Chapter 14

(In Which Jules and Estella are back in England and Estella receives a plain package)

"You still miss her don't you, Viola? Even now, after all this time?"

Estella and Jules had flown back from the States, where they had been living since just after their marriage. The couple had brought their two sweet little children with them to start a new life in Estella's native town. Little Estella was getting on for three and already as lovely as her mother. Little Jules was six months old and adorable, smiling delightedly whenever he caught anyone's eye. Estella was clearly rapturously happy with her married life and had taken to motherhood like the proverbial duck to water. It must be said, alas, that Viola was finding it a strain coping with all these guests! Estella could see how sad she still was, more than four years after Clemmy's sudden death. It made her feel guilty about her own contentment to see how poor old Viola still suffered.

Estella's question had been prompted by the sight of Clementine's picture, in pride of place on the sideboard and with a bowl of fresh flowers in front of it. This was clearly a kind of shrine to the departed lover. She saw that Viola kept looking at it and how sad her eyes were whenever she did.

"Yes. Every waking moment I miss her and I still blame myself for letting her go to that place. I was afraid of what James might have in mind. I had no idea a silly car smash would finish her off." She sobbed again.

"Well, you must come and see us at Christmas. We've rented a lovely place near Dorking You'll love it." Estella's own voice trembled a little. Clementine had been her best friend, after all.

Viola knew she would hate it. 'Can't they see all I want is my Clementine back again, ' she thought as she waved goodbye to her visitors and went back indoors to think of Clementine and the unfairness of it all. There was Estella, married to Jules, with two children and a third on the way if she wasn't mistaken. And she, Viola, was destined to die an old maid, denied the lifelong companionship of the loveliest and most exciting person she had ever known.

Three days after visiting Viola, Estella spotted an advertisement in a combat sports magazine. Since seeing that magnificent bloodbath four years ago, Estella was still hooked on fighting, especially girl fighting, (the dirtier and more violent the better!). Hooked on watching, that is, not on participating! Taking part in these brutal duels would ruin her sweet looks and be far too painful! Clementine had been attractive, but in a solid and durable way that would withstand a few knocks and in any case she had been a dyke - as much male as female in her psyche.

"Battling Vixens!" the advertisement read. "The best of uninhibited bare fist women's boxing. These street fighting females bleed, they punch, they fall and they triumph. Watch babes who know no fear as they take it and dish it out! See and hear ferocious blows as they fight toe to toe! Listen to the sound of knuckle on tortured flesh and knuckle on crunching bone and wince!"

"OOH!!" she muttered." Probably grossly over hyped, but it sure sounds right up my street! I wonder if there's anything here I haven't seen already?"

She wrote to the P.O. Box Number, enclosing a money order, and three days later the DVDs arrived in the promised discreet plain wrapping.

At the time of their arrival, Jules was out taking the kids to see an aunt and she had the TV to herself. She loaded the first DVD and prepared for what she hoped would be a lovely blood fest! She turned up the volume so that every blow would fill the room with its sound of painful bruising contact. What a great way to spend a winter afternoon, she thought happily! She rubbed her hands in anticipation of seeing some lovely bimbos make mincemeat of each other.

The first fight was between two "ladies" with Slavonic sounding names, Alexia and Olga. Apparently they had met a few times before and this was a revenge match, or so Alexia hoped! The venue seemed to be a rocky desert somewhere, maybe New Mexico; not that she'd ever been there, but it reminded her of the backdrop to more than one Western she had seen in her time, although she was aware that there were no large towering cactuses to be seen.

Olga was certainly no beauty, in fact Estella had never before seen such total unredeemed ugliness in a woman! But her opponent was really sweet, with a dark almost Gypsy like beauty. But Alexia was definitely not a weakling - far from it. Both women were strong, fit and well-built and both looked formidably hard and weathered - as if they put in many hours gruelling and back-breaking work in the open air. It was not only the bodies that were hard. Both fighters' faces, even that of the lovely Alexia, seemed to have had all signs of feminine softness erased from them. These were true Amazons, thought the delighted Estella, who also noted the roughness of the combatants' hands. It was more than light housework that had done that to them! And they were deeply bronzed with the kind of skin tone that speaks of months exposed to the elements - wind, hail and rain as well as warm sun.

She watched intently as Alexia was worn down, reduced to a bleeding mess and knocked senseless - apparently for the third time. An excited and appreciative Stella saw that neither fighter backed away from the other or showed any fear of getting hurt, both taking ferocious punishment without so much as a murmur. Victory was a brutal matter of deciding who could suffer the greater amount of damage without being knocked out. Olga clearly had the harder head and the tougher body. Alexia's punches seemed as powerful as Olga's but they did little damage and the victor was only slightly marked at the end of a long fight. Alexia was dragged feet first out of the ring, but not before the triumphant Olga had stood victoriously with her foot on the loser's stomach with her arms raised in triumph.

It was a real Beauty versus the Beast match, with the Beast being triumphant, somewhat to Stella's disappointment.

She replayed the bout. This time she noticed that not only were both fighters quite nude but they had absolutely no tan lines. In addition, it was unpleasantly obvious that no beautician or cosmetician had been near either girl in months, if not years. Stella nearly gagged as she saw Olga's furry black pits when she raised her arms in a victory salute. She guessed, correctly, that neither girl smelled too good! These female gladiators were clearly dedicated nudists - and extremely good fighters, with technical skill in abundance and bags of courage! Alexia must have known she was beaten but she never ceased to face up to her opponent, trading blows right up to the bloody and spectacular final knockout. This was great stuff!

