Children of Steel Page 12

  "Give up?" I asked loudly, and then got ready to knock him out before he could get up.

  "I give." He said, and held up his hands. I walked over to Herza and sat back down.

  "Where'd you learn that trick?" She asked impressed.

  "An old Kenpo instructor. Got the cash?" I looked around.

  "Got it, sure you want to go though; you still look pretty good to me."

  I looked her in the eye, "I'm tired, I hurt, and I've had enough. Let's go some place quiet and have a few beers to relax."

  "Or?" she gave me that evil smile again.

  "I'll take a dive on the next one, and you'll lose all that money, without a fight." I gave her an evil smile of my own.

  "Okay, okay," she laughed, "Just testing, here's your winnings." she handed me back the original forty, plus another nine hundred and sixty. I was shocked.

  "This much? What were the odds?"

  "Two to one, one to one, Three to one, and that little act you put on gave me an extra side bet." She stood up, "Time to move, let's go."

  I stuck my winnings in my pocket, and looked around as I got up. There were a couple of people heading our way, the first of whom was Rolf.

  "Hey, you're not leaving now are you? I got you another fight."

  "Sorry Rolf, Raj's had a long day, so we're calling it quits. Anyway, I only promised you three." Then she added crossly, "You shouldn't have wasted that first one."

  "Hey, you know how it goes, you gotta make a buck when you can. Only this time it didn't work out as well as I expected. I haven't seen too many people take that many of Torc's punches to the head and not go down.

  "Sorry fella's" he said turning to the two with him, a Bull Mastiff, obviously my next match and a Badger who looked pretty tough himself. "You heard them, they're packing it in."

  "What's a matter," said the Badger looking at me, "Scared?"

  "Nope," I put my arm around Herza, "Horny!"

  The bar broke up laughing at that, and we started to walk around them.

  "Hey, just hold on a second now," he grabbed Herza's arm, "I got my boy all ready to fight. You ain't going yet."

  I had my eye on the 'Boy' so I didn't see it, but I heard a snap and his yelp of pain.

  "Next time you grab me," purred Herza, "I'll cut your balls off!"

  I turned to see him holding his wrist, which didn't look too good.

  "Oh, did I forget to mention that she's horny too?" I said trying to sound innocent.

  He turned red and the bar was in hysterics. I had my knife in my hand by then, just in case. He looked us up and down, and holding his arm got out of our way. As we left the bar I couldn't resist saying loudly to Herza

  "You've just got to learn to be more careful dear, those little people break too easily." Okay, so it wasn't the best insult in the world, but I could hear him screaming insults back from the bar as everybody continued to laugh at his discomfort.

  We walked a few blocks over to a nicer section of town, found a quiet little place and went inside. We sat down and ordered a couple of drinks; I needed something a little stronger than beer to cover up the aches.

  "You did pretty well in there," Herza purred while sliding her chair next to mine. "And you handled that guy pretty well too. That's usually when the big fight starts, but nobody wants to mess with somebody when they're off to get laid!" She laughed.

  "If I'd known we could make so much cash I wouldn't have complained." I said abashed, "That's more than I lost playing poker."

  "Well don't expect to do it again anytime soon. You'll have a reputation around here by morning. The only reason we got such good odds is that while you're big, you're young."

  "So, what does age have to do with it?"

  "Most young people who are big never learn to fight well. They just rely on their size and strength."

  "Oh, I never knew that. But why did you set me up for this anyway?" I looked quizzically at her.

  "Like I said, to get you some real fight experience."

  "But why are you worried about it? Banner's my fight instructor."

  "Not anymore," she purred through that and started to run her hand in between my legs. "I am now."

  "Oh?" I tried to keep my composure, this was supposed to be a respectable place, even if her hands were getting a little adventurous. "Why the change? Not that I mind," I added quickly.

  "Balizar decided it. You do know that I am higher ranked than anybody in the ship except for some of the tigers?"

