Freedom for Contrez – Part Five
(The Champion of the Plains)
Seventh in the Forest Amazon Series
By Wyldewood

What Had Gone Before:
The previous several months had been a wild ride for Contrez as she first set out as the Champion and brought great honor to herself in a fight against a would be usurper to the throne of Amerlin, though it was not Contrez who actually killed her, but then the real troubles started when she later returned with the queen and after visiting several of the villages wound up at the final one on the outskirts of the Forest Amazon kingdom, where a best friend and former lover insisting on a special project of his challenged the queen to a death match for the rule of the kingdom, and Contrez broke the law by interfering and killing her own lover rather than see them fight.
Incensed at the brazen breaking of this very special law, Amerlin had Contrez stripped of her title as champion on the spot before all the people, then bound and gagged and hustled back to the queen’s village with no chance to say anything or defend herself. As a penalty for her actions, one of the black bands of slavery was added back to her neck and she was forced to do menial and dirty work for three months as punishment. It was according to the queen, a very light punishment for Contrez as by law, interfering with a queen’s duel for the right to rule can be punished by death. After the punishment was served, Contrez got a chance to meet and fight Sutara one of the queen’s spies who also in the process before her spy status was revealed tested the loyalty of Contrez severely for the queen, posing as a traitor handed to Contrez to be broken. Contrez passed her test to the queen’s satisfaction and in the competitive fight between her and Sutara for the queen’s pleasure she found a near equal in fighting skills after a close match that went the distance before she managed to emerge the victor. Promising to meet Sutara again at a later time for a rematch, the two initially with animosity for each other now parted as friends.
And now the latest story. . . .
Barely a month had gone by since the fights with Sutara and things had settled down in the village that Queen Amerlin called her home, and for Contrez as well, at the suggestion of Contrez and with Amerlin’s approval, a new hut had been set up on the outskirts of the village, larger than most, it was somewhat square and the floors were covered with a makeshift matting of sorts thanks to a new woven but very durable cloth that was being traded with the plains people called hemp, large bolts of the stuff were secured and woven together to create an envelope and these envelopes stuffed with hay from the fields of the eastern village at the plains edge and sealed to make a crude set of mats. It was on these mats in that larger hut that Contrez initially began to teach her own wrestling and fighting style and she had many enthusiastic fighting women and men soon taking her training, especially those with the warriors and hunters. Amerlin herself soon paid a visit as word of the training got around and watched several sessions, and then one day she when Contrez took a brief break after a hard match, stepped on the mats and started to teach some herself, and the two soon became well known site there, both spending some time teaching their own styles, and often ending each training session with a hard match between them as they demonstrated some of their training as well as tried to force submissions or knockouts from each other.
Word had soon spread further down the river and some of the better fighters soon came and became special students of both Contrez and Amerlin, being given intensive training after some evaluation with an eye for them taking it back to their village in turn and create a fighting school there as well to teach such fighting, beyond the basics that went with the fighting taught by the hunters and warrior groups.
The word spread not just down to the easternmost village, but apparently even out on to the plains to the plains people as well, for maybe two months later the village was paid a surprise visit from the chieftain and his retinue of followers from one of the largest towns out there. Close to 50 people in all came with this chief, including nearly twenty warriors that also included two very specials ones, a male and a female that he introduced as his champions, and offered to pit his champions against the queen’s in fierce hand-to-hand competition to see who the better one was.
This caused a stir among the people of Amerlin’s village as both were young and in top physical form, both close to 180 pounds on a muscular and large boned frame that was solid flesh and sinew. The problem here was Amerlin had never decreed that there should be a male champion, as it had always been a female that was selected for this singular role, never two with one male and one female. The situation was made worse when Amerlin admitted it and also acknowledged her position for the female champion was also empty at the moment. Amerlin didn’t go in to the details of the why, and Contrez standing off to one side in the same room was not about to admit she was the former champion, her title stripped by the queen, she was biding her time and been working hard to prove she was worthy of the title once again.
The admittance however got a raised eyebrow of surprise from the chief whose name was Rayelvek and he declared publicly and in a manner and tone of voice meant to insult that he would be willing to match his champions against any fighting man or woman willing to come against them. The public put down was enough to anger Amerlin, and she toyed with having her visitors escorted from the village as soon as diplomatically possible if not sooner, but the declaration of the fight shed new possibilities and she chose instead to act upon that in the hopes of putting this chief and his fighters in their place.
“In just a few days time,” Amerlin said, “We hold a festival on the Suhr river alongside both banks by the sacred isle to celebrate Suhr our warrior goddess, this is capped when the best fighting men and women of all the villages come here and compete on the sacred isle itself to prove they are the best, the top fighting man and woman who leave with the win, brings great honor to their village and one of the two high priestesses will live as a result in that winner’s village, as well as other certain benefits and prizes.” Looking first at the chief’s two champions and then directly at the chief himself, she suggested rather candidly. “Why not have yours also attend and likewise compete against our best there and see for yourself if your champions are as good as they think they are! I have no objections to expanding such competitions beyond just our own people and include the best of not just your village, but any other villages among your plains people who wish to compete!”
The challenge was clearly there, and the chief without batting an eye accepted stating they would be there and based on the outcome if the fighting men and women of the valley did not do well against his champions, he would have to re-consider the future relations between his people and the people of the Forest Valley Amazons. That got a growl from more than a few people there and a serious look from the queen, the wording and the tone of Rayelvek had sent a very clear message, one that said in essence, ‘No champions, and if your best people can’t do well against my champions, maybe this kingdom would be ripe for an invasion, because your people are weak as fighters!’ Amerlin’s own green eyes sparked dangerously and she rose from her seat and looking down at the chief before her she said. “Don’t make the mistake of thinking we are a weak people and easy to conquer, the smoking mountain people tried that only recently and they lost to us. If you try the same, you will find just out what a war can do to your people if they attack mine!”
Contrez herself had been mulling over the play of words, and had a flash of her own inspiration, and signaled her desire to speak. Amerlin seeing it, and wondering why her slave wanted to also speak at this time. Annoyance and some anger at the brash chieftain before her combined and clashed with her curiosity, and knowing her slave for many things, she was willing despite her anger to acknowledge her and Contrez threw her idea out. “My queen, your suggestion for the other villages to also compete is a very good one, but there is not time now to send the word to them for this year’s festival, and for them to respond, it will have started by time word reaches them. I urge that we delay this festival for one month until the next high moon so word can be sent to the other villages as well, and then we can all prepare for a greater celebration of Suhr that is now extended to our distant sisters and brothers.”
The idea seemed to be a good one judging from the many murmurs of approval heard from the others in attendance, and the queen herself heard it and saw wisdom in the idea and looking at the chief she said. “As usual, one of our best fighters here has also shown wisdom at the strangest times, and her idea is sound. Would you be willing to wait the extra month as we send messengers to all the plains villages in reach of the festival and send invites to all, so we may know the true strength of your best, not just against our own, but compared to those others among the plains people?”
Rayelvak favored the queen with a thin smile, but also knew if he backed down now he would be the one and his people would look poor and replied, “We accept the delay and shall be there for the festival.” It was also hard to not miss the same implied message being tossed back at him, one that said, ‘Prove your fighters are better, or it may not be you invading us, but the other way around!’ That said, and the queen apparently ready to end the formal session with this plains chief, he bowed and with a signal led his entourage out of the hut and the village, but not before he gave Contrez a long baleful look, and seeing him do that the female champion of his also gave her an equally long look, one that was not friendly in the least.
Contrez seeing it returned her look for look and both knew instinctively that they would be seeing each other, if not fighting each other at the festival, then perhaps elsewhere and it was not going to be a friendly match either. With their departure, Amerlin had scouts follow their retinue to report back where they decided to make camp, and also keep a watch on them. That done, she also had the fastest runners in the village and she had two sets of notes made, the first was a formal invite to all the plains villages to come and compete, her feeling here was some of them might also want to try and beat this chief’s best in formal combat and maybe score some victories of their own. The second sets of messages were going to her own villages, advising them of the changed date for the festival, and the reason why.
