getting things back in order moved at an easier pace, and the queen having come this far, decided to make this her formal visit as well and continue down river from here to the others and see the village closer to home on the return journey.
Contrez spend about a half day in conference with the queen bringing her up to date on all the villages, especially what happened here and the one at the edge of the plains. These two clearly were in need of extra attention and the queen cursed herself for being too lax and not getting around more often dealing directly with her duties rather than delegating them to her advisors. Two more days were spent here before she was satisfied things were right. The choice Contrez made as the replacement chieftess she accepted and formally set her over the village and accepted her vows to serve the queen as well as the people of the village and the kingdom as a whole. The nights were spent in a large hut quickly thrown together for just the queen and Contrez to call their own for now, and there was a strong hand picked guard around it that had enough sense to ignore the sounds that came from inside and keep the curious away as well telling them to seek the queen in the morning.
Lacking the canoes necessary to move the whole party at once, they had to settle for walking the land on foot, so it was two days rather than three quarters of one to the next village, this despite the fact that Amerlin left about a quarter of her war party here, just to be sure Kittrezz didn’t try and return and to try and find her and the other supporters who had fled. Once at the next village, they found them more than ready to receive the queen, the word having preceded them of her arrival. This one was little trouble and after just one day, the party was on the move again, though Contrez did make a point of checking on how the frustrated suitor was getting along, there was still a few days left before they were to present the gifts to him to help him choose, and she promised to stop by on the return trip to see how it ended.
As the party started off again on foot the pace was steady, no canoes this time, too many of the party still with the queen, and with herself forewarned of possible trouble at the final village she wasn’t going to break up her war party so they all went by foot. A week and a half later, they were at the village and entered. It was quiet enough as they arrived around mid day. Advance scouts having reported back that the village appeared calm and quiet so no need to strike at dawn like the other village had been.
Almost at once however as the queen met her subjects, Chopper made his appearance and called for the queen’s attention to his petition. Amerlin considered his words and told him she would see him and the others in the morning, pointing out the day was late, they had traveled far, and all needed a good rest to handle such requests with a clear mind and a rested body. It seemed to placate the young man for now at least and he backed away, and after some formal duties, all turned in for the night. Once again, Amerlin and Contrez had a place to themselves; in fact the chieftess offered her own as it was the largest to them and temporarily moved herself to the hunter’s hut where she had some friends to be with. Contrez and Amerlin would spend a few hours discussing all the remaining petitions, and Amerlin also found herself chewing out Contrez for cutting her duties short out of frustration, she also punished her by locking her in a series of painful wrestling holds and making her endure them as a form of making her learn patience and tolerance, many of the holds lasting well over a half hour leaving her slave exhausted but also unbowed and having learned her lesson the hard way and swearing to herself that she will not so willingly allow it to happen again.
That morning, as the queen opened her court once more, Contrez found herself holding her breath as the first to appear was once again Chopper. Approaching the queen, he set out his petition for deep mining, setting out examples he had dug himself in the form of iron ore, something somewhat scarce, as well as silver and a few green emeralds. Contrez found herself holding her breath as she watched her friend so closely for a sign he would do something radical that she almost missed what the queen was saying as she tried to get her attention and saw Contrez watching Chopper closely and smiled almost indulgently before calling her name louder this time jerking Contrez’s attention back to her. A few serious questions to her from the queen, including confirming this was the one who had made the threats of violence, and she turned very serious as she contemplated him long and hard.
“Your petition has merit, and I will grant the permission to start the deep mining as proposed, however. . . .” and her voice raised sharply as she continued. “It has come to my attention that you would leave this village and take many with you if this petition was denied as well as issue formal challenge against my rule!” Rising to her feet where she stood, she sternly proclaimed and there was nothing but ice in her voice. “I order that you be removed from all positions of power from this mining operation for a period of not less than one year as punishment for defying me, you either accept this punishment, or you declare your willingness to leave our lands openly here and now, or else. . . .” At this, the queen set aside all ceremonial garbs she had stripping down fully before all and said, “You dared to threaten me and try for my power, do you wish to challenge?!?”
Complete and absolute silence fell upon the crowd as head swiveled back and forth between Amerlin and Chopper, then Contrez recognizing her own role here and her place also rose, stripping she stepped beside the queen and declared, “I stand for the queen and will fight as her champion against Chopper if he chooses to challenge!” Amerlin’s own head swiveled and locked on her slave next to her and she said her voice barely warmer than before, “This is a queen’s duty, mind your place slave, and do not interfere in this matter.” Turning her head back to Chopper she locked eyes with him with absolute confidence in her pose and growled, “I’m waiting, what is your choice!”
The seconds seemed to last for minutes, each passing slowly and then Chopper bowed his head and said “I accept the reduction in station, this mine is more important than either of us, and in a years time, I will have my station back and make you realize the error of your choice. It shall be you who will apologize in two years time when you realize what I can do there.” Queen Amerlin’s own gaze and voice grew hard and she said, “Such words are strong and also shows the signs of rebellion you have already shown. You will have your two years to prove as you claim, but if you fail to impress me enough to make me apologize as you have claimed, then when I return, it will be to put the bands of slave around your neck and take you as my own prize and your dreams for the mine shall be gone until you win free of those bands.”
Contrez held her breath, it was starting to look good and then he had opened his mouth and stuck his foot in it and now he risked becoming a slave. Knowing his hot temper better that the queen, she breathed a silent prayer to Suhr asking her to keep his temper in check, to not challenge the queen now as she was sure the queen would not hesitate to kill him and after his open defiance, it would not be a clean or easy one either, she would make an example of him before the others.
For several seconds, the tension in the air was almost palatable, and then to the surprise of Contrez her burst out in laughter and it was not a pleasant one. “Easiest bet I’ll ever have won, I will see you in two years and accept your apologies then. And after that we shall see what the future holds for us both.” He turned and started to walk away, but it was not over yet. “Hold!” the queen’s voice cracked out like a whip. “I have had enough of your intolerance; guards take him as prisoner to be brought back to my place where he will learn the follies of his tongue.” Chopper wheeled and there was no doubt of his words, his anger and hatred of Amerlin clear in his eyes and as the guards approached he shouted. “I challenge you to the death for the right to rule this land!” A collective gasp went through the crowds, and the queen dropped from the raised platform where she stood and quickly began to strip herself bare even as the people quickly moved well back leaving a space between her and Chopper and he also began to strip.
Neither of them saw Contrez step back to the chair where the queen had set aside her garb and ceremonial item and this included a hefty throwing spear. Cursing herself for what had happened, she didn’t hesitate as she picked the spear up and mentally apologizing to both queen and her friend and before the audience could see her and react, she turned the spear coming up and then her arm snapped forward sending the spear at her friend and lover. Chopper had just barely finished stripping and was facing the queen, he never had a chance or saw it coming until too late and his eyes widened in surprise as the point entered his chest and emerged a foot or so from his back, the strike was clean and true, his mouth opened and blood came from it and then his hands grabbed at the shaft as his eyes closed and he collapsed, killed on the spot.