  "No" I said surprised, "I hadn't realized you were that good. But I kind of guessed you were better than Banner, after watching you two practice."

  "Well, Balizar thinks you've got talent, and I agreed. So now you're mine. Banner is going to take over Terease's training and I'm going to get you for two hours a day!" Herza was starting to rub her body up against mine now and people were definitely beginning to look. I signaled the waitress for the bill and asked her to call a cab.

  "Is it the thought of beating up on me everyday that's doing this?" I asked as we headed out the door.

  "No, fights always get me going. What about you?"

  "I'm not limping because I'm hurt." I admitted.

  We made it into the cab then.

  "Oww, let me see!" laughed Herza.

  How the cab driver got us back without an accident was beyond me, he kept trying to watch us and drive. I was hard put to keep her from doing it right there in the cab. As it was we ran to my room with our clothes in our hands, and while there's nothing wrong with a Leopard not wearing anything, in my state of obvious excitement I'm still glad we weren't seen.

  Sex with Herza turned out to be as much of a workout as sparring with her in the gym. She gave as good as she demanded, and she demanded quite a lot! She wasn’t at all afraid to teach me what she liked and considering my level of experience wasn’t that great I was an eager and interested student. If I had thought I’d learned a lot from Katrine and Mist, Herza quickly put that notion to rest. And I took what I learned and used it on her to a rather great, and obviously enjoyable, effect.

  I only hoped that if I survived the night my ego wouldn’t become insufferable.

  9

  I didn't get up until eight the next morning. That's one of the nice parts about leave, sleeping late. Herza joined me on my trip to the gym, I already knew that she was as big a fanatic about exercise as I was. I did my usual workout, but I was still pretty sore from the fights, so I got Herza to give me a massage before we hit the showers.

  We made it to the meeting place early and sat around waiting for the others to show.

  "Where are we going anyway?" I asked Herza.

  "Beats me, I didn't ask. How're you feeling anyway? Still sore?"

  "A bit. The left side of my face is pretty tender too. Can you see any swelling?" I asked while feeling my cheek.

  "Only if you look closely," She giggled, "want me to kiss it and make it better?"

  "No, please." I winced as I hit a tender spot. "Got any pain killers instead?"

  "You know the company frowns on that kind of thing!" She motioned with her hands that the walls might have ears.

  "Ah, we're on leave now. I'd go see the local Doc, but I don't want to miss the trip." She quietly tossed me a pill and I caught it with a smile. "I guess I'll survive though” I said and popped it into my mouth and swallowed it.

  Over the next ten or so minutes, the rest of the clan showed up. Sheen had brought her boyfriend Clint, and Balizar introduced a lifemated pair of Jaguars from the ship that he had invited along. We then headed out to the airstrip where Balizar had requisitioned a large copter.

  "Well, at least we know it isn't local," I said to Herza.

  "Balizar was stationed here about twenty years ago," she replied, "so he knows some nice spots."

  We all climbed inside then and I looked in the back, but didn't see any equipment there. The deck was not only clean however, but padded too. So I decided to lie down and relax. Balizar and Sharazad took the pilot and co
pilot spots. Katrine, Mist and Lyle decided to stretch out in the back with me.

  "What happened to you?" asked Katrine quietly after Balizar had started up the motors.

  "Ouch!" I winced as she touched the side of my face, "Easy, it's still pretty tender."

  "Herza took you down to one of her bars, didn't she?" Asked Lyle grinning.

  "What bars are those?" Katrine asked, giving Herza's back a dirty look.

  "A 'fight' bar is what she called it," I said to Katrine, and turned to Lyle and Mist who were both grinning, "and yes she did. Has she dragged either of you to one?"

  "Not me!" smiled Mist.

  "Once," smiled Lyle. "It was an experience I'll admit, but I got beat up a lot worse than you. Balizar had a fit."

  "You should have seen him," added Mist, "he bounced Herza off a bulkhead. Till then I didn't think anybody could touch her."