The messengers were just starting off when Contrez for her own part, caught the messenger for the village where Sutara lived, and had her delay long enough for her to also carry a written note from her to Sutara which said, “The messenger who delivered this is also delivering news to the chieftess of the festival’s delay due to inviting the plains people to also join, we have a possible problem with the group already here in our lands, and a possible threat of invasion if we do not fare well against them in these contests. I propose a truce and alliance between us for now, let us set aside our desire to see who is best until we have first eliminated all of these plains people from the contests and shown we are better fighters. Their women’s champion has already signaled her dislike of me and I expect trouble from her perhaps even before the festival. Be on your own watch and guard, as this group may be visiting other villages as well, including yours.”
It would be five days later when Contrez got her response, and it said, “I agree to your advice, they were here this day and tried to cause discord here as well. Thankfully our village chieftess was in a sour mood and when they started to put our people down, she told them to leave the village and prepare to face defeat at the festival.” It was good news for Contrez, for now she could concentrate on the plains people and not worry about injuries from Sutara until perhaps the very end. As for the plains people, they apparently were not planning to go too far either. After the rebuff at Sutara’s village and a similar one at the village between Amerlin’s and Sutara’s they set up camp near the sacred isle to await the festival. This put them uncomfortably close to the queen’s village, but not much they could do about it short of provoking an attack on the retinue which could cause a serious uproar with all the plains people, and Amerlin was uncertain how this chieftain was seen in the eyes of the others.
It did however as Contrez had half feared, allow for an earlier than expected confrontation between her and the champion of the plains people, not the female one, but the male one. Contrez had been that day out on a hunting detail bringing meat for the village, and their own group came across a group from the plains people after hearing sudden yelling not too far away and rushed to investigate. The sight that greeted them was a surprising one, they had cornered one of the great hunting cats, and while they could have killed them, it was their male champion who was seeking the kill, not with a spear or club or arrow, rather he had leaped on the back of the wild beast and with his legs grapevines the hind quarters of the cat and forced it down so it could not claw with them, his arms under the forelegs and then up behind the head, capturing the cat in a classic full nelson and they were thrashing on the ground as he sought to break the cat’s neck with it. Even as they watch in surprise at the strange sight, sharp cracking sounds and then a sharp crack signaled his success and the cat gave a final screeching yowl and went still in death.
Only then did they realize the arrival of the part from Amerlin’s village and the two sides glowered at each other but made no hostile moves. Their male champion recognizing Contrez gave her a cold smile and said, “Too bad you’re not a male, these arms would break your neck as easily as I broke this cat’s!” Contrez returned the smile with an unfriendly one of her own, “In our kingdom, we do not separate men from women, we all fight, and not just our own. As for the power in your arms, I am not lacking there either, perhaps you will discover this when the festival begins.”
He smiled, and pointed a thumb at his own chest and declared, “Gotter is my name, remember it well woman, as for waiting, why wait that long, are you willing to try me?” That said he raised his hands fingers spread in the classic invite to the test of strength by finger lock. Several of his friends hooted with laughter figuring Contrez would never accept after seeing how he killed the cat, but they stopped as she stepped forward and approached raising her arms and hands as well. “First to drop to both knees is the loser?” she asked. Gotter said nothing except to step forward and touch his palms to hers and the fingers quickly laced together, challenge given and apparently accepted. Moments later the arms of them both swelled as they went at it.
Contrez had a definite height and weight advantage over the guy, but his arms looked to be more powerful, and for the first couple minutes both sides cheered their respective sides on while arms trembled, and both set a foot back to help press in harder, neither really budging or able to budge the other any. A minute passed and then a second as the two stood there arms before them trying to bring the other down, but neither showed any sign of doing so, then Gotter too a step forward and pressed his own solid body in to Contrez, forcing their locked hands from between them and out to either side and slightly upwards. “You are going to your knees girl!” he growled as their chests touched, “none in our village has bested me at this, and neither will you!” He was ignoring Contrez’s own slowly growing smile for when he had pressed in to her, he had also given away some possible advantage he held against her much higher height and weight advantage, now with them close in, she was more than willing to use hers and her first action had been to slowly inch their locked hands further up where her height could come in to play, as he made his brash boast, she almost purred, “Is that so?!?” A sudden and intense burst of power from Contrez and an equally sudden and indrawn hiss and gasp from Gotter as he felt her power and realized his tactical error of letting her get his hands higher, but the damage was done, his leverage reduced now, Contrez closed her trap and pressed in harder now using height and weigh against his body and forced the arms even higher, almost straight up and his legs started to tremble as he struggled and swayed. Suddenly and with no warning except for a cry of pain from his lips, his knees buckled, one hitting the ground solidly the other almost there, and stopping mere inches from the ground. The shouts of encouragement from Gotter’s side faded to silence as the woman was apparently beating him, while Contrez’s own group started to cheer louder and call for her to end the fight and drop him.
He also heard the calls, and determination crossed his face and taking several deep breaths as he struggled, he started to force himself back up to his feet. The one leg came almost all the way up and the one on the ground was also rising under his near Herculean efforts but he was wasting valuable seconds doing so and close to a minute and a half passed to get this far and then no further, as Contrez started to gain an edge again and he started to sink once more, not as fast as before, but he went slowly, the original knee dropping first and he swayed and struggled wildly trying to draw strength and rise again, but this time Contrez matched his power with her own, freely using it and then the second knee touched as well, and Contrez’s people started to cheer while groans came from a few of Gotter’s friends and from him as well as he realized he had just lost for the first time in this sort of contest and to a women no less, regardless her weight and height advantage.
Contrez satisfied he had both knees down suddenly released the finger lock and stepped back, even as he rose quickly in turn, still trying to fight back, and the resistance gone, he glowered at her for several seconds, and declared. “We will meet I am certain if Pring does not get to you first and destroy you at the festival! If she doesn’t I challenge you to start the fight between us with this hold again!”
Contrez allowed a tight smile, “I accept, but who is this Pring?” She was almost certain she knew the answer but asked to see if she was right. “Pring” Gotter told her, “Is the women’s champion, and I already know from her own words to me at our camp, that she did not like your getting the other villages involved, she wanted the honors of proving our people are superior to herself, and has sworn that if she gets a match against you, she will show her displeasure in as painful a manner as possible.” That got a few gasps and surely growls from Contrez’s companions, but Contrez turned to them and signaled for silence before turning back to Gotter. “I don’t care if it’s you or her I face or even both if I am lucky, but let’s hope so there are no questions that the meeting comes when we have reached the final eight.”
Now it was Gotter’s turn to look puzzled and curious and he asked “Why the final eight? Why not sooner?” Contrez allowed an unpleasant smile to touch her lips and she said, “Traditionally, earlier matches are best three out of five by submission or knockout, but the final eight when matched must win by full domination, no easy surrender or knockout to win then, the loser must unless owned by someone already such as I am owned by my queen becomes the prize of the winner for four months. I suspect in this case, even the queen would allow me to compete and take my chances, and in fact she has encouraged me to. If I lose to either of you, I will serve my time with the winner before returning to her. But I suspect, if it comes to me facing either of you in the final eight, it will be you who will be serving me and the queen, so go and tell her I await her at the festival, and if she believes in a god or goddess as I do, she pray to them for help, she will need it against me.”
Contrez’s own bold and brash challenge to Gotter’s group got more than a few surly growls from his friends, and for a few seconds, hands tightened on weapons on both sides, a possible confrontation possibly erupting now. Gotter however, apparently led or could command his group and told them with a sharp command of “Weapons down, this is not the place for this yet, there will be better times!” It got the group to ease off a bit though dark looks were still exchanged by both sides, and Gotter sketched a short bow towards Contrez and saying, “Until the festival then. . .” and led his group off the one way after picking up the heavy hunting cat which looked close to 300 pounds and draping it on his shoulders carried it away with the group, while the group with Contrez went the other way and continued their own hunt.