By now, Stella knew a thing or two about female combat, especially the sleazier and more brutal side of it, but these two were quite new to her. They were way ahead of most of the motley and often rather sad collection of women who did the rounds of the female combat world. She had lost count of the amateurish and plainly faked shit she had seen over the last four years! And she had never seen a fight to come near that between Clementine and Rashumba - until now. Because this was definitely in that league although still nowhere near as bloody or protracted as that duel in the wood. That famous epic still sent shivers up and down her spine when she thought about it.

She watched the second fight. Svetlana and Tatiana. Another two large and totally nude girls fighting bare fisted in the desert. This was even better, by far! For a start they were both handsome enough in rugged way, unlike the misbegotten Olga. This couple used their feet to devastating effect as well as their fists. Some of the kicks were spectacular and Estella would not have wanted to be the girl on the receiving end as knees were used, coming up many times into groin and stomach. There were more shades of that great match - the one between poor Clementine, not long before she was killed, and Rashumba whom she had never seen again. Exciting quantities of blood were shed and countless bruises caused by this pair, after early blows to the nose and a lucky/unlucky cut to Tatiana's right eye. They were obviously two more very gutsy fighters who held nothing back and were not afraid of pain.

Amazing - fantastic! thought Estella as Tatiana was finally sent crashing to the ground, spraying sweat and blood on the onlookers as she did so. Then she saw someone in the crowd. She replayed that bit and froze the screen. James and Rashumba! So those two had got together again and were in America - maybe! Well, well! Rashumba looked very prosperous, That outfit must have cost the earth! She looked very out of place with her expensive and fashionable City clothes at such a gathering in the wilds, but Stella knew the black girl was a skilled fighter herself and supposed she still took an interest even if she no longer participated.

She loaded the next DVD and the phone rang. It was her stupid mother with some problem. Could Estella come at once, please?

She rushed around to see what was wrong with the old girl. Nothing of course! There never was anything! Had she really come back from Seattle just to be subject once more to these so-called crises which only existed in the silly old woman's mind?

When she finally made it back home, Jules had returned. He looked a little strange and concerned. He pushed her into a seat, giving his wife no more than a perfunctory kiss - highly unusual for the still amorous Frenchman, as head over heels in love with Estella as when they had first started their uninhibited affair!

"That DVD you bought, darling."

"Yes, Jules, darling. Fights between women. And good ones. No faking! Plenty of skill and loads of blood! You know I love to see girl fights! It reminds me of poor Clementine you know..."

This was a pretty feeble excuse! Estella had become hooked on the sight of two members of her own supposedly gentler sex knocking the shit out of each other before Clemmy had been killed. It had been watching her best friend's performance that had given her the taste for it. By this time, she had an enormous collection of tapes and would always be willing to travel miles to see a good match whether held under legitimate auspices or otherwise. (Mostly otherwise!). But she had never seen a struggle as exciting as that first one in the wood and she still cursed herself for missing so much of it!

"Never mind that. Have you watched them yet?"

"Only one and then Mummy called - about nothing as usual - and I went around to calm her down. She'll be the death of me one of these days! It was a pretty good video, especially the second contest - and a funny thing - your former friend James was in the crowd with Rashumba. It looks like the desert - Nevada or somewhere. No sand but very rocky and barren."

"So you didn't see the second DVD. Well, take a look! I did and I'm still getting over the surprise!"

He operated the remote control. The first fight on the second disc came on screen.

"Clementine v Olga" said the voice over.

Estella might have been electrocuted, so suddenly did she jerk to attention.

The fighters appeared and the fight started. It was Clemmy alright. She still had the scar over the eye and the broken nose, both courtesy of Rashumba, plus a good few more scars on her once prefect features. Despite her battered appearance she was lovely to look at. But this was not the old Clemmy. This Clemmy was a venomous warrior who neither showed nor expected mercy. It was a hard and desperate woman who was demolishing her opponent, not only without pity, but with brutal enjoyment at the pain she was inflicting. Clemmy wasn't only fighting to win, she was fighting to hurt.

"But!" Estella was dumbstruck.

"She's obviously still alive, Stella. Or was when this film was shot a few months ago."

"How do you know it's that recent?" She looked at the fight, fascinated. Clemmy was better than ever! She was taking Olga apart and Olga was damned good, as she had seen earlier!

"Take your eyes off Clemmy and look at the crowd, THERE! He froze the picture. Look at that outfit on Rashumba! The latest Paris fashion and I should know." Jules was a representative for one of the leading fashion companies.

"What do we do, darling?" asked Stella. She was dumbstruck at first but a horrible apprehensive feeling was taking over, combined with a wild hope that she might not, after all, have seen the last of her old friend.

"We take this tape to the police and try to get an exhumation order."

"But she was burned to a cinder..." her voice trailed away. Of course! It couldn't possibly be Clemmy's charred bones in that grave!

In a moment Stella was on the phone to Viola. That sad girl, in mourning for four years, just had to be the first one to hear this astounding news!

"Vi, darling! You're to come over here at once! Something amazing! We're a hundred per cent sure Clemmy's not dead. I've just seen a video and she was on it. It couldn't possibly be anyone else! And she was certainly very much alive and kicking in the Summer! She was a bit battered looking but otherwise in excellent health and fighting fit, kicking some unfortunate woman's butt to Kingdom Come!"

Then she had second thoughts.

" No, darling Viola! Stay where you are! We'll come and join you. I don't want you driving in your state, my love! You might be too excited and not watch the road properly. Jules is a good driver and always calm and controlled, despite being a Frog! So he'll bring me over. I'll bring the DVD with me and you can see for yourself! Then Jules says we have to go to the Police with it!