  "Why'd he get so mad?" I asked.

  "Her and Banner used to do it all the time a while back. One time when they went, they took a new guy along and he came back on a slab."

  "How'd that happen?" I was pretty alarmed at that.

  "I'm not sure, it was before my time. But I got the impression that somebody cheated during the fight, pulled a knife or something. So that was when Banner stopped going. She told me that she's just a lot more careful about which places she goes to now."

  "It seemed okay to me, but there were some tough characters there."

  "That's probably why she took you on a weekday, less of a crowd and easier to deal with. So how'd you do?"

  "I won all three fights," I smiled feeling good about that. "And made back the money I lost at poker too!"

  "Not bad, you going to do it again?" asked Mist.

  "Maybe, but not here."

  "Raj, how could you even think about it?" hissed Katrine.

  "Easy, the money's good and I realized after getting this," I pointed to the side of my face, "that I do need the experience. So don't tell on her okay?"

  "I suspect that Balizar's already guessed," replied Lyle, "he's got a good eye and nothing gets by him."

  “I’m surprised Herza’s afraid of him though,” I said quietly, “Isn’t she higher rated then him in fighting?”

  He shook his head, “Balizar doesn’t spar with anyone other than Sharazad, and they only practice in private. So they’re not ranked.”

  “That sounds strange,” I commented.

  “As security head he probably likes to keep people guessing,” Lyle said.

  “Yeah and after he bounced Herza she stopped trying to push his limits,” Mist chuckled. “He even made it look easy."

  I nodded, Herza was definitely the type to push limits if she didn’t respect you. Or fear you.

  "So does anybody know where we're going?" I looked around changing the subject.

  "Of course," answered Katrine, "that's my job."

  "So? Are you going to share?" I asked looking at her.

  "Well you've been kind of a stranger lately so I don't know." she started to act coy and looked at the ceiling.

  "I keep getting this impression that everybody only wants me for my body," I said with an exasperated sigh.

  "But it's such a nice body!" Katrine purred.

  "Yes Mamm," I said reaching for her waistband, "do you want I should start now?"

  She knocked my hand away laughing, "No, but maybe you should hold that subservient attitude."

  "Hmmmn, maybe I should go sit up front with Herza. She just gets me beat up." I started to rise a little bit.

  "Don't you dare!" Katrine laughed and jumped on me. We rolled around a little bit wrestling. Eventually Lyle and Mist joined in, and we all pinned Katrine to the deck.

  "Okay, Talk!" I said grinning.

  "Never!" she laughed, and we all started tickling her. Everybody up front looked backed when Katrine started to howl, but they just laughed and ignored us, a couple of minutes later she broke.

  "Okay, Okay, I'll talk!" We stopped tickling her, "Just let me catch my breath!" We waited expectantly while she took a minute to calm back down.

  "Okay, we're going to a resort, of sorts, in the mountains."

  "What do you mean 'of sorts'?" asked Lyle.

  "No humans, Cats only. It's about a two hour flight away."

  "Cat's only?" Said an amazed Mist, "I never heard of such a place.”

  "It's kind of low key," Admitted Katrine, "but it's actually common here. Each of the different groups has one, though it's not run by any of the clans."

  "What do the humans have to say about it?" I asked.

  "They consider them to be retreats, and actually think it's a good idea. Balizar said its pretty spread out, and usually there aren't too many people there."

  "Sounds like fun actually," said Lyle, "not having to worry about accidentally pissing off some human." He smiled and lay back putting his head in Mist's lap. "Just think of it, being able to relax and be a cat all the time."

  "If you start going 'Meow'," said Mist, "I'll beat you black and blue, or at least 'til your face is worst than Raj's."

  "Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of trees." He responded, and Mist got kind of a strange look in her eyes.

  "What's this about trees?" I asked Katrine. Both Lyle and Mist started looking real embarrassed at that.

  "Oh," she said with a wink, "these two seem to have regressed back to our tree loving Ancestors."