Amerlin spun is surprise at the attack, her eye following the track back to Contrez and her reaction was even harsher as she snapped. “Seize her and bind her and have her taken back to my village, she is no longer my champion for her interference in a matter of the queen’s challenge.” The guards rushed her and she made no attempt to resist her own head down, she allowed them to quickly bind her even as the queen approached and growled angrily, “That was foolish of you, I warned you to not interfere in this matter and now you shall pay the penalty for disobeying.” Raising her voice she proclaimed. “Take her now under full guard to my village and guard her well, at a minimum she will have one of the black bands of slave returned to her neck as well as a punishment to be delivered when I have had time for my anger at this to have cooled some.” The guards leapt to action and Contrez had just enough time to throw a pleading look at Amerlin before she was hustled away and cried “Forgive me my queen, I did what I felt was right!” then she was hustled from earshot and eyeshot towards the docks where she was roughly thrown on to a canoe and no less than six guards and four paddlers entered for the journey home.
Amerlin in the meantime had turned to the remaining crowd and there was no love or friendship in her voice. Pointing at the dead body she commanded, “Dispose of this one by dragging him well in to the plains and let the carrion feeders dine on his body.” Then raising her voice again she proclaimed. “My decision to allow the mining stands, the second in command now is in charge, but understand as well.” And her voice rose higher, “I will tolerate no questioning of my authority, or direct or indirect threats to me. Do any of those here wish to challenge my rule?” There was an uneasy muttering and then two men stepped forward and challenged her. There was a mean and almost sadistic look in Amerlin’s eyes as they stepped forward. “Will this be one on one, or will you attack together much like the cowardly jackals of the plains do?”
The two exchanged glances and after a quick whispered but heated conversation, the younger of the two stepped forward to face her one on one and after he stripped down as she was already they closed and the fight began. Although Amerlin was out of earshot of their conversation, she could well guess their plan, the second one was a bit older than the first one, in the prime of his life, and easily the more powerful of the two, and she guessed also a better fighter. This first one was a sacrifice meant to fight her, wear her down, maybe even kill her if possible, and his actions spoke of his youth and resilience and he also knew some fighting techniques, but still he was not in the same skill levels of Amerlin, and lasted maybe 10-15 minutes before she caught him just right with a knee to the pit of his heaving stomach and doubled him over and a follow up twist to his side and she dropped to one knee, the other outstretched as she smashed a double elbow to the back of his head and drove him throat first on to her knee, splintering the bones in his throat, and then threw him off her as he started to choke to death on his blood as his lungs quickly filled with it.
Stepping clear and pointing at the second contender she gestured for him to come and face her. He did though not with the same confidence as he first had as he circled the still dieing young man and closed with her. Her assessment was right about him, he could fight and this fight lasted a good hour or so with them both dishing out a great deal of punishment, and she marveled at his tenacity as the sweat poured off them both and turned the dirt in to slightly slippery mud. It was that mud that did him in sending him slipping and spinning down on one knee his back to her and before he could react and rise she grabbed his head and fell back and got her legs around his neck. “One chance man I give you as you fought so well, accept the bands of slave hood before I count to five or I will break your neck!” Then she started to count and she got to three and his nerve broke and he screamed his surrender accepting slave status. As she released him the guards stepped forward and bound his hands and legs to hobble his movements and she rose and looked around. Clearly tired to the point of near exhaustion she glared and asked if any others were foolish enough to try and take her. None stepped forward, and the queen returned to her platform and after donning her clothes, she again sat and resumed her formal duties as queen dealing with the petitions, though the air was noticeably more subdued and tense. The day at long last done, Amerlin wanted the comfort of a bed, but given the mood here, sleep was not easy though she did have extra guards around the hut in case sentiment became attempted violence that night. In the morning, she bade farewell to the village promising to return within a month to satisfy any more needs and make sure the petitions she had to handle back up river had been followed through on.

A couple of the larger cargo rafts was at the river, and rather than the long walk on land, Queen Amerlin used some of her own money and influence to secure their use and had the war party taken as far as the great falls where they would disembark and continue in to the upper valley on foot. They did discover the party with Contrez was no more than a half day ahead of them however as that group had got off at the village and from there started to march her overland back to the village, or at least to the next one where they may get another canoe to finish the journey. It turned out they had, and the queen did use her influence this time to get enough paddlers to man her own canoes, still on the banks a couple miles up from the village and they swiftly started to paddle the return trip, arriving just a couple hours behind Contrez’s group and found her being held in the prisoner’s hut under heavy guard.
As much as she wanted to deal with Contrez right away, the week long return journey had also taken its toll on her. She has sprained several muscles in her fights, and she also took her turn at the paddles as well, not allowing her position to keep her from doing her share of the hard paddling against the stream, especially where the currents were faster and they needed extra hands to move against it. Calling her own village chieftess in to the main hut, she received her local report and asked her what knew had come to her of events elsewhere. Suffice to say the sight of Contrez the hero and champion being hauled back bound and gagged had set of shock waves at all the villages. The chieftess asked what was going on, but a hard look from Amerlin and she quickly withdrew her inquiry. But then giving a tired sigh Amerlin explained the events, as she saw them and knew them, all it got from her village leader was “She showed remarkable courage then. She broke your rule, but also killed her best friend and lover rather than allow the risk of you getting hurt perhaps if she was allowed to explain fully to you before you judge her. . . .” Her words stopped there as she saw Amerlin’s face and asked if she was needed any more, and was told to go get some rest, and then told her to cover the village one more day as she was going in to seclusion after this night’s rest for a full day and night to decide on some things. Amerlin didn’t say what they were, but it was certain, Contrez’s status was at the top or damm close to the top of that list to be considered.
Contrez herself had not exactly done much better herself, physically hustled from the sight of the queen, she was bound her hands behind her back and her legs and ankles by heavy ropes and dropped unceremoniously on the floor of a canoe as the guards and paddlers got in and shoved off. Attempts to talk to them, to plead to let her return and speak to the queen fell on deaf ears, and in fact after a warning from the guard leader that she didn’t pay heed to he tore a strip of leather and gagged her mouth so she could speak no more, the gag only removed to let her drink and eat a minimum of food and water as they traveled up stream. Her hands were never untied and the legs freed only for those parts of the trip on foot such as around the falls and to the one village where they got more canoes and then the pain in her eyes intensified as they arrived in broad day light and was hustled unceremoniously still tied hands and gagged to the prisoner’s hut to the shocked expressions of those in the village, and the rising chat she heard as they passed, and speculation of what could possibly have happened. She heard the sounds of the queen’s arrival, but was not allowed to look or leave the hut even, and she waited and hoped until night came and word at last came that the queen was in seclusion until sometime two days from then. Still tied hand and foot and gagged, she had to endure lying on the hard prisoner’s bed, and was allowed only twice to get up and relieve herself and eat a small portion of food and drink water. She hard people come and ask of her, and all were turned firmly away with “Queen’s orders, no contact with the prisoner, no gifts, she is to remain apart until after the queen decides her fate.”