By late afternoon, the hunt was back, and Contrez wasted no time reporting to the queen the events in the forest, and especially the near final words of Gotter that this was ‘not the place for it yet’. It sounded like the plains people may have plans for a war after all. Not sure, what to expect, the queen started to make plans of her own, with new messages sent to the villages to not only ensure the best hand to hand fighting men and women were at the festival, but to also keep some of the remaining best on guard in each village, doubling the watch for the duration, as well as send a group of fighters down the river to the area of the easternmost village where it emptied on to the plains, and to establish a watch there for a possible invading army, and to keep them out if possible while relaying the attack news up river. Towards this end, she planned a special way to get the alarm all the way up the river quickly and within an hour’s time of the first approach so the entire river would be alerted.
Barely a week and a half later, all the village chieftess’, both the primary ones as well as the smaller ones were there in the queen’s hut and they went to work discussing possible plans, and the queen revealed her fast warning plans as well. Drummers would be stationed up and down the valley, no more than a half mile from each other up in the many hunter trees they had scattered along the valley, and at the first signal from the edge of the woods at the plains, the next hearing it would repeat the alarm beat and this would swiftly carry up the whole valley, three drummers at each station with two awake at all times ready to react. It was a good plan, and they hoped it would not be necessary; however it was found that the plains chief had been to almost all the villages and in each had tried to foment trouble. Thankfully level heads had prevailed and none had risen to the bait to rise against the others and in turn had received similar warnings and threats.
Along with the chieftess’ came another familiar face in the form of Sutara and after they had left, she gave her own report to the queen, she had been quite busy the last couple weeks with this group, she and her best had been scouting and spying the camp of them, and there were indeed plans afoot for a possible invasion, the word being if the forest people did poorly in the fights, they would shortly afterwards attack, they had an army just three days out from the forests edge waiting their signal to either attack or retreat if need be. After her meeting with the queen, Sutara found herself waiting once again at the bridge near the queen’s hut and hoping to catch Contrez free and alone. She was in luck, as Contrez emerged half an hour later on an errand for the queen, but she stopped long enough to chat with Sutara. Sutara’s words for her were not the best or what she had hoped to hear.
“You know that chance meeting in the forest with Gotter may have made the situation perhaps worse, at least for you.” She began, “You wounded his pride and made him look bad in front of the others there, and he has sworn to some in the camp and was overheard saying that if he gets a chance to fight you, you would die for making him look bad, and he would just call it an accident. Worse, their chief seems to agree with him, your idea to invite all the tribes did not go well, and he wanted the honor of conquering us alone, getting the other tribes involved has thrown that idea away, as at least a few tribes are not on friendly terms with his. So he has told him as well as the female champion, if either gets a chance to fight you, they are to make it look accidental, but to kill you.”
Contrez look a bit worried as well as annoyed, but she also assured Sutara, “I thank you for the warning, but I suspected this much already, I saw her look in the queen’s hut, and his reaction in the woods also suggested such. But don’t worry about me, I have killed before, both here against Bear, as well as when I was queen of the smoking mountains. I’m not afraid to kill, and now that I know they plan to kill me, I will make sure it is they not I who breathes their last. If I fail, then I trust you to avenge me in turn.” Sutara looked unhappy at that, but nodded agreement, Let’s both hope we survive this as I may force them to a death match as well if need be as I fully expect one or both to make the final cuts, I watched them both practice against others there, many left the practice area needing a healer and will not be ready to fight by time the festival beings in barely a week from now.” For a few seconds, Sutara paused and then with deadly seriousness told Contrez, “Gotter is dangerous in his own right, I watched him practice from a distance, but the real danger is Pring the woman champion, she is cruel and sadistic and likes to slowly torment her foes before she puts them away, and she has no qualms at all in killing an opponent. I watched as she had some prisoners from other plains tribes made to fight her, and she made sure they either died or were badly injured with more than a few broken bones, and their fate uncertain as they were carried away.” The warning was sobering indeed, and Contrez thanks Sutara for that warning and also wished her well when she competed in the fights, as she might well be facing either of the champions herself.
The two soon parted each continuing their own respective duties, and Contrez looked later for Sutara but found she had already left the village. It would be the last she would see or hear from her until the day of the festival, and it was looking like it would be the biggest one ever for the goddess of combat and war Suhr ever. The word had indeed reached many of the plains villages, and they had responded in kind, five others had sent both men and women to compete and they had on finding the camp of Rayelvak near the sacred isle also established camps nearby as they awaited the arrival of the days of the festival.
Nor did they arrive just to compete, word had of course also come to them about these forest people and the fact they were willing to trade. Furs and wooden products from the forest people who came to see these visitors soon were being brought to be sold, and they in turn were buying or bartering for good cloth and horses to ride, the horses being somewhat scarce there in the forest kingdom. New grains were also being introduced from a couple of the farming communities deeper on the plains and further downstream, and the wonderful aroma of fresh baked breads often filled the air around the camps catching the appreciative nose of the forest people.
The selling however more or less ended at least for now, with the arrival on the first day of the competitions of the fighting men and women from all the forest kingdom villages. At least a half dozen men and women from all the larger villages were there, and even the small villages had sent one or two either man or women to try their hand and bring home honor and glory. A raised platform was created on the two banks of the river facing the sacred isle for the people to watch from, for Amerlin and Rayelvak however a pair of special boats had been quickly built, each with a throne like seat on it and eight paddlers to each one for each of them, these they boarded as the fights began, and the paddlers would take them up and down the river in a continuous circle around the fighting there on the sacred isle so they could watch all the fights in progress, as they were judged by the high priestess of Suhr.
In all close to 240 participants were matched with six fights initially going on for the first two rounds with men and women impartially matched by the priestess using a random drawing manner. These rounds were the ones that brought the number down first from 240 to 120 and then to 60 remaining in a best 2 out of 3 rounds by submission or knockout by a hold. Then for the second day it got rougher as the fights went best 3 out of 5 again by submission or knockout, with the final round requiring a hold to render the loser unconscious in a symbolic death that is expected of fighting men and women who worship the goddess. The sixty went to thirty, then sixteen with the last two standing both allowed to continue and make it even. As the sun was setting these faced off for the third time that second day in an even more grueling fight best 4 out of 7 and at least 2 knockouts required this time, and again the final had to be a knockout in the symbolic death before it came down to the final eight that would compete on the third day.
Amerlin had chosen the men and women of her own village with great care; eight men and women all were there to represent the queen’s own village and Contrez for her fighting skills despite the death threat to her had convinced the queen to allow her to fight. Initially Amerlin had decided to keep her out of it after hearing of the death threats to her. But Contrez was able to convince her with a persuasive argument that she was fit to fight, and if she didn’t show up after the queen had called her one of her best fighters, shame would come to them all. It was hard to not acknowledge that fact and the queen relented though she was also clearly not happy either.
Slowly the fields were whittled down, and the losing fighters joined the ranks of the watchers as the winners progressed and as the moons rose over the forest bathing it in its pale light, the final eight had indeed been determined. Gotter had been eliminated in that very last round by Sutara allowing the queen’s spy and top fighter to advance to the final eight. Contrez had also done well, advancing in her own fights though they had been rough ones, especially the last against a very big male from the plains who was quite skilled. Pring however had managed to make it to the final eight as had three others of the plains, the other two for the forest valley, Contrez was herself pleased when she saw at least of other of the smoking mountain people among them so two of them had made it this far, and the final was an unknown male from one of the other villages. For Contrez this meant she was the final representative not just for the queen herself but her entire village, the other eleven had been eliminated.
Day three dawned bright but with a cool feel to the air and it boded well, the coolness may well help the fighters last longer rather than in the usual heat and humidity the forest usually held near the river, and they would need all the help they could get. All eight swam out to the isle this time naked as the day they were born; their bodies no longer allowed even the basics of covering allowed before, leaving them fully mobile as well as fully exposed to each others attacks. Five men and three women came from the waters, the women being Contrez, Sutara and Pring, the men all relatively unknown but still quite skilled to have got this far, but now it was serious.
