| Chapter 2 Adria returned from her walk hot with anger. She confronted Caleb as he was playing with little Sator. "I can't do this anymore," Adria snarled. "They all make fun of me. It's horrible treatment. How can I--" Caleb silenced her. "It's all right," he said, in a calming voice. "They want to make you feel bad. It is only more encouragement to keep going." "What should I do?" Adria asked. "I need to teach other girls to fight; how do I do this?" "You need to encourage them as well. We need to practice our own skills for the next few days, and then you must use these tactics to educate the others. Make a sign visible for all women to read. See how many come to practice their fighting skills with you." Adria took Caleb's advice. The following day she made a big sign and put it outside the great stronghold. Many men laughed at her and ridiculed her once more, even as she put the sign up. Some women came by and found the sign objectionable; others came to join her. At the end of the week, all the women who showed interest in fighting gathered in the glade with Adria. More could have shown up; in all, there were no more than 55 women, all no older than 29 ladurs and no younger than 22. It was a strange group; some of the women, from an outward appearance, looked to be in no shape to fight, while others seemed to be very physically fit. Adria finally spoke to the group. "All right," she began. "I am honored to have you here." No, I'm not. Why am I doing this in the first place? "It is important that we all learn to fight; someday we will all have to fend for ourselves, as we once did before the wolfmen came and enslaved our ancestors." I can't believe I said that. "Now, I must ask you to all please stand in a line, shoulder-to-shoulder." "What is that for?" one leopardess asked. Adria sighed. "Please don't ask me why," she said, sternly. "Just please do as I asked you." All the cat women agreed and slowly they began to form a long line. Adria seemed pleased. "That's very good," Adria said, cracking a smile. "By obeying that command, you have accepted the concept of discipline in accordance with warfare. Now, let me examine you all, one at a time. I want everyone to stand still and not say a word until I am finished." Adria started at the left end of the line and worked her way right. During her inspection, she would ask each cat woman to reveal certain features of her body, such as her chest, arms, legs, feet, and back. She spent nearly half an hour examining each woman before addressing them once more. "After thorough inspection," Adria said, "I have determined that you all have the potential to be great fighters...." Adria then began looking up and down the line of girls, then pointed to a young jaguaress aged about 23 ladurs. "Particularly you. Please come over to me." The young girl was scantly clad in green cloth and walked very delicately on her bare feet. "Tell me your name," Adria requested. "My name is Jast," she said. "Okay, Jast, "Adria continued. "I see from your physical opinion that you have slender legs and arms and a relatively balanced body. Do you think you have what it takes to be a cat warrior woman?" "Of course," Jast said, smiling. "I exercise all the time and I love to run." "That's good," Adria said. "I can run fast, too. That's what makes cat women great; it's their leg strength. But I must ask: are you able to throw punches or wield weapons?" "I--I never tried, Adria," Jast said. Adria smiled. "Well, it's never too late to know how," she said, removing her skull cap and putting her sword. "What do I want you to do? Well, I want you to try to knock me down with your fists, of course. I think that you can do it." Jast was astounded. "Are you sure?" she asked. "I don't want to hurt you." "Oh, you won't," Adria assured her. "I can be sure of that." "Well, all right," Jast said, poising herself. "Here I go." Jast took a few hurried steps forward and threw her fist toward Adria's face, but just as it was about to strike, Adria grabbed and stopped Jast's right arm. "What the--" Jast gasped. At that moment, Adria clenched her right fist and backhanded Jast in the jaw, knocking her to the ground. All the women standing nearby were horrified. Jast landed on her back, holding her jaw in her right hand. "What are you doing?!" the women all shouted. "You wretch!" Jast shouted. She then swung her legs in a circle and swept Adria's legs out from under her, knocking her down. Adria, a little stunned, looked up. "Nice try," she laughed. "Sorry about your face. But you have excellent leg power." Jast sat up on the ground. "Really?" Jast said. "I do?" "Of course, you do," Adria said. "I would still work on your use of your upper body." Adria then stood up. "That was helpful, wasn't it?" "This is wrong!" one of the other women shouted. "How are you just going to hurt us like that? Is that any way to teach us to fight?" "You need to be disciplined in some way or another," Adria snapped. "If you don't want me to strike you first, then we will do some exercises instead. I have a better idea: why don't we all go for a nice long run? We all could use the leg work; we'll work on hand-to-hand combat on another day." Adria began to jog away. "Come, everyone; run with me." All the women looked at each other as Adria started to run. They all followed after her, and ran fast around the kingdom for a while. Adria called back to her followers. "This is good, isn't it?" she shouted. They all nodded affirmatively or agreed verbally. The running continued for a little while; Adria also refused to let any girls fall behind. She would drop back to the slower runners and urge them to catch up. Chapter 2, part 2 |