True to her own words, Amerlin had indeed withdrawn to her private chamber, and refused all visitors, accepting only two gourds of fresh spring water, not even the chieftess was allowed to approach, the guard at the door turned even her away and she shrugged her shoulders and left leaving word for the queen to call her when she emerged the following morning. When she did, she was clearly haggard looking and her appearance shocked more than a few as she made her way to the main hut to conduct matter of the queen, dealing with several of the petition problems she could not resolve on the spot and issuing orders.
Finally with the sun near the zenith, she had a good meal brought to her and she ate with relish, the first real meal she had eaten since the night of the last village, and then pushing the dishes aside, she gave orders for Contrez to be brought to her there, not in her chamber but there in the public are, and she sent also for the high priestess, the chieftess, and the hunter and slave leaders. Within 10 minutes all had been found and assembled, and Contrez was brought in and at Amerlin’s orders all her bonds were removed. Standing there, her queen before here and the four top village leaders on either side, Amerlin demanded Contrez explain her actions to them all, as to why she disobeyed a direct order from her, not once but twice and then interfered in a formal queen’s duel.
Straightening up and ready to face the music, however it may turn out with honor and refusing to bow or grovel. Contrez’s voice was steady and firm as she laid out her feelings and her reasons for disobeying the queen as she had, her explanation along with some prodding by not just the queen but also the other four asking for more information about certain points and she answered as best as she could. In the end she fell silent but kept her head up and locked her eyes with Amerlin’s and finished with. . . . “I did what I felt best was right for not just you but for him as well, I owed him that much if nothing else, and I am prepared to pay the price for my actions.”
For what seemed like an eternity of time but in reality was no more than a couple minutes the silence hung heavy as all watched and waited for Amerlin to decide the fate of Contrez. At last she did speak, “By law, for your interference in lawful challenge to settle who rules, the penalty can be and usually is death, and I will admit that first night I wanted to see that happen, and would have been your executioner. But I can also understand where your actions were guided by your heart for not just myself, but for him as well, even if it was unlawful. Death shall not be your punishment, and your earlier actions in dealing with the rebellious Korren are the main reason that I did not do that. However, by time I am done with you, you may wish I had chosen such. By rights, I should have all three of your black bands that you had earned the right of removal put back on, returning you to full slave status, but I shall be lenient though not that easy here as well, and shall put just one band back on instead as a reminder to you that here, I rule and that as a slave, you must obey, whether you like it or not. Further, you are my champion no more! I am stripping you of that title, and all rights and privileges that come with it until you can prove you can set aside your personal emotions and feelings when they conflict with a formal order or law of mine. When and if you are able to convince this is so, I may reconsider allowing you to serve in that role again, but I shall make no promises there either, your open actions did much to harm your credibility there, and you must prove to me in some manner that you are worthy of again holding that title.”
Pausing for several seconds as she allowed Contrez to digest the fact she would not die, and why and also her fate so far, then Amerlin continued and revealed the rest of her slave’s fate.
“In the meantime, your hut here adjoining mine is off limits to you for the next three months. You shall instead be turned over to the slave master here for that time and live with the other slaves in the slave hut and do any and all work he demands of you or any work given you by any other person he declares to be over you. Finally, each night after your work is done, you shall report to my quarters for three hours of personal punishment at my hands. This is my decree of your punishment!” Looking towards the slave master, she commanded “Take her from this hut and in to your custody and do not spare her from any of the harshest or dirtiest of tasks, for she has earned them.”
Relief flooded the face of Contrez as she realized she would live, and she was more than willing to accept the rest of the punishments. She had earned her freedom from the black bands before, though not all of them yet, and she was determined now to earn their removal even more so now and to regain the respect she had earned from Queen Amerlin. A curt command from the slave master and she followed him out the door to the slave hut where she was ordered to kneel in front of everyone as a new black band was added to her neck in a display of public humiliation, and then put to work at once for the next several hours until the sunset, and it was not pleasant duties she was assigned either, a small tributary stream that ran behind the village, the same one that passed under Amerlin’s own hut was also the one people took their body wastes to and dumped just beyond the village to flow from there and join a larger stream that passed in to the face of the one valley cliffs on the south side rather than in to the Suhr river. For now, twice each day, shortly after sunrise and shortly before sunset she had to go to each hut collecting the waste in large buckets and carry it to the stream and dispose of it rather than each home and shop doing it themselves. Other unpleasant tasks were also handed to her first and foremost, the Slave master following the word of the queen to giver her that hardest and dirtiest of tasks. She would discover also she would be assigned to her, fresh kills brought back from the hunts were turned over to her for her to disembowel them and remove the guts so the rest of it could be prepared for cutting and skinning and whatever. She toiled once again on the banks of the river and the adjoining streams doing work on the embankments to ensure they stayed solid and did not wash away in the heavy rains and swollen rivers and streams, and even more along these lines. All these over the days, weeks, and then three months she endured as well as her visits each night to the queen’s chamber.
These would be particularly hard for her as Amerlin was not in a forgiving mood, especially the first two months, and each session, Contrez found herself being subjected to harsh and unforgiving holds as the queen used her literally as a human wrestling dummy to work on and refine and practice her own hand to hand tactics and holds, and she always left hurting, beaten, bruised, but also unbroken. She sensed that the queen was looking for something such as further weaknesses in her prized slave and she was determined the queen was not going to find it; she would take it all and come back without flinching. Finally in the third month, Amerlin allowed Contrez to start fighting back as well letting her apply holds from time to time and using her larger size and weight to struggle against them and break free of Contrez’s holds and she struggled to do her best to hold the queen in them as long as possible, instinctively knowing from past experiences to not let her escape but instead try and force the queen to either submit, or pass out from them, or be commanded to release from the hold, the last she always did at once.
The time seemed to almost pass in a blur, and Contrez also gained from it as she developed her own strength and stamina in turn once more, and found her old fighting spirit once again, and was surprised when one morning as she began to collect the morning wastes the slave master told her gruffly, “Leave it, the people will have to do it themselves for a while until a new slave is assigned that duty, your three months here are done and the Queen has already left word for you to appear before her as soon as you can clean up and be presentable.”