This time the fights were for total domination, the loser had to beg the fight to end after the winner had in the eyes of the priestess established clear dominance over the loser. The loser not just eliminated from the contest, but the prize of the winner as well for the next four months. There was a definite tension in the air as the priestess showed four pairs of perfectly matches balls of stone, they were colored red, green, blue and yellow, whoever picked the same balls would fight that person. One by one, each reached in to the sack the high priestess held and withdrew a ball and they all revealed theirs at once. Contrez found herself matched against one of the better men fighters of the plains called Jarl, but then she frowned as she saw that Sutara had found herself matched against Pring. The final pairings were almost not worth noting at that point, though Contrez did note the two plains men were going to fight each other, and the one other female from a smaller village who made it this far for the forest people was fighting the male from the smoking mountain people of her former kingdom.
Each pair was moved to a point roughly equal distance from each other, a good thirty or so feet separating each pair of fighters from the next pair. The tension was high as the priestess invoked the goddess for this fight and then shouted for the fights to begin. Contrez would have given a lot to be closer to keep half an eye on the fight Sutara was having but fate had been against them as a random draw set her at one end, and her at the other end close to 120 feet away. She quickly found her hands full as her foe charged her at once on the signal and they went down in a tangle of arms and legs as he tackled her while she looked at the other end. Getting her mind off the other fighters, she turned her own attention to her foe and began to fight in seriousness seeking to get him in a hold and start to wear him down.
The details of the fight soon became a blur to Contrez, as her world over time al but narrowed down to the guy she fought, he was good, just a few inches smaller than her and close to her own weight and build solidly and he had as much power as she did in most areas. The first two hours of the grueling fight passed in a haze of battle lust and pain as she delivered damage and took it in turn, a number of shouts after two and a half got them to both pause a moment to look as they were briefly separated and they saw the first pair which matched two males from the plains had ended their fight, the loser writhing on the ground and looked to have a broken arm as well which probably had ended his best chances to fight and the other to gain control and win. Moments later, she had to turn her attention back to her own foe as he moved and she dodged an attempt to grab at her legs to trip her up, but not before she looked further down at the far end where Pring and Sutara was fighting. Sutara was in trouble at that moment, trapped in a fierce body scissors and both had found themselves partially in the water, Sutara was not just trying to break the scissors but also not be forced under the water by it, which Pring was clearly trying to do.
Another half hour would pass and a bit more before several shouts signaled another fight had ended, and both risking a glance, saw Pring standing over an all but unconscious Sutara, her leg bent unnaturally and her arms wrapped around her ribs as if she had broken ribs, she had taken a lot of damage but lost and the plains woman champion was going to advance to the final four. Contrez’s own foe apparently knew Pring and cheered her dropping his own attention for a critical second and Contrez used it as she slid behind him and locked a bearhug from behind and dropped backwards throwing him up and backwards as she did to slam his head on the hard ground and stun him. Both of them dead tired, she had used a lot to make that move but he was badly stunned and it gave her the space she needed as she threw herself down the length of his body, her nearly 250 pounds of hard body slamming most of his remaining wind from him as she grapevined his legs to trap him under her and went for a breast smother determined to end the fight now if she could. He still fought back, he realized he was in deep trouble and she could finish him with this move, and his arms closed and he threw his remaining strength in to a bearhug in an attempt to break her ribs and free himself.
Had this been maybe a half hour earlier he may have succeeded, but by now his own strength was too far sapped and the lack of air as she kept him locked and then began to systematically keep him on the edge of not passing out left him weak as a kitten. He endured the torture for maybe another ten minutes or so hoping she would change tactics and he would have a chance, but Contrez knew she had him with this hold and stayed with it. Accepting this hard fact at long last, he abandoned any attempts to fight and pleaded for mercy and the end of the fight. The priestess checking him asked Contrez if she accepted his plea and she did and the priestess declared the winner as Contrez as she slowly rolled to her own feet and struck a victory pose over her foe. Barely a dozen minutes later, the final match ended as the woman from the smaller forest village trapped her foe in a head scissors he could not find the strength to break and after several long minutes in it signaled his own surrender after she started to use it to wrench his neck fiercely back and forth threatening to do major damage unless he quit right then and there.
The four winners were floated back to the mainland along with their prizes to begin a long rest. It was close to mid day by now and they would have but four hours to recover as best as they could before they returned to the sacred isle to match the final four. All were still tired by time the signal came for them to return to the isle, as before they were required to be stripped down and to swim to the isle. The goddess Suhr however may have had other plans, for the woman and the male who were swimming out suddenly disappeared under the water, and then the water started to churn and the male came to the surface with a scream of “Snake!” Several warriors immediately rushed the water to save the two there, and managed within a couple minutes to dispatch the snake and drag the two out of the waters. The damage however had been done, both had taken in water and were half drowned, but had been caught in the dangerous crushing coils of this monstrous snake that as it was dragged from the river waters was close to 50 feet long, and both had been bitten the poison in both their bodies now. The poison they could deal with, the high priestess had antidotes for that, but neither were in any shape even after that to fight, and were eliminated from the contest leaving just Contrez and Pring to emerge from the waters on the isle and to watch as the efforts were made on the main shore to save the victims.
Several minutes later, the high priestess would return to the sacred isle and face the two women. “Suhr has spoken I believe, she wants this battle to be between you two and has sent the snake to eliminate the other pair to ensure this. We do not always understand the why of her wishes, but you are now the finalists rather than part of the final four. Go to the center of the isle and prepare yourselves then I shall invoke the ritual and your final fight for total domination shall begin.”
As the two moved towards the center of the isle, standing barely a dozen feet apart from each other, they finally got a good look at each other close up for the first time. Contrez was herself considered somewhat of a giant even among the usually tall and large Amazon women despite being from the smoking mountains herself, standing at 6’7” her earlier weight of 260 was down now closer to somewhere between 240 and 250 pounds almost all of it solid flesh, muscle and bone on her larger bone frame structure. A look at Pring and it was no small wonder that she had herself risen to become champion of her own people, as tall as Amerlin herself at 6’2” and close to 220 pounds of solid body that showed very little fat, she was even to a casual glance a very powerful woman, with an equally large boned frame, though not quite as large as Contrez’s. Dark brown eyes peered at Contrez with hate filed anger barely suppressed from under a mop of black hair that fell almost to her eye brows in front and down the back of her neck almost to her shoulders. Ignoring the chants of the priestess, she was studying Contrez intently clearly looking over every bruise and discernable injury seeking possible points she can exploit. Contrez was no slouch here and was returning the inspection and allowing herself to set her own mind on focusing on beating the woman before her. No words were spoken by either of the women, but the messages they were sending silently with each other with just the language of their eyes and bodies was speaking volumes.
From the two boats that held Amerlin and Rayelvak, both were leaning forward in their own respective seats as the two heard the priestess shout fight, and the two women charged forward both after barely a second to close the dozen or so feet between them leaving the ground at once, each seeking to drop the other with a drop kick and missing their planned targets entirely and crashed several feet apart from each other. Within moments both had rolled and gone to hands and knees before springing to their feet and closing again. Hands reached for and locked on each other’s arms as they engaged in a tug of war of sorts seeking how stable the other may be before Pring closed and tried to slam a knee hard up in to the crotch of Contrez. It was blocked however as Contrez had already been looking for something like this given Pring’s reputation for pain dealing and viciousness. Her own knee rising and blocking the foe’s knee and deflecting her slightly to one side, it gave Contrez an unexpected possible opening.
A hard jerk on one arm the same direction of the twist partially turned Pring and Contrez got herself behind her foe and slammed an elbow hard in to the back of the neck in an effort to stun the woman a bit. It did in fact rattle her, where lesser men and women would have dropped to their knees by the power behind the arm of Contrez, she stayed on her feet, but did stumble forward a bit under the impact, her arms rising for balance and Contrez leapt at the new opening slipping her arms up under Pring’s and locking her in a full nelson. A hiss of pain escaped from tight lips as Pring felt the power of the mountain woman’s arms as she locked the hold in tight and forced her head down against her chest making breath difficult at best. For a few seconds the two strained there while Contrez considered next moves. Lift and swing was a favorite move from here, but the near close height and weight did not make this too feasible against Pring.