  "But trees? I don't think they did it there," I could see the both of them start to fidget. "I mean, you really have to be weird to ..." I suddenly found myself being held down and tickled by the three of them. It continued for quite a while then, with the object of the attack changing every few minutes. It looked like it was going to be a fun trip.

  We arrived at the resort smiling and panting. As we disembarked from the copter Herza laughingly said something about childish behavior and suddenly found herself at the bottom of the pile being tickled herself. When we had finished we started to look around for another victim, and as Banner had his back to us we got him next.

  We were working on Terease when Balizar walked up to us.

  "Come on, people are beginning to stare, and we still have to check in." He looked at all of us reproachfully.

  Of course everybody jumped him next, even his mate Sharazad. It was a good ten minutes later when we finally made it inside the main building.

  "I guess shipboard life does tend to make you act kind of goofy when you're on leave. But then leave always goes by so quick." Said Balizar as we walked inside. "Well, so much for our dignity."

  Sharazad made a rude noise at that. "Lighten up dear, I seem to recall you were young once."

  "And crazy, yes dear,” he smiled as he led us to a large room.

  There was a Leopard inside, and he walked up to Balizar.

  "Bal!, Shar! Glad you could make it!" he gave them both a hug, then turning to the rest of us he continued, "Come on in folks. This is just a quick presentation to show you what's here, what the local wildlife is, and what's edible if you're so inclined." I noticed a few in the group smiled at that remark. "And a few other things. Sit down or lay about and relax."

  I noticed that the room had no chairs at all, there were cushions on a padded floor and some elevated platforms, this place really was set up for cats. We all got cozy and watched the presentation. They showed us a map of the area, where our cabin was, the local lake, river, and some pools along it. There was a quick show of the local animals, and which predators to keep an eye on. All in all it lasted maybe fifteen minutes, and then we were shown to our cabin.

  It was actually a pretty good size. It had a main dining area, a lounge, a very large whirlpool, and about a dozen rooms, each with a spa. I was impressed, this didn't look cheap.

  "When's dinner?" Somebody asked.

  "There's a phone over there," said our host pointing, "if you want to order room service, a kitchen back through here if you want to cook something, and the door's over there if you want to go catch it y
ourself!" He laughed as he said the last.

  I know some people find the idea of us actually hunting kind of perverse. These same people think nothing of going out with a gun or a shopping cart and doing the same. Hey, it doesn't matter who catches it, or how he kills it. Everybody still eats it and as I see it we're all equally guilty. But that's life on the food chain and I'm rather happy to be at the top.

  Franz took a poll then grabbed the phone and put in an order for all of us. As he ordered I turned to Balizar.

  "How long we staying?" I asked, "And what's this costing us?"

  "I was planning on staying until Thursday evening or Friday morning, depending on what everybody else felt like. As for cost, it's fifty a piece, plus meals."

  "Not bad," said Herza, "this place could make a lot more than that off the human market I'd bet."

  "Not really," said Balizar. "This place is so far out, and so spread out, that the common tourist wouldn't enjoy it, too ‘rough’. Also the owners would rather not put up with them."

  “Plus” Sharazad added "Those predators they showed us may not be too much trouble for us, especially as they're good eating. But they scare most humans half to death.”

  We all nodded to that and settled down to wait for lunch and started making plans for the afternoon.

  I had a rather enjoyable couple of days there and it appeared that everyone else did as well. I got a little hunting in, and there was quite a lot of horsing around. Everybody knew that we'd be back in space in just a couple of days, so we all got a little manic at times.

  At one point I did manage to talk privately with Banner about Terease. We had both gone to the kitchen to get another drink, and I dragged him outside for a minute.

  "What's up Raj?" he looked out across the hillside.

  "I wanted to ask a couple of questions about you and Terease." I kept my voice low; I didn't want to sound nervous.

  "I'm not sure that that's any of your business," he gave me a dangerous look.