Spirits rising and heart racing, Contrez did as she was expected to and quickly made her way to the queen’s hut complex and there found her busy as she usually was, and the air was also noticeably tense and the reason seemed to center on two women and a man all on their knees before the queen, their hands and arms both tied behind their back, and their legs hobbles, Spotting the Hunt Master nearby Contrez started to approach and ask who they were as she didn’t recognize them, but the queen’s own words commanding her to stop and approach her delayed that. Approaching and bowing formally, Contrez awaited the queen’s command.
Gesturing towards the prisoners the queen stated, “It’s time for you to start regaining your respect in my eyes and you can do that with the male here. These three were captured in a raid on Kittrezz’s hiding camp, she and many others escaped but not these three, and they have information about that bitch that I want.
Let’s see if you have made advancements since the last time I set you to a similar task, break this fool fully, but don’t kill him just yet, I may reserve the right of his death for myself. Nodding her head in acceptance of the command, Contrez jerked him to his feet and started to shove him towards the queen’s chamber and the special room beyond, but the queen had other ideas. “Not in there,” she called out, “Do it right here before us all, I want the others of mine to see you and how well you do this task, and I want these two others to realize what happens to them next unless they start to tell all they know and hold nothing back.” Contrez turned the prisoner back and shoved him in to an open area and from behind him released the ropes that bound his legs and then his arms and tossed them somewhere behind her, before he could react, a sharp kick between his legs to the groin dropped him to his knees and then she slammed her knee in to the back of his head sending him sprawling. That was the easiest it would be for him as she went on the attack over whelming him with her height, weight, strength and fighting skills and never giving him a chance or a reprieve. Slowly methodically she wore him down and broke him down, within minutes one leg was almost worthless, with a knee dislocated, and then she went after his arms, this she took a bit longer placing one arm straining or wrenching hold after another to either or both arms and leaving him moaning and crying in pain as she started to demand information on where Kittrezz was likely to hide, any other known camps, and what her plans were.
He tried to resist, tried to hold back, but after a sharp kick to the arm pit dislocated a shoulder and then she dropped on the arm breaking it, he began to break and crack, but his hesitations were not enough, his second leg fell to her renewed attack and she caught both in a figure four that had him screaming for mercy within seconds and finding none as she poured more pressure on the still solid leg along with additional blows to the blown knee. He began to tell more but Contrez caught him twice telling conflicting statements and hiss pounding punishments went from bad to worse and then much worse as she started to work on his back and his ribs with crushing bearhugs, scissors to the head and body as well as a variety of back breakers. After passing out several times during those two hours he finally broke and began to tell all he could and it was duly noted, and the queen ordered him dragged to the prisoners hut to await his fate.
Turning her grim look on the two remaining women she demanded they tell all, or else have Contrez force it from them. The silence lasted maybe a half minute and then Amerlin looked at Contrez and pointed at the stronger looking of the two women. “Break her” was all she said, and as Contrez approached them. The smaller and less stronger woman broke in sheer terror and started to beg for mercy and claiming she would tell all she knew. Amerlin held a hand up and Contrez stopped and then called a scribe forward to record all her answers to the questions the queen was going to ask. As he did so Amerlin told the woman, “You saved your life for now, but we will confirm the information and if you lied to me, you will beg for death long before you are granted it.” Looking back at Contrez she snapped, “Take that other silent one with you to my special chamber and break her with no mercy.” Looking back at the first woman who was willing to tell all she added, “Once this one has told all she can to me and the scribe, I’ll join you and when we have her information as well, we shall compare the information she also provided and confirm them all. Based on what we learn and confirm, their fates will be determined by how much truth was in it and how accurate.”
Contrez acknowledged the queen’s order and started to roughly shove the women she had to break ahead of her from the main chamber, and in to first the queen’s personal chamber and from there to the queen’s special chamber where she usually interrogates her enemies, and releasing the ropes shoved the woman from behind trying to knock her down, but this one was a bit better and stumbled a bit but stayed on her feet and whirled to face Contrez. “Look,” she said quickly, “we don’t have to do this, Kittrezz send us to try and find you and free you from the queen’s power, she wants you on her side and ready to fight for us, we can break from the side walls and be out of the village before they ever realize what we had done!”
Contrez’s own face went dark with sudden anger, and her own response was, “And you are a traitor to not just the queen but all the people of this kingdom, wanting to rule by fear and terror as she would, like her sister and mother did!” Stepping forward, she slammed a hard fist in to the pit of her stomach, getting a gasp from the prisoner and dropping her to her knees but even as she dropped, she started to fight back, slamming a fist of her own upwards in to the groin of Contrez and dropping her in turn, both then threw themselves at each other in a wild tangle of arms and legs as they fell over and began to struggle for advantage. The woman was good, very good, she got on top briefly and started to hammer at the face of Contrez but missed the foe’s legs that rose and caught her arms and jerked her back and away and then in to a solid body scissors which she used to roll her off her and get to the side and increase the pressure. “Bitch!” hissed Contrez as she jacked the pressure up,
“You’ll never beat me, and you won’t survive long enough to ever be a treat to the queen! We’ll send your leader back her answer in the form of your dead body!” The woman hissed and tried to break free raising her fists and slamming them hard to the knees trying to weaken the legs there, and succeeded in getting to a partial sitting position and swung for the jaw of Contrez, a blow that she easily ducked and returned the favor and threw a punch that scored solidly to her own face getting a howl of pain from her as her eye caught it and almost at once started to swell shut.
“That’s enough! Let her go Contrez.” Came the queen’s voice all of a sudden, and looking around, she saw the queen standing at the entry as well as the other woman, not bound either or apparently any animosity of any kind, and confused, Contrez released and rolled to her feet, fists up and wary however to wait and see what the queen wanted. The other woman gasping and coughing from the air crushed from her also rose though slowly and facing the queen, bowed to her and declared. “You heard her words my queen?” Amerlin nodded, and signaled her to stand next to her and she did, leaving Contrez even more confused. A small smile touched the queen’s lips and she started to explain the situation.
“The male you broke out there, he was the real prisoner, these two are on our side, in fact the one you just were fighting is a former hunt mistress here who moved to that village as both hunt mistress there and a spy for me. They brought the prisoner in after he was captured, and I persuaded them to help me test your loyalty after you disobeyed at that one village by playing the roles of prisoners in order to test your trust and loyalty, and you clearly did. We were right behind you as you entered this chamber and listened just beyond the door to see if you would throw in with her, and you passed my test fully.”