Even now, the larger woman was exerting considerable power of her own as she swung her arms up and out and then started to press down in the classic full nelson breaker action, and would break the locked hands in a matter of seconds. Settling for a fast choice, Contrez from behind her kneed her to the back of her own knees forcing them to buckle unexpectedly. The simple move worked well, and the plains woman dropped to both knees, Contrez coming down with her and the nelson still secure for the moment. Pring started up right away so she could continue to break free but now down this far, Contrez was ready to take her foe in even deeper now and dropped back from where she knelt and dragged Pring down on top of her, her own legs rising and snapping around the sides of her waist in a fierce body scissors and clamped down hard getting a barked “Unnn” from the woman.
The first really solid hold in place and this being the classic Iron Maiden hold combo, Contrez put it to work as she used arms and legs to further stretch her foe out and then cut down hard with both scissors and nelson. Several long seconds passed as Pring writhed in the hold, hands locked away from the entrapping feet by the nelson and she took the pressure and was starting to gasp for breath as she tried a couple time to use her own legs seeking to raise them enough to get them up and over the feet of Contrez for an over scissors sure to force Contrez break the scissors she had. The scissors were placed just high enough that she could have a little maneuvering room and shifted her feet and legs just enough to avoid the trap. Giving up on the over scissors attempt, Pring returned to the matter of powering herself free of the nelson. With Contrez underneath her on the ground, this time there was no easy way to counter the hold breaking move, and after two attempts that just partially broke the nelson, the third sustained attempt was the trick and the nelson hold was broken, and Pring sat up at once, though still trapped in the scissors from behind.
Joining her hands before Contrez could herself rise and try and recapture her in the nelson, Pring hammered the fists down in to the one knee of Contrez getting a sharp gasp from her at the powerful blow and a second as she pounded it a second and then the third broke the locked ankles as her knee and leg reacted to the pain enough and Pring threw herself sideways rolling free and to her hands and knees and rising quickly, even as Contrez did, though slightly slower.
The blows to her knee had slowed her just a bit there, and was a possible weakness that Pring saw and she closed and spun delivering a mule kick to the knee cap and scored hard getting a gasp again from Contrez. Her previous fight had seen her foe working hard at her legs in particular, and Pring perhaps had seen this as a weakness to exploit and she now was, but her mule kick backfired this time as Contrez stumbled forward and slammed in to her backside. Her extended leg between Contrez’s own legs now, her foe saw the possible trap and took it, her legs closing around the extended leg of Pring in a scissors to the leg leaving her foe standing on just the one leg, and her arms rose closing around her foe in a bearhug from behind, trapping her arms against her sides, and all the power of Contrez’s well known bearhug came in to play here as she tightened down, arms locked just under her foe’s breasts she lifted up and leaned back just a bit adding extra pressure and pain to the breasts, and she squeezed down the rib cage seeking to rob the woman of her air.
Across on the shores, many villagers from the forest villages, having heard the tales of the power in that bearhug started to cheer as they saw it close and Pring squirming as she took it and her deeply tanned face went pale as her lungs closed down fully and her mouth dropped open as her lungs sought air. Rayelvak from his watching boat leaned forward as he saw his chosen struggling seemingly futilely, her arms trapped and unable to counter for now and willed with his own power for her to find the strength to break free. Amerlin from her own boat was smiling now, she knew full well the power of that hold, had felt it many times herself when the two had contested in private, often with broken ribs as a result. “Come on girl! “she quietly urged Contrez on, “Break them and cripple her to force a quick end to the fight!”
One the isle the struggle was still going strong however, Pring had discovered some of Contrez’s real power and her lungs were closed tight and she could hear her ribs creaking under the pressure and marveled even as she took the pain at the power of her foe’s arms. Trapped as she was, she was putting her own considerable power to use trying to force her trapped arms upwards in a bearhug breaking move to lift her free of the hold, and she could hear the grunts from Contrez as she was straining to hold her, a testament to her own considerable power, and could feel the arms slowly sliding up from under her breasts where they had locked on to them now, more fully.
The pain there was intense as they took the crushing pressure, her own blood reacting to the mauling rushing to the breasts to make them become firmer and larger and more sensitive as well, if she could force the arms just a bit further up past her nipples and to the upper slope of her breasts she knew she would be free and could with a few deft moves easily get her leg free as well. A look of serious determination crossed Pring’s face and channeling her strength and anger together she went for a hard press upwards and felt the arms slide a couple more inches to a point directly on top of the nipples, then Contrez suddenly released the bearhug and the log on her leg and stepped back, apparently realizing she could not hold her much longer.
As soon as she felt this she spun, her one hand closed and raised in a fist drawn back ready to deliver a hard blow to the face but too one instead to her breasts, actually two as Contrez seeing her turn reacted almost instinctively this time and went for the standing drop kick her feet rising and slamming hard in to her engorged and sensitive breasts and knocking her flat on her butt and then back, unable to brace fast enough to deflect the blow, and swore as she hit hard and sat up again ready to rise. In front of her she saw Contrez slow to get to her hands and knees and saw her own opening and lunged forward from her sitting position seeking the nearby feet and got them both and jerked hard flattening Contrez on her stomach, even as Pring now rose the feet held firmly.
Spreading the legs wide, she started to unleash a series of vicious kicks to her foe’s cunt with no sign of mercy on her face, she was ready to pay back some of the pain she had taken and show Contrez she was the superior woman. Contrez shrieked in pain as the first kick scored and a lesser one as the second one hit and then began to moan as the kicks continued. Shaking her head against the pain trying to clear her mind, she began to thrash and kick with her legs trying to break free of the steel like grip.
Pring however was not letting go and kept hammering away with kick after vicious kick until she had scored close to a dozen such shots and the struggles of Contrez had radically slowed, a sign of the damage she had Taken and how current mental state, then like a striking snake Pring went to work even more on the legs as she swung around still holding them and straddled the waist of Contrez facing away, and Amerlin drew a sharp breath as she saw the position and was sure that her woman was about to be set in to the dreaded crab hold. She was wrong however for Pring was planning to work on the legs even more as she dropped hard to her knees, her butt landing on Contrez’s still facing away.
Pulling the legs of Contrez back she set the lower legs across and just above her knees, the feet pointing out and shifting her grip to the ankles pressed back on them angling the feet downwards then pulled down on them as she leaned back a bit adding her considerable body weight and bending the feet sharply and all even across the river heard the sharp cry of Contrez as she felt the muscles pulling on her feet, the big plains woman was clearly trying to at a minimum sprain her ankles making standing a difficult task at best, and then Pring went even deeper as she laid way back almost prone atop of Contrez and all knew she wasn’t seeking to sprain the ankles, she was looking to break both legs at the ankles making any attempt to stand impossible and severely limiting Contrez’s own arsenal of moves including several she favored.
Many could see the from the one river bank as Contrez was facing that way as she raised her face that she was in acute pain, she clearly realized the danger she was in and she seemed unable to do much, held as she was, she had no chance of rolling the woman off like that, but then Contrez saw the long black hair of Pring dangling just across her face, her head that far back as she leaned in to the hold deeper still and in doing so seeking the broken ankles, she gave Contrez a chance and she took it.
The hands of Contrez moved slowly at first not wanting to warn her foe as she drew tem forward close to her own head, but once there, the shot forward and up and closed on their own target the back leaning head of Pring and clamped around the jaw of her foe and drew it all the way down and pulled forward angling the head back in a dangerous manner that threatened the neck and a possible broken neck, her own hands, still as powerful as ever pressed in to the side of the neck of Pring and all could suddenly hear her cries of pain as well as well as her hoarsely gasping for breath as the pressure almost closed her breath. “You think you’ve got me bitch! I’ve got you even worse, you better let go or I’ll squeeze your neck shut and stop your breath for good!”