Nodding to the two women from the other village in dismissal, she turned her attention more fully to Contrez. “I am glad that despite the events that happened a few months ago, you are still mine. I deliberately waited for this time in order to allow any feeling of hate, or distrust to grow and fester and then offer you way to escape from here to see if you would do it or not. You didn’t and proved your loyalty. For this I restore you the rights to your adjoining hut with mine, and while I can not restore your status as champion I suspect within a years time unless you disobey again like you did then that you will have regained that title as well as lost that black band you had added to your neck.” Smiling a bit, the queen added, “By the way, the one you fought her name is Sutara, and she is in my own opinion, almost as good in a fight as you, maybe even better. I would not mind seeing how you two may fare in a more formal fight without the false animosity between you, just good hard competitive wrestling.”
Now it was Contrez’s turn to smile though it was also clear it was a bit forced, she had not expected this ‘testing’ of her and the fact the queen had felt she had to did bother her somewhat, but as a former queen herself she could also see the logic and wisdom in such, and suspected she may have done the same thing herself. “Perhaps the queen could prevail on her friend to compete against me for her pleasure if she is not too much in a rush to return to her own village.” The queen smiled and said, “They will be here overnight and return in the morning, perhaps we can do something about that match. . . .” The smile broadened and she pointed towards Contrez’s own room. “I suspect you may want to go in and fix yourself and that place up a bit, I shall see you soon in the main chamber when you are ready.”
That got a smile back at least for the moment, the fact she was being allowed in her somewhat private hut that connected to the queen’s own private one was a positive sign that she was at least to a fair degree back in the queen’s favor, or else she would still be sleeping elsewhere this night. Turning after formally nodding to the queen, she disappeared in to her hut and would remain there for the next couple of hours. When at last she did appear back in the main ceremonial hut, she was better cleaned up and had selected and worn a two piece dress that barely covered the breasts and groin made from the skin of a spotted hunting cat she had killed herself and saved the hide, tanned it and used it to make this get up. It was a favored one, and she also knew the queen secretly liked it as well, and had made a couple jealous comments about it as the spotted hunting cat was somewhat rare in the valley and few had the hides of them as a prize, so this dress of Contrez on the big woman that showed off her size and build did not go without notice as she went to a seat on the side and settled down and waited for the queen’s pleasure.
That would take a few hours as there were some extra matters to be dealt with, and not all of them the most pleasant. As the end of the session came to a close, Sutara and her companion also entered the hut and like Contrez took a seat off to the side, and Sutara made a point of settling down right next to Contrez and spoke quietly, “I hope there are no hard feelings between us, but when e brought the prisoner in, the queen asked us to help her test you, and you know how hard it is to deny the queen’s request, when you know it’s really not a request but a command worded politely.”
Contrez nodded her head and turned to look the woman next to her over, a few inches shorter than her own large size and maybe 25 pounds lighter, she was still a strong looking woman, and Contrez could see that she would indeed give the queen a hard time in a fight and her cryptic remark about the two of them fighting also returned to her mind. “I think the queen may have given me a similar order after you left, she commented on how skilled a wrestler and fighter you were and how she had a hard time defeating you. She closed her comment saying she wouldn’t mind seeing us compete against each other.” Contrez’s eyes narrowed a bit and she asked rather bluntly, “Are you sitting here because the queen also ‘suggested’ to you we should fight?” Sutara shook her head ‘no’ and then from the side of her mouth as she turned her own attention to the queen she answered, “Sorry, she didn’t say anything to me, at least not yet, though she did send word for me to come here, perhaps to face you is the why, as that sure sounds like a command request to me.” Glancing back at Contrez there was clearly speculation in her eyes and she asked. “Think you can take me?” Contrez smiled at the implied offer of the fight and she said, “Be glad to step out there and find out if the queen wants it.” Sutara smiled even wider almost to a grin and her voice had an edge of a retort to it as she said, “Heck with the queen, I heard of you and your fighting skills, I want to see if I can beat you or if you’re as good as all the stories would have you seem to be.”
Despite the fact that there had been animosity before for the role Sutara had played in the deception, there was none now in the tone of either women’s voices. This was instead, two powerful and competent fighting women who had discovered each other and wanted to tests themselves against each other in the classic “let’s see which of us really is the better woman” style. After a few minutes further discussion, they agreed to fight before the queen, it would be classic no holds barred wrestling so they could employ all their skills and abilities in a best three out of five round match with no time limits and a half hour break between rounds. No pin falls for these two they agreed that it had to be either a submission or a knockout and the final had to be a knockout by hold finish.
With the queen essentially wrapping up her own duties for the day, they approached her about the fight asking her to serve as witness and judge as they fought and she was more than willing, and when the final matters were done, she led them herself in to her own private chamber and then to her special room for the match.
Both women decided at that point there was no sense damaging what they were wearing, and quickly stripped down nude so that their bodies were as free as possible for movement and nothing was hidden from each other’s attack and walked towards the center stopping just a few feet apart as they briefly studies each other for possible advantages and disadvantages.
Contrez was as always 6’7 and weighed close to 250 pounds of solid flesh, muscle and bones that helped define her 40DD-28-38 frame, while Sutara herself was larger than quite a few women at 6’1” and close to 220 pounds of solid woman as well and the fitness that all fighting women in the valley had was impressive as well, her own stats looked to be about 40DD-27-37 and the two could see very little in the form of possible weaknesses they could exploit, the fight earlier had been very brief and neither had time to do real damage or learn much about each other except for what little they had heard in terms of tales of each other and in that Sutara had an edge as she kept a low profile in her role as a spy as well as a hunter and didn’t want to make a big name for herself except as a highly skilled hunter.
From off to one side, but not that far away as she wanted to see the two struggle up close, Amerlin sat on her own haunches and clapped her hands to signal the fight to start, and both on the signal started to circle each other cautiously. Sutara made the real first move as she lunged in seeking a waist tackle, but was blocked in part by Contrez’s own larger heavier frame as well as herself seeing it shifted slightly and caught her in turn in a frontal side headlock. Giving her no chance to break free in close quarter and still be standing, Contrez dropped to one knee and dragged her foe down in to a compromised position her height helping keep Sutara from any quick going to both knees and then still holding her head, Contrez pivoted her own body using it to effectively twist her foe over backwards in a manner that left her partially in a neck breaker and partially in a choke, Contrez’s arm solidly locked around her neck now and drawing her forward as she leaned forward a bit putting pressure on her foe’s neck dragging the head before her and downward bending the neck back over her shoulder in a very painful manner. From there, Contrez started to rise her extra height drawing her foe up until her body was flush with hers and then was dragged off her feet. The pressure on the neck of Sutara was enormous and she submitted at once rather than risk a neck injury as she could not easily get either arm around in front of Contrez held as she was where she might be able to fight back, and Contrez released her foe at once, satisfied with herself over the quick win of the first round.
Sutara dropped from the hold to her knees coughing and gagging from the pressure on her neck and favored the back of Contrez with a mean look for losing so quickly and then rose to her feet and signaled she was ready to fight again. Contrez was also willing and dropped in to a crouch when Sutara did, but he queen’s own voice called “Hold! The agreement was a half hour between rounds and I hold you both to that! Let her rest and make sure she took no serious damage to her throat, I have felt your neck breaker before Contrez and I know the damage may be slow to show at first.” Both women rose from a ready position and they waited for the time to pass, though it was clear on both their faces they wanted to get at it right away. Finally the queen pronounced the break finished and signaled for them to both begin again.
The two quickly closed and came to grappling tie ups, but women shoving and pulling hard at each other in an attempted take down with little success for the better part of a minute before they broke apart and shoved each other away. Perhaps the two had similar mind thoughts for what happened next as Amerlin watched was both women crouched a brief moment, clearly tensed and then sprang up and forward, both with legs snapping out seeking a standing dropkick and both scoring though not as they had expected to. Neither had their foe’s chest where they expected it and instead a leg slid along each other with force and smashed hard in to each other’s groin getting mutual howls of pain and agony as forward motion was stopped hard from that impact and both fell right there to the hard flooring with a collective moan and hiss as they tried to recover from the botched move and seeing the other also down rolled to hands and knees and then upright on their knees within easy reach of each other.
Sutara got the advantage this time as Contrez tried to grab at her head and pull her in closer slamming a hard palm to her jaw and from her kneeling position as Contrez stopped hard partially stunned, she scooped the bigger woman u chest high and dropped her over her leg and knee as she raised it to an over the knee back breaker, one hand pressing hard on her jaw bending the neck back the other on the thigh to try and stretch the bigger woman back over her knee and wring a submission from her. For a few seconds, Contrez bucked and gasped as her neck was stretched painfully, but then she swung her own palm shot up and scored a hard shot to her foe’s exposed breast getting a startled yelp of pain and a second shot went higher up as she leaned forward from the pain and her jaw came in range and took a shot there sending her sprawling backwards and the backbreaker broken and both women slowly rose upright to their knees and this time to their feet as well before closing again.
Again Sutara showed surprising speed and strength as she slid under the arms of Contrez and scooped the bigger woman up with a very fast gorilla press but made no attempt to hold her there as she held her face down and quickly dropped her again to the extended leg in a gut buster like move that got a half strangled gasp from Contrez and then Sutara flipped her there back in to the over the kneed backbreaker and this time the hands came down one over the throat in a blatant choke and the other went for the exposed groin in a claw hold and Contrez bucked and writhed several seconds and got a couple of shots at the face but they were glancing ones this time as Sutara expected them now and ducked the head enough that she avoided most of it and dug in with both hands, and then rather than take too much damage now, Contrez submitted the round, evening the score at one apiece.
No need for the queen to urge a rest this time, both were breathing hard from the fast and furious round and they backed off and waited. The half hour helped a lot and by time queen Amerlin called “Begin” again both were ready once more. Perhaps a bit cocky after she managed to lift Contrez’s form twice in quick order and certain of her strength, the smaller woman opened the round by raising her hands and daring Contrez to lock up in the finger lock test of strength. The challenge was met at once by Contrez and within moment they had hands locked and this time Amerlin started to gain the early lead as she used her couple extra inches to force their arms up and over their heads where she had the height advantage and Sutara also discovered she also had an extra bit of reach and used both as she stepped in close and they pressed their bodies in to each other trying to use their torso’s strength as well to over balance the other to send them to their knees. Sutara seemed to have an edge here for several seconds as Contrez started to bend back and risked being toppled but then she smiled and threw a powerful burst that straightened them up and also to the hands and a look of surprise crossed the face of Sutara as her wrists suddenly were bent way back and she dropped to one knee struggling to stop it there but Contrez was not having any of that as she suddenly threw herself backwards and down on her own back, the motion with the trapped hands getting a startled yelp from Sutara as she got jerked forward and down and found herself landing between the opened legs of Contrez and they snapped up and around her waist before she could react in a vicious body scissors. And with a hard jerk using the still trapped hands got her rolled on her back and the legs across the stomach and then the power of Contrez was really felt as she poured it on with the scissors.
Struggling wildly now, Sutara managed to break the finger lock and went to press herself up in to a sitting position to try and relieve some of the pressure and to try and force herself to twist and get the scissors off the front of herself and back to the sides where it did less damage . Unable to turn towards Contrez as she hoped for, she tried the other way and found a little give and with a hard back and forth twisting a few times managed to get the scissors on her sides as she faced away and went after the knees trying to spread them there and break the scissors. Contrez was not ready to let her go however and grabbed at the hair and jerked her body back a bit and releasing the hair, she hooked her foes arms around the crook and drew them both back behind her grasping her hands and locking her arms behind her back as she leaned back and drew her foe over her and stretched her out pumping up the pressure even more.
Getting desperate now, and close to a submission as she gasped and writhed between Contrez’s legs, she saw an opening and threw her own feet and ankles over the locked ones of Contrez in an over scissors, and cut down hard straining her foe’s feet and risking an instant s[rain and demanded her surrender or else. Contrez’s own face reflected the acute pain and she was close to submitting but didn’t want to and hung on grimly several seconds before she realized she had to do more, releasing Sutara’s bound hands but holding her still with the body scissors, the arms snapped up to Sutara’s head and wound around there going for a sleeper and knockout win.
Sutara knew the woman had her, and was not willing to concede the submission, she threw all she had in to the over scissors determined to force the submission first or leave her with an injured foot or feet when they resumed if she lost this round. Contrez screamed as her foot took the pain and her eyes streamed with tears as she felt her muscles start to go but then the pressure lightened up as the sleeper took a hold and Sutara was going under. She didn’t go easy, within 10-12 seconds the over scissors had unlocked and fallen to either side but her hands still raised weakly and tried to pry the arms off her head and then fell and then fluttered as she tried to dig in and fight the effects for the better part of another half minute before she finally went out and went still.
Immediately Contrez released her foe and rolled her off her and suppressed her own groan of pain though not well as Amerlin came over and checked them both. Sutara was out but a few slaps on her face revived her within seconds and then she checked Contrez, there was definitely a sprain to the one foot and already it was starting to swell, and Amerlin called the fight over at that point awarding the contest to Contrez with a score of 2-1 with protests from both women at once that they wanted to continue. The queen however was not willing to allow it, but then at the suggestion and agreement of Contrez, they asked the contest be paused overnight, Contrez would go to the high priestess and get her foot tended to, if she could fight the following night according to the high priestess, then the fight would resume. Sutara was willing to stay an extra night to wait and see if this was the case and if she allowed it the match would continue. Amerlin narrowed her eyes at the proposal and then agreed the priestess would make this call, but if she said no, the contest was Contrez’s win. And the two feisty women agreed to accept that and Contrez started to limp off to the hut of the high priestess, but then Sutara came to her and offered her support and the two went off together to get the foot fixed, and Amerlin suspected they would both be trying to get the priestess to OK them to resume the next night.
The priestess did not OK it however, and said it would need two to be fully right, and Sutara immediately the following morning on that pronouncement asked the queen to allow her to stay the extra night rather than return to her own village as she was expected to. Amerlin had herself already received word from the high priestess the night before, having visited her quietly after they had left to get the details herself, and was not really surprised at the request for an extension. Although she would have preferred Sutara to return to her village and resume her duties at once, especially with the threat of the still missing Kittrezz there, she was also willing to trust the village chieftess to keep her eyes open for her treachery and granted the request to stay over so the fight could resume in two rather than the next night. The relatively extra short amount of time Sutara would be gone could easily be explained away as it was well known many villagers had family and friends in other villages so a delay of a couple days would not seem unusual.
Although the swelling of Contrez’s ankle with the skill of the high priestess had subsided by morning and Contrez was willing to risk it, the priestess was not, and she over rode the objections of Contrez and Sutara both and went before the queen to suggest the extra night wait and the queen agreed with her forcing them to both fume and wait, though Sutara also did take advantage of the time to see her friends there, and Contrez found herself studying the laws again as Amerlin called in her advisors to resume her training once more of rules, laws and traditions. A study that Contrez took to after a bit her own eyes lighting up after she learned about a few obscure laws and traditions, and then became an avid delver of all such laws and traditions. It was a good sign to see her do so in Amerlin’s eyes, if Contrez could master them, and her own self, perhaps she would regain the champion’s title again. In a way, Amerlin hoped so with a fervor she was not willing to acknowledge openly.
Two nights later after the queen’s duties were done, the threesome returned once more to the special chamber, but this time there was an extra presence as the queen invited the high priestess along as well to watch. With the score still at 2 to 1 in Contrez’s favor, Sutara had to get this next round or lose the match, as this time there was no submission option for her, the 3rd round required a knockout by hold win and she knew Contrez would seek it quickly if she could. As they stripped and started towards each other there was serious intent in both their eyes, no friendliness here, they both wanted this win and to show each other and the queen they were better, and Contrez had heard a rumor in the village that day that Sutara was perhaps hoping to win this in order to once again become one of the queen’s favored as she had been once before, and hoped to be again.
Sutara was definitely charged up for the fight and barely had the queen called “Begin!” and she charged the bigger woman and got in close and barely under her grasping arms and went for the legs, getting her arms around near the knees and with a grunt, jerked her up and dropped Contrez on her back. Both legs in her hands she used the moment’s opening and also spread her foe’s legs apart and stomped down between them in to her womanhood getting a gasp from Amerlin, a cry from Contrez and a wicked grin from Sutara as she tried for a second stomp, but this time Contrez caught the foot as it came down and jerked hard and toppled her foe in turn, both women losing their respective grips and scrambling to their feet.
Again Sutara went low and got Contrez on her back but this time no so easily as Contrez would not go down right away and instead slammed a double axe handle down a couple times to the spine of her lower back dropping her to hands and knees herself but then she reached and got her hands behind the knees and jerked towards her collapsing the knees and dropping Contrez to her own. A hard palm shot in an one-two combination to her breasts got gasps from Contrez and she countered with her own returning the favor and the two went at it trading several such shots before Sutara went back upstairs and send a looping uppercut this time with a closed fist to the jaw and Contrez was not fast enough to evade it just lessen it. It sent her sprawling backwards and Sutara went after the injured foot once again, catching her in a twisting leglock and wrenching hard on the still sore ankle and getting a sharp hiss of pain from Contrez and then she dropped hard using her own body against the ankle threatening to sprain it again and Contrez quickly shouted a submission, ending the round and leaving them both tied at 2 rounds each, the next round was the deciding one and as they agreed, this one required a hold to a knockout to win it.
As the two women rose, it was clear that the previously injured foot was again hurt, and the priestess checked it and noted there was a light sprain but it was very close, there was already some swelling and suggested the match be ended and declared a draw. Both Contrez and Sutara rejected the idea and Amerlin after several seconds and confirming the sprain was just slight, this time chose to let the two women continue. While the half hour passed, Contrez tried to reduce the swelling as best as possible actually going to the queens private chamber and sitting on the edge of the opening to her stream fed bathing area and allowing the cool waters to wash over it, when it was time to start, most of it had gone down and she showed just a slight limp from it.
It was a detail that Sutara also noted and as the queen shouted “Begin!” for the final round, she went at once for the same leg, trying to start this time with a dropkick aimed low for the legs meant to cut Contrez legs out and do more damage there. Contrez read it right this time however and twisted aside and her foe missed her and hit the floor instead, stepping back in, Contrez grabbed at both legs and lifted and went for the centrifuge spin swinging her foe several times and then released and fell herself as her foot rebelled to the stress it was taking, but Sutara also was slightly dizzy as she hit and was slow to react. Both women rose about the same time and this time closed to grappling range and Contrez took the blows first snapping a hard knee to the stomach that got her foe doubled over and as she did got her arms around from above and jerked her up on to her shoulders for a backbreaker.
A sharp hiss came from suddenly clenched teeth of both women as Sutara took the back bending pressure and tried to straighten out and kick free and from Contrez as her injured foot rebelled at the extra weight on it, but Contrez kept the pressure up and she went rougher as she shook her foe, and started to bounce her trying to ignore the pain, and then added insult to injury by sinking her claws in to the breasts making Sutara kick even wilder. If it had been simple submission, the slightly smaller woman may have yelled it but with a mandatory KO required, she was getting desperate as she hung there and was slowly being drained by the hold.
On Sutara’s side however was the fact the injured ankle was rebelling as well and Contrez had to listen as the protests grew louder and suddenly heaved her foe forward off her shoulders to hit hard on her back right in front of her to ease the strain. As she hit, her own feet were right there in easy grasp and she went for then snaring both ankles and dragging her up and then using her good foot delivered a hard kick to the back of Sutara’s head to set her up and turn her over in to a crab hold an settled in seeking to further weaken and drain her enough to possible finish her off either by sheer pain of this hold or leave her weak enough to apply a hold that would.
I low scream of pain came from Sutara’s lip[s as the back breaking pressure hit home and then a low moan followed as she slammed her hands down and pressed up and used her legs trying to flip Contrez free. Again, the injured foot came to the air of Sutara as she was able with some effort to throw Contrez off but not send her sprawling as she hoped to.