To emphasize her point, Contrez pressed harder and the powerful woman above her began to gag her breath slowed to maybe a tenth of normal, and both knew she could not hold out too long like that, even if she managed to finish breaking the ankles of Contrez, she would end up all but unconscious herself and easy prey for the bigger woman. From below Contrez repeated her words of “You think you’ve got me?!?” Then changed the rest showing she was willing to strike a deal of sorts adding, “You let go and I’ll let go! We can stay this way otherwise until you are too weak to stop me and let go from lack of air and I will make you pay for it!”
Realizing the resourcefulness of the woman under her and her own head starting to get very light headed from a lack of air, Pring reluctantly released the hold as she sensed she was losing this hold battle and could not break the ankle fast enough to make it worth the effort and released her ankle breaking hold. The feet of Contrez immediately flopped forward out of the reach of Pring, but Contrez held her near choke a few more seconds as Pring’s hands came up and tore at them trying to dislodge them. Getting a knee under her, Contrez raised her lower body a bit and to one sided and rolled the two of them over, herself now on top and pulling her foe’s head upwards the choke now even harder, but then she released the hold and the head of Pring dropped down in a gasp of relief.
From above, she felt Contrez shifting and was ready to roll and throw her free, but Contrez felt her shift as well and moved even faster literally twisting herself on top of her foe so she was face down as well and then straddled her waist as she rose upright to a kneeling position and grabbing a handful of the long black hair of her foe, jerked her head and upper body up and back and got her hands back under the chin and drew her way up and back in to a very deep Camel Clutch hold.
Contrez was looking to work on her foe’s back, a tactic she preferred when she fought, and was usually successful at it, and as she tried to keep Pring trapped in the hold, she was cautiously stretching and wiggling one leg and then the other along with the foot making sure there was no major damage. The tingling in one ankle told her of some badly stretched muscles and she mentally shrugged it away, little she could do in a fight like this, her concentration now almost entirely on trying to keep Pring locked in. It was not a hold she was likely to keep long she realized, Pring’s large hands and her arms were very close to a match to her own maybe even a bit stronger and even now they had a hard grasp at Contrez’s wrists and were inch by inch slowly dragging her hands free of the chin.
Needing a new tactic and fast, but also recognizing that the steel grip of Pring on her own wrists made the selections limited, Contrez abandoned the Camel Clutch dropping her foe down with a new gasp of relief, and turned her own hands inward, her hands matching and clamping on to Pring’s wrists in turn. Using her kneeling position over her, Contrez went to work now, slowly against the attempts to resist drawing her foe’s arms back behind her, once she got them even to Pring’s own sides, the resistance lessened considerably, a fact that Contrez was quick to note, and she kept drawing the arms back until she had her in a surfboard like hold and then rose to her feet and jammed a foot to the lower back of Pring and draw her back up once more in an arch as well as working the arms and shoulder muscles.
Realizing those hands and arms were very powerful and needed to be weakened significantly, Contrez allowed her foe to get her knees under her and begin to rise making it look like a struggle to hold her down, but actually baiting her for the next move. Pring not realizing it was smiling as she started to stand, ready to break free, when she felt her straightened arms bend suddenly behind her. Contrez had stepped forward and sprung part of her trap, bending the arms back and up behind her catching her in a dual hammerlock, but she was far from done, and before Pring could try and wiggle free, she stooped a bit and got in close, then rose and lifted up. Her powerful foe found her feet off the ground as she was lifted fully off the ground and held suspended there in the dual hammerlock, her own weight now her biggest enemy as it fell squarely on the hammerlock getting a scream of pain and rage from her as her arms and more so her shoulders took the pain, strain and weight and threatened to be blown from their sockets.
In most cases, Contrez would have been content to just leave her opponent hanging there and allow gravity to do the damage, but with the high stakes of the contest in mind, as well as the known threats and promise of Pring to destroy her, Contrez was not willing to allow this mercy, such as it may be. With a grunt, due to the 220 some odd pounds of her foe, Contrez jerked the arms up even further forcing her foe even higher in a fast manner and then just as quickly dropped the arms a bit allowing the body to drop inches but not all the way to the ground, the weight hit the arms and shoulders hard, and Pring screamed in pain, outrage and agony as her shoulders took the bounce and then Contrez did it a second time and a third each clearly doing a world of hurt to her foe as she shook her head in denial that anyone could do this to her, then finally got enough of herself together and her foot and leg lashed out and back and slammed hard in to the thigh of Contrez in an attempt to force the break.
A sharp hiss of pain exploded from Contrez’s own lips as the foot connected, and she retaliated with yet a fourth bounce and Pring kicked again, scoring the same spot a second time. Realizing she was being weakened there and a few more hard kicks would get her free, Contrez obliged her by jerking her up a final time and then literally flinging her forward and down in front of her in a face down position. Instincts made Pring set her hands out to absorb the fall, and then she screamed again as her weight once more hit the sore arms and shoulders, and she rolled on to her back to sit up instead.
She would find Contrez there and already waiting and hoping for this move, as she leaned down and grasped the nearby ankles and jerked her legs up dropping her on her back again. Stepping forward, she spread the legs of her foe, stepping between them and then winding her arms around the lower legs by the knees and locked her hands. Pring gasped as she saw the position, knew it as one she also favored and lunged desperately for the ankle of Contrez, but her damaged shoulders screamed in protest at the sudden movement, and her reaction was to instinctively stop due to the pain. It gave Contrez the extra second or so she needed and with a hard twist, turned her foe over face down and straddled her waist to draw her in to the back breaking Boston Crab hold.
Stepping back a half pace to go for the deeper position, Contrez dropped hard on the middle back, her own weight hitting with enough force to drive a lot of the air from her foe’s lungs and then her feet dug in to the ground ahead of her as she braced against her foe drawing her deeper in to the arch, as well as braced for the expected escape attempt. It came moments later as the powerful legs of Pring flexed and she tried to throw Contrez forward and off. It wasn’t enough however, not to lift Contrez’s own considerable height and weigh against her braced legs. Throwing more power to her hold, Contrez shifted back a bit and took Pring down even deeper. She was clearly in pain, a second flex attempt did even less this time to move the giantess above her, and then tried to so a push up to raise her body, ease the pain and get better leverage for a new attempt to flex/throw her foe off her.
That was when she realized the depth of the trap that Contrez had set her up for, the lifting hammerlock and the bouncing had seriously injured and damaged the arm and in particular her shoulder muscles, now her attempts to raise the two of them up caused the shoulders to scream their pain and tell her just how bad they were, she could not budge up at all as her shoulders failed her fully and with a groan, she felt Contrez shift yet again as she slid up her back a bit more and the arch went even deeper. Cursing inarticulately, Pring tried desperately to reach around and grab at anything that she might be able to use and leverage the bigger woman off her, nothing was working however, and she started to claw at the dirt in the ground, going for desperate measures now as she got handfuls of it and threw it at her foe’s face hoping to score a needed strike and get the eyes to make her drop her.
The dirt and small stones scored where her brute power could not, and with a gasp, Contrez dropped her foe and rose herself, instinctively stepping forward and away from Pring as her hands went to her face and rubbed at her eyes where the dirt had scored. Fortunately nothing harder than dirt bits had struck there and the damage was just tear filled eyes, blurring her image of her foe badly for several seconds. She could see her roll and rise to a sitting position and then quickly rise as well to the standing position and charge at her. Instincts told her the hands and arms still more or less useless so watch the legs made her make her best guess through blurred vision and leap to one side and try to trip her foe like earlier.
No success for the trip, but not because she tried, but she still got the desired result as Pring left the ground seeking a dropkick at the same second that Contrez leapt to the side. Her target gone from her flight path, all she could do was curse the bad luck and start to rise again. Contrez had enough of her vision back to see her well enough to attack this time and reach her target, this time it was her foe’s hair as she rose and grabbing it thrust her head between her own thick thighs for a standing head scissors and close it tight. Hissing in anger and pain, Pring grabbed at the legs to try and pry free, and never knew what hit her as her world went topsy turvey. Contrez had literally dived forward over her foes lower body in a rolling action that caught Pring totally unprepared as she found herself jerked up and then backwards and then down head first to the ground as Contrez rolled out flat to the ground.
With a groan, Pring went totally limp her arms flopping at her side showing she was barely conscious after that impact and fighting to not go all the way out. Unable to fight back, she was all but easy prey as Contrez rolled over after releasing the head and then rewound her thighs again around it, crossing and locking her legs so she had Pring’s head securely in a figure four head scissors and began to steadily squeeze harder and harder. The new pain woke her foe up and she realized the dangerous position she was in. Hands clawed at her foe’s legs and feet seeking to break free to no avail, Contrez had her locked in tight, and now began to roll her hips as well snapping her foe’s head from side to side much like a dog would shake a rat it had caught in its jaws, getting moans and cries from her foe.
From her point there on the isle, the priestess heard Contrez demand that Pring surrender and admit she had lost, but she was unable to mouth the words, and signaled with her hands she was not yet giving up. The slow wear down continued for nearly another three to four minutes as Contrez tried to break the plains woman champion’s spirit, but she kept waving her hands in denial with each check by the priestess or demand of Contrez to “give it up!”
Accepting that her foe was not yet broken enough, and needed more work to the rest of her body, Contrez released her dangerous scissors and was caught out in turn as Pring as soon as the legs released rolled herself over to hands and knees, even as Contrez sat up ready to rise, and in perhaps a desperation move, Pring threw herself forward her body slamming hard in to Contrez before she could rise and slammed her back down to the ground with Pring above her. Breasts easily as large as Contrez’s own 40DD’s hung over her face for just a moment, then dropped heavily as Pring saw her position, and went for the breast smother finisher. “It ends now woman!” Pring hoarsely whispered in Contrez’s ear, “The master demands your death and I shall give it to him now that I have you traaaiiieee!”
Contrez new she was in trouble, her arms started for the arms around her foe’s head figuring they may still be weakened, but when she told her the chief had demanded her death, the arms shifted down and closed with vengeance on the ribs of her foe. This was no longer try and break the other, Pring had sworn she would kill her and that made this a death match, and Contrez rose to the occasion, her powerful arms constricting like an enraged boa, and the scream of pain from her foe was the pressure telling as it closed and then they both heard a rib break, followed by the silence of both women, neither able to breath now in the respective holds.
Needing to gain advantage, Contrez rolled hard seeking the top position, but Pring also rolled with her, matching her movements and keeping the rolling going. Neither was really aware of their positions now, their eyes were locked on each other and concentrating on rendering the other out so they could finish the fight once and for, and didn’t note the new danger though cries from the observers of both river banks should have tipped them off that something was wrong. Only when another of the continuing rolls brought the cool touch of flowing water to her backside did she realize where they were, the rolling had taken them to the rivers edge and even now as she kept fighting for the top, the roll took them deeper and then Pring rolled again and the two disappeared under the surface of the river’s waters.
Hastening to where the two women had disappeared, the high priestess of war waded in to the waters seeking the two and signaled she had found them calling that the rolling had stopped at last but both were nearly a quarter of the way across the river in a depth that was close to chest deep on the priestess herself.
Indeed the rolling may have continued even deeper, but a deep slit in the floor of the water had stopped their motion as they rolled in to it, the two trapped on their sides unable to roll forward or backwards, only a release would allow them to rise, and the priestess called that neither was showing any sign of doing so as she became a announcer of the struggle to those on the banks describing what she saw.
For the two women, the danger was very clear, but with death on the mind of Pring, she was willing to kill, and apparently, she was also willing to sacrifice herself in the attempt, Contrez through the murky waters could see her near berserker crazed look on her face, and realized she had to win against this woman, tightening deeper she and Pring heard the second and third rib go. It took the fourth rib breaking that finally got a scream of pure agony from Pring and then she started to thrash in possible death as the waters replaced the last of her air in her lungs, and at last the suffocating grip around the head of Contrez broke loose and she released her own hold, pushing herself up and out of the confining space and broke the surface with a deep gasp of breath and relief as fresh air rushed to starved lungs.
A couple of breaths to help her and then Contrez went under the surface again, none had seen that Contrez when she surfaced had stepped on Pring’s side and was holding her trapped with her own considerable weight and was drowning her. Moments later however, Contrez surfaced again, Pring’s head also coming to air and held up by a double handful of hair as Contrez literally dragged her back ashore. Once far enough away from the waters, the priestess checked and declared her alive and conscious, but it was also clear that the plains woman was all but finished, her last gamble had been a dangerous one and had backfired badly when it took them in to the waters. With no surrender yet heard, the priestess asked Pring to surrender but she still refused, coughing and half-gagging with lungs half filled with water she remained defiant.
Contrez also heard her, saw her weak signal and stepping in and pushing the priestess away, she bent over the limp form and locking arms around her waist, hoisted her up in to an inverted bearhug and started to shake and squeeze her, the arms now around the waist as she tortured the stomach muscles. The effect was enough to also help the plains woman a bit as her lungs rebelled to the water and in the upended position she coughed out most of it, spewing it like a water fountain might for a few seconds before they cleared, but even then, she showed no sign of surrender.
Considering her foe, Contrez decided it was time to take some additional risks and went after the woman’s last possible weapon, her legs. Throwing her down on the ground, she circled the gasping woman and seized her legs and spread them and then wound one leg around hers and set her up for the dangerous figure four leg lock and dropped down in it. Leaning back she poured all the pressure she could in to the hold, seeking to disable the last possible weapon the woman had and break her once and for. It was a dangerous move, as the hold could be reversed, and Pring apparently knew this as well, for despite her badly weakened state, she went for the roll over and after a couple attempts managed it. It didn’t last very long, as Contrez still had more power and a lot less damage to her and within seconds she had rolled them back over. A second rollover happened but it was clear that Pring was using all she had in a last ditch attempt to power her over, and this time, Contrez as she felt them going over reversed the direction of the struggle, and rolling with the pressure in to the reversal and then right back out of it going the hard way. Back in charge Contrez lifted the legs high and reefed the pressure up with it and listened as the woman moaned and tried to draw herself back along the ground to straighten the legs out and ease the pressure, but Contrez just scooted right along with her.
Several minutes passed as the two strained there, Pring was spent and beaten; only her pride remained to keep her stubbornly going. Once more Contrez changed her tactics, releasing the leglock and knowing her foes legs were now useless, she dragged her as she stood up to her hands and knees and then her arms closed around her waist again. With a grunt, she hoisted Pring up and over dropping her on her shoulder single shoulder backbreaker style, her arms locking around her chest above and she started to crush the damaged and broken ribs as well as maul her breasts.
Pring could take no more, her will finally breaking and herself sobbing uncontrollably, she signaled to the priestess and as she came closer, she said softly, “No more, I am broken and she has won.” Immediately the priestess called the match over and demanded that Contrez release her foe. She did so, allowing Pring to slide backwards off her back and to her feet and her legs promptly gave out on her and she collapsed. Looking up at the two above her, Contrez and Priestess, she half closed her eyes and when she opened them again there were four there. The fight ended, the ships of Rayelvak and Amerlin also came ashore to the isle and they joined the victor and the priestess looking down at the beaten woman.
“Woman!” The chief growled, “You have brought dishonor to this tribe with your loss and you dishonor me by living still you deserve death!” He raised a foot planning to stamp down on the damaged rib cage and end her life, but Amerlin was even quicker as she spun in place and slammed an elbow square in to the chief’s face and send him falling back on his own butt, his nose bleeding profusely from the impact and clearly broken. Turning to face him, Amerlin declared, “You have no rights to her now or her life, by the laws of this contest she now belongs to Contrez for the next several months and is her slave, her face and her fate is in the victors hands now. Try that again especially here on the sacred isle and this isle will see a death fight between you and me!” Stepping forward, Contrez straddled the fallen Pring her own voice a harsh growl, her lungs still hurting from the sustained smother she added, “If I don’t kill you first. She tried her best to kill me, but I proved better, you have yet to prove yourself a warrior much less a man by trying to attack one who can no longer fight back! This woman is mine and remains mine until her service has ended, what she does after that will be her choice!”
Both women glowering at her and looking ready to attack, perhaps together, the chief suddenly got a case of wisdom and backed away, but not before he spat at Pring and said, “Never return to our village again, I declare you ‘Kresh’ a lawless one and an outcast!” Turning he went towards the waters edge and plunged in, minutes later, he entered the camp, but soon found Contrez and Amerlin there as well, along with a small army of their fighting women who seemed to come from nowhere.
Confronting the chief there in his own camp, Contrez called the chief to a point of the law there. Pring is mine, and as the victor all that is hers is also mine, I claim all her possessions including the woman she defeated in fair combat called Sutara, release them and send all that was her to me here and we shall be on our way. Realizing that they meant business, his camp now outnumbered by close to a three to one margin, he sullenly obeyed and Sutara and the others were all led out. This included a fine war horse that had been Pring’s, and was now Contrez. As she claimed all the items, Amerlin raised her own voice for all to hear.
“This night we have seen the bravery and courage of Contrez, she has faced danger and fought with honor, she could have killed as was her right but gave life instead. I find her fit and worthy to be called Champion of my people and she shall serve with honor that role!” Turning as all the possessions were gathered, Amerlin’s party left the chief’s camp and returned to the other side of the river where Pring was being ministered to by the high priestess. In a sign of perhaps honor, Contrez as the owner of all that was Pring’s then formally gave total possession of it all from Pring downwards to the queen. Smiling down at her slave, Contrez returned all of it back to Contrez’s control with the exception of the horse, which she kept, and a demand of 12 hours service to her from Pring each week at the time of her choosing.
Gathering all her people with her, Amerlin brought her people back to her own village where word had already reached it and a celebration and feats that would last the rest of the night would ensue. Contrez was the main point of course, and she stayed out with all for a couple hours at least before pleading fatigue from the long day of fighting, and with Sutara in tow as her prize she retired through the queen’s hut to her own. None would see that the two minutes later would surreptitiously slip out from under the hut on the backside closest to the forest and disappear in to it. A couple hours later as dawn was approaching the queen came in as well, hoping to have some fun of her own and found the two gone. Thoughts of the two having fun together started, but then she recalled the days events and a new suspicion blossomed in her mind, and she in turn left the hut and walking around near the forests edge her own keen eyes picked out their trail and she began to follow. Within minutes, she was certain she had guessed their intent correctly and her pace quickened.
Contrez did indeed have some plans, and she had enlisted the aid of Sutara trusting her spying skills and fighting abilities to help her do what she wanted to do. The camp of Rayelvak had as she had hoped, not broken camp since it was already night when the fight ended, but no doubt would come daybreak. Using Sutara’s knowledge and observations, they circled in the camp until they were as close as possible to the tent of the chief. The camp was for the most part all but completely asleep, a pair of guards near the center of the camp by a fire, another outside the door of the chief himself, this one all but asleep on his feet. He never saw nor heard the two women slip from the shadows of the woods and approach from the rear, his first and final warning was the arm of Contrez suddenly coiling around his neck from one side and Sutara’s hand clamped over his mouth to prevent a yell as he struggled for several seconds before succumbing to a sleeper hold. The two women moved quickly and he was dragged deep in to the woods where they tied him to a tree and gagged him, he would not be reporting to anyone for a while that was certain.
The guard disposed of; they listened at the tent and hearing silence, slipped inside. The chief was alone and asleep, a wineskin lay on the floor nearby, apparently, he had indulged and was sound asleep, moments later the two women woke him using the same tactics on him and then making sure no one was watching they disappeared in to forest with the chief.
Dawn was just beginning to lighten the sky to the east when the chief found himself rudely slapped awake with several stinging blows to the face by Sutara. As he sat up, he realized first off he was not in his tent, and then that he was stripped down completely as well. As Sutara backed away from her rude awakening of him, he stood up slowly a scowl on his face and then he saw Contrez. Standing barely a dozen feet away from him, she was also stripped down nude and her voice was filled with anger. “You gave the orders to Pring to kill me rather than allow her to fight with honor, had she done so, I may have been the loser for she did show skills but was too busy trying to kill and not to win.” Gesturing around at where they were, he was startled to see they were back on the sacred isle and realized what was about to come as Contrez continued. “You showed no honor when you tried to assault Pring when you had no control, you showed disrespect to my queen, my people and myself. You claim you are the chief and a great fighter, prove it now! I am still injured from my fights here last night and you are fresh and uninjured, this will be to the death!” That said, she started to close even as Sutara backed away. This was Contrez’s request and her fight and she had told Sutara to stay out of it no matter what.
None realized or saw the form of the queen as she stood next to a tree not far from the riverbank and watched and listened to it all. As Rayelvak charged at Contrez accepting the challenge and intending to finish the job of killing her, she watched quietly as it progressed. Rayelvak apparently was mostly bluster and a harsh voice, for within ten minutes, Contrez was controlling him and starting to punish him harshly for his orders to have him killed, but the twentieth he was begging her to kill him, a request she denied him as she continued her assault slowly breaking and destroying him bit by bit. The clear winner established in this fight, she turned away and returned alone to the village. A couple hours later, Contrez also made her appearance getting startled murmurs from the villagers at the sight of her and her prize. The queen was in her main work chamber when Contrez came in and threw Rayelvak down on the ground, bound, gagged, and clearly battered in to submission.
Contrez’s voice was clear and proud as she proclaimed. “I have a new slave for your services my queen; he has forsworn his rule of his tribe and will gladly accept the bands of slavery in exchange for his life.” Smiling, this was an unexpected surprise, she had figured to hear how his lifeless body had been found on the sacred isle or in the river, not this. Rising she stepped forward to claim the offered gift, and a couple hours later the battered former chieftain three red bands around his neck and five black ones was led to the task master and she ordered him to start by picking up and emptying out the waste pots for every hut in the village.
For Contrez however, her work this day was still not done, after just a few brief hours rest, she along with eight of Amerlin’s own select fighters as a back up made an appearance at the former chief’s camp. The place was already in an uproar at the disappearance of the chief, and some of the few remaining leaders from other plains villages were there as accusations were being made and denied. Seeking out and finding Gotter among them, Contrez got him to step aside briefly from the rest and explained with a bit of discrete lying the events around dawn of the fight between her and Rayelvak. Not acknowledging he was now a slave, she told him. “Your former chief tried to finish what you and Pring could not do early this morning, he and I fought, it was a death match, and as you can see, I stand before you. Your village needs a new chief and I suggest you step in and seize the position, I think you will find our people will be more open and amenable to your ways. You have a sense of honor and honesty that we would appreciate, and as chief you would not be taking orders from a fool such as Rayelvak was.”
Gotter listened with a deepening scowl, but the suggestion that him take control and that as the new leader the forest people would be more open to trade and friendly relations saw the scowl fade and he nodded in agreement. Turning he rejoined the ongoing argument, and joined it and the argument died away quickly, as he turned and pointed at Contrez. Apparently, her little tale was accepted, the accusations now gone and a few looks of surprise and apparently shock at Contrez, the other leaders left. Gotter also got to work, and using his position as champion started giving orders as if he was now in charge and after a bit it looked like Gotter was being accepted as the new leader, as he went about giving orders for the camp to be broken and all to return to their home on the plains. As they started heading down river and home, Contrez turned and entered the woods heading up river, she did not have to go far before she met with her queen. She and a small army had been waiting just outside the village in hiding should things turn ugly, and as Contrez gave her report she smiled as well.
Signaling for her own army to come from hiding and return home, the powerful pair returned as well, and life started to return to normal once more there in the forest Amazon kingdom.

To be continued. . . .