Spinning Contrez leapt with both knees aiming for the back but hit hard floor as Sutara rolled desperately, but it also left her briefly face up and Contrez half turning to face her pinned her down as both hands sank in to her tender stomach in a double claw hold that got a series of sharp gasps and Sutara desperately tried to grab the hands and lift them, but Contrez had the fingers in deep and she now raised herself over the hold, just enough to avoid a swing at the face and add her body weight to the hold as her hand slowly twisted in there doing some damage and leaving her foe gasping and gagging as her stomach and body rebelled.
Sutara was not paying attention to the rest of Contrez as she worked the hold or she may have noticed she was drawing slow deep breaths getting ready for her next move and hoping to finish her foe off as she showed signs of weakening further and further. Waiting and timing the right moment after a particularly hard retching like spasm from her stomach left her breathless and gasping, Contrez abandoned the claw and leap from her knees to just behind Sutara’s head and dropped hard her chest and breasts coming down over the startled Sutara’s face, and Contrez’s arms winding around her head and drawing her in for the airtight seal.
Amerlin and the priestess both gasped as Contrez made her attempt to finish her foe off but the hold also had it’s problems as well, Contrez didn’t try the along the body version as she remembered the strong arms and she would counter with a breath robbing bearhug, by going from the other direction she denied that her upper body weight keeping her pinned under her. But it also left her very vulnerable as well for her own face was suspended right above Sutara’s own matching 40DD breasts, and as soon as she realized what had happened, her arms snapped up and soon drew her foes head down for a seal of her own getting her in a mirror image breast smother and seeking to put her lights out in turn.
Contrez did resist being drawn down but neck muscles are no match for a pair of strong arms and she went in after a few seconds of hard resistance, but not before she managed a final deep breath. Contrez was betting on the hold, and betting on the fact that the gasping and retching of her foe had left her air all but gone and was pitting her own fully charged lungs against that, but she had no idea what kind of holding power her foe had for holding her breath, it may be enough to outlast her in which case Contrez may end up the one in serious trouble. Slowly the two writhed and twisted, Sutara from below knowing this was an end fight play desperately trying to force a rollover so she was above, and stood a better chance of getting her head free of the dangerous embrace. Her foe had a good base however and she could not see it but Contrez also had her legs spread against the rollover attempt It was clear both were weakening as the first then second minute passed. It looked like Sutara may have had it as her own arms unclamped and fell but then rose and locked again and tried a last desperate attempt to twist the head and neck of Contrez to make her release, but those few seconds had been enough, Contrez’s own face beet red from now air with some signs of blue showing rose and she gasped for breath before she got dragged down again, but it was enough, maybe a half minute later Sutara quivered violently and went still, and a few seconds later Contrez rolled off her and sat up, wincing as her ankle and now neck muscles complained from the last desperate wrenching she took.
Looking down she saw she had won, and then slowly rose to her feet and planted a foot on the heaving chest of Sutara now that her breath had restarted again, and struck a victory pose. A couple minutes later, as the high priestess was checking on Sutara she revived and sat up and then slowly stood as well. Then formally she bowed to the queen and then turning to Contrez bowed in respect to her as well. “Good match girl,” she said to Contrez, “You caught me by surprise with that last move or else the results would have been different. I hope to match against you again some day in the future.”
For her part, Contrez was glad it was over, Sutara played as rough as the queen did when it came to matches, and suspected she could have played even rougher if she wanted to and immediately accepted the offer for a rematch. That said, the High Priestess steered Sutara from the room saying she wanted to check her at her temple and soon after that, the queen and Contrez were back in the queen’s chamber and the queen remarked to her slave that it had been a while since they tested against each other there on the bed and asked if Contrez was up to some more rough stuff. The answering smile got one from the queen as well, and she was soon as naked as her slave was and the two turned towards the bed and climbed in. . . .
That session would last the better part of another hour or so before the queen released Contrez and told her to get some sleep and Contrez went at long last to the comforts of her own bed, for the first time in a long time. Her rest however would last but a few hours, as she rolled over and found the need to get up and relieve herself. Deciding she was not yet ready to sleep some more, she quietly without waking the queen who was sleeping soundly herself, she ambled outside in to the village. As expected at this late night hour, the area was peaceful and quiet, the area now quite empty of others with them all away in bed as well. Less than a hundred yards away where a wood and stone bridge crossed the stream sat Sutara apparently also unable to sleep right at the moment and as Contrez approached she hailed her softly and smiled.
Several minutes would pass there on that bridge as the two chatted quietly, their chat disturbed only once as a pair of a patrolling watch came by and recognizing at least Contrez bade then a good night and continued. The recent match was the main topic of course and they compared notes on their styles. Sutara noted she would not be leaving the village until late afternoon by herself, and probably would settle in on a hunter tree she knew about six miles down stream very close to the sacred isle. Although she didn’t flat out say it, there was an unmistakable invite in her words and tone of voice that suggested that if Contrez was to show, they might just have their rematch that night. Contrez walked away wishing Sutara a good journey and she would keep the invite in mind.
The moon was in the third quarter that night, and by the fourth night time hour Contrez had found the hunter tree in question, and calling up from the ground, saw Sutara’s head pop out from above, even from the distance she was smiling and she invited Contrez up and she accepted the invite. Grinning as she arrived she said, “I was about to bed down, figured maybe you had chickened out or maybe got lost.” Contrez’s own smile was a tight one and she replied, “The queen likes a last minute workout before retiring to help her get to sleep, tonight was no exception, and I made sure she was very tired when she did so I could come here.” Within minutes, the two were discussing the rematch and had decided one round until one was forced to admit the other was a better wrestler, Contrez got her to agree to that remembering her fondness for non-wrestling blows, and getting that eliminated. Within minutes, the sounds around the tree had changed from woodland night quiet to one of human snarls, cries of pain and growls of anger and frustration as the two women stripped down and went after each other. It would be an hour or so before dawn when Contrez and Sutara came down from that tree to head their respective directions, both were battered and bruised and they had departed not so much as enemies but as friends who now had a good deal of respect for each other and the other’s abilities to fight. It had ended in a draw; both women had taken themselves to total exhaustion a couple times over the nearly ten hours up there with no clear winner. They also departed, not in anger but with a promise to meet again when they could for yet another rematch. They were friends now, but both had a burning curiosity as to who was the better wrestling woman, and in a couple of months, the festival of Suhr was to be held at the river near the isle and would be capped with a hand to hand fighting tournament on the sacred isle itself over several nights and days with fighting men and women from all the villages converging there for the elimination tournament, and Sutara told Contrez she planned to be in that tournament, and hoped she would attend and compete in it as well, if it came down to just the two of them as the finalists out there on the isle, they knew it would be under the same terms they had agreed to when they fought up in the tree they now stood under, and it would be a very memorable match for the many who watched them compete.

To Be